CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Joe’s head was killing him. It felt as if it were going to split down the middle, but he pushed on. He had to. In a empty town where no one worked, Joe had to follow up on Supplies and Distribution. There wasn’t a single division that was in full operation. Security was on a skeleton staff. Frank and Robbie helped run it in between working at the clinic. Mechanics was shut down, Henry worked the clinic. The school was closed. The nursery too. It was the biggest crisis Beginnings was ever faced with and Joe feared it was only going to get worse.
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The sound of it burned through Ellen, gnawing at her, not in annoyance but in fear. She finished administering medication to Cole and she stormed from the small room that was packed with six men. “Frank,” she called to him as he headed into another room. “Wait.”
Frank turned around, covered his mouth and coughed. His whole body shook as he did. “What’s up, El.” His strong voice was hoarse and weak.
“You have to stop.”
“I have to help.”
“Frank, listen to me. You have to rest. Please rest.”
“Ellen, you, Henry, Dean and Johnny can not handle all the lab work and these patients. You can’t. I have to be here.”
“You have pneumonia, Frank. Dean told you an hour ago you had to stop. Your left lower lobe was filling up.” She reached her hand to his face. “You’re so warm. Please, Frank. Please.” She closed her eyes in a begging manner.
“Ellen.” He slid her hand from his face. “I’ll rest as soon as I catch you up.” He kissed her hand. “I love you.” As he leaned down to kiss her he lifted his head quickly to the sound of Henry racing down the hall.
“Frank,” Henry called out. “El, where’s Dean?” Henry ran by them looking in rooms. “Dean!”
Dean came flying out of one. “What’s wrong, Henry?”
Henry caught his breath. His eyes filled with terror. “We have problems. We have really big problems.” He shook his head slowly. “Come with me.” Waving his hand to them to follow, Henry sped back down the corridor.
Dean caught up to Henry and as soon as he turned the corner to the main hall, his pace slowed down to a crawl. Nine people sat on the floor against the walls. Johnny knelt before them trying to administer care. “Henry, tell me they aren’t sick.”
“I can’t, Dean. They are.”
Dean closed his eyes. “Nine more?”
“I wish.”
Dean’s eyes widened. “What?” He felt Henry pull his arm toward the waiting room. The moment Dean walked to the doorway was the moment he stepped away, backed up into the wall and banged his head back in frustration. His hand harshly covered his own face and his whole body trembled. “No, no. This can’t be happening.” Lowering his hand and peering through his spread fingers he looked at seven-year-old Kimmy, she curled up in a ball laying on Cindy’s lap. Looking just as ill as Cindy did. And he knew the horrifying reason why those nine people waited in the hall, when he walked back into the waiting room. Those nine had to be in the hall, because there were so many people in the waiting room, there just wasn’t any room for them.
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Jenny spoke in the soothing mother’s voice as she held and rocked Caroline. “No, you’re not sick little one. You are not sick.” How painful it was to Jenny as her baby whimpered so close to her ear. Jenny tried to tell herself it was only the baby’s teeth. That she didn’t have what everyone else had. She couldn’t, she was never around any of the men.
Trying to go through her day so as not to think about anything, Jenny teetered holding her daughter and pulling laundry from the washer. In her awkward balance she bumped into the trash, knocking it over and spilling its contents across the floor. Whining, Jenny reached down to pick it up. Her hand secured the baby’s head, and as she lifted the can back up, the odd look of the paper caught her eyes. It was crinkled up, and it had a slight shine to it. Grabbing that ball of paper, Jenny unwrinkled it and smoothed it out on the washer. “What? What is this? It looks like ... a fax.”
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All Ellen kept asking kept asking herself was how did the numbers go up? How did the amount of patients nearly double in less than twenty-four hours. She walked by Henry who worked so hard, she paused to grip his hand, then Ellen, emotionally and physically drained moved to the clinic lab. “Dean.”
Dean spun on his stool to face her. “Hey, El.”
“They’re all situated.” She laid a tray of blood before him. “Forty-four,” she spoke sadly, her lip quivering. “Eleven are children.”
Dean walked to retrieve the tray from her and he grabbed hold of her hand. “We’ll get through this. We will,” he spoke with confidence.
Ellen looked to Johnny who worked on the lab’s computer. “Johnny, did you need to check your daughter?”
“I just did a little bit ago. How’s she doing now, El?” Johnny asked.
Ellen shook her head.
“Maybe I better go be with her and Denise.” He walked toward the door. “I’ll be back.” He stopped before leaving. “El, Jenny called here about an hour ago, really upset. She was rambling, something about a fax. I think she’s lost it.” He shrugged with a sad look and left the lab.
“A fax?” Ellen asked looking to Dean. “What do you suppose she meant by that?”
“I don’t know,” Dean answered.
“Should I go see her?”
“No, she’ll be fine. You’re needed here.”
Ellen looked so in debate, standing there at the oddity of Jenny’s call. But like Dean had told her, she was needed at the clinic. And putting the thought of going to see Jenny out of her mind, Ellen moved on back to the patients.
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Jenny rubbed her pain filled eyes, holding her daughter who barely moved, trying to focus better on that fax she had read a hundred times as she sat at her dining room table. Her hand gripped to the edge of it, and in a startle, she crinkled it when she heard the front door open.
“Jenny.” John walked in.
Jenny swallowed and folded the fax.
“What do you have?”
Jenny shook her head. “It’s nothing, honey. Don’t worry about it, it’s just another Ellen-trick on you.” Folding the paper, Jenny placed it in the front pocket of her jeans, it protruded slightly. “Why are you home?”
John ran his hand down Caroline’s head. “God, Jenny, she’s burning up.”
Jenny held her baby tighter and began to cry. “I know.”
“We’ll get her to the clinic, then I need to speak to you. I really need to talk to you.” John grabbed hold of Jenny’s arm and helped her to stand. “Just know, that no matter what I tell you, I love you.”
Jenny faced John, pulling from his hold. “Then maybe you should tell me now.” She stood before him and waited.
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Ellen straightened the long intravenous tubing that led into her arm. She grabbed the cloth from the basin and wiped it slowly over Andrea’s forehead. Slowly and comforting, looking down to her. She pulled the covers farther up her, hoping it would stop her shaking. “You’ll be all right,” Ellen spoke softly.
“I remember,” Andrea said through her shaking. “You once told me you’d let me suffer.” Her hand reached up to Ellen’s. “I’m sorry we fought so bad back then. I’m sorry for that.”
“Don’t you apologize.” Ellen grabbed tightly to Andrea’s cheeks and lowered her face within an inch of Andrea’s. “Don’t you dare say you’re sorry to me. We got past that you and me. We did. And I’m sure, Andrea Slagel, you and I will get beyond many, many more fights. You hear me.”
“I’m so sick, Ellen. I’ve never been this sick.”
“Then fight,” Ellen spoke strongly, tears in her eyes. “You fight damn it. We can’t beat this alone. We need you to help us too.” She lowered her lips and kissed Andrea on the forehead. “Fight.”
As much as she wanted to stay with Andrea, Ellen knew she had to move on. With her h
ead down some, she walked toward the lab to get more supplies. When she saw the silhouette by the sun-filled front door, Ellen raced forward.
Dean looked up as he placed a needle in Jenny’s arm. “She just got here. Her and the baby.”
“Oh my God.” Ellen grabbed Jenny’s arm.
“Ellen, four more came in too. I need you to take their blood.”
Ellen’s head swayed back and forth, she saw Jenny open her eyes. “Jenny.”
“Ellen,” Jenny spoke weak.
As Ellen lowered her head to look closer at Jenny, her eyes caught the slight shimmer of it as it hung from her pocket. The white paper. And immediately Ellen’s mind flashed to what Johnny told her. Fax. She snatched the paper from the pocket and unfolded it.
Dean looked up as the tube filled with blood. “Ellen, what the hell are you doing?”
Ellen’s eyes skimmed the words with horror. “I’ll be back!” She stormed to the door.
“Ellen!” Dean called out, pulling the filled tube from the hub and sticking it in his pocket. He pulled the needle from Jenny’s arm, calling out as he chased Ellen. “Someone finish Jenny, I need another tube.” He ran as fast as he could to catch her. “Ellen!”
“Dean, let me go.”
“Get back in there.”
“This is important. This is our lives.” She held up the fax. “Jenny found this. Read this.” She slammed it into Dean’s chest. “I have to get Joe. We have to find John. He did it to her. She found him out and he did it to her.”
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John Matoose sobbed. He literally cried his eyes out, his face buried in his hands. “I’m sorry,” he cried to Joe. “I am. I don’t care what you do to me. You can shoot me, you can oust me, do what you want. But I am begging you, Joe. I am begging you please do not do it until I help you bring him down. Use me to get to George. Use me. He doesn’t know I told you. He promised this wouldn’t happen.” John’s head moved back and forth. “Let me help get him. Let me help you find him.”
Joe was so ill, he could barely stand. He had to lean on his desk in order to stand up. “This has to be Frank’s decision too. Do you realize what you have done to this community? Do you?” His ill tainted voice rose in anger. “Our community is dying.”
“I tried to stop it. That’s why I did what I did. Don’t you understand. He lied!”
Before Joe could say anymore, his office door burst open. “Ellen.”
“Joe.” She raced in.
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for him.” She pointed over to John, stormed to him. Grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back. “She found you out!” Ellen screamed at him. “She found you out and you gave Jenny the virus. Didn’t you?”
“No.” John shook his head as he lifted it. He looked as sick as everyone else in Beginnings. “No.”
“You have to give it to me, John. If you even have a drop of it left. Give it to me,” Ellen pleaded in anger. “We can beat this if we have the host virus. I know you have it.”
“I don’t.” John sprang up from his chair and swayed. “If I did, don’t you think I would hand it right over. I don’t have it.” He breathed heavily. “I wish I did. But I wouldn’t give it to my wife!” He looked at Joe then Ellen. “I love my wife and I love my daughter and they have this thing too. Everything I did, I did so they would never have to face this,” he cried again, weakly stumbling to his seat. “If I did so much wrong, if I betrayed my community for them. Why ... why would I give them the virus.”
Ellen stood baffled listening to his heart wrenching reason. “He had ...” Her hand crumpled the fax as she stood so puzzled. “He had to have, right. Right, Joe?” She looked to her father for answers. “Joe. Joe!” She tried to reach out for his stumbling body, but it was too late, Joe’s head went back and he fell face forward to the floor.
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It was a phone call Frank did not want to receive, but one he felt would come. So sick Josh sounded on the phone when he called Frank for help, telling him that he and Denny couldn’t watch the kids anymore.
Frank expected the two teenagers to be down when he walked in, he didn’t expect to see what he did when he walked in to his house. Little Katie stood with a cloth running it over Denny’s head. “Katie,” Frank called to her then coughed.
“My brother’s sick.”
Frank ran over to Josh who sat in the chair, his head forward. “Josh. Hey Guy.”
“Dad.” Josh couldn’t keep his eyes in focus. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
Frank closed his eyes and turned to the steps at the sound of Nick’s loud crying. He raced up the stairs and Billy stood at the top. “Billy.”
“Frank, we’re trying. Me and Katie tried. But they’re all sick,” Billy told him. “I’m scared.”
“I know. Go down stairs.” Frank turned to the bedroom where Nick was at, and his legs weakened when he saw Joey laying on top of the covers. Joey lifted his head slightly and plopped back down. Frank grabbed his radio. “Robbie. Robbie, I need your help at my house.”
“I’m at the clinic with Dad, Frank. He’s down.”
“Robbie, please come to my house. Please. And don’t say anything to Ellen.” Getting an agreement from Robbie, Frank moved to Nick’s crib. “Give me a second. Please,” Frank pleaded with the newborn placing the pacifier in his mouth. “Just ...” Frank’s head turned to the sound of Brian crying. “Oh God.” He hurried to crib, he wasn’t in there. “Bri!” Frank called out, following the crying. He ran into the next bedroom and he saw Brian laying on Alexandra’s bed. He curled in a ball holding on to his blanket for security. “Bri.”
“Da-da.” Brian lifted himself holding out his arms to Frank.
Frank’s eyes closed tightly when he took Brian into his arms and felt the hot, dry feel of his skin. “Oh God.” Frank started to breathe even heavier. “Alex.” Where was she? “Alex,” he called louder as he ran out into the hall still holding Brian. “Billy, where’s your ...” Frank saw her, she lay on his bed. Hurrying into his room, he ran to Alexandra who curled up with Ellen’s pillow. Her already thin, tiny body quivered. “Alex.” Frank sat down on the bed next to her, running his hand down her fevered forehead. “Sweetie.”
“Daddy.” She started to cry. “Daddy, I’m so sick, Daddy.”
Frank scooped her up into his arms as well, holding her tight. Her legs wrapped around him and she cried uncontrollably, coughing a deep echoing cough that sounded as if it should come from a man. “You’ll be OK.”
“I’m sick.”
“I know.” Frank closed his eyes tightly, and rocked her. “I’m here.” Hearing the sound of Nick crying, Joey crying, Frank wished at that moment his arms were big enough for all of his children, because at that moment, all of his children needed him. And Frank was at a loss.
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It was the only thing that made her smile on this day, Danny Hoi telling Ellen that his luck hadn’t been so good since he arrived in Beginnings. She chuckled at how he kept his spirits up despite the fact that he was so sick. But even with the multitudes patients that now filled the clinic. Patients now spread past that east wing into the main hall, Ellen found time to go back to Joe.
She stood above Joe who was unconscious, wiping him down, reflecting on that special dance they had not two days earlier. In her sadness, she felt the comforting arms wrap around her from behind. She felt the softness of his hair brush against her cheek, and Ellen fell back into his hold. “I can’t watch him like this.”
“We know he makes it, Ellen.” Henry spoke softly in her ear. “We know Joe makes it.”
“Everything is different now, Henry.” She turned around and buried her head into his chest. “I never wanted to go through this again in my life. But here we are.”
“I wish there was more that I could do.” Henry held her.
Ellen pulled back to look at him, when she did, she saw Dean walk solemnly into the room. “Dean? Dean, what is it?”
Dean stood leaning
on the door way. His hand lifted the papers he held, then dropped it. “She doesn’t have it.” He spoke with so much pain. “Jenny doesn’t have the host virus.” With another slam of his hand to his thigh, Dean left the room.
Henry looked at Ellen who just stood speechless. He kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back.” He walked with a quick pace from the room, and to the lab. Dean leaned on the counter his hand across his face, his hair sprawled through his finger tips. “Dean.”
“I’m sorry.” Dean stood up.
“How can this be?” Henry asked. “In the future she had it.”
“She doesn’t now.”
“But ...”
“She doesn’t now!” Dean called out with fierce emotions, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a tube of blood. He chuckled when he looked at it in a mad way. “When I took this tube, I had such high hopes.” He clenched it wanting to throw it. “She doesn’t have the host, Henry.” Dean looked at Henry so lost. “And if someone doesn’t come up with it.” He opened the fridge and placed the tube of Jenny’s blood in the rack. He paused in his talking to look at the eerie sight. The rack of blood labeled was like everything else that surrounded him, so much like a vision he had seen before. The future they had visited no long ago. “We’re all ...” Dean slammed the refrigerator when he heard the anguished scream of Ellen echo toward them. With Henry he raced into the hall.
“No!” Ellen screamed grabbing Alexandra from Frank’s arms. “No.” Her head flung back then forward burying it to her daughter and spinning to Dean. “Our babies are sick.” She started to cry, then weakly fell into Dean’s arms when he joined her. “Our babies are sick.”
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Frank had finally stopped doing anything. And it wasn’t his sickness that made him stop, it was the fact that his children were sick and he wanted to be with them. He wasn’t going to leave their sides, of that Frank was certain. In that room was where he belonged, it was where he was needed most, and in the room with his children was where Frank would stay.
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 341