The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Sure.” Frank shrugged.

  Henry stood up. “El, can you come in the kitchen.”

  Ellen, puzzled, followed.

  Frank looked down at Nick. “Henry, you can’t leave a baby on the floor like this. Someone will step on him.” He lowered himself to lay next to Nick. “I let him watch you and he mistreats you. Hey ...” Frank called out to the kitchen. “He’s lifting his head.” He heard the plop of Nick hitting the carpet. “Maybe not.”

  “What’s wrong, Henry?” Ellen asked as they stood in the kitchen.

  “I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Sure.”

  “I need you to come back early tonight.”

  “I told you Frank wanted to call it an early night.”

  “OK.” Henry nodded. “But in case he changes his mind, can you be back early. Every night, El, it’s either you helping Dean, talking to him. Or you helping Frank, talking to him. You’re staying here to get yourself back on track. You haven’t been doing that.”

  “Henry.”

  “No listen to me. You have to take time yourself. OK? You have to say, ‘I’m tired of being there for everyone else, I just want someone to be there for me’. I worry about you. I see you, I watch you. Can you do this tonight?”

  “I promise.” She held up her hand. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  Henry smiled at her, watching her walk from the kitchen, meet up with Frank and then eventually leave. Henry couldn’t wait for her to return home. Wanting to pass time, make it go faster, Henry figured he’d work on something, that always helped. So he walked out of the dining room, around the couch and out his front door He thought Mechanics was a good place to start. Pulling his front door closed, Henry stood on his porch with an overwhelming feeling that he was forgetting something. Shrugging it off and figuring it would come to him later, Henry moved on to Mechanics.

  <><><><>

  Dean pulled the door closed to the mobile lab, he teetered a huge box which he carried with him to the jeep that parked there. There were other boxes in the keep, all virus material. And Dean was going to use this night, since Joe had the kids, to finally put the virus to bed. He took another look at the mobile lab thinking about how long it would be until he went back there. He liked that lab, but he wouldn’t miss it. Because that lab was too much of painful reminder to Dean of things that virus that took so much from him.

  <><><><>

  Henry paced. He paced in worry and he paced in anger. Ellen had promised him that she would be home, and there it was after four a.m. and she still wasn’t there. What made matters worse was that Henry toted Nick out of the house to check at Frank’s four times in the last five hours. And every time he went there, Josh said the same thing, they weren’t there.

  Having waited long enough, Henry tried it again, Where else could they be. Josh had to be mistaken. Knocking again, Henry waited. It took a little longer for the door to answer, Josh looked so perturbed with his messy hair, scratching his head in the open door.

  “What, Henry.” he whined. “And like you should you be dragging that baby out.”

  “Josh, where is your dad and Ellen.”

  “They’re not here.”

  “Are you sure?” Henry asked. “Maybe they went upstairs.”

  “No, I know they aren’t here.”

  “Maybe you were sleeping when ...”

  “Henry!” Josh rolled his half closed eyes. “I said, I know they aren’t here. I know this. I know this.”

  “OK. But when you see them can you tell them I’m a little pissed off. And if I don’t hear from them soon, I’m going to Joe.”

  “Why?” Josh asked.

  “Because I don’t know where they are.”

  “Maybe there’s a clue in his note.”

  “What note?” Henry asked.

  “The one that’s one the table for you.”

  “Josh,” Henry scolded. “Why didn’t you tell me about the note sooner.” Henry walked into the house looking around.

  “I wasn’t allowed. Dad said wait until morning.”

  “Wait until ...” Henry saw the note. Awkwardly while juggling a sleeping Nick he opened up Frank’s note. “Aw.” Henry stomped his foot. “Shit.” Shaking his head and holding the note he moved to the door. “Wait until I tell Joe.” So upset, Henry left Frank’s house.

  <><><><>

  Dean kept telling himself that he was given a second chance. How he prayed all those years to be able to make up for failing to save the world the first time around. But he did this time. He pulled through. But unfortunately for Dean, it wasn’t without loss and without the breaking of his heart.

  Sitting in the clinic lab, tossing out notes he no longer needed, reading over them one last time, Dean grew more frustrated by the minute. Why did his gut keep telling him he was missing something? What was the reason behind it? How did everything so similar to the future he visited, differ in the most important of ways. When he needed it to be the same.

  Tossing out a large stack of papers, Dean moved to the refrigerator to begin hitting the samples. When he opened it up, his eyes went immediately to the rack of labeled tubes of blood. It sat on the second shelf, in the same angle, with the same amount of tubes, the same names. All the same as the time he opened up that refrigerator in the future. And one of those same names stared at him. Jenny Matoose. In his handwriting, looking exactly like the one he took from the future. So how did the sample end up being different? Dean paused in his reaching for the rack. “Maybe they’re not,” Dean spoke out loud, snatching Jenny’s tube from the rack. The blood he tested from the future was from that exact same rack, the exact same spot. How could the blood from the future have the host virus, and the Jenny’s blood from the present not. Not when everything else fell right into place. Jenny’s blood was the missing link, it was the piece of the puzzle that did not fit. And right there, Dean began to test it, hoping that finally he could fit that piece of the puzzle into the entire picture and close his book on the virus once and for all.

  <><><><>

  “Christ, Henry, it’s four thirty in the morning,” Joe snapped as he answered the door in just his checkered pajama bottoms. “And why are you dragging that baby around.”

  “Joe, we have a problem.” Henry walked into his hose. “Nice PJ’s.”

  Joe grumbled. “What’s our problem?”

  “Your son, Joe. He’s an asshole.”

  “What?” Joe closed one eye to block out the brightness when Henry turned on the light.

  “He’s an asshole, Joe.” Henry laid Nick on the couch. “He left Beginnings and he took Ellen with him.”

  “Oh he did not. You’re full of shit.”

  “No, I’m not, Joe. Look.” He handed Joe the note.

  Joe walked to the coffee table, put on his glasses and began to read the note out loud. “Henry, I left Beginnings. And whether she likes it or not, I took Ellen with me. Thanks Frank.” Joe lowered the note. “Shit.”

  “See, Joe. See.”

  “Calm down.” Joe held out his hand. “I really don’t think Frank left.”

  “He said he did. I can’t find him, Joe.”

  “First of all, how would they get out? Second, where would he go? He’s hiding somewhere in Beginnings. This is a big place. He’s doing this to throw you off.”

  “He took her. I know he took. I told him to take her camping, I didn’t mean for him to do it outside of Beginnings.”

  “He didn’t leave Beginnings.” Joe heard the light tapping on his front door. “And why is Dean knocking on my door at this hour.”

  “Oh no.”

  “What, Henry?” Joe asked annoyed as he walked to the door.

  “Oh, Dean will be mad. Frank took Ellen from Beginnings.”

  “He didn’t take Ellen.” Joe opened up the door. “Dean, what is it?”

  “We have a problem, Joe.” Dean stormed in. “A big problem.”

  “See!” Henry pointed. “See!”

  Joe hun
ched down, holding his hands up. “Quiet, the kids are sleeping.”

  Dean looked at Henry. “You know?”

  “Yes I know,” Henry said. “I just found out.”

  “How?” Dean was puzzled.

  “I read Frank’s note.”

  “How does Frank know?” Dean was puzzled.

  “He would have to know, Dean.” Henry walked to him. “Wouldn’t he? Especially if he took Ellen and they left Beginnings.”

  Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Not that again, Henry. Frank didn’t leave Beginnings.”

  “Yes he did, Dean.” Henry handed him the note. “Look.”

  Dean’s head bobbed back and forth as he read it. “He’s hiding somewhere.” He handed Henry the note back. “He’s still here. And we have bigger fish to fry. Joe. We have a big problem. One that we didn’t know we even had.”

  Joe tossed his hands up. “Wanna keep me in suspense, Dean, or would you like to share.”

  “Ready for this, Joe,” Dean began to explain. “I’m cleaning out the mobile lab and the clinic lab, trying to file away all the virus things. And I keep getting this feeling that we missed something. Every single sequence of events, even down to Frank’s illness happened. It happened just like in the future. What was bothering me the most, was that we planned that if that happened, we always would have Jenny’s blood to fall back on as a host. But Jenny didn’t have the host. Or at least we thought.” At that instant he saw he had Joe’s full attention. “Just when I was about to get rid of the samples, I looked at that rack of blood. Same names, same position, everything, so why wouldn’t Jenny’s blood be the same. And it dawned on me that errors could be made. There were a lot of patients coming into the clinic when Jenny and the baby came in. Five or six. I took a tube of Jenny’s blood and called out for someone to finish while I chased Ellen. Someone, I don’t know who, we had five people taking blood, took her blood for me. When I ran the tests. I ran it off the tube of blood the other person took. But the tube in the rack was the one I took. I put it there from my own pocket. Just like I must have done it in the future. And had I run the tests off the tube I took, we would have had the cure a day earlier. The future wasn’t wrong. The sequence of events did not change. Jenny did have the host virus after all.”

  Joe stepped back some. “How can that be? Everyone else had strains two and three.”

  “Just like in the future, with Jenny being the one host strain.”

  “Are you saying someone switched the tubes of blood?”

  “No!” Dean answered sharply. “Not with the people I had working. I’m saying that with all the confusion, someone messed up. They put the wrong name on the wrong tube. In emergency situations, it happens.”

  “But here’s the problem, Dean, how did she get it?” Joe questioned.

  “Just like we thought she got it in the future. She could have only gotten it, Joe, if she was given it.”

  Joe shook his head. “I’m still not buying the fact that John gave it to her.”

  “Neither am I,” Dean stated. “Not with all we know now about his situation.” Dean’s eyes moved from Joe to Henry. “He didn’t want Jenny to get sick. He didn’t want his daughter to die. And this is why I came to you, Joe. Not about Jenny’s host virus. But because Jenny was given the host virus. Which means it was here in Beginnings all along. Someone gave it to her. The question is ... who?”

  Joe literally lost his breath. “There’s someone else here on his side.”

  Dean nodded. “And they have been for a while.”

  “Damn it.” Joe’s head twitched in disgust. “Henry, what do you make of it?”

  “Very frightening, Joe. Very frightening we have to look into it. But ... what about this?” Henry held up Frank’s letter.

  “Henry,” Joe snapped. “Give me the goddamn letter.” He took it from Henry’s hand and smacked him with it. “I told you he did not leave. And if he did, he has to be on foot. So how far could he have gone?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  AUGUST 27

  Frank peered out the windshield of the small pickup truck he drove to the just breaking day outside of the glass. He then looked at the gas gauge which read ‘E’. “This place will do.” He saw the small trailer set off deep in an over grown area, “Don’t you think, El? And just in time too. I didn’t want to hit our return gas supply. Sorry about all the bumps.” Frank pulled a little closer to the trailer and shut the truck off. “But the shocks are pretty bad.” He stretched out his arms. “I’m tired. Are you. Probably not, you had that long nap. Hey, isn’t this like when we were kids? We’d get into my truck and drive until half the gas was gone, stay a night and then go home? We ended up in Dairy, Ohio, no wait, that was where we found the farmers.” Frank shrugged. “Wanna unload now, or wait?” He looked over to Ellen. “I’d rather wait. We have time. Wasn’t that nice of Robbie to help us take our little trip. Are you wanting to say something?” He reached across to Ellen who leaned against the passenger’s side door. She swung out her arms at him. Arms that were bound together at the wrist. He reached to her mouth and removed the tape. “What is it?’

  “Frank!” She screamed at him. “What the hell are you doing? Where are we!”

  “I think Idaho. I’m not sure.”

  “Idaho!” Ellen growled. “Why are we in Idaho?”

  “You and I needed to get out of Beginnings for a little while. To get away from it. We need it. I needed to be alone with you.” He reached to touch her face and she turned her mouth to his hand and bit it. “Ow, why’d you do that?”

  “Why am I tied up, Frank!” she shouted. “Why are my arms and legs tied up? Why did you tape my mouth?”

  “First.” Frank held up his hand. “I had to tie you up, El, I didn’t want you to fight me on this. And I taped your mouth because I didn’t want to hear you bitch about it.”

  “Bitch? Bitch!” Ellen went nuts screaming at him as loud as she could. “Oh you’re gonna hear me bitch, Frank. You kidnapped me you son of a bitch! You tied me up! Did it ever occur to you for one simple second you asshole, that had you asked me, I would have gone with you?”

  “No.”

  “Well I would have.”

  “Oh.” Frank immediately looked forward and tapped his hand on the steering wheel. He closed his eyes in a cringe at Ellen’s loud mouth in the small cab of the truck.

  “And don’t think for one second that I’m gonna be a happy person about this, Frank. I’m not! Prepare, Frank, prepare for me to yell at you for a very long time about this! I cannot believe you did this. Wait until you untie me! Wait! I’m gonna kill you, Frank. I am going to kill you!”

  Frank’s mind buzzed and his head started to hurt, especially with Ellen yelling like she was. But Frank knew he was tired from the long drive and no sleep. And if he was too tired to unload the truck at that moment, he was too tired to hear any more bitching. Knowing Ellen, and knowing she would still have the same things to say even hours later, he figured he’d listen to her and deal with her after he had some rest. So Frank simply reached over to Ellen, took the piece of tape that dangled from her cheek, secured it again over her mouth, kissed her on the forehead, then leaned back in his driver’s seat and went to sleep.

  ^^^^^

  FREEDOM FIGHT

  Book Nine

  August 26

  When will it end? I’ve seen the silent victor that erased what used to exist. The rivalry of Cain and Abel between brothers ceased the moment we took on what the world has become beyond the wall of our home. We’ve faced challenges and seen the full circle of justice. The ripple of pain continues and my family faces once again, the bitterest of inner struggles. Pieces of us have broken off, yet we still stand strong. We have to. We’re family. And with all that has happened to our world, I am grateful I still have that. My family. I will fight for them and if need be, I would die for them.

  Robbie Slagel

  SCATTERED SOULS . . .

  CHAPTER ONE

 
AUGUST 27

  Chadron, Nebraska

  With the spark of the just rising sun came the single, three-second blow of the bugle horn. A rumbling and vibration followed and then the charge. Over the crest and descending on to the camp of small, military style structures came a long line of horses, fifty in all. Mounted upon them were men wearing blue. Armed with rifles and swords, they rode down, firing out and stirring the sleeping enemies from their beds.

  The soldiers stumbled out of their homes. Dazed and confused, yet ready to defend themselves, the first that tried were the first that failed. If they were not shot, they were beheaded in a sweep of the swift sword of justice delivered upon them. A victory sought by the men who charged was not a victory gained. Too many slumbered in the enemy camp, too many for them to take. The camp, though startled, was not ill prepared for what was cast to them. They revamped. They fought and a bloody battle entailed.

  The men who charged rode in with a vengeance. They rode into the camp knowing that they would be out numbered, knowing a defeat would be imminent. But they rode in knowing they would not go down without making an impact.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  A loud, long, yawn came from Joe Slagel as he ran his hand over his just shaved face. He stared at his reflection in his bathroom mirror, sniffled, and rubbed his watering eyes. He was tired. He shouldn’t have been tired. In fact, Joe wouldn’t have been tired had it not been for his middle of the night visitors. Awakened at four in the morning to be told by a brilliant scientist there was a frightening possibility that a Benedict Arnold lived amongst them, was one thing, but that wasn’t what stirred Joe from his slumber. Henry Kusakari did. Not only did Henry wake him, ramble rapidly and ridiculously about something absurd, tote Joe’s three month old grandson about, but Henry also sarcastically insulted his favorite pajamas. That placed Joe in what he liked to call, a ‘piss-poor’ mood. Not to mention, that fact steered Joe’s mind off where it should be, on Dr. Dean Hayes’ a traitor amongst us theory.