“It just rang!” Henry pulled out the phone. “Hello.” Henry’s eyes smiled. “Danny.” He looked at Joe. “It’s Danny. Danny, man, am I glad to hear from you. How’s it going? I see you have the phones up.”
“I’m having some problems, Henry but don’t spread that around.” Danny told him. “We can talk about it later. Anyhow, I hear you have problems.”
Henry let out a breath. “Boy, do I ever. Tracking is picking up these killer rabbits that are huge and move really fast in the field. There has to be a lot. You should see this screen Danny. It looks like . . . remember the old, old, old video game space invaders. That’s it.”
“Shit. What’s the computer reading?” Danny asked
“One object. Well now it’s saying ten, each moving at sixty-four miles an hour across a twenty-some square foot radius.”
“That’s absurd.”
“I know,” Henry said and nodded his head, listening to Danny. “I did that. A-ha, did that too. That too. That too. Yeah.” Henry started to laugh. “I can check . . . you think? Danny if this works, I owe you.” There was a cringe on Henry’s face that quickly turned to a thinking smile. “You know what. That might not be a bad idea. Tonight? I’ll speak to Robbie. I’ll get back to you on this first.” Henry hung up the phone.
“Well?” Joe asked. “What did he say?”
“He has a theory.”
“Christ.” Joe rolled his eyes.
“It’s a good one.” Henry looked down at Mark. “Mark, pull a history. Danny thinks there may be something shiny in the field that might be reflecting the sun since it’s only happening at daylight hours. Trees below, the flash of light reflects, hits the tracking. Bam.”
Joe nodded impressed. “Pretty good. That could explain why your adjustment didn’t work from this morning.”
“It could,” Henry said. “But . . . it still doesn’t explain what chased me in that field.”
Joe wanted to bark, yell at Henry, but he didn’t. He just waited for the history results. If Danny’s theory proved plausible, Joe wanted to send two men up that field to solve the problem and he knew definitely one of them would be Henry.
^^^^
Trish always prided herself on someone that kept their word and when she promised to help someone out, she did. So on her walk home, when she saw Robbie, she decided to seize the opportunity. “Robbie,” she called to him, catching up to him as he checked security keypads.
“Hey Trish.” Robbie punched in a code. It buzzed. He opened the door, shut it, and then looked at her. “What’s up? How’s that kid of yours?”
“He’s fine, looking more and more like his dad.”
Robbie snickered.
“Not funny, Anyway, may I speak to you about something?”
“Can you walk while we do?”
“Sure.” Trish followed him to the next building. “It’s about Jess.”
“What about him?”
“Well, he and I were talking this morning and he said something.”
“What?” Robbie began to check the bakery’s keypad.
“He needs a friend, Robbie.”
“I am his friend.”
“Not like what he needs.”
After the buzz and checking, Robbie wrote results and moved on. “What do you mean?”
“He wasn’t much of a crowd guy in the old world. He was a one on one guy. You know, the type that always had that best friend, like Henry and Frank were. He needs that male bonding friendship thing, Robbie. I guess, you know, without any women to turn to, who are you gonna discuss your problems with if you don’t have that one close friend?”
“I see.” Robbie walked to the next building. “Is he having problems?”
“No, but does he need to have a problem to have that friend?” Trish asked. “Someone to go to the social hall with so he doesn’t just become one of the numbers there. Most of the men pair off and you know it. Most men have a best friend. Jeff is Mark’ best friend. Joe always hangs out with Jason. Hap has Forrest.”
“Me and . . . no one. Huh?”
Trish smiled. “Maybe it’s a sign. Maybe it’s time you, Robbie Slagel, started bugging one person in this community when you’re bored instead of all of us at the same time.”
Robbie snickered as he worked. “Maybe you’re right. I like Jess. Maybe I need to start hanging out with him more often. I mean, I hang with the band but . . .”
“But . . .” Trish finished his sentence. “After practice who does Denny hang with? Josh. Paul? He hangs with James. You . . .”
“I bother everyone.” Robbie tucked his clipboard under his arm. “Perhaps I’ll start bothering Jess. I just assumed, you know, since we live together, we were friends.” Robbie shrugged.
“Well you know he’s from Canada.”
Robbie hesitated in his walk. “What does that have to do with it?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I bet it does have something to do with it. Anyway, he would like to assume you guys are friends, but he just didn’t want to cross that line. Robbie, you are an original. All of you originals, whether you mean it or not, project yourselves up here.” Trish raised her hand above her head. “When you’re new here, you guys seem untouchable.”
“Well that may be true in Henry’s case, but not mine. I always am down to earth with all the new people. But just in case you’re right on this, I’ll talk to him. At the very least I want him to see we are friends . . . hold on Trish.” Robbie adjusted his headset radio. “Yea, Dad? Shit. O.K., I’ll be right there.” Robbie looked at Trish. “I got to go. Thanks for letting me know this.”
“No problem.” Trish watched Robbie walk away. “Oh Robbie!” She called him again and waited until he stopped. “If things work out, I want the credit.” She waited for his signal of agreement then, happily and very pleased with herself, Trish moved along and headed home.
^^^^
Kramer, Kansas
Kyle and the two other UWA soldiers plopped down to the ground to rest.
Link couldn’t move. He looked at the bottom of his boots. “What the hell? Walk?”
Kyle shrugged. “He said we can do it.”
“We’re in fuckin Kansas, man. Walk to North Dakota? What the hell were we thinking and what the hell was Mr. Slagel thinking, telling us we can walk?”
“We made it to Kansas.” Ted added.
“Barely to Kansas,” Link said. “We need to find some transportation. We’re gonna die before we reach home. You men know this, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Kyle stood back up. “But we got to try, now don’t we?”
Link stood up as well. “I guess you’re right. How long do you suppose it will take us?”
Kyle shook his head. “Frank said a few days, a week tops.”
“Man.” Link twitched his head in disbelief. “We must be moving slow. All right, let’s pick up the pace. I can do this for a few more days.”
Onward they trudged again, not taking many breaks until night fall. They walked in the direction they were supposed to and as they walked, they heard Frank tell them it wouldn’t take them long to get home. It was a good thing they didn’t know Frank’s calculations were way off or maybe they wouldn’t have had so much determination.
^^^^
Beginnings, Montana
“Quit being such a baby,” Robbie griped at Henry as they headed out to the sector where the signals originated.
“Me a baby? Why are you driving all the way here? Huh? If you’re not scared then why didn’t you park the Jeep at the end of the road back there?”
“Because I’m lazy and I want to finish my work day.” Robbie brought the Jeep to the end of the field and shut it off. “All right. What exactly are we looking for?”
Henry stepped from the jeep. “Danny says it has to be a piece of metal or glass, probably is no smaller than a fist.”
“Easy enough.” Robbie started to the field. “Let’s find a needle in a hay stack.”
“And killer rabbits.” Hen
ry followed, pulling out his gun.
“There are no killer rabbits, Henry. Hey . . .” Robbie snapped his finger. “Do you suppose we get Neville points for this?”
“I would think. We are taking our lives into our own hands.”
“Where exactly are we supposed to be looking?” Robbie asked.
“This field.”
“Shit.” Robbie looked at the high grass that came to his thigh. “There is no way something buried in this is reflecting the sun.”
“Come to think of it, you’re right.”
“I am. It has to be . . .”
Henry saw Robbie stop walking. “What?”
“Shh.” Robbie held out his hand. “Do you hear that?”
“Robbie, I swear to God if you’re teasing me just to scare me, I’m gonna kill you.”
“No listen.” Robbie looked around. “And smell.”
Henry sniffed. “Smells like Dean’s lab. Aw! I knew it. He is . . . flies?”
“Exactly.” Robbie said. “Lots of them. Look.” He pointed to his left. “Could they be causing it?”
“Holy shit.” Henry exclaimed when he saw what appeared to be a black cloud hovering just above the tips of the grass. “It could if they’re flying in a swarm. I haven’t seen that many flies since . . . shit.”
Robbie looked at Henry. “The plague.” Immediately Robbie took off running toward the flies.
“Robbie!” Henry called out. “Wait, you shouldn’t do this.” Grunting and figuring he didn’t want to be too far from Robbie, Henry took off after him.
Robbie swatted the flies that pelted him in the face. He shut his eyes tightly and opened them again.
“What . . .” Henry stopped, covered his mouth, turned his head, and gagged.
“Something has been feeding up here . . . big time.” Robbie looked down to the grass. A large deer, eaten nearly to the bone, was only one reason for the flies. The other reasons scattered about the grassy field. They appeared to be remains of rabbits, but so little of the furry creatures were left, it was hard to tell. “Well Henry, if these are bunnies, there goes you killer rabbit theory.”
“Unless their cannibals.”
“Rabbits are not carnivorous.”
“Yeah, but Dean’s rabbits may be.”
Robbie swayed his head. “Is he really messing with their genes that bad?”
“I’m telling you he is,” Henry warned. “Let’s head back.
“Yeah, that might not be a bad idea seeing how we haven’t a clue what’s been dining up here.” Robbie turned from the carcasses and walked with Henry. “We’ll tell my Dad something is running around up here.”
“It’s kind of scary,” Henry said. “Can whatever it is, get into Beginnings?”
Robbie paused. “We’re gonna have to bring that up, but that is a scary thought.” Both Robbie and Henry stopped walking when they heard the ruffling of the high grass. Robbie turned his head slowly to look back. His eyes widened when he saw the grass moving and moving fast. It swayed in all different directions.
“Robbie?”
“Henry?”
A pig like squeal echoed out. It sounded as if more than one. High and loud. The ruffling grew louder and closer, sounding like a mini stampede..
“Robbie?”
“Shit.”
“Run?”
“Run!” Robbie took off and Henry followed. The Jeep wasn’t far away and they raced through the grass, hearing the cries, hearing themselves being followed, and never looking back to see what it was until they made it safely to the Jeep.
Robbie turned over the ignition and screeched the Jeep forward. Henry faced backwards, “I saw something.”
“What was it?” Robbie drove.
“Animals. Some sort of bald animals.”
“Pigs?” Robbie asked.
“It looked it,” Henry answered.
“Shit what if Dean gave that stuff to the pigs.”
“Oh my God. Pigs are carnivorous.”
“And now fast too,” Robbie commented and shifted gears. “Henry, I think if we didn’t before, you and I are getting Neville points for this.”
“Yeah.” Henry relaxed, leaned in the passenger’s seat, and grabbed his chest. He caught his breath. “And we should get a lot of points too. We almost could have been dinner for the killer pigs.”
Robbie stopped the jeep. “Henry? Listen to us . . . killer pigs?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Binghamton, Alabama
Frank could hear the eruption of laughter echoing in the darkness of the sector of base where only he used to live. The laughter drew closer as he rounded the bend to his home that evening. He saw them sitting in a group as he walked down the sidewalk. There were eight of them, all men. Frank gave a ‘hello’ glance only as he walked by the group gathered on the lawn.
“Colonel Slagel.” Leonard Mason, a peace ambassador, stood from his lawn chair. “Would you care to join us in a drink this evening?”
Frank stopped walking and turned back to the men. “Thank you very much for the invitation, but revelry is at zero five hundred and I’d like to get to bed. Some other time perhaps.”
“Perhaps,” Leonard said. “I look forward to seeing how things run here tomorrow.”
“I uh . . . look forward to showing you. Goodnight.” Frank nodded once and moved on. He wanted to look back, He felt their stares as he walked away. He knew they watched him because they had stopped talking. The eight new arrivals had spent so much of their time getting situated that what was happening on base was secondary. But Frank knew it wouldn’t be that way for long. For as much as they probably wanted to learn about him, that was how much Frank wanted to find out about them, especially the abundance of lab equipment he saw them move into the one building and the six scientist team that unloaded it. Something was up with that. They were moving too much in too fast for something big not to be happening soon.
^^^^
Beginnings, Montana
Joe gasped in that after-swig of his moonshine and set down the glass, shifting his eyes to Dean. “You got to be shitting me. You believe this shit about killer pigs.”
“Yes.” Dean nodded. “Only they aren’t anything new. Maybe it’s a pack of wild boars. They’re carnivorous. They’re predators and they move fast.”
Joe lofted his hand and looked to Robbie. “There you have it. You guys were semi -right. Now, what’s the chances of them coming in?”
“Down the cliff?” Dean fluttered his lips in sarcasm. “Slim to none. The fall will kill them.”
“Good.” Joe grabbed the bottle and poured another glass. “Can you get me some tranquilizers, Dean?”
“For the gun?” Dean asked. “Sure. I can have it ready in the morning. Are you going after them? They make a good meal.”
“What is it with you and the meat product around here?” Joe questioned. “No. I just want to arm security when they start making rounds up there. I don’t want to kill them. Christ, if we have meat running around up there, we might as well capture it if we see it, right.”
Robbie made a loud buzzing sound. “Wrong. My men won’t go up there.”
“Sure they will,” Joe said. “To be on the safe side, I want morning, noon, and night rounds up there. They can take a Jeep, look at the field, turn around, and come back. They can also shoot a boar if they see one.”
“They’ll never do it,” Robbie disagreed.
“They’ll do it,” Joe said with certainty. “I talked to the Neville committee. You’re gonna end up with volunteers. It’s a ten Neville point bonus for each round made up there.”
“Fuck. I’ll do it myself,” Robbie said.
“See what I mean?” Joe held out his hand. “Volunteers.” He turned his wrist over and checked out his watch. “Where in the hell is Henry?”
Robbie answered, “Getting ready. Tell Dean about Rev. Bob. I uh . . . I see Jess and I want to talk to him.”
Joe snickered. “You go on.”
Dean wat
ched Robbie stop at the end of the bar to get his drink. “What’s going on with Rev. Bob? What did Maura find out.”
“A lot.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, but she isn’t talking. She said the Book of Matthew preaches trust and she can’t break Rev. Bob’s trust.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope.” Joe sipped his drink. “She did tell me that Rev. Bob changed his name. He even showed her a legal document.”
“Did he tell her why?” Dean asked.
“Oh sure he did” Joe answered.
“But she’s not talking,” Dean stated.
“Nope. And . . .” Joe watched Robbie move to Jess. “I’m uh gonna go get entertained and eavesdrop. I’ll be right back.”
Dean was confused by Joe’s remark and especially by Joe grabbing his drink, getting up, and walking across the social hall. He quietly and unnoticed sat at the table behind Robbie and Jess. Before Dean could figure out what was up with Joe, through the corner of his eye, Henry walk into the social hall. At first Dean thought the immediate feeling of tension that came in with Henry was his imagination, but he soon realized it wasn’t when he smiled and waved to Henry and Henry just glared, set down the knapsack he carried, and took a seat at a table.
“Hey Jess.” Robbie set down his drink, straddled a chair, and joined Jess, who sat alone.
“Hey, what’s . . .” Jess leaned to his side and peered behind Robbie. “Why is your father sitting alone. Joe!” Jess called him. “Did you wanna join us?”
Joe lifted his hand slightly. “No, no. I’m fine. You boys talk.”
Robbie inched the chair closer to the table. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“About?” Jess asked.
“I spoke to Trish this afternoon. She explained the whole entire thing to me.”
“Oh.” Jess stared down at his drink. “You’re mad.”
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 416