No it was something else. Something else summoning the Sleepers.
Or… someone else.
I said my goodnights and passed around kisses, fully intending to see them all in the morning before I left. That was before I took my walk.
Trying to stay awake, even with my adrenaline pumping, I walked out to check on things. We had guards on the back wall, on the gate, and I cut through the Reflection Area and headed toward the woods.
I knew Stan was up on the hill with another man, watching the Sleepers in case they moved. I signaled with a whistle then whispered it was me as I made my approach.
“What the hell, Alex?” Stan asked. “It’s four in the morning.”
“I know. I just wanted to check on things.”
“They haven’t moved our way, just moving about the town. But it’s hard to see.”
Stan was right. It just looked black out there. Moving shadows lit only a little by the moon.
Even though it was four in the morning, to me it felt like night. And the quiet of the darkness magnified sounds, making them clear and more audible. The moans and groans of the Sleepers, like always, meshed together as a single low hum noise. It carried to us and so did something else. A sound that flowed over the noise of the Sleepers, shot through my being, and broke my heart.
Sobbing.
Jessie.
I spun to Stan. “Do you hear that? Do you hear the crying?”
“Yeah, it’s been going on for a little bit.”
Enraged, I grabbed him and shook him. “Why didn't you call? Why didn't you tell me?”
“Alex, I… I thought we were just watching that we weren’t—”
“Give me your weapons.”
“What?”
Before he could say anything else, I took the rifle from his hand and grabbed his side arm. “Ammo.”
“I need—”
“Ammo!” I growled.
Nervously, Stan handed me two clips. “Tell Beck I left. I had to.”
“Alex, where are you going?”
“I’m following the sound.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“I don’t care.”
And with that, I took the first jump down the grade and headed toward the town of Sleepers.
Keep making noise, Jessie. Keep crying, I beckoned in my mind as I ran as fast as I could. I’m coming.
34.
Mera Stevens
There was absolutely no air in my lungs when I sprang to a full sitting position in that reclining chair. I heaved in, fully convinced I wasn’t going to be able to breathe. Because my esophagus closed and tightened, it was hard to inhale. I did finally. I wasn’t dreaming; by the time on the wall clock, I hadn’t been asleep long. I’d merely dozed off in the chair.
As the grogginess left me, everything else started to register.
The noise outside the house. Men’s voices. Bonnie was saying something.
The door opened and she walked in saying, “No, Beck, I’ll ask her myself.”
I stood from the chair and didn’t even utter a greeting.
“Mera, what is going on? Please. Please tell me.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, I just didn’t know how. In addition, it didn’t even dawn on me that she didn’t know.
Beck walked in and my eyes shifted to him then back to Bonnie.
She said, “Men are out there moving and armed. The bus is behind your house. Where is Jessie?”
“They took her,” I squeaked out painfully.
“Who?” Bonnie asked.
“The Sleepers. She was in the Reflection Area and they got her. They took her.”
Bonnie didn’t react as I expected. A tough woman, the ‘Cowgirl’ as Alex called her, folded. Her hand went to her mouth and she dropped right there to her knees on the floor, immediately sobbing.
“Oh my God, not Jessie. Not my Jessie!”
I walked over to her and laid my hand on her back.
“Mera, tell me we’re getting her. She’s all I look forward to in this world.” Bonnie gazed up at me.
“They’re going in shortly.”
Beck corrected, “Actually, now.”
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“Michael is leaving to go in. Alex… Alex already left.”
I gasped. “Why? Why early?”
Beck pursed his lips, swallowed, and his eyes glossed over. “He heard Jessie crying.”
Instinctively, with pain, I closed my eyes. “I need to see Michael before he goes. I want to get the boys. They need to see him before he leaves just in case.” I turned toward the hall.
“They aren’t there,” Danny said, entering the room.
“Where are they?” I asked.
Danny pointed backwards. “On the bus. Waiting.”
“Did you put them there?”
Danny shook his head. “They went on their own. I asked them why and Phoenix said ‘leaving soon.’”
Another spin of my body and I faced Beck. “Should we leave them there?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. Leave them,” Beck said. “Danny, I want you to throw supplies in that bus as if we are leaving, okay? Make sure we have first aid, my field bag. Be ready. Be prepared, and be near that door. Get the other kids; have them near the bus at all times. Bonnie, too.”
Bonnie looked at Beck. “We’re evacuating Grace?”
“Yes. Just as a precaution, we should prep the two trailers we have and any and all vehicles. Get everyone ready to go.”
Bonnie slowly stood. “Beck, we’re surrounded by a huge wall. How many will make it over, really?”
“They don’t need to make it over. They could storm the gate.”
She gasped. “Are there that many out there?”
Beck said nothing; he just turned and walked out, telling Danny to ‘get on it’.
“Mera?” Bonnie questioned. “Are there that many?”
“More than I would ever believe.”
In a state of shock, Bonnie backed up. “I’ll go gather everyone and pack some things.”
After I said what needed to be said to Michael, I, too, would go pack. Get things ready. Not because of all the Sleepers, not because Beck said so, but because two very special and gifted babies were waiting to leave. If they were on that bus of their own accord, then something was going to happen. Something big.
35.
Alex Sans
The second the infection entered me I knew there was no turning back. No turning it back. I felt it go in. There didn’t even appear to be much in the syringe, yet it felt like a never ending deliverance. It wasn’t like getting a tetanus shot; there was no burning, no immediate painful cramping knot in the muscle. It was cold. Ice cold. I felt it move through every millimeter of my body; I even felt it hit my heart.
I knew I was turning. Nothing about my manner of thinking was different, my senses were the same, and I felt emotion, sadness, not rage. I didn’t feel like ripping someone’s throat out. I was normal except for my blood felt as if it was running cold.
The more my adrenaline pumped the more I felt my blood move through my entire circulatory system.
My heart failed to beat properly. I noticed that right away when I ran into town. That was only three hours post injection. According to Levi, the pheromones hadn’t kicked in, but it was a chance I had to take.
Jessie was crying. No... she was sobbing. Her high-pitched sounds of sadness conveyed no less than if she was screaming, ‘Help me!’
I didn’t get winded. I wondered if it was my imagination, but I ran without tiring. My heart felt as if it wanted to beat faster. I could hear Jessie all the way there, until I got to town.
Then it stopped. It was my only trail to Jessie, and without it, especially in the dark, I couldn’t track her. I hoped and prayed she’d only cried herself to sleep and nothing worse had happened.
I positioned myself at a tiny store just on the outskirts of town, Windmans Stop-n-Go. The store windows had been busted out, t
he shelves were empty, and cans spread across the lot.
The entire place had been looted, and I guessed it was the Sleepers. They worked on instinct to eat, and I heard that instinct.
Slurping, sloshing.
As the light of dawn crept upon the town and I peeked from the confines and protection of Windmans and watched the Sleepers dine on deer and a horse, as well. The horse was still partially alive as they pulled at his flesh. He wouldn’t be for long.
The deer… well, there was very little left of it. The Sleepers were covered in animal blood, guts dripping from their mouths and across their fingertips. I was engrossed in watching when a hand to my shoulder nearly caused me to jump from my skin.
“What the hell, Alex?” Michael whispered. “What were you thinking?”
“I heard her crying, Mike. I had to come.”
“And you made it no further than if you’d waited.” He shoved a headset radio to me. “Put the earpiece in your ear so they don’t hear. Keep the microphone close to your mouth.”
I adjusted the headset on me.
Michael hitched his backpack higher on his shoulder. “I have to go to the center of town. I’ll radio you if I see her. I’m channel seven. Beck is monitoring. After I plant these devices, we’ll go to the rooftop to look. Stay clear of them. They’ll tear you apart.”
“No, they won’t.”
Michael just looked at me. “Why would you say that?”
He didn’t know. “I’m infected.”
“With?”
“The Sleeper virus.”
Michael’s eyes widened. “Were you bitten? You need to run back and—”
“No, Padre. I was infected on purpose. Infected with a future strain of the virus in hopes that it wouldn’t turn me into a monster. I’m six hours post injection now. I should be able to walk among them like you.”
“Alex Sans,” Michael said sadly, “I thought you were a smart man.”
“I am. That’s why I thought of this to help you.”
“Where did they get the future strain? Did Levi bring it?”
“No. You did.”
Michael blinked in shock.
“Hate to break it to you, Padre. You aren’t the savior. Your blood carries the evolved strain of the virus from the future. Anything you care to own up to?”
Michael shook his head. “I don’t believe that. I grew up here. You know that. I was a doorstep baby.”
“Well, we know where you came from or, rather, when.”
“We’ll discuss this later,” Michael said. “Right now we need to find Jessie, set these explosives, get out, and get you help. Understand?”
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
Michael didn’t move.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Give me a second. I’m praying.” Michael held up a finger. “We’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
“Amen to that, Padre. Amen to that.”
* * *
Michael walked out into the throngs of Sleepers, and they parted like the Red Sea—no pun intended— toward his holy man status. They watched him walk; it was freakish. I was actually scared for Michael. A part of me hoped at the end of the parting that Jessie would be standing there.
She wasn’t.
Michael walked through them, slowly, staring ahead. He disappeared into the first building, giving me instructions in my ear to stay put, not to test the serum, just in case. I guess he wanted to plant the explosives in case I stepped onto the street and was immediately attacked.
Explosive one set at the library. Ten minutes later, explosive two was set.
I was getting antsy; I started not to feel well. I knew I was sweating, and it wasn’t hot. Something was going on with me.
I knew where the third explosive was going to be set. When they went off the entire town would blow and with it, the Sleepers.
“Wait for me, Alex. I just set the final one. On my way back.”
It was defeating my whole purpose just to stand there. I had infected myself on purpose purely to get Jessie, I had gone into the town, and I was doing nothing but monitoring his progress.
It was time. Besides, when I looked out, the Sleepers weren’t parting. Why weren’t they parting if Michael was walking back down the street?
Screw it.
I stepped forward, away from the protection of Windmans, and into the street where the throngs of Sleepers meandered. They didn’t move. It was frightening, because I wasn’t sure whether I’d be noticed and attacked or if I blended in. My hand was on my pistol, just in case. Not that a pistol would do much. I was severely outnumbered.
Staying close to the buildings in case I had to dart inside, I inched down the street through the Sleepers. They stunk horribly. They smelled sour, rotting from the food they digested. Shit, piss, every smell you could imagine permeated the street. It took everything I had not to vomit.
“Alex, where are you?” Michael said in my radio. “I’m cornered. They’re staring at me.”
I hated to speak. I was really close to them. A male Sleeper brushed by me, his body bumping into mine. Right now I was silent, but if I made a noise ...
“Alex.”
“Walking down the main street among them,” I whispered.
A Sleeper stopped. He turned and looked at me.
Fuck.
I looked beyond him, hoping not to make eye contact, keeping him in my peripheral vision. It worked. He moved over, and when he did, my heart sunk. It would have pounded faster had it not been inhibited. But there she was.
Fifteen feet away from me. Fifteen feet. Jessie’s head hung low, hair flung over her face, arms dangled at her side and she just stood there. He face was scratched and bloody and her thin, white, flowered summer dress was in shreds across her half-nude body. Sleepers bumped into her, moving her around, and she didn’t respond. She was a ping-pong ball. But at that second, she was something else.
A Sleeper. Not just a Jessie Sleeper of a little girl trapped in an adult body, but she had turned. At least I thought she had. I wanted to cry; it broke my heart. How did that happen? How? Scientifically was that even possible? Sleepers didn’t hurt Sleepers.
Or did they?
In my ear, via the radio, an answer was given. Michael called out my name; it was a painful call, followed by, “They got me.”
What? What? No!
I was standing in the middle of them, surrounded by thousands on every side. Where was Michael?
Crack. Hiss. The radio.
“Alex, what’s going on?” Beck asked.
I was staring at Jessie, my heart broken. How could I tell Beck? How could I tell Mera I failed? That I’d failed them, failed Jessie.
I backed up, hitting against a building.
“Alex, we can set the explosives off from this end. You need to hurry and go.”
I heaved out a breath. I was still safe, still not noticed. I lowered the radio and dropped it to the step of the store before me. I wasn’t going anywhere. Michael was gone or trapped, Jessie had turned. I would turn as well.
No, I was at the finish line. I’d stay with Jessie. Whether I stayed with my conscience intact or became one of them, I’d stay with her. Overwrought with emotion, I internally folded, and, hands to my face, still holding my pistol, I slid down against the building.
Shoulders bouncing, knees brought up, everything rained from inside of me. There I was, the broken, crying man in the middle of the street and not a Sleeper took notice. No one noticed. Except…
“Alex!”
Jessie.
I heard her cry out my name with relief and enthusiasm, screaming it from the top of her lungs as if my name were her saving grace.
“Alex!”
I jumped to my feet and every ounce of breath escaped me. She hadn’t turned. Jessie was just in a state of survival-shock. Seeing me had snapped her out of it.
“Alex! Alex!” Her frail arms extended, she pushed through the Sleepers to reach me, calling my name over
and over.
“Jessie. Oh, God, Jessie.” I pushed through as well. “I’m here. I’m here.”
She seemed a mile away when she was only a few feet. Against the masses of Sleepers I reached between their bodies. “I’m here, Jessie!” I shouted. “I’m here, baby.” Finally, fingers touched hers. I saw the look in her eyes. She knew it. I had her. I gripped on to her wrist, yanked her to me, and into my arms.
Jessie lunged at me with gratefulness, her arms clinging as tight to my neck as my arms held to her body. “Alex, help me. Mommy.”
“I’ll take you to Mommy, baby. I have you.”
She cried in my ear, and her body shook. “Thank you, Alex. Safe now?”
“Safe now,” I sighed. “Safe now.”
With Jessie in my arms, I turned. My plan was simple: I had her; we’d go.
But at that second, we were discovered. I had stepped from the norm of the Sleepers’ behaviors. My pheromones didn’t give me away; my reactions did.
They were all around us, staring at me with Jessie in my grip.
“Alex, I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. I’m getting you out of here.”
I meant it. I really meant it. All I had to do was push through. Most of the Sleepers were behind us. Push through. Clear a path. Run.
“Hold tight,” I told her.
Still holding my pistol, I raised my hand, extended the gun outward and from left to right I shot at the Sleepers, unloading the entire clip. Even if they weren’t hit by a deadly shot, they fell.
Jessie screamed; I cleared a path.
The first Sleeper lunged at me and I swung out my pistol, hitting him. Dropping the gun, I swept Jessie into my arms and as I did I felt the first blow.
A painful blow to my lower back. Then another and another. It arched my spine and I stumbled. I held firm to Jessie.
Hands reached for me. I felt them grab for my back, my shirt, my skin.
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