“Not true,” Randy said. “I lived my whole life knowing about them. We come across them when they attacked or invaded a city. It was a constant war.”
“But you lived civilized, right?” I asked.
“I believed so. Much more advanced than you are now,” Randy said. “If you wanted this information, you could have asked at any time.”
“You are a source of why they do what they do,” Beck said.
Randy shook his head. “I have to disagree. You’re saying that I come from an era hundreds of years from now. Four or five Sleeper generations from now. Right now they are in an infant stage.”
I saw Alex and Beck exchange glances.
We had loaded, not to engage as Beck put it, but to scout Sleeper packs. Information was coming from the West that the Sleepers were massing, almost moving to destinations together. We needed to see if it was the same in the East.
So far, the only Sleepers we had encountered prior were the Walmart Sleepers and the four that came close by the facility. However, they were gone now and Walmart was barren.
Where did they go?
“You guys had to have learned about them,” Alex said. “Studied them to fight them. Did you do any origins research on them? Other than The Doctrines?”
“No,” Randy shook his head. “The Doctrines were our guide.”
“Are you shitting me?” Alex said in disbelief. “You’re a scientist. What scientist relies on the word of a false prophet?”
‘Hey, now,” I said. “I never called myself a prophet.”
“Really?” Alex asked. “Because you certainly are trying to predict the future. Oh, wait, you did. You predicted a time traveler with curly brown hair, big guy, mind you, would come back at the edge of the Great Divide. Good job, Sonny.”
“We need Randy,” I said. “If we are to defeat the Sleepers, he knows about the wars. Where they failed, why they failed. He has that information, he just doesn’t realize it. I mean, when we left Cleveland we saw what… three? I would think there’d be a lot more in Cleveland.”
“The longer they’re around, the less likely they’ll go to concrete jungles,” Randy said.
“That’s odd,” Beck remarked. “They seem to migrate to activities they did before, like shop Walmart.”
Alex shook his head. “That’s just instinct, the shopping thing. When they massed before they attacked Grace, they were all in that small town.”
“Maybe we should be checking small towns,” I suggested. “But why mass? Why just wait?” I turned to Randy. “Is that the way they hit in the future, in massive waves?’
“Yes, they mass and then hit. So many we couldn’t fight them. They always sent someone in first, a smaller Sleeper, to slip in unnoticed. They shut us down, then the invasion is easier.”
Beck asked. “Shut you down?”
“Yes, the more buildings, the harder it is for them to pick up on us. The more electrical devices, the harder it is as well. They’d send someone in, shut down the grid, and it opened a doorway.”
I sat back. “I got the power up. They aren’t able to pick us up, that’s why they haven’t attacked.”
“Yet,” Randy said.
“So basically,” Alex stated, “we just need to find where they are massing.”
“Or wait until they mass,” Beck added. “Hit them in bunches, synchronized hits.”
“All that,” Randy said, “has been done. The Reckoning, the Cleansing. Mankind thrived for hundreds of years with minimal interference, until the Palers repopulated in the West. That’s when they came.”
“I thought you didn’t know the history?” Alex said curiously.
“It’s all in The Doctrines. I know enough to know they grew in numbers and intelligence, and the ones from my time aren’t always after us, they come in waves. Wipe out thousands of us in an instant.”
“Why didn’t you guys start fighting them again?” Beck asked.
“We fear them. They’re strong, smarter. We didn’t know how many there were. We were dealing with the virus still killing our young. We never controlled the Sleepers. They controlled us, we just didn’t know it. That’s when we realized they let us grow in population.”
“Let you?” I laughed. “Really? I mean, you say these things are smart, they have to know they are rendering man extinct. Unless they want man extinct.”
“They don’t want man to become instinct,” Randy responded. “It couldn’t be helped. It happened in Levi’s world, because they had exhausted us. The more time that passes, the more the evolve, the more their numbers grow. The more of them there are, the more of us they need.”
“To kill?” Beck asked.
Randy shook his head. “To eat. We face extinction because they are exhausting their food supply.”
Randy’s words brought silence to the truck for long moments.
“Well, that just sucks,” Alex said after a time. “Apparently everything we do right now just sets it up for them to harvest us later. Hell, I’m no Sleeper T-Bone.”
“Time to really look at The Doctrines,” I said. “Hopefully I did a good job writing and we figure out what we did and not do it now, or do it differently.”
“Cause and effect,” Randy said. “That’s where you focus. Everything you talk about doing, killing them all, hitting them all at once, like I said, it was done. It didn’t work. It looked like it did, but it was only a band aid. It wasn’t enough.”
Beck nodded in agreement. “Then we need a bigger plan, something that isn’t in those doctrines.” He slapped his hand on the steering wheel in frustration. “But what?”
29. MERA
Since when did we become a version of Ghostbusters? I was now the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper? Seriously?
It feels good, I just wish my mood was better. It’s a pregnancy thing. I was always a holy terror in my second trimester.
We were still doing communal style meals. I don’t like that. I want to have dinner with my family, not everyone. This isn’t the Army. But Jensen, our farm guy, said a few more days. That’s the last answer Alex gave me. We’ve been here nearly three weeks. It’s almost October. It still isn’t cold and that’s a good thing. It’s also a good thing that Alex and Sonny are such good hunters.
Javier is checking the multiple deer and rabbits they brought in, already gutted and cleaned, ready for consumption. We have electricity so we have a freezer, but Javier wants to make sure they are edible.
I hate deer meat.
Back to me being the gatekeeper.
We have thirty children and three teachers. Even the younger ones, like Phoenix and Keller go to school. But I can’t teach. Michael’s exact words were, “For as much as I love you, Mera, I think we need someone who cannot teach such a one-sided story.”
What was that supposed to mean? I guess my views are too strong.
No one wants me to cook; Patty and Lenore are very happy being subservient and dutiful. Plus, I don’t want to touch deer meat. It reminds me of human flesh for as lean as it is.
I tried to get work in our infirmary, but Javier said he wanted someone that would have a better bedside manner.
In Grace, it was different. Sonny and Alex were either keeping watch or helping with things around the community, and I took care of the babies and cooked for my huge family. But now, I can’t just sit around. I need to contribute, as Alex put it.
And really, as much as I missed Alex, why is he still leader? I thought Beck was. But apparently, Beck is a huge part of the military that still exists in this Godforsaken ransacked country.
Nope, Alex is the leader, and he still is calling out for survivors.
Where are we going to put them?
Sonny said we could take some of the trailers from the old FEMA disaster camp six miles off of Interstate 80. Cute little things, camper style, fit nice and neat, side by side. If we’re doing that, why don’t we just move to the FEMA camp?
Scratch that.
Gatekeeper. My job is to sit with a
soldier named Tony— we have the school hour shift— and wait for people to show up.
It confused me though, why all of a sudden are we getting soldiers from the West? Don’t they have work there? And to put a trained man like Tony on a post seemed like a waste.
Don’t get me wrong, people have shown up. Eight more from Grace arrived with the Army guys. And at least I get to sit in the cool booth by the gate. Of course, am I supposed to not let them in? My job description is vague. I think they just wanted to find me something to do instead of complaining.
Tony was a nice guy. He showed up in the convoy with Michael and Ed, another of the new faces I didn’t recognize. He was a good listener, agreed with a lot of what I said. Some of it made him ponder.
“Do you think they died? The Sleepers I mean?”
Tony nodded.
“A part of me thinks so too. It’s good that Beck and the others are doing scouting groups. Don’t you think?”
Again, Tony nodded.
“Yeah, at least they’re looking. I don’t think anyone is coming today. Have you been in the Army long?”
Tony looked at me and shook his head.
“Probably not, you can’t be much older than twenty-five.” I saw Michael walking our way. I peered down to my watch, it wasn’t even noon. “Must be lunch.”
“Hey, Mera,” Michael said and waved to Tony.
“Is it lunch time?” I asked.
“Yes, did you want to come eat? Take a break?”
“I’d love one. This waiting for nothing is hard work.” I turned to Tony. “I’m going to take a lunch now, do you mind?”
Tony nodded.
“Oh, okay then, I’ll stay.”
With a closed mouth smile, Michael reached out to Tony and pulled an ear bud from his ear, the wire of which ran down his back. “Tony, she’s going to lunch. Want food?’
“Yes, please, thanks,” Tony replied and replaced the ear bud.
“Oh my God, this whole time he had in earphones? How rude. I am telling Beck.’
Michael took my arm and started walking. “He had them in for two reasons. One, to listen to the radio chatter, to know what’s going on.”
“Oh, that’s makes sense.”
“The other reason is to block out you.”
I stopped walking. “That doesn’t—”
“Mera,” Michael said, looking directly at me, “don’t take this the wrong way but—”
“When you start a sentence like that I will.”
Michael breathed out heavily. “You have been quite a handful lately. Really, even the kids are getting tired of it.”
I understood that. I knew how I felt, almost on the edge of rage all the time.
“Is there something going on?” he asked.
“No. It’s just the hormones, I guess.” We started walking again.
“If that’s it then—”
“No. That’s not it. I have this child on my mind. I can’t… I’m scared to want it.”
“Why?”
“You know as well as I did, a third of the babies born in Grace were… they were fine until the end.”
“You’re afraid to love this child in case it’s an Ivory baby?”
“Yes.”
“Want my opinion?” Michael asked.
“Please.”
“I think you more worry about this child having Fetal Alcohol Syndrome than it being an Ivory baby.”
“I did drink a lot and all the time.”
“How are you doing with not drinking?”
“I’m not. I’m miserable and want a big old glass of bourbon. Javier said I can have two ounces of red wine a day and I save it for nighttime.”
“At least this pregnancy will get you on the wagon… sort of.”
“If this world was normal, yeah. But knowing every day I wake up that I can be Sleeper fodder, I’ll keep reaching for the bottle.”
Michael put his arm around my shoulder. “Maybe if we can change things you can stop waking up worried about being… what did you call it?”
“Fodder.”
“Good word.” He winked, and gave me a nudge.
I felt better momentarily, but I knew it wouldn’t last. The Sleepers were still out there, I felt them, sensed them, and we were behind fences like nothing more than a large flock of sheep waiting on the wolves.
30. SONNY
The Sleeper blockade was just a ploy. Who would have known they thought that much ahead or were that cunning? Although Beck insisted they operated in a pack mentality.
It was a little warm in the truck and Randy and I decided to ride in the bed for the remainder of the highway trip. Cleveland was a bust, and we had just made our run through the slew of Medina County small towns. Or rather, we tried to.
Close to our home, we saw what we believed was the beginning of a massing. They seemed drawn to the small town of Seville, like a dinner bell was ringing somewhere.
Even as we backtracked, the ones moving like drones didn’t follow us. They didn’t seem to even notice us. Alex, being familiar with the area, took us the back way. That was when Randy began his story and said we needed to talk to Levi. He was giving us ‘Paler’—as he called them— traits, when Beck hit the brakes.
My head clonked against the back of the truck’s cab. “What the hell?”
“Sleepers,” Randy said.
I peered over the cab of the truck to see eight Sleepers just standing in the road. Standing there like at a checkout line. We weren’t expecting them, after all, the others hadn’t noticed us. Maybe these didn’t get the memo.
I gripped my rifle then slid the little window open. “You gonna run them down?”
Alex said, “That’s what I just said.”
“I don’t know if the suspension in this truck can hold,” Beck replied. “That’s why I didn’t go off the road.”
“We can shoot them,” I suggested. “Really, there’s eight. Eight shots.”
“It would be more fun to run them down,” Alex said.
Beck shook his head. “Let’s shoot them.” He put the truck in park and grabbed his rifle.
I was ready. I leaned back to check my weapon when Randy shouted out, “Sonny!”
It happened so fast.
The hand gripped my shoulder, my body was pulled back, and just as I felt the teeth plunge deep into my shoulder, Randy lunged forward and with a fast downward motion of his rifle swung toward me.
I thought for that split second, not only was I food, but I was a target. Randy was going to kill me.
The Sleeper released me when Randy smashed him, then Randy flung me out of the way, causing my head to smash against the truck.
I heard the shot from Randy’s weapon, my ears rang, and my eyes rolled. Back against the window of the cab, I breathed rapidly. Pain shot through my shoulder, along with my head, and in my disorientation of the moment, three more leapt into the bed of the truck.
I was useless. I didn’t even know I had dropped my rifle.
Randy turned, kicked out his leg, nailing a Sleeper in the face, and quickly shot him. Another pounced on me. I was pinned, bleeding, and trying my hardest to fight the Sleeper. Gunshots rang out around me, but I was in my own lockdown battle.
That was it. I believed I was dead or was soon going to be. The Sleeper was stronger than me and his face was close to mine. Mouth snapping, his breath reeked of rotten eggs.
I would have been done; the others were too engaged in the ambush.
My arms weakened and as the saliva from the Sleeper dripped to my face, I heard Alex say, “Damn it, Sonny. Come on.”
Bang.
If my ears didn’t ring before, they certainly did at that moment. Alex extended a revolver out of the cab window and blasted the Sleeper. A headshot at close range, to both me and the Sleeper.
Randy lifted the Sleeper and hoisted him over the side of the truck. I saw his mouth moving, but what he said, I don’t know. My hearing was gone, replaced with this painful buzz. Randy hoisted me
to a sitting position, extended out his arm, and hit the roof of the cab.
His face was red and overheated, his mouth moved and it looked like he was yelling “Go!” Then Randy braced me, the truck jolted forward, and we moved away quickly.
I glanced out watching the massive amount of Sleepers attempt to run after us. They couldn’t catch us.
After putting something over my wound and holding it there, Randy looked at me. His lips moved, but I honestly couldn’t hear him.
I don’t know what he was saying, but I just held up my hand. “I’m fine,” I said.
Truth is, I didn’t know if I was fine. I kept conscious for a while in that truck, Randy applying pressure to my wound.
Then I passed out.
31. MERA
I for one was not falling into the ‘talk trap’ again. Tony wore those earphones and I just didn’t say anything. I was a bit angry and probably immature about it. I ate the two cookies right in front of him. But something was up and it happened so fast.
Tony snatched the earphones from his hears, swung out a point as he ordered me to “ready the gate.” Then he raced into the booth and grabbed the phone.
“What happened?”
“Gate.” Tony dialed. “Pick up. Pick up. Pick… Levi, hey, prep. We have an injured coming in. TS four point five with a GCS of eight. Thanks.” He hung up.
“What is TS GCS?” I asked, slightly breathless. It dawned on me that Beck, Alex, Sonny and Randy were out. I reached for the gate and saw the truck hightailing it our way.
“Now!” Tony yelled, swinging out his side of the gate.
Quickly, I did the same.
Who was hurt? Injury, some scoring system? Apparently it wasn’t Alex that was hurt, because as a former paramedic he would use score systems and codes.
The truck sped by us, but I was able to see Beck and Randy in the front and as it passed us, I saw Alex in the back of the truck with a very bloody Sonny.
I closed my eyes.
We did this. It happened, one life for another.
We brought Beck back and Alex died. We brought Alex back and now Sonny would die.
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