Sleepers 2

by Jacqueline Druga

They, not us, seemed to be the focus of the attack,

  With the van surrounded by Sleepers, Bonnie did something I could only call a brilliant move. She couldn’t go forward or backward, so she jerked the wheel and crashed full speed through the window of the Fargo First National Bank. The van barricaded the window.

  Beck looked like a football player as he fought his way through the Sleepers. He swung out, hitting Sleepers with his rifle, quickly scaling the van and hoisting himself to the bank sign. I could only guess he was headed for the roof.

  Danny peeled in reverse and spun the car around.

  “We can’t leave them!” I cried. “We have to do something.”

  “We will. We are.”

  Danny drove quickly, recklessly. I kept looking behind us, thinking he was trying to get the Sleepers to follow us, but there were too many, they had everyone else to worry about. We were unnoticed.

  At the end of the street, he made a turn and then another. We headed back to town, this time down a small back street that was more of an alley. There wasn’t a Sleeper insight.

  He pulled the car up to the back of the bank, as close as he could.

  “Get in the driver’s seat and get ready to go, Mom. Turn the car around quietly. If this back door is open, we are piling everyone in.”

  I nodded, holding Phoenix close. Jessie was crying, calling Beck’s name. “Be careful,” I told Danny.

  Danny grabbed his rifle and stepped out. With the baby in my arms, I climbed in between the two seats, slid into the driver’s seat, and quietly shut the door.

  Danny peeked inside the bank. The back door was indeed open.

  Please, please, I begged in my mind, please don’t let there be Sleepers in there.

  Gun shots rang out, all I could do was pray.

  I turned the car and reached to open the passenger door. I kept checking for Sleepers. Sooner or later they were bound to show up.

  The bank door burst open and out ran Bonnie with two kids, then Danny carrying two and Jillian leading three.

  “Oh, thank God!” I gasped as Bonnie tossed in kids.

  She grabbed them from Danny, hoisting them inside. “Pack it in, sit on each other, I don’t give a shit. But stay down,” Bonnie ordered.

  I was grateful it wasn’t a tiny car. Two more kids got up front, one sat on the floor, and Danny held one on his lap.

  The stampede of Sleepers was coming down the alley from behind us. There were so many that they didn’t all fit in my side view mirror. “Jillian, get in! Sit on Bonnie’s lap!”

  She shut the door.

  “Jillian!”

  She walked to the passenger window and looked in at me. “Drive. Go.”

  “Get in. We can fit you. Come on!” “No, Mera. It’s my time. They’ll not follow if I stay. Sleeper bait, remember? Go.” She winked, smiled bravely, and then walked toward the Sleepers.

  “Go, Mom!”

  “Hit it, Mera!” Bonnie yelled.

  “Thank you, Jillian,” I whispered and hit the gas. I planted my lips to Phoenix’s head and I drove that clear and straight shot out of town.

  I looked in the mirror again. My heart sank. I couldn’t see Jillian.

  I heard Bonnie whimper, but the children were quiet. Not crying. Not moving. Not saying anything.

  We were out of there. We were safe. But we weren’t running. I knew what I had to do to help the others.

  40. ALEX SANS

  The last I saw of Randy Briggs was his hand.

  Arm raised high, almost in victory, it stayed that way, despite the fact that his entire body was overtaken by Sleepers.

  His sacrifice allowed Michael to crawl back into the car and open a window of opportunity for me. I left my post, forgot about shooting, forgot about everything when I saw those three Sleepers with Marissa.

  What made it worse for me was that she called my name.

  “Alex! Alex Sans, help me!”

  Oh God.

  I was failing her.

  It took only a few seconds to jump from the truck and run to her, but it felt as if I were running in slow motion.

  Hold on, Marissa. Hold on.

  the Sleepers pulled and tugged at her. She screamed and cried, tearful calls of pain.

  I shot one, slammed another, and then shot the third.

  I didn’t look, I couldn’t look, my only focus was getting Marissa out of there.

  The poor little thing lay on the ground, her body convulsing as I swept her into my arms and took a quick look around.

  The police station.

  Marissa in my hold, my weapon at the ready, I ran to the station and bolted inside.

  Right into a Sleeper.

  I shot him without a second’s thought and shifted my eyes to the hallway and the sign that read “Holding Cells”.

  “Hold on, baby, hold on,” I told Marissa. Racing down the hall, I spotted a first aid kit on the wall. I hurriedly opened the box and grabbed everything I could hold. I heard the crash of the front doors and the sounds of Sleepers barreling in after us.

  I prayed that I could get us somewhere safe.

  Turning the bend, I spotted the three holding cells. They were old fashioned but would serve their purpose.

  How we’d get out wasn’t a question on my mind, but I knew inside, we’d be safe.

  Only one was empty. With a barrage of Sleepers on my heels, first aid items falling from my hands, I dove into that cell and slammed the door shut.

  It clicked and locked.

  Sleepers slammed against the cell, arms reaching through trying to get us. I backed up until I hit the wall and then I slid down.

  I felt it.

  The blood.

  So much of it.

  I didn’t want to look, but I had to. I could see Marissa’s rib cage. The flesh had been torn from it, and in the tug of war for her body, they had ripped her right arm entirely from her body.

  She had lost so much blood.

  There weren’t enough bandages in my hands to help her, to save her. How much pain she must be feeling, how scared she was, and I had failed to reach her in time.

  I tossed the gauze in defeat and dropped the weapon, focusing only on holding her.

  Reaching for the blanket on the cot, I held it to her body to try to slow the bleeding.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I told her, trying to be strong, but it took everything I had not to break down. I rocked her back and forth. There was nothing I could do. Nothing.

  I wanted to scream. I felt my throat tense up, and it was strangling me. A swirl of horrendous emotion hit me, and it was sheer agony.

  Marissa’s eyes opened. “Thank you, Alex, for saving me.”

  “I’m sorry, baby,” I told her, my hand stroking her face. “I’m sorry they did this to you. I’m sorry this happened. I am …”

  “ It’s okay... it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  I lowered my head.

  “Are you crying, Alex Sans?”

  “I am.” A weak sob emerged from me.

  “That’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.”

  Her words made me cry harder.

  “You saved me.”

  I shook my head.

  “You did. I’m not out there, I’m with you.”

  I didn’t think I even had the ability to talk.

  "Alex, could you hold me tight? Real tight. No one has ever held me tight. I’m scared.”

  Everything I had heaved out in a breath as I brought Marissa to my chest, flush against me, my arms held tight, and my lips planted to her head. “I have you.”

  “I feel your heart,” she said. “I’m not scared anymore. Thank you, Alex Sans.”

  “Thank you.”

  In that cell, Sleepers loud, reaching, screaming, grabbing, it didn’t matter. Marissa was the only thing that mattered.

  I felt her fingers hold tightly to my arm. Clawing away as if trying for one more touch.

  She said nothing else.

  I rocked her with comfort, with lov
e.

  Her fingers clenched, released, clenched and then with a single sighing breath, her arm dropped.

  Marissa was gone.

  She died in my arms.

  I lost it.

  For the world ending, for everything that had happened, I lost it all right there in that cell, my back against the wall and that little girl in my arms.

  I brought her close to me, holding her with my arms, legs, and soul.

  My heart broke in a million pieces, shattered in an irreparable nature.

  The pain of the heartbreak was more than I could bear.

  On that floor, Marissa’s lifeless body in my arms, I didn’t just cry, I sobbed. From the deepest depths of my soul, I sobbed.

  41. MERA STEVENS

  We needed only to make it as far as the auto parts store and we were in the clear.

  The second we pulled over, Danny checked for Sleepers and the kids unloaded, racing into the store.

  I pulled out the radio and placed a call to the ARC for help. I knew they had choppers in the area, and knew they wanted Phoenix. I told them that I had escaped the town and that the baby was still there. The last I saw him, one of our women was trying to save him.

  “I know you hear me,” I said into the mic. “I know you’ve been following. Help us.”

  I described Jillian.

  I wasn’t even done with the radio call when the first helicopter swooped into town. Within minutes more showed up. They rained fire upon the town. Soldiers in gas masks leapt from the choppers as if engaging in ground battle.

  We could see smoke, hear the fighting.

  None of us knew the fate of anyone other than Jillian. Beck, Alex, Sonny, Randy, Michael, the other kids…we didn’t know.

  We stood listening to the gunfire, steady and strong, then it slowed down.

  It was like popping corn. Every shot was fired, slowing down until every kernel was popped.

  Then a call came over the radio. “Ma’am, how many of your people were in town?”

  I had to do a count, telling them that, including Phoenix, there were twelve.

  They relayed that the town was safe, requested us to go there, and said they looked for our people.

  Looked for our people.

  None of that was good.

  I thought about leaving Bonnie, Jessie and the kids behind, but then I thought about a Sleeper attack. No, we’d be safer if we walked back to town together.

  But I didn’t want them to see Phoenix.

  I couldn’t leave him at the auto parts store, and I couldn’t allow the ARC people to see him.

  Emptying Beck’s camouflage backpack, I placed Phoenix inside, left the zipper open and carried it close to my chest.

  I held my daughter’s hand, my son walked ahead of us with Bonnie. The children remained by me.

  I didn’t know what the officials from the ARC would do once they saw the children up close and knew that they were real. I was scared that they would take them.

  Just about in town, the smell of bodies and gunfire pummeled us. People in biohazard suits, soldiers in gasmasks moved bodies into a pile.

  It was, without a doubt, a war zone.

  I didn’t realize how many Sleepers there were until I watched them dragging out the bodies. Out of the scope of vision of the ARC, I spotted him.

  Beck.

  I breathed out heavily when I saw he was alive, but clearly something was wrong. He sat near the side of the building, hidden back against the wall, looking totally exasperated.

  “Keep it slow, I have an idea about Phoenix,” I told Danny.

  “Is Beck okay?”

  “I think so. I’ll be right back.” I hurried to Beck with the backpack in my arms. I didn’t say anything. I waited until he looked up.

  “We lost,” he said. “This was a bad one. I don’t know who lived, who died.” He closed his eyes, stood and grabbed on to me. “Just so damn glad you’re alive.” His lips pressed to my head, and I stopped him. “What’s wrong?”

  “I had to call for help. I radioed the ARC.”

  “Is that why they came?”

  “I told them Phoenix was here in town with Jillian. I described her, they’ll find her. They’ll think—”

  Beck finished my sentence. “Phoenix was killed.”

  With a smile, I nodded. “Yeah. So here…” I handed him the backpack. “The most precious cargo you will ever carry. Wait until they are occupied, take him, and go to the auto parts store.”

  “Why won’t you take him?”

  “They asked for me. I’m a great diversion right now.”

  “You’re a great everything right now.” Beck gently took the bag and embraced me. “I have this. No worries.”

  I reached up to his face. “You are wonderful. I’m so proud to have you with me.”

  Beck, emotional, nodded. “Ditto. Let’s finish this up and head to our new home. Our new life.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” I pressed my hand firmly to his cheek, stood on my tiptoes, kissed him and slid my hand from his face. I left him against the side of the building with Phoenix.

  Hurriedly, I joined the others in the group and grabbed Jessie’s hand as we neared the bank where we left the van.

  The first person I saw in the midst of it all was Sonny. He was speaking to a soldier. He turned and saw me. Despite that fact that I was overwhelmed that he was alive, Sonny wasn’t smiling. I then noticed through the maze of numerous ARC people… there was Michael.

  He was alive, too. He looked awful, he had taken a beating. With him were three children. More joy.. But…

  Three.

  There’d been five children with them.

  That was when it hit me. The nightmare. My hand slipped from Jessie’s grip, and I turned slowly, looking around. A buzz filled my ears, and things began to spin. On the ground by the SUV was a tarp covered body.

  Sleepers weren’t covered with tarps, they were piled into mounds.

  This body was small. We’d lost another child. My hand shot to my mouth as my chest filled with emotions and then beyond that body I saw another.

  “Oh God,” I gasped and ran that way.

  “Mom!” Danny called, grabbing my arm, but I shook it off and continued my run.

  I bent down to the tarp, and as I did, Michael approached.

  “Mera, please just… just don’t. Okay?” Michael said. “The kids don’t need to see.”

  Sonny stood over us. “The Sleepers got him pretty bad.”

  Danny hollered, “Who is it?”

  I lifted the blanket and saw the curly brown hair. Despite the fact that it was caked with blood, I knew who it was. I looked over my shoulder to Danny. “Randy.”

  Danny’s head went back, and his eyes closed.

  I lowered my head to Randy, grabbing onto him through the blanket. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for all you have done for us. I’m sorry.” I felt the first of many tears roll down my face.

  Beck was right.

  We had lost.

  I was just about to ask about Alex when I saw him emerge from the police station. I was hoping against hope that he would emerge with the last child, and he did. Unfortunately, that child, covered by a blanket, was in the arms of an ARC soldier who walked beside Alex.

  I looked at the faces of the remaining children. I knew which children we lost. David and Marissa. And by the look on Alex’s face, his little buddy was the body that came from the station.

  I raced to Alex. He was saturated with blood and looked to be in shock. Without words, I embraced him, and his arms wrapped tightly around me.

  “I tried, Mera,” he wept.

  “I know you did.”

  “She died in my arms.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  With a hard sniff and breath, he broke the embrace. “Beck?” His eyes shifted about looking. “Phoenix?”

  I moved back into his hold to whisper. “I told the ARC that Phoenix was here in town. Beck has him now.”

  A
lex nodded.

  “Ma’am?” a voice, sounding as if it came through a respirator, called out.

  I turned. He wore a biohazard suit, and he handed me the Moses basket. “The child is okay for now. None of our experts believes he’ll live much longer like this.”

  I reached inside the basket and grabbed Keller.

  He was so tiny, and he squirmed as if he knew I was holding him. I was willing to bet not one soul had touched in him days.

  “May I?” Alex asked, extending his hands to hold Keller.

  I handed him over. Alex needed to hold that baby.

  “Hey, little one,” Alex cooed softly, cradling the child. “I promise, from this moment forward, I won’t let you down. Ever.”

  “Ma’am,” biohazard guy said again, “my name is Doctor Javier. Our men located the woman you described with the flowered dress.” He shook his head. “She didn’t make it.”

  Alex pulled Keller tightly to him. I tried to show some sort of shock.

  “The Phoenix child wasn’t there,” he said. “We’ll keep looking. Hopefully, since he carries the infection they won’t hurt—”

  He stopped speaking when, in the distance, a younger male voice called out, “Sarge, straggling Sleeper.”

  I looked over my shoulder. They were somewhere behind me, and the Sergeant replied, “Take it out.”

  It didn’t seem like a big deal, and I returned to looking at Javier.

  But only briefly.

  The young soldier shouted. “He’s big one, too.”

  And my heart sank.

  No.

  No!

  I spun around. I looked out, then up, saw the soldier aiming. And I raced forward, shouting, “No! Don’t!”

  The shot rang out.

  And I watched the shot hit… Beck.

  I heard Danny scream, then Jessie, and I kept running.

  To me, it appeared that Beck fell in slow motion. Blood splattered out of his back as if he’d been hit with a red water balloon. His body arched, one arm went out, and after a few struggling steps, he fell down to his knees and then forward, landing on his side.

  “No!”

  My scream echoed all the way to him.

  He lay on the street at the edge of town. I reached him seconds after he hit the asphalt.

  Alex and Danny weren’t far behind, and neither was Jessie. In fact, everyone there ran to him.