The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “No one told you to do that,” Dean said. “But if you want the truth. Yeah, I’m pissed. Sexual harassment, come on Misha. Me? In Beginnings? It’s so stupid it makes me sick. The accusation, with the way rumors are around here, didn’t get me as mad as the fact that you kept letting it go. I don’t need this, not now. Not with my wife on my mind, and with so much going on.”

  A pout, a pucker, and after a tear rolled down her face, Misha spun and raced out, merely barreling over Joe as he walked in.

  At a frustrated Dean, Joe looked. “What’s going on?”

  “Dean . . .” Christopher explained. “Was just doing sexual harassment to Misha.”

  The clipboard slammed hard to the counter. “Thank you. Thank you very much. What’s up, Joe?”

  “Just thought you’d like to know . . .” Joe said. “Swahili.”

  All attentive, Dean’s eyes raised and he knocked the clipboard to the floor as he flew past the counter and left the lab.

  Christopher smiled and when he was alone, he pulled out the little note pad Frank had given him. He wrote down a few words. “Pedophile. Sexual Harassment and Swahili.” He shut the note pad with an ‘ah’ and a grin. “I am going to be very enriched when I leave Utopia.”

  ^^^^

  From the back seat of the moving truck with Robbie to her right, Ellen leaned toward the front and to a driving Hal. “Now, let me see if I got this straight.”

  “If . . .” Hal said, ignoring a snickering Frank. “If you are going to bitch, save your breath.”

  “No. No. I’m not gonna bitch,” Ellen stated.

  “Yes, she is,” Frank commented.

  Ellen rolled her eyes. “I’m expressing concern.”

  “Bitching,” Robbie said.

  “What, Ellen?” Hal asked. “Say it and get it over with.”

  “OK. Now . . .” She lifted her hand. “Let me see if I got this straight. We dropped off supplies thirty miles back and hid them so we can . . . go back.”

  “It was Dean’s idea,” Frank spewed forth.

  “Yes,” Hal nodded.

  Ellen was still questioning. “So we can turn around, head back to the Society and get our supplies.”

  “Dean’s idea,” Frank blurted out. “I told you he doesn’t want you anymore and Hal is just helping him.”

  “Do you mind?” Hal snipped. “I’ve reached my intake point of Dogging Dean comments from you.”

  “I speak the truth.” Frank lifted his hand.

  “I want to know the truth.” Ellen said. “Why did we do that?”

  “Fine, I’ll explain,” Hal stated. “I didn’t want to carry all our eggs in one basket.”

  “Or heavy artillery all in one truck,” Frank clarified.

  “Thank you for that.” Hal shook his head. “In case we run into trouble and risk losing the truck or hitting truck damage, I didn’t want to risk losing all of our supplies.”

  Ellen snickered, “Hal, please. How is that gonna happen?”

  “Like . . . this.” On his last word, with a hard jerk, Hal jolted the wheel of the truck and sent it careening off the road toward the woods.

  Ellen screamed. “You injuring the truck on purpose!”

  “Hal?” Robbie asked. “What’s going . . .” He turned to look back. “Shit.”

  “South. Four o’clock.” Frank pumped the chamber on his rifle, looking out the rear view mirror. “Too close.”

  Ellen was confused. “It’s not anywhere near four o’clock. What the hell are you talking about? I mean . . .“ She shrieked when Hal hit a bump and she flew upward. “Hey, my head.”

  “Get down,” Hal told her.

  “What?” She asked.

  “Now.” He took his hand from the gear shift and reached between the seats. He laid his palm on Ellen’s head and shoved her down just as he turned the wheel again, ducking in synch with his brothers, allowing the bullet that sailed through the window to pass on through without hitting a thing.

  Robbie readied his weapon. “Quick thinking, Hal.” He grabbed on to the back on Ellen pants, yanked her back and shoved her down. “But we have incoming.”

  Frank looked out the window. “Off course, Hal. You’re off course.”

  “I know.” Hal tried to maneuver the rough wooded terrain.

  “Hal!” Frank barked. “To the right.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Yeah, you can.”

  “It won’t work. This is the route.”

  “Turn the fuckin wheel, Hal!” Frank looked out the window to view the Society on side road, steady and heading nearly alongside of them. “They are getting more speed. Turn.”

  “No!”

  “Fuck it!” Frank reached over for the wheel.”

  “Get . . .” Hal shove him. “Off.”

  “Let . . . Go!”

  “Frank!”

  “Hal!”

  Ellen peeked up. “Oh my God! They’re fighting over who’s driving. Robbie, can’t you do anything.”

  “Sorry, I only have one arm.” Robbie wound down his window and began to lean out.

  “Hey!” Ellen reached for his pant leg. “Get back in here. You’ll get killed.” She pulled.

  “Frank!” Robbie screamed for aid.

  “What the fuck.” Frank turned around to see Ellen trying to tug Robbie back in the truck. “El!”

  “He’ll get killed.”

  “Yeah, El.” Frank yanked her from him. “If you continue to leave him out there as a target. Stay down!” he ordered then wound down his own window. “Hal, keep it steady and get us away. They’re closing in.”

  “Frank!” Ellen reached when she saw him aim to go out the window.

  “Don’t,” Frank warned. “Don’t even think about grabbing me. Stay down.” He darted his upper body out the window.

  After a shot, Robbie pulled back in. “It’s tricky. Can you drive steadier, Hal?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Hal said sarcastically. “I’ll smooth right over the tree . . .” Hal cringed when Frank’s ‘uh’ rang out with the high jump of the truck. “Sorry.”

  Frank drew back into the truck. He watched the Society truck sail further east on the road and zoom by them. “What the hell are they doing?”

  Robbie smiled. “They stayed on the road.”

  “See,” Hal was cocky. “Now who was correct? They went that way. We’re this way. We’re good.”

  “Watch out,” Frank warned.

  “Shit.” Hal slammed on the breaks but it was too late. The truck slid in a partial turn and with a hard jar and bang, the truck sank into a ditch.

  Robbie leaned between the two front seats. “You were saying?”

  “Frank,” Ellen whispered.

  “El, please.” Frank shook his head. “Reverse it, Hal.”

  Hal shifted gears. “We’re stuck.”

  “Frank,” Ellen whispered again only with a little panic.

  “El, please,” Frank said stronger. “Hal. Reverse.”

  The wheels to the truck spun. “I’m trying.”

  “Frank,” Ellen called.

  “Frank,” Robbie repeated and pointed.

  “What! What! What!” Frank looked out his window to where Robbie indicated. “Fuck! Pull it out! Pull it out!”

  “I’m . . .” Hal peered in the midst of the struggle to free the truck. ‘Trying. Shit.” Hal fought harder to move, never taking his eyes off the ensuing Society truck bolting full speed their way.

  “Hal.” Frank beckoned.

  “Come on. You can do it,” Robbie said.

  “Hal.” Frank kept watching the truck. Visions of a deadly broadside filled his head.

  “Give it more, Hal.” Robbie encouraged.

  “Should we be jumping out now?” Ellen asked.

  The grinding wheels grew louder. “Please,” Hal begged. “Do this.”

  They drew closer, so close, Frank could see the faces of the smiling soldiers. “Fuck,” Frank grumbled.

  “No.” Robbie smiled. “They aren�
��t that . . .”

  ‘Yes!” Frank clenched his fist. “They are!”

  “What?” Hal asked, then didn’t need an answer. The hard ‘crack and crunch’ told him the reason his brothers were cheering. With a loud ‘ha-ha’, Hal looked to the Society truck that plowed head-on into a tree. “Are they dead?” Hal questioned.

  Frank’s window went down and he leaned out of it. After two shots, he pulled back in. “They are now.”

  Hal reached for the gear shift. “That was too easy.”

  Robbie cringed, “You spoke too soon.”

  Confused Hal was confused. “What?”

  “Timber,” Frank mumbled.

  “Fuck.” Hearing the creak of the falling tree, Hal, with his soul, gave a hard shift of the gear, a heavy hit of the metal and just as the tree came careening down with a mighty force, he peeled the truck from its trapped state.

  If it was possible to be tickled pink, Hal looked it as the truck began to move freely again. “We’re free.”

  Frank scoffed a sarcastic, ‘ha.’

  “What?” Hal asked.

  His arm extended between his two brothers with a point. “Look,” Robbie said. “Ten o’clock.”

  A whine escaped Hal as he struck his hand against the steering wheel and lowered his head. “Tell me this isn’t happening.”

  “What’s happening?” Ellen asked.

  “Oh, it’s happening. Drop your speed,” Frank instructed.

  “What?” Ellen questioned again.

  Hal didn’t respond to Ellen, only to Frank. “I told you to tell me it’s not happening. I didn’t tell you to tell me how to drive.”

  “Drop your speed,” Frank told him.

  “What is . . .” Ellen almost choked. “Oh, my God.”

  Up ahead, through the trees, heading directly their way, just on the other side of a clearing was a barrage of Society soldiers and trucks.

  “There’s thousands,” Ellen stated.

  Hal rolled his eyes. “She counts as well as you do, Frank.” He released the gas and slowed down. “Now what?”

  With his thumb, Frank indicated backwards. “You drew the short straw. You knew.”

  “But . . .” Hal tried to defend.

  “No buts. Go. You also got us into this mess.”

  “Fine. Ready?” Hal asked.

  “Ready.” Frank lifted from the seat.

  Curiously, Ellen looked at Robbie. “What are they do . . . oh, shit.” She covered her eyes and paid no mind to Robbie’s snickering as Frank began to take over the driver’s position. “Now is not the time to change . . . ow.” Ellen grunted as Hal slipped in the back. “You stepped on my . . .ow . . .hey, where’s he going.” She watched him keep going.

  Giving a boost to push Hal though the back of the truck, Robbie shoved on Hal’s leg. “You OK?”

  Following a thump, Hal answered. “Fine.”

  The truck slowed just a little and Frank looked through the side mirror. “Hal’s out.”

  “Hal’s out?” Ellen asked.

  Robbie slipped up front he grinned. “I don’t see him.”

  “He’s on it,” Frank said.

  “He’s out?” Ellen question. “On what?”

  “El, please,” Frank told her. “This has nothing to do with you.’

  “Nothing to do with me?” Ellen was shocked. “Oh, I begged to differ. This is all because of me.”

  Wide eyed, Robbie said nothing. He only nodded at Frank.

  “And . . .” Ellen continued. “Why are we slowing down . . . and . . . I would like to be more informed so I could help out.”

  “You could have helped out months ago, El.” Frank shifted gears. “By not shooting Bev in the head. Robbie get ready.”

  “Oh!” Ellen gasped out. “That comment was really uncalled for.”

  “And so is arguing right now.” Frank put the truck in park. “Zip up that blue hood.” He raised his hands at the same time as Robbie. “You’re about to be killed.”

  ^^^^

  The concern in Elliott’s eyes and hard swallow was masked by the amber flame of the roaring Zippo lighter. Joe ignited his cigarette and clanked the lid closed. “Tell me.”

  Hands to the counter, Elliott hesitated. “The truck is stopped. They have it encircled. They’re . . . they’re about to claim the prize.”

  Every ounce of Dean twinged and twisted. “Joe, how are they . . .” On a wisp of a Swahili word, Dean’s whole demeanor switched. “Elliott, did they just say . . .”

  A quirk of a smile hit Elliott. “They did.”

  “What?” Joe asked. “What?”

  Almost with relief, Elliott answered. “They spotted only two men and the blue doll in the truck.”

  Joe clenched his cigarette tightly along with his fist. “Yes.” He nodded. “I knew my boys didn’t drive right into this one without a plan. Now let’s just pray . . .” He exhaled his cigarette smoke. “That they can pull whatever it is . . . off.”

  ^^^^

  The combination growl and whine of Society Sergeant-in-Charge Barnes rang out just after his wall of men shifted the chambers of their weapon in an aim to the parked Beginnings truck. “Damn it.”

  “Shall I have them unload on the truck, sir?” The corporal asked.

  “No.” Sgt. Barnes tossed out his hand. “They’ve raised their hands in surrender. We cannot shoot them in surrender. You know the rules. When they are in surrender, we can only obtain and kill the prize. The others can’t be harmed unless they interfere.”

  “We’ll say they interfered.”

  “Rules, Corporal, Rules.”

  “Who’s gonna know?”

  “Bartlett, the Swahili speaking, play by play war commentator who just so happens to claim to be extremely honest because he is the last remaining born again Christian in the world.”

  “Ah.” The Corporal nodded knowingly. “I forgot about him.”

  Sgt. Barnes, released a ‘hmm’, then a disgruntled look. “Get them from the truck.”

  “I can’t believe you guys are surrendering.” Ellen fought to pull down Frank’s arms.

  “El, knock it off,” Frank ordered.

  “They’re coming, Frank,” Ellen said, panicked. “Just drive. Just drive right through them. Go. Hit the gas.”

  “El!” Frank yelled when her hand pressed against his leg to add pressure to the gas. “Stop.”

  “They’ll gun us down like trapped baby calves in a veal factory.”

  Oddly, Frank looked over his shoulder at her. “What?”

  Robbie smiled. “Good one, El, but they won’t gun us down. There are rules.”

  “Yeah,” Frank added. “And the rules state if we raise our hands in surrender, they can’t shoot us. They can only take you and execute you.”

  “Oh my God. And you’re letting them.”

  Frank shrugged. “I have kids.” He watched the Society near. “I wish they’d hurry up. I’m getting a cramp in my left shoulder.”

  “You’re just giving me up?” Ellen asked.

  “Frank,” Robbie said with a hint of snicker. “You got her all worried.”

  “Robbie. We’re in the middle of . . . what the hell state are we in now?”

  “Still in Wyoming but . . . we’re nearing Utah,” Robbie said.

  “Great. Utah. Hey, at least if they end this game now we can avoid . . .”

  ‘Frank.” Ellen snapped. “Don’t. This isn’t funny. I’m gonna die.”

  Frank shifted his eyes to her. “Would I let that happen?” He stared intently at her. “Would I?”

  Ellen took a second to look at him. “No.”

  “Have faith,” Frank told her, watching the one soldier aim and reach for the door.

  “Frank?” Robbie questioned in a whisper. “You have the safety on the truck, right?”

  “Yep,” Frank answered then smiled at the butt of a rifle when the truck door opened. “Gentlemen.”

  ^^^^

  From the console, Elliott turned with concern
to Joe. “They have her, Joe.”

  “Joe.” Dean rushed forward. “Come on, tell me something. They have her. You said . . .”

  A simple raise of Joe’s hand was all that was needed to quiet Dean. “Trust me. I feel it. They’ll pull through. They have a plan.”

  ^^^^

  Struggling not to follow the lead, Ellen spoke through clenched jaws. “Just about right now, if you have a plan Frank, you better do it.” Her panicked, ‘oh, God’ rang out as the soldier tugged her further from Frank and Robbie.

  “Frank,” Robbie whispered. “They’re spread out.”

  “I know. How far are we now?”

  “We have about a twenty foot leeway back. That’s it.”

  “It’s enough.”

  “It’s different than any scenario . . .”

  “I know,” Frank said, scooping the area as he walked. “I have faith. I . . .” He let out a breath. “Have faith.”

  Sgt. Barnes approached the pair. “Enough talk. As long as you don’t interfere, we’ll release you following the execution.”

  Robbie nodded and looked up. “That’s cool. Hey, it’s kind of bright. Do you mind if I put on my sunglasses? My eyes are burning.”

  “Me too,” Frank said. “Shit. Fuck. Mine are in the truck.”

  Robbie grunted. “How could you leave them in the truck, Frank?”

  “I left them in the truck.”

  “You shouldn’t have left them in the truck. You knew!”

  “I forgot!” Frank blasted.

  “Now is not the time to forget!”

  “Fuck! Yell at me why don’t you? I’m fine, the force is with me.!”

  “Hey!” Sgt. Barnes stopped the bickering. “Enough. Put on your sunglasses and shut up!”

  Frank gave a motion of his head backwards. “Can I go back to the truck and get . . .”

  “No!” Sgt. Barnes screamed and stepped away, ordering to his two guards to ‘watch them.’

  “Oh,” Frank whispered. “Head shot on him. First thing.”

  Placing on his sunglasses Robbie shook his head. “I don’t know how since you left your sunglasses in the truck.”

  “The force,” Frank said.

  “Fuck you and the force, Frank. Now is not the time for the force.”