The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Where’s Frank gonna be?”

  “Dean-Dean-Dean.” Ellen shook her head. “You can’t always count on Frank. He’ll be with me. You have to take responsibility.”

  “Like I don’t.”

  “You shucked it while I was gone. Jenny and Andrea said you stopped by once in three days to see the kids.”

  “I was busy.”

  “Make time now.”

  “Where are you going?” Dean asked.

  “Lodi.”

  “For?”

  “What do you think?” Ellen stated. “Johnny’s surgery.”

  Dean laughed. “You’re doing it alone?”

  “Hardly.” Ellen chuckled. “I can’t do that.”

  Dean laughed harder. “Oh, please. Please don’t tell me you’re gonna get some horse doctor named Lars to help you out.”

  “First.” Ellen lifted a finger. “He’s not a horse doctor. He worked as a top scientist for WHO. Second,” she sighed out. “I wouldn’t dream of it. For as great of a mind as Lars is, he admits it is way out of his league. No, Lars isn’t assisting. The top CME doctor from the Society is performing the surgery. If you really think about it, a top brain doctor who plays with people’s brains is the best choice. Excuse me.” She turned.

  “Wait!” Dean called out. “You’re going to Lodi and working with a Society doctor?”

  “Yep. He’s getting stuff together. So am I. We meet in one week.”

  “Over my dead body.”

  Ellen moved to Dean. “You really don’t know how easily that can be arranged.”

  Dean rolled his eyes. “Don’t threaten me.”

  “Don’t threaten me.”

  “Frank is allowing this?”

  “Frank is going.”

  “I will not have you work with my things, my medication ….”

  “Listen to you,” Ellen interrupted him, “Your things. Your medication. I’ll have you know, pal, I helped with all that shit too. It’s mine as well. Joe has authorized this and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Ellen began to walk away.

  “You’ll fail.”

  Ellen froze. She glanced over her shoulder. “At least I’ll fail trying unlike you who has changed so much that no one even knows who you are anymore.”

  “That’s such bullshit and you know it.”

  Ellen spun to him. “You’re wrapped up in some new experiment.”

  “You’re pissed because you’re not included in this.”

  “Shouldn’t I be?”

  “No,” Dean said. “There are some things that maybe I don’t want you to know about. Is that why you’re going to the Society with this operation?”

  “No, Dean, don’t flatter yourself. I went to the Society for help because I want Johnny to live.”

  “So do I.”

  Ellen laughed with sarcasm. “After making him wait six weeks.”

  “I told you I thought he could wait,” Dean argued.

  “And I said he couldn’t. I made that call. End of discussion.” Ellen’s hand flung out.

  “I’ll go to Joe.”

  “Go to Joe. No one takes you seriously anymore, anyhow.” She turned hard.

  Dean’s hand reached out hard and grabbed Ellen before she made it too far.

  Whap!

  With quick instinct, a hand came down across Dean’s wrist. It lifted him from Ellen’s arm.

  Jimmy glared at him. “I don’t know who you are. I don’t care who you are but make no bones about it, touch her again like that and I’ll break your fuckin hand. Got that?”

  Dean harshly withdrew his hand. “Got it.” He shook his head at Ellen. “Now your henchmen are everywhere. This isn’t finished.” He turned and stormed off.

  Ellen looked at Jimmy. “Thank you. I’m sorry.” Hurriedly, she moved away.

  Jimmy shook his head and turned to Jenny. “Who was that asshole?”

  “One guess,” she said smugly.

  “Dean?” he asked.

  “You got it.”

  Jimmy shook his head with a huff. “And here I thought maybe you exaggerated.”

  ***

  Johnny sought an after dinner snack since he seemed to be on a binge kick. He remembered his mother telling him when he started to eat a lot, it meant he was growing. Johnny snickered at that as he made a jam sandwich in Mike’s kitchen.

  “Care to make me one too?” Tigger asked.

  The knife nearly fell from Johnny’s hand. “Oh my God! He lives.”

  “Barely. He lives. He starves.”

  “Why are you walking funny?”

  “My legs are killing me. I swear I ripped every muscle.”

  “How?” Johnny laughed as he reached for more bread.

  “Sex.”

  “Yeah, right.” Johnny dipped the knife.

  “With Bertha.”

  The knife clanked into the jar and Johnny quickly grabbed it. “No.”

  Tigger pulled up a chair. “Oh yeah,” he said tiredly.

  “It had to be your first time.”

  “Yep, plus my second, third, fourth and fifth.”

  Johnny choked. “No way.”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

  “No.” Johnny pulled a chair out and sat down. “How … how … Bertha? She’s huge.”

  “She’s tall.” Tigger corrected. “Her body is perfect.”

  “Oh my God.” Johnny’s hands went to his face. “Forgive me for a second but the visual is just a little too …”

  “Freakish.”

  “Yes.”

  Tigger snickered. “When things get physical, size has no boundaries. Of course,” he dropped his voice. “It has more advantages than anything.”

  “How … Bertha?”

  Tigger laughed. “Remember the day I was watching her?”

  “Yes.” Johnny stood up again to make the sandwiches.

  “I handcuffed her to torture her. Well, she liked it. I liked it. We talked.” He shrugged. “We met up and had some fun. I guess people in the old world would call it kinky fun. I don’t know. It’s my first experience. To me, everyone could have sex like this.”

  “Maybe they do,” Johnny said. “Who said it was kinky?”

  “Bert.”

  “Maybe she was referring to the size thing.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Wow. This is weird. Wait until Mike finds out.”

  “My dad can’t find out. He’ll kill me, not for having sex but for having sex with a Society insider.”

  “True. I won’t tell him.” Johnny handed Tigger the sandwich. “Eat up.”

  “Thank you. I need it. Bertha wants me to come back tomorrow. She said since it’s Valentine’s Day, we ought to celebrate.”

  “What are you gonna do?” Johnny asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tigger said. “What should I do?”

  Seriously, like a big brother, Johnny talked to him. “Well, Tig, if you don’t want to go, don’t. Tell her …”

  “What?” Tigger interrupted. “What do you mean?”

  “You said you don’t know what to do. You asked what you should do.”

  “Yeah, I need advice.”

  “I’m giving it.”

  “No, you’re not. I don’t know what to do. I mean literally, Johnny,” Tigger said so desperately. “My performance tomorrow has to beat today’s. To the best of my ability, we did it all. I mean, I was down, up, sideways, hanging …”

  “Okay, enough.” Johnny halted him.

  “What do I do? Any suggestions?”

  Johnny got up and walked away.

  ***

  Joe stood holding the open door to his home. He didn’t even need to speak to project his aggravation. “Dean, there’s a reason I am not at the Hall partying with the rest of the assholes in this town. I have a big day tomorrow and a lot of work.”

  “I need to talk to you, Joe. It’s important.”

  “Can’t it wait?”

  “No. It’s making me unable to sleep.” />
  “Take a pill for crying out loud. You have them.”

  Dean exhaled his desperation.

  “Fine.” Joe opened the door wider. “You have five minutes.”

  Dean walked in.

  “But don’t get comfortable. Stop right there. What’s this about?”

  “Ellen.”

  “Christ.”

  “Joe, hear me out. I tried to talk to her about this but there’s no talking. I am coming to you as a father and community leader. I am asking you not to let Ellen go to Lodi to do the surgery.”

  “Can I ask why?”

  “One, she’s not qualified.”

  “Don’t you think that’s Johnny’s decision on whether or not he wants to put his trust in her?” Joe asked.

  “Maybe, but she’s working with a Society doctor.”

  “There you have it, Dean. If I heard correctly, he’s their top CME specialist, a brain doctor. Who better? Ellen doesn’t need those qualifications.”

  “She doesn’t need to work with the Society.”

  “Because?”

  Dean huffed. “I should be doing the surgery. That was what was decided.”

  Joe nodded. “True, but didn’t you tell Ellen you couldn’t go and do the surgery for another four to six weeks.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Did that change?”

  “No. I still have to hang back.”

  “Can Johnny wait the four to six weeks?”

  Dean pauses and thought. “It would be better if he didn’t but medically, yes, he could wait without being detrimental to his health.”

  “What exactly is it that you want me to do?”

  “Deny her trip and resources to make the trip and hold off until I can go and do the surgery.”

  Joe nodded slowly as he paced. “Do I have your word that in four to six weeks you will do that surgery?”

  “Joe, things come up…”

  “Do I have you word?”

  “I’ll do the best I can.”

  “Then I’ll do the best I can. I’ll take your complaint under advisement.”

  “You’re not gonna change the plans are you?” Dean asked.

  “Probably not.”

  “Great.” Dean shook his head.

  “Anything else?”

  “Would it irritate you if I complained about your son?”

  “Which one?”

  “Jimmy.”

  Joe choked out a laugh. “Jimmy? Jimmy just got to Beginnings. How in the world can you have a complaint about him?”

  “He got physical with me and threatened me.”

  “Well, you’ll have that.” Joe reached out and opened the door. “Night, Dean.”

  “Why are you being like this, Joe?” Den questioned. “You’re treating me like a stranger, like I mean nothing.”

  “Maybe it’s because that’s the way you’re treating the things that are supposed to be important to you.”

  “No, you’re wrong,” Dean said sadly. “More than you realize, I’m not treating important things like they’re nothing. I’m treating them like they’re everything. People can’t see it, that’s all.” Dean walked through the door. “Goodnight.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  February 14th

  The four-fifteen a.m. summons irritated Frank. It awakened him from a deep slumber and asked him to get out of bed to investigate a buzzing slash moaning.

  A buzzing and a moaning.

  Frank blew it off and excused it as some sort of sexual experience a resident was having and told Dan from Security to let it go until Dan told him it was coming from the wooded area behind the Agricultural Section.

  That area, two nights in a row, had been a crime scene.

  What were the odds? Then again, to Frank, the third time was a charm.

  He headed in that direction. He wished had stopped at Mechanics for the night goggles but he didn’t so he was left to his own resources and definitions given by the light of the moon.

  Sneaking that way, he heard the buzzing. The moaning wasn’t there, but the slight buzzing was. It wasn’t steady. It was go, stop, and start again. Trying to be quiet, Frank reached the edge of the wooden area. He was close. He sensed it. Turning slightly with his revolver raised, he peeked around a tree.

  Had the figure not been wearing all black, Frank would have seen more of it. The figure blended in through night time camouflage. Frank retracted back around the tree and began his plan of attack but in doing so, he made the slightest of noise. Thinking ‘Fuck’, he looked around the tree again and the person was gone.

  He scanned left to right and with the aid of rustling leaves, Frank caught glimpse of a speeding blur in black. After whispering ‘Fuck’, Frank took off after it.

  ***

  They yelled with raised fists and blasted out, “Stop this madness” and “What do you plan to do about this?” They mobbed Joe as he made his way to the front doors of the clinic. He winced. Joe wondered if they actually thought they formed an angry crowd. With a mindset of ‘enough is enough’, he turned around. “Look.” He pointed. “You four women go back to work. Ben? Don’t you have a shop to run? Christ.” Joe flung open the clinic doors and before him was one of Frank’s men.

  “Reason for visit?” Leo asked.

  “You’re shitting me, right?” Joe questioned.

  “I’m under orders from Frank to keep anyone from the clinic who doesn’t have reason to be here.”

  “And why was this order placed?”

  “The newest attack. Frank doesn’t want mayhem at the clinic. With the mob outside …”

  “It wasn’t a mob, Leo. It was four women. Now excuse me.”

  “Reason for visit?” Leo asked again.

  Joe glared at him.

  Leo stepped aside.

  His destination was Andrea’s office and Joe headed straight there. He had to admit the clinic seemed pleasantly quiet. Maybe a guard on the door all the time wouldn’t be a bad idea.

  Andrea’s office door was ajar and Joe knocked once before stepping in.

  “Joe,” Andrea stood and sounded exasperated. “Thank God.” She rushed to him. “I’m frightened here, Joe, really frightened.”

  “We’ll get this under control but maybe I can get an answer from you.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “All I got from Frank was that the mutilator struck again and he’d get me later with some theories on our suspect but Frank failed to tell me who and what happened.”

  Andrea sniffed deeply. “Hap.”

  “Hap?” Joe asked. “He’s almost eighty.”

  Andrea nodded. “He’s also another Hall dweller.”

  “Is he …”

  “He’s bad, Joe, bad.”

  “Christ.” Joe exhaled. “How bad?”

  “Toenails and eyebrows grow back, but this? This is permanent.”

  “Oh my God, the buzzing. Tell me it wasn’t a saw. A body part wasn’t removed, was it?”

  “No, come with me. He’s sedated.”

  Thinking it had to be bad if Hap was sedated, Joe followed Andrea.

  “He was unconscious when we brought him in,” Andrea said.

  “Then why did you sedate him?”

  “We need more time on how to handle this and tell him.” Andrea stood in front of the door.

  “Andrea, this is the third victim. All three were unconscious or said they were. Did you by any chance run blood work to see if they were drugged?”

  “Yes, we did,” Andrea said. “Immediately. Nothing was found in the blood stream. Whoever is knocking them off is doing it with a precision hit. Ready?” She reached for the door handle.

  “Yeah.”

  Andrea opened the door and walked in.

  Hap lay in the bed, asleep.

  “He looks fine,” Joe said as he neared the bed.

  “He looks that way at first but he is far from fine. The man is marked. Take a look.” Andrea pulled down the covers.

  “Christ,” Joe grumbled. �
��Can this get any more ridiculous?” He shook his head. Andrea was correct when she said the mutilation was permanent for tattooed across Hap’s chest were the words, ‘Sweet Cheeks’

  ***

  “Call Battalions Sixty-five through Seventy in from field training.” Hal shut his file cabinet in his office. “I want them prepped and moved to our borders to relieve our men down three.”

  “Right away,” Joshua said, taking notes.

  “Tell the mess hall they may increase rations by fifteen percent.” Hal walked to his desk. “And to keep their fingers crossed. Hector said the greenhouses are flourishing and Beginnings is expanding the fields.”

  “Got it.”

  “I also want Tracking monitors to take shorter shifts.” Hal settled into his chair. “Ten hours is too long and tedious. Two people entered Bowman last night and weren’t registered.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Also I want …” Curiously, Hal peered up. “Sgt. Owens?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Why are you doing this and Sgt. Ryder is not? Did you two switch jobs without informing me?”

  Joshua chuckled. “No, sir. It’s alternative month. Sgt. Ryder is acquiring feminine supplies for the women.”

  “Ah, the menstrual man is at it again.” Hal chuckled. “Okay, back to …”

  “Sir, before we continue, is it possible I leave shift an hour early today?”

  “Why?” Hal asked.

  “I want to get a haircut before the Dating Game just on the chance I get picked.”

  “Good God, Owens. Who cares?”

  “I do, especially if I get picked. I’ll be on TV.”

  “Fine.”

  “Thanks. Back to …” Hal grumbled when the phone rang. “Excuse me.” He lifted the receiver. “Captain Slagel.”

  “May I speak to Sgt. Ryder, please.”

  “Good morning to you too, Dr. Hayes,” Hal said. “Unfortunately, Sgt. Ryder is running amuck for our community. Is there something I can help you with?”

  Dean paused. “Is he running amuck this way?”

  “You mean to Beginnings? Not that I know of,” Hal said and looked up at Owens. “Is Ryder going to Beginnings today?”

  “Not until tonight,” Joshua responded.