Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8

by Jacqueline Druga

  “We’ll have you, especially since you helped out our men. I’m in Security in Beginnings.”

  “Security? So this place is pretty safe?” Danny asked.

  “More so than anywhere in this country,” Robbie spoke with certainty.

  “Let me ask you this,” Danny said, “are there, are there women in your town?”

  “Oh yeah.” Robbie saw Danny grin wide. “But ... unfortunately they’re all taken. Some have two or three men.”

  “Can we talk to them?” Danny asked. “I mean strike up a conversation, sit with them, or do we run the risk of getting killed.”

  “Not many of our women show violent tendencies.” Robbie smiled at the same time Danny did. “Of course you can talk to them. Some you may not want to but you’ll weed the weird ones out.”

  “Excellent. It has been forever since I spoke to a woman.” Danny shook his head. “Over a year since I’ve seen one and the ones before, that I did see, you couldn’t even look at them.”

  “It’s not that way in Beginnings. And ... you picked a good day to arrive. Our women are on a feminine kick today. Clothing Division just made them all these little flat shoes, only they aren’t flat. They have a heel. All of them are dressed up today. They look good.”

  “Clothing Division? Whoa. I can’t wait until I get there.” Danny started backing up and grabbed Bentley’s arm. “In fact with women there, I’d better cut this hair. I hope you guys can find a use for me in there. I can be useful.”

  “What exactly did you do in the old world?” Robbie called out asking as Danny walked away. Expecting for certain Danny would say waiter, actor, something like that.

  “Oh.” Danny stepped closer. “I was an ...” A beeping sound stopped Danny from speaking and immediately a panicked look took over him. “Shit. Bent, our guns.” The beeping grew louder as Danny reached behind him to the back waist of his pants.

  “What ...” Robbie looked around. “What is that beeping?”

  Danny pulled out what used to be a handheld video game. “Shit.” He looked at the display. “They’re close.” He looked up at Robbie. “You guys have guns, right? Get them ready.” Danny looked down again.

  “What? What are you rambling about?” Robbie tried to remain calm.

  “Those things.” Danny pointed to the SUTs. “They’re coming. Twenty ... twenty-two of them.”

  “Twenty-two?” Robbie was stunned. “How do you know?”

  “I know.” Danny looked at his contraption. “And close. Shit.” He spun around. “Get your guns. North, south ... west ... seventy-five feet, seventy feet ...” The beeping grew faster and Danny hurried back. “Bent, we’ll hit the roof.”

  “Hold it.” Robbie positioned his M-16. “Cole, you and your men follow them. Danny,” Robbie called to him. “Can you really tell when they’re closing in?”

  “They are.”

  “Can you stay here? I guarantee you’ll be safe. I need you to let me know when they are right here.”

  Danny looked at Bentley and then motioned his head to him to show Cole and his guys the roof. “All right.”

  “Thanks.” Robbie loaded up his M-16 203 with a small gas can. “Tell me when they are within fifteen feet and give me an approximate. I need to get close.”

  “I can point you right at them.”

  Robbie grinned widely. “If you can do that and I take them out with little problem, I’ll get you hooked up with a woman in Beginnings.”

  “Just don’t get me killed right now. All right?”

  “All right. Give me a direction.”

  “Over by the bank.” Danny held out his hand. “Over there.” He pointed in another direction. “By the park.” He turned Robbie again. “And masses over by the old McDonald’s.”

  “How far?”

  “Thirty feet.”

  Robbie rotated. “Too far. Anything closer?” He asked as he readied three more cans of gas.

  “No. It’s like they’re all in synch.”

  “No problem. Hold these.” Robbie handed him the gas cans.

  “Twenty-five feet. What are these?”

  “Called Phase Out.” Robbie lifted his radio. “Johnny, Johnny, come in. We have SUTs. Twenty-two. Head back and get ready to fire on them. You copy?”

  “Got it, Uncle Robbie.”

  Robbie hooked his radio on his belt. “How far now, Danny?”

  “Fifteen feet.” He saw Robbie smile. “You see them?”

  “I see them. When I tell you, you hand me the cans. And be fast. Ready ...” Robbie aimed upward. “Say goodbye.” A soft pop and a whistle emanated from the M-16. “Gas.” Robbie held out his hand, loaded the gun, shifted in a turn, and fired. “Gas!” Click, clank, shift, pop. And another turn. “Gas!” Again Robbie loaded and again Robbie fired. Whistles filled the air, then the sound of the gas cans letting loose. He grabbed hold of Danny’s arm and ran with him to the buildings, grabbing his radio as he did. “John. John, you read me?”

  “Got you, Uncle Robbie. I see the gas working. I also see eleven of them not going down, unaffected.”

  Boom! Robbie kicked forth the door of the building. “Can you get them?”

  “Negative, they’re covered.”

  “Can you see them now?” Robbie placed an ammunition clip in his weapon and lowered the radio. “Danny, go to the roof.”

  Johnny came over the airwaves. “They’re hitting center town. They’re coming to that building you ran in. They saw you.”

  “Danny hit the roof!” Robbie held up his M-16 and peered out the window seeing the SUTs moving toward him. “Fuck it.” Taking a deep breath, Robbie flung open the door to the building, held up the weapon in its automatic state, and ran out firing his weapon in a spraying motion, letting the searing, rapid bullets of the gun take out the SUTs loudly and with a slicing action.

  Standing in the street amongst his single-man massacre of SUTs, Robbie, slightly out of breath, heard laughing. Wiping the back of his hand across his forehead he turned to the laughing to see Danny coming out of the building.

  “That was great!” Danny came out. “That was really great. You must really be in practice or up against those things a lot. I’m up against those things a lot and I can’t take them out like that. Of course, I don’t have an M-16 either. Or that shit you fired in the air.” Danny ran out toward the bank. He saw a reddish-brown bubbling substance by the building. “Is that what’s left of them? What was that shit you fired at them? Holy hell.”

  Robbie chuckled at Danny’s enthusiasm. His slight show of dementia told Robbie that Danny would get along just fine with him and Frank in Beginnings. Though Danny stood amazed, looking at what Robbie had done, he was clueless to the fact that Robbie stood amazed looking at Danny. Yes, Beginnings had the weapons, the gas, and the practice that Danny may not have had. But Danny had something Beginnings was nowhere near having. What they had been looking for, a possible first line of defense against the SUTs. Danny held that literally in the palm of his hand.

  <><><><>

  Ellen closed the last rabbit cage. “Ready to break for lunch, Dean? If I see any more rabbit puke, I’m not going to want to eat and you know how I get cranky when I don’t eat.”

  “Yes, I know.” Dean felt his way to stand and made his way over to the sink to wash up with Ellen.

  “All I had was a few sunflower seeds when Frank was up here.”

  “Yes I know, Ellen, and I had to hear you bitch about how your lips are numb.”

  “They aren’t numb now, Dean. Want to kiss me?” She didn’t get an answer. “Maybe not.” She flicked her wet hands at him, watched his annoyed look on his face, giggled, and walked to the door. “I’ll see you there. I brought us ...”

  “El, you wanna wait? I still need you to guide me over there. I fell twice today on those steps between the mobiles. Stop laughing, it isn’t funny.”

  “Sorry.” She grabbed his arm. “I’ll lead the way.”

  “So what did Andrea want? She never comes up here
.”

  “Actually she wanted to measure you.” Ellen led him from the mobile “Step. She has learned a new ... step ... trade. Knitting.”

  “Knitting?” Dean said with shock.

  “She says she’s going to make every man ... step ... a new sweater. I told her ... step ... that’s a lot of sweaters.” She opened the trailer door. “I do see you in a sweater though, Dean. We’re in the hall of the trailer.”

  “I gathered.” He reached his hand out feeling the wall to learn it. “Ellen, I just counted two steps down and two steps up.”

  “Yes.”

  “So why this afternoon, when I went to use the bathroom, did you tell me there were three steps.”

  Ellen laughed. “Sorry.”

  “It’s not funny.”

  “I know. Sorry.” She brought him into the living area and then into the kitchen. “Chicken sandwich or jam?”

  “Which one do you want?”

  “I can’t decide. You decide.”

  “I’ll have the chicken.” He heard Ellen whine. “Then I’ll have the jam. If you wanted the chicken why didn’t you say so?”

  “I was being nice.” Ellen opened the refrigerator. “Frank made the sandwiches.”

  “Swell.”

  “You know what he said, Dean?” Ellen pulled out the lunches. “He said that if he and I were together when you lost your sight, he would let me help you.”

  “And you believed him?”

  “Oh sure I did. Milk or water?”

  “Water. El ... Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad that Frank wants to help me, but he’s gonna really get in the way of us when I start to become self-sufficient.”

  “I guess that’s something you’ll have to deal with.”

  “Like him going on and on about you wearing a ...” Dean paused. “Are you really wearing a skirt today?”

  “Sure I am, Dean.” Ellen replaced the milk back in the refrigerator. “You don’t believe me?”

  “Well ...”

  “Give me your hand.” She took it and laid it on her thigh. “Feel. Leg.” She moved it up an inch. “Feel it. A skirt.”

  Dean stepped closer to her. “You are.”

  “Sure I am. Dean?” Ellen paused. “Dean? Dean!”

  “Huh?”

  “The skirt stays down.”

  “Sorry.” Dean pulled his hands away and backed up. “I thought you were lying to me.”

  “Now why would I do that?” Ellen pulled out some plates.

  “For starters I’ve had to deal with a ton of bad blind jokes today.”

  “I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”

  “Don’t.”

  Ellen turned around and faced him. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

  “Just ... just not yet. OK?”

  “All right,” Ellen’s voice dropped and she turned back to preparing the lunch.

  Dean sensed the change in her mood. “I made you feel badly, didn’t I?”

  “No,” Ellen answered shortly.

  “I did. I didn’t mean to.”

  “I know.” Ellen gripped the counter. “I’m just trying to help your mood, Dean. I thought I did last night, but every time I try to be nice or touch you, you pull back … with the exception of the skirt. But that’s a problem I won’t have again. This is the last day I wear a skirt.”

  “You did help last night, El.”

  “So if I did, why do I feel so ...” She grabbed the plates. “Lunch is done.” She brushed by Dean and brought the plates to the table.

  “So what, Ellen? You feel so ... so what?”

  “Never mind.” She took hold of his arm. “We’ll eat.”

  “No.” He stopped her. “What is it?”

  Ellen let out a loud breath. “It’s just that, I thought we kind of clicked last night. I wasn’t really looking at it like a stepping-stone over a hurdle. You understand? I looked at it differently than just something you needed.”

  Dean was silent for a second. “You think I used you.”

  “No.” Ellen’s voice took on that high pitch fake sound, “No. I didn’t say that.”

  “Yeah you did, El.” Dean stepped closer to her. “I didn’t use you. I loved last night. I want last night all the time, but I know the moment I get used to it, it will be taken away from me.”

  “You can’t say that for sure.”

  “No, I can’t. But I know our history and I know our pattern.” He laid his hand on her face. “I love you. Right now, just knowing I have you here for me, is all I need.”

  “So you don’t want to take a chance?” Ellen asked. “That sucks. You know that? Every single time we get close, one of us always stops it. I thought this time we could take that chance.”

  “I can’t take that chance. Right now, I am really vulnerable. I know that. If I sleep with you again, it’s gonna make it that much worse when it’s taken away from me. I work with you, El. I’m with you more than anyone. I’d rather want you and know that I can’t have you, than have you and wait for it to be taken away.”

  “I understand,” Ellen said softly. “I wouldn’t trust me either. I have a pretty ... uh ... strong reputation.” She watched Dean’s awkward smile. “It’s OK. We’ll work together. We had a great time last night, a great time.” She leaned to him. “I’m kissing you right now, so don’t back away.” She kissed him, softly and quickly. “There, painless.”

  Dean’s hand immediately went to the lips that just kissed him. He moved in to kiss them again and stopped. “Last night was not only what I needed, know it was what I wanted.”

  “Then why give it up?” Ellen asked softly.

  “I don’t want to give it up. I just don’t want my heart to get broken again.” Dean stepped back. “Just once, just once I’d like to be the one who’s in the way rather than the one who gets stepped on with you. Just once, I’d like to be that other man. Because you and I both know, you never give up that other man.”

  Ellen huffed slightly. “I can’t believe you just said that to me.”

  “OK, that was wrong.”

  “It was.”

  “But there is something appealing about being the one you sneak off with, the one you fool around with.”

  “Appealing meaning exciting? Or meaning the sex?”

  Dean raised his head. “Both.”

  “Oh,” Ellen gasped with shock. “You of all people, Dr. Hayes, are not one to say that. You’re the sensitive guy. You’re the romantic. You’re not the guy who sleeps with someone without his heart getting involved. Besides, you just don’t have it in you. I for one would never do that with you. Ever. Sex? Sex only?” Ellen fluttered her lips at him. “Let’s have lunch.”

  <><><><>

  “Robert!” Joe scolded as he opened the door to his office. “Get the hell out of my chair.”

  “Sorry, Dad.”

  “What the hell were you doing sitting there anyhow?” Joe hobbled his way to the desk.

  “Waiting for you. What took you so long?”

  “Eh. Andrea.” Joe lowered himself to sit, paused, lifted back up, then slowly and gently, with a scrunched up face, sat down.

  Robbie ran the back of his hand across his mouth to hide his snicker. “So uh ...” He cleared his throat. “What about Andrea?”

  Joe gasped a slight moan and shifted in his seat. “She was measuring me.”

  Robbie tossed his head back. “You too? Man, I saw her coming with that tape and I ran. I ran, Dad. She is gone. Really gone. Walking around singing that stupid song. Whistling like the fuckin seven dwarfs.”

  “Robbie.” Joe’s hand slammed on the desk. “Enough about Andrea. Where are our two Survivors?”

  “In the extra room, waiting. Waiting for you because you took too long.”

  Leaning, Joe opened his drawer and pulled out his ashtray and put it on his desk. “What are they like? Forewarn me.”

  “Considering that Cole came across ...”

  “Aw!” Joe interrupted his son with a loud vocal complain
t. “What the hell is wrong with Cole? Does he not realize he doesn’t do well with Survivors? He picks up the worst of them out there.”

  “Well this time they ...”

  “Where are they now? Cleaning up?”

  “No. They’re already cleaned up.”

  “That fast? They can’t be cleaned up that fast. They have to shower and sanitize. You know that. We don’t need another outbreak of lice around here.”

  “Actually, Dad, if you would let me finish.”

  Joe looked up at Robbie, curious about his tone. “Go on.”

  “They were clean when I got there. They had cleaned up. And wait, just wait until you see them. They are different than any other Survivors we have picked up and I have been doing this Survivor shit since we started it.”

  “They aren’t sick?”

  “No, not at all. In fact I predict Ellen, when she gets here, will give the OK immediately to go to Containment. If not past.”

  “What?” Joe asked. He started to lean back, stopped, grunted, shifted, and then finished leaning in his chair. “These are the two that saved Cole and his men?”

  “No. These are the two that also saved my ass.”

  “You didn’t mention this. How did this happen?”

  “What, saving my life? The one saw it coming. He saw the SUTs sneaking in before I did.”

  “You think maybe he’s a set up?” Joe asked.

  “Nope, not at all.”

  “Then how did he see them coming before you? You’re trained in that shit.”

  “Because of this.” Robbie laid in front of Joe the video game that Danny had.

  “You were playing games when it happened?”

  “No.” Robbie reached down. “Let me see what Danny said ... oh yeah.” He pressed the circle button and the instrument beeped. “It’s on.”

  “OK, but right now I don’t want to play a game.”

  “Dad, it’s impressive.”

  “The man knows how to make batteries, so what?” Joe slid the game back.

  “No, Dad, you have it all wrong. Danny calls this the TT for Terminator Tracker, but he said he’d easily rename it the SUT finder.”

  “The SUT finder?” Joe laughed. “The SUT finder.”

  “Yeah. OK, we’ll come up with a better name.”