Frank had to chuckle a bit at that. “El won’t see you as weak. I didn’t think it was possible, but I learned a little more about her this week.”
“You guys are back huh?” Henry’s head dropped.
“You could say that.” Frank smiled wide. “Yeah, we’re back. And that’s why I’m getting on you here, Henry. You’re messing up the trio. You’re letting Dean in. Come on.”
Henry look as if a small amount of happiness hit his face. “You still want to let me in your lives?”
“Of course I do. You’re my best friend. But you have to get off your ass here. I’ll work on it on my end.”
“Thanks, Frank.” Henry lost his smile. “But not yet.”
“We’ll work on this, Henry.” Frank started walking again. “But you know, I still think that was a lame excuse for not stopping by last night.”
“Can I be honest with you, Frank?”
“Yes.”
“With the way my luck has been, I was kind of afraid.”
Frank was puzzled. “Afraid of what?”
“Afraid of catching tuberculosis. I mean, you do have that rare strain ...”
“Henry.”
“And you really shouldn’t touch the kids yet with having it.”
“Henry.” Frank tried to interrupt.
“Of course if you weren’t playing with frogs you wouldn’t have ...”
“Henry.” Frank grabbed him and stopped him. “I don’t have tuberculosis.”
“Sure you do. Dean said you do.”
“No,” Frank corrected. “Dean said I may have it.”
“Still, Frank, You can’t be too sure and uh ... I really wish you wouldn’t touch me I know I’ll catch it. And with my luck, I’ll die right away.”
“Henry.” Frank started to laugh. “Dean only said that to cover up the truth. I didn’t want anyone to know. I was embarrassed, but most of all because I was scared I couldn’t do it. He had me in Holding because I had to dry out. I quit drinking, Henry. I did it.”
Henry’s mouth dropped open and he grinned wide. “You really quit?”
“Yep. Haven’t had a drink in a week.”
“Oh my God, Frank.” Henry jumped up hugging him. “I’m proud of you!”
“Thanks, Henry.” Stepping back from the hug, Frank ruffled Henry’s combed hair.
“Aw, Frank.” Henry tried to straighten it. “It took me fifteen minutes to get my hair right.”
“Why do you care?” Frank said as they started walking again. “Just shave it off.”
“No!” Henry snapped. “And besides, my hair has to look good. I work a lot with Danny. Have you seen his hair? Always perfect. It’s embarrassing. I look sloppy.” Henry walked a little more then stopped. “Shit. Frank? Ellen was with you up there.”
“Yeah she was,” Frank said somberly.
“Oh my God, Frank, did she have to dry out too?”
“Fuck, Henry, what do you ...” Frank looked solemn again. “Yes, yes she did. And it’s all because of you. You drove her to the bottle.”
“Oh my God.” Henry looked panicked as he walked. “I knew it. My luck again, see.” Shaking his head, he didn’t see Frank laughing in their walk to their divisions. If he had he wouldn’t have stayed so worried.
<><><><>
Dean could have set the mug of coffee down a little easier when he set it on the nightstand by Ellen’s head, but he needed to jolt her. Not just by the aroma of his nice morning offering, but by the sound as well. “Let’s go, El.” He pulled at the covers. “I’m not calling you again.”
“I’m not your child.” She brought the covers back up.
“Get up.” He pulled them back down and opened the blind.
“Dean,” she yelled out. “Cut it out and shut the damn blind.”
“Get up.”
“Go to hell.”
“Ellen.” He gasped. “Such attitude. I brought you coffee.” He sat on the edge of the bed next to her. “See how nice I am.”
“You’re the prince.” She could smell the clean of him. How long had he been up? “Dean, please, I just went to bed.”
“So. Choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Get the kids up and dressed or make breakfast. Which one?”
“Sleep.”
“Not a choice, Ellen. Come on.”
“God can you be annoying.” She sat up in bed, running her fingers through her hair and grabbed her coffee. “The kids aren’t up yet?”
“Nope. You guys didn’t bring them back until late.” Dean looked at his watch. “It’s time though.” He stood up. “And don’t forget you’re picking them up today. Bring them here, Frank will get them later.”
“Just tell me why I can’t go back to sleep.”
“Because you have to help me with these kids and we have a ton of work today. We touched nowhere near what we needed to touch yesterday.”
“You kept Frank in Holding extra long.”
“I kept Frank in Holding until he went twenty-four hours without being sick.” Dean walked to his dresser and grabbed his shirt. “And don’t complain about being tired. You went to bed late.”
“That’s because I got home late and had to clean your house. Which by the way you are getting lazy at.”
“Well you wouldn’t have gotten home so late had you not been fooling around with Frank all night.”
Ellen laughed. “You think that’s what I was doing. Ha!” She set her coffee down. “If I was fooling around with Frank then we were doing it in front of Robbie and Joe. Not much fun in that.”
“You continue to shock me, Ellen.”
“What?” She got out of bed. “That I didn’t fool around with Frank?”
“And the fact that you came home.”
“I live here!” She tossed her hands up. “You keep missing that fact, Dean.” She headed to her dresser, pulled out clothes and walked to the door. “And if you don’t start being as domesticated as you used to be, I won’t live here anymore.” She moved to the bedroom door. “And another thing.” She pointed. “You should change that shirt. It’s wrinkled.”
“So.”
“So? If you hung those up they wouldn’t get wrinkled.”
“Ellen.”
“And one more thing.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “What now?”
“I’m not making the bed. I barely slept in it.”
“Take your shower.” Dean waved his hand at her.
“You rinsed out the sink from shaving, didn’t you?”
“Yes, why would ...”
“I gag when I have to brush my teeth and I see those little hairs spewed forth all ...”
“Ellen!” Dean walked to her shoving her lightly through the door. “Go.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re pushing me like that. And you need a haircut.”
“Go.”
“You’re putting me in a bad mood, you know that don’t you,” Ellen bitched. “I didn’t get much sleep and here you are shoving me around ...”
“El.” Dean covered her mouth with his hand.
Ellen removed his hand. “You can silence me now but you have to work with me all day.” She stepped back and walked to the bathroom. “Don’t think I won’t let you hear it all day either.” Her voice faded. “And I hope to God you rinsed off the bar of soap.” The bathroom door shut. “I hate used bubbles on it.”
Dean tossed his hands in the air, his head spun. “Why did I even wake her up?”
<><><><>
“How much are we draining?” Danny asked Henry, walking with him to the new Tracking Station.
“Not much. I just think with everything else in your house it just overloaded it.”
Danny shook his head. “Good thing I got that fire out huh?”
“Good thing.” Henry pulled out his clipboard. “We should have the lines for areas two and four run out there by four o’clock. We can hook those up then. Possibly running another series of tests on those regions.”
“How often will Security run tests on the system once it’s fully operational?”
“Will they have to at all?”
“What do you mean?” Danny asked.
Henry opened the door to the new Monitoring Station. “This.” Henry pointed to Mark who sat before the high squealing, beeping monitor, holding his ears. “See what I mean?”
Danny laughed. “What’s wrong, Mark?” he asked loudly.
“I can’t take this!” Mark shouted back. “We’re picking up every squirrel and rabbit in the three mile radius.”
Danny looked at the video signal, weak, the slow blinking of the light told him that the motion signal picked up was not that big. “Maybe I should adjust the values. What do you think, Henry.”
“We can do that. Lower them a little.”
“Until then,” Danny shouted to Mark over the loud noise. “Can I give you a little advice?”
“Yes!” Mark was willing to listen, then watching a reach of Danny’s hand, the noise stopped.
Danny grinned. “It’s called volume control.” He patted Mark on the back.
Mark so frazzled, ran his hand about his own hair. “I need to get back in the Field. Between the Security room. The Tracking room and Communications room, I’ll be flipping out when my alarm clock goes off.”
Danny shook his head then checked out the time. “Frank and Robbie will be here soon to see how this place will run. We’re gonna do a full scale test on what we have, before we shut it back down to hook up the other ...” The odd feeling of being examined overwhelmed Danny, he shifted his eyes to Henry staring with a bewildered look. “Something wrong?”
“Your hair.”
Danny sprang up. “What’s wrong? Does it look bad?” he spoke rapid and with concern.
“It’s fine. How do you do that with it? How do you get that ... that look? We were just tromping through the woods.”
“It takes a few extra minutes in the morning.”
“I put a few extra minutes in the morning into my hair. I can’t get that look.” Henry shook his head and folded his arms. “Do you use our Hair Hold?”
“Just a little. In the right spots.”
“It doesn’t work for me.”
“Have you considered ... maybe cutting your hair just a little and maybe adding a few more layers.”
“Will it work for me?” Henry asked, deep in his conversation with Danny, not paying attention to Mark whose head went back in forth listening to them. “I have some layers. Andrea is timid about cutting it.”
“Go to Bentley.”
“He won’t cut it too short?”
“No way.” Danny waved his hand.
At that moment, Mark had all he could take. He stood up. “Can I take a break?”
Frank’s ‘no’ as he walked in the room, sat Mark back down. “Hey.” Frank looked around. “Check this place out. You guys worked hard.” He looked at the system. “Is this it?” He pointed. “This is great. Good job. And Mark, what is wrong with you?”
“Them.” Mark held his finger to them.
Frank looked to Danny then to Henry, and knowing the two of them, didn’t question Mark anymore. “Go take five, Mark. And search out Robbie.”
“Thanks, Frank.” Excited, Mark jumped from his chair and flew out.
“Man, what did you guys do to him?”
Danny shrugged. “Don’t know.”
Henry interjected. “We were talking about hair, Frank.”
“Hair?” Frank questioned.
“And speaking of hair,” Danny said. “Frank, have you ever considered letting your hair grow in some.”
Frank’s mouth opened, but Henry spoke. “He tried that Danny. A couple years ago, It’s too curly.”
“Maybe he didn’t have the right cut.”
“You might be right. We didn’t have a stylist.”
“And people with thick curly hair can’t just let their hair grown in without good cut. They’ll have no control.”
Henry snapped his finger. “And speaking of control. We didn’t have Hair Hold back then either.”
“Whoa.” Danny laughed. “I bet your hair was flipping all over the place huh, Frank? You have that texture.”
Frank’s eyes shifted. “I’ll uh ... I’ll be right back.” Spinning quickly, and rolling his eyes, Frank too, like Mark, made his hasty escape from that station.
<><><><>
How much longer could he go on was the not the question on Private Tom Collin’s mind. How much farther did he have to go to be free from them was the one. Running. Running without stopping, huffing fiercely out of breath and in horrendous pain. Private Collins only looked back when he thought he heard something behind him, otherwise he kept on going, despite the hurt and despite the fact that he had been shot in the back.
The Caceres Society Army arrived twenty-two miles north of Beginnings. Arriving like Minute Man missiles. Taking the long route, coming in from Canada and settling. But the Society Army had one big advantage. They knew the flight schedule of the reconnaissance flights of Beginnings. So the army knew when they could arrive in the small town. Knew when they had to stay within the structures and they knew when they could move about.
Why they were there and what they would do was the reason Tom Collins started to leave. He found out things he didn’t want to know. A plan he disagreed with. Little did he expect when he disobeyed his order to return, that he would be shot in the back. And it was only after he had taken a bullet that he started to run.
He wondered if they chased him long, if they chased him at all. He started to feel safe. And with the relief of that, Tom Collins started to get dizzy and weak. He fought to keep moving knowing full well that once he stopped, they would find and finish him off. Even the thought of that didn’t bother Tom that much. He’d rather die while on the run, then die amongst men fighting a battle they didn’t even think about.
Tom couldn’t run anymore. His steps began to stammer and the bright day around him began to spin. With the struggling last step, Tom fell harshly to the ground. With the feel of the grass clenched between his fingers he heard the sound of it. He raised his head, so weakened. As he heard the ‘nay’ of the horse again, he saw the hoof and the legs, then Tom’s head plopped down and he passed out.
<><><><>
Joe couldn’t recall when the last time he was at the cryo-lab. Yet there he was making his way down there. It seemed weird, almost uncomfortable to him, but wanted to find Ellen. They were taking a break from the virus, Dean told him, and working on a community project. What that could be, Joe wondered. His curiosity piqued even more when he heard the laughter and giggles coming from the closed door of the lab.
Buzzing himself in, Joe heard the voices, but saw no one. He heard a shriek, Ellen shriek and it came from the back. That was when he noticed it. The windows on the lab area where Henry used to work could no longer been seen through, there were smeared with something, a substance, red and brown. “What in God’s name?” Joe moved closer and jumped back when he heard another shriek, followed by a laugh. “Hey.” He peeked in. “Oh shit.” Joe stepped back.
Ellen turned from Joe, laughed, then faced him. “Hi, Joe.”
Dean peeked around the bend. “Hi, Joe. What are you doing here?”
Joe stood with his back facing them. It was strange enough that Ellen and Dean had settled into the old Henry-lab, it was even stranger the way they were dressed. Raincoats, both of them, hoods pulled up and tied tightly around their faces and goggles. But the strangest thing was the lab itself. Splattered with red, the blood of some animal, the fur of the animals stuck to the wall as well. “What are you two up to?”
“Check this out, Joe,” Dean said. “I almost have your mouse killer.”
Joe thought about it for a second. “Wait a second, I thought you were making something that would explode their stomachs ... only.”
“Uh ... I am,” Dean told him. “The only thing is I am having a bit of a problem getting it right,
I keep exploding the entire creature. Give me some time, I’ll have it for you.”
“Where did you get all the mice to explode, Dean?” Joe asked.
“Mice.” Dean looked at Ellen.
Ellen looked out the door. “They aren’t mice, Joe. They’re rabbits, or were. Silly. You actually thought mice would make this much of a mess.” She turned back to Dean. “How much longer till the next uh ... test.”
“Should be happening in five minutes.”
“We really need to quicken the effect,” Ellen said. “Joe? How come you’re here. Come to check on your mice eliminator?”
“No. I came to talk to you, seriously.”
“I didn’t do it, Joe.” Ellen held up her hand.
“No, I know. But I need to speak to you about Henry.”
“Talk. I’m listening.”
Slowly Joe turned around to face her. “Dear God do you look ridiculous. Can you at least take off those stupid goggles so I can talk to you?”
“Sure.” Ellen removed her goggles. “Hey, Dean, give me a count down on those rabbits, I have my goggles off.” She looked to Joe again. “Go on.”
Feeling like he was talking to Daffy Duck, Joe spoke to her. “I need you to put your foot down and get to the root of Henry’s problem.”
“Nope.”
“Nope? Ellen, the man needs someone to help him though this. You and I discussed this.”
“I know. He doesn’t want my help. I tried.”
“So what. Help him. Put your foot down. His moods are so up and down, I can’t keep up with him. He had an incident with Ben while you were in Holding.”
“Oh shit, did Henry turn gay?”
“No!” Joe yelled at her. “He got rough, shoved him, snapped at him. Ellen. Swallow your goddamn pride and be a grown up about this.”
“A grown up? I’ll have you know, Joe ... I’ll have you know ... you ...” Ellen smiled. “I see through the corner of my eyes, the large extending belly of that one rabbit. When I yell ‘duck’ you better duck.” Ellen put on her goggles. “Ready, Dean?”
Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8 Page 54