Ignoring him, Ellen called up the steps. “Frank.”
“El, shut the light out. I’m trying to sleep.”
Ellen waved her hand at him. “Frank!” She called out in that whisper again. “Robbie, is he here?” She walked to the back of the couch. “I need to . . . and cover up or something. I can see right through the front opening of your boxer shorts.”
Robbie dropped the pillow to the floor. “Who cares, Ellen? Why are you looking at my crotch anyhow?”
“It’s right there.”
“Can I help it impresses you?”
“Ha.” Ellen laughed and turned back to the steps. “Please. You’re a Slagel remember? Big men plus large egos equals the Slagel curse.”
“Thank you for that,” Robbie said with sarcasm, rubbing his eyes. “Why are you here?”
“Not to see your crotch.” Ellen saw Frank come down the steps. “Frank.”
“El.” Frank stepped to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Frank.” Ellen sounded frantic. “Henry is working all night. I heard this noise.”
“A noise?” Frank asked. “What kind of noise, like an animal?”
“No, a person.” Ellen stated. “Whoever it was, was sneaking up the steps.”
“Like a prowler?” Frank laughed. “El, we’re in Beginnings, there are no prowlers.”
Ellen shook her head at him. “Fine, laugh at me but it scared me.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Frank asked.
“Yes, Frank very,” Ellen told him. “I heard the door open. I heard whoever it was walk into the table lamp and then they walked up the steps. They wouldn’t answer me when I called. And when I pretended you were with me, they heard that and ran out.”
Frank looked to Robbie who was pulling on his pants. “Robbie?”
“I know. I’m on it.” Robbie tossed on his shirt then slipped his feet in his boots. He began to lace them. “I’ll check it out.” Stomping to adjust his foot, Robbie stood up.
“Get back to me,” Frank told him.
“You got it.” Robbie grabbed his coat from the chair. “I’ll let you know what I find.”
Ellen smiled in relief at Robbie. “Thank you.”
“Yep.” Opening the door, Robbie looked back before he walked out. “I want you to take note of how nice I’m being. And you insulted my penis too.”
^^^^
Joe’s heavy thinking breath seeped from his hand that slid down his face. Still wearing his night clothes, he kept looking back to Robbie as he paced about Henry’s living room. “No mistake?”
“None.” Robbie shook his head. “Someone was in here. Dirt tracks on the stairs, lamp knocked over.”
“Do you . . .” Joe looked up to the loud thumps as Frank came down the stairs. “Anything Frank?”
Frank laughed.
“What?” Joe asked annoyed.
“I can’t believe you still have those pajamas. Didn’t you have them when we were . . .”
“Frank,” Joe snapped. “Anything upstairs?”
Frank cleared his throat. “No. Of course Ellen said she heard the door close.”
“Doesn’t mean they didn’t come back when she left.” Joe said. “Was it Henry or was it Ellen they wanted?”
Frank decided to answer. “Seeing that Henry was in the cryo-lab and that Ellen called out and they still came up the steps, we’re thinking it’s Ellen.”
Joe looked to Robbie. “A survivor from containment?”
Robbie shook his head. “Greg’s on watch. I talked to him. Everyone’s locked down.”
“Escape hatch?” Joe questioned.
“Secured and padlocked.”
Joe snapped his finger. “Maybe it was Mike the Dog. We do let him out.”
“Nope again. We now put paper down in the men’s room.”
“Oh my God,” Frank gasped. “Get rid of that animal. If he’s not house broken by now he shouldn’t . . .”
“Frank.” Joe held up his hand with a wince. “What about taking a look at the people Ellen may have had confrontations . . . Never mind, we’ll be talking to the whole community. All right. This may have something to do with sex as well. Robbie, get together with Jenny Matoose. Ask her what men in the community haven’t been with a woman in a while. She keeps records of which of her women service who. And let’s watch Ellen, but keep this under wraps, especially from her. She’ll be running around accusing everyone. Got that?” He got an agreement from his sons. “And keep an eye out for anything strange.” Joe stopped before leaving. “And yes, Frank, I have had these pajamas since you were teenagers.”
When the door closed, Frank looked at Robbie. “I knew it. He loved those pajamas.”
“You know what, Frank? We should hide them like we used to.”
“Oh. Excellent idea.” Frank smiled and gave a swat to Robbie’s arm. “And you know what the best part is. Hal’s not around to blame it on us, so we won’t get in trouble for doing it.” With a nod, Frank walked out, leaving his little brother laughing.
CHAPTER SEVEN
November 29
The dining room was loud, extremely loud, however, Ellen did her best to block out the noise while running in her mind what she had to do that morning. “Here.” She gave Brian a bottle, lifted the spoon from his bowl of cereal on the table, and shoved it in his mouth. “Good boy.” She patted him on the head. “Your turn, Josh.” She raced back in the kitchen and laid two bowls of cereal down for Billy and Joey.
Billy whined. “I hate corn flakes.”
“Tough.” Ellen poured the milk in his bowl, then Joey’s. “Alex, what are you doing?”
Alexandra sat with a rice cake breaking it into tiny pieces and sticking it in a bowl. “Making cereal, Uncle Robbie taught me this.”
“Remind me to thank your Uncle Robbie for the mess.” She brushed the crumbs off the table. “I saw that, Billy. Joey, eat your own food. And Josh, the food goes in Brian’s mouth.” Letting out a loud grunt of disgust, Ellen turned to the door when she heard the knock. “Who is that?” She raced to the door and opened it. Denny and his little sister Katie stood there. “Denny.”
“My mom said to feed us. She didn’t have time.” Denny, holding Katie’s hand walked in.
“Sure go on.” Ellen held her hand out. “I need my coffee.” Moving faster than the two young people in her living room, Ellen brushed by them.
“Hey, Josh.” Denny, leaning in his walk, walked into the dining room. “Did you hear?” He sat down.
“Hear what?” Josh asked.
“What they’re making us do. We have to help Dean and them clean out that lab. Hanging out with old people again,” Denny complained.
“Aw. That thing is probably really dirty,” Josh complained. “Why do they make us do that?”
“My mom said Dean rec . . rec . . .” Denny tried to remember the words. “Ellen?”
“Requisitioned you.” She walked into the dining room with her coffee. “That means since you really aren’t people yet, Joe can do with you what he wants.” She started to feed Brian.
Denny’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not fair… I don’t think.”
“Welcome to Beginnings.” Ellen told them. “In the old world we had laws pertaining to stuff like that. Rules. And when people like Joe broke the rules, people like you guys just wouldn’t do their work.”
Denny was surprised to hear that. “How did they get away with that?”
Ellen, between feeding a reluctant Brian and trying to get her morning dose of caffeine in, proceeded to explain to the two awestruck teenage boys about labor rules in the old world.
^^^^
Joe put out his cigarette and stretched some in his chair. Barely eight-thirty in the morning and he felt like he put in a day’s work. In actuality, he did. He never went back to sleep after the ‘prowler’ episode. He wanted to but hands were needed in the greenhouses to get ready for their harvest. Readying himself to make a walk through in town, Joe grabbed his coffee and stood f
rom his desk chair. He took a clipboard and opened his door. Enjoying the welcome warmer weather of the fall season, he stepped outside, whistling as he stared up to the blue sky. About ten or so feet in his stroll, Joe paused, stopped whistling, and turned around. His hand went harshly down his face when he saw Denny and Josh. Sternly and fatherly he walked up to them. His one word sent shivers of fright through them, but they didn’t show it. Or at least they didn’t think they did. “Boys.” With a pointing index finger, Joe walked back into his office. He wanted to get to the bottom of how the two most ill-informed people in the community learned how to sit in a protest holding a sign that said, ‘Unfair child labor practice’.
^^^^
Ellen just wanted to gripe. Take this. Do that. Bring this. Move that. But since she was running around the community so much, she had no one to complain to. And she ran around without a jacket too, which irritated her. Since the whole reason for the rush was Henry’s secret tell-tale signs that the weather was getting bad. And Joe, swearing by Henry’s system, moved both the Cleveland run and future trip . . . up.
She got the files from down in the cryo-lab that would be needed for the mobile. With the files gathered in a box, Ellen moved through the tunnels. She hummed something as she walked, using her footsteps as a metronome. It made her laugh that she hummed a melody from some old sitcom. In her indulgence of laughter at her subconscious memory of useless tunes, Ellen wheezed in some of the dust from the box. Stopping to sneeze, the box tilted from the violent shaking of her body. “Damn it.” She bent down to pick the three files that had fallen to the ground. Grateful that they hadn’t sprayed out everywhere, Ellen picked them up and stood. As she did, she heard the footsteps behind her. They moved at the same pace she had previously done. Not knowing who it was, Ellen began to walk again. She stopped when she heard whistling of the same song she had just hummed. It was eerie, too eerie, but it had to be someone messing around with her. “Robbie?” She called out. “Frank?” The footsteps continued. “Joe?” The failure to receive a response told her it was time to run. And she did. Holding the box that jingled as her small body ran, she could hear the footsteps behind her meshing with the sound of her own. Before Ellen was aware, she had passed up the ladder to the top. Running faster, she knew where she had to head. Not much further was the escape hatch into containment. She arrived at that ladder and, box in arm, she climbed using one hand. Bracing herself and hearing the approaching person louder, she pushed up the hatch. Locked. “Shit.”
Louder and louder the footsteps grew, steady and taunting.
Ellen struggled with the hatch, pushing it, making it shake, grunting in her efforts. More violently she fought to get it open when she heard not only the footsteps stop, but the shifting of a gun’s chamber as well. Neck muscles protruding, frightened emotional sounds seeping from her throat, Ellen banged fanatically on the wooden hatch. “Help me!”
With the ‘crack’ of the hatch being lifted from its hinges and the ray of light from the skills room, Ellen tossed up the box. Her arms were grabbed, and her body was lifted with such a force, it seemed to eject upward out of the tunnel at the exact same time the sound of a bullet ricocheted against the ladder.
Out of breath, Ellen felt the gentle release of her body by Sarge. The other survivors gathered around.
“Watch her! And someone call Frank!” Sarge ordered out, tossed his weapon behind his back, and then leaped feet first into the escape hatch. His large feet landed with a thunderous crash against the echoing floor of the tunnel. He looked from left to right, zoomed in on the fading running footsteps, and raced in that direction top speed. He knew his efforts were growing futile when he could hear the clanking of shoes against the metal ladder. By the time Sarge reached the other ladder, he saw no one. He climbed topside with haste only to see the normal hustle and bustle of Beginnings. Whoever he had chased, whoever shot at Ellen, clearly used their residency in Beginnings as the perfect camouflage to their recent emergence from the tunnel.
^^^^
As if Henry wasn’t busy enough. He couldn’t even put his mini notepad away. He had to keep checking off things that he did. And the way he ran around, he figured his legs should have been cut like a marathon runner. And Henry had to hurry if he didn’t want to miss it. Not that he had to be there but as head of mechanics he wanted to be there. The metal tubing that would be made into a makeshift airtight walkway between the CDC mobile and trailer was being attached and welded. Rush testing had to be done and just to double check it was done properly, Henry wanted to oversee.
He supposed stopping to see Frank was actually on his route to the garage to pick up a jeep. Frank wanted to see him and Henry did need to tell him, though half ass, he attached hinges back on the escape hatch in containment. So he’d stop. Proudly Henry was midway through his list for the day and it wasn’t even noon. He hoped Frank didn’t hold him up too much.
“You wanted to see me?” He approached Frank who stood by a keypad outside of warehouse three.
“Yeah.” Frank placed the screwdriver in his back pocket and pulled a piece of paper from his chest pocket. “Here.” He handed it to Henry. “List of new keypad codes I’m reprogramming. Memorize them, destroy that.”
“Got it.” Henry looked at the list. “I fixed the hatch. Anything from Robbie yet?”
“Still looking for the casing.” Frank said. “It seared off that ladder. So it’s down there. That should tell us if someone snuck in and is living down there or . . . it’s one of us.”
“Keep me posted.” Henry shoved the list in his back pocket. “I’m heading up to the mobile. Anything else?”
“Yes. I’m thinking . . . I’m thinking about moving Ellen back with me.”
Henry’s eyes slowly lifted to Frank. “Can I ask why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? For protection.”
“She’s safe with me.” Henry said.
“Someone broke into your home last night, Henry.”
“That is unfair, Frank. I wasn’t there,” Henry snapped. “And I won’t let her be alone again. I promise.”
“Why are you arguing with me on this? She’s my wife and besides keeping her safe, I would like to get on with my marriage.”
“And you two are doing really well working it out slowly. Moving her back in and using protecting her as the excuse is going to just toss aside all your work. It won’t fix things. It’ll force things. And trust me, Frank. Please don’t force Ellen’s hand.”
Frank’s eyes cased about the look on Henry’s face. “You know something. What is it?”
“All I know is that if you feel strongly about moving Ellen back for the right reasons, then talk to Rev. Bob. See what he tells you. As far as keeping her safe, I can do that. And besides, in a few days we’ll be locked in quarantine anyhow. Safe and secure.”
“True. All right.” Frank reached for his screwdriver. “Oh, Henry, before you dart off.” He pulled Henry back when he was trying to make an escape. “Moses said some whacked out things to Dean last night. Could you, without letting on, see if he has said anything to Ellen?”
“Sure Frank.” Henry said. “But even if he didn’t. I would bet he’s the one. We should just throw him out.”
“As much as I’d like, to my gut is saying he didn’t chase her. He’s too big. He wouldn’t move that fast.”
Henry laughed. “Please. I don’t remember Moses being . . .” Henry’s words slowed down when he noticed him. “Shit. Speak of the devil.”
“Literally.”
It was the first time for both of them since they had rippled time that they had seen Moses, or Rev. Thomas as the community knew him by. They watched as Reverend Thomas moved across the street their way, his long gorilla type arms swinging back and forth, his red hair bouncing with his every step.
Henry blinked long then swallowed the lump in his throat. “O.K. you’re right. He’s big.”
“He’s looking at you.” Frank said. “Want me to handle him?”
�
��Nah. I can. I’m not afraid of him. Watch.”
“You!” Reverend Thomas pointed in a heavy hand to Henry. “You are a messenger of death. Down shall thee fall by God’s hands, you and the other two.”
With a tilt of his head, Henry smiled. “Blow me.” He turned. “See ya.”
Frank watched Henry be-bop away as Rev. Thomas grumbled in anger before he stormed off the other direction. Nodding with a slight look of impressed, Frank lifted his screwdriver. “That worked.” With a shrug, he returned to the keypad.
^^^^
Fresh was the aroma of the CDC mobile when Ellen and Greg, both carrying boxes, walked in. So clean, crisp and chilly, it gave her excitement shivers. “Put that down over there,” Ellen instructed Greg then smiled at Denny and Josh who were on their hands and knees scrubbing. “Look at you boys go.”
Denny looked up at her with a pouting face. “You got us in trouble. Big trouble.”
“Yeah.” Josh added. “Joe pulled our ears.”
Denny grabbed his lobe. “Mine still hurts.”
Ellen shrugged and placed down her box. “Oh well, that’s a normal thing guys. People will pull your ears until you’re twenty. Where’s Dean?” She saw him come from the back room. “Never mind. Ask and you shall receive.”
“Hey, El.” Dean smiled then looked oddly to Greg. “Greg, this is a surprise.”
“Oh, I’m here to try to help move things faster along.” Greg said. “And watch out for Ellen.”
“Yeah.” Ellen nodded. “I was almost shot today.”
Dean’s expression dropped. “You’re joking?”
A ‘bang’ against the counter brought a moan from Henry as he stood and rubbed his head. “Nope. She almost was. First last night, then today. What’s next?”
“Death,” Ellen whispered in a joke.
“El.” Dean shook his head. “That’s not even funny.”
She waved him off. “I’m fine. This is Beginnings. And look, Greg’s my body guard until he leaves tomorrow. Huh, Greg? I trust you.”
“Thanks, Ellen.” Greg smiled. “It’s nice to be trusted and part of this.”
State of Time: Beginnings Series Book 6 Page 7