Sleepers (Book 7): Sleepers 7

by Druga, Jacqueline

  “How is this possible?” I asked.

  “The mind is a tricky thing,” Javier said. “Because of my son’s head injury I spent a lot of time studying the brain and how to heal it.”

  “Hence our Sleeper virus,” I said.

  Javier grumbled then regained his cool composure. “We just don’t know why the brain retains some information and loses other memories. Danny, were you able to pinpoint where her memory stops?”

  “No,” Danny said. “We only got so far. I was going to ask her the last thing she remembered and then she heard the voices outside of the room and got anxious. She recognized Beck.”

  My heart sank. Especially when I saw through the corner of my eye that he smiled.

  “She said to go get you guys and she’ll see who she remembers,” Danny told us. “She said that obviously all of you are friends and care about her if you are out here.”

  “So, wait,” Beck said. “If she knows me, but doesn’t remember Bill dying, then obviously her memory stops somewhere between those two points. Which were what? A week? Two weeks? Every one of us but Sonny was with her in that timeframe. Why would the memory leave at that particular point?”

  Javier answered, “Traumatic experience maybe.”

  Randy snapped his fingers. “Missy’s death. She jumped off the divide.”

  Javier’s eyes widened. “Oh my God!”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “She had Phoenix in her arms.”

  “How…how…?” Javier stuttered.

  “Beck,” Danny said, pointing at him. “I don’t know how he did that shit, but he saved the baby.”

  Michael, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up. “I think that we need to not worry about the point she forgets and focus on her overall wellbeing.”

  “Aren’t you worried she won’t remember you?” I asked.

  “Not at all,” Michael said. “My relationship with Mera will rebuild. I worry more about having to explain the time travel.”

  Randy raised his hand. “I’ll volunteer for that if she wants to know.”

  “So,” I said, “we’re looking at everything she forgot from Missy’s death on.”

  Javier shook his head. “That hasn’t been determined. That’s a guess.”

  “You said traumatic experience,” I said.

  “I did,” Javier said. “However, a hit to the head can be a point as well. There was a case in the 1930s when a man was on a boat, had a seizure, and when he woke up he had no memory of anything that happened. His memory stopped at when he was twelve and was hit in the head with a baseball.”

  “Mera didn’t have a head…” Beck’s eyes widened.

  “What?” I asked, then it hit me. “Aw,” I whined and stomped my foot. “The day Phoenix was born.”

  “You clocked her good,” Beck said. “You even said she probably had a concussion.”

  “One way to find out.” Javier nodded at us. “As overwhelming as it may be having you all step in that room, it’s what she wants and we can find out who and what she knows, doesn’t know, and go from there.” He reached for the door. “Shall we?”

  With Javier’s open invitation to face the music we all slowly shuffled into the room.

  16. Sonny

  The second I laid eyes on Mera, my worries about her memory were instantaneously second fiddle. Like Michael, I feared for her wellbeing. She was sitting up and very pale, her face looked drawn, and she had a constant cough. She constantly sipped water and was grateful when Javier handed her a cough drop before he left. “These have booze in them,” Mera said. “I like booze. I remember that.” Then she lifted her eyes to all of us. “What? Did I not remember that right?”

  All of us talked at the same time, mumbling some version of, “Yeah, you’re good. That’s right. You love booze.”

  “Mom, who in this room do you know and who do you not know?” Danny asked. “We’re trying to establish what you remember.”

  Her eyes shifted across the line of people before her. She glanced first to Danny. “I know you. You look older, slightly, it’s the longer hair

  and scruff.”

  “Scruff?” Danny asked. “I’ve been growing this for weeks.”

  Mera gently ran her hand down his face. “I know Gavin Beck.”

  Michael cleared his throat. “That’s better than me. I didn’t even remember his first name.”

  Mera smiled. “Major Gavin Beck. He helped Danny when he was bit.” She grabbed Danny’s arm. “Barely a scar now. See? I know it’s been a while. I feel it here.” She tapped her chest.

  When she mentioned Danny’s arm and Beck’s full name I started to wonder if her memory stopped at that first aid station. The one where Beck arrested her.

  “Anyone else, Mom?”

  “Randy Briggs.” She smiled at Randy. “He came with us and…” her tone dropped, “Alex. Him.”

  Ouch, I thought.

  “You’re joking, right?” Alex asked. “You said my name like you

  hate me.”

  “To the best of my memory right now you’re…even though you helped Danny, you just…I know you as an arrogant asshole.” Mera seemed to cower after she said that, almost embarrassed.

  “He’s still an asshole,” Michael said, “but he has his good points.”

  “Thanks, Padre,” Alex said.

  Mera snapped her finger. “Padre. I knew you were familiar. I don’t remember meeting you, but I feel a spiritual connection of sorts.”

  “I’m Michael.” He took her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again.”

  “And you.” She looked at me. “I’m so sorry, I don’t remember you, but my God, do you look like my husband Daniel.”

  “I’m Sonny. We’re, like, best friends.”

  “I can see why,” Mera said. “I probably latched on to you.”

  “What?” Alex barked. “No you aren’t her best friend. Stop it. He’s not.”

  “I am.”

  “He is,” Randy added.

  Alex flung out his hand. “So tell me what’s the last thing you remember.”

  Everyone shouted, “Alex!”

  “What?” Alex shrugged. “I’m tired of the suspense.”

  “It’s okay,” Mera said. “It’s not an abrupt end to memories. I remember you, Beck, and me going to the hospital to get Danny antibiotics. You made fun of me for throwing up. You shot that Sleeper woman in the head.” She gasped. “The baby, the baby was being born and you bashed in the door and hit me in the head.”

  Beck asked, “Do you remember anything after that?”

  “Very little,” Mera replied.

  Listening, I knew things were going to get complicated to explain. A lot was gone if her memory faded after that. Her hero connection with Beck that Alex claimed was the reason they were together.

  “The baby was born perfect,” Mera said. “Alex hates him.”

  “I did not!” Alex argued.

  “You did. You said you wouldn’t look at him because he was going to die.”

  Randy agreed. “You did say that.”

  “I remember,” Beck said.

  “Dude, that’s cold,” Danny added.

  “The baby lived, right?” Mera asked. “I feel that.”

  “The baby lived,” Danny said and took her hand. “Mom, do you know why you’re in the hospital?”

  She paused to think. “An infection. That’s what caused my memory problems. That’s what the attractive Latino looking doctor said.”

  “Attractive Latino doctor?” Alex echoed. “Javier?”

  “Alex,” Beck said, “he’s a nice looking man.”

  Alex looked at me. “Sonny, would you call him attractive?”

  “Why are you asking me?”

  “Because you like Tom Selleck and are wearing that shirt.”

&
nbsp; “I love Tom Selleck!” Mera gushed. “That is a great shirt.”

  “Figures,” Alex muttered.

  “Mom, did the doctor say anything to you about having a baby? You got the infection after the baby.”

  “I had a baby?” Mera asked with a look of shock. “I wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant again.”

  “You did,” Danny said.

  Mera lowered her voice to a whisper. “Did the baby live?”

  Danny nodded. ‘She’s beautiful.”

  “Wow. Oh wow, that is…” Her expression dropped. “The father. Who…?” She turned to Beck. “Are you the father?”

  “No, I wish I was. I planned on helping you raise her.”

  “That’s so sweet.” She smiled. “So the father is dead?”

  “No,” Beck answered.

  Michael interjected. “It’s complicated, Mera. Just know that Beck is a big part of your life.”

  “Padre!” Alex asked. “Hot Doc said not to tell her anything.”

  “If you’re not the father,” Mera then looked at me. “Sonny, it has to be you.”

  “Nope.”

  She then turned to Randy. “You?”

  “Sorry.”

  A glance to Michael, who shook his head, then Mera looked at Alex.

  “Ding. Ding.” Alex grinned arrogantly.

  “You? You’re the father?” Mera exhaled. “How the hell did that happen?”

  “You know what, I’m done,” Alex snapped. “You guys can fill her in. I get the short end of the memory stick. Beck is still hero worshiped, Randy is a swell guy, Sonny is the dead husband, Michael is a spiritual connection, and me? I’m the arrogant asshole who made fun of her, hit her in the head, and hated the baby. No wonder she is shell shocked about getting pregnant by me.” He walked to the bed and kissed her on the head. “Believe it or not, we actually, for the most part, get along.” He walked out.

  It was quiet for a moment after Alex’s departure, then Mera softly said. “Shell shocked is an understatement. Can someone please fill me in on what is going on?”

  It wasn’t as simple as saying, “We found Jessie, headed to Grace, left Grace to come here, Jessie died and here we are.” There was also, “Beck died, came back, Alex died, came back, your son is here from the future and the holy alliance with Beck is because he vowed to die with you on the roof of a hospital.”

  Just to name a few things.

  Mera wanted to know, and we’d tell her, it would just take time. Determining how she would be told was also a factor in it all.

  17. Alex

  Not long ago, we had something happen that was documented in the Doctrines as the “Three Days of Death.” Now I was experiencing something else and I asked our good Doctrine writer, Sonny, if he could add a little tidbit called “Three days of Insanity,” or longer, depending on the length of time it took to get through two years’ worth of history with Mera.

  It wasn’t only a history lesson on all that happened; it was a lesson on all that happened and then what was changed. I wasn’t quite sure what Mera understood because I wasn’t permitted to spend much time alone with her. It made me uncomfortable because she had all these questions and I felt like I was under scrutiny for every answer I gave her, like I would lie or something. Okay, so apparently this memory thing was the start to the ten year long wait to be a couple. I was good with that.

  Actually, I wasn’t. But what could I do? I was confident in our friendship and connection and that we would overcome this whether or not she got those memories back.

  Javier, who was officially baptized into the Doctrines as Hot Doc, said he felt Mera would eventually get her memories back.

  It was a daily thing. Sonny brought the journals, Beck talked about non-relationship things, Danny talked about family, as did Ed. I talked with her about different events that occurred. Michael dealt with Sleeper issues and Randy was the everything else guy, the straight shooter, and we all agreed he would deliver the non-biased view of things.

  The one positive aspect was that my daughter was healthy and improving. Levi allowed her to stay in the hospital with Mera for a few days to give me time to get things in order.

  The Sonny Laws, which we renamed Logan Laws after the future name of the Doctrines, were being drafted and had to be finished before Sonny and Miles took off to look for a new home.

  Fences were finished, the truck was being prepared, and to top it all off, Beck decided it would be a good idea to hold elections before Sonny left. That same evening we passed out the special treat boxes to the women.

  There was no official ballot. A hundred and twenty people would vote on who they wanted to be leader. The top four vote getters would be the council, with the person receiving the most votes top in command. The leader.

  “It’s not gonna work,” I said to Beck as we organized boxes of goodies in the library.

  “What’s not?” Beck asked. “The items?”

  I lifted up a huge pair of women’s underwear and stretched them out. “Not a single woman in this camp will admit they fit into these. But no, I’m talking about voting. We aren’t gonna have a clear council after one round of voting.”

  “Why do you say that?” Beck asked.

  “Because you have a hundred people all voting with no direction,” I said. “Scratch that. Tons of people will vote for themselves. Your winners will have, like, two or three votes. You’re gonna have Randy winning cause he’ll get the kitchen women vote plus his own. Then Danny will be vice leader with his vote and Patty.”

  “That’s funny, but you have a point. I don’t think we’ll have to do a second vote for leader. I think one person will emerge as a winner.”

  “You that confident, Beck?”

  “No.” Beck laughed. “I was talking about you. I’ll think you’ll emerge as official leader once and for all.”

  “I’m no leader.”

  “Yeah, Alex, you are. You always have been. You have always made decisions based on what is best for everyone. For the most part, I did what I had to do for my family. When I branched out, that’s when people saw me differently. I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t like being the leader of the Beckoning?”

  “I hate that term. And no, I don’t like that pressure. I don’t want to be out there. But the Doctrines say if I don’t we lose. It’s a catch twenty-two. I don’t go, the Sleepers win. I do go, something always happens when I’m not around. Not that I blame anyone. Those things would have happened whether I was here or not. Just if I was here, I could have been a part of the fight, the struggle, everything.”

  “So what I’m getting is you don’t want to do the Beckoning?”

  “I hate that term,” Beck grumbled. “No, Alex, I don’t. I want to go to the new home. I want to be around the kids, Mera, everyone. I want to be there to set things up. I just need to find out why I am so important to it all. There has to be a way without me being out there.”

  “Maybe they tried in the future and you are the key to success?” I suggested.

  “Maybe we aren’t supposed to change things.”

  “I often ask myself…what would we do? What would I do if we had no knowledge whatsoever about future events? I mean, we obviously end up right here anyhow, right? Even with that knowledge we didn’t change our destination.” I grabbed items and put them in a box. “We just took a different path.”

  “Are you saying no matter what we do we’re gonna end up the same anyhow?”

  “Possibly.” I shrugged. “According to Ed slash Phoenix we were survival gypsies. Then again, a lot more of us died, and Hot Doc wasn’t around.”

  “So we already changed the path.”

  “But did we change the destination?” I asked. “I am kinda bummed to think that maybe we don’t set up house in Graceland. What would you do if you had no knowledge of a
future Sleeper world?”

  “It wouldn’t cross my mind to worry about the far away future. Just the future at hand. Surviving and living.”

  “Maybe we need to think that way more often instead of letting some future versions of current bed wetting toddlers tell us what to do.”

  Beck laughed.

  “Seriously. We obviously didn’t screw up that bad with them. Those who weren’t meant to be saved were,” I said. “We let the Doctrines control us too much, and does it make that much of a difference?”

  “You’re pretty smart, Alex.”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  Beck laughed. “You always said you hated the time travel shit.”

  “I do, and Mike always says we shouldn’t know too much about our destiny.”

  “Yet, we had no problem telling him he was…how did you put it? Super Shedder in the future.”

  “Yeah, that’s if it’s actually him.”

  Beck crinkled his brow. “Who else would it be? Ed said tests proved it was Michael.”

  “Test run by Levi, not Javier. No offense to the man who waddles, but he’s not our top mind or a specialist in DNA.”

  “Do you have someone else in mind?” Beck asked.

  “I have some theories. I’d rather not say until we can sit down with Hot Doc.”

  “I can respect that.”

  My watch beeped. I don’t think Beck heard, but I knew it was my signal. “Okay I have to go.”

  “Just like that?”

  “It’s my talk time with Mera. I get the ten minutes between Bonnie and Michael. Man, she tortures me.” I closed the last box. “Thanks for the talk, Beck. I miss this.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  I started to leave.

  “Alex?”

  I stopped.

  “I’m sorry Mera doesn’t remember anything about you.”