“Have you given any thought to gas?” I asked.
“Gas is borderline. It more than likely isn’t the best quality. We could burn out our engines. Vehicles are everywhere and Sonny and I can get them in shape enough to make a trip, so I’m not worried. There’s that old tanker out on eighty. First trip positions it at a good halfway point. We can take what we need to get us there.”
“We’re definitely moving then? Staying here is out of the question?”
“I like it here. It has potential, but it has bad memories and we seem to be a Sleeper magnet. We’re far too close to the Great Divide.”
“Kentucky is closer and that is tagged as a viable option.”
“Sonny didn’t see a Sleeper in Kentucky at all.”
“We haven’t been there yet.”
Beck laughed. “True.”
“I still would like to go to Vermont, check it out. Maybe this summer we can find it and see what Ed is talking about. That’s one place he’s never been.”
“Think about this. He only heard about it. It could be a myth.”
“Like dry land?”
He squinted a stare at me and I knew he didn’t get the reference.
“It’s a line from the old movie Water World. Dry land is not a myth, I’ve seen it. You probably weren’t one of the hundred and thirty people who saw it.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
I glanced through the papers and the map. “What do you think the chances are that this survivor Sonny found knows of a good place?”
Beck shrugged, “Hard to say.”
“Sonny said the survivor is dumb.”
“It’s post-traumatic stress.”
“Uh, Beck, the whole word has PTSD. No excuses. Besides, who is Sonny to call someone dumb?” I asked. “I take it you are going to do the Beckoning?”
“I don’t want to, but according to Ed that’s where my mistake was. Then again, I could run the Reckoning without being there. I think it’s a decision I’ll think about until the moment it’s time to go.”
“Javier said he wants to go.”
“I hate the thought of Javier leaving,” Beck said. “He’s the best we have. I get what he means. He needs the facilities the ARC has. Plus, he wants to inoculate. Personally, I think one elite squad cloaked can do a lot of damage and take a lot of Sleepers out.”
“Speak of the devil,” I said when Javier walked in. Had it been Levi, I would have been chastised for calling him the devil. He still didn’t quite get a ‘figure of speech.’
“Gentlemen.” Javier walked up to our table. “I heard there was a meeting and was wondering if I missed the invitation?”
“Last I heard,” I said, “you weren’t in the top four.”
“Last I heard,” Javier retorted, “this was a transparent government.”
“Have a seat, Doc.” I pulled out a chair. “What’s up?”
“You tell me,” Javier said. “I’ve been waiting.”
“On?”
“Beck says you have a theory on our super shredder?” Javier raised his eyebrow. Christ, was everyone else but me able to do that?
I looked at Beck. “You told him?”
“You didn’t say it was a secret. You said when we sit down with Hot Doc you’ll say it.”
“Thank you, Alex.” Javier patted my hand.
“You think I gave you that name?” I shook my head. “It was all Sonny.”
“I’m sure,” Javier said. “Now what’s your theory? Do you care to share, or do I have to read your mind?”
“Man, the docs around here are dicks,” I said. “Okay, fine. I’ll share. However, hear me out. Completely.”
Javier nodded to let me know he was listening.
“The one big factor that had you arguing that Michael was the Sandman or whatever was because supposedly in the future he dies, and you said it was impossible for him to morph like that, especially if he was dead.”
“Yes,” Javier said. “DNA doesn’t work like that. There is no Hulk transformation.”
“What if?” I lifted a finger. “Again, hear me out. What if it isn’t Michael? What if the transformation of the person, or the morphing, is already happening? Slowly, but it is. What if—”
“Alex!” Beck slammed his hand on the table. “Enough of the what ifs.”
“Fine. Could something in Michael’s version of the Sleeper virus, fused with someone else’s DNA, could that person be morphing at a slower rate? Therefore, in the future when a less competent DNA doc looks, they think it’s Michael, but it’s not, it’s this other person.”
“Who?” Beck asked.
“Sonny,” I said. “He got Michael’s cloaking serum, the only one. Is it possible it is mixing with his DNA and making Sonny our super shredder? Have you seen him lately? He’s hulking out. Fast too, like overnight, all ripped and shit. Is it possible?” Javier stared at me and then said, “No.” He stood up.
“Doc?”
“Sonny is bigger, because Sonny takes care of himself and works out.”
“Oh, he does not. Sonny is the laziest bastard I know,” I argued. “Hell, last week he rolled his chair to the commode because he didn’t want to walk there.”
“No. No more,” Javier said and walked out.
“Well…” I huffed. “Here I thought it was possible. Beck, you wanna take a shot and make fun of me too?”
“No. I think it’s a great theory. I just thought he was working out while I was gone.”
That made me laugh. “No one works out. We live in a world where life is our workout.”
“Well there is that weight room.”
“Have you seen it? Still has a foot of dust in there,” I said. “If it’s such a good theory, why did Hot Doc dismiss it so fast? Because we aren’t doctors?”
“Nah,” Beck shook his head. “Because he didn’t think of it first.”
That made total sense. I hoped Beck was right. It wasn’t that I feared Sonny being the Sandman, or as I called him, Super Shredder. Sonny was a great guy, he didn’t deserve to be the one person that was the bad guy in this whole situation.
Yet the seed was planted in Javier’s mind whether he wanted to admit it or not. My money was on the fact that the Hot Doc wasn’t going to be as passive about it as he made out. If it was a possibility, he may not tell us he was testing Sonny, but he would find out.
23. Mera
It was so nice having Ed with me to help with the baby and the boys. Usually he was their caretaker and teacher. He was still working with them and they loved him.
“Do you ever look at Phoenix and get freaked out because you know it’s the younger you?” I asked.
“Hell yeah.”
“So you teach him to have a jump on everything? Or rather, you?”
Ed nodded. “We talked about this. I want him to know it early. Keller needs it. Keller has abilities that need to be nurtured early.”
“What should I expect from you as a child?”
“Rebellion,” Ed said. “I hated being smart. I resented my father. A lot. Because he was so strict. I constantly played Alex, the good guy, against Beck, the bad guy. I feel bad now, because Beck is a good guy. I knew it then, but as a kid I hated how strict he was.”
“Did Keller do the same?”
“Oh yeah. He so played those two against each other. Beck was his good guy.”
“And Hope?”
Ed looked at the baby. “That was one of the things we changed. Hope died in my timeframe. She died in the attack. Javier saved you. Since we saved him, Hope lived.”
I couldn’t imagine losing Daniel, Jeremy, Jessie, and then losing a baby.
I ran my hand over her fine blonde hair. “You didn’t hear this from me, but are we sure this baby is Alex’s?”
Ed laughed. “That’s what you sa
id. You and him were pretty tight about the baby. Excited. Why do you ask?”
“She has blonde hair. Alex has a lot of dark features.”
“Knowing you, it’s Alex’s.”
“Are you excited to go back to your time and see how she turned out?”
“I am,” Ed said.
“Just so you know, I am going to keep a detailed journal for you. I’m going to mark down the day you go back in time and be waiting for you so you can read if anything is different.”
“Thank you.”
“When are you going?”
“I should have gone already, but I want to wait until I know where you’re going and that you are all safe after leaving.”
“Can I ask how? I mean, Randy said he has a computer thing. Did you come in on Randy’s time machine?”
Ed chuckled. “Since Randy came through, it jump started time travel hundreds of years earlier, because Sonny being Sonny, he had to make it better. Not that he knew time travel, he didn’t, but Randy does and Sonny builds what’s needed.” He reached into his t-shirt pocket and pulled out a thin black plastic card, smaller than a credit card, and a tiny tube. “My return trip is loaded on this card. Once I connect the tube, I’ll be gone in five seconds.”
“What happens to the tube and card had you died?”
“Apparently, I did, many times.”
He obviously saw the confusion on my face.
“That’s a long story,” Ed said. “Just know, I’ve always been told to tell you that if I die you hold on to the tube until you meet a man named, Peter.”
“Peter? Do you know him?”
“Keller says we do. I don’t recall anyone named Peter. I guess he keeps it away from Sonny, because we don’t need things jumped anymore.”
“I guess the why of it all doesn’t matter,” I said. “I don’t plan on watching you die.”
“Me either.” Ed stood. “How about I take Hope and the boys and you get some rest?”
“Do I look that bad?”
“You’ve looked better.”
“I’ll accept that.” I handed him the baby and he gathered the boys to take them into another room.
If I looked like I felt, then I was sure I looked horrid. My body was weak, I kept trying to stifle the cough, and my healing scar still ached. A nap would be good. At the very least it would take my mind off of Sonny. He was out there traveling. I don’t know if it was normal before I lost my memory, but I was worried about him and just wanted him safe.
He was our leader and we needed him.
24. Sonny
My first reaction was a laugh, then I blurted out, “Nah, I’m no leader,” when Miles asked me how I saw myself leading while making the move to a new home.
“Hold up there,” Miles said. “You put on a good front about being a leader. All excited and whatnot.”
“Wait. Stop,” Stacey said. She leaned forward from her little cramped back seat in the truck. “You’re the leader?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought all leaders were smart?”
“Ha!” I exclaimed. “Ha. Ha. Nice. Thank you. Good one. You got me for the dumb lesbian line.”
She sat back with a smug look.
My eyes went from the rearview mirror then to Miles. “Okay, when I won the election, I was excited. I never won anything. I was going to, you know, say I’ll take the second place position, or even third, but when Alex started his sore loser thing I just couldn’t help it. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t out of spite, it’s just so funny that he’s upset.”
“It is,” Miles agreed.
“Let’s face it though. Election or not, Alex is the leader. It’s just what he does. Don’t tell him I said that.”
“I will,” Stacey said, “when I meet this Alex.”
“If we don’t toss you out first,” I griped.
“Hey, now,” Miles said. “She’s been good.”
“She’s leading us on a wild goose chase. She said head to the ocean. I’m heading to the ocean. Much farther we’re going into the water. Are you sure it’s one road?”
“Yes,” she said. “It’s one highway until you veer off.”
I squinted in frustration. “Are you sure this is the highway?”
“Positive. We would sing the song. I would sing it until they told me to stop.”
“What song?” Miles asked.
Stacey started singing. “Will you just leave me, or will you still need me when I’m—
“Sixty-four,” Miles said.
“Thanks for that,” I grumbled. “It has to be Norfolk.”
“No. I would think I would know if it was Norfolk. It was US something.”
“No shit,” I said sarcastically.
“It was a fingerling of land,” she said. “This itty bitty private piece. I remember thinking we shouldn’t leave. It was perfect. Cut off from everything on land. When we got there the front gate was barricaded. The rest is surrounded by water and fences. It’s small, but too big for our group. You said you have over a hundred people. It would be perfect. It has a cafeteria, a bar, and a movie theater. They have hotel style rooms for sleeping,” Stacey rattled on. “We took what we could in the vans, but left a lot behind. I guess like the people before us. They took good care of it and up and left. Everything should still be there. When we got there only one man was there and he lived across the bay. He said the previous group left because they were scared off by a hurricane.”
“Is that what prompted you guys to leave?”
“We were looking for Project Savior. We weren’t supposed to stay there long. I don’t remember a big hurricane, but I know we had one. Plus, the new tenants arrived and it was our turn to leave.”
“So there might be people there?” I asked.
“Probably not. It’s like a revolving door, I think,” she said. “There weren’t many new tenants. Thirty maybe. Leo said we had to leave.”
I leaned back in my seat. “What the hell kind of place is this? Are you sure it was a base and not a resort?”
“Oh, it was a base. The guard booth was there for check in. Flags everywhere. Leo always raised and lowered the flag. He was a soldier.”
Miles looked at me then back to her. “You don’t remember the name at all?”
“I don’t think it had one. I bet they were keeping it secret because it was so nice. Plus, it wasn’t a real military base, they trained people there. Like almost sailors.”
“Almost sailors?” I asked. “What the hell is an almost sailor?”
Miles groaned. “The Coast Guard training facility. One of them is in Virginia. Yorktown.”
“That’s it!” Stacey said. “That’s the place. Has a gate, a pier.”
“Why didn’t you say it was the United States Coast Guard training facility?” I asked.
“You wanted the name of the base. I didn’t know the name. You never asked who they trained.”
“She’s got a point,” Miles said and opened the map. “And she’s right. We veer off about eight miles from here. We’re not far at all. Are you sure you didn’t see a Sleeper?” Miles asked her.
“You mean these zombies you talked about?” she asked. “No. The closest thing I saw were the new tenants.” She giggled. “I didn’t speak to them. They were dirty and just barged right in. Hopefully they’re gone now.”
I exhaled and looked at Miles. “Sleepers.”
***
Stacey was right when she said the main entrance was barricaded and a there was a security fence. The barricade was a quick makeshift gate made of aluminum. It extended from the brick pillar with the US Coast Guard Seal to the guard booth. A military truck was parked in front of it for added security. Another makeshift blockade went from the other side of the guard booth to the fence secured with a military truck. That side was open, probably b
y Stacey’s people when they left.
There was no sign of forced entry, and seeing how the fences had barbed wire along with the top portion bent outward, I couldn’t see how the Sleepers, if there were any, made their way in.
If we decided to stay, the fence would need to be repaired, but it wasn’t an emergency because I didn’t see a single Sleeper.
After pulling through the open aluminum side, I stopped the truck. I took a moment to see if there were any Sleepers, and I didn’t spot any. I got out, pulled the gate closed, got back in the truck, and drove slowly, looking at everything.
“I loved this place,” Stacey said. “It looks like a bad storm rolled through.”
While the buildings were in good shape, there was debris on the road. The grass was extremely overgrown, and a lot of the windows were dirty and fogged over.
“That has to change.” Miles pointed to the tattered flag hanging low to the ground.
“How did the new tenants get in?” I asked. “Did they barge in?”
“No, they were waiting outside the gate. Very aggressive,” Stacey said. “They didn’t have a car or anything, but the second we opened the gate to leave, they were rushing us. I guess they knew I was a celebrity.”
“Oh my God,” I said. “They were Sleepers.”
“They were people.”
“I don’t see any,” Miles said. “They may have moved on.”
“We can’t be too cautious. We can draw them out if they’re here,” I said.
From the gate to the end of the line, which was a training area with a gun range, was about a mile. The base was as Stacey described, like a finger that poked into the water. There were other land masses around, completely green and lush. Across the bay, maybe a football field length away, was a residential area, with small piers. Another one was north of that.
We weren’t as isolated as I thought, but in my recollection, Sleepers didn’t swim or sail a boat.
When I got into the bed of the truck I could see the ocean. The entire area smelled differently. It was missing the smell of death that often drifted in the wind back at Haven.
If there were Sleepers, there weren’t many.
Sleepers (Book 7): Sleepers 7 Page 13