She gasped. “Oh my God! Did I cheat on Beck?”
“Yes.”
She gasped again. “That’s so not me. I feel horrible.”
“You didn’t cheat. You thought he was dead. We all did.”
“One of those time things you hate?’
“Yep.” I leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “I promise as I walk around I’ll soul search my motivation for Beck and the Beckoning. ‘Cause lord knows it can’t be something as simple as me wanting to win the war against the Sleepers.”
Bottle in hand I walked out. Suffice it to say, Mera had planted the seed and Beck was on my mind. I figured I’d head over to see him. I knew he was packing up the military truck for himself and the eight soldiers to head west for the Beckoning.
As I neared the front entrance I could hear their voices carrying in the quiet of the night.
“Move it to the left,” Beck ordered. “That works. We can get one more case in there.”
“You gonna get some rest tonight, Major?” I recognized the voice. It was Hillard.
“Nope. I’ll sleep in the truck when we leave. I just want to be with my family and spend the last few hours with them. Before I’m gone for six months. Hope will be crawling. Keller will be…Keller, and Phoenix will probably be learning algebra.”
“You don’t have to do this. I can lead the squad,” Hillard said.
“I know.”
“I did before, and how many tours did I serve?”
“More than me,” Beck said.
“You don’t need to go. President Sonny said they are able to use satellites to connect to the radio system. It’s clear and good. You can run the operation from there. Hell, President Sonny said he’ll get a phone system up so we can send imaging through the satellites.”
“That sounds so tempting,” Beck said with a sigh. “But fate says if I don’t go, we lose.”
“Then fate sucks,” Hillard groused. “I know you’re basing this on future information. Have you thought maybe you stopped the Reckoning not just because Mera had the accident and Jessie died, but because a lot of people died? Including us and Javier? From what Ed told me, the Reckoning has to continue. Who says it has to be you?”
“Why don’t you want me around?”
“I do. But honestly, Major, you can’t do your job one hundred percent if your head and heart are with your family.”
I was eavesdropping in the night. Listening to Hillard give a convincing argument to Beck on why he didn’t need to go. The Beckoning had to continue, but did it have to be Beck running it? In the future it just stopped. It wasn’t stopping whether Beck went or not.
Aside from eavesdropping, I also found myself soul searching and I realized right then maybe Mera was right. Maybe my motives for wanting Beck to go were fueled by personal reasons. Hillard gave not only Beck, but inadvertently me, all the right reasons and arguments for Beck to come with us.
Truthfully, Beck didn’t need to go. He could, like Hillard said, run the operation from Virginia. The technology was there more so than Haven.
Beck was on the fence. I felt it and sensed it. All it would take would be for me to walk up and tell him to stay, giving the same argument as Hillard. If I did that Beck would go to Virginia. I was absolutely sure of it.
Surprising myself, and hating myself for it I confirmed what Mera feared about it being personal, I didn’t tell him.
I just turned and walked away.
26. Mera
It was sad, but it was a reality. Even though it wasn’t even a year that we had been at River Facility, or Haven as everyone else called it, and I didn’t even remember even arriving there, I still felt sad. It was a sentiment that seemed to carry throughout the camp. Where was the excitement? It wasn’t there. My love for the place was deeply embedded in me. Memory or not, I was positive I loved Haven the second I saw it. Even if Beck told me I hated it.
What I would hate was the new place.
Sonny told us very little about it other than it was an old base. I envisioned FEMA style fences around old boarded up and deplorable wood frame buildings.
Despite his refusal to admit he was sad or sentimental, Alex was. He left before dawn to go to his Survival Haven, the place where we met him. I remembered it. He had to get some things, seeing how he didn’t know how long he was going to be gone.
I started crying, a blubbering mess filled with emotions I didn’t understand about leaving Haven.
My heart also broke for Beck. All the kids that we inherited that fled the future were saying goodbye to him. He held Hope in his arms as he said goodbye to everyone and everyone asked him to change his mind.
I stood back watching. Alex was at the end of the line with Danny and Ed, bidding Beck his farewell. I wanted to be the last one. I felt I needed to.
“Good luck to you out there,” Alex told Beck, shaking his hand then embracing him.
“I won’t be long. Hopefully these Reckonings will be shorter and shorter,” Beck said.
“We will be in touch. You know where to find us.”
“I do.” His eyes shifted to me when I stepped into the small group.
Danny gave Beck a final embrace, repeating what everyone else said. “Change your mind. You don’t need to go.”
“Yeah, I have to,” Beck said without conviction.
“It’s time for me to go now too. You have the letters, right?” Ed asked me. “This is the first time I am not dying, so I’m excited. Give those letters to Keller when he is sixteen. I also wrote a note.”
“I have them.” I kissed him. “Thank you for all you have done. I’ll
miss you.”
“Nah, you never get away from me.” Ed smiled. “Do me a favor. When I’m seven and you catch me cutting up family pictures, can you take it easy on me? I was trying to do something special for you.”
“I will. I promise.” I kissed him again.
Ed looked at Danny, then handed him a bag.
“What is it?” Danny asked.
“These are the swords. They were originally yours. You gave them to me, and I’m giving them back.”
“Dude, whoa. Thank you. I’ll wear them across my back like you.”
“Actually, you taught me that,” Ed said. “I look forward to walking in your footsteps again. I look forward to you bringing this up when I return.”
“I will.” Danny said.
“Are you sure?” Alex asked. “Are you sure we are on a different path?”
Ed chuckled. “I never had a sister, and I do now. Beck is doing the Reckoning, so we diverted that. Javier is alive. I believe he will cure
the virus.”
“What about Michael?” Alex questioned.
“Michael is the driving force in the future behind the Sleepers. If Javier cures the virus there will be no more people getting infected. No more ivory statue babies. Combined with a successful Reckoning, there will be no more Sleepers for him to lead. Even if he does become the Sandman he will have no one to control. I can’t wait to get back and see our world.”
Alex hugged him. “I hope it is better.”
“How can it not be?” he asked. “I’m going back. Never before have I gone back.” Ed took a moment to say his quick goodbyes, then pulled out the return mechanism.
It was at that moment I had to turn away. I couldn’t watch him leave. I knew when he held the little card and the tiny tube he was going. I smiled at him then pulled Beck aside.
Beck wouldn’t speak, he was too busy watching Ed.
“Is he…?”
“He’s gone,” Beck said. “He vanished.”
My heart sank and I took a deep breath.
“You okay? You look pale.”
“I’m always pale anymore.”
“That will change, I promise. You’ll get well.” Beck glanced
at me then looked over my head as if avoiding eye contact.
“You don’t have to do the Reckoning.”
“I do.”
“No, you don’t. Just know that. We are a family, a tight group. I may not remember what all happened after our humble beginning, but I know how we started and that explains a lot.”
He reached out and embraced me. “I hate the thought of leaving you and the kids. I want to stay so badly,”
“Then do it.”
He kissed me on the forehead, cheek, then just a small, soft kiss to the lips. “I love you. Be safe.”
“The thing with my amnesia is I don’t remember the how of things. I know it’s there, but even if I don’t remember how I got there, know that I love you too.”
“That was a long explanation for three words.” Beck smiled.
“It was, but I didn’t want you to wonder how I could say it if I have amnesia.”
“I wouldn’t have wondered.” He gave an upward nod. “Here comes Alex. It’s time to go.”
Alex approached. “Everyone is in the truck. Danny is bitching about being in the back seat.” He extended a hand to Beck. “Kick ass on the Reckoning, Beck.”
“I give you my word, I’ll try.”
I glanced once more at Beck, then got in the car. We would be the last vehicle in the convoy because we didn’t want to start a chain reaction crash when we stopped, and with the boys and me I knew we would stop a lot.
I kept staring at the rearview mirror at Beck standing there so alone and sad.
“You alright?” Alex asked as he got in and shut the door.
“Yeah, just tired. And nervous, Alex. I am so nervous.”
“We all are.”
“Tell me it will be alright. That we’re going to be just fine.”
He squeezed my hand and looked to the back seat at the boys and to Danny, who held Hope. “We’re all together, Mera. How can it not be fine?” He then lifted the radio. “Okay, everyone, have your radios on? If you need to stop, unless it is a dire emergency, give us a warning. Over.”
The convoy began.
There was a nervous twitch in my stomach as he put the radio between us and started to drive. I wanted to look back at Haven as we left, see it once more, but I couldn’t take my eyes from the mirror and the image of Beck. I watched him as we pulled away and he grew smaller and smaller until he was no longer seen.
I rested back and closed my eyes.
***
Things were quiet during the ride. Danny did talk to the boys a lot, but road noise along with open windows muffled what they were saying. I thought a lot about Ed and what happened when he went back. Did he go back? Was future and present a parallel thing?
If we changed time, if he managed to make it better, then most of his childhood, albeit spent on the road, was lost. A childhood he deemed wonderful.
I thought about a lot of things he told me, and kept my notebook on my lap to make journal entries to give him on that day when he returned.
My mind drifted as I watched the world go by. A deserted yet beautiful world.
“Do you need to stop yet?” Alex asked.
“No, I’m good.”
“Mera, I know things are bothering you. Talk to me.”
I sat up fully and my eyes focused on the side view mirror. “Beck.”
“You wanna talk about Beck? Sure, we can—”
“No. No, Alex, Beck.” I spun in my seat about the same time he looked in the rear view mirror. “Stop the car. Please. So they can catch up.”
I recognized the military vehicle and as it closed in on us, without a doubt I knew it was Beck and Javier.
Alex lifted the radio. “Hey, we’re pulling over. Giving all a heads up.”
Alex just kept looking in the rearview mirror until he slowed down and coasted over to the side of the road when everyone else did.
27. Sonny
Thank God for that motorized electric wheelchair scooter I found in the one dorm hall, or else I probably would have been worn out from all the running around. It would come in handy and I marked it as mine.
My childhood infatuation with the Titanic led me to think of Captain Smith and how he felt the day before the Titanic was to set sail. No doubt he was anxious, excited, and didn’t foresee it ending in historical tragedy.
I felt like him as I inspected every aspect of camp. It had been five weeks since I arrived there and three since the arrival of Randy, Renee, and Jenson.
Once I got the power up and running Renee spent every day washing sheets and bedspreads. We determined there were enough rooms in Cain Hall to house every single person, although we were getting the Lincoln Hall ready as well. They didn’t have the cool suite style rooms that Cain did.
We seriously were busy. Jenson had the greenhouse up and running and started planting. Stilton set up the Club and was working on the biggest moonshine stills I had ever seen. Levi and Noah barely spoke as they threw themselves into the clinic. It was awesome. Levi was in tears when he saw it, overwhelmed in a good way. It was the one and only time he said something nice to me.
Really, though, Renee and Randy were godsends. While I worked on technical aspects those two were cleaning and preparing.
Stacey claimed she wasn’t ‘the help,’ but I convinced her to help Renee with decorating the rooms to make them homey. We had taken several trips out to the house to get things. I gave her a list of people and families and Stacey was in charge of assigning rooms. She claimed she would do it well, because she once did the seating for a big Hollywood wedding.
I knew she took it seriously when she asked who liked each other and who didn’t get along.
The day was at hand and we were at about six hours until everyone arrived. Renee stopped cleaning and concentrated on making a monstrous meal in the former mess hall. She was excited about it and couldn’t wait for Bonnie and Patty to show up.
It reminded her of her days as a cafeteria lady.
There was one awesome thing about living near the ocean…fishing. Yes, we had lake fishing back in Ohio, but it was nothing compared to taking a boat out on the ocean.
Of course we didn’t get to do that. None of us were the fisherman that Alex was, or Michael.
We’d have wait.
Randy wanted to try. He had never seen the ocean and was scared of it. He anxiously awaited Alex to take him out.
We had resolved ourselves to the fish we caught off the pier until I returned one day from a trip to the next town and found Randy, Renee, Levi, and Noah eating crab.
“Oh my God, is that crab?” I said as I walked in. “Where did you get the crab? Did you catch it?”
Randy answered, “No. The man across the bay dropped it off. He offered to teach us one day to catch crab and oysters.”
Noah picked apart the shell meticulously. “These are amazing. None of us have ever had this. I cannot wait to try those things called oysters.”
“The man across the bay?” I asked. “Is he nice? Why didn’t he stay?”
Randy shrugged. “He told us he’s a loner and didn’t want to be away from his spot for too long.”
“Sad,” Renee sighed as she licked her fingers. “He’s waiting for someone. Wouldn’t say who. I didn’t feel right wrecking his delusion.”
“I did,” said Levi. “I told him he was nuts. No one is around. Not even Sleepers.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “We are still picking them off.”
“Leftovers,” Levi said. “The ones that never made it out of here.”
“Heartless,” Renee said. “I told him to go on and wait if he thought they are coming.”
“Crazy.”
And it was. A man across the bay drops off crab legs, but didn’t stay because he didn’t want to be away from his house in case someone showed up.
I was disappointed I didn’t get any crab, but knew Alex would be on that as soon as he could. Until then we were resolved to eat the bass we caught off the pier.
That alone would make everyone feel happy when they got here and were greeted with a seafood stew that Renee made.
We were in a sense our own new Titanic. We had things shiny, clean, and waiting. Although a few Sleepers were still unaccounted for. There were several scattered about the property when we arrived. It took a few days for us to see any of them, most of those Stacey called ‘new tenants’ had left the property.
Had we not been cloaked, or if Michael were around, we would have been a calling card for them.
“Killed the seventeen Sleepers. Thirteen to go,” Miles announced when he came to find me. “Just got her.”
“Where?”
“Wandering in the trees by the shooting range. I was practicing so I popped her.”
“How are we missing them?” I asked.
“It may not be Norfolk here but it’s big with only a handful of us. They ain’t chasing us so we don’t see them as easily.”
“Man, don’t you miss it though? The danger, the thrill?”
Miles nodded. “Sad to say, yes. It kept us from being bored.
Now what?”
“I’m sure we’ll think of something. Maybe we can start rebuilding this world. Technology, make it better.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.”
“Gee thanks, that’s cool of you. I’m heading to the front gate to take a look. You wanna come and explain how you see the arrival?”
“Sure, you’ll like what I did.”
I hoped on my electric scooter and rode alongside as Miles walked. “You wanna hop on?”
“No, that’s lazy.”
“You’re just jealous.”
“I’m not, but that scooter does fit you.”
I grinned. “I know, right?”
We arrived at the front gate. Before we moved in it was a makeshift aluminum thing with a truck in front. We moved that and built a better one with fencing we took from an old industrial place. It looked good and slid on a track, unlike the gate at Haven.
Renee had posted a new sign to greet everyone when they entered and a huge case of those brochure maps were inside the guard booth to give out to everyone.
Sleepers (Book 7): Sleepers 7 Page 15