“No,” he shook his head. “Not like this, but then again, I’m not looking. I’m too busy here trying to find a way….” He paused.
“Doc.”
“Good Lord, you’re a genius again.”
“Again?” I asked.
“Yes. Again. You say these things that trigger parts of my brain that may have buried the answers.”
“Wow, I’m good. What did I say?”
“You just asked me if I ever seen one this sick. No. Because I have been too busy here trying to make them sick. This woman”—he pointed—“may have a bacteria that could work.”
“Ever think of trying to cure them?”
Javier laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Cure them. You mean like you did with Jessie and a few others down the line?”
“Yeah, we know we can beat the virus.”
“No.” Javier shook his head. “We can beat it if we treat them fast enough after a bite. But…these Sleepers—they suffer from the virus truly affecting the brain. Like a degenerative brain disease. It some instances it can be reversed, but mostly there’s no turning back the brain damage and there aren’t enough healthy to take care of brain damaged Sleepers.”
“That sounds cold.”
“Alex Sans, what is going through your mind?”
“Just, you’re putting all this effort into a mass bio weapon that will kill them, I just was curious if there was a mass weapon that can cure.”
Javier laughed again. “Not going to happen. It’s easier to kill them then cure them and at this point, it’s more humane. I have to get Sonny out here to get a tissue sample from her.” He patted me on the back and stepped away.
“Doc?” I called.
“Yeah?”
“Did you do any testing on the Sonny thing we talked about in the truck?”
“You mean whether or not his offspring could be the Sandman?” Javier asked. “Yes, I looked and while it is possible, I’m still convinced Sonny is the one.”
“So we have to figure out how to help Sonny.”
“I will,” Javier said with certainty. “Even if there’s a remote chance his off spring is Sandman, helping Sonny negates that. More than you realize, I want to help Sonny. He’s too good of a man not to.”
I had to agree.
“Sleeper genocide first,” Javier said as he walked away.
That I didn’t agree with.
The ones on the east, we could handle. I believed it. The ones on the west were on the other side of the Great Divide. They weren’t a threat. Not yet. And they would never really be a threat if we took care of Sonny and Michael.
It was a chicken or the egg thing with the Sleeper wars we were warned about.
My gut kept screaming at me that there was a third option, we just hadn’t figured out what it was.
TWENTY-FOUR
MERA
The way my muscles immediately ached told me that not only was I in bad shape to fight off Sleepers, I was in bad shape to do any-thing physical.
Granted, I was never really a physically active person, other than the normal household chores and walking around the mall when shopping.
By the time I finally hit the soldier with the broom handle in the right spot that brought him to his knees, my arms were like jelly.
“Good job, Mera,” Beck told me. “You did it, see?”
“I didn’t do it. He fell down on purpose.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To make me feel good because I was the only here who was unable to bring him down. Hell, Beck, even pregnant Patty got it on her second try.”
“No, no you did good. I’m proud,” he said.
Yeah. Sure.
A late lunch after training wasn’t the best idea, because I sat down and didn’t move for a half an hour. By the time I was done, my thighs and arms felt like they did the first day of gym class in high school.
I wanted to cry.
Miles offered me advice and told me to walk it off.
Keep moving was the answer, swing and flex my arms, don’t let my muscles really relax.
A walk would do me good, and maybe I’d even explore the base a little, since I hadn’t really explored much more than the Hotel building, the security buildings, dining hall and the pathway that led to the pier. There were so many buildings on base—Alex said they’d focused on keeping morale high with plenty of extracurricular activities.
After Beck came back to our floor to take over kid duty, I ventured out.
My first exploration stop was the clinic.
I really didn’t have the desire for a tour—mainly I went to get something for pain. Maybe they had some expired ibuprofen.
It was empty in the clinic, not a bad thing.
Noah and Levi were seated behind the registration desk playing a card game.
“Don’t tell me,” Levi said when he saw me.
“Don’t tell you what?” I asked.
“Why you’re here. Let me guess.” He leaned far to the left with what I swore was a look of pain and when he straightened out he placed a little white cup down on the counter. “I’d take two now, save the other four for later.” He handed me water.
“Wow, you guys are good.”
“No, we were at training. You’re the third one in today.”
I took the two pills and washed them down. “Thank you.” I folded the other pile neatly in the white paper cup and put them in my back pocket. “I take it you two are sore.”
Noah chuckled. “Seems to me Beck forgot we weren’t soldiers.”
“Yes,” Levi said. “We’ve been pretty inactive. This was rough.”
“I thought it was me,” I said.
Levi shook is head. “Not at all. They trained us into the ground.”
“Good thing we’re not out there with Sleepers,” I said. “Miles said to walk it off.”
“If you can do that,” Levi said, “God bless you.”
“Do you know what the other buildings are in this circle?” I asked.
“The gym, the library…a couple of classrooms,” Levi snapped his finger. “The theater is right across that parking lot.”
“Is that where Sonny showed Willy Wonka?” I asked.
Noah nodded. “Yes, and it was such a success, we’re all going to the Walmart and getting DVDs. Make it a regular thing.”
“Oh, cool. Last time I went into a Walmart, that was one section not touched. Well, thanks again for the pills.”
“Don’t walk too much,” Levi said. “You could get worse.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I left the two weary medical men and ventured back out.
I saw the parking lot they spoke of and could see the red building that looked, from a distance, more like an auditorium.
I wished I could have gone. I loved Willy Wonka and to see it on a big screen would have been awesome. Reopening the theater was a great idea. But the kids were all restless. Beck and I were getting settled into being in the same room again, plus I wanted to be around if Alex came back.
He never did.
The parking lot was so overgrown, it was the one thing on base that really looked apocalyptic. Everything else had been cleaned up.
I couldn’t get over how many buildings there were.
There was even another hotel style building by the clinic. No one had moved in there yet. The building we were in was always designed for long term.
The Washington Auditorium was breathtaking from the out-side. The handmade sign about Willy Wonka was still on the big doors and I walked in.
I wanted to see it.
There was a small entranceway and another set of double doors that led into a lobby. Typical, yet dusty cardboard movie cut outs were speckled about.
One of the posters was for a mov
ie with that brand new action actor, Hen Stone. A “He took my wife and I’m going to get her back” sort of film. Daniel and I were supposed to go see that.
It never came to fruition.
The far counter was set up like a movie theater and I could smell the popcorn.
I was a little miffed that Sonny failed to mention popcorn.
There was candy on the counter, most untouched, probably because it had long since expired, but I could see popcorn remained in the machine.
I walked around the counter and opened the doors of the machine.
It smelled fresh and looked it.
So as not to break a tooth on rock hard popcorn, I grabbed a piece and gently bit down. My teeth sunk in the tender kernel and excitedly, I grabbed one of those cardboard buckets and dumped some in.
The butter machine was off and cold, and it would just be gross to toss some on.
All I kept thinking was the people of Haven Two had a movie and popcorn and I was so jealous.
I dipped my hand in the bucket and shoved a handful in my mouth.
Chewing and tasting it was ecstasy. I couldn’t move, it was so good.
It made me forget about my pain for a moment. Another handful and I walked from behind the counter. There were two sets of auditorium doors on both sides of the concession and I went to the closer one.
At first I thought it was locked because it didn’t open. But after I tucked my bucket in my arms and gave it a good pull I realized it wasn’t locked.
It was quiet. Just as I remembered a theater being on a Sunday night when it was near empty. The house lights were dimmed but not out and the large screen was lowered on the stage area.
It brought back such great memories and feelings just stepping in there.
Part way down the aisle, I noticed I wasn’t the only one there.
Three others were in the theater and that made me laugh.
“Hey, guys,” I said jokingly. “I think we’re all a little early for the next showing.”
I knew it. I knew the second those words emerged from my mouth that the three individuals weren’t Haven residents, they were Sleepers.
They jumped up and spun to look at me. Just the sight of them being there caused me to scream.
Screaming was not something I normally did and I didn’t want to waste my energy on it.
Sleepers didn’t really lunge or chase unless they were hungry, and those three must have been starving because they leapt over seating to get to the aisle.
I spun and ran to the doors, pushing on them.
They didn’t budge, they were jammed or locked. I kept pushing and pushing, I even yelled out, “Help!” a few times before I realized no one was going to hear me.
I could feel them and smell them, they were too close and I wasn’t getting out that door.
Hoping the other wasn’t locked, I hurriedly raced down the last aisle, only to be grabbed by a Sleeper just as I got to the end.
I could hear Beck’s voice in my head from training, “If you don’t have a weapon, use whatever you have at your disposal.”
I swung my popcorn bucket as hard as I could into the Sleeper’s face, hard enough to startle him and he released me.
I finally made it to the aisle and to the door.
All three were upon me and I let out one more scream as I pushed on the handle.
The bright sunlight from the lobby blinded me and I swore I was dead.
The Sleepers got me. They had to.
I didn’t emerge into the lobby as I thought, the bright light had to be the white light and I pushed the gates of heaven instead of theater doors.
It was the only logical explanation for seeing Tom Selleck.
Not older Tom, but younger, Magnum P.I. days. I knew his face well. How many times did I see it on that poster in Sonny’s room?
Tom yanked on my arm, pulling me away and in the clear.
He had some sort of thick stick, that ended up being a spear. It wasn’t exceptionally long, maybe a bit shorter than a broom.
He swung out at the first Sleeper, nailing him in the face, then spinning the stick, he stabbed it in the throat and quickly retracted it.
I wanted to help him, I looked around, trying to rely on my instant training, looking for a weapon, but I saw nothing. I knew the cardboard cut outs weren’t going to cut it.
I turned back around to watch as Tom removed the spear from the second Sleeper and without hesitation, jammed it in the foot of the third to stop it, and grabbed the Sleeper by the head. He quickly brought the head down, impaling the Sleeper through the mouth with the handle of the spear.
“Oh my God,” I said gasping. “Am I dead?”
“No. Are you bit scratched?” he asked. “Hurt at all?”
“No.” I shook my head. “You aren’t one of us. Who are you? You look like…”
“Mera!” I heard Miles calling my name. “Mera!”
“Here.” Tom handed me the spear.
“Wait. Wha…”
“Mera!”
I turned around. “In here!” But when I turned back around, Tom was gone.
“Mera, I heard you scream,” Miles said. “I couldn’t find…” He stopped, stepped forward and looked at the three dead Sleepers. “Wow.” He nodded, impressed. “Good job. That training paid off. But uh…where’d you get that spear?”
“Tom Selleck.”
I should have known by the disbelieving “hmm” Miles gave me that he didn’t quite believe me. I wouldn’t believe me either.
Wasn’t long after Miles got there that Beck and Alex arrived along with a couple soldiers that acted as the clean up crew. I got another bucket of popcorn and stood off to the side, Beck asked me not to leave. I listened to the conversation they thought I couldn’t hear.
“I just think she’s in shock,” Miles said. “She took on three Sleepers and her brain just can’t comprehend it. All that training today paid off. ’Cause she’s saying someone else did it. No one else is here.”
He didn’t mention I’d said Tom Selleck. Probably because he thought he was protecting my sanity.
“No one else was here?” Beck asked.
Miles shook his head. “She was alone with the three dead bodies.”
“Okay, forgive me,” Alex said. “But I have to believe her. There is no way, no how Mera, after one little class, suddenly took on three Sleepers in a stealth warrior way. She can’t even kill a bug on the first try.”
“Hey!” I hollered out. “I can hear you and fuck you for not having faith in me.”
Alex reached his hand in the popcorn and I smacked it away.
“Did you take these three on?” Alex asked.
“No, but…”
“Then why are you dropping the F bomb on me?”
“Because you’re an asshole.”
“Mera. Alex. Stop,” Beck said. “Mera, are you okay?”
“I am.”
“Are you hurt? Scratched?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. Just rattled.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” Beck asked.
After smacking Alex away from my popcorn again, I offered some to Beck. “I came in to see the theater. I went in the auditorium. There were three. They chased me out and when I came into the lobby…” I stopped. “He was here.”
“Who?” Beck asked.
“You’re not going to believe me,” I said.
“Try me,” Beck told me.
“He saved me.”
“Who?”
“Took them right out, like bam, bam, bam.”
“Mera!” Alex snapped my name. “Goddamn it. Who?”
“Alex, easy,” Beck told him.
“Yeah, Alex, easy.”
I heard the heavy exhale from Beck a
nd that told me he’d reached his end.
“Fine,” I said. “Don’t make fun.” I shifted my eyes from Alex to Beck and back. “Tom Selleck. Tom Selleck was here and he saved me.”
I waited for it. Maybe it was delayed. The burst of laughter from both of them, definitely from Alex, but it didn’t happen.
Neither of them laughed. They just locked into a stare with each other, then Beck calmly thanked me and asked if I minded going home and he’d be there shortly.
It was a strange and abrupt request but I obliged. It baffled me why Beck and Alex weren’t shocked. How Alex wasn’t thrown into a “ridicule Mera” phase, or Beck didn’t do that passive, “I believe you believe it” thing he did.
Something was up.
Either they had been fully expecting ’80s Tom Selleck to make his way into our time, or they knew something.
I wagered on the latter.
TWENTY-FIVE
SONNY
At least the Sleeper was found. That was the thought I had after I heard how Mera had taken them down all by herself. I had been searching for that Sleeper on base since before we arrived. There was only supposed to be one. Then again, I was going on the word of Stacy who said there were thirty. I should have known to give or take a few.
I passed Mera on my way into the theater and told her what a great job she had done.
Beck’s training class must have really been kick ass for Mera to learn to take out not only one but three Sleepers. A challenging feat, even for the pros.
We had just started really digging into the Doctrines, after having made a copy of the new version for everyone.
I overheard the radio call, told Randy and Mike that we’d work on the Doctrines individually and get back to each other if we found anything.
At least we had found the space where I could write the passage that I hoped would trigger an action of someone in the future.
What to write, though, was a whole other story.
But before I could start really thinking about things, I had to make my way to the theater.
When I stepped in, Beck was barking out orders, while Alex munched on a bag of popcorn.
“I want every square inch of our fences watched twenty-four seven. The rest of you, search and let me know if you find anything. They will not get in or out without our knowledge,” Beck said.
Sleepers | Book 8 Page 11