Sleepers (Book 5) Read online

  “I need to go out. I want to look to see if Beck is coming.”

  “That’s absurd, Alex.” She fiddled with the saddle on Black Beauty. “You won’t see him arriving. It’s all an act, just to look like you’re doing something.”

  “Whoa. Hey, where is this coming from?”

  “You run around waiting on Beck, who is either busy or not coming. We’re waiting to bury Jessie because of you. Isn’t it bad enough she’s gone and now we desecrate her body by not having a proper burial?”

  “Bonnie, I—”

  “Alex, I have nothing to say to you. I blame you for this. No one else may, but I do. I never liked you enough to begin with and this is my reason to never look at you again. Please leave my stable.”

  I was breathless and speechless, not to mention hurt. Her words slammed me. In fact, I felt as if I took a shot to my chest. I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say a word. I just left.

  Maybe it was silly and absurd to go out looking for Beck, after all he was on the other side of the Great Divide. A part of me just was hoping I could see him.

  I checked on things, then headed to Beck’s office. I wanted to hide out at least until Jessie’s service. I was sure someone would be by to tell me when that would be.

  It was obsessive to keep checking on Beck, and really, I wasn’t going to tell him about Jessie. I just had to tell him to come home. I’d lie and say we had Sleeper problems or something. Anything to get him here.

  It was on my way there that Levi radioed for me. He was meeting me in Beck’s office. I knew he was on task with working on the grown up Phoenix situation and I hoped that was the reason for the meeting. I needed a bright spot.

  He entered the office carrying a folder with a worried look on his face. “Done,” he said, almost defeated.

  “Done with what?”

  “I eliminated all children, all females, and all those who are not Caucasian. I then eliminated all those I was certain were not grown up Phoenix. You, Michael, Danny, anyone whose blood I ran before. I tested one hundred and twenty males over the last two days.”

  “And?”

  “He’s not here.”

  “You made a mistake the first time.”

  Levi gasped in offense. “I did not make a mistake. Neither did Javier. We tested the blood. He’s not here.”

  “Well, he didn’t leave,” I snapped. “There aren’t that many people here that I wouldn’t notice someone missing.” I was confused and tossed up my hands. “Enlighten me.”

  “The big Sleeper attacks didn’t start until Beck returned from the ARC. The tale of someone calling the Sleepers didn’t happen until Beck came back from the ARC.”

  “And brought Phoenix.”

  “Along with?”

  I sighed and immediately sat down. “Soldiers.”

  “I believe our grown up Phoenix was one of those soldiers. We took their blood when they were here. They weren’t here to test this time.”

  “So, grown up Phoenix isn’t even here. He’s…” I looked at the radio, “at the Reckoning with Beck.”

  “What has Beck said about how the Reckoning was going?”

  “He hasn’t.” I shrugged.

  “I’ll leave you be. Do you want these results?” He lifted the folder.

  “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t. But thanks.”

  When Levi left, a part of me was glad we didn’t have the grown up Phoenix situation to deal with, but scared because it made sense.

  No Sleepers were called to attack us; I hadn’t heard from Beck.

  More determined and worried, grabbing the microphone, I begged in my mind, Please Beck. Be there. Answer. Please.

  “This is Alex Sans, IRH. Anyone there? Calling Major Beck, do you read? Over.”

  Static.

  I repeated my call three more times at thirty second intervals, then I decided to break. Exhausted, I planted my face in my hands, closed my eyes and jumped when I heard the thump at the door.

  I didn’t even need to look to know who it was. Damn Sonny and his cast.

  “Got a minute?” Sonny asked.

  “Yeah.” I sat up straight and Sonny walked in, along with Michael. “Okay, what bad news are you giving me? Or are you guys here to blast me?”

  Michael looked at me compassionately. “You’ve taken on a lot, Alex. Emotionally. We’re checking on you.”

  “Like an intervention?” I asked.

  Sonny sat down. “You gave the go ahead for the funeral today.”

  I nodded. “Yep. It has to be done. It can’t wait.”

  Michael said. “Have you seen Mera today? Spoken to her?”

  “Briefly this morning, why?” “Did she seem okay to you?” Michael asked.

  “She lost her daughter. She’s not going to be okay.”

  “Exactly,” Sonny said. “She’s not like she was yesterday. She’s eerily calm.”

  Michael added. “Like she’s waiting on something. Up to something.”

  “She is. She’s waiting on Beck.”

  Michael shook his head. “It’s not normal.”

  “Yeah, well, what is normal?” I asked. “This death is hitting us all hard. No one is acting normal. I can’t eat or sleep. Sonny is punching Tom Selleck posters and Bonnie is waiting on the next Sleeper attack so she can mount her horse, ride on out and be a Bon Jovi song. Nothing is normal, Padre. It won’t be for a while. I think Mera is in the calm before the storm. I don’t look forward to when Beck gets back and her walls come down.”

  “Speaking of which,” Michael pointed to the radio. “Anything?”

  “Nothing,” I lowered my head.

  “I’ll pray for you to hear something.”

  As soon as Michael said that, the radio hissed and a voice came over saying, “Alex Sans at IRH, come in. Over.”

  My eyes widened and I smiled. “That was fast work, Padre, thanks.” I spun in the chair and lifted the microphone. “This is Alex Sans. Over.”

  “This is Captain Jeter. Sorry for the delay in response. Over.”

  “Not a problem, we are trying to reach Major Beck. He was deployed to Indiana. Over.”

  “He was one of three deployments. The biggest one. Over.”

  “Yeah, we need to get a hold of him. Can you help?”

  No reply from that side.

  “Repeat,” I said. “We need to get in touch with him. We haven’t had any luck.”

  “We… we spoke to the other two deployments. We have been unable to contact his unit for three days. Last we heard there may have been too many to handle. Over.”

  “Maybe it’s a communication breakdown,” I said.

  “Alex, we will keep you posted. We are not hopeful at this time,” Jeter said gravely. “Beck reported tens of thousands of the enemy. There were one hundred and sixty-four troops. We have not heard a word. We can only assume we have lost that battle. I’m sorry.”

  “What does that mean? What are you telling me?” I asked.

  “There is a good chance they were overrun. We knew the risk. He knew the risk. I’ll keep you posted. Out.”

  Out? Just out? That was it.

  I found it hard to breathe or even comprehend. There was no way Beck was lost in battle. No way. I turned around and faced Sonny and Michael. Both of them looked as if they had lost.

  “Padre,” the word squeaked out, I cleared my throat. “I think you need to add another prayer right now.”

  26. Mera

  It was a bit of the old world that I so much needed. We laid Jessie to rest the way it would have been done had the world not ended. The service was beautiful. Two of the men went into the small town not far from Haven and retrieved a casket from a funeral home.

  A perfect white casket. It wasn’t an open casket; we had waited too long to bury her.

  The children and a lot of adults made paper flowers. Alex, Sonny, Ed, and Randy served as pallbearers and Michael officiated the most amazing service in the chapel.

  We placed the coffin in t
he cart we used for the hayrides and Black Beauty, ridden by Bonnie, carried Jessie around the compound back to the plot that Sonny had dug.

  Then in old world fashion, we had a wake. Renee and Patty prepared a meal and the entire community was there. They shared stories about Jessie, making me smile. She was loved. She’d left her mark on everyone. I couldn’t ask for anything else.

  Except, of course, to have my daughter back with me.

  Funerals were a ritual that helped people accept and say goodbye. They gave closure. It was the first ever real funeral since the Event.

  Alex had been quiet after the funeral, staying close to Danny and perching Keller on his hip. That struck me as odd, because Alex was a firm believer that Keller had to be self-sufficient.

  I knew he was making his way over to me when he handed Keller over to Danny.

  “How you holding up?” he asked.

  “Good. This was nice.”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “I wish Beck was here.”

  He looked away. It was my first clue that something was wrong. “Me, too,” he said.

  “How are we going to tell him?” I asked. “Will you tell him with me?”

  Again, Alex looked away and answered without eye contact. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

  “What’s going on, Alex?”

  “Nothing.’

  “I know you. What is going on? What do you know?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Alex…”

  “I’m not lying, I swear.” He looked at me. “I don’t know anything. We can talk about this later.”

  “No, Alex, talk about it now.”

  “I’ve not heard from Beck.”

  I nodded. “I know that.”

  “I reached command today,” he said.

  “And they haven’t heard either,” I guessed.

  Alex lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. What do they think happened?”

  “They don’t know.” He shrugged. “They lost contact. They were afraid Beck was overrun.”

  “I see. Well, I don’t believe there’s a problem. I think he’s too busy being successful in this. And, God forbid he isn’t, well, Jessie is in good hands.”

  Alex peered at me. “That’s really very calm.”

  “I’m numb, Alex. I’m sure it will sink in and I’ll be finding your shoulder later to cry on.”

  “I’m here.” He placed his hand on my face.

  I squeezed his hand. “I know.”

  The rest of the day was exhausting for all of us. Alex secured his people on watch, making sure his top guys were on duty, and then he and Sonny came back to the cell and spent the rest of the night with all of us. Danny had the night off as well.

  We needed it.

  We ate dinner together, talked, and ended the evening early.

  It was a good night. Laced with sadness, heavy in feelings, but a good night together.

  I savored my two ounces of wine, and thought of Jessie and Beck. I didn’t feel anything ’bad’ when I thought of Beck. Then again, maybe I was too consumed with Jessie. The wine was warm in my chest and soothing.

  I kissed all the kids good night and brought Phoenix and Keller into my bed. Lying there, my thoughts drifted to my husband Daniel and son Jeremy. I fantasized how they were with Jessie and laughing. I missed them all so very much. It made sad to think I didn’t even have a picture of them.

  How I longed to look at a picture of my family.

  Soon enough, my exhaustion, coupled with the wine, kicked in and I drifted into a deep sleep. Such a deep sleep that the soft call of my name caused me to jump and my heart to skip a beat.

  “Mera.”

  I opened my eyes and gasped in shock to see Ed right there, at my bed, his face close to mine.

  “Ed?”

  He gently placed his hand over my mouth. “Shhh,” he said with a smile. “It’s time.”

  27. Sonny

  I had the oddest dream. It didn’t make sense while having it nor in the first few seconds of waking up, then it did.

  I dreamed I was swatting a bug, until I realized it wasn’t a bug, rather a bumble bee. Then it stung me.

  Alex laughed and started singing that children’s song, Picking up a baby bumble bee.

  In the dream I yelled at him, telling him I was certain the bee was poisonous because I couldn’t move. He laughed.

  Then when he got stung, Alex ceased his laughing.

  All the kids started singing the song, then screaming, the type of screaming that kids do when they’re bored and running around.

  Out of nowhere my father showed up in my dream. My God, I hadn’t dreamed of my father in over a year. Yet there he was, standing over me like he used to do when I was a teenager.

  “Damn it, Sonny,” he scolded. “Are we gonna have to move again to another town?”

  “No, why?”

  “What did you do now?”

  “Nothing, I swear. I’m injured. I was stung by a poisonous bee.”

  “You weren’t stung.”

  “Yeah, I was.”

  “Sonny, get up.”

  “I can’t. I can’t move.”

  “Sonny, I mean it,” he snapped.

  “Aren’t you hearing me?” I asked. “I said I can’t move.”

  “Are you dead?”

  “No.”

  He reached down and shook me. “He’s not dead.”

  “Of course, I’m not dead.”

  “Sonny.” My father’s deep voice carried outside my dream, and startled me awake.

  I opened my eyes and my head pounded. Everything was blurry and took a second to come into focus. Just as it dawned on me that I had the weirdest dream, I realized I was having an even weirder morning.

  The screaming kids, laughing and shrieking… was real and the sound carried up to me.

  Why wasn’t Mera keeping them quiet? Usually she did. I turned my head and to my surprise, Miles was standing by my bed.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Miles?” I said his name with surprise and tried to sit up. I felt as if I had been hit by a truck. I wracked my brains to remember how much I’d had to drink the night before, and I realized it wasn’t much. Not enough to make me feel like I had gone on a two day drinking binge.

  My mouth was dry, my head felt as if it had daggers sticking in it.

  “Sonny. You sure you’re okay?”

  Finally, I sat up. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you guys.” He handed me a bottle of water, then lifted something. “Drink up.” The object in his other hand came into focus. It was an empty syringe. “We have problems.”

  28. Alex

  The last thing I wanted to do was yell for Mera to get her to quiet the kids. She probably was dealing with the babies, although I didn’t smell the coffee, and usually I did.

  I felt sick, as if I were coming down with the flu or something. My head hurt and body ached, and it took a lot to sit up in my bed. I rubbed my eyes and reached for my boots.

  When I did, I saw on the floor next to my bed a syringe. I bent over, grabbed it and lifted it.

  “What the hell?” My eyes shifted from the syringe to Sonny standing in my cell door.

  “We have a problem, Alex.”

  Miles then stepped in. “Someone deliberately drugged you two last night.”

  “Oh my God.” Immediately I thought, Mera. I hurriedly put on my boots, didn’t bother lacing them, and flew from the cell.

  The kids were darting about and I dodged them as I headed to the dorm room.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  “Ten,” Sonny answered. “Alex…”

  I flew into the dorm. Mera’s bed was empty. I looked around in a panicked state. Where were Keller and Phoenix? I brushed by Sonny and Miles and ran down the hall.

  Surely, if we were drugged, so was Danny. However, when I arrived at his cell, his bed, while unmade was empty.


  “Where are they?” I spun around to Sonny. “Tell me they are eating at the cafeteria,” I said, although I was pretty certain Mera wouldn’t take Danny and the babies and not the other kids. When I didn’t get an answer, I just wanted to find out where they were. Miles placed his hand on my chest to stop me.

  “Don’t go off half cocked. Let me tell you what I know,” Miles said. “When you didn’t show up for Tower watch, Judd called me. I asked if he could hang a little more. You guys have had a rough few days. We didn’t think anything about it. When the kids didn’t show for school, Michael came and got me. I peeked in, everyone was sleeping, so I let you guys go.”

  “So Mera was here?”

  “I just peeked in and saw sleeping kids. I didn’t do a head count. Bonnie said she was concerned even after I told her I popped by. So I came back again and the kids were out of control. I did a better look and that’s when I saw Mera was gone. When I went into Sonny’s room, I had a hard time waking him. Then I saw the syringe.”

  “Who do we know for sure is missing?”

  “Mera, Danny, and the babies,” Miles answered.

  “Did you put a call out?” I asked.

  “While I was waking up Sonny I got the guys looking.”

  “Has anyone seen them?”

  “I just called out. It’s been a negative.”

  I wanted to slam my hand into the wall. Instead I snatched up his water, took a drink, grabbed my jacket from the chair, and turned to Miles. “Stay here until I get someone to look after these kids. Let’s go, Sonny.”

  I didn’t need to announce what I was doing or where I was going. I was frantic, nothing good came to mind. If someone drugged me and Sonny, their intentions for Mera and the kids weren’t good.

  Once Sonny and I were outside, the compound seemed so big in the wake of the knowledge that I had to search it bit by bit.

  “What’s the plan?” Sonny asked.

  “I want everybody....every available man and woman, to look. Look in every corner, nook, basement, closet, you name it. Comb this place. We had guards on all night. They didn’t leave. They’re here, somewhere. We have to find them.” Getting my bearings, I looked around. “All right, Mera.” I breathed out and took a second to think. “Where are you?”