Sleepers (Book 5) Page 17
46. Alex
It was coming and I knew it when I went to bed for the night. The pain that greeted me in the morning. The second I opened my eyes, every inch of my body screamed in pain. Even my skin hurt. I couldn’t breathe. My nose was clogged. Probably a clot the size of a piece of liver was stuck up in there. I had to get up and at least get something to drink. My mouth felt like a desert.
I tried to roll to my side and daggers of pain shot through me. Despite all the pain, I felt better. I’d found Mera and the kids, along with an abundance of information I had yet to fully absorb.
Knowing I had to move and would feel better when I did, I grunted then sucked it up and rolled to a sitting position.
Step one.
Step two was trying to breathe through my nose and lungs. Both seemed terribly difficult. I was pretty certain a rib was broken. I staggered into the kitchen, following the voices. They were all seated around the kitchen table, eating.
Ed was there. Or rather, grown up Phoenix. Fuck Levi for lying to me, if that was the case. The second Mera told me and I looked into those eyes I knew, and felt without a doubt he was for certain my Phoenix and meant no harm.
“Alex!” Mera said in shock. “You shouldn’t be up. You need to lie back down.”
“I need something to drink, and to breathe.”
“Well, water I can do.” She handed me a bottle. “Breathing is going to be tough. I am positive you broke a couple of ribs, and your nose again.”
“Damn it. Oh, well.” I tried to make light of it, took a huge gulp of water, then took a moment to greet the babies. I had missed them.
“What happened?” Mera asked. “Were you jumped?”
“No. You can say I was in a fight.”
“Dude,” Danny chirped. “You look pretty bad.”
“Oh, yeah? You should see the other guy.”
“Bad?” Danny asked.
“Not a scratch on him.”
“Who?” Danny questioned.
My lips pouted and I turned to Mera. “Beck.”
Mera inhaled loudly. “Beck’s back?”
“Yeah, yesterday.” I held up my hand. “Please don’t get mad, I didn’t tell him. And the reason wasn’t because he kicked my ass, it was because I wanted to find you, see you first, and bring you back.”
“They can’t go back, Alex,” Ed said. “I told you this. We have to take them to Vermont. Keller and I have been preparing for this for a while.”
“It’s so hard to believe. I mean, this Sandman.” I shook my head. “It’s hard to believe.”
“Yeah, I know,” Ed said. “Taking him down may not be easy. In my time, I saw him die. I know he died, yet he came back. So just as a safeguard, I will move forward with them. Beck will find the clues. They’re pretty blatant.”
“I never searched your room. I just left,” I told him. “And how did you get fresh fruit?” I pointed to the oranges on the table.
“Same way I got fresh gasoline and everything else. I traveled in time. Don’t say it.”
“Ha,” Alex snorted, “I hate this time travel shit. I’d love an orange though.”
Danny handed me one. “Ed made several trips. Timing it just right, coming back right before the Event and bringing them to this moment.”
“It was a lot of lugging,” Ed told me. “To the past, to the future then to here.”
I thought about it. Gasoline. Food. Supplies. “Ed, how did you pay for this stuff?”
“Bill Logan’s credit card. It was in his house. I found a few others on some of the Sleepers. I came back three days before the Event, then left. Mainly it was all Bill.”
“Ed, all good intentions and reasons. We can’t take them without Beck’s knowledge. It’s not right.”
Ed nodded. “I understand. When you heal, go back and tell him. I’ll leave you the location but you cannot write it down, you have to remember it. You can’t bring it into Haven and you can’t tell the Sandman.”
“The Sandman.” I shook my head. “I won’t. However, if what you say is true, then I’ll just go put a bullet in his head. Problem solved.”
“You can’t kill him until Javier uses him for the cure. I don’t know if that can happen in four months.”
“What happens in four months?” I asked.
“Haven falls,” Ed replied. “Javier dies. All our medical people die. Mom… I mean, Mera is… she isn’t killed. What happens to her is inconceivable and brutal and never detailed to me.”
Hearing what Ed told me caused a thickening in my throat. “That will not happen.”
“Oh, for sure it won’t. Mera goes to Vermont,” Ed said. “It’ll be safe as long as he doesn’t have an inkling where she is.”
“Do you have any proof?” I asked.
“Alex,” Danny said with irritation, “why don’t you believe him?’
“I do, but when we take him down, people are gonna wanna know why and simply saying, ‘hey, in the future he’s a monster’ just ain’t gonna cut it.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Ed said. “It’s a simple solution. Cure the virus, kill the source, continue the Reckoning, and end the era of the Sleepers.”
It wasn’t a simple as Ed made it out to be, not when you took into account everything that was involved. However, if what he said was true, and it was the actual way to secure the future and stop all the Sleeper wars, then I would do whatever it took, at any cost.
47. Mera
The jean jacket was tucked far in the back of the hall closet where Jessie had hidden it. She always made fun of me when I wore it, telling me that the nineties called and wanted their coat back. It irritated her but I loved that jacket. And because it made me think of my daughter, I wore it into the garage where we stored the heavy coats and gloves. We would need them. After all, we were going to Vermont. I’d also take Daniel's fishing gear so Alex could have it. Alex loved to fish.
While rummaging through our belongings, enjoying every moment, I heard the squeal of brakes. A few seconds later, I heard the closing of car doors and I stepped from the garage.
Beck and Sonny were walking away from a military truck and toward the house.
“Beck,” I called out, excited and happy to see him.
He rushed my way, as did Sonny. I hadn’t seen Beck in nearly a month and I smothered myself in his embrace. It felt rushed, though, not warm. Something was wrong.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, Beck, I—”
“Are the kids in the house?”
“They are.”
“Mera, get in the truck.” He kissed me on the forehead then stepped away.
“What? Wait. Beck.” I hurried to follow.
Danny stepped out of the house with a huge grin. “Hey, Beck! Good to see you.”
“Danny,” Beck breathed out and embraced my son. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Good. Take your mother and go to the truck.”
Danny looked stunned by the request and I was on Beck’s heels.
“Beck,” I pursued him. “We aren’t going. We can’t go.”
“Yeah you can.” He walked into my house.
Sonny was behind me. Everything was moving so quickly, I was having a hard time taking it in. I couldn’t miss the expression of anger on Beck’s face when he saw Alex with Keller and Phoenix.
“Alex, damn you,” Beck growled. “You found out and didn’t tell me.”
Alex stood. “Beck, listen—”
“I will deal with you later,” Beck snapped. “Sonny, get the babies and take them to the truck.”
“Deal with me later?” Alex scoffed. “What? Beat me up again?”
“Alex!” Beck scolded and turned to Sonny. “Please get the babies.”
I screamed out. “No, Beck. Stop it!”
“Beck, you have to listen,” Danny said pleadingly. “There’s a reason why—”
“Sonny, get the babies.”
“Beck,” Sonny said, “maybe we should hear what’s going on first.”
I inched over to Beck. “Listen to me, Beck. I know you’re upset.”
“Upset?” his voice squeaked. “You don’t know the half of it! Mera, I’m out trying to stop this shit and I come home to find out that Jessie died and you were gone. Taken. All of you are my life. My life! I want you home. I just want you safe.”
Then Ed entered the room and said calmly, “Taking them isn’t keeping them safe.”
“You son of a bitch.” Beck drew his weapon, held it outward and rushed toward Ed.
“Beck!” I shrieked. “Stop!”
The barrel of the revolver was pressed against Ed’s forehead. Ed didn’t flinch and neither did Beck. They were in a cold stare down.
Beck spoke, eerily calm. “I will ask you once. Did you take my wife, my kids, my family from their home?”
“I did.”
The second Beck clicked back the hammer on the revolver, I jumped forward and cried out. “Please! Don’t shoot him. Please!”
“Give me one reason, Mera, why I shouldn’t.”
“Because he’s your son, Beck. This is Phoenix. Your son. You raised him.”
Beck just stared.
“Beck,” Ed said in a low voice. “Everything I did was to protect them. Everything. Do you think I would harm my own mother? My brothers? You, Alex, or Sonny? Do you? I love you guys, and that is why I am here. I am here right now, because this is the point in time it can end. If you take them, there’s a chain of events that occur, you stop the Reckoning, and they win.”
“You called the Sleepers,” Beck said.
“No. No. Not in this time frame. No.” Ed shook his head. “It’s not me. There is someone within the walls of Haven that is doing it. He is controlling them. He doesn’t know yet, but eventually he will, and he will get stronger right along with the Sleepers until we are in constant battles and running for our lives. He’s there, Beck.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit.”
“Then tell me who it is. And I swear to God it better make sense or I pull the trigger.”
Ed swallowed with a nervous pout, then stated, “Michael.”
Beck blinked twice, replaced the hammer, lowered his revolver and put it in back his holster.
A silence took over the room as Beck stepped away from Ed and his expression said more than his actions. It wasn’t shock. It was like a light went off. A look of revelation grazed across his face and it appeared as if Ed’s simple stating of the name Michael reiterated something Beck knew deep inside, all along.
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Table of Contents
Prologue 30 Years Post Event Keller
1. Alex Sans
2. Mera Stevens
3. Sonny
4. Alex
5. Mera
6. Sonny
I - Intersect – Keller 30 Years Post Event
7. Alex
8. Mera
9. Sonny
10. Alex
11. Mera
12. Sonny
13. Alex
14. Mera
15. Sonny
16. Alex
17. Mera
18. Sonny
19. Alex
20. Mera
21. Sonny
22. Alex
23. Mera
24. Sonny
25. Alex
26. Mera
27. Sonny
28. Alex
29. Mera
30. Sonny
31. Alex
32. Mera
33. Sonny
34. Alex
35. Mera
36. Sonny
37. Alex
38. Mera
II - Intersect – Keller 30 Years Post Event
39. Sonny
40. Alex
41. Mera
42. Sonny
43. Alex
44. Mera
45. Sonny
46. Alex
47. Mera