Sleepers (Book 5) Read online

  I pulled away from his grip and folded my arms. “This better be good.”

  “It is and I don’t want it being said in there.”

  “Because of Michael, Jessie and—”

  “Yes. Along with Bonnie and Patty and anyone else who’s in that block.”

  “I have news for you, Alex. Taking Phoenix from the block in the height of confrontation isn’t exactly keeping it a secret that you think he has something to do with the Sleepers.”

  Alex exhaled. “That’s fine that they think that. It’s something else they can’t know.”

  “What?” My patience was running short.

  “Phoenix is calling them.”

  “I knew you’d say that.”

  “However, baby Phoenix stopped them and sent them back.”

  “What are you talking about? You act like he’s two different people.”

  “Because he is. When Sonny had Randy bring back the ability to time travel, he started time travel early. Grown up Phoenix is here, somewhere, somehow in this camp. He traveled through.”

  “Are you serious?”

  Alex nodded. “I had Levi and Javier taking blood, though they didn’t think about taking names with the tubes, they didn’t need to. They have no idea who it is, but the DNA said its Phoenix. Levi doesn’t think he’s been around all that long. I beg to differ. I think he’s been around at least before Grace. Maybe sooner. He can be any one of us, so this stays between us, okay? Very few know and we are keeping it that way. I don’t want the grown up version of Phoenix to even suspect we are on to him.”

  “Does Sonny know?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I wouldn’t have told him. He has blond hair and blue eyes.”

  Alex stepped up close to me.

  “What are you doing? You look like you’re gonna kiss me.”

  Alex laughed and tilted his head. “Look at me. I know I have brown eyes. I had blond hair until I was twelve.”

  “Oh, wow, you did,” I said with revelation.

  “How the heck did you know that?”

  “The pictures of you and your grandfather at Cedar Point. I remember thinking that you had light hair, and maybe it was the sun.”

  “Mera? How… how did you see those pictures? I don’t remember showing them to you.”

  “When you died, I took your cigar box of pictures from your survival haven. I don’t have it now, because, well, you aren’t dead.”

  “I have to go get that.”

  “You should. There are some great pictures of you from the Navy.”

  Alex produced a snide smile.

  “What is that look for?”

  “You took memorabilia of me when I died, that’s so cute.” He then darted in and kissed me on the cheek. “Can we please not fight?”

  “You should not have taken Phoenix without saying anything.”

  “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

  “At the very least, Alex, you could have pulled me aside and—”

  “Mera—”

  “You could have said, 'I promise to bring him back.' ”

  “Mera—”

  “Instead, you arrogantly snatch—”

  “Mera!” he snapped. “I said I was sorry, can we let this go?”

  “What about grown up Phoenix? Any ideas?”

  “We’re working on it. And again, I promise … no more taking the baby.”

  “Thank you.”

  Alex turned and walked into the block, I followed. All resolved. For the moment. Nothing was ever smooth sailing between me and Alex Sans. That was our history. The fact was reiterated when we returned and Michael asked, “Should I set aside counseling time again for you two?”

  Michael’s words cut the tension even more, but not far from my mind was the question, who was the real grown up Phoenix?

  3. Sonny

  In the quiet aftermath of the Three Days of Death, I took it all in. The Three Days of Death were given that name in the future because a lot of us died at the River Haven. It didn’t hold true for us. It ended with the Sleepers being the recipient of the ‘death’ part.

  Standing there though, I would have thought the first thing to cross my mind would be absorbing the fact that there was a second Phoenix. It wasn’t. My mind raced to ‘where did everyone go?’

  Alex disappeared, as did Beck. Levi hustled off saying, ‘Don’t share this information’, and I was in charge. What information? The fact that there was a grown man Phoenix running about? Who would I share it with?

  After realizing that I was responsible for making decisions, I then delegated responsibility to Miles, because I didn’t want to make any calls.

  The only call to make was what to do with the bodies.

  Where were Alex and Beck?

  We had taken out hundreds, maybe even a thousand Sleepers, and the bulk of them were piled by the fences. Some were out more in the field; they were the ones who’d stepped on Beck’s mines.

  We needed a cleanup crew and fast.

  People shouldn’t have to stay indoors; though neither did they need to come outside and see all the carnage.

  What would we do with all the bodies? If we burned them, more would come. Finally, Alex emerged from the building and ordered that the bodies be loaded in the trucks and taken at least ten miles west and burned.

  Great. There were more Sleepers than there were of us. It was going to take all day and night.

  People came out to lend a hand. I lost count of how many bodies I tossed into a truck. It became almost automatic. Bend, grab, lift, toss. Next.

  I stopped looking at the burnt carcasses, the ones with limbs missing. I couldn’t look at them. If I did, then I saw people, not Sleepers, and that jaded my feelings to what all was going on. It would make me feel guilty because I was the one who designed, built, and initiated the electric fences that took out so many.

  Randy was my body buddy. He was a huge help, a big man with a lot of strength. He came from the future with the Doctrines that told about the Three Days of Death. Randy looked pleased tossing bodies.

  “It is nice,” he said, “to see that this all has changed.”

  “It was the forewarning,” I told him.

  We lifted a body and hoisted it in the truck. I knew why Levi didn’t want the information about the older Phoenix to leak, Randy had an insight.

  He was from a time that knew the Doctrines well and lived by them.

  Randy was a source of information.

  “There’s something else,” I told him, “And you can’t tell anyone you heard this from me.”

  “Go on.” Randy bent down and grabbed a body.

  “You know how Alex wants Javier to do that new virus?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, they started taking blood, and they didn’t mark all the tubes.”

  “Would they need to?” Randy asked. “I mean they are only determining immunity factors, right?”

  “Right, so, they take blood and they discover the DNA of Phoenix in an unmarked tube.”

  “Phoenix is here.”

  “He is, but they didn’t draw blood from baby Phoenix.”

  Randy dropped the body. “He came through.”

  “Shhh!” I nodded for him to pick up the body again and continued. “Did that happen in your time?”

  “No. Though apparently, since I brought the means through, I introduced time travel early.”

  “Exactly. So let me ask you a couple questions.”

  “Go on,” Randy grunted as he hoisted the body.

  “We lost a lot during the Three Days of Death. What would Phoenix have to gain by coming back and influencing it more?”

  “Total annihilation?” Randy guessed. “Wipe everyone out, not just half.”

  I shook my head. “He screwed up then. I mean, if Phoenix is bad—”

  “In the Doctrines, Phoenix isn’t the bad one, Keller is.”

  “Do I, or do the Doctrines, mention the relationship between Phoenix, Keller, Mera and the
family?”

  “Of course, they were a family. Lived like a family.”

  “That’s where this doesn’t make sense.” I stopped to take a break and walked away from the bodies.

  Randy asked, “What doesn’t make sense, Sonny?”

  “We’re missing something. Do you think they loved their mother?”

  “Absolutely,” Randy answered.

  “Then why come back to make sure she dies?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Everyone thinks that Phoenix is here to ensure an early Sleeper Victory right?”

  “I guess.” Randy shrugged. “You are now telling me about this.”

  “Well, that’s what they’re thinking.”

  “You’re not?” Randy asked.

  “I don’t know what to think. Phoenix comes back in time, ensures a total victory, in doing so, is trying to kill those he loves. In no way does that makes sense. Every time we traveled back, it was to make the future better, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “How is the future better without your family? Twenty, thirty years from now, it’s an even score card. Man and Sleepers are on an even playing field. It takes decades before the Sleepers have the upper hand.”

  “Sonny,” Randy said, looking upon me so fatherly, “you are searching for a reason. You’re a good man; you want to find the good. Let me tell you something, though. If Phoenix is the one who is bad in the future, and he came back in time, there is no good reason. You can search all you want for an ulterior motive. I’m afraid, knowing the Doctrines as I do, right here, right now, in this time, is the deciding factor. Yes, the future says it is an even score for a while. However, things can change in this moment that flip that, so in thirty years, instead of an even score card, it can be a Sleeper world. It only takes one event.”

  I placed aside the debate for a while. Randy was siding with the theory that Phoenix came through with the motive to move the victory up in the timeline.

  I didn’t see it. Maybe I was confused by the loving child I knew and couldn’t fathom him being this evildoer the Doctrines talked about.

  If Mera raised him then Mera influenced him.

  I know how Danny turned out. Why wouldn’t Phoenix and Keller be as good with the same mother? The same love? Unless something happened that changed the mother’s influence.

  That had to be it. It had something to do with Mera.

  In the middle of clearing the bodies, I made a silent vow. Instead of focusing on Phoenix, I was going to focus on Mera.

  It was more than the Sleeper Wars that motivated Phoenix to come back in time, to risk so much. I was convinced of that. I just didn’t know what it was.

  4. Alex

  My head was pounding. Every beat of my heart throbbed across my forehead. I had reached the point of total exhaustion. Forty-eight hours without sleep was a bit much. I did doze off once, and quickly snapped away when I stumbled. I fell asleep standing up. Reminiscent of the one time I did that in basic training.

  Everyone kept telling me to go to bed, I couldn’t... not until I knew for sure the dead Sleepers were removed and no more were lurking close by. We kept everyone in an extra day, and I wanted to make sure that when the kids got up to go to school, when our teachers and workers left for their jobs, that they were safe. We needed normalcy.

  Would it ever be normal?

  Nothing made sense. Where did they come from? We regularly checked the area, yet at last body count, one thousand and three Sleepers had invaded our front door. Many more had retreated into the woods.

  Our focus in the days after the attack was cleanup and security. Levi and Javier were working on the grown up Phoenix dilemma and for some odd reason, it wasn’t discussed.

  I thought maybe it was because those of us who knew all had different thoughts and theories on it. Or maybe we were all hoping it wasn’t true and it would go away.

  My limit had been reached. I wasn’t thinking clearly or moving properly. In fact, I felt like a Sleeper. Good thing the virus wasn’t airborne or I’d have been convinced I was infected.

  I checked in with Danny, who was on night watch and his shift was coming to an end. All was calm and he said the same thing to me as Miles did.

  “Dude, it’s five a.m., go to bed,” Danny said. Although I’m certain Miles didn’t use ‘Dude’.

  “I am. I wanna check on things.”

  “We’re good. You’ve been checking on things for two days. I’m on watch, then Beck will take it for a while. You look like shit, Alex.”

  “I don’t look like a Sleeper do I?”

  Danny peered into my eyes. “Nah, you’re good. Did you get bit?”

  “No. Just the thought that the virus was airborne crossed my mind.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  I shrugged. “Probably because I’m slap happy.” I hugged Danny, told him ‘Good job’, then said my good night.

  I passed Beck as he left the main building. He, too, told me to get some sleep, and I think he told me to wake up Sonny because he had been sleeping for nearly a day. I didn’t hear those words exactly. What I heard was: “Hey, do me a favor and hate on Sonny, he’s been weeping and fairly gay.”

  It was through reasonable deduction that I assumed I was supposed to wake him up.

  There was a single dim light illuminating the main area of our cell block. Usually Mera opted for nightlights, so I assumed Beck had left on a light.

  I entered to the aroma of coffee and the sight of Mera seated at the big table.

  “What are you doing up?” I asked as I closed the door.

  “I’m going back to bed,” Mera replied. “I wanted to spend some time with Beck.”

  I cleared my throat. “Wait. Back to bed? You’re having coffee and going to sleep?”

  “I’m in my second trimester, Alex. I can sleep through anything.”

  Mera lifted the cup to her lips, set it down and stood. I noticed at that particular second that she actually looked pregnant.

  “What? What is it?” Mera asked.

  “When did you start showing?”

  “Last couple days.” She shrugged. “Almost like my body acknowledged I was pregnant and bam.”

  “Wow.” I walked over to her. My hand hovered over the small roundness of her stomach. “Can I?”

  “Absolutely.”

  After a brief hesitation, I placed my hand on her belly. It wasn’t there more than a second when I felt the tiny flutter against the palm of my hand.

  My eyes widened.

  “Did you feel that?” she asked.

  I nodded, waiting for the next one. I felt it, but I felt it more than on my hand. It made my stomach flip, heart race and I lost my breath. I felt that child kick through every ounce of my being.

  At that moment, the baby became real to me. My face stretched to the limits with my smile and I lifted my eyes to make contact with Mera. “This is amazing.” I glanced back down to her stomach.

  “You should have seen Beck’s reaction when he felt it the first time.”

  I didn’t intend for it to happen, but the smile instantly dropped from my face. Suddenly, I had this awful feeling of jealousy over the child and no matter how hard I tried to hide it, it showed.

  “Oh, Alex,” Mera said gently. “I’m sorry.”

  I swallowed and shook my head. “I’m fine.”

  “Are you?’

  “Yeah, tired is all.” Then I noticed she looked at me with… pity? Was it pity?

  Mera placed her hand on my cheek. “Alex, you will be a part of this baby’s life, a huge part. Okay? Beck doesn’t want to know who the father is, but if you want—”

  “No,” I cut in. “I’m fine. It’s Beck’s child, he’ll be the father. Not me.”

  “Alex …”

  I kissed her on the cheek. “I’m fine with it.” Before she could carry on with the subject, I changed it. “Has Sonny been crying and acting gay?”

  She cocked her head back and laughed. �
��What?”

  “Well, I didn’t hear Beck right. He either said ‘hate Sonny he’s crying and gay’ or ‘wake Sonny.’”

  “It wouldn’t be wake Sonny,” Mera said. “That poor man isn’t even recovered from the trauma and he was out clearing bodies. Javier put him on bed rest for three days, sedated him yesterday. He was very whiney. That’s probably what Beck meant.”

  “Man, Beck must be irritated with him.”

  “A little, yeah. Please do not wake him, he needs to rest.”

  “Speaking of rest...” I pointed to my cell. “See ya when I get up.” I turned to leave.

  “Alex?” Mera called. “I saw the look on your face. You created this—”

  “Stop.” I turned and faced her. “Different time, okay? Beck is a father. He’s a great father. And he will be that baby’s father. I never really wanted that title, so we’re good.” I winked.

  Mera lowered her head and nodded. I think she believed me. I wasn't sure.

  I headed to my cell thinking about it. I wasn’t lying to her. I never did want the title of ‘father’; it wasn’t on my bucket list of things to accomplish in my lifetime. However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel something other than that baby’s kick.

  Something switched on in me. Something so emotional I couldn’t explain it. I chalked it up to lack of sleep and tried to put it out of my mind when I laid my head on the pillow.

  It wasn’t too hard, because I passed right out.

  5. Mera

  I should not have had that coffee. It really did keep me from falling back into a good sleep. I did drift off, albeit not for long. The kids were loud when they woke up and seemed to find humor in the fact that Alex was snoring pretty loudly.

  Even Keller. Although he didn’t laugh, he smiled. He’d place his little hand against someone’s chest to feel their vibration of laughter.

  Twelve children including Jessie was a lot. Though Jessie was technically a woman, mentally she wasn’t much older than Phoenix and Keller. The other children I inherited at Grace. They were nine from among the many groups that had come from the future. How I got nine of them, I don’t know. Most of those were the ones that traveled to Grace with us.