Sleepers 3 Read online

  What seemed like a long time of suffering was probably only seconds, because in an instant, the weight lifted. I heard something, a thump, I wasn’t sure. I do know that a hand grasped down and lifted me to my feet. Again, it was Michael.

  The Sleepers lunged as he put me behind him. There had to be hundreds. Where they came from, I don’t know. Michael stood before me and the Sleepers stopped. They just stopped.

  He whispered, “Run. Go to the wall.”

  “Michael …”

  “Go.”

  I was so close to that wall, how they even caught me I don’t know. But I looked once more and after moving backwards a few steps, I spun and ran with all I had to that open wall. As soon as I passed into Grace, I turned. Michael was backing up. The Sleepers didn’t move, not until he turned and ran.

  Then they came. Full force.

  It was hard to tell who was around. I watched Michael, and as soon as he stepped through, someone slid the steel gate closed, and the second it connected, I heard the Sleepers slam against it.

  The babies grabbed onto me. One each held a leg. I reached for Keller and lifted him and held my hand to Phoenix. Keller on my hip, I felt his tiny hands grab my injured face. He leaned his forehead against me,

  “Mama, it will be fine.” I heard Keller’s voice.

  My head lifted. “I hear you, Keller,” I said in a barely audible whisper, then pulled him closer into me.

  Phoenix tugged my hand. “Hurt?”

  I shook my head and watched the gate. It was all starting to register, especially when Alex, Beck, and a whole force of Grace men ran by me and charged to the wall.

  Michael backed up, lifted Phoenix, and placed his arm around me. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, no. Thank you.” I stood there in shock. What were Beck, Alex, and the men going to do? And what was Danny doing there?

  I could hear the Sleepers banging against the wall, screaming, groaning. They were loud. They were a large, angry mob.

  “Everyone back it up!” Beck ordered. “Back up.” He swung his arm out in a point. “Bring those carts. We need to get up on this wall now.”

  Four men rolled the carts we used for the horses; another brought a ladder. Boxes were stacked in the carts to create steps for the men to climb.

  “Once up there, take them out. Watch your shots!” Beck yelled.

  My son Danny, weapon slung over his shoulder, was the first and most ambitious to climb up there. He took that wall, and the second he hit the top, a Sleeper lunged at him knocking him back and down the entire twelve feet.

  The pain of watching Danny land with a deadened thump shot through my being.

  The first shot was fired by Alex, killing the Sleeper that sailed with my son to the ground.

  It was the first time I realized the walls weren’t safe, for at that moment, the Sleepers began to pour over the wall. My eyes were more focused on Danny. He wasn’t moving.

  Michael rushed Phoenix into my arms. “Get you and the kids into the barn for cover.”

  The barn was the only building close, and it wasn’t as much of a barn as it was a storage building.

  “What about you?”

  “Go, Mera.”

  There were numerous Grace residents out there, all of them running. Some were screaming. It was pandemonium; everything was out of control. I wasn’t certain the storage barn would be safe, but it was our only option. I had to put my faith in the hands of those who fought. I was sick to my stomach thinking about Danny. Was he all right? How badly was he hurt? I wasn’t even sure if I was injured.

  Making it into the storage barn was easy, but being in there was not. Once the doors closed, we were literally in the dark. No windows, no means to see what was going on outside.

  With just the sounds of hysterical people inside, and gunfire and screams outside of the building, I held the boys close.

  21.

  Alex Sans

  What a mess. Any opponents of Beck’s Reckoning were going to be few and far between following the invasion at the back gate.

  The Sleepers climbed over each other to get inside, jump the wall, and attack anyone they came across.

  With just six of us, it was impossible to defend against them, and it was even clearer to me that we weren’t as safe as I thought we were. How long had the Sleepers watched the wall? Why had they waited until that exact moment to attack?

  If there were that many, there had to be more.

  “Why did this happen, Alex?” Beck asked. “Why wasn’t this area secure of Sleepers?”

  Was he reprimanding me? Blaming me for a Sleeper onslaught?

  “How did so many get to the wall?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It was your job to keep these people safe!” Beck hollered.

  “I know!” I blasted back. “And I did. For a year, I kept them safe! I don’t know what happened or why they came just now. Why they waited.”

  “They didn’t wait. They came yesterday. You should have sent men out to see where they were coming from.”

  “Yeah, I should have. I didn’t,” I argued. “I didn’t ask for this shit, Beck. I did what I had to do to keep people safe.”

  “Yeah, well, today this community lost eight people. One was a child.” Beck walked closer, so close that I could feel the heat of his breath. “A child.”

  “What the hell, Beck?” I shoved him away. “I’m not your peon here and I don’t work for you. Who the hell do you think you are coming back and jumping in my face?”

  Beck clenched his jaws so tight I could see the muscles. “I’m getting a scouting team together, we leave in ten. I expect you to be there.” Beck turned and walked out.

  He certainly wasn’t the man I remembered or the man I intended to bring back. I guess a year acting as a military badass in the cave, wiping out Sleepers, does something to one’s ego.

  Admittedly, I was really down. I knew the people that died better than Beck did. I lived with them. It hurt. Not to mention, Danny was knocked out cold; fortunately, he only sustained a bruised back and a concussion. Mera had a huge-ass bruise on her face from having her mouth stretched further than it should have been. The medical folks didn’t see infection in her blood but were watching her.

  It could have been worse. There would have been no way six of us could have handled all those raging Sleepers if it wasn’t for Michael. He was a silent weapon. All he had to do was walk to a Sleeper and they’d stop. They’d freeze as if they were either in awe of him or didn’t know what to make of him. They stopped; we shot.

  By the time we cleared those that were inside the wall, the ones on the other side had fled.

  We had to find them. They were gathering somewhere; we had to find out where. Other than finding the Sleepers, I wanted to find out what happened. I has been on my way back to the house when I heard the commotion. Someone said Mera couldn’t find the boys, then another was screaming that they’d left the wall. We made it to the wall just as Mera and the boys made it back inside. I honestly didn’t have a clue how many Sleepers there were. I heard them, but I couldn’t see over that wall.

  Mera was at the clinic and I headed there. I knew she was low risk, and they’d not have a problem letting me see her.

  She didn’t say hello; she stood and raced to me. “Where are the boys?”

  “Home.” I closed the door. “Michael and Jessie are there. Danny’s home. He’s fine.”

  “I know.” Mera nodded.

  I reached out and grabbed her chin. “You are gonna have one big bruise tomorrow.”

  “It feels like it.”

  “What happened, Mera?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t. The boys were in the kitchen with me. A few minutes later Phoenix was holding Keller’s hand and they were walking away. He said they were playing. Michael knocked on the door; I answered it. We spoke for a second. I thought the boys were in the other room but… they ran out.”

  “That’s a huge haul from the house to the wal
l,” I said. “I mean, for two little kids with one being blind. How did they get there?”

  She shook her head. “Alex, I swear to you. I swear with everything I am that it was at most a minute from the time they left the kitchen until we ran out looking for them. They had to have run.”

  “And knew where to go. That’s at least the length of two football fields.” I scratched my head.

  “Alex, this whole thing is weird. How did they know to go there? How did they know to run to the field? And they were just running when I saw them. Holding hands and running.”

  “To where?”

  “The woods.”

  I looked up. “The Sleepers came from there.”

  She nodded. “Alex.” She lowered her voice. “It was weird. It was like they knew. Like they knew where to go.”

  “They’re babies, Mera.”

  “They’re more than that together.”

  “Mera …” I shook my head in ridicule.

  “He spoke again.”

  My eyes widened. “Who?”

  “Keller.”

  I moved closer to her. “Keep that to yourself. Apparently, what you and I don’t know is that there is this huge movement to kill all Sleepers. It’s already in effect. We start mentioning weird stuff, who knows what the masses will think?”

  “Well, then, should I keep my mouth shut about Michael? He saved me. He ran out and the Sleepers just stopped attacking when they saw me. I know this sounds unbelievable but they seemed …”

  “Scared of him?” I asked. “Yeah, I know. I saw it. They could see him as a freak. That’s how we killed all the Sleepers inside the community. He walked up to them like a one man freeze gun.”

  “Do you think it’s because he’s a Sleeper?”

  “No,” said a voice from the door. “No.”

  I cringed. “Levi.”

  “I heard what happened, many people saw Michael’s touch with the Sleepers. I saw it today with the baby. I had my own suspicions after that. But …” Levi stepped further into the room, “I ran tests.”

  “And?” I asked.

  “He is not a Sleeper. Whatever ability Michael has over the Palers or Sleepers is a mystery. There is no rhyme or reason for it. It’s bigger than us,” Levi said. “Maybe we all need to rethink Pastor Michael’s role in the Doctrines we so quickly dismiss.”

  22.

  Mera Stevens

  Beck.

  There was something wrong. I know it was internally wrong because I felt as if I was swarming in a virtual realty game. What was real? What wasn’t?

  I watched him die. I watched them shoot him. I saw Alex’s face when he couldn’t save him. There I was, struggling with my own unresolved issues and demons, when Alex was doing the same. He just never said anything.

  No wonder we fought so much.

  Now here was Beck, a man of strength and conviction, a good man to whom I owed so much. Here was Beck … alive, his rebirth a product of Alex’s rule-breaking. Of course, to look at Alex, no one would be surprised that he broke rules.

  Beck rushed into the room at the clinic and embraced me. My God, I missed that embrace. So much comfort and safety was in his huge arms. I clutched him with gratefulness. I supposed I would do that for a long time.

  Alex had left to get Michael at my request and ask Bonnie to stay with the kids until I got there. I was certain it wouldn’t be a problem.

  But with Beck, Alex, and a couple of other men going out to scout the area, they needed more protection than guns.

  “I’m so sorry,” Beck said softly. “I am so sorry you had to go through that.”

  “It’s ok. I’m fine.”

  He pulled back, looking at my face. “You could have lost your entire face.”

  “I know.” My finger clenched his arms. “Listen… I need to speak to you.”

  “I have to go. Can it wait?” Beck asked. “Mera, there’s nothing more I want than to stay by your side, help with all this that you have taken on, but I can’t do it until all of you are safe. This is not a safe place. I need to find where they are, where this hive is.”

  “Hive?”

  He cocked back. “Yeah, I have told you about the hives. They gather in one area. Like bees. Hornets. That’s why we’re able to take them out like we have. We call them hives. Obviously, with how many we saw today, there’s a hive around here.”

  “Why haven’t we seen them before?”

  “You haven’t looked. Everyone here was in a sense of false security.”

  “Beck, Alex did all he could.”

  Beck blinked. “I’m not blaming Alex. He didn’t think outside the box. He kept this area safe, and that’s all that mattered because you guys were behind this wall.”

  “What if they just got there? What if your Reckoning caused them to migrate?”

  “That’s possible. We don’t know. But I do know we have to get rid of them. I have a team on the Oklahoma border. We just keep an eye out and we can have them gone when I get the weapons.”

  I exhaled. “We’ve been peaceful here, Beck. What if people want blood? What if they want every Sleeper killed? They need to stop the Sleeper population in the future; that means—”

  “No. I know where you’re going with this. I will not let anything happen to Jessie.” Beck grabbed my hand. “I promise you. No one is going to hurt her.”

  “There are others like her. What about them?”

  Beck shook his head. “We will protect the healed. Okay? I have to go.”

  “Not without Michael.” I grabbed his hand as he started to stand.

  “What?”

  “I want Michael with you.”

  Beck moistened his lips and sat back down. “Mera,” he said softly, “everyone saw what happened today. It… it scared people.”

  There was a knock on the door. I looked beyond Beck to see Michael. He stood in the doorway then stepped inside.

  “Am I interrupting?” Michael asked. “Alex said you wanted to see me.”

  “No,” Beck said. “We didn’t.”

  “Yes, I did.” I slid from the bed and stood. “I want you to go with Beck and Alex on this scouting mission. You saw how many Sleepers there are. You need to go.”

  Michael chuckled a little in disbelief. “Mera, I don’t know how I did what I did.”

  “Yes, you do.” I stepped closer to him speaking with total seriousness. “You do. Don’t you?” I looked deep into his eyes. “You’ve always known.” I felt what I said to him. He knew. He had to.

  Michael looked at me then shifted his eyes away to Beck. “What’s going on?”

  Beck lifted his hands. “I don’t know. I have to go. As much as I’d love to have you there with that deflecting ability, I can’t, Mike, I can’t. People are gonna get weird about what you did. They’ll get scared and know you’re a Sleeper and you—”

  “He’s not a Sleeper,” I interrupted. “He isn’t.”

  Beck turned and looked at me. “He is.”

  I shook my head. “No, he isn’t. Levi has blood work to prove it, so anyone who doubts it can see him.”

  Beck’s mouth opened a little. “Levi did blood work?”

  “Yes. Michael is not a Sleeper. Not one sign of infection or resistance to infection. Clean and clear, just like you and me. But he’s not.” I focused on Michael. “Did you know?” I paused and didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Of course you knew. You just couldn’t tell us.”

  Michael wiped his hand over his face and smiled. “Mera, I don’t know where you are going with this, but there has to be a mistake. I have the virus.”

  “Mera,” Beck said, “if he doesn’t have the virus, then how does he control the Sleepers?”

  “Why don’t we read the Doctrines?”

  Michael gasped loudly and stepped back. “No. No, I will not let you blaspheme like that. No. The Doctrines are bull. Made up. As flattered as I am, don’t bestow the honor of the Doctrine’s holy man on me.”

  “Then there’s something ab
out you,” I argued. “Whatever it is— good, bad— could you please go with Beck and Alex?”

  Michael lifted his hands. “I’ll go, but Beck doesn’t—”

  “It’s fine,” Beck interrupted him. “Can you wait outside? I’ll be right there.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  I thanked him and waited until he was gone to look at Beck.

  “Mera, do you know how crazy you sound?”

  I shook my head. “You know what’s funny? We can believe that people from the future are here. We can believe in time travel. A virus made by man to make humans better decimated our earth. We can believe in unnatural killing creatures, but it’s impossible to believe for a second that something bigger than all this is here for us? That God—”

  “Mera. No.”

  “Whatever.” I folded my arms and turned my back to him.

  “Whatever?” Beck asked. “Did you just say whatever?”

  “I did.”

  “I have to go.” He kissed the back of my head and whispered that he loved me, and that he’d be back.

  I closed my eyes tightly, told him to be careful, and turned back around to see him leave.

  I know they thought I was crazy. It did sound insane. But until someone offered another plausible explanation, my train of thought was going to another level. It had to. I said it from the beginning. There was something about Michael. Good or bad, I’d figure it out.

  23.

  Alex Sans

  I have an unabashed irritation for Beck, and he felt it. I didn’t hide it. See, here’s the deal; I missed a year of my relationship with him. Obviously, I was his pal. His radio buddy. But as we tromped through the woods, I was his flunky, or at least I felt that way. Maybe it was total resentment because for a year, I was the man. Now he comes back and everyone looks to him.