Danielle opened her eyes. That same grey ceiling greeted her just as it had before. She blinked as she lay there on the cot, trying to remember what had happened. There was some kind of strange wave of moving air - it was the only way she could describe it - that had struck her, causing her to lose consciousness.
She remembered coming to before to find two people in environmental suits standing on either side of her bed. She remembered being strapped onto it.
She raised her hands, sighing with relief when she realized she could move. Slowly, she sat up and discovered that while she was no longer strapped to the cot, she was still a prisoner. She was in an enclosed room with a strong Plexiglas wall as a barrier. Behind that wall was three men. Two of them were at some kind of computer station. The third man was standing close to the barrier, watching her intently.
Danielle decided that she didn’t like his eyes. She got off the cot and moved toward the barrier.
“Let me out of here,” she said.
The man didn’t acknowledge her request.
Carr, having no idea that the Gatherers were watching what was happening through Fronk’s laptop, held up Danielle’s purse. “What was your business in Allentown, Mrs. Anderson?”
Danielle only just realized he was holding her purse. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll ask the questions. You’ll answer them. What was your intentions in Allentown?”
“What are you talking about? I wasn’t going to Allentown. I was…I was just out for a drive.”
“Just out for a drive, Mrs. Anderson,” Carr repeated. “That is very interesting.” He pulled out a cell phone from her purse and showed it to her. “What are you doing with this?”
Danielle let out a sigh. “That’s my cell phone.”
“I checked you out, Mrs. Anderson. You are not authorized to use a cell phone. This is considered a crime nowadays…or weren’t you aware of that?”
“I…Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“Then what are you doing with a piece of technology you’re not authorized for?”
She let out a weary sigh. “I had it before the crisis started.”
“And what crisis are you referring to, Mrs. Anderson?”
She blinked. “The vanishings. The attack on our country. After those things happened, the ban was put on the cell phones. I’m carrying mine out of habit.”
Carr nodded his head. “I see, Mrs. Anderson.” He dropped the cell phone back into her purse and handed the purse to one of the men. “Mrs. Anderson…you’re in a lot of trouble.”
Danielle nodded. “I get that. You keep calling me ‘Mrs. Anderson’ like I’m some kind of contagion.”
“I’m calling you ‘Mrs. Anderson’ because your real name is Danielle Marie Dozois. Not Danielle Anderson.”
“Anderson is my married name.”
Carr let out a chuckle.
Danielle looked at him suspiciously. “What…? You don’t believe me? Check my drivers license.”
“Oh, we did,” he assured her. “A fake.”
“What?”
“We checked you out thoroughly. You have assumed the identity of Danielle Anderson, but we don’t know why yet.”
“There’s some kind of mistake!” Danielle exclaimed. “Call my husband. He’ll tell you who I am.”
Carr chuckled again. “You mean Andrew Anderson? Please. Do you think we’re stupid. Of course, we called him. In fact, I called him personally. Do you know what he told me? He told me that his wife had run out on him only to become one of those whom had vanished. He no longer has a wife. He asked me to make you pay for stealing his missing wife’s identity. He doesn’t even want to know why you did it.” He paused. “But I do want to know.”
Danielle couldn’t believe this was happening. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute! Is he insane? Why is he doing this?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Look, I had a fight with my husband earlier today. At least I think it was today…I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.”
“We found you yesterday.”
“Well, yesterday, I had a fight with Andy. He told me to leave…so I did. I went for a drive.”
Carr folded his arms across his chest. “You were heading toward Allentown randomly then?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Mrs. Anderson…Miss Dozois, you drove into a toxin that is quite deadly. Or at least it should be. You see, we don’t know why you survived it at all when everyone else in the town has been wiped out. Perhaps you are an enigma to that famous Beatles song…‘Here’s to you Mrs. Anderson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Oh oh oh. 1’”
Danielle shook her head. “That…that isn’t a Beatles song.”
“It is so.”
She shook her head. “No, it isn’t, and besides…It’s not about Mrs. Anderson but Mrs. Robinson. And it makes no difference anyway! I haven’t done anything. Please, let me out.”
Carr shook his head. “Not until we know why you survived. If we can make a determination of why you’re still alive, perhaps we can prevent this from happening again.”
“What are you saying?”
“We need to run some more tests. In fact…” He paused for affect. “…we’re running one now.”
That’s when Danielle heard it. A faint hissing sound alerted her to a danger she could not prevent. She looked up toward the ventilation shaft and saw a faint mist beginning to omit from it.
She swallowed. “What is that?”
“It’s the toxin…at it’s full strength.”
Danielle turned to look at him through the barrier. “But you said it killed everyone in Allentown. Why are you releasing it in here?!”
Carr paused. “I’m sorry, Miss Dozois, but we have to know…even if it means sacrificing you in order to accomplish what we need. Besides, you are a criminal. No one will miss you when you’re gone.”
Danielle stared up at the vent, watching in horror as more of the toxin came into her room…Her prison. Unknown to her, the Gatherers were also watching and Fronk was doing everything he could to stop the ventilation from his laptop…but even he didn’t believe he would stop it in time.
He watched from the woods. On a hilltop and in the cover of the trees around him, the man lay on the ground and peered intently through binoculars down at the shelter below him. He saw many people moving about, and many them he recognized from Willow Creek.
He had seen the one called David King being confronted by three men who he used to call friends. The men were in front of the closed entrance of the barn. Movement from the opening of hayloft above them caught his attention, and he saw a fourth man looking below. The man was grinning.
King looked up and the man backed away from the opening, keeping himself out of sight.
The man on the hill didn’t care about the man he glimpsed in the hayloft. It was the other men confronting King he was concerned with. He knew Morris, Halbert, and Shelby well. But it had been David King he was uncertain of.
He still was uncertain.
He remained where he was, watching the men confront King until finally, Halbert and Shelby walked away, leaving only King and Morris behind. The two men continued a brief exchange of words until Morris shrugged indifferently and walked away. King went inside the barn.
The man scanned the rest of the area below. Several vehicles were pulling into the long drive. He recognized Chase and Dell in the lead vehicle. He remembered the last time he saw them and it made him angry.
What had happened inside the pastors office of the Willow Creek Baptist Church did not sit well with him. David King should have died that day, but he didn’t. That was why the man felt as if it was unfinished business. As Sheriff Robert Hoag spied upon the shelter below, he vowed to end this business one way or another.
1 - Mrs. Robinson; written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon and Garfunkel in 1968.
To Be Continued Episode #9…
The Deception (Part 2)
Coming Soon!
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