Jon sat in his room after his meal that evening wondering what he could do to stop the blue men and their masters. Over the last week, he had lost his mother, his sister, and now his best friend to them. He needed to come up with some kind of plan to find out why they were doing what they were. During his meal earlier he had almost brought up the subject of Mikey but as none of the two people in front of him gave any sign that anyone was missing from the family meal he decided not to. He thought this must mean that his little brother was also lost.
The app that he and Tina had come up with was helping him find who had replaced who in a small number of cases this was not helping him find out why they were doing everything let alone who was doing it. The app had once again put him on the back foot. He was reacting to what was happening instead of being proactive, he needed to go on the offensive some how but how.
Outside of time.
Not quite time still moved in the warehouse it just moved differently for everyone inside of it. Unlike the rest of the town, time did not stop at 4 am as it did elsewhere. In fact, that was their busiest time when they were as Dr Schreber put it in the middle of check in’s and check out’s. The people they had brought in just a day or two ago would leave to take their new places in the world and others would come in to begin their “Treatment”.
Once such person undergoing treatment all be it of a different kind at that moment was Denise Brewster. She was sitting in a small room waiting for one of her underlings to provide her with this week's injection. The injection would stop her from being affected by their work or so she thought. Dr. Schreber under direct instruction from the mysterious #1 had arranged for Denise to receive a placebo this week. This injection would mimic all the symptoms of her regular injection but without the benefit of her regular one.
Dr. Schreber knew that it would take at least 24 normal hours for it to effect. It had been almost 7 full days since Denise had her last regular injection so if she didn’t get it within the next 24 hours she would be effected just like anyone else in the town by their changes. Little did Denise know that by the time of their next set of changes she would no longer have any protection.
The time till her protection ran out would not be affected by however long they stopped time to carry out their work this time. Denise would soon see the inside of the warehouse in a totally different light not that she would remember the warehouse at all.
Meanwhile in the Gutfreund home.
“Come on Michelle it's your turn to do the washing up tonight.” Katherine Gutfreund told her daughter.
“Why can’t she do it?” Michelle asked pointing towards her younger sister.
“Because it is your turn,” Katherine said to her daughter.
“But Mom.” Came Michelle’s reply.
“No buts just get it done,” Katherine said this time with a tone of voice that told Michelle not to argue.
“Ok,” Michelle said as she slowly rose to do the washing up.
“And you young lady stop winding up your sister,” Katherine said turning to her youngest.
“I Didn’t say a thing.” Her youngest said.
“Geraldine Gutfreund you don’t need to,” Katherine told her.
“Mom my name is Gerri, not Geraldine,” Gerri told her.
“I know what is on your birth certificate and unless you want everyone at your new school to know as well you will take the garbage out,” Katherine replied.
“Yes Mom,” Gerri said as she went to do so.
Katherine hadn’t meant to be so hard on her daughters but it had been a long day. It always was the first day at a new school. She hoped that this would be the last time they would have to move for a while. She hated the way it disrupted her family, so she decided then and there to email the education department in the morning and ask if she could stay at this school at least until the end of the school year if not longer.
