A New Dawn
Chapter One
AN: The characters do not belong to me. I hope you enjoy my story.
Twenty-five-old Wayward Pines sheriff Ben Burke tossed and turned, deep into another nightmare regarding the death of his predecessor seven years earlier. It was bizarre that he dreamed of it at all, since he'd been in suspended animation when it had taken place. But the subconscious mind is a powerful thing that often uses nonsense to communicate in mysterious ways.
Once again, Jason stood before him in the darkness of the underground facility where David Pilcher had assembled supplies for The First Generation. He was aiming his rifle at someone or something in a corner in which Ben could not see.
"Drop it, Jason." His voice was eerily calm as he raised his own gun in an attempt to aim directly at Jason's head.
"In your dreams, loser. Who are you to order me around? You're just a reprobate like your old man. A saboteur." Jason sneered at Ben but did not turn from his unseen target.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Ben replied. "If I had one wish, it'd be to grow up to be just like him."
"I don't know why we didn't kill you when your old man bit it. But no one's here, Burke. I can take care of that easily."
Jason turned in the direction of footsteps sounding on the stairs. Ben watched as if in slow motion as Jason looked back at his original target, fired three shots in rapid succession before his head burst open in a mixture of blood and brain matter. Ben gasped and glanced at the gun in his hand. Whomever was on the stairs must have fired the shot because he'd hardly had time to react. He hung his head in shame imagining what his father would say were he alive to witness his son fail to take out someone threatening his own life.
Ben's contemplation didn't last long, though, as the feet on the stairs became louder and another figure entered the room. It was Pam Pilcher, the nurse and sister of David, carrying a gun with smoke still curling out of its barrel.
"Ben! Thankfully you're all right! Help me get her to safety," she said.
Without thinking twice, Ben followed Pam into the darkened corner, where Amy lay with three bullet wounds in her chest.
"Ben!" She was breathless as she tried to speak. "Whatever he said, don't believe it. I only loved you. Not him. Ever."
He stooped down and cradled Amy in his arms, looking helplessly up at the nurse.
Then he sat bolt upright in bed, sweat pouring from every part of his body. His heart was hammering, making his vision blur until he looked to his right and saw the sleeping form of his wife, a small grin on her face as she traveled through much more pleasant dreams things of her own.
Ben recited the facts as he always did following a nightmare. He was 25 years old, the current sheriff of Wayward Pines, married to Amy Breslow. She was never shot by Jason or anyone. She'd broken his heart by pretending to be in love with Jason to spare Ben's life. The only truth to the dream was that Jason had been killed shortly after Ben awoke from suspended animation. He could still feel the chills of his first walk down the street, seeing Jason parading around as sheriff, ice cream cone in hand. Dead bodies hung from lampposts as a deterrent against trying to leave. But in a few short months a resistance had sprung up and things had eventually changed for the better. Ben himself had started it, knowing that it was what his father would have wanted.
Trying to not disturb Amy in her slumber, Ben tiptoed out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. He took a glass from one of the cabinets and filled it with water. Ben opened one of the drawers on the kitchen cabinets and took a file out of its hiding place and read it for the thousandth time. Jason had been killed when the suspension of the adults was almost complete, except for a few stragglers who had managed to elude Jason, like Pam and Kate Ballinger. Ben no longer stiffened at the mention or thought of Kate, despite her affair with his father that had nearly torn his parents apart from one another. His mother and Kate had begun to get along as things reached fever pitch in the last days of his father's tenure as sheriff as David Pilcher let the abbies to destroy Wayward Pines. In the days since Kate's tragic shooting, Theresa spoke of her as a true friend.
Ben shed a silent tear of thankfulness as he thought about the changes made in the last year. After seven long years, he finally saw his mother again when his administration had ordered the unfreezing of the adults. If he was to be an effective sheriff, he knew he couldn't do it without those who had come before him. It was a poor substitute for his father, but the moment in which Ben wrapped his arms around Theresa was the best day of his life since Jason's takeover.
It was four in the morning, but he knew that his mother was undoubtedly up, paving and internalizing her worries for the day ahead. He dialed her number and she answered on the first ring.
"Mom, I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"Can't sleep either, honey?" Theresa's voice was warm yet fraught with worry. "I keep thinking about Kate. She has to be all right."
"Nurse Pam said she's unthawed one of the finest surgeons," Ben reassured her. It felt like this day would never come, undoing more of Jason's damage. He shuddered as images of his nightmare filled his mind again.
"I know." Theresa was silent for a moment. "Are you still having nightmares?"
"Yes," Ben admitted. "It's like what Jason did to Kate, only this time it's Amy. Which is bizarre because I wasn't even awake when he shot Kate."
"Neither was I," Theresa added.
"I think we've heard about it so much that it feels like we were there." Ben sighed. Jason always had wanted to kill Kate since he found out that she had led the first resistance. If not interrupted that day in the jail, he would have murdered her alongside her husband, Harold. Why would he have kept her alive? "Well, I wish her the best tomorrow."
"Me too, honey, me too. Now go and get some sleep."
"I love you, Mom."
"I love you, too, honey."
They hung up and Ben tiptoed back into the bedroom where Amy was still fast asleep. He was grateful that she was able to get her much needed rest as she'd be part of the team working on Kate's unprecedented procedure. It made Ben's mind boggle to think of it; tomorrow the medical team would come as close as anyone had ever approached to basically restoring the life of the dead.