Alphas: Child's Play

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter One

NO PETS, NO CHILDREN!

Clack, clack. Clack, clack.

Bill gripped the steering wheel tighter. He tried to focus ahead. Rain was falling and he was struggling to keep his eyes open. They had been driving for four hours. Looking in his rear view mirror he saw Doctor Rosen following him, with Nina and Rachel. Doctor Rosen said it was an easy trip, check on a possible Alpha. Said it would give them time to rest, after what happened with Doctor Kern and Griffin.

Clack, clack. Clack, clack.

"Gary," Bill said in a controlled voice. "Do you mind not playing with that?"

Clack, clack. Clack, clack was his reply, with a large grin.

Bill threw a deadly look at Hicks, "You had to give him that thing, didn't you." Hicks shrugged his shoulders. "I thought it would keep him busy for the long trip."

Hicks looked back at Gary. He was gleefully shaking a present he gave him. It was a shake-flashlight. He eagerly shook the magnet inside the flashlight back and forth. He loved the device because every time he shook it, he would see a rainbow of colors from the magnetic field bleed out. It was the most beautiful thing he ever saw.

"Bill," Gary said. "It's not a thing, it's a shake flashlight. It's really neat, all I have to do is shake it, and it lights up. It never needs batteries, that's the neat part, Bill." Of course he would never tell Bill that the shaking part bothering him was the neatest part of all. He shook the flashlight back and forth, the clacking sound of the magnet filled the car.

"You should be thankful, Bill," Gary hopefully added. "Otherwise I'd be talking your ear off, and you said the next time I did that, I'd be ridding in the trunk. Wait, maybe I should be happy."

Bill tightly squeezed the steering wheel. "Gary, I can't focus on driving if you keep shaking that thing."

Gary's bright smile, turned into a frown. He leaned over and rested his head on the window. They were ridding next to a river. Gary noticed that the waters on the river were very high. He watched them pass fences, the poles on the fence as they flicked by were almost hypnotizing. Blinking his eyes to stay awake, he wiggled his fingers. He focused on radio signals that he saw whizzing in the air. He listened in on the local broadcasts. As he listened, he tightly hugged the flashlight to his chest. The car was silent only for a few minutes, when Gary said, "Hicks, turn on the radio. The road up ahead, they say it's flooded."

Hicks clicked on the radio, searching he found the station Gary was talking about.

"…all the rain that we've been experiencing the past few weeks has flooded the river's surrounding the area. Butterfield road is now closed and will be until further notice. A cold front is coming in from the north, it's expected to bring in more rain. Batten down the hatches everyone, it's going to be a long nigh…"

Hicks switched the radio off. "Great, that's the road we're on, right?"

"Yeah," Bill said. "And it will take us hours to back track. I think it's time we looked for a place to stay for the night and wait it out. Why don't you call Rosen."

Just as Hicks was about to call Doctor Rosen the phone rang. Connecting he smiled, "Nina, we were just about to call you."

"Doctor Rosen wanted me to tell you that he heard a report on the radio…"

"Way ahead of you, we heard it too."

"Good, then you'll be keeping an eye out for a place to stay for the night?"

Gary was listening in on the conversation. Once Hicks hung up on Nina, he immediately shot forward in his seat. His head popped up between Hicks and Bill. "My mother is going to be very upset. I've been staying out overnight a lot lately."

"We have no choice, Gary," Bill said. "You heard, the roads are blocked ahead, and I'm getting tired."

Gary sat back and angrily crossed his arms, "Well just let Hicks drive."

"We're all tired, Gary," Hicks patiently explained.

"I'm not." Gary shot up, he began to push his way up between Bill and Hicks. "I can drive, Bill taught me."

Gary stopped pushing when his cell phone began ringing. He frowned when he saw who it was, "It's Doctor Rosen."

Sitting back he pressed the phone to his ear. "Gary," he heard Doctor Rosen say with a calming voice. "We need to find a place to stop for the night. Can you do that for us?"

Gary lay his head back on the seat, "Yes, Doctor Rosen, I'll look."

"And Gary, you can't drive the car."

"Yes, Doctor Rosen," Gary quickly replied. Calling up the multi-colored streams of signals that only he could see, he searched for somewhere close by. "I sometimes wonder if Doctor Rosen is an Alpha. He always seems to know what I'm thinking."

Hicks chuckled, "Gary, you're like an open book."

"I'm not an open book, confusing, amazing, but not open," he said, with a smile.

Twenty minutes later they pulled up to what looked like a resort hotel. It was huge, it stood three stories high. Driving up to it, it was apparent that the hotel had seen better days. The front was overgrown with dead vines, ceramic tiles on the roof were missing. The blue paint on its wooden siding had long faded and the driveway was riddled with cracks. Pulling into a gravel parking lot on the side, they all piled out.

Doctor Rosen stretched his lean legs, he always enjoyed driving, but sitting that long his bottom fell asleep miles ago.

Nina's nose wrinkled, this was not a place she normally stayed. "It looks,…nice," she said.

"Yes," Rachel agreed. "Looks…nice."

"That's being generous," Rosen said. The place was a mess. He opened the trunk to his car and pulled out a small blue backpack. He kept things inside that Gary needed if he stayed out all night.

Rachel slowly scanned the hotel, she saw a small garden on the side. It was filled with beautiful roses, the scent of them was lovely, at the side of the house also stood a magnificent tree. On it bloomed beautiful white flowers, they looked like mini-orchids.

Nina bent down and picked up a fallen flower. "It's beautiful." She sniffed it, "What a lovely scent."

"It's a Catalpa," Rosen said. "My mother had one in front of her house. I hated when they bloomed, made the sidewalks messy. But my mother loved that tree." Rosen smiled as he recalled a good memory. He looked up at the tree. "This one looks very old, and the largest I've ever seen. It covers the entire side of the hotel."

Rosen laughed when he saw Gary stepping carefully, to avoid walking on the fallen flowers. They slowly walked towards the hotel, the gravel crunched under their shoes. In front of the hotel was a huge porch. Several swings sat on the porch. Gary anxiously climbed up the stairs, he suddenly stopped in the middle of the steps.

Bill moved around him. Stopping at the top of the steps, he saw a large sign nailed on the door.

"NO PETS, NO CHILDREN."

"That's odd," Nina said. "Why put pets in front of Children?"

Bill gripped the door handle, "Guess they don't like pets or kids."

Opening the door the smell of old furniture wafted out. Walking in the foyer Bill noted everything screamed old. He saw dried out dead plants sitting in pots in several alcoves. The wallpaper was peeling down in several places. The furniture was faded and worn out. The front desk sat at the far side of the room. As they all entered the hotel Rosen saw Gary still standing on the stairs. He walked back to him.

"Gary, what's wrong?"

Gary's fingers were wiggling in the air, his head tilted left, then right. "There's a funny signal, Doctor Rosen. Never saw it before." He saw a thick stream of energy around the entire hotel. Bright gold in color, it was faint, he was just able to see it. He'd never seen anything like it before. He nearly dropped his shake-light as he focused his senses on the unknown stream.

Rosen stepped down to Gary, he handed him his backpack. "Gary, let's get you inside with the others. We'll rent a room and then you can try to figure out this unknown signal."

"Okay," Gary cheerfully said. "It's very unusual Doctor Rosen, something I've never seen before."

They quickly walked into the hotel. Rosen saw Bill standing at the front desk. Several people were entering a room to the right. The entire hotel was dated. It was dark, old, and smelled dusty.

"Ooo, creepy," Hicks said in a haunting voice. "Did you check to see if the name of the place was Bates?"

"Bates?" Gary asked. "What's that, Doctor Rosen?"

Rosen threw Hicks a scolding look. "It's nothing Gary, just a nice place to stay."

Bill picked up a small red toy truck that was sitting on the desk. "Must be some kids around, either that or someone has a strange hobby." Placing the truck back on the desk, he slammed his hand impatiently on the front desk bell for a second time. "Bill," Rachel scolded him. "You need to give them time to answer."

Hearing footsteps, they saw a young man walking down a long hallway. Brown haired, he was tall and thin. His head down, he was busy eating a donut.

At first he seemed to ignore them. Walking up to the counter he finished eating his donut. Slapping the sugar from his hands, he looked up. "Names Spear, Ronald Spear. I own the place. This here is 'The Butterfield hotel'." His light hazel eyes took them all in, immediately his eyes turned dark. Anger creased his brows. "No, no, we don't take kids, they're not allowed in here. Get him out!"

Rosen quickly stepped up, "Mr. Spear, I assure you, Gary is not a child. He just looks young for his age."

"Yes," Gary said. "My mom said I have good 'Bell' genes, and she wished she had them. I'm not a kid, I'm a high functioning autistic, 32 on the C.A.R.S. scale." He wiggled his fingers, he could see that the inside of the house was filled with the same strange signal. But it seemed to be a bit brighter inside.

Ronald softly mumbled, "He's not a kid, hear that, not a kid."

Looking up, his demeanor totally changed. "What can I do for you?"

Nina stepped up. She was the most comfortable with people. "We were traveling and needed a place to rest for the night. They said the roads were flooded."

"Yep," Ronald said. "Had a lot of rain the past few days. The old creek isn't able to hold it like it used to."

"If it's possible, we need three rooms," Rosen said. "One for the ladies, and two for the men."

"No problem," Ronald said. "This is our off season, lots of rooms available." He looked back at a wall of cubbyholes. He began pulling out several keys. "I have two that are connected, and one across the hall."

Rosen smiled his thanks, "That would be wonderful. Do you serve meals here?"

Ronald pointed to his left. "We have a dining room, but we serve simple food here. Nothing fancy that you'd find in the city, but it's good. The kitchen closes at nine."

"We love simple food," Rachel said. She almost said that her sensitive nose and taste buds loved them.

"Yes," Ronald sighed. He handed them the keys once Rosen signed the register.

"They're on the second floor, rooms 222, to 224. Do you need help?" He looked behind and saw the only luggage they had was a small backpack.

Rosen took the keys, "We're just staying for the night. We should be able to find the rooms, thank you."

"Yes, thank you Mr. Spear," Gary said.

Ronald stared at him, a half smile grew on his face, but was gone as quick as it came. "Welcome," he mumbled.

Hicks grabbed Gary's backpack. He gently tugged it, "Come on Gary, I need a hot shower."

"Yeah, Hicks," Gary said, as he followed him. "I was going to tell you, but I was being a good friend and kept it to myself. Good friends do that, you know."

Reaching the top of the stairs, Gary smiled. He picked up a small yellow truck sitting on the carpet. "Another one," he told Bill.

"Maybe they're having a convention for toy trucks?"

Turning around, Gary reverently placed it back on the floor. He had to walk fast to catch up with the others. Once they reached their rooms, Rosen handed out the keys. "Rachel and Nina you get room 223. I'll have Gary with me in 224, so Bill and Hicks, you get to be roomies."

"Thank you Doc!" Bill said.

"No problem," Rosen said. Gary snatched the key from Rosen's hand. "I love staying in a hotel," he gushed. "I don't have to make my bed in the morning." Opening the door they each entered their rooms.

Bill and Hicks saw two very comfortable double beds sitting on the left side of their room. To the right was a dresser and small table with chairs. At the far right corner was a door. It led to the adjoining room. Hicks quickly checked out the bathroom. He sighed in relief as he saw clean towels and a shower stall.

Bill jumped on his bed. Resting on his back, he let his head sink into the pillow. "All the comforts of home." He closed his eyes, and reveled in the silence. Hearing a click, he heard a door open.

"It works, Doctor Rosen," Gary said. He walked into the room.

"Well that was a quick few seconds of silence," Bill moaned.

Gary pulled the curtains open. He looked out the window. The Catalpa tree loomed in front of them. Its huge leaves brushed against the window. From here they could see clustered blooms of the tree.

"They're pretty, I think I like Catalpa trees," Gary said.

"Me too," Hicks said. He sat next to Gary. He pointed to a thick branch just in front of the window. "It looks like a great tree to climb." Doctor Rosen rushed in, he didn't want Gary bothering them, but he saw that they were fine with him being there. He was thankful that they all got along so well with Gary. He could be a bit of a pain sometimes, and some people had trouble being with him. But not his team, they all got along so well. It gave him the chance to have some alone time.

"I'm hungry, can we eat now?" Gary asked. "I need to be in bed by 9:30."

"I'm ravenous," Hicks said. "Mr. Spear said the kitchen closes at nine. Plenty of time."

Gary rushed into his room, he moved his backpack on his bed. He was about to unpack it when his stomach was screaming for attention. "I'll unpack it when I get back," he said out loud. He quickly left the room. The room grew quiet. The backpack slowly tipped and fell on the bed. The sound of a zipper moving broke the silence.