The Harvest (32 page)

“We don’t want to stick around and find out,”
she said. “The map has us going in the opposite direction.”

“Thank heaven,” Jules said.

“She’s right,” Ethan seconded, swatting flies
away from his face. He sounded shaken, but the calm that usually
dominated his personality seemed to regain control. “Now we’ve seen
it all people. Nothing will shock us. Let’s go.”

Kelly wasn’t so sure they’d seen it all. The
curtain of corpses was frightening, but it was the demented kids
who’d constructed it that scared her even more.

“Damn it.” Steve held his gun ready and jogged ahead of Shane
toward the end of the street. It ended at the desert, and Shane
expected to see the pyramids beyond.

“Stop,” Tracy ordered.

Steve obeyed, looking back at them with a
frantic expression.

“Somebody is getting hurt out there,” he
objected. “We can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

“We have to.” Shane lowered the barrel of his
weapon. His stomach knotted with concern for what had happened to
the girl, but a lot more would suffer if they interfered. “We have
to keep our focus,” he said to himself as much as to Steve. If it
were Kelly who screamed, would he be able to stay on task and not
try to save her?

“When we get out there,” Tracy added, looking
at both of them, “we might see a whole lot of stuff that is going
to piss us off. But we have to be strong. We have to go along with
whatever happens until we can get on the ship and complete our
mission.”

She was right, of course, and condescending
as usual. Luckily, they’d all learned to ignore it, knowing Tracy
was one who could be relied upon to have a clear head in the face
of any challenge.

“Let’s check it out,” Shane said, speaking
loud enough to be heard over the fervent chanting. He stepped
around Steve, who seemed to be trying to regroup after hearing what
sounded like a murder, and slipped toward the end of the
street.

The last buildings on the edge of the city
were the nicest hotels, probably reserved for those with enough
money to have a clear view of the pyramids. Shane kept close to the
white stucco wall, creeping forward until he could look around the
corner.

The streets of Giza spilled out onto the
pyramid complex, three columns of possessed kids marching into the
necropolis. The late afternoon sun lit two sides of the pyramids
and cast the others in shadows. It was a majestic sight, one that
would have awed him under normal circumstances. But now, all he
could do was focus on the growing mob that they needed to
intermingle with, searching for a reason why the girl had
screamed.

“That looks like ours,” he said to Tracy,
who’d stepped next to him.

“Yep, the biggest one,” she replied, pointing
at the massive pyramid standing nearest to the city. “Jules and
Kelly are somewhere over by that one.” She moved her finger to the
third pyramid, the furthest one away.

Knowing it was impossible for him to see
Kelly from this distance, Shane couldn’t help but strain his eyes,
searching for her blonde hair. Then he stopped himself. He had to
quit getting distracted. It was why Jones separated them in the
first place.

“We’d better leave our weapons here,” he
said, looking back at the mob.

“No freaking way I’m going into that mess
without a gun,” Steve countered.

“If we take these in there,” Tracy said,
patting her grenade launcher, “all those kids are going to turn on
us. Look at them.” She pointed at the closest column of teens, who
were tossing their weapons onto piles just outside the city.

Steve looked in the direction she indicated
with squinted eyes.

“Damn it if you ain’t right,” he grumbled,
unzipping his vest.

“We’ll stash them here,” Laura said, pointing
at a dumpster. “If we need them, we’ll know where they are.”

With all the dead littering the city, the
inside of the trashcan seemed the cleanest place. Everyone put
their guns and vests into the dumpster. Steve was last, acting like
his hand was glued to his weapon. He slung it into the metal
container and held onto it for a moment, looking out toward the
desert, his face contorted with frustration.

“It’s going to be fine,” Shane promised,
putting a hand on his big shoulder.

“Somehow, I don’t believe you,” Steve
grumbled.

“We’d better get out there,” Laura warned,
looking up.

Shane followed her gaze. Three black squares
with gold edges floated high in the sky.

“The Anunnaki,” he said. Cold terror washed
over him, although he wasn’t surprised to see them.

“What else could they be?” Tracy asked.

The chanting grew louder, alleviating all
doubt.

“Let’s go,” Shane ordered, stepping out of
the cover of the buildings.

He took slow, deliberate breaths to calm
himself and trudged toward the pyramid. Having been through this
before in simulations, he and his friends adopted blank faces like
the possessed kids. Those poor victims had made pilgrimages from
who knew where, driven by an instinct activated by the enemy. Shane
came to the back of the crowd, the kids chanting so loud his ears
rang. He picked up their feverous song and weaved his way in closer
to the pyramid, with his team spread out on either side of him.

A boy stood on the side of the shadowed
eastern face of the ancient structure, his bare chest wet and his
face black like it was covered in charcoal. He raised his hands,
and the chanting stopped.

“They come,” he boomed, pointing at the sky.
“Bring another gift to appease them.”

The crowd chanted again, even more wildly
than before. Four thick boys, also shirtless and soaked, climbed
off the lowest blocks of the pyramid and weaved through the
crowd.

A closer look at the side of the pyramid
where the skinny boy stood revealed the square blocks were red
beneath him. Then Shane saw the bodies, piled up on the lowest
level. The wet on the boys’ chest and on the stone was blood. He
nearly gagged at the realization. How could these kids do something
so horrible? Were the Anunnaki making them do this, like an
appetizer for the cleansing war to come?

Shane looked up at the sky. The three,
gold-rimmed squares were closer now, the concave region that would
mate with the pyramids so dark that it seemed to suck the life out
of him. He remembered the video Lily had showed them, shuddering at
the thought that a blast could come out of that dark underbelly,
which would easily kill them all.

When Shane glanced back at the chanting kids
in front of him, he saw the four thick boys, blood drenching their
arms and chests. By some terrible perversion of luck, they pushed
through the crowd directly toward his team.

“They’re coming our way,” Tracy said into his
ear at the same instant. “What do we do?”

“Try to move left,” he replied between
clenched teeth. “Don’t make it obvious.”

She slipped behind him, chanting and waving
her hands in the air like she was overwhelmed by the ceremony.
Shane mimicked the possessed teens as best he could, following
Tracy. Liam and Steve came after him, then Jake and Maurice. When
the blood-covered boys were fifteen feet away, they pointed at
Laura and shouted. The kids around her turned, encircling her and
cutting her off from the rest of the team.

“No!” Maurice yelled.

“Stop him, or he’ll give us all away,” Tracy
said.

They rushed to where Laura was encircled.
Shane’s heart raced, dread making him ill as he saw her lifted into
the air. She kicked and screamed, but she couldn’t break free.
Maurice pushed through the throng, trying to rescue her. After
Laura was swept toward the pyramid, the chanting kids turned and
beat him to the ground. Steve and Shane got to him at the same
time, dragging him away from the angry section of the mob while
shouting and pretending to hit him. Once the attention returned to
the pyramid, Steve helped him to his feet.

“We have to let her go,” Shane said in
Maurice’s ear. Hearing his own words, he wanted to vomit. “They’ll
kill us all if we try to save her, and then we won’t have a chance
to stop them.” He pointed at the sky.

“I know, but…” Maurice moaned. His shoulders
drooped, and Shane knew he understood.

Sadness crushed Shane as he watched the shy
Goth girl he’d become close friends with get carried above the
heads of the crowd toward the base of the pyramid. His mind
searched for a way to save her. He glanced at Tracy, who gave him a
look that warned he couldn’t put the rest of his team at risk and
jeopardize the entire mission.

The four thick boys lifted her up on the
blocks toward the executioner. Fighting and screaming, she managed
to break free. She turned on the nearest boy, using a sidekick
right out of a martial arts movie to launch him off the first row
of blocks that made up the sides of the pyramid. His heart
leapt—the possibility that she’d be able to fight them off igniting
a spark of hope. But there was no relenting. The other boys tackled
her, joined by several spectators who’d climbed up to help them. He
watched in horror as Laura was dragged higher and held in front of
the skinny boy, who danced around wildly with a long knife in his
hand. The blade still glistened from the last innocent teenager
he’d slaughtered.

The spacecraft came low, its black,
hollowed-out bottom just above the apex of the ancient structure.
The crazed leader of the ceremony raised the knife. Two of the
thick boys pulled Laura’s arms and legs in opposite directions,
holding her down though she bucked violently in their grasp. The
executioner looked up at the ship, and Shane could see his mouth
moving, but the loud hissing of the spacecraft drowned out all
other noise.

Shane pushed forward through the crowd,
unable to stand by and watch her die. But it was too late—the boy
thrust the knife down at Laura.

“
No
!”

As the word formed on Shane’s lips, three
narrow beams of light projected from the bottom of the spacecraft.
One hit the boy with the knife just before it penetrated Laura, and
the others struck the two who held her. All three boys were
vaporized, and the knife dropped and rolled off Laura’s chest. She
leapt to her feet, crawling down the blocks at the base of the
pyramid with panic clear on her face. Had he not known better,
Shane might have believed these invaders were here to save the
people, rescuing Laura just before she was sacrificed. The whole
horrible scene was downright biblical to him. He wondered how much
of these kids’ behavior was already being manipulated by the
Anunnaki. They may have caused the barbaric ceremony just to kill
the evil priest as if coming to the rescue. The possessed
onlookers’ jaws dropped in awe, and they went pale like they’d
witnessed the hand of God reaching down to punish the
wrongdoers.

Not being particularly gentle with the
glazed-eyed freaks who were still chanting for blood, Shane
bulldozed his way through the crowd. He helped Laura off the
pyramid’s foundation. Her arm had a cut where the knife must’ve
fallen, but other than that, she looked okay. The mesmerized
crowds’ attention was off her now, focused on the vessel hovering
overhead.

The hissing of the ship’s engine made it
impossible to talk, and the wind it created ripped at his clothes.
He squinted up at the gold-and-black behemoth. A horn sounded, like
the air horn on a big rig, yet a hundred times louder. It was an
obvious warning, telling everyone to get out of the way. He grabbed
Laura’s forearm and pulled her through the throng, heading toward
his team.

The hissing grew louder, and wind gushed away
from the pyramid. Dust and sand pelted him, and his T-shirt blew up
onto his shoulders. Shielding his eyes with his free hand, he
plowed a path for Laura, knocking kids to the ground who didn’t
step aside. The vessel grew significantly larger, coming closer to
the ground. A third of the ancient pyramid disappeared in the dark
abyss of the underside of the ship. The gold perimeter of the
vessel’s bottom was as wide as a city block. If the kids didn’t get
out of the way, it would crush them.

“Run,” Shane yelled as soon as he saw his
friends.

The noise and the wind kicked up by the
landing craft drowned out his voice, but they got the picture. They
turned and sprinted a hundred yards, Steve, Shane, and Liam at the
front of the squad, clearing a path. Some of the kids turned and
ran with them, but others stood their ground, chanting and swaying
back and forth, their wide eyes fixed on the ship.

The wind blew harder and hotter. There was a
loud humph, then a blast hit him, knocking him to the sand and
sending him tumbling away from the pyramid. He was blown at least
another hundred yards before the ship impacted the ground, sending
a shockwave through the Earth that would’ve knocked him down if he
weren’t already on his face.