The Harvest (5 page)

An oak conference table dominated the
air-conditioned, rectangular room. The smell of fresh-brewed coffee
invited him in. It looked like a war room, and he imagined many
generals had rested in the worn leather chair cushions, discussing
clandestine operations in far-off deserts.

“There are refreshments over there.” She
pointed at a kitchenette on the side. “I’ll be back with the rest
of your friends.”

She slipped out the door before they could
respond, closing it behind her. Shane wondered what she meant. His
and Maurice’s group combined were far too many to fit into the
room. Steve looked at the snacks, a gleam in his eye. He glanced at
Shane and nodded toward the little table.

“Looks like they have donuts,” Shane mused,
his stomach growling.

Starting toward the kitchenette at the same
time, their shoulders collided and Shane nearly knocked over a
chair. They pillaged the food, bringing several pastries each to
the conference table and sitting down before devouring them without
fanfare.

“Dadgum.” Steve leaned back, emitting a
satisfied grunt. “I love donuts.”

“What do you think is going on here?” Shane
spoke in a quiet voice, wiping the crumbs off his mouth.

“Don’t know,” Steve replied. “I’m glad we
aren’t on our own with all those little kids anymore, but these
folks are weirder than a snowman in July.”

“Right?” Shane took a sip of coffee. He
wasn’t much for the stuff. With a lot of sugar, it wasn’t half bad.
The caffeine sharpened his mind, making up for his sleep
deprivation. “They all look so much alike. You think they’re
clones?”

“Why not?” Steve scratched his short, brown
hair. “With all the crap I’ve seen in the last couple of days, I
don’t think anything could blow my mind.”

The door opened.

“We’ll see about that,” Shane whispered.

Lily entered. Laura and Tracy followed her
in, their wounds miraculously healed. They were smiling and lighter
on their feet, their recovery clearly raising their spirits. Still
carrying their guns, Kelly, Jules, and Maurice came in next.
Kelly’s eyes brightened when she saw Shane, and she rushed to him.
She leaned her rifle against the table and hugged him.

“Wow, you guys look brand new,” she
exclaimed, glancing from him to Steve with disbelief. “How’d you
get fixed up so fast?”

“Lily’s sister is a medical magician,” Steve
replied, casting a sideways glance at the woman in the black suit
who was fixing herself a cup of coffee.

“How are the others?” Shane inquired. It
worried him to see they’d left the kids.

“There’s a big building set up with lots of
bunk beds in it,” Kelly replied. A miniscule tremor in her voice
hinted at the conflict she’d endured upon deciding to leave Nat and
join him here. She might be second-guessing herself, but he knew
she wouldn’t have left her sister unless she was one hundred
percent certain it was safe. “They had toys and books, and promised
they’d start schooling the children right away.”

“We left armed guards around the building,”
Maurice said in a threatening tone, loud enough for Lily to hear.
He leaned closer and whispered, “Though I don’t get the feeling
we’ll need them. These people seem like decent folks.”

Lily and the doctor hadn’t said or done
anything to give him an argument against Maurice’s estimation of
them. Shane expected his stout friend was generally a good judge of
character, but he was glad for the armed teens. It seemed wise to
be prudent—at least until they learned more about their new
guardians.

“Why don’t you guys grab something to eat and
have a seat?” Lily advised, stirring her coffee with a red, plastic
straw. “We have a lot to talk about.”

“Nice shorts, by the way,” Kelly whispered
and smacked him on his butt before heading toward the food. His
breath caught, her unexpected flirtation sending a surge of heat
through him. He glanced around to see no one had noticed, and then
took his seat.

Having missed breakfast, Shane’s friends
didn’t need a second invitation. They crowded around the
refreshments and came back with stacks of bagels, pastries, and
donuts, settling in chairs on either side of Shane and Steve.

Cradling her cup of coffee as if to warm her
hands, Lily walked around the long conference table and settled in
a chair on the other side, directly in front of Shane. It seemed
she’d decided he was in charge as well. He looked at her and she
smiled, the same kind and caring grin she’d afforded him all
morning. Then she looked up and down the table, silently watching
them eat.

Having already finished his breakfast, he
grew impatient. He was about to start asking questions, but then
Lily cleared her throat, capturing everyone’s attention.

“You kids have had to grow up quite a bit in
the last forty-eight hours,” she began, “and unfortunately, we’re
going to ask more of you—a lot more.”

The preface of dire news stopped his friends
from eating, their eyes locked on Lily. Shane couldn’t hear anyone
breathing, and the tension was immediately palpable.

“The weapon that killed your parents was just
the beginning of what we expect will be a much larger attack.”

“I thought that was the result of a military
experiment gone bad?” Tracy said, a measure of aggressiveness in
her voice.

“What gave you that idea?” Lily’s tone was
inquisitive, her eyes widening as if she hadn’t expected them to
have a clue.

“We found an army radio and tuned it to a
message recorded by a scientist who said so,” Shane replied,
worried he was giving away too much too soon.

“Dr. Gunderson?”

“Yes,” he said, surprised.

“We intercepted the same message,” Lily
replied. “Before we could figure out a way to get into Atlanta to
shut the weapon down, someone else did it for us.”

“That was us,” Kelly exclaimed. “We shut it
down.”

“Really?” Lily said, her eyes filled with
astonishment. She leaned back in her chair and looked at each of
them, fresh awe in her expression. “I guess we’ve found the right
group of teenagers then.”

“Why?” Shane asked, scrutinizing her. “What
do you want with us?”

“Well,” she said hesitantly. He could tell
she was about to drop a bomb on them. “We’re here to help you save
yourselves.”

Lily didn’t add anything else, perhaps
waiting for them to get what she was saying.

“What do you mean?” Kelly demanded, her tone
frantic. “We shut down the stupid weapon—what else could we
possibly have to do?”

“Unfortunately, the weapon wiped out all the
adults. There is no one else left to defend this planet. If you
don’t want to become slaves, half of you dying in the process, then
you’re going to have to fight back.”

The room fell silent. Lily’s expression
transformed from compassionate to steely, letting them know the
dire seriousness of what she was saying.

“But apparently all the adults
aren’t
dead,” Shane objected. “You’re here, and you seem to have a few
friends. Why can’t you fight?”

“Oh, don’t worry, we’ll be fighting too. But
there are not many of us, and the enemy will see us coming from
miles away.” She took a sip of her coffee, sadness creeping into
her eyes. “I don’t want to give you false hope. We’ve failed
before. You’re going to have to face an extremely powerful foe. But
we believe, with our covert help, they’ll never expect an attack to
come from you. Besides, this is not our planet in the first
place—it’s yours. It’s your duty to defend Earth.”

“What?” Tracy snapped, incredulous. “What do
you mean—it’s not your planet?”

“That’s right,” Lily continued, eyeing her
unemotionally. “We aren’t from here.”

“You’re aliens?” Steve asked, chuckling
skeptically.

“Not a label we care for,” Lily countered,
offense apparent in her voice. “But yes, I suppose you could call
us that. We’re from a planet about a hundred light-years from
here—a planet to which we can no longer return.” She glanced down
into her coffee cup and then took another sip, her composure
visibly shaken.

“How come you look so human?” Kelly asked
more gently.

“Many species on other planets do,” Lily
replied, looking at her. “Evolution is not as random as humans
believe.”

“Wait.” Shane captured her gaze. He was
confused and starting to get upset at the idea she might be messing
with them. “If you want our help, stop talking in riddles. Tell us
what you mean.”

“Okay, but I must warn you—it’s a lot to
swallow,” she said ominously. “The Anunnaki came here two hundred
thousand years ago and mixed their DNA with that of the
Neanderthals. Humans were the result.”

She stared at them, her eyes wide like she
expected their heads to explode—like she’d seen this news blow up
heads before. Shane didn’t know what to think. It sounded like a
load of horse crap. Bat-shit crazy or not, they had her talking,
and he didn’t want her to stop.

“Go on,” he encouraged, hoping they hadn’t
been picked up by some powerful cult that had taken this base after
all the soldiers stationed here had died. He couldn’t deny that the
miraculous healing he and his friends just witnessed gave credence
to her words. “We’re listening.”

“They came back six thousand years ago and
enslaved humans, which was why you were originally created,” she
said. “They used humans to build extraction sites for precious
materials hard to find elsewhere in the universe. During that time,
they also further tweaked your species’ DNA to make sure humans
evolved as planned.”

“Anunnaki?” Maurice asked, his brow furrowing
with disbelief. “You don’t mean the gods of ancient Sumer?”

“Yes,” Lily replied, sounding impressed. “I’m
surprised you know about them.”

“My father was a historian as well as a
pastor. He used to talk about this stuff all the time,” Maurice
explained, glancing at his friends. “How are the Anunnaki tied to
all of this?”

“They leaked technology to your government,
who believed they’d gotten lucky and stumbled upon something not
intended for them. What they actually found were the instructions
for the creation of the limbic manipulator weapon. Unfortunately,
they decided to keep the information from us, or we would have
warned them.”

She paused, and the silence tore at his ears.
His mind struggled to grasp what she was saying.

“We believe it’s all part of an invasion the
Anunnaki have been working on for years. Brilliant really, to
destroy the adults before a single ship lands. By the time we
figured out what was happening, it was too late. And we had no idea
where the weapon was hidden until we intercepted Dr. Gunderson’s
message the night before last.”

“Just before we shut it down,” Tracy
mused.

“Exactly,” she replied.

“So you’re saying we’re half caveman, half
Anunnaki?” Maurice asked, incredulous. His usually confident and
certain demeanor vanished, and he looked like a kid who’d just been
told Santa Claus doesn’t exist.

“Yes,” Lily replied. “I know it’s a lot to
take in, but you have to understand me. They’re coming back, and
this time, they will enslave the human race for good. The human
crop is ripe, and they’re returning to Earth to harvest you.”

Chills ran through Shane.

“Yeah, but who are you?” Steve asked with
suspicion. “You said you’re not from Earth. Why should we trust
you?”

“We were Anunnaki as well,” Lily replied,
disdain clear in her voice. “We rebelled against our people
hundreds of years ago, because we believed it was wrong to infringe
on the rights of other intelligent species in the universe. We
fought our government and lost.” Her lips compressed, and her eyes
grew wide. “But we are here now to take another stand, to stop them
from taking Earth.”

“What’ll they do when they get here?” Shane
asked, anxiety and confusion knotting his stomach. His head did
indeed feel like it might explode. “How can we stop them?”

“They need soldiers and slaves,” she replied
curtly. “They’ll take the remaining teenagers and children on this
planet and pit them against each other in a global war to find the
best warriors amongst you. They’ll record and publicize the battles
on their home planet for entertainment. Then they’ll reap the
survivors.” The contempt in her voice increased with each word.
“Because of their imperialistic behavior, the Anunnaki have made a
lot of enemies throughout the galaxy, and they’ve been at war for
thousands of years. You are the secret weapon they plan to use to
turn the war in their favor. They exterminated all the adults
first, because older humans don’t make ideal slaves—they’re not as
malleable and don’t receive the mental reconditioning as well as
younger humans.”

“How will they enslave us?” Tracy asked
angrily. “They’ll have to kill me before I do what they say, and
I’m guessing there are a lot more people like me.”

Shane nodded to show he agreed with Tracy and
noticed his friends doing the same.

“Which is one of the reasons we truly believe
you have a chance,” Lily replied, admiration flashing across her
expression as she looked up and down the table at each of them.

“Unfortunately, when they created humans,
they inserted an obedience gene into your DNA. The limbic
manipulator already activated the gene—it won’t be long before the
remaining humans will do whatever they’re told. Their memories will
be modified, and they’ll believe they owe their allegiance to the
enemy. They will fight for the Anunnaki with as much devotion as if
they were fighting to protect their homeland. This aspect of their
reconditioning will make them extremely formidable soldiers and
loyal servants. You see? Humans were designed to be the perfect
slaves.”

“So you’re saying this gene is already active
in us?” Jules asked.

“Yes, but we have a way of suppressing
it.”