The Harvest (Book 1) (13 page)

“He must of went through some bad stuff.” Luke speculated.

Madison nodded in agreement and shuddered. Edward stirred, perhaps those memories playing out in his slumbering mind. A moan escaped his lips as he tried to roll over onto his back. Madison held him still on his side, stroking his arm in a slow methodic motion. The calming sensation worked, he relaxed against her, still on his side.

The storage door opened. Austin had returned with supplies. He set several bags on the floor in front of Luke, who promptly went to work emptying the contents; propane tanks for the heater, soup for dinner, more drugs for the patient.

“How’s he doin?” Austin stood over Madison and Edward.

“Same I guess.” She didn’t look up at him.

“Check his temperature.” He handed her an ear thermometer. “Please.” He added.  Even though they hadn’t discussed a truce, one had been silently declared after the street incident. Austin was doing his best to act civil and Madison did her best to ignore him when he wasn’t.

“One hundred one.” Madison announced.

“Movin’ in the right direction.” Austin shrugged out of his coat. “He should wake up soon.”

Luke stopped what he was doing. “Then what?”

“Then we get back on the road.”

Madison turned. “How?” This came out sharper than she intended. “I mean he’s not gonna have the strength to walk is he?” She used a softer tone, wanting very much to maintain the fragile peace between them.

“No he isn’t.” Austin replaced the propane tanks in the portable heater before responding. “But we can use those ATVs. If I can find enough gas for at least two, we’ll carry him that way.”

“He can’t ride.” She pointed out.

“We’ll pull him on the sled.” He knelt next to Madison, looking her in the eyes. “I’m not going to leave him behind.” He informed her in a quiet voice.

Madison dropped her head, embarrassed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t…that wasn’t fair.” She heard her mother’s voice chastising her for being a shrew and inwardly cringed.

“I think I’ve earned a little trust, haven’t I?” Austin’s expression remained guarded, giving nothing away.

Madison shook her head. “Of course you have.” She abruptly stood up and moved to the other side of the room. Austin had a way of throwing her off balance, which was not a feeling she enjoyed or experienced often before meeting him. 

“How do ya’ll like your chili?” Luke interrupted on purpose. “With or without crackers.” He shook a bag of oyster crackers.

“With.” Austin and Madison answered at the same time. They all smiled.

The next couple of days went by without incident. Austin stayed busy at the garage down the street working on the ATVs, hoping against hope they were in good enough shape for a long ride. When Luke wasn’t sleeping, he and Madison played cards, while watching over Edward. Ed had fresh salve every four hours and a cool cloth on his forehead. On the morning of the fourth day his temperature dropped below one hundred.

“You beat me again.” Madison threw her cards down.

“My mom would always get mad at me when I beat her.” Luke laughed, but his smile faded fast. He picked up the cards, putting all his concentration into straightening out the deck.

“You were close to your parents?” Madison ventured into territory they generally avoided.

Luke nodded. He, like his traveling companions, never spoke about the events of that week. It was easier to keep the memories, and the tears, at bay if they didn’t talk about what had happened. Glancing at Madison, he wondered what might have happened to her, to her family, her friends. He surmised it was something similar to what happened to him. To everyone. A horrible nightmare you never woke up from.

“I wish I hadn’t hung up on Sydney.” Madison struggled with her own memories, some sad, some horrific, others simply regretful. She gave Luke a weak smile.

“My mom had washed and folded all my clothes that morning.” Luke said, taking a deep breath. “I can’t remember if I thanked her. I can’t remember… I don’t know if I told her I loved her before I left.” His face crumbled.

Madison moved next to him, put her arms around him. “It’s gonna be ok Luke. We’re gonna make it.” She held him close, leaning her head against his. She had no idea if what she said was true. It was just something to say. An empty promise, like the one she told the elderly lady who was trying to find her grandson. She knew they wouldn’t find the boy, just as she knew now things weren’t ever going to be ok.

“Some tough jock I am. Huh.” He wiped his nose with a napkin, coughing hard for several seconds. “If the guys saw me they’d be callin me a… a sissy.” He finished, sounding in control of his emotions once again. A skill they’d all perfected over the past seven months. 

“I’m not interrupting anything am I?” Austin stood in the doorway, expressionless as always.

They jumped apart at the sound of his voice. Luke, not wanting Austin to know he’d been crying, grabbed his parka, mumbled an excuse about needing fresh air and left. 

“We were talking about his parents. He got choked up.” Madison explained, feeling like she had to defend her actions.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“What? Talk to him? Hug him? What?” Her hands went to her hips, ready for a fight, ready to defend herself.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist.” This comment irritated her further, but he cut her off before she could go on a tirade. “Hug whoever you want.” He turned his back on her to take off his jacket.

“I don’t need your permission to act like a decent human being.” She responded icily, walking over to him. “Not everyone is impervious to pain and all this shit like you.”

Austin paused, one arm still in his jacket. Ignoring her, he slowly finished taking off his jacket and laid it on a chair.

But Madison couldn’t stop the words from flying out of her mouth. “Most people can’t see the worst things they’ve ever seen in their life. Horrible, horrible deaths. And not bat an eye over it. Not shed a single tear. Maybe the military programmed you to be robotic. Maybe you’re just heartless.” As soon as that last word came out, Madison knew she’d gone too far.

Austin turned on her, stepped inches from her, his eyes blazing with emotions she’d just accused him of not having. “You don’t know anything about me.” He struggled to hold on to his anger. “I’m living a nightmare. Talking about what happened won’t change that. It won’t change anything.” Never in his life had a woman been able to get under his skin like Madison managed to on a regular basis. Roxanne was always so easy to get along with. “It serves no god damn purpose to talk about what happened.”

Madison opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted.

“Sanity.”  Edward offered up in a weak voice.

They both turned to look at Edward, relieved to have a reason not to look at each other. The sound of the iron curtain slamming down on Austin’s emotions, Madison could almost hear it echoing in the room.

“You’re awake.” Austin moved to the opposite side of Edward’s air mattress.

“I think so. I mean I’m not dead right?” He pushed himself into a sitting position, winced over the pain this movement caused. Madison quickly knelt next to him, helping him into a sitting position.

“You’re most definitely not dead.” She informed him.

“Oh. I thought for sure you were an angel.” He smiled.

Madison laughed. “Hardly that Ed.” She snuck a peak at Austin, but his expression remained neutral. 

“You have me at a disadvantage.” Edward stated. “I don’t know your name.” He clarified.

“Oh right. Madison Capra. You can call me Maddie.” She reached out and shook his hand, careful not to squeeze too hard. A manly handshake was just another one of her habits that had annoyed her mom to tears, or fits if momma had missed taking her daily medication.

Edward turned to Austin. “Captain Austin Reynolds right?”

“Yeah.” Surprise registered in his voice. “How’d you know that?”

“I recognized you from your picture. It was in that book,” Edward paused to catch his breath, “you know the one they made into a movie a couple a years ago. I read the book twice and saw the movie three times.”

This new information, and the scrutiny it brought from Madison, warmed Austin’s cheeks. He hadn’t thought about the book, his picture or the movie for quite some time now.

“What movie?” Madison asked Edward, while staring at Austin, wondering for the umpteenth time since meeting him exactly who he was.

“Um… Africa…Africa Rising. Yeah. It was pretty good.” Edward coughed and slumped forward a little. “But the book was better.” He coughed again, hard and long.

“You should save your strength.” Austin suggested and, hoping to turn the conversation away from books and movies, offered to make hot tea, to which Edward gladly accepted. Happy to be out of the conversation, Austin turned his back to Madison’s inquisitive gaze and occupied himself making tea.

“So where are you from Ed?” Madison asked.

“Chicago.”

“Wow. How’d you end up way down here?

“I have, had... have family in Texas. I was hoping…you know, maybe someone was still alive.” He paused to clear his throat. “So I left Chicago in January. I had an ATV, which was great for getting around abandoned cars and a hell of lot faster than walking. But I ran into a road block on a bridge in Kansas that I couldn’t get over. I have this strict rule about sticking to the major highways. No back roads. I don’t know why. Just something I imposed upon myself. Maybe I watched too many Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes. Anyway, I figured I’d be able to find another ATV somewhere along the way, so I hoofed it at that point.”

“There’s honey in it.” Austin handed him a cup of tea.

“Perfect. Thank you.” He took the cup, sipped the warm brew. “I never thought I would appreciate something as simple as a cup of hot tea.

“I have enough for a second cup.” He directed this comment towards Madison.

“Sure. That would be great.” She stared after him. “Go on Ed. You were in Kansas.”

“Yes Kansas.” His tone turned sour. “I was rummaging through a drugstore looking for anything useful, when I ran into the pubescent crew. At first they seemed harmless, so I accepted their offer for dinner and shelter. I mean they were barely teenagers, thirteen, fourteen years old.” He stopped to sip his tea.

Austin handed Madison a cup and sat down to listen.

“I went with em to their place. They were staying in a house on the outskirts of Kansas, maybe a two hour drive from here. The house was a disaster. Clothes everywhere. Garbage everywhere. And you can imagine the smell. God awful. Well that’s when I met Paulson, the Lord of the Flies. He was the oldest of the group, eighteen maybe, and I knew right off something wasn’t right about him. It was already dark so I was stuck for the night, but the longer I was there the more nervous I became. I reasoned with myself, so I wouldn’t panic. You know…how bad can they be? They’re just kids. You can leave in the morning. That sort of thing.” Edward yawned.

“You can stop.” Madison reached out, laid her hand on his arm.

“I’m fine.” He laid his hand over hers. “I like talking to you. You remind me of my Jenni. My wife.”  His eyes got a far off look, but just as quickly snapped back to the present. Edward had another rule, a ‘don’t think about what happened’ rule.

“Well, turns out these
harmless
kids
had a woman tied up in one of the bathrooms. She was stripped naked and they had beaten her. And I’m sure that wasn’t all they had done to her. Paulson seemed particularly proud of himself when he showed her to me. I threw up on his boots.” Edward smirked. “Nice blue ostrich boots.”

“He beat the crap out of me for that. And then the boy crew stepped in to take turns. After fifteen minutes or so of this beating I passed out. When I came to, I was hogtied in a bathtub wearing only my boxers. I don’t know how long they kept me like that. Days it seemed.  Every so often someone would throw cold water on me or urinate on me.”

“Animals.” Madison said.

“Yes they were. I figured if they didn’t kill me, I would surely freeze to death. At that point I was praying to die before it got any worse. I didn’t die, obviously, and it got much worse. I heard Paulson talking about a sacrifice needing to be made soon. There was an argument about who they should sacrifice. Me or the woman. Paulson said it had to be the woman. That the Sundogs liked woman better.”

“Sundogs?” Austin asked.

“Yeah. That’s what he named our unwelcomed guests. On account of the three suns in the sky. Paulson had theorized since they both showed up at the same time they must somehow be related. Thus the name Sundogs. I guess other theories could make about as much sense.”

“Did you ever see one?” Madison glanced at Austin.

“No. But Paulson talked like he had. Although he never shared details of what they looked like, he claimed on more than one occasion the name Sundog fit. I wasn’t sure if this was in reference to their physical appearance or because of his theory. I didn’t really care what he called them.”

“People get comfort from knowledge.” Austin offered.

“How’s that?” Edward asked.

“We don’t like the unknown, so we search for answers, even made up ones are better than not knowing at all.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” Edward replied.

Austin shrugged. “It’s not right. It’s just what people do.”

“So what happened to the woman?” Madison asked.

“They…they sacrificed her to the Sundogs.”

“Sacrificed her?”

He stared into Madison’s eyes for a long time. “They tied her to a car and left her out in the middle of the street. In the morning she was gone.”

“Gone?”

“Gone. Nothing left, but the rope and…and a blood stain on the snow.”

Madison was stunned. Austin was not.

“How’d you end up in Dodge City?” Austin asked.

With drooping eyelids, Edward glanced up at Austin. “Paulson said the Sundogs told him to come here.” Edward yawned, “I think he made stuff up about the Sundogs in order to scare the other kids.” After this statement, Edward’s eyes closed and soon he was snoring.

“Did you give him something?” She turned a disapproving look upon Austin.