The Harvest (Book 1) (21 page)

“You don’t drink?” Zack asked after Austin waved away the bottle.

“No.” Austin replied, offering no explanation.

Zack sat drinking his coffee, waiting for the questions, but Austin remained silent, seeming deep in thought and unaware Zack was still sitting at the table. Austin set his empty cup on the table.

“I guess you’re wondering why I built this place.” Zack broke the silence.

“I understand the why.” Austin replied, looking up from his mug to stare at Zack.

“Oh.” Zack responded, meeting Austin’s stare. Not much intimidated him, nor did he find many people very interesting, but the Captain might be an exception. “Not the why. Then the what or the where you’re wondering about?”

“I’m not wondering about anything.”

“Everyone wonders about something.” Zack countered. “If you’re wonderin’ how long you and your friends can stay here. You don’t need to worry about that. You can stay as long as you can stand it.”

Austin looked away from Zack. He only gave a damn about two things. Finding Roxi and destroying whatever it was that took her from him, but he wasn’t going to share that with this hippy kid who sold dope for a living. “I appreciate you taking us in. Especially for Luke’s sake.” Austin said. “In a few days I’ll be leaving for Cheyenne Mountain. And I’m going alone.”

“Oh shit.” He replied under his breath. “She hasn’t told you?”

Austin shook his head, his face a stone sculpture. “Hasn’t told me what?”

“About the base being destroyed.” Zack replied. “Me and Colin went there right after the body drop. We thought we’d find survivors. At least military, maybe even some civilians. But there was no one. Not even bodies.” Austin didn’t respond or react to this news. To Zack his silence seemed peculiar in light of what Madison had told him about the Captain’s obsession on reaching the base.

Austin’s mind was anything but silent. Eve had shown him the base a couple of nights ago. He’d known they’d penetrated the upper sections, had seen the entrance where a hole had been blown through the blast door. Jagged metal shards formed a menacing opening like a shark’s mouth. Inside the facility he saw similar destruction throughout. And there were no bodies, but the walls and floors were painted in blood. Eve disappeared right before he reached the center of the base.

“Man I’m sorry.” Zack offered. “We’ve been all over this state. We haven’t found a soul. Not a fucking living soul.”

“What about the surveillance? Ever pick up anything there?” Austin asked.

“Other than bodies dropping?” Zack shook his head. “Maddie was the first live person.”

“Any signs of the Sundogs?” Austin asked, using that name for lack of having anything else to call them.

“Sundogs? You mean the three suns that magically appear every day?” Zack asked, his tone edged in sarcasm, but not at Austin’s question.

“No. I mean whatever it is that killed everyone. Aliens I guess.” Austin replied. “We just call them Sundogs.”

“Do they look like dogs?”

Austin shrugged and then shook his head. “More like gargoyles I think, but I’ve only seen one from a distance.” He lied. “And I think they have wings.” He added, which was true, but he didn’t
think
, he knew.

“We think they only come out at night, so we don’t run the cameras.” Zack said. “After seeing what they did to the base, I didn’t want to take any chances. You know, that maybe their hearing is superior to ours.”

Austin nodded and then sank into silence for several minutes. His hands went to rubbing his head. “I’ll be leaving in a few days.” He stopped rubbing.

“And…”

“And I don’t want anyone to know.” Austin ordered in a tone that left no doubt he expected Zack to obey him.

Zack nodded. “We have weapons.” He offered.

For the first time Austin’s expression wavered, showed some interest, but even that was guarded. “What type of weapons?”

“If you’re finished, I’ll show you.”

Austin pushed away from the table. “Lead the way.”

***

The weapons room was as equally impressive as the rest of the bunker. And, as was Zack’s standard, he had consulted with the experts on the best weapons to have on hand in case of Armageddon or the Apocalypse or whatever. The room itself could only be accessed through a hidden door located under a rug in Zack’s bedroom. Austin was now the third person to know its location, Colin being the second. Zack by now had assumed the people involved in the design and construction were deceased. When Austin asked Zack why he trusted him with his secret, Zack shrugged and said it was because Austin had honest eyes.

The room was a ten by ten foot square. A metal ladder was the only way in or out. On the back wall were rifles and shotguns of every make and brand, including military issue assault rifles. On the right were the handguns. Glocks, Sigs, Smiths, 45s, 38s, and 22s. On the left was what Zack called accessories. Hand grenades, ammunition, silencers, scopes and a few sets of brass knuckles. In the far left corner, leaning against the wall, was a rocket launcher. Zack shrugged when Austin asked how he got a hold of the weapons. Although his suppliers were most likely dead, they were the sort he would want absolute confirmation of their demise before revealing any names.

After discussing weapons for a half hour or so, they went back up to the control room where the outside video cameras were now dark, but the interior cameras continued to scan the hallways and other common areas. Zack sat and gestured for Austin to join him. Austin wasn’t in the mood for chit chat, but he sensed Zack had something to say and out of politeness he sat on the edge of the recliner.

Zack kicked all the way back in his chair and closed his eyes. Austin waited a minute, but the only sound was Zack’s steady breathing. Austin was on the verge of getting up when Zack opened his eyes and cleared his throat. Austin sat back in his chair.

“My dad was a big shot in the Boston mafia.” Zack began slowly. “He had a bad reputation and a bad temper. He wasn’t around much, but when he was, he left a lasting impression. One of those impressions landed me in Boston General Hospital. The old man thought it would be appropriate to smack me in the head with the stock end of a double barrel shot gun.” Zack absently rubbed the side of his jaw. “When I was seventeen, someone did the family a favor by sticking the right end of a double barrel shot gun to ole Bobby Londergan’s head and pulling the trigger. I guess you’d call that poetic justice.” He chuckled.

“My mom was handed a fat insurance check and we moved to Colorado the next day. Anything that didn’t fit in the old dodge mini-van, was left behind. She said she was afraid the mob would come after the insurance money. In truth, she was afraid they would come after me and my brother. She wasn’t far from being right. Only she was a few years too late. I’d been doin’ jobs for the Mob since I was ten. Started out as an errand boy. I’d just moved up to driver when the old man bought it. My mom never knew.”

“So I was seventeen and had this thing goin with the mob. I was a real big baller. At least that’s what I thought. And if it hadn’t been for Colin, I would have stayed in Boston.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Austin asked.

“Because you look at me the same way my mom used to. Like I’m a total loser who sells pot for a living. Like I’m not worth your time.”

“Just a dumb kid who sells pot for a living.”

“Huh?”

“I was thinking you were just a dumb kid who sold pot for a living. But not a loser.”

“Hm. You’re honest too. Do you have any faults?”

A dark shadow passed over Austin’s face. “You were saying.”

Zack sat up and turned to look at Austin. “I cleared a million dollars the first year in business. I was only twenty. I invited my mom to dinner at this fancy restaurant, so I could tell her the big news. She spent the first hour talking about Colin. All his accomplishments, what a great kid he was turning out to be. A fine upstanding person she could be proud of. You know the blather.”

“So I lied and told her I been accepted into the University on full scholarship. She was ecstatic. Three days later I was arrested for giving a joint to an undercover cop. The media painted a nice picture on the evening news of the millionaire kid who sold pot for a living.”

“I thought selling pot was legal.”

“Only in the context of a business setting, not on a street corner to an undercover cop. And I didn’t sell it to him. I gave it to him. It was all bullshit, but the cops didn’t like my line of work or that I was only twenty and already made more than they would in a life time. And after that my mom hated me as well.” Zack paused, waiting for Austin to comment, but he remained silent. 

“So I kept making all this money. Ten million by twenty two. Twenty million by the next year. It was crazy the amount of pot people would buy. I was invited to celebrity’s homes for weekend parties. I had front row seats, box seats, the best seats in the house to anything I went to. I was on the cover of Forbes.”

“Sounds like a rough life.” Austin commented dryly.

“It wasn’t. But the name Londergan was like an albatross. A magnet for the deleterious. After the Forbes cover, the old man’s mafia buddies come lookin’ for me. They thought they had some sort of claim over my money. I got threatening calls in the middle of the night. My apartment was trashed while I was on vacation. My car was blown up. Fortunately, I wasn’t in it.” Zack smirked. “I installed security cameras and hired a few armed bodyguards. They shot one of my bodyguards. The wound wasn’t fatal, but he decided to try another line of work anyway.”

“Shit dude. Sounds like a Hollywood movie.”

“Right. But I wasn’t worried about myself. I knew how these guys worked. They were true sleaze and I knew they would go after my mom and brother. They hadn’t found her yet because she’d spent some of that insurance money on a new identity. It was then I started building the bunker. I spent every cent I made from the pot business to build this place and to keep it a secret. I thought if nothing else, I could hide my family down here until the Mob was dealt with. Of course I was being naive. The Mob is never dealt with.” He frowned. “Then some dumbass reporter showed up at the construction site entrance. My guards ran him off, but he did an article about the bunker anyway. So, I did an interview with Forbes. I made up a bunch of crap about the bunker, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the break your legs brothers showed up again. Turns out something worse showed up to the party.”

“My mom was out of town when the S
undogs
arrived. We never got a hold of her. Two days before that shit happened I’d signed a contract for the sale of M.J. Inc. One day before that I sold my design for the Eco Burst Power system to the government. I was going legit.”

“That’s what runs this place.”

Zack nodded. “So you were listening.”

“And you designed it?”

“Yeah. Seems I’m what the academics call a genius. Particularly in the matters of engineering and math shit.” He replied.

“Latent abilities?” Austin asked, although he was genuinely impressed.

“Nah. I knew I was smart. But a kid growin’ up on the streets of Boston doesn’t let on he’s smart. Hell my mom didn’t even know. Smarts was a sure way to get a beat down. I got plenty of those anyway. And I know I don’t look it, but I won more fights than I lost.” Zack breathed in deep and let it out. “I had this big reveal planned. It was gonna be my redemption.”

Austin stared at him for several minutes. “What do you want from me?” He finally asked.

“I don’t know.” Zack suddenly looked tired. “A good opinion maybe.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Trust.”

Austin stared at the skinny kid lounging next to him and chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“My old man and Bobby would have made good company for each other.”

“A mean bastard?”

“A mean drunk bastard who had a talent for landing that belt buckle exactly where no one would see the bruise.” Austin stopped at that. He had new found respect for Zack, but he wasn’t going to share his life story with him. In that one little sentence, he had already told him more than he had told Luke in the five months they’d been together. But Luke had a different upbringing, one that Austin knew nothing about. Luke’s childhood was birthday parties, football, and prom. He would never understand having to dodge a fist, being locked outside in subzero temperatures, or begging for food. Austin smiled to himself. Roxi always said not to judge. If you let em, people will sometimes surprise you. After all he had surprised her she would remind him.

“Can I show you something?” Zack asked.

“Sure.”

Zack pointed a remote control at one of the screens and turned it on. A video of the exterior played. “This is video from two weeks after the drop. You see the suns.”

Austin leaned forward, watched as the camera scanned the landscape. Zack fast forwarded through three days of video, slowing at the moment the three suns appeared in the sky.

“They don’t rise.” Austin said.

“Doesn’t seem so. It’s like they materialize through the clouds. Or whatever the gray shit is hanging over us.” Zack turned on the screen adjacent to the first screen. “This is video of the west. The timing coincides with the appearance of the suns in the East.” The camera slowly scanned the horizon. “You don’t see anything right? But watch this.” Zack played it over in slow motion. The camera scanned across the frozen land. “Right there.” He pointed at the screen.

The sky turned from black to gray to a grayish white. Other than that, there didn’t appear to be anything to see, but Zack persisted, so Austin tried again. Zack rewound the video two more times, playing it back in slow motion. On the third viewing Austin saw it. For the briefest moment there was a blip of bright light on the very edge of the horizon. Zack paused on the light.

“On March twenty eighth sunrise was at six fifty and sunset was at seven nineteen. A difference of nineteen minutes in the times.”

“You mean twelve hours and nineteen minutes don’t you?”

“Generally yes, but look at the time when I paused the video on the East at the moment the suns appear.” Zack pointed to the lower left corner of the screen. “Seven seventeen pm. And here in the West when you see the flash of light, seven eighteen pm.”