The Harvest (Book 1) (22 page)

“Shouldn’t that read am?” Austin asked, indicating the East video.

“It should. And for a while I thought maybe it was the clouds interfering with our satellites, so I checked out the cameras. They run on a computer chip, not satellite. You can link em to satellite, but it’s not necessary for operation.” 

“Maybe the cold interfered with the accuracy.”

“Possible, but I checked three weeks worth of video. It’s always the same. The camera time matches back to my data on sunrise and sunsets.”

“So what’s your theory?”

Zack shrugged. “There was this one time I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. It was Fat Tuesday. Well actually it was around two thirty the Wednesday morning after. Me and this chick… Simone. I think that was her name.” Zack paused to think. “Yeah Simone. So Simone was a little on the crazy side. Wild crazy, not psycho crazy. Anyway, she got the idea to break into the Superdome. And I figured why the hell not. So we did. I’ll leave out the raunchy details, but later Simone wandered off to find a bathroom and I was lying alone on the fifty yard line. It was pitch black dark in there, and super quiet, but you could feel the dome around you. Like you knew there wasn’t open sky above. I didn’t think you could feel claustrophobic in a place that big. But that’s exactly how I felt.” Zack glanced at Austin. “We were comin’ back from Colorado Springs a few weeks back and pushin’ it to get here before dark. We were in such a damn hurry to get inside I forgot to close the barn doors. So I came back up. But by then it was dark. I stood in the barn staring into the darkness. But it was like staring into a great abyss. You can’t see a damn thing. You know what I mean?” Austin nodded. He knew exactly what Zack meant. “I couldn’t decide which was the bigger risk. Closing the doors would make a shit load of noise. Noise that would echo twice as loud. But if I left em open someone, or something, might notice. I decided to close em, but not all the way.”

“The next day I oiled the hell out of those hinges. I don’t know why I hadn’t done that already. It wasn’t until a few days later, when I was thinking about the barn doors, that I realized being out there felt just like that night I was in the Superdome. And, when I stopped to think about it, it feels like that all the time.”

“Like we’re under a dome.” Austin said. “So you think the Sundogs are somehow controlling the atmosphere?”

Zack nodded slow and thoughtful. “But that doesn’t really make sense. Right?”

“Why not?”

“If they have the ability to control the atmosphere of an entire planet, I assume then that their technology is so advanced it makes ours seem primitive.”

“Yeah, but so.”

“So, even our doctors can remove a person’s organs without ripping them apart. These things should be able to do that much at the very least. But they ripped people open like a starving man tearing into a fried chicken leg.”

“Intelligence sometimes eclipses compassion.” Austin pointed out. “And you’re assuming they give a damn. Which obviously they don’t.”

“I’m not buying it.”

“Why not? Our own history’s full of intelligent, but ruthless leaders. Do you think if Hitler had today’s advancements at his disposal he would have treated the Jews any different?”

Zack shook his head. “Good point.” 

“Somethin’ else botherin’ you?”

“Why they’re here.” Zack replied. “Even Hitler, despite the insanity of it, had a reason for what he did. These things, the Sundogs, they must have a reason.”

“Would it make a difference knowin’ what it was?”

Zack shrugged. “I’d feel better knowin’.”

“You might feel worse.” Austin commented. “A whole lot worse.” He added with the conviction of knowing this was true. Austin thought of the warlord he met in Africa, who admitted to murdering and mutilating for fun. Not a good reason by any standard, but it was his reason and he didn’t care what anyone thought. And when the Marines dared to challenge his reason, he ramped up his campaign of killing. Entire villages were decimated by the man and his army of murderers. It was with extreme pleasure they had executed the warlord and his army.

Austin assumed the Sundog’s reason was as inane as the warlord’s. The question that remained to be answered, in his mind, was who would show up to stop them? No one was the only answer he ever came to.

18 BUNKER LIFE

Over the next few days, the group settled into an easy routine. On the morning of the fifth day they gathered in the diner for breakfast. Everyone was looking refreshed and relaxed. The road was starting to wear off the new comers.

Colin manned the grill with help from Edward. They cooked eggs, bacon, and biscuits with gravy. Hot coffee, orange juice, milk and water were available to wash it all down. The eggs were poured from a carton, but tasted just as good as the real thing that anyone could remember.

Conversations flowed freely, but topics were kept on the light side. Zack made fun of Colin’s attempt at working out. True to his word, Austin was at the gym at five am sharp every morning. And as Zack guessed, Colin was usually too hung over to lift his head let alone the weights. Austin smiled, but remained silent. He kept to himself and seemed more solemn than usual. 

After running the gamut of jokes on Colin, they moved on to talk about the bunker’s unique design features. Zack had given them the run down on the facilities heating and cooling system, another feature he had personally helped design, but he didn’t share this with the group. He glanced over at Austin, who was preoccupied stirring his coffee.

Zack wasn’t the only one to notice Austin’s lack of participation that morning. Across the table, Madison couldn’t help glancing Austin’s way every few minutes. But he never looked up from his coffee and he’d barely touched his breakfast. Something wasn’t right, but she had no idea what that could be and wasn’t sure if she should care. It was the first time she’d felt safe in months and, as far as she was concerned, things weren’t going to get any better than they were right then. She didn’t want to think about two weeks or two years down the road. The moment they were in was all that mattered to her right then.

Across the table Austin’s feelings were quite the opposite. Madison’s attitude might work for her, but living in the moment was a luxury Austin couldn’t afford. Time was getting away from him. By now his son would be close to seven months old. Seven months already gone. He stared into his coffee not hearing the happy chatter around him. The only sound he wanted to hear was Roxi’s voice. The only vision he wanted to see was Roxi holding their son, but instead it was Eve who appeared. She beckoned him more insistently, urging him to hurry. He set his cup down and looked up across the table into Madison’s concerned eyes.

Madison didn’t mean for Austin to catch her staring at him, but he looked up so unexpectedly she didn’t have time to look away without being obvious. Rather than embarrass herself further, she held his gaze. For the briefest second the steel curtain was left open and the eyes of a haunted man stared back at her. Before she could react, Austin pushed away from the table and headed for the door.  

“I’m going to check on Luke.” He said to no one in particular.

The room grew silent after he left. Madison stared at the door unsure what to make of the look she’d seen in his eyes. Unsure except knowing it frightened her.

***

German stood and barked before the knock came on Luke’s door. “Come in.” He answered. The door opened and Austin stepped inside. A wide grin spread across Luke’s face, but quickly faded when he saw Austin’s solemn expression.

“Hey Austin. What’s goin on?”

“How ya doin kid?”

“Much better.” Luke responded. “Sorry I messed up your plans.”

Austin shook his head. “That’s what I came to talk about.” He pulled up a chair. “And you didn’t mess up anything.”

“Is somethin wrong? Maddie. Is Maddie ok?” He sat up.

“Maddie’s fine, but she’s also part of what I want to talk to you about.”

“Oh.”

“I’m leaving tomorrow for the Mountain--

“But Maddie said it was destroyed. Shit.” Luke stopped and glanced at Austin. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

“It’s ok. I already knew.” Austin half smiled. “Most of the base was destroyed, but there’s a section that wasn’t. A section buried deep underground.”

“How do you know the Sundogs haven’t found it yet?”

“There’s six hundred feet of granite surrounding the section and the interior is encased in steel. The Sundogs wouldn’t have been able to see through the steel,” he paused, “and I just know.”

“I’m comin’ with you.” Luke started to get out of the bed. Austin put his hand on Luke’s arm.

“I’m going alone. I need you to stay here and look out for Madison.”

Luke fell back on his pillows.

Austin rubbed his head for several seconds before looking up at Luke. “I want you to take my room after I leave. It’s right next to hers. I’ll leave a gun in the bottom drawer under the t-shirts. You don’t tell anyone you have it. Ok?” Austin waited for Luke to nod. “If anyone tries to hurt her you shoot the bastard.”

“Why would anyone want to hurt her?” He asked, frowning at the very idea.

“Luke, open your eyes to the situation you’re in. That she’s in. She’s the only female down here. She might be the only female left alive. Men can be pretty stupid when it comes to woman in an ideal situation. And this is far from ideal.”

“Take her with you then.” Luke thought this was the perfect solution. Madison couldn’t be any safer than if she was with Austin. Luke knew the captain would die to protect her, to protect any of them.

“I can’t.” He replied firmly. “Now can I rely on you?”

“You can.” Luke sighed. “If anyone lays a hand on her I’ll make sure it’s the last thing they do.”

“Good. Zack’s the only other person who knows I’m leaving. I trust him for the most part, but you keep your guard up.”

“I will. I won’t let you down.” Luke replied without a doubt in his voice. This only slightly eased Austin’s guilt over leaving them and his worry that Luke wasn’t man enough to handle things while he was away or worse if he didn’t come back.

“I’m heading out at sunrise. You can let everyone know in a couple of days, but no sooner. I don’t want Madison getting any ideas about following me.”

“You’re gonna come back right?” He asked, worried that he might not ever see Austin again.

“I don’t know kid. I sure hope so.” 

They talked for thirty minutes longer about the bunker and where Luke and Madison should go if they had to leave. When Austin left, Luke couldn’t help feeling like it really was the last time he would ever see him. The ants made a brief march across his scalp, but didn’t linger. Not that it would have mattered; Luke knew bad things were coming down the pike and he didn’t need his freak senses to confirm this.

Not long after Austin departed, German sat up at the sound of footsteps. Luke rolled over, pretending to be asleep. He didn’t answer to the knock on his door. He couldn’t face Madison or Edward. They’d know he was upset. And if they asked what was bothering him, he’d be hard pressed to come up with a believable lie.

The door opened. Luke heard German prancing about and guessed it must be Colin. But then he heard Madison whisper to the dog to be quiet. She whispered some more, before leaving as quietly as she entered. Luke didn’t move for several minutes. When he finally rolled over the room was empty.

He let out a long sigh of relief and cursed the fact he hadn’t regained his strength back. Austin’s pending departure did not bode well with him, but he was powerless to do anything about it. He couldn’t tell Madison and risk her leaving him behind as well. In a strange way, they had taken the place of his parents. Luke thought about this for a while and arrived at the realization that he was afraid of being left alone, of being abandoned in this world turned to hell. He’d barely survived the first time around.

In the weeks after the drop, he’d barricaded himself inside his house, waiting for whatever had killed his father to return, but nothing ever came. When his food supply ran out, he’d wandered around his neighborhood looking for anyone still alive. He found no one. He’d driven down to the corner gas station where he filled his car with gas and stocked up on pizza and Gatorade. He laid two twenty dollar bills on the counter using a can of dog food as a paper weight, just in case anyone might be watching or care.

A week later Luke returned to that same gas station. His money was where he had left it on the counter. The sight of those bills lying there untouched mocked him. They shouted out loud all the fears he had suppressed for weeks. Prior to that moment, he had kept a firm hold on his senses and his sanity, but this was the final push, his undoing. The walls of his predicament closed in fast causing him to have a panic attack and pass out. A few hours later when he came to, he found himself lying on the floor inside a dairy freezer. The first thing he saw was the light gleaming off of a very wicked looking knife and then he saw the man holding that knife, Captain Austin Reynolds. 

After spending that first night in the freezer, Luke knew he was going to be ok. He knew Austin would make sure of that. And in the weeks and months that followed Austin never let him down. Now, faced with the opportunity to do his part, to repay Austin for saving his life, Luke hoped he was up for any challenge.

19 DEPARTURE

Around four o’clock the following morning Austin lay in the bed listening to the sounds of the bunker. He had washed and pressed his uniform and packed his backpack the night before. All he had left to do was shower and shave. The suns wouldn’t be out for at least two more hours so he had plenty of time to get ready.

He stood under the shower for longer than normal, allowing the hot water to work his muscles. He shaved his face smooth for the first time in months and almost didn’t recognize the man in the mirror. The reflection looked like the old Austin, but he knew that person was buried and would not resurface, not as long as Roxi and his son were missing. He hadn’t considered what he would do if they were dead. He brushed his teeth, focusing on the task at hand and nothing else.