The Harvest (Book 1) (24 page)

That was the first of the visions that included an up close view of the creatures. He had no reason to doubt what he saw, but he hesitated to share the details with anyone. There were always the questions he couldn’t answer, especially concerning Eve. She brought the visions to him. There was no forewarning or pattern to when she would appear or what she would show him. The most recent vision was only of her, standing in isolation, silently pleading for him to hurry. He didn’t know why she wanted him to hurry, be it for his wife or for some other hidden agenda.

As he crossed the yellow painted line indicating he was leaving Colorado Springs and entering the installation, Austin brought his gun around from behind him and checked the clip. He walked at a steady pace towards the entrance tunnel scanning back and forth for movement.

Inside the tunnel Austin stopped to assess the hole in the first door. It was as he foreseen and exactly as Zack had described, except something was amiss. The twenty five ton steel blast door had a giant hole through the middle, but it wasn’t clean and there were no burn marks, which suggested if the Sundogs had any fire power it was not used. The metal surrounding the hole was jagged and the giant hydraulic pins that slid into place when the door was closed were bent at right angles. The Sundogs had plowed through the steel like a cannon ball through water, but the direction was not right. They came from the inside out, not the other way around.  

He climbed through the hole into a small corridor and then climbed through a similar hole in the second blast door and on into a long tunnel shaped corridor. The generators powering the emergency lighting had ceased running long ago, turning the installation into a dark silent tomb. Austin pulled off the top half of his face mask, put on the night vision goggles and preceded down the tunnel towards the center of the base. The walls and floors were covered in dried blood, but there were no dead bodies. 

One hundred yards in, Austin came to a large steel door that opened into a ten by ten room once used as a weapon’s safe. Other than empty ammunition boxes, nothing remained inside. On the back wall, Austin ran his bare hand over the smooth metal skin until he located an inverted dimple about three quarters of the way up from the floor. He pressed his thumb into the dimple. With a quiet swish the back wall slid open revealing elevator doors.

Using his k-bar, Austin pried open the doors. From his pack he removed a nylon climbing rope, heavy duty oval carabiners and a climbing harness. Removing his parka and all weather pants he stepped into the harness. The rope was secured to the elevator cables before he hooked into his harness. With a tug on the rope and a quick glance downward, Austin grabbed the cable and swung into the elevator shaft and began his descent. Deeper and deeper he dropped into the mountain and farther away from any chance of escape, but this was not a concern. All that mattered was reaching Section Seven. If there were survivors, Section Seven was where he would find them.

The existence of Section Seven was classified information made available to only a few high positioned military heads. The location was so heavily a guarded secret not even the staff who worked the section knew where they went each day. The installation’s blue prints detailed fifteen three story buildings inside the mountain. All of which were part of public record. Blue prints for the Section did not exist.

In their last communication, General Roth’s instructions to Austin were to find Section Seven. Roth was only able to give brief directions before they were cut off, which meant Austin was going in blind. And again, as he lowered himself into the darkness of the elevator shaft, this wasn’t a concern.

***

The lights outside her glass cube began to pulsate, making the girls nervous, but she didn’t notice. The general had just delivered dinner and because he’d waited almost seven days this time, he gave her two full bags. She accepted both without a response. She held the bags close to her body. They were very warm and despite her cravings she waited. Warm blood not only tasted bitter, it made her feel light headed.

The general had been distracted and in a hurry. Someone was snooping around in the sections above, way above on the ground floor, setting the sensors off. The cameras on the main floor didn’t work, so Roth had no idea who it might be. She knew who it was and he couldn’t have chosen a better time to arrive.

Sitting on her bed with her back to her audience, she twisted off the cap to one of the bags and took a small sip. It was always best to drink slowly after fasting for so long. She took another sip, this time filling her mouth full before allowing the cool liquid to ooze down her throat. With each swallow her body grew stronger and her mind less fuzzy.

When the first bag had been drained dry, she tossed it in the waste receptacle. She stood up, holding the second bag close to her stomach to keep it cold. She turned around knowing they would be watching her. Their eyes spoke the fears that were in their minds and they were quick to find something else to focus on when she looked out at them.

She wanted to assure them they were safe from harm, but those words would be a lie. If the general hadn’t delivered today, one of those girls would have died that night. If Charlie had still been with them, she would have given serious consideration into changing her.

She was glad neither event took place. If humans really were in short supply, she could no longer kill them just because it was easy. She’d make an exception for the sniveler or perhaps she would enslave him in order to partake of his sweet blood whenever she wanted. She almost liked this idea more than killing him and decided to give it serious consideration when the time arose.

The lights stopped pulsating. She sat on her bed, still holding the second bag next to her skin. It was time to check in on Austin.

22 VISITORS

Inside the control room Zack stood watching the screen. When the door opened and the group crowded in behind him to look at the monitors he wasn’t surprised. Human beings were an animal on the brink of extinction, which made the sight of one an extraordinary situation. And they were currently staring a four. 

“More people.” Colin exclaimed when he saw the four figures wandering around the porch, much in the same manner Madison had when she first arrived.

“And who said you weren’t a genius?” Zack commented dryly.

“Fu…” Colin glanced at Madison, “Shut up dork.”

“Who calls people dorks? Do you call people dorks?” Zack glanced at Luke, who shrugged. “Of course you don’t. Only a dweeb uses the word dork.”

Colin ignored his brother, his focus being on the action outside. They all stared at the odd group which from their vantage point seemed to consist of three men and a woman. There was nothing unusual about the men, but the woman’s clothing wasn’t right. She wore a long black wool coat and what appeared to be bright orange pants. On her feet were galoshes, which were great in water, but couldn’t be keeping her feet warm. A dark scarf was wrapped around her head and neck, hiding everything except her eyes.

“She must be freezing.” Edward commented. “Are you going to let them in?”

“Don’t know yet.” Zack responded, without taking his eyes off the monitors. One of the men stood close to the door and ran his hands along the face, trying to find a way inside.        Madison observed the woman, who never looked up and was never left alone. One of the men stayed close to her side. “Something’s off.” She commented more to herself than her companions.

“What do ya mean?” Zack asked.

“The woman. Something’s off about the woman.”

“Like her clothes?” Edward offered.

“Well that and how she keeps her eyes on the ground. And the men stay very close to her. Like they’re afraid she’ll run off.”

“Don’t you have sound?” Edward asked.

“It’s currently malfunctioning.” Colin answered. 

“It’s malfunctioning because someone forgot to replace the batteries.” Zack clarified.

While the boys bickered, Madison continued to analyze the group. The men were dressed head to toe in government issue winter gear, their heads covered with camouflage neoprene face masks, which made it difficult to ascertain much of anything about them. The most she could determine was they were of average weight and height.

They could be American soldiers, but she had no way of knowing for sure. They could be radicals dressed in camo or maybe they raided a military surplus store.  At this point anything she surmised was merely an educated guess. As for the woman, Madison didn’t have much to go on there either. She was shorter than the men and her coat sleeves hung past her finger tips. Although the men stayed glued to her side, they paid little attention to her.

At one point, while the men searched for a way into the house, the woman was left unattended at the end of the porch next to the grizzly bear on the swing. Madison stayed on that screen. Without looking up, she saw the woman’s arms slowly cross over in front of her body. She stood statuesque for a few minutes before moving her arms upward to rest on her stomach. A minute went by, and she again moved her arms, this time higher towards her face.

“What is she doing?” Luke asked.

“She’s unbuttoning her coat.” Madison answered.

They all looked closer and sure enough the buttons were undone, but she held the coat flaps together preventing her clothing from being visible. One of the men glanced her way, but she had already lowered her arms and appeared to be sleeping standing up. He seemed satisfied enough to leave her unattended and disappeared around the corner of the house to find his companions. 

The second he was out of sight, she dropped her coat and bolted over the railing with the agility and speed of a gazelle. She sprinted across the snow, a bright orange figure zig zagging towards the barn. She looked over her shoulder often, but the men were on the north side of the house and didn’t have her in their line of sight. She reached the barn and the wind blew the scarf back off of her head revealing not a woman, but a young girl. Her head was shaved and she looked like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.   

“She’s just a girl.” Madison said, surprised.

The girl was trying to open the barn doors, which were locked from the inside and wouldn’t budge. She glanced behind her, a frantic desperate expression on her face. She couldn’t see the men, but the group inside the bunker saw them standing on the north side of the house having a smoke. One of the men poked the man next to him and pointed to the front of the house. The man poked back and they seemed to argue over something. The second man spread his arm out pointing to the empty landscape. The first man drew hard on his cigarette, and pointed his finger at the man. The second man shrugged, his actions indicated he was not concerned about whatever the first man was upset over.  The third man said something and all three appeared to laugh.  

“We’ve got to help her.” Edward said. He didn’t like the vibe he was getting from these men.

The girl had circled the barn and was back at the doors. It didn’t make sense why she would want to get inside the barn.  It would be the first place the men would look for her. Unless she thought there was something she could use as a weapon. Suddenly the barn doors opened, she was yanked inside, and the doors closed. It all happened so fast they weren’t sure what they saw, until they looked around and realized Zack wasn’t there.

“Where’d Zack go?” Edward asked.

“To rescue the prisoner.” Madison answered, pointing to the screen showing the inside of the barn. They watched Zack drag the girl inside the horse stable and then slowly sink into the ground. The stall’s floor slid back in place and hay rained down from above to further camouflage its existence.  Colin was the only one not surprised to learn there was more than one way into the bunker. 

By now the men had returned to the front of the house and discovered the girl was nowhere to be found.  Sound wasn’t necessary to know they were extremely upset about losing her. One man ran towards the barn. The other two followed.  They tried the door. They ran around the barn searching for a way inside. After several failed attempts at opening the door, one man brought his weapon up and fired at will into the door’s handle.  The door lock gave way under the assault and he finished the job with a hard kick.

Inside the barn, the men split up to search for the girl. The cameras covered the main area of the barn just inside the doors and the stall where the smaller entrance to the bunker was hidden. They watched as one of the men entered the stall. He looked around, kicked some of the hay about and sat down on an overturned bucket resting in the corner. He pulled off the top of his mask and ran his hand over his face.  

“American?”

“Hard to say.” Madison answered Luke.

The man had brown skin and black eyes, but nothing extraordinary stood out indicating his nationality. He pulled out a pack of Marlboros and lit one. He pushed the hay aside to drop his ashes on the barn floor, being careful to put out any burning embers with his boot. He stared at the floor and they stared at him, holding their breath. 

“Can he see anything?” Madison asked.

Colin shook his head. “Even if he could, there’s no way he could get in here.”

“He has friends.” Zack said from behind them.

They all turned to see Zack come through the door with the girl in orange in tow. She looked even younger up close.  Zack turned to Madison. “Can you take care of her please?” He turned to the girl. “These are my friends. They won’t hurt you, ok?”

She grabbed Zack’s sleeve, the look in her light brown eyes was fearful and distrusting. She shook her head, but did not speak. Zack placed his hand over hers. “You’re safe now.” The girl’s eyes grew wide as her attention was drawn to the screens behind Zack where the men had gathered back in the center of the barn to talk.

“I have to lead them away from here.”

“What are you going to do?” Madison asked.

“I’ll take one of the ATV’s out along the south ridge. Once they hear the noise they’ll come after me.”   

“Let me go.” Madison said.