The Harvest (Book 1) (29 page)

Charlie pushed her food around her plate, knowing it was rude, but she couldn’t make herself eat. All around her they were laughing and enjoying their meal. She listened to them joke on one another, just like her and Aaron used to do. The thought of Aaron brought a pain to her heart. She missed him more than she could bear, but in a way was glad he hadn’t been around to see what took place in the mountain. 

Aaron would have tried to stop them, and they would have killed him.  No, she corrected herself. Not they, but he, he would have killed Aaron. He would have shot him dead the same as he did Brothers Joseph and Dominic and Sisters Shelly and Christine. Anyone who had dared go against him, died. If Charlie ever had to go back there, she would take her own life. She stabbed a piece of macaroni with her fork. Her fork hit hard and loud on the plastic plate. Everyone stopped talking.

“Whoa don’t kill the mac and cheese.” Colin joked.

“I’m sorry.” Charlie whispered. She was close to tears and desperately trying to hold it together.

“Hey Charlie. What’s your favorite movie?” Zack asked.

Charlie looked over at him, uncomprehending.

“Movie? What’s your all time favorite movie? You know like Planet Holly Weird or Moon Walkers?”

“Um.” She thought. “Rude Boys I guess.”

“Rude Boys!” He tried not to grimace at her selection. “Ok. I got that. I got that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll show you after dinner. In fact I’ll give you a grand tour of this lovely facility.” Zack announced ceremoniously. “That is if you have no other plans for the evening.” He added and Charlie almost smiled at him when she shook her head. “Whatta ya say people? Movie and popcorn and jujubes at seven thirty?”

“Jujubes? They stopped making those back in 2015.” Edward exclaimed.

“Only for John Q. Public. But not for Zack the man.” He flexed his arm.

“Let me guess. You knew the owner of the company. No wait. You not only knew him, but you spent weekends at his sprawling ski resort in Tahoe. Right?” Madison teased.

“Not only spent weekends, but they named their first grandchild after Zack.” Edward jumped in on the action.

“They not only named him after Zack, but they actually gave him to Zack as a gift for his wonderfullness.” Colin added, enjoying being on the giving end of the joke rather than the receiving.

“All you clowns are wrong. I bought fifty one percent of the shares and therefore was majority owner of the company.” They all groaned. “And as the majority I demanded they make the jujubes for me and only me. Of course they happily obliged. So kiss my big white ass.” A fry flew across the table, hitting Zack in the forehead and they all laughed.

Colin noticed Charlie staring at Zack with something close to amazement and swallowed back the jealousy rising in his throat. It made no sense to feel that way towards his brother. Not now. Not when the whole world had turned to shit and Zack was all he had left. Besides, he reasoned, Charlie was only fifteen, almost too young for even him to notice her and especially too young for Zack. He glanced at Luke, who had been unusually quiet this evening, and saw he wasn’t even into the conversation let alone into Charlie. Colin turned his attention back to his food.

Once dinner was over Zack took Charlie on a tour of the bunker and afterwards they met the rest of the gang in the theatre room. No one was thrilled about the movie choice, but they all wanted to be supportive to Charlie and pretended for her sake. She was one of them now. Adopted on sight, without the slightest idea of her background or who might protest the fact. For Edward, Charlie was a delicate bird with a broken wing needing to be fixed. He already felt a fierce protectiveness over her and knew he would do what was necessary to keep her from harm. 

An hour into the movie Zack quietly left without a word. The others, despite themselves, were deep into the teenage rom-com. Only Madison noticed him leaving, but refrained from following. If Zack had word from Austin, he would let her know.  She gnawed on her lip. Her mother’s voice scolded her, “
No man wants an ugly girl Madison”.
  She released her bottom lip and frowned. Her mother’s voice had stayed with her all along the hard journey, pushing her onward, refusing to let her quit. There were many times Madison wished to silence her mother’s sharp words and sarcastic tone, but now she worried of the day when that actually would happen. The day she would no longer be able to conjure up those memories. Madison refocused on the movie screen, her heart heavy and mind saddened by all that was lost.

27 ALIEN SKIN

The creature was as they had left it, tied down on the laser’s table. Zack looked it over, searching for its weak spot, certain, by reason and experience, that it had to have one. Everything and everyone had a weak spot. Determined to find the alien’s, Zack extended his arm over the alien and lowered his hand down on its chest.

“Shit. Mother fucker’s hot.” He snatched his hand back, waving it in the air, trying to cool the sting. A million questions and thoughts raced through Zack’s mind. He searched through drawers and cabinets until he located the hand held infrared thermometer. Using this, Zack scanned the alien’s body. When he hovered over the chest, where the heart might be, the reading topped out at one hundred thirty three.  He traveled the thermometer slowly down the legs and up an arm, taking in the readings. For the limbs, the temperatures remained steady around eighty, but once he reached the heart area, it jumped back into the mid one hundreds.

As his mind contemplated what this could mean, he stared at the alien’s chest, expecting it to begin to rise and fall.  He tossed around ideas, but nothing made sense. Not in any of his travels around the world or with any of the people he’d been privileged to learn from was there a bit of knowledge he could draw on right now. He rubbed his head as if this could assist in the thinking process. Then he remembered a German scientist he had spent a summer with in Berlin several years ago. She was truly brilliant and had a passion for everything metal. For ten years she studied various metals brought back from space and even wrote a book about what she’d discovered. The book never made any of the best seller lists, but Zack had a signed copy somewhere back in his apartment in Pueblo. 

The radio in Zack’s pocket suddenly came to life, startling him from his thoughts, and at the same time the lights began to blink.

“Zack, its Austin. Do you read?”

“Loud and clear. Where are you?”

“Approaching the barn.  Got a package to lock up, so hurry.”

“On my way.” Zack shoved the radio in his pocket, ran out of the lab and almost collided with Madison who was running down the hallway.

“Is it Austin?” She asked, out of breath.

“Yeah. And he’s not alone.” They made a quick stop at Zack’s suite for weapons. Austin didn’t say what kind of package, but from the sound of his voice, Zack guessed it was foe rather than friend. On the way to the lift, he radioed Colin, telling him to take Charlie to her room and prepare for company.

The ride up to the barn seemed to take longer than usual and Madison paced back and forth, occasionally looking upward. She didn’t know what to expect, but the possibility Austin might have found his wife had crossed her mind. Although she believed to a large degree that he would never find his wife, she braced herself mentally for the reality of how she would feel if he did. The truth of her feelings made her feel ugly, but the attraction was stronger than she thought possible, tearing down her defenses, wearing her down emotionally. She glanced up at Zack, who stood arms crossed watching her pace.

“What?”

He shrugged. “It’s the hardest thing to heel.”

“What is?”

“A broken heart.”

“I don’t have to worry about that.”

“I wasn’t talking about you.” He raised his eyebrows.

“That’s none of my concern.”

Zack half smiled. “If you say so.” The lift reached the top, closing the door on the conversation.

The barn floor slid open allowing the lift to continue its ascent and lock into place. Zack slid open the locking mechanism on the barn door, an improved version put in place along with three inch thick steel sheathing placed over the entire outside of the doors. As soon as the door opening was wide enough, Austin drove inside and waved for Zack to close the door.

Madison stood in the shadows, her gun pointed on the driver. Not until he removed his mask did she lower her weapon and step forward. Austin looked at her. Their eyes met, and what she saw sent a shiver through her entire body. Staring back at her was the cold dead eyes of a man with nothing left to live for. It was that same desperate look she saw that morning at breakfast. Madison couldn’t bear it and turned her attention on the person tied to the back of his ATV. She assumed it was a man by his size, but he had a black sack over his head.

“Who’s this?” She asked, walking over to stand next to Zack.

“A prisoner.” Austin answered in a voice absent of emotion.

Zack raised an eyebrow at Madison, before turning to Austin. “Prisoner?”

“I want him locked in the holding cell.” Austin said. “And no one is to go near him.” He yanked the man off the back of the ATV, keeping the bag over his head.

“Sure thing Captain.” Zack took hold of the man’s arm. The man pulled away from him and tried to run, but Austin body slammed him down on the lift platform. With his hand around the man’s throat, Austin leaned over, speaking low to where only the man could hear. The man stopped struggling and Austin let go of his throat.

The ride down was quiet and tense. Madison stood at the edge of the platform, jumping off before it reached the ground and jogging down to the bottom of the ramp where she waited for Zack to park the ATV. Austin followed, pushing his prisoner in front of him, ordering him to walk, and if he stumbled, Austin helped him along with his foot.

“Dude. Take it easy.” Zack exclaimed after Austin hit the man, knocking him down. 

“Stay out of it.” Austin responded, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Zack held his tongue. Whoever the man under the black hood was, he must have done some serious bad shit for the captain to be so pissed off. Zack tried to imagine what that might have been, but in today’s new fucked up world there was just no telling what level of degradation a person might be capable of. After hearing Edward’s story, Zack thought he’d heard the worst mankind had to offer, but, based on what little he had learned about the captain, he surmised the prisoner’s story was going to make Edward’s sound like a child’s bedtime tale.

While Zack was able to reason away his doubts, Madison was full of concerns. She had seen her share of abuse by those in a position to know better, but blinded by ambition and oversized egos. The saving factor here was she didn’t believe Austin to be the line crossing type. He must have a good reason for what he was doing. She repeated this to herself each time he hit the man. Seven months ago, she wouldn’t have tolerated such behavior, but today wasn’t yesterday and Austin wasn’t some punk rookie trying to impress her. She followed them in silence to the rooms set up as a jail.

Austin untied the man’s hands and shoved him inside the eight by ten holding cell. The cell was complete with a cot, a sink and a toilet. A half wall hid the toilet from view so a prisoner would have some sense of privacy. The front was designed like a traditional jail cell with bars and a sliding gate for a door. Permanent residency was never his intention when, at the last minute, Zack added the cell to the bunker’s blueprint. He’d anticipated housing the occasional drunk, but not any hard core criminals. Next to the cell was a larger room with a bed, a dresser and a separate bathroom. 

“I’ll be moving my stuff down here.” Austin announced.

“You don’t need to do that. The cell’s on camera twenty four seven.” Zack said. “He’s not going anywhere.”

“I’m not concerned about him leaving.” Austin looked Zack in the eyes for the first time. “He needs to stay breathing or he’s of no use to me.”

Madison slammed her fist on the door jamb where she had been watching and biting her tongue. “What the hell’s goin on? You’ve been gone for almost two weeks doing who knows what. You bring back this prisoner, but you don’t tell us shit about why. What gives? We have a right to know something.” Austin turned a cool gaze on Madison and she braced herself for the onslaught.

“Yes you have that right.” He answered, but that was all. Several minutes passed while Austin unloaded gear. At the point when Madison thought she would scream Austin waved them outside, away from the prisoner. Out in the hall, but with a clear view of the prisoner, Austin told them about his stay with General Roth and how Roth claimed to be in contact with the Sundogs. He explained about the disciples and the mysterious program they all alluded to, but never went into detail over in front of him. The last piece of his tale was about the man who had been shot for stealing. 

“What did he try to take?” Zack asked.

“A girl.”  Austin hesitated at this point, unsure about how much he wanted to share. He glanced at Madison, but she quickly assured him she could handle it. He nodded.

Austin went on, telling them how the Disciples took the body to the lab, where they dissected him like a science project, opening up his chest with a small electric saw and removing all his organs. The heart was handled with extreme care, much more so than the other parts. They placed it some type of liquid, presumably to preserve it. During the process they were draining the man’s blood into containers which were then placed in a walk in cooler. Afterwards his remains were thrown into an incinerator. The entire process took less than twenty minutes.

Austin rubbed his forehead. “There were hundreds, shit, maybe thousands of containers in that cooler.”

Zack was speechless, but Madison’s mind was spinning backwards, back to Lamar and the children whose bodies had been almost bloodless. She rubbed her forehead, trying to make a connection, but there were still too many unknowns, resulting in speculation of the truth at the very least and the very worst. She dropped her hand and saw Austin watching her.