The Harvest (Book 1) (37 page)

Eve looked down at the man, at first not comprehending it was Chase’s foot she held in her powerful grasp. Lucidity rushed in. From the corner of her eye she saw the captain pointing his rifle at her, ready to fire a second warning shot. He’d come very close with the first one. Dropping Chase’s foot, she looked about for a distraction. Her eyes landed on Roth’s corpse lying in a pool of diseased blood.

With a wary eye on Eve, Austin walked over to Chase and nudged him with the toe of his boot. “Is there another way outta here?” Chase moaned and rolled on his side. With little patience left, Austin leaned over and grabbed him by the shirt. “I’ll let her suck you dry.”

“Keep that thing away from me.” Chase moaned.

“How do we get out of here?” Austin demanded, twisting Chase shirt in his fist raising him a few more inches from the floor.

“There is no other way out.” A young voice called from behind one of the massive concrete pillars that held the mountain above their heads. A young girl stepped out into the open. “That’s the way out.” She pointed to the only door.

“What’s your name?” Austin spoke in a gentle manner.

“Zoe.”

“Hello Zoe. My name’s Austin. I’m gonna get you out of here.”

“We can’t leave the mountain.” A second girl spoke, coming out from hiding. She threw a glance at Eve, who had gone over to crouch next to the general’s body.

“Why not?” Austin asked, surprised to see unwillingness on her face rather than joy.

“The Sundogs will find us.”

“What do you know about the Sundogs?”

“Not a lot ‘cept Father told us they would eat us. He said he would always protect us, as long we stayed and did as he asked.” She cast another glance in Eve’s direction, fearing she might pounce on her at any moment.

“That’s not true.”

“But it is. Charlie left and now she’s dead. The Sundogs killed her.”

“Who told you that?” Austin asked.

The girl glanced at Chase and then shook her head.

“Well it’s not true. Charlie’s alive and safe.” Austin informed her.

Eve stood up when Austin mentioned Charlie. Charlie was alive, she thought with a sense of satisfaction, which was perhaps the closest feeling to happy she’d ever experienced.

“Are you sure Charlie’s alive?” The girl persisted, not hiding her skepticism over Austin’s claim or nervousness when Eve stood up.

“I’m sure. I wouldn’t lie to you. She’s safe somewhere the Sundogs can’t find her.” Austin replied, hoping to convince the girl. She appeared to be older than the others and the group’s leader. Gain her trust and the others will follow, he thought. “Now do you know if there’s another way out?”

The girl shook her head. “They only come in through that door.” She pointed to the same door.

About to get on the radio to check on Madison and Luke, the door’s clicking locking mechanisms caught everyone’s attention. Austin ordered the girls to get back behind the pillars. Eve stepped away from Roth’s body, making no move to take cover, but rather stood watching as the door swung inward.

“Don’t shoot.” Madison yelled from around the corner when the door was in full open position.

Austin hurried over to the door. “Madison. Are you all right?”

Madison pulled a young man dressed in a Disciple’s robe through the opening. “We’re fine. Disciple Jeremy was kind enough to open the door for us.”

“Where’s Luke?”

“Right here Captain.” Luke walked into the room, his eyes taking in the scene behind Austin. “Shit.” He exclaimed upon seeing Eve.

“Don’t look at her.” Austin warned, not sure why he felt compelled to do so.

“Who is that?” Luke asked, still staring.

“What is that?” Madison more correctly inquired.

“I’ll explain later. Right now we need to get out of this damn mountain.” He replied, knowing Madison doubted he would explain anything, and she was right, he wouldn’t, but not because of an unwillingness to do so.

“The section’s clear.” Luke said, dragging his eyes from Eve to focus on Austin. “This guy’s the only one left.” Luke jerked his head towards the Disciple who didn’t look to be more than eighteen or nineteen years old. 

Silent during their exchange, Disciple Jeremy spoke up. “Captain Reynolds, sir, please take me with you.” He begged in a shaky voice. His plea caught Chase’s attention, who stopped writhing about to listen.

Austin walked up to Jeremy, poking him in the chest with the tip of his rifle. “Take you with us? Why should I let you live?”

“He surrendered to us.” Madison said, not sure she liked the direction Austin was headed. She’d killed the other men to protect herself and Luke, but this was a beast of a different nature. This was anointing oneself judge and juror.

Ignoring her, Austin repeated his question. Jeremy shook his head. “You shouldn’t. I don’t deserve your mercy. I went along with Roth. I didn’t try to stop him. And when the Sundogs came we all…”

“Shut up you insolent fool.” Chase shouted, raising himself up, but quickly shrinking back to his knees when Austin turned his piercing gaze upon him. Idiot! He chided himself for speaking out and drawing attention to himself. His brain went back to spinning options. If Jeremy had the answers Austin needed, than Chase would have out served his purpose. As this thought crossed his mind Eve looked in Chase’s direction.

Austin didn’t have to wonder if she was hungry, but did question why she waited. Why she didn’t take Roth’s blood. Not surprising, she turned to look at him, her eyes black as pitch and unreadable. Austin turned away from Eve not relishing another opportunity to feel the answers.

“What’s your name soldier?” He asked the boy.

“Private First Class Jeremy Scott.” He announced proudly, but shame filled him when he looked down at his robe. He tore it off, flinging the offensive garment across the room. Underneath he wore winter fatigues. A uniform he was once proud to wear and hoped he could do so again.

Austin lowered his rifle. “Tell me Private Scott, do you know anything about the Sundogs?”

“Yes sir.” He replied, eyes downcast.

“Start from the beginning.” Austin encouraged him. “And stand proud soldier.”

Nodding, Jeremy squared his shoulders, and took a deep breath. “I was one of the guards at the portal command center. I’d only been there two months. The day the Sundogs came through I’d reported for duty at oh six hundred hours like always. The receiving crew was preparing for Captain Chase’s return from the site at oh seven thirty.”

“What site? The one they found through the worm hole, the portal?”

“Yes sir. Captain Chase and General Roth made regular trips to the site, to Bliss.”

So the little pecker head was telling the truth, Austin thought. “Go on.”

“Around oh seven hundred the catastrophe alert was sounded. Everyone was freaking out cuz that alarm meant they’d found the portal.”

“Hold on. What do you mean
they’d
found the portal? Did our military know about the Sundogs before they arrived here?”

“Yes sir.” Confused. “The teams on Bliss were in communication with them for several months.”

“They communicated with the Sundogs?” Madison interjected. “The same barbaric creatures that have been ripping people’s hearts out?” She didn’t believe it. Something about it was all wrong and couldn’t be believed.

“Yes ma’am. General Roth was the last one to speak with them before they came through the portal. I don’t know for sure, but Major Simmons said Roth had promised to deliver something to them and then backed out on his promise.”

“You don’t know what he’d promised?” Austin asked.

“No sir. At oh seven fifteen Roth ordered us all to report to Section Seven. Captain Chase showed up a few days later. We were down here for weeks without word from anyone. After begging him, Roth finally allowed a few of us to go up, but we found nothing. The mountain was a giant tomb. There were bodies everywhere.” He shuddered. “Roth had us burn them.”

“So Roth had direct contact with the Sundogs?”

“Yes sir I’m pretty sure he did. He said they would leave Earth as soon as they found what they were looking for, but he never said what that was. I think he knew what they wanted. Major Simmons thought so too.”

“What happened to the major?” Madison asked.

“General Roth killed him. Said he was a traitor to his country.” Tersely. “But that was a lie and that’s why I think he lied about the Sundogs. But I never told anyone. I didn’t want to end up like Major Simmons.”

“Chase. Do you know what they’re looking for?” Austin asked.

Chase lifted his head slowly. Behind his beady black eyes his mind was exploring options. He might be of use to the captain after all. “Not exactly, but I do know it was something very precious to them.”

“How do you know that?” Madison demanded, having had her fill of the lying worm.

“I accompanied Roth on a few of his visits.” Chase gleaned like a peacock, casting a distasteful glare in Madison’s direction. She moved towards him threatening with the butt of her rifle, but Austin’s hand on her arm kept her from carrying out her threat.

“Is this true?” Austin asked Jeremy.

Jeremy shrugged. “I’m not sure. Chase and Roth took a lot of trips to Bliss before the Sundogs came. After we moved down here, they would disappear for days at time, but you never saw how they left or came back. I mean the elevator’s the only way out that I know of, but they didn’t use it. Anyway, this one time after being gone for several days Roth came back and sent a few Disciples out to find fresh bodies. They were told to bring them down here.”

“For what?” Madison asked. “What did he want the bodies for?”

Ashamed, Jeremy cast his eyes downward. “He made us drain their blood into containers and remove their organs. I didn’t find out until later they were killing people. I thought it was people the Sundogs had already killed. Not that it shoulda mattered.”

“He was killing survivors. Why? Why would he do that?” Luke asked. The thought of killing the few people who had managed to remain alive twisted his mind into a knot. It was an act filled with more barbaric intention than what the Sundogs had inflicted upon them.

“Only males. If they found a female she was kept alive for Roth’s Program.” Jeremy replied. The word program left a rancid taste in his mouth. “I didn’t take part in the program.”

“You liar. You won the lottery many times.” Chase protested, daring to crawl closer to them, but keeping a distance from Eve, who had not taken her eyes from him.

“He’s right. I did win a lot, but I never... I never hurt the girls.” Jeremy turned a venomous glare upon Chase.

Chase scowled at Jeremy, wishing he could beat him with his belt. He would get right back in line if Chase had his way. If he could just spend a few minutes alone with Jeremy, Chase felt certain he could turn him back, clear his confusion on where his loyalties should lie. The answer was obvious to Chase. Now that Roth was disposed of, he, Chase, was their leader. He would take control of the Program, of the repopulation of the planet.

As Chase sat rocking on the floor, dreaming of things that would never be, Austin walked over to where the girls huddled together behind the pillars. He crouched down to talk to them.

“Is Private Scott telling the truth?” Big eyed stares were all they gave him. “You can tell me. No one’s gonna hurt you.”

They all turned to the older girl who’d spoken earlier. She nodded her head at one of the pregnant girls. The girl stood up. “It’s true. Jeremy, I mean Disciple Jeremy, never hurt me. He was always good to me.”

“Do you know who the father is?” Austin inclined his head at her stomach.

She fidgeted, glancing around Austin to look at Jeremy, who took a deep breath before nodding his head.

“Jeremy’s the father.” She half whispered.

“I don’t understand.” He said to the girl.

“He didn’t want to. I begged him to make me pregnant. He said no a hundred times. He said I was too young. He said he would try to get me out of the mountain. But no one was going to leave. We were trapped here forever.” A tear slid down her cheek, and her hands went to her stomach. “It wasn’t his fault. Please don’t hurt him.”

Austin ground his teeth together. He had to hand it to Roth for coming up with a plan so obscure not even those involved realized they were being manipulated, for executing his attack through reliance on primal emotions. Fear, desire, and the most primal of them all, survival, the underlying driver of all human actions.

Austin pulled out his pistol and walked over to Chase, who held his hands up over his head, moaning for mercy. Austin poked him with the end of the barrel. “I’m not going to kill you, you miserable little fuck. Not yet. Not as long as you tell me something that’s not a lie.”

“I didn’t lie about the portals.” He pleaded. “That’s worth some consideration isn’t it?”

“We’re not negotiating Chase. What happened on those visits with Roth?”

“Why are you wasting time on him?” Madison joined Austin. “I’ll shoot him if you won’t.”

Austin sneered. “I might let you do that.” His smile quickly faded when a stab of hunger wrenched his stomach. He turned his head to find Eve staring at him. Chase? Did she want Chase for herself? She inclined her head. “You can have him.” Austin said under his breath, relieved when after having said this, the hunger sensation slipped away.

“Did you say something?” Madison asked.

Austin shook his head. “I’m waiting Chase.”

Chase smiled. Madison hadn’t caught the exchange between the captain and that thing, but he did. He filed away this little tidbit of information, something that might prove useful in turning the tide of favor back in his direction. The tides of favor always turned. One had to be clever, as he was, and know how to predict the timing of tides. Even better than predicting the tides was manipulating them, a talent he happened to be good at.

“Very well then.  Yes, I accompanied Roth when he went to see the Sundogs, but I was never allowed inside the temple.” Chase scowled over Roth’s treating him like a peon. “If I questioned him on the nature of his visits, he’d ignore me or say something like, ‘
All in due time my son
’, but under no circumstance did he ever divulge what he’d promised to the Sundogs. And that Captain Reynolds is the truth.”