The Harvest (Book 1) (40 page)

“He’s tougher than you think.”

“You’re not going to convince me.” She cocked an eyebrow at him, daring to look at him.

“That transparent huh?”

“Yeah a little see through.”

“I’ll take care of him Maddie. I promise.”

Madison’s heart jumped into her throat. All her intentions of never shedding a tear came crumbling down on her. She buried her face in her hands, forcing the sobs back.

“Please don’t cry.” Austin came to kneel next to her. It was the first time he’d seen a fissure in her tough exterior.

“I’m not crying damn it.” Madison shook her head in anger, sniffing as she wiped the tears off her face. “It’s just…It’s only that…” She choked on her words and the dam broke.

Austin took her in his arms, hugging her tight. He forced his mind elsewhere, on tomorrow’s mission, on Eve, on anything except how he felt having her so close to him. After a few minutes her body stopped shaking. She turned her head and laid her cheek on his chest.

“What a stupid girl I am.” She said quietly, all her fight, all her spirit, everything she relied on to survive over the past months had failed her, leaving her vulnerable.

“You’re a very brave woman. And I would take you over a platoon of men.”

Madison sat back out of his arms, embarrassment taking control now. “No you wouldn’t, but thanks anyway.” She smiled. “What’s all this?” She asked, noticing the notebooks for the first time if only to divert her attention elsewhere.

“Diaries of a madman.” Austin answered, also relieved to have a distraction. “Roth’s journals.” He clarified to Madison’s questioning glance. He couldn’t help noticing the color of her eyes, as if crying had made the green stand out over the brown. He bent down to retrieve a journal from the pile, an excuse to look away from her.

Madison took the journal from Austin and flipped to the first page. She scanned the contents, flipped to the next page scanning down to the end using the tip of her finger as a guide. A few pages in she looked up to Austin’s curious stare. “Speed reader. I learned when I was a kid. A useless talent my mother would always say.” She laughed, a hollow sound containing no joy.

“Wanna help me go through the rest of these?” Austin waved his hand over the stack.

“Sure. Shouldn’t take more than an hour.” She replied, reclaiming some of her dignity. “What am I looking for?”

“Anything that makes sense. Anything about Bliss. Or Eve. Or…

“Eve?”

“The girl, being, whatever she is. Eve, that’s what I call her.” Austin answered. “Where is she anyway?”

“That’s what I came to tell you. I was gathering the girls to get them into their rooms when she walked off in the opposite direction. I tried to stop her, but she gave me this look or whatever and, and well I moved out of her way. I figured she was coming to find you.”

Austin shook his head. Her disappearance didn’t worry him. He knew she wouldn’t leave without him. How he knew this didn’t matter, he just knew it.

“What is she?” Madison asked. She too had heard the girl’s whispering about vampires, but knew better than to even suggest it to Austin.

“An alien. I think.

“As in extraterrestrial?”

“Sort of. But I think she’s been on this planet for a very long time.”

“Did you know about her being here in the mountain? Is that why you came?”

“She led me here. She’s been leading me since I was nine years old.” He confessed, not planning to do so, but deciding right then it was time. He explained to Madison about his accident, about her first appearance. How she showed him things and that was how he able to predict the future. Surprising him, Madison listened intently and with minimal interruptions.

“So what happens next?” Madison asked once he finished his tale.

“You don’t think I’m as loony as Roth?” Austin was shocked.

“Not at all. It explains a lot about you.” She gave him a sad smile.

Austin nodded, but couldn’t help feeling shocked at her reaction to the truth. “I don’t know what she wants, but I’m taking her with me to Bliss. Luke thinks she might be what Roth had promised the Sundogs.”

“What do you think?”

”I don’t know. It’s possible. Which is why I wanted to go through these journal. I was hoping Roth left a clue to her existence or purpose. To anything.”

“I guess we should get to reading then.” Madison grabbed a stack of journals and sat back in her chair.

Austin did likewise, but his concentration was shot. Madison’s scent, subtle as it was, lingered on his clothes overpowered his senses and caused the words to blur in front of him. He sighed, and gave up trying to muddle through Roth’s ramblings. He closed his eyes and sleep soon took hold.

Deep into her reading, Madison forgot where she was, and not until two hours later, when she looked up, did she realize Austin was asleep. As always when he was in this vulnerable state, she took advantage of the opportunity by examining his face. In sleep was the single moment when his features softened and she could imagine him as a happy man.

Sighing in frustration, she stood up to stretch and cast her gaze around Roth’s office. She walked over to a wall where the several plaques were hanging, all prestigious awards for various acts of valor, honor or bravery.

Standing there, staring at the general’s achievements Madison pondered the man’s state of mind before dying. What made him go mad? Eve came to mind. Was she somehow responsible for Roth’s jump off the sanity cliff into the abyss of lurid thought?

A sudden chill in the air sent a shiver down her spine and goose bumps up her arms. She crossed her arms in front of her and walked over to where a map of the U.S. was hanging inside a metal frame. Someone had stuck small red dots all over the map, with the heaviest concentration being in the Midwest and the South. Around clusters of the red dots, red circles were drawn with each having its own number. All together there were thirteen large circles containing a countless number of dots.

At first glance the position of the dots didn’t make sense, giving the appearance of being desultory. They weren’t placed on major or even medium size cities which was why her initial assumption was that reason was not behind their placement. But the more Madison stared at them, the less haphazard the pattern became. The one thing the dot’s location had in common was all were located off the beaten path in remote unpopulated areas of the country.

Not knowing why or how this map with its red dots and circles might be important, Madison decided to take it down. She reached up and removed the frame from the wall, setting it face down on top of Roth’s desk. She quickly unfastened the six screws holding the frame together and slipped the map out of the frame. Once removed, she rolled the map up securing it with a rubber band she’d found in one of the desk drawers.

Another chill, this one stronger than the last, brushed over her. She turned around map in hand to find Chase standing in the doorway pointing a double barrel shotgun at her. Her eyes opened wide at the sight of him, but narrowed to angry slits upon seeing the intent in his beady eyes.

“Where’s your captain sweetheart?”

“He went to bed.” Madison breathed easier knowing Chase couldn’t see Austin in the chair, but if he came any further into the room Austin would be a sitting duck. Madison moved towards Chase, cutting him off. “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” He repeated slowly, drawing out each word. What a cunt this one was, he thought to himself, while allowing his eyes to wander up and down her trim figure.

She bristled at his forwardness; an expression of disgust darkened her face. It was a look he’d grown accustomed to receiving. Even the whores he used to pick up were disgusted by him. That was of course before coming to the realization of what a despicable degenerate murderer he really was. Then they changed their tune. Begged for mercy. Begged for forgiveness. Showered him with compliments. All for naught. Those were his favorite killings.

“I want you to shut your whore mouth that’s what I want.” He sneered at her. “I want you to slowly walk out that door. We’re going to a special place where I’m going to teach you how to behave like a lady, not a whore cunt.”

The hairs on her neck rose at being called a cunt by this sick sniveling excuse for a man. She envisioned ramming her fist into Chase’s nose, feeling his bones break underneath her knuckles, hearing his screams of agony. Just once she wanted to have the chance to inflict suffering upon Chase, long lasting suffering. Movement behind Chase interrupted Madison’s visions of revenge. She wasn’t sure what she saw, but knew someone was outside Roth’s office. Maybe Luke had decided to check on her.

But it wasn’t Luke. Eve appeared, seeming to materialize into a whole being from the particles that made up the dark. She stopped just on the other side of the threshold only a few feet behind Chase. Madison kept her eyes on Chase, but her peripheral on Eve. What if she killed him? Not that Madison cared, but she knew Austin wanted him alive. She moved a cautious step forward.

“Chase, if you don’t put down that shotgun you’re gonna be one sorry, and very dead, man.” Austin said from his chair, startling Chase

Chase glared at Madison. “You lying whore.”

Madison sneered. “Did you think you were the only one allowed?”

Chase’s anger boiled high. How dare she take on that tone? He was going to get his hands on the whore, but first he had to deal with Reynolds, who was a sly character, maybe even slyer sometimes than he himself could be.

“You might want to look over your shoulder.” Austin leaned around his chair and nodded at the doorway.

Chase was about to ask if the captain took him for a fool when he caught Eve’s reflection in the glass of one Roth’s framed awards. His initial reaction was fear, but then something of rage took over and he whipped around firing both barrels into Eve’s midsection. Austin jumped up from his chair, knocking Chase out with one punch to the side of his head.

Austin ran over to Eve who lay in the hallway with a gaping hole in her midsection. Using extreme care, he untied her robe to examine the damage. As he watched in amazement, Eve’s organs and damaged flesh began repairing at a rapid pace. Within less than a minute she was whole again. Regenerative cells just like the Sundogs, but absent any fiber optic type wires.       

“Amazing.” Madison said with awe. “Maybe that’s what Roth was after.” 

“Are you ok?” Austin asked Eve.

She nodded. By now all signs of damage had vanished. Austin stood up and offered her his hand. She refused him, getting up without his assistance.

 “I’ll get her something to wear.” Madison said, surprised when Eve nodded her head.

“Go with Madison. I have to secure Chase.” He instructed Eve, who nodded she understood.

Madison grabbed the map off the floor where she’d dropped it after Chase fired the gun. The damn fool, she cursed him. The ringing in her ears would persist for days.

“I’ll come by your room and get her in a few minutes.” Austin told Madison.

“We’ll be there.” Madison smiled at him, refraining from adding any comment about them having girl time together. She guessed Eve never spent a second of her life doing girl things let alone having girl time.

37 FINDING FAITH

The suns faded into view as the barn door slid open. Ed and the Colin stepped outside. Within a few seconds Zack rolled up in the Monster and jumped out.

Zack put his hand on Colin’s shoulder. “You know what to do right?”

“Yeah man. But I still don’t think you should go.” Colin argued despite knowing his argument was falling on deaf ears.

“I agree.” Edward chimed in. “They’ll be back today. I know they will.” The last part was to convince himself more than Zack. Austin’s plan had been an in and out get back fast, but things could go wrong. Things could go very wrong. Even with this thought in mind, he still sided with the younger Londergan. Zack risking the trip alone was not a sound decision.

But Zack knew the risks of not going, which was why he had to go. If Austin planned to take on the Sundogs he needed to know what Zack had discovered, their weak spot so to speak, as little as it might be worth it was more than the captain had now. “I have to go. Austin won’t stand a chance if I don’t.”

“They’ll be back. You could wait a few hours at least.” Colin countered.

“You’re right. They’ll be back, but Austin won’t be with them. He’s going to find his wife and kid. Alive or dead, one way or the other.” Let it be alive, Zack hoped. “Chase, the prisoner, was telling the truth about the space portals. I know you think it’s all bullshit.” He addressed Ed’s raised eyebrow. “But I know when someone is lying and Chase wasn’t.”

“It’s true Ed. He’s always bustin’ me for lyin’. Like he’s got some internal lie detector machine in his head.”

Ed pursed his lips for a moment, not ready to give Zack his blessing. “So what if he was telling the truth? How does that figure into you goin off on this suicide mission?”

“I’ve never seen a man so obsessed as the captain is in finding his wife and kid. You know what I’m sayin? It’s like he believes without a doubt they’re still alive, where the rest of us gave up hope long ago.”

Edward grimaced. Hearing this statement, made so matter of fact, stabbed him in the heart a thousand times over. Hope was the one thing he’d thought he had going in his favor. Now, having it pointed out to him in such a casual manner, it occurred to him that maybe he’d tossed hope aside long ago. Maybe his mind had fooled his heart into thinking hope was possible as a defense against the pain. He lowered his head, whispering. “I still hope.”  

“I know you do Ed. And shit! Who knows? Maybe superman will find his wife, your wife, our mom. Who fucking knows? But if I don’t go help him, he’s gonna die like everyone else.” Zack climbed up into the truck ending the debate.

“What’d we do if you don’t come back?” Colin voiced his biggest fear.

“Have faith little bro.” He gave the Hawaiian peace sign and stepped on the gas pedal. The Monster’s tires spun, caught traction that propelled the mammoth vehicle out across the icy field.

Colin and Ed watched Zack go with the same sense of dread felt when Madison and Luke rode out ahead of Austin. Ed gave Colin a comforting pat on the back knowing the boy was deeply concerned for his brother’s safety and for his own future.