The Immortal Harvest (36 page)

Justen stared out of the van at the fire barrels that had been set by the homeless people and watched as the plumes of steam billowed from the top of the barrels and were whisked away by the wind.

Justen imagined that the barrels were dragons that had been slain and were now gasping their last breaths as they were defeated by the storm.

He leant back against the fake leather seat and shivered as the coldness touched his skin. He snuggled up closer to his Mother who was sleeping soundly. He was very happy to be finally reunited with his Mother, but at the same time he felt sad for his friends.

He knew that Joe had been hurt really badly and hoped that he would get better. He did not know where Crystal and Leroy were. He was puzzled that his home had disappeared and hoped that Mr Baxter would find them so he could see them again.

He thought about the nice FBI man who had helped him and Joe to escape from the horrible hospital. He liked Mr Baxter; he sensed that he was a good man.

He could not wait to tell his daddy all about his adventures and all the new friends he had made. He was also going to tell him about the bad man that he had seen.

He snuggled up closer to his Mother and closed his eyes as he listened to the rhythmic thrum of the hail pelting the roof of the van. He felt the familiar tug start to drag him towards the land of sleep and was just about to succumb to it when he was suddenly jolted awake by the jarring sound of metal on glass and the scream of his Mother.

He opened his eyes in time to see the window nearest his Mother shatter, accompanied by a shower of glass and then the door was slid open exposing him and his Mother to the ferocity of the storm and the terror of the intruder.

He grabbed hold of his Mother’s arm as the intruder tried to drag them from the van. It was then that he saw the horribly scarred face and a cold chill ran down his spine. It was the face of the bad man, the man that Mr Baxter had called ‘Stringer’ his was the face that had haunted his nightmares.

Justen screamed and grabbed his Mother’s arm harder as he struggled to maintain his grip. It was then that he saw the flash of a distant lightning bolt illuminate the blade that Stringer was holding against his Mother’s neck and he knew that his Mother would be hurt if he didn’t stop fighting.

“Come on Justen, you and your Mother are going to take a little walk with me. You don’t want me to hurt your Mother now do you?” he heard Stringer ask gruffly as he manhandled his Mother out of the van.

Justen knew he had no other choice than to follow his Mother. He got out of the van and stood and faced her, glaring at the man who threatened to hurt his Mother.

“You let my Mother go you monster!” Justen yelled. He could feel a tremendous surge of adrenalin pour through his body and tiny, almost imperceptible sparks of electricity ran along his arms.

“Tell him it’s all ok Sylvan,” Justen heard Stringer growl as he pushed the blade harder against his Mother’s neck.

He saw his Mother nod her head nervously and held out her hand.

“Justen, I’m ok sweetie, here hold my hand, this man just wants us to take a walk with him.”

Justen was confused by how calm his Mother appeared to be even though she had a huge blade pressed against her neck.

It was then that he noticed that as she held out her hand to him she seemed to be pointing towards the pocket of her coat. He glanced at the pocket and saw his Mother smile slightly.

Justen moved closer to his Mother and just before he took her hand he quickly reached into her pocket.

After the experience he had with searching Mr Baxter’s pocket, he knew to be very careful. He felt the body of the syringe and curled his fingers around it and then quickly drew his hand out and placed the syringe into his Mother’s hand as his fingers intertwined with hers.

“That’s a good boy. You just stay quiet and come along with us Justen and your Mother won’t get hurt,” he heard Stringer say in a quiet yet menacing voice as he started dragging them towards the homeless shelter building.

“Where the fuck are you taking us – you monster?”

He heard his Mother ask. He knew that she was upset because he rarely heard her say bad words.

“Relax sweetheart I’m just taking you and your brat to be with your FBI friends, you all have an appointment to see the Doctor,” Stringer snarled as he tugged hard on his Mother’s shoulder causing the blade to cut slightly into his Mother’s neck.

“Justen, run!”

He heard his Mother scream as he felt his Mother’s grip on his hand release and with one swift movement his Mother swung the syringe across her body and stabbed the needle into the monster’s arm which held the knife.

Justen stepped back away from his Mother as he heard Stringer roar with rage.

He could see that the anesthetising effect of the syringe had caused the monster’s arm to go numb almost immediately. He watched as the knife dropped with a clatter onto the concrete path.

He could see his Mother struggling to be released from the grip of the monster as she used her elbow to hit him in the stomach and stomped on his foot at the same time.

“You fucking bitch! Your feeble drugs won’t work on me – you can’t hurt me, but you’re gonna die,” the monster screamed as it thrashed its other arm across and punched his Mother in the face and knocked her to the ground.

Justen could see the look of pure evil in his eyes as he moved to pick up the knife with his other arm.

He watched in horror as Stringer licked the blade of the knife and sneered at his Mother who was groaning in agony on the ground.

“This is the same blade that I used to snuff out your Mother and your other friends. Now it’s your turn you bitch!”

Justen could see the terrified look of fear and pain on his Mother’s face which was covered in blood and he watched in terror as Stringer held the blade above his head.

He saw the look of murderous rage on the hideously scarred face of the monster. He could tell that he intended to kill his Mother.

He knew that his Mother also saw the danger as she had started scrambling away from her attacker, her hands struggling to find traction in the deluge.

It was at that moment that Justen felt something snap inside his mind. After hearing that this monster had killed his nanna and his friends, and now wanted to hurt his Mother, a pure white hot rage ignited within him.

Streams of adrenalin fuelled an intense unstoppable feeling inside which translated into a surge of incredible power.

The dark storm clouds above them crackled and hissed as the bulbous masses piled up on one another. The wind gusts gathered in intensity as the hail stones grew larger. Justen was oblivious to the pain caused by the pelting ice. He screamed at the monster as loud as he could.

“LEAVE MY MOTHER ALONE!”

And with those words Justen directed a massive lightning bolt from the black mass above them. The bolt struck Stringer’s blade and made a direct path to ground, straight through Stringers heart.

Subsidiary bolts branched off the main bolt and exited Stringer’s body via his arms and legs.

Justen watched with a sense of awe as the massive jolt of electrical power caused the monster to perform a macabre form of dance accompanied by a blood curdling scream of pain.

His body rigid and his head thrown back as his whole body glowed for an instant before collapsing in a smouldering pile of burnt flesh on the ground. The screaming ended as abruptly as it had started.

Justen felt no remorse. All evil dragons have to be slain.

When he was satisfied that Stringer was not going to get up, he rushed to his Mother and helped her to stand. He sensed that his Mother was in shock; in fact he knew that somehow his senses were now stronger, as if a door in his mind had been opened. His child mind was developing and he began to have a greater sense of understanding.

By the way that his Mother was looking at him Justen could tell that his Mother also sensed that her child had changed, as if his sweetness and innocence had disappeared in an instant. He realised that he needed to let his Mother know that he was still her little boy.

“It’s all ok now Mother, the bad man won’t hurt you anymore,” he said quietly as he put his arms around his Mother and cuddled her. He could feel that she was trembling.

“Let me help you get back into the van and out of the storm,” he said as he grabbed his Mother’s hand and started leading her away from the monster and back to the warmth of the FBI van.

He felt his Mother resist his attempts to move her. He turned to look at her and he could tell that his Mother was crying.

“No Justen, that monster said something about meeting the doctor. We have to go and warn Mr Baxter and his team, I think they might be heading into a trap. We have to stop them, we have to…”

Justen could see how upset his Mother was, he knew that she was right, he did not want to see his new friends hurt.

“It’s ok Mother lets go and find them,” he said as he started walking towards the shelter, leaving the body of their attacker still sizzling on the pavement.

Baxter was pleased that the EPA agents had been able to convince most of the homeless to evacuate the shelter, however there were a few stragglers who were reluctant to leave their soup.

There was also a couple of EPA Agents mulling about with Ionising Radiation Detectors and taking air samples. Baxter nodded to them as a gesture of professional courtesy.

As his team proceeded further into the dining hall Baxter noticed one of the homeless men had put down his soup bowl and was trying to draw his attention.

He moved over towards the man whilst he directed Thompson and Durning towards the kitchen.

The pain in his head had subsided slightly as well as the blurred vision, although he suspected that his brain was gearing up for an onslaught of epic proportions.

He did his best to smile as he approached the elderly gentleman who, with his fuzzy appearance, resembled a Muppet.

“Hello there, my name is Senior Special Agent Baxter, but you can call me Derek. How can I help you?”

Baxter tried not to stare at the old man’s face. Pieces of unknown food stuffs clung to his facial hair and a drop of soup was suspended from his beard. The old man had a wry look on his face which made him unsure of the man’s sanity.

“I suspect you fellas are probably lookin’ for someone, I thinks I might know who,” the old man said as he slurped another spoonful of soup.

“Well sir you are very perceptive we are looking for a couple of my agents. Did you see them?”

“Well that depends, mister Senior Special Agent Derek. What’s in it for me?” The old man said as he flashed Baxter a smile full of black and broken teeth.

Baxter had to control his anger. “Listen here I’m in no mood for games and I don’t happen to be carrying any cash on me so either you help me or not it’s your choice,” Baxter said as he began to turn on his heels and walk away.

He stopped when he heard the old man’s reply.

“Them agents were here awhile ago. I had a bit of fun with the kid. They went snooping around; I reckon they found themselves a bit of trouble.”

Baxter lowered his voice again and asked as calmly as he could.

“Why do you think they are in trouble?”

The old man smiled again and pointed to the elevator.

“They went up, and anyone that goes up they aint never coming back down.” The old man stopped smiling and went back to his soup.

Baxter called out to Thompson and Durning who were just coming out of the kitchen area.

“We need to check upstairs, let’s go!”

Baxter had just pushed the elevator button when Durning spoke from behind.

“Hang on a minute boss, how about we split up; I want to check out the basement.”

“Why? What’s so special about the basement?”

“Well, according to NORAD the source of the ionising radiation is underground at this location and they had a large spike only twenty minutes ago.”

“That’s very interesting Durning,” Thompson said as he was just about to enter the newly arrived elevator. “Just when were you going to let us in on your latest tip?”

“I just did.” Durning said smugly.

“I think that the EPA guys should investigate the spike, they have all the special gear,” Thompson said.

Baxter could see that Thompson was looking at him for support. He was inclined to agree with him, although he remembered the fate of the Antarctic Geologists and the thought of radiation wiping the smile off Durning’s face was appealing. He brushed the image aside; there would be far too much paperwork.

“Thompson’s right. I want you to brief those EPA guys on the situation and then come upstairs and assist us in locating Lewiston and Roberts, is that understood?”

“Yes boss, no problem,” Durning said as Baxter and Thompson entered the elevator.

The elevator door closed and Baxter felt the familiar downward force as it rose. He could hear the ubiquitous strains of elevator music drift from a speaker directly above them.

Both men remained silent. Baxter found it difficult to talk to Thompson. Although he admired the agent’s professionalism, he always found him to be quite cold and aloof. He was the direct opposite of Durning.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ding of the elevator reaching the selected floor and as the door opened he felt a chill travel down his spine.

He looked out at the long dimly lit hallway and he could just make out what looked to be a hospital gurney at the far end and it appeared to be occupied.

His mind immediately recalled his experience at the Hospital of Horror and alarm bells rang in his head.

“This place is another harvesting facility,” he whispered as Thompson followed him out of the lift.

Baxter jumped slightly when the elevator doors closed and was accompanied by another ding. He pulled out the Glock 23 that Thompson had given him in the van and cocked it. Thompson already had his weapon drawn and cocked as the two quickly and quietly moved towards the gurney.

Baxter could see that the gurney was parked outside of a set of double doors not unlike those found at the entry of a standard hospital operating theatre.