The Harvest Page 11

  “He beat the crap out of me for that. And then the boy crew stepped in to take turns. After fifteen minutes or so of this beating I passed out. When I came to, I was hogtied in a bathtub wearing only my boxers. I don’t know how long they kept me like that. Days it seemed. Every so often someone would throw cold water on me or urinate on me.”

  “Animals.” Madison said.

  “Yes they were. I figured if they didn’t kill me, I would surely freeze to death. At that point I was praying to die before it got any worse. I didn’t die, obviously, and it got much worse. I heard Paulson talking about a sacrifice needing to be made soon. There was an argument about who they should sacrifice. Me or the woman. Paulson said it had to be the woman. That the Sundogs liked woman better.”

  “Sundogs?” Austin asked.

  “Yeah. That’s what he named our unwelcomed guests. On account of the three suns in the sky. Paulson had theorized since they both showed up at the same time they must somehow be related. Thus the name Sundogs. I guess other theories could make about as much sense.”

  “Did you ever see one?” Madison glanced at Austin.

  “No. But Paulson talked like he had. Although he never shared details of what they looked like, he claimed on more than one occasion the name Sundog fit. I wasn’t sure if this was in reference to their physical appearance or because of his theory. I didn’t really care what he called them.”

  “People get comfort from knowledge.” Austin offered.

  “How’s that?” Edward asked.

  “We don’t like the unknown, so we search for answers, even made up ones are better than not knowing at all.”

  “Yeah I guess you’re right.” Edward replied.

  Austin shrugged. “It’s not right. It’s just what people do.”

  “So what happened to the woman?” Madison asked.

  “They…they sacrificed her to the Sundogs.”

  “Sacrificed her?”

  He stared into Madison’s eyes for a long time. “They tied her to a car and left her out in the middle of the street. In the morning she was gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “Gone. Nothing left, but the rope and…and a blood stain on the snow.”

  Madison was stunned. Austin was not.

  “How’d you end up in Dodge City?” Austin asked.

  With drooping eyelids, Edward glanced up at Austin. “Paulson said the Sundogs told him to come here.” Edward yawned, “I think he made stuff up about the Sundogs in order to scare the other kids.” After this statement, Edward’s eyes closed and soon he was snoring.

  “Did you give him something?” She turned a disapproving look upon Austin.

  “A sedative.” He responded in his typical matter of fact tone.

  “Maybe you should have told him first.”

  Austin shrugged. “He needs to rest. We’re leaving tomorrow.”

  This was welcomed news. “Did you find gas?” She hoped yes, having had reached her max with the storage room and dancing around the dark mood of her traveling companion.

  “I did. Can you find him some clothes? I think there’s a store the next block over.” Austin asked.

  “Sure.” She reached for her parka. “Can Luke come with me or do you need him?”

  Austin shook his head. “Take him with. I’ll watch Eddie.” He was glad she suggested taking Luke along. He didn’t want to fight with her about going alone. He didn’t want to fight with her about anything, but that’s where they always ended up.

  After seeing them out the door with strict orders to go and come right back, Austin returned to the warmth of the storage room. He pulled out the map and poured over the coordinates, writing notes and calculations on the side. With a red marker Austin drew the route they’d follow from Dodge to Colorado Springs. He sighed in frustration, tapping the pen on the paper. Their delay had already cost them five days of travel, going on six. He knew he shouldn’t complain. The break was direly needed for all of them, even him, but the time issue forever loomed in his mind as needing to be treated with increased urgency.

  Using the tip of his finger, Austin traced the red line drawn from Dodge City to Colorado Springs. Then moving backwards, his finger picked up the trail he and Luke had forged to Lucky’s Grocery. Backtracking through Oklahoma and on down into Louisiana, he paused on Baton Rouge where he had come upon Luke. The first human being Austin had seen since the drop, and he almost hadn’t stopped, but fate had intervened on Luke’s behalf by detouring Austin through Baton Rouge.

  Not in a million years would he admit it, but he was glad he’d found Luke. And, despite what Madison thought of him, he was equally glad that their paths had crossed as well. He didn’t dwell long on the fate of the human race, but neither had it slipped by him the possibility they might be responsible for their own preservation.

  11 LAMAR

  When morning arrived they were up early, anxious to be on the road. Within an hour of waking, the ATVs were parked out front, loaded with all of their gear. Even the propane heater found a place on the back of one of the ATVs. Luke had refused to give it up, taking it so far as to stand up to Austin, who argued they didn’t need the extra weight, but allowed Luke to keep it anyway.

  They’d decided Luke and Austin would do the driving, with Austin pulling Edward on the sled and Madison riding with Luke. The sled had been given an upgrade by the way of snow skis Luke had found in the local sports supplies store. The skis were secured to the sled’s underside with bolts. Double sleeping bags were laid inside before Luke and Madison helped Edward get situated. Next they tucked a thermal blanket around him, pulled a neoprene face mask down over his head and finished him off with a pair of ski goggles.

  Austin tightened the straps that held Edward firmly in place. There was a tense moment when he tried to get Edward to take sleeping pills, so the ride would be more comfortable he had explained. Ed vehemently refused. He didn’t want to wake up hogtied in a bathtub again. Austin didn’t push the issue. He knew the feeling of helplessness all too well.

  When the group headed out just past eight o’clock, the temperature hovered around a balmy five degrees and the sundogs sat in their usual position in the sky. Everyone was in good spirits, including Austin, who, although not smiling, had less of a scowl on his face. He had even gone so far as to tease Madison about using the restroom one more time before they left. To which she smiled, gave him the finger, and then went back inside just in case.

  They traveled along U.S. 50 to their first resting point in Garden City. An hour drive by car was two and half by ATV. In Garden City they stopped for a restroom break and to check that the straps on the sled were secure. Edward hadn’t wanted to get up and Austin was eager to press on, so they spent less than fifteen minutes before moving on. The second leg of the trip was twice the distance and took them six hours before they reached Lamar city limits.

  As they approached Lamar, Austin held up his hand, squeezed it into a fist, signaling to Luke to slow down. The ATV’s engines whined down to a purr as Luke and Madison eased up next to Austin, who pointed towards what looked like a small mound of garbage in the middle of the road. The mound was about one hundred yards from where they sat and looked to be blocking their passage. Certainly large enough to be a hindrance to the ATVs, but that wasn’t why Austin had stopped.

  “Where are the binoculars?” Austin asked, not taking his eyes off the heap. The scene, the heap, the highway were all too familiar to him. Madison fished the binoculars from her back pack and handed them over to Austin. He zoomed in on the pile. “Shit.” He muttered.

  “What is it?” Edward’s nervous voice shouted up from his sled. “What’s wrong?”

  Without a word about what he saw, Austin handed the binoculars to Luke. “We’ll have to use the shoulder Ed. It’s gonna be a bit rough.” He dropped his goggles in place, shifted the ATV into gear and turned to Luke. “Ready?”

  Luke nodded as he lowered the binoculars. He handed them over to Madison, who immediately looked
down the road. She stared for a long time before returning them to her pack. They proceeded on in silence. The only sound was the low whine of the ATVs as they slowly approached the pile. Again Austin signaled for Luke to stop. The ATVs idled ten feet from the pile of smashed vehicles and human carcasses. Metal and body parts were stacked ten feet high and twice as wide. The sight was beyond the usual corpses they were accustomed to seeing and ignoring. These could not be ignored. They weren’t in the usual frozen state, they were fresh.

  “Oh shit man.” Luke said, turning to Austin. “What the hell?”

  Austin switched off his ATV and eased off the seat. He signaled for Luke and Madison to keep their eyes on the perimeter. Madison slid off the back, drawing her gun and headed towards the rear of the ATV’s. She stopped to explain to Edward the situation before taking up point at the back. Luke pulled out a sawed off shot gun, checked that it was loaded before he took point at the front of the ATVs. Assured they were in position, Austin headed for the other side of the pile.

  Upon rounding the other side and taking in the sight, Austin clutched his stomach and doubled over. He yanked his face mask from his head just in time to lose his breakfast on the side of the road rather than on himself. After a few dry heaves he wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand. He spit a few times, attempting to rid as much the rancid taste of bile from his mouth, as the foul taste of disgust. He pulled himself together, surprised that he had such a violent reaction.

  For as far as the eye could see there was a trail of body parts strewn up and down U.S. 50. Heads, arms, legs, torsos, feet, hands. Hundreds of limbs were scattered on the road, on the side of the road, lying anywhere your eyes might rest. Austin stood dumbfounded, gazing at the indescribable sight, but not because he had never been affronted with this large of a massacre.

  After six years as a Marine, he had seen his share of the inhumane treatment humans were capable of inflicting upon another. Mass deaths, mass graves, mass inhumanity to the likes of which he thought was the worst man could possibly have to offer. As he gazed down the highway, he realized how wrong he had been. But this wasn’t man; this was something else, something so vile that no language could describe in a manner that would evoke emotion as sufficiently as his eyes were currently communicating to his brain.

  “Oh my god.”

  Austin turned in time to catch Madison, who although no virgin to horrendous sights, could not fathom what she saw. Her mind faltered and skipped out. She held onto Austin, her legs refusing to obey her command to stand straight.

  “Children.” Madison moaned. “Those are children.”

  “I know.” He held on to Madison as much to support her as for his own needs. Never in his life could he have imagined such an evil would exist on Earth. The longer he stared at the mutilated young, the deeper the rage inside grew. Rage and hatred for the unseen intruder that had taken over their planet and carelessly tossed away these innocent children.

  “Hey.” Luke came up behind them. “What’s taking so long?”

  “Stay back Luke.” Austin turned to stop him, but he was too late.

  Luke stared past Austin in horrified wonder at the body parts. His eyes scanned the road, landing on a child not twenty feet from where they stood. It looked to be a boy of about eight, whose curly blonde hair covered his face. Trance like, Luke pushed past Austin and walked up to the curly blonde haired head. He knelt next to the body and pushed the hair off the boy’s face. Luke yelled out and fell backwards. He shuffled as fast as he could away from the head.

  “The eyes. There’s no eyes.” He cried. “The bastards took his eyes. What kind of sick fuck takes a kid’s eyes?”

  “Come on Luke.” Austin took hold of Luke’s arm. “We gotta keep moving.”

  Luke yanked his arm from Austin. “Why? What’s the fucking point? Look at what they did. They’re gonna kill us, all of us.”

  “Luke that’s not true. We’re gonna make it to Cheyenne. We’re gonna be ok.” Madison attempted to calm him despite being shaken to the core herself.

  “You don’t know that.” He responded tersely. “So stop with the bull shit. Stop talking to me like I’m a fucking baby.” He glared at both of them. “I’m not.”

  “We know you aren’t. But you need to calm down and think straight.” Austin ordered.

  “The fuck I do.” Luke responded, poking Austin in the chest. “Who the fuck are you to tell me how to feel?” He poked him again.

  “Luke, come on.” Madison interceded, but to no avail, Luke pushed her away.

  “What are you going to do Captain Reynolds?” Luke mocked. “You gonna hit me man?” He poked him again.

  Austin didn’t react to being pushed; rather he let Luke continue to take out his frustration on him, all the while speaking in a calm voice. “We’ve come too far to give up and I for one am not about to lie down for whatever killed these kids. You owe it to your parents. And to Madison’s sister. And countless others.” He paused, lowering his voice. “And to my wife. I owe it to her to keep going. Now if you want to stay here, waiting to die, that’s your choice, but I’m not giving up. Not now. Not ever.”

  Luke stared at Austin through glazed eyes, tears freezing to his eyelashes. His shoulders dropped and the fight left him. “I’m sorry man.”

  “It’s ok.” Austin replied. “It’s ok.” He grabbed Luke, hugging him close. They stood that way for several minutes. “You ready to get movin?”

  Luke stepped away from Austin, coughed several times before pulling his face mask down. “I’m ready captain.” He didn’t look at the bodies again, but walked back to where Edward anxiously waited for them to return. He told Ed it was really bad, but couldn’t bring himself to say more. Edward would see for himself soon enough.

  12 THEORIES

  Any enthusiasm the group had felt at the onslaught of their journey was crushed by the brutal reminder of their unseen enemy and its capabilities. They pushed on to Fowler, where they found a diary freezer to spend the night. It was small and cramped, but Austin insisted they stay there. It was too late to scour the city for something bigger and they were leaving as soon as it was light out were the only reasons he gave for staying put. No one argued the point. They all wanted as much distance between them and Lamar as possible.

  Outside the freezer, Madison changed Edward’s bandages and helped him into a clean thermal shirt. His wounds, which had been healing nicely, were aggravated by the bumpy ride. She wrapped his blood stained shirt in aluminum foil, sealed it in double plastic bags and disposed of it in the trash.

  Inside, Luke helped Edward get comfortable before he himself settled into his own sleeping bag. He sat up against the freezer wall, not in a hurry to close his eyes. The ride through Lamar had been hard and sleep wasn’t going to be easy tonight. He eventually had to pull over and let Madison drive. He’d closed his eyes to the carnage, not opening them until the jarring stopped and he was certain the road was again only snow and ice.

  After burying his father in the back yard and being completely alone for the first time in his short life, Luke had held it together. He didn’t wig out or cry. Not even the bodies they encountered on the way had penetrated his mind deep enough to create a fissure. He felt secure in knowing that he could handle this thing and that he was going to survive. Then Lamar happened, shattering all of his confidence and belief in life holding any purpose.

  The propane heater took care of the chill in the air, but not in their hearts. Austin’s mood had blackened by each mile. He sat cross legged on top of his sleeping bag in the far corner of the freezer, staring at the door. He had skipped dinner, taking only a bottle of water and two aspirin. Every so often he rested his hands on top of his head. Sometimes he would rub, other times his hands just rested there, not moving at all. Behind that blank stare the gears were rapidly turning. A theory was forming.

  Always the soldier, Austin’s mind had not stopped searching for answers, for clues that would give him an inside to the enemy. Eve had no
t appeared in several days, which worried him. The last time was four days past when she showed him Lamar. She’d led him to the bodies stacked in a pile, but hadn’t shown him in detail of the bodies lying beyond the pile. He felt this omission was on purpose, which caused him to question her motives. Was she leading him to Roxi? Or just leading him? He felt like a puppet whose strings were being pulled by an unknown force. Austin hated being vulnerable. After his father had died, he’d sworn to himself he would never be at the mercy of anyone ever again. However, if his theory proved correct, mercy was dead and they’d all been reduced to puppets.

  The demons plaguing Austin had plenty of company that night. Edward, who had watched in horror as they drove over the discarded body parts of all those children, struggled to hold on to his hopes, hopes for the impossible, hopes for finding his own son. Austin had tried his best to maneuver around as many parts as possible, but they simply could not be avoided entirely. Each time the ATVs tires rolled over the remains, crushing little bones, a piece of the wall Ed had built to protect his mind, crumbled.

  Austin reached for the light. “Is everyone good for the night?”

  “Can you leave it on a little?” Madison asked. “You know on dim or whatever?”

  Austin nodded. He didn’t need to ask why. Luke and Edward were glad for the light as well. No one wanted to be in the dark, no one wanted to close their eyes. It was growing increasingly more difficult to combat the boogeyman.

  A long time passed before Austin heard them sleeping. There wouldn’t be any rest for his weary mind that night. He had a theory on the enemy that he wanted to work out. It was better to know the enemy even if that knowledge increased your fear, or worse brought terror. He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. He repeated this two more times, forcing his mind to shut out emotion and accept facts only.

  An hour gone by and Austin felt certain he understood a thing or two more about the Sundogs, things he probably wouldn’t share with his travel companions. Although he wondered if Madison, with her police back ground, might have picked up on some of the more obvious clues. He shook his head, thinking that most likely she hadn’t noticed. Still, he couldn’t help wishing she would ask him, or point out something she observed, allowing him to guide her into a conversation about it. It was so much easier that way. If people believed they contributed to the solution, especially if the situation happened to be a tricky one, there were fewer questions directed at him. He couldn’t explain how he knew things and that was always the first question people would ask. How’d you know that?