The Harvest Read online

  Over the years, Austin’s skills in manipulating conversations were honed to perfection. He was quite adept at steering people in the right direction, and if given a bright enough person, but not too bright, he could easily manipulate them into solving difficult problems all on their own. Well, they believed they had done so on their own.

  Roxanne had been the exception. She was too bright. He had only been dating her for two months when she called out his bull shit, demanding he come clean. He wanted to walk away, to end the relationship right then, but he was already hooked. Leaving Roxanne wasn’t an option. He told her everything, things he had never told anyone. When his confession was over, he fully expected her to walk away…no, he had expected her to run away, as fast as she could. But Roxanne had hugged him tight and whispered I love you in his ear. They were married three months later. He closed his eyes, making her image appear in his mind. He pictured her on the beach, her green eyes dancing with delight. He loved her eyes, always smiling and filled with love. He focused on her eyes, but they began to change. They turned black as pitch and Roxi faded away. He looked into the black abyss of Eve’s eyes.

  From the opposite wall of the freezer room, Madison opened her eyes. The first thing to catch her attention was Austin, who hadn’t moved from where he sat cross legged on top of his sleeping bag. She watched him for several minutes, wondering if he was asleep. Not a muscle moved. His chest didn’t expand and contract, although surely he must be breathing. She stared at his face, examining it in detail, in a manner she could only do if he was totally unaware of being scrutinized.

  Although he looked younger than twenty seven, his personality put him at twice that age in her mind. Madison had considered herself to be the no nonsense, no emotion type, until she met Austin. In a bizarre way, he made her feel more human, normal even. Normal. She laughed to herself. Normal was a something her mother told her, over and over, she would never achieve. Of course her mother had a list of things Madison would never achieve if she decided to pursue a career in law enforcement, married being on the top of that list. And on that topic, it turned out her mother was right.

  Madison sighed. What was the point in what ifs now? She focused her attention on the details of Austin’s face. He had nice lips, a solid jaw line, a nose that may have been broken at least once, and behind those closed lids, piercing blue eyes. When he stared at her, she felt he was seeing deep inside her soul. In the world gone they might have been friends, or, at the very least, had a mutual respect for each other. Unfortunately that world was gone for good she’d decided. This tiny group, huddled in a dairy freezer, might be the only human beings left on the planet. Looking around at her companions, she prayed for their sake that wasn’t true.

  “Can’t sleep?” Austin asked, startling Madison from her ponderings.

  “No. You?”

  “No.” He opened his eyes.

  The dim light did nothing to ease Madison’s discomfort as he gazed over at her. She felt him searching her face, reading her mind, knowing her feelings, and worse, maybe better than she did. A sense of vulnerability swept over her, making her heart beat faster.

  “Something on your mind?” He asked.

  “I don’t know is there?” Madison thought she saw a muscle twitch, but she couldn’t be sure. “Is there?”

  “If you’re asking if I can read your mind, the answer is no.” Austin smirked. “And I’m not a vampire or a werewolf either.”

  “But you are an asshole.” She spat back, feeling like a silly girl for thinking he knew what she was thinking.

  “Yes I know. We established that back in Lucky’s and again in Dodge City.”

  Madison leaned forward. “Do you have a problem with me? Or just a problem with women in general?”

  Austin chuckled low under his breath, his lips curling up in a one sided sarcastic smile. “I have no problems with either.”

  “But you don’t like me much, right?”

  “Is that what this is about? Being popular?”

  “Oh go to hell.”

  “I do believe we are already there.” He replied. “We would get along much better if you’d stop psychoanalyzing me.” He shifted to stretch out his legs, so they were now parallel with Madison’s.

  “I’m not doing that.” Madison protested, getting more agitated by the minute.

  “Of course you are. You’re a cop. That’s what cops do.” He replied in his typical matter of fact tone.

  “What do you know about what cops do?” She asked, suddenly curious about his possible involvement with the law.

  “Case in point.” He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. That half smile still lingered on his lips. “If you aren’t analyzing everything and everyone, then you’re a shitty cop.”

  Madison bristled. “For your information I was top in my class. I was the youngest most decorated cop in the nation. How’s that for shitty?”

  “Lots of plaques on your office wall I’m sure.” Austin knew he was pushing hard, but he was anxious to discuss his theory with someone. He knew Madison was sharp, not that she would ever believe him if he told her so. He opened his eyes to her blazing mad gaze and stifled a laugh. He smiled, knowing he was close to tipping her mind in the right direction. “From your death glare I’ll assume I’m right.

  “So what if you are. I earned every one of those awards.”

  “You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

  “I know I don’t.” She glared at Austin, but his gaze, his expression, other than that damn crooked smile, never wavered or offered an inkling of what was happening underneath. “I was a damn good cop.”

  “Was?”

  “Don’t play words with me Austin.”

  Hearing her say his name had a strange effect on him, an effect he had only one other time in his life. An odd thought struck him. Had he ever called her by her name? He couldn’t recall a time that he’d used her name, not even when talking about her to Luke.

  “What? Run out of smart ass things to say?”

  Austin sighed. Roxanne would have asked by now. She would have asked what he had discovered, what he’d seen. He wouldn’t have to play this game. But Madison wasn’t Roxi, so he continued pushing. “How good are you?”

  “The best.”

  Austin laughed. “Modest too.”

  “Look, I know you think I’m just this typical emotional woman. But let me tell you this, I didn’t make it to Lucky’s Grocery store by sheer luck.”

  Austin nodded, raising his eyebrow, knowing she would interpret this as him doubting her assertion. The hook was about sunk.

  “How’d you know about the freezers?” She asked in her demanding cop voice.

  Austin shrugged, silently cursing her for not biting the hook, for proving to be more difficult than he had originally assessed. No matter, he thought. Her question wasn’t totally unexpected and Austin wasn’t entirely disappointed. It just meant trying harder or maybe using a different angle all together.

  “Luke said you just know things. Are you clairvoyant? A psychic?”

  “Don’t you ever just know things? You know common sense things.” He asked rather than answered. “Like what the Sundogs might look like?”

  Madison paused, watching him, assessing him. He wasn’t going to answer her question about the freezers, let alone if he actually ever saw one of the aliens. Discoveries she would hardly attribute to using common sense knowledge. “I have a theory.” She finally offered, willing to play his game if it meant learning something from him as well.

  “Share.”

  “Why? You’ll make fun of me.”

  “I won’t.”

  It was her turn to look dubious.

  “I promise.” He assured her, crossing his heart for emphasis.

  “It’s…I mean it’s nothing really. Just a sliver.”

  Austin again assured her he wouldn’t make any smart ass remarks. He already knew what she was going to say, but he needed her to say it. He needed her to
start this conversation, so that it would lead into a deeper discussion about their unfriendly visitors. Urgency had been prickling at his mind since trudging through the frozen Oklahoma oil field. The prickle intensified after Lamar. Something huge was waiting in the wings and he wanted to know what it was before it happened.

  “Come on Maddie. Share. Please.” He pleaded, knowing if he used her name she would trust him. A somewhat low handed trick, but desperate measures and all that jazz weren’t beneath him.

  The impact to Madison’s senses from hearing him say her name almost derailed her train of thought. She was sure it was the first time he had ever said it out loud. She looked down at her hands, which were twisted together in a knot. She spread out her fingers, stretching each one. A needless exercise, but she had to calm her nerves before looking at him. A few deep breaths later she felt calm enough on the outside to meet Austin’s gaze. The pounding of her heart, however, continued to thump against her chest wall.

  “I think they’re tall. Taller than us. And extremely powerful.” She offered.

  “Why?”

  “The holes…they were always about ten feet high and just as wide. I could tell brute force was used, and seemed to be with minimal effort.”

  “Maybe they used an explosive.”

  “No burn marks, no residue, no odor. Even an advanced laser would leave burn marks. At least I think it would. And people were…their chest cavities were ripped open, not cut.” She shuddered.

  Austin laid his hand on her leg. “Go on.”

  Ignoring his hand, Madison continued throwing out her ideas. They agreed the Sundog’s hands had claws or talons, four long and one short. Austin shared about seeing the foot, which was about a foot long with smooth hairless skin and talons for toes. Madison suggested, based on what happened in Lucky’s, that they must have wings. Austin nodded, already knowing this was true.

  They moved on to Dodge City, incorporating Edward’s information with their own. Madison thought Sundogs was just a name, and that Paulson had never seen the creatures. She didn’t think anyone living saw them. At which point she had stared into Austin eyes, but didn’t ask the question. He shook his head no. She knew this wasn’t the complete truth, but things were going well between them, so she didn’t press the matter.

  Madison didn’t know what to make of the woman sacrifice, to which Austin pushed her in the right direction. She surmised that possibly Paulson orchestrated her disappearance as a way to scare the other boys. She assumed he killed the woman, and disposing of her body wouldn’t have been a problem. He could have left her anywhere. Who would have noticed?

  She was right. And that was almost exactly what had happened. Eve had shown him Linda the school teacher’s unpleasant death. He’d watched Paulson, using sadistic methods, torture Linda until she died. He had a front row seat to the rape of her lifeless body, before Paulson chopped her body into pieces. The larger parts were thrown in a dumpster. The remainder put through a meat grinder.

  The next day grilled hamburgers were served for dinner. Paulson claimed the meat was a gift from the Sundogs. No one doubted him. This last part of the story Austin pieced together from things Ed told him. Ed hadn’t been offered any meat and fortunately so. There wasn’t anything to gain by sharing these details with Madison, so he didn’t. Austin felt no guilt over ridding the world of Paulson and his followers.

  By four o’clock in the morning they had circled back around to Lamar, to the discussion Austin really wanted to have with Madison. The images remained painfully fresh for both of them, so he tread lightly as he steered her down U.S. 50.

  “Did you notice the body parts were…were fresh, like they’d just been dropped there?” Madison asked. “And they were almost all blonde haired boys, except for maybe a few blonde girls.”

  Austin nodded.

  “And,” Madison closed her eyes, allowing her mind to look back, to remember the details, “their organs were missing. Hearts, kidneys, livers. But there wasn’t enough blood. There should have been more blood.” A tear slid down Madison’s cheek. She wiped it away. “Some of the bodies looked like they had been drained, maybe.” Her voice quivered. “Vampires aren’t real, right?” She opened her eyes.

  “I’d prefer they were, but no they aren’t vampires.”

  “What are they then? Do you know?”

  “I don’t know what they are.”

  “But you know something.” She countered.

  He stared at her for a long time, wanting to open up and share what he saw, but couldn’t. “They’re monsters.”

  “I know that much.” She replied back.

  “Why do you think they take the organs?” He asked, hoping to get her back on track. She was almost there.

  “Ok. I’ll play twenty questions for Madison, no answers from Austin.” She sighed, more than a little frustrated with his games. “They’re hunters of some sort. They take what they want and discard the rest. Not much different than what we do to deer, cows, you know to whatever animal we get our meat from.”

  “So we’re part of their diet? We’ve become prey to a more powerful predator?”

  “Yeah. Something like that.” She hesitated.

  “But?”

  “But, I think they keep people alive for some time, you know before killing them. And I think there must be a lot of people still alive.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “There weren’t enough dead people. I mean the population of the United States alone was close to 400 million when the killing started. So unless they’re dropping people in uninhabited places or out at sea you’d expect to see more bodies. And another thing, at the initial drop it was mostly men. Some looked like inmates. Others looked like cops or soldiers. It was kinda weird.”

  “Maybe they killed anyone who they thought was a threat first.” Austin offered. It’s what he would do in a hostile takeover.

  “Yeah maybe. But the bodies dropping now are all old people. Except for Lamar. Which I can’t place that piece of the puzzle. But they have to be keeping them somewhere. Like a base or a camp or something.”

  “Why not a space ship or space station?”

  “Could be, maybe, but that would have to be a long distance to travel at regular intervals.” She shook her head. “Wherever they are, they have medical equipment or something to that effect. I saw track marks on the children’s arms, like where an IV would be inserted.”

  “Intelligent and brutal. What a combination.” He remarked offhandedly.

  “And numerous. There must be thousands of them. How else could they’ve wiped out the planet in less than forty eight hours?”

  “You’re assuming the rest of the planet’s been eradicated.” He pointed out.

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Never assume or leave anything to chance.”

  “Marine motto?”

  “My motto.” He said, checking his watch. “It’s almost time to get on the road.” He stood up, extended his hand to Madison. “Let’s keep our theories between us.”

  Madison took his hand, letting him pull her up. They stood a foot apart. “You make a good interrogator.” She smiled. “But next time, just ask what I think. I don’t mind sharing.”

  “I’ll remember that.” He smiled in return.

  With some of the weight he’d been carrying around lifted off his shoulders, Austin felt better than he had in months. He went about the task of waking up Luke and Edward. Luke took longer to shake the night off than usual, but he didn’t complain so no one noticed. Both Ed and Luke were puzzled by Austin’s less than dark demeanor, but contributed it to him getting closer to Cheyenne and the military, to his own kind. They packed up while Madison and Austin went to fetch the ATV’s from the garage down the street.

  13 TAKING A RISK

  Two hours outside of Fowler they stopped at a highway gas station to refuel. Madison, who never missed an opportunity to use the restroom, disappeared around the side of the building. Austin topped off the tan
ks, the gas cans and checked on Edward. Fifteen minutes later they were ready to hit the road.

  Austin looked around. “Where’s Luke?”

  “He said he was going to get something to drink.”

  Austin jumped off his ATV and ran to the station, pulling out his weapon before he burst thru the door. “Luke?” He yelled out when he didn’t see him. He ran to the back of the store, towards the drink coolers and stumbled over Luke, who was slumped on the floor.

  “Luke. Luke.” Austin pulled Luke’s face mask off. “Shit.” His hair was drenched in sweat. Austin placed his hand to Luke’s forehead. “Shit.”

  Luke moaned. His eyes fluttered open. “I think I’m dying.” He mumbled.

  “You’re not dying. You have a fever.” Austin used a softer tone than normal. “Maybe the flu.” He added, more to assure himself than Luke.

  “Austin?” Madison called from the front of the store.

  “Back here. By the coolers.”

  When she saw Luke, Madison had the same reaction as Austin, but masked her dismay. “You ok buddy?”

  “The flu. I got the flu.”

  “He’s burning up.” Austin told her. “Can you get me one of those bottles?”

  Madison grabbed a bottle of frozen water from the cooler. Austin held it to Luke’s forehead and the side of his face. “How sure are you about finding this bunker?” He asked Madison.

  “Pretty sure. Why?”

  “He can’t travel far in his condition and we can’t stay in here tonight, there’s no protection from the cold. The heater’s about out of propane.”