Harvest Earth

by J. D. Laird

  There was a sound then of shuffling in the darkness and Gabriel crouches down lower. Gabriel holds the foreign weapon in front him, his hand around the trigger preparing to fire. There is something else in the shadows with him. There is something moving stealthily through the columns. Gabriel fears it os one of the creatures, one of the large beings he had encountered before. He fears in that moment he might not have the strength to survive a second assault.

  Then Gabriel sees a shadow. It is the form of another woman. Her hair is long and wild. Her frame is slender. There is the glint of something sharp in her hand. She is passing between the columns, silhouetted by the ambient light. Gabriel tracks her as she creeps behind the fair-skinned woman. The shadow woman’s knife is raised. Gabriel knows what was to come next.

  Gabriel moves quickly. He dashes forward towards the shadow form. His body was reacting out of instinct, some need to prevent the terrible deed that was about to occur. The woman with the knife screams as she brings down her weapon, but Gabriel is already there. Gabriel swings the heavy alien device in his hands with both arms and it crashes into the side of the would-be assassin’s head. She collapses onto the ground, the knife flying out of her grasp.

  Off-balance from his blow, Gabriel can barely recover as the women in fatigues charges him. She knocks him back and pins him to one of the pillars. Gabriel stares down the barrel of the woman’s rifle. Her eyes are two angry slants on the other end of the sights.

  “Hillman!” It is the woman with fair-skin’s voice. She is pointing at the lady on the ground, the one Gabriel had hit. The would-be assassin is getting up.

  The woman in fatigues is conflicted. Gabriel can see her eyes dance back and forth between himself and the woman that had sprung from the shadows. She can only train her rifle on one of them.

  Clutching her rifle, the woman takes two steps away from Gabriel. The rifle passes back and forth between Gabriel and the woman on the ground.

  “Witch! Stay down!” The rifle-yielding woman shouts at the woman on the ground.

  The one on the ground freezes. Her face is twisted up in a demented snarl.

  The woman in fatigues then glares at Gabriel, “And who the hell are you?”

  Gabriel takes a moment to measure his response. He feels so very numb. Besides a few tattered moments of hope, Gabriel’s insides feel cemented by anger. If in that moment he felt any will to survive, it was only so that he could exact his revenge on those who had filled him with such rage.

  “I’m like you.” Gabriel finally responds. He speaks each word as slowly as he could, very deliberately. Gabriel then places the device in his hands onto the ground. He then stands with back erect with his palms in the air. “I’m a survivor.”

  The woman in the fatigues doesn’t seem convinced. “You don’t know us!” She gestures to the woman squirming on the ground. “For all I know you could be a wackjob like Mrs. Serial Killer over here.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” Gabriel says. It is true. His anger was directed elsewhere. He hopes that the sincerity in his voice will earn him his life.

  “Hillman, he saved me.” It is the other woman now, the calmer one dressed in casual clothes. “If he wanted me dead why save my life?”

  “I don’t know.” The one called Hillman replies. “Hell if I know how the brain of a psychopath works.”

  “I’m not a psychopath.” Gabriel replies. He is getting upset with the woman now. “Look, if you want to shoot me, get it over with. Hell knows I was about ready to do it myself a few hours ago. You’d be saving me a lot of trouble.” Gabriel then points to the makeshift bandage around his eye. “And you could finish off the job that some messed-up creature from Hell started.”

  “They’re not from Hell!” It was the woman on the ground now, she had propped herself up onto her elbows. Blood was running down her face from a gash in her forehead where Gabriel had hit her. “You’re all the hellspawn! They’re angels. Angels sent to protect us. To protect us from ourselves!”

  “Mom!” The voice comes from the side of them. It is a man’s voice, deep and rich. Gabriel turns to see the man who had been shot is standing now. His body is tilted to one side as he holds his bleeding shoulder. A bullet hole is covered by his palm.

  “These creatures took me. They kidnapped me.” In the ambient glow of the lantern fire, Gabriel can see that this other man is crying. “They took me, your son. They took me away from you and yet you protect them?” The syllables of the man’s words wobble through his sobs. “They’re not angels, Mom.” His tone softens. “Their freaking aliens.” He gestures to the pillars surrounding them. “And all they want is to use us until there is nothing left.”

  Gabriel watches as the woman with the rifle waffles. She seems to be unable to decide who to train her sights on. There was just too much happening at once. Too many potential threats in her eyes, Gabriel suspected.

  That is when a small shape leapt out from behind a pillar and the woman called Hillman nearly shoots it. Fortunately she pauses, just long enough to realize that it is a dog. The same sand-colored one from before. It leaps out and lets out a faint woof. It then runs over and starts nuzzling against the other man’s leg. It rams its furry head into his kneecap. It continued to do this, nearly knocking the injured man over, until the man rests the hand that isn’t covered in blood onto the pet’s neck.

  The tension was broken.

  The casually dressed woman steps forward and offers Gabriel her hand. He takes it.

  “My name is Madison.” Her voice is soft and gentle. It is a welcome relief to the hostility that had been Gabriel’s entire evening.

  “My name is Gabriel.” He smiles. It is fake. Something he does out of habit. He doesn’t know if he will be capable of a real and genuine spontaneous smile again.

  “You’ve already met Cassie, though she goes by Pvt. Hillman.” She gestures to the woman with the rifle who was still shifting her weapon across her body uncomfortably.

  “The man with the bullet in his shoulder is Tobias.” Madison points to the man. He was reaching down and picking up the lantern with his free hand, the other still pressed into his bullet wound. “The dog trailing behind him is Copper.”

  “You shoot all your friends.” Gabriel says snidely.

  “Just the ones they’re trying to save from themselves.” Tobias is the one to reply. He is grimacing with pain as he takes steps towards them. “And that woman is my mother, Debra.” Tobias nods his head to the woman on the floor. She hardly seems to notice that everyone is looking at her. She just sits staring at her son blankly, unmoving. “She’s still a little confused.”

  Tobias steps closer and Hillman tenses up. Gabriel sees her finger hover over the trigger on her rifle. The young man seems unafraid, however, and he turns to Madison and lowers his head.

  “I’m sorry.” His tone is somber and authentic.

  Madison places an uneasy hand on his shoulder, the one where he had been hit. She rubs him gently. “So am I. Thank you for trying to show me the answers I needed.”

  He nods, his long ponytail bobbing behind him. “We both needed.” He replies as he pulls away from her touch and starts walking away. He walks past his mother without even acknowledging her. The whole time she is staring up at him unblinking.

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Hillman hollers after the young man.

  “We need to leave.” Tobias slows his march to a halt and peers over his shoulder at them. “It is dangerous here, and besides, there is nothing more for us here.”

  It is odd, but in that moment Gabriel knows it to be true. Though Gabriel’s remorse had turned to hatred, now was not the time exact it. Here was not the place.

  “He’s right.” Gabriel says in agreement. These people were wounded, Gabriel thinks to himself. They are people that had felt loss and misery. He could see it in them in the way that they talked. Gabriel feels like one of them. “The creatures will know that we’re here. They will come for us before long.”
Gabriel finishes. He can’t be sure, but part of him senses eyes all around them in the dark.

  “And where the hell do you suggest that we go?” Hillman glares at him, Gabriel doesn’t mind. He likes her passion. He knows she shares his rage.

  Gabriel pauses before answering. Was there anywhere to go? Anywhere safe left. Gabriel then remembers the folded up piece of paper in his pocket, the one that Jules had written down the address of a home in the mountains. It was a place where Jules thought they would be safe. It was a place where they could survive and regroup. It was a place where Gabriel could stay until he was ready to bring the fight back to those who had taken everything from him.

  “I know of a place.” Gabriel says. “There are good people there. They are survivors like us. You’re welcome to join us.”

  Madison and Hillman exchange unsteady glances. Madison then looks to Tobias. He merely nodded his head once in response to her gaze.

  Madison walks towards Tobias with her arms across her chest. “This place,” she says softly to him. “Is there more I have to see?”

  In response, Tobias shakes his head from side to side.

  Madison seems to understand this. She turns back to the others. “All right, then, lead the way.”

  Gabriel peels himself off of the pillar. He reaches down to pick up the alien device before walking in Tobias’ direction. Hillman lags behind, hesitant to move at first. She seems unsure of this new plan to go with the two men, but eventually she surrenders and falls in-line behind Gabriel. Ahead of them are Madison and Copper. Tobias leads them away with the lantern raised out in front of him.

  “Wait!” It is Debra, her body is stretched across the ground. She is reaching one open hand out to them She is at the edge of the lantern’s light, shadows cast across her face. “Stay with me, please.”

  There is an uncomfortable silence as everyone exchanges glances. Everyone except Tobias, who doesn’t even stop walking at the sound of his mother’s voice.

  “Don’t worry mother.” Tobias says the words without even looking at her. His voice is flat and harsh. “This is a home for monsters.” He then snarls, “You’ll fit in fine.”

  By the end of Tobias’ sentence Debra is outside of the lantern’s light. She disappears into the darkness. Only silence followed.

  The rest of the party follow the light. Gabriel and the others follow Tobias to a truck that has two motorcycles parked beside it. As a group, Gabriel, the three other survivors, and the dog, drive out beyond the rows of pillars undisturbed. Together, they leave the darkness behind them.

  Epilogue

  The chopping of wood is a mundane task. It requires muscle, sweat and endurance. In other words, it requires all the things that Miles sorely lacks. His most powerful muscle was his brain, and Miles itched to use it. Chopping wood feels like a waste of his time.

  But it was his assigned chore for the day, well the morning at least. There was no doubt much more that needed to be done once he was finished. Winter would come suddenly and they would need to be prepared. Food needed to be stockpiled and inventoried. The holes in the roof needed to be patched and sealed. Traps and alarms needed to be set up along the perimeter to warn them of the approach of hostiles. Blankets needed mending, gas needed to be stored and seeds for Spring-time planting needed to be procured. And of course firewood needed to be chopped. It would need to be chopped until the end of time, it seemed. They could never have enough.

  “How’s it going there, Paul Bunyan?”

  Miles turns in the sound of the voice. It is Tayna, a warm cup in his hand. She is giggling as she hands the cup to him. Miles gladly takes it. He smiles back at her, pretending that he hasn’t been ruminating on how dull the morning has been. With a free hand he wipes sweat from his brow.

  “Fine, fine.” Miles says, nearly mumbling the words. Tanya was kind, young and had youthful-looking skin. Miles wondered what the young woman saw when she looked at him. He wondered if she saw him the same way that he saw himself, pale skin, a lopsided haircut, round glasses on a round face and with whiskers covering his neck and cheeks. He wondered if she could see the gray in his hair as well.

  Miles raises the cup to his lips. It smells of sweet lavender and honey. The steam rises out of the cup and fills his nostrils. He inhales it deeply.

  “Miles! Tanya!” A booming voice rings out from the other side of the log cabin that Miles had come to call home. From around the corner of it Jules appears. There is a rifle in his hand. “There’s a vehicle approaching!” As soon as the words leave his lips the older man is gone, disappearing from view.

  Tanya jumps to action first. She has a firearm holstered to her belt that she flings free as she charges towards the front of the cabin. Miles is less quick to respond. He awkwardly paces back and forward as he looks for his rifle, not immediately remembering where he has placed it. He finds the weapon resting against a tree. Tobias reaches for it without realizing the wood axe is still in his hands. He drops the axe in frustration and then throws the rifle over his shoulders. He dashes up the hill and his sneakers slip in the mud. Miles nearly falls before thankfully regaining his balance.

  By the time he is to the front of the house both Jules and Tanya have already taken up positions on the porch. They are pointing their weapons towards the road, a vehicle winding up towards them.

  “Miles! Get up here!” It is Jules again.

  Miles responds. He leaps up the stairs to the porch and crouches down behind a wooden rocking chair. He doesn’t stop to think how little cover it provides.

  Miles watches as a truck approaches. Only one of the headlights of the vehicle are still intact. Behind the truck are two more vehicles, smaller but louder. As they approach Miles recognized them as motorcycles. Miles doesn’t have a favorable impression of people that usually ride the two-wheeled contraptions. Thoughts of tattooed gang members with grisly beards and dark intentions come to mind. Sweat pools in Miles’ palms making holding his rifle more difficult.

  “Halt!” Jules shouts when the vehicles are within earshot. “Stop now or we’ll fire.”

  The motors of the vehicles cut off as they brake a short distance away. Somebody hops out of the driver’s seat of the truck and strolls towards them. The stranger is holding something in his arms, something that looked like a weapon.

  “Stop! Put down your weapon!” Jules shouts again. He pulls back the hammer of his rifle. The clicking sound echoes through the woods and the figure walking up the roadway stops.

  The figure then holds his arms out to his side, the weapon-shaped device clenched in on hand. “Is that anyway to greet an invited guest?” The stranger shouts and when the voice of the stranger hits them Jules pauses.

  They all wait for Jules to do something. He is squinting down the roadway, trying to make out the features of the man who was approaching him. The tension breaks when the older man laughs, and set his rifle aside. “Gabriel?”

  Jules bolts down the stairs of the porch as the man in the driveway starts strolling to meet him. They meet halfway and Jules wraps the man in a hug.

  “How the hell?” Jules bellows.

  Tayna follows behind her father after holstering her sidearm. Miles tentatively creeps behind her.

  The man whom Jules had addressed as Gabriel has a full beard. The whiskers of which are rich and dark. The man also has a black patch over his left eye. Miles can’t be certain, but he also seems to wince beneath his whiskers as Tanya catches him in a hug.

  Jules and Tanya grin at him. Gabriel appears to be managing a faint smirk. Miles wonders if this expression is all the man can muster of expressing happiness.

  “We waited for you in Philadelphia.” Tanya says.

  “I know.” Gabriel replies, “I got-“ He pauses and then gestures to the device in his hand. “Detoured.” The man with the patch over his eye then nods to the group of vehicles behind him. “I hope you don’t mind but I brought some friends along.”

  Miles peers past Gabriel and sees others walki
ng towards them now. There is a woman dressed in fatigues with a rifle over her shoulder and a dog trailing behind her at her knee. There is also another woman, pretty but stern, she has a pistol swinging from her hip. The last to approach is a tall Native American man. He is handsome and has long black hair tied behind his head. He seems younger than the rest. About Tayna’s age, Miles figures.

  Jules clamps a hand down on Gabriel’s shoulder after seeing the others approach. “I think we’ll need a bigger cabin.” Jules jokes. “We picked up a friend of our own.” The older man then waves Miles over. Miles tentatively takes a step closer.

  “This is Miles Clayborn. We picked him up in Jim Thorpe. He’s a tech-genius out of NYC.”

  Gabriel offers a hand and Miles shakes it. Miles notes how rough the other man’s hands are, there are calluses on the palm and fingers. Miles becomes acutely aware of the softness of his own skin.

  “A pleasure.” Gabriel says, though Miles can’t be sure he means it. The man seems to be made of stone.

  Miles just nods. Without realizing it, Miles starts staring. He is staring at the device that he had at first assumed was a weapon that Gabriel held in his hand.

  Gabriel must have noticed Miles’ glare because he hands the device to him. Miles takes it in his arms, and is amazed at how heavy it is.

  “I picked that up off a creature back in the city.” Gabriel says describing the device. “Be careful. I’m still not quite sure how it works.”

  Miles is entranced. The device is gorgeous. The metal it is covered with has a muted tone like nothing he has ever seen before. It has several knobs and display screens, all of which have unique symbols. Miles has never seen these before ever. Even more intriguing is that it seemed to be powered by a source of energy that Miles can not immediately identify. Miles marvels at the object. He feels immediately obsessed with the foreign machine.