The Harvest (Book 2): Eve of Man

by Anne Ferretti

  Madison ate a few more bites and excused herself from the group. Forgetting Roxanne and her odd behavior, Madison hurried to her suite to get ready for shopping. Even saying it in her head sounded wrong. The planet was buried under ice, and they were on the cusp of becoming an extinct species. What were they doing going Christmas shopping? It was insane.

  She looked at herself in the mirror. “You have no one to blame but yourself.” She nodded. “You’re right. Why’d I open my big mouth?” She pointed at her reflection. “Because you were feeling all happy and shit and decided to be Ms. Susie Social, which you’re not. And now you’re stuck going shopping. So suck it up sister.”

  Madison gave her reflection the middle finger before turning off the bathroom light. In her bedroom she stopped to look at the bed, still disheveled from the night before. A smile replaced her scowl. All was good for the moment. If the Sundogs came for them, at least she wouldn’t die a lonely bitter woman. No sir, not her. This woman was happy and so what if her sister had planned to marry her ex fiancé. Her smile faded. She hadn’t thought about Sydney in months. She’d thought of her mother often, but not Syd so much.

  Guilt was vicious and if allowed free reign it could destroy a person, heart and soul, so she kept a tight lock and key on those memories. The only person who knew her story was Ed, who was a vault for keeping secrets and why she’d trusted him. He hadn’t passed judgment, but insisted she was vindicated in being pissed off at her sister and even more so towards her ex. Who wouldn’t be angry if they found out only a month after having a miscarriage, that fiancé was in love with another woman, who happened to be her sister?

  Madison couldn’t speak for how other women might react, but she’d been furious when Sydney broke the news to her. Later, after stewing over the news, murderous thoughts had plagued her on a regular basis. She hadn’t confessed so much to Ed, that on more than one occasion she’d sat in her car outside her ex’s house, waiting for him to come out. She’d held a loaded gun in her lap, safety off. She wouldn’t have shot him, he wasn’t worth prison. She’d only wanted to scare him, to make him feel some of the pain she’d felt. In the end she’d done nothing. In the end she’d buried her pain in her work and shielded herself behind a hard-nosed persona. In the end, her last conversation with her sister was an argument. Regret was a bitch to live with. This time absolution or redemption was not an option to ponder.

  Madison heard a knock on the door and grabbed her shoes from under the bed. She checked her watch before answering the door, 9:30, they were early.

  “I’m almost ready— Oh. Jenny. Hi,” Madison said. “Is everything ok?”

  “Yeah fine. I’m fine. Thought I might go shopping with you. If it’s ok.”

  “Sure of course it is.” Madison glanced at Jenny’s sweat pants and t-shirt. “Maybe we should find you something warm to wear?”

  Jenny let out a little embarrassed laugh. The hint of a smile brightened her face. “Oh please do, that would be great. Ed didn’t have much to offer in his wardrobe.”

  “I have some things that would fit you perfectly.” Madison stepped aside allowing Jenny to walk in. She looked down the corridor and spotted Ed watching from his doorway. She gave him a smile and thumbs up. He smiled back; his relief obvious even from where she stood.

  Fifteen minutes later Jenny stepped out, transformed from shabby to chic. Ed leaned against his doorway staring in disbelief at his wife, who was starting to look like her old self again. He made a mental note to buy Madison something special for Christmas.

  Ed walked up and hugged Jenny. “You look great. How do ya feel?”

  “Good. Not tired at all,” Jenny replied and for the most part this was true. She didn’t feel tired, but she felt something better than good as if a dense fog had been lifted. She felt invigorated, like she was twenty years old again. It was strange to feel this good after having been close to dead for over a year. It didn’t make sense and at the moment she didn’t care, she had more pressing things to worry about, things like finding her son. After Ed told her about the building in Wyoming, she’d made up her mind to find her son, with or without anyone’s help. This with or without resolution included Ed, but she already knew he wanted the same.

  Jenny’s motives for going to Pueblo were not driven by Christmas shopping alone. She needed survival gear and although the bunker probably had more than a few things stored about, she didn’t want to ask Zack for help. Voicing her plans out loud meant answering questions and listening to why she shouldn’t look for her son. She wasn’t going to listen to such talk.

  They met up with the others and everyone talked at once. Grace wished them fun as they loaded into the vehicles. Jeremy joked with her about not having their baby while he was gone and then finding his joke not so funny after all offered to stay behind. Grace insisted she was fine and that he should go on. It was only after Zack assured the young father to be that he had nothing to worry about, Jeremy relented and closed the door.

  Ed was behind the wheel of a brand new metallic gray Jeep Grand Cherokee, the latest addition to the bunkers vast array of vehicles, while Madison drove a new black Range Rover. Both were top of the line models, fully equipped with all the bells and whistles one could want, but would never use. Ed put the Jeep in gear and was about to put foot to gas pedal when he spotted Caleb running towards them. Ed lowered his window.

  “What’s up Caleb?”

  “May I come with you Mr. Ed?” He smiled up at Ed. “My mother said it was ok.”

  “What about your father?” Ed didn’t want to upset Roxanne, but desired more to not upset Austin.

  “He agreed with my mother,” Caleb replied without hesitation.

  Although Ed thought it strange Austin wasn’t present, he nodded his head and told Caleb to jump in the back. Once the boy was secure, Ed again shifted into drive and crept up the ramp. Zack hit the button raising the door at the end of the ramp. He watched until they were out of sight before hitting the button a second time. A sense of foreboding washed over him when he heard the soft thud of the door hitting the ground.

  He shook the feeling away. This wasn’t a suicide mission to the mountain or a manic trip through a wormhole to planets unknown. They were going shopping. His thoughts turned from doom and gloom to Madison’s Christmas present, which turned his stomach into a sailor’s knot. Was he insane for even thinking she’d want to marry him? Of course he was crazy and stupid on top of being crazy. Zack sighed. Had he met her in another life things would be different. As soon as he finished this thought Zack laughed out loud. If they’d met in another life Madison would have arrested him, doing so without probable cause. Hell who was he kidding anyway? It wasn’t like he’d been the marrying type, far from it.

  That was the past Zacky boy. You’re not that spoiled kid any more. No he wasn’t, he amiably agreed with that thought. He was a man responsible for the lives of thirteen people. For the first time, since he was five years old, Zack felt fear, but this was different. When he was five, Bobby the monster had given him plenty to be afraid of, but the old man was only human and outsmarting him hadn’t been hard to figure out for a boy genius. Zack wondered if the aliens could be outsmarted. And he wondered if he was smart enough to do so.

  16 Life for Death

  Madison pulled the Range Rover up in front of the mall. On the way they’d discussed the possibility of bodies being inside the mall and in the stores. Certainly a sight everyone was accustomed to seeing, but no one wanted to see, not while Christmas shopping. Sitting in the parking lot, Madison laid out the plan and the ground rules. They would stick together no matter what. No shouting or screaming and if anyone became separated from the group they were to return to the vehicle and wait. Madison put the spare keys under the floor mat.

  The girls piled out of the vehicle anxious to get started. They had exactly three hours to shop, not a minute longer. Everyone had a flashlight, a two way radio and a shopping partner they were to stick with at all times. They waited a
t the doors for the guys to catch up. Madison pushed through the doors first, pulling out her gun as she walked inside. Ed, who also carried a weapon, followed in behind her. As they were expecting, a few corpses could be seen inside the doors. Other than that, it appeared safe and the others piled inside. The girls went to the right and guys to the left. Charlie and Colin spent an extra thirty seconds kissing good-bye as if they were going to be separated for weeks and not a couple of hours.

  Madison watched them, not with envy or disgust, but with understanding as she also felt giddy in love like a teenager. She wished Zack had come with, but he had a more serious matter to attend to. She smiled to herself happy in knowing thinking of Austin no longer caused her anxiety. This pleased her, as much as it provided needed relief from the guilt.

  “Ms. Madison?” Caleb tugged on her sleeve making her jump.

  “Yes sweetie.”

  “I would like to shop with you, if you don’t mind very much.”

  So polite, Madison thought and so not normal. “Why of course you can. And you can call me Maddie. Ok?”

  “Ok.” He took hold of her hand.

  Madison looked down at the boy’s curly haired head. This was Austin’s son. He looked like Austin, no doubts there, but he didn’t act like a normal child. Her common sense and her lack of nerve had stopped her from asking Austin about the boy’s age. As much as Madison didn’t want to take the cop walk at that moment, she couldn’t stop her mind from strolling down that path. She scratched her head, wishing to satisfy the itch, but no such luck. If only it were that easy, she thought and sighed out loud.

  “Are you bothered by something in particular?” Caleb asked.

  “Hm?”

  “You sighed. I thought something might be troubling you.”

  “Not at all dear. Now what do you think you want to buy for your mother?”

  Caleb thought about this for a minute, but more for effect than something to ponder. His mother didn’t celebrate Christmas or expect gifts. The Adita only celebrated victory by drinking the blood of the conquered. The thought of drinking blood made him queasy. His grandfather had called him an unsophisticated barbarian when watching him eat animal meat. Caleb wasn’t so sure drinking the blood of humans or others for that mattered was all that sophisticated. He would never say so out loud or allow the thought to surface from the depths of his mind, but the Adita seemed more the barbaric creatures than the humans.

  “I’m not sure,” he answered. “I’ll have to see.”

  “What about Aust... I mean your father?”

  Caleb knew the answer to this one, but shrugged his shoulders. His father wanted Roxanne back, his human wife, but that was beyond anyone’s powers, even his grandfather’s. Not that Agra would grant such a thing to a human. If Caleb had the power he would make his father love his mother and forget about Roxanne. That would heal the hole in his father’s heart and then his father would love him the same as Edward loved his son. And more important, his mother would no longer be sad. They would be a family, like the humans. He liked the way the humans interacted, although he didn’t always understand their feelings, being he was more Adita than human himself.

  Behind Madison the girl’s flashlights bobbed up and down with their footsteps. Had this been a normal shopping trip they would have been giggling at boys and squealing each time they passed a store front containing the latest heartthrob boy band’s life size cut outs. As the situation demanded, they spoke in hushed tones and huddled close together. At each store they hesitated, deciding in the end to not go inside.

  Madison knew they were worried about stumbling over corpses. Hell, couldn’t say she blamed them. With the cold and dark, it felt more like a morgue than a mall. They walked the entire mall not entering one store and, upon meeting up with the guys back at the front of the store, found they had not managed to find anything either.

  “Well this was a bust,” Ed noted, looking around the group.

  “I don’t feel like shopping,” Charlie said and went to stand next to Colin.

  “Maybe we should go back to the bunker,” Ed suggested.

  “Is that what you all want?” Madison asked.

  They nodded.

  She shrugged. “Ok. Let’s load up then.”

  They walked in somber silence back to the vehicles. Madison opened the door and fished the keys out from under the mat. She leaned out and paused keys in hand. Underneath her, the ground vibrated, a slow unsteady sensation.

  Madison turned to Jenny. “Did you feel that?” Jenny shook her head. Madison walked to the front of the vehicle. The ground shook violently and Madison braced herself against the vehicle’s hood. “What the hell?”

  Ed hurried to his wife’s side and took hold of her arm. “You ok?”

  “Yeah.” She held onto Ed’s hand for balance.

  Ed looked around the parking lot. “An earthquake?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, but we better get back to the bunker,” Madison replied.

  Another rumble, stronger than the first, knocked Charlie to the ground and Colin had to twist his upper body, then dance in a circle on one leg in order not to fall on top of her. He knelt down, helping Charlie to a sitting position, brushing the snow off her back as he did so. “Some crazy shit happenin’ folks.”

  The tremors eased and then stopped, but no one felt relieved. Relief was not a luxury in this world. Madison felt the hair rise on her neck and took a few steps away from the vehicle to get a better view of the parking lot. She shaded her eyes and squinted in the direction of the highway. No signs of movement, coming or going.

  A third shock rocked them all sideways. Everyone knelt on the ground except Madison. In that very moment she saw, out on the highway, something that was there and then it wasn’t. Something wavering in the distance, like a mirage. Ed crawled over to her and stood up.

  “Do you see it?” She pointed.

  Ed shaded his eyes and looked out towards the highway. He saw it. “It’s them.”

  “It’s them. The Adita. Don’t you see them?”

  “The Adita? What are you talking about Ed?” Madison switched back and forth from looking at Ed to the shimmering highway, stopping suddenly when she saw the ‘them’ Ed was referring to. From across the highway the Adita wavered in and out of view, getting closer without seeming to move at all. Za was in the lead followed by the three guards who had accompanied him to Wyoming, plus five more.

  “Oh shit.” Madison pulled out her gun, but Ed grabbed her arm.

  “You can’t shoot them.”

  She pulled her arm from his grasp. “Why the hell not?” she demanded, preparing to pull the trigger.

  “You can’t kill them with bullets,” Caleb answered from behind.

  Madison and Ed both turned, neither one having realized the boy was standing next to them.

  “Caleb honey, go back to the vehicle with the others,” Madison instructed. Caleb didn’t move. “Please Caleb,” she begged.

  “It’s ok Miss Madison,” he replied with a smile. “They can’t hurt me.”

  Madison looked down at the boy, noticing for the first time he wasn’t wearing his coat or hat or gloves. Before she could ask him about this, he was running towards the Adita.

  “Caleb no!” She grabbed for him, but came up with air and went running after him.

  Ed tried to stop her, but he was also too slow and couldn’t grab hold of her. Jeremy’s hand on his arm kept him from following after her.

  “There’s nothing you can do,” Jeremy said. “You can’t protect them now.”

  “Damn it.” Ed stamped his foot in the Adita’s direction. Ed knew Jeremy was right. He knew he was powerless. They were all powerless and all they could do was watch to see what happened next.

  Across the parking lot at the edge of the highway Madison came to a sliding stop behind Caleb, who was only feet away from Za. She reached for the boy’s hand. “Come on Caleb.”

  Za raised his hand, picked Madison up in the air, and f
lung her through the air like a rag doll. She landed several hundred feet away, rolling and coming to a stop in a motionless heap.

  “Where is your mother?” Za asked Caleb, unaware of the storm brewing behind the child’s eyes. As a rule Za avoided looking at the child and even more were his efforts to not look into those freakish blue eyes.

  “She’s not here,” Caleb replied. “And you shouldn’t be here either.” He addressed Za as a man would have, not as the child he appeared.

  Za snatched Caleb up by the hair. “Who do you think you are speaking to?” He held Caleb inches from his face, bearing his pointed fangs.

  Caleb was calm and focused. “A corpse,” he answered.

  Za hissed and shoved Caleb away, sending him farther than he had Madison. The boy, however, landed on his feet and disappeared.

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” Caleb said from behind them. They all jumped and turned at once to face him. Caleb had positioned his hands in front of him palms facing each other, with about a foot of air in between. “You will leave now and return to Paru.”

  Za, angry beyond reason, moved forward past the assassins, but stopped and fell to his knees moaning in pain. Caleb squeezed the air between his hands, crushing Za’s thin frame as he pressed his hands closer. The guards moved to stop him and were met with the same force. They writhed about on the ground running out of air, unable to escape the crushing pressure.

  “Caleb!” Eve’s voice carried across the parking lot and then she was standing next to them. “Caleb, let go.” She laid her hand on his head.

  Caleb lowered his hands, releasing his prisoners. Mere seconds were all they had left. Had Eve chose to not interfere, Za and his trash would have been turned to dust and blown away.