The Harvest (Book 2): Eve of Man

by Anne Ferretti

  “Who would challenge them? The Mahat? Humans?”

  Eve smirked at the very idea. “Humans would lose. No, the Adita have many enemies, Mahat being only one, but none so near as the very species they evolved from,” Eve responded. “You see, after the plague forced the Adita to leave the planet, their blood supply was cut off. The Elders had tried to prepare for this by taking a handful of uninfected humans with them when they left, but it wasn’t enough. When the blood supplies diminished, and in order for the Elders to live, some were left to starve. But they didn’t starve. They reverted back to original form and turned on the Adita. The Adita were still superior in every way and an uneasy truce was established.”

  Eve paused to listen, waiting for Agra to reach out for her but he didn’t. Relief was not to be hers, for it was better to know when your enemy was coming then to sit and wait for his attack. This was not the first time she’d thought of her father as her opponent.

  “The Adita attempted to reconvert those who had changed back, but it was too late. The transformation seems to only take place once. Those that did not agree to the Adita’s terms were controlled through other methods.”

  “The Svan,” Austin said. “The Adita evolved or transformed from the Svan?”

  “That is correct.”

  “It was human blood that turned those savages into advanced beings?” Austin asked, stunned at this newest revelation.

  “Certain human blood, not all. A particular strand of DNA was the missing link. Once that was added, the Adita came to be. And what you consider savages are still far more advanced than your species. The language the Svan speak is older than this Earth. Their DNA the most complex and highly developed in multiple universes, second only to the Adita.”

  “Ok.” Austin’s mind was reeling. The discovery of wormholes and Paru and alien beings had been mind boggling in itself. He’d barely given those much thought other than accepting they existed, but now he was confronted with tales even more astounding.

  “It is much to take in, even for you.”

  “What does that mean? Even for me? What makes me special?”

  “Your blood is pure. The first pure sample found since the plague. The rarest in existence. From you Agra felt we could evolve to an even higher level.”

  “And that’s why we had Caleb?”

  “Yes. I thought he was to be the first of a superior race of beings,” Eve said, hesitating to say what she really thought.

  “But?”

  “I don’t know. Agra is hiding something from me. He seems displeased with the results.”

  “Is Caleb’s life in danger?”

  “Maybe, but I won’t allow him to be harmed.” She paused. “Agra is waiting for something, but I don’t know what.”

  “You haven’t explained the harvest.”

  Eve hesitated. Thus far she’d kept to the simple facts, avoiding any detailed accounts of how the Adita used humans to survive. However, knowing Austin wouldn’t like hearing the truth didn’t weigh in on her decision to divulge the family secrets. He wanted to know so she would tell him.

  “The harvest takes place every ninth moon or ninety-nine years in Earth time. The coming year is the ninety ninth. Prior to the moon rising the Svan will give birth. Of the offspring the fittest will be chosen for transformation. In times past, humans were harvested in advance of the birthing in order for their blood to be purified and ready for the transformation. Although the blood type was rare, having shortages wasn’t a concern. One human could provide enough blood to transform seven hundred Svan. Each ninth moon, less and less were transformed due to the blood shortage. The Svan’s numbers continued to grow, while the Adita, who were forbidden to reproduce, their numbers dwindled. The Elders fear the Svan will rise up against them. I believe Agra used this fear to convince them to permit our union and ultimately Caleb.”

  “But if Agra wanted a superior race why not just use me to produce more. Why not just come and get me? Why the big charade? Why Roxanne?”

  “As I told you before an Adita female has never mated with a human before. Agra wasn’t sure of the success and couldn’t come here for risk of contamination.”

  “So he used you as a guinea pig?” Austin asked. “A test subject,” he clarified.

  “Yes. He knew you wouldn’t willingly become my mate.”

  “But why all of the killing? People, animals, everything?

  “The planet had to be purged of the disease before the Adita would return. The Elders would take no chances.”

  “The planet? So there’s nothing left?” Austin’s shoulder’s sagged, knowing before she answered this was the case.

  “The Svan have been instructed to complete the process.”

  “What about the people in the warehouses and the camps?” he asked, trying to not think about the deaths being suffered at the hands of the Svan as they spread out across Earth.

  “Those on Paru will be used for the harvest. They have the blood needed to transform the Svan. Those here on Earth are being used as test subjects, guinea pigs as you called them.”

  “I don’t understand. I thought I was the only one with pure, or clean blood.”

  “You are the only one, but before I found you, the Adita had perfected a method for extracting the mutant gene from those with your blood type, but who were not pure. The process requires many months to complete and isn’t full proof. It was meant to be an alternate survival strategy.”

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  “There’s much I don’t know, which is why I must find Agra. I must find out why he would want to come here.” She turned to face him. “You will stay in the bunker. Protect your brother and sister and the others, but more than anything watch over Caleb.”

  “My brother and sister? I don’t have any...”

  “You know it’s true and who they are. Why do you lie to yourself? You are not such a person to lie. You have always been honest with others as well as yourself.”

  Austin mentally shrugged. “I know. It’s a lot to take in. A lot I don’t understand. Most of it goes against everything I know or makes sense.”

  “You learn, grow and evolve all of your life. This is no different.”

  “Yeah, but... never mind.” He stopped, knowing he would lose in a debate with her. “So how did Agra miss that I had siblings? I thought he saw, or knew everything?”

  “Their blood, although quite exceptional for a human, is not the same as yours and, quite simply, because I never crossed paths with them until recently. Agra would not have been able to see them unless through me. He can’t see them now and won’t see them unless I allow him.”

  “The Svan let Kyle live. Won’t they tell Agra?”

  “The Svan owe no allegiance to Agra or the Adita. They allowed him to live because I ordered them to do so.”

  “You were there?”

  “I’ve been keeping an eye on your brother, yes.”

  Austin was silent for a long moment. “He was wrong,” Austin remarked. “Agra was wrong about what I would have done. Who I would have chosen.”

  “Are you saying you would choose me as a mate?”

  “That sounds really primitive.”

  “You humans are peculiar about your words. If it is so then say so. Changing how you say it, doesn’t make it any less so. Does it?”

  “No it doesn’t. So yes, I would, I do choose you as a mate,” he replied and pulled her to him for a kiss.

  Eve tensed and pushed away.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  “We’re not alone.” Eve dressed and pounced from the bed like a nimble cat, returning to Austin after a few seconds. “Get dressed. Hurry.”

  Austin did as she instructed.

  “They will be here soon. You must wait here, behind the drapery. It is the only way I can protect you.”

  “I can protect myself,” Austin argued.

  Eve kissed him hard on the lips. “No you cannot. Not against what’s coming.” She pulled th
e drapes closed around the bed, leaving Austin to massage his wounded ego.

  Eve waited in the middle of the room listening to the silent thunder grow louder as it rolled towards the room. The force burst through the massive doors sending hundreds of knife like shards of wood and jagged edged rocks flying across the room. Eve stood in the midst of the storm unscathed. When the three female Adita guards entered in the wake, Eve was ready for them.

  The predators surrounded their prey. They carried heavy swords with edges that gleamed wicked sharp. The weapons were forged from the strongest metals found on the remotest planets in the seventh universe. Only Adita guards used such weapons and only when sent to assassinate one of their own. They held the swords high, grasping the handle with both hands. Eve stood perfectly still, unafraid of death, for she knew death would not be hers this day. She licked her lips in anticipation, having looked forward to this moment since their first encounter.

  “Look at her,” the first guard spoke.

  This was Talina, she was the leader and would die last.

  “What’s so special about her?” the second asked.

  She was the weakest of the group and would die first.

  “Nothing. She’s the child of a whore. A child of man. Weak and pathetic,” the third replied, sniffing the air around Eve. “She even stinks like one.”

  Talina sneered. “Stupid little girl. Wandering around listening to voices. Do you hear them now little Eve?” she taunted. “Do you hear Agra’s voice now?”

  Eve had never been made fun of or bullied, and that they mocked her now she cared little. In her mind she envisioned each move required to end their lives, lives lived too long. As they continued to taunt and mock and tease, Eve planned. First, she would take the sword of guard number two, the weak one, and cut off her head. Second, she would remove the head of guard number three and third... and third, Talina, the one who wouldn’t shut up, Eve had special plans for her.

  Eve breathed and the walls of the room breathed with her. The guards paused in their onslaught to pay attention, thinking maybe Eve was more than what they’d first assumed, and maybe she was dangerous. Before they could decide, two were dead on the floor, exactly as Eve planned, but Talina had vanished from sight, although not from the room. Eve listened for her and hissed through her teeth upon locating her.

  “I found your pet,” Talina said and threw Austin across the room towards the roaring fire. Eve extinguished the fire leaving cold embers, rather than burning flames, to provide for his landing.

  “I would have thought you better trained Talina,” Eve remarked. “My father must have been desperate. Oh, but wait. You aren’t here under Agra’s orders,” Eve noted. “Za sent you. He knows I’m returning home soon, and he sent you to stop me. Agra’s puppet, as you are Za’s.”

  “Funny you talk of marionettes when Agra has held your strings since the day you were born.”

  “Silly Talina. Do you not know?” Eve paused. “The bylaws state, and very concisely, only the leader of the Adita can instruct a death by beheading? An assassination? Do you believe Za, a mere member of the council, has the authority to send you to do such a thing?”

  Upon hearing this and knowing Eve spoke the truth, Talina lowered her sword. Za had assured her Agra wished for his daughter to be killed. Now she knew she’d made a dreadful error in judgment, but the deed was done. She would rather die here, than face Agra’s wrath. Talina raised her sword and charged towards Eve. From the corner of her eye she saw the blade swinging towards her, but it was too late. Her head and body were departed from one another.

  Austin stood over the headless corpse holding one of the swords with both hands, his muscles strained from the weight. Talina’s blood dripped from the end.

  “You are quite capable, but stupid for doing so,” Eve said.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I don’t need your help. If she’d been paying attention it would have been your head on the floor not hers.” Eve picked up Talina’s head and tossed it into the fire.

  “Are you scolding me?” Austin asked, laughing at the notion.

  Eve turned to him. “You forget what you are.”

  “I don’t know what I am,” Austin replied, no longer amused.

  “You don’t know what you want to be is more accurate, but for now you are human,” she said. “The question you must answer is, do you want to be human or do you wish to be something more?”

  “But I’m not human? Humans can’t hear people’s thoughts,” he argued.

  “So you consider yourself less human because you can hear other’s thoughts? Or is it because you feel stronger, because you are an improved version of your former self? You are a better human, but still very much a human. And you haven’t answered my question. What do you want to be?”

  The answer should have been easy and quick, but Austin hesitated to reply, to consider what he wanted. Not long ago he was cursing her for infecting him, and now he fumbled over making a decision. He couldn’t claim he knew for certain about remaining human, she would know it a lie. He knew this to be a lie.

  “I can change you.”

  “What would that mean?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. It could mean your death, but I don’t foresee that happening.”

  “Have you ever turned anyone before?”

  “Not with success.”

  Austin laughed out loud. “What makes you think you can change me then?”

  “You were close before, but you fought against it. Your desire to be human was very strong. You’d have to want to change or this time you will certainly die.”

  “Do you want me to change? To become like you?”

  “No.”

  Her abrupt answer surprised him. “Why not?”

  “We live only to live, to survive, we stop at nothing to safeguard our way of life. I don’t want you to become like me.”

  “But you’re more than that Eve,” he replied, taking her arm and pulling her to him. “You’re much more than that.”

  He was wrong, but Eve did not argue and let him kiss her. “We have to go,” she said, but not letting go of him.

  “What happens now?”

  Eve shrugged. “The future keeps changing, more than ever before. I’m not sure what to make of this and mustn’t delay my departure any longer.”

  Eve took them back to the bunker. She was anxious to be on her way. Things were moving and changing at a rapid pace, time was shortening.

  20 Blood Typing

  Zack pounded on Austin’s door again, stopping to listen only for a second before resuming his assault. At the next pause he was surprised to hear the lock being turned. The door opened and Eve stepped aside for him to enter. Although one of the few who knew her as Eve, seeing her this way always caught him off guard. Zack eased by, avoiding making contact with her.

  “Glad you’re here man. We need to talk and don’t have much time,” Austin said, coming to meet Zack at the door.

  “Not much time before what?”

  “I have to leave,” Eve interrupted.

  Austin walked over to her. “You’ll be careful?”

  “I will.”

  They kissed good-bye, embracing for a brief moment before Eve vanished from the room.

  “What was that?” Zack asked.

  “Nothing,” Austin avoided looking at him and sat on the couch.

  “Can you explain nothing that looked like something?” Zack sat down across from him. “Last time we talked you were desperate to find a cure, now you’re playing house with the devil’s spawn.”

  Austin’s cheek twitched, subtle enough it went unnoticed by Zack. “You think her inherently evil?

  “I think for Eve, for the Adita, the line between good and evil is razor thin and even sharper. Inherent or not,” Zack replied. “I think if you came between her and something she wanted, you wouldn’t stand a chance. She’d kill you without remorse. Right or wrong doesn’t exist for them. In most situations a human might consi
der the difference, weigh the consequences, where as an Adita considers neither, nor do they care.” Zack took a breath, and then shrugged. “Of course this is only an opinion based on what, I haven’t a fucking clue.”

  “I understand you’d think that way about them, about Eve, but she’s the mother of my son. I have to believe there’s something more to her than basic survival instincts.”

  “Maybe so,” Zack replied. “I guess you could argue nature versus nurture. And considering Eve’s been on Earth, separated from the Adita for thousands of years, I guess it’s possible she’s picked up some of our traits. Not sure if that changes who she is, but it’s possible.”

  “Do your feelings have anything to do with Madison?” Austin asked straight out. “That maybe you doubt Eve and think she could have saved Madison had she wanted to?”

  Zack dropped his head finding the floor easier to look at than those piercing blue eyes. “Yeah I guess in some ways, yes. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be an asshole. And you know I’m grateful she saved Madison’s baby, our baby.”

  “Then why all the hostility?” Austin knew his answer, but wanted to give Zack the opportunity to let it out.

  “It’s been so fricking hard. I miss her so much. The emptiness. I didn’t want her to go that day.” Zack squeezed his hands together until his knuckles turned white. “I shouldn’t have let her go.”

  “You can’t do that to yourself Zack. It won’t change anything,” Austin replied. “You’re going to have a child, a daughter Eve tells me. You need to live for her. Don’t chase ghosts. You can never catch them.”

  Zack looked up. “A daughter? Holy shit. I’m gonna be a dad. Now that’s fucked up.” A hint of a smile teased at his lips.

  Austin smiled back. “So cut Eve some slack will ya?”

  “Yeah...”

  “But?”

  “But I don’t trust her. There I said it and I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings or pisses you off. Hopefully you won’t pummel me into the ground for being honest, but that’s it and, well that’s all,” Zack finished, holding his breath.

  Austin couldn’t say much to this. Trust was something he himself hadn’t given to Eve. He couldn’t expect those who knew nothing about her to do more than he was willing or able.