“So...this is a conversation I never thought I’d be having,” Zack said and cleared his throat, “Your son...he’s...what is he?”
“He’s human and Adita. I guess you can say he’s a new species,” Austin answered, knowing he shouldn’t say anything, but wanted Zack to understand, to not think Caleb was a freak. “The Adita thought they could start a new superior race of beings.”
“But?”
“But, I don’t know. Agra doesn’t seem happy with the results. He wanted a superior being, and Caleb is that--”
“But aren’t they already superior beings?”
“Only to humans and only if you consider a diet of blood superior.”
“Only to humans,” Zack repeated in deliberate fashion, letting the words simmer a bit.
“Think about it Zack. We can live on a variety of things. Meat, vegetables, fish. They have one choice. If oranges were the only thing you could survive on wouldn’t you do everything in your power to preserve those trees?”
“Yes, but we aren’t fruit.”
“We are to the Adita.” A crop to be cultivated and then harvested, he finished silently.
“You sound like an advocate for their plight to conquer and destroy.”
“They don’t want to destroy us.”
Zack nodded. “My friend I do believe you’re correct. However, they don’t want to preserve our way of life either. I’m afraid what they want is heck of lot worse than anything we want to envision.”
Austin held his tongue. He couldn’t argue for or against without giving away he knew everything. Despite not knowing the facts, Zack’s assumptions were right on target. Their options were not inviting. Dead, the preferable option, or vacuum sealed for eternity while having your blood cleansed for the harvest of the next generation Adita. It was on the tip of his tongue to share with Zack all that Eve had told him, but he’d promised.
“Does Caleb... is he like Eve? I mean what does he eat? Ah, I mean...”
“He doesn’t desire human blood if that’s what you’re driving at. He doesn’t need it to survive like Eve does,” Austin replied.
“And what about you man? What are you? I mean I’ve seen your blood cells and they are pretty fucking out there. Like the incredible Hulk or something. Crazy super cells on a crazy super train. Superman cells--”
Austin cleared his throat, stopping Zack from rambling on. “I’m, well I’m a new improved version of myself, but still fully human.”
Zack pursed his lips and shook his head at the irony of that statement, new and improved, as if Austin needed improvement. “And telepathy comes along with being new and improved?”
Austin wasn’t so self-assured to not be embarrassed. “Hey man if it helps any, I don’t hear everything clearly, sometimes it’s more seeing than hearing and I can block stuff,” he said, going to the door. “They’re here.” He waited until Luke knocked before opening.
Luke walked in, suspicion in his eyes and thoughts, but he held back any biting comments. Kyle came in a few minutes later and Austin couldn’t help staring at him. This was his brother. They looked nothing alike, Kyle favored their mother, yet Austin saw the resemblance clear as day. Given time he felt certain the others would pick up on the similarities. Madison would have noticed for certain.
“So why are we here?” Luke asked.
Austin turned his attention on the group, settling his eyes on Kyle. “The Adita have resumed their course of reclaiming the planet. The Svan moved into Europe a few days ago. Only a handful of people were left behind. Same as here.”
“Are you sure?” Kyle asked, his voice unsteady, his expression of someone about to throw up.
“I’m sure.” Austin went over to Kyle and placed his arm around his shoulder. “I’m really sorry.”
“What does that mean for us?” Luke asked.
“I don’t know.” Austin sighed.
The group sat quiet and solemn, facing the fact of having no way out. Before, when they’d believed the entire world had perished at the same time, the situation had been tolerable. Discovering life had gone on in other places gave them new hope, a new breath of life, but then as hope went, it was snatched away from them. Your best friend and your worst enemy. Ed could have attested to that had he been present to attest. He’d been on and off the hope wagon, more times than a Hollywood star checked in and out of rehab.
Looking around the room, Austin knew the fall of Europe had slapped them in the face and hard. The sort of slap that left marks and turned an ugly yellow before fading away. It meant admitting the Svan were unstoppable. It meant admitting defeat. This was something Austin could not accept. Everything had a weakness, even the Svan and the Adita had a weakness. For the Adita their strength was also their weakness. The very liquid that made them invincible could also bring them to their knees.
The Svan were another beast all together. They were carnivores and intelligent. Austin almost preferred them as an enemy over the Adita. That they could not see through aluminum hardly counted as a game changer or an advantage. This had been something Austin had wanted to ask Eve about, but other things had been on his mind. He had a fleeting thought for her safety, but brushed the concern away. Agra needed her as much as they needed him and Caleb. He wouldn’t hurt his own daughter.
“Why Earth?” Luke asked, breaking the silence.
“It’s their home,” Austin answered, leaving out that they had a right to reclaim their home. No one would understand or care and Austin didn’t have answers for the questions that would follow such a statement.
“We should fight them,” Luke said suddenly.
“How?. We have no way of defeating them,” Zack argued.
“I don’t care. I would rather die fighting then live in this fantasy world ya’ll have created down here. Christmas shopping. Are you fucking serious? Madison’s dead because everyone wanted to pretend we aren’t fucked.”
“Shut up Luke,” Zack said, standing up, an expression crossing his face Austin had never seen. A look the kids in Boston had known well and feared.
“I won’t shut up and I won’t lie.” Luke ignored Zack’s glare.
“Luke that’s enough.” Austin stepped over to him taking his arm. “Please.”
“You should tell him,” Luke insisted.
“Tell me what?” Zack asked, growing more concerned by what they weren’t saying.
“Damn it man,” Austin said.
“Damn it nothing. What don’t I know?” Zack demanded.
His words hung heavy in the room
“I’m sorry Zack. I should have told you, but you were... I didn’t want to upset you more than you already were.”
“Well tell me now then. Tell for fuck sake.”
“The baby’s DNA was altered,” Austin replied.
“Altered? What the fuck does that mean? Is she my kid or not?”
“Yes. Calm down man.” Austin threw Luke a look. This could have been handled in a better way at another time. “
“Calm down? What does that mean? Will she be human? Will she be an Adita? One of them?” Panic rose in his voice.
“It’s not like that,” Austin replied. “She’ll be human. She’ll be a better human. That’s all. Eve altered her DNA during the transfer in order to ensure her survival. In order to ensure she was born as fit as possible, but she is still very much your child.”
“Better how? In what ways better?” Zack asked, taking his anxiety down a notch, trying to see the benefit in this.
“Stronger, smarter, faster. I don’t know for sure, but she’ll be better in a good way.” Austin wished he had more to tell him.
Zack examined Austin’s face, unsure what to say or think. DNA and how it worked wasn’t an unfamiliar topic. They’d studied DNA sequencing in one of his advanced courses so he knew the lingo, understood the concept, but that was as far as it went. The nuts and bolts of DNA testing wasn’t something Zack had pursued or took an interest in, but was thinking he’d do some research and learn
more about it.
“Couldn’t Eve do that for all of us? Make us all stronger? Give us somewhat of an advantage?” Luke asked.
Austin shook his head. It was legitimate to ask, but not as simple as he imagined. “I don’t know if she can.”
“Why not?” Luke demanded. “The bloodsucker could if she wanted to.”
“Luke man, take it easy,” Zack warned, seeing Austin’s jaw stiffen.
“She would if it was possible,” Austin replied, keeping his cool and giving Zack a warning look to not say anything more. His relationship with Eve was not something Luke was ready to hear about.
“That’s not the answer anyway,” Zack said. “Unless we become an Adita, we’ll never be strong enough to fight them and even then who knows. And I don’t know about anyone else, but I like being human. So we have to figure out another way.”
Luke protested with a grunt, but said no more.
“I’m going back to Germany,” Kyle announced, rejoining the conversation. “If people survived, if there are even a few, maybe Will and Ada...” His voice trailed off.
“I’ll go with you,” Austin said, surprising everyone.
“So am I,” Luke said, his tone daring anyone to say otherwise.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Kyle said.
“You’re not asking. We’re volunteering,” Austin replied. “We know the Svan better than you. And it’s never a bad idea to have someone watching your back.”
“How will you get there? The same way Kyle came?” Zack asked.
“We could fly,” Luke offered.
“Let me handle that part.” Austin replied.
Kyle felt somewhat comforted by the knowledge he was at least going to make an effort to find out if Will and Ada were alive. Trying was the least he could do after all they’d done for him. They deserved that effort and he wasn’t going without any hope. Various underground places were scattered about the country and he knew of one stockpiled full of provisions. He knew this because shortly after the US did its disappearing act, he’d gotten busy stashing necessities.
“I know a place they may be hiding. Under Wetterstein Mountains,” Kyle said. “There’re a series of tunnels. One of those leads to a secret facility built by the German government. Kind of like the Section Seven you mentioned in Cheyenne. It’s self-sufficient, has a medical facility, a small grow center, everything you need to survive. The German’s used it during WWII for testing biological pathogens.”
“Sounds charming. Like a basket full of rattle snakes,” Zack commented.
“The German’s weren’t the only ones.” Kyle replied to which Zack nodded in agreement. “Anyway, the place was converted to a science lab for petrology about fifteen years ago,” Kyle continued, “but they closed it down a few years back. I guess no one was all that interested in rocks. Prior to closing they spent a mint upgrading the place with state of the art equipment until the funds ran dry. Will told me about it. I guess at one time they thought there might be evidence in those rocks of early civilizations, maybe even aliens on Earth.” Kyle half smiled at the irony of it all. “I don’t guess they ever found any.”
“Had you been there recently?” Austin asked
“When the cloud of confusion rolled over the US I started stockpiling supplies. No one traveled anywhere. Everyone stuck close to their homes. No one wanted to get caught outside when the clouds came storming in, so I knew my things would be safe.”
“Do many people know about it?” Zack asked.
“Nah. Those who used to work there are most likely dead. And like I said, rocks weren’t high on anyone’s list of things to learn.”
“Maybe your friends went there,” Zack said.
“Maybe. But it’s a two hour drive from Cologne.” Kyle sighed. “They could have made it if they were watching the radar, but Will wouldn’t have left people behind to save himself.”
“Maybe he sent Ada and some others to the mountain.” Zack offered trying to sound positive if only to ease the pain and uncertainty he knew Kyle was dealing with.
Everyone wanted to be positive, but hidden behind their good intentions was the truth of the situation. Keep hope alive meant little, if it meant anything anymore. They’d already survived the purge and the drop and General Roth. The Svan were brutal in their attacks, non- discriminate in choosing who lived, who died. Rhyme, reason or natural selection hadn’t been deciding factors. Death, and lots of it, ruled the day. Kyle was the fortunate one. He wasn’t alone in his grief and misery, wandering aimlessly about hoping he wasn’t the last human alive.
Each one in that room had faced the ultimate challenge and came out the victor in the game of survival. No easy feat for even the strongest of souls. This game came with all sorts of options and no rules. It required skill, luck and something most did not possess on a good day. It required true grit. It was putting the gun barrel in your mouth and not pulling the trigger. It was sitting in the bathtub with a sharpened razor in one hand and a bottle of Jack in the other and not slicing open your veins. It was pouring your fifth cocktail and not using it to wash down a handful of sleeping pills. It was not listening to the devil’s call for surrender. Each one had battled the ultimate demon and decided life was still worth living, but no one shared those tales of woe. Rather they offered Kyle false hope, knowing he would figure it out eventually, but at least he wasn’t doing it alone.
“I need some fresh air,” Kyle stood up. “Is it safe to go outside?”
Austin checked his watch. “Two hours left till dark. Mind if I join you?”
“Suit yourself,” Kyle replied, although he would have preferred being alone in his misery and grief.
“I don’t talk much,” Austin offered.
Kyle smiled. “Neither do I.” He held the door open for Austin.
As Zack watched them go a random thought occurred to him, one he quickly, but not completely, dismissed. Anything was possible. If it had teeth, it would nibble at him later. The important stuff always nibbled and sometimes bit hard, usually at three in the morning. A popular time to bite into those ideas that hadn’t warranted the proper amount of attention during the day.
Zack got up with Luke trailing behind, quiet and uncommunicative. Zack noticed and worried, but left him alone. He’d tried finding him after Austin left with Caleb, but couldn’t and, upon deciding this was intentional, he’d stopped searching. They parted ways at Luke’s suite. Zack went on, but not to his suite, instead he went to Madison’s, where he’d spent the past week drowning his sorrows. It was time to figure things out. To come to terms with life’s latest blow. Time was short and Austin was right, his daughter was going to need him. A thought occurred to him and he laughed out loud. He wished his mother was there with him, to know he was going to have to deal with raising a child genius. And he knew what a pain in the ass he’d been. Ah the poetic justice of it all.
***
Austin and Kyle stood inside the open barn door looking out over the frozen landscape. Kyle took a swig from the bottle he’d grabbed from his suite on their way up. Austin declined his brother’s invitation to join him; having tasted whiskey once was all he needed. Watching Kyle chug the liquor like it was water reminded him of dear old dad.
Ole Donny would toss back his first bottle in under a half an hour. ‘Just getting’ warmed up,’ he’d say before cracking the cap on a second. Austin could judge the evening’s outcome by how many bottles the old man had before teetering off to the local, and only, watering hole in the wall. Where they served non-alcoholic beverages. Wink. Wink. And the town’s one and only trooper was a regular.
On a good week, when the old man held onto a paycheck, he’d stock up. Not on anything quality like Southern Comfort or Jack Daniels or Crown, not for Donny, he was strictly bottom shelf. If Austin was lucky, stocking up might include a pack of bologna or some of those red hot dogs from the gas station, but never bread or buns. Those were extras and a boy shouldn’t expect to eat like a fucking prince when the king of
the castle needed to stock up. No, if Austin wanted bread he had to find it himself. This usually meant a trip to the dumpster behind Kwiki Pete’s gas station.
All that changed when Eve came into his life. She’d made sure he never went hungry. Austin often wondered how she’d managed her hunger while living in Deadbear. The community was too small and tight knit for people to go missing for long and often. The occasional drifter wandered through, lost or running from the law. Those sorts wouldn’t have missed. Maybe that was how she’d survived.
“How’s Grace doing?” Austin asked to take his mind off things he’d rather not think about and Kyle’s mind off returning to Germany. They were going to find death and probably nothing more.
“Really good. I mean, considering the circumstances.” Kyle’s hand gripped the bottle tighter.
“She’ll be ok,” Austin assured him.
“I hope so.”
“Has she picked out a name yet?”
“Gisela or Emil.”
It was Austin’s turn to feel like he’d been punched in the stomach. Gisela was his mother’s name. Austin closed his mind to Kyle’s thoughts. It would have been too easy to listen in on the memories Kyle had of his family and growing up. It would have been easy and it would have been painful. Austin didn’t need to spy to know his brother had lived a better life than he had, and most certainly never dug through a dumpster looking for food.
“You were the one who killed Roth?”
“Huh?”
“Grace said you killed General Roth.”
“Yeah. Shot him in the head,” Austin replied, unapologetic.
“Thank you. You know for saving her. She’s all the family I got left.” Kyle choked on his words.
“You’re welcome,” Austin replied, having trouble himself getting the words out over the lump in his throat. The pain Kyle’s statement caused squeezed his heart to the breaking point. Kyle was suffering himself and it would have been so easy to tell him, to say, ‘Hey, guess what man? We’re brothers’, but Austin refused to give in to self-pity or selfish desires. Kyle and Grace’s safety had to come first.
The Harvest (Book 2): Eve of Man Page 25