Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2)

by Ferretti, Anne

  Zack glanced at his watch. It was almost two o’clock. “How far are the camps?”

  “The closest one is thirty miles as the crow flies.”

  “How many if the crow walks?”

  “Don’t know why a crow would walk when he could fly, or in your case, drive just as easy.” Ray chuckled at his wit, but sobered when he saw the grim look on Zack’s face. “You could get there usin’ one of them all tear rain type vehicles. Take you maybe an hour or so. But don’t know why you want to bother.”

  “Because those are human beings in there and the Adita are bleeding them dry. We can’t leave them there to die,” Luke replied in an elevated condemning tone.

  “You think I didn’t try to save em? Is that what you think son?”

  “No sir.” Luke looked embarrassed.

  “I tried to save em.” Ray declared, beating on his chest. “The first one, a young man about your age, died before I could get him back to the cabin. The second one, were a middle aged woman. I carried her out over my shoulder, but she came to and started screamin’. Them winged demons come swooping in like lightnin’ out of the sky. I only escaped because they were too preoccupied tearing her to pieces to notice an old man. I didn’t try no more after that.”

  “So you’re saying we can’t save anyone?”

  “I’m not saying that at all. All I’m sayin were I had no success doin so.” Ray threw another log on the fire causing a few embers to pop out onto the floor. He extinguished the embers with the toe of his boot. “I’ll tell you the way, but yer on yer own gettin there.”

  “Thanks Ray,” Zack replied, patting the old man on the back.

  “Don’t thank me none for showin’ you the way to yer death.” He gave Zack a hard stare. “I’ll fix us somethin’ to eat.”

  Zack checked his watch. “Shouldn’t we be goin?”

  “Ain’t goin today. Gonna have to wait ‘til the suns rise. You get caught by the night there ain’t gonna be no mornin’ for you.”

  Zack, Ed and Luke shared a worried glance. They’d told Madison they wouldn’t be gone longer than a day or two if it could be helped. After the crash landing, getting back to the bunker at all was more of a concern than when it might actually happen, but still further delaying their pursuits only served to add to the apprehension felt.

  Resolved to make the best of their situation and knowing Ray was right, Zack offered to help with dinner, while Luke and Ed volunteered their wood chopping services. The latter being a welcomed respite for Ray, who dreaded the task more than dying. At least in death his old body would be eased of its aches and pains.

  12 Unlikely Ally

  Zack awoke before daybreak, unable to sleep. His restlessness was as much due to the looming task ahead of him as the dying fire which allowed the cold to creep in all around. Zack set a couple of logs in the embers and stirred them around. Sleep clung to his mind, encouraged by the warmth creeping out from the revived fire. Zack shook it off. Life was a bitch, he thought for no particular reason other than it was truer now, in this fucked up world, than in the fucked up world he’d once known. Running the streets of Boston with the old crew almost appealed to him, almost and only if certain conditions were met. One of those being ole Bobby Londergan would have to remain worm food.

  A pocket of moisture fizzed and an ember popped out of the fireplace landing near Zack’s foot. He pushed it back into the fire with the poker. Soon blue and orange tongues danced about the logs as embers turned to flames. Before long the room was toasty again and thoughts of Boston faded away. Zack entertained crawling back into his sleeping bag for another hour, but knew he wouldn’t wake up in an hour. They had to get an early start if they had any hope of getting home before nightfall. A hope he didn’t hold tight. And even less so the hope they would be saving anyone that day. Heartache was all they were inviting, heartache with the chance of death. Not a forecast for the meek.

  “Cup a coffee?” Ray asked from the doorway of the kitchen, keeping his voice low.

  Zack nodded and stepped over the snoozing bodies of his friends, relieved they were able to sleep despite the world falling down upon them.

  In the kitchen two steaming cups of coffee sat on the small table. Zack took a seat opposite Ray and sipped the warm brew. A wood stove kept the small kitchen comfortable. Ray sipped his coffee. His hands were covered with waves of wrinkles, revealing as much about his age as his full head of white hair. They were an unlikely pair born in worlds far apart, yet, despite their cultural differences, common life lessons bridged the gap and a lasting friendship had been formed.

  “How’s the diabetes?”

  Ray wagged a finger and shook his head. “Funny thing about it bein’ was after escapin’ them alien bastards, my sugar fits stopped comin.’ But I ain’t grateful to em. No sir. They weren’t considerin’ my well bein’ when they stuck me like a pin cushion.”

  “Did they inject you with something?”

  “I reckon so. Somethin’ right potent to the rest of those poor folks, but made me sleepy is all. Felt like when you stuff yer self too full on Thanksgivin’.” Ray peered at Zack from over the rim of his cup. “You sure ‘bout this thing yer gonna do? Kinda like temptin’ fate ain’t it?”

  Zack gave a short laugh and shook his head. “They’re my friends. I can’t let em go alone.”

  “Don’t go to that camp boy.” Ray set his cup down. “There be things you don’t want to see. Things you can’t remove from your mind. Them horrors that want to come callin on you in the middle of the night.” Ray’s voice trailed off with his gaze.

  “Ed needs to know if his kid is in one of those warehouses.”

  Ray shook his head. “Ain’t no chillren’ is them death buildings. Ain’t no chillren’.”

  “None?” Ed stood in the doorway. “You said no children?”

  Ray turned to look at Ed. “You heard clear.”

  “Are...are you sure?” Ed couldn’t believe and didn’t want to believe Ray’s statement was true.

  “Sorry son. Only adults hooked up lookin’ like human octopuses. No chillren’. I couldn’t a left no kiddies behind. They’d been better off goin’ to see the almighty, than bein’ drained of life by them soulless beins.”

  The weight of this revelation was too much for Ed to shoulder, to bear, to comprehend. He shrank an inch or two and would have fallen had the door jamb not been there to support his weight. Ray’s words were paralyzing. Memories of the initial days after the attack bombarded Ed with emotions that up until that very second he’d kept under tight wraps. The room wavered out of view. He grabbed the door jamb, his knuckles turned white. From far off Ed heard his name being called, but he didn’t want to come back. He wanted to succumb to madness, to the mistress of the insane. Let her take him deep into her lair of murky existence where he’d be protected from pain. Pain, the insistent bully who’d held him captive since that first snow flake fell. Pain that waited around every corner to sucker punch him with a load of grief so heavy he’d never recover.

  “Ed!” Zack grasped Ed’s arm. “It’s alright man.”

  Ed shook his head, trying to clear his mind. The room did one more wobble and wave before regaining its edges. “I’m ok. I’m ok.”

  Zack helped Ed to the table and poured him a cup of coffee. Ed grasped the cup, but didn’t trust himself to bring it up to his lips. The mistress wailed for him to come to her, while the bully rejoiced with threatening fists waving in the air.

  “Ed, man, there are more camps all over the country. You can’t give up because the first one doesn’t pan out.”

  Zack’s words struck a chord with Ed, hitting him hard where he needed it most. He looked up at Zack, lucidity returned. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. It’s just... I wanted it to be this one...” Ed couldn’t finish.

  “We’ll find him. We’ll search every damn camp. And we’ll find Ryan,” Zack promised, not knowing why he did so knowing he didn’t believe it himself, but something in Ed’s expressi
on, something so desperate and sad, had scared him into lying.

  Ray coughed, but held his tongue. Some folks were better off believing lies than trying to face the harshness of the truth. They’d spend an entire lifetime avoiding the truth, some going to great lengths, others doing so without realizing the intent of their actions. For Ray the truth was always best, telling it and hearing it. He’d never been one to judge a person by how they approached living and wasn’t going to start now. That death was the obvious outcome of their quest didn’t play a hand in this. Death, as is in life, was not his to decide.

  Refocused now, Ed picked up his coffee without shaking the liquid over the brim and took a sip. He took another sip and then another. This repeated action soothed his nerves and a sudden craving struck him for a bagel smothered in thick cream cheese that oozed to and over the edges. He refrained from asking their host if he had such a thing. He felt Zack’s eyes watching him, waiting for the fissure in his sanity to crack wide open.

  Zack was watching Ed, but not because he worried about Ed falling off the edge. Zack had seen desperation like this only one other time in his life. A time he didn’t want to think about right then. Drudging up that memory brought with it the old man. Zack almost chuckled. It would almost be worth it for Bobby Londergan to be alive today, so that Zack could have the pleasure of killing him, as he’d planned to do only days before someone beat him to it. Zack shook away the past and turned his attention to the task at hand.

  “Is Luke still sleeping?”

  Ed gave him a blank stare. His mind searched and remembered who Luke was and why they were in the cabin in the middle of the woods. “Yeah. I think so. I’ll go wake him.” He swallowed the last of his coffee and shoved back his chair.

  After he left, Ray turned to Zack. “His boy has most likely passed on. You know that don’t ya?”

  “I know.”

  “And you can’t help them there folks neither. They’s been hooked up to those tubes and machines for longer than I consider to be the humane thing. Course we ain’t dealin’ with beins that are humane in nature now are we?” Ray continued on not expecting an answer. “Them folks was barely alive when I tried rescuin’ ‘em. No tellin’ what shape they’s in now.”

  “Ed’s gonna have to figure this one out for himself. But I’m not letting him go it alone,” Zack replied. “You really think there’s no hope?”

  Ray reached inside his shirt pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He wet the end and placed it in his mouth, but didn’t light it. He’d given up the habit years ago, yet still enjoyed the taste and smell of the tobacco. “How long we been knowin’ each other?”

  “Five, six years. Why?”

  “Have you ever known me to present things in a better light than what was shinin? To paint somethin’ rose pink when it were really shit brown?”

  Zack shook his head. “You’re the most honest person I ever met.” And this was the true. Ray had a heart bigger than the state of Texas, but he’d never tell you a lie in order to avoid an uncomfortable truth. He’d given Zack more words of wisdom and sound advice than all the shrinks in the world had managed. Ray convinced him to get out of the pot business, to quit being prideful, to stop wasting the talents he had been blessed with and most important to do something that would make his mom proud.

  “You never got the chance to tell her did you?” Ray asked.

  “Nope.” Zack turned away as if this action alone could prevent him from thinking about his mom and lost opportunities. While Zack silently battled his ghosts, a stray thought wandered in, one he’d never entertained before this very moment.

  “Sometimes decidin’ the better of two bad things is almost more than a person can handle,” Ray commented. “If you decide for the betterment of the other person, rather than yer own self, you can’t never make the wrong choice.”

  “I hear ya old man,” Zack replied. For once he was glad Colin was afraid to fly and hadn’t wanted to join the party. If by the slimmest chances of fate Zack did find their mom plugged up to the alien’s machines, he didn’t want to fight with his brother over what they should do. The answer was clear. He wouldn’t hem and haw over it. If the time came he would pull the plug.

  Zack gave Ray a pat on the back. “You got any of them all terrain vehicles stashed on the property?”

  “Does a bear shit in the woods son?” Ray snorted. “Get your coat and I’ll show you what I got.”

  Zack checked in on Luke and Ed before grabbing his coat and following Ray out the door. They walked down a hidden path to an old metal building. Ray pulled the door open revealing three brand new ATVs.

  “Sweet,” Zack whistled. “Where’d you get em?”

  “Don’t worry none about things that ain’t none of yer biznax.”

  “Same ole Ray.”

  ***

  An hour later the guys were loaded and ready to go. Zack was on one ATV, while Ed and Luke road on a second. Ray had wanted them to take all three, but Zack refused to leave him without a means of transportation. Before departing the guys chopped enough wood to keep the house heated for months to come, probably years since Ray would use it like a miser spends money.

  It was nine o’clock before they were on their way. If all went well they would arrive at the camp by ten, if all went better than well they would still be alive at ten-o-one. A lot was riding on all things going well, but they didn’t think about this. In fact they didn’t think about much other than the path in front of them.

  As they neared the place where the camp was supposed to be located, Zack held up his hand for Luke to stop. A hundred yards ahead the trees thinned and gave way to a clearing. Nothing they saw gave an indication of what was in that clearing. The only way to find out was to keep going. Zack motioned for Luke to proceed slow and easy. If Austin had been along he could have filled in some of the missing pieces, eliminated some of the fear of the unknown, but not all. Knowing what evil waited didn’t take away the trepidation of that evil and what it might be capable of doing.

  While Austin had met the devil a few times over and Zack thought he’d been born the son of Satan, Ed and Luke were choir boys who believed good eventually triumphed over bad. Facing something of this magnitude was a hell of way to graduate into the realms of evil. Zack only hoped if things went south that he wouldn’t be left standing exposed, that Ed and Luke would have his back.

  They drove at a turtle’s pace into the clearing. Across the way they saw a double barbed wire fence stretching in front of the woods. Two gates capped with double rows of concertina wire formed an entrance. Through those gates they could see a several large gray block buildings. Zack motioned for Luke to follow him. They drove around the clearing and back to the opening where they’d entered. The ATVS were parked facing down the path, back the way they came. Zack wanted to be damn sure if they had to escape they would have a better than slim chance.

  Once the engines were cut off, the place turned silent as death. The crunching of snow underfoot was magnified by the heavy silence. Although full knowledge of the alien’s powers was unknown, they had no misguided notion on sneaking in unseen, or unheard, yet here they were hoping to do so. Ray was right, Zack thought, they were on a death mission.

  A faded red, white and blue metal sign hung on the gates warning trespassers this was US Government property and no unauthorized personnel were allowed past this point. Zack ignored the sign and, using the wire cutters Ray gave him, cut an opening for them to climb through. They continued on towards the first building. No sirens went off. No guards rushed out waving automatic weapons, yelling for them to drop to the ground or be shot. Seeing someone in camouflage would have been a welcomed sight considering the alternative.

  The buildings were windowless and, after walking all the way around one, they found only one set of doors. Zack walked up to the solid double metal doors. Another red, white and blue metal sign warned trespassers the installation belonged to the US government and deadly force was authorized. Ed and Luke stood n
ext to Zack staring at the doors, looking for the handles or a way to open it. Zack reached out and pushed on the door. At first nothing happened. He pushed again, and this time like he meant it. The doors swung open and Zack tumbled inside. Luke and Ed hurried in after him. Behind them the doors closed with a soft swish and a loud click.

  The three men stopped and stared. They stood inside a large bay, white and sterile, exactly as Ray had described. A glass enclosed walkway went down the center and on each side white tables lined the floor. On each table was a naked body with a small white cloth draped over the mid-section. A multitude of tubes extended down from the ceiling and into each body. Through some of the tubes they could see blood, but whether it was being drawn or added was impossible to distinguish.

  “Their eyes are open.” Ed had walked up to the glass to get a closer look. “And they’re breathing.”

  Zack and Luke stared at the body of a young woman. She had auburn red hair and small perfect breasts that rose and fell indicating that yes, in fact she was breathing. Green eyes stared up at the ceiling, but even from their viewpoint it was clear she didn’t see anything through those eyes. Her skin was translucent and reminded Zack of the Adita.

  Luke tapped on the glass. They waited for any sign of movement, but none came. Zack pointed towards the end of the corridor where steps led to the next floor. At the top of the next landing they were faced with another glass corridor and another stark white bay full of human pin cushions. They climbed eight more flights of steps and found more of the same on each floor.

  At the top Zack removed his face mask and took in a deep breath. Even the air tasted sterile. Luke removed his mask and leaned against the wall, while Ed plopped down on the top step sinking his face into his hands. Numbers ran through his head, five thousand people in this building, at least twenty buildings in this camp, and thirteen circles on the map from Roth’s office. That was over a million people. Four hundred million people lived in the US before the aliens arrived. Where were they all?