The Fate of Nations Book II The Harvest (18 page)

She screamed in silent frustration.
God would this
nightmare ever end?!!
Leslie felt hot tears sting her eyes and slide soundlessly down her face, dropping onto the wispy, thin pages of her bible. She looked down at the book, her vision blurry with tears.

She wiped her eyes and saw the clear wet spots where some of her tears had fallen. They seemed to highlight and underscore the passage she had been reading. Luke 13:28 “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” It made her think of the people on the ships, at the mercy of those Grays, and now, she miserably regretted those selfish, frustrated thoughts she'd had.

God...those people, all of those people up there
on those ships
, she thought miserably,
are going to a
fate a million times worse than mine
. She sat on the floor, in the corner of her bedroom, weeping silently, as she waited by candlelight for the dawn to arrive.

Part II

The Meat Plant

Sarah sat alone, on the floor of her room. She hugged her favorite doll as she listened to the pervading sounds filtering in. Clanging, metallic screeching, people screaming, shouts and strange guttural sounds from the Grays that were harvesting them. Sarah was alone now, her family hadn’t returned after going outside to see what was going on. Sarah had begged them not to go outside, but they didn't listen. Now they were in one of those weird looking ships that were up in the sky.

Sarah didn't have to read a newspaper to know what was going on. Her friend Mikel had told her months before what was going to happen. “It is going to happen” he said, “as sure as the tides of your world's seas go in and out, it is going to happen. They call it The Harvest.”

She thought back to the night that Mikel dropped her off as she held her doll, Molly, and felt the soft gingham fabric of her doll's dress on her bare legs.

Sarah walked along the dirt road, barefoot and cold , but unaware of either. Her long brown hair was in tangled knots and matted to her head. She stared fixedly ahead of her at the night as she walked. The sudden glare of oncoming headlights did not penetrate the fog in her mind.

Sarah didn't notice as the old blue Chevy pickup pulled alongside of her, its' engine rumbling softly in the frigid night. A young man, in his early twenties, dark haired and tanned from the outdoors, called out loudly to her. He was accompanied by two other men his age, equally tanned, looking out at Sarah questioningly.

“What the hell are you doing out here kid?” the driver asked. His face was hard and lean, his expression full of disbelief. “Hey kid, I'm talking to you. Are you fucking deaf?” he shouted when she didn't respond.

“Just leave her dude,” the middle passenger said tiredly, “I don't feel like being out here all night, my Dad's gonna fucking kill me for being so late anyway.” “Man, we can't just leave her out here, it's fucking freezing, she'll get frostbite or something.” The driver replied loudly.

“Hey kid, heyyyyy kid!” he shouted out of the softly rumbling Chevy. Sarah turned then, seeing him for the first time. “Whaaat?” she managed to say, it came out sounding slurred and weird, like she had just learned to talk. “move over Jack, we're taking her to the Police Station,” the driver said quickly. “Oh man, what the fuck!” Jack yelled., “Man I have got to get home!”

“Shut the fuck up asshole, the driver shouted, “or get the fuck out and walk, I don't care, but we're not leaving her out here, you got it? Now move the fuck over like I said.” Jack opened the door and told Sarah to get in the truck.

Sarah walked numbly over to the passenger side and climbed in beside of the driver. “Hey Martin,” Jack said to the driver, as he climbed back in and slammed the heavy truck door shut, “drop me off at my house first.” “Suck my nuts,” Martin replied. He put the truck into gear and they sped off down the dark winding road to the Police Station in Elizabettown.

“Rows of emerald green eyes?” John asked

incredulously. “I guess they shit diamonds too, huh?”

John had heard some whoppers in his time as a Deputy Sheriff, but this kid took the cake. Sarah didn’t answer.

She'd heard it all before. She knew how incredible, how ludicrous and unimaginable it all sounded to someone who had never seen the Herries with their own eyes.

In the soft pink light of the approaching dawn, in the Police Station, she sat. A small girl of ten, her light brown hair tangled and matted, her hands and face grimed with dirt. Scratches were on her hands, her arms and her small, bare feet.

“You expect me to believe that load of crap?”

John asked. He bent down until his face was almost touching hers. His warm breath smelled of the gallon of coffee he'd sucked down on the mid shift at The Elizabettown Police Department. “Tell me what really happened to you Sarah. Where have you been? Did somebody hurt you? Did they threaten to hurt you if you told anybody? Was it one of the guys who brought you in here tonight? Tell me Sarah, I don't have time for a bunch of crazy stories!”

Sarah turned her face up to meet his cool gray eyes and looked steadily at John with her own sea green eyes, her face streaked with tears and the dark dust of a faraway planet. “I'm not making it up,” she replied quietly, “ I told you the truth. That's what happened, and that's where I've been. I don't know who those men in the truck were. They just gave me a ride here.” “You hear that asshole?” she's telling you the truth!” Martin's loud voice called out from behind the bars of the cell John had thrown the three good samaritans into. “Let us out of here you fucking turd.”

Officer John Rollins ran his hand through his sandy brown hair, ignoring the creeps he'd just locked up. This kid was really starting to irritate him. The story she kept telling, well, there was just no way in hell it could be true. What was she hiding? He had tried everything he could think of to get the truth out of her, and after three exasperating hours, he wasn't any closer to getting it than when he'd started. “Jesus, kid, will you give me a break here? Tell me what REALLY happened to you.” Sarah closed her eyes and said quietly “Leave me alone. Just leave me alone.”

“Dude, will you listen to her? Martin shouted out angrily, “We just gave her a fucking ride here, I didn't want her freezing to fucking death out there!” “Shut your fucking cake hole creep,” John called back, “before I come back there and shut it for you!” Martin sat down on the old wooden bench at the end of the cell and put his head in his hands. “Try to do a good thing,”

he said sadly, “and just look what fucking happens.”

John walked over to the old percolator full of fresh coffee brewing on the counter by the window. He looked outside at the morning sky slowly filling with light. The coffee sent up its' familiar rich aroma. He'd let the oncoming Deputy handle this. His shift was almost over.
Thank God.

“So just what do you think we can do to help them Sarah,” Jess Kramer asked. John was right, this kid was irritating as fuck. “I mean, it's not like we can just jump in a space ship and go get them, you know?”

Sarah didn't answer him, she sat on the desk, her legs crossed Indian style, bawling her eyes out.

“We have to help them, Sarah said, in tears, “they don't know what's happening to them, they think they're in hell.” Sarah sobbed as she tried to describe what was being done to the people on that distant planet, how they milled around, their eyes wide and bewildered, their faces grimed and dirty from the gray dirt of that dark planet. They clutched at their hearts, their hair, and each other, unaware that they were going to be slaughtered like livestock.

They were so pitiful to Sarah, she couldn't stop thinking about them and when she did, she sobbed.

“Alright Sarah,” Jess said softly,
Jeez,
he thought,
she's
just a scared little kid
. “Just tell me who your parents are, and where they live. I'll get a hold of them and you can go home, ok?” “I already told John,” Sarah whispered and sniffed loudly.

Jess had gotten the shift breakdown from John Rollins, the off going night watch, two hours earlier, but John mentioned that he hadn't been able to contact her parents. “Just tell me one more time, ok Sarah?” Jess was trying to go easy on the kid, but damn she was making it hard to keep his patience.

“Their names are Jason and Steph Ellis and they live over on the edge of town next to the feed supply place.” “Well, Sarah,” Jess said patiently, “We sent a car out there and there's nobody home.” Are you sure they're living there?” Sarah was getting pissed. She had been in this damn place for seven hours now, getting grilled by these damn goons and they didn't believe a word she was telling them.“If you don't believe me, why don't you just let me leave?” I didn't ask to come here and I want to go home!” Sarah shouted.

Jess stepped into another room for a few minutes and came out carrying a tray with an egg sandwich and some orange juice. “Here Sarah, eat something and then you can lie down for awhile and get some sleep. Maybe when you wake up you'll be feeling better and your parents will be here to get you.” Jess could see there wasn't any point in questioning Sarah anymore just now. She was exhausted, crying more than she was talking, a hot mess, in other words.

Sarah ate the breakfast he offered in two bites,
fucking kid was starving
, Jess thought as he watched her. He'd have to talk to John about that, he could have at least given the kid some chow. Jess found an old blue washcloth in the cleaning supply locker and wet it in the sink. He washed Sarah's dirt streaked face, smelling the rotted meat, sour, spoiled milk smell, of the dirt.

“Jesus Christ! What the hell you been rolling around in kid?” Jess said, grimacing at the sickening smell. “It's what their planet smells like,” Sarah said, yawning. “Ok, ok, I forgot you mentioned that,” Jess replied hurriedly. He didn't want to get that shit started again. “Come on in here Sarah and lie down for awhile.” He led her into an adjacent office where a small brown checkered couch sat forlornly in the corner. Sarah laid down and fell asleep within minutes.

Jess covered her with an old wool blanket and turned the light off, leaving the door open a crack so he would hear her if she woke up. Jess scratched his bushy red beard absentmindedly and sat down at his desk. He looked at the picture of his wife and two children that sat proudly next to the ceramic coffee mug he held in his hand.
What a fucking way to start the day
, he thought, and rubbed his eyes.

“So, what's next?” he asked Terry. Terry

Richards was the Sheriff of Elizabettown. He had been Sheriff for almost twenty years now, and had never seen a case like this. He looked at Jess, giving him an unconscious inspection, checking to see if he had shaved, his hair length, was his uniform on correctly,
etc.
and smiled. “I really don't know Jess,” he said, shrugging his massive shoulders. I don't know what to make of it.”

“What did you get out of them,? He motioned to the three men sprawled out in the jail's only cell. “Just cussed out,” Jess said, grinning. “They claim they saw her walking down a dirt road while they were out hunting.” “Well we can't hold em much longer Jess, if they ain't done anything wrong. Did Sarah's story back them up?” “Yeah. She said the same thing, said she's never seen em before either.” “Well, let em out whenever they wake up” Terry said. “I'll get on the phone with a couple of State fellas I know and we'll see if we can make any sense outta this. Oh and make sure you get their names and addresses before you let them go, just in case we need to reach em again.”

“This is what she said,” Terry stated, a little embarrassed to have to tell such a crazy thing over the phone. He was on the phone with his buddy, Fred, from the State Police Headquarters. Terry relayed the story that Sarah had given to them. A red man, named Mikel, she said, took her flying. They went to another planet where she saw tall gray things that ate people. They had an uncountable number of people on that planet penned up in some sort of building and were killing them to eat.

“Is this a joke, Terry?” Fred asked, laughing, “Kinda early in the morning for that just yet, let me have my coffee at least before you go trying to get one over on me.” “It's no joke, Fred, I wish it was.” Terry said, tapping the end of his pencil against the desk blotter. “Fucking kid can't stop talking about it.” “Oh, I see, Fred replied, sobering. “I'll get in touch with some people I know of and send em over your way to talk to the kid, you just hold on for a couple of hours, ok?

“Thanks Fred, I appreciate the help.” Terry said.

“No problem pal, anytime,” Fred said and hung up the phone.
Now where is that fucking number to
NASA? I just saw the damn thing a few days ago, h
e thought to himself as he rummaged through his desk.

“Ah... here it is”, he said as he fingered through the rolodex on his desk. “Here goes nothing.”

Two hours later, at the Elizabettown Police Station, three NASA Government Scientists walked briskly into John's office. They introduced themselves, each shaking John's hand politely and sat down in the brown leather chairs in his office, when John asked them to take a seat. “Is she still asleep?” the scientist named Horace asked.

“Yeah, she's been passed out for a while now, she was exhausted.” Horace noted it on a large yellow legal pad that rested on his lap. “Can you tell me more about her appearance when she came in this morning” Horace asked, his pen held in mid-air. His stark blue eyes sent chills down Terry's spine, his flesh prickled up with goosebumps.

“She was smelly, dirty, her hair was a tangled mess, and she didn't have on any shoes. Oh yeah, she has cuts and scratches all over her hands, her face and her feet. Looks like she's been livin in the woods or something.” “She smelled, you say?” Horace asked pointedly, “What did she smell of?” ” “Well, it was a cross between rotten meat and spoiled milk from what my deputy Jess told me. He tried to clean her up a little before he put her on the couch in there, but it didn't help much, he said.”