The Harvest (Book 1) (8 page)

When they first brought her to the Section, his imagination went wild with the possibilities of having an alien creature in their midst. Was she intelligent? Where was she from? Were there others? Gossip amongst the section staff speculated that she was a vampire. The general had laughed at their notions, calling them absurd. Vampire was a concocted word not based in scientific fact and, as far as he was concerned, belonged in Hollywood, not in the reality he was dealing with right here.

So on and on he pondered about and over her existence. His pondering turned into frustration when day after day she provided nothing. She never spoke and he only referred to her as the subject, refusing to use any of the nicknames he’d heard his men whispering. He would have pulled the plug as Chase had suggested, but then came the breakthrough in getting her blood sample. Once that occurred, Roth’s enthusiasm over his subject again knew no bounds, driven by the certainty her DNA held the key to eternal life. She’d become his blinding obsession.

Roth hurried down the corridor, anxious to get the sample to the lab, but was stopped when the alarms went off. Lights flashed and ‘
Code Orange’
blared out from the speakers over and over again. Code Orange meant only one thing. Roth dropped the vile into his pocket regretting that eternal life would have to wait a bit longer. Code Orange was never used in training exercises, but he was ready and knew just what needed to be done.

6 CLOSE ENCOUNTER

Present Day

Bunkered down in Lucky’s dairy freezer, the unlikely trio finished their dinner of chili and crackers. Luke collected the empty cans in a plastic bag, tying the ends into a knot. Despite believing they were the only humans left alive, Austin insisted they not leave a trail of garbage in their wake. His need to abide by this rule, or any rule for that matter, on the surface appeared to be an automatic reaction ingrained into his thought processes. Under the surface those rules meant having hope for the future, something neither Luke nor Austin dwelled on or discussed.

With dinner over, there wasn’t much left to do except wait for morning. The three travelers prepared to bed down. Madison unraveled a sub zero sleeping bag. She exchanged her boots for running shoes and climbed in fully clothed. She placed her nine mil on the floor; barrel pointed at the wall and zipped her bag closed, but not all the way. She pushed herself up against the wall and then placed her gun in her lap, checking again that the safety was on. Austin, who noticed everything under the guise of a blank expression, was somewhat impressed. It had never occurred to him to change out of his boots.

“How long you been on the road ma’am?” Luke asked from the opening of his gortex cocoon.

“You’re gonna have to drop the ma’am stuff and just call me Madison or Maddie. K?”

“Sure thing.” Luke agreed. “You can call me Luke...you know cuz , um, that’s my name.” He cleared his throat, feeling the warm flush rising up his neck. He tried to relax, telling himself she couldn’t see his face, which was most likely beat red at this point.

“Well Luke, I left Tampa back in May, so what’s that? Like four months?”

“It took you four months to get here?” Austin’s condescending tone was difficult to miss, but Madison ignored it.

“I was in Tampa when the bodies dropped. I...I was trying to find my sister.”

“Don’t pay him no mind.” Luke offered as an apology for Austin’s harsh tone and inhospitable attitude, wondering what had gotten into the captain.

“We all have our demons.” Madison replied, shrugging.

“Where ya goin’ in Colorado?” Austin asked using a less harsh tone, wondering himself why he was being an asshole.

“Pueblo. Or close to it. I read an article about this millionaire kid who built an elaborate underground bunker just outside Pueblo. Said it was the size of a small town and could hold up to a hundred people for seventeen years. So...”

“So that’s your plan?” Austin finished for her. “To somehow find this bunker and then what? You gonna knock on the door and invite yourself in? Oh wait it’s a bunker, so it must be underground, which means the entrance is buried under four feet of snow and ice. Good plan.”

She cast him a glare. “If you’d let me finish. After I read the article, I contacted a friend in Pueblo sheriff’s department, who was more than happy to share. Turns out this guy wasn’t exactly a favorite in law enforcement circles. So, captain, I know exactly how to find the entrance. As to your other question, I’m betting by the time I arrive the kid will be slap happy to see another human being.”

Austin smirked, keeping further snide remarks to himself. He had no reason to berate this woman, who must have gone through hell getting this far on her own. He should be congratulating her, not picking her apart. What the hell was wrong with him? Roxi would have smacked him upside his head had she been there.

“The guy’s like my age ain’t he?” Luke asked.

“I think he was twenty four at the time of the article. And that was about two, or three years ago. If you can believe everything you read.”

“How’d boy wonder make his millions?” Austin asked.

“Pot.”

“Pot?”

“Yeah. He sold marijuana. His company was the first of its kind to go public. I forget what he called it.”

“M.J. Inc.” Luke filled in. “I wrote a paper on it for my Business Theory class.”

“M.J. Inc. Right. Anyway, that’s where I’m going. What about you guys?”

“Cheyenne Mountain.” Luke proudly informed her.

“What’s in a mountain?” She asked.

“The toughest military base ever constructed.” Austin responded. And Section Seven he thought to himself.

“Yeah. It’s built six hundred feet under the mountain. Has top of the line technology, including a hospital, and they grow their own food.” Luke added.

“I guess that trumps a pot smoker’s bunker.” Madison quipped.

“Yeah, I guess it does.” Austin’s voice had a hint of a smile.

Madison glanced over at Austin, but he wore the same steely expression. “Do you know what we’re dealing with? I mean it can’t be another country or even our government. It’s gotta be an alien right?”

“That would be my guess.” Luke answered. “Cuz, you know, why would the government want to kill all those people?”

“Have you seen anything?” Madison asked.

Luke sat up on his elbows, shaking his head while glancing over at Austin.

“You’ve seen them?” She asked. “Who are they?”

“They’re not a who.”

“Not a who? What does that mean?”

“They’re not human. And no I haven’t seen them.” He zipped up his sleeping bag, and rolled on his side facing away from Madison. “If this meet and greet is over, we should get some sleep.” He turned off the light not waiting for a response.

“What do they look like?” Madison asked, unwilling to give up just yet.

“Picture the boogey man.” Austin replied. “And then try to imagine something a thousand times worse.”

“Oh.” Madison replied. She scrunched down in her bag and tried to not picture something worse that the boogey man. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Maddie, Madison.” Luke fumbled, silently berating himself for sounding like a dorky kid. So what if she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, that didn’t mean he had to act like he’d never seen a pretty woman. He’d seen plenty of pretty women. Not supermodel pretty, but still it was no reason to act like an idiot.

“Thanks for letting me to stay with you guys.” Madison said.

“You’re welcome.” Austin answered before Luke could respond.

“Conceited asshole.” Madison mumbled to herself. She repeated this again in her head and then quickly reminded herself to not nitpick her new travel companions. After all, it wasn’t as if the choices were even few and far between, they were nil. And, all things considered, she could have happened upon worse, much worse.

She didn’t hold any misguided sense of security when it came to men, not in post apocalypse America. She felt certain Luke was innocence personified. As for the captain...she wasn’t sure what to think of him. Instincts said he was dangerous, but not a danger to her, not in the traditional sense of the word anyway. Maddie closed her eyes, hoping for sleep. She didn’t have to hope for long.

Five feet away, Austin closed his eyes, but his mind didn’t grant him peace. Images of Roxanne floated in and out of view, always the same, always her same desperate cries for him to help her, to save their baby. Roxi morphed into Eve. Green eyes turned pitch black. Eve beckoned him to follow her. He watched for a sign, or an indication that he was on the right track, but she revealed nothing. Frustrated he opened his eyes and focused on the sound of his companion’s breathing. Both were fast asleep.

“Sydney.” Madison mumbled in her sleep. “Stop Syd. Not funny…”

She mumbled something else, but Austin couldn’t make out the words. She shifted in her sleeping bag, but didn’t wake. Curious about something, Austin held the night vision goggles up to his eyes, and looked over at Madison. Her hand rested on her gun as he had expected. He was about to lower the goggles, but paused for a second on her face. Even in the green light, he understood the effect she had on Luke and probably most men she came in contact with. Beauty was a dangerous thing. If they crossed paths with other men, it might cause them to act less than civilized. He’d seen it happen before over less.

Tossing the goggles to the side, he zipped up and turned over. It was his duty to protect all citizens from the enemy, regardless if the enemy was foreign, domestic or a monster. The origin of the threat was of no consequence to him. In this he accepted the responsibility of Madison’s well being. He now had two opportunities at redemption. This time he hoped not to fail.

There were a few things about her granting him the slightest bit of comfort. That she was a cop and obviously knew how to handle a weapon was a definite plus. And, despite his earlier remark, he was impressed she’d made it this far on her own, which indicated she had better than average survival skills. Knowing he wouldn’t have to hold her hand gave him as much peace of mind as anything could these days.

The question of her age crossed his mind. He muddled through what little he learned about her. As a lieutenant she had to be at least twenty five, but it seemed unlikely she was that young. Not because she looked older, she just projected an air of maturity that indicated she was closer to thirty, maybe over thirty. Too old for Luke, he thought. And then shook his head at why he would think such a thing. He sighed and closed his eyes. This time he slept undisturbed.

Sometime in the night, Madison awoke with a start. Her eyes adjusted to the small room, as her mind slowly came back to her surroundings. She relaxed, but didn’t close her eyes. The uncomfortable pressure on her bladder prevented immediate return to sleep. On her own she would have just gotten up to use the bathroom, but she wasn’t alone and she was inside a freezer. She debated holding out until morning, and checked her watch. It was only three o’clock. If she had skipped water at dinner there would be no predicament. Damn it to hell.

“Shit.” She muttered, reaching for the zipper.

“Bathroom’s out the door to the left of the meat cases.” Austin’s voice startled her.

“What? How’d you know?” She unzipped her bag.

“I had a wife.” He stated flatly and turned the lantern on low. “Here use these.” He tossed her the night vision goggles.

“Thanks.” She muttered, embarrassed to be sharing personal moments with a complete stranger. Get use to it girly. Things ain’t pretty out there. They’s mostly ugly. Her grand mamma would say to her anytime she complained about anything. And there ain’t always gonna be clean bathrooms, or private moments. Madison added to grandma’s advice.

“Fifteen steps outside the storage room past the meat case to the right is a single bathroom. It looked pretty clean, but don’t know about the toilet paper supply.” He tossed her a roll and waited until she was ready to go out the door before turning off the lantern.

“Shit. My gun.” She stopped in the doorway.

“Just leave it.”

She hesitated. “I can’t.”

“I don’t’ want your gun.” He said in a gruff voice.

“I’m not worried about you taking it.” She snapped. “Forget it. Doubt bullets matter anyway.” With that she pushed open the freezer door and stepped out.

After she left, Austin went and stood in the open doorway of the storage room to wait on her. He mentally added a second pair of night vision goggles to his list of things to acquire. His bug out gear had only contained one pair and up until now that has been sufficient. As he waited, he thought of other items they might need if they came across a military surplus store. A hit or miss under their current conditions, but this was Oklahoma, a state well known to be stockpiled high with military sentiment and gear, so the odds should be in their favor.

Inside the bathroom, Madison zipped up her Gortex pants, making sure everything was tucked in, and slipped on her parka. She never thought she could hate the cold more, but she did now.  She mentally cursed whoever, or whatever, had taken over their planet. They sure knew how to create havoc for human beings. The days were blustering cold, and the nights, when the winds subsided, belonged to them, whatever they were.

They were captives to an unseen enemy, unseen to her anyway. Madison shuddered. Mysteries were her thing, her drug of choice. She had become a ‘who dunnit’ junkie at a very young age and knew, without a doubt, she would one day be a detective. Solving the puzzle was her first and foremost priority. She attacked every case with such fervor that Chief Ruiz was often compelled to express concern over her mental state.

She never once stopped to consider if she wanted to know all the answers. It was an automatic reaction to the unknown. She always had to know all of the answers, consequences be damned. That all changed when the bodies began falling from the sky on a regular basis and life as she knew it ceased to exist. The desire to solve the mystery had lost most of its appeal.

The question anymore wasn’t if she wanted the answers. It had become a question of would it matter? She’d asked this whenever she caught herself thinking about investigating deeper, thinking about going out at night on the off chance she might see one and not be seen and not be caught and not be ripped apart. These were too many ‘not bes’ for her comfort level.