Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2) (12 page)

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 next 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?

As Ed number crunched, Zack wondered what in the hell the
government had been up to when building these camps. What were they
anticipating needing them for? These questions and many more plagued him, but
most disturbing was what to do about these people? Could they save one? Could
they save any?

“We should go,” Zack said in a low voice.

“What about these people?” Luke asked.

“There’s nothing we can do.” Zack replied, bracing for
a fight, but neither one of them argued back. Maybe they’d thought it through
and reached the same conclusion he had, that any attempt at this point would be
futile. They needed transportation, medical equipment, and knowledgeable staff.
The list of things they did not have and could not get went on and on.

“Let’s go. If we get to an airport by noon, we’ll be
home well before dark. In enough time to drive back to the bunker.” Zack pulled
his ski mask down over his face.

The men traveled down the steps feeling heavy hearted
and ridden with guilt. Zack thought of the redhead. She looked to be eighteen
or nineteen years of age, not far from Colin. What if that was Colin lying
behind the glass, with his life being sucked out of him? No way in hell Zack
would leave him behind. And despite his earlier decision concerning his mom, he
knew he wouldn’t leave her behind either.

They exited the building not looking back. Outside
they stood for a long time saying nothing. The situation was dire, but they
were powerless to make changes and no amount of wishing or good intentions mattered
to the fact. They were leaving those people behind. Luke knew doing so would
haunt him for days, probably weeks, probably forever. The redhead’s green eyes
would come to him in the dark, her lips would speak to him, plead with him to
set her free.  

Luke turned to Zack and Ed. “There’s got to be
something we can do. I mean we can’t leave ‘em like that.”

“We could come back,” Ed replied.

Zack shook his head. “And then what? Take ‘em off
their life support system? Watch ‘em die before we get ‘em out of the building.
We’re not trained for this shit. Not me. Not you. Not none of us.” Zack began
walking towards the gate. He wanted to get back, and damn it to hell, he wanted
to see Madison.

Ed and Luke shared a defeated look and followed Zack
down the path. Nothing more was said about saving anyone. They’d be lucky to
save themselves at this point and they knew it. Still, the doubts continued to
linger and the guilt ate at them like a termite on a piece of wood.

Once through the hole in the fence, Zack put some
effort into camouflaging where he’d cut the wire. He didn’t imagine the Adita
took kindly to trespassers any more than the US government might have at one
time. He reviewed his handy work and figured even a blind bat could see someone
had cut the fence. He stared at the hole, trying to decide whether or not he
should do a better patch job, but he wasn’t seeing the crisscrossed wires or
thinking about how to fix them. He knew it didn’t matter. The Adita would know.
They’d know and then what might they do? Read the sign dumbass. Use of deadly
force is authorized. Zack smiled under his face mask. Old Bobby Londergan might
have been a rotten bastard, but he was no dummy. Luke tapped Zack on the
shoulder, startling him from the trance he’d settled into.   

Luke raised a finger to his face mask and pointed to
the sky. Zack and Ed turned to listen. From far off and high above, a strange
sound came to them, strange to all except Zack. Zack recognized the sound of
death approaching and was frozen still by the chill it delivered.

The sight of the great-winged Svan, the Sundogs flying
high above, made Ed feel like a character from The Wizard of Oz. Except these
weren’t winged monkeys obeying orders of the wicked witch. These were fierce
predators with razor sharp talons and pointed teeth capable of tearing through
human flesh and bones as if made of paper. Their master was a demon who had
come from the deepest pits of hell.

Zack pulled out the modified taser gun and aimed it
upward. The Svan screeched, flying at lightning speed towards them. Zack didn’t
wait to see the whites of its eyes, or black in this case, before he squeezed
the trigger. A strong pulse emanated from the taser, but to their utter shock
and dismay the Svan didn’t slow. The electromagnetic pulse had no impact. A
second round resulted in the same. Zack shook the taser, banged it against his
hand, as if these simple actions might prove to be the catalyst in garnering
the desired results from the weapon.

“Fuck you,” Zack yelled at the Svan. He grabbed Luke
and Ed and they ran for the forest. A worthless effort, he knew, but what else
were they to do? Watch death approach without so much as moving a muscle to
save themselves? He didn’t know about his companions, but lying down wasn’t
Zack’s style. He didn’t live this long to go out like mindless prey, too stupid
or scared to fight back. He was a Londergan goddamn it! Zack ran faster,
cursing his weak lungs.  

They ran across the frozen ground, lumbering along in
their heavy gear. No one thought why they ran for the trees. The trees offered
no protection, but seemed to be the only option. Logical thinking was a luxury
seldom available to those facing life or death situations. Fight or flight,
those were the choices within this situation, the former fell under death
rather than life and the latter a hopeless cause.

Ed looked over his shoulder. The Svan had landed in
the exact spot they had only recently vacated and were now charging after them.
In seconds they would catch up. In seconds it would be all over. Ed urged his
legs to move faster. Despite having spent the last month training, Ed was no
runner. He didn’t possess natural speed, not even now with the adrenaline
flowing through him faster than Niagara Falls.

The Svan were close enough Luke heard them breathing,
heard them talking in their odd language, felt their breath on the back of his neck,
on that one place between his collar and ski mask where his skin was exposed. He
risked a glance over his shoulder, something he should have been accustomed to
doing while running, a movement he had performed without thought thousands of
times. A twisting of his head was something that had never been a problem, not
even when mere inches stood between him and being flattened by a three hundred
pound lineman. But exceptions were possible and Luke’s exception came when
least desired and least able to recover. His eyes met those of the Svan, his
feet twisted underneath him and down he went, tumbling hard for several feet.
Motion ceased and Luke lay still on the ground, frozen by the certainty of
death. No visions of his past life flashed before him. In fact no thoughts came
at all and when he felt himself being lifted in the air his mind went blank.

“Asta!” a woman’s voice yelled out.

Luke was dropped to the ground where he lay silent and
motionless, certain he was dead.

 “Asta!”

Luke heard the voice say again and this time the Svan
moved away from him and his mobility returned. He slowly rolled over. By now
Zack and Ed had rejoined him. Ed helped Luke to his feet.

“You ok?”

Luke nodded his head in reflex only, as he didn’t know
if he was or wasn’t ok. He was still alive and being alive or ok held little,
if any meaning these days.

“Where’d she come from?” Zack asked, but wasn’t expecting
an answer from either of his companions. 

The men stood watching as the Svan bowed down to Eve,
not knowing if they should stay or continue on their way to the forest, to the
ATVs, to a perceived escape. Having removed the immediate threat of death,
logic stood a chance at making a decision and without discussion, they turned
to go.

“Wait,” Eve said, reaching out to grab Zack’s arm.

“Oh shit!” Zack jumped out of his skin. “How’d you get
over here so dang fast?”

“I did not mean to frighten you,” Eve offered as a
means of apology, but not the answer Zack wanted. “I must return you to the
bunker. The Adita will be here soon.”

“Great. I’ve been wanting to meet with them again. You
know invite them over for supper. The last time we met was so brief and the
circumstances were, how shall we say it? Less than desirable,” Zack replied,
but his sarcasm was lost on Eve.

“I don’t have time to explain,” Eve said. “You go now
or you die now. It is your choice.”

Luke, with his senses as near to normal as allowable,
stepped up to Eve. “Who the fuck are you? And why the hell should we listen to
you. You infect Austin with your sickness and now we’re supposed to blindly
follow you? Fuck no.”

Eve ignored his outburst. “If you stay you will be killed.”

Not to be pushed aside, Luke grabbed Eve’s arm. “I
asked you a question you blood sucking freak of nature. Who are you? What did
you do to Austin?”

Across the field the Svan took notice, but held their
place watching and waiting for a sign from their mistress. Eve turned her black
eyes upon Luke. “You know nothing of your origins, yet you assume humans are
the rightful heirs of this planet, that humans are the species Nature showered
her favors upon? You are a silly boy.”

Luke released her arm. He didn’t care about her
opinion of him or the human race. “Tell me he won’t die.”

“He will live forever,” she responded.

“No one should live forever,” Zack argued. “It’s not
natural.”

Eve ignored Zack and spread out her arms. A vortex of
energy stirred the snow around them into a funnel. A tunnel leading to nowhere
appeared and the men were sucked inside. The tunnel vanished as quickly as it
appeared and the snow settled back to the ground.

Eve returned to where the Svan waited. She looked
across the field to a spot where the landscape wavered like a Vegas highway in
the month of August. Out of the waves a male Adita and three females materialized.
Eve recognized the male, but could not remember his name or purpose, other than
he was a member of the council. She waited for them to come to her. As they
walked to her, Eve felt her father’s invisible fingers reaching out to her,
probing her mind. A sensation she’d experienced many times in her previous life
and had welcomed. Welcomed like someone starving for food, dying of thirst,
desperate for companionship. She was no longer desperate and blocked her father
from delving deeper.

“Agra has instructed that you remain on Earth until he
calls for you,” the male announced.

“Remain here? Why what has happened? What is wrong?
Tell me Za” Eve said, remembering his name.

“It is not for me to question his orders. They are
thus and you are to obey,” he replied with an air of superiority above his
station. “It is not a request.”

Eve glanced at the females standing behind Za, giving
them more attention, noticing who they were and what they represented.  The
force within her threatened, but she calmed the beast, for now wasn’t the time
to unleash or reveal that which she herself did not understand. A human would
have described the force as rage and, in its infantile state within an inferior
mind, this would be accurate, but Eve did not feel on the level of a human.