Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2) (24 page)

“Do you want me to change? To become like you?”

“No.”

Her abrupt answer surprised him. “Why not?”

“We live only to live, to survive, we stop at nothing
to safeguard our way of life. I don’t want you to become like me.”

“But you’re more than that Eve,” he replied, taking
her arm and pulling her to him. “You’re much more than that.”

He was wrong, but Eve did not argue and let him kiss
her. “We have to go,” she said, but not letting go of him.

“What happens now?”

Eve shrugged. “The future keeps changing, more than
ever before. I’m not sure what to make of this and mustn’t delay my departure
any longer.”

Eve took them back to the bunker. She was anxious to be
on her way. Things were moving and changing at a rapid pace, time was shortening.  
 

Zack pounded on Austin’s door again, stopping to
listen only for a second before resuming his assault. At the next pause he was
surprised to hear the lock being turned. The door opened and Eve stepped aside
for him to enter. Although one of the few who knew her as Eve, seeing her this
way always caught him off guard. Zack eased by, avoiding making contact with her.

“Glad you’re here man. We need to talk and don’t have
much time,” Austin said, coming to meet Zack at the door.

“Not much time before what?”

“I have to leave,” Eve interrupted.

Austin walked over to her. “You’ll be careful?”

“I will.”

They kissed good-bye, embracing for a brief moment
before Eve vanished from the room.

“What was that?” Zack asked.

“Nothing,” Austin avoided looking at him and sat on
the couch.

“Can you explain nothing that looked like something?”
Zack sat down across from him. “Last time we talked you were desperate to find
a cure, now you’re playing house with the devil’s spawn.”

Austin’s cheek twitched, subtle enough it went
unnoticed by Zack. “You think her inherently evil?

“I think for Eve, for the Adita, the line between good
and evil is razor thin and even sharper. Inherent or not,” Zack replied. “I
think if you came between her and something she wanted, you wouldn’t stand a
chance. She’d kill you without remorse. Right or wrong doesn’t exist for them. In
most situations a human might consider the difference, weigh the consequences, where
as an Adita considers neither, nor do they care.” Zack took a breath, and then
shrugged. “Of course this is only an opinion based on what, I haven’t a fucking
clue.” 

“I understand you’d think that way about them, about
Eve, but she’s the mother of my son. I have to believe there’s something more
to her than basic survival instincts.”

“Maybe so,” Zack replied. “I guess you could argue
nature versus nurture. And considering Eve’s been on Earth, separated from the
Adita for thousands of years, I guess it’s possible she’s picked up some of our
traits. Not sure if that changes who she is, but it’s possible.”

“Do your feelings have anything to do with Madison?”
Austin asked straight out. “That maybe you doubt Eve and think she could have
saved Madison had she wanted to?”

Zack dropped his head finding the floor easier to look
at than those piercing blue eyes. “Yeah I guess in some ways, yes. I’m sorry. I
wasn’t trying to be an asshole. And you know I’m grateful she saved Madison’s
baby, our baby.”

“Then why all the hostility?” Austin knew his answer,
but wanted to give Zack the opportunity to let it out.

“It’s been so fricking hard. I miss her so much. The
emptiness. I didn’t want her to go that day.” Zack squeezed his hands together
until his knuckles turned white. “I shouldn’t have let her go.”

“You can’t do that to yourself Zack. It won’t change
anything,” Austin replied. “You’re going to have a child, a daughter Eve tells
me. You need to live for her. Don’t chase ghosts. You can never catch them.”

 Zack looked up. “A daughter? Holy shit. I’m gonna be
a dad. Now that’s fucked up.” A hint of a smile teased at his lips.

Austin smiled back. “So cut Eve some slack will ya?”

“Yeah...”

“But?”

“But I don’t trust her. There I said it and I’m sorry
if that hurts your feelings or pisses you off. Hopefully you won’t pummel me
into the ground for being honest, but that’s it and, well that’s all,” Zack
finished, holding his breath.

Austin couldn’t say much to this. Trust was something
he himself hadn’t given to Eve. He couldn’t expect those who knew nothing about
her to do more than he was willing or able.

“And from your silence I’m guessing you don’t either,”
Zack added. “Which means you won’t pound me into the ground.”

“I don’t know what to think,” Austin admitted. “And no
one’s going to pound anyone into the ground for being honest.”

Zack looked up, a spark in his eye. “Do you love her?
Is that what this is about?” It was Austin’s turn to stare at the floor. “You
do. Damn.” But he couldn’t berate the man for falling in love, even if she
wasn’t human.

“It’s not love. Eve is not someone you fall in love
with.” Austin stopped short, unsure of what to say or how to explain his
feelings for Eve.

Zack snorted. “Not love, than what is it?”

“I don’t know. Look Zack, things are changing. Eve’s
not certain anymore what Agra plans to do,” Austin said. “She’s gone to Russia,
where she thinks Agra is headed.”

“What do you mean plans to do? Were there alternatives
to taking over the planet?”

“That’s still going to happen or is happening. That’s
what I wanted to talk to you about. The Svan have moved overseas. There’s nothing
left of Europe except for a handful of survivors. They’ve ramped up their
search for humans. By the end of the week I expect they’ll have covered the
entire planet,” Austin replied, knowing how awful it sounded, but dousing a
pile of shit with perfume wouldn’t change it from smelling like a pile of shit.
At least not according to Donny Reynolds’ philosophy on life.

“But how do you know this?”

“Eve told me.”

“And you believe her? Just like that? Eve said it, so
it must be true?” Zack argued for the sake of arguing, because he didn’t want
to think about what this meant.

“She has no reason to lie. Do I think she’s told me
everything? Probably not, but what she’s shared about the Earth is the truth.”

“So what now? What do we do now?” Zack asked.

“I don’t know,” Austin answered. They were always
looking to him for answers, but this time he didn’t know what to do, not now,
not with the playbook always changing. Warlords, militants, even the gorillas followed
certain behavior patterns he could pick up on. Blood drinking, organ stealing
aliens weren’t in any of the government’s training sims.

“Do we wait? Like sitting ducks?” Zack pressed.

“We wait for Eve to return. I know it’s asking a lot
to trust her, but even if she doesn’t have your best interest in mind, she
won’t allow harm to come to any of you because of me. I know it’s not the best
solution, but if the Adita are taking over the entire planet, what does it
matter where we go? If they want to find us, they will find us. If we fly to
Germany or to Japan, it wouldn’t make a difference. If for some reason Eve lied
and life still exists as Kyle described, what do we do then? Warn people? Would
they listen? Would mass hysteria follow?”

Zack marinated on this for a few seconds. “Maybe I can
figure out a way to stop them. Maybe Eve would help me do that. She must know
how they die.”

“The Adita don’t die,” Austin said, knowing this was
not completely accurate.

“Oh bullshit. Everything dies. Everything,” Zack
emphasized the last word. 

Austin considered telling him decapitation was a way,
but only if using a weapon made of a rare metal from a universe they had no
means of reaching. “The Adita are not like other species and they aren’t the
only ones out there.”

“They aren’t? Well fuck me over twice.”

“I would have expected you of all people to already have
considered we aren’t alone in the universe.”

“Sure I have. I’ve thought about it, but it was you
know, the dope. Smoke a joint, sit on the hood of your car, stare at the stars
and ponder shit. Never meant anything.”

Austin understood Zack’s reluctance to believe. “Whether
we like the facts or believe in them doesn’t matter. The Adita are real.”  

“Ed will want to keep looking for his son. He won’t
stand for being trapped down here.” Zack replied, giving up on debating other
life forms. They were a done deal, and if the Adita existed, logic dictated
others probably did as well. 

Austin decided against telling Zack about the harvest.
What did it matter now? Ed’s son, Madison’s sister, Luke’s mom, they were nothing
more than corpses kept alive by machines, if they were alive at all. He would
never say this to Ed, even if it was the truth. With Jenny’s return, Ed had
renewed hope for finding his son. “You realize that his son is probably dead or
close to it.”

Zack sat back. “And you know this how?”

“I don’t, but I’ve seen the people in the warehouses
on Paru. You saw for yourself the people in that camp. It would be suicide to
go after him. And for what?”

“For closure man. Ed needs to know Ryan isn’t hooked
up to a machine somewhere, alive enough that he might still have dreams. That
he might still remember and think about his parents. Think about it, man. You
risked everything for your son. How can you expect him not to do the same?”
Zack demanded, getting slightly perturbed.

 “That was different. I didn’t know what I was up
against?”

“Bullshit man. That’s pure bullshit. You would have fought
King Kong with your bare hands to save your son. So don’t give me that crap. I
deserve more respect than that. Ed deserves more.”

“You’re right. You’re right. I’m sorry.” Austin took a
deep breath, letting it out slow.

“Eve could save him. She saved Jenny. Why not Ryan?

“And what about your mom or Luke’s mom? Aren’t they
all worth saving?”

“My mother’s dead.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I can’t. It’s a theory. An almost educated guess, but
not really.”

Austin waited, again blocking Zack’s thought from his
mind. A skill he was getting better at, allowing him to control what came in. He
had more than enough going on in his own mind to be sorting out other people’s thoughts.

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“She had AB negative blood.”

“And?”

“The bodies dropped back to Earth, they all had AB
blood. No variations. I tested hundreds of samples. Each time it was the same
type.”

“What does that prove?”

“The Adita can’t use the AB blood type.”

“What type are you?

“O positive. In fact everyone in the bunker, except
you and Grace, is an O plus. Grace is O negative and I don’t know what type you
have or had. I thought it was O negative, but I don’t know anymore. Not sure
about Kyle and McKenna. I haven’t tested them yet, but my money’s on O. The
thing is ABs can receive from anyone, but can only give to other ABs, where an O
can give to anyone, but an O negative is super rare and can only receive from another
O negatives. So my theory is this...”

“Zack,” Austin interrupted. “What does it matter if
you figure it out?

Zack looked at Austin like a spiked horn had sprouted
from the center of his forehead. “What does it matter? What does it matter? It
matters that if those bloodsuckers can only survive on O negative, which is
rare, then, unless they have a production line somewhere capable of replicating
human blood, they will...” Zack stopped. “That’s it isn’t it? They’ve figured
out how to make more blood.”

Austin didn’t answer. Based on what Eve had told him,
Zack was close to being right.  He would have liked to share what he knew, but
he couldn’t put Zack’s life in anymore danger by fostering hope in defeating
the Adita.

“Anyway, Madison’s sister was AB negative and so was
Luke’s mom. Oh and Ryan’s an O negative, but I don’t know what that means.
Maybe the Adita are O negative, or something like O negative, or maybe they can
mix O negative with other types. We can’t, but they might know how...”

Austin held up his hand to stop Zack. “You need to prepare
for a long stay underground. In fact we might want to consider returning to the
mountain.”

Zack balked at this idea. “Cheyenne? Oh hell no. The
girls will refuse. We’re better prepared here than anywhere else.”

“So I guess that puts us back at square one.” Austin
replied.

“I guess it does,” Zack agreed, his thoughts going out
to Ray and if he was still alive. Maybe he could go get him, but then again
not. Thing was Ray most likely wouldn’t leave.
‘Them damn aliens don’t want
nothin’ to do with an old cuss like me,’
he would argue and refuse to go.

“We’ll be safe. Eve will protect us.” Austin said,
knowing this didn’t comfort Zack. “Hey man, I don’t have any answers right now,
but you have to trust me,” Austin said. “Eve will protect us. The Svan won’t
come down here. She won’t allow them to. They obey her, I’ve seen it. Besides,
right now they are occupied overseas. Only a small group was left behind to
guard the camps here.”

“What about Ed?”

“I’ll talk to him. I feel for him, but he can’t go
traipsing around the country. Eventually a Svan will kill him. I don’t want him
or Luke being run and gun cowboys. They’ll both end up dead.” Austin’s hand
went to rubbing his head. “I’ll look for Ryan.”

“How will you know where to find him?”

“I don’t know. I’ll ask Eve. She may know where to find
him.”

The two men sat lost in their own thoughts. Nothing
about their discussion sat well or promised a good outcome. Zack caught himself
wondering when might be a good time to give up, to throw in that towel and
surrender. Maybe they could re-enact Guyana. He could take on the role of Jim
Jones. They would name the bunker Zack-town and they would all drink the Kool-Aid
or Gatorade or maybe whiskey. Yes whiskey. If he was going out, he was going to
do it right. Jack Daniels or Southern Comfort, screw the kid’s stuff.