Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2) (3 page)

At the end of a narrow passage, Eve came to stop in
front of a closed door, where she waited. Soon the door flung inward. A boy of
seven, whose blond hair and blue eyes were in stark contrast to everything
around him, greeted her with a winning smile.

“I heard you coming,” he announced and moved aside for
her to enter. “I heard you all the way from the judging chambers.”

“What else did you hear?” Eve paused.

“Just you.” A cherub’s face, the smile of an angel,
the mischievous yet keen eyes gazed up at her.

She looked down into her son’s sweet face, but did not
smile back. She knew what was hidden behind the smile. “Caleb, you know not to
eavesdrop on grandfather. You know what would happen if he caught you?”

“He would harvest me.”

Eve shook her head. “What do you know about
harvesting?”       

“Absolutely nothing.” He hugged her “I don’t know a
thing mother. I promise.”

“The harvest is not of your concern. Do you understand?”
She attempted to smooth the curls out of his hair, already too long and needing
to be cut. In a few years that would change, everything about him would change.

Caleb nodded. “Why are you sad?”

“I’m not,” Eve replied, not knowing what it meant to
be sad, or to love, or to be loved for that matter. She only knew, as a mother,
her desire to protect her young was fierce. 

“Can we eat now? I’m hungry.” Caleb pulled her by the
hand back towards the door.

“What do you crave today?”

“Meat. And lots of it!” he replied, sounding more like
the child he appeared to be.

Eve smiled, pleased to hear these words from her son.
Caleb had yet to develop an appetite for blood of any kind, turning his nose up
at the various samples she’d presented to him. While this pleased her, it
annoyed Agra to no end, even angered him at times. The Adita warrior’s strength
came from the blood he drank, not from eating meat like a barbaric carnivore. His
aversion to Caleb’s food choices seemed to contradict the child’s overall
purpose. But regardless of why, Eve made certain Agra was not around during
meals. Of late she was of the opinion her father’s attitude came not from
Caleb’s food choices, but an annoyance less perspicuous.

This, coupled with her father’s insistence over Austin
being brought back for harvest, gnawed at her more insistently each passing day.
In the chambers during her hearing an essence of uncertainty hung in the air. A
subtle scent, which alone would not have caught her attention had her father
not attempted to hide the council’s feelings from her. Having so few memories
of life before her solitary journey began on Earth, she’d no idea if Agra’s
behavior normal. Recollections of father-daughter moments to call upon as
guides were nil, a single word about her mother was never spoken. Eve squeezed
Caleb’s hand and vowed he would never know a life without her.  

Although his military career had been cut short, ample
opportunities to witness the unexplainable had come Austin’s way. Accepting
that which could not be explained became the norm. Making difficult choices
were also an integral component of his life. Some made were good, others not as
good, but never bad. This choice, however, was singular in that no other choice
he’d ever made could possibly compare. Being human was not a state most people questioned
or gave much thought and Austin wasn’t the exception. At least not until now,
not until Eve provided an alternative in the form of a gift.

Standing in his bathroom, staring at his reflection in
the mirror, staring at eyes, he wondered if being human was a choice he could
still make. His eyes, once a striking blue, were now darkened by black flecks in
the pupil. He tried, but could not blink or rub away the defect. Adding to
this, a less obvious change, his thoughts were moving like someone had hit the
nitrous button, putting his neurons in hyper mode. All of the bunker’s sounds,
whispers, and conversations happened in his bathroom, in his bedroom, wherever
he went they were in his head, his constant companions.

What had Eve done when she bit him? The possibilities
were limited, each one sounding like voodoo or the meanderings of the
superstitious and insane. The most viable choice being vampirism. The validity
of this conclusion not based on any scientific facts. Vampires were fantasies
born out of make-believe. However, the current facts facing him, or at least
the ones he knew, told another tale, a story of unbelievable myths becoming
truths. The facts were saying Eve and her people, the Adita, were in some
points similar to vampires, if postulation was based on the mythical creature. But
they weren’t beings in the popular sense imagined in modern day movies and
books. They were beings that existed since the beginning of time. Built into a
tale of evil and superstition that was passed along from generation to
generation, the words changing in accordance with the beliefs of the time or
region.

Austin turned from the mirror. He didn’t want to look
at his reflection or think about Eve. Thoughts of Eve became thoughts of his
son. A month had gone by since they returned from Bliss. What was the time
differential from Earth to Bliss? How could they know? Zack thought the ratio to
be two days on Bliss equaled twenty-eight days on Earth, but Austin wasn’t convinced.
Applying logic to that which was not logical, couldn’t be relied upon and he suspected
Bliss moved at whatever pace the Adita thought necessary. The passage of time wasn’t
controlled by scientific measurement or any measurement known to man. That pace,
for whatever reason or lack of, was now moving faster than time on Earth. Of
this latter assumption, Austin knew he was right, but couldn’t have explain how
he arrived at this conclusion.

All of this was meaningless conjecture and soon
wouldn’t matter. In less than twenty-four hours he would return to Bliss. He’d
spent three weeks too long in the bunker, but Ed and Luke’s lack of survival
skills required attention. Not to mention the stacks of journals he’d asked Madison
to plow through and, despite her speed reading capabilities, took two weeks to
complete. The task proved a waste of precious time. After reading every single page,
every word, every unfinished thought written in the margins, they’d garnered
little information of solid worth, and befuddlement reigned.

Madison took notes throughout the process, ending up
with one page of information that one could easily argue over its usefulness or
lack thereof. Roth had been in contact with someone named Za, but no mention of
Agra was noted. The purpose for keeping humans alive was commented on in vague
convoluted phrases and incomplete thoughts. The harvest that Agra had alluded
to was not mentioned anywhere. The journals proved an unexpected disappointment,
filled mostly with Roth’s obsessive rants about Eve and eternal life. The only
fact of use, if to be believed, was the name Roth gave to Eve’s people. He
referred to them as the Adita, which meant nothing other than giving them a
specific term to use versus applying those to which were familiar.

Austin didn’t care about any of this. If he had to go
in on a wing and a prayer, then he would do so. Nothing could deter him from
going back for his son, not Agra and not Eve. Simply thinking her name brought
on a whole slew of questions without answers, and an array of tumultuous
feelings that bounced around the spectrum never landing on one end or the
other. Coming to grips with his feelings for her left him confused and anxious.
Gratitude often gave way to betrayal and anger. She’d shown him the truth about
Roxanne, but something deep inside wouldn’t allow him to release Roxi, to
accept her existence was never real. He didn’t know what he was holding on to
and maybe he was as delusional as Roth. Still, he couldn’t get out from under
the ominous cloud, the feeling he was missing the obvious.

A noise from outside his quarters and down the hall drew
his attention from the mirror, away from his problems. Footsteps approached,
slowing as they came to his door. He grabbed a pair of sunglasses and walked to
the front of his apartment to wait for the knock. He stepped aside for Madison
to enter. Following close behind was German, the last remaining canine. Austin
avoided looking directly at Madison, turning his attention on the dog.

“Did you know I was coming?” Madison asked, surprised
he’d opened the door so quick.

“I was about to leave,” he lied. Something he was
doing more and more of lately. A habit he wasn’t comfortable with, but without
knowing the truth, telling it was near impossible.

“Oh. I won’t keep you then.”

“It’s ok. I was going to check on Luke. See if he was
ready to go.”

Madison sat on the couch, folding her hands in her lap
to avoid fidgeting. From the moment Austin had returned from Bliss, she’d made
a point of avoiding him. An act he’d most likely noticed, but true to his
nature never questioned, only observed. She took a deep breath and looked up at
him.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses?” she asked.

“It’s nothing. Migraine is all. The lights, you know.”
Austin took a quick step back from her. The scent of her perfume or shampoo
caused his mind to swim in and out of focus. The smell was sweet, sickening in
its stench, reminding him of ripened fruit at the point before it turned
rotten.

“I didn’t know you got migraines.” She crossed her
arms. “You never mentioned that before.”

“Did you come here to talk about my health?” he asked,
using a sarcastic tone, knowing it would set her off, wanting to derail her
train of thought before it picked up steam.

Madison ground her teeth, refusing to allow his sarcasm
to bait her into a terse response. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t argue
with him and damn it if she wasn’t going to hold to that promise. Taking a deep
breath she refocused on why she was there to see him.

“I wanted to say good-bye,” she said evenly, holding
onto her composure.

“We’re not leaving till morning.”

“I’m not going to be there when you go.” She perched
on the edge of the cushion, her shoulders sagged a bit. “I can’t do it. I can’t
watch Luke and Ed go.” Or you. She closed her eyes, pushing her emotions away.
Despite having broken down several times over the past couple of weeks, she
would continue to argue she wasn’t the crying type and didn’t want to disprove
her claim by shedding more tears in front of Austin.

Austin stared at the top of Madison’s head. He heard
what she was saying, mingled with what she was thinking, and tried to keep the
two separate. Her scent complicated his efforts, having woven its way into his
head, saturating his mind. A yearning settled deep in his stomach and his mouth
began to salivate. A powerful hunger, similar to what Eve had shared with him
in Section Seven at Cheyenne, overcame him. Austin fought against the rising
wave, suppressing the urges asking him to do unspeakable things. Against sane
reasoning or an ounce of good judgment, he sat down next to Madison, keeping a good
distance between them. He had this under control, he repeated as he sat. He
would never harm her.

“Luke and Ed are going to be ok,” he said, using a
soothing tone as much for her benefit as his own.

“You can’t say that. You don’t know they’ll be ok.”
She glanced at his profile. “Luke’s a kid. He barely survived Cheyenne before
you took him off to far away planets where God knows what happened to him. To
you.”

Austin reached out and took her hand. “Maddie, I’m
gonna take care of Luke and Ed.” Although the words came out of his mouth, he
wasn’t able to control the direction his mind went. He felt as if two people
existed within him, dueling for possession. A bead of sweat slid down the side
of his face.

“What about you?” Madison demanded. “Who’s gonna take
care of you?” She no longer cared about making a fool of herself.

“Eve,” Austin responded before thinking.  

Madison laughed a short bitter snicker. She turned to
face him. “Eve? Are you serious Austin? What is she? A vampire? A cannibal? A what?
And what about her people? Or the Sundogs or Svan or whatever the hell they are?
You’re no match for them. How are you going to--?”

Austin stared at the wall, losing focus as Madison
continued to ask unanswerable questions. The longing returned, subtle at first,
growing more intense by the second. He should put some distance between them,
but couldn’t bring himself to stand. Madison’s voice, her scent, they were like
heavy weights holding him down, magnets drawing him to her.  He saw her lips
moving, but could no longer hear her above the humming in his ears.

“Austin? Are you ok?”

Austin grabbed Madison to him, holding her tight in
his arms. Burying his face into her neck, he breathed in deep her scent.
“Maddie,” he mumbled against her skin. Raising his head, he mashed his lips to
hers, kissing her hard, tasting her mouth with his tongue. She struggled to
back away from him, making his desire even stronger, but it wasn’t desire for
the flesh, not in the traditional sense. He squeezed her arms, pulling her body
close to him. In the distance he heard growling. The growls grew louder. Then
German barked, short and loud. The realization of what Austin wanted to do to
her struck him like an ice cold splash of water. He shoved her away, springing
from the couch at the same time.    

“You better leave,” he said, unable to say more,
unable to warn her of the monster raging inside of him.

Moving as if in slow motion, Madison wiped her mouth
with her hand and stood up. “Austin what’s wrong?” She took a step closer, but
German came to stand between them not allowing her passage.

“Just get out. Now.” Austin’s voice came out as an angry
snarl. 

“I’m going. Damn if you don’t have to snap at me about
it. Have a good trip.” The door slammed on her last word.

Like a hot air balloon losing all of its heat, Austin
crumbled to the ground. He buried his face in his hands. The sound of his heart
pounding inside his chest echoed in his head and in the room, bouncing from
wall to wall. A gift Eve had called this maddening state. A gift that was
turning him into something less than human. Each day he’d felt an invisible
force taking over his body, while a second more crucial battle ensued for his
mind. The power to stop the transformation did not reside within him, if it
resided within anyone at all. Primal instincts fought against logic and Austin
wasn’t confident in the outcome. He could no longer pretend this wasn’t a
problem.  He could no longer fight this on his own.

Picking himself up from the floor, Austin took a deep
breath and held it for several seconds. He closed his eyes, focusing his
thoughts, clearing all images from his mind save one, that of his son Caleb. 
At what point in time he chosen this name and began to think of his son by such
was unclear. That it was Roxanne’s idea to name him this only mattered if he
allowed himself to ponder over the why, which he didn’t. She was gone, never to
have existed he reminded himself for the number of times beyond counting. Feeling
as if the beast within was subdued for the time being, Austin opened his eyes. Standing
at his feet, German waited and watched.

“What’s wrong with me?” He squatted down, rubbing the
dog’s ears. German responded with a few wags of his tail and a short bark.
“Yeah. I don’t know either,” Austin replied.