Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2) (8 page)

“Here, put this on.” McKenna handed him a hat made of
foil. “So they can’t see inside your head,” she responded to his gaping stare.

Kyle removed his scarf and hat, replacing them with
the aluminum hat. McKenna, serious as a heart attack, put her hat on as well.
“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. Sure.” After meeting the Mangled family, he
hadn’t thought much about eating, but now realized he was quite hungry.

In the corner, on a small nightstand, was a loaf of
white bread and a jar of peanut butter. Water bottles, paper plates and plastic
utensils were stored on the shelf below. McKenna busied herself fixing dinner.
From a small cooler she pulled out a jar of red jelly.

“I hope you like P.B. and J.” She glanced over her
shoulder, eyebrows raised.

“My favorite,” Kyle proclaimed, although he hadn’t had
one in years. Not since he was a kid and mom packed his lunch. Kyle’s hand
absently went to his chest, where hidden underneath the layers of camo was the
picture of his mom.

McKenna handed Kyle a plate with two sandwiches, and
some potato chips. He accepted the plate from her. “Looks delicious. Thank
you.” He fully expected the chips to be stale.

From a clothes closet she pulled out two regular sized
folding chairs and a metal T.V. stand. She set the table up, placing a chair on
each side. On the table she placed napkins and two bottles of water.

“You can sit.” She gestured to the chair.

Kyle sat holding his plate in his lap.

“I don’t usually have company.” McKenna sat in her
chair also holding her plate in her lap. She bit into her sandwich and watched
Kyle while she chewed.

Kyle took a bite and was surprised to find the food
tasted fresh. He ate a potato chip which still held quite a bit of crunch. They
ate in silence, the crunching of chips the only sound in the room. After they
finished McKenna promptly cleaned up. The chairs and tray were returned to the
closet. The plates were rolled up and placed in a garbage bag. The empty
bottles were added to another bag that was already full of plastic bottles.

Kyle watched from the corner, staying out of her way.
He got the impression she followed this routine every night and surmised it was
similar to the routine her family had followed, minus certain aspects. He
wanted to ask about her family, but didn’t know how to broach the subject.
Although accustomed to dealing with crying ladies, a distressed little girl was
not territory he felt prepared to tackle.

McKenna walked over to him. “If you need to use the
bathroom, you have to go through the closet. I made a tunnel”

“I’m good.”

 “Ok.”

“Now what?”

“I usually read until I get tired, but we can talk if
you like,” she offered and then turned red as if embarrassed.

Sensing she wanted to talk, Kyle smiled and replied,
“Talking. Yeah, I like that idea.” And he did. She might be able to shed some
light on what happened when the cloud dropped.

“You go first,” she said. “Oh wait I almost forgot.”
She vanished into the closet, returning shortly with a propane powered heater.
“I couldn’t get the cap off.”

Kyle nodded and took the heater from her. With a
little encouragement he was able to twist the cap off and attached the propane
canister. He set the heater on the nightstand and turned it on low. Within
minutes the room was toasty warm. McKenna shed her parka and boots revealing a
scrawny frame.

“Oh that’s wonderful,” she beamed. “I haven’t had heat
in months. My first heater ran out and this was the only one I could find over
at V&G’s Feed store.” She pulled two sleeping bags from off the bed and
handed one to Kyle. “We can sit on these.” 

Guessing by her height Kyle thought her to be ten or
eleven, which meant she’d been eight or nine when the white mass moved in. And
she’d survived all this time. Kyle was floored and somewhat embarrassed at his
previous behavior. Once situated, McKenna waited for Kyle to speak.

“Um. Well...so what was it you were playing on the
piano?” he asked.

“Bagatelle in A Minor,” she replied with a wave of her
hand. “Fur Elise. Beethoven.” She went on to Kyle’s blank expression.

“Ah Beethoven.” Kyle recognized this. “You’re pretty
good.”

“I practice every day.”

“Did your mom teach you?”

“No. I taught me.”

“You did?”

“Yep. Mom didn’t like the piano. She wanted me to play
the guitar and become a country music singer. I like the piano.”

Kyle was impressed. “Are you...is anyone else...”

“I’m the only child the aliens didn’t take,” she
jumped in. “They took most of the adults. Except old crusty Trooper Riggs. They
killed him in the street later. I was glad. I mean, not that he was killed, but
you know, he was kinda crazy and he didn’t know I was still alive.”

“I understand. Have you seen them? The aliens?”

“Yep. They are big and ugly like a fierce gargoyle,
but uglier than that and bigger. They are as tall as my house and have long
pointy nails on their hands and feet. And their teeth are long and sharp. When
they killed Trooper Riggs they opened him up like a book. From the middle” She
demonstrated. “He was old and mean anyway.”

 Kyle didn’t know if she was making this up as she
went or she’d really seen such things. They’d speculated about aliens having
arrived on the planet, but no one wanted to believe it.

“How come they didn’t take you?” she asked, stretching
out on her sleeping bag.

“I was in Germany.”

“The aliens didn’t go to Germany?”

“No.”

McKenna yawned. “Do you think they will?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did you come here?” Her eyes fell. “Why didn’t
you stay in Germany?”

“I’m need to find my mom and sister.”

McKenna didn’t respond and Kyle was sure she’d fallen
asleep. He turned the light down low. As easy as he was able, he picked her up
and laid her on the bed, covering her with the quilt.

“Mr. Kyle,” McKenna mumbled, laying her hand on his
arm.

“Yes.”

“Don’t leave me here.”

“I...” Kyle fumbled. “I won’t.” Of course he wouldn’t
leave her behind. What kind of shit head would he be if he left her here all
alone?

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He laid his hand over hers, only moving
after certain she’d fallen asleep.

Outside an object, thrown by the wind, hit the side of
the house. Kyle jumped a little, but being in the presence of this brave little
girl made his former doubts subside. If he couldn’t be brave on his own, he could
and certainly would be brave for her. Reaching to turn down the lamp, he noticed
the calendar on the night table. Half of the days of October were crossed off.
Kyle flipped to November, where Thanksgiving Day was circled. He flipped to December.
Christmas was circled in red with a big black X marking out the day. It was the
saddest thing he’d ever seen.

Madison sat alone at the diner counter. The rest of
the bunker residents were still sleeping. She sipped on her coffee, savoring
the aroma and rich taste. It was a Hawaiian blend Zack had brought back from
town. He didn’t say where he’d found it and she didn’t ask, preferring to
believe it came from a store rather than someone’s pantry. Happy for the time
alone, she used it to think, to meditate, and to mull over all those things she’d
pushed to the back of her mind for one reason or another.

So much had happened in the past few days it was
difficult to grasp onto anything that made sense. Since arriving, Roxanne had
not left Austin’s bed side. The boy, Austin’s son, remained with his mother
never venturing out on his own. As far as Madison could tell, he was not
allowed to speak much either. Madison had tried to reach out to Roxanne, but
had been greeted with a coolness that should have come with a frost warning.
The subject of Austin’s wife and son seemed to be on everyone’s taboo list. A
frustrating obstacle for Madison, who had questions, a multitude of questions.

Ed and Jenny had not come out of Ed’s living quarters
and she wondered how Jenny might be taking the news about everything that had
happened. How do you take something like that on top of everything else? As
hard as the past year had been for Ed, Madison thought Jenny was going to have
a more difficult time adapting.

Pouring another cup of coffee, Madison went and sat in
one of the booths. She slid to the end of the bench, leaned against the wall
and stretched her legs out so only her feet hung over the outside edge. As she
sipped her mind wandered. She revisited Section Seven, the Dodge City Diner,
down to Tampa and circled back to the bunker. Anne’s babies were due at the end
of December. Grace was due only a week later. Christmas babies and a New Year’s
baby, Madison thought. The word Christmas played around in Madison’s mind
wanting to be noticed. Christmas.

“Christmas,” she said out loud.

“Did you say Christmas?” Zack grabbed her foot making
her jump. “Sorry didn’t mean to startle you.”

“You didn’t. I mean you did, but...” Madison swung her
legs around under the table. “My mind was elsewhere.”

“On Christmas?” Zack sat down across from her. Ever
since she’d made it clear he wasn’t the guy for her, keeping his distance was
constantly on his mind and harder to do each day.

“I was thinking about Anne having her twins in
December and how they might be Christmas babies. I hadn’t realized it was
coming up. You know Christmas”

“Should we have some kind of celebration?”

“I don’t know if celebration is the right word
considering our circumstances.”

“What are our circumstances?”

“Whatta ya mean?”

“I was wondering what you thought of everything. Of
life. The future. You know, our circumstances. “

Madison stared at him for a long moment. She’d given
plenty of thought to many things, but not to those things. Not to their
situation or their circumstances. She lived in the moment, never thinking too
far ahead. “I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought. Have you?”

“I have,” Zack replied, his tone uncharacteristically
somber.

“And?”

“And I think celebrating Christmas might be a good
thing. Especially for the younger crew. One last hurrah before the ship sinks.”

Madison thought this over. “You think they’re coming
back? The Adita?”

“Yep.”

“What more do they want? They’ve already taken
everyone.” Madison voice went up an octave. “Except us. Except a few survivors.
We’re no threat to them. Why would they want...?” The answer smacked her in the
head. “They want Austin don’t they?”

Zack nodded, glad she was quick to pick up on things.
He needed to confide in someone, someone he could trust to be level headed. He
had reservations about Madison remaining neutral in regards to Austin, but knew
she could be trusted.

Madison’s cop side took over as she watched Zack’s
facial expressions change. “Do you know something?”

“I do, but you can’t tell anyone. No one. Not Luke or
Ed or anyone,” he emphasized.

“I won’t. I promise.”

Zack pondered for a moment, considering what he was
about to say. “Did you see Austin before he went into the coma?

Madison nodded.

“So you saw his eyes?”

“No. He had sunglasses on. Inside his apartment. When
I asked about it, he, he flipped out. Why? What’s wrong with his eyes?”

“Well,” Zack cleared his throat, “it seems Eve
injected him with some sort of something into his veins and his blood...”

“What do you mean injected?”

“Ah, not injected. Bit. She bit him.”

“What! Are you kidding me? Bit him? Come on Zack,”
Madison argued, but with little force because what he said didn’t seem all that
preposterous.

“Not kidding. Came straight from the horse’s mouth.”

“Austin told you that.” She rubbed her forehead. “Ok,
so she bit him.”

“So, I’ve been taking blood samples since he passed
out. At first the foreign cells, or Eve’s cells, were consuming his, but then
yesterday I noticed his cells were fighting back. They were eating or
consuming, the new cells.”

“Sounds very sci-fyish.  What does it mean?”

“Not sure yet, but it’s similar to when your body
fights a virus or bacteria. Except Eve’s cells are the Hulk of viruses.”

“Sounds more like cancer,” she said with not a little
note of sarcasm.

“Cancer? Ah. Hmm.” Zack pondered for a few minutes. He
hadn’t thought of this as a disease to be treated. 

“What’s the aha look for?”

 “You, my dear, may have come up with a possible
solution.” Zack flashed her one of his melt your heart smiles.

Madison’s heart did more than melt, it jumped in her
chest and her cheeks felt flushed. Don’t make a fool of yourself Mad, her mom chided,
choosing that precise moment to chime in after being silent for weeks.

 “Is this a private party?” Luke plopped down next to
Madison, saving her further embarrassment.

“Not at all,” Zack answered. “We were discussing
celebrating Christmas.”

“Christmas? Really?” Luke scowled. “What’s to
celebrate?”

Madison and Zack exchanged a worried glance. Both of
them had noticed Luke’s demeanor changing, his attitude growing worse by the
day.

“Hey man, lighten up. It’s not the end of the world,”
Zack said and then chuckled at his choice of words.

“Glad you think this is such a joke. Do you have to be
such a smartass about everything?”

“Hey, what’s your problem?” Madison turned to look at
him.

“I don’t have a problem. We have a problem.” He slid
out of the booth. “You all act like living down here is gonna go on forever. We
eat and drink like we have a never-ending supply. No one talks about the future
and what happens when all the shit runs out. We keep taking people in. Two of
the girls are going to have babies. How are we supposed to support everyone?” 

“What would you have us do? Turn them away?” Madison
asked.

“No. That’s not what I’m saying at all.” Luke ran his
hand through his hair, searching for the right words. “What I’m saying is we
can’t live like being down here is only temporary and one day things are gonna
return to normal. That’s never gonna happen. The vampires...the Adita, the
whatever, made damn sure of that.”

Madison refrained from telling Luke everything was
going to be ok. A stupid thing people said when they didn’t know what else to
say. Besides, Luke wasn’t a kid anymore. He was twenty-one, old enough to be
treated like an adult.

“Come on Luke. Sit down. Talk to us.”

Luke looked at Madison for a long moment, his
expression hard, and his body tense like he was ready to fight.

“Please,” she implored.

Luke’s shoulders relaxed and he sat next to her.
“Sorry for the outburst.”

“Don’t apologize dude. You’re right. We haven’t given
the future much thought,” Zack admitted. “But it’s hard to think about
something you don’t expect to happen. You know?”

The diner’s door opened and closed. Zack waved Ed
over.

“Morning all.” He slid into the empty space next to
Zack. His face was pale and dark rings circled his eyes.

“Hey Ed,” Madison replied. “You doin’ ok?”

“Ah, not really.”

Madison reached out and held Ed’s hand. Again she
stopped herself from saying everything would be ok. Damn it if there wasn’t a
less meaningless phrase. “How’s Jenny?” she asked instead.

“She’s strong.” He swallowed hard. “Stronger than me.”

“Has she told you anything about the Adita?” Luke
asked.

“Not really. She doesn’t remember being taken or
anything that happened that day. She only remembers waking up and Eve being with
her. She said the warehouses were full of people. Perhaps hundreds of them, but
she couldn’t remember seeing any children.”

“Does she remember what happened to Ryan?” Madison
asked.

Ed shook his head. “I don’t think so. All she could
tell me about that day was walking into the kitchen holding the tray of hot
cocoa. She doesn’t even remember seeing the Sundogs. I mean the Svan. She said
she had a faint recollection of traveling at a tremendous speed and feeling
like her body was being ripped apart. I guess they took her through the portal.
Anyway, we’ll be ok. If Ryan’s still alive, and I believe he is, I’m going to
find him.”

“How are you going to do that? Luke asked.

“I’ve been looking at that map Maddie took from Roth’s
office. All the circled areas are in remote parts of the country. The roads
aren’t even noted on the map. If the Adita have warehouses on Earth what better
place to hide them. I’ll search every one. I’ll save as many people as I can.
If Ryan’s in one, I’ll find him. I have to find him.”

“But there are thirteen circles spread out from Canada
to Florida. That’ll take a long time.” Madison replied.

“What else do I have to do?” Ed snapped.

“I’m going with you,” Luke announced.

“Thanks man. I could use the help.” Ed gave him a wry
smile.

“Do you know how to fly a plane?” Zack questioned, but
didn’t wait for an answer. “Well I do and finding these...what are we looking
for again?”

“Camps. Warehouses. I’m not sure.” Ed shrugged.

“Well finding these camps or warehouses will be easier
and faster from the air.”

“You have a plane?”

“Had a plane. I sold it before the Sundogs arrived, but
I bet there’re a few at the airport not being used.”

Ed couldn’t believe what Zack was telling them. “Why
haven’t you tried flying over the country looking for survivors?”

“Colin’s afraid to fly. Like deathly afraid. I wasn’t
going to leave him here alone.” Zack shrugged. “And since you guys arrived a
few months ago things have been kinda crazy.”

They all nodded. Madison, who was keeping a journal,
could have told them hardly a day went by that she didn’t have some new astounding
event to write down. “How big is the plane?”

Zack thought he knew where Madison was going with this
question. “I think it best to use a small plane and make short jumps from one
city to the next, trading out planes in each. Probably a four-seater if I can
find one that’ll run.” Zack’s mind worked fast and plans for this excursion
were rapidly unfolding.

Madison looked directly at Zack “You can’t leave until
after the babies are born.” 

Zack relaxed. She said you not we, meaning she
wouldn’t fight to go with them. He needed her here, but it wasn’t fair for him
to ask this of her. She hadn’t sign up to play den mother. “I’ll stay to
deliver.”

“That’s four weeks,” Ed protested. “What if the Adita
return before then? What if the harvest, or whatever they have planned, happens
before then?”

“Chill man. We can check out a couple during that
time. I think at least two are within an hour’s flight of here,” Zack
responded.

Ed relaxed upon hearing this. He had to take action
and now. They had no idea what the harvest meant, but he felt once this event
took place, saving Ryan or the human race wasn’t going be a possibility any
longer.

“We’ll go to the airport and shop for a plane. I do
believe they are having a get one free sale today and today only.”

Everyone smiled, allowing their tension to ease away.
Any reason to smile was welcomed.  

Ed looked around the table. “So what were you all in
deep conversation about before I came in?”

Madison sighed, “Christmas. We were thinking about
celebrating Christmas.” It seemed silly now to think of Christmas. An ordinary
thing, from an ordinary way of life, that no longer existed. Luke was right, they
couldn’t go on pretending like this was temporary. Truth be told, she thought
Ed’s venture a waste of time. Even if he found his son, then what? It didn’t
change anything. They still didn’t know how to stop the Adita.