Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2) (20 page)

“Why not? What happens at the harvest?”

Eve opened her mouth to speak, closing it without
saying a word.

“Tell me,” Austin pleaded.

“It will only serve to cloud your judgment, to give
you false hopes of winning a battle already lost. The Adita will come and they
will thrive. You are powerless to stop them.”

“I don’t believe that,” Austin argued. “When I was in my
coma I had visions of armies of Svan fighting against the Adita. Humans fought
alongside the Svan and I was leading them in the battle.”

“It was not you leading them.” Eve nodded at Caleb.
“Your dreams were a glimpse of one possible future, but one that will result in
bloodshed and death for your race. Please hear me when I say this, the Adita do
not lose.”

Austin ran his hand over his head. “The harvest. What
is it?”

“She won’t say in front of me,” Caleb informed him.

“It doesn’t concern you Caleb.”

“It will one day though. Father’s dreams are truer
than you allow yourself to believe or admit.” He smiled up at his mother.

Speaking the truth came natural to her son and was not
meant to provoke Eve, this she knew as much as she knew her son was right. She
turned back to Austin. “I will be back in a few days, maybe a week.”

“And you’re leaving Caleb with me?” Austin asked.

“Yes. He’s to stay here with you,” Eve replied. “Agra
sees Caleb as a threat. I can no longer predict how he will react and will not
risk his life.”

“What if he decides to come here? To get Caleb?”

“He wouldn’t risk being exposed to so many humans.
He’d send Za or his guard and Caleb can handle them,” Eve replied.

“If they come down here I will eradicate them.” Caleb
added, his voice heavy with confidence and maybe a touch of something less
noble.

A chill ran down Austin’s spine hearing his son speak
this way about taking a life. He thought of the kid in the movie The Omen, but
quickly shrugged those thoughts away.

“I will come see you as soon as I return.” Eve touched
Austin’s arm.

Austin tore his eyes from his son. He wanted to tell
Eve to be careful, but refrained. His sudden desire to protect her was
befuddling and unnecessary.

“You don’t have to worry.”

Austin nodded, wanting to take her in his arms, to
kiss her, to finish what they’d started, but before he could act or speak she
vanished from the room. With her departure the spell broke, and guilt washed
over him. He returned to the other room, to his friends who were in a state of
shock. They needed him now.

Kyle and McKenna crossed the Colorado state line a
week after Madison’s coffin was lowered into the ground at the Pueblo cemetery.
For the pair, the three thousand mile trip had been tense, but uneventful. As
the road sign welcoming them to Colorado came into view, Kyle breathed a huge
sigh of relief, whooping out loud when they entered the state. His exclamation
of joy, however, held little vim or vigor. The sights they’d seen along the way
gave him little hope of finding anyone alive, let alone finding his family.

McKenna, though relieved, was even more skeptical than
her companion on what they might find. Her near kidnapping at the Best Western
kept her on edge for hundreds of miles and haunted her more than Kyle’s standoff
with the aliens. In her mind the aliens didn’t want them and she worried little
about a return visit. Kyle had other thoughts about the aliens, most of which
centered on hoping to never see them again. He’d gone over and over in his mind
what had happened, what he’d seen and marveled at the fact he was still
breathing.

The place had a clean look about it. Too clean, Kyle
thought to himself, and was certain his sharp as a tack travel companion had
already picked up on this incongruity. They passed a sign which read Colorado
Springs 52 Miles, Exit 142A. The roads along the way were clear of vehicles and
they hadn’t seen a frozen corpsicle for several miles. Kyle had coined the term
corpsicle back in Alaska, which had evoked a reproachful raised eyebrow from
McKenna.

“It’s really clean here,” McKenna noted as if speaking
to Kyle’s silent thoughts. Her breath fogged the window as she pressed her nose
to the cold glass.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

She gave Kyle a nervous look and turned back to watching
the tedious landscape.

“Doesn’t mean they’re bad people.”

“I know,” she replied, “but don’t leave me alone.”

“I won’t. Promise.” Kyle reached over and squeezed her
leg. A sorry excuse for reassurance, but the best he could offer. What did he
know about talking to kids, especially the female kind? He hoped they found
more people, and more so he hoped one would be a parent.

“Are we going to Cheyenne Mountain?”

“I guess that would be the best place to start.”

“Do you remember how to get there?”

“What? Are you kidding me? Agent Kyle Bosch knows how
to get there.” He nodded his head in exaggerated fashion, pretending to be
insulted.

McKenna almost cracked the tiniest of smiles, but then
pursed her lips and frowned at Kyle. “Do you really?”

“Yes really, but I’m about out of gas,” he noted, “so
first things first.”

Apprehension returned to McKenna’s expression. Gas
stations were held in low regard in her mind, almost superstitiously so. Bad
things happened at gas stations. Her brother Tommy had been robbed at a gas
station. Someone had beat him over the head, knocking him out cold next to an
overflowing dumpster in the back of Kwiki Pete’s. If not for a hungry dog
nosing around for a scrap to eat, Tommy might have died in that squalor. No,
McKenna did not like gas stations and with the very real prospect of running
into people, she liked them even less.

Kyle pulled up to the tanks and shifted into park. The
truck was a diesel, so he left motor running. “You can stay in the truck. It’s
warm and you can lock the doors.”

McKenna thought this over and finally nodded ok. She
agreed, she would be safer inside the truck.

“You remember what I told you if anything happens to
me?” Kyle asked and lifted the top of the console dividing the seats.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Say it.” He pulled out a small handgun.

“I should drive away.” She took the gun from Kyle,
checked the safety and laid it in her lap.

 “And?” He pulled out a second larger handgun and
stuffed it inside his jacket.

“And not come back.” She stroked the barrel of the gun
with the tip of her finger.

“Because?”

“Because you’ll probably be dead.” Her finger stopped
and she clenched her hand into a fist.

“Good girl.” Kyle jumped out of the truck, and waited
until she climbed into the driver’s seat and clicked the locks before heading
for the rear of the vehicle. He had two gas cans to fill, plus the dual tanks.
He caught sight of the price sign. Five dollars and fifty-nine cents would
forever be the price per gallon or at least until the sign gave way and fell
over. Good thing he didn’t have to pay for it.

Kyle walked towards the entrance of the station. The
gun was now in his pocket. He gripped it with his bare hand; the cold weighty
steel gave him comfort and courage. At the door he leaned into the glass
bracing his weight with his gloved hand. The place appeared empty. After one
more scan of the parking lot, and up and down the highway to be certain they
were alone, he pushed open the door.

Once inside the station, Kyle didn’t waste time, but
went straight to the pump switches. The setup was a bit different than the last
station, but the concept was the same and it wasn’t difficult to figure out how
the pumps worked. With that out of the way, he went in search of any type of
fuel additives. The gas, after sitting for so long, sometimes needed a boost.

***

While Kyle perused the shelves of the Kwiki-Mart for
additives and maybe a candy bar or two, forty miles up the road, outside Pueblo,
a black Hummer sat idle on the side of the highway with a flat tire. At the
back of the vehicle Luke pulled out the spare tire and necessary tools. He
handed the tools over to Ed. Colin and German stood near the utility pole and watched
from the side of the road.

“Have you ever done this before?” Ed asked.

“Many times,” Luke assured him. Ed’s expression
blatantly said he doubted this assertion. To which Luke gave a watch and learn
look. Luke’s dad had made sure his son knew how to take care of things that
mattered. Like fixing a leaky faucet, trimming tree limbs and most importantly
changing a flat tire. He’d always say, “
You never wanted to get stranded parking
somewhere with your girl and not know how to fix a flat tire
.”

Luke never had the heart to tell his dad parking was a
thing of the past. Besides, Emma would never go for a thing like that. Luke
paused in his task. He hadn’t thought about Emma in long time. He couldn’t
remember when he’d stopped or what his last thought had been, but he guessed it
was that she was dead. Once he’d gone down that road, he’d stopped thinking about
her at all. Burying Madison brought back a lot of things from the past he’d
rather not think about.

A familiar emotion stepped out of the wings where it
waited with anxious anticipation for another opportunity to take front and
center. Luke swallowed back the bitter anger. Being pissed off was pointless. Being
pissed off at Austin was a waste of energy. The captain hadn’t invited Eve into
his life; she’d always been there. She’d used him and tricked him into
believing she cared about him, but Luke didn’t buy into her game. She was only
looking out for herself. At times he wondered if she cared about anyone, even
her own people. His suspicions kept him from giving Eve any credit at all. None
for bringing Jenny back or for saving Madison’s baby. If she’d wanted to save
Madison, Luke thought she could have done so.

Luke knelt next to the tire and focused on cranking
off the lug nuts, but his mind wouldn’t let go. He didn’t trust Eve or her
intentions in regards to Austin or them. Something about her, that he couldn’t
put his finger on, bothered him and he knew couldn’t be ignore. Madison would
have called this instincts or his sixth sense. Eve, who existed on instincts,
would have been inclined to agree with that conclusion.

The last lug nut popped off and rolled across the
road. Luke lurched after it on hands and knees. He grabbed the nut and looked
up. A pick-up truck was heading in his direction. He jumped up and returned to
the Hummer. German heard the truck before the others saw it and tugged on his
leash, letting out an anxious bark.

“Who’s that?” Ed peered down the road at the truck
which had slowed to a stop.

“Don’t know. Don’t recognize it,” Colin replied.

Luke pulled three shotguns from the back of the Hummer
and handed them out. Standing at the back of the vehicle, they peered through
the windows, watching and waiting for the truck to make a move. It eased
forward a foot or two.

“Where are the binoculars?” Luke asked Ed.

Ed pulled a small set from his pocket and handed them
over.  Luke peered through the lenses adjusting the focus. “It’s a girl. A
young girl and guy, maybe my age.”

“What should we do?” Ed took a turn looking through
the set.

“The kid could be a decoy,” Colin warned.

“I don’t think so. She looks scared. I think she wants
the driver to turn around.”

“Do we have anything white?” Luke asked.

“I have a hanky.” Ed pulled a white hanky out from
inside his coat. “It’s clean,” he replied to Luke’s grimace.

Luke grabbed the hanky and walked out into the middle
of the road waving it over his head. He removed his ski mask and continued
waving. The truck sat idle, not moving in one direction or the other. “Colin,
bring German out here.”

“No way man. What if they shoot him?”

“Go on Colin,” Ed urged. “They won’t shoot him. I’m
telling you, they’re good people. I have a feeling.”

Colin pulled German’s collar tighter and walked out
into the road. He commanded the dog to sit. “If they shoot my dog some serious
shit is gonna go down. Kid or not.”

“Chill man.” Luke continued to wave the hanky, getting
more excited by the second. Other survivors! This was huge.

Down the road Kyle and McKenna debated on what their
next move should be. Kyle wanted to drive forward, to see who these people
were. McKenna wanted nothing to do with them and argued they should turn
around.

  “What are we going to do? Run the other direction
every time we come across people?” Kyle tried reasoning with her.

“Yes,” she replied, sticking her chin out and crossing
her arms.

“McKenna, come on. They look safe. And they have a
dog.”

“So what. Could be a vicious man eating attack dog.”

Kyle nodded, but knew better; he’d noticed her sit up
when the boy walked out with the dog.

“I had a Husky,” she said. “Ok.” She was more curious
than she let on, having assumed the aliens had killed all animals.

“Ok?”

“Yes.”

Kyle threw the truck into drive and eased down the
road towards the strangers, the survivors. Thinking of people as survivors was
a foreign concept he hadn’t grown accustomed to using or hearing. As he pulled
the truck up to where the men waited, he doubted they had much difficulty with
the idea of being called survivors. With his nine mil tucked away on the side, Kyle
lowered the window a couple of inches. That all three men carried shotguns made
him more than a little apprehensive.

“Hi ya’ll,” Luke greeted them in what he hoped was a
friendly I’m not going to hurt you voice, Southern accent included for its
extra down home comfort effect. “Luke Taylor,” he said to Kyle and nodded his
head at McKenna.

“Kyle Bosch and McKenna...” Kyle looked to McKenna

“Markovo. My last name is Markovo. Is that your dog
mister?” McKenna asked.

“German. No miss. That’s Colin’s dog.” Luke pointed to
Colin. “But we all kinda share him.”

“Is he a man eater?” she demanded.

“McKenna!” Kyle chastised.

Luke smiled. “It’s ok. And no he’s not a man eater.
But he’s a darn good guard dog.”

McKenna nodded her head, agreeing with him, as if yes
she could see that the dog was indeed a good guard dog. The thought occurred to
her to ask what he guarded. It also occurred to her that no dog was going to
protect them from the aliens, but maybe monster men who hung out in empty Best
Western Hotels.

“Where’d you all come from?” Luke asked Kyle.

“Me? I came from Germany. Cologne, Germany.”

Luke opened his mouth and then shut it, unsure if he’d
heard right, unsure what to say or ask

“On the Rhine River near Frankfort? Dusseldorf?”

“Sorry. You did say Germany right?” Luke didn’t care
that he sounded like a dimwit.

“Yes. Germany.”

It wasn’t that Luke had never heard of those places.
He’d been to Germany a couple of times. Never to Cologne, but Frankfurt and
Berlin sure, the former one with his dad, the latter with a friend before he
went off to college to become a superstar quarterback. He’d almost not come
home. But that was another time and meanwhile Kyle was staring at him.

 “Are there people in Germany? I mean still alive?”

“Yeah. All over Europe. China, Russia, all still intact.”

“All this time. Unbelievable,” Luke muttered. “Ed,
Colin, come over here.”

They joined Luke at the driver’s side, shotguns slung
over their shoulders.