Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2) (28 page)

The streets of Cologne were empty save the bodies displayed
in the same macabre fashion they’d come so accustomed to seeing. They made
their way towards the center of town where Will’s building was located. As
expected the place was deserted. They roamed the halls looking for anyone or
anything. For Austin it was like having déjà vu. Memories of base headquarters
flashed through his mind. After leaving the building they found a vehicle with
a full tank of gas and an engine that cranked. They headed out of town towards
the mountains.  After two hours of driving the base of the mountain loomed
ahead.  The entrance of the facility was hidden behind a snow drift.  A sign
above the entrance hung haphazard, ready to fall at any moment. Caleb used his abilities
to clear a path through the snow.

Austin tried the door. It was locked. The door was
made of heavy steel, so he pounded with his fist. They waited. Caleb offered to
open the door, but Austin wanted to try things the old fashioned way first, so
as not to scare anyone who might be holed up inside. After several minutes and
several attempts at pounding, Austin stepped aside.

“You sure people are inside?” Austin asked Caleb.

“Positive. Can’t you hear their hearts beating?”

Austin dropped his head and listened. He heard them.
One, two, three distinct beating hearts. The third was beating faster than the
others and the breathing seemed short and fast. He listened closer, heard them
debating on answering the door. He heard a woman’s voice and then a man’s
voice. The third person remained silent other than the rapid breathing.

“Are they Kyle’s friends?”

Caleb listened. “The woman, Ada is one. There’s also a
man, he is much younger than she, and a canine.”

“A canine? A dog?” Luke asked.

Caleb nodded. “A female, different in breed to Colin’s
dog.”

Austin pounded on the door again. “Ada, if you can
hear me, please open the door. Kyle sent us to find you,” No answer was
returned. Austin repeated in German. This time the dog barked. The barking got
closer, as did Ada’s heart beat and that of the man. They heard the locks being
worked on the other side of the door. The door opened slowly and the barrel of
a shotgun came out first.

“Who are you?” the gun holder asked, speaking in
German, his accent thick.

“Austin Reynolds, Luke Taylor and my son Caleb. We’re
looking for Ada and Will Gaynor,” Austin explained in German.

“Why?” the man demanded.

“Kyle Bosch sent us to find them. To take them to the US.”

The door opened wider, but the shotgun remained held
high by a boy-man, perhaps in his early twenties. An elderly woman looked out
at them from behind the man. She held on to a yellow Labrador retriever with
fur as white as the snow.

 “Kyle sent you? Why didn’t he come himself,” Ada asked,
imagining the worst.

“He stayed behind with his sister Grace. She had a
baby and he didn’t want to leave her alone,” Austin explained.

Ada’s face melted. “A baby? Oh my goodness.” She covered
her mouth, tears filled her eyes. “You can put the gun down Bruno. They’re not
here to hurt us.” She smiled at Austin. “Please forgive us. I’m Ada Gaynor and
this is my nephew Bruno.” The dog barked. “And this is Josie.”

Bruno lowered the gun, but kept his finger on the
trigger and a tight grip on the stock, ready to bring the barrel up at a moment’s
notice. Austin assessed the boy. He was a street kid, tough as nails, and
fiercely loyal to Ada. Austin already knew they couldn’t leave him behind, but
that’s where he would have to draw the line. 

“Where’s your husband ma’am?” Austin asked.

Her face clouded over. “I don’t know. When the mass began
moving this way, Will sent us on ahead. He promised me he wouldn’t be far
behind, but he never came,” Ada replied, using great effort to maintain her
composure. “No one came.”

“You’re from the United States? How’d you get here?” Bruno
asked, his suspicions heightened.

“It’s complicated and I don’t have time to explain,”
Austin replied. “You’re going to have to trust me for now.” To Ada. “Kyle wants
you to join him in Colorado. I’ll take you two and the dog, but no one else.”

“What do you mean? Are there others to take?” Ada
asked.

“I don’t know. We didn’t see anyone on our way here,”
Austin answered.

“Shouldn’t we look for others? I mean if you think
there might be others, we can’t leave them behind.” Ada’s brow creased.

“There’s no time,” Austin replied, refraining from
adding that it didn’t matter anyway, here, the US, one place was not safer than
the other.

“Why not. What’s going to happen?” Bruno demanded,
using English this time.

“Some badass aliens are going to happen man,” Luke
answered. “The longer we stand here jarring with you the higher the chances of
being found. We’re offering safety, food, shelter. Pretty much anything you
need. I suggest you trust the captain and accept our offer.”

 Bruno scowled at Luke and Austin. Ada took his arm.
“They’re right Bruno. We should go.”

Austin was surprised she didn’t argue to stay, to find
her husband, and realized she’d already accepted he was dead. Austin glanced at
Caleb, asking him the question without speaking. Caleb searched for Will, but
couldn’t find him. They both knew what that meant, but better to let Ada
believe he was dead. 

“Can we go to my home first? I would like to retrieve
a few things,” Ada requested.

“Of course.” Austin replied. 

On the trip back to Cologne Austin explained what had happened,
leaving out some of the unbelievable details and most of the gruesome ones.
When they arrived at Ada’s house, he was still trying to decide how to approach
their mode of travel back to the US. Bruno had not asked again, but he was
thinking it over, that and many other things concerned him about the strangers
from overseas.

“Please come inside out of the cold.” Ada insisted.

They sat at the kitchen table while Ada went to gather
a few personal possessions. Bruno stood arms crossed, brow furrowed. Trust
wasn’t something he gave out easy, if at all. “How do these aliens control the
climate?” Bruno asked.

“It’s simple science,” Caleb replied. “You’ve heard of
the ice ages. So it’s the same concept. Alter the Earth’s winds and currents,
decrease the ocean’s temperatures, increase the water to land ratio.”

Bruno stared at Caleb dumbfounded. Not only had he
answered in a manner befitting an adult, but he used perfect German. Although
Caleb had aged five years since arriving on Earth, to those first meeting him he
still appeared a child of twelve.

Caleb added for clarification, “Shifts in the tectonic
plates, changes in the atmosphere’s composition, in the planet’s orbit around
the sun. The Elders manipulated all of these in order to create a new ice age.”
Which of course didn’t clarify anything as far as Bruno was concerned, and this
was simplest version Caleb could have given.

For Austin and Luke the information wasn’t new and
having witnessed the powers of the Adita it wasn’t difficult to believe. For
Bruno though this simple science was not simple at all and having it delivered
by Caleb made it all the more difficult for him to grasp.

At Bruno’s feet, Josie suddenly sat up, ears at
attention. She growled low. Bruno knelt next to him, stroking her head.

“What is it girl?”

“There are three men outside,” Caleb said.

Austin peered through the curtains. Three unsavory individuals
stood around their vehicle inspecting its contents. “Take her to the back of
the house. Try to keep her quiet,” Austin whispered to Bruno.

Bruno coaxed Josie from the room, by now the hairs on
her back were raised. Austin kept watch on the men. He didn’t like what he
heard from them. If they tried to come in the house things were going to get
dicey. Austin motioned to Luke to hand him the assault rifle.  They waited
holding their breath. The front door rattled. Austin motioned for Luke to get
down. They sat out of sight under the kitchen window listening to the men walk
around the front of the house. They were scavengers, common thieves. Austin
shook his head in disgust. Someone yelled out that he’d found something. The
other two wandered across the street to join their fellow thief. From the back
of the house Austin heard Josie bark. He looked out through the curtains. The
men were across the street and hadn’t heard. Austin went to the back to find
Ada and Bruno. It was time to leave. He found Ada in her bedroom sorting
through pictures. 

“Ada, ma’am, we need to leave.”

“I had planned on putting all of these on the computer,
so that I’d always have them. But I never got around to it.” She stuffed a few
of the pictures into a small suitcase. “I’m ready.”

Austin stepped aside for her. Out in the hall Bruno
waited with Josie. They went back to the kitchen where Luke was keeping an eye out
for the band of thieves who’d taken up residence in the house across the
street. 

“How are we going to get out of here without them
seeing us?” Bruno asked.

Having no viable option, Austin decided to go with
honesty. “We’re going to travel through space.”

Bruno laughed. “Travel through space? What the hell
does that mean?”

“It means exactly that, and I know it’s asking a lot
for you to trust me, but you’re gonna have to.” Austin turned to Ada. “How’s
your health Miss Ada?”

“My health? Why it’s...it’s--

“She’s fit enough father.” Caleb replied. “But it will
take her longer to recover due to her age.”

“My age?” Ada sounded offended. “I’m only fifty-eight.”

“Don’t take offense,” Austin said. “It’s important
that you’re both in good health and that you understand this will hurt a
little.”

“Hurt?” Bruno asked.

“Traveling through space puts extreme stress on the
body, especially the first time. You’ll feel like you went rounds with a heavy
weight boxer. But the very worst of the pain is brief,” Austin explained.

From outside they heard the thieves. They’d returned. Josie
ran to the front door, barking and they had no hope the men didn’t hear her.
Bruno went after her, pulling the dog back into the kitchen by her leash.

“Caleb, take Ada and Bruno to the bunker, then come
back for us.”

“Yes father.” Caleb took Ada’s hand and held out his
other to Bruno. After a few seconds of uncertainty he took Caleb’s hand. “Pull
your dog close and hold on to her.” Bruno did so. The air around them wavered,
space opened and they were sucked away as the thieves busted in front door.

“Stay where you are.” Austin aimed the weapon at the
surprised men.

“We don’t want no trouble,” the first man replied,
holding his hands in the air. “We’re out looking for survivors.”

“I know what you’re looking for and it’s not people.”

The man sneered. “So what? Nobody around to care if we
take a few things.”

“Don’t you get it man?” Luke asked. “What’re you gonna
do with money? Or jewels? Or whatever it is you’re stealing?”

The man shrugged. Stealing was all he knew, so turning
his back on these perfect opportunities was pure stupid as far as he was
concerned and in actuality had never occurred to him. Stocking up on things
that held value in this new world, like water and food, also never occurred to
him. The store had been left unattended and he felt it was his duty, as a
thief, to take advantage of the situation before someone else beat him to it.
That no one else was around to get the jump on the goods never occurred to him
either.

“I thought I heard a dog barking?”

“No dog here,” Austin replied, looking the man
straight on.

“I guess we’ll be on our way then.” He waved for his
companions to leave. He turned back, “You sure about the dog?”

“I’m sure,” Austin answered.

“Hm.” The man left closing the door behind him, not
believing Austin about the dog and thinking there must be something pretty
valuable in the house.

“They’ll be back once it’s dark,” Austin said.

“We’ll be gone by then won’t we?”

“Let’s barricade the doors in case we aren’t.”

Austin and Luke maneuvered a heavy book case in front
of the door and did the same to the back door. They walked through the house
closing bedroom and bathroom doors, barricading windows with whatever was
available. Austin was tired of killing and death. He’d rather hole up than
fight, but he’d seen that look in men’s eyes before and knew the thief wouldn’t
change his mind about returning. They sat in the kitchen to wait on Caleb’s
return. An hour turned into two and then three. The light outside was dimming.
Austin stirred up a fire in the wood stove. Luke scrounged up some food. They
ate in silence. In another thirty minutes it would be dark. 

“Do you remember when you found me?” Luke asked.

Austin chuckled. “Sure do. Passed out in that gas
station.”