Resist (The Harvest Saga Book 2) (19 page)

I shook my head. “No. I’m not leaving. This isn’t right!”

Crew looked at me. The guards shoved him forward up the trail. “Go Abby. Please.”

“No!”

Crew looked at Gray, who stopped and pulled me into him. “He’s right. You can’t see this, Abs.”

Tears carved their way down my face. “But this isn’t right.”

“It isn’t wrong, either, Abs. I’m sorry.”

He held me there as people fanned out around us and followed the prisoners. Their murmurs could be heard even over the next hill. Harrison Cole was still resisting. I could hear his yells and curses.

They were just over the knoll. I could see the backs of villagers at the crest. But Gray held me in place. “Do you want to go?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Then we’ll stay right here. Okay?”

I nodded silently, clinging on to him for dear life. My stomach was so tight from crying. I rubbed it trying to calm myself down.

The commands of the Vesuvian guard rang out and stilled the crowd of onlookers. “Ready.”

Sounds of metal on metal, as their guns were raised into firing position. I imagined the stern focus of the guards.

“Aim.”

Several clicks rang out into the stillness. My stomach knotted and I clung to Gray.

Harrison Cole began to scream. “I am the King! You have no power over me! Release me and my son this instant!” His voice was hoarse. “Do you hear me? Release us no—”

“Fire.”

A collective blast rang out.

Silence.

Not only had the blast been deafening. The silence and scene that had unfolded before the crowd had stunned everyone. “Show’s over. Everyone is to report to their homes immediately!”

Gray didn’t wait. He kissed my hair and pushed it away from my face. My numb lips wouldn’t close. He was dead. They had killed him; tied him to a tree and shot him like a manged dog.

Guiding me down the trail that led home, Gray kept his hands on me. If they weren’t there, I don’t know how I would have remained upright. Part of me wanted to run out of the village and never look back. The other part, wanted to run to Crew’s lifeless body. I just wanted to tell him how sorry I was.

Seeing him in the prison and today before the trial, proved to me that I was no longer in love with him. He’d ruined that part of me. But I did love him on some level. He was the first boy I ever kissed, the first I thought I wanted forever with. But for Crew, forever had come far too soon. And now he was gone.

“Gretchen, we must be close.”

“It’s been days. They said it would take several to get there. So, we just keep heading this direction and eventually we’ll run into it.” She placed her fists on her hips and stopped to catch her breath.

I hoped she was right. But thoughts kept running through my mind. How would we be received in Orchard Village? Some Lessers passed us along the trail. They would make it before we would. They were better equipped. The long skirts, heeled shoes, and lack of any sort of tool or survival equipment made traveling difficult at best.

My stomach rumbled and cramped. It had been days since we’d eaten anything at all. Gretchen had been chewing on some sort of bark for the past few hours. I prayed it did not poison her. I had read of the dangers outside of the city.

The pair of older men who had passed us said that King Cole and Crew had been taken prisoner and transported to Orchard so that was where we were going. I would try to help Crew. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

We crossed a small stream in the thick underbrush of what I was certain was one of the largest forests on the planet. It had taken several days to walk across it and we were not in sight of the end yet. Briars clawed at the hem of my skirt and Gretchen winced as another thorn sliced the tender flesh of her arm. Along the fresh cut line, blood pooled into tiny red pearls.

Walking up and down hills and what I would argue were mountains for days had been extremely taxing. I was not unfit, but had never spent so much time walking up and down steep earthen and rocky inclines in my life. My muscles were rubbery and screaming by day’s end. But by then, the ground had begun to level and the trees thinned giving way to rolling fields of hay.

We kept walking, right through those fields, leaving a path of tramped down weeds in our wake. It was almost nightfall and Gretchen was exhausted. So was I.

“We should look for shelter. Daylight is fading fast,” she said, looking over the slightly rolling hills in front of us. A large valley lay ahead. We sat and gathered as much strength as we could. There was no shelter and we both knew it.

Gretchen squinted at something, her brow furrowing. “Is that?”

“What?” I asked.

Gretchen squinted her eyes further and pointed into the valley. Smoke was rising from somewhere and a tiny light flickered from far away.

I jumped up. “Is it a house?”

Gretchen started down the hill calling out behind her. “There is only one way to tell!”

Fueled by adrenaline, hope, and excitement, we crossed the distance in no time and found a tiny wooden cabin waiting for us. Tall candles flickered in each window invitingly. Gretchen pulled me toward the front of the house. We stepped onto the small wooden porch and knocked excitedly. She squeezed my hand and smiled.

I could not help but smile back at her. Thoughts of a warm bath, warm fire, or new clothes, even the thought of food teased me. But the smile faded from my face and fear set into my bones when I saw who answered the door.

Gretchen’s eyes met mine. I could see the fear in them. We were in trouble. The girl didn’t look much older than me. Dark hair and matching midnight pupils faded to gold in the centers, stared back at me. “Can I help you?”

“Vesuvian?”

She squinted her eyes at me. “You are a Greater.” She looked at our tattered, mud-soaked clothing and back at our faces. “Olympian?”

I nodded.

“Who are you?”

“Marian Cole.”

Her fingers covered her mouth and her eyes widened. “Please stay here for a moment. Kyan?”

A Lesser male stepped behind her and looked us over quickly. “Yeah?”

“This is Marian Cole and...I am sorry, what is your name?” She looked at Gretchen for an answer.

“Gretchen Anderson. I was a servant in the King’s palace.”

She nodded slowly. “How did you survive? Are there others?”

“Yes. There are some survivors. Mostly Lessers who were able to escape the city through an underground tunnel system.”

Gretchen nudged me. I cleared my throat. “Is this Orchard Village? Is Crew Cole being held here?”

The young man’s mouth dropped open at the same time as the woman’s. He spoke first. “You might want to come in and sit down.” He ushered us inside and pushed two chairs in front of the fire that he immediately busied himself stoking.

“Julia. Can you get her?” He ticked his head toward the side of the house. There was no other room there. The dwelling was tiny, in fact.

“I will hurry. I will be right back.” She shrugged a coat on and bolted out the door. The young man, Kyan, warmed water to make us coffee and began re-heating a portion of soup for a meal.

“Uh, we’ve already eaten, but I figured you were hungry. Should be ready soon. I bet you’ll feel a lot better with a warm meal. We’ll figure out something for clothes as soon as Julia gets back.”

I thanked him, as did Gretchen. He had been most welcoming. I knew how Lessers in the section of Olympus behaved. But I had never encountered a Lesser from one of the villages. I was raised to think them much more savage. But this young man was anything but savage. His hair shone the color of spun gold and his eyes were an unusual pale shade of blue.

He fidgeted his hands and tried to busy himself by stirring the food in the large blackened pan. When we heard footsteps on the porch outside, he set down the wooden spoon and made his way to the door, holding it open for the woman who had left, Julia. Another young man filed into the room, his arm around a girl with hair that almost matched the color of mine. Hers was a bit of a deeper brown-auburn, where mine was more red.

Kyan helped Julia out of her coat while the tall dark-haired young man helped the other girl out of hers. Her stomach revealed that she was with child. How nice it must be to be able to conceive naturally.

That feeling was pushed away quickly when she turned around. In front of me stood Abigail Kelley, the woman that Crew’s heart would always belong to in one way or another. She was the woman who started all of this. I knew that she had been wronged. But if she had only remained quiet, Olympus would still be standing, I would be with Crew having an expertly prepared dinner.

She swallowed thickly. It was strange to watch your doppelganger. She looked almost exactly like me. Only the most subtle differences were visible. The most obvious were her mannerisms. They were so severely different from my own.

“Marian Cole?”

I stood up. “Abigail Kelley.” I had tried so hard to guard my words from the disgust I felt for her, but in the end, it had invaded them anyway.

She crossed the room and offered her hand, which I reluctantly shook. Looking around at the others, she asked quietly, “Could you wait for me at my cabin? I need to talk to her. Alone.”

The others scrambled awkwardly to get their coats on. “Gretchen, you may stay.” She was weary and I knew walking anywhere right now was out of the question for her. Abigail nodded.

After the others left, Abigail assessed the surroundings. She moved quickly to the fire,
lifted the pot of soup to the wooden countertop and began pouring its steaming contents into two bowls. She served each of us in turn and we wasted no time consuming it.

While Abigail was serving Gretchen a second bowl of soup, Gretchen stood up and hugged her shoulders. “You look great, Abby.”

Abigail smiled slightly. “I’m so glad you made it out.”

Noticing my appraisal, Abigail blushed and said, “Gretchen helped me when I was in Olympus.”

Ah. When she was with Crew. My lip twitched.

Gretchen took her bowl and seated herself once again. I imagined Abigail at the palace, dining with my husband, laughing with him. He had assured me that they had not been intimate. I knew of the Harvest. He had confided in me. Crew promised that she had been impregnated in that program, and that he had not touched her in that way. But a shimmer of doubt wedged itself into my mind and refused to budge. Then it sprouted roots that curled around my thoughts, weaving and winding and gnawing.

“Wonderful. Where is my husband, Abigail?”

A tear slid down her cheek. She brushed it away quickly. The bowl I had all but lapped clean shattered on the floor.
No.

“The Vesuvians held a trial for Crew and Harrison Cole. They were found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad.”

I covered my mouth, tears flooding my eyes. I shook my head. “No. When will he be put to death?”

Cupping her hand over her mouth, she shook her head back and forth rapidly.

“No!”
No! He couldn’t be gone!

She opened her mouth silently and choked, “They were executed yesterday morning. Crew is dead.”

Gretchen grabbed me. I wanted to claw past her and throttle Abigail Kelley. But reality sunk in fast, and once I began to sob, I found it impossible to stop. My husband, my love was gone. He was dead. Taken from me. Taken from this world by cruel and power-hungry bastards.

I am not sure how long I wailed and cried. I had collapsed in exhaustion. Someone had picked me up and carried me to a bed. I numbly slid into the escape that only sleep could provide from reality.

For days, we were able
to keep Gretchen and Marian hidden in Kyan’s cabin. In the back of my mind, I wondered how long we would be able to keep it up and if they even needed to be kept tucked away. Marian was in no mood to leave the confines of her room anyway, so it worked out.

Today was unseasonably warm, nearly seventy degrees. After all of the harshness of winter, the day of warmth was welcome. The Lessers were ordered into the orchards. Teams split up pruning and raking leaves and debris from the ground at the bases of the trees. Being pregnant allowed me to avoid climbing and lifting, but I alternated raking and pruning the bottom branches of the great trees.

Gray worked nearby. The Vesuvians had given him a box of enormous syringes filled with a green substance that they called “growth accelerating serum.” They claimed that the serum would stimulate the trees to produce fruit twice each year allowing for two harvests. I had my doubts. I’d never seen a tree bear fruit more than once a year.

Their technology was far beyond my understanding though. Maybe they could do exactly what they said. Maybe we would have two harvests this year.

I stopped raking for a minute to stretch my back. Watching my every move, Gray stopped injecting the serum into the base of the tree in the row across from me.

“You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. My back just gets stiff.”

He smiled. “No wonder,” he said, nodding toward my stomach.

“Shut up,” I said playfully. My stomach had blossomed quickly. In fact, it was huge. I wondered how big it would get. I’d seen pregnant women in the village, but don’t remember any getting so big so fast. Or maybe my perception had changed because it was my stomach that I looked down at and had to carry around.

All of the sudden, it felt like a thousand tiny bubbles began moving around on the left side of my abdomen. I put my hand there. “Oh my gosh!”

Gray stood up, threw the syringe behind him, and rushed to my side. “What’s wrong?” His strong hands cradled my abdomen. I blinked in wonder. “The baby. I can feel the baby moving.”

“Really?” His face lit up in a beautiful smile.

I nodded. “Really!”

He moved his hands around trying to feel what I could from within. “I don’t think it’s big enough for you to feel it yet, but Gray this is the most wonderful, and weird feeling in the entire world!”

He pulled my belly toward him and my feet followed. His lips met mine in a warm, sweet kiss that quickly grew urgent. Laney’s giggle brought my feet back to the ground. I laughed and soon she and Gray were laughing with me. It was the first time in a long time that I felt good. I almost felt happy.

Laney looked down the aisle. A Vesuvian guard was starting down the aisle toward us. Gray let me go and quickly searched and found the discarded syringe. I grabbed my rake and Laney grinned at me as if she knew a secret that I didn’t.

I looked from the approaching guard to her and gave her a ‘what are you trying to say with that crazy face” look. She just shook her head and laughed, quickly quieting herself as the guard drew near.

“Is there a problem?” The guard stood at attention before me.

“No, no problem. I just needed to stretch for a minute.” I rubbed my stomach drawing his attention there.

“Oh, I see. Very well then.” He looked almost embarrassed behind the clear shield attached to his helmet. It covered half of his face and looked uncomfortable in the heat of the day. All of the guards did. Their uniforms were skin-tight. I couldn’t stand that for one minute.

So far, the Vesuvian guards had been stern but not overbearing. They had directed us without being cruel and forceful. But, after everyone in the village witnessed the executions and precision of their firing squads, it was clear that these were people you didn’t cross.

With Norris and even with the Olympian guards, we had known to expect cruelty. They had been aggressive, demeaning and had always sought to make examples of people. Vesuvius didn’t operate that way. They were quiet. For some reason, their silent oppression was more dangerous than the outright aggression we’d seen in the past. It scared me more than anything in the world. I was on edge constantly because I didn’t know what to expect from them.

Kyan paced the floor. Julia
tracked his movements with her eyes. And Gray. Gray kept his eyes trained on me. I could feel his stare from his position standing with his back against the wall across the room.

Kyan spoke up. “They can’t stay here. They aren’t safe. The Vesuvians might kill them too, or lock them up. I don’t think either would survive any time in the prison. Their bodies are too weak.”

I inhaled deeply. “What do we do? There aren’t exactly trains to sneak onto right now.”

Gray cleared his throat and pushed off the wall behind him. “They haven’t taken me. I’m technically an Olympian guard and Vesuvius hasn’t bothered me in the least.”

My stomach plummeted and a great worry took root deep inside it.
Would they take him away?
The thought hadn’t occurred to me until then.

Julia’s outstretched hand stopped Kyan mid-stride. “We have no way of knowing what their plans for the Lessers or for this village are. But...since I have been here, and I know it has not been for very long, I have seen that the Lessers are not what the Greaters have made them out to be. Since childhood, it was taught to me that Lessers were foolish and dangerous, evil and untrustworthy. Lessers were made out to be dangerous, monstrous even. It was for those reasons I was afraid to come here. Being in Orchard, I have seen evil. And it has not come from the Lessers. You must find a way to free your village and her people from the Greaters. And I would be honored to help you.”

Kyan looked at her face like it was the first sunrise he’d ever seen. Or maybe the first steak. I snorted lightly and Gray smiled at me with mouth and eyes. He cocked his head to the side. I shook my head. I’d tell him later.

Kyan looked around to us and then back to Julia. “You’re right. But I don’t want to put you in danger. We need to come up with a plan.”

We agreed to think on it and get together the following day. Gray and I returned to our cabin. Our cabin. I realized then that I’d begun to think of it that way. Thoughts of him walking away from the cabin popped into my mind. That had hurt so bad. I didn’t know how he felt anymore. I mean, he came back. But where else would he go at this point? And aside from the kiss in the orchard, he’d been distant. Something had changed.

I left Gray, who was stoking the fire for the night, and went to dress for bed. I could have gone back out to talk to him, but decided against it. I was exhausted. It was late. Being pregnant was draining on my body. I hadn’t vomited in a while, which was great, but I was still very sleepy all the time.

I felt the covers pull away. The mattress dipped as Gray slid in beside me. He pulled the covers up to our waists.

“Hey.” I watched him lay down beside me.

He nuzzled my neck and rubbed my stomach. “Hey. Can I sleep with you?”

I giggled. “You didn’t ask permission before you lay down, why now?”

“Because I’m a gentleman, babe.”

“Babe?”

“Yeah. Babe.”

“Gray?”

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t know if you were coming back.”

He sighed. “I never left. I just needed a minute. I went to Ky’s and we drank apple wine, which is deliciously potent, by the way. I had a bit too much and fell asleep on his couch. He and Julia didn’t want to wake me up. So I stayed and slept on the couch there. I never left. I would never leave you, Abby. Sometimes, I just need a minute to think and process things.”

I giggled. “The apple wine helped you think?”

“Not really. But it did help me not think for a while.”

I exhaled and tried to inhale bravery for what I was about to tell him. “I went to talk to Crew.” I felt him tense behind me. “No, please listen. I wanted to tell him that I forgave him, to say goodbye. I didn’t love him.”

“At one time you did.”

I rubbed my fingertips over the hand he had on my bump. “At one time I thought I did. But you know what I realized?”

His orange eyes slid over my face before he asked, “What’s that?”

“Love is different for everyone at different times. I love Kyan but as my friend. I love Laney as my best girlfriend. And, I love you, Gray.”

His hot breath fanned my cheek and his chin nudged my hair away from my face. “You do?”

“I do.”

“Do you love me like Ky or Laney?” He smirked.

“Neither. I love you like Gray.”

“Like Gray.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I love you like Gray.”

His arms wrapped tight around me. I didn’t even have time to look up at him before his soft lips were parting mine, his tongue stroking my own. The palm of his hand pushed my back forward as we tried to get closer. But my bump. It seemed like an ever-growing mountain, one so huge that I couldn’t reach the summit of to save my life. I huffed in frustration.

Gray laughed, his raspy voice echoing into the empty room.

I let out a frustrated growl. “Shut up. It’s ruining my swagger.”

“You’re swagger?” he guffawed.

“Yes! I have swagger, Gray. I might be pregnant and have a bump the size of the earth’s circumference, but I definitely have swagger.” That sent him into hysterics and I honestly thought about shoving him out of the bed. Then the hormones made an appearance.

Tears streamed down my face, which was no doubt contorted and scrunched up. “You don’t like me anymore. You don’t like my bump!”

“No, babe. No! I love your bump,” he cooed. “Shhh. Abs, I’m so sorry. I think you’re beautiful, bump and all. And I love your swagger and... God, I’m such an ass. Abs, please. I love you, too.”

I sniffed and flinched. “You do?”

He kissed my closed eyelids one at a time. “Yeah. I do. I love you like Abs.”

My heart melted a little. It felt quivery and goopy all at the same time. He propped himself up on his elbow and pulled his t-shirt over his head. That sent the hormones raging in an entirely different direction and I suddenly felt hot all over. All over. I tried to move backward, but his hand stopped my retreat.

Gray licked his lips. “Where are you going, Abs?”

“Nowhere.” Why did I sound so breathless?

“No?”

“No. Nowhere. I’m...”

He smirked. “What are you, Abby?”

“Hot.”

My eyes fluttered between his burnt orange ones and his delectable lips. I raised my hand and brushed his lips with my fingers. So soft.

When I was in the middle of swiping them again, he opened his mouth and captured them, rolling his tongue over them. Warm and hot and delicious. I felt hot and, oh my gosh, I needed to walk.

He released my fingers and smirked at me. He knew how I’d been affected. His voice soft, he asked, “Can I see your bump?”

“Why?”

“Just want to see it.”

I lowered the covers a little.

He rubbed his hand over the white button-up shirt I was wearing. It felt wonderful, but strange. The muscles in my back were tense. His fingers deftly unbuttoned the bottom button and then the next one, the next and two more after that. Two buttons remained, covering only my breasts.