The Fate of Nations Book II The Harvest (27 page)
Read The Fate of Nations Book II The Harvest Online
Authors: Laura Watson
“I'm sorry I frightened you Claudia,” Josh said gently, “I only came here to sleep last night, I was locked up in that building over there.” He tossed his head in the direction of the shelter, now only a tiny gray speck on the field's horizon. Claudia squinted her eyes.
The brightness of the morning sun sent tiny slivers of pain through them. “My eyes don't work so great in the day,” she said, some of her nervousness now disappearing, “but nothing can get past me at night.”
Josh looked at Claudia. She sat on her hind legs, her small hand like paws feeling the ground in front of her. Her front paws were restless, either constantly searching the ground for something to pick up or she held them, palms out, towards him. Rufus shook his head, his large ears flopping clumsily across his face.
“Well, I'm going to get going now” he said.
“Where are you going to go?” Claudia asked quickly. “I don't know yet,” Josh said quietly, “Just away from here. I think I'll follow the water for awhile.”
Claudia yawned, not use to being up during the morning, and said, “Stay here for a little while Josh, I promise I won't yell at you anymore, you just scared me, that's all. I think it would be nice to have you around, and you can meet my two little ones tonight.”
she added hopefully.
Claudia had been so lonely after her mate Cecil had been killed by a hunter. He died before he could even see his new babies. Since then, Claudia had been alone, and she desperately wanted to have someone to talk to again, to have a friend. “I don't know,” Josh replied, “there's nothing here to eat, and I have to find something, I'm starving.” “I can fix that,” said Claudia, her eyes twinkling. “I happen to be the best fisher around.” She leapt to the creek bank and in a flash, she had fished out a large rainbow trout. “This will fill you up,” she said happily, her words forming strangely around the wriggling mouthful “and, you can stay right here now, there's plenty more of them in there,” she motioned towards the water. Josh looked at the large fish still twitching in Claudia's mouth.
He had never seen a fish. It smelled like the creek water he had lapped up the night before. Claudia dropped the fish at his feet and it flopped weakly in the matted grass before finally dieing a few minutes later.
Josh licked the dead fish. It tasted like the creek water too. His hungry stomach decided things once and for all and he felt the strange sensation of bones cracking as he hurriedly chewed it up and swallowed it. He didn't like the cold, slimy skin, but the meat wasn't bad at all. The small bones of the thing scratched at his throat. He would have to chew better next time, he thought.
Josh suddenly felt sleepy again, he wanted nothing more than to curl up on the soft grass. His eyes began to droop as he thanked Claudia for the meal and after he had pawed the ground, and turned around three times, he laid down with a soft “oomph” escaping his throat. Claudia scurried back into her nest in the nearby oak tree and inspected her two sleeping babies. After licking their small dreaming faces, she fell asleep. She smiled to herself for the first time in months, since Cecil died. She had a new friend.
The Denial
“Look around you Laura,” Ralph argued, “What do you think they're going to do with us?” He sat and looked at Laura with growing disbelief. “Come on, you really don't believe all of that crap in the papers do you?” Laura asked in astonishment. “Why wouldn't I believe it, Laura? It was by accredited NASA Scientists.” “Well, there's your first clue,” Laura scoffed. “Those guys are the last people I'd ever believe.” She grimaced as she pulled her knees up to her chin. Her back stiff and aching from sitting in one position for so long.
“Well,” Ralph replied, “I don't think the
newspapers would have published the story if it didn't have at least some facts.” “Oh bullshit!” Laura replied angrily, “they'll print anything that they think will sell one of their fucking newspapers, Ralph. It doesn't mean that everything they print is the fucking Gospel truth you know.”
Ralph could see that Laura was scared, hell he was too, but to sit up here, right in the middle of what the papers called “The Harvest” and still deny what was happening was, well, just insane.
Did the Gray
motherfuckers have to walk up to Laura and rip her
fucking arm out it's socket and start gnawing on it for
her to get the fucking picture?!
Laura wasn't the only one in denial up there.
Ralph had been listening to the arguments rage all around him over the last two weeks. “Why would they come all of this way, just to eat us?” a small portly woman argued loudly to the older woman sitting next to her. “I mean, jeez! They have all of this advanced technology, why don't they just clone people, and save themselves a trip?” “For that matter,” she continued, “why don't they just breed people, grow them in labs or something? It just doesn't make any sense!” The older woman didn't have an answer for her, and neither did Ralph, but in the Pilot's area, Darius was reciting an ancient passage in The Ritual that might have shed some light on their conversation.
“We tried and failed to breed them, to seed them”
he chanted. “We cannot recreate the abundance that you have provided. We shall never attempt it again.” Darius sipped The Sacred Green Wine, his body swaying, relaxing from its' intoxicating effects. All of the long, miserably bright day's work forgotten temporarily, as the feeling of well being enveloped his Gray mind.
“”Laura,” Ralph began, gently, “I know you're afraid,” “You're damn right I'm afraid!” she shouted back. “But it doesn't mean that all of that crap in the paper was true!” “They could be taking us to work for them, or to...I don't know, study us maybe,” she said lamely. “Yeah, in fucking shackles, yeah, that's what they're doing,” an Asian man of about thirty shouted over at her. He had been sitting across from them listening to the back and forth argument taking place between her and Ralph. “Did anybody ask for your fucking opinion?” Laura shouted back at him.
“Hey Lady,” the Asian man replied quickly, “I don't really care if you want my opinion or not. As you can see, this isn't exactly a fucking democracy up here.”
Laura looked at him, her mouth dropping open. “You had better get those romantic ideas about the sweet little aliens out of your mind lady,” he shouted. “These dudes
DO NOT
look like friendlies of any kind to me. The sooner you face facts, the better chance you'll have.”
Laura looked at him coldly. “Chance?” she asked, her eyebrows lifting in surprise, “Chance at what, exactly?”.
“To survive” the Asian man replied.
Ralph listened to the exchange, his mind reeling.
“Am I the only one on this whole fucking ship that can see what's happening?” he interrupted. “Man, he said looking at the slim, neatly dressed Asian man sitting across from him, “just how the hell are we supposed to survive this? Am I the only one who sees those fucking barbed tails their holding, or who realizes we're sitting at over 10,000 feet above the ground in a
FUCKING
UFO?!!!
“Dude, chill!” the Asian man replied, holding his shackled hands out in a warding off gesture. His large dark eyes brimmed with intelligence and quiet intensity.
“What I mean is that they have to have some kind of weakness. If we can find it, we might have some kind of a damn chance to get off of this thing and get back to the ground.”
“Man, you've been watching too many science fiction movies,” Ralph replied. He studied Jason's tanned face, and shook his head. “Those kind of ideas are what got us up here in the first place. Why is it so difficult for people to believe that there are more intelligent beings in the Universe than they are? They always think they can outsmart, out reason or outright bully anything that comes their way. Well I'm not buying it bro. We're fucked.”
“My name is Jason” the Asian man said,
laughing. His long dark bangs spilled haphazardly across his face. “What's so funny?” Ralph asked peevishly. “Oh, it's just the way you said it man,” Jason replied, shaking his head, raking his long bangs back absentmindedly. Ralph looked at Jason and smiled reluctantly. “I'm Ralph” he said, holding his shackled hands above his head. “And this young lady beside of me is Laura.” Laura held her hands up. “Hi” she said, forgetting her earlier anger as they conversed.
They spent the next two hours talking about the different circumstances that had brought them to their present states, and as Ralph listened to Jason's story, he found himself liking him more and more. They talked on as the cargo bay grew dim with the onset of night.
Laura snored softly beside of Ralph, her head on his shoulder.
“So,” Jason said, “you saw what happened to those old women who were singing?” “Yeah,” Ralph replied, “Of course I did, they were just right over there.” he motioned to his right, in the dim light of the bay, with his shackled hands. “Well,” Jason continued, leaning forward conspiratorially, “I was just thinking how weird that was.” “You mean in comparison to every other weird thing that's happened up here?” Ralph said impatiently. “No, Jason said, his forehead creasing as he spoke. “I mean, their reaction to that singing.”
“I'm not following you man,” Ralph shot back, looking at Jason questioningly.
“You don't think that was a little strange?” Jason replied. “I mean, there's not much of a way to get a reaction out of those goons up there,” he pointed up to the overhead platform where the Guardians walked steadily back and forth, their tails poised to strike, “unless you don't eat that goop they serve up. There are people screaming, crying, puking, yelling and cursing, but they swoop down on a bunch of old women who decided to sing?”
Ralph stared at Jason, realizing what he had just been told. “You think that singing somehow hurts them?” “I don't know if it hurts them or not,” Jason said cautiously, “but they sure didn't like it much.” Jason looked steadily at Ralph, waiting for his words to register on him. “No, they didn't, did they?” Ralph replied, and smiled. Jason nodded. His words had hit home. An idea was beginning to form in Ralph's mind, echoed by his own thoughts.
We might have a chance,
he thought.
A chance.
The Ritual
Darius sipped The Sacred Green Wine, turned around five times in a tight circle and bowed towards the setting sun. “The night descends upon us, the darkness, the death,” he chanted solemnly. “We give thanks to our Highest that we have survived another day. Let us not perish in the darkness of night, so that we may continue to enjoy the abundance You have provided.” The ancient rite, the legacy of their great ancestors now took on a completely different context as the Grays on board performed The Ritual.
This rite would be performed every hour on the hour until dawn's light shown dimly through the large window of the ship. For every half hour, they ritualistically ate of the dried provisions they had brought along for their journey. The meats, the fruits and the corusca they would consume were all cured and prepared prior to their departure from Kryox. Only the liver was to be untouched by this process. It had to be succulent and fresh.
The Grays ate their dried stores, chewing on the cured meat slowly, gratefully, thanking their Highest for each bite they took. Thus, they were filled, their bodies prepared for the following day.
Darius chewed slowly, thoughtfully. The beasts slept now in the Cargo bay. Their bodies slumped against the ship's inner hull, the troughs and each other.
Long loud snores came from some, silence from the others. Sleep.
What was this strange happening that took the
human beasts from their slumping bodies?
Darius didn't know. It looked frighteningly similar to death to him.
He was thankful that he didn't have to sleep, he couldn't imagine being so utterly defenseless. He shuddered, driving the thought from his mind. He lifted the cup of Sacred Green Wine to his lips once again and sipped it contentedly.
To Be Continued.....................
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