The Harvesting (32 page)

I slowed the Bronco and put it into
park.

“
What now?” Vella asked
me.

I looked across the horizon. Suddenly,
I saw a very strange blue-green light in the field. At first I
thought it was a fire-fly, but the light never went off. The orb of
light bounced across the grass. I watched it for a moment. Puck
barked.

“
You see that?” Vella
whispered.

“
Yeah, I see it,” I
replied.

“
What is it?” Vella
asked.

“
Swamp gas?”

“
A wisp?”

I frowned at Vella.

The light bounced playfully in the
field.

“
I think we should follow
it,” Vella said. Her voice was thin and mystical. I didn’t like it
a bit.

“
I don’t know about that,”
I replied.

“
Just follow it,” Vella
answered.

I sighed. I didn’t really want to
follow the light, but I was curious. I turned the Bronco onto the
grassy field and followed the glowing blue orb. It bounced over the
grass and down a hill. The light went into a thick woods where the
Bronco could not follow.

“
We should follow it,”
Vella said.

“
Walk after it? Like
hell,” I replied. “You do know it is night? And you do know we are
in the middle of nowhere? And you do remember there are freakin’
zombie-lookin’ things creapin’ around everywhere,
right?”

Vella watched the light. “We should
follow it,” she said again.

I clicked off the Bronco and turned to
have a very serious discussion with Vella when Puck, who had been
sitting quietly between Vella and me, suddenly crawled across
Vella’s lap and jumped out the window.

I saw his tail wagging as he bounded
across the grass toward the glowing light.

“
Fuck,” I swore and jumped
out of the Bronco. I grabbed the pipe wrench and Mama’s pistol and
went after the dog.

Vella was hot on my heels.

“
Soon as I get the damned
dog back we’re goin’ back to the Bronco,” I told her.

Vella said nothing but kept pace with
me. The dog and the light disappeared into the thick, dark woods.
When I reached the border between the field and the woods, I
hesitated.

“
Puck,” I called into the
woods with scolding authority. “Puck!” I realized then that if I
went around screaming I was inviting trouble. “God damned dog,” I
grumbled, and stepping into the forest, I went after him. Vella
followed.

We wove through the woods. Ahead I
could see the blue light and a shadow of Puck following behind it.
Suddenly, however, the light bounced up and then dropped out of
view. In the darkness, I spotted Puck sitting on a rise. The
moonlight was shining down on him. “There he is,” I said pointing,
and Vella and I ran toward him. When we got close, I called him
again: “Puck, come here you bad dog.”

Puck rose, wagging his tail, and
jogged toward me.

Vella walked toward the rise where
Puck had been sitting. No matter what, I was done following weird
lights. “Let’s head back,” I said and turned to go, grabbing Puck
by the collar.

“
Cricket,” Vella
called.

“
Oh no. I’m not chasing
any more lights in the woods. Come on.”

“
No, wait. Look,” she
said.

With a sigh, I walked toward the rise
where Puck had been sitting. Down across the valley below us we saw
the twinkle of light.

“
What is it? A
town?”

Vella shook her head. “I don’t know.
Looks like some kind of building.”

We both stood there
considering.

I looked down at Puck. He whimpered
excitedly. “Well, guess we better go check it out. Could be help or
we could get eaten alive. No way to know unless we go find out. You
agree?” I asked Vella.

She had a strange, faraway look on her
face and was smiling serenely.

“
What is it?” I
asked.

“
Look, on the top of the
building.”

I squinted. “A star?” It looked like
there was a shining silver star on top of the building. “Maybe it’s
a Holiday Inn.”

She shook her head. “No.
It’s
the
Star,”
she replied.

“
What do you mean,
the
Star?”

“
In the Tarot deck. The
Star follows the Tower.”

“
If you say so. But lights
can also mean a soft bed and a hot meal,” I replied with a shrug. I
looked down at Puck who wagged his tail. I stuck the pistol in the
back of my jeans, and keeping a tight grip on my pipe wrench, we
headed off through the darkness and toward the Star.

###

About the Author

Melanie Karsak, steampunk connoisseur,
white elephant collector, and caffeine junkie, resides in Florida
with her husband and two children. Visit Melanie at her blog,
melaniekarsak.blogspot.com, to learn more about upcoming projects,
book signings, and other fun things.

Keep in touch with Melanie on the
internet:

Blog:
http://melaniekarsak.blogspot.com/

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/MelanieKarsak

Email:
[email protected]

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About The
Harvesting

The Harvesting
is the first book of
The
Harvesting
trilogy which explores the
question Peryn poses to Layla in the first novel of the series:
“Mankind has finally consumed itself. Can any spark of humanity
survive?” The second book of the series,
The Shadow Aspect
, will be released
in the spring of 2013. Please see the author’s blog for
details.