2012: Winter Harvest
By Linda Andrews
2012: Winter Harvest
Copyright © 2011 by Linda Andrews
Published by LandNa Publishing
Cover Design © KM Andrews and Linda Andrews
Photo by Hatcheckgirl
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
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Phoenix, Arizona
December 21, 2012
Grit stung Jamieson Vrain’s eyes and acrid smoke permeated the remnants of the flannel shirt covering his mouth. He peered in the descending gloom as the sun scuttled away to hide on the other side of the world. Twelve of the ugly beasts were visible and the numbers would only rise. They needed to find a safe place to hide. And soon.
“Do you think the monsters know we’re here?” The boy whispered, scratching the peach fuzz on his acne spotted skin. The question tumbled on the cold winter air and disappeared into the hazy alley.
“No.” If the creatures had spotted him and the boy, they’d already be dead. Vrain held his breath as one paused at the ally’s entrance and sniffed the air. Another quickly joined it. Perhaps, he’d spoken too soon. Vrain watched as a trio of the creatures blocked the exit behind them.
“We’re trapped.” Glass crunched under the boy’s sneakers as he shifted closer.
Vrain acknowledged the human need to be near others with a brief brush of his shoulder against the boy’s parka. Pausing near the gutted office building, Vrain shrugged his rifle off his back and scanned the smoky scene. Shadows shifted in the failing light. They needed a place to hide yet here he stood, waiting...
“Will we make it?”
Vrain nodded. The wadded up garbage bags stuffed under his hood of his jacket for warmth scratched his bald head. Keep moving. Stay alive. Something kept him in place.
The boy tugged on Vrain’s jacket. “Do you hear that?”
“Yeah.” Relief mingled with the dread twisting Vrain’s gut. He wished he had imagined the woman’s voice. “This way.”
A light breeze thinned the black haze roiling down Seventh Street. Movement next to a burning Hummer snagged his attention. The military convoy still smoldered. Fresh kill. Maybe two hours old. Flames cast crimson light over the slender girl huddled near a burning personnel carrier twenty feet away and spotlighted something he’d wished never to see again.
“Get back,” Vrain hissed, scuttling backward with the teenager mimicking his moves.
Two of the monsters snapped the bones of a charred soldier. Their razor sharp claws butchered the corpse into large chunks before stuffing the pieces inside their mouths. Their incisors ripped the meat from the bones before spitting the white pieces out. Large wings flapped around their skeletal bodies, draping down to their cloven hooves but not hindering the work of their sinewy arms.
Why did they ignore the rocking girl? Vrain had never noticed a preference for barbecue over fresh kill.
“Aren’t you gonna help her?”
“And become menu material?” Vrain’s grip tightened around the rifle stock when the shadows across the street wavered in his peripheral vision. The creatures always hunted in packs of three, the better to torment their prey before feasting. Bile burned Vrain’s throat. Across the street, a shadow morphed into the shape of a human woman.
An aluminum can clattered to a stop against the curb near her feet. She smoothed the silvery veil over her face and strode confidently into rubble.
“You can save them.”
The creatures finished their blackened meal, scanned the wreckage with red eyes then headed directly toward the woman fifty feet away. A third demon dropped from the shattered window five stories above.
“Shit!” Civilized behavior warred with self-preservation. Both women would die before his eyes and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. Except maybe give them a quick, clean death.
“I’ll cover you.”
The muzzle of a Glock shook near Vrain’s ear. He placed his hand on the damp barrel and pointed it at the ground. “Bullets won’t penetrate their hides.” He looked into the boy’s brown eyes and watched the truth sink in. The bullets in the clip and chamber weren’t for the creatures but to prevent a lingering death at their hands. Yet, he couldn’t pull the trigger.
The boy nodded once then tucked the gun into his waistband.
“Move out.”
“Look!” The boy shoved oily hair off his dirty forehead and pointed to the street beyond.
Vrain stiffened. He refused to witness more carnage. The creature’s hooves clacked against the asphalt, growing louder. They needed to leave. Still, Vrain waited for the crunch of bone.
“They walked right passed her.”
Vrain spun on his heel. The creatures had ignored the woman to snap at the flames by the girl. Why weren’t the monsters feasting on the females?
A cold breeze carried the rocking girl’s whine to them. “It’s not dusk.”
The high pitched yips and whorls of the creature’s language echoed off the buildings of the plundered city. Twilight simmered in their eyes, deepened the pits in their elongated faces and the creases of the retractable boney cowl around their neck.
The silhouette of another creature glided over the standing woman. Its wingspan stretched across the five traffic lanes while cadaverous fingers skimmed the broken panes of glass on the stories above. The beasts on the street sprang up to join their brethren streaking across the blood soaked sky.
The woman lifted her veil to stare directly at Vrain. “You should come by the fire.”
He shifted his weight, blocking her view of the boy. “I’m not cold.”
“The fire will mask your body heat. It’s how they find their prey.” She stood between the burnt out husk of the personnel carrier, an untouched baby stroller, and a bicycle frame snapped in two. There weren’t flames within ten feet of her.
“So why aren’t you standing by the fire?”
“I’ve my own means to hide.” She opened her pea green Army jacket. Silver glinted inside. “Mylar blankets and blue ice.”
Vrain aimed for her heart. He should have known anger would surface in the sea of numbness drowning him. “The army knew.” His finger tightened on the trigger. “All those dead.” His friends. His family.
“I’m Air Force, not Army.” She held out her hand and stepped toward him. “Major Brooke Lin.”
“Names are for tombstones.” Vrain knew if they failed to find shelter, they wouldn’t need either.
The major tossed him an odd look before setting her hand on the girl’s shoulder and crouching next to her. “Shh. It’s going to be okay. Can you stand?”
The girl’s speech degenerated into sporadic moans and mumbling but she rose to her feet at the major’s urging.
Vrain slipped the rifle back on his shoulder. “You know her?”
“Don’t have to.” The major tucked th
e girl’s dirty blonde hair behind her ears and smiled. “There’s no point in surviving if you can’t live with yourself.”
Vrain grunted. Such ideology got people killed. “We need to move.” Her bombshell about body heat eliminated many of his potential hiding spaces. He eased back into the dark alley.
“Stay on the sidewalk, close to the west face of the buildings.”
Her order grated. He’d stayed alive for the last four months without her. He refused to believe it was just dumb luck. “I prefer the shadows.”
“Then the Danavas will eat you.”
The boy flattened himself against the west facade. “Danavas?”.
“Dr. Singh called them Danavas. It’s Hindu for demons.” The major ushered the girl to a place on the sidewalk between Vrain and the boy. “The name seemed appropriate. Of course, they’re not really demons, more like sharks that live in the darkness of space, feeding on every planet that comes into sight. No ships, no technology, no weakness that we’ve been able to find.”
Vrain grabbed the major and pinned her against the building. Answers wouldn’t resurrect the dead but it might keep him alive. At least for one more night. “What do you know about the monsters?”
She tugged at his fingers fisting her jacket. “Know? I don’t know how to take them out if that’s what you’re asking.”
“You know something and don’t lie, or I’ll feed you to them.” Vrain bluffed.
“They arrived as our planet lined up with the galactic equator and are impervious to
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