She jerked the bike as hard as she could to free the left tire from where it had become lodged against a fallen log. She glanced over her shoulder. The men were closing fast. She gassed the ATV and took off, going deeper into the forest and farther from the bunker. This was the easy part of the plan.
A half mile in Madison saw the massive fallen log blocking the path just as Zack said it would. The men were still in pursuit, but had fallen far enough behind to give her the small window of opportunity needed. She hit the gas, pushing the ATV to maximum speed and at the last second hurled herself from the bike. The ATV crashed head first into the log, bounced backward and nearly missed running her over. The sound echoed loud, just as she hoped it would be.
On the other side of the log, Madison flopped down on the snow about where she thought she might have landed had she been propelled from the ATV. She took out the vile of blood Zack supplied and poured it on the snow. A trail of blood was then laid into a thicket of trees, where she tore a piece of her sleeve, soaked it in the remaining blood and snagged it on a twig.
She stopped to listen. The men were again closing in. She looked around. This would have to do. She stripped off the orange jump suit and shoved it in her backpack. Underneath she had on black winter gear. The galoshes were shoved in her pack and replaced with hiking boots. With one last glance over her shoulder, she took off running into the woods.
23 GENERAL ROTH
Austin’s feet came down on top of the elevator. Male voices could be heard below him. He paused to listen, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. The elevator suddenly jerked into motion, knocking him off balance. Regaining his footing, he quickly released the cable before being yanked back to the top of the shaft. The elevator descended another fifty feet before hitting what he guessed must be the bottom of the shaft. The door slid open and the men exited.
He waited several seconds after the door closed before pulling up a panel and silently dropping into the elevator. He reached for the button to open the door. If he was lucky, there would be a long corridor on the other side and he could enter unharmed. If he wasn’t lucky, it wouldn’t matter. There was only one way to find out. He hit the button and prepared for the worst.
The door slid quietly open to reveal a long empty corridor lit by battery powered lights. Austin stepped out and pulled his goggles off. Once his eyes adjusted to the dimness he looked around for cameras. Thirty feet in there were two cameras mounted close to the ceiling and facing the elevator. Red flashing lights let him know they were functioning and the element of surprise was lost. He lowered his weapon and proceeded forward at a slow pace as he waited for his escort to arrive.
He heard them coming before he saw them and knelt on the floor with his hands held in the air. Four soldiers rounded the corner, guns pointed. They shouted at him to lay on the ground, face first. Austin hesitated when he saw the soldiers, whose long hair and full facial hair surprised him. He slowly knelt down and they quickly surrounded him. One soldier zip tied his hands while another frisked him. They took his K-bar and a small hand gun. He had left the AK and back pack carrying his arsenal on top of the elevator.
“What’s your name soldier?”
“Captain Austin Reynolds. U.S. Marines.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“Section Seven.” Austin answered.
“How’d you find the Section Captain?”
“General Roth gave me instructions to find him here.”
“Where’d you come from?” The soldier didn’t sound entirely convinced.
“Florida. My unit was wiped out. The city was…I was the only survivor.”
“How’d you get here?”
“ATV and then by foot.” Austin answered, but he was losing patience. “Is General Roth here?”
“He is.” The soldier answered after a long pause. He leaned over, snipped the zip tie and freed Austin’s hands. “I’ll take you to him.”
Section Seven was a maze of corridors that seemed to go on forever and at one point Austin was certain they were going in a circle. This simple tactic to confuse him was annoying and unnecessary. Although an effective deterrent if a person was easily disoriented, but he wasn’t thank to his built in compass that never failed him. The soldiers walked ahead of him, shooting the shit about nothing in particular, as if he wasn’t there, as if the world hadn’t gone to shit and they weren’t living under a mountain.
After ten minutes of walking in semi circles they stopped at a large steel door. The first soldier punched in a code and pressed his thumb on the pad. The sound of heavy steel sliding in a track could be heard as the door’s mechanisms began to unlock. After a minute a pneumatic system swung the door inward. They walked into a small chamber, and the soldier stepped up to a second door where a blue beam from a retinal scanner passed over his eyes. The second door opened into the brains of Section Seven.
The command center looked like something out of a war games movie, but more sophisticated than anything Hollywood could have dreamt up. Even Austin was impressed as he looked around at all the tech gear and gadgets sitting silent and unmanned. An entire wall was taken up by a supersized screen that was currently dark. There were five more soldiers inside, men of various ages, who immediately reached for their weapons when they saw Austin.
“Stand down.” The soldier next to Austin ordered.
The men obeyed, but eyed Austin with open distrust, maybe even hostility. Austin wondered if being down here had messed with their minds. The psychology of having a mountain sitting on top of you couldn’t be easy to deal with, not over a long period of time anyway. He’d been under for less than thirty minutes and was already feeling claustrophobic and longing to be outside.
“Follow me.” The soldier led Austin over to an open office door where sitting behind a massive wood desk was, he assumed, General Roth. The soldier bowed to the general.
“Father this is Captain Reynolds.” The soldier announced and then quietly exited, leaving Austin alone with Roth.
General Roth stood up, an impressive man who stood over six feet tall, with graying hair that made him look distinguished rather than frail. All of which was normal and expected. But what Austin did not expect or think normal was Roth’s clothes. Instead of a military uniform decorated with brass, he wore a plain black robe with a red sash tied around the waste.
“Good evening Captain Reynolds. You finally made it.”
“Yes sir.” Austin stood at attention.
“Please sit down.” The General offered, indicating for Austin to take the seat across from him. “We’ve been waiting for you.” Roth said.
“Sir?”
“How were things along the way?” The general asked, seeming to not hear Austin.
Austin perched on the edge of the chair. An uneasy feeling stirred in the pit of his stomach. “Sir, they were…I didn’t find anyone alive. No people. No animals. And the climate is brutal. Nothing grows. There’s no electricity. It seems as if we’ve reached the end, sir.” Austin hadn’t planned on lying to Roth and didn’t know why he had. Seven months ago he would have cut off an arm before lying to a senior ranking officer, but he wasn’t the same man today as yesterday and his instincts were never wrong.
“The souls of the damned.” He said.
“Sir?”
“I am the first and the last. I hold the keys of death.” He leaned forward. “And of life. The pale horse did ride and Death was its rider. But you are wrong dear Captain. It is not the end of times. No, no. It is merely the beginning. The fulfillment of a promise made many thousands of years ago has begun.”
Austin remained calm, but inside the uneasy feeling churned away at increasing speeds. Roth sounded prophetic and psychotic at the same time. And by the empty look in his eyes Austin had to assume the latter was more prevalent. If Roth’s mind had run off to find the queen, then it was safe to assume the men had gone with him down that rabbit hole.
“We are His chosen servants. The survivors of the
great tribulation. We will wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the lamb. We will serve God and we will never go hungry again.” He smiled, but his eyes kept that the same glossy, nobody home look about them. “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior Captain Reynolds?”
There was no religion in the wilds of Alaska and despite his Aunt and Uncle having been devout Catholics Austin only stepped foot into a church twice in his life. This wasn’t religion; this was a different beast, one he knew all about. “Yes sir I have.”
A pleased smile spread across Roth’s face. “Do you wish to join our crusade? Become a disciple of the Sundogs?”
Austin kept his gaze and his voice steady. “The Sundogs sir?”
“God’s messengers. Sent to purge the Earth of the blight set upon it by man’s very existence. Haven’t you wondered why you lived and your wife didn’t?” He folded his hands.
Roth’s words, like a dagger, pierced the armor protecting Austin’s heart, but he did not waver under the general’s scrutiny and nodded his head.
“If you are holding on to hopes of finding her alive you must let go of that hope. If you are holding on to hopes of finding your son, you must let go of that hope as well. He serves a higher purpose now.”
“But sir…”
Holding up his hand to silence Austin, Roth picked up the phone on his desk with the other. He spoke soft and brief before setting the receiver back in the cradle. Moments later a young man wearing a brown robe entered, in his hand he carried a file folder. He handed it to Roth, bowed and left. Roth took up the folder to his face and peered at Austin over its edge.
“You require affirmation of her demise, which given the circumstances is quite understandable.” He tapped the folder against his nose and then lowered it to his chin. “Access was granted to us by God’s messengers.” He laid the folder down. “They invited us inside their sanctuary. And what we saw Captain… Oh my, what we saw we did see. We took pictures and video. Many, many photographs. Many, many hours of video. They gave us details for each of the damned. Name. Age. Address. Next of kin. It was all documented.”
Roth flipped the folder over and tapped his index finger on the white label placed in the center of the folder. Austin didn’t have to see the name neatly typed on that label to know what it said. He didn’t need to open that folder to know what lie inside. A self preservation mechanism began to creep through his body. It crawled up from his toes, through his legs and into his torso, numbing his senses, stealing away his feelings, until all that remained was animalistic instinct and rage.
Tremendous rage towards this man, who Austin had put so much hope in having answers, only to discover the man was a raving lunatic. So much rage that he envisioned jumping over the desk and snapping Roth’s neck with his bare hands. Roth’s neck remained intact for the moment. He was more useful to Austin alive than dead since, by his own account, he had direct contact with the Sundogs. Whether this was fact or the general’s fiction, Austin was undecided over, but if Roxi was dead, he wanted revenge against those responsible. And as much as revenge, he wanted to find his son.
“We will be moving to higher ground within the next week or so. You will join us as a disciple of the Sundogs. You will see they are merciful and good, for by the mere purpose of their being and the master they serve they could be nothing more and nothing less.” Roth gazed out at Austin.
“Yes sir. I would like that. I’ve been alone for too long.” Austin smiled and leaned back in his chair. This pleased Roth, taking Austin’s relaxed state as a sign of submission. Roth picked up the phone, turning his attention from Austin.
Austin closed his eyes and Eve appeared. She beckoned him to follow her. When he didn’t move, she walked towards him, coming close enough he could have reached out and touched her. He stared, as always mesmerized by her eyes, her skin, her being. For all the years gone by he still knew little about her.
“Brother Isaiah will show you to your sleeping quarters.” The general was speaking. “Captain?”
Austin opened his eyes, snapping forward. “Yes sir. Sorry sir. I’m a little tired.” He told another lie.
“Of course you are. We’ll let you rest tonight. Tomorrow you begin your seminars.” The general stood up. “I’m so very pleased that you’re joining us.”
Austin stood up as well. Behind him a young red haired soldier, Brother Isaiah, waited to escort him to his room. Out of habit, Austin saluted the general before leaving.
24 SPECIMEN
A twig snagged Madison’s scarf, threatening to rip it from her head and forcing her to stop. She removed the scarf, replacing it with a neoprene mask and took a moment to catch her breath. There were no sounds of the men, which gave her hope they hadn’t found her trail. She turned around to peer down the path. There was nothing to be seen or heard, only dead silence. Not even the forest had any life left to give.
The barn was north and according to the arrow on her compass she was heading in that direction, but should have been close to the edge by now. Zack had drawn out the route she needed to take, one he had personally mapped and used several times. It was a half loop approximately two miles long. A distance, when calculating in the terrain, she should have been able to cover in twenty five minutes. Yet here it was going on an hour and the forest was giving no indication of opening up any time soon. Rather the towering pines grew closer together and blocked out all but small patches of the gray sky above. Madison checked the compass again. The needle pointed north. Her stomach growled, adding to her unease that this was taking too long.
Zack insisted she take an energy bar, a bag of beef jerky and a Gatorade gel pack just in case. She had laughed at the thought of getting lost, but allowed him to fill her pack with the items anyway. She would have to remember to thank him if she made it back to the bunker. Not if Madison, when, when you get back to the bunker, she corrected firmly.
As she dug around her backpack for the energy bar, she saw Zack had also packed a blizzard survival blanket. It was contained in a three by three inch pouch, but when unfolded could easily cover two adults. She pushed the pouch aside and reached for the energy bar. At least she wouldn’t freeze to death if she had to spend the night out here. This thought sent a shiver through her body that had nothing to do with the cold.
Sighing, she began walking. At least if she kept moving, she would stay warm. Over head a branch snapped and Madison stopped midstride. Another branch snapped. The sound came from the right, some fifty feet up into the trees. Peering upward Madison watched for movement, but saw nothing. Maybe it was the wind, she reasoned, but the wind wasn’t blowing this deep in the trees. What then she wondered, trying to think logically and not succumb to paranoia. The Sundogs don’t come out during the day. It could be a bear or a mountain lion. Although either one of those would most likely be very hungry. Madison held her breath and listened. The forest was a tomb of silence. She slowly released her breath and relaxed her muscles which had instinctively tensed into fight or flight mode.
Standing perfectly still, Madison watched her breath create tiny clouds of mist. All around her the great pines soared to magnificent heights that diminished her existence amongst them, making her feel insignificant and isolated. It was time to get back to the bunker. She began walking when another branch snapped overhead, this time louder. Every hair on her body rose up, every nerve was on end. The presence of evil was overwhelming.
***
The tension was thick as the guys watched the screens, waiting and hoping for Madison to reappear. But instead of Madison exiting the trees, out stumbled the three men. They walked back towards the barn in silence. At the barn they searched for Charlie. At one point two of the men began to push and shove one another until the third man came in and broke them apart. He appeared to yell at them and then waved for them to leave. All three left the barn and returned to where their vehicle was parked. They got in and rode off in the direction of the highway. At the highway they turned in the direction of Colorado
Springs.
“Do you think they’re going to Cheyenne?” Luke asked. His eyes were still glued to the spot where Madison was supposed to exit the forest.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to look for Madison.” Zack announced.
“I’m going with you.” Luke got up.
“No you aren’t. It’s bad enough she’s out there. I don’t need you going and getting’ sick again.”
“I promised Austin I would protect her.” Luke pleaded with Zack.
“Yeah well, I promised to keep all of you safe. If you get pneumonia again you could die. So I got this.”
“He’s right Luke. Your immune system is still weak.” Edward laid his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Let Zack go. He’ll find her.”
Luke’s shoulders fell. He knew they were right, and hated that he wasn’t strong enough to help. He was sure Austin wouldn’t have let pneumonia get in his way. Hell he wouldn’t have allowed himself to get sick in the first place. “You better find her.”
“I will. I promise.” Zack replied, turning to Colin. “Charlie’s in the room next to Ed’s. See if you can get her to tell you what the hell’s goin’ on. Ed, you take the walkie talkie. You and Luke keep a close watch on those monitors. If you see those guys coming back you let me know. Ok?”
“We’re on it.” Ed took the walkie talkie from Zack.
“Hey Zack.” Colin stopped him as he was walking out the door. “Be careful.” Colin said. Zack gave him a crooked grin and nodded. A brief look passed between the brothers.
***
Twenty minutes later Zack stood over the ATV Madison had crashed into the fallen tree. On the other side of the tree, he found the blood trail she left behind. There were several footprints near where the blood stained the snow. He envisioned the men standing there arguing on whether they should follow her or let her die. They decided to follow the blood into the forest. Zack turned, facing the opposite direction, and walked along the edge of the woods until he found a smaller set of footprints, which he assumed belonged to Madison.
The Harvest Page 20
