The Harvesting

by Melanie Karsak

  I cast one look back at Jamie and was about to go back in to grab my gear when someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out the window. It happened so fast that I did not have a chance to call out. I landed with a thud on the balcony outside the room a floor below. Intense pain shot across my back, but every instinct inside me told me to get up.

  I rose to my feet to find myself standing face to face with one of them. It was a woman; I had seen her earlier in Rumor’s entourage. She was undoubtedly beautiful with long hair and large eyes. She was drenched with rain water. She grinned then lunged. She was incredibly fast. I ducked and she missed. She swung at me again; I blocked. We exchanged blows, me ducking and weaving. For a flicker of a moment I was thankful my co-worker Josephine had asked me to take ju-jitsu classes with her. My opponent, however, was much better at unarmed combat. With a strong side kick, she knocked me off balance. I fell backward over the balcony railing and onto the porch roof. Pain shot from one side of my head to the other. I looked up to see the man peering into what I guessed was Frenchie’s room.

  I had no time to react; she was on me again. I was still barefoot and the roof was rough under my feet. She swung again; I blocked and struck her with a hard upper-cut. She fell backward across the roof and then rolled to the ground below. With a jump, I followed her, my bare feet landing in the soft grass, mud oozing up between my toes.

  Lightning shot across the sky, and a moment later there was a loud clap of thunder. Buried in the thunder-clap was the strange cat-like howl of the man who tried to creep into Frenchie’s room. He had jumped backward, away from the door and onto the balcony railing, and was cradling his hand. It looked like it was smoking. With a yelp, he bounded across the balconies and disappeared back into the night.

  The woman had stopped to watch the scene, a confused and worried look on her face. I took that split second to look around. In the manicured flowerbed in front of the hotel I spotted a poured concrete garden gnome. I grabbed the smiling little creature, turned, and with a heave, smashed it on the woman’s head.

  Clutching her head, she fell to the ground with a screech. I pounced on top of her. The massive cut I had leveled across her head and face had slowly begun to heal. I had her pinned, but she was getting better by the second. She grinned at me, her sharp teeth showing. I heaved the lawn ornament once more; then, I felt it. There was a surge of strange energy in the air and then she simply poofed, transforming into a shadow. Where she had been lying beneath me there was now a black, ethereal form, a shadow. It slipped easily out of my grasp and with a twirl, it vanished into the night.

  Tossing the gnome, I picked myself up and ran. I vaulted the porch railing and hit the main hotel doors. They were locked. As I yanked at the door handle, I noticed someone was inside. It was Finn. He looked up at me and smiled and waved. I turned then and ran toward the door at the end of the building near the infirmary. To my luck, it was open.

  I dashed down the hallway. I paused for just a moment at Ian’s room. He slept soundly; no one was in sight. I ran then to the main foyer, soaking wet and still in my underwear, and up the grand stairway. Finn was no longer in the lobby.

  I went at once to Frenchie’s door and knocked. “Frenchie!”

  “Layla?” Frenchie said sleepily as she opened the door. Once she saw my appearance, however, she was alert.

  “Someone tried your window,” I said and rushed across the room to check the door. It was open just an inch or two. The thunder outside boomed. When he’d pried the door open, he must have passed the line in the salt, burning his hand. I pulled the door closed and locked it.

  “Who? Layla, you’re soaking. And half-naked,” Frenchie said.

  “One of them.”

  Frenchie took my hand. “You’re bleeding,” she whispered, blotting blood off my forehead. “I’ll go get Jamie.”

  “No.”

  “I’ll be fast. Stay with the girls,” she said and then left.

  A few moments after she had gone there was a soft knock on the door.

  Thinking it was Frenchie and Jamie, I opened the door without hesitation. Corbin was standing on the other side.

  He smiled when he saw me. I saw him take in the room; the girl’s sleeping in the bed, the salt in front of the door, my half-naked self, and the nasty wound on my forehead.

  “Ouch,” he said, looking at the cut. “Looks like it hurts. I understand there was some commotion? May I be of assistance?” he asked.

  I laughed. “Seriously? Tell your boss we want to go home. I don’t want trouble. If she agrees, we’ll leave peacefully.”

  Corbin smiled at me. His teeth were small and pointed. “You are home,” he said.

  “Just deliver my message like the flunky you are.”

  A dark shadow crossed his face, and he took a step closer toward me.

  I stepped back into the room: “uh, uh, uh,” I said, shaking my finger and casting a glance toward the salt.

  Corbin glared at me, his face a thundercloud. He cast a glance toward the sliding glass door behind me. The first hint of morning light had appeared on the horizon.

  At that same moment, Jamie and Frenchie turned the corner. Jamie had his gun drawn. He raised it at Corbin as he walked down the hall toward us.

  Corbin took a long, hard look at Jamie and then stalked down the hallway in the other direction.

  Jamie grabbed me as he rushed into the room. “I woke up and you were gone; all your stuff was there and the window was open. Oh my god, Layla. I thought the worst,” he said, crushing me to him. “You’re soaked and freezing,” he added.

  Frenchie crossed the room to check on the girls. They were still sleeping. She pushed the curtain aside and looked outside. “It’s almost sun-up,” she observed.

  “What happened?” Jamie whispered. He looked at the wound on my forehead. “You need stitches.”

  I looked back at Frenchie and the girls.

  “We’re okay. Go get some rest,” she said.

  “No, we should stay with you,” I replied.

  “Layla, you’re hurt. Take care of yourself and then come back,” Frenchie said. “In one piece.”

  Jamie left one of his guns with Frenchie, and we headed back to our room. The soft rays of the sun peeked over the horizon. When we got back, I sat down on the side of the bed. Jamie brought me a towel to dry my hair and found me a HarpWind Grand Hotel plush robe. The word “Bride” was embroidered on the lapel.

  “This may hurt a little,” he said, washing the wound with an alcohol swab. He then threaded a needle and, as carefully as possible, made the stitches. “You’ll have a small scar. Now, tell me what happened.”

  I relayed the events of the night to him as he worked. I stared at his face; his eyes were glued on my forehead and the work at hand. His face told me, however, he was listening intently. His forehead was furrowed. When he was done stitching, he cleaned the wound and dressed it with light gauze.

  He looked at me, shaking his head in disbelief. “They were trying to kill you.”

  “I’m alright, but what do they want with Kira and Susan? Why are they so interested in those girls?”

  Jamie shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s my fault you’re here. If you had stayed back--”

  “The undead might have eaten me alive and no one would have known.”

  “Or you might be safe, curled up on your couch in the cabin, reading a good book.”

  “Queen of Hamletville, the sole survivor in a wasteland. Doesn’t sound like much fun.”

  “Was getting tossed out of a fourth floor window fun?”

  I frowned.

  “Get some rest. You can’t go around fighting the undead, vampires, and communing with earth spirits on no sleep. I’ll keep watch,” Jamie said.

  “The girls . . .”

  “I’ll take care of it. You’re not alone in this, Layla. Just rest.”

  I climbed into the bed. Jamie pulled the covers up and soon, despite my firm assertion I would not sleep, I was lost in
dreams.

  Chapter 28

  I woke around noon the next day with a blaring headache, reeling from a strange dream. In the dream I saw a mix of odd images that disturbed me. Ian was there foremost and with him were people with human bodies who had tails and heads like animals. They were all drinking high-end cocktails. We were in a small, strange room piled high with heaps of garbage. The place smelled putrid. On some of the piles were corpses. To my shock, I turned to find Ian fucking one of the corpses. Its mouth, wide open, expelled flies each time he thrust into it. Standing beside him, a female creature with a face something like a fox or coyote laughed and stroked her own genitals as she watched. I woke feeling sick to my stomach, my head pounding.

  “Here,” Jamie said, handing me an aspirin and bottled water.

  “What are we going to do when pain killers run out?”

  Jamie shook his head. “You’re something special. Buddie was by early this morning. I had him check in on Frenchie. I told him what happened last night.”

  “You’re probably anxious to check on Ian. Let me get dressed,” I said and tried to stand. The room spun wildly. I sat back down.

  “When did you last eat something?”

  I shrugged and sat back in bed. My head was killing me.

  Jamie returned with a dark chocolate candy bar. “Enjoy, it’s my last one,” he said.

  “Boy, it must be love . . . the last chocolate bar,” I said and then broke off a piece, handing it to him.

  He smiled at me.

  “I guess I should enjoy it. Between the undead trying to eat me alive and these people trying to kill me in the middle of the night, I probably don’t have many meals left.”

  “Don’t say that. Anyway, Buddie stayed for a bit this morning before he went down to keep watch on Frenchie so I could check on Ian. Ian actually looks really good. They’ve got an IV pumping hooked up and have started him on medications. He was looking a lot better. He was grumpy, but he seemed like he felt better.”

  “I hope you didn’t tell him . . .”

  Jamie shook his head. “No, he has other things to focus on.”

  I rubbed my eyes. My head still ached. And I was confused. Why were they curing Ian but trying to kill me? “We need to check on everyone, make sure everyone else is alright.”

  “You’re in no shape to do anything. Besides, just look out the window. Half the people in the hotel are outside playing croquet.”

  “What?”

  Jamie pulled back the curtain. I looked out at the lawn. Below I caught sight of happy people cheering as they putt croquet balls across the green. I watched Ethel cheer as her ball passed through the wicket.

  “We need proof. We need to prove to them you’re right. Once they believe, we’ll find a way home,” Jamie said.

  “There is no home anymore,” I said and the moment I said it, I knew it was true. Rumor would never let us leave and even if we did escape, Hamletville was the first place they would come looking. Where would we go now? Where could we hide?

  Jamie reflected on my words. I could see the reality sink in with him as well. “We’re out of the garden. Now we’re like everyone else, looking for somewhere to be safe.”

  Just then, there was a knock on the door. Jamie rose to answer it. I could hear Buddie and someone else on the other side of the door. I pulled my robe on. Jamie let Buddie and Kiki in.

  “How are you feeling?” Buddie asked me.

  I smiled at Buddie. Like my grandma, he’d always been somewhat of a recluse, keeping to himself at his cabin by the lake. During hunting season, however, you would see a lot of him. Buddie was always the first man out of the woods, a bear or deer in tow. He would smile abashedly for his picture in the local paper. People used to talk about him, how he would take trips abroad or out west for big game hunting. Despite his efforts to avoid it, he was a good source of gossip. He would also stop by the library pretty often; I remembered him from my days hiding with Mrs. Winchester. He was quite young then. Mrs. Winchester once told him that she thought he’d read more books than anyone in town. I remembered being impressed. “Like someone kicked my ass, but otherwise fine,” I replied, then smiled at Kiki.

  “I left Tom with Frenchie. I told Kiki and Tom about what happened last night.”

  I imagined then the look on Tom’s face. He had been so sure we were going somewhere safe. I could not imagine what he might be thinking now.

  “Kiki noticed something I thought we should check out,” Buddie added.

  “I was out this morning with the others when I noticed a short-wave radio antenna on the roof of the hotel. It got me wondering who I heard when I made the transmission this winter,” Kiki said. “There is something off about these people. I noticed it last night. You’re right, Layla, they aren’t—well, I don’t know what they are. Anyway, after what Buddie told us this morning, it just made my skin turn all goose-bumps. If I can find the radio room, I might be able to see if it was them on the radio. Maybe that’s how they really found us.”

  I nodded. “I’ll get dressed.”

  Despite the fact my head was still aching, I pulled my clothes on and strapped on my weapons. I slid the shashka into the scabbard and attached it across my back.

  “If she sees that--” Jamie said.

  “She can take it from my cold dead hands,” I replied.

  Buddie chuckled.

  “Don’t tempt her,” Jamie said.

  We went outside. Kiki showed us the shortwave antenna. Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, we rounded the building looking for the antenna wire. A few seemingly normal people noticed us but didn’t take an interest.

  Kiki’s sharp eyes scanned the building. “There,” she said, pointing to the wire.

  The antenna line ran across the roof and was anchored to the side of the building. It ran down the side of the HarpWind to a window on the second floor.

  I grinned at the others. “Shall we?”

  We entered the hotel through the maintenance entrance on the first floor and followed the stairwell to the second floor. None of us were roomed on the second floor, and no one had yet been there.

  Kiki reached to push the door open, but I held back her hand.

  My blood rushed to my hands, and they began to feel tingly. “Something is off here,” I said. “Go careful.”

  Jamie pulled his gun and pushed open the heavy metal door. It opened with a click.

  We entered the hallway to find it empty. It was decorated with yellow brocade wallpaper and a matching floral designed rug. A side table stood at the end of the hall. On top of it was an ornate vase with a wilted flower arrangement.

  We walked quietly down the hallway, listening for any sound. No one seemed to be moving.

  “Do you think they sleep here?” Jamie whispered to me.

  I shook my head. “Too much light,” I replied. “We never see them in the daylight. Seems they avoid the sun.” Large windows had flooded the hall with light on either end. We came to a cross in the hallway.

  “Kiki and I can go right, you guys take the left,” I said.

  They nodded and we split up. Kiki and I walked carefully down the hall. We passed the laundry facilities and maid’s closets. We then came to a number of administrative offices. I heard voices.

  Kiki and I stopped. An office door near the end of the hall was opened. People were inside talking. Their voices were heated.

  “Fine. I’ll gas it up, but tell her we are low on fuel,” a man said.

  Pulling Kiki, we dodged into a side laundry room. We ducked low behind a heap of unwashed sheets. From the smell of the room, they had been sitting there a long time.

  I saw a man storm down the hallway.

  We heard someone move in the room next to us. “Have it ready by nightfall. She wants them out and back as soon as possible,” the woman called behind him.

  “Yeah, yeah,” the man replied.

  The woman had come to stand in the hallway. I could see her from my hiding place behind the la
undry. She was one of those unusual people I’d seen last night. Everything about her smacked of vampire, except she seemed fully alive: rosy cheeked, beautiful, glowing. And she also seemed in the know about Rumor’s plans. I wondered then what kind of unholy alliance these otherwise seemingly human people had entered into with the vampires.

  Just then the radio attached to her hip blared with a loud static sound. “Office,” someone called.

  “Now what,” she grumbled. “Go ahead.”

  “There are two guys creeping around on the second floor. Go chase them out, please.”

  “I’m on it,” she replied, and with a huff, headed down the hallway where Jamie and Buddie had gone.

  I slid out. When the woman turned the corner, I motioned to Kiki.

  She followed behind me. We went into the office. In a room behind the main desk we saw another, smaller room. The door was just slightly ajar.

  “There,” Kiki whispered.

  We quickly entered the small radio room. I closed the door behind us. The roof-top antenna was strung in through a window. I stood in front a mass of equipment I did not recognize.

  Kiki, however, sat down and right away slid on the headphones and began adjusting dials.

  “You said you did a project in school?” I whispered. Her deft hands told me that she knew more than just one project.

  “I’m studying engineering at the university,” she whispered. “Well, I was.”

  As Kiki turned the dials, I saw her listening intently. I noticed then there was a large map of the Great Lakes region taped to the wall. The map was dotted with small pins. Hamletville was marked with a red pin.

  Papers were strewn across a desk. I leafed through them.

  “I got something. I’m not sure what it is,” she said, listening.

  I leaned in and listened with her. “That’s German. They are broadcasting contamination reports in German cities. You can get Germany on this radio?”

  “Short-wave can pick up for thousands of miles. We didn’t pick up much, but I wasn’t sure if that was because our radio was so poor or if there was nothing to pick up.”

  She began moving dials again. I picked up a paper. On it had been written the words Barcelona Lighthouse and numbers relating to bands and kila-and mega-hurtz. I handed it to Kiki.