The Harvest (Book 2): Eve of Man
Page 36
After giving instructions to Riri, he headed for the exit. Jenny would be dropping off his daughter in a couple of hours and, if Colin held true to his word, a hot breakfast would be waiting for him. A loud clap of thunder greeted him as he opened the hospital door. He looked for rain clouds, but the sky was clear. Let it rain, he thought. Today was going to be a good day and not even torrential rain could dampen his spirits. With the thought of possibly seeing his friend again, Zack hurried home.
***
Colin spooned another lump of green leafy stuff onto Zack’s plate and crinkled his nose. Unlike his brother, Colin hadn’t acquired a taste for the food. Being forced to become a vegetarian ranked at the top of his list of things he didn’t like here in Paruville. They were only allowed to eat meat on the last day of the month. On that first ‘day of meat’, he’d been stoked thinking they were going to have thick juicy steaks. Not so. Not so. Not that the meat served was bad, but the taste was more like fish and nowhere in the vicinity of beef.
“What are you so excited about this morning? Did you deliver another baby?” Colin asked, rolling his eyes.
“I’m not excited and I delivered three. You should try doing something constructive with your time. Something more than hanging out at Charlie’s house all day and night.” Zack gave him a reproachful stare.
“And exactly what would that be?” Colin set the pan down hard enough to startle German and Josie who were snoozing under the table. “There’s no school, no gym, no slopes. What the hell am I supposed to do here? Be your housewife? Be Madison’s babysitter?”
Zack sat back from the table. “Wow. Aren’t you acting like a spoiled little shit?”
“Save your self-righteous I’m better than everyone bullshit speech. I don’t want to hear it. Again.”
“You need to hear it. And you need to listen to it. You aren’t special Colin. We’re all in this together. Stop thinking about yourself all the goddamned time.”
“I don’t need you telling me what to do. I’m nineteen years old. I’m not your fucking little brother anymore.”
“You act like your nine. And you’ll always be my little twerp brother.”
“You know what? Fuck off.” Colin threw the pan into the sink and stormed out, slamming the front door. German ran after him and stood at the door whining.
“Come here boy.” Zack held out a scrap of food, but the dog ignored him.
Zack picked at his food, having lost his appetite. Things shouldn’t be like this, with them fighting all the time. Not that they hadn’t fought before coming to Paru, but never like this. Sometimes he felt Colin hated him. Bringing the little screaming bundles of joy into the world, that was the easy part, that part he did well. The parenting part he sucked at and wasn’t equipped for. How in the hell was he going to raise his daughter when he couldn’t control a nineteen-year-old? Maybe Jenny could give him advice. The more he thought about this the better he felt. Jenny always offered good sound advice. She’d know how to handle Colin’s temper tantrums. Feeling better about Colin, Zack took notice of German and Josie, both were sitting facing the door, ears perked straight and tall, turning in every direction. A ‘holy shit’ clap of thunder shook the house, startling him and the dogs. Josie ran for cover in the back bedroom, while German paced back and forth in front of the door.
“What’s wrong with you dog?”
German ran to Zack, barked loud and sharp, and ran back to the door. He pawed at the knob and again barked loud and sharp. Zack walked over to the door and looked outside. He glanced up and down the street, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Meanwhile German continued to paw at the door, whining for Zack to open up and let him out.
“Easy German, take it easy. There’s nothing out there.” Zack’s eyes came to rest on the portal. The murky inside shimmered in the sunlight, but something about that shimmer appeared a bit off. He absently turned the knob, unlatching the door from the jam and giving German the opportunity he needed. Zack was pushed out of the way and almost lost his balance as German charged through the door and across the porch. Zack ran out after him, but to no avail. The dog was halfway down the street, racing towards Charlie’s house. Zack ran after him. The uneasy feeling settled in his stomach.
Up ahead on Charlie’s porch German jumped and pawed at her front door like a rabid crazed beast. When neither Charlie nor Colin came to investigate, the unease in Zack’s stomach hardened and pushed a rancid taste up into his throat. He swallowed hard to keep the lump down, to calm his nerves, which were threatening to assail his senses like a disturbed hornet’s nest. German barked and jumped at the door again. He turned and snarled upon seeing Zack walking up the porch steps.
“Easy boy. It’s me. It’s Zack.” Zack stepped back down to the bottom step. German advanced towards him, growling and drooling, eyes blazing and keen on him. Zack stood still, almost paralyzed in thinking his dog might try to kill him. He risked a glance at German’s face. The dog still bared his teeth, but he wasn’t looking at Zack, his eyes were locked on something across the street. Zack took a chance and glanced over his shoulder. The street was empty. The street was quiet. Zack turned all the way around, looked up and down the street, no longer worried about German pouncing on him. Bigger and badder things thrived on Paru. This last thought shocked him out of his reverie and he bolted up the steps and yanked open the door.
“Charlie! Colin!” Zack ran through the house screaming their names, opening and closing doors like a madman. No one answered...
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Thank you for reading Eve of Man. I hope you enjoyed it. The third installation in the series will be published in 2015.
Best,
Anne Ferretti
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Table of Contents
Eve of Man Part II of The Harvest Series
A special thanks
Copyright
All rights reserved
The Harvest
1 The Spread
2 United States Embassy
3 The Adita
4 The Gift
5 Hulk
6 Departure
7 Crossing the Strait
8 Reunion
8 Fur Elise
9 Christmas & Planes
10 Eve
11 Flying Under the Radar
12 Unlikely Ally
13 Best Western
14 Unknowns
15 Christmas
16 Life for Death
17 Chance Meeting
18 The Greatest Odds
19 The Harvest
20 Blood Typing
21 Saving Ryan
22 Nowhere to hide
23 Brothers
24 Germany
25 Point of No Return
26 After
27 Eve of Man
28 Proposal
29 Guarantees
30 Change
31 Final Departure
32 Paru
Excerpt from Part III
A Note from the author:
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