The Harvest (Book 1)

by Ferretti, Anne

  “Chooses them for what?” Madison asked, fearing what he was going to tell her.

  “For procreation is how scumbag explained it. Seems Roth’s convinced them they’re the chosen ones. Chosen to repopulate the Earth with all that’s good, now that the Sundogs have purged the land of all that was wicked.” Austin answered dryly.

  “And the women? Are they willing participants in the program?” She pressed.

  Austin shook his head. “Roth’s brainwashed the men into thinking so, but apparently Disciple Thomas didn’t believe him.”

  “Disciple Thomas?”

  “The man Roth killed. He didn’t actually steal a girl. He only helped her escape. Which is why I’m back.” He glanced in at Chase. “We’re supposed to be looking for her. Disciples Morgan and two others lost her in the woods some fifty miles north of here.” He lied about the distance, knowing Chase was listening even if he wasn’t moving.

  Zack and Madison shared a look. Madison held her finger to her lips motioning for Zack to be quiet. Austin gathered from their expressions they must know something about the girl.

  “We would have seen them if they came through this way.” Madison said. “And it’s been extremely quiet since you left.”

  “I doubt they would have come this way.” Austin added. “Doesn’t matter. If she’s dead she’s better off.”

  “Do you know where the camp is?” Zack was through looking at pictures and stood up.

  “Not yet. But he’s going to tell me.” Austin nodded towards Chase. “Or he’s going to die in a much worse manner than Thomas. That’s a promise.” At this comment Chase turned his head in Austin’s direction and chuckled. Austin clenched his fists, holding back from going in there and making good on his promise.

  “Hey man. Can she guard him for a while?” Zack jerked his thumb at Madison. “I need some help fixing the generator.”

  This caught Austin’s attention for many reasons, but mainly because even if there had been a generator Zack wouldn’t need his help fixing it. “Sure.” He turned to Madison. “Do not talk to him. Do not listen to any of his bullshit. Got it?”

  “Not my first prisoner.” She reminded him, slightly stung by his harsh tone.

  Austin was about to say something, but changed his mind and instead went back into the room where he unlocked the cell door. Chase stood up when Austin walked in. “You’re a dead man Captain Reynolds.” This comment earned him a hard smack to the head.

  “The only thing I want to hear from you is the location of that camp. Otherwise keep your fucking mouth shut.” He grabbed Chase’s arm and spun him around.

  “When are you going to look in the file Captain? See Roxy’s picture?” Chase spoke low.

  Chase found himself on the ground with Austin’s knee firmly planted on his arm. Austin spread out Chase’s fingers and pulled out his knife. He slammed the blade down, cutting off Chase’s index finger. Chase yelled out, squirming to get free. Austin buried his knee in Chase’s back, forcing him to lie still. “You ever say her name again I’ll cut your balls off. Do you understand me?” Chase groaned. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Austin stood, bringing Chase up with him.

  He yanked the bag from Chase’s head. Behind him Madison gasped at the sight of the prisoner’s bloody face. “You give her any shit I’ll cut off another.” He yanked the sack back over Chase’s head and walked out of the cell, slamming the gate closed.

  “Give him some bandages, but do not go in there under any circumstances. Do you understand?”

  “For heaven’s sake’s I get it.” Madison sighed, agitated by his condescending tone.

  Austin grabbed her arm, turning her to face him. “I mean it.”

  “Ok.” She stared him in the eyes and for a split second thought she recognized the Austin she knew before he left for the mountain, but then he was gone, replaced by this cold hardened man.

  “Here Maddie, take this. If you need anything call Colin. He’ll know where to find us.” Zack handed the radio to Madison. “We won’t be long.” He squeezed her arm for added reassurance, gave Chase a wary glance before leaving to join Austin out in the hall.

  28 CHASE

  Chase wasted no time removing the bag from his head after the men left so he could get a look at Madison. Oh yes, he thought, his beady eyes gleaming a little too much. She would be perfect for the program. Tall and slender with light brown skin. He licked his lips in anticipation. He watched her gather the items needed to tend to his wound, which she then handed to him through the bars without a word. Yes, he thought with relish, she would be an excellent addition and given the time he felt certain he could integrate her into the fold, after all Chase had a special knack with women.

  Father Roth had recognized his abilities with the weaker sex and placed him as overseer of the program. More important than this promotion, in his mind, was that he had been granted special privileges. Privileges that no other disciple had been given and being they came from the Father, he felt it was his duty to exercise his rights on a regular basis. The women didn’t mind. Not that he cared what they minded, because if they did, well then a leather belt was very useful in adjusting the most stubborn of attitudes.

  He thought of the girl, frowning, which turned his homely face into something hideous. A girl he had gone through great lengths in his attempt to integrate her, but she had refused. There had been many wasted prayers and hours of discussions on what should be done with her. All to no avail. She had stubbornly refused, jutting out her pretty little chin each time he demanded she submit to the rules. That chin he wanted so desperately to hit with his fist. Instead he had beaten her mercilessly, but she never cried out. Not even a whimper. Stubborn little whore.

  Looking out at Madison, Chase felt certain she too would require the belt and probably often. He had no use for stubborn women and hoped they never found the girl. Of course he kept this hope to himself and bemoaned her loss along with the Father, all the while thinking him a fool to put up with her. Chase didn’t give a rat’s ass that the girl was Father Roth’s daughter. She was a useless whore, the same as that thing Roth kept locked in the glass box. And Thomas, another traitor, did him a favor, but still got what he deserved.

  “Can I have a drink of water?” Chase asked.

  Madison looked up from the magazine she was reading and eyed the prisoner. Something was not right about this man. The constant smirk across his thin lips, silently spoke to her his vile thoughts. His beady eyes, void of intelligence, but full of cunning, followed her around the room making her feel dirty. She wished he would put the bag over his head, but he didn’t. She took him a glass of water careful not to touch his hand.

  “What’s your name love?” He asked, openly eyeing her up and down.

  “Don’t bother.” Madison replied on her way back to the desk where a fly fishing magazine waited.

  “Just trying to pass the time dear girl.” He crooned.

  “I know what you’re trying and you can forget it.” She sat in the chair and swiveled around facing away from the disgusting little twerp.

  Chase walked over to the bars. “Don’t you want to know what’s in the file?” He purred.

  Madison paused in her reading, but still did not turn to face him. “I saw the files. I’m not interested.”

  “You didn’t see all of the files. You didn’t see the file Captain Reynolds has stuffed away in his back pack.”

  “Shut up. Or I’ll cut off your other fingers.” Madison focused on the magazine. She hoped Austin would come back soon.

  “The file has pictures of his wife and son.” Chase felt certain this would get the whore’s attention, but she didn’t show the slightest response. Oh what he wouldn’t give to have his belt. She would respond then. They always responded when he brought out the belt, just as Chase did whenever his father brought out the strap. He’d listened and did as he was told. “They’re alive you know.”

  Madison swiveled her chair around to face Chase. “You say one more fuck
ing word and I’m going to shoot you in the knee. You ever been shot?” Madison leaned forward. “I have. And let me tell you. It hurts like hell.” She swiveled back around.

  They’re alive? He has a son? The words echoed in her head. Was the weasel telling the truth? Her eyes drifted over to Austin’s back pack and she immediately hated herself for even thinking of looking inside. She opened the magazine again, but the details of fly fishing failed to hold her attention, unable to compete with Austin’s bag that beckoned for her to come see its secrets.

  Sighing, she set the magazine down and closed her eyes. Behind her Chase chuckled loud enough to be heard. She pulled out her gun and set it on the desk. “I might shoot you in both knees just for fun.” Mercifully he shut up, allowing Madison to think, to find reason in her feelings.

  Chase sat down on the cot. His hand throbbed something horrible, but he enjoyed the pain. What he didn’t care for was being kept in a cell like an animal, like that thing, Roth’s pet project. He stewed over this and decided he was going to take care of things when got back to the mountain. He was going to take care of that thing for good. He knew just how to kill it.

  Captain Reynolds was going to regret turning his back on them, on the Program. The Captain was a fool. Chase knew this from the start, tried to warn the Father, but again, like with the girl, like with the creature, his advice was ignored. These minor inconveniences were not important. Reynolds wasn’t important. He didn’t realize General Roth was the father of the future and his Disciples would ride the wave of glory alongside him as they repopulated the planet with their offspring.

  The Captain knew very little of the Program and Chase was secretly thrilled over his defection. Chase smiled. Not his usual smirk, but a full out grin that did nothing to improve his ugliness. Being ugly didn’t matter to him anymore. Once the Sundogs departed, Chase had been promised the southern section of the country from Texas to Florida, a new life he was bursting to start. The details, which he’d meticulously worked out in manic fashion, became a vortex in his mind. Accompanying him would be the three women he’d chosen to be the mothers of his children. But not three, now only two were left. His grin faded, replaced by a scowl. He needed a replacement. His eyes drifted over to Madison.

  “Do you know why the Sundogs are here?” He walked over to the bars, unable to sit still. Madison ignored him. He grabbed a bar with his good hand and pushed his face out between two bars. “They came to cleanse the Earth of the wicked. They’re God’s messengers.”

  “You don’t say.” Madison remarked dryly. What a nut job, she thought and wished he would take a nap or simply shut up.

  “It’s true. Father Roth spoke with the Supreme. He promised the lands to the Father after the purge is complete.” Chase informed her, thinking Madison had to find this of some interest. She didn’t move a muscle. “To those survivors who pledged allegiance to the Father, I’m sure it would be viewed most beneficially. If you were to help me I would put in a good word for you. We’re always on the lookout for selfless souls to join our ranks.” He paused. “Especially your kind.” The weaker sex he finished in his head, so as not to provoke her. He wanted to engage in conversation while he had the opportunity, before the Neanderthal returned.

  “Got a death wish?” Madison asked, laying her hand on her gun for emphasis.

  “You trust this Captain Reynolds?” He asked, switching his tactics on a hunch this woman had feelings running deeper than friendship for the Captain. “What do you know about him?”

  “More than I know about you.” She returned calmly. This man had no idea what he was up against. Many before him had made attempts to push her buttons and failed miserably.

  “Yes of course. But did you know he is a murderer of children?”

  “Of course he is. He also cross-dresses on Sundays.” In ten seconds, give or take, Madison decided she would go over and shoot him in the knee. Ten, nine, eight…

  “Africa. The Marines decimated an entire village. Led by your wonderful captain. Children were burned alive. Their little arms and legs torn from their bodies. Mothers murdered as they tried to protect their babies…”

  Four, three… Close enough. Madison leaned forward. Madison walked over to him, her expression calm, her smile sweet, nodding her head at Chase. She stopped directly in front of him and stared him in the eyes.

  Feeling triumphant at finally invoking a reaction from her, Chase kept on with his drivel, unaware she had grabbed her gun from the table. “I can tell you all you want to know about Captain Reynolds.” Chase cooed, breathing in deep Madison’s scent, thinking it intoxicating by its mere subtleness.

  “I bet you can.” In a flash Madison grabbed Chase around the back of his neck, pushed his face into the bars and pressed the barrel of her gun into his forehead. “I want you to sit on your cot and keep your fucking mouth shut. Understand?” She slammed his head into the bars.

  Chase took a deep breath through his nose. “Mm. Lilac. Very nice.”

  Madison shoved him back from the bars, cocked her gun and aimed to shoot. Chase raised his arms. “I’ll sit.” He sat down, but Madison didn’t lower her weapon. “And I’ll be quiet, but you’re going to wish you’d listened. The Sundogs are coming for the wicked. All of them, including, and especially, Captain Reynolds. They have plans for him.”

  Madison pulled out the radio. “Hello. Hello.”

  “I hear ya Maddie. What’s wrong?” Colin answered.

  “Find Captain Reynolds. Tell him I’m about to kill his prisoner.” She clicked the radio off before Colin could say anything more personal than her name, which was more than she wanted this freak show to know about her.

  ***

  The lights of the x-ray machine flashed brightly against the darkness of the room. Over behind the protective glass, Austin stood to the side while Zack worked the computer controlling the machine. He punched in a series of numbers and letters, like mapping coordinates, and the machine swiveled over top the table repositioning itself to take another series of shots. On the table, tied down with heavy metal banding straps, was the alien.

  After each sequence was completed, Zack and Austin watched the screen for the images to appear. Each image was a disappointment, nothing more than a dark splotch on the screen. Zack stopped punching in coordinates, realizing the alien’s skin was impenetrable by any man made device within their grasp.

  “I’m out of ideas.” Zack sighed in frustration. “I doubt even Superman could see through this things skin.”

  “Everything has a weakness.” Austin replied, more to himself than Zack. He walked around the glass partition, over to where the alien lay motionless. The burn line had almost faded completely. Regenerative cells, Zack had surmised. And why not, Austin thought. Why not face an insurmountable force, to which they stood no chance in hell, but let’s make things interesting for the sake of it alone by adding to the creature’s strengths the ability to self heal.

  Science wasn’t Austin’s strongest subject, but he knew enough to assume that if the creature’s cells were regenerating then it was most likely still alive or on its way to being alive. Zack agreed and being that science was his second strongest subject after math, he estimated the process would be complete in five to eight hours. He followed up this assumption with the assumption that the creature had organs, maybe a heart, and that they operated similar to a human’s. In considering his assumptive thought process, Zack concluded that the timing was a shot in the dark and therefore they must conclude the alien could pop back to life at any second. To this Austin nodded and they decided the creature needed to be returned to the forest as soon as possible.

  As defeated as he felt over the possible loss of Roxi, Austin felt a sense of excitement over the discovery of the aliens perching in the trees. If nothing else they had guessed or surmised or considered about the alien’s habits turned out to be correct, the fact they were animalistic in nature despite their obvious high intelligence, gave Austin hope. Hope of finding their camp, o
r nest or whatever it might turn out to resemble. If he could find that, maybe he could find his son. If not the latter, or because of the latter, either way he would determine how to destroy them or die in his efforts.

  He stood staring down at his wavering image in the dark pools that were the creature’s eyes. Curiosity was a luxury not afforded to a Marine or one he ever explored to any great extent, not even as a kid. Patience kept you alive; sticking your nose where it had no business got you killed. Yet his fingers itched to touch the eyes, to see if they would sink below the surface, if they would create ripples like a pebble dropped in a puddle of water.

  Zack had warned him about the high body temperature readings around the head and chest, so he resisted the impulse. Warnings weren’t necessary, since he could feel the heat radiating off the alien’s body and a drop of sweat was sliding down the side of his face.

  “We need to move it now.” Austin announced, taking a step back from the body. Every assumption they made could be completely off target. This was an alien and they had applied human reasoning to try to explain the regeneration.

  “Shit.” Zack grabbed a bottle of water and threw a few droplets at the alien’s chest. The drops sizzled, steamed, and evaporated almost instantly. “Mother fucker’s gonna burn up.”

  “Or explode.” Austin replied dryly.

  Zack pursed his lips. He hadn’t considered that possibility and it turned his thoughts wheeling down a new path. “Maybe it’s dying. Maybe it’s too hot in here. It needs the cold to survive. The regeneration is some type of defense mechanism against heat, but it’s only temporary.”

  “We can’t risk being wrong.”

  “I don’t think we can risk letting it go.” Zack muttered. “It might be listening to us right now. I don’t know if it can understand our language, but it might be able to track our location.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  Shrugging, Zack simply answered. “Let’s turn up the heat.”