The Harvest (Book 1)

by Ferretti, Anne

  Madison held the photo up, then placed it to the side, and picked up the next. In this photo the head was intact and attached. The hair was blonde like Roxanne’s, but the rest of her face was obscured by blood and matted hair. However, the neck was exposed and there was no mole. There was no mole. Did she have it removed? Madison glanced back at Austin, who was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed.

  She flipped back to the first picture of Roxanne. The mole was there. She looked at the picture of the dead woman. The mole was not there, nor were there visible signs of one having been recently removed. Madison laid out in a row the pictures of the dead woman and then underneath in a second row the pictures of Roxanne. Her eyes moved up and down across the two rows comparing details. Perspiration formed on the back of her neck and a drop slid down her spine. She absently wiped the sweat away with her hand. Austin trusted her to make the right call on the authenticity of the photos. She held the power in her hands to destroy him or fuel his hopes for a while longer.

  Madison looked away from the photos just as Zack opened the door. Relief washed over her at the reprieve. She shuffled the pictures back into a stack, closing them inside the folder. Austin never looked her way.

  Zack rolled a cart into the room. “I brought food and drinks for everyone.”

  Realizing her mouth and throat felt like sand paper, Madison gratefully accepted the bottle of water Zack handed to her. She didn’t notice the close attention he paid her or the concerned expression on his face. The weight of Austin’s world was on her shoulders.

  Austin noticed Zack watching Madison, but his thoughts stopped there. Every second he waited, every second he was not moving towards his goal was time wasted. It was imperative to focus on the task at hand, which was to hear Chase’s story and then put plans into motion.

  The food was laid out on the table. Fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, and a variety of packaged deli meats made for an easy to eat meal requiring no utensils. Madison prepared a plate for Chase, which Austin slid under the cell door and then handed him a bottle of water through the bars. “Food and water. Now get talkin.” Austin ordered.

  “Yes sir captain.” Chase mock saluted Austin before bending over to retrieve his plate of food. He wasn’t really hungry, but asking for food was the only thing he could think of to prolong the inevitable, to give him more time to consider his options. He sat on his cot, nibbling on his food, rehearsing his story.

  In Chase’s world there were always options. As a child he learned quickly about the hazard of choosing the wrong option, of choosing option A over option B and finding himself running for his life from Jimmie the class bully. The corner of his lips turned up in a slight smile at the thought of Jimmie, who met an untimely demise the day after they graduated.

  As an adult Chase had perfected his highschool hobby and was quite skilled at it. By the time the Sundogs made their appearance, Chase was well on his way to becoming the most prolific serial killer in Colorado, one nobody knew existed, who never would have been caught.

  “I’m not going to ask you again.” Austin tapped the tip of his knife on the bars.

  “I don’t want to talk with my mouth full.” Chase protested.

  “If you don’t talk I’ll cut you into pieces, starting from the feet, so you feel every cut. It’ll be a long painful process. Especially the bones. Very hard to cut through. I’d use a blow torch, but where’s the fun in that?” Austin raised an eyebrow at Chase, daring him to come up with another excuse, which he knew Chase wouldn’t. He knew this sniveling man was smart and conniving, not stupid.

  “Where shall I start?” Chase wrung his hands as if this decision caused him great consternation.

  “The Sundogs. What do you know about them?”

  “For starters that’s not their real name. It’s just what Father Roth calls them. We don’t know their name. They were unlike any species we’ve ever encountered.” Chase replied. “I know a few things about them, but not much. Those who knew more are dead or lost.”

  “Whatta ya mean lost?” Zack asked.

  “Maybe I should go back to the beginning so as not to lose you.” Chase rolled his eyes in exaggerated fashion.

  Austin tapped the tip of his knife against the bars. “Quit fuckin around.”

  Chase looked hurt and his shoulders drooped. “All right. Fine.” He sighed. “We’ve been searching for other life forms for eons. Not a big secret to John Q. right? But what John wasn’t privy to was how we were conducting these searches. The technology was light years beyond anything even the planet’s most exceptional tech wiz might conjure up in his wildest dreams. Not those shit for brains, who were too busy creating virtual worlds and social media outlets for people to fornicate on to notice what was happening right in front of them. We were working on what was real. The reality of what the world had become and was about to come.” Chase paused to smile. His gaze was far off.

  “What was it about to come?” Austin asked.

  “Dead.” Chase turned his beady eyes on Austin. “The planet’s internal temperature is rising and not because of climate change. It’s rising because of the radioactive isotopes and geothermal heat. The Earth’s heat replenishes by radioactive decay at a steady rate. At least that was case ten years ago, before it began replenishing at a much faster rate. We ran hundreds of thousands of advanced models through super computers and the worst case scenario put the human race at complete annihilation within ten years. Twelve max if we were lucky.”

  “How do you explain the current climate phenomenon then?” Madison demanded, not buying his bullshit story.

  “Patience my dear. I’ll get to that part.” He gleaned. “Tutwiler, the head of national security at the time of discovery, gave us a blank check and a directive to find a new planet, one we could live on. With the unending money flow from Uncle Sam we were able to complete the repairs to the space portal well ahead of schedule.”

  “Space portal? Are you serious with this bullshit?” Zack couldn’t help interrupting. They were wasting time listening to this psycho babble. He wanted to get back to the shop. The possibility the alien might still be able to regenerate cells weighed heavy on his mind.

  “I know it’s hard for your little minds to grasp, but space portals, or worm holes as you civilians like to say, are very real. Have been for almost twenty years. I’ve traveled through many, to galaxies far, far beyond ours. Truly amazing sights, but alas we never found a planet suitable for human habitation. At least not until about eighteen month ago.” Chase sighed and bowed his head. After a minute it appeared he’d fallen asleep. Austin was about to rap on the bars, but, with his head still lowered, Chase began again to tell his tale. “We were traveling through this one particular hole, an unchartered hole if you will, when we came upon a planet much like ours, only so much better. When I gazed out at the lush green and blue world I thought this must be how Christopher Columbus felt. A virgin untouched and all for himself.”

  Zack snorted. “Columbus was just grateful to get off that fucking ship.”

  Ignoring this interruption, Chase went on. “We sent word back about the discovery. It went straight to the top. An exploration team was sent and in less than twenty four hours we were stepping onto our future home. Within a week the military command center was built. In three months an entire city was constructed. Complete with a high tech fortress for the President and his family. It was a very exciting time. Plans were being laid for the new world. Selections were being made. We christened the planet with the name Bliss…”

  “Selections? Whatta ya mean by that?” Madison interrupted this time.

  “Only the fittest of the human race would be allowed to populate Bliss. We were laying the foundation for a superior race. Selections were being taken very serious.”

  “Sounds like paradise.” Austin commented, his tone drier than the Sahara.

  “No disease. No deformity. No cognitive retardation. No addictions. Only the brightest most talented human beings. The best of th
e gene pool. Even animals realize survival depends on the strength of the species.” Chase argued, but his tone held a dream like quality. “Sounds exactly like paradise to me.”

  “But something threw a wrench into all your crafty little plans. Tarnished your blissful paradise. What could that have been?” Zack pondered, finger to temple. “I know. The planet wasn’t really a virgin, but just a whore who’s John had gone galaxy hopping by way of worm holes. Which is why when you found her, she was lookin’ all fresh and ready for the taking.” Zack nodded, liking his theory. “One night, while you were drunk and havin’ a good time with your virgin, ole John comes home and guess what? He’s pissed, and he’s brought all his friends with him. Suddenly bliss turns to chaos.”

  “You know nothing.” Chase glared at Zack.

  “I know the guys runnin that show were greedy bastards, takin whatever they wanted, just like our forefathers took this country from the Indians. The only problem is, you fine upstanding fellows ran into something bigger, badder, and nastier than yourselves. And that something was the Sundogs. They decided not only were you not going to build your crappy castles in their sandbox, but they were gonna chase your sorry asses back home and set up camp in your back yard. Am I right Disciple Morgan?”

  Chase continued to glare, but refused to address Zack. He turned his eyes to Austin. “We were on the planet for almost nine months when things went terribly wrong. I barely made it back to earth ahead of the aliens.” Chase shuddered over the memory. “They followed through the portal. We couldn’t shut it down in time to stop them from coming through.”

  “How many survived?” Austin asked.

  “Just one.” Chase looked down.

  “How?”

  “I hid in a small coat locker. You know the metal kind you find in garages and such.” He replied in a small voice. “I thought for sure they would find me. But they didn’t.”

  “And then what?”

  “I waited.”

  “For what?”

  “Silence.” Chase replied. “It took three days.” He grimaced. It took weeks before the stench, his stench, faded away. “It was after they arrived that the temperatures began to drop. The crew manning the radar said it was a like watching a giant wave sweeping across the sky. And then we lost the satellites and all communications went down.”

  “Is the portal still open?” Austin asked.

  Chase glanced up, his expression one of surprise. “As far as I know.” He answered slow, having expected the captain to ask more questions on how he was able to survive.

  The answer to the how of his survival would have been simple enough to provide. He really had no choice. He had to think of himself first. Closing the portal took time. Warning the staff working there took time. Time was not his to spare that day. Yes indeed. Survival was a very powerful motive for one’s actions. The captain might even appreciate such a concept, Chase thought, but didn’t give the notion of sharing serious consideration. Captain Reynolds was a closed book, even to Chase, who prided himself on being able to exploit people’s weaknesses.

  “Where’s the portal located?”

  Chase chuckled. “Why should I tell you?”

  “It’s inside Cheyenne Mountain.” Zack declared, smiling at the dumbfounded look that washed over Chase’s face.

  “How’d you...That’s classified information.” Chase stammered.

  “Apparently not that classified.” Austin replied, glancing at Zack wondering how he’d known and if maybe he’d guessed based on how the appearance of the blast doors. Regardless of how, he was right. The portal was in the mountain and, if Chase was to be believed, was open for travel.

  Austin pondered for a minute over Chase’s future. He might prove useful later on, but keeping him alive after what he’d done to Charlie put a bitter taste in Austin’s mouth. Still, he had to consider there were multiple and extreme unknowns they were facing.

  “What about the three suns? The subzero temperatures? You haven’t explained that yet?” Madison asked.

  Chase smirked and his eyes took on a nasty gleam. “It’s all about manipulation my dear. Humans are so simple minded and easily fooled.”

  “Are you saying the suns aren’t real?” Zack asked.

  “I’m not saying that.” Chase sniffed. “I’m not saying anything at all.”

  “He doesn’t know anything else.” Austin handed Chase another bottle of water and turned to Madison and Zack. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait. Where’re you going?” Chase rushed up to the bars. “You can’t leave me here.”

  “I am leaving you here.” Austin replied, holding the door open for Madison and Zack. “But don’t worry, we have eyes on you.” He gave Chase a half smirk before turning off the lights in the cell and closing the door on the prisoner’s barrage of protests. A sudden thought occurred to him and he went back inside, telling Madison and Zack to go on without him. Hope filled Chase’s face when Austin came back in, thinking he had a change of heart.

  “Where is the glass room located?” Austin asked, crushing Chase’s hope and surprising him at the same time. “By your expression I’m going to assume you know what I’m talking about.”

  Of course Chase knew, but for the life of him couldn’t imagine how the captain knew or why he would care. It made no difference to him. He despised it more than he despised the captain. “Room sixteen.”

  “Room sixteen?”

  “Yes. Room sixteen. It’s behind the command center. Surely you noticed the large metal door to the right of the big screen.” Chase mocked.

  Austin nodded. He’d seen the door, but was never able to get close to it. “Who’s the prisoner?”

  Chase looked out at the captain and smiled. “Leave the lights on and I’ll tell you.”

  “I’m not bargaining with you.” Austin replied.

  “Please.” Chase pleaded.

  “I’ll decide after you tell me.”

  Chase weighed his chances and determined this information would certainly earn him lights. “An alien. The prisoner’s an alien.”

  “From where?”

  “We don’t know. It refused to speak. All we know is she, it, needs fresh blood every three to four days. Like a vampire, but it’s not a vampire. Vampires aren’t real.”

  “Why are you holding her or it? Is it dangerous?”

  “It is Roth’s pet project. His judgment has been clouded by visions of eternal life. We assumed it to be dangerous, but have no idea really. When the soldiers found her, it, it was very weak. Later we assumed it hadn’t fed in days and quite possibly the only reason we were able to capture it.” Chase said, not trying to mask his disdain for the creature.

  Austin hesitated, then flicked the lights on and left. Chase stared after him wondering again why the captain asked about the prisoner. How had he known about it? Had one of the other disciples told him? Chase sighed and lay down, closing his eyes. He was exhausted. The captain would never be able to get inside room sixteen was his final thought before sleep overcame him.

  31 CHARLIE

  The next day after a long discussion with the group about what they should do next, Austin went to see Charlie. There were too many unknowns and he felt certain the girl would have a few of the answers. When he entered the infirmary, he was glad to see she was awake and alert.

  “Hey Captain.” Colin stood up when Austin entered. “She’s doin great.” He glanced at Charlie.

  “Glad to hear it.” He turned to Charlie. “You mind if I ask you a few questions?” She nodded. “Give us a few?” Austin said to Colin, who glanced at Charlie.

  Charlie assured Colin it was ok for him to leave. He hesitated, but decided nothing bad could happen if Austin was with her. After he left, Austin told her Chase’s story leaving out certain details.

  “He lied to you.” Charlie said after Austin finished.

  “About what? All of it?” Austin asked. He knew Chase lied, but the entire story was so phenomenal and Chase such an accomplished liar that h
e couldn’t decipher fact from fiction.

  “About the Program. There’s no camp outside the mountain. He keeps us in a room with concrete walls. We sleep on cots. Every night they...” She swallowed hard, “every night they took one of us away.”

  Austin sat down next to the bed. “You don’t have to talk about that. I know what they did to you. To the others.”

  “Promise me he’ll never be able to hurt me again. Promise.” Her desperate plea tugged at Austin’s heart.

  He laid his hand on top of hers. “Chase will never hurt anyone ever again and especially not you. I promise on my life.”

  “No not Chase. Not Chase.” She shook her head. “My father. You must stop him.”

  “You mean the father? General Roth?”

  “Yes General Roth. But he’s my father. My dad.” She clarified.

  This momentarily stunned Austin as her words permeated through his mind. He’d never thought the general was so far gone that he’d subject his own daughter to rape. Austin lowered his head and covered his face to hide his anger. He took a deep breath and another, holding it in until his rage subsided and his heart rate slowed. He raised his head and looked into Charlie’s eyes. “I promise you this, General Roth and his followers will be stopped by whatever means necessary.”

  “Thank you captain.”

  “You’re welcome. And you can call me Austin.” He patted her leg.

  “Do you want to hear some more?” She asked, feeling less frightened when she was with him.

  “Tell me whatever you feel like talking about.” Austin replied. “I’m here to listen.”

  Charlie smiled at him. She liked the captain; he had intense blue eyes, but behind that she saw kindness. Unlike Disciple Morgan, who was pure evil to his rotten core. A thought occurred to Charlie causing her brows to crease. “You can’t hurt Thomas. He helped me escape.”