Harvest

by Michele Gwynn

  Maggie heard it then; a sound almost like someone panting. She looked at Dave. He put one finger over his lips to tell her to keep quiet.

  Slowly, Dave approached the room and looked around. Nothing. Another soft gasping sound. Dave looked at the closet. His dad’s golf clubs were in the corner by the bedroom door. He grabbed a nine iron and hefted it. Coming closer to the closet, he tightened his grip.

  Maggie’s eyes were huge in her face.

  Dave reached towards the closet door. His hand hovered over the doorknob. Lighting quick, he pulled the door open, yelling at the same time.

  “Aagghh!”

  “Aagghh!” from Maggie

  “Aagghh!” from inside the closet.

  Something small and gray moved further back. For an instant, Dave froze!

  “What the hell? Mom!” Dave saw his mother curled up in the corner of his closet, scared out of her wits.

  “Mom, it’s me! Mom! Mom, oh God!” Dave dropped the nine iron and sank down on his knees. He reached for his mother.

  “Is it …is it really you?” Lynda Forrester was crying hysterically. She clamped both hands on either side of her son’s face, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “It’s me, mom. It’s me. I’m so sorry.”

  They held each other tight. Lynda Forrester’s gray head rested on her son’s steady shoulder. She didn’t want to let go.

  “Where’s dad, mom?”

  Lynda tilted her head up to look at her son. “They..they took him…” Her eyes seemed haunted. Her chin shook as news tears fell.

  Dave looked at his mother’s ash-white face. “Who took him? What are you talking about?’

  “I don’t know. I don’t what they are.” She started crying again.

  “Maggie? Can you get a washcloth from the bathroom?”

  “Sure.” Maggie went down the hall and found a washrag. She held it under the warm water until it was good and wet, then wrung it out.

  She came back quickly to the room. “Here” she said handing it to Dave.

  Dave gently patted his mother’s tear-stained cheeks with the cloth. Finally, Lynda got hold of herself.

  “Better, mom?”

  Lynda shook her head in the affirmative.

  “Now, who took dad? Just take your time.”

  She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what they were, son. It happened so fast. I barely got a glimpse. So dark, so dark…I just couldn’t see right, but they took Bill. They took my Bill.”

  “When, mama?” Dave waited for his mother to continue.

  Maggie sat down behind Dave on his old bed. She was staring in shock at Dave’s mom. What she saw flash across the sky and go through that store’s wall earlier was making what Dave’s mom said more and more frightening.

  Looking tired, Lynda answered. “Last night. I think it might’ve been around 3:00 a.m., but I’m not sure. We were asleep. Something really bright lit up the room. I remember thinking, why is it so bright? I opened my eyes and saw Bill ….floating, David! He was floating up off the bed! I remember I reached up for his hand, but then I saw the shadows! There were shadows all around the bed! I couldn’t make out faces, but they were there. I knew they were staring at me! I screamed. I just screamed and screamed for Bill. He never woke up. He just…went right through the ceiling. It’s like he passed right through it like air.”

  Dave stared at his mom as if she’d lost her mind. He looked over his shoulder at Maggie who looked back at him wide-eyed.

  “Don’t you get that look on your face David Allen Forrester! I am not crazy! I know what I saw.”

  “Now mama,” said Dave, patting his mother’s hand, “I know you believe what you’re saying…”

  “I believe you, Mrs. Forrester” said Maggie simply.

  “What?” Dave turned to look at Maggie again

  She turned to look back at him. “I believe her, Dave.”

  The two women looked at each other in silence.

  “What do you mean you believe her? People don’t just float away, Maggie.”

  “Dave, I saw something, when you were inside the police station.”

  Maggie described what she’d seen streaking across the sky. She told him about the shadows, and the one that passed through the 7-11’s wall. She didn’t leave out any details.

  “That’s why I came running inside” she ended.

  Dave ran a hand through his hair, knocking his cap off. It sat on the floor while he looked down at it. He thought back to what had happened the night before; the bright light, blacking out, waking up in the ditch with frozen ground around him. He didn’t want to share this with the women. He was afraid it would scare them more. Hell, he thought, it scares the shit out of me!

  “Son? I’m not crazy. Your dad, he floated right up and away. After he was gone, those shadows, they all disappeared, all except one.” Lynda took a deep breath.

  “The one that stayed behind, I could feel it staring at me. It smelled something awful, kinda sulfuric” she wrinkled her nose. “It came closer to my side of the bed, but I jumped off and ran in here. I’ve been in the closet ever since, until you came.” Fresh tears began to fall.

  Maggie slid down to the floor and wrapped her arms around Dave’s mom. The two women held each other. Dave stood up and paced.

  He looked out the window noticing the sun was going down already. It was barely 5:00 p.m. Usually in the summer, it stayed light until around 8:00 p.m., but today, the sun was setting early. It was like someone had dialed the seasons forward to winter.

  Lynda wiped her face with the cloth. “I’m cold, so very cold.”

  For the first time, Dave noticed his mom was wearing a summer nightgown. Well, no wonder.

  “You’ll need to put on something warmer, mom. It’s been snowing outside, and it’s about 20 degrees.”

  “What?” Lynda stood up and looked out the bedroom window. Her jaw dropped and her mouth fell wide open. She turned and looked at Dave and Maggie, noticing their jackets for the first time.

  Maggie took Lynda’s hand. “Let’s go find you something warmer to put on. Then maybe we could go into the kitchen and fix something to eat while we try and figure this all out?” She looked at Dave who nodded his head.

  Maggie’s stomach started to grumble. She remembered that she was on her way to get some breakfast this morning when this all began. In the wake of all that had happened, she had forgotten her hunger. Now, inside the house, and with another human being making things seem slightly less worse (although they couldn’t be termed better), she knew she needed to eat something. Plus, Dave’s mom had been in that closet since last night. She ought to be hungry. They all needed to do something nice and normal like eating so they could figure out the next step.

  Over a simple dinner of chicken soup and ham sandwiches, Dave told him mom about finding no one in town except Maggie. He finally introduced them properly as he was brought up to do. Then, he told his mom about finding no one in the Hollywood video (he left out the weird way the clerks clothes were laid out), about no one in the police station, and then finally, he told her what he’d found at Red’s house.

  His mom cried when he told her about the blood. She’d known Darrel all his life. He was like a second son to her. She asked if they had called anyone to come help. Maggie took over and explained about no cell phone signals and no answers on the land lines.

  Soon, they all lapsed into silence.

  “We should maybe try to get some sleep” said Lynda.

  Dave looked up. Maggie yawned. Lynda grabbed the dishes and took them into the kitchen, trying for some normalcy.

  The heater kicked on, warming the air. Dave had turned it on while she and his mom were in her room. It smelled funny like all heaters do when they’re first turned on for the winter.

  “Okay” said Dave. “Where are we all going to sleep so I can help you get stuff settled?’

  Lynda looked down into the sink. “I can’t sleep in there. I can’t go back in that bed tonight, son.
”

  Dave wasn’t crazy about the idea either. The bed in his old room was a queen bed.

  “You and Maggie can sleep in my room. It’s big enough for the two of you.”

  “What about you?’ asked Maggie. She looked somewhat apprehensive. Dave recognized the look of fear in her eyes.

  “If you ladies don’t mind, I’ll just make a bed on the floor with some comforters so I can keep an eye on you all.”

  No one wanted to admit that the idea of being separated was terrifying. Everyone agreed. Together, they made a thick bedding with some of his mom’s old comforters. He dragged a couple of extra pillows out of the hall closet.

  Maggie borrowed a pair of Lynda’s sweat pants and a t-shirt. Dave foraged around in his dad’s drawers for a pair of jogging pants and a t-shirt as well. Lynda stayed in her peach velveteen lounge suit. She didn’t want to change again.

  Once the women were settled in the bed, Dave checked all the locks in the house, then turned off the light and crawled into his make-shift bed. He kept the nine iron next to him, just in case. All three lay in the silence, tired, but unable to fall asleep. It took some time, but one by one, they dropped off into a light sleep.

  A dog was barking somewhere in the distance. Dave turned and saw row after row of corn in the moonlight. He was standing in the middle of the cornfield trying to find the dog. The snapping of a stalk behind him made him turn quickly. Sweat trickled down his forehead. A dark shape walked out of the corn and into the path of the moonlight. Dave knew him immediately.

  “Dad?” Dave took two steps towards his father who didn’t seem to recognize his own son.

  “Dad, it’s me. It’s Dave” He reached out his hand. Bill Forrester’s stared blankly down at the hand extended to him. Terror filled his eyes which rolled around in their sockets, and he opened his mouth to scream. No sound emerged. Dave ran towards his father who stepped back into the corn. He lost sight of his dad, but could see the stalks bending from someone pushing them aside to get through. It was so hot in the corn. Dave felt a small breeze brush the back of his neck, followed by the scent of fetid sulfur. He looked over his shoulder.

  Three dark shadows were coming up fast behind him! A feeling of horror overtook him and he ran. He ran so far and so fast he got lost in the corn, unable to find his way out. Clouds passed over the moon blocking out what little light there was to see by. Darkness began to cover Dave like dirt on a grave, smothering him, driving the air from his lungs.

  Dave sat up wide-eyed and stared around the room, a scream stuck in the back of his throat, choking him. Moonlight beamed weakly through the sheer shades offering enough light to see that he was still in his old room. On the bed, his mom and Maggie slept on, not having heard the shout that had died so quickly before he could let it out.

  His mouth felt dry, and his heart was pounding. Dave reached up to run his fingers though his hair and his hand came away damp. He was sweaty from head to toe. He realized it had been a dream. He’d never had a nightmare like that before, so real, so vivid.

  Lying back down, he looked up at the ceiling remembering his mom’s words about his dad’s disappearance, “he went right through the ceiling….”

  What did that mean? Shit! What the hell is happening?

  Dave looked over his head at the two sleeping women. He knew he would have to keep it together for them. His mom was everything to him, and Maggie was fast becoming very important to him as well. There was no way he was going to let anything happen to them. He just didn’t know how he would be able to manage that, not knowing what he was up against.

  Tomorrow, they would drive out of Farley and head towards Tulsa. Maybe what was going on here was only here. He didn’t know. What he did know was that they needed to find out, fast. He felt a little better having decided on a plan. It wasn’t much of one, but it was better than nothing. Dave closed his eyes and dozed with both hands clutching the nine iron

  Chapter 6

  Dave, Maggie, and Lynda set off in Dave’s Chevy. It was cramped with the three of them in the cab, but his mother’s car sat too low and the tires were going bald. The truck offered a higher ride and good treads to deal with the slick roads. Although the snow had stopped, the temperature was still cold enough to keep the ice on the ground. Without a radio or a television to confirm the weather, it was hard to know exactly how cold it was.

  Dave had borrowed one of his dad’s flannel shirts to put over a long-sleeve polo. With the leather Isotoners keeping his hands warm, the combination of layers with his jean jacket offered more protection from the cold.

  Maggie layered-up too with a green sweater of his mom’s over one of his dad’s white Hanes t-shirts. His mom had lent her a knit cap and scarf and a pair of gloves.

  Together, they set out to drive the hour and a half northeast to Tulsa. Dave drove north out of Farley and got on OK 48 N. They were quiet in the truck. His mom had been shocked as they drove through town and saw absolutely no one milling around. She insisted they stop at the Kwik Mart for road snacks. No one was inside to protest the arm-full of chips, jerky, water, and sodas they took. Dave tried the gas pump. It worked. He topped off his tank just to be on the safe side. While the gals picked out food, he grabbed a couple of flashlights, some batteries, some Quaker State oil just in case, a bag of cat litter for traction, and a couple of cans of inflatable flat fixer. You never know what can happen out on the road, and with no one around to call, it was better to be safe than sorry.

  He threw the bag of supplies in the tool box in the bed of the truck next to the extra blankets his mom had insisted on bringing along. He looked over at her walking out of the store next to Maggie. She looked ten years older than she had just last week when he’d gone over for dinner. Her eyes seemed vacant, haunted. It broke his heart.

  He slid his gaze right and caught Maggie watching him. Their eyes locked. His promised protection at all cost. Hers showed complete trust in him.

  “You ladies ready?” he said reaching for the door handle to let them in.

  “As ready as we’re likely to be, I guess” Maggie replied. She hopped in the middle, being the smallest of the three.

  “Mom?” Dave said quietly.

  Lynda looked up at her son. She placed a hand on his cheek.

  “I’m okay, David.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek where hand had been.

  Dave wrapped his arms around his mom and gave her a tight hug. He kissed her head then pulled back. He helped her in, latched her seatbelt like one would do for a child, and closed her door. He walked around to the driver’s side and got in.

  In moments, they were heading up 48. The gray sky seemed to be promising more snow, but not for several hours yet. Ten minutes into the drive, they passed up several abandoned cars that were parked oddly off the side of the road. One Red Toyota had careened into a brown SUV on the opposite side of the road. No one was inside any of the vehicles. They passed more of the same over the next thirty minutes.

  “What’s that? Up ahead!” Maggie was pointing excitedly out the windshield.

  Dave squinted. Sure enough, up ahead there were some figures walking slowly across the road. As they got closer, he slowed down.

  “They’re cows!” said Lynda.

  Dave stopped when he got up to them. About twenty cows were milling around and across OK 48.

  The heifers were filthy from the bottom of their bellies down to their hoofs. Dave put the truck in park and stepped out. He needed to shoo them off the road to get by. As he approached, waving his arms, he smelled the odor of manure. The filth on the cows was manure.

  “Hya!!” he shouted, shooing them off the road.

  The cows lowed and shuffled to the other side of the road. Several found some dry grass shooting up from the snow and began to chew.

  Dave climbed back inside the warm cab. “They’re feedlot cows. See the manure all over their feet? Cows from feedlots get real dirty like that. They’re packed in so tight; they end up standing around in their feces
.”

  “That’s disgusting” Maggie wrinkled up her nose.

  “That’s life” said Lynda sadly, turning away.

  Dave put the truck in gear and steered slowly around the cows. About a mile down the road, a feedlot could be seen off to the right, maybe six to seven hundred feet from the main road. It was the same one Dave’s FFA class had visited all those years ago.

  “There it is” Dave pointed out.

  Everyone turned to look. Just then, a bright light streaked across the sky and came to a stop over the feedlot. Dave slammed on the breaks. They all jerked forward.

  “What the hell?” Maggie shouted.

  “Oh no! No, no. no, no….” Lynda covered her mouth with her hands, turning white.