Free The Harvest (Book 1) by Anne Ferretti

had laughed at their notions, calling them absurd. Vampire was a concocted word not based in scientific fact and, as far as he was concerned, belonged in Hollywood, not in the reality he was dealing with right here.
    So on and on he pondered about and over her existence. His pondering turned into frustration when day after day she provided nothing. She never spoke and he only referred to her as the subject, refusing to use any of the nicknames he’d heard his men whispering. He would have pulled the plug as Chase had suggested, but then came the breakthrough in getting her blood sample. Once that occurred, Roth’s enthusiasm over his subject again knew no bounds, driven by the certainty her DNA held the key to eternal life. She’d become his blinding obsession.
    Roth hurried down the corridor, anxious to get the sample to the lab, but was stopped when the alarms went off. Lights flashed and ‘ Code Orange’ blared out from the speakers over and over again. Code Orange meant only one thing. Roth dropped the vile into his pocket regretting that eternal life would have to wait a bit longer. Code Orange was never used in training exercises, but he was ready and knew just what needed to be done.

6 CLOSE ENCOUNTER
    Present Day
    Bunkered down in Lucky’s dairy freezer, the unlikely trio finished their dinner of chili and crackers. Luke collected the empty cans in a plastic bag, tying the ends into a knot. Despite believing they were the only humans left alive, Austin insisted they not leave a trail of garbage in their wake. His need to abide by this rule, or any rule for that matter, on the surface appeared to be an automatic reaction ingrained into his thought processes. Under the surface those rules meant having hope for the future, something neither Luke nor Austin dwelled on or discussed.
    With dinner over, there wasn’t much left to do except wait for morning. The three travelers prepared to bed down. Madison unraveled a sub zero sleeping bag. She exchanged her boots for running shoes and climbed in fully clothed. She placed her nine mil on the floor; barrel pointed at the wall and zipped her bag closed, but not all the way. She pushed herself up against the wall and then placed her gun in her lap, checking again that the safety was on. Austin, who noticed everything under the guise of a blank expression, was somewhat impressed. It had never occurred to him to change out of his boots.
    “How long you been on the road ma’am?” Luke asked from the opening of his gortex cocoon.
    “You’re gonna have to drop the ma’am stuff and just call me Madison or Maddie. K?”
    “Sure thing.” Luke agreed. “You can call me Luke...you know cuz , um, that’s my name.” He cleared his throat, feeling the warm flush rising up his neck. He tried to relax, telling himself she couldn’t see his face, which was most likely beat red at this point.
    “Well Luke, I left Tampa back in May, so what’s that? Like four months?”
    “It took you four months to get here?” Austin’s condescending tone was difficult to miss, but Madison ignored it.
    “I was in Tampa when the bodies dropped. I...I was trying to find my sister.”
    “Don’t pay him no mind.” Luke offered as an apology for Austin’s harsh tone and inhospitable attitude, wondering what had gotten into the captain.
    “We all have our demons.” Madison replied, shrugging.
    “Where ya goin’ in Colorado?” Austin asked using a less harsh tone, wondering himself why he was being an asshole.
    “Pueblo. Or close to it. I read an article about this millionaire kid who built an elaborate underground bunker just outside Pueblo. Said it was the size of a small town and could hold up to a hundred people for seventeen years. So...”
    “So that’s your plan?” Austin finished for her. “To somehow find this bunker and then what? You gonna knock on the door and invite yourself in? Oh wait it’s a bunker, so it must be underground, which means the entrance is buried