Resist (The Harvest Saga Book 2) (21 page)

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Authors: Casey L. Bond

BOOK: Resist (The Harvest Saga Book 2)

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Perfect. My baby was perfect.

“Would you like to see her?”

“Yes. Please.” My throat was clogged with thick tears.

She pushed a few buttons and moved the probe around. A screen on the wall flashed to life and there she was, my perfect little girl. I could see everything. I expected a shadow or a vague photograph, but this was stunning. I could see tiny fingers and toes forming. She twisted and showed her back. “She’s sucking her thumb!”

The woman laughed. “Yes! Babies often form habits in the womb that will follow them into the world. She will likely suck her thumb after birth. I will take measurements and we will monitor you both for a few days. I believe you both will be fine, Abigail Kelley.”

“Thank you.”

“You are due in only a few months.” She said, smiling sweetly.

“No. That can’t be right. I’m only a couple of months along.”

She shook her head. “Greater gestation is much shorter. It looks like you have taken that trait from your mother’s genetics. Your baby will be here at the end of spring or early in the summer season.

My heart hammered in my chest, almost matching the rhythm set forth by the beating of my baby girl’s heart. A few months? She’ll be here in a few months. I’ll be a mother in a few months.

She bent close and whispered. “I know your mother and father.”

“My father?”

“Kaia is your mother and Adam Kelley is your father.”

“He’s a Lesser.”

Vivian whispered low. “I know. They are still very much in love.”

“They are?”

She nodded. “Would you like a photograph of your child?”

“Yes, please.” Tears burst from my eyes again. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the wall. I just watched her squirm and roll. The bubbles I thought were gas weren’t gas at all. It was my baby bean. I loved her so much, I thought my heart might just swell up and burst.

She handed me a strip of several of the photographs of baby bean. “I will tell your father you are here.”

“Thank you.”

Squeezing my shoulder, Vivian stood up and left the room. It was quiet, but I had the memory of her heartbeat to keep me company. And the amazing strip of pictures, amber in hue showing the tiny baby growing inside me.

The screen of the computer she had been working on was still illuminated. My eyes scanned the tiny print.

Subject: Abigail Kelley

Procedure: Implantation of Uterine Tracking Device and Artificial Insemination

Male Donor:

The screen went black before I could read any more. Kaia said all the medical records died along with Olympus. She either lied or was misinformed. Either way, I doubted I would ever know who my child’s biological father was. It seemed like the world didn’t want me to know. Maybe it didn’t matter anyway. It was a very good possibility that the donor was dead now anyway.

My back was getting stiff from laying in the bed. I’d shifted from side to side, rearranged pillows and blankets. Nothing helped. Finally, I sat up. As I looked around, the whoosh of the door opening caught my attention. A middle-aged gentlemen stepped into the room. His sand-colored hair was the first thing I noticed. He wasn’t dressed like a Greater, or a Lesser for that matter. He was wearing some sort of strange, red jumpsuit. It wasn’t tight or anything like Julia’s, but stretched from neck to ankle.

He smiled at me and removed his glasses. My heart took flight. I was looking at Lulu’s chameleon eyes again. This man was her brother. He was my father.

He didn’t stop, just glided toward me, and crushed me in a hug. “Baby girl,” he said, choking on his own sob. “I had no idea.”

“About Lulu?”

He pulled back slightly. “Yes. I am so sorry. About everything. Your mother filled me in on a lot.”

“How is it that you are with Kaia? She is a Greater.”

“It has not always been so. When we first arrived, we had to separate. She worked diligently to gain a position of power within Vesuvius. Now that she has that power, let’s just say that many things are overlooked. We can be together and open about our relationship now.”

Gray’s face popped into my mind. “I need some help. And I know we just met, but I don’t know who else to ask.”

His expression grew serious and I could see the toll time had taken on his face. Thank goodness his laugh lines were the deepest wrinkles present. I hoped he had been happy. “What do you need, Abby?”

I laughed. “Kaia always calls me Abigail. Lulu called me Abby and so do you.”

“Your mother named you. She loved the name Abigail. Sometimes she would get angry with me for shortening your name. Lulu and I were very much alike.” His sad smile pierced my heart. He missed his sister as much as I did.

“On the train, they brought three Olympian prisoners. What will happen to them?”

“They will be held for trial most likely.”

“For what crimes? They did nothing wrong.”

“I truly do not know, but I can find out.”

I gulped and asked the question I feared the most. “Will they be beheaded?”

Adam Kelley looked taken aback. “No. We do not condone violence in Vesuvius. The worst criminals are imprisoned for the remainder of their natural lives.”

I shook my head. He was brainwashed. He had no idea what Vesuvius was capable of and without that knowledge, would never help me.

“Could you do me one favor?”

“Of course.”

“Send Kaia a comm and ask her what Vesuvius did to Olympus.”

“I know that they imprisoned their leader and his son, Abby, and I am aware of your affections for the young man.”

I lowered my voice. “Olympus is gone. It was wiped off the face of the earth.”

My father tensed and stilled. “How?”

“Vesuvius. Those three are the only survivors that I know of.”

His eyes searched my own. “Are you certain of this?”

I nodded. “Yes. I’m one hundred percent certain. I barely got out alive myself. They sent me in to retrieve the other Lesser girls. Vesuvius now manages our village. They manage all the Lesser villages now that there are no other Greaters to compete with. Everything is theirs.”

Please understand what I’m saying!

“I will contact your mother. Please do not worry for the safety of the Olympians. I will personally see to it.”

“Thank you.”

“You will be released from care tomorrow. I have been assigned as your host. I will come and collect you and your belongings midday tomorrow.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Adam, er, Dad.”

“Dad?” He smiled. “I’ve waited fifteen years to hear you say that again.”

∞

At noon the following day
, Adam Kelley showed up to “collect me,” as promised. I had been given a strange papery red gown to wear home as my clothing had been discarded. My father laughed as we walked down the long hallway toward the elevator box. “You squeak when you walk, Abby.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just tell me you can get your hands on something nicer than those jumpsuits you wear. I don’t think those are much better.”

He laughed. “I do not squeak though.”

I gave him a look and it made him laugh even louder.

He led me to a PerT and punched something into the small board beside the automatic door. Soon, we were zipping through Vesuvius at break-neck speeds. When the PerT finally slowed, we were outside the city. Row after row of redbrick houses lined the streets. Exiting the PerT, we continued to walk along a narrow pathway until we came to a stop. Adam extended his arm. “This is our house, Abby.”

Our house? How long did he expect me to stay?

I smiled and accepted his proffered elbow. The house looked like all the others. It was a rectangular, one story, brick-faced structure that lacked windows. That was strange.

Adam slid his thumb over a tiny screen beside the door. I could hear the locks disengage immediately. Inside, it was dark. Very dark. Adam sternly ordered, “Lights on.” The room lit up brightly. The furniture was simple, yet sleek. A small tan couch with matching chairs opposite an oval coffee table occupied the first room. “Kitchen is in the back,” Adam pointed across the room. “Bedrooms are back here, as are the facilities.”

I nodded. Indoor plumbing was definitely a wonderful thing. That was one thing about Olympus that I actually missed. “Abby, if you would like to bathe or refresh yourself, please make yourself at home. I was able to find some clothing for you. It is in the bedroom down the hall and to the left.

I sighed and released the tension building in my shoulders. “I would love that.”

He guided me to the “facilities” and made sure that I had a towel and cloth. Every type of soap imaginable lay on the counter.

Adam blushed. “I did not know what kind you liked.”

I smiled. “We only have one option in Orchard and that’s whatever we make. I’m sure any of these will be wonderful. Thank you.”

He turned to leave. “I am going to leave to get some food for our evening meal. I will not be gone for long. Please feel free to look around the house. Make yourself at home, please.”

I nodded and closed the door. Turning knobs, I adjusted the water until it was warm, but not hot. It wasn’t long before I’d shed the weird dress and sunk into the gloriously clean water. I’d grabbed the first bottle of soap on the counter. It smelled like honeysuckle and homesickness.

I missed my cabin, Kyan and Julia, but most of all my heart ached for Gray. I had no idea what was happening to him. We were close, in the same city even, but so far away. Would I be able to find him and the others? How long did Adam expect me to stay with him? Before long, the bath water grew cooler.

I wrapped myself in a towel and scurried across the hallway into the bedroom Adam had said was mine. A soft looking bed with red linens stood against the center of the main wall. A tall wooden wardrobe stood to its right. I opened the doors and gasped. Everything was red. The Vesuvians were as obsessed with the color red as the Olympians had been with white. It was just so weird. I searched the hanging clothing. Jumpsuits. Freaking jumpsuits. How would that work with the bump? I finally settled on a simple cotton dress. It was a deep red with long sleeves and buttons over the bust. Its soft fabric fell to my ankles. So comfortable.

Looking at the bed, I stepped over to the soft fabric, running my fingers back and forth over it. But sleep would have to wait. I frantically but meticulously searched every part of my room and then my father’s bedroom until on the shelf in the top of his closet, my hands found their target. I had a gun. While my father promised to personally see to the safety of the three Olympian prisoners, I’d learned not to trust any Greater. I would never again put my fate or the lives of anyone I loved in their hands.

Trust was earned and they’d broken too many promises, told too many lies. It was time to go and get Gray and the others and finish this, once and for all.

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