Alex Morgan

In the 22nd century, Earth has been harvested by a race of aliens known as the Xini. In the aftermath, all the planet’s resources have been stripped. Dakota sets out from Dallas in search of his lover, Grayson, who vanished on his way to St. Louis after the invading fleet departed.<br><br>Dakota faces unknown dangers in the devastated plains of northern Texas and southern Oklahoma as scavengers -- human beings reduced to shells after the Harvesting -- roam the earth attacking anything that moves in an effort to survive.<br><br>He finds a group of survivors struggling in what little remains of Oklahoma City, led by the tough, handsome Colonel Welch. While Mother Nature unleashes a fury of natural disasters to purge herself of the Xini rape, Dakota must decide whether to stay with the colonel and help him make the colony viable, or continue onto St. Louis to find Grayson.

Harvested

“How far will you have to go?” Chip asked.


“I’ll just go to the edge of this rise and leave some food and water for him. I’ll be gone a minute or two and I promise to keep any eye out for any scavengers.”


“A fool’s errand,” Beth snorted. “You’ll just bring them on us again.”


“But now there are three of us,” Dakota said, smiling. He didn’t expect her to be placated and she wasn’t, but he had to try. “Do you have a bowl I can borrow?”


Beth snorted again and handed him a plastic bowl.


“I’ll go up top with you and make sure Howie doesn’t attack you when you come back,” Chip said. He rose to his feet and walked up the steps behind Dakota much more easily than he had earlier. Near the top of the stairs, Dakota poked his head out and scanned the area. Seeing nothing but Howie, he stepped into the open, slipping on his night vision goggles. Dakota turned toward the south when Chip grabbed his hand.


Chapter 9