Dawn by S. J. West Page B

start stockpiling organs. We won't be taking many of the people in this city to breeding camps.”
    “Too bad,” the woman replied just as the door in front of me was snatched open.
    The woman stared at me as I shielded my eyes from the unexpected brightness of daylight streaming through the now open door.
    “Well,” the woman said looking me up and down, “at least this one has already had a child for us to take to a Nursery.”
    The woman reached in and grabbed a fistful of my hair to drag me out into the open.
    The sudden movement made Rose cry in alarm.
    “I'll take that,” the woman said taking a step towards me intent on whisking Rose out of my arms.
    As she approached, I formed a fist with my free hand and hit her square in the chest. I heard the crack of bone and watched her body fly in the air until her back hit the cinder block wall by the still open back door.
    She fell to her hands and knees gasping for air as three male Harvesters surrounded me with stun batons at the ready.
    “Wait,” the man who seemed to be their leader said to them as he came to stand in front of me.
    “Who are you?” He asked, looking me up and down.
    “I'm no one,” I answered.
    “Everyone's someone,” he replied. His eyes were drawn to the wiggling pink bundle in my arms. “Whose baby is that?”
    “Mine.”
    He glanced behind him at the woman who was still on her hands and knees trying to catch her breath before he looked back at me.
    “You're a Harvester. Why are you carrying a human baby around?”
    “Like I said, she's mine.”
    The man crossed his arms in front of him. “Who'd you steal it from?”
    “A friend gave her to me.”
    “Well, your friend should have had better sense.”  The man looked at the three Harvesters surrounding me. “Take the baby and kill the girl. Something's not right about her.”
    I positioned Rose in my right arm like a receiver would a football. In my mind, I saw the fight before it happened. I knew I could take the three in front of me as long no one else tried to interfere.
    Two of them pointed their stun batons in my direction supposedly to make sure I stood still while the third stepped forward to take Rose out of my arms.
    “You'll have to kill me if you want to take this baby,” I told the Harvester as he approached.
    “I'm ok with that arrangement,” he said snidely, filled with Harvester arrogance as he stretched his arms out to take Rose.
    Before any of them had time to react, I lifted my left leg and kicked the Harvester in front of me in the groin hard enough to know a certain part of his anatomy would be crushed to a point beyond recognition. As he fell to his knees screaming in agony and bleeding out, I bent my right leg at the knee to lower myself with my left leg still stretched out. When the two other Harvesters closed in on me with their batons extended in my direction, I spun on the ball of my foot and swept my leg underneath the one on my right causing him to fall to the ground and crack his head on the pavement hard enough to render him unconscious.
    The one at my back rammed his stun baton into the middle of my spine for a split second before I reached behind me with my left hand and ripped it out of his grasp. I quickly stood and twirled the baton between my fingers before I stabbed it in the Harvester's neck instantly causing a spray of blood. I held onto the handle of the baton as he fell to his knees. With one quick twist, I snapped the Harvester's neck, pulling the baton out as his body fell to the ground. The Harvester in charge pulled his gun out of the holster on his hip and pointed it directly at my head.
    I felt the first bullet hit my right shoulder but kept my hold on Rose as I rushed the man leading with my left shoulder until he was pinned between me and the back wall of the grocery store. Without even giving it a second thought, I grabbed his head and slammed it so hard against the cinder block behind him. His skull caved in leaving a trail of