Corn Patch Ch 02

(I used the nonhuman catagory, but is it? You decide. There is also no sex in this story, so be warned.)

Harlen plowed the last 40 acres closest to the forest. He got the soil worked to the point where he knew only a few light runs with his big 10' disc would have it ready to plant come Spring.

They were out there, he knew. Something inside of him he didn't understand made him work from before daybreak until after.

The bad part was it made him late with his harvest, so the next day he went to town to try and hire a crew of migrant workers.

Like he suspected, the man at the store told him they were all out in the fields, all hired. It didn't help one damn bit that the government was leaning on all of the workers, a lot of them had just failed to show up, afraid of the government patrols looking for illegals.

Worried, Harlen went back to his farm. He changed over his big Farmall tractor to forks on the front, to carry the bins of corn. He began to place them out in the fields like he had always done, it took all day.

The first picking was for the fresh market, the top ears were the prime ones that brought the best price. They had to be mostly harvested by hand.

There was only one thing to do, pick what he could and save what he could. Then prime be damned, he would just run his picker machine through the rest for cattle feed or for the Alcohol plant sixty miles down state. The good bit of luck was that the weather was clear and cool, perfect.

The cool weather gave him an extra couple of days, but it was still going to be a mess. Usually he had 30 to 40 men out there working by now.

It was nearly midnight when he set the last bin, Harlen was exhausted. He knew he had to sleep, so he went up to his house. He decided he was just getting older, normally he would have worked all night.

The next morning he was back out there just as the Sun came up.

All of his bins were full. Harlen stood there not understanding for a few moments, then he realized it had to be....them.

He used his tractor to load the bins, by nightfall the huge flatbeds were loaded. The next day he hauled one in to the processing plant, drove back and got the another trailor. A couple of workers showed up, he put them to setting the empty bins he had hauled back. That helped a lot.

The next morning all of the bins were full again. Both of his crew looked at him in surprise. The second morning they drew their pay and left, in a bit of a hurry.

Harlen didn't care.

Harlen was happy now, the price was very good. All of his expenses were covered and he had a check still coming, plus now he could run the picker through the fields. Then cut the silage, too. More profit.

Just one thing was odd, four of his bins had come up missing. He knew for sure, he had counted them several times. Back at the house, he went out to look. He found the tracks where they had been dragged...into the forest. He thought about that, the weight was huge. But they had just hauled them off. The tracks were clear in the soil he had just plowed, there was at least 7 or 8 of them.

He was beginning to suspect there were more than that, too.

Well. So they had hauled off some more Corn, that seemed fair to Harlen. He walked on down the rows to check on the rest of the crop. He noticed that the outside half dozen rows were completely stripped.

That had to be the people too. He was beginning to think of them as that, the..people.

And one of them with child. His child. Harlen had no idea how he knew, he just knew. Later, he was wandering down the rows, he came around one row and there sat the four missing bins, empty.

Harlen laughed, if it could be called a laugh. His laugh was more like a series of low grunts.

There was a chatter from the forest, then a long gutteral cry. Harlen put one hand up to his mouth and shouted out a thank you. There was dead silence in return. He went back to the house, taking along a half dozen ears of corn for breakfast.

The next week he harvested the rest of the crops with his machines, loaded them and hauled them down the freeway to the Alcohol plant. On the way back, he stopped at the store in town to stock up on provisions.

"Whatcha gonna do about your crops, Harlen?" The old storekeeper asked as he rang up Harlen's purchases.

"All done for this year, just need to cut the silage."

"Oh, you found a crew?" The old man asked.

"Yea, I did." Harlen loaded his provisions and went on home.

Harlen finished the cutting, then lightly plowed the fields. He planted the winter cover crop to hold the soil, then greased up all of his equipment and stored it in the barns.

Winter wasn't far off, he knew that in another month the fields would be covered by a few feet of snow.

Normally Harlen flew down to Reno for a week or so every Winter. He could take a taxi out to the Bunny ranch and have a little fun. For some reason, he just wasn't in the mood.

They were out there, in the cold. The weather dropped below freezing, he spent a lot of time sitting at his upstairs window looking out over his fields. Harlen worried, but there was never any sign, no motions. He did see a Coyote, it darted across the field like a ghost in the moonlight. For just a moment he thought it was one of them, but then he realized.

The only evidence he ever saw to let him know they were out there was when he glanced at his winter apple tree. It was stripped bare overnight. He knew then that they also ate those, so he went to town and bought a bushel of nice apples from the store.

"Making some pies, Harlen?" The old shopkeeper asked.

"Yea." Harlen answered. He hauled them down to the edge of the forest, they were gone the next morning. Curious, he tried a bushel of spuds, they were still there the next morning, untouched. They showed no interest in Carrots, either, just a bite here and there and then they dropped them.

Then he tried grain, they seemed to like that. Harlen kept himself busy most of the Winter trying different kinds of foods, by Spring he had a pretty good idea of what they would eat and what they wouldn't. He had even tried a Venison roast, the tracks circled it but never came close.

There were long claw marks in the soil where they kicked dirt away. He had a feeling the meat had upset them.

The first sign of Spring was the sound of a Robin that landed on his windowsill. Harlen knew it was time again, he started his tractor and serviced everything to make sure all was ready.

Then off to town for sacks of seed. After loading up his truck, he went back in and bought six big sacks of oats.

"Trying Oats, Harlen?" The shopkeeper asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"Yea." Was all Harlen said. He had taken a bushel of mixed grains out there, they had picked out all of the Oats first. Then they came back for the rest, but he knew they liked the Oats best of all.

He planted the 40 acres first, part of it to Oats and the rest to sweet Corn. Then he began the long process of planting the rest of his over 1000 acres. The machinery made it easy but it still took a few weeks as he staggered the crops a week apart this time.

Back at the house, he looked at his Apple tree. He went to town, there was a new store there now, one of those big chains. He bought several dozen Apple trees, took them out and planted them down by the forest where they would get good southern sunlight. He figured the Deer would be hard on them, but maybe some would take.

They grew fast, oddly no Deer ever touched them. There was a long dry spell, so Harlen hauled some water out to them. But he had even been beaten to that. He just grinned, used the water on his Corn.

They were tending to the small trees, he knew. They even nibbled on the leaves, curious, he picked a leaf and ate it. It actually wasn't bad.

The dry spell didn't last long, it rained at just the right time and just the right amount. It was going to be another good year. After it dried out a little, Harlen took his mower out late one evening to cut the grass and weeds between the rows. He had lights on the mower and it was a lot cooler in the evening.

He was coming to the end of the second row when he saw a motion in the headlights. He stopped, shut off the mower's engine, waited.

There was another motion that he could barely make out past the tall plants, then one of them stepped out. It had one of it's front paws held up to cover it's face. Realizing it didn't like the light, Harlen shut off the headlamps.

It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust, there was enough moonlight that he could make out the shape. It stepped over one row, then moved his way.

Harlen just waited, not moving. In fact he was even holding his breath. It had been nearly a year since he had seen one of them, just evidence that they were around.

It came up to within a few feet of the mower, squatted down with just a row of the corn plants between them. It's body was covered with hair, the huge hips looked more like a large hairy Frog than any animal Harlen had ever seen.

The face was almost human, just covered with fur. Those odd black eyes, tilted, they stared right at him. He got the impression that it was poised to run.

"Sallla...." It tipped it's head back and let the words flow from deep in it's throat. Then dropping it's head back down, it gave out a string of gibberish, almost..musical?

"Salla..?" Harlen asked.

"Yesss...Salll..a...." Again it tipped it's head back, almost like it had to to make the near human sounds.

"I don't understand?"

"Salll..a." It seemed frustrated now.

Harlen didn't understand, he just sat there. The creature lifted one hind leg slightly, began to kick at the ground. It's three curved claws came out. At first Harlen thought it was making a threat, he had seen Dogs kick at the ground like that as a warning.

Then the creature looked at him, and moved away. It broke into a run, it's speed was blinding.

There was silence. Harlen climbed off the mower, got his flashlight that he kept strapped to the cowl. He pushed through the Corn plants and looked at the ground.

There in large letters was the word, S..A..L..T.

Oh! It wanted salt? Harlen started the mower, drove back to the house. He found his bag of salt, drove out by the fenceline to the 40 acre section. He set the salt there, went back home. He could finish the mowing another day.

The next morning he went out to check, the salt was still there. The top of the bag had been sliced open cleanly, but it was untouched otherwise.

Now what the hell? Maybe a salt lick? He thought.

Harlen got in his truck and went to town. He bought two salt licks. The old shopkeeper looked at him oddly.

"Gonna do some hunting, Harlen? I got some scent if you need it."

Harlen didn't answer, he packed the two big blocks effortlessly out to his truck. He was tipping the second one up on the truck when he spotted the tag.

"Non-iodized salt." It read.

Oh. He thought he had that figured out. Pure salt, they needed pure salt. He set out the blocks, both were gone the next morning.

There clawed into the soil was the words, "Thank you" again, the six inch track with the claws curled carefully into the ground beside it.

Harlen just went back to work. It was getting to be late Summer, he was checking on Corn prices regularly. They were down a little from the year before, since the southern crops hadn't flooded this year. But prices were still very good.

Plus he knew his own crop would be early, the plants were well tended and even weeded, something he had never done before since crews to do it cost way too much. Every morning he saw the evidence of their work the night before.

Harlen even found a few ears that were ripe and ready, he picked some for dinner. The next day he checked the 40 acre section, some of that had been picked, too. He looked over the Oats section, it was heading up nicely too.

Satisfied, He turned to head back to the house. He came to an abrupt stop.

One of the small ones stood there, not 30 feet away. He looked around, the larger one was there, too, but mostly hidden out of sight. He could see it's eyes looking at him.

The smaller one squatted down, those hips bulging up. He realized it was holding something. He looked closely, what she was holding moved.

Then he knew it was the female, the one that.....the memory came flooding back, the terror he had felt, being held down in the darkness as she had...

It's arms reached out, holding the bundle. He looked again, more closely. What he had thought was just something it was carrying was a child, it was moving.

Harlen slowly and carefully moved closer. The female didn't move, it squatted there holding out the child. Harlen now was right in front of her.

He looked down at the hairless face, the oval eyes. Two small ears poked out the side of it's almost bare skull, the hind legs were odd but not backwards at the knees like the others. The face was that of a human child. It looked up at him, did not make a sound.

Harlen slowly reached out to touch it, he stopped when the claws on one of her paws slid out. He just stood there, not knowing what to do. He was looking down at a baby boy, but not like any baby boy he had ever seen. It was naked, it's body covered with fine curly hairs.

"Youuu sonnn." He heard the larger one say. The female broke into a series of chatter, then stood up.

"Can I hold him?" Harlen asked.

There was a series of chatter back and forth, then the large male stepped from behind the rows.

It chattered at her, she chattered back. Harlen could see that she gave in, once again she held out her arms, presented the child. Harlen took the boy, curled it gently to his chest. It's big eyes never left his face, it didn't make a single sound. The big male was standing very close, almost...poised?

He knew they still had a suspicion, they were being careful. Harlen felt a tear form in his eye, she looked at him and smiled. He was looking at her perfectly formed human teeth.

They had wanted him to know about the child. He softly kissed the boy on it's forehead, it blinked a couple of times. Then he reached out and handed the child back to it's mother. She took it, turned and was gone in a flash, so fast he almost could not see her move.

The large male touched his shoulder, then it was gone, too.

Harlen stood there for a very long time.

Once again the crop was harvested, Harlen didn't even bother to go to town for a crew. He placed the bins, setting four of them down by the 40 acre section. He hauled his crop to market, then ran the machinery, cut the fields. Once again he had a good year, his bank account was larger than it had ever been. He now no longer needed to borrow to finance the crops.

He spent the Winter like he had the year before, many hours were wasted just looking out his upstairs window. In March, the weather warmed nicely, Harlen decided to go looking for them.

He was no longer afraid of them. He crossed the 40 acres, now growing a cover crop to replenish the soil. He found a trail, followed it. It wasn't easy, there was brush and trees he had to crawl over, but he kept on going. Miles into the deep forest, he came to a canyon he had never seen, a small creek ran down into a meadow down below.

The trail led upwards, he started to climb. Harlen began to break a sweat, the climb was steep. He stopped a few times to rest, then stubborn, attacked the hill again. The trail went straight up it. Finally at the top, it started downhill in a shallow grade.

Harlen felt funny, his right arm was tingling. He ignored that, he wanted to find them, so he kept on.

Then it felt like the ground gave way under his right leg, he fell. He got up, fell again. He could walk looking at the ground but the moment he looked up it was like it wasn't there. He fell a third time. He rolled over on his back to rest, everything went black.

When Harlen woke up, he was alone. He was lying on a cot of some kind, there was a small light overhead. Looking around, everything was gray. He realized the entire room was metal. The only light came from a small glowing object that seemed to just hang in the air. He reached up to wipe his face, felt something on his neck. Checking, he realized it was a bandage on the left side of his face and neck.

Had he fallen, hurt himself? He wondered. He must be in a hospital.

There was a soft ringing tone, he had no idea what that was. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the wall open, one of them stood there looking at him.

"What's going on? Where am I?" Harlen asked.

It didn't say anything, just walked over and peered down at him. He saw it was a female he hadn't seen before. Harlen started to sit up, the creature just pressed him back, easily.

"Nooo." It said, tipping it's head back.

"What is going on?" He demanded again.

"Sroooke." It tipped it's head back again to make the sounds.

"Sroke? What is a sroke? Oh! Stroke!"

"Yeees. Jaha cuuu youuu. Fiiikkss." He could see that she had to struggle to make the sounds.

Jaha. Cut? Harlen knew now, he had had a stroke and they had found him, or more likely knew he was there the whole time. Now he was...Harlen had no idea where he was.

She came up with what looked like a piece of paper or cloth of some kind, placed it over his face for a second. The world went black again.

It could have been hours, or even days when he woke up again. Everything looked exactly the same. The soft tone went off again, he sat up.

The wall opened, the large male stood there.

"Youuu beee liiive." It tipped back it's head, then looked at him. It had a small bowl in it's paws, it handed that to him. Harlen wasn't sure what it was but he was hungry beyond the point of reason. He tipped the bowl back, it was Oats in some kind of brown sauce he didn't recognize.

It was delicious.

Then the creature held out it's hand, there was a shiny red apple. He took that thankfully and bit in, it was delicious too.

"I had a stroke?" He asked, finally.

It just nodded.

"You did surgery?" The creature looked at him blank, the questioning expression was obviously...human.

"Cut?" Harlen asked, pointing at his neck.

It nodded.

Harlen thought about that, these weren't animals, that much was for sure.

"How?" He asked.

The creature flicked one razor sharp claw out, it was like a scalpel. Harlen looked at that, then at the creature, it almost seemed to grin.

"What is your name?"

"Jaha." It didn't tip it's head back to say that, the sound came out in almost one syllable.

"Harlen."

Jaha nodded, then left. The smaller female came in soon after, handed him a glass of some kind of milky drink. It tasted like salty water with Corn juice, Harlen grimaced. He shook his head, handed it back to her.

"Too salty." He told her. She nodded, and left.

She came back in a few minutes with a clear drink, it was water. He drank that greedily.

"What is your name?" Harlen asked. He was getting into this now.

"Rii." Then she tipped her head back. "Youuu Harrrnnn." She smiled, it was almost a human smile.

"Where is the one I...the mother..and child?"

She looked at him, then left. In a few minutes the other one came in, carrying the boy. It seemed to be larger, almost a burden for her. He spotted the very short fuzzy tail as she set the child down. It stood there and looked at him. The oval eyes were large and dark, that seemed completely strange compared to the deeply slanted eyes of the rest of them. The boy had much less hair than the others.

Looking back at the female, he noticed that her breasts seemed much heavier than he remembered, the face looked soft, even the fuzzy hairs could not hide the smile.

"I think I am your daddy!" Harlen told him.

The child didn't move.

"What is your name?" Harlen asked her.