Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Looking at the fingerlike peninsulas jutting in a small inlet that joined the Cumberland, Sandy nodded. “We stop there and can take tomorrow off. Let the horses rest and keep an eye and ear out on that bridge.”

  Not liking the idea of taking a day off with a known horde coming, Mary understood they needed to rest their rides. “You go check what I did, then let’s get the hell out of here,” Mary said, lifting her coffee up and taking a sip.

  “Will do,” Sandy smiled and patted Mary’s leg. “I’ll leave my bow for you.” Mary just smiled as Sandy walked off before lifting the scope up and scanning around.

  Reaching the horses, Sandy saw all the poured out grain was gone. Moving from horse to horse and checking the packsaddles and the waterproof bags lashed to Bill’s and Johnathan’s saddles, Sandy found all of them sealed and strapped down as tight as they usually were. Moving to her horse, “Asshole,” Sandy grunted and picked up two of the smaller waterproof bags.

  Putting the stuff from her front saddle bags in a bag, Sandy lashed it across the saddle horn and then looked down at Dan. “You better be able to keep up.”

  Dan just sat there panting up at her as Sandy unloaded the rear saddlebags into two waterproof bags and lashed them to the saddle. Checking the saddle and bridle, Sandy undid the Velcro sides of her vest, stripping it off. Grabbing a large waterproof bag, Sandy shoved the vest inside and cinched it closed.

  Putting the bag on the back of her saddle, Sandy found it wouldn’t strap down with the equipment already there. “It stays with me,” Sandy mumbled, and moved the bag to her saddle seat and strapped it down tight. “All I do is hang on anyway.”

  Unclipping the loop on her sling, Sandy clipped the end to the rifle to turn her one point sling into a real sling. Putting her AR across her back, Sandy thought about taking off her boots and pants. “No. I get separated I’m not running around barefoot in panties. I can change on the other side,” she concluded.

  Walking back up, Sandy grabbed Mary and came back down. “Where are you going to ride?” Mary asked, seeing the waterproof bag with Sandy’s vest strapped in the saddle seat.

  “I’ll ride on it until we get in the water, then all I’ll do is hang on to the saddle horn and float. If I try to stay in the saddle, the water will just push me off,” Sandy explained.

  “I’m doing that,” Mary said, and started taking her vest off.

  Ten minutes later Sandy and Mary climbed up on their saddles, riding on the waterproof bags with their vests. Moving to the boat launch, Sandy saw a sign that gave ferry crossing information. She wrapped the reins around her wrists and glanced down at Dan. “You better follow because if I have to come back for you I’m spanking your butt because we aren’t waiting on a ferry.”

  Dan spun in a circle with his tongue hanging out. “Dan, heel,” Sandy commanded, and Dan stopped spinning and moved beside her horse. “Okay Asshole, let’s go,” Sandy told the horse, feeling butterflies in her stomach.

  Without hesitation, the horse walked down the ferry ramp and into the water leading Sandy’s packhorses and was soon swimming. Letting her feet slip from the stirrups Sandy held onto the saddle horn, floating along. “Shit,” Sandy gasped, feeling the waterproof bag and saddle resting against her chest.

  Then she noticed her horse’s head was much further out of the water than normal. Glancing back, Sandy saw her packhorses were floating higher in the water than her horse was. The packsaddles with all the waterproof bags had turned into flotation devices. “I’ll be damned,” Sandy mumbled, and saw Dan swimming along beside her.

  Just looking at Dan, Sandy could tell he was swimming at a leisurely pace. Turning ahead, Sandy saw the other jetty more to their right. “I’m in a lake, there shouldn’t be a current,” Sandy grumbled, and steered her horse toward the jetty.

  Praying her horses wouldn’t stop swimming when she reached the end of the steel framework; Sandy lifted her head up and didn’t see huge rocks where the dirt trail met the water. Still a hundred and fifty yards from shore, the small area looked like a ten-foot-wide beach. “Please,” Sandy begged as her horse swam parallel to the steel framework passing the second support column.

  When she was twenty yards away, Sandy could see dirt under the water at the small beach. Turning to her right, Sandy saw Dan had drifted back and was now even with the first packhorse. “Come on, Dan,” Sandy called softly, and Dan picked up speed to gain on her.

  Holding the reins to steer her horse to the tiny beach, Sandy found out she didn’t have to. The horse saw the rocks on each side and was heading straight for the dirt beach. Ten yards from the beach Sandy forced her legs down, just gripping the saddle with her thighs.

  She would have to start up the rather steep path as soon as they cleared the water, so the packhorses and Mary could get out. When her horse gave a stumble, Sandy caught her breath and then realized he had found ground as the horse walked out of the water.

  “Good boy,” Sandy sang out, patting his neck and dropping her feet down to the stirrups. “You’re not ‘asshole’ anymore.”

  Steering the horse up the slope Sandy heard Mary’s horses coming out of the water, but was scared to glance back and check. The incline was so steep, her horse had to lean forward and dig in his hooves to climb the precipitous path. When they reached the top Sandy saw the house beside them, and the damage was much worse up close.

  Sandy guided the horse to the front as she glanced back and saw Mary almost to the top with Ann leading the way. With a chill setting in, Sandy glanced around until she saw Dan below her. Scanning the jetty and not seeing any threats, Sandy climbed off her horse as Dan started shaking the water off.

  “You better be happy I’m already wet,” Sandy smiled, turning her head from the slinging water.

  “Did you see that?” Mary beamed, climbing off. “The waterproof bags made life jackets.”

  “Yeah, but I’m glad we didn’t have to swim for the shore,” Sandy said. “I’m sure swimming wears the horses out more than walking, and we need them to walk.”

  “Let’s get some dry clothes on and get them walking,” Mary nodded as they heard several explosions to the north. Both turned, but couldn’t see anything.

  “I think the Army just blew up the Highway 79 Bridge,” Sandy concluded.

  Neither spoke as they pulled out dry clothes and boots. After they’d changed and dried off the horses, they pulled out the dry horse blankets and changed them out with the wet ones. Checking each other and the horses, they mounted up and headed north.

  Chapter Eight

  Cabin, Kentucky

  Holding up the OSB board, Lance watched Denny screw it in. With two screws in, Lance stepped back to look at the RV shed half enclosed with OSB. Picking up another sheet of OSB, Lance moved to the next spot and muscled it into position, holding it there until Denny came over while loading a screw into the impact drill and tacked it up.

  Feeling his phone vibrate, Lance groaned. “Kitties, I’m not in the mood,” Lance mumbled, pulling it out. “Hold on, Denny,” Lance said, seeing the message on the screen.

  “The pussy cats being bad?” Denny asked, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

  Shaking his head, “No, someone from your dad’s place is calling,” Lance told him. “Will you go make sure Ian and the others got the message?”

  “Sure,” Denny replied with a grin and took off running to the greenhouse. Inside, he found the others moving to the door. “You get the message?”

  “Yep, headed to the cabin,” Ian grinned, then looked back at the greenhouse. Everyone else was in his group today to set up the hydroponic system, and Ian was certain they could start planting in a week. As always, they did several projects at once and the greenhouse only got three hours a day, but with the extra hands it was moving much faster than even Ian had thought possible.

  Denny pulled out his enormous key, running for the cabin with the ladybugs and Jodi behind him. “It’s too hot to run,” Jennifer grunted and then reached out, grab
bing Ian’s hand.

  Lilly leaned over to Jennifer’s ear and whispered, “Sure would be nice to have a swimming pool.”

  “Don’t,” Jennifer warned, throwing up a hand.

  “Don’t what?” Ian asked.

  “Girl stuff,” Jennifer replied, and Ian didn’t want to know any more.

  They walked into the cabin to see Lance talking on the phone. “You’re sure there was a change?” Lance asked into the phone and listened. “Rhonda, I’m not saying you can’t compare pictures, but I don’t want to head out and find out it was animals that moved in the house.”

  “Don’t like the sound of this,” Jennifer sighed, letting Ian’s hand go and taking off her gloves.

  Lance gave a sigh, closing his eyes, “Okay, what’s the house number?” Listening to the response, Lance’s eyes jerked open. “What the hell are you doing scouting zone two? You’re supposed to scout zone one.”

  Seeing Lance’s face get tense, Lilly rolled her eyes. “I’m not in the mood for another tantrum.”

  Feeling a tug on her arm, Lilly looked down into Allie’s face. Holding up a finger, Allie curled it to tell Lilly to bend down. Dropping down, Lilly put her ear near Allie’s mouth as Allie whispered. “When they start beating up stuff and you want them to stop, grab something and help them beat up stuff,” Allie instructed. “They always stop.”

  Raising her eyebrows, Lilly nodded and then turned to Allie’s ear. “Thank you,” Lilly whispered, and Allie just smiled as Lilly stood up.

  “Okay, do we need to lead you in?” Lance asked into the phone. “See you when you get here,” he said, hanging up the phone.

  “What?” Ian asked, opening the refrigerator and grabbing a pitcher of tea.

  Moving to the table, Lance sat down. “Rhonda, Dwain, and Kathy scouted zone two this morning. House 304 is different from the pictures we gave them.”

  Pouring a glass of tea, Ian looked off while bringing up the perimeter map in his head. “You and I scouted that house just four days ago.”

  “Rhonda said the front door was open,” Lance replied, looking over at Ian.

  Grabbing his glass of tea, Ian moved over to the table before sitting across from Lance. “That door was locked. We used the backdoor,” Ian said, and Lance nodded. “So why were you arguing about animals?”

  “I really don’t want them running into trouble. We gave them zone one because the battle bots will keep the stinker numbers down and it’s the easiest to patrol and not be spotted.”

  Pulling out the chair beside Lance, Lilly sat down. “Lance, they’re adults.”

  Slapping the table hard, “That are acting stupid!” Lance shouted. “We need them to get better so they can help us keep this area covered!”

  Timidly, Lori raised her hand and stepped up to the table. “Can I tell my daddy that?” she asked, avoiding looking Lance directly in the eyes.

  “I already did,” Lance huffed. “Yesterday, he and Rhonda just drove up to the house of survivors and delivered the meeting time and place in person.”

  “Daddy knew Mr. Stanton who used to live there,” Lori replied defensively.

  Nodding, “Knew, past tense,” Lance snarled. “That man died two years ago.” Lori stepped back from the table and then moved over, standing behind the ladybugs and Jodi.

  “Lance,” Ian said, putting his empty glass on the table. “You know why they are doing it. Heath and Dwain have told us several times.”

  “Yeah, so we can keep working, but if they get killed we lose allies and they lose parents,” Lance snapped, waving his hand at Lori, Denny, and Jodi. “If I acted like that, I’d be grounded.”

  “Pffft,” Jennifer huffed. “Lance, the longest your parents ever grounded you was two days.”

  “I don’t remember Lance being grounded that long,” Ian mumbled, pinching his bottom lip trying to remember.

  “You were as well,” Jennifer laughed. “You don’t remember a fight in the middle of the street right in front of your house?”

  With his face turning red, “Oh,” Ian jerked, dropping his hand from his lip.

  “Jennifer, what’s your point?” Lance asked.

  “You’ve told the bear trap group our worries and they listened, but they don’t feel the same. They want to do what they can to help,” Jennifer explained.

  Letting out a sigh, “All right,” Lance mumbled. “Ian, let’s get geared up and go check out this house. When they saw it had been disturbed, thankfully they pulled back.”

  Standing up, Ian leaned over to kiss Jennifer and then headed upstairs. “Want one of us to come with you?” Lilly asked.

  “Nah, still have an hour on the greenhouse and then lessons start,” Lance said, turning to Allie and Carrie. Neither said a word as they grabbed Jodi’s hand and pulled her down to the basement. Leaning over, Lance kissed Lilly and then got up and headed upstairs.

  When Lance was gone, Lori leaned over the table toward Lilly. “I think he could spank my daddy,” Lori confessed in a low voice.

  “After watching Lance deck Ethan, I don’t know anyone offhand I don’t think he and Ian couldn’t take one-on-one,” Lilly admitted, standing up. “Let’s get back to work.”

  Lilly and Jennifer led Lori and Denny back to the greenhouse and continued hooking up the pipes for the hydroponics. Fifteen minutes later, they heard Allie call out over the radio the gate was opening for Rhonda. “Let’s go say hi and then we can get back to work,” Jennifer told everyone.

  Walking out of the greenhouse, they saw a quad seat UTV pull around the cabin with Dwain’s wife Kathy driving, Rhonda sitting behind her, and Dwain in the front passenger seat. Lori and Denny moved over and hugged their aunts and uncle when they got out of the UTV.

  Dwain looked toward the shop and saw a piece of equipment that had been destroyed. “Isn’t that the pneumatic gun Lance was working on?” he asked, and Jennifer nodded with a sigh. “What the hell happened to it?”

  “It wasn’t doing what Lance wanted and he threw a fit yesterday,” Jennifer sighed, rolling her eyes and then glanced back at the mangled pieces. “Now you understand why I don’t let Lance and Ian use the washing machine or those sewing machines. If the machine doesn’t respond like they want, they will destroy the machine as punishment.”

  “Um, that happen often?” Rhonda asked, glancing at the backdoor.

  “Thankfully, no. Unless it’s something they built. But when it does happen, the destruction is total,” Jennifer informed her. “I’ve never seen them destroy something of the parents, but I don’t want to take the chance.”

  The backdoor opened and everyone turned to see Lance and Ian putting the face masks on. “I’m finding a hockey mask,” Rhonda said a little enviously.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Lilly advised. “They might think you’re Jasonette, and they don’t like the Jason family. Come over one day and we’ll show you how to make one.”

  “We’re taking our buggy,” Lance said, walking past them while putting his helmet on.

  “Lance, what was wrong with the pneumatic gun?” Dwain asked and Lance turned and stormed over to the pile of mangled metal, kicking a chunk ten yards through the air.

  “Fucking slow ass bitch wouldn’t shoot fast enough!” Lance bellowed at the pile of scrap, then turned and headed over to the buggy as Ian climbed in.

  Rhonda grabbed Lilly’s arm. “The sewing machines Robin promised to send are in the back of our ride. Let them have those,” Rhonda whispered as Lance called Dino over.

  Lilly gave a thankful nod and walked over, grabbing the sewing machines. “When you get back, we can eat,” Lilly said, looking over at Dwain and Kathy. They both gave a thankful smile as Lance stood up out of the roof opening.

  Rhonda jumped in the front passenger seat as Dwain and Kathy climbed in the backseats with Dino between them. “I told the ladybugs to man control, in case we need you,” Lance told Lilly and Jennifer.

  They both waved as Ian drove off around the cabin. “What do you think th
ey’ll find?” Lilly asked.

  “Don’t know, but whatever it is better not be looking for trouble because it will find more than it can ever imagine,” Jennifer answered, then headed back to the greenhouse.

  Ian never paused as the gates started opening. Rhonda cringed when Ian shot through the gap of the inner gate that was barely wider than the buggy. Cranking the steering wheel, Ian threw up dirt rounding the outer gate and driving along the fence. Rhonda scooted farther in, not liking the rolls of razor wire literally inches from the side of the buggy as the buggy sped up the slope toward the ridge.

  “Rhonda, you have the pictures?!” Lance shouted down as Ian neared the corner of the fence.

  Patting her vest, Rhonda just handed the camera up and saw Lance had a small tablet in his hands. When Lance took the camera, Rhonda glanced at the razor wire just outside her door with a shiver. The fact Ian was hauling serious ass didn’t help.

  When Ian rounded the back corner and angled up the slope, Rhonda breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the razor wire. “Very good you didn’t go in or get closer!” Lance shouted down.

  “We knew someone had been in there!” Rhonda shouted up as they reached the crest and the buggy went airborne. Throwing out her hands, Rhonda held on as the buggy hit the ground, but the impact was nothing like what she expected. “That wasn’t so bad,” Rhonda noted, letting go of the dash and her seat.

  “The wheels have thirty inches of travel,” Ian replied, slowing as he reached the chute. Rhonda, Dwain, and Kathy all relaxed as Ian slowly moved through the twists and turns. When Ian pulled out of the diversion fence they held on, expecting Ian to take off again, but Ian just drove slowly along the slope not heading down toward the build house.

  Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Rhonda turned to see Lance handing the camera back. “You patrolled half of zone two and only found one area changed,” Lance stated, looking down at her.

  “Yeah, knew you would want to see it,” Rhonda replied. “We want to help, but damn sure don’t want to piss you off and wake up to find the house surrounded by battle bots.”