Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming

by Watson, Thomas A.

  The group was listening, but still shoved food in their mouths. “Where should we go?” Patrick mumbled with a full mouth.

  “Somewhere with water for starters,” Ian chuckled, leaning over and opening Wesley’s bottle of water. Struggling to swallow the mouthful, Wesley grinned as he took the bottle.

  “We assist each other,” Lance said as the other brothers drained water bottles. “If any move into the area we patrol and don’t help, they leave.”

  Nodding, “So, we kick them out?” Patrick asked.

  Shaking his head, “No. We kill their asses,” Lance replied in a dead tone, stopping the others from grabbing more food. “We aren’t going to provide a safe area and just have people live here without helping. Harsh, yes. But I’m not going to worry about someone getting pissed and coming back to ambush us.”

  Leaning over the table grinning, “You’re not in our area,” Ian told the group.

  “Gentlemen,” Lilly said, patting Lance’s leg. “This isn’t a handout. This is a hand up. The more help we have, the more we can patrol, keeping the area clear and spotting assholes before they get close. We’ve watched you and decided to offer you the chance to join, but the rules apply to all. Everyone works together.”

  Patrick turned to his brothers. “I’m willing to try,” he stated. “I’m tired of beating infected to death with a bat and sharing a can of food between five people.”

  David, Colton, and Wesley all nodded in agreement and Patrick turned back to Lance. “You’re going to have to give us some time to gather up some ammo and move, but count us in,” Patrick said.

  “Dude,” Ian laughed, and all the brothers turned to him. “We don’t let folks go out until they know what the fuck they are doing.”

  “That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Lance sang out, staring down the table at Rhonda.

  “Bite me,” Rhonda snapped. “I’ve been running around since this started, hunting and gathering stuff.”

  “Patrick, we’ll assist you in setting up and learning your area, then we would expect you to start helping,” Ian laughed, looking down the table at Lance.

  “If you can help enough, just so we can catch our breath, we’ll patrol the state,” Patrick said.

  “No, we just patrol the area around us,” Jennifer chuckled as their radios went off, making all tense up.

  “Away team, this is Enterprise,” Allie’s little voice called out.

  Grabbing his PTT, “Enterprise, this is away team, and it better be good,” Lance replied.

  “The computer is blinking for battle bot one,” Allie answered.

  Giving a sigh and glancing at his watch, “Yeah, it’s download time, Enterprise,” Lance called back.

  “Damn it!” Allie’s little voice shouted, making them jump. “The screen is blinking red with a bunch of numbers and most are red and not white like the other bots!”

  Pushing Lilly until she stood up, Lance pulled a small notepad from his cargo pocket and an ink pen. “Enterprise, read off the numbers.”

  As Allie started reading off numbers, Heath leaned over to Ian when he stood up. “Ian, that’s your radios. Aren’t you scared someone will hear?” Heath asked, watching Ian walk down the table toward Lance.

  “It’s only one watt,” Ian mumbled, stopping and watching Lance write down numbers.

  Grabbing his PTT, “Allie!” Lance snapped, and let go to see if Allie stopped. Not hearing her voice, Lance pressed the PTT. “Repeat the last number.”

  Allie repeated the number and Lance threw the ink pen across the room. “Shitfuck!” Lance bellowed, and grabbed his helmet and mask.

  “What?!” Ian asked looking at the numbers, but had never learned the computer status codes.

  “Some ass monkey screwed with our shit!” Lance screamed, shoving his mask back on.

  Heath and his group jumped up as Lilly and Jennifer started pulling their masks and helmets on. “What?” Patrick asked.

  Press checking his AR, Lance spun for the door and kicked it open. “Someone dies!” Ian shouted, following Lance out.

  Checking his weapons, Heath glanced over to Patrick. “Just stay here and let us check this out,” Heath told him.

  “Is a gang close? Because if they are, we want to help,” Patrick said, standing up.

  Before Heath could answer, Jennifer stopped him by holding up her hand. “You serious?” Jennifer asked and Patrick nodded. “Any of you know how to run M4s?”

  “All of us do,” Patrick answered as Lilly darted after Lance.

  “Follow,” Jennifer said and ran out, following Lilly. Coming out, Jennifer saw Lilly standing in front of the buggy talking to Lance. Ian was already in behind the steering wheel drumming his fingers, and Dino was in the backseat.

  Jumping off the porch, Jennifer grabbed Lilly and pulled her to the side. Yanking out her map, “What route are you taking?” Jennifer asked, and Lance jammed his finger on the map moving west to the bot site. “Meet you there,” Jennifer said, and Lance climbed in the buggy and Ian stomped the accelerator, taking off.

  “Are you insane?!” Lilly shouted.

  “No,” Jennifer said, pulling Lilly to their buggy. “Trust me, they won’t blunder in because they don’t want any to have a chance to escape. They want payback and that means they want to punish every person associated. Whoever messed with the bot, Lance and Ian will punish the kid who sat beside them in Sunday school. We would slow them down, and I don’t want any of that anger turned to us.”

  “Patrick!” Jennifer shouted, stopping by their buggy. Patrick and his group ran over as Jennifer pointed in the back. “Our gift to you,” Jennifer told him, and Patrick saw M4s and other gear in the back. “Get it because we have to go.”

  As Patrick and his brothers grabbed the gear, Rhonda jogged over. “We need to go.”

  “No, you, WILL, wait on us,” Jennifer snapped. “If you go and scare away whoever did this, Lance and Ian will unload on your ass! Yes, they are mad, but unlike most people, when they get mad, they can think and let me tell you, it’s scary as hell.”

  Stepping back as Patrick and them checked the weapons, Rhonda nodded as Heath and Dwain stepped over. “So, we aren’t going?” Dwain asked hesitantly.

  “Bullshit,” Jennifer snapped. “I didn’t say that. We are giving them a head start, so they can scout the area. I don’t want their anger focused on us because we scared the assholes off.”

  Nodding, Heath turned to Dwain. “That’s sound reasoning,” Heath declared.

  “So when are we leaving?” Lilly asked with a growl.

  “As soon as Patrick and his group gets the shit out of our buggy,” Jennifer said, turning to Lilly.

  Looking over as the last of the gear was pulled out of the back, “They’re done,” Lilly said, climbing in the buggy and flipping her NVGs down.

  “We want to come,” Patrick said, looking around at everyone as Lilly cranked up the buggy.

  “Holly’s riding with us,” Rhonda said, walking over to the buggy she rode in with Dwain and Kathy.

  Heath turned to Patrick. “We have room, but some will have to ride in the bed of the side by sides,” Heath said, glancing at Jennifer as she climbed in the buggy. “Can some ride with you?”

  When Jennifer nodded, Heath started pointing at the six and telling them where to go. Patrick and David climbed in the backseat of Lilly’s ride and Patrick’s sons climbed in the small bed.

  “Follow us,” Jennifer called out, flipping her NVGs down.

  ***

  Ian sped around the trailer and drove up the slope behind it. Cresting the ridge, the buggy went airborne. Landing hard, the tires threw up forest debris as Ian drove through the trees and past the old guard position Heath’s group had used before they’d moved. “You know when the bot was attacked?” Ian asked, driving across the road that led to Heath’s old house.

  “1711 was when the battery station reported tampering and delivered deterrent shock,” Lance snarled. “Recharging station shut down
three minutes after that and at 1716, the bot started registering multiple failures. I should’ve programed the station to report when that happened, instead of waiting for download time.”

  Running up the slope until he reached the ridge, Ian turned the wheel and followed the ridge northwest. “If the bot’s hurt, we show no mercy to any in the group responsible,” Ian growled.

  “Agreed,” Lance replied. “They will die so slowly, they will swear time has stopped and will experience so much pain, death will be greeted happily. Depending on damage, I’m willing to hurt innocent members of their family.”

  Driving off the ridge he was following as it headed north, Ian drove down the slope and sped across the road that led to Heath’s new place. “Shit,” Lance mumbled, and grabbed his PTT. “Stinkers on road heading to Heath’s,” he called out. “We aren’t engaging.”

  “Well, we know it was working,” Ian spat out, driving across the road and up the slope of the ridge on the other side. “Not even four hours and we’re getting stinkers wandering down the road.”

  “Copy,” Jennifer called back.

  Nearing the edge of the patrol area, Ian slowed as Lance flipped up his NVGs and scanned around with the thermal scope. “Clear,” Lance reported, and Ian continued on slowly.

  A mile outside of the patrol area, Ian crept over the ridge that overlooked the field the first bot was set up in. Lance scanned with his thermal scope and Ian flipped up his NVGs and scanned with the thermal binoculars. “All I see is a few hundred stinkers in the field but many more coming off the road to the north,” Ian said.

  “Have a body beside the battery that hasn’t turned, but other than that, hundreds of stinkers in the field and around a thousand moving to the field,” Lance replied.

  Putting the binoculars down, Ian turned to Lance. “Ready to retake the field?” Ian asked.

  Flipping his NVGs down, “Let’s get some,” Lance snarled, and pressed his PTT. “No live bodies. Clearing the field.”

  Driving down the hill, Ian saw a mass of stinkers in the playground around the bot that was just sitting still. The LED lights on the pole lit up the area and most of the playground was full, with stinkers near the recharging station and battery.

  Busting out of the tree line, Ian sped across the field and stopped a hundred yards from the mass of stinkers that all turned and started toward them.

  Jumping out and turning on his IR laser, Lance raised his AR up. When the laser hit the closest stinker in the face, Lance squeezed the trigger to drop the stinker and moved his aim. “Dino, guard!” Lance shouted, pulling the trigger when the laser hit a face.

  Dino climbed out looking around as Ian started shooting from the driver’s side using his IR laser to aim. The stinkers moved en masse out of the playground at the duo as they changed magazines and poured hate over the area.

  Holding the group at sixty yards, the two were running through magazines and widening their fields of fire to keep the stinkers from getting around them.

  Lilly drove over the ridge and saw two green IR lasers sweeping back and forth across a mob of stinkers advancing on the buggy. Driving down, it looked like lasers were cutting down the advancing mob, instead of the head shots.

  “Coming up behind you,” Jennifer called over the radio and watched Dino sit down beside Ian, watching the duo slaughter the wave of bodies coming at them.

  Slamming on the brakes, Lilly and Jennifer jumped out before turning on their IR lasers. Moving up in line with Ian and Lance, they started engaging stinkers, though not as fast as Lance and Ian were.

  “Make sure the suppressor is seated,” Patrick told his sons, showing them how as he stood beside the buggy.

  “Shit,” Drew, Patrick’s oldest son gasped, looking at the wall of infected.

  “Drew, Larry, keep your eyes on our back,” Patrick told them, moving to the line and bringing his rifle up.

  Drew looked over at his brother. “Those guys are bat shit crazy,” Drew said, nodding at Lance and Ian.

  “But they are cool as hell,” Larry agreed in a trembling voice.

  Heath jumped out panting, seeing the wall of stinkers. “Dawn, stay here!” Holly shouted with a grin and jumped out, passing Heath while pulling out her sling shot.

  “Great, another crazy teen,” Heath mumbled as Holly pulled back her slingshot and let a shot go. Heath was shocked, watching the stinker forty yards away drop. Moving to the line, “I’m finding one of those slingshots,” Heath said, lifting his rifle.

  The wave of stinkers melted under the methodical and relentless fire.

  Slamming in a new magazine, Lance saw the last ones standing drop when their heads exploded. Glancing at his barrel, Lance saw smoke pouring off. Flipping his safety on, Lance looked at the mass of bodies. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back with another bot,” he grinned.

  Chapter Twelve

  Patting his vest Lance looked down, seeing he’d used all six magazines on his vest and only had two of the six on his drop platform on his left thigh. “Glad they showed up,” Lance mumbled, unclipping his single point sling and clipping it to the front of his AR, so it would hang across his body. He really didn’t want the barrel to touch him.

  Pulling the Ruger 22/45 from under his left arm, “Dino,” Lance called out, moving to the bodies.

  “What are you doing?” Lilly asked.

  “I saw four fall down playing dead, so I know there’re more,” Lance answered as Dino stopped growling and a stinker moved, only to get shot.

  Walking over, Lilly saw the empty magazine holsters on Lance’s chest and leg. Seeing another stinker move, she snapped up her AR and when the laser met the head, Lilly squeezed the trigger. “Now you don’t have to play dead,” Lilly spat, moving over to Lance.

  “What are you doing?” Lance asked, shooting another stinker as it moved.

  Pulling magazines from Lance’s dump bag, “Hello? You only have two more mags,” Lilly huffed. “If anyone needs full mags, it’s both of you.”

  Hearing suppressed shots behind her, Lilly turned to see Patrick’s sons shooting a few stinkers stumbling out of the trees. Turning back around, Lilly gasped to see Lance and Dino walking on and across the bodies, checking for ‘live’ stinkers.

  Jennifer walked up with Ian’s empty magazines, “Let’s reload,” Jennifer sighed, noticing Lilly’s tense body. “Don’t, because they haven’t spun off yet. You know it’s coming.”

  Taking Jennifer’s advice, she stepped back to the buggy and tossed the magazines on the hood. Grabbing a can of ammo, Lilly opened it as the others came over to reload.

  “There had to be over a thousand down here,” Heath whispered harshly.

  Scoffing as she reloaded, “Heath, if there wasn’t two thousand down here, I’ll kiss your ass,” Lilly declared.

  Hearing the release of a slingshot, everyone turned and saw a stinker drop behind them. “Can’t be sneakin’ up on me,” Holly chuckled, reloading her slingshot. They watched her pull it back before dropping another stinker over sixty yards away.

  When Holly released the slingshot, everyone heard the steel ball bearing hum through the air. “I bet that slingshot is shooting close to nine hundred feet per second,” Dwain said in awe.

  “Are they all right?” Heath asked in a low voice.

  Lilly turned back and saw Ian and Lance walking over the bodies, shooting ones that moved when they got near. Rhonda, Patrick and David were walking behind them over the bodies, covering them. Jennifer never turned, but shook her head.

  “Nope,” Jennifer announced. “All of you are about to witness a tantrum of epic proportions. I’m betting this will be bigger than the tantrum when Ian’s bike was stolen.”

  When the area was clear, Lance turned and saw several stinkers on the road stumbling toward them. “I got ‘em,” Rhonda said, lifting her M4 and snapping off shots to drop the group quickly.

  Strolling over the bodies, Lance stopped beside the bot and walked around it. Stopping at the back, Lance started gr
owling seeing bullet holes, then moved to the side facing the road and saw a lot more bullet holes. “Aww, motherfucker,” Lance panted, knowing none of those had come from them.

  Huffing hard and nearly foaming at the mouth, Lance turned around and saw Ian pulling a trail camera from the lone tree near the field that sat right outside of the playground. Feeling a weight hit his leg, Lance jumped and looked down to see Dino moving back to lean against him.

  Reaching down and patting Dino, “I’m going to rip their daddy’s dick off and stab them to death with it,” Lance growled, and walked back over the bodies to the buggies. “FUUUUCK!” Lance bellowed, and it echoed across the field.

  “And let the tantrum begin,” Jennifer mumbled, putting the last magazine down.

  As Lance stormed over, anyone close darted away. Stopping at his buggy, Lance pulled out his laptop and turned it on as Patrick and David inspected the bot and Rhonda explained what it did. “Robin, will you help Patrick’s sons keep us covered?” Lilly asked, feeling waves of fury radiating off of Lance.

  “Yeah,” Robin answered as Lance stabbed the laptop keyboard with his finger.

  “Seven were on the road and two came over to the recharging area!” Ian yelled, walking over and looking at the small display screen on the game camera. He came to a sudden stop at the front of the buggy. “You have got to be kidding me!”

  “What?” Lance snapped, not looking up from his laptop.

  Storming over, Ian held the screen of the game camera in front of Lance. “They were flying a pirate flag,” Ian answered, with his voice dripping in malice.

  “Ian? Lance?” Jennifer called out, and everyone moved away from her as Ian and Lance turned to Jennifer. Jennifer didn’t speak to them. With her hand raised, Jennifer pointed across the field to the sign they had put out to warn people to stay away.

  Covering the sign was a white posterboard with a black painted skull and crossbones. Ian and Lance turned to each other glaring as Heath glanced over at the body beside the battery. The body was wearing a ski mask and Heath didn’t see any head trauma. “Let me take care of that,” Heath said, moving over.