Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Shoving cocksucker in, “What?” Ian asked, coming around the buggy to see the body. “How in the hell did he get out?”

  “Don’t care, but he doesn’t have a gun, so that means those that escaped just ran,” Lance said, turning to see Phoenix and SAW but this time, they were traveling together. “Oh, she is getting good,” Lance beamed with pride.

  “Lance, Phoenix took a lot out of the buggy getting here with going through the woods. The motors are slipping. We might need to drop it off and come back with something else to bring the trailer home,” Ian said, then lashed out and kicked boss in the gut. “I didn’t say move.”

  “We are taking the road back, fuck ‘em,” Lance declared, waiting on the bots to load up. When they were on, he closed the ramp. Ian waved Dino into the passenger seat and Lance climbed up in the roof gunner’s spot.

  “We are loaded and moving,” Lilly called out.

  “Meet us at the rally, we are taking the road home,” Lance replied.

  Not answering for a minute, “Are you sure?” Lilly asked.

  “This road has been bought and paid for, we own it now,” Lance replied. “Ian, let’s go.”

  ***

  Nearly everyone at the Bear Trap house was awake and in the living room, with several pacing. When the phone rang, Robin screamed, Rhonda pulled a pistol, Dwain dropped to the floor, and Heath ran to the phone. “Bear Trap,” he answered.

  “Full team is returning to battle bot one site,” Lori said with great relief. “They should be there in five minutes.”

  “Thank you, baby girl, get some sleep, love you,” Heath said, and Lori said love and bye. Hanging up the phone, Heath was already moving to the door. “The full team is back and heading to battle bot one site in five minutes.”

  The others grabbed weapons and gear before following Heath out. About to drop in the driver’s seat, Heath was pushed away. “You drive like an old bitch,” Rhonda told him, getting behind the steering wheel. Not responding, he climbed in behind her.

  Three buggies pulled out on the road after the gate opened and took off. Ahead, they saw UTVs coming toward them. “How did the Beard Clan get here so fast?” Rhonda shouted, turning off the road.

  “They have been up waiting for word just like we were,” Heath said, hanging on for dear life.

  Coming out in the field, Rhonda slowed to see the two buggies already there. “Are those gun bots armed?” she asked, looking at Lilly’s trailer.

  “No, the gun barrels are pointed back,” Dwain said, and Kathy looked up at him in shock. “What? Jodi said when they are turned like that they are in sleep mode.”

  Coming to a stop, they saw Lance and Ian hauling two men up on the engine hoist. The stinkers saw them, but the battle bot with flashing police lights and playing Family Guy was closer, so that’s where they headed.

  With their prisoners’ arms over their heads and their toes barely touching the ground, Lance and Ian stopped hoisting. “We warned you,” Lance said, taking off his helmet and then his mask. “You broke our shit, so we broke yours.”

  Putting his mask and helmet in the buggy, “You will stay in this field and watch the battle bots continue to kill stinkers. When you die, you will leave wishing you could get to a battle bot. It will be months before we let that happen while you watch it kill stinkers, then we will come down and release you so you can join them.”

  Both men struggled against their bonds, and muffled screams sounded under the duct tape. Holding his hand up, “We’re being gentle,” Lance told them, and both stopped struggling when they heard that. “We have women now, and they don’t like us acting immature. We wanted to skin you alive and get medieval on your asses, then give you blood transfusions to keep you alive. But we’re showing them we can be reasonable,” he smiled. “At times,” he added, dropping the smile.

  Walking over beside Ian, “Let’s cut their dicks off,” Jennifer suggested.

  “Really?!” Ian cried out, turning around. “We are doing this because you two act like we need to be more civilized when we get gangsta on some ass.”

  “Well, okay, we’ll just cut off their balls,” Jennifer smiled.

  Rolling his eyes, Ian turned to Lance. “Dude,” Lance snapped. “Don’t look at me. I’m not touching another man’s junk.”

  “Pussies,” Rhonda said, pushing past them. “Want me to cut their balls off?”

  With a wide grin Jennifer nodded, and Rhonda pulled a knife out while the two went insane with the thrashing. “You want it to really hurt?” Lance asked and Rhonda stopped, and everyone turned to him. “Put a rubber band on their balls.”

  Rolling her eyes, “I don’t carry rubber bands, do you, Lance?” Rhonda asked.

  “You have one in your hair, and so does Jennifer and Lilly,” he chuckled.

  “It will hurt worse?” Jennifer asked with disbelief.

  “Oh, yeah,” Lance nodded. “Those aren’t surgical bands. They will only cut most of the blood flow, but none of the nerves. In a few hours, they will have elephant-size balls.”

  Yanking her ponytail holder off, Rhonda turned to Jennifer. “Give me yours,” Rhonda said, holding out her hand. Taking the band, Rhonda walked over and punched cocksucker in the gut, lifting him off the ground.

  “Damn, bitch, you been practicing,” Ian laughed out.

  “Someone goin’ to help?” Rhonda asked, yanking cocksucker’s pants down.

  “I don’t hold another man’s junk,” Ian stated adamantly.

  The sun was coming up as the group moved back to watch the two thrashing about, raised high in the air. Moving over and grabbing Lance’s hand, “I’m scared to ask, but where did you learn that?” Lilly asked.

  “Research for our exploit, but Ian and I don’t touch-,” he stopped as Lilly laughed.

  “Yeah, a man card holder couldn’t fondle another man’s junk,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder.

  “Can I ask you for more help?” Lance mumbled.

  Lifting her head up and looking at Lance, “Sweetness, you don’t have to ask, just tell me how I can help,” Lilly told him, feeling on cloud nine that Lance needed her again.

  “Um, could you start coming up with us to the research area?”

  The smile and joy fell off Lilly’s face. “Why?” Lilly asked feeling bad, but really wanted to avoid the research area, forever.

  “Ian and I need help. We are getting too much data to keep track of, and we need your knowledge of medicine and science.”

  Really thinking about her answer, “How dangerous is the area actually?” she asked.

  “Very,” Lance answered immediately and Lilly almost said no, but Lance continued. “You can’t go anywhere that’s marked with an orange circle. Don’t touch anything without asking. We have multiple experiments and they are very dangerous. Some are highly volatile.”

  “Is Ian asking Jennifer?”

  “Yes, we need both of you,” Lance told her.

  Out of curiosity, “The ladybugs normally would do this, wouldn’t they?” Lilly asked, but it was more of a statement.

  Giving a nod as he sighed, “Yeah, but they can’t come there, like, ever. They are curious, and would get killed before Ian or I could stop them,” Lance told her.

  Hearing Lance say with certainty that the ladybugs would die, Lilly rolled over the idea of saying no about going to the research area, and that Lance could bring the notes down and she would compile them. Closing her eyes, “I’ll help,” Lilly said, and Lance hugged her tight.

  Those close stood with open mouths that Lilly had said yes. They all turned as Jennifer shouted, “Motherfucker, you get me blown up and I’ll kick your ass!”

  “Just ask before you touch, and stay in the main area,” Ian told her. “We’ve only had one explosion in the main area and it was small.”

  Feeling very nervous, Lilly laid her head against Lance’s chest. “You have stinkers up there, don’t you?” she asked.

  “Couple of dozen in different experiments,”
Lance admitted. “Have to learn your enemy and test your ideas to see if they work.”

  Just the thought of what they were doing there terrified Lilly, but she was certain, the truth was going to terrify her much more. “I’ll do what I can to help,” she said. “You take that for better or worse, seriously.”

  Hearing that, Lance hugged her tight and saw Jennifer hugging Ian. “Now we can make some progress,” he grinned.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Three miles north of Laurel River Lake, Kentucky

  In a deep sleep, Mary felt a hand grab her shoulder and her eyes opened to see Tyler in her face with his nose touching hers. “Ms. Sandy said someone’s coming,” Tyler breathed out.

  Sitting up, Mary shook Chris before Tyler crawled over. Leaning over Chris, he whispered as his brother woke up. Pulling her vest on, Mary checked her weapons and then noticed Sandy at the edge of the oxbow, kneeling down beside a tree. Seeing Sandy had the stock pulled to her shoulder and holding steady, Mary knew she was aiming at someone and they were within a hundred yards. Mary turned to see the boys awake and staring at her for directions.

  “Boys, I want both of you over there in those bushes. If I yell run, you run and don’t stop,” she told them, and both boys went pale. “Whatever happens, don’t make a sound. Now move, but watch us. We may get a chance to leave without getting in a fight.”

  With watery eyes, the boys crawled away from the camp and into the bushes Mary had pointed at. Crawling over to another tree beside Sandy, Mary looked down the wide ravine the creek followed. “What do we have?” Mary asked, searching for movement.

  “Three, moving slow, but they aren’t very good at sneaking,” Sandy commented.

  “They may be a decoy to get us to focus elsewhere,” Mary suggested, seeing white against the dark colors of the forest. Pulling her rifle up, now that she knew where they were, “How do you want to handle this?”

  “I really don’t want to get in a gun battle. It took us forever to shake the stinkers last night,” Sandy said, and glanced over at Dan and Ann. “The dogs are only looking down the ravine. There is no way someone knows where we are.”

  Mary sighed in understanding. The last two nights had been total hell. They were supposed to be on the route, but when they had neared Cumberland Falls, they’d found the area, not just the park and road, the area, filled. Stinkers were packed into the lush trees. Heading to the south for the low route, they’d run into more stinkers and had to pull out the M4s and plow a road out. Trying for the north alternate route, they had found the area filled with stinkers as well.

  Saying fuck the route, Sandy had headed north until they’d crossed Laurel River and then swung north of Laurel River Lake. When they’d turned east and hadn’t hit stinkers, they had found a place to camp and just collapsed.

  Catching movement again, Mary was certain it was cotton white. “Not too smart moving around in the woods wearing bright white,” she noted, then saw someone through the trees wearing a black shirt.

  Peering through her scope, Mary caught glimpses of three women moving about fifty yards away but coming toward them. Seeing one of the two women wearing white, Mary corrected herself, two women and a young girl. “Three,” Mary said in a low voice and Sandy nodded, never taking her eye off the scope.

  It was when they were thirty yards away that Mary realized none of the three were holding a gun and in this world, that only meant they didn’t have one or it was out of bullets. “No guns,” Mary said softly, and Sandy nodded.

  The two in white were leading, but were looking down as they walked in the oxbow. Watching them move through the woods, Sandy knew they didn’t know what the hell they were doing, and was certain if one of the horses hadn’t snorted, they would’ve just walked right past the camp. But the lady at the back with the black shirt was looking around, but was also watching the two in front.

  All three froze, looking at the eight horses.

  “Don’t move and we won’t shoot,” Sandy told them, stepping out and aiming at the three. Then she saw metal collars on the two in white. She knew what those were instantly. “You put fucking slave collars on them?” Sandy growled, turning to the woman in the black shirt.

  Holding up her hands, “NO, I got them out,” the woman said quickly because she saw death in Sandy’s eyes.

  “She didn’t put these on. Diane is tellin’ the truth,” the women said. Hearing the voice, Sandy lowered the rifle barrel and aimed at the ground between them. Looking at the one that’d spoken, Sandy knew she wasn’t older than fifteen, if that old. The other couldn’t have been over twelve.

  Looking at the two girls, “Girls, relax,” Diane told them, then turned to Sandy. “Ma’am, I’m sorry we come up on your camp, but I got them out last night and I’m sure they have been reported gone and my shift started an hour ago, so they know I’m gone too. Victor pulled all the patrols in because of a stinker hoard to the south, but he will send scouts after us. Please just let us pass and if you have any food, can you spare some?”

  “You escaped without a gun or food?” Sandy asked, thinking that was piss-poor planning.

  “They are stock and I’m branded, so we can’t have guns and to hoard food, even a little bread, is a whipping offence and your area is checked regularly,” Diane told her, seeing Mary move up beside Sandy.

  “Sandy, a word, please,” Mary said, holding her AR low.

  “Diane, right?” Sandy asked and she nodded. “Diane, girls, have a seat,” she instructed. Seeing worry flush their faces, “We need to talk, you’re a threat standing up,” she told them, then glanced over her shoulder. “Tyler, Chris, come out and sit over there,” Sandy called out softly.

  Seeing two boys scramble out of the brush made all three relax until they turned back to see a dark look on her face. “You try anything and hurt our boys, you’ll wish this Victor had found you,” Sandy warned, and they believed her.

  “I would never hurt a kid,” the fifteen-year-old gasped, only to be shushed by Diane.

  Cradling her rifle, Sandy stepped backwards while not looking away from the three. Before Mary spoke, Sandy sidestepped to put Mary between Sandy and the group, but Sandy could see them just past Mary’s head. “What are you doing?” Mary asked in a low voice.

  “Don’t want them to read my lips,” Sandy answered.

  Impressed by that, “I say we help them,” Mary said and noticed Sandy give a startle, but didn’t take her eyes off them. “God damn it, Sandy, those little girls have slave collars on,” Mary hissed.

  “Okay, we have the extra M4 and 10/22,” Sandy offered.

  “I want to give them two horses,” Mary suggested and for a brief second, Sandy took her eyes off the group to look at Mary like she was insane. “Sandy, we have too many. You nearly got caught by those stinkers last night because your pack train wrapped around a tree.”

  “We might need them,” Sandy countered.

  “No, we need to lighten up. Three of the damn pack horses are barely carrying anything. We have eight, we can spare two,” Mary told her. Seeing Sandy wasn’t listening to reason, “Sandy, we burned through three thousand rounds of 5.56 and over a thousand of .22 over the last two days and nights.”

  “You want to get rid of more than two horses,” Sandy said, staring at the group.

  “Yes, I want to let them have three. You will keep one pack animal since you are in the lead. I’ll pull two. That will be more than enough to carry what we have left and give us spares. We are forty miles from home and from what we’ve been through, it’s going to be a dash because we are getting there.”

  Giving a long sigh, “Tell the boys to stay where they are and pull out what we can spare. Think we can spare some food for them? Those girls look really thin,” Sandy nodded at the three.

  “Sandy, you do inventory every day before we leave just like I do, you know we have nearly two weeks’ worth of food if rationed right.”

  “Give them half,” Sandy said, letting her AR hang loosely acr
oss her chest.

  “Sandy, I was letting those horses go before we started tonight. If we learned anything the last two nights, you can’t run through the woods with a pack train.”

  “They don’t get Asshole,” Sandy told her, and Mary grinned at the name Sandy had given Johnathan’s horse.

  “Wouldn’t think of it,” Mary grinned, and Sandy stepped around Mary and walked over to the group.

  Stopping in front of them, she knelt on one knee. “We are going to help, but listen first. We want information about gangs around here and any military close. Next, you can’t come with us. I’m sorry, but every time we’ve come near other humans, we get fucked and someone in our group dies. We want to help you, but I’m sorry, we can’t trust you. If we catch you following us, I will kill all of you.”

  The fact that none of the three were surprised that Sandy didn’t trust them, bothered her on so many levels. It bothered her dearly, but she was so close to their goal. “Can any of you ride a horse?” Sandy asked and by the three’s reaction, one would’ve thought Sandy had offered them a winged Pegasus.

  “Yes,” Diane said, and the fifteen-year-old nodded.

  “I’ve taken riding lessons for the last two years.”

  Looking at the youngest, Sandy saw her staring at the horses as only a little girl could, utter fascination. “Depending on how much information you give us is how much we help,” Sandy told them, then pushed her rifle to her back. “Okay, I can’t look at those collars anymore,” Sandy said, pulling her multi tool from her vest.

  Looking at Diane, “I’m going to take those collars off, but don’t try anything. If you hurt those boys, you won’t leave this spot,” Sandy warned.

  Shaking her head and sitting on her butt, Diane folded her legs Indian style and rested her hands in her lap. “I’d die first, ma’am,” Diane assured her. She could see in Sandy’s face the want to help, but terror for her group.

  Taking a deep breath, “Okay,” Sandy nodded and motioned the youngest over. Diane was shocked the little girl moved over, showing no fear of Sandy.