Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming

by Watson, Thomas A.

  When they passed below Cannon, Sandy noticed a drastic decrease in stinkers. Hearing Mary move up, “Sandy, are there less stinkers here?” Mary asked.

  Nodding, “Yeah, I was expecting more with Barbourville to the south,” Sandy admitted.

  Nearing Bimble, Sandy pulled her map out to make sure she would stay outside of the three mile perimeter. Measuring from the outskirts of Bimble to the perimeter, she saw there was only a mile wide gap. Then she heard Johnathan in her mind, ‘I guarantee you: they have lethal traps everywhere, except from Dewitt to the field below the cabin’.

  “We’ll hug closer to Bimble?” she mumbled.

  “Huh?” Tyler asked, scanning around.

  Patting his chest, “Nothing, baby. Keep scanning,” she told him, and glanced down at Dan beside her. “You have earned some downtime, Dan,” she smiled.

  It was just after one a.m. that Sandy led them past a pond in a narrow valley that led up a draw. She turned and saw a tin building elevated off the ground and wondered what it was doing out here, not knowing Lance had thought the same thing when they’d found Holly and Dawn in that very building.

  Not even an hour later Tyler gave a jerk, and Sandy yanked the reins back to stop the horse. “What?” she asked, leaning down to Tyler.

  “I hear a TV,” Tyler told her, then cocked his head to the side. “It sounds like South Park.”

  Knowing exactly where she was at, Sandy knew there wasn’t a house close. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t hear it now,” he said, looking up the steep slope to their front.

  “Chris said he heard a TV,” Mary said, stopping beside Sandy.

  “So did Tyler,” Sandy told her.

  “Dewitt is right over that ridge,” Mary said excitedly.

  “Anything or anyone gets in our way, we kill their best friend’s baby before killing them,” Sandy offered.

  “With a bottle of baking soda,” Mary added.

  Letting her mind come up with images to that, Sandy kicked her horse to steer it up the steep slope. Halfway up, she began to wonder if she shouldn’t have found a gentler slope. Reaching the top, Sandy yanked her horse to a stop which he didn’t mind. Turning as Mary rode up beside her, “I heard Family Guy,” Sandy said.

  “Stewie” Mary nodded.

  “What dumbass would be playing a TV that loud?” Sandy scoffed and kicked her horse, steering it through the trees. Then she saw light ahead, artificial light, and the sound of Family Guy was getting louder. “Is someone grinding up trees while listening to a TV under a spotlight in Dewitt?” she wondered out loud.

  “What’s that ‘RRRRug’ sound?” Tyler asked. Staring at the light coming up from the valley, Sandy just shrugged. With the world pitch-black, the light radiated into the sky.

  “Fuck a rubber duck,” Sandy gasped, reaching the tree line. Six hundred feet below them was a machine with flashing police lights, driving around in a box that was outlined with a pile. Stinkers would charge it and fall in the front of the machine and disappear, with stuff flying out the sides.

  Digging around for real binoculars, Mary just lifted her scope up and gave a gasp to see the front was covered with rollers and when a stinker fell in, it was ground up and spit out the sides. “What in the hell have they made now?” Mary wondered in awe.

  Looking through the binoculars Sandy was speechless, seeing the ‘pile’ around the box wasn’t dirt, it was ground up stinker. “What is it?” Tyler asked.

  Giving a shrug, “A stinker eater,” Sandy offered, then noticed another machine parked in a corner, but that one had eight wheels unlike the one eating stinkers, that one had tracks.

  Mary climbed off her horse and pulled out the telescope. She fought the urge to cheer, seeing a group of ten stinkers charge into the box at the machine. It spun toward them and drove right at them. The grinding sound changed to a deep pitch as four fell in at once. While the machine ate those, the other stinkers surrounded it, beating on the sides.

  Backing straight up, the machine turned to the group on the left and charged. In short order the ten were gone, littered across the ground. Family Guy ended and rock and roll started playing. Sandy lowered her binoculars and numbly climbed off her horse. She turned toward Dewitt and didn’t see any buildings standing or stinkers heading for the machine.

  When the machine moved, she whipped her head around as the humming stopped and she lifted the binoculars up. Very clearly, she could see the rollers on the front of the machine were lined with rows of teeth. Furrowing her brow, she watched the machine drive to the edge of the outlined box of gore.

  Coming to a stop the machine spun, drove a few feet and then turned around and drove to the other side. Turning around and repeating the process, Sandy saw the plow blade at the bottom pushing the gore in the box to the side.

  “Sandy, Ian and Lance made that stinker eater! It’s even cleaning up after itself!” Mary said in awe.

  Lowering the binoculars slowly, “Oh, Jonathan, I’m so sorry for doubting you,” Sandy said with a little fear in her voice.

  “Huh?” Mary asked, watching the machine clean the area.

  “Jonathan said they would build stuff we couldn’t even imagine, and we were to only come in from Dewitt.”

  Dropping her hand holding the telescope, “Yes, so did Bill, and we did just that,” Mary said.

  “Mary, look where it is. It is right beside the road we take to the cabin. That’s why they said we only come in during the daylight. It has a defined area to attack, drawing stinkers to it. Jonathan and Bill knew the boys would do this, and wanted daylight to make sure they saw what the boys had put out. They only said the road was clear, but not how much of the road. What if one of those is beside the road further down, but doesn’t have lights or music playing.”

  Getting scared, Mary turned to the machine and noticed the area the machine was driving in was nearly clean. “Sandy, I want to get home just as bad as you, but we are waiting till nine o’clock. By then, the sun will be high enough, it will be shining down into the bottom of all the valleys,” Mary told her.

  Nodding, “If they made that and consider it safe, what the hell else do you think they have built?” Sandy wondered, helping Tyler out of the saddle.

  “Like Bill and Jonathan, even if we guess, I’m sure we won’t be close.”

  They tied the horses up and just sat down on the hilltop as Sandy pulled out the map. As she and Tyler sat down with Mary and Chris, Mary gasped while watching Sandy use string and draw a perfect circle out from the cabin. “You marked the map,” Mary chided.

  “Hell, yeah! I want to make sure we are well outside of that perimeter,” Sandy snapped.

  Leaning back and looking north up the ridge, “How far away are we?” Mary asked nervously.

  “Just over three hundred yards,” Sandy answered.

  “Think we need to move?”

  Shaking her head, “No, they knew to keep this route clear, but I’m glad we didn’t get closer anywhere else. I think we should’ve gone south of Bimble. We were never supposed to come this way, but I was anxious,” Sandy said, feeling very guilty for not doing what Jonathan and Bill had drilled into them.

  “You think they put lethal stuff outside the three mile perimeter elsewhere?”

  “I can almost guarantee it. We both noticed few stinkers on the west side of the perimeter. If you look at the map, it makes the most sense, that side is where the towns are,” Sandy explained.

  “Sandy, we are here and won’t head in till nine,” Mary said, reaching over and patting her leg. “Let’s eat and watch the stinker eater, another group is coming.”

  Pulling out food the four sat on the hillside, watching the display of the imagination of Ian and Lance.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The Cabin, Kentucky

  “Come on, guys!” Lance shouted, standing at the backdoor. Hearing footsteps on the stairs, he sighed as the others ran down the stairs and through the living room nearly in single f
ile at a trot. Along with their regular gear, everyone had a large tote bag carrying air soft gear.

  Allie and Carrie smiled at Lance as they passed. “The sun won’t be up for two hours,” Allie told him.

  Holding the backdoor open, Lance followed them with his eyes out the door. “Hey, Ian and I would already be down in the field doing drills if we didn’t have to wait on all of you!” Lance snapped as Jodi ran past, following the ladybugs. He couldn’t help but smile at Jodi. It seemed Jodi’s goal in life was to make everyone smile. She studied hard and did her best, but that quality of making others smile, endeared her to everyone.

  Denny and Lori filed past with Holly behind them carrying Dawn. Rolling his eyes, Lance let out a groan as Holly passed him. Seeing the look on Lance’s face, “Lance, we knowed how ta be movin’, so don’t worry bout us, but I be wantin’ Dawn to learn how to move when I’m shooting,” Holly snapped over her shoulder.

  “Huh?” Lance frowned, trying to decipher what Holly said.

  As Jennifer ran past, Lilly stopped beside him and translated. “Oh,” Lance grunted with the translation. “I’m not saying they haven’t survived some shit, but I think Dawn will be a pain when we drill in the field. Hell, she never stops moving,” Lance said, stepping out and letting the door close.

  Walking beside Lance, Lilly just chuckled at Ian sitting in the buggy, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and watching the group load up in his ride and the UTV parked behind him. “And Holly knows, but if you remember, Dawn doesn’t act wild outside. She may be two, but even in her mind, she knows it’s dangerous. Unless Holly tells Dawn to stay put, Dawn is right next to Holly,” Lilly told him.

  Lance stopped at the UTV, looking at the ladybugs, Jodi, and Denny in the backseat. “Fine, we agreed to try letting Dawn come this once, but if she interrupts the gun drills, she’s not coming again,” Lance said as Lilly climbed behind the steering wheel.

  Giving a nod, Lilly watched Lance walk around the UTV while pulling out his cellphone. Flipping her NVG down, Lilly flipped the battery on when Lance climbed in. “We ready?” she asked.

  “Ian and I were ready half an hour ago,” Lance huffed as the screen on his phone turned on, almost whiting out Lilly’s goggles.

  “Be nice,” she grinned, turning away and waved at Ian.

  Following Ian around the cabin, Lilly shook her head as Lance tapped his phone and the gates started opening. Only Lance and Ian had that on their phones, and it still unnerved Lilly that the gate could be opened from somewhere other than control.

  “Stop outside the gates till they close,” Lance told her.

  Following Ian out the gates, Lilly slowed past the outer gate and noticed it barely missed the back of the UTV when it swung shut. “Are the tigers close?” she asked.

  “No, they’re still in their treehouse,” Lance answered, tucking his phone away.

  Speeding up to catch Ian, “The gate almost hit us, and that might have broken that arm you worked so hard on,” Lilly told Lance as he lowered his NVGs.

  Shrugging, “Then I would’ve put in a rolling gate,” Lance grinned, watching his area.

  Laughing, Lilly followed Ian through the cedar trees as Denny asked. “Lance, why are we practicing outside the fence?”

  “We need to practice moving long distances under gunfire,” Lance replied as Ian parked near the back of the field. “Ian and I noticed that after hitting the pirates. Up close we are deadly, but we’ve never practiced moving when the enemy is at distance. Unfortunately, the yard is only five acres and doesn’t give us room to do that.”

  Stopping behind Ian, Lilly gave a shiver as she parked, remembering the battle bot and rover rolling around the camp and autonomously killing as they went. Then the gun bots she and Jennifer had set up just mowing down targets. But of all of them it was battle bot, or Phoenix, as it was now dubbed, that scared her the most. It had sped toward targets and pulled them in the spinning shredder drums screaming. It could move four times faster than a human could run and pivot just as fast, so there was no escape once it locked on. Then it would spit out that menacing stream of fire at those hiding.

  “I still wish you had left Phoenix,” Lilly said, getting out.

  Shrugging as he got out, “It’s turned off, and we don’t leave working equipment,” Lance reminded her.

  “I know, but they have killed autonomously now. What if they liked it and want to do it here?”

  “Then they rewrote my programing and we’re screwed,” he answered. “Baby doll, I hate to say it, but we will need them again. Besides, all the gun bots kill autonomously.”

  “Yeah, but they can’t move.”

  “Yet,” Lance laughed and walked off.

  “Oh, you keep on, and you and Ian will be in that research area alone,” Lilly warned.

  All the dogs laid by the buggies while the group got ready. “I’m going to stay on gun just in case,” Lance told everyone. “You will run the drill with Ian and then he and I will swap out.”

  With her ladybug mask on, Allie raised her hand. “Yes, Allie?” Lance said. He couldn’t help but grin at the mask painted like the back of a ladybug. The red wasn’t bright enough to stand out, but one knew what they were looking at painted on Allie’s and Carrie’s mask.

  “Why not just bring the gun bots down here to watch while we train?” she asked.

  “Allie, where are we at?”

  Looking around, “The field,” she answered, wondering if this was a trick question.

  “Where are we not allowed to set up traps?” Lance asked, and Allie lowered her head.

  “Oh, I forgot,” she mumbled.

  Walking over, Lance dropped to one knee. Putting a finger under Allie’s chin, he lifted her head. “You just wanted us safe. That’s why we all must remember the road in is off limits until our parents get here,” he told her. “After they get here, we will add stuff here, okay?”

  “Okay,” Allie said, perking up.

  “In teams of two first,” Ian said as Lance moved away to provide cover, just in case.

  Moving over, Lilly guided Allie away from the others, so Ian would team them together. “Allie, I want to ask you, how did Ian and Lance get so good sneaking around? Allie, they were like ghosts. They were walking right past people and they never knew it,” Lilly embellished. One thing Lilly had learned, that was one way to get information.

  “They practiced,” she said, reaching up and lifting her mask up to reveal a huge grin.

  “But how? They were sneaking past people.”

  “By sneaking past people,” Allie giggled. “When grownups in the neighborhood had a party in their backyard, Lance and Ian would sneak over and then move around their yard. They got spotted a lot when they started.”

  Cocking her head, “How do you know?” Lilly asked.

  “Duh, Carrie and I were there,” she giggled. “When they got caught, we would run out saying we found them. Then the grownups thought Lance and Ian were only playing hide-n-seek with us.”

  “Whoa,” Lilly mumbled. The level of intrigue just blew her away.

  “Then they started practicing on scout camping trips and summer camp. When they would go to work with Daddy or Daddy Jonathan, they would try to get the daddies to let me and Carrie go. When they got caught then, they had to act like they were playing hide-n-seek with each other, and sometimes still got in trouble. When we were with them they didn’t get in trouble, because they were playing with their little sisters and the daddies really liked that,” she explained.

  The level of scheming involved boggled Lilly’s mind from all involved. “When did they start this?” Lilly asked.

  “When Carrie and I turned six.”

  Watching Holly and Carrie moving across the field covering each other, Lilly saw Dawn’s little legs churning to keep up with her momma. And just like Lilly said, outside Dawn was quiet and very observant. “When did they start sneaking into people’s homes at night?” Lilly asked, then looked down at Allie.
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br />   Hearing the question, Allie’s mouth fell open. Snapping it shut, “Never,” Allie answered.

  “Allie, I’m asking you because I want to be good like Lance. He will tell me, but I want to surprise him that I tried to learn on my own.”

  Glancing around timidly, Allie motioned Lilly to bend down. “Last summer,” she whispered. “Me and Carrie tried to get them to let us help, but they didn’t want to get us in trouble.”

  Cocking her eyebrow up, “Have you and Carrie tried that?” Lilly asked.

  “Yeah,” Allie laughed. “Nobody says anything to little girls. We just say we are looking for someone, but we only snuck in Lance’s house at night. We didn’t want to scare someone bad.”

  “Allie, you and Carrie are smarter than they are. They could’ve gotten shot,” Lilly sighed.

  “No, dummy. They had radios and if someone got up, the one outside cut the power, so the one inside could leave.”

  Hugging Allie tight, Lilly just gave up on trying to reach Lance’s level of stealth. When Ian called them up, Lilly shot at the targets while Allie ran ahead for cover, then shot the targets so Lilly could move up. Moving across the three hundred yard course was exhausting and when the sun came up, everyone was soaked in sweat.

  “All right, let’s do teams of four,” Lance called out and made the teams.

  Many mistakes were made by everyone, with more moving and shooting, so the course was moving slower, giving everyone a chance to rest. It was after nine when Lance called a stop after seeing Dawn fall down while trying to keep up with Holly. Before Holly could pick her up, Lance ran over and scooped her off the ground. “You were doing so good, Dawn,” he told her.

  Realizing Dawn was looking back at him with terror, Lance lifted his mask. “Better?” he smiled, and Dawn laughed as sweat rained off her body.

  Lance sat her in the buggy and pulled out a bottle of water to give Dawn, but when he turned around she was sprawled out in the seat, sound asleep. “I want the ability to fall asleep that fast,” he said in awe, and drained the bottle.