Forsaken World:Coming of Age

by Thomas A. Watson

  With the area around the cabin booby trapped a thousand yards in any direction from the fence, Ian and Lance had to move slowly back to the buggy. They had several trails for the buggy to move around, but even those were booby trapped, just not close together. One of them would have to get out and disarm the trap as the other drove through. It really made their sweeps around the cabin heart pumping.

  Jennifer had started joining them on the sweeps while one of the boys stayed back with the ladybugs. If the boys thought walking through the woods they had loaded with booby traps and roaming stinkers was heart pumping, Jennifer’s heart fluttered in shock. As terrified as she was, not once did she ever say anything and copied every move of whomever she went with.

  In the last week, Jennifer had graduated to area patrols with one of them. That way, one of them could always rest and not get burnt out. The videos and books they were learning from talked about it a lot. None of them could figure out how someone could become complacent when shit around you was trying to kill you. Especially when some of that shit would eat you as it killed you.

  When Jennifer started the area patrols, Ian and Lance started taking the ladybugs out on sweeps around the fence. They had hunted and were actually better at moving quietly through the woods than Jennifer, and because of their small size, they could move through brush better than the boys.

  Back at the cabin, Jennifer watched the boys climb back on the buggy. “I’m going to finish the laundry. Let me know if anything happens,” she said as she walked out.

  “Okay,” Carrie said, staring at the monitors as Allie studied material on her tablet.

  Jennifer grabbed the basket with folded clothes and carried it upstairs. Walking in the “men’s” bedroom, she set the basket on Ian’s bed. Carrying an armful to Ian’s dresser, she opened the top drawer and shook her head at the neatly laid out garments. She put them away then grabbed Lance’s and put them up. Closing the drawer, she pulled out the top one again. “What the hell do they do to their underwear?” she huffed, seeing the underwear in Lance’s top drawer were neatly folded up. “I haven’t washed any, so how are they cleaning them?” she huffed, holding one up to verify it was clean.

  Folding them up, Jennifer walked over to Lance’s nightstand, opened the top drawer and pulled out a calendar. A red X filled the box for that day. Knowing Lance was marking days until his parents should be home, Jennifer put the calendar back and grabbed the laundry basket.

  When she stepped out of the bedroom, Allie came running toward her. “They’re almost here. Ready to open the gates?” she asked with a smile.

  Dropping the basket, Jennifer nodded. “Yeah, I’m hungry.” They ran out the front door to the gates, getting them open just as the boys came barreling up the rise. After Ian sped through, they closed the gates then hopped on, getting a ride to the back of the cabin.

  When they got off, Jennifer hit Ian on the arm. “I could’ve gone, Ian. I’m going on patrol with Lance, and we could’ve done what you two do: Kill it and head out,” she said with a grin.

  “You’ll get to kill some today,” Ian chuckled as Allie dug out her key and opened the back door. “I just wanted to get out before you two left.”

  “You don’t have to stay beside the ladybugs; they do great watching the monitors and studying,” she told him as they walked in.

  Ian reached over, patting Allie. “I know they do a good job. I just wanted to get outside today.” As Ian went to the stove to start breakfast, Allie called Carrie up to help. “Lance kicked my ass the last two times out stinker hunting.”

  “Shit, if I reach double digits before missing three times, I feel great,” Jennifer said, walking over to the living area to check her gear that was laid out. “Now that we use bows, I think I’ll be looking for a lot of arrows that miss my target.”

  “Use the crossbow,” Ian said over his shoulder.

  “I did that last time and had trouble cocking the damn thing fast enough if there was more than one stinker,” she said, picking up her AR.

  Nodding as he started the eggs, Ian grinned. “Yeah, that does suck, but you’re getting better with the bow.”

  “I better be, practicing for an hour a day,” Jennifer said, putting her AR down. “Where’s Lance?”

  “He said he wanted to work on that remote camera he wants to put out,” Ian said as Allie pushed him out of the way and took over cooking. “About your shooting, you’ve come a long way with pistol, rifle, and bow.”

  Satisfied with her gear, Jennifer turned around with a grin. “Maybe, but I’m nowhere near you two yet.”

  “Shit, you should’ve seen Uncle Doug shoot. He made everyone look incompetent,” Ian laughed and started setting the table.

  Walking over beside Ian, Jennifer looked at the stairwell to the basement and whispered, “Is Lance positive this camera can’t be traced back to here if we put it out?”

  “Yes, I made him go over it several times,” Ian said with a straight face. “The camera is going near that cell tower on Highway 25. Many of the cell towers around here have solar and battery backup and are still transmitting. Lance is just going to broadcast the image out. In truth, anyone with the know-how to monitor frequencies will be able to see it as well. It will just broadcast an image; we won’t signal it here with any type of radio wave.”

  Jennifer looked at Ian. “Why didn’t he explain it to me like that? I understood that.”

  “Because you didn’t threaten to take away his man card,” Ian laughed.

  Grabbing utensils, Jennifer started placing them around the table. “You really have a ‘Man Card?’”

  Ian reached in his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, took out what looked like a credit card, and passed it over. Taking it, Jennifer read across the top, “Official Man Card.” Then it said Ian was a holder in good standing with the date of issue. “Don’t mess with the card,” Ian said, taking it back when she was done reading it.

  “I feel kind of cheated,” Jennifer mumbled, finishing the utensils.

  With the table set, they yelled for Lance and he came running up the stairs. “We should be able to put out the camera in a few days,” he said, taking off his vest and hanging it on the back of his chair.

  Everyone sat down to eat, and Jennifer glanced over at Lance. “Are we bringing back anything this time out?” Over the last few weeks while on patrol, they would investigate some houses and a few of the sites the gang had marked for supplies and take some items. The first things they brought back were six high-end office chairs for the four desks they had made that sat between the kitchen and living area. The other two chairs went to the big control center desk.

  They had brought back electric motors, half a dozen game platforms with a hundred games, any ammunition they found in houses, and other stuff from the few gang supply spots. They had all talked about going to Bones’ house and getting stuff since the gang now avoided it like the plague, but when Ian and Lance went to check on it, the area was covered with stinkers.

  It wasn’t until Jennifer brought it up that they realized they would have to wear closed breathing systems inside the house since it was closed up with stinkers inside. That scared the boys because they wanted that stuff, and the house was being turned into a virtual time bomb with the stinkers pumping out flammable gas. If any spark happened in the house, it was gone. They knew the gang had disabled all traps as soon as they got there, but they were worried about pilot lights or just plain heat.

  Lance gave a shrug. “Don’t plan on bringing anything back, but we didn’t plan on much of the shit we have brought back. We saw it and thought we might need it.”

  “Lance, starting Friday, we are working on the heavy equipment. I don’t care if your camera has to be postponed until next week; we need to get the greenhouse started,” Ian said, getting up and grabbing the coffee pot. He filled up everyone’s cup before sitting down.

  “Yeah, we’ve put that off long enough.” Lance nodded, sipping his coffee.

  Grabbin
g her glass of juice, Allie looked around the table. “Are Carrie and I still going to patrol with you tomorrow?”

  “Yep,” Lance said, putting his cup down. “You will go in the morning with me and Carrie in the afternoon with Ian.” Allie gave a serious nod that seemed out of place with her young pixie face.

  “I understand, but you don’t have to act like you are looking forward to it,” Jennifer said, getting up.

  “Watching those shows and copying them with the guns is good, but I want to know I can kick something’s ass,” Allie popped off, making Lance and Ian cringe, but they had learned not to say anything about her language or she kept on, and it got worse. “All this training Carrie and I are doing, we want to know if it works.”

  Thinking that was sound reasoning, Jennifer nodded impressed. “You have a good point.”

  Ian got up and started gathering the dishes. “Allie, you and Carrie are doing great, and each of you have shot stinkers, but don’t get too excited about going out,” he said, heading to the sink. “You’re looking at it the right way. ‘I’m going out to make sure what I have learned works and what could work better.’”

  “I do, bubba.” Allie grinned at him.

  “Maybe we should get them to think of why all the water is rising,” Lance said, getting up.

  Pulling on her gear, Jennifer looked over at him, confused. “Huh?”

  “All the water levels around us are rising, and we haven’t had that much rain, and Ian and I can’t figure out why,” Lance said, walking over.

  “Duh, Lance,” Jennifer droned, making him stop. Then in a normal voice, Jennifer explained as she dressed, “Look how many people have died. Nobody’s drinking water, flushing toilets, watering fields, or using it in factories. It’s not being pulled out, so the only thing it can do it stay in nature.”

  Lance’s jaw fell open, and behind him, Ian dropped a handful of utensils on the floor as the simplicity hit them. “Man, do I feel dumb,” Ian mumbled.

  “Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?” Lance snapped.

  “You never asked,” Jennifer huffed, pulling on her vest. Thinking about that, Lance concluded she was right.

  Grabbing his AR, he turned for the door. “Damn, you’re smart,” he said, walking away. “Hell, I’ve been trying to figure out how the asteroid had pushed up the underground water levels.”

  When he walked outside, Jennifer turned to Ian in shock. Ian just shrugged shyly. “That was his idea. I was leaning toward the extra weight of the asteroid had influenced the gravitational pull of the moon, affecting the water levels.”

  “You two can way overthink stuff,” she said, pulling her helmet on. “You call me smart because I think of the simple answer.”

  “Well, that’s usually the correct and therefore the smartest answer. You knew it and didn’t have to think about it,” Ian said, picking up the stuff he dropped. Tossing them in the sink, he headed for the front door. “Allie on the monitors, and Carrie, come help open the gates.”

  As Allie ran downstairs, Carrie ran after Ian. Jennifer slung her AR and headed to the back door to find Lance waiting in the hybrid buggy. “I hate riding shotgun stinker hunting first thing,” she mumbled, taking her rifle off and draping it across her chest.

  When she climbed in, Lance pointed at a Ruger 10/22 with a suppressor lying on the dash. “Use that for the stinker hunt today,” he said. Sighing with relief, Jennifer picked it up. “No, leave it there until you need it. Stay on your rifle in case trouble comes fast. You want big bullets for trouble.”

  Nodding, Jennifer moved her rifle until it was aiming out the side. She pulled the stock to her shoulder then flipped down her goggles. Like Ian and Lance, she wore the one with four tubes, which gave her a much bigger field of view. On her rifle mounted in front of her scope was a thermal. “How many people can say they learned to shoot off both shoulders when they started learning?” she grinned.

  “Not many,” Lance grinned back as he drove around the cabin. “But I’m sure most alive right now can do it.”

  As they drove through the gates, Dino joined them. They waved at Ian and Carrie then drove down the rise. Before getting to the cedar trees, Lance drove off into the woods. They had learned; don’t move through open areas if you could avoid it at all cost.

  Staying just inside the tree line, Lance drove beside the field until he had cleared the trap perimeter then drove up the slope to the ridge. Jennifer scanned around but kept a sharp eye on Dino as she whispered, “I like these goggles a lot more than the other one. You can see around you much better.”

  “The other one only gives you a forty degree field of view. The GPNVG-18 gives you a ninety-seven degree field and much better depth perception,” Lance whispered.

  “How do you know that?”

  He shrugged. “Read the instruction manual.”

  They headed northeast to check on the spot that had been marked by the silver pin. Lance and Ian had been there several times over the last few weeks and confirmed it was an ambush point. The bikers were using it to catch people. Ian and Lance had watched a large group of bikers take down a family in a truck. Before they returned home, they erased the video of what they saw and just told the girls, not wanting images to complete the narration.

  Since the road was in the next valley, they drove off their ridge and up to the next one, stopping at a house only long enough to take pictures. It was difficult in the predawn light, but they were satisfied and moved on.

  Lance wanted to get to the ambush site before dawn to see if the bikers drove there every day. They always found the bikers camped a hundred yards back from the bridge. All around where the gang camped were shot-up vehicles. Once they caught someone, the gang pulled the vehicle away so it couldn’t be seen and even picked up empty shells so others travelers wouldn’t spot them.

  When Lance reached the top of the ridge, he turned, following it north and drove much slower, glancing over at Dino every few seconds.

  Jennifer leaned over until her helmet touched his shoulder. “Where the fuck are the stinkers?” she asked but was still scanning around and looking at Dino.

  “I’m wondering the same thing,” Lance mumbled. “We’ve never come this far out without coming across at least one.”

  Gripping her AR tighter, Jennifer sat up in the seat. Turning on her thermal and lifting her goggles, she looked around through her scope. Except for a raccoon, she didn’t see anything and lowered her goggles.

  Continuing at pace just faster than a walk, Lance soon stopped and turned up the volume of his hunter’s ear. “You hear anything?” he asked, pulling his rifle across his chest.

  “Bugs and birds,” Jennifer said as he got out.

  “Yeah, that’s what I hear,” Lance said, grabbing the thermal binoculars. Putting them around his neck, he grabbed the M-14 out of the buggy then walked around the front of it. Jennifer got out as Lance patted his leg for Dino to stay beside him. “Follow slowly,” Lance whispered, slinging the M-14 across his back, and started down the slope.

  Taking a deep breath, Jennifer followed. She was happy that birds didn’t seem to move as she eased past them, and the crickets never stopped chirping. When they could see the valley floor through the trees, Lance slowed more, moving to an area he and Ian had found to watch the area. They were still a hundred feet above the valley floor, and the bridge was three hundred yards away, but he didn’t want to get closer.

  When Lance laid down on the ground, Jennifer eased up and went prone beside him. She glanced over and saw Lance looked disturbed. Almost putting her lips to his ear, she breathed, “What’s wrong?”

  Lance reached over, pulling her ear to his mouth, never taking his eyes off the area as he breathed out, “That RV on the bridge wasn’t there two days ago. They never put anything on the bridge and keep it cleared so they don’t tip their hand and scare people off.”

  When he let her go, Lance lifted his goggles and looked through the thermal binoculars. He saw several deer, a cow,
and a few small animals but nothing else. He saw the camp area with a picnic table the gang used, and the metal drum that usually held a fire was cold. “I don’t understand,” he mumbled and turned to the RV. It wasn’t much warmer than the shot-up cars past the gang’s campsite and looked like it was brand spanking new.

  Jennifer reached over and grabbed his wrist, making Lance look at her. “We aren’t going down there, so forget it,” she breathed out, and even with the hunter’s ear, Lance barely heard her.

  “Fuck that,” he shot back, but it was quiet. “This is one of the gang’s killing grounds. Be damned if we offer up sport.”

  Relieved, Jennifer nodded, and Lance passed over the binoculars. Lifting her goggles, Jennifer noticed it was bright enough out in the valley that she didn’t need them and turned them off. Pulling the binoculars to her eyes, she started looking around.

  Feeling Lance move, she glanced over to see him taking off the rifle he had practiced shooting a long way with. Sniper rifle, she thought, pleased she was thinking like that. Before she looked back through the binoculars, Lance turned on the thermal mounted in front of the scope.

  Like she had learned from the DVDs, Jennifer started scanning the area slowly, looking at every detail before moving her field of vision. “Lance, the RV just moved,” she whispered.

  “It didn’t start up,” he said, moving his scope over to it.

  “No, it shifted like someone moved inside,” Jennifer said, and a dark form stepped out of the woods several hundred yards past the bridge. “Someone is right inside the tree line past the bridge.”

  Lance saw the person as they stepped up closer to the tree line. He reached up, zooming in his scope. “It’s a female,” he said.

  “She’s looking around really hard.”

  “She has a rifle. Can’t tell about a pistol,” Lance said as the figure moved back into the trees.

  “Lance, I know I saw the RV rock again,” Jennifer said, and Lance shifted his aim at the RV and held it.