Forsaken World:Coming of Age

by Thomas A. Watson

  “I know, brother, and no hard feelings here. You saw a chance and took it. I’ll agree to that six days a week and twice on Sunday,” Ian grinned.

  Lance hugged him—with a man hug of course—then went back to setting the table. Jennifer came out of the bathroom holding a black garbage bag at arm’s length and walked right outside with it.

  When Jennifer came back in, she started helping. “If we are going to wait on Lilly, it’s going to be a while. She’s just standing under the water right now.” They fixed supper but left it on the stove then went and watched a movie. Lance and Ian wouldn’t budge: no snowman.

  It was two hours later when Lilly stepped out, and everyone’s eyes got wide. Lilly was very pretty under all that dirt and funky body odor. She was wearing a black t-shirt, tactical pants, and hiking boots. On her face was a smile of content. Her long, black hair was still damp but brushed back. Her hair was so black it made her dark blue eyes seem to glow against her olive complexion.

  “Feel better?” Jennifer asked, getting up.

  “Oh my God yes.” Lilly grinned. “It took half an hour to shave my legs.” Allie and Carrie jumped over the couch, running toward Lilly as Jennifer led her to the table.

  Ian grabbed Lance’s arm. “Where the hell did those hooters come from? She didn’t have them when she came in,” he whispered.

  “You see how small her waist was? It should be impossible for her to walk and not fall on her face,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Man, she’s got to have a size M bra at least.”

  “Shit, I’m thinking an O,” Ian said, getting up.

  They moved to the table, and Lilly just smiled at everyone, barely eating, and they could see her eyes fighting to stay open. Jennifer got up and led Lilly to the bedroom and put her on the bottom bunk. Judy and George came in and saw Lilly was alright then went and lay back down beside Dino.

  When Lilly closed her eyes, she didn’t open them again for thirty-six hours.

  ***

  Lilly gasped and sat up, grasping her pelvis. She looked down, expecting to see a knife buried in her, then she realized she had to pee—bad. Glancing around to take in the unfamiliar room in the low light, Lilly pushed back against the wall, patting the bed for her rifle or pistols. “George, Judy,” she said softly as her brain slowly started working. Remembering where she was, Lilly let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. Realizing that was a big mistake, she immediately crossed her legs, tightening any muscle she could to stop the pee.

  With great care, Lilly scooted to the edge of the bed and reached up, pulling her body off the bed with her arms as she concentrated hard on not peeing. Moving only her lower legs and keeping her thighs pressed together, she waddled to the door. “Hold it, hold it, hold it,” she chanted in a murmur. She opened the door, and bright light almost blinded her, and she threw up her hands to cover her eyes.

  “No,” she whimpered, dropping her hands to her crotch, and waddled out the door.

  Jennifer ran to her, grabbing Lilly’s arm, and guided her to the door next to the bedroom. “Here’s the bathroom.”

  “Thank you,” Lilly said, breathing in puffs, and noticed Jennifer was dressed like she had been the day before, like she was going to war, but her rifle was different, and the tip of the barrel was orange. “Can’t talk, sorry,” Lilly said, clenching harder and waddling into the bathroom, and Jennifer closed the door.

  “Now, that looked like she had to pee—painfully,” Lance said, nodding.

  Shaking his head, Ian reached for the remote and paused the DVD. “Call me a punk, but I would’ve just peed on the floor and cleaned it up before holding it in painfully.”

  Lilly didn’t get her pants down in time as she sat down on the toilet. She grabbed onto the bowl, expecting to be propelled up at any minute. “Ahhhhh,” she droned, vibrating on the toilet. When the pain lessened, she let go and sighed with relief, still peeing.

  Lifting her wrist, she glanced at the time and grinned then saw the date. “No,” she gasped and tried to push the pee out faster. “They are going to think I’m a lazy piece of shit,” she grunted, wanting the damn stream to end. The thought of going back out alone terrified her to no end. “No, I’ll kill myself before going on alone,” she said then thought of her dogs. “Maybe if I can’t stay, George and Judy can.”

  A knock at the door startled her. She turned to see the door crack open and Jennifer poke her head in. “I got something, so don’t freak,” she said, slipping in and shutting the door. Jennifer turned toward Lilly, holding another change of clothes. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to pee that bad, but the worst time I did, I didn’t quite make it.”

  Reaching up, Lilly wiped her eyes. “Thank you, and I’m sorry about sleeping for so long. Get me a list of stuff to do, and I’ll start on it,” Lilly said as the stream finally stopped.

  “Lilly,” Jennifer said, getting a serious expression. “You need to chill out.” Lilly looked at her, confused. “You were worn out, and we let you sleep because tired makes mistakes without training.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s what one of the guys on the DVDs we learn from says constantly,” Jennifer said, grabbing the door handle. “You’ll understand, but right now, shower. You’ll feel better.” Lilly stared with blinking, confused eyes then looked over at the showers.

  When Jennifer stepped out of the bathroom, Ian grabbed the remote. “She okay?” he said, pressing play.

  “Yeah,” Jennifer said and pulled her airsoft AR across her body.

  “Ladybugs, this is your drill,” Ian said, pressing play. Allie and Carrie raised their airsoft rifles and moved toward the door, shooting paper plates taped to the wall and door.

  “Out,” Carrie yelled, ejecting her magazine and putting in a new one. “Up,” she yelled, aiming at the plates, and continued firing.

  When Lilly came out, Lance and Jennifer were charging the targets. Lilly stopped as Jennifer lowered her rifle and moved around behind Lance to his left then raised her rifle, shooting the paper plates on the wall. The plastic projectiles were hitting the targets on the wall then bouncing off, and Lilly looked down at the floor. It was covered in orange pellets from the airsoft weapons.

  Glancing up, she saw Lance and Jennifer backing up, still shooting. When they reached the group, they lowered their weapons, and Jennifer turned to her with a big smile. Lilly thought she looked intimidating with all the gear on and the combat helmet and clear ski goggles. “Feel better?” Jennifer asked, stepping over. “It’s workout time, but you can just watch,” she said, taking off her helmet.

  Allie and Carrie ran to the bedroom, and Jennifer followed. Lilly turned to see Ian and Lance head in another door. Not knowing what to do, Lilly went back to the bedroom and found everyone changing. “Sorry,” she said, stepping out.

  “Ah, you’re a girl. It’s not like you haven’t seen it before,” Jennifer said, hanging up her vest.

  “Don’t go in Ian and Lance’s room when they change, or they scream like girls,” Allie said as she dropped her vest on the floor but did put her rifle on the wall where it belonged.

  “I won’t.” Lilly smiled at her as Carrie ran to the dresser, pulling out clothes. “You practice with the play guns every day?”

  With a panicked expression, Jennifer whipped her head around. “Shh,” she said, moving over and pushing the door all the way closed. “Don’t call them that where the boys can hear you,” she said, pulling clothes from her dresser. “They freak out and want them treated like real guns at all times.”

  Thinking about that, Lilly really liked that idea. “So you do practice with them often then?”

  “Every day except Sunday,” Jennifer said, pulling off her shirt, and Lilly watched as Jennifer folded it up and turned around, seeing the refuse of Allie and Carrie’s clothes on the floor. “Guys, I’m not picking that up.”

  “We’re going to get it, stupid head,” Carrie said, sticking her tongue out.

  In awe, Lilly watched the two little gir
ls gather their discarded clothes, fold them neatly, and put them in the dresser. Glancing over at Jennifer, she saw her area was clean and Jennifer was making her bed wearing shorts, tennis shoes, and a tank top. “You’re very tidy,” Lilly noted.

  “Pfft,” Jennifer huffed. “No, the boys are and I will be damned if our room looks like shit.”

  “Am I working out?” Lilly asked, looking down at her clothes.

  Jennifer put her pillow on her bed and turned around, shaking her head. “No, just watch. We all agreed you are on light duty for now—at least until you are rested up. You will watch today and see how we function in our routine, then if you feel up to it, you will start tomorrow.”

  “I promise I’m ready to start,” Lilly said, stepping up to Jennifer.

  “Uh-uh,” Allie sang out behind her. Lilly turned to see the two little girls making the top bunk. “You snored louder than Jennifer last night.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lilly said with a grin.

  “I don’t snore!” Jennifer snapped.

  Carrie jumped off the end of the bed and turned to Jennifer, nodding. “Yes, you do. Dino even left Monday night it was so bad.”

  Lilly moved over the bottom bunk where she slept and quickly started making it. Allie and Carrie moved to the other side and helped her. “I’ll try not to snore,” Lilly said, looking over at them.

  “It doesn’t bother us anymore,” Carrie said, tucking in the covers.

  “If it does, we just turn on a movie and turn up the volume,” Allie said, fluffing the pillow.

  Hearing something loud turn on outside the room, Lilly spun around, looking at the door. “Relax, Lilly; it’s Ian and Lance cleaning up after practice,” Jennifer said then glared at Carrie and Allie. “I don’t snore, and if I do, it’s quiet,” she hissed at them.

  “I feel the bed vibrate,” Allie said, heading for the door with Carrie behind her. Lilly stared at the two girls; both were carrying ARs like she had. The only difference was the barrels were much shorter, and she could tell those were real. Then she noticed they were each carrying a satchel over their shoulder.

  Spinning around, Lilly saw Jennifer take an AR off the wall from a gun rack at the end of her bed. She looked at the end of the bunk bed and saw two gun racks with small weapons. “They carry real weapons?”

  “Can’t hurt stinkers with airsoft, girlfriend,” Jennifer said, throwing a satchel over her shoulder. “Ian and Lance put you some gear together yesterday. They’ll probably give it to you after breakfast; then, I’ll help you adjust it.”

  Still looking around the room at the stuff she hadn’t noticed, Lilly stared at the clothes rod at the end of the beds. “It seems they know what they are doing,” she said, the neat rows of shoes under each bed reminding her of summer camp.

  “Oh they do but not on fitting gear to a girl’s body,” Jennifer said, heading for the door. “They don’t realize squishing your boobs under those vests hurts and when they mount your holster, they forget we don’t have balls to get hurt.”

  Lilly laughed. “Yes, that would make a world of difference.”

  When they stepped out, Lilly saw the source of the noise; Ian and Lance were using a huge shop vac to vacuum up all the airsoft bullets. When all the BBs were up, Lance turned off the vacuum, took the top off, carried it to the kitchen, and dumped the container in the sink. Turning on the water, he set the bottom down as Ian carried the top over and clipped it back on.

  Ian rolled it away, and Lilly shook her head. “They are very efficient,” Lilly said.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet,” Jennifer said as Allie and Carrie opened the back door. Dino led George and Judy in, and they ran to Lilly.

  “Hey, guys,” Lilly said, dropping down to hug them. “Have you been good?”

  “Yeah,” Lance said, walking over and patting them. “We had to get them their own bowls; Dino likes them, but doesn’t like sharing his bowl.”

  With a broad smile, Lilly looked up. “Thank you.”

  “Come on,” Lance said, motioning to the door with his head. Lilly got up and followed and saw everyone heading for the door. “Now we agreed to let you stay and see if you worked out, but there are some places you can’t go yet, like the basement.”

  “Okay,” Lilly said immediately.

  Lance glanced over at her and saw fear on her face. “Lilly, it’s just until we know you. We all like you and hope you work out here. We need some help.”

  “I’ll do whatever you need me to,” she said, watching Carrie and Allie take off running to a building built in the face of the slope. “Please just give me the chance.”

  “We are,” Lance said, still looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “We have a reason to make sure you’re rested before starting. If you’re tired, you could hurt us, and that doesn’t work.”

  Feeling Lance stare at her, Lilly nodded. “I understand, but I can tell you just for the rest you let me have and that shower… I’ll kill anyone that comes to bother any of you.”

  Looking ahead, Lance’s eyes got a little wide hearing that. “At supper tonight, everyone wants to hear about you. Where you lived, grew up, what you did before and after this started.”

  “Alright,” she said, grinning and feeling much better.

  Feeling more comfortable around Jennifer, Lilly moved over beside her as the workout started. Lilly watched even the little girls worked out hard, pushing weights and running on the treadmill with determination that didn’t fit the young bodies. When she turned to watch Ian and Lance, she sucked in a breath. They had taken their t-shirts off and were pushing heavy weights, grunting with each exertion. Their muscle definition was very noticeable.

  “Whew,” Lilly said, feeling flushed and turning away.

  When the group moved to the end of the gym with a padded mat on the floor and punching bags on the wall, Ian moved over and pushed play on a DVD. The screen started up, and a man started going through punches and attacks. Lilly watched the five line up and copy the man’s every move then step over to the punching bags, trying what they learned.

  Feeling exhausted just from watching, Lilly let out a breath when they started gathering their stuff up, and Jennifer came over, wiping her face with a towel. “That’s workout,” she said then took a long drink from a water bottle.

  “Shit,” Lilly mumbled with a blank stare then turned her head to focus on Jennifer. “I’m ready to start now. You’re learning how to kick ass.”

  Allie threw up her hands. “Yeah, we can beat some little bitch’s ass!”

  Hearing that from Allie, Lilly’s eyes got wide. “Don’t say anything about their language, or they get worse,” Jennifer said in a low voice as Carrie and Allie danced out the door with their rifles bouncing on their backs. “I could care less, but it seems to really bother Ian and Lance.”

  “Sorry, I just didn’t expect it,” Lilly said, walking out with Jennifer. “It doesn’t bother me; they’re only words.”

  Walking in the cabin, Jennifer hung her gear up. Lilly stepped back and watched Ian, Jennifer, and Lance prepare breakfast as Allie and Carrie came running in with a basket of eggs. “I can help,” Lilly offered, feeling useless, but the way they moved without talking to each other was mesmerizing.

  Carrie pointed at the plates on the kitchen island. “You can set the table.”

  Finally given a task, granted it was from one of the youngest, Lilly quickly moved over, grabbing the plates and silverware. “Lance, move!” Allie snapped. “You make the bacon soggy!”

  “Well, excuse me,” Lance said, stepping away from the stove. “When the timer goes off, the biscuits will be ready.”

  Looking over her shoulder, Allie rolled her eyes. “Duh.”

  “I wonder how you would be as a football,” Lance said, grabbing her around the waist and throwing her over his shoulder then running into the living area. He threw Allie on the sectional then jumped on top of her, tickling her. Allie howled in laughter as Carrie dove over the back of the sectional
on Lance’s back.

  Grabbing her, Lance pulled her around and tickled both of them, making them turn blue in the face. “What’s wrong, huh? Can’t you breathe?” he asked, tickling them.

  “Don’t help,” Jennifer said, walking past Lilly. “If you do, he will pull you down, and it looks nice, but he doesn’t stop until you pass out or pee. Ian will be joining him soon,” she said, moving up to the stove to continue breakfast.

  True enough, Ian came around the sectional and grabbed the girls’ arms, raising them over their heads, then pinned them down. Then both started tickling, and both girls were now purple in the face. “They need to toughen the girls up,” Lilly said, joining Jennifer at the stove, not wanting in on that. It looked fun, but she’d had pee pain once today, and that was enough for her for years.

  “I helped twice and tried to fight back, and they tickled me so long I passed out the last time,” Jennifer said, scooping the bacon out.

  When the timer went off, Lilly took out the biscuits and carried them to the table to see Ian and Lance setting glasses on the table. She looked over at the sectional, and Allie and Carrie were panting, lying listless, half their bodies hanging off the sectional.

  “They better rectify,” Lance said, grabbing coffee cups.

  “Damn straight,” Ian said and held up a fist.

  Reaching over, Lance bumped fist. “Man card,” they said together.

  “Don’t ask,” Jennifer said, setting plates of food on the table. Lance grabbed the coffee pot, and Lilly turned, looking at the food spread out, and her belly gave a loud growl.

  “Well, don’t get between the food and Lilly,” Lance said, filling the coffee mugs.

  Lilly blushed as Allie and Carrie dragged themselves to the table. When everyone was seated, Lilly took the open chair. Watching the others reach out and hold hands, Lille copied them, taking Lance’s and Allie’s hands as Jennifer said grace.

  When they were done, Lilly looked around the table. “I haven’t said grace at the table since I was a little girl.”

  “Momma won’t let you eat if you don’t say grace,” Allie said in an exhausted voice. She grabbed her glass of juice and drained it. “Bubba, you and Lance can’t do that no more,” she whined. “My belly hurts now.”