Forsaken World:Coming of Age

by Thomas A. Watson

  “Humph,” Ian grunted. “They damn well better after we set them up in the dark. They should realize that is commitment to our relationship we are establishing with them.”

  “Look to the east,” Lance said with his face breaking into a grin.

  Ian swung his binoculars east and saw three motorcycles riding abreast, speeding down the highway toward them. “You know how long it’s been since we got to actually see a deed done with our own eyes?”

  “Yeah,” Lance said as his grin turned into an open-mouth smile.

  The three motorcycles sped around a curve, and suddenly, all three fishtailed wildly and dropped, skidding across the highway into the ditch with their riders sliding after them. When the riders hit the shoulder of the road, their slide turned into a cartwheeling tumble. “That had to hurt,” Ian grinned.

  “Ah, they’re tough,” Lance said, watching one of the bikers struggling to stand. “Told you that would be enough motor oil.”

  Lowering his binoculars, Ian grunted. “I just wanted to make sure they enjoyed the ride,” he said. “You sure your camera is online and is looking where you want it to? Because we aren’t coming back.”

  “It’s good,” Lance said, watching the biker that was standing check on his buddies. One was barely moving, and the other hadn’t moved yet. “You ready to head to Artemus?”

  “Yep,” Ian said, putting his binoculars up and sliding down to the bottom of the gully where Dino sat waiting on them.

  Moving quietly, they headed up the gully to the buggy and climbed on. Lance pulled up his AR as Ian got behind the steering wheel. Creeping down the slope, Ian paused at the tree line as they both pulled up binoculars, scanning the highway. “Clear my way except for a few dozen stinkers,” Ian said. “That curve blocks us from the three musketeers.”

  “Boogie,” Lance said, lowering his binoculars.

  Stomping the accelerator, Ian bounced over both lanes and slowed, pulling into the tree line. They broke through the bushes where the area opened up, and he weaved around the trees. They drove across several roads and stayed in the trees. They were both of the thought that roads were dangerous and to be avoided at all cost.

  It took an hour to drive the three and half miles to the hill they wanted south of Artemus. They broke their rule and had to move to a bridge because the river was very high. When they crossed the river and headed back in the trees, Ian glanced over at Lance. “You know that was the Cumberland River again, right?” Ian said with a grin.

  “You just had to tell me, huh,” Lance groaned.

  Following a ridge, they stopped on the hill that overlooked the small rural road leading into Artemus. Getting out of the buggy, Lance grabbed a box out of the back and looked over at Ian. “You ready?” Lance asked.

  “Let’s share the love,” Ian said, bringing his rifle up to his shoulder.

  With Dino leading them, they carefully eased down the slope to a small country road that led to the small town of Artemus. When they reached the tree line, Ian brought his rifle up. “Three stinkers,” he said, pulling the trigger then shifting his aim. Ian fired two more times then scanned around. “Clear,” he said, and Lance darted out of the tree line, running for the road.

  Ian grabbed Dino as he started to follow Lance. “Dino, stay,” Ian said as Lance reached the road.

  Dropping the box, Lance ripped the tape off and grabbed a handful of roofing nails throwing them across the road. Grabbing another handful, Lance was very thankful he always wore gloves. With the box half empty, Lance grabbed it, moved to the shoulder, and threw handfuls in the ditch and shoulder. Moving to the other side, Lance tossed the rest out on the other shoulder and ditch.

  Running back with the empty box, Lance burst through the bushes and stopped by Ian, grinning. “You believe that? Someone carelessly threw twenty pounds of roofing nails on the road and ditch.”

  “When we get the chance, we need to report it,” Ian said, taking the box and breaking it down until it was flat. “Let’s move,” he said, heading back up the hill.

  They jumped on the buggy, and Ian soon pulled up on a pipeline and followed it west. Feeling very exposed, they stayed near the edge, and before they topped a ridge, they would walk up and scout ahead with the regular and thermal binoculars.

  They pulled up on a hill overlooking a small road heading toward Jarvis and climbed out. “I like moving through trees,” Ian said, grabbing his binoculars.

  “No shit,” Lance said as he looked through the thermals. Slowly scanning the road, he stopped at a house that looked like stinkers had broken in. A tree in the front yard had a stripe around it with a square in the middle of the stripe. It was warmer than the tree. Looking around, Lance didn’t see another tree that had anything similar. Lowering his binoculars, Lance strained his eyes but couldn’t even see anything different about the tree.

  “Ian, that house on the other side of the road,” Lance said, raising his thermals again.

  Swinging his binoculars over, Ian saw the house just over two hundred yards away. “Yeah, looks like stinkers broke in. There isn’t a window intact on the ground floor.”

  “Yeah, but look at that oak tree in the front yard. It has a stripe around it about three feet off the ground and a square. It’s warmer than the tree, but I can’t tell what it is.”

  Holding steady on the tree, Ian zoomed in as much as he could. “Yeah, there’s something there, but it looks like a knot on the tree,” he said, studying it.

  “That’s not a knot,” Lance said, looking at another tree then swinging back to the original.

  Putting his binoculars down, Ian walked back to the buggy, pulled out a spotting scope, and opened the tripod stand to mount it. Taking the lens covers off, Ian sat down and peered in the eye pieces, moving the scope until he found the tree. Reaching up, he rotated the eyepiece to maximum.

  “Lance, it’s a trail camera,” Ian chuckled.

  “No way,” Lance said, moving over and pushing Ian back from the spotting scope. Looking through, Lance could tell it was a trail camera. “We know a hunter didn’t put that there,” Lance said, turning around and stepping over to the buggy.

  “You really think the gang put it up?”

  “If they did, then I have to say they aren’t complete idiots,” Lance said, pulling out his night vision scope. He put a cap on the end that had a tiny hole so the scope could be used in daylight without burning it out. “Even if the gang didn’t, someone did to monitor traffic.”

  “What are you doing?” Ian said, leaning down to study the trail camera.

  Bringing the scope to his eye, Lance grinned. “Looking at the IR beam the camera puts out.”

  “Oh man, you’re a genius,” Ian said and got up. When Lance took his eye away, Ian took the scope and saw the infrared beam shooting out like a fan from the tree across the road. “You see the size of the field? That has got to be a good one. The ones we have barely go out twenty yards, but that one looks like fifty.”

  “I didn’t see any other beams; do you?” Lance said, checking his rifle.

  “Nope,” Ian said, lowering the scope, and saw Lance press-checking his AR. “I’ll get the stuff for the deed.”

  “Wait, let’s check this out first. If it’s someone monitoring the gang, I don’t want to set the deed up here.”

  Ian looked back at the house and nodded. “Yeah, I always hate catching unintended targets when we do a deed.”

  “Hey, that was Mr. Collins’ fault, not ours.”

  “I still felt bad,” Ian said, checking his AR. “He just saw a kid’s bike in the playground.”

  “It wasn’t his, so he should’ve left the fucker alone,” Lance said, tightening his helmet. “The shock only knocked him out for a few minutes.”

  “Dino,” Ian said, patting his leg, and Dino came over, panting. “Lance, he shit and pissed himself. I told you the electricity was too high.”

  “I’m just glad we were able to move the bike before he woke up and called the cops,”
Lance said, moving away from the buggy. “We went through a lot of trouble to rig that up for Mr. Bates.”

  Ian snickered. “I never understood why he stole my bike. He was way too big for it.”

  “Fucker never stole another one, did he?” Lance grinned, walking down the hill. “He even stopped riding his own bike after touching the bait.”

  “You remember how far he flew back after he touched that bike? Man, that had to be some kind of human leap record,” Ian chuckled then became serious. “I have to admit I never would’ve dreamed we would be doing deeds without worrying if we seriously hurt or killed someone.”

  Lance glanced back. “Sucks to be them.”

  They eased down the hill and crossed over the road into the trees on the other side then moved north toward the house. Staying just inside the trees, they looked at the house and yard. They could see several burnt patches around the yard. Ian pointed and Lance nodded.

  “It seems weird that stinkers burn down to dust,” Ian mumbled.

  “I’m moving to the tree to see if I see any booby traps,” Lance whispered. When he eased forward, Dino moved with him, and Ian let him go. Feeling exposed, Lance fought the urge to run to the tree but crept forward.

  When he was ten yards away, he saw tire tracks in the mud along with some cigarette butts. Seeing boot prints leading to and from the tree, Lance relaxed and moved up faster. When he got to the tree, he saw why it was so hard to see the camera. The strap around the tree had been wrapped in camouflage cloth that looked like tree bark, and the housing for the camera was wrapped the same way. Staying to the side, Lance pulled up the cloth, exposing the nobs that screwed down, holding the camera housing closed.

  Unscrewing them, Lance opened the camera and nodded. “Yeah, it’s an expensive one. This is the one I wanted, and Dad said no way,” he mumbled. He unclipped the two alligator clamps off the large, 9v lantern battery then pulled the memory card.

  Looking over at Ian, Lance waved him over then pulled out his camera. As Ian trotted over, Lance put the card in his camera. He looked at the view screen. “It’s the gang,” Lance said when Ian got to him.

  Turning the camera screen to Ian, Lance looked at the housing. Ian took the camera and started going through the images. “How did you know it would capture them?” Ian asked.

  “When have we ever set up a camera and didn’t get a picture of ourselves?”

  “You’re right on that.” Ian smiled, looking at the pictures. “This card was put in two days ago,” Ian said and looked at his watch.

  Lance looked up in the tree then around it. “Wonder how long they leave them before they check them?”

  “Hey,” Ian said, grabbing his arm. Ian showed him the camera screen. “Three men on motorcycles ten minutes after the card was put in.”

  “Ah, you think we messed up their job,” Lance said with a fake sad face.

  “They were slackers,” Ian said, looking back at the camera. “You want to set the deed up here or on the road?”

  Looking at the inside of the camera housing, Lance took out the large battery and stared at the area it occupied. “How about we take our deeds to another level?”

  Ian looked up from the camera and saw Lance looking at the housing. “What do you have in mind?”

  Reaching for a pouch on his vest, Lance pulled out a hand grenade. “This,” he said, still staring at the housing.

  Involuntarily, Ian took a step back. “Lance, we’ve never fucked with explosives, much less a hand grenade.”

  “Time to learn,” Lance said, pulling out a handkerchief. Wadding it up, he stuffed it in the area where the battery was. “How about you step back in case this doesn’t work?” he said, pulling the pin.

  “You are fucking insane,” Ian said but trotted back to the trees.

  Taking a deep breath, Lance pushed the grenade into the wadded up handkerchief. He kept the spoon or safety handle forward, facing the door of the camera housing. With one finger, he held the spoon and closed the housing until the door pressed against the safety spoon.

  Letting out a long breath, Lance pushed the door closed and quickly screwed the knobs down, securing the housing. Pulling the cloth over the housing, Lance checked the area to make sure they didn’t leave anything.

  Seeing the pin he pulled out of the grenade, he grabbed it. “Yeah, someone might get suspicious seeing that on the ground,” he said then trotted back to Ian.

  When Lance joined Ian and Dino, Ian grabbed Lance’s arm. “Lance, we need to backtrack our route to see if we passed another camera already.”

  “Dude, we were in the forest.”

  “Not all the way, brah,” Ian said. “We crossed that bridge, and we took that pipeline here.”

  “Ian, I’m sure the three musketeers have called in our deed.”

  “Lance, we can’t let them know it’s kids.”

  “Okay,” Lance said, thinking about it. “We can do the other deeds another day.”

  They crossed the road and almost ran up the hill to the buggy. When they jumped in, Dino gave a soft growl, looking toward the pipeline they drove off of. “I got it,” Lance said, getting out.

  When he started walking toward the pipeline, Dino moved with him. Moving around the trees, Lance kept his eyes forward looking at the clearing ahead that was the pipeline. He could see a figure right at the edge of the tree line just standing there. Bringing up his AR, Lance looked through his scope and saw it was a young, nude, female stinker.

  Keeping the crosshairs on her face, Lance squeezed the trigger and watched her head snap back. “Thirty yards, no challenge,” he mumbled and moved up to the pipeline. Seeing two more moving over, Lance snapped up his rifle and dropped them. He stepped out on the pipeline and didn’t see any more.

  When Ian didn’t hear any more suppressed shots, he pulled up to the pipeline and found Lance standing over a naked stinker. “Brah, you’re looking at stinker titties?”

  “Ian, come here,” Lance said, staring at the body.

  Ian climbed out and walked over. “Dude, stinkers don’t do anything for me.”

  “Look at her arm.”

  Ian looked down and didn’t see anything at first. “Yeah, she was bit,” he said, looking up at Lance, then his eyes grew wide. Jumping back, Ian looked back at the stinker’s arm, and a scab covered a bite on her bicep. “It could be old,” he panted.

  “It’s not real scar tissue,” Lance said and poked the scar with a stick. The scab slid away, and clear, yellow fluid ran down the skin. “It’s like pond scum but pasty white like the skin.”

  “Motherfucker, are you saying stinkers can heal? How can they? They’re dead.”

  “They are dead, but they have shit in them from outside the solar system. Shit, for all we know, they’ll sprout wings and fly.”

  Ian cut his eyes up at the sky. “Dude, that’s not even funny.”

  Feeling his pulse quicken, Lance pulled out his camera and took some pictures. “Let’s get going and check our route for trail cameras.”

  Spinning around, Ian ran over and jumped on the buggy and saw Dino sniffing one of the others Lance shot. Ian sniffed the air, and he could smell them, but as they had discovered, it wasn’t as strong. “Dino, come,” he barked in a whisper.

  When Lance climbed in, they drove back down the pipeline, only slower this time. Along with the binoculars, they used the NV scope. Driving off the pipeline through the trees, Ian pulled over the hill and stopped looking at the bridge that crossed the river.

  “We scout it hard,” Lance said, getting out. “The musketeer wipeout was only three miles to the east.”

  Giving a nod, Ian climbed out, carrying the regular binoculars and spotting scope. Lance carried the thermals and NV scope. As soon as the scope was to his eye, Lance saw a fan of IR light across the end of the bridge. “Shit, this end past the outside guardrail on that tree that’s leaning away from the road,” he huffed.

  “Got it,” Ian said then looked around. “See anymore?”


  Panning the scope around, Lance didn’t see any more IR light. “No,” he said, grabbing the thermals. “We need to start carrying one of those radios that the gang uses.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Ian said, panning his binoculars around. “To the northwest, I see a big ass pack of dogs.”

  Turning to look with the thermals, Lance sucked in his breath. “Shit, pack my ass. That has to be a hundred dogs.”

  “Well, I don’t know what a fuck load of dogs are called,” Ian said, looking around. “We need to move before they come this way. I’m not ready to send that many dogs to Heaven. I’m not sure if we even could.”

  “Let’s grab that card from the camera and book,” Lance said, turning for the buggy. “Let’s hold on this side of Highway 25 and check before we cross.”

  Ian got up, grabbing his stuff. “Sounds like a plan.”

  They climbed in the buggy, and Ian pulled down to the road. When they got close to the tree, they saw the trail camera easy enough now they knew where to look. Lance jumped out, popped the cover, and pulled the card. He closed and jumped back in the buggy.

  “What, no surprises?” Ian said, darting over the bridge.

  “Don’t want to push it,” Lance said. Ian pulled off the road as soon as they passed the guardrails for the bridge. “Any luck, they will think they forgot to put a card in.”

  “Shit, we’ve done that enough,” Ian snorted.

  Scanning ahead, Lance nodded. “That’s where I got the idea.”

  Weaving in and around trees, Ian kept a steady pace until he saw a break in the trees ahead. “How far back you want me to stop?”

  “A little further,” Lance said, looking at Dino, who was walking beside the buggy with his tongue hanging out.

  Stopping a hundred yards from the highway, they eased up on foot. They were on a small rise over the highway. Pulling out his binoculars, Ian looked over where the bikers wiped out when they hit the oil slick. “Lance, they’re still there.”

  Lance looked at the group through the thermals then around them. He could see warm areas where stinkers had been burnt that weren’t there before. “They’ve had company.”