Forsaken World (Book 1): Innocence Lost

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Not waiting, Ian walked away, motioning Lance to follow. Lance looked at the floor at his bulletproof vest, chest rig full of magazines and drop holster, boots, and weapons. In the mess, he saw his socks and shirt. Bending over, he just grabbed the XDM still in the clip-on holster and shoved it in his pants. Yawning, he walked around the couch barefoot. “That’s too much shit to put on when you wake up.”

  He found Ian in the hall in front of the door to Doug’s bedroom. Thinking it was awful cold and they needed to turn down the air conditioner, Lance wrapped his arms around his chest as he walked in, and Ian closed the door. “Dude, you’re not going to believe what I found. It’s the most awesome stuff ever.”

  “Unless it’s an atomic bomb or rocket launcher, we aren’t taking any more guns. Hell, we took the bloopers for the grenade launcher even though we have no idea how to use them. I really don’t think we should take more shit like that.”

  Shaking his head and grinning, Ian pulled Lance to one of the two walk-in closets, saying, “I only found one gun in here, but look at this.” Lance saw DVD cases lining a shelf at the back and magazines stacked on the floor. Ian grabbed a magazine and showed it to Lance.

  All grogginess left Lance’s brain instantly. “Whoa, no way,” he gasped, snatching the magazine. “I didn’t know they made magazines like this. I thought you could only see naked women on the internet.”

  “I know, right, but look at this,” Ian said, pulling down a DVD. “It’s even in Blu-ray.” Lance’s eyes expanded more, and all thoughts of being cold were long gone.

  “Where the hell do you buy stuff like this, and why hasn’t someone told us about this?” Lance said, staring at the DVD in one hand and the magazine in the other.

  “Hey, I’m with you. You know how hard it was keeping my browsing history wiped from my parents?” Ian said, grabbing a magazine.

  “We could’ve hid this under our beds, and no one would’ve ever known,” Lance cried out and held up the DVD and magazine. “We could’ve kept dirty movies and magazines under our mattresses, dude. I bet our parents would’ve never thought of that. All that work of scrubbing our web history, and they just come out with this.”

  Ian looked up. “We are taking some, right? Because if you aren’t, I am.”

  “Hell yeah, this is a gold mine,” Lance said, looking at the stuff. “We can’t take it all; we don’t have room.”

  Startled at that but agreeing, Ian looked at the DVDs. “How the hell do we know which movies are good?”

  “They have naked women; all of them have to be good,” Lance said, and Ian raised his eyebrows and nodded. “If we put two disks in a case, we can take most of the movies,” he said, grabbing a rolling suitcase. “Put as many as we can in here; then, we can fill the rest with magazines.”

  Ian grabbed the suitcase. “Go keep a lookout while I pack,” he said, pulling down DVD boxes.

  “Did you even sleep?”

  “Yeah, I slept in Doug’s bed. I just couldn’t look at Jennifer,” Ian said, doubling up the disks. Lance wanted to comment on how fast Ian was moving and packing the boxes neat and tight but didn’t.

  Instead, Lance told Ian what Jennifer and he had talked about. “Boobs have to have a lettered cup size? They can’t just…you know…fill it or sit there?” Ian asked, confused.

  Shrugging, Lance said, “I guess they get heavy if something’s not holding them up,” and Ian lifted a magazine up with a woman sprouting giant jugs.

  “Then she should have trouble walking upright,” Ian said.

  “Jennifer said my mom wore a C. That woman must wear a Z.”

  Tossing the empty cases away, Ian’s hands moved at a blinding pace. “Glad she wasn’t mad we saw her hooters, but I hope she doesn’t do that again. It’s real hard to look at her afterwards.”

  “Ain’t it,” Lance moaned. “You practice with the night vision?”

  “Yeah, and I can’t believe you want to take those damn vests.”

  “Doug thought we would need them.”

  Ian looked up. “Then I’ll even wear one sometimes because he’s providing this,” he said, holding up a DVD.

  “Where’s your chest rig and stuff?”

  “Beside the bed. I showered after you and just threw it in here.”

  “How long do you want to let them sleep so we can take a nap this afternoon?”

  Pausing, Ian looked up. “Till I’m finished with this and it’s loaded.”

  Hearing something outside, Lance walked out of the closet. “All the alarms have stopped.”

  “I didn’t hear any when I laid down last night,” Ian called out of the closet.

  “I think I just heard a garage door open up outside.”

  “It damn sure wasn’t this one,” Ian popped off.

  “I’m going upstairs to see,” Lance said, heading to the door.

  Poking his head out of the closet, Ian said, “Just shut the door. I don’t want anyone to see our stash.”

  Grinning, Lance closed the door and jogged into the den and saw Dino sitting up, looking at the shuttered windows and panting. Lance grabbed his AR as he jumped over the couch and took off upstairs. Standing back from the window, he didn’t see anything, so he eased forward.

  Hearing a clanking noise, he turned to it. Two houses down on the opposite side of the street, a man and woman were running around, throwing stuff in the bed of a pickup truck as it rolled out of a garage. With dead stinkers sprawled everywhere, Lance saw only a few moving toward them, but all of the moving infected were fifty or more yards away.

  The man and woman jumped in the truck, and Lance heard the engine crank up. The truck rolled out on the street, and Lance saw it was three people in the truck as the truck squealed its tires, speeding down the street, dodging dead stinkers sprawled out on the road. It hit an old lady, sending her sailing through the air.

  Shocked, Lance looked at the damage the old lady did to the truck. “You messed her up, but she hurt your ride big time,” he said, seeing the hood and passenger fender bent pretty badly.

  “You are talking to yourself,” Jennifer said behind him.

  Lance jumped and spun around in midair. “Don’t do that!” he snapped. “What are you doing up here?”

  “Heard a car start up, and as I was coming up the stairs, I heard tires squealing.”

  “It was a truck from a house on the other side of the street.”

  “So people are alive in the neighborhood?”

  “Well, the truck didn’t mow down an old lady by itself.”

  Smiling, Jennifer walked past him. “Touchy this morning, aren’t we?”

  “Getting the shit scared out of me first thing in the morning does that,” he snapped.

  “Sorry,” Jennifer said over her shoulder. “There are people in that house over there.”

  He moved beside her. “Where?”

  “The house next to the one with the garage door open.”

  “It could just be a person and not people,” Lance said, pulling her back from the window.

  “Not unless they can peek out windows from first and second floor at the same time.”

  As Lance watched, he saw the curtains part at an upstairs window. “Do you know them?”

  “No, they only moved in a few months ago. I know it’s a young couple,” Jennifer told him as Lance pulled her further back from the window. “Where are you pulling me to?”

  “Away from the window, duh,” Lance said with a stupid expression. “We are standing in front of a window with the curtains wide open, and anyone outside can see in here.”

  “Oh shit, I think one of them saw me then,” she said, stepping further back.

  “No, I know they saw both of us. Someone looked out a window upstairs with binoculars.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Well, it was either binoculars or someone with the biggest eyes ever.”

  “What if they come over here?”

  “We won’t invite them in for lunch,” Lance said,
putting the sling over his head, letting the AR hang at his side.

  “What if they break in?”

  “Unless they have a blow torch and jackhammer, their odds aren’t that good. But if they try, we’ll shoot their ass.”

  Jennifer grabbed his arm. “Show me that rifle you and Ian pulled out for me.”

  “Let me get dressed, and let’s fix some food, and I’ll go over it with you,” Lance sighed.

  Looking at Lance from top to bottom, seeing his defined muscles rippling across his chest and arms, Jennifer raised her eyebrows. “You run around without a shirt and blush when you see my cones? Kind of a double standard,” she grinned.

  “Be nice,” he said, spinning around and trying not to blush.

  They ran downstairs, and Lance got dressed and looked over at Jennifer. She was wearing tan tactical pants and a black polo shirt with a small logo of Doug’s company. They were a little big but fit better than the clothes Lance gave her. She put on the bulletproof vest they had given her the night before and the boots Lance gave her. “I thought you found some other boots and shoes.”

  “I did, but these are already broken in. If I have to run, I want shoes that have done it before.”

  Not able to argue that reasoning, Jennifer put the boots on while Lance finished gearing up. He looked down at the chest rig with a little loathing. They had found a box of them and found out that’s what they were called. Grunting, he pulled it on and buckled it then felt he hadn’t taken off the clip-on holster. Digging around, Lance pulled it out and tossed it on the couch. When he finished strapping everything on, he started praying he wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom in a hurry. Grabbing the pistol out of its clip-on holster, he slid it in the drop holster on his thigh.

  Tapping the Ruger under his left side where Doug had told him to put it, Lance pulled it out, dropped the magazine, and ejected the round from the chamber. The gun itself wasn’t big, but with the suppressor on, it was long.

  With the gun empty, Lance practiced drawing it from the holster. Holstering the pistol, he took off the rig and tilted the holster a little forward then put the chest rig back on. Practicing a few more draws, Lance liked the new position.

  “You practicing to be a gun fighter?” Jennifer asked, clipping her pistol on.

  “Just want to know when I need it, I can get it out,” Lance said, grabbing his AR and helmet. “I feel like I’m going to war.”

  “If you think about it, you are,” Jennifer said, looking down. “We all are.”

  “Then I have to say we will kick some ass then,” Lance chuckled.

  Looking up with a smile, she said, “Yes we will,” and turned for the kitchen. “I’ll fix something to eat. You go keep an eye out.”

  “Okay,” Lance said, walking over and grabbing the chest rig, AR, and helmet they had put together for Jennifer. He grunted, carrying the stuff around the couch as Ian came down the hall with a rolling suitcase, wearing a huge grin.

  “What did you get?” Jennifer asked, putting pans on the stove, and panic flooded Lance.

  “Clothes for me,” Ian said without missing a beat as he headed for the door to the garage.

  “Well, leave it, and I’ll make sure it’s packed right,” she said, pulling eggs out of the fridge.

  “You most certainly will not!” Ian snapped with an irritated expression. “I have underwear in here, and you will not look at them,” he said, lifting his chin and yanking the door open.

  Startled, Jennifer took a step back. “Ooookaaay,” she dragged out, not sure how else to respond as Ian walked out. Slowly, she turned to look at Lance for an explanation; he shrugged and went upstairs.

  Putting Jennifer’s stuff on the floor, Lance made his XDM safe and practiced drawing it, making adjustments to his equipment until he was happy. Then, he made the AR safe and practiced changing the ten magazines across his chest, pulling them out of the chest rig one at a time and feeding them into the AR.

  After doing that twice, Lance looked across the street to the house he had seen someone at and saw someone upstairs looking around with binoculars. Feeling he was missing something, Lance ran downstairs into Doug’s office and opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a small box. Closing the door, he ran back upstairs and stopped before going to the window.

  Walking down the hall, he went into a room that still had a lot of stuff in it, but they were maxed out for room as it was. He pulled down a case and ran back to the window. Opening the case, Lance pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked at the house.

  He was shocked to see a young woman looking at him with binoculars. She waved at him. Not knowing what else to do, Lance waved back and looked around the area. He didn’t see but one infected walking around and three crawling; one was the old woman the truck hit.

  Turning back to the house, Lance stepped back and saw the woman holding a big dry erase board. “Can we come over there?” was written across it. Lance shook his head exaggeratedly to drive the point home. Lowering her binoculars, the woman wiped the board off and wrote on it.

  “Please we know Doug,” Lance read as she held up the board, and he shook his head again and held up his hand for her to wait. Taking off, Lance ran downstairs to Doug’s office. He grabbed a notebook but thought better and looked around. He saw a desk pad calendar lying on the desk. Rolling it up, Lance found a marker and took off back upstairs.

  Ripping off one of the large pages from the pad, Lance wrote in big letters, “Doug said no one in and any that try shoot them.” He held up the note then grabbed his binoculars.

  He waited as he watched the woman write then hold up the board. “You have food, we saw you unload ice chest yesterday.” Lowering his binoculars, Lance shook his head, and the woman disappeared from the window, and a man looked at him with binoculars. As the man turned around, Lance raised his binoculars and saw he was talking with someone.

  The man grabbed the board and held it up. “Let us in or we will take your house and kick you out.” Reaching forward and grinning broadly, Lance extended his middle finger. The man dropped the board and turned around. When he looked back at Lance, the man held up a pistol.

  Lance set the binoculars down and held out both hands, extending both middle fingers, and watched the man disappear from the window. “Making friends I see,” Ian said, walking up beside him wearing all his gear.

  “They said they will take the house and kick us out,” Lance said, pulling his AR to his chest.

  “They could try,” Ian laughed.

  Reaching down, Lance opened the small box he got from Uncle Doug’s desk and pulled out a Benchmade switchblade. He clipped it in his back pocket. “Think I should shoot up their house?”

  “Nah, do that, and they would be more likely to come over.”

  “Hello, boys,” Jennifer said behind them. They turned to see her carrying a tray with plates and cups of coffee. “Lots of cream, lots of sugar,” she said, putting the tray down and saw the large sheet of paper with the note. “That’s blunt,” she said, looking over at the house.

  “Just wanted to make sure they understood,” Lance said and told her the conversation.

  “Let’s shoot their house up,” Jennifer snapped, spinning around and looking at the house angrily.

  “How about after breakfast?” Ian laughed.

  The three sat and ate looking over at the house. “You two ready for tonight?” Jennifer asked.

  Lance set his cup down. “Are you?”

  “I’m scared my parents might show up after we leave, but I can’t wait on them. They may never show up.”

  “That’s right, so you ready to learn your AR?” Lance asked, standing up.

  Clapping as she jumped up, she cheered, “Better believe it.”

  Picking up the chest rig, Lance put it on her and took off her clip-on holster and magazines. Sighing, he started making adjustments, and Ian moved to the other side to mirror him, and they took as much slack out of the chest rig as they could. Seeing that it fit her small
stature fairly well, they moved to the drop platforms at Jennifer’s knees.

  Making the maximum adjustments, they moved them up to Jennifer’s thighs. Getting up, Lance grabbed her Ruger and pulled it out then took the end cap off the barrel. Ian handed him a suppressor, and Lance screwed it on, putting the pistol back in the holster. Swapping out the grips to the smallest ones on an XDM, they handed it over and saw it fit her tiny hands.

  “Hold your left arm up,” Lance said, moving over, and clipped the holster on like his. “What do you think?”

  Jennifer looked down at herself. “This shit is heavy as hell.”

  “Yes, it is,” Lance laughed.

  “Company’s coming,” Ian said behind them. They turned to see a man and woman holding hands with a man in front of them, running from the house Lance was trading messages with. The man in front was carrying a pistol and heading straight for them.

  “Got your radio on?” Lance said, looking over at Ian.

  “Yeah, I like Doug’s better than ours,” Ian said, stepping back from the window.

  “I’ll go and talk to them, and you two stay up here,” Lance said, walking out.

  Jennifer watched the group run around a stinker. “Think they can shoot through the door?” She asked as a stinky trotted after the group.

  “With a pistol, no way,” Ian laughed. “Uncle Doug’s house is brick with metal shutters like the cabin. Granted, the ones at the cabin are much thicker. He said he had to put all this in here so his insurance company would cover all the stuff he kept here. The only windows they might be able to shoot through are the ones upstairs. They are storm windows like the ones on Lance’s house.”

  “Like this one?” Jennifer asked, pointing at the window they were looking out of.

  Ian nodded. “Yeah, Uncle Doug said he wasn’t putting those shutters up here. If someone wanted to grab a ladder and break in, then he didn’t care because they would have to carry stuff out down the ladder with the alarm going off. When the doors are locked, you still need a key to get out. Then, you have Dino in here waiting on them,” Ian explained, watching the group run past another stinky and jumping over the mass of dead stinkers Doug had littered the area with.