Dark Crossing

by Thomas A. Watson

Ian grinned, moving to the back wall that was only boarded up three feet. Grabbing a board, Ian carried it over before setting it on the others. Jennifer held the board while Ian pulled out long wood screws. The drill wound up, driving the screw through the board and into the twelve-inch square columns.

  When the board was tacked up, Jennifer moved back and grabbing another board with a grunt, carried it over. Setting it on the wall, she waited as Ian moved down the board sinking screws. When she grabbed another board, she looked at the stack of cut boards and shook her head.

  Carrying another board over, Jennifer was amazed Ian and Lance were cutting batches of boards at one time. When her dad had started a deck on the back of the house, Jennifer had helped. Watching her dad measure each spot for the next board six times, then measure the board six times before he cut, Jennifer had wanted to take the saw and the other tools away from her dad.

  Even with that much measuring, her dad cut every fourth or fifth board too short and would toss it across the yard. Halfway through the project, her dad was called into work and Jennifer ran over to Ian’s. Lance, Ian, and Jason came over and had the deck done in two hours. When Jennifer’s dad got home, he found her staining the deck with her mom. Lance and Ian had measured the area and then moved over, cutting half a dozen boards at a time.

  Carrying another 2x12 over that was ten feet long, Jennifer liked this much better than the deck. Each strip of boards they put up was a foot wide, so she could see the wall growing upwards quickly. After using up the stack of cut boards, Ian pulled out his tape measure, measured between each column and nodded.

  When he headed for the shop, Jennifer got the hybrid side by side and drove it over, hearing the skill saw going. Walking in, Jennifer started loading the boards Ian had cut. Looking inside the secret shop, Jennifer saw the R/C bot with the SAW mounted on it sitting in the doorway. For some reason, it just unnerved her to arm robots.

  “Dead people are walking, and I have a problem arming robots? Something is wrong with that,” Jennifer mumbled, carrying out another board.

  When Lance and Lilly returned three hours later from the sweep around the cabin and setting up relays, the back wall was up and Jennifer and Ian were working on the east wall. They stopped after Lance and Lilly changed. Grabbing the ladybugs, everyone headed to the shop to work on two more massive Battle Bots.

  With Ian and Lance watching them closely, they helped weld the rows of shredding teeth on long drums, which was just ten-inch metal pipe. Only stopping to eat a quick lunch, the bots were coming together much faster than the first one.

  It was 1500 when the work stopped, and they headed inside. Ian, Lance, Jennifer, and Lilly put on their gear. Ian and Lance were both relieved when the girls didn’t have to pee after they’d dressed.

  Walking out, Ian looked over at Lance. “You still want to grab barbed wire?” Ian asked, and Jennifer and Lilly groaned silently under their masks.

  “Hell, yeah. I want an eight-foot-tall wall of barbed wire around us with only four inches between each strand,” Lance declared, and that made the girls feel better. When Jennifer and Lilly walked over to the buggy, they saw a pressure washer strapped to the front.

  “Ah, what are we doing with that?” Jennifer asked.

  “Battle Bot has to be washed to keep working,” Lance informed them, tossing empty barbed wire spools in the back.

  “Lance, where are we going to get water?” Jennifer asked.

  “Jennifer, you helped set the site up. You know there’s a creek at the edge of the field,” Lance answered, tossing the last empty spool in.

  Moving over and standing in front of Lance, “That stream is over two hundred yards from Battle Bot’s playground. I’m telling you right now, that damn thing comes at me, I’m dumping a mag in it,” Jennifer swore.

  Looking at the black mask covering Jennifer’s face, Lance moved his eyes to hers. “Jennifer, that damn thing even acts funny and I’ll blow it up,” Lance told her, and Jennifer didn’t know if that was supposed to make her feel better because it didn’t. The fact Lance and Ian were scared of their creation terrified her.

  Loading up, they drove around to the front and found the ladybugs waiting. Allie had a leash on George as she opened the inner gate. When Carrie opened the outer gate, Allie cradled her AR and looked around while Dino and Judy led the buggy out.

  Lilly stopped outside the gates and waited until the ladybugs were heading back to the cabin. “When will the remote bot be ready?” Lilly asked, seeing Carrie opening the front door. When the ladybugs were inside, Lilly pulled off.

  “Tomorrow,” Lance answered. “And remember, it’s set up on short range remote, so nobody will be able to pick it up unless they are close. That’s why we had to put up so many relays on our sweep.”

  “I know. You told me like fifty times,” Lilly moaned, glancing over as she headed east up the slope to the ridge.

  “That was for Jennifer,” Lance joked.

  “Oh,” Lilly said. “I’ll feel better with that here when we leave the ladybugs.”

  “We can be back long before anyone gets near the cabin,” Lance assured her.

  “I know, but they will be able to kill them before we get back,” Lilly said rather cheerfully.

  Leaning up from the backseat, “Lance, just use the .22 today,” Ian sighed. “I’m not in the mood to stop and retrieve arrows.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Lance said, pulling the 10/22 off the dash and setting it in his lap.

  When they reached the east chute, Lance raised the 10/22 to shoot three stinkers walking along the fence. “Want me to stop, so we can burn them?” Lilly asked.

  “We haven’t noticed stinkers coming in for dead bodies anymore, and we’ve left some out just for that reason,” Lance said.

  Looking over at the side of Lance’s mask, “I was thinking about having to smell the damn things when we pass by every day,” Lilly replied.

  As Lilly navigated the chute, Lance nodded. “Yes, there is that,” he admitted, looking at the trees. “If we burn them, we will have to pull them down to the logging road. It’s too dry now.”

  “I’ll tie them up, so someone can drag them with the buggy,” Lilly told him.

  Laughing, “We will pull them off when we come back,” Lance said.

  Leaning up behind Lance’s head, “It will be dark, and that will definitely bring in stinkers,” Jennifer said.

  “We will leave them and light them tomorrow,” Lance suggested over his shoulder.

  Sitting back, Jennifer nodded as Lance lifted the 10/22, shooting a stinker that couldn’t have been more than five. Even though she had killed stinkers smaller than that, it still bothered her. Jennifer looked down at the body with remorse when Lilly drove past.

  “You up for a game?” Lance asked over his shoulder.

  “Hell, yeah. I won the last one,” Ian sang out, hitting his chest with his fist. As Lilly headed out of the patrol area, the game started. It was almost 1700 when they reached the Battle Bot area a mile outside of the patrol area and Ian was leading Lance by thirty-one stinkers.

  Steering around a boulder, Lilly pulled above the ridge overlooking the field and stopped suddenly. All four gasped, looking down in the field. The five-thousand-square-foot area the Battle Bot roamed was saturated in blood, covered in gore and body parts. All along the edge, a mound was formed of grisly remains.

  In the far corner, the Battle Bot was sitting in its recharging station. The once shiny bot was an off-red. “Holy shit,” Lilly mumbled. They were over four hundred yards away and Lilly wasn’t sure she wanted to get closer. Even that far away, the smell washed over them.

  “Well, let’s head down,” Lance said, opening a laptop.

  “That fucking thing leaves that square and I’m killing it,” Ian declared, looking around the small valley and not seeing any stinkers.

  Agreeing with Ian, Lilly pulled down the slope and into the field, stopping by the solar dish and recharging battery. Now thirty yards away,
they could see the mound of gore around the perimeter was over three feet high and more than four feet wide in most places. The mound was chunks of flesh and bone.

  Tapping the screen, Lance leaned back. “Whoa,” he mumbled, and everyone snapped.

  “What?!” afraid the Battle Bot was coming for them.

  “The station is reporting it has killed over eight thousand!” Lance gasped, looking up at the bot.

  “It’s only been here three days!” Lilly cried out.

  Nodding and still staring at the gore-covered Battle Bot, “Yeah, the last one was an hour ago. It’s in recharge mode,” Lance said in awe. “The first two days, it had to recharge with stinkers in the kill area.”

  “Lance, let’s wash the damn thing and go,” Jennifer told him, gripping her AR tight.

  “Okay, the battery is over eighty percent,” Lance said, tapping the keyboard. When the Battle Bot moved, even the dogs jumped back. Jennifer was happy to see Ian aiming his AR as the Battle Bot left the recharging station and plowed through the mound of gore that surrounded its playground.

  With guns trained on it, the Battle Bot drove across the field and stopped at the tree line where the creek was. “Guys, the shredder wasn’t even on,” Lance sighed, tapping the keyboard.

  “Don’t care,” Ian replied, lowering his AR but keeping the stock on his shoulder.

  “Ian, you and Jennifer light the playground, and Lilly and I will wash it,” Lance offered, closing his laptop.

  “Fine with me,” Ian grunted, and Lilly almost asked to trade jobs with Ian as Jennifer climbed out.

  Handing Jennifer the 10/22, “Use this if stinkers show up,” Lance said. Jennifer took the .22, but slung it over her shoulder, having no intention of letting her AR go as long as she could see the Battle Bot.

  Giving a groan while he shook his head, “Lilly, pull over so we can wash it,” Lance sighed, and noticed Lilly was driving with her left hand. Her right hand held the pistol grip of her AR resting across her lap. “I shut it down!” Lance cried out.

  Pulling over to the Battle Bot, Lilly nodded. “And I’m sure you did, but that thing scares the shit out of me,” she confessed with no shame whatsoever.

  “It killed over eight thousand stinkers and we didn’t have to do anything,” Lance moaned as she stopped twenty yards away.

  “On the inside, I love it, but on the outside, I’m terrified of the Battle Bot.”

  Climbing out and mumbling, Lance pulled the pressure washer off the front while Lilly climbed out, gripping her AR and waiting for the Battle Bot to move. “Lilly,” Lance snapped, making her jump. “Watch for stinkers and other trouble. You can be scared of Battle Bot when I turn it back on.”

  Always keeping the bot in her peripheral vision, Lilly looked around while Ian tossed a flaming ball toward the mound. Before the ball landed a whoosh sounded as the hydrogen sulfide the stinkers put off ignited, and Lilly felt the air rush past her as the colorless flame shot around the playground and then over the blood-soaked center. “Now I know why the markers and recharging station were made from thick metal,” she mumbled in awe as Ian and Jennifer ran back, getting away from the heat.

  There was very little smoke or visible flame for the first few seconds since the fire was burning so hot, then greenish blue flames covered the area with just a trace of smoke. Hearing a suppressed shot, Lilly turned to see Jennifer shooting a stinker on the road beside the playground.

  “I told her to use the .22,” Lance fumed behind Lilly. Lilly turned to see Lance plugging the pressure washer up to the buggy. “Crank the buggy. We haven’t used the batteries running the outlets by themselves.”

  Moving over, Lilly turned the buggy on and heard the soft hum of the diesel engine. When Lance turned the pressure washer on, Lilly jumped at hearing a humming and brought her AR to her shoulder, swinging the barrel toward the bot. Seeing Lance was just testing the sprayer wand, Lilly lowered her AR.

  While Lance started washing the bot off, Lilly raised her AR to shoot a stinker on the road and heard Dino growl behind her. Turning around, she saw a stinker on the other side of the creek. It was stopped, grasping at them in the air.

  Putting her crosshairs on the stinker’s forehead, Lilly squeezed the trigger. She smiled, watching the head pop like a grape. Patting Dino, Lilly kept scanning but never really took her eyes off the bot unless she was shooting.

  In thirty minutes, Lance turned the pressure washer off and Lilly nodded, very impressed. The Battle Bot was clean again. Watching Lance walk toward the front of the Battle Bot, Lilly raised her rifle to aim at the back where she knew the electric motors were.

  Leaning over, Lance inspected the rows of metal teeth. “I was expecting more wear,” Lance called out, picking out something and Lilly saw it was a finger wearing a gold wedding band. Taking the ring off, Lance tossed the finger away.

  Ian and Lance collected any precious metal and Lilly understood they used them in circuits and such, but it still felt wrong to watch Lance toss the ring in the back of the buggy. “Two points,” Lance sang out.

  Watching Lance reach in the rows of metal teeth up to his shoulder, Lilly almost flipped her safety off. When Lance stood up holding a foot connected to an ankle, Lilly felt nauseous. Lance tossed the appendage away with indifference. “You are a messy eater, but that’s okay,” Lance told the Battle Bot, patting the teeth on the drums.

  When Lance walked from the front of the bot, Lilly sighed with relief, lowering her AR. They both looked over at the playground and saw it was almost out. “Grind ‘em up and they do burn better,” Lance rejoiced, and Lilly could tell by his voice he was smiling.

  “Load the washer, I’ll cover,” Lilly told him.

  Grabbing the washer, Lance saw Lilly staring at the bot again. “Lilly, stinkers first,” Lance reminded her, carrying the washer over and strapping it to the front. Nodding but keeping one eye on the Battle Bot, Lilly kept her AR stock to her shoulder.

  When the washer was loaded, Lance moved to the passenger side and before he climbed in Lilly ran over, letting her AR hang under her arm. Jumping behind the steering wheel, Lilly was waiting for Lance to get in.

  Sitting down, Lance noticed Lilly already in and still staring at the bot. Giving up, Lance opened the laptop. “Lance, you turn that fucking thing on with us this close, you and I will be stepping outside when we get back,” Lilly informed him, looking at the Battle Bot.

  Now all shiny, the Battle Bot seemed more sinister, like it wanted to be covered in blood, to Lilly’s mind. “Pull over and pick them up,” Lance chuckled.

  Stomping the accelerator, the tires threw up dirt getting the buggy away from the bot. Neither Ian nor Jennifer moved toward the buggy, and just waited for Lilly to reach them. “Pull up and out to the road,” Lance said, shocking everyone. “Let’s take a peek at Girdler and see how many stinkers are there.”

  None of them liked the idea, but wanted the hell away from the Battle Bot. Lilly drove out to the road and stopped as Lance tapped the keyboard. Again, everyone jumped when the bot moved, spinning around and driving back to the playground.

  When it reached the playground, Lance tapped more keys and the Battle Bot pulled over to the recharging point, throwing the ashes of its victims into the air. After it backed up and shut down, everyone breathed easier.

  Closing the laptop, “Onward, James,” Lance sang out, putting the laptop under his seat.

  Not arguing or saying anything, Lilly sped off down the road. “Lilly, the dogs can’t run that fast,” Lance said calmly, and Lilly slowed, looking out until the dogs caught up. The last light left the sky while they rode down the road, and everyone pulled on NVGs.

  Fifteen minutes later, they neared the town of Girdler and Lance laughed. “Now, I like this,” he said, only seeing half a dozen stinkers. “I don’t know how many were here, the last time we looked.”

  “Several thousand?” Ian offered from the backseat.

  “Ian, can the buggy pull a trailer?” Lance asked
.

  “Yeah, I designed it to haul loads up to fifteen hundred pounds, but I don’t want to pull one through the woods because electric motors don’t like that shit,” Ian answered.

  Motioning for Lilly to stop, “How about we load a trailer and haul it to the load up spot we use east of the cabin? We can leave it there and pick it up with the four-wheeler,” Lance suggested.

  “That’s good,” Ian nodded.

  “Lance, we don’t have a trailer,” Lilly informed him.

  Pointing off the road at a co-op, “They do,” Lance grinned, looking at a row of trailers.

  “You two shop, Jennifer and I will watch the area,” Lilly said, pulling into the parking lot. In reality, she wanted to make sure Battle Bot wasn’t following them. There was no doubt in her mind, she and Jennifer would shoot the machine.

  After hooking up to a twelve-foot trailer, Lilly moved to the door. “Lilly, pick the lock,” Lance said, getting out and raising his AR, snapping off five quick shots and dropping five stinkers.

  “Show off,” Lilly mumbled, getting out. Since she was still getting the hang of it, Lilly didn’t get the door open for ten minutes.

  Lance grabbed her arm when she opened the door. “You will clear with me,” Lance told her, pulling his .22 pistol out.

  Nodding, Lilly moved her AR under her arm and pulled her .22 pistol out. It didn’t take them long and Lance told Lilly to head out. Lance and Ian grabbed every roll of barbed wire the store had. Then, they started loading other stuff.

  Stacking rolls of electrical wire on, Ian looked at the trailer riding low. “Lance, this trailer won’t hold much more,” Ian said when Lance put an armload on the trailer.

  Glancing at the trailer Lance nodded, then turned to the parking lot. “How many have you killed?” Lance asked.

  Lilly and Jennifer talked for a second and Jennifer looked back as Lilly shot two more stinkers. “One hundred and seventy-four now,” Jennifer called out.

  “Let’s drop the trailer off and deliver the invitation to the bear trap people,” Lance said, and Ian nodded before patting the stacks of barbed wire.