Dark Crossing

by Thomas A. Watson

  “Lilly and I are taking the real UTV, right?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yeah, heavy loads strain the electric motors too hard,” Ian answered, and Jennifer clapped before running for the ATV shed.

  With a huge smile, Jennifer drove over the big side by side. Like the others it was quiet but couldn’t hold a candle to the electric ATVs. Pulling over a twelve-foot empty trailer, Lance and Ian hooked it up. “You two are sure you will be fine providing sniper coverage?” Lance asked, dragging his forearm across his forehead. Loading the gear onto the trailer connected to the buggy, Lance and Ian strapped it down.

  “Yeah, I’m on the gun and Lilly will be covering my ass,” Jennifer grinned.

  “Okay, let’s get ready because I want to run something by everybody when we get to the storage house,” Lance said.

  “What?” Ian asked, and Jennifer’s mouth fell open.

  “You don’t know?” Jennifer asked, and Ian shook his head. Looking at Lance, Jennifer grinned. “I’m so proud you are asking all of us at once! I forgo kicking your ass,” she sang out and almost skipped to the back door.

  “Dude, she was ready to stomp your ass,” Ian hissed as they walked to the cabin.

  “Yeah, for a minute there, I was actually worried,” Lance chuckled.

  Chapter 7

  “Why are you and Lance changing weapons?” Jennifer asked Ian as they walked out the back door.

  “To impress,” Ian said, cradling the M4 with a M203 grenade launcher. “It’s not like we haven’t taken them out before.”

  Glancing over at Ian as they headed to the buggy, “This is ‘man card’ shit, isn’t it?” Jennifer asked rolling her eyes.

  “Big time,” Ian grinned.

  Grabbing Ian’s hand, “Sorry, no kisses with the mask on,” Jennifer said, looking at Ian’s mask. Like Lilly, she didn’t like the painted skulls.

  Letting Jennifer’s hand go, “Let’s see what Lance wants to talk about,” Ian said, heading to the buggy. Lance was already in the passenger seat and Dino was sitting in the backseat behind Lance.

  Jennifer ran over, climbing in the gasoline side by side and Lilly was in the driver’s seat. Jumping in, Jennifer turned to George in the backseat. “George, you’d better not growl at a raccoon again,” Jennifer warned.

  “I’m just glad he didn’t take off,” Lilly said, starting the engine.

  As Lilly followed Ian to the front, Jennifer reached up to pat the M14 on the dash. “I’m shooting something with this,” Jennifer giggled.

  “I’m getting you a ‘man card’,” Lilly chuckled as Ian stopped. Lance got out and helped Carrie open the gates.

  “Lance and Ian hardly ever let me shoot the M14. When you hit a stinker in the head, it pops like a grape,” Jennifer giggled as Lilly followed Ian out the gates.

  Glancing around when she stopped, “Jennifer, you have ten magazines for the M14. That’s two hundred rounds,” Lilly said as Carrie closed the outer gate. Everyone was looking around, covering Carrie.

  “Ian wouldn’t let me bring any more,” Jennifer pouted.

  Lance jogged past them while Carrie ran for the cabin, and Lilly gripped the steering wheel. “I’m not getting in that one,” Lilly chuckled.

  Following Ian around the fence, Lilly missed the power of a real engine as she followed Ian up the ridge behind the cabin. “I can’t believe the Devil Lords actually breached the Nazi compound,” Jennifer said as Lilly followed Ian along the diversion fence.

  “It took them six hours and from what little we saw from the Nazi security cameras, the Devil Lords paid dearly for it,” Lilly empathized as she slowed. She watched Ian ease into the chute, carefully following the twist and turns. The trailer Ian was pulling only hit a few trees before Ian cleared the chute. When Lilly pulled through, she was proud she’d only hit the same trees Ian had.

  Driving down the hill to the second house and barn that sat over the ridge behind the cabin, Lilly slowed while watching Ian weave around a hole. They always tried to take different paths, so they didn’t leave ruts, but there were only so many places their rides could go. When they were hauling full loads, they took the easiest routes.

  “Seems like forever ago when Lance and Ian cleared this place the first time,” Jennifer said, gripping her AR. “I never told them, but me and the ladybugs never left the bunker when they went on that first patrol.”

  Slowing so she wouldn’t hit Ian’s trailer, “I wish I would’ve made it to you sooner,” Lilly sighed.

  “I don’t,” Jennifer snapped, and Lilly hit the brakes and looked over at Jennifer. “Lilly, if you had moved faster, we wouldn’t have been on that ridge and the Devil Lords would’ve got you.”

  A cold fear gripped Lilly, realizing it was luck that intervened in changing her fate. Taking her foot off the brake, “No, I meant, I wish I could’ve joined you sooner. I feel bad not being there with all of you in the beginning,” Lilly explained as Ian pulled out of the trees.

  As Lilly pulled out of the trees, Jennifer snorted. “The boys would’ve died seeing your hooters,” Jennifer chuckled softly.

  “What?” Lilly asked, following Ian to the barn and stopping.

  “Nothing,” Jennifer said, getting out.

  Everyone moved over to Lance as he looked around. “Guys, I want to propose that we set this house up to use, putting our weapons together. I want anyone who sees it, to think it’s occupied.”

  Ian groaned, “We aren’t even finished with the cabin or our research area, and you want to start something that big?”

  “Ian, some of the gear we have planned can’t be taken from the cabin; our road out isn’t big enough,” Lance explained. Instantly, Lilly and Jennifer started getting worried about what they were planning to build. “I’m not talking about fortifying, just appearing to. Like surrounding it with diversion fences, putting up some of the parabolic power stations for electricity, and running a line over the ridge for cameras.”

  Waving his hand out at the ridge they’d just come down, “Lance, that’s over a mile to the cabin,” Ian snapped.

  “Hold on, Ian,” Lilly said, moving in front of Lance. “Besides putting together these creations from hell, what’s your real reason? I know your research area is for testing. What, we don’t know and to be honest, I don’t really want to,” Lilly admitted. The fact neither talked much about work done at the research area terrified her.

  Taking a deep breath, “We are contacting people. Sooner or later, one of them will get curious. If they see some activity here, they will believe they have found us,” Lance said. “I want to trust them, but trust is earned, not given. Lilly, we are testing bigger weapons, traps and seeing just how much hydrogen sulfide the stinkers put out in our research area. I really don’t want that anywhere but outside the diversion fence.”

  Only able to see Lance’s eyes, Lilly saw the uneasiness Lance felt when he spoke of the research area. “I’ll help, and if you need help in your research area, I’ll chip in,” Lilly offered with a shiver, really not wanting anywhere near the research area. “I’m not a member, so I can’t vote.”

  “I’m a member,” Jennifer said, hitting Ian’s arm. “I vote yes on working this area. It will keep us safer. I’ll help in the research area but only if you really need it.”

  Ian looked over at Lance and nodded. “We always back each other, brother. I vote yes,” Ian said then turned to Jennifer. “If we need help I’ll come and get you but with other bodies there someone might get hurt. Lance and I can watch out for each other,” Ian told her. Just hearing that, Jennifer didn’t want to go anywhere near the research area. They were scared of their own research area.

  “The barn has a welder and other stuff. We don’t have to bust ass, just do a little bit at a time,” Lance pointed out, heading to the house. It was a nice brick house and unlike the first house they’d cleared, this one was untouched. They had been back to take anything they needed, but the structure was in good condition.

  “Can I ask, wha
t the hell is so big, you can’t get it down the road from the cabin?” Jennifer asked. Like Lilly, she really didn’t want to know what was done in the research area.

  “A super stinker killer, but that one is further down the line,” Lance answered as they walked around.

  “Oh, shit,” Jennifer mumbled, following Lance while Ian pulled out a notepad, making notes. “I’m scared of your research area because you made killer robots inside our fence. Lord only knows what you two do down there.”

  Lilly nodded, watching Lance and Ian walk off talking. “A part of me wants to know, but another part really doesn’t want to know what they are doing in that research area,” Lilly confessed. “I know in my heart, the only reason they set that up was to protect us from what they were doing.”

  Scoffing, “Yeah, they aren’t worried about getting hurt,” Jennifer pointed out. They both knew where the research area was located. It was just outside the diversion fence, sitting on the crest of the ridge that overlooked the valley, the trail was a mile from the field below the cabin just past the diversion fence gate. The boys went there a lot. The fact they told the girls about it and warned them to never get near the ridge, but never asked the girls to go with them was what scared them. Lance and Ian were concerned about the stuff they were doing there possibly hurting Lilly and Jennifer.

  “Have you even asked what they are doing?” Lilly asked, glancing over at Jennifer.

  Shaking her head, “Not after they told me they were putting stinkers in metal coffins to collect hydrogen sulfide,” Jennifer answered. “I did ask Ian that night, how certain he was I might get hurt there, and he told me he was almost certain I would. That really scared the shit out of me and I stopped asking after that. Only one works while the other watches, not keeping guard but to make sure the one working doesn’t make a mistake. If we go that person would have to watch us and the person working.”

  Watching Lance and Ian point at the barn, “What scares me is Lance didn’t offer to put the research area here,” Lilly confessed. “You and I know they have hauled gear up there, but they don’t want anyone near the area or I should say, any from our group.”

  “Damn, didn’t think about that,” Jennifer admitted. “This would be a good place for the research area. It’s away from the cabin, but we come through here. The spot they have it at, none of us ever have to go there.” Staring at Lance and Ian with wide eyes, “Now I’m really terrified about what they do there,” Jennifer shivered.

  The sun was close to the horizon when Lance and Ian walked back over, and they gathered at the buggies. “We will call when we are set up,” Lilly said, starting the engine.

  “And we’ll make sure they haven’t gotten there early,” Jennifer said.

  “Of course, they are already there,” Lance snapped. “If they aren’t, we aren’t talking to them.”

  Jennifer shook her head, “Lilly, just go before I kill him with his ‘man card’.”

  Laughing, Lilly drove up the opposite hill they’d driven down. Lilly and Jennifer only had to go half a mile to the top of the hill that overlooked the valley the trailer sat in. Lance and Ian had to drive down to the road and circle the hill. They would travel two and a half miles to reach the same spot the girls would be overlooking five hundred yards away.

  A doe jumped out from some bushes as Lilly reached the ridge. “Yeah, it’s still quiet,” Lilly mumbled, steering toward a larger gap between the trees, so the trailer wouldn’t get wedged in. She stopped just back from the crest and turned off the engine.

  Almost vibrating, Jennifer shoved her AR across her back and yanked out the M14. Grabbing the tote bag with the magazines, Jennifer slung it on her shoulder as Lilly grabbed two ghillie blankets. Lilly looked at the shiny heat shield Lance and Ian had sewn in. “What are the odds the bear trap people have thermal?” Lilly asked, patting her leg for George to follow.

  “Who cares? I can’t see Lance or Ian under those blankets with thermal,” Jennifer chuckled, grabbing one and throwing it over her head like a shroud.

  “You lead,” Lilly said, gripping her AR. Following Jennifer through the woods, Lilly had to admit, Jennifer was good. When they reached the crest, Jennifer turned on the thermal scope as she knelt down and waited for it to warm up.

  Slowly, she raised the heavy rifle up and looked across the valley to the ridge behind the trailer. On the other side of that ridge was where the bear trap people lived. “Got two,” Jennifer said, feeling her arms shaking from holding the rifle up.

  Swinging the rifle along the ridge and then down to the trailer, “Four behind the trailer, and they have two four-wheelers,” Jennifer added, lowering the rifle.

  Pulling the bipod legs out, Jennifer lay prone and moved up behind the rifle. Setting down her gear, Lilly went prone beside her, “George, lay,” Lilly said softly. When George lay beside her, Lilly grabbed her PTT. “Four with rides near meeting area and two peeking from ridge behind meeting area,” Lilly called out softly.

  “Copy, rolling,” Lance called back.

  “Nobody moved when you were on the radio,” Jennifer observed, looking through the thermal.

  Grabbing the spotting scope, Lilly set up fast as the light started fading. Looking at the far ridge, “Where are the watchers?” Lilly asked.

  “See that bare spot near the ridge? Move thirty yards north and you will see an opening in the trees under the ridge. They are next to that big tree,” Jennifer replied, and Lilly quickly found them.

  “Okay, I have two. Both are female, one has red hair and is using binoculars. The other is a teen with blonde hair,” Lilly said, then moved her scope to the trailer. “Are the ones behind the trailer in the trees?”

  “Yeah, but they peek out,” Jennifer answered. “Look to the far right at the tree line and you will see the four-wheelers.”

  “Got ‘em,” Lilly said. “Looks like they made improvement to the four-wheelers since the last time I saw them.”

  “Yeah, Ian said Lance gave them some pointers in the letter. To build trust was his reason,” Jennifer scoffed, never taking her eye off the scope. “That’s just the nice way Lance says, ‘you’re an idiot’.”

  Putting the spotting scope up, Lilly pulled out the thermal binoculars and scanned all the way around them. “Have stinkers on the road coming in from the east, heading for the trailer,” Lilly said.

  Swinging the rifle around, “Got ‘em,” Jennifer reported. “Lilly, set up the scanner and then watch those two at the top.”

  Pulling out the scanner, Lilly took her hunter’s ear out and put the earbud to the scanner in. Turning it on, Lilly lifted the thermal binoculars. Zooming in on the two figures nine hundred yards away on the ridge, “Got ‘em,” Lilly said.

  Jennifer reached up, dialing in the scope and let out a slow breath but then stopped, holding half of it. Resting the crosshairs on the lead stinker’s head, Jennifer slowly squeezed the trigger. When the rifle bucked against her, Jennifer gave a startle as the suppressed cough rang out and the sonic crack of the bullet broke the quiet. In her scope, Jennifer grinned from watching the stinker’s head vanish.

  “That’s so fucking cool,” Jennifer grinned, moving the crosshairs to the next stinker.

  “Okay, red is looking,” Lilly reported, staring at the two and seeing them turn to the road. Because of the size difference, Lilly knew who red was in the thermal binoculars.

  Jennifer slowly squeezed the trigger and was again, startled by the cough and buck of the rifle. “I shot his fucking head off,” Jennifer giggled, watching the body drop and the head roll around on the road.

  “She’s got a radio,” Lilly said as the earbud to the scanner came to life.

  “Two stinkers just got shot up the road,” a very country female voice said.

  “How far away?” a male voice asked.

  “It looks like they are down just past the Edwards’ house,” the female answered. “I’m losing light fast and can’t see with my binoculars.”

  “Rhond
a, you see anything on the ridge across from us?” the male asked.

  “No, and Lori and I have been watching. Those shots had to come from down in the valley,” Rhonda answered. “Heath, they have to be using a silencer because we woulda seen someone shooting a bow.”

  “Okay, let us know when you see someone coming,” Heath told her.

  “They saw you shoot the stinkers, but not where from. The redhead’s name is Rhonda and the man she’s talking to at the trailer is Heath,” Lilly reported, pulling the scanner bud out and letting it rest beside her ear canal. She really wanted to hear around her.

  “Call the boys and tell them,” Jennifer said, now aiming back near the trailer.

  Lilly updated the boys and then Lance called back, “At the road and heading to trailer.”

  “They see you,” Lilly said, hearing Rhonda radio Heath. “They are confused about the evil-looking buggy pulling a trailer.”

  “I’m surprised they can see us if they don’t have NVGs,” Lance called back.

  “They must have good optics but even with those, they won’t see anything in a few more minutes,” Lilly told him.

  “Copy. We see the trailer and Ian is switching to alternate channel,” Lance called out.

  “I have them covered,” Jennifer said softly. “And I’m changing to alternate channel.”

  “You are covered and be careful,” Lilly said as Ian slowed down.

  Pulling off the road, Ian just drove through the ditch to stop in the front yard. “Wonder how long we have to wait until they come out?” Ian asked, climbing out. Turning the channel on his radio, Ian left it keyed, so Jennifer could hear what was said.

  Looking around with his NVGs down, “We have shit to do,” Lance grumbled, walking to the end of the trailer. He stepped out from the trailer and looked at the backyard to the tree line. “Hey! We know you four are back there, come on! We have shit to do and don’t have all night!”