Dark Crossing

by Thomas A. Watson

  Keeping her eye on the scope, Jennifer snickered and relayed for Lilly as Lance walked back to the trailer. Ian grabbed a duffel bag and headed for the front door while Lance just opened the door and walked in. “Dude, if they would’ve booby-trapped that door, you would’ve been toast,” Ian pointed out, walking up on the deck as Dino jumped out and ran into the house. He saw two men walk around the corner of the trailer. Giving a wave, Ian stepped inside.

  “A blast would’ve hurt them,” Lance shrugged, looking around. He could tell the bear trap people had ransacked the trailer, but other than that, it was in good shape. Moving around the living room, Lance started covering windows.

  Walking over to a counter, Ian set the duffle bag down and pulled out a battery-operated light. A man in his mid-thirties stuck his head in, watching the two cover windows. “We showed up,” he said in a low voice.

  “Want to help cover the windows, so stinkers won’t see the light?” Lance asked. “My sniper teams don’t like rushing their shots, and a stinker trotting makes them rush. Don’t mind the dog and leave him alone because he attacks.”

  The man turned around and waved behind him, then came inside while staying far away from Dino and helped pull curtains and blinds. Lance turned to the door as two more men and a young boy came inside. “Close the door, please,” Lance said, and the young boy closed the door. “Ian, turn the light on.”

  Ian turned on the small battery lamp, filling the living room and kitchen with soft light. The three men and boy jumped back, looking at Lance and Ian. The gray skulls on their black masks looked medieval. Then they saw them flip up the four tube NVGs connected to their helmets. The group’s eyes ran down to their chests, seeing the tactical vests with gear and magazines galore. Across each ones’ chest was the M4 with the grenade launcher, but Lance insisted on overkill.

  Along with the ACOG scope, a thermal was mounted in front of it. A laser flashlight combo was mounted beside the fore grip and topped off with a suppressor on the muzzle. To be honest, the M4 looked like it would take out a tank. Then the four noticed the 3D scent suit.

  “That scent-proof suit work?” asked the first man with light brown hair.

  “Wouldn’t be wearing the hot fucker if it didn’t,” Lance answered, taking off his helmet. The four relaxed, seeing Ian take off his also and then they both took off their masks. “I’m Lance, my partner is Ian.”

  “Glad to meet you, I’m Heath,” Heath said, slowly realizing they were teenagers.

  “Lights are on, are we visible?” Lance called over the radio.

  “No,” Lilly called back.

  Nodding around the room, Lance walked into the kitchen and pulled out a chair before sitting down. “Teams say they don’t see the light.”

  Heath looked from Lance to Ian in wonder. He could tell they were teenagers, but not how old. With the equipment they had on, it was hard to tell how big they were, but Heath knew that gear was heavy, yet the two moved gracefully. One thing he could tell was both boys had thick necks with bulges of muscles on each side. But it was the confidence that seemed to ooze into the air around them that confused him.

  Looking at Heath, Lance shook his head and then spoke slowly, “It’s customary for you to introduce your group after I introduced mine.”

  “Apologies,” Heath said, then pointed at the boy. “This is my boy, Denny. Next is my brother, Dwain,” Heath said, pointing to a man with brown hair who looked a few years younger.

  “Last is my cousin’s husband, Grady,” Heath said, pointing to the last man who looked the same age as Heath but had black hair.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Lance said, waving at the chairs around the table and pulled off his small backpack. Opening his pack, Lance pulled out a map, his tablet, and a few other things. “Glad to see your group has made it.”

  Sitting down across from Lance, “I was wantin’ to know, how long have you known about us?” Heath asked.

  “Second or third week when this started?” Lance asked, looking at Ian as he sat down.

  Thinking for a second, “I want to say third,” Ian said. “We found your bear traps and that’s what we call your group.”

  The three men’s mouths fell open, looking from Lance to Ian. Denny was just staring in awestruck wonder at them. “Yeah, the Devil Lords found you a few weeks later,” Lance lied, but all of them jumped at hearing the name. “Don’t worry, we killed the group staying in the house before they told the others.”

  All three visibly paled, staring at Lance. “Bones was a little bitch,” Ian laughed.

  “They found us?” Heath asked.

  “Duh,” Lance said. “That’s why we went ahead and hit them early. We thought you knew something and then we saw you at this trailer, ransacking it with stinkers swarming you. Why in the hell were you driving a side by side that wasn’t dampened? Stinkers love noise.”

  “You saw that?” Dwain asked.

  Leaning over the table, “Okay, guys,” Ian said, looking around at the four. “If we say something, believe it. Yes, we saw you and I want to be the first to say, that redhead can shoot a fucking crossbow,” he said proudly.

  “That’s our younger sister, Rhonda,” Heath proclaimed, smiling with pride.

  “Oh, the one on the ridge?” Lance asked, and Heath’s smile fell off. “Heath, if we wanted to hurt you, you would be dead. We’ve gone through great pains to make sure the bad ones we are watching haven’t found you.”

  “Soldiers of the New Dawn were heading here, but we killed them,” Ian told them.

  “That white supremacist group?” Grady asked, and Ian nodded. “We’re white.”

  “We’ve watched them rape white men, dude. They want fuckers to bow to them,” Lance huffed. “Now, I’m glad you read my letter and baffled your four-wheelers.”

  “Thank you for the instructions,” Heath said, nodding.

  “Oh,” Lance sang out, lifting his hand up and pointing at the ceiling. “Why in the hell do you pull your guard in at night?”

  “I have to go to bed,” Denny replied, looking down.

  “You’re the only one that pulls guard?!” Ian cried out.

  “Lance, tell Ian to stop yelling, it hurts Jennifer’s ears,” Lilly called over the radio.

  Reaching over and grabbing Ian’s arm before he continued yelling, “Dude, you’re yelling in your girl’s ear and she said stop,” Lance told him.

  “You’re transmitting this?” Grady snapped.

  Rolling his eyes, Lance looked over at Heath. “I take it, Grady came from the shallow end of the family gene pool?” Lance professed.

  Heath snorted, trying not to laugh as Lance turned to Grady. “Yes, the teams outside need to know what’s going on and if you try something,” Lance said slowly, then turned to Heath. “You don’t have any night vision devices, do you?”

  “Um, no,” Heath said as Grady groaned.

  “You don’t tell them stuff like that,” Grady snapped, and Dino let out a low growl from the living room.

  Holding his hand to his ear, “Grady, shut the fuck up,” Lance snapped, listening to Lilly on his earbud. “Heath, Rhonda has three stinkers a hundred yards to the west of them moving east,” Lance said, looking up at Heath. “One team has a shot but will lose it soon. Do you want me to tell them to take the shot?”

  Lifting his radio to his mouth, “Rhonda, you have stinkers coming in from the west, a hundred yards away,” Heath called over his radio and Lance motioned with his hand for Heath to speed up.

  “We had some deer run by, but I don’t see any stinkers,” Rhonda’s voice said over the radio.

  Looking at Lance, “Rhonda, don’t move,” Heath said over the radio and released the button. “Tell your snipers to take ‘em.”

  “Take ‘em,” Lance called out.

  “Heath, someone just shot a stinker. I can’t see it, but I heard its head pop a…” Rhonda stopped, and Heath’s face broke out in sweat. “They just killed two more, I heard them moaning and then popping he
ads.”

  “Heath, can you tell them to come down, so my snipers can just cover us? The trees are too thick there to watch them closely,” Lance more instructed than asked.

  “No,” Grady snapped. “They could be planning something.”

  “Grady, shut your trap,” Dwain said as Heath radioed Rhonda to come to the trailer.

  Unplugging his earbud from the radio, “Spotters coming down,” Lance called over the radio.

  “About time. We were getting worried about them,” Lilly’s voice sounded out of the speaker. “The smaller one just fell down hard, but Rhonda is picking her up.”

  “Thank you,” Heath said. “The smaller one is my daughter, Lori.”

  Waiting on Rhonda, Lance unfolded the map and turned on the tablet. Denny leaned over with wide eyes, looking at the tablet. “I miss mine,” Denny said with remorse.

  Lance turned to Heath. “Can I ask why Denny is the only one pulling guard? You don’t have that many traps and fences around you,” Lance said.

  “We have a lot of work to do,” Grady snapped.

  Leaning back in his chair, Lance turned to Grady. “I’m being polite, but that’s about to end. If you want some just let me know, and I’ll give you more than you could ever handle. I will monkey-stomp a mudhole in your ass and walk it dry.”

  “You’re just a kid. For all we know, you are setting us up to take the girls!” Grady shouted.

  “Bitch! My woman is twenty-four, a veterinarian and so fine, she can make a blind man see!” Lance stood up and shouted, and the room was deathly quiet.

  “Oh, buddy, we are curling up on the couch when we get home,” Lilly’s voice said over the radio as Lance stared into Grady’s face. “Lance, Jennifer says she can hear me, do you have your radio out?”

  Reaching to his PTT slowly and never taking his eyes off Grady, “Yeah, wanted them to know our snipers were taking care of their watchers,” Lance almost growled.

  “Lance, don’t kill the one who pissed you off. We have shit to do. If they are assholes, just come on and we can get done and curl up on the couch,” Lilly told him.

  “Hold on!” Heath cried out in horror, standing up and holding out his hands. “Grady, shut up or leave. But if you leave, pack your shit and get out of the house. Brenda can stay.”

  Grady looked at Heath in shock. “I’m trying to help,” Grady mumbled.

  “Jennifer says Grady sounds like a bitch,” Lilly called over the radio and everyone except Grady busted out laughing.

  “Lance, I’m sorry. You’ve been nothing but honest and I’m grateful,” Heath said, and Dwain interrupted.

  “No, we are grateful,” Dwain corrected.

  “Thank you,” Lance said, sitting back down as he stopped laughing.

  “Watchers are almost to you. Open the door, so Rhonda doesn’t have to put the little one down,” Lilly called out.

  Denny ran to the door and opened it. Rhonda was five-seven and robust, with a rack that would make Dolly Parton blush. In her arms was a skinny, blonde teenage girl holding her left knee. “You okay, Lori?” Heath asked.

  “Yeah, Dad. Rhonda wouldn’t let me walk, but I can,” Lori groaned.

  Rhonda put Lori on the couch and walked into the kitchen, and Heath looked at Lance. “So, your letter said something about helping each other,” Heath said, getting comfortable in his chair.

  “Yes,” Lance nodded, grabbing a grease pencil and drawing a one-mile half circle to the north of Heath’s house. “You patrol that area and we will patrol this,” Lance said and drew a three-mile circle behind Heath’s.

  Feeling lightheaded, Heath looked up at him in shock, “We haven’t been that far. We’ve only managed to get some food from a few houses close by. Only Rhonda has been far from the house when she hunts.”

  “Yeah, we know, and it’s wearing us out,” Lance said. “You have to keep the area around you pacified. We aren’t saying to take on big groups, but taking out singles and doubles wears the stinker population down.”

  “You also need to fortify your house. More specifically, the area around it,” Ian added.

  Nodding, “We started that today after reading your letter on how the stinkers follow the contour of the land,” Heath said. “It’s slow-going because we don’t have power and have to do everything by hand.”

  “You have solar panels,” Lance said. Before Grady could say something, Heath stopped him.

  “Yes,” Heath said, glaring at Grady and then turned back to Lance. “They barely supply enough to keep the water going.”

  “Shit, if I was you, I would move one ridge over to this house,” Lance said, pointing at the map.

  Everyone leaned over to look where he pointed. “That’s Mr. Marcelo’s house,” Rhonda gasped in awe.

  “I don’t know whose it is,” Lance shrugged.

  “It ain’t ours,” Heath pointed out.

  Flopping back in his chair, “Heath, dead fuckers are walking. The old world is dead. You are taking stuff from houses that aren’t yours,” Lance said. “That house is brick. I can’t remember how many bedrooms, but it’s a bunch. You would be at the top of a wide draw and have ten acres of flat land around the house for your animals and a greenhouse. There is already a fence around it. But most important, there is a stream running beside the house you can use for power.”

  “Um, do you know how?” Heath asked timidly.

  Giving a long sigh, Lance leaned over the table, grabbing a notepad and pen. “Okay, if, and I mean if, you are willing to work on patrolling, we will help set you up some power,” Lance offered very reluctantly as he made a list. “This is going to set us back, but our group needs help patrolling, so we can kill off the gangs first and then the stinkers around here.”

  “We will help,” Dwain said quickly. It amazed him how Lance and Ian looked at them as a hindrance they really didn’t want. The fact they were adults didn’t impress Lance or Ian, and they made no qualms to hide that fact. Under no illusions, Dwain knew his group needed Lance and Ian more than they needed his group.

  Giving a long sigh, Lance tore off one sheet and then started writing again. “Have those supplies in four days, and we will set you up with a 10-kilowatt power station. This next list will take longer, and it will be for hydro-power,” Lance said, and Ian reached over to slide the first list to Heath.

  Heath read the list and furrowed his brow. “Don’t ask,” Ian warned. “Lance isn’t in the mood to explain the Sterling engine.”

  “You’re sure it works?” Heath asked.

  “Yeah,” Ian laughed. “We have a robot down the road from you that uses it to recharge.”

  Denny stood up, leaning over the table. “What does the robot do?”

  “Kills stinkers,” Ian grinned, and Denny looked from Ian to Lance. In Denny’s eyes, the two just moved from awestruck to god-like status.

  “How many stinkers has this robot killed?” Rhonda asked.

  Still writing, “Eight thousand, six hundred and twenty-two, as of yesterday,” Lance informed them. “We haven’t checked today.”

  They all stared at Lance writing and then as one, they all turned to Ian. “If you see a machine surrounded by blood and guts, don’t get near it. They chase movement, but we have them set up in perimeters that they don’t leave. And whatever you do, don’t touch the power station or you will die when it shocks the shit out of you.”

  Lance tore the page off and passed it to Heath. “That will give you all the power you need, if you move to where there’s water,” Lance said. “If you don’t, the other will supply you.”

  Looking over at Dwain and then to Rhonda, Heath turned to Lance. “What happens if Mr. Marcelo comes home?” Heath asked.

  “That’s his loss. If you don’t kill him, call us and we’ll cap his ass,” Ian chuckled. “If you move in, it’s yours. Now, if you run a family out of a house, we will come looking for you.”

  Leaning over the table, Heath held out his hand. “We’ll help,” he said.

&nbs
p; “Heath, lower your hand because we aren’t finished,” Lance told him. “You can’t go south because we have the woods and several roads booby-trapped in this war with the Devil Lords and the Soldiers of the New Dawn, or as we call them ‘little dicks’ and ‘Nazis’. Yes, our compound is south, but you will die long before you find it,” Lance told him, tapping his tablet.

  Turning it around, Heath and the others stared at the screen showing the claymore explosion. They all jumped, seeing the dead and wounded. “I’m telling you this for your own good. When you get good enough to fight gangs like that, we will show you where to go,” Lance said, turning the tablet back toward him.

  Even though he was the oldest in the room, Heath felt intimidated on every level compared to Lance and Ian. Neither of them considered anyone in his group even a remote threat. He could see it on their faces. Both knew they were good enough to kill all of them before they were in danger. At one time, every teen acted like they were invincible, but Heath could tell it was no act with Ian and Lance. They knew they were badasses and didn’t have a problem showing it.

  “Heath,” Ian said, and they all turned to Ian. “That’s why we need help patrolling. We want you to start with a small area until you learn. But that one small area will help us greatly.”

  “Why aren’t your parents here?” Grady asked. “How do we know they will honor what you promise?”

  “We speak for our group,” Lance answered, staring at Grady with uncaring eyes.

  “Let us hear this from them,” Grady said, seeing Heath wasn’t objecting. “Bring your parents here.”

  “Why?” Lance snapped. “You want my dad to fuck you and get you pregnant?”

  Throwing his head back, Denny fell out of his chair, laughing hysterically. “Grady, your best bet is to shut up before we just leave. Worst case scenario is Lance caps your ass before we leave,” Ian said, grinning as he watched Denny rolling on the floor and laughing.

  “We are in,” Heath said, holding his hand out. “Through thick or thin.”

  “‘Man card’ rules,” Lance replied, holding out his hand and shaking Heath’s. Then Heath shook Ian’s hand. “There’s a house at the top of the draw from this trailer. From now on, that is the clubhouse where we meet.”