“We a-,” Lance started, and Jennifer raised her hand to stop him.
“Lilly,” Jennifer called over her shoulder, but didn’t take her eyes off Lance. “Have they not been working their asses off?”
“Since I’ve gotten here, neither one has stopped to breathe,” Lilly answered.
Dropping her hand, “Lance, am I your friend?” Jennifer asked.
“Jennifer, you know you are. I classify you as a buddy,” Lance chuckled.
Grinning broadly, “Thank you,” Jennifer sang out. “And Ian’s told me he loves me.”
“‘Bout damn time,” Lance mumbled as Ian blushed.
“Now, Lance, we know you care about Lilly, so do you love the ladybugs?” Jennifer asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Giving a long sigh, “Yeah, but they are determined to drive me insane,” Lance admitted.
“Lance, we are running ourselves into the ground just trying to keep up with you two,” Jennifer informed him and saw Lance about to speak and threw a hand out to stop him. “Don’t say we don’t have to, or you fight all of us here and now.” Jennifer warned, and Lance snapped his mouth shut. “We don’t mind, but we’ve all noticed you two are showing signs of overwork. It’s not a bad thing working all day, but this group can take some of the load off, if they do nothing other than patrol that one area.”
“Dude,” Ian said, walking over. “Listen to her. She had me convinced in five seconds.”
“So, you agree?” Lance asked, and Ian nodded. “Did she cheat by giving you smooches?”
“Only after I admitted she was right,” Ian laughed, and put an arm around Jennifer.
Looking over at Lilly, she smiled at Lance. “I’ll give you smooches if it will change your mind,” she told him.
“I’ll take the smooches, but after the workout, get the track steer and load up the battery and dish on the trailers,” Lance chuckled. “We can take the stuff over after Ian and Jennifer run the commo wire to the clubhouse.”
“Thank you,” Jennifer said, and stepped over and kissed his cheek. “I really wasn’t in the mood to wrestle you with the ladybugs helping.”
Lance turned to Allie and Carrie. “Yeah, they bite when you spar with them,” he snapped.
“You let go, don’t you?” Carrie snapped, bobbing her head.
After working out and breakfast, Lance helped Ian put the small trencher they’d made to bury wire an inch deep on the back of the UTV. Then Ian and Jennifer took the hybrid UTV out to lay the mile and a half of commo wire to the clubhouse they would set up.
Grabbing his tool belt, Lance and Lilly headed to the greenhouse to continue the work. The last wall, the south wall, was the only one not finished. Since this wall was only fifteen feet tall because of the windows they would have to put in, Lance didn’t think it would take long. With Lilly passing up boards to Lance on the scaffolding, Lance screwed in the precut boards.
In two hours the wall was up, and Lance pulled the battery UTV to the shop and loaded rolls of plastic sheeting. Spreading the twenty-feet-wide sheeting out, they draped it over the outside of the north wall.
Since there was only a five-foot gap between the wall and the dugout hill they were burying the greenhouse in, Lance wrestled two ladders into the small space. “Lance, I think this group will be valuable to us,” Lilly said, climbing up and tacking the plastic sheeting to the wall.
“Yeah, if they can come and help us load up stuff a few times like last night, I would be grateful,” Lance replied, tacking the plastic up.
By the time they had to open the front gate for Ian and Jennifer, the greenhouse was wrapped in black plastic to protect the wood from the dirt. Walking to the gate, Lance looked at his watch. “Didn’t think it would take them the full three hours to lay the commo wire.”
“It is over a mile away,” Lilly chuckled.
“They just had to drive there. The plow we made does the rest,” Lance told her, opening the inner gate.
“Remember, they were going to Heath’s,” Lilly said, walking out and opening the outer gate.
When Jennifer drove past, Lance saw two empty wire spools and one that looked half empty with a bloody baseball bat in the bed of the UTV. Covering Lilly until she closed the outer gate, Lance lowered his AR and closed the inner gate. “You used that much wire?” Lance asked, climbing in the backseat.
“Yeah,” Ian grinned, looking back at Lance as Jennifer drove around the cabin. “Heath and them moved.”
“How long till they’re finished?” Lance asked as Jennifer pulled into the ATV shed. He was about to ask about the bat when he noticed blood splatters on Jennifer’s clothes and decided not to for some reason.
“They’re done, they moved last night. Heath and Dwain were trying to hook up his solar set to the well pump at the new house when we showed up,” Ian said as everyone climbed out.
Very impressed, Lance nodded. “Well, I’m glad they did because that’s a much better spot, and I’m only setting this up once. When will they be ready?”
Walking to the back door Ian stopped, and Lance did too. “I told him, we would call when we left,” Ian grinned and chuckled.
“You laid their commo wire?” Lance asked with no enthusiasm.
Dropping the grin, “Dude, we had to go there anyway and come back home,” Ian huffed. “Why not drop the spike and lay their commo wire on the way back?”
“You set up the relay at the clubhouse?”
Putting his hands on his hips, “How in the hell could we call him if I didn’t?” Ian snapped. “We set it up in the living room and put the two solar panels out to charge the batteries.”
Spinning on his heel, Lance headed to the door. “You’d better have hooked us up with phone number one.”
“No, I put us as four,” Ian popped off, following.
“They need a day off,” Lilly told Jennifer, following the two inside.
“You could help a little more,” Jennifer said as they walked in.
“Pfft,” Lilly scoffed. “Lance listens to you more than me.”
Stopping and sucking in a breath, Jennifer let it out quickly. “We,” Jennifer stressed, “need a day off.”
Walking over, Lilly hugged Jennifer, “I’m sorry,” Lilly said.
Working at the computer desk beside the basement staircase, Lance watched Lilly and Jennifer hugging. “If we did that, we would have our ‘man cards’ revoked,” Lance snorted, then hooked up the commo wire to a box.
Next to the box was a corded, push-button phone. Picking it up and hearing a tone, Lance pushed the number two. Lance grinned when he heard a ringing. After two rings, “This is the new house,” Heath answered.
“Hey, new house, tell your group we are heading over to bring you out of the dark ages,” Lance laughed.
There was a long pause, “Lance, we don’t have the stuff,” Heath replied in shock. “You can’t take from those killer robotic things.”
“Battle Bots,” Lance helped. “You need power to store food, so we will forgo the supplies for now, but you still have to get them.”
“Oh, we will,” Heath said quickly. “I want a list of what all you need, so we can help you in other ways besides patrolling.”
“Nice,” Lance mumbled with a grin. “Any stinkers your way?”
“Killed a few after Ian left, but that chain-link fence around the property diverts them around the back. I know you’ve seen the front. A stinker isn’t getting over a fifteen-foot wrought iron fence,” Heath said.
“Look for us in an hour,” Lance said.
“Will do. You want us to meet you at the clubhouse to help cover?” Heath asked, and Lance almost dropped the phone.
Catching the phone on his shoulder, “Ah, no. We’ll be fine,” Lance answered.
“Okay,” Heath said. “We’ll see you in about an hour.”
“Bye,” Lance said, hanging up the phone. “He wanted to meet us and help cover us on the way to his house.”
“Lance, Heath just want
s to help,” Jennifer told him.
“I know,” Lance turned, looking at everyone in shock. “It just surprised me is all.”
Reaching out and clasping Lance’s shoulder, “Dude, not everyone is a total dweeb,” Ian smirked.
Nodding, Lance turned and saw the ladybugs sitting at their desks, watching a man teaching science. “Ladybugs,” Lance called out, and Allie paused the TV.
“We just came up,” Allie sighed with attitude. “We were at control while Ian and Jennifer went out.”
Walking over, Lance chuckled, “I know. You two always do what’s expected. I want both of you to get your gear on and be ready to roll in twenty minutes.”
Allie’s and Carrie’s mouths dropped. “We roll in nineteen minutes and fifty-seven seconds,” Lance said, and the two bolted from their desks. At close to the speed of sound, the ladybugs ran upstairs.
“Who’s staying here?” Ian asked, walking over.
“George and Judy,” Lance said, heading for the stairs. “The cabin will be fine for a few hours.”
“I need longer than nineteen minutes,” Jennifer said, running to the bathroom.
“You already have on your combat gear, stupid head!” Carrie shouted from the loft.
Laughing at Carrie, Lance looked over at Ian as he headed to the stairs. “Will you get the ARs we put together for Denny, Lori, and the one the ladybugs wanted for Jodi?” Lance asked, reaching the stairs.
“They haven’t even met the girl and want to give her an AR?!” Ian shouted as Lance ran up the stairs with Lilly.
“Ian, don’t be a meanie!” Allie screamed from upstairs.
“I’m getting a new sister,” Ian shouted back, heading for the basement.
“Fine!” Allie yelled.
Leaving the cabin unattended for only the second time, Ian looked at the entire group as they loaded up the UTVs and trailers. Except for George and Judy, and they definitely didn’t like it. “Ian, the cabin will be fine for a few hours,” Lance said, putting his tool belt and a laptop bag in the UTV pulling the six-hundred-pound battery. “It’s not fair to the ladybugs to always get stuck at control.”
“I know,” Ian said, climbing in beside Jennifer. “I just don’t like fucking with the outer gate from the outside.”
“Don’t worry. The gates will get done when we get back. I finished the arm,” Lance told him, climbing in.
As Jennifer drove them around the cabin, “That doesn’t help me now,” Ian mumbled.
“You’re being a little sissy bitch,” Carrie cried out from the backseat with Dino.
“Hey, I’m not Lance,” Ian snapped as Jennifer stopped at the gate. “I’ll spit in your ear and hold you down till it drains in.”
“Ewww,” Carrie whined as Ian climbed out, opening the inner gate while Lilly pulled up behind them and Lance got out.
“You’ve only been alone with Carrie for ten seconds,” Lance huffed, walking past. “Why do you have to piss her off? You piss her off, and she takes it out on me!”
Watching Lance open the outer gate, Ian shook his head. “Brah, you need to write your name in the dirt,” Ian told him. “You’re getting soft.”
When Jennifer pulled out and turned right to pull along the fence, Lilly followed in the next buggy. “Ian,” Lance said, as Ian closed the inner gate and walked past. “They pout with sad eyes and I swear, I feel like I stomped on a fluffy kitten.”
“Okay,” Ian moaned as Lance closed the outer gate and Allie walked over, sticking her tongue out at Ian. Which looked freaky with Allie’s black mask formed to her face. “We are doing some manly shit. You don’t use fluffy kitten to describe an emotion. If it’s not a man rule, it damn sure is now.”
Before Lance tried to weave his arm through the coils of razor wire, Allie moved in front of him, sticking her arms in. She wrapped the chain and locked it and looked up at Lance with a smile, the only way he could tell was by her eyes, and then skipped back to the UTVs with her AR draped across her back.
“There is too much estrogen in the cabin,” Lance noted, not moving.
“Allie and Carrie aren’t old enough to count as that now,” Ian groaned. “When they are, we are fucked. I mean, with a sandpaper dick and no lube. That many on the rag, I think we’ll need to sleep in the gym every three weeks. I’m finding out girls on the rag get violent.”
Walking toward the UTVs, “We are doing something manly tonight. I don’t know what, but something,” Lance vowed.
“Let’s watch movies with guns, cars, boobs, and no plotline,” Ian grinned.
“Sounds good,” Lance agreed, climbing in and Ian continued to his ride.
“What sounds good?” Lilly asked as Jennifer slowly pulled away.
“Men, doing manly shit tonight,” Lance cheered.
Chapter 12
Stopping on the road before the turn to Heath’s house, Lilly watched Lance climb out with his bow as nine stinkers wobbled up the road. Unless they turned, they would’ve gone to Heath’s old house, so Ian joined Lance and the two made short work. After grabbing the arrows, they climbed back in.
“We only used a thousand rounds last night,” Lilly said, following Jennifer up the wide draw. The paved road still made Lilly nervous.
When she saw the brick columns, holding two huge wrought iron gates that looked like they came from a castle, Lilly took her foot off the accelerator. “Whoa,” she said, looking right and left. The brick fence extended across the draw and halfway up each slope. From there, the fence turned into a seven-foot chain-link fence.
“Yeah, this is one of the few houses I would leave the cabin for,” Lance said beside her. “Ian and I poked around here a few times, and whoever lived here had serious money.”
Heath and his wife Robin were waiting, opened the gates, and they pulled through. Ahead, a massive two-story brick house sat on a flat ten-acre yard with slopes from the surrounding U-shaped ridge on three sides. The knee-high grass hid the landscaping, but Lilly shook her head while following Jennifer up to a three-car garage. Inside was a quad cab pickup and Heath’s four-wheelers.
When she stopped behind Jennifer, Lilly saw the rest of the bear trap team run out of the house and Carrie ran back to Allie. Well, Grady just ambled out. Climbing out, Lilly laughed to see the swollen nose on Grady’s face. She stopped laughing when she saw the left side of Grady’s face was swollen.
Rhonda walked up and hugged Lilly. “Good ta see ya so soon,” Rhonda said, letting her go.
“You punched Grady?” Lilly asked.
Chuckling, “No, his wife Brenda did. You met her last night, but Brenda found out what an ass Grady was being when we moved last night, and then when we brought over the last load,” Rhonda related and then gave a snort. “She cold-cocked his ass, knocking him out.
“Nice,” Lilly grinned as Lori bounced over and hugged Lilly.
“This house is so cool,” Lori giggled.
Lilly looked down when Jodi ran over and skidded to a stop on the driveway, staring at Allie and Carrie. They were both in combat gear, complete with the black masks and helmets. Even Lilly thought the two looked creepy, but Jodi thought they looked terrifying. “Um, I’m Jodi,” she said, slowly extending her hand out.
“I’m Allie,” Allie replied cheerfully from behind the mask, shaking Jodi’s hand. Jodi was a year younger, but taller than both Allie and Carrie.
When Allie let go, Carrie grabbed Jodi’s hand and shook it. “I’m Carrie,” she said.
Walking around the trailer and stopping behind Allie and Carrie, Lance reached into the back as Denny ran over. And just as Lance had thought, Denny didn’t have the AR from last night. “Denny, weapon?” Lance asked, and Denny stopped, looking at the gray skull on Lance’s mask.
Last night, Denny had thought it looked evil, but in the sunlight, it looked absolutely malevolent. “Um, my mom is using it, sir,” Denny stuttered out.
“That’s fine. I gave those weapons to the group, except the one we ‘gave to Rhonda’,” Lance st
ressed as the others gathered around. “When we give a gun to a person, that’s who’s to use it.”
“Allie, Carrie,” Lance barked, and they spun around to face Lance like two little soldiers as he pulled out two ARs and the laptop bag. “Helmets and masks off. You will go over weapons, understood?”
“Okay, Lance,” Allie said, and it seemed sacrilegious, such a gentle tiny voice coming from the black mask. When they took off their helmets and masks, Lance saw Jodi smiling at them.
“Jodi, Allie and Carrie are giving this to you,” Lance said, passing an AR with a ten-inch barrel like theirs to Allie. Like the others they had given the group, it didn’t come from their stock, but some of the parts had. “Jodi, if I ever hear of you not treating this weapon with respect, you will not like me anymore. Ask the ladybugs. I get very mean,” Lance warned, staring at Jodi.
Even though she’d just met them, Jodi moved behind Allie and Carrie, hiding behind them. “I won’t, sir,” Jodi promised, sounding as meek as she could manage.
“Lance,” Jodi’s mom, Kathy called out, and Lance turned to stare at her. Looking at the skull, Kathy shook her head, “Never mind, it’s alright.”
“We gave it to her, and she will treat it with respect or I will deal with her,” Lance repeated, and Dwain pulled his wife back to stand beside him. “You can’t leave anyone unarmed in this world. Nobody has the right to deny someone else the ability to defend themselves.”
“Understood, Lance” Dwain said with a nod.
“Denny, here,” Lance barked, and sheepishly, Denny moved up to him. Lance held out an AR like theirs. “We give this to you and the same applies, but you are a man, so I will come down much harder on you, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Denny said, and Lance groaned while still holding out the weapon.
“Dammit, my name is Lance,” he snapped. “You only let someone you know, who will treat your weapon with care and respect, ever use it.”
Reaching out and taking the AR, Denny grinned while looking at the suppressor and flipped over the magnifier to the red dot sight. “I will, Lance,” he said, then Lance handed him the laptop bag.
Dark Crossing Page 17
