Dark Crossing

by Thomas A. Watson

  “I found it hard to believe when you told me, but seeing it with my own eyes…” Robin gasped, nodding. “We will patrol further out, to keep them making stuff like this. Hell, we owe them that much just for the help. We need to give them a month off to try and get even.”

  “Fat chance,” Jennifer mumbled.

  Closing his laptop, Lance patted Lilly on the butt, startling her. “Did you like turning on the power?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Lilly said, leaning into him and turning back to the field. “Don’t take this the wrong way, sweetness, but it’s really hard to look at you when there is this gray skull looking at me.”

  “I think it’s cool,” Lance objected, watching the bot finish what was to the front and spun around to work on the others surrounding it.

  “Out here, it is,” Lilly nodded.

  Looking at the road to the east between the spurs, Lance gave a shiver at seeing how many stinkers there were. “I swear, they are calling each other with that moan,” he said to himself.

  “I’ve always thought that,” Lilly said, standing up and backing away from Lance.

  “Let’s load up,” Lance said, heading for the UTV.

  “We okay to patrol with the trailers?” Dwain asked.

  “Oh, you will like it,” Ian laughed, climbing in beside Jennifer.

  With the sun starting to set Lilly led them along the ridge, and in the valley below the road they’d taken to set up the bots, stinkers were heading north to the field. “Think they can hear Family Guy?” Rhonda asked, looking over George and Dino.

  “Maybe, but I think they hear the moans,” Lance said, and then turned around. “You need to be watching your area.”

  Jerking her body back, Rhonda spun in her seat to look out her side. “Sorry, I know better than that,” she apologized.

  “Hope you brought your NVGs,” Lance chuckled.

  “Shit, I don’t leave the house without them,” Rhonda said, patting her small backpack.

  Driving down the slope, Lilly crossed the road they’d taken toward Hinkle and then drove up the hill on the other side of the road. “We put out the next two sets, we should see a drastic decrease in stinkers in the valley behind us,” Lance said, looking down toward Hinkle at the stinkers moving north.

  “Because my man and his buddy know what the fuck they are doing,” Lilly smirked.

  “Shit, I’ll agree with that,” Rhonda laughed, taking her pack off and pulling out her NVGs.

  Feeling the buggy head downhill, Rhonda looked up and saw a farm below them. Looking at the farm, she saw it was sitting in a small valley that ran south up into a draw. “What’s here?” she asked, putting on the head harness, but there was still light from the sun.

  “Food for your group, and supplies for us,” Lance answered, hooking his NVGs to his helmet.

  “How good are those four tube NVGs?” Rhonda asked as Lilly stopped at the tree line.

  “A hundred times better than those monocular types,” Lance told her, and the others stopped behind them.

  When Lance and Lilly got out, Dino and George jumped out with wagging tails. “Lance, let Rhonda come with us to check the house and barn,” Lilly suggested, checking her AR and then putting her NVGs on her helmet. When Lance gave her a look she couldn’t see but could tell by the way he’d cocked his head, Lilly shook her head. “Sweetness, she’s been out more than any in her group. Even Allie said Rhonda was good with the AR.”

  Turning to Rhonda, “You fuck up, and we have words,” Lance popped off, patting his leg and Dino moved beside him as Lance stepped out into the pasture, heading toward the farm.

  “For some reason, that scares the hell out of me,” Rhonda confessed, turning to Lilly.

  “It should. Just shows how smart you are,” Lilly chuckled, patting her thigh and George moved over.

  It was dark when they’d finished clearing the house, and Lance called for the others to come up. When they stopped, they saw Ian driving their buggy. “What’s here that we need?” Heath asked.

  Lance pointed to the house. “Empty the kitchen and pantry, and ask me later,” he chuckled.

  “I forgot bags!” Heath gasped, stumbling back.

  “Back of the buggy,” Lance said, turning around and heading for the barn.

  When Ian walked past Heath, he pushed a radio into his hands. “One of yours needs to stay on watch. Just because we are in a valley with a dead-end road, watch three-sixty,” Ian instructed, walking off with Jennifer and heading to the barn.

  Dwain moved up to Rhonda, “How much is in there?” he asked.

  “Over a month for our group,” Rhonda said in disbelief. “I’m keeping watch, so we don’t piss them off.”

  “Good idea,” Heath said, grabbing the box of trash bags and noticed it was the same kind he’d used at the store. “I don’t know how their parents raised such smart kids, but I wish I knew because I feel like shit as a parent.”

  “Heath, it’s them!” Rhonda gasped, walking to the house. “Their parents, I’m sure, just supported them.”

  When they were done loading food, the bear trap team found the others waiting. They glanced in the trailer Jennifer was pulling to see barbed wire, metal, electrical motors, and other piles of stuff. “You know what’s in most houses around here, don’t you?” Dwain asked.

  Jennifer gave a curt laugh, “They go in and video everything, then come to me, so I can tell them how to pack it.”

  “Lilly’s pretty good at packing,” Lance said.

  “Not like her,” Lilly snapped. “Shit, I don’t ever want to play Tetris against her.”

  They loaded up and headed back into the trees. Driving back across the road they had taken down, Lilly rode along the ridges for over an hour, staying in the trees. “Hey, we are getting close to the road leading to our house,” Rhonda said, looking at the lay of the land.

  “Damn, that is good,” Lance said and then glanced back. “Yeah, going to check the other bot and hit a few more houses.”

  “I’m game,” Rhonda shrugged and tried to smile, but the gray skull looked really fucking evil in the NVGs, almost glowing.

  When Lilly stopped, they looked down the road in the valley below and saw a small group of stinkers heading south to the new bot area. Jumping out with urgency, Lance brought up his rifle to look at the group and hit his NVGs. Giving a curse he flipped them back up, using the thermal on his AR.

  Jumping back in, Lance flipped his NVGs down. “Head straight for them!” he cried out, grabbing his bow. Lilly stomped the pedal, throwing Rhonda and the dogs back. They sped out of the trees and across a field.

  Reaching over, Rhonda held onto the dogs while the buggy bounced over the field and the trailer rattled behind them, bouncing several feet into the air. When Lilly slammed on the brakes, Lance jumped out with the bow and Rhonda was about to ask him what the hell was going on.

  As she let the dogs go, Lance released an arrow and Rhonda turned to follow it and saw it stick into a stinker’s face. Then, she realized the stinkers were on the road twenty yards away and coming toward them. Rhonda jumped out and Lilly grabbed her. “Don’t shoot, or he will unload on your ass,” Lilly warned as Lance released another arrow.

  Turning to the group of stinkers, Rhonda noticed four of the dozen were wearing helmets and watched another go down. Hearing footsteps, Rhonda spun to see Ian running past her, pulling back his bow and releasing an arrow before he came to a stop.

  She turned to see over half were down, “Dino,” Lance snapped while he pulled back his bow and released an arrow. Dino jumped out, moving beside Lance as he pulled another arrow out. Lance shot past the closest stinker with a helmet and Rhonda saw the helmet had a face shield.

  “Get ‘em Dino,” Lance said, pulling another arrow. Dino lunged, and Rhonda heard the crash when Dino’s weight hit the stinker, driving it to the ground. When Rhonda turned to the rest of the stinkers, there were only two left and they both dropped when Ian and Lance released arrows.

&nb
sp; “What was so special about these twelve stinkers?” Rhonda asked as Lance put the bow away and grabbed the sword from the buggy.

  “Sixteen,” Lilly corrected, getting out while Lance walked to the stinker that Dino was dragging around by the arm.

  “Dino, hold,” Lance commanded, pulling the sword out as Dino stopped pulling. While the stinker reached toward Dino with his other arm, Lance shoved the tip of the sword under the helmet and the arm flopped down.

  “Why do they have a sword?” Rhonda whispered to Lilly as the others came up.

  “If they burn stinkers, they chop the legs off to make them lighter to pull to one spot,” Lilly answered nonchalantly. “We have booby traps all around our place and stinkers get caught up in stuff, and it’s easier to chop them up to remove them there as well. I should say ‘used to’ about the booby traps because we haven’t had a stinker near us since the diversion fences.”

  The others watched as Lance and Ian started taking stuff off the stinkers, stripping them. “Um, not that it offends me, but what are they jacking from the stinkers?” Dwain asked.

  “Five of them were soldiers, and the one with a face shield on his helmet had SWAT on his chest,” Jennifer said with a tone that spoke volumes. “They see a stinker soldier; they will take them with a bow, so they don’t hurt any equipment. It doesn’t matter how many stinkers are with the soldier.”

  “We can help,” Heath said, moving and Lilly stopped him.

  “No, you can’t. We wear gloves for a reason,” Lilly told him. “Like I said, watch and learn from them and you’ll get to see your grandchildren. They don’t like leading people by the hand. Get gloves and keep them on. Those bodies have more shit growing on them than the parasite.”

  “What do they do with the stuff?” Robin asked as Lance gave a cry, holding up something.

  “Sterilize and use it, what do you think?” Jennifer huffed.

  “So, the gear we got?” Dwain asked.

  “Yes, and some of theirs,” Jennifer said. “They clean it, inspect it, and then use it.”

  “Ian, this guy was Special Forces!” Lance cried in awe and Ian ran over.

  Realizing just where they were, Robin watched the two make a pile and looked up and down the road. “They really put that first bot station there to guard us, didn’t they?” Robin asked. “They could’ve put it somewhere else to help you more, couldn’t they?”

  “Yes,” Jennifer admitted. “Keep watch, so we can load up this shit.”

  Before Lilly moved to leave, Rhonda grabbed her arm. “You have any extra gloves?” Rhonda asked.

  “They won’t fit you,” Lilly chuckled, looking up at Rhonda who sighed with disappointment. Several inches taller than Lilly and thicker with rounded, lean muscle, there was no denying Rhonda was a country girl.

  “They will fit me,” Kathy said, moving up and holding out her hands.

  Nodding, Lilly reached in her thigh pocket and pulled out her extra gloves. “Now, you’re thinking,” Lilly smiled at Rhonda, then the others as she handed the gloves to Kathy.

  Lilly walked up and saw a pile of weapons and gear. “Were there more soldiers?” she asked, picking up some of the weapons.

  “Six soldiers and one SWAT cop in riot gear!” Lance cried out with joy, tossing over shin guards. “Never got that many at one time.”

  “Shit, the best we ever did was those two soldiers and that cop,” Ian said, walking over and dropping an armload.

  “You can shoot the ones not wearing helmets,” Jennifer pleaded as she loaded up her arms.

  “One of the soldiers without a helmet had a GPNVG-18 in a pouch on his vest,” Ian huffed. “What would’ve happened if he would’ve moved and we hit that?”

  “What’s that?” Kathy whispered to Lilly as they put the gear in the bed of the buggy.

  “The four tube NVGs we are wearing,” Lilly answered, walking back.

  Robin patted Heath’s arm, pointing at the road that led to the first bot. “They bought us time at their own risk. This blocks the first road leading to us, and those we just put out blocks the second, effectively stopping stinkers from coming at us on the roads,” she said in a low voice. “They are leaving that valley below them open, just to protect us.”

  “I know, that’s why we will do everything we can for them,” Heath told her.

  “You were right. They are better than any ten people we’ve ever met or heard of,” Robin said, gripping her rifle.

  When the gear was loaded up, they stopped at another farm and filled Heath’s trailer up. Then, they helped load Lance’s trailer. Driving over the hills and ridges, Lilly stopped above the first Battle Bot.

  It was pulled into its recharging station and the light shined over a gore-covered playground, but there wasn’t a stinker in sight. Flipping up his NVGs, Lance opened his laptop and started tapping the screen. “It’s charged,” he said. “It’s on standby. There hasn’t been a stinker here in three hours.”

  “Well, let’s wash the little baby and clean his playground,” Lilly said in a motherly voice.

  Laughing out loud Lance nodded and Lilly drove down to the field as Lance tapped the keyboard and the Battle Bot came to life and drove through the mound of gore that outlined the box. When it did, Dwain reached for his AR and his wife, sitting behind him on the four-wheeler, slapped the back of his helmet.

  “You shoot that thing, and I will shoot your ass,” Kathy snapped.

  “Sorry, but Lance said it’s not supposed to move out of the box,” Dwain said, watching the bot drive across the field and stop next to a creek.

  “If it comes after you, you’d better run,” Kathy said, flipping up her NVG when it started whiting out from the overhead lights.

  When Lilly stopped, well back from the playground near the dish and battery, Jennifer and Ian walked up to the others. “Wait here,” Ian said, digging in his thigh pocket.

  “Get off and guard,” Kathy said, climbing off before Dwain.

  Everyone jumped when Lilly drove over to the Battle Bot and stopped. Turning back as Ian and Jennifer walked toward the playground, they watched Ian pull a road flare from his thigh pocket and light it. When he tossed it, flame leapt up from the mound of gore, meeting the flare before it landed.

  “Must be getting used to the stench,” Heath said, looking around. “Normally when it burns like that, my nose hairs are melting.”

  Robin watched the fire burn across the ground for almost a minute in a colorless flame, then the flame turned bluish green. The fire put out enormous heat, but very little light. Hearing the hum of the generator, they turned to see Lilly spraying the bot down. They were shocked it was shiny like the ones they had just put out.

  Rhonda was standing guard while Lilly washed the bot and Lance walked toward them, looking at his laptop. “Ian?” Lance called out but didn’t look up.

  “Okay, I don’t like that tone,” Robin said. “If it’s broke, can you help them fix it?” she asked, turning to Heath. Looking at the bot Lilly was washing, Heath could tell it was smaller than those they had just put out and even he could see the others were truly upgrades.

  “I doubt it, but I can hand them tools,” Heath offered as Ian ran over, looking at the laptop screen.

  “Not going to find out what’s wrong from here,” Dwain said, leaving them and walking over to Ian and Lance. Before he reached them, Jennifer moved up to stick her head between them, looking at the screen and Dwain stopped when Heath walked up beside him.

  “Yeah, two gray skulls looking at a laptop with a body that has a shadow for a face between them, freaks me the hell out,” Heath admitted, walking past Dwain.

  Heath walked around and glanced at the laptop screen and saw a spreadsheet with numbers. “Over my head,” he mumbled as Lance and Ian pointed at the screen, talking to each other. In ten minutes, the fire was burned out and Lilly was done cleaning the bot, and they were still talking.

  “Guys, anything I can do to help?” Heath asked. “I can hold tools for
you.”

  “We are going to have to pull this bot back for maintenance before long,” Lance groaned, closing the laptop.

  “I’m telling you, the hydraulic bots will do much better,” Ian said, very sure.

  “Guys, I don’t know how many its killed, but maintenance should be expected,” Heath offered.

  “Yeah, but my projections were after fifty thousand, and it has barely killed fourteen thousand,” Lance groaned. “The frame is wearing down much faster than I predicted, not to mention the drive shafts for the shredder. It’s just not heavy enough for that stress. Let’s hope this next generation that’s heavier with new upgrades will fare better.”

  Hearing the number, Heath started breathing hard. “Guys, teach us. We’ll do the maintenance,” he panted. “They are grinding up bodies.”

  “I was counting on that,” Lance said, walking over to the smoldering dust.

  Lilly and Rhonda drove back as Lance kicked around in the dirt. He bent over and picked up something, holding it up to Ian. “I never counted on this!” Lance shouted, and Ian groaned, kicking a pile of dust.

  “What’s that?” Heath asked, looking at the object in Lance’s hand.

  “Artificial hip,” Lilly said, getting out of the buggy.

  “Here’s another one,” Ian said, kicking something across the playground.

  Looking down at the dust pile, Heath jumped back at seeing fragments of bones and teeth, lots of teeth. Seeing something in the pile, he moved it with his boot. “Artificial shoulder,” Lilly said beside him.

  “This is bullshit!” Lance shouted and raised his hand to throw his laptop, but thankfully stopped. As Lilly walked over, everyone moved around the mound of dust and fragments, finding pacemakers, artificial knees, hips, shoulder joints, metal plates, and bent weapons.

  “Lance, you can take this into account,” Lilly assured him, taking the laptop.

  “Why? I’m a stupid ass! I should’ve taken that into account before and decreased the torque tension, so the bot could spit out smaller objects, instead of trying to grind them up! Not to mention making them heavier to deal with the torque!”