Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “Dino,” Lance said, pointing to the backseat as Ian dropped down and climbed back in the driver’s seat. When Lance climbed up on the roof, he glanced back to check on the others, then turned around and saw Rhonda’s rifle pointed out the passenger door. Ducking down, Lance saw she was sitting sideways in the seat.

  Standing back up, Lance swayed on his legs as Ian turned west, heading down the side of the finger into a narrow valley. They came out right behind a house and with his night vision goggles, Lance could see the back door was caved in and most of the windows were busted. Coming around the front, he saw the damage was worse.

  Realizing how many stinkers it would take to cause that much damage, “This is in the fucking sticks, and stinkers were here in force,” Lance mumbled as Ian pulled out on the road.

  When Ian drove over the small bridge, Lance was very happy he’d taken Rhonda’s advice because the banks of the creek were steep, damn near vertical. The buggy and side by sides could’ve handled it without trailers he was sure, but they would’ve made noise. With the trailers loaded, Lance knew there was no way they could even make it down the steep sides.

  Lifting his rifle, Lance aimed at the four stinkers ahead as Ian turned on the road running up the valley. Not able to help it, Lance grinned as he pulled the trigger and then moved his aim. None of the stinkers heard them and only reacted when they pulled out on the road.

  As the last one dropped, Lance flipped his goggles up and slid the thermal over to scan the valley ahead from this side. Still not seeing any threats, Lance flipped the thermal over and turned it off. Pulling his goggles down, Lance glanced back and saw the others well behind them.

  When Ian came around a curve, he saw the collection of buildings and the one under construction. “There is no way in fucking hell that place had enough business to expand that much,” Ian huffed out over the radio.

  “Ian, I can assure you, Victor Dunstan wouldn’t have built it unless he was making money,” Heath called back. “They worked on heavy machinery here, mostly farm equipment. The house you see sitting far back belonged to Victor’s youngest brother.”

  “I fucking hate that sorry son of bitch cock-sucking motherfucker,” Rhonda spit out with dripping malice. She didn’t say it over the radio, but Lance heard her just fine. Hearing the seething hatred, wisely, Lance and Ian let that outburst slide.

  As the road forked, Ian took the driveway into the gravel parking lot. With the soft crunch of gravel under the tires, Lance looked around at bulldozers, excavators, backhoes, and tractors. “Might find some good stuff here,” he mumbled, then studied the buildings. None appeared damaged, and he moved his eyes to the house sitting much further back.

  Even from over a hundred yards away, Lance could see the damage to the front door and most of the windows. “Ian, I don’t see anything,” Lance said quietly as the others slowly pulled up behind them.

  “Neither do I, but Dino’s staring at the construction office trailer next to the shop,” Ian reported.

  Glancing at Dino, Rhonda turned to the mobile office. “Okay. If someone is in there, how do we handle it?”

  “Fuck ‘em,” Lance chortled. “We are loading what we want and leaving.”

  With an evil grin, Rhonda stared at the trailer. “If Victor steps out of that trailer, I’m skinning the son of a bitch alive with fingernail clippers.”

  Motioning for the others to pull up to the construction area, Ian gave a startle and slowly turned to Rhonda. “Man, you have a serious hard-on to get medieval on that butt muncher.”

  “He’s earned it,” Rhonda growled, cradling her rifle and waiting for the door on the trailer to open and cut loose.

  Shaking his head, Lance headed over to the pallets of lumber. As he was looking over the stacks, Heath walked over. “Are we going to check the trailer?” he asked.

  “We are filling our trailer with the OSB, so we can enclose the RV sheds,” Lance answered, ignoring the question. “You load one of yours with OSB and then get 2x4s and 2x12s.”

  “Okay, but what about the trailer?” Heath asked. “What if they are hostile?”

  “Then they die. They are boxed in and those walls won’t stop bullets,” Lance grinned. “If it’s that Victor guy, Rhonda has enough reason to hate him, so we are taking the shit or his life. He’s the one who has claim to it.”

  Looking at the office, “I have no love for the man either, but shouldn’t we tell them we aren’t going to hurt them because I can guarantee you, Victor isn’t in there,” Heath said. “He owns businesses all over Kentucky, but his home is in Corbin, or should I say one of his mansions.”

  “I’m not backing them in a corner,” Lance explained. “If we don’t present a threat, then they won’t respond to a threat. Now, you want to load first or guard?”

  Cutting his eyes to Lance, “If you don’t mind, I’m going to the shop and see if the forklift has juice,” Heath coughed shyly.

  Patting Heath on the shoulder, “Now I like that plan,” Lance nodded.

  Walking over to the shop with Heath, Lance saw the machine repair sign. “They have enough business to support building an office complex that big? They have to do some good work.”

  Shaking his head, “The office complex was being built as a headquarters for Dunstan, Inc.” Heath explained. “Victor wanted his office outside of any city. The Dunstan family has always been rich, owning a lot of businesses, but when Victor took over after college, they became very rich and a law unto themselves. There wasn’t a politician he didn’t own in the state.”

  Pulling out his lock picks, Lance moved to the pedestrian door and quickly picked the lock as Ian came over with Dino. “Dino’s not growling, but still doesn’t like the office,” Ian said, stopping behind Lance. When Lance pushed the door open, Ian aimed inside and slowly cleared the opening. “Heath, you stack up behind me.”

  When Lance and Dino eased in with Ian behind them, Heath swallowed nervously before pulling his rifle to his shoulder and following Ian inside. After clearing the shop, Lance and Ian looked around as Heath walked over to two forklifts. “Oh, we are so coming back here,” Lance gasped, looking at the shelves filled with parts.

  “Yeah, but we don’t have to get everything at one time,” Ian pointed out.

  Heath walked over as the boys drooled at the supplies. “The electric forklifts still have juice. It should be enough to load,” Heath said, then grinned looking at the boys. He couldn’t see their faces, but he knew they were grinning. The green glow of his monocular amplified the gray grinning skull painted on their masks, making a shiver run down his spine.

  Moving over to the closest roll up door, Lance grabbed his PTT. “Opening a roll up door, so everyone keep an eye out,” he called out.

  “Thank you for the warning,” Jennifer called back.

  Unlocking the door, Lance grabbed the chain and tugged hard. Everyone cringed when the door rolled up, shattering the quietness of the night. Looking around, Jennifer stepped closer to Lilly. “If he wouldn’t have warned us, I would’ve taken off running for cover,” Jennifer whispered.

  When the noise stopped, Lilly snorted. “I would’ve shit my pants and then I would’ve stepped outside with him when we got home.”

  Hearing an electric motor, they glanced back to see Heath driving a forklift over. Jennifer gave a relieved sigh. “Oh, thank God. I was dreading loading this by hand.”

  Lance and Ian walked back to their buggy and took up guard positions, but Lilly could tell they were keeping a lot of focus on the office trailer. Grabbing Jennifer’s arm, Lilly pulled her to the other side of their buggy, putting it between them and the office trailer like Ian and Lance had done with their buggy.

  When Heath loaded the first stack of OSB, Lance saw a face peer out from the lower corner of a window in the office. “You see that?” he asked.

  At first glance, it looked like neither was watching the trailer. “Yeah, looked like a woman,” Ian answered, then looked at Rhonda on the other side of the
buggy glaring at the trailer. “I swear, if I was in there and saw Rhonda looking at me like that, I would chew a hole out the other side and sneak away, man card be damned.”

  Seeing the trailer door crack open, “Here we go,” Lance mumbled, and Rhonda lifted her rifle to her shoulder.

  “Victor, if you’re in there, get out here now,” Rhonda growled just loud enough to be heard over the forklift.

  When the door opened, they saw a man in the doorway holding up his left hand, but his right held a hunting rifle. Thankfully, for the man, the rifle barrel was pointed down. “That’s not Victor,” Rhonda grumbled, lowering her rifle barrel just enough to not be aiming directly at the man.

  “I think if Rhonda sees this Victor, she will gut him alive and eat his heart while he dies,” Lance chuckled, then moved around the front of the buggy while keeping his rifle aimed at the ground. “You don’t shoot at us and we won’t shoot at you!” Lance called out just loud enough to be heard.

  Slowly, the man stepped out, looking around the area. The sky was clear, and the man could see them easily but without night vision goggles, the man could only see shadowy figures. Heavily armed shadowy figures. “We won’t shoot!” the man called out, and everyone cringed at how loud he was.

  Letting out a gasp, Rhonda lowered her M4 in shock. “Ethan, is that you?”

  The man jerked, almost dropping his rifle. “Rhonda?” the man gasped.

  Chuckling, “Yeah, once you hear Rhonda, nobody could miss that voice,” Ian chuckled.

  “Hell, she sounds just like Reba,” Lance claimed as Rhonda started for the trailer, only to have Lance intercept her. “You may have known him before this, but a lot has happened making people change,” Lance told her in a low voice. “Trust is earned, not given.”

  Giving a nod as she cursed herself, Rhonda glanced at Lance who never took his eyes off the trailer. Then Rhonda realized Lance had risked his life to keep hers out of danger, again. Moving her gaze back to the trailer, Rhonda saw the man come down and now could see his face clearly with the monocular. “Ethan, what the hell are you doin’ here?” Rhonda asked, keeping her voice low.

  “Our house was leveled when a wave of stinkers came through,” Ethan answered. “We hid out in Brady’s and Levi’s treehouse.”

  Seeing movement inside the trailer, Rhonda gave a nod. “Okay, but why are you here? I can think of a hundred better spots to hide, without even tryin’ hard, besides a flimsy construction office trailer.”

  Pointing to the destroyed house that sat back from the business, “Came to see if we could hold up with Blake,” Ethan answered.

  “Hmpf,” Rhonda scoffed with disdain. “Blake is almost as bad as his cock-sucking ass-wipe brother, and you think he would’ve taken you in? Please.”

  “It was all we could think of,” Ethan snapped very loud.

  Raising his left hand, “Keep your voice low,” Lance warned.

  Seeing Ethan turn to glare at Lance, Rhonda stepped in front of Lance, putting half her body between them. “How long have you been here?” Rhonda asked, having no doubt Lance or Ian could stomp Ethan’s ass or just kill him with no hesitation.

  “Two days,” Ethan answered, still looking at Lance behind Rhonda. “We tried to make it to the center in Corbin, but the stinkers are too thick.”

  “So, your brother’s in the trailer with your families?” Rhonda asked and Ethan nodded, finally turning to look Rhonda in the eyes.

  “We tried to leave yesterday, but a group on ATVs came into the valley,” Ethan said, pointing to the left fork that ran up a narrow valley. “We’ve seen them before, so we knew to avoid them.”

  “How?” Lance asked, stepping to the side so Rhonda wasn’t blocking him.

  “They all wear black hoods and one of the ATVs always flies a pirate flag,” Ethan answered as a small boy that looked around five ran out of the trailer. A woman darted out to scoop him up before he could start down the steps.

  “Brady!” the woman cried out.

  Glancing past Ethan, “Hey, Jane,” Rhonda said nonchalantly.

  “Hi, Rhonda,” Jane called back in a low voice, but stepped back inside the trailer.

  “Black hoods,” Lance mumbled. “What kind of hoods?”

  Shrugging, “Like pillowcases pulled tight or ski masks,” Ethan replied.

  “That’s why you were hesitant on coming out?” Lance inquired.

  “Yeah, but we noticed others with you weren’t wearing masks, and none of the pirate group has skulls painted on their masks,” Ethan said. “When we saw several without masks, we wanted to know what was up.”

  Jerking his left arm back and pointing his thumb at the construction area, “Just getting supplies,” Lance answered, and Ethan realized Lance’s right hand never left the grip of the AR. “Ethan right,” Lance stated, and Ethan nodded. “I’m only going to say this once. The man behind you aiming the rifle at us needs to lower it before his head explodes.”

  Lifting her head up, Rhonda saw a man crouched down inside the trailer aiming at them. “Dennis, if you don’t lower that rifle right now, I’ll kick your ass,” Rhonda snapped, then saw a laser light up Dennis’s forehead. It was then Rhonda realized she could only see the laser with the monocular. “Dennis, you’re about to die if you don’t lower that gun now!” Rhonda exclaimed rapidly.

  Getting to his knees, Dennis held the barrel lower but still threatening, and the laser on Dennis ’s head dropped. Another laser shot out joining the first and Rhonda gave a chuckle, seeing the two lasers were aimed at Dennis’s groin. “Dennis, you don’t want to know where they are going to shoot you if you don’t lower that gun,” Rhonda chuckled.

  Giving a visible shudder, “Shit,” Lance quivered, then grabbed his PTT. “Lilly, Jennifer, you don’t shoot a man in his jewels.”

  “That fucker doesn’t lower that gun, he gets an instant sex change,” Lilly responded over the radio.

  Taking his left hand off the PTT, “Your brother is irritating our ladies, and I’ve learned not to fuck with them when they are irritated,” Lance told Ethan.

  Turning his chin over his shoulder, “Dennis, lower the gun!” Ethan called out, making everyone cringe.

  Seeing Dennis lower the gun, Lance let that one slide as Dwain walked up. “Hey, Ethan,” Dwain said, then turned to Lance. “Trailers are loaded.”

  “You and Rhonda act like nothing has happened,” Ethan snapped. “We have been fighting for our lives!”

  “Last warning on the voice level,” Lance replied in a dead tone.

  Ignoring Lance, Ethan stepped over to Dwain. “Where are you staying?” Ethan asked as the rest of his group came out. Jane was still holding Brady as Dennis came down and stood beside his brother. Another woman holding a boy that looked slightly older than Brady stayed on the small porch with Jane.

  “In a house,” Dwain shrugged. “I suggest you find a good spot to hold up.”

  “Three stinkers to the north,” Lilly called over the radio, and Ethan and his group all jumped as three muffled pops sounded off. They looked up and saw three shadowy forms dropping on the road that forked left.

  “Hey, Dennis,” Heath grunted, walking over and then turned to Lance. “I’m leaving the bay door open. I figure we need to make a few more runs.”

  Still looking at the group, Lance nodded. “We can just drop the trailers off and hook up empty ones.”

  Dennis looked over at the stacks of lumber loaded on the trailers. “If Victor finds out you took his lumber, you’re going to have hell to pay,” Dennis cringed.

  “Fuck that bitch,” Lance snapped in a low voice. “I’ll hold his ass down and let Rhonda gut the cock-sucker.”

  “I won’t need you to hold him,” Rhonda growled.

  “Let us grab our stuff and we’ll come with you,” Dennis said.

  Before Dennis or any of his group had time to move, “Hold on, cowboy,” Lance interjected. “You haven’t been invited.”

  Ethan looked down at Lance. The quad tubes over
the skull mask did unnerve him, but Ethan was six inches taller than Lance. There was no skin visible on Lance, but Ethan could tell by Lance’s voice he was young. “Listen, kid. I’m about fed up with your shit!” Ethan barked with veins standing out on his neck.

  Letting the AR go, Lance stepped up and let the AR hang under his arm. Stopping in front of Ethan, Lance’s right hand shot out, landing under Ethan’s jaw. The force picked Ethan up off his feet and he crashed to the ground unconscious. Jane gave a cry and darted off the porch, dropping down beside her husband with her son still in her arms.

  Seeing Dennis move toward Lance, Ian stepped up while letting his AR hang and threw out an arm to block Dennis. “Take another step and you join your brother in La-La land,” Ian warned.

  “He fucking sucker punched my brother, you little shit!” Dennis snarled.

  Giving a laugh, “Oh, if that’s what bothers you then step back so you and I can go at it,” Ian offered. “But I’m going to break something before making you my bitch.”

  “Dennis, you try it and I’ll kill you!” Rhonda barked as she moved over, shoving Dennis back and almost pushing him down. “Believe me, you would rather fight me. Ian would play with you and then destroy you slowly.”

  Jennifer leaned over, whispering to Lilly. “Damn, she seems to know Ian fairly well.”

  “Please,” Lilly scoffed. “Anyone can see that. Lance is methodical and calculating when he destroys. Ian is playful and devious when he destroys. Sorry, but when Ian goes medieval, he scares me.”

  With Rhonda bowed up in his face, Dennis turned from her, studying Ian and then Lance. The casual stance the boys had unnerved him way more than the skulls on the masks. Both were very relaxed and seemed eager to throw down. That fact alone let him know, neither considered him a threat.

  Behind the group, Lilly chuckled. “Did you notice neither wife jumped up to challenge Rhonda?”

  “The only way I’d fight her is with a bat,” Jennifer huffed as she scanned around.

  With his wife patting his face, Ethan let out a groan before pushing his body up until he was resting on his elbows. “Lance, Ian, can I talk to them?” Heath asked.