“I’ll step where you step,” Rhonda answered with a shiver.
Dino led them along the crest of the ridge, never pausing or speeding up. Traveling half a mile, and before they reached the end of the ridge, Lance told Rhonda they were out of the perimeter. Following the ridge until it sloped down to a finger that ended in a nice valley below, took them a half mile outside of the perimeter.
They stood looking out over the valley and only saw one small building beside a pond. The pond sat between the two fingers that extended into the valley with a road beside the pond. Lance turned and saw Dino wasn’t leading them into the valley but into a draw on the west side of the finger. Gripping his weapon tight, Lance followed Dino down the slope and grabbed his PTT.
“Ian, Dino is slowing down. I think we’re close. Leave the buggy and follow on foot,” Lance called over the radio.
“We’ll stay in overwatch,” Ian called back.
Letting his PTT go, Lance gripped the forward grip on his AR and moved slowly after Dino. Halfway down, Dino paused under a box deer stand that was elevated fifteen feet off the ground. The deer blind was on a small shelf that was looking over a clearing that wasn’t much bigger than an acre. When Dino moved off from the deer blind heading down in the draw, Lance snapped his fingers lightly. Dino stopped as Lance moved to the ladder of the deer blind and climbed up.
Standing on the small deck, Lance cracked the door open and saw two sleeping bags. There was a small stack of food and bottled water in the corner, along with several dolls. Moving in, Lance looked out the front window at the clearing in the small draw below. “Damn,” Lance mumbled, seeing the small metal roof of a building. Then he turned, looking out the door and had a perfect view of the valley below. Closing the door, Lance climbed back down.
“What was up there?” Rhonda asked in a low voice.
“Lookout and hiding spot. You can see for miles and spot anything coming into the valley below,” Lance answered, then waved Dino on.
Like he was on a lazy stroll, Dino walked across the clearing and into the trees heading down the draw. Rhonda stayed behind Lance as he followed Dino. At the bottom of the draw, Dino stopped inside the trees and looked to his right, up into the draw below the deer stand where they’d seen a tin roof.
Stopping beside Dino, Lance and Rhonda looked up in the draw and saw a small metal building that was built on a platform compensating for the steep slope. The front of the building was eight feet off the ground and the back was five feet off the ground. Lance figured the inside was only two hundred square feet, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what the building was used for.
“How do you want to contact them?” Lance asked.
“Not to sound sexist, but let me,” Rhonda answered. “Sorry, but your mask would fucking scare anyone and if it is a girl, seeing or hearing another girl they are less likely to start shooting.”
“If you get shot, try to take it in the vest,” Lance offered.
“They shoot at me, they better fucking kill me because I’m gonna kill them,” Rhonda huffed, stepping out into the clearing below the building.
Stopping ten yards from the building, Rhonda saw a small window beside the door that was open. Rhonda fought not to tremble as she took a deep breath. “Hello inside, we just wan ta make sure you’re all right in there,” Rhonda called out.
Hearing movement inside, Rhonda tensed up while fighting the urge to lift her M4 to her shoulder. “Rhonda, that be you?” a young and very, very country, female voice called out, and a face appeared behind the screen of the window.
“Holly?” Rhonda gasped, and took off for the building before Lance could even move.
Before Rhonda was on the steps, the door flew open and a young woman only wearing a tank top, that covered nothing, came out the door. Lance stepped up as the girl flung herself at Rhonda, wrapping her arms around Rhonda’s neck and Rhonda returned the hug, lifting the girl up.
“You sound like Reba, and people don’t even need to see you to know who you are,” Lance mumbled and pressed his PTT. “Ian, Rhonda knows the girl, so come on down.”
“Coming,” Ian answered as a naked girl toddler ran out the door and latched onto Rhonda’s leg.
“Oh, Dawn, I’m sorry,” Rhonda said, not letting go of Holly and picking up Dawn.
Dawn hugged Rhonda’s neck and saw movement. When her eyes saw the skull mask on a body ready for war, the toddler freaked. Pushing away from Rhonda, Dawn wanted down, letting out whimpering cries. Rhonda and Holly felt the panic and turned and saw Lance walking up.
“Fuk me!” Holly cried out, trying to push away from Rhonda.
“Holly!” Rhonda snapped and Holly looked up at Rhonda’s face. “He’s with me. Him and his friend saved us, and we want to help you.”
Taking Rhonda’s word as gospel, Holly relaxed and turned to Dawn still trying to get away. “Dawn, you heared Rhonda,” Holly snapped, but Lance had to process the slurred and drawn out words to interpret them. Lance heard, ‘Dawn ew eared Rhoowanda.’
Never taking her eyes off Lance, Dawn stopped fighting to get away as Lance unbuckled his helmet and then took off his mask. When Dawn saw his face she smiled, realizing he wasn’t a new monster. “Hi,” Dawn cheered out, holding up her hand.
“Hello,” Lance responded, glad he could clearly understand her.
“Holly, what are you doing so far from home?” Rhonda asked. “I went by your trailer at the end of March and it was empty.”
“I’s come ta Victor’s sister’s house an seein’ if we can stayed with ‘im,” Holly answered, and at the mention of Victor, Lance noticed Rhonda’s expression changed to one of utter hate.
“I wonder,” Lance mumbled, then gave a startle to see Holly didn’t have on panties or anything else besides the tank top that covered nothing, and her belly was poking out. Like Rhonda, Holly was thick with muscle, but Holly was a lot shorter than Rhonda’s five-seven, maybe five feet tall Lance was guessing, with long curly brown hair and very pretty. “The good Lord wasted no parts putting that woman together,” Lance mumbled. There was no denying Rhonda was country, but Holly was COOUUNNNNTTRRRY. Any minute, Lance was expecting Holly to pick up a rock with her toes and throw it, knocking a squirrel out of a tree across the valley.
Holly gave a glance as Ian led Dwain and Kathy out of the trees and Kathy took off to the porch. “Should’ve known that girl would make it,” Dwain said, stopping beside Lance as Holly told Rhonda her story. She only paused to hug Kathy when she ran onto the porch.
“Is that English?” Ian asked, taking off his helmet and mask.
“A form of it,” Lance concluded. “So, you know her?”
“Yeah, Holly lived not far from the family farm. Even though she’s much younger, Rhonda bonded with her,” Dwain answered.
Stopping beside Lance, Ian studied Holly. Even though Holly looked the same age as Rhonda, she wasn’t acting or moving like it. “How old is she?” Ian asked.
“Sixteen,” Dwain told him.
As Lance let out a gasp, “Are you shitting me?” Ian cried out.
Shaking his head, “Nope, they didn’t make girls like that when I was in school,” Dwain said.
“Bitch, we were still in school and didn’t see girls like that even in high school,” Ian shot back.
Accepting the age, “And you think she’s been providing and protecting her little sister by herself while she’s pregnant?” Lance asked with awe, and Dwain chuckled.
“Dawn is her daughter,” Dwain answered, and Lance jerked his face to gape at Dwain. “Looks like she’s pregnant again,” Dwain added with a sigh.
“Dwain, come help get their stuff,” Kathy called out, but it was clearly a command.
Kathy took Dawn from Rhonda and went inside the building. As Dwain went up the steps, Holly trotted down barefoot over to Lance and Ian across the rocky ground, never wincing or acknowledging the small sharp rocks. Stopping in front of them, Holly hugged each one. “Thankin’ you fer sav
ein’ Rhonda. She be the best people evur,” Holly told them and then bounced back up on the deck.
“A naked girl just hugged me,” Lance gasped with wide eyes. “Lilly’s going to kill me,” he predicted.
Beside Lance, Ian stared ahead in shock. “Her hooters were coming out of that shirt and I looked. I couldn’t help it. I even looked at her beaver pelt. Jennifer’s going to break my legs,” Ian mumbled.
Rhonda came out of the cabin and saw Lance and Ian frozen in shock. Jumping off the porch, Rhonda walked up to them. “What?”
“Holly hugged us. Naked. We’re going to die. Lilly and Jennifer are going to ice our asses,” Lance mumbled.
“Oh,” Rhonda grinned. “Sorry, but Holly isn’t shy and no, Jennifer and Lilly won’t kill you.”
Shaking his head rapidly to clear it, Lance finally blinked. “She is going to put on some clothes, right?”
“Of course,” Rhonda chuckled. “She knew about this place from her sister, who moved to Vegas to be a stripper.”
Ian stepped back, holding up his hands, “Her sister is a stripper? Let me guess, she’s twelve.”
“No, her sister, Tanya, is twenty-one and before you ask, Tanya was a lot prettier than Holly,” Rhonda chuckled, then sighed. “Yeah, Holly’s family is the definition of white trash. Her mom died from meth last year, both brothers were in jail, and I told you where her sister is. She never met or even knows who her dad is.”
“She’s pregnant?” Lance blurted out. “With a two-year-old? And she’s sixteen? We’ve known sixteen-year-olds that got pregnant, but not that already had a kid.”
The dark look again filled Rhonda’s face. “Yeah, Victor has been seeing Holly since she was thirteen,” Rhonda growled. “I tried to tell her, but all Holly could see was what he could provide for her. The only thing Victor ever bought her was a double wide trailer and a small car, both used of course. He made her go on welfare to keep food in the house.”
“Whoa,” Lance snapped. “This is the same Victor that owns that repair shop?”
Nodding, “Yeah, Victor Dunstan,” Rhonda snarled.
“Rhonda, he’s an old man. That’s statutory rape!” Lance cried out, throwing up his arms. “I mean, fuck me, that dude has more hair coming out his ears than he had on his head. And he was doing the tube snake boogie with a thirteen year old girl?! The cops would’ve thrown him under the jail.”
Sadness fell over Rhonda’s face that calmed Lance down and then made him depressed. “Lance, I don’t know how much you knew about the world that we used to have, but there were two sets of laws. One set of laws for us regular people and another for those with money and power. I went and reported it to the county sheriff and the state police, but no charges were ever filed. I even took pictures to the state police, but nothing ever happened. And I assure you, the pictures weren’t of Holly and Victor holding hands. I tried to go to the newspaper, but they threw me out. Before you say it was only here, no it wasn’t.”
“This Victor dweeb is older than my dad!” Ian cried out. “He is literally old enough to be her grandfather!”
Giving a shrug, “Like I said, two sets of laws,” Rhonda sighed.
“So she’s pregnant, again?” Lance asked timidly, and Rhonda saw his cheeks were red.
Nodding, “Yeah, and it’s Victor’s. Holly puts it at twenty-two weeks. The last time she saw Victor, he boned her in his office the day the asteroid hit. And yes, Dawn is his, but Victor doesn’t acknowledge or provide for her. Dawn doesn’t even have his last name because Victor refused,” Rhonda told them. “Let me go see how much longer.”
They watched Rhonda head back in the building and Ian gave a grunt. “Victor’s old wrinkled ass was boning girls our age and we weren’t,” Ian snarled. “I’m going to kick his ass.”
“Brah, we will have to kill every stinker around here because dumbasses like that didn’t make it,” Lance popped off. “Hell, for all we know we could’ve already killed his ass.”
“It’s the principle,” Ian replied, holding his chin high.
“Well, we do have hot girlfriends now, and you finally got Jennifer,” Lance pointed out.
Tilting his head to the side and thinking about that for several seconds, Ian finally shrugged. “Okay, I won’t look for him, but we cross paths I’m kicking his ass.”
“Brah, I’m here to tell you that you’ll be fightin’ Rhonda for that. She wants to hate-fuck his ass with a baseball bat.”
Ian looked over at Lance with trepidation. “I’m not fighting double bubble. She could crack my skull with those chest boulders.”
Grinning, Lance punched Ian in the arm playfully. “Just warning ya, because I’m not pullin’ that bitch off your ass.”
When everyone came out, both Lance and Ian gave a sigh of relief seeing Holly was dressed in pants and t-shirt. Seeing the shoes on her feet, Lance knew they were too big and was about to ask when he saw a pistol strapped to her waist, then moved over as Holly walked down the stairs. “That’s how you killed the stinkers,” Lance said, pointing at a hunting slingshot.
“I be likin’ my slingin’ shot,” Holly beamed.
“May I?” Lance asked, holding out his hand and Holly pulled the slingshot out and handed it over. Folding out the wrist support, Lance grabbed the band and had to really apply muscle to pull it back.
Letting it back down, “That thing has to have a fifty-pound pull,” Lance gasped. “What do you shoot?” he asked, impressed that Holly could pull it back repeatedly and hit stuff accurately.
Digging in a pouch hanging from her belt, Holly held up a half-inch steel ball bearing. “Find buckets fulled wit these, and theys shootin’ good,” Holly grinned.
Taking the ball bearing, Lance put it in the pouch and pulled it back while aiming at a tree. When he let it go the bearing shot out, smacking the tree hard and sounding off a ‘thunk’. “I bet that thing was doing eight hundred feet a second,” Lance gasped, handing the slingshot back.
“Victor soomtime furgets ta send muneies fer sum foods and state checks be short summ months, so I had ta be taken the slingin’ out and get a squirrel or rabbit. I only gotted a deer once,” Holly said, and it was several seconds after she stopped that Lance interpreted what she’d said.
“Well, you got a good weapon,” Lance smiled, and was very impressed. “We ready?” he asked, turning to Rhonda.
“Yeah, we can drop Holly off at our place and then head back to your place,” Rhonda said.
“Why?” Lance shrugged.
“Um, you don’t like people to know where you are?” Rhonda said hesitantly, glancing at Dwain.
“Strangers,” Lance corrected. “You and Dwain know her, and you really like her, so she can come over and eat. Then we can go to this meeting,” Lance said, putting the face mask back on.
Rhonda grinned as Holly stepped back while Lance and Ian put the masks and helmets on. “Dino,” Lance said, and Dino climbed down from the porch and followed them up the slope.
Chapter Ten
It was a cramped fit, but they managed to fit Holly and her daughter Dawn in the buggy with their two backpacks. When Ian pulled through the chute, Lance called over the radio. “Coming home.”
“Figured. The tigers are near the front gate,” Lilly called back.
Giving a long sigh, Lance thought about shooting the kitties, but didn’t want to piss them off. “Copy. Open when we get to the gate,” Lance replied, and leaned his head down into the buggy. “I trust you heard?” he asked Ian.
“Yeah,” Ian nodded. “Privately, I like the puddy cats but publicly, I want to kill the big pussy.”
Laughing as he stood back out of the roof, Lance gripped his AR while glancing around, and could hear Holly talking to Rhonda in the front seat. All he could tell was Holly was using her voice and would have to listen to Rhonda’s reply to deduce what Holly had said.
When Ian rounded the corner to the front of the fence, Rhonda held up her hand. “Hold on, Holly. The tigers are near,” Rhon
da said, aiming her M4 out the door.
“Likin’ real ones?” Holly asked in wonder as Lance turned around, facing the rear of the buggy. “Dawn an me seed sum lions yesterdy. Hav ta say, I like ‘em better in cages.”
Hearing the first gate open, Lance gripped his AR as both tigers stepped out from the trees and onto the road twenty yards away. “Ian, tell Lilly to close the outer gate before opening the inner. The kitties are on the road!” Lance shouted, bringing his AR up to his shoulder.
When the first gate was open Ian pulled in, and only when the outer gate closed did Lance lower his AR. “The tigers moved to the gate ten minutes before you called,” Lilly told them over the radio.
“They really don’t like company,” Lance mumbled when Ian pulled through the second fence.
Pulling around the cabin, Ian stopped near the back door as everyone but Lilly walked out from the shop. “That didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” Jennifer said and stopped, seeing Holly get out of the front seat with Rhonda. Then she saw Kathy get out with a toddler in her arms.
“We missed someone?! Are you kidding me?!” Jennifer cried out when Lilly walked out the back door.
“No,” Ian said, getting out while pulling his mask and helmet off. “They were set up just outside our perimeter.”
“Hi, y’all,” Holly beamed, walking over to Lilly and holding out her hand.
Giving a nod, Lilly took Holly’s hand and shook it. “Hello, sorry we didn’t find you.”
Waving her hand out, “Aw it be fine. Them fected don’t be ‘ard ta kil’ unless they bes a bunch, then I be toten Dawn an runnin’ away,” Holly chuckled, and Lance paused before jumping off the buggy trying to decipher what Holly had said.
Like she’d understood without difficulty, Lilly nodded. “Yes, but we would’ve helped you if we knew you were close, especially with a little girl.”
Very impressed, “Damn, my girl speaks country,” Lance mumbled, jumping off the buggy. Landing on his toes, Lance watched the ladybugs run around the buggy and skid to a stop, looking up at Dawn in Kathy’s arms.
Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming Page 11