The casual attitude the two had bothered Heath, and yet it didn’t. Just like everything the boys did, they tested it to see if it worked and found what worked better. “Um,” Heath cleared his throat. “Have you tested actually shooting people? Just curious…”
“Six, why?” Ian asked, typing.
“So, chest shots, do they take them out fast?”
“Only headshots are nearly instantaneous. Center mass of the chest they drop, but don’t die for several minutes. We were testing the 5.56. Now in real world tests outside the lab, we noticed the 7.62 center mass shots were more effective with targets dying in less than two minutes,” Ian reported.
“We haven’t tested that,” Lance sang out.
“It’s real world observations, so it counts,” Ian countered. “Can’t shoot them in the chest, we found shooting them in the thigh is nearly as fast, but only with a high powered round. Pistols don’t do the damage, so stick to center mass. With pistols you have to hit the femoral artery and that’s a small target. Only problem there is, if the person knows what they are doing, they can put on a tourniquet and get back in the fight.”
Giving an impressed nod, “That’s good to know,” Heath mumbled. “Are you showing these to everyone?”
“Jennifer and Lilly have seen them, but if someone wants to they can watch them,” Ian said, grabbing the mouse. “To be honest, our first real targets made us uneasy. But as Lance pointed out that’s normal, like your first animal you take when you hunt, but this time it’s a person. Hate to admit it, but I felt bad for a few hours that night.”
“It went away?” Heath asked.
Nodding, “Oh, yeah,” Ian scoffed, saving the file. “It wasn’t like a video game. But it was them or us, and they never had a chance, which is what your goal should always be. The first is always the hardest, and even the books say that and I agree.”
Coming to terms with what he had learned and witnessed, Heath straightened up while stretching his back. “Next time you guys test, I’ll help. If you don’t mind, can I watch what you’ve learned?”
Taken aback, Ian and Lance stopped what they were doing and turned to Heath. “You’re serious?” Ian asked, and Heath nodded. “You haven’t killed anyone yet, only stinkers?”
Nodding again, “Yeah, and I’ll admit to both of you now, it took me awhile to get over that. He was my neighbor that I talked to at least once a week. To be honest, I got over it because I had to kill six more two days later, and they just kept coming,” Heath told them.
“I don’t care if you want to watch them. That’s why we are doing it, to find what works the best,” Lance said, glancing at Ian.
“Information not shared with those who can benefit you and just kept in a void is useless,” Ian shrugged.
“Aaa,” Lance said, holding up a finger. “Information must be validated and confirmed, or it is only speculation.”
Knowing he was missing something, Heath just turned back to Ian. “Okay, I’ll give you that, but sharing what you have with those who are assisting may bring new thoughts to interpret the information,” Ian said, and Heath turned to Lance.
Looking off for a few seconds, “What we have now are just wild findings, but I agree. When we get more concrete evidence that we are right, I say bring in a few,” Lance stated.
Crossing his arms over his chest, “You damn sure better not be talking about Jennifer and Lilly. We are getting way too much information, and need help just recording our findings,” Ian replied.
“Oh, no, I wasn’t talking about them. We so need help filing and recording what we have learned, and I think they will bring some ideas that we haven’t thought of,” Lance said.
“Your god damn woman is a veterinarian. I know damn well she’ll bring some new ideas,” Ian snapped. “She impresses me in the chemistry lab.”
“Motherfucker, Jennifer figured out why the fucking water was rising in minutes,” Lance popped off. “She will think of shit nobody else will.”
Flipping his head back and forth, Heath thought this sounded weird. Ian was pimping Lance’s girl and Lance was pimping Ian’s. He already knew they had forgotten about him, but would get back to him when they were ready.
“So, when we have repeatable findings, we bring in a select few?” Ian asked, raising his eyebrows.
Nodding, “I don’t have a problem with that, but I want Lilly and Jennifer to agree not only on the findings but on who we bring in,” Lance offered.
“Don’t have a problem with that,” Ian said, uncrossing his arms and turning to Heath. “You want me to burn you a copy now?” Ian asked him, and it took Heath a few minutes to replay the conversation to get the question.
“Um, yeah,” Heath said as Lance turned back to the dry erase board.
“It’s a small sample, but I’m happy with the results. There is less than a five percent deviation in all four tests. We’ve practiced the technique on stinkers and then on the enemy. It works on both, so I say we use it,” Lance said.
“You practiced that on stinkers?” Heath asked.
“Hell, yeah, there is a technique to driving a knife in the back of the skull without it glancing off and slicing the shit out of you,” Ian said, and held up a knife with a six-inch blade and a tanto tip. “This works the best for us.”
After Ian made copies and put them on a thumb drive, they headed outside. “How the hell did you get in there?!” Rhonda barked at Heath.
“Followed Lance in,” Heath answered.
Turning around and staring at Denny working on the battle bot, “Aunt Rhonda, I just said you couldn’t go in when the light was on,” Denny told her, never looking back.
“Well, I wasn’t going in till someone else did,” Rhonda snapped as Jennifer and Lilly walked over.
“How did the test go?” Lilly asked.
“Went good, Ian and I are going to use it,” Lance said, moving over and watching Denny.
“I told Denny he could mount the nozzle, and babe, I’m not shoving my knife in someone’s skull. I’ve done that on a few stinkers and had my knife pulled from my hand when they fell,” Lilly told him.
“Sometimes people have to be taken out quietly,” Lance said, still watching Denny.
Nodding, “I have a pistol with a suppressor and will put it right next to their head before pulling the trigger to muffle the sound,” Lilly told him.
Stepping away from Denny and walking around the battle bot, Lance looked down at Lori using probes to check voltage along the circuits on the gun robot. “Everything good?” Lance asked.
“Same as yesterday,” Lori answered. “It worked yesterday and this morning, why are we checking it so much?”
“Because when it gets turned on tonight, Ian and I will be in front of it,” Lance answered.
With her mouth falling open and tools falling from numb fingers, “Are you out of your fucking mind?!” Lori shouted. “This is a SAW on here, not a paintball gun!”
Not liking the language, but loving that someone was voicing displeasure over this ‘exploit’, Robin walked over with Kathy. “Seems your daughter isn’t bashful anymore,” Kathy pointed out.
“But it worked,” Lance nodded, and Lori turned to Jennifer and Lilly.
“Aren’t you going to say something?” she asked, getting up.
“What, you think we haven’t?” Jennifer huffed.
As realization set in, Lori turned to the battle bot. Slowly she raised her hand, pointing at it, “Is that going to be in there with both of you?”
“We aren’t taking it to sit on the bench,” Ian told her.
Crawling back inside the frame of the battle bot, “You guys are so awesome,” Denny chuckled.
Jerking her thumb over her shoulder at two gun bots on a trailer, “Please tell me you two won’t be in front of those at least,” Lori almost pleaded.
Shrugging one shoulder as he walked back into the house, “At times, all four of us will be in front of the gun bots,” Lance informed her.
With her mouth hanging open Lori turned to Lilly and Jennifer. “It was our idea to put ourselves in front of the gun bots,” Lilly admitted.
“I’m wearing a diaper because I know I’m pissin’ my pants when those things start shooting over my head,” Jennifer said.
“Lori, it’s the same protocol program for all of them, and we’ve proven it works,” Ian told her.
Spinning on her heel, “I need a minute,” Lori informed everyone before walking away.
Moving around the battle bot, Dwain saw some new upgrades. Where the battery bank used to sit, there was now a generator. Starting to agree with Lori, Dwain walked around and tapped a pipe coming out the left side aiming forward around the shredders. Tapping the nozzle at the end of the pipe, “What’s this?” Dwain asked. Rolling their eyes, Lilly and Jennifer just walked off.
Everyone turned to Ian who had a big grin. “My contribution for an upgrade, a flamethrower,” Ian laughed.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was 2200 when two buggies pulling trailers left the build house. Ian was driving the lead buggy with Lance standing out of the roof and Dino in the passenger seat. Trailing ten yards behind them, Lilly was driving the second with Jennifer manning the roof hatch and George was riding in the passenger seat.
With her goggles down, Jennifer scanned around as they passed the meeting house. At the curve, they left the road and took the driveway up the slope to the clubhouse. Glancing down to make sure she was on intercom and not radio, Jennifer flipped the switch to talk. “You nervous?” she asked.
Driving past the clubhouse and up the hillside, “About what?” Lilly asked, topping the ridge and following Ian through the trees. “That we will be lying in front of two gun bots that throw an eight gram steel ball bearing at four thousand feet per second translating to over four thousand pounds of impact energy? That Lance and Ian will be inside an enemy compound with two bots operating autonomously? Or that one is armed with a SAW and the other is an upgraded battle bot that can move over forty miles an hour and is armed with a fucking flamethrower that can shoot out a stream of fire a hundred yards? Or…”
Hearing Lilly take a breath to continue, Jennifer cut her off. “So, you’re worried?”
“Fuck, yeah!”
“How in the hell can they act so calm?” Jennifer groaned as she scanned around.
“Jennifer, I have no idea,” Lilly admitted. She knew Lance, and he was calm. The only emotion Lilly could get from his subtle expression was excitement. Lance was excited, but even that was very minute. She only had to decipher Lance to know Ian’s mood. The only way Lilly could rationalize their moods, the boys looked at what they were doing as a job. A job they really enjoyed; Lilly corrected her thought.
Lance and Ian had RF chips and infrared or IR markers on everyone, including the dogs. These told the bots they weren’t to be targeted by frequency and visually. They did work. After wrestling down a stinker and putting the markers on her, they let her go. She chased the battle bot as it dodged around her killing other stinkers, and the gun bots wouldn’t target her.
After a game of rock, paper, scissors, Ian put on the chip and markers and ran out in the field. Lilly had to remind Jennifer to relax and not blow up. To Lance and Ian, that would’ve been doubting their work. They built it and would trust it, even though they were scared of the gun bots. Watching a gun bot shoot a ball bearing through one inch steel plate at one hundred yards, only a complete moron wouldn’t be afraid, Lilly reasoned.
“Jennifer, they wanted us to come. We have to trust what they build, like they do,” Lilly finally said.
“It has a fucking flamethrower, Lilly,” Jennifer droned. “Fire isn’t that predictable.”
Not even making an attempt to rationalize that, “It will have shock factor,” was all Lilly could come up with. “You and I both raised our concerns, but Lance and Ian countered each point we brought up. And again, I’m proud of you for remaining calm,” Lilly told her.
“How in the hell can they rationalize a flamethrower? Motherfucking stinkers are even terrified of fire,” Jennifer said, glancing behind them. “Robin passed out when they tested the flamethrower.”
“Do I need to repeat every word they said?”
Giving a long sigh, “No,” Jennifer moaned. “I wish they would just do a deed. They can sneak better than any ninja.”
“No shit,” Lilly chuckled, steering around a stump. Last night, she had stayed right next to Lance as they had moved through the camp. Watching Lance, Lilly was certain smoke made more noise. She had followed him into a pavilion set up at one end of the camp. Making Lilly stay put, Lance had eased around the cots of sleeping Pirates, looking at each one.
The casual fluid movements Lance displayed blew Lilly away. Not one person even shifted when Lance was near. When he came back to get her, Lance led her through the rows and Lilly noticed more than one sleeper moved when she was near. After it was over and they left, the only thing Lilly could come up with was, she was nervous and Lance wasn’t. Somehow the sleepers could feel her anxiety, like a person could tell when someone was looking at them.
There were two homes and three barns inside the perimeter of the camp and they could tell a party was going on in the largest barn. The windows were covered, but light leaked out from under the doors and the sound of music could be heard.
In the whole camp there was only one guard post, and it was at the one gate. Leaving Lilly in the shadows, Lance had crept up to the steps that led to the top of the trailers. The guard post was only a roof held up by posts with chairs under the roof. At the base of the wall in the shadows, Lilly could see the four guards moving and hear them talking as Lance crept up on them.
Looking the post over, Lance came back down the stairs and collected Lilly and moved deeper into the camp. There were only a few lights throughout the camp and none on the walls. At the north end of the camp, twenty RVs and seventeen fifth wheel campers were backed up to the west wall.
Several times, Lance paused and reached back to put a hand on Lilly. The first time he did that Lilly nearly fainted, watching a drunken young man stumble along and cross in front of them. When Lance let her go, Lilly had to force her legs to move as they crept behind the man while he took a piss in the small stream that ran under the wall of trailers for a hundred yards and back out.
Sometimes, like magic, Lance would pause as someone moved about. Other times, he would just put his hand on her and nothing moved around them. It was three in the morning and Lilly was shocked to see that many people even up. But it seemed the Pirates were partiers.
One of the times Lance stopped and put his hand on her, Lilly was looking at two men sitting under the awning of an RV not ten yards away. One turned and Lilly felt her blood turn to ice as he looked right into the shadows they were stopped in. Swearing the man was looking right into her eyes, Lilly glanced off while saying a silent prayer.
A minute later, Lance had removed his hand and moved on. Glancing back, Lilly saw the man that had been looking toward them was shoving a needle in his arm.
Lance stopped near the wall just looking out and Lilly nearly fainted when, less than a foot away, Ian moved past her before stopping beside Lance. Feeling weak, Lilly saw Jennifer move beside her, dropping to one knee and looking out over the camp.
Turning to Lance and Ian, Lilly, even there in the camp, felt a twinge of jealousy. Lance and Ian were just looking at each other. One would move his head slightly and the other would make a minute gesture like twitch a shoulder. That was the jealousy she felt. Lance and Ian knew each other so well, they could have a conversation without words. The only thing Lilly could compare it to would be twins.
Finally, Lance had bobbed his head slightly. “Okay,” he breathed. Turning around, Ian tapped Jennifer and moved off. Following Lance as he headed to the biggest RV, Lilly paused when Lance pointed ahead where the RV was backed up to the wall. Moving to where Lance pointed, Lilly turned around just in time to see Lance slip inside the RV.
Terrified because she was alone, Lilly had just gripped her rifle tight and knelt down. In the camper to her right, she could hear voices. She kept her eyes on the RV’s door on her left where Lance had disappeared. She felt relief when Lance slipped out, and would later find out he had gone inside to take a picture of the leader as he slept.
Following Lance through the camp, Lilly had made a mental note to find out how in the hell Ian and Lance had learned to move like they did.
Throughout the camp, they’d found women and kids. On the first scouting trip, Lance and Ian had told them a group had returned with captured women and kids. They didn’t talk about the rape or torment, but what they talked about shocked even Lilly. The Pirates didn’t hold anyone they captured after they were raped. There were no cages or people tied off. By dawn, most of the ones that were brought in had climbed over the walls and escaped. Because they had to jump off the trailers to the ground outside, more than one was limping away. The others just stayed and took the abuse that was dished out again.
This confused the boys, but Lilly and Jennifer offered an explanation. They took the abuse because they were provided for, to some degree. They were protected from the stinkers and got leftover food.
It was easy to tell they weren’t part of the Pirates because only Pirates wore a black bandana tied around the neck. There were female Pirates, but not many.
Moving past the group under the awning, Lance had pointed out a female to Lilly. This was one of three women they had found that were restrained. Around the woman’s neck was a metal collar, with a leash held by one of the men sitting across from the man who had looked toward them.
In the shadows, Lilly heard the leash holder say he was going to ‘buy’ another woman at the lake. The other two men sitting laughed that it was a waste because there were plenty running around. With her head held low, the woman was kneeling beside the chair of her leash holder. Wearing a silk teddy that didn’t cover much, there was no denying the woman was pretty, and Lilly doubted the woman was older than herself.
Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming Page 36