Forsaken World:Coming of Age

by Thomas A. Watson

  Ian turned back to his laptop. “Yeah, but she’s still great.”

  “If she’s not biting our heads off,” Lance said, grinning at Ian. “Just wait till you marry her; she’ll beat you down with words and looks like our moms do to our dads.”

  Ian shrugged as he studied the laptop. “Don’t care,” he said with a smirk. “What a woman.”

  “I’m going to get my notebook and printouts,” Lance said, getting up. As he walked through the kitchen to the basement, Jennifer spun around.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get my notebook,” Lance said, stopping when he saw Jennifer’s hands go to her hips, and her eyes narrowed. “Ah, Allie, would you go and get my notebook and bring it to me?”

  Turning around with a smile, Allie jumped off the stool she was standing on so she could work on the counter. “Yes,” she said, running past him. With a nervous smile, Lance headed back to the sectional and dropped down beside Ian.

  “You asked for that, bro,” Ian said, chuckling quietly.

  Picking up his laptop, Lance mumbled, “I feel cowed down like a bitch.”

  “Lance,” Ian said, looking over at him. “She wants us to see her like we see each other.”

  “Dude, if you would’ve done that to me, we would be in the yard.”

  “You’re right,” Ian laughed. “If you had been hurt, I would just get shit for you like you would for me.”

  “Point taken,” Lance said as Allie ran over and handed him his notebook. He gave her a hug and took the notebook, and she took off to the kitchen. “Now I just have to find the file I had the chat boards downloaded to.”

  When the food was ready, Jennifer gave both looks as they walked to the table. She could tell they were moving better, and neither was holding their chest as they breathed, so she let it go. “I can’t wait for real eggs. Powdered sucks,” she said, pouring glasses of tea.

  “If I have to eat powdered eggs much more, I’m just going to snort the damn things,” Lance said, sitting down.

  “I’m leaning more to smoking mine,” Ian laughed. “Find anyone else that almost passed out from stinkers?”

  Lance opened his notebook and nodded. “Yes, on the last day of downloads, several on the survival site said you had to get rid of dead stinkers fast because they really put off bad smells, making it hard to breathe. Later down in the blog, someone tells them it’s hydrogen sulfide. When you kill a stinker, it starts to really put out hydrogen sulfide for twenty-four hours. One person said they saw a group die inside an RV after they killed a bunch of stinkers around them. Seems they were trapped, and others showed up, and they couldn’t leave.”

  Helping Allie and Carrie into their chairs, Jennifer looked up. “Any word on stinkers following other stinkers by smell?”

  “Oh yeah,” Lance said, turning pages. “If one shows up, others will follow eventually; but they really show up after you kill one and don’t get rid of the body. More than one person on the boards compared it to the way insects leave scent trails.”

  “How much did you download from the boards?” Jennifer asked, spooning food onto plates.

  He looked up from his notebook. “Shit if I know, but it’s around a gigabyte,” he said with a shrug.

  Her eyes got wide as she passed Lance his plate. “That’s over a hundred and thirty thousand pages,” she gasped.

  Lance almost dropped the plate she was handing him as his jaw dropped in shock. “How in the hell did you know that?”

  “I’m taking computers, Lance,” she said with a grin and handed Ian a plate of food. Taking it, Ian smirked as Lance shook his head to clear the shock off his face. “Learn anything new?”

  He looked down at the last entries he had written. “One of the last blogs said someone in Oregon reported stinkers eating a cow,” Lance said. “Everyone started blasting them, saying they were wrong, but that’s when I turned off the internet.”

  “Hell, we’ve seen them walk past dead animals,” Ian said.

  “I’ve seen them kill animals and walk away,” Lance said. Everyone clasped hands and said grace.

  When grace was done, Jennifer grabbed the salt. “What do you think of that?”

  “Don’t really know,” Lance said, grabbing a fork.

  As everyone ate and thought, Ian grabbed his glass of tea. “When do you want to head down to the valley?”

  “Few days at least,” Lance said and looked over at Jennifer. “You and Jennifer are going to have to drive, so we need to practice that tomorrow.”

  “I can drive the buggy down,” Ian offered.

  “Nope,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Need to take the Hummer with the trailer. Need to hook up that truck and trailer for the pigs and goats, and I’ll be driving that truck back with the equipment.”

  “Hold it,” Jennifer said, holding out her hands. “What the hell are you two talking about?”

  Lance quickly laid out the plan he and Ian had concocted to get the stuff from the two farms they had visited. “You’re going to have to drive the Hummer for us to do it,” he finished.

  “Okay.” Jennifer smiled, glad they had included her from the beginning without even asking. “What about Allie and Carrie?”

  “Oh, they have to come with us,” Lance said, filling his mouth with food, and the smile fell off Jennifer’s face. When he emptied his mouth, Lance said, “What, we need someone keeping an eye out, and they can do that from inside the Hummer.”

  Knowing they needed the girls and accepting it were two different things. “Can we think of a way to do it where we leave them here?” Jennifer asked hesitantly, and Allie and Carrie both started shouting.

  “Hey!” Ian yelled, making the two quiet down. He looked at the girls with a scowl then turned to Jennifer. “We could, but it would take more than one trip, and that’s what we want to avoid at all cost.”

  “We can help!” Carrie snapped, giving her sister a dirty look.

  “Carrie,” Ian snapped. “We know that, and that’s why we said we needed you, so quit giving Jennifer ugly looks.” Carrie looked over at him, trying to give him a sad face. “Hey, I’m not Lance. That doesn’t work on me.”

  Jennifer reached over, patting Carrie’s hand. “Sorry, but I’m just worried about you two out there.”

  “We can be tough,” Allie said, lifting her chin.

  Shaking his head at Ian, Lance was amazed that he could remain strong against those pouty eyes. “Yes, you can, but out of everyone, Allie, Carrie, you will have the most important job,” Lance said, turning away from Ian. “You’re the ones watching for anything coming for us. If it gets by you, then one of us could die.”

  The cheer on the girls’ faces fell off and was replaced by sheer horror. “He’s right,” Ian said, finishing his plate. “Where are we putting the pigs?” Ian asked, glancing at Lance.

  After thinking about it for a minute, Lance said, “Southwest corner. It’s the furthest I can get them away from the cabin and still be downhill.”

  “We can use some of the barbwire and make a pen,” Ian said, refilling his plate.

  “Hmph,” Lance scoffed. “You know as well as I do that would hold those damn things about ten minutes. At the Ferguson farm, they had cattle fence panels; we’ll use that.”

  “What about the goats?” Allie asked with a pale face, still not liking being responsible for everyone’s safety.

  Grabbing a napkin and wiping his mouth, Lance shook his head. “If the fences we are building don’t hold their asses, then they can roam free. They are coming to keep the grass down, and we can have fresh milk.”

  “I like goats’ milk,” Allie said, looking down at her plate without a smile.

  Finishing his second plate, Ian laughed. “Yeah, anytime some got brought home, Allie had no trouble finishing it off.”

  When Lance finished, he looked over at Ian. “Show Jennifer that video so she can make out a plan on packing. I’m going to take a shower.”

  After they put up their plat
es, Ian led Jennifer over to his laptop and showed her the video as Allie and Carrie cleaned up the kitchen. “What if we mess up?” Carrie whispered, helping Allie load the dishwasher.

  “We can’t,” Allie said, trying not to cry. “We can do it just like we do watching on the TVs that show the outside.”

  “I’m scared,” Carrie said, looking around to make sure no one was close.

  Allie reached over, grabbing her hand. “Me too, but we have to help.”

  Lance came out of the bathroom to see Allie and Carrie walking over to the living area. “Okay, everyone,” he said, going to the couch. “Everyone take a shower, and meet at the table in fifteen minutes.”

  Looking up from the notes she was making, Jennifer rolled her head back until she was looking at Lance. “I’m just starting my list here.”

  “You can work on it between driving practice tomorrow,” Lance said. “I have something I want to show all of you. Fifteen minutes or I’m getting pissed off.”

  Ian laughed, jumping up. “Oh, can’t wait,” he said, running over the back of the couch.

  Letting out a huff, Jennifer blew her bangs off her forehead and moved the laptop over. “It better be good,” she said with a grin and ran over the couch like Ian did.

  Allie and Carrie walked past him, holding hands with scared faces. Lance reached over and hugged both of them. “If I didn’t know you two could keep a lookout, I wouldn’t have told Ian you could,” he said, leaning back to look down at them. “You can do it, and we need you to do it. Don’t worry; just do your best like you have been, and you’ll do a great job.”

  “What if someone gets hurt because we didn’t see something?” Allie asked in a small voice.

  Rubbing her head, Lance grinned. “Then it will come from somewhere you can’t watch. You two watch the monitors better than Jennifer—hell, anyone for that matter.”

  “Really?” Carrie looked up with a hopeful smile.

  “You two are the only ones that call out when a rabbit or squirrel runs around, so I have little doubt a person or stinky can get by you.”

  Feeling much better, they hugged Lance and took off to the bedroom. Lance gave a sigh, hoping they wouldn’t get hurt. Then he realized the only way those two would get hurt was if Jennifer, Ian, and himself were dead. Shaking that thought out of his head, Lance ran down to the bunker.

  When Ian stepped out of the bathroom drying his hair with a towel, he saw Lance at the table. “Ready?” Ian asked, and Lance spun around.

  “No, don’t come in yet,” Lance said.

  Shrugging, Ian headed into the bedroom and grabbed a t-shirt, dropping his clothes in the basket. When he came out, he sat on the sectional, and when the girls came out, he called them over as Lance worked at the table.

  “Okay,” Lance finally called out.

  They walked in and saw a Monopoly board set up. Allie and Carrie let out cheers, and Ian and Jennifer gave half smiles as they walked over. Then both of their jaws dropped. “Lance!” Ian shouted. “That’s real money!” Carrie and Allie stopped cheering and gazed at the stacks of bills along the board with open mouths.

  “Yeah, Dad and Uncle Doug had some in the safes. They’re more collectors’ items than money,” Lance said, pulling out his chair. “I’m the car; don’t care what everyone else is.”

  “Lance, we can’t play with real money,” Jennifer gasped, looking at the stacks of bills.

  Lance looked up at her. “Jen, it’s just fancy paper now. Think about it.”

  “I’m the horse,” Ian sang out and jumped in his chair.

  She rolled her eyes with a blithe expression. “I like the car,” Jennifer said then looked at Ian. “If I’m not the car, I like the horse.”

  “Forget it,” they said in unison.

  “Fine, I’m the hat,” she laughed, sitting down.

  As Ian grabbed the dice to see who rolled first, he looked at Lance. “You know, in the real world, I would be quitting now and just leaving with my money.” He reached over and took the money tray. “This is the first time I don’t mind being banker.”

  When Ian rolled, Lance looked over at him. “When I looked in Uncle Doug’s safe, I wanted to go to the store with all the money he had in there. Then I opened the safe downstairs and almost passed out. There are stacks of gold and silver coins.”

  “I’m first,” Carrie cheered.

  Ian threw two hundred-dollar bills in the center of the board. “Hell, I just want to land on free parking now,” Jennifer laughed.

  Chapter Six

  Feeling something tug her foot, Jennifer cracked her eyes open and saw the bedroom was still dark with only the nightlight on. Feeling her foot being pulled again, she looked down to see Lance, and Jennifer gave a little jump. “We’re starting the day,” Lance said and walked out, closing the bedroom door.

  As Lance came out, Ian was standing in the living area. “She get up?”

  “She sat up, so I’m taking that as she got up,” Lance said, walking over to Ian. “How long should we give her?”

  “Let’s just get the stuff ready, and if she’s not out by then, we’ll start,” Ian said and started laying out equipment.

  When Jennifer stepped out of the bedroom, she froze mid-yawn, staring at the two. On the back of the sectional were pistols and ARs, but they all had an orange tips on the ends of the barrels. “What kind of guns are those?”

  “Airsoft,” Ian said, turning around with a grin. “We can follow along with the DVDs without the risk of shooting a real gun off in the cabin.”

  Lance turned around, adjusting a tactical vest. “Just because they’re airsoft, we still follow the five rules.”

  Giving a huff, Jennifer moaned. “Treat every weapon as it’s loaded, and always keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction. Keep your finger off the trigger and your weapon on safe till you are ready to shoot. Never point your weapon at anything unless you’re willing to destroy it. Make sure your target’s foreground and background are clear.”

  Shaking his head, Lance turned to Ian. “If we would’ve had that attitude, Uncle Doug would’ve punched us in the chest.”

  Ian walked over, handing Jennifer a tactical vest with holster. “Those rules are for everyone’s safety,” he said as she took the vest. “This is your airsoft vest to use when we train.”

  Feeling bad, Jennifer looked away. “Sorry, but Ian had me say them like a hundred times as he showed me my guns.”

  “And we still say them,” Lance said, grabbing a pistol.

  Putting on her vest, she asked, “So we are using play guns to practice with?”

  Both boys froze, and Ian turned around. “They aren’t ‘play’ guns, Jennifer. We can use them to get better with the more powerful versions.”

  Now feeling like a complete idiot, Jennifer just nodded as Lance handed her a pistol. “Hey, it’s just like the one you gave me,” she said, looking at it. “I still haven’t shot the real one yet.”

  “You will today but with a suppressor,” Ian said. “It’s the airsoft version of the XDM. Your airsoft AR is set up like yours too.”

  Shoving her pistol in her holster, Jennifer took the AR and saw it had the same EoTech and fore grip. The only thing missing was the suppressor hanging off the end. “They’re metal. I thought airsoft guns were plastic.”

  “Cheap ones are, but these are what Uncle Doug taught us on. They weigh the same as our real ones do,” Lance said, handing her a pair of safety glasses. “Sorry you had to take the crash course with the real thing.”

  “Shit if I’m complaining,” Jennifer said and glanced at the clock. “You two got up at four?”

  “No, three thirty,” Ian said, grabbing the remote for the DVD player. “We got the stuff together before waking you up.”

  “I want a watch so I can wake up on my own like you two do,” Jennifer mumbled as Ian hit play. A man filled the huge screen and started describing the drills they were going to do. Glancing over at the front door, Jennifer saw three human silhou
ette targets. “We’re shooting inside?”

  “Yeah, but remember the damn BB things will bounce back, so keep your glasses on,” Lance said, watching the man on the screen. For two hours, the three went through the drills the man on the screen showed them.

  When Ian pushed the stop button, Jennifer was glad to see both of the boys were sweating as well. “That is a workout, but I liked it,” she grinned.

  “Glad because we will be doing that for a long time,” Ian said, grabbing a broom. After they swept up a pile of pellets, they took off their gear and hung it up. “You want to work out in that?” Ian asked, looking at Jennifer.

  Looking down at her tan pants and polo shirt, Jennifer asked, “By work out, what do you mean?”

  “Pumping iron, treadmill, and sparring,” Ian said as Lance went to the bedroom.

  “I got some clothes from the storage area,” Jennifer said.

  “Wake the ladybugs!” Lance yelled from the bedroom.

  Jennifer looked over at Ian. “They will be up soon and would freak out if they woke up and no one was here,” Ian said.

  When everyone was ready, they found Dino waiting at the back door. As the three checked their rifles, Allie and Carrie let Dino outside. “Guys, don’t be mad, but I’m not working out like you two do,” Jennifer said, slinging her rifle. “I’ll go to the gym and work out at home, and I’ll increase my weights, but you two go crazy.”

  “Okay.” Lance shrugged as he followed her out.

  When they walked in the gym, they hung up their rifles, and Jennifer looked around at the equipment. For a private gym, it was filled with a lot of equipment, and the left end of the room was open with a thick, padded floor, punching bags near the wall, and a large TV.

  True to form, the boys dropped down and started lifting weights. Jennifer led the girls over to the dumbbells and showed them how to exercise. It was almost an hour later that Jennifer looked up to see Ian and Lance on the padded mat with the large TV on. She led the girls over. “What are you learning now?” she panted and looked down to see the girls panting.

  “Krav Maga,” Lance said as they repeated the strikes that the man on TV did.