“You know fighting,” Jennifer sighed, grabbing a towel to wipe her face. When she was done, Allie grabbed it, and the girls wiped their faces off.
“Krav Maga is used only to fight and really hurt someone,” Ian said, pausing the video. “Our moms wouldn’t let us take it because it shows how to really fucking hurt someone.”
Jennifer took a deep breath. “What do I have to do?” she asked, moving over beside them.
It was almost nine when the group walked back inside the cabin. Allie and Carrie slowly moved toward the table and sat down. “Ladybugs, will you two feed Dino?” Lance asked, moving over to the refrigerator. With small groans, the two went to feed Dino, who was sitting beside his bowl just looking at everyone.
Jennifer set the eggs they had collected down. “I’m so happy to see these damn things.”
As she helped Lance prepare breakfast, Ian headed to the bunker and came back carrying five-pound containers. When he sat them on the table, Jennifer saw one labeled protein powder and the other muscle powder. Then he set down several smaller bottles—well, smaller than the monster ones but still large—and she saw they were vitamins.
After breakfast, Lance and Ian took a scoop from each jug, put them in two large glasses, and stirred them up. From the looks on their faces, Jennifer knew it tasted bad. “Can I take a nap?” Allie said with droopy eyes.
“Not yet,” Lance said, putting his glass in the dishwasher. “The day is just starting; how about you take a nap before lunch?”
Walking over, Jennifer helped the girls out of their chairs and really wanted to take a nap with them. “We have work to do, guys,” she said, leading them to the bedroom.
When everyone was dressed, Lance led them over to the Hummer. “Okay, time to learn how to drive,” he said as he climbed in. With everyone loaded up, Lance drove around the yard and practiced backing up with Dino trotting along beside them.
Coming to a stop in front of the cabin, Lance turned to Ian. “Your turn.” The color drained from Ian’s face as he gave a slow nod and climbed over to the driver’s seat as Lance got out.
They stopped before noon and made sandwiches, and Allie and Carrie weren’t tired anymore, so the driving lessons continued. When they had to fill up the Hummer with diesel, Lance let them continue driving around as he washed the trailer off. Then, he practiced backing up to the trailer and pulling it around the yard. After he put the Hummer in park, Ian and Jennifer practiced driving the trailer around.
It was late in the afternoon when they went inside, and the Hummer and trailer had new scratches on them from getting too close to trees but no dents.
When Allie and Carrie moved to the kitchen and started helping with supper, Lance grinned. “We are getting better,” he said, taking off his gear.
***
At five a.m. the next morning, all of them were standing around the Hummer. Looking in the back of the vehicle, Lance saw Dino’s massive head looking at him from the wagon area. “Everyone ready?” Lance asked, looking around.
“No, but let’s go anyway,” Ian said, lowering his night vision goggles. They could see fairly well without night vision, but it really helped a lot.
Nodding, Lance turned to Jennifer. “Wait till we give the all clear before leaving.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Jennifer said, gripping her rifle tight.
Lance and Ian climbed on one of the electric buggies as Jennifer walked over and opened the gate. They sped down the dirt track and slowed before reaching the field as Lance pulled up his smart phone and saw he still had signal from the cabin. “Nothing has gone off, so the valley is clear,” Lance said as Ian pulled through the stand of cedar trees and came to a stop. Raising his rifle, Lance turned on the thermal and lifted his goggles, scanning the area. “That is one big ass deer,” he said, looking at the far side of the field.
“Dude, forget the deer,” Ian whispered.
“That thing would be a state record,” Lance said, making Ian turn to look, but it was just out of range for his goggles.
“Let me see,” Ian said, taking Lance’s rifle and looking through the scope, then sucked in a breath. “Holy moley, that thing is huge.”
“Told ya,” Lance said, lowering his goggles and taking his rifle back from Ian. “Let’s ease up some.”
Driving slowly down the dirt road, Ian could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “We couldn’t wait till daylight?”
“No, we will sit in the Hummer till daylight and see if anything comes from the sound.”
Easing around a curve, Ian stopped as Lance looked ahead where they burnt the bodies. “I don’t see anything except small animals running around,” Lance said.
“What about the bodies we burnt?”
“I don’t see anything there,” Lance said, lowering his rifle and pressed the radio. “Clear.”
Staying off the road, Ian pulled down to the spot, and the area was completely flat. “They burnt down to dust.”
“Look at the ground,” Lance said, getting out and kicking the dirt. “The fire baked it to rock.”
An owl hooted from the ridge above them, and they both dropped down to one knee, raising their rifles up aiming at the sound. “That bitch better shut the fuck up,” Ian hissed as something moved the bushes off to their right, making both spin, aiming their rifles.
Seeing a shape move around a tree trunk, Lance sighed. “Raccoon.”
“He better quiet down before I light his ass up.”
Lance moved over behind Ian. “Back to back,” he said, staying down on one knee. “Call targets before you shoot.”
They knelt back to back, listening to the sounds of the forest and expecting a man in a hockey mask to come out at any minute. Ian glanced down at his watch. “What the fuck is taking her so long?”
“Call her,” Lance said, swinging his rifle as a bird chirped in the darkness.
“You coming?” Ian called over the radio in a low voice.
“God damn it, don’t start!” Jennifer shouted back.
“You’re finding out what’s wrong this time,” Lance said, watching an armadillo move across the road. It wasn’t much longer before they heard the Hummer’s diesel engine. Lance grabbed his radio. “I can hear you; where are you?”
“Just coming out of the Christmas trees in the field,” Jennifer snapped.
Giving a sigh, Lance said, “We are teaching her trees and plants.”
“Hey, cedar trees do look like Christmas trees,” Ian said, jerking his rifle up as a bird flew out of the trees. “Not good; we can hear that damn thing a mile and half away.”
“Yeah, and you want to use that stuff on that trailer.”
“We can make it quiet. We made your riding lawn mower quiet when we mowed down Mr. Oliver’s flower beds. He was inside and never heard a thing,” Ian said, glancing over his shoulder, but he couldn’t see the Hummer yet.
“Ian, those are a lot bigger than a riding lawn mower.”
“If it can be done, we can do it,” Ian huffed in a low voice. “If we can just make them as quiet as the Hummer, I’ll be happy. I really don’t want to dig that damn hill out with shovels. We have way too much to do and learn to be tied up for a year digging out the hillside.”
When Lance saw the dark shape of the Hummer come around the curve, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah, I know you’re right, but I like the idea of being quiet like a hole in the Earth so nobody knows we are here,” Lance said as he stood.
Feeling Lance move, Ian stood and turned to see the Hummer ease up and stop beside them. Lance opened the door to see Jennifer just climb between the seats to the back. When he and Ian got in, Lance continued easing down the road.
“Sorry, but it took a long fucking time closing the gate from the outside,” Jennifer huffed.
“Oh shit, I forgot about that,” Lance moaned. “You didn’t get cut by that damn razor wire, did you?”
“No, Allie and Carrie got out and closed it. Their bodies and arms are small enoug
h to get between the loops.”
Impressed, Lance nodded. “Never thought about that.”
“Neither did I,” Jennifer chuckled. “They scared the ever-living shit out of me when they came up behind me.”
“Hey, I almost shot a raccoon for the same thing,” Ian chuckled, scanning out the window.
As they slowly drove past the Douglas farm, they saw the chickens in the yard they had let out but nothing else. Easing down the road, Lance passed the Ferguson farm then, taking a deep breath, backed down the really long driveway. With only a few turns, he backed the trailer to the carport and turned off the Hummer.
“Allie, Carrie, we are going to start now. We will be outside; it’s on you two to let us know if anything is coming,” Lance said, cracking the windows an inch. Lifting his nose, all Lance smelled were the smells of a farm. When they let Dino out, the goats in the yard bayed and ran away from the fence.
“I have point,” Ian said, moving to the house. “Jennifer, you next, and Lance, bring up the rear.”
With trembling hands, Jennifer kept her rifle aimed down and followed Ian. It didn’t take them long to make sure the house was clear. Then they went around and made sure all the doors were locked, and Jennifer went to work. Jennifer grabbed pillow cases and started filling them in the kitchen, and Ian and Lance moved them to the front door, grabbing the truck keys. Leaving Jennifer inside, Ian and Lance moved outside to the beehives and closed them up before the sun rose then headed back inside.
When all the pillow cases were gone, Jennifer started filling large trash bags. When the kitchen and pantry were done, Jennifer headed upstairs. As Lance sat down the last bag from the kitchen, he said, “Thought she said we didn’t need anything else up there.”
“Who knows,” Ian shrugged as Lance headed upstairs to see what she was packing. He found her in what could only be a young teen girl’s room.
Jennifer had something clutched to her chest and was looking up at the ceiling. “Thank you,” she said as Lance walked in.
“Need help?” he asked, looking around.
“No, I can take this down,” she said, grabbing a bag, and Lance noticed a bra in her hand.
“They have some of those in the bunker.”
“Yeah but not a lot of small ones,” she said and started shoving stuff in a trash bag. “Yours and Ian’s mom think all girls will have large racks.”
“Oh,” Lance said and spun around, leaving the room before Jennifer clarified anything else. Walking back to the living room, Lance took off his pack and pulled out his laptop. Turning it on, he pulled out his cellphone and grinned, seeing he had signal.
“You still going to try?” Ian said, walking over.
“Yeah, we aren’t home, so even if they do trace, we aren’t here.”
Nodding, Ian grabbed his squawk box. “Ladybugs, you see anything?” he called over the radio.
“A pretty cat is walking on the road, and two deer are on the mountain behind the house,” Allie’s small voice came back.
Ian looked out the window to see the world starting to get brighter. “Good job; we are almost done in the house.”
Hearing Lance’s computer beep, Ian walked over. “They haven’t sent another message,” Lance said, looking at his e-mail.
“Lance, our parents are in the middle of the ocean, and even if they could link up somehow, that’s not the best place to try and hide from something,” Ian said as Lance started clicking open other windows.
“Two of the message boards are down,” he said, clicking on other windows to start downloads. With two bags over her shoulder, Jennifer walked in and saw them looking at Lance’s laptop.
“Ready to load?” she said, dropping the bags.
Grabbing them, the boys followed her out to the trailer. Jennifer climbed in as they started passing up the bags. It was dawn when they finished, and they looked around to see Dino sitting inside the fence with the goats running around him. “You would think goats would try not to piss off a mastiff,” Ian chuckled.
Lance came back out, shoving the laptop in his pack. “Ready for me to pull back to the barn?”
“Yeah, it may be daylight, but it’s still spooky,” Ian said as Jennifer climbed out of the trailer, shutting the side door.
“You got that shit right,” she said turning around unslinging her rifle. As Lance climbed in the Hummer, Jennifer moved up the driveway and opened the gate to the pasture. Fighting to keep the goats from getting out, they called Dino over, and the goats didn’t want to be by the gate anymore.
Easing through the gate, Lance pulled over to the barn and shut the Hummer off again. They cleared the barn again and let Jennifer start the gathering as they moved over grabbing bee suits and a cart. “Brings back memories,” Ian chuckled, pulling the net over his head.
Pulling the cart over, they loaded up four of the hives and pulled them over to the Dodge truck. Being as gentle as they could, they put the hives in the bed and went back for the other four. When they were loaded they wrapped the hives in netting then went to the barn to find Jennifer cussing as she loaded rolls of barbwire.
“We have a lot of that,” Lance said, moving over to help.
“This is one thing we can’t really make,” Jennifer huffed as they put it down.
“We see someone walking down the road,” Allie’s voice came over the radio, freezing all of them.
Seeing Ian and Jennifer moving fast out of the barn, Lance hissed. “Move slow; fast movement is easily seen.”
They crept to the front of the barn and didn’t see anything in front of the house on the road. Turning, they saw a figure moving at a slow pace down the road. “Shit, they saw that from a mile away,” Ian mumbled.
Lance moved back inside the barn, taking off his pack. “You two keep loading,” he said, pulling out the 3D camo and taking off his vest.
“You’re going to it?” Ian huffed.
“Be damned if I’m going to let him come here,” Lance said, pulling on the outfit.
They watched as Lance turned into a bush and grabbed his rifle. “You don’t need to go that far out for it,” Ian said, moving to the trailer and tightening his gloves.
“I’m not,” Lance said, putting on his hood and glasses. “I’m going to the edge of the field.”
Walking out slowly, Lance headed to the corner of the field where the fence stopped at the slope of the ridge that loomed over the farm. As he walked, Lance noticed the cows moving away from the fence and from the figure walking on the road. The figure stopped and changed directions, heading toward the fence then veering toward the moving cows. “Never done that before,” Lance mumbled as he walked slowly toward the figure.
When he was a hundred yards away, he could smell the stinker easily, but it was nothing compared to the dead ones. He saw it at one time was an old man as he walked into the fence, reaching out towards the cows and growling. Easing to within thirty yards, Lance raised his rifle, put his sight on the old man’s head, and squeezed the trigger.
The old man’s head snapped back, taking his body to the ground with a flop. Looking down the road, Lance saw two more figures stumbling toward him from down the road. “Have two more half a mile away,” he called over the radio.
“Trailers almost loaded,” Ian called back.
“Ian, can you back that truck up to the horse trailer?”
“Yeah,” Ian called back dejected.
“Call before you do; I want to see how they act.”
Lance just stood motionless as the two figures slowly moved toward him. They were only a few hundred yards away when Ian called, “Starting the truck.”
When the farm truck started, the two figures went from a slow shamble to a trot. “Yeah, they have a hard on for sound,” Lance mumbled, staying motionless.
He watched the two move down to the ditch and stop by the dead old man then look up at the barn as Ian backed the truck up to the horse trailer. Lance lifted his rifle and shot both. “That’s why I don’t want to use
that damn equipment,” he said, pulling out a squeeze bottle and moving over to the fence.
He squirted lighter fluid over the bodies then put the bottle up and pulled out a lighter and reached through the fence. Whoosh sounded as the flames engulfed the bodies. “Not as flammable unless you let them set for a few days,” he grinned, putting the lighter up and stepping back.
Hearing the truck turn off, he looked back to see the trailer backed up to the pig pen. He turned back to watch the road, hearing Ian and Jennifer moving the pigs in the trailer. Hearing grunting behind him, Lance spun around to see a sow moving around the field. “He could’ve told me he was letting the others go now,” Lance huffed.
“Getting the goats,” Jennifer called out, panting over the radio.
Looking down the road, Lance shook his head. “Four more coming down the road,” he called back.
Lance watched the group coming at him in a trot. “What the hell,” he said, looking at the bodies still burning. He couldn’t hear Ian and Jennifer. Easing back, Lance studied the group and noticed they avoided the fire and charged the fence reaching out at the pigs that were walking around the pasture now.
“They’ve changed,” he said, raising his rifle and snapping off four shots. Walking over, he squirted them down then lit them up.
“Done,” Ian called out over the radio.
Lance looked down the road and didn’t see any more stinkers. “Moving to you,” he said, turning around and jogged back. He stopped by the Hummer and found Ian and Jennifer panting. “Sorry I didn’t help.”
“Fuck that,” Jennifer said, getting up. “You shot the stinkers before they got close.”
Lance glanced over his shoulder and saw the first fire dying down. “They charged the fence trying to get the cows and pigs,” he said, ejecting his magazine and putting in a full one. “You two rest; then, we’ll leave.”
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Ian said and stood to look around.
“I want you two to rest for a few more minutes; then, we will just stop, and I’ll get the other truck,” he said, seeing the two were still breathing hard. “We will leave the shit there.”
“Fine by me,” Jennifer said, pulling her drinking tube off her vest.
Forsaken World:Coming of Age Page 8