Looking at Jennifer with a smile, Lilly headed into the living area. “I really am starting to not like tigers,” Lilly admitted, seeing Allie and Carrie sitting next to Lance on the sectional. Beating a jealous pang down, Lilly sat down at the end.
“Hey, they kill stinkers before they get close,” Lance said as Lilly took a sip of her coffee.
Leaning back, Lilly nodded and turned her gaze to Lance. “Yes, they do, but I don’t like the way they were sitting outside the fence staring at the ladybugs,” she said, involuntarily dropping her eyes to Lance’s chest and licking her lips. Realizing what she was doing, Lilly quickly swiveled her head to look at the large screen TV on the wall that displayed camera images around them.
“The big kitties are scary,” Allie said, hugging Lance’s side.
Two days ago, they had been doing drills in the front yard and everyone stopped, seeing the two tigers sitting outside the gate. Very quickly, everyone noticed they were watching Allie and Carrie intently. Lance put his arm behind both girls and pulled them close. “They mess with my ladybugs and we will have tiger skin rugs,” he stated, making both girls smile.
“Can’t we just shoot them now?” Carrie asked, looking up at Lance with sad eyes.
“Carrie, we need as many things as possible out there killing stinkers,” Lance said. “But if they look at you two like that again, you two will help me make some rugs.”
Allie and Carrie nodded with grins and hugged Lance’s sides. Watching the scene from the corner of her eye, Lilly beat down another wave of jealousy. When Allie and Carrie left for the kitchen, Lilly turned to Lance as he picked his coffee mug up off the coffee table. “They get a stinker last night?” she asked as her eyes dropped to Lance’s chest again. When Lance sat back, his ripped abs flexed and Lilly gave a shiver, turning her eyes away.
“At least two on the east side, but they also tripped a sensor on the west side outside the video ring,” Lance answered as Ian and Jennifer came in and sat down.
Putting her feet up on the coffee table, Jennifer looked from Ian to Lance. “I have to say, I like sitting down and drinking a cup of coffee before beating my body to death,” she said, then took a sip.
Resting his mug on his leg, Lance looked over at Jennifer sitting next to Ian and smiled. “Yeah, and it just so happens, look what we are doing now,” he smirked, then cut his eyes at Ian.
“Chill, dude,” Ian said, feeling Lance look at him.
Leaning her head over, Jennifer rested it on Ian’s shoulder. “I just want to wake up first,” Jennifer replied with a fake whine while looking at Lance. “Then I’ll beat my body up.”
Still grinning, Lance looked at Jennifer. “I know, and that’s why Ian and I agreed to have a cup of coffee with you before starting the day,” Lance said, raising his mug. “And I have to say, I like it.”
Coming back in with coffee mugs, Allie and Carrie returned to sit beside Lance. Picking up the remote, Lance turned on the projection screen TV and pressed play. Lilly gave a groan, only on the inside, of course, seeing it was an instructional video on construction.
Looking from Lance to Ian, Lilly shook her head. Never had she seen personal drives on learning like Lance and Ian had. Jennifer, Carrie, and Allie studied hard, but not like Ian and Lance. Lilly had always gotten good grades in school, but she’d learned what she needed to know. Lance and Ian learned to understand. There was no doubt in her mind, Ian and Lance could’ve done whatever they wanted to if the world wouldn’t have gone to hell.
For an hour, they watched a man describe and demonstrate how to work with concrete in building a house. When Lance turned the TV off, he stood up and grabbed his shirt from the back of the couch. Pulling it on, Lance thought he heard Lilly groan. Turning, Lance saw her getting up, not looking at him.
“You okay?” he asked as Lilly headed to the kitchen.
“Yeah, but I’m still sore as hell,” Lilly replied, averting her face.
Ian pulled on his shirt, “Best way to feel better is to start the day,” he said, reaching down and helping Jennifer up.
Moving to the backyard, the group turned on a laptop and started running gun drills as a team. After an hour of running and shooting targets, the group was sweating hard when they went inside and changed before heading to the gym.
After an hour and a half in the gym, everyone headed inside to shower and fix breakfast. Walking out of the bathroom, Lilly saw Ian and Lance in the kitchen starting breakfast. “How in the hell do they move that fast?” she mumbled, hurrying into the bedroom and getting dressed.
Coming back out, she moved over to the stove and realized both were only wearing shorts and flip flops. ‘Lance needs to wear more clothes’ Lilly thought, pushing him away from the stove with her hip.
“I was cooking here,” Lance snapped, turning to her.
“Allie and Carrie say you scramble the eggs too hard,” Lilly said, looking at him with a smile.
Giving a huff, Lance stepped back. “I want the damn things cooked,” he huffed and then reached back, trying to scratch between his shoulders. “Damn it,” he mumbled, moving back to the cabinets and using them to try and scratch his back.
Realizing what he was doing, Lilly put the spatula down. “Turn around,” she said chuckling.
With a thankful smile, Lance spun around as Lilly scratched his back. Folding his shoulders and pushing his spine out, Lance sighed with relief as Lilly scratched. “Ahh,” Lance moaned with relief.
Feeling Lance’s taught muscles, Lilly felt her mouth go dry. “Better?” she croaked.
“Oh man, thank you,” Lance said, stepping away. “Man card rules say Ian can’t do it and the ladybugs only make the itching worse.”
“What about Jennifer?” Lilly asked, turning to the stove fast so she wouldn’t stare at Lance’s rippling muscles.
“Screw that. She scratches good, but looks for bumps to pinch on and that hurts like hell,” Lance grumbled, moving over and helping Ian roll some dough.
Glancing back, “I didn’t see any bumps,” Lilly said.
“I know, but Jennifer will find them,” Lance assured her and Ian nodded.
“That hurts worse than hitting your finger with a hammer,” Ian mumbled.
Walking in with Allie and Carrie, Jennifer stopped. “Guys, we can do this,” she commanded nicely and then moved over, pushing them away from the island they were rolling the dough on.
“You make the eggs hard,” Allie cried out, running over to push Lance out of the kitchen.
Throwing up his hands, “I’m not doing the eggs,” Lance cried out.
Pushing Ian out of the kitchen, Carrie looked at both of them. “You make the biscuits crunchy,” she snapped and spun around, heading back to the kitchen with Allie.
Ian looked at Lance and shrugged. “I like our food,” Ian mumbled.
“I don’t like blowing bubbles with my biscuits,” Lance snapped toward the kitchen.
Glancing back and making sure the boys weren’t close, Lilly looked over at Jennifer. “How come they can do that and we can’t?” Lilly asked, cutting her eyes at the ladybugs walking back in the kitchen.
“Don’t mess with the ladybugs or Lance gets unhinged,” Jennifer sighed, kneading the dough. “I don’t want his temper directed at me. They are his little sisters.”
Raising her eyebrows, Lilly nodded. “You have a good point,” Lilly said.
Ian walked past Lance heading to the bedroom. “Let’s get dressed for patrol,” Ian said.
“I bet we’ve cooked more than any of you!” Lance shouted back at the kitchen.
Spinning around away from the stove, “Oh no you haven’t!” Lilly shouted back. “I’ve been cooking almost daily since I was seven!”
Dropping his head in defeat, Lance walked into the bedroom as Allie and Carrie both smiled at Lilly. “And you don’t make the eggs hard,” Allie said, coming over and hugging Lilly.
“I don’t like my biscuits crunchy,” Carrie said, walking over hugging Li
lly with Allie.
Glancing over her shoulder at the girls hugging Lilly, “Um, I think I’ve been making biscuits,” Jennifer said.
Letting Lilly go, Allie and Carrie moved over and hugged Jennifer around the waist. “Thank you,” they said together.
“Set the table, ladybugs,” Jennifer said, hugging them back but trying not to get the flour on her hands on them.
Grabbing a stack of plates, Allie looked at Carrie. “I do like their spaghetti,” Allie admitted and Carrie nodded.
Ian and Lance came out dressed in their combat gear and hung their rifles up. “We will continue to cut boards while you two check on what the kitties did,” Lilly told them as she put platters on the table. Seeing the 3D camouflaged suit they wore under the tactical vest Lilly held her tongue, about to ask if they had another one.
“It shouldn’t take that long,” Lance said, sitting down.
Carrying the biscuits over, Jennifer sat them on the table. “And while you are out, we will cut boards,” Jennifer restated, thinking the boys hadn’t heard Lilly and then sat down.
“Please don’t get hurt,” Lance sighed and Ian nodded.
“Us?” Jennifer cried out. “You two are going outside the fence where there are stinkers, bikers, and big puddy cats.”
Rolling his eyes at Jennifer, Lance flopped back in his chair. “Jennifer, we know you can use the sawmill but fingers are important, so just be careful,” Lance said and then looked over at Lilly. “You’ve only worked on it once, you comfortable with us not here?”
Sitting down, Lilly scooted her chair up to the table. “Lance, the sawmill I used as a girl had a V8 engine and the saw blade was four feet in diameter,” Lilly informed him, holding out her hands to display that her fingers were all still accounted for.
“Bigger than the one we worked with,” Lance said, taking her hand and reaching over taking Jennifer’s.
“Girl Scouts sucked,” Jennifer huffed. “Why didn’t we get to do cool stuff like that?”
“We rode horses and went camping all the time in my troop,” Lilly said as Allie grabbed her hand.
“Great, so I joined a wimpy troop,” Jennifer mumbled.
Squeezing her hand, Lance grinned. “Hey, you sold more cookies than anyone. Between mine and Ian’s dad, you won every year you were in scouts,” Lance chuckled.
Shrugging her shoulders, Jennifer bowed her head as she said grace. When she was done, Jennifer grabbed her glass of juice. “The kitties are at the front gate,” she said, looking over at the large TV. “Why hasn’t the alarm gone off?”
Everyone except Lance and Ian turned to the fifty-inch flat screen on the wall. In the subdivided screen, they saw the two tigers sitting outside the gate. “We turned it off when we were in the gym,” Lance answered, shoving food in his mouth.
Jennifer turned to him and Lance shook his head, then cut his eyes at Allie and Carrie. “Were they?” Jennifer asked and Lance nodded. “We need to take care of that.”
“If it continues, we will,” Lance said.
A clang sounded out and everyone turned toward it and found Ian grinning after dropping his fork on his plate. The grin on Ian’s face made Jennifer scoot her chair away from him a few inches. “Oh, I like that look,” Lance chuckled ominously. “I think I’m really going to like this.”
Slowly, Ian turned to Lance with a sinister sneer. “I have an idea to put a stop to that,” Ian said and then jumped up, running down to the bunker.
Grabbing a napkin, Lance wiped his mouth. “I love it when he gets medieval.”
Ian came running up the stairs as Lance stood up. “Allie, Carrie, come outside with me,” Ian barked excitedly moving toward the front door.
“What is he carrying?” Jennifer asked standing up.
“Pure genius,” Lance cried out as Allie and Carrie ran after Ian. “Keep the dogs inside,” Lance said, grabbing his AR and running after them.
Jennifer ran to her room and grabbed her AR with Lilly right behind her. “What the hell are they doing?” Lilly asked, grabbing her own rifle.
“All I know is when they act like that, something is in for a very bad time,” Jennifer replied, heading for the door.
“If they only wound those tigers, it will only make it worse,” Lilly said, following her.
Looking over her shoulder, “Their ideas work, most of the time,” Jennifer admitted, opening the door and telling the dogs to stay. Stepping out onto the porch, Lance stopped them.
“This is going to be good,” Lance grinned and they turned to see Ian opening the chain link inner gate with Allie and Carrie with him. Looking to the outer gate, there was no denying anymore. Both tigers were crouched down and ready to spring as Allie and Carrie walked in front of Ian toward the tigers.
“That gate is only ten-foot-tall, they can leap it,” Lilly said, pulling her AR into her shoulder but keeping the barrel aimed at the ground.
“Ian has a twelve gauge with slugs, but that’s the least of the puddy cats’ worries,” Lance said as Allie and Carrie stopped six feet from the gate and raised their arms up. Jets of liquid shot out, hitting the tigers in the face. Both tigers roared, bouncing back and rolling on the ground as Ian hurried the girls back inside the inner fence.
The tigers were rolling around in the dirt and wiping their faces with their paws, letting out muffled roars. Then, the male jumped up and took off toward the trees but hit one tree dead center. The massive tiger dropped down and slowly stood back up, wobbling on his feet as the female bounded past him. Shaking his head, the male tiger slowly followed her into the trees.
“Now, the kitties will see the ladybugs as something that needs to be left alone,” Lance grinned as Ian led the girls back to the cabin.
When they were closer, Jennifer saw each girl was holding a large can with a bear on it. Realizing what it was, Jennifer looked up at Ian. “Bear spray? Don’t you think that will piss them off?” Jennifer asked.
“Hope so because if that doesn’t work, Lance will have me out there hunting them,” Ian huffed. “We don’t have elephants to hunt tigers from, so we would have to search for them.”
As Ian and Lance bumped fists, Jennifer turned to Lilly. “Do you think that will work?” Jennifer asked.
Shrugging her shoulders, “It might,” Lilly answered, not sounding very convincing.
Lance got on his knees and hugged Allie and Carrie, then picked them up as Ian opened the door. Carrying them inside, Lance was telling them how good they did and Jennifer looked over at Lilly. “You know, when I was their age, I never had an older boy like that wrapped around my finger,” Jennifer huffed. “I feel cheated.”
“Shit, I’ve never had a boy wrapped like that, at any age,” Lilly said, heading inside.
Finishing breakfast, Ian and Lance climbed on a buggy and headed to the front gates. Unlike other times, Dino rode in the backseat, just in case as Ian put it, ‘Pussy wants to fight’.
Driving through the trees, Lance looked over at Ian aiming the shotgun out his side. “Dude, that was pure genius,” Lance said in a low voice.
“It just came to me,” Ian admitted, looking around slowly. “The kitties saw them as an easy meal but now they know, just like I do. Allie and Carrie can be a pain in the ass tormenting you to no end.”
Weaving around an area of booby traps, Lance eased into a small clearing on the east side. Coming to a stop, Lance looked over at a burnt spot. “Is it my imagination or do we come here a lot?” Lance asked, looking around at two other burnt spots.
“Yeah, the spike trap ahead usually gets the stinkers before they get here and the kitties usually get them here before they get to the spear traps behind us,” Ian answered as he slowly climbed out. Patting his leg, Ian watched Dino get out, looking around while panting.
They found six stinkers that the tigers had killed and piled them up in one of the burnt spots. Setting them on fire, Ian headed back toward the buggy only to be stopped by Lance. “Hold on a second,” Lance said and moved off
to follow a trail.
“Dude, we have shit to do and you want to play Davy Crockett?” Ian whispered harshly.
Lance just held up his hand, looking at the ground as they eased into the trees. Looking down the hill, Lance nodded. “Several came up this way,” Lance said, pointing down the hill. “The field is only three hundred yards away.”
“Okay, so?” Ian said, looking around and noticing that Dino was looking to the west, but still seemed relaxed.
Not answering, Lance moved back to the small clearing and walked around it, then pointed at the ground and Ian saw footprints. He could tell they were made by stinkers because they were more drag marks than prints. Following the trail, Lance headed into the trees and saw the trail headed up to the ridge.
“Look, the trail goes over the ridge in that saddle,” Lance said, pointing.
Getting nervous, Ian turned to Lance. “Brother, is there a point you’re trying to make because we have pissed off tigers out here,” Ian snapped.
“I want to go to the field,” Lance responded, heading back to the buggy.
“There aren’t any bodies down there,” Ian groaned and followed Lance to the buggy.
Driving down the slope, Lance stopped in the trees and climbed out. Not seeing anything, Lance stepped out and walked to the center of the field. He looked at the end of the field where the cedar trees were, then where the trail led up the ridge. “That’s why they go this way. It looks like the easiest way,” Lance said as Ian stopped beside him.
“Huh?” Ian asked, looking around.
“The cedar trees look too thick to walk through until you get right up on them and see the road. From right here, that slope looks like the easiest route,” Lance explained.
Lowering the shotgun, Ian looked at Lance. “Lance, we know they like the easiest route just like we do,” Ian huffed.
“Come on,” Lance said, heading back to the buggy. “Don’t you see? We can concentrate more traps there. Like a pit and come out and burn them when it gets full.”
Climbing in the buggy, Ian slowly nodded while thinking about that. “Okay, but we still have stinkers in other places,” he finally said.
Forsaken World (Book 3): Rite of Passage Page 3