This was the ridge that led to the town of Dewitt and Ian slowed way down as Lance scanned ahead carefully. “They are meeting up on the next ridge east,” Lance said, looking around but only seeing a few stinkers and a deer.
“I say, let’s set up over there,” Ian said, scanning as he drove and passing a few stinkers walking below on the slope. When they passed, the stinkers looked up and headed for the ridge.
“Okay, but we stay close to the buggy because if shit happens, I want to be able to run,” Lance said and Ian looked back at him.
“Like I would leave our ride far away,” Ian snapped.
Pulling down into the valley, they passed their cameras and Lance waved, then shoved the bodies out on the road. Seeing cars shoved off the road into bushes a quarter of a mile ahead, Ian sped up and then pulled around the cars, driving into the bushes.
Climbing out, they looked around and didn’t even see stinkers nearby, but knew some were coming. Slinging their ARs across their backs, they grabbed the M14s and headed up the slope. Glancing at his watch, Lance saw they had an hour until sundown.
Walking along the slope, they found where someone had set up a camping area overlooking the camera. “These guys are idiots,” Lance said, looking out over the valley below. They never would’ve seen him downloading the camera because he’d been downloading eighty yards up the slope under the cover of the trees.
“Let’s set up back there,” Ian said, pointing behind them.
Nodding, Lance moved back and pulled the legs of the bipods for his M14. “I’m thinking headshots,” Lance stated, getting beside a large boulder.
“We are loaded with armor piercing,” Ian said, setting up beside a fallen tree.
“Guys with their faces blown off can’t call for help,” Lance pointed out, checking his magazine and press checking the chamber. Seeing brass, he let the handle go to seat the round. Turning on the thermal mounted in front of the scope, Lance reached over and patted Dino to lay down.
Giving a groan, Dino laid down behind him. Pulling his hood over his helmet, Lance peered through his scope and could make a few shots out to a hundred yards through the trees. “Ian, my best shot is near fifty yards,” Lance said in a low voice.
“About what mine is,” Ian answered, looking through his scope.
“You shoot first,” Lance said, settling in and lifting his eye off the scope. Lying in the grass, the boys’ 3D camouflage essentially made them disappear.
Waiting for half an hour and hearing stinkers moving and growling around them, it was a challenge but neither engaged, they just laid low. Then, they saw a stinker walk up the slope and stop in the camp and look around and both heard a ‘pop’ to the south. The stinker, at one time a young man, looked right at Lance but kept turning his head, sniffing.
Suddenly, the stinker froze and turned south and Lance heard the soft hum of an engine and looked through his scope. He could see a side by side a hundred yards away, moving slowly between the trees. A muffled ‘pop’ sounded followed by another, but the stinker in camp was still standing.
Moving his scope, Lance saw a stinker sixty yards away, climbing the slope as a muffled ‘pop’ sounded and the stinker’s head exploded. The muffled pops were steady and Lance moved back to the stinker in camp and watched it move behind a tree. Taking his eye off the scope, Lance saw the stinker hiding behind the tree twenty yards away.
Glancing over, he saw Ian looking at him and mouth ‘wait’ and Lance nodded. Turning back, he saw the passenger shooting another stinker. When the stinker dropped, the man picked up a bottle and tilted it up as the driver just casually drove through the trees.
When they reached the camp, the driver stopped not far from the tree and the stinker lunged out. The passenger still drinking gave a choking gurgle, dropping his bottle and trying to lift his gun up as the stinker reached him.
Kicking his foot out, the man caught the stinker in the chest, sending it crashing down. The driver got out laughing as the passenger jumped out, yanking a knife out as the stinker tried to stand up. “Told you to watch for hiders,” the driver laughed. “We’ve lost quite a few to those.”
The passenger drove the knife into the stinker’s head. As the body fell back, it yanked the knife out of the passenger’s hand. “They ain’t here,” the passenger said. “Let’s go.”
“The captain said, wait till dark,” the driver said, looking over the valley. “Man, there are still a lot of infected around here.”
“We killed over three hundred. I’m telling you, Watt and them didn’t make it,” the passenger said as Lance held his scope on the driver, waiting on Ian.
“Boy, both Watt and Palmer were military and knew what they were doing,” the driver said, looking at the valley. “If they ain’t here by dark, those bikers got them.”
“Then let’s drive slow,” the passenger said, grabbing his rifle before moving over and yanking his knife out. “The radio was destroyed.”
Glancing back, “Yeah, and that made the captain happy,” the driver said.
“He didn’t seem too upset about our guys getting torn apart by infected,” the passenger said, shooting a stinker that was coming over the back of the ridge.
“Boy, if Watt don’t show up, that’s another radio we’ll have to look for,” the driver said.
“You told the captain it was blind luck we found that one,” the passenger said. “If it weren’t for those dead infected leading us to it, we wouldn’t have found it. We lost ten troops setting up ambushes for those bikers.”
Staring at stinkers in the valley moving up the slope, “Watt and Palmer may have run into more infected than they could handle,” the driver said.
“We saw over a thousand just sitting in that draw past Dewitt. Like I told the captain, if we would’ve driven into that, there wouldn’t be anything left,” the passenger said.
Turning around, “I had already made a report,” the driver growled. “You broke radio silence and the captain will have your ass when we get back.”
“Fi-,” the passenger stopped as his head exploded and before the driver moved, Lance squeezed the trigger and watched the head turn to mist in his thermal.
“Got tired of the conversation,” Ian said, getting up.
Pulling his Ruger pistol, Lance shot two stinkers coming up. “Hey, strip them down and let’s take their ride,” Lance grinned. Hearing Dino growl, Lance spun around and saw a stinker. Raising his .22 pistol, Lance squeezed the trigger. The Ruger gave a tiny cough and the stinker’s head gave a slight jerk as the body dropped.
Turning around, he saw Ian had the passenger’s vest off and was emptying pockets. “Man, you must be practicing stripping to get Jennifer naked,” Lance chuckled, moving to the driver.
“I’ve only been comfortable kissing her for a few weeks, so back off,” Ian snapped, grabbing the gear and tossing it in the side by side. “These guys had to have hit a dealer. This thing is top of the line gear. It’s better than the gear Uncle Doug has.”
Carrying the driver’s gear over, Lance tossed it in and pointed at the backseat. Dino jumped in as Ian climbed in. “Follow me on the way home,” Lance said, getting in and starting the Nazi side by side. “I’m taking the way we came from getting Lilly.”
“Just get us out of here,” Ian said, pointing and Lance saw three stinkers coming over the ridge. Backing up, Lance put the shifter in drive as he turned around and saw the stinkers diving on the bodies, tearing them apart.
Stopping at their buggy, Ian jumped out and climbed into the buggy. Both flipped down their NVGs and headed north, dodging the stinkers walking on the road. Almost to the spot they found Lilly, Lance drove up a spur to the ridge and then headed south.
The stinkers in the valley headed up the ridge but reaching the top, couldn’t hear or smell their prey. Smelling blood from the bodies being devoured, most moved back down into the valley, tracing down the smell and some found the cooling bodies on the road.
Chapter Twenty-Six
<
br /> June 2
Twenty miles north of Liberal, Kansas, Johnathan looked out the loft of the barn they were camped in and across the vast expanse of farmland as far as the eye could see. “I hate driving through this damn state and now I’m riding across it on horseback,” he mumbled.
“Could’ve been worse. We could be riding bikes across it in July,” Sandy said, coming up behind him and carrying a cup of coffee.
“Worse still, walking across it in August or September,” Johnathan grunted, taking the coffee. “How much coffee did you and Mary find in the house?”
“Five pounds,” Sandy smiled contently. “With the canned goods we got, we don’t have to hunt for a week. We added it up. Two deer and that would be enough to get us home.” Looking at Johnathan, Sandy wanted him to get the hint and ask how many days of food they had, to see if she and Mary had calculated right.
Looking down at Dan sitting beside an empty bowl, “Found enough dog food for them until we get home,” Johnathan said and then looked out at the land. “Using my binoculars, I only counted nineteen trees that I can see and four are in this yard.”
Taking a sip of coffee, Sandy looked at the empty flat land. “It’s easy to see stinkers,” she said.
“Yeah, and for people to see us,” Johnathan added, taking a sip and the heat from the coffee steamed up his sunglasses.
Moving closer, Sandy laid her head on his shoulder. “If we keep this pace, what’s your guess on reaching the cabin?” she asked in a low voice, praying her calculations were right.
“Forty-nine days,” Johnathan answered and Sandy jerked her head off his shoulder.
“We are doing over seventy miles a night!” Sandy gasped.
Waving his hand out at the empty expanse, “Yeah, across that,” Johnathan said. “Baby, in Missouri we will be back in rolling hills but more importantly, we will be getting near population. When we cross the Mississippi River, I doubt we’ll do much better than forty miles a night. When we go across country now, we will have to cut down fences and that takes time. That’s why I got those big cutters.”
“Shit, last night with a full cloud cover was the first night I had trouble seeing, not counting when that thunderstorm rolled in,” Sandy admitted.
“That’s why I asked you to look for vitamins in the house. Need to get us some vitamin A,” Johnathan said, taking a sip. “What did you and Mary come up with?”
Giving a long, depressed sigh, “Twenty-seven days,” Sandy answered, slumping her shoulders.
“Base the travel east of the Mississippi like our travel in the mountains. I hate to say it, but we won’t be able to unsaddle all the horses at once. We’ll need to be ready to run at a moment’s notice. Bill and Mary will unsaddle theirs while on watch and we’ll do the same,” Johnathan said.
“I found extra horse blankets,” Sandy reminded him.
Nodding, “And that is a saving grace,” Johnathan said. “Ready to tell me the route?”
Groaning Sandy started reciting the route, now a hundred miles out from the cabin where Lance and the kids had entered Kentucky on the wild drive to the cabin. Johnathan and Bill had the wives memorize a much more rural route. When she was done, “I got the new part, right?” she asked and Johnathan nodded.
“When do you approach the cabin?” Johnathan asked.
“Daylight, and wait in the field because our son will have the area around the cabin booby trapped. And stay off the road whenever possible,” Sandy said sternly.
Reaching out, Johnathan hugged her. “Very good,” he praised.
“I forgot the right turn at Albuquerque like Bugs Bunny,” Mary said, walking up with Bill.
Johnathan and Sandy laughed as Bill and Mary joined them in the loft. “Mary, we way underestimated our time,” Sandy said grimly.
“Yeah,” Mary sighed. “Bill told me, fifty days.”
“So, we’ll need more than two deer,” Bill said, taking a sip of coffee.
Looking at Sandy and then to Bill, Mary nodded. “Yeah, we have almost five hundred pounds of food or thirty days,” Mary said.
“To be honest, we can cut down on portions,” Johnathan admitted, patting his now lean waist. “We’ve been eating well and since we are riding, we could stretch that to fifty days rather easy. That’s two pounds a day and that’s over three thousand calories easy. If a deer crosses our path, then we’ll take it.”
Sandy and Mary looked at each other, and smiles filled their faces. “We can make it with what we have,” Mary said and they jumped up and down for a second.
Bill and Johnathan smiled, seeing the excitement. “Heard a HAM on the short-wave radio this morning,” Bill said and Johnathan raised his eyebrows. “One was in Elk City, Oklahoma. The other was in Ottawa, Kansas. They were talking about roaming thugs and massive groups of stinkers. Ottawa said he talked to a guy in Mississippi who’d had to crawl up a water tower and hide for two days until a group of stinkers, that covered miles in every direction, passed heading east.”
“I tried and didn’t find any transmissions, but that’s what I’m worried about; roaming masses of stinkers. Ruben said pretty much the same thing,” Johnathan said glumly.
“Elk City said he heard a government broadcast a week ago, urging anyone that can, to head to Green Bay or the Peninsula above it. Seems they have blocked it off,” Bill said.
“Stupid asses are just going to get more people killed,” Johnathan snarled.
“Ottawa said the same thing and Elk City agreed,” Bill chuckled and then became serious. “They both talked about reports of forced labor camps the government was running there.”
“Johnathan,” Sandy said with her face set in stone. “If they show up at the cabin, we kill them. End of story.”
Looking over at Bill, Johnathan grinned. “Can’t get clearer than that,” Johnathan nodded.
“Ready for powdered eggs?” Mary asked, looking around.
“I’ll snort mine,” Bill groaned, then drained his coffee.
As Sandy and Mary headed down, Bill looked out over the land. “If we had some trees, I would like to head out,” Bill said.
Walking off to head to the other end of the loft, “Hell, yes,” Johnathan said, slinging his AR. “Only people that hate trees can live around here.”
Bill followed Johnathan to the other end, watching Johnathan pull out his binoculars from his tool belt. “I counted nineteen trees with binoculars,” Bill said as Johnathan lifted his binoculars.
“That’s what I counted,” Johnathan grinned. Seeing specks on the horizon, Johnathan zoomed in. “See something moving.”
Pulling his binoculars out of his tool belt, Bill lifted them up. “All I can say is, it’s a long way off.”
“I’m used to seeing stuff a long way off from a mountain, but not on flat land,” Johnathan grumbled. “Maybe six miles.”
After watching for a few seconds, Bill lowered his binoculars. “Stinkers,” he said, feeling very tired.
Watching for several minutes, Johnathan finally lowered his. “Heading east,” Johnathan said.
“Looks like a nice sized group,” Bill said, putting his binoculars back up.
Several gunshots in the distance made both men jump. “Somebody doesn’t know stinkers have a hard-on for sound,” Bill said as more gunshots sounded. They were so far away, the gunshots sounded like a soft muffled clap.
“You take watch and I’ll saddle the horses,” Johnathan said, walking off. “We have over an hour until dark and that group could make it here or get very close before dark.”
Bill nodded, just looking out over the horizon at the small blob. A few minutes later, Mary came up carrying a plate. “Here’s some food, babe,” she said, handing him a plate.
Not even looking at it, Bill took it and felt for the utensil as he stared out over the land. “There’s just nowhere to hide,” Bill sighed, shoveling the food in.
Watching Bill inhale the plate, “You need to slow your eating down,” Mary said. “You’re the one th
at taught the boys to eat like that.”
“Sorry, but powdered eggs aren’t meant to be savored,” Bill huffed and Mary leaned her head on his chest, looking out over the land.
“I can’t believe Jason is really gone,” she said in a breaking voice.
Closing his eyes tight, Bill felt the pain he had pushed back in the recesses of his mind, fill his chest. “Mary, we can’t talk about that. I know it seems shitty, but we will make a mistake and we have to get back to the rest of our kids,” Bill said, fighting to keep his voice even. He put his arm around Mary and hugged her tight. “We mourned him on the way over and made a deal, we wouldn’t think sad thoughts about Jason until we were at the cabin.”
Wiping her eyes, “I know, I’m sorry,” Mary said in a quivering voice.
Hugging her tight, “I miss him too, Buttercup,” Bill said. “Not a day goes by that I don’t, but our kids need us. Any slip up and we let our minds drift and not only could we die, but also Johnathan and Sandy. Mary, we can’t let that happen. The boys will stay safe but they need guidance, and that’s why we have to make it.”
Looking up with watery eyes, “Ooops would understand,” she said with her voice breaking, but didn’t cry.
Forcing a smile, “Yeah, Jason would understand,” Bill said nodding. “After he ate everything in the house.”
Giving a cough, Mary snorted and blew snot out and jumped back to lean over chuckling with snot hanging from her face. Using the bottom of her shirt, Mary wiped her nose. “My god, could that boy eat,” she laughed.
“Remember last year, when he ate half the turkey at Thanksgiving?” Bill chuckled.
Mary stepped over to hold the wall as she laughed. “I thought Ian and Lance were going to grab their guns,” she said, bending over.
“I had to run to the supermarket and buy a cooked turkey to stop a family feud,” Bill laughed.
Feeling better but still hurt, Mary slowly stopped laughing. “Jason would never forgive us for not getting to the others as fast and as safely as we could,” she said, slowly nodding.
“That he would,” Bill said as they looked at each other. “Ooops would moan and bitch for an hour.”
Forsaken World (Book 3): Rite of Passage Page 34