Forsaken World (Book 3): Rite of Passage

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “Then eat everything in the house,” they said together and laughed.

  Down in the barn having heard everything, Sandy helped saddle the last pack horse, then moved close to Johnathan. “Jason was our son, too. So can we cry again when we get home?” she whispered with pleading watery eyes. “I loved that kid.”

  Wrapping his arms around her, “We will have a service for him,” Johnathan said and felt Sandy relax. “We will bury a plate of food for him.”

  Sandy laughed in Johnathan’s chest, “Jason never ate one plate in his life,” she said, burying her face.

  “You got that right,” Bill said from the loft.

  “Guys, he had more muscle than all of us put together,” Johnathan said, looking up at the floor of the loft.

  Mary came down the stairs and stopped. “Guys, I’m sorry,” she said, then bit her bottom lip for a second. “It just came on like a tidal wave.”

  Sandy let go of Johnathan and ran over to Mary and they hugged each other. “I’ve cried myself to sleep over Jason, but I can hear him telling me,” Sandy stopped and lowered her voice. “‘Stop that! Your eyes are leaking motor oil on your face’.”

  Mary laughed, nodding her head, “I’ll hold it, I promise,” she said and Sandy hugged her tight.

  “He saved their lives, Mary, just like Lance and Ian said. Without Jason being infected, they would’ve been overrun in the house. We would’ve lost them all,” Sandy said softly. “It hurts, but he saved the others.”

  “Yes, he did,” Mary said, filled with a hollow pride. “I should’ve been there.”

  Letting Mary go, “We aren’t going there,” Sandy said with a hard tone. “You stop this now because if you keep on, you’re going to make a mistake and we can’t afford any mistakes.”

  Slapping her forehead hard, “Stop!” Mary snapped and then turned to Sandy. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Mary said, forcing a grin. “I need something to do. That always seemed to help the kids.”

  Grabbing Mary’s hand, “Let’s brush the horses again and check their hooves,” Sandy suggested, pulling her over to the horses. When the horses saw the two grabbing brushes, they left the hay trough and moved over to them.

  Johnathan made a walk around, checking that they had everything and then headed back up to the loft. Finding Bill standing in the front loft door and holding his AR in one hand, Johnathan moved over beside him, looking out. “If we had longer nights, we could make serious distance,” he said as Bill leaned against the wall.

  “I’ll take what we have, I’ve been in Kansas in the winter and don’t ever want to repeat it,” Bill chuckled dryly. “If it was winter, I would talk you into moving further south then heading north into Mississippi.”

  “Didn’t think of that,” Johnathan admitted. Feeling something against his leg, Johnathan didn’t look down and just patted Ann. “We need to keep it together just a little longer.”

  With a long sigh, “Yeah,” Bill sighed, pulling away from the wall and walking to the other end of the loft. “We’ve held it together for three months. We can deal with this trip for a few more months.”

  Following Bill, Johnathan smiled to see Ann move up quickly to his side. They both stopped and looked around, then Johnathan looked up at the partly cloudy sky. “At least we’ll get some light tonight,” Johnathan said.

  Neither spoke as the light of the day slowly faded away. When the sun sunk half below the horizon, they moved downstairs and found the wives making another walk around. Everyone grabbed their backpacks and pulled them on. “Dan, heel,” Johnathan said, climbing up on his horse.

  Making sure his pack horse rope was secured, Johnathan glanced back and saw everyone ready. Giving his horse a soft kick, Johnathan settled in his saddle and left the barn. Moving to the dirt road beside the farm, Johnathan steered his horse east.

  Resting his AR across his body, Johnathan took off his sunglasses and turned his cap around. Feeling very exposed, Johnathan pushed that thought out of his mind and scanned around. He wanted to use the thermal sight, but had only done that once. When they had crossed into Colorado, he had turned it on and found it would take his night vision in one eye and almost take it from the other. For three hours, Johnathan couldn’t see more than a few yards around him.

  “People moved at night for thousands of years without thermal or NVGs,” he mumbled as starlight and a tiny sliver of the moon lit up the partly cloudy sky.

  The miles passed as they moved along the dirt roads. Each house they passed sat as a dark monument of its former inhabitants. Passing a small stand of trees, Johnathan fought the urge to stop and take a break, but continued on for another hour.

  Guiding his horse off the dirt road, Johnathan led the horse to a small stream that ran under the road. The others moved beside him, letting the horses drink. Letting the horses graze along the bank everyone turned, hearing a coyote barking off in the distance and then it was joined by others.

  “Better than hyenas,” Sandy mumbled.

  “Those hyenas better be killing stinkers,” Mary said beside her. “I wonder if many zoos let their animals go?”

  Casually scanning around, “I’m sure most did,” Johnathan said. “I’m just hoping they left the reptile house locked.”

  Suppressing a shiver, “I see a cobra in the states, I’m kicking someone’s ass,” Sandy snarled.

  “I’ll take the cobras,” Bill said. “Black mambas and taipans scare the shit out of me.”

  Looking over at Bill, “You didn’t have a damn cobra come in your blind when we were in Africa,” Sandy snapped. “That damn thing was nine-foot long.”

  Wiping his eyes, Johnathan chuckled, “The guide said he never saw someone beat a cobra to death with a bow.”

  “Oh, you can laugh at me, but let’s see what you do when a cobra rears up with its head four feet off the ground,” Sandy popped off with a shiver.

  Scanning around them, “Oh, I would’ve let the cobra have the damn blind, my bow, and all my gear as I ran out screaming,” Johnathan admitted.

  Hearing Dan growl softly, Johnathan looked down at Dan and saw him looking back along the road. Turning his horse, Johnathan could see several shadowy shapes moving along the road toward them. “Need to move,” he said, giving his horse a kick.

  The others looked back at the shambling forms half a mile back as they guided their horses back to the road. “They must have come from that last house,” Sandy said, moving up to Johnathan.

  “Yeah, Dan didn’t like that house,” Johnathan told her.

  Turning in her saddle, Sandy could barely see them, now following along. “Why didn’t they come out?” she asked.

  When Johnathan didn’t answer, Sandy turned back around to look over at him. “They’re sneaking up on us,” Johnathan answered in a weary voice. Hearing Sandy take a breath and knew she wanted to counter that, Johnathan stopped her. “Sandy, they aren’t moaning or growling. They let us pass without seeing them.”

  Not liking that, Sandy tried to think of an alternate reason, but couldn’t. “Do you think they will advance much more?” she finally asked.

  “Sweetheart, they are infected by something that isn’t from this solar system. They are dead by all our understandings. I have no idea,” Johnathan told her. “I’ve looked at a few we’ve shot after cracking the skulls open. The upper brain is more or less rotten, but the base appears viable. If that holds, then they will function like animals. Billions of animals,” Johnathan said, glancing over at Sandy.

  When the road turned south, Johnathan continued straight out into a field. Riding just to the side of Johnathan, Sandy sat in deep thought but scanned around by pure reflex now. Sitting up tall in her saddle, “Well, we’ll just have to get rid of them, so our son can find a girlfriend and give us lots of grandbabies,” Sandy declared.

  Not able to help it, Johnathan grinned, “Glad we have a few years to get rid of them then.” Steering around an irrigation pump, “By the estimates they were using in Hawaii, the US no
w has a population of two hundred and fifty million stinkers. By now, the living are down to fifteen million and falling fast. My feeling is by next year after winter, there won’t be more than five million breathing people in North America.”

  Swaying in her saddle, “Whoa!” Sandy gasped. “We don’t have that many bullets. I know. I inventoried the ammunition.”

  “Nope,” Johnathan said, pulling his horse to a stop and climbing off. Grabbing the heavy bolt cutters off his saddle, “Just over two million rounds, and over half is thanks to Doug,” he said, walking up and snipping the three strands of barbed wire that were blocking them.

  “I didn’t count that much,” Sandy said as Johnathan put the cutters away and climbed back on his horse.

  “Those buried containers have ammo we didn’t put in the available inventory, in case you and Mary got mad,” Johnathan admitted, guiding his horse through the gap.

  “I wish you had bought a tank now,” Sandy mumbled under her breath, but Johnathan heard her.

  “Wish I had bought a lot of things now,” Johnathan replied and Sandy jumped.

  Coaxing her horse until she was beside Johnathan, “Honey, I didn’t mean that to be condescending. If you, Bill, and Doug hadn’t started that cabin, I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened,” she told him.

  “I know,” Johnathan sighed. “If I had a do over, I would be a motherfucking pilot.”

  Giving a curt laugh, “Oh, hell yes,” Sandy said, nodding. “You learn planes and I would learn helicopters.”

  Looking over at Sandy, “That dually back at the farm,” Johnathan said, motioning his head back and Sandy nodded. “I almost hooked up the horse trailer and loaded our horses. It was full, with a hundred gallon tank in the bed.”

  Suddenly, Johnathan stopped talking and then scanned around. “With just that, we could’ve reached the cabin,” he finally said ten minutes later. “But we would’ve died very fast and very ugly. The noise that 3500 diesel engine would’ve made, would have called stinkers from miles. Even to our front, and we would’ve had to plow through them. I don’t think we would’ve seen the sunrise.”

  Leaning out of her saddle, Sandy squeezed his wrist. “Like you tell me every day, moving any faster would only get us killed.”

  “I know, but that I really thought about it is what shocks me,” Johnathan admitted. “It was when I was making notes and started doing calculations and then pulled out the atlas, even starting a route.”

  Squeezing his wrist once more, Sandy let go to settle up in her saddle. “I can’t wait to show Lance how good I’ve gotten with the bow,” Sandy said, changing the subject.

  A huge grin moved Johnathan’s beard. “He is going to be so proud of his momma being able to hit a stinker in the face at thirty yards.”

  “He always made fun of me shooting the bow,” Sandy smiled as they both pulled their horses to a stop at a barbed wire fence. “Give me the cutters,” she said, holding out her hand.

  When Johnathan just looked at her, “Honey, my pack weighs half of what yours weighs and is half the size. I need to learn this,” Sandy told him, holding out her hand.

  Pulling the bolt cutters out, Johnathan handed them over and took Sandy’s reins. “Cut near one post so when the wire snaps back, it won’t hit you,” Johnathan instructed as Sandy climbed down. The large cutters made the task very easy.

  Passing the cutters back, Sandy took her reins and then climbed back on her horse. When she was settled, Johnathan led them through to move on the road next to the fence. Hearing shots to the north, nobody jumped and barely gave notice as they rode along.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  June 3

  As Jennifer held the gates open, Lilly pulled through in the hybrid UTV, hauling a loaded trailer. “Can I shoot a deer for the tigers?” Allie asked from the back.

  Pulling over the rise, Lilly avoided a trap on the road and glanced over at Lance. “I can’t believe you and Ian took the tigers a dead deer last night. It was 2200 when you got back, they could’ve waited,” Lilly smirked.

  “Hey, I wanted to say thank you and let them know they did a good job,” Lance said, somewhat relaxed since both tigers were in the treehouse.

  “Keep the mean pussies happy,” Ian said from the back with Allie as Lilly pulled through the cedar trees.

  Slowing as she entered the field, Lilly looked around and saw it was clear. After her performance yesterday she wasn’t taking any chances, even with cameras around. Speeding up, she drove out of the field and onto the dirt road that had grass growing in many places. “You sure you just want to pull up to the fence?” Lilly asked, not looking away from the road.

  “Hell, yeah,” Lance huffed. “I’m not pulling that trailer around by hand.”

  Coming around the corner, they saw two stinkers coming toward them on the other side of the fence. No sooner had Lilly parked, then Allie had jumped out and dropped to one knee. ‘Pfft’ sounded as Allie squeezed the trigger, then moved to the next one when the first stinker jerked back as its head exploded.

  Climbing out, Lance didn’t even turn to watch as Allie dropped the second one. “Good shooting, ladybug,” Lance said, moving to the trailer. He and Ian lifted out ten-foot-long metal poles that had a five-foot section welded to the end, forming a T.

  “I think we need to give the Nazis a little more attention,” Ian said as they laid the first one behind a pole supporting the fence.

  Walking back to the trailer, “Brah, we need the fence done and to set up the battle bot. The cum shitters can wait for a few days,” Lance argued as they grabbed another pole. “I don’t feel they need all of our attention, they don’t deserve it.”

  Keeping watch and moving with the two, Lilly and Allie just listened. “Then we should show them not to irritate others,” Ian replied, very snottily. “You just don’t show up unannounced.”

  Setting the pole down and heading back, “You realize if we show them the love, we will be moving five to six miles out of our patrol area?” Lance pointed out, grabbing another pole. “I just don’t think they are worth our true effort. Let’s just set up a few surprises on the routes they use near us.”

  Dropping the pole, “Lance, we have always shown dedication to someone who has earned our displeasure,” Ian said. “It seems wrong not to do it now. The Nazis have earned a showing of our deeds.”

  Continuing to drop off the T-poles, Lance looked over at Ian. “Using explosives just seems a tad childish. It doesn’t convey the feeling I like delivered,” Lance explained with sincerity.

  “You used a grenade, butt munch,” Ian laughed as they dropped another pole off.

  Nodding as his face lit up, “Yes, but it was a surprise that they never expected,” Lance admitted. Then his face became serious. “Just stringing a line across a path to set off a bomb seems childish.”

  “I think it would be funny as hell,” Ian objected as they dropped another pole off.

  Snapping up her rifle, Allie dropped to one knee and shot a stinker as it came around the curve. “Would you take pictures?” Allie asked, getting up. Lilly slowly turned to the little girl as Lance and Ian grabbed another pole.

  Lance was casually talking about devoting time to make the Nazis’ lives miserable before death and Ian wanted fast devastation. The fact they were arguing which the best tactic was seemed wrong somehow. Not that she felt remorse; Lilly felt they should just do it.

  “We always take pictures, ladybug,” Lance answered as they dropped the last pole. He stopped and looked at Ian. “I agree, it would be funny as hell, but let’s put a little more spice in this budding relationship with the Nazis. They might get jealous, considering the love we’ve shown the Devil Lords.”

  “That’s true,” Ian nodded as Lance took off his vest and 3D jacket. Grabbing a welding jacket and gloves, Lance unwound the welding cables and hooked them to the closest pipe as Ian turned on the generator.

  Lance put on his welding helmet and welded the single end of th
e T to the post standing up, with the cross section on the ground. This way, it would be much harder for a mass of stinkers to bend the poles.

  When he was done, Lance put his gear back on as Ian unhooked the trailer. Lilly drove out to the stinker bodies and Lance tied a rope around one’s legs. Setting the others on fire, Lance and Ian jumped in the buggy and Lilly dragged the tied-up, dead stinker back.

  Pulling off a six-foot-long metal box that looked like a coffin, the boys opened it up and tossed the body in. As Ian bolted the lid on, Lance pulled more gear out and hooked it to the coffin. From the grins on both, Lilly knew this experiment was bad news for someone.

  With the coffin set up, Ian hooked the barbed wire holder to the trailer hitch on the side by side. Taking their gloves off, they followed Lilly out the gate and hooked the barbed wire to the base pole next to the stream.

  Then, Lilly slowly drove along the four strands already up as the boys added four more. Since she had a guide, Lilly didn’t need for them to tell her where to go. In an hour, they were at the top of the ridge at the chute where the Nazis had come in.

  Lilly looked back at the eight strands and couldn’t help but feel better. Three of the strands were placed between the top three and the last was six inches over the top of the old fence. As Lance and Ian loaded four more spools of barbed wire to the dispenser, Lilly looked at the five-and-a-half-foot-tall fences.

  With Allie sitting sideways beside her and looking down the slope, Lilly drove along as the boys continued adding the barbed wire. This time, they didn’t skip the hard to reach areas that didn’t have barbed wire. They ran four stands across the gaps.

  Only stopping to put new rolls on, the boys were making outstanding progress. They were behind the cabin and almost out of barbed wire when Jennifer came over the radio. “Away team, need you back. No threat coming, but you need to get here now,” she called over the radio very excitedly.

  Ian took off the bar that was holding the four rolls of barbed wire on the trailer hitch and let it drop to the ground. Lance tossed his tools in the bed and jumped into the backseat. “Wonder what she wants?” Ian asked, jumping in and Lilly took off, heading for the chute ahead.