Forsaken World (Book 1): Innocence Lost

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Ian didn’t even turn around. He took the bottle of water, threw the top off, and shoved the straw in. “Drink,” Ian said, shoving the straw in Lance’s mouth. “Before you ask, yes there is a shorter route. It would take us through Williamsburg and Barbourville, both we want to avoid, but we would be at the cabin in less than forty minutes. On Uncle Doug’s route, we will be at the cabin in less than two hours.”

  Ian threw the empty bottle in the floorboard then reached up, tapping the screen on the GPS. “On current route, destination will be reached in approximately one hour and forty-two minutes,” the GPS informed them.

  “Oh man,” Lance moaned, making the turn. “I’m going to find who did that voice and strangle them.”

  Letting out a long sigh, Ian shook his head. “Let’s go ahead and get this over with,” he said. “Just to let you know, we will be crossing the Cumberland River again up ahead.”

  “WHAT!”

  “Yeah, why I wanted to get it out of the way,” Ian said, rubbing his ears.

  “Fuel level low; change to auxiliary tank now,” a pleasant voice announced. Reaching down, Lance jabbed a finger at the dashboard. “Thank you, Alpha,” Lance mumbled then glanced quickly at Ian. “Is it the same fucking river, or do they just name all the fucking areas with water flowing downhill Cumberland River?”

  Taking a deep breath and knowing Lance was physically and mentally drained, Ian spoke in a calm voice. “No, Lance, it’s the same river. It just twists and turns a lot.”

  Lance looked at the GPS and saw the car just driving across the screen, not following a road. He looked out the window and confirmed they were on a road, or a back road because he couldn’t stay at forty-five. “Where the fuck is the road?”

  “We’re on it, Lance.”

  “Look at the GPS; it says we are going cross country.”

  “Lance,” Ian said, turning to face him. “If you would’ve taken your eyes off the road a few more times, you would’ve seen several times we were on roads GPS doesn’t know.”

  “And we are trusting the whore to get us to the cabin?” he squealed.

  Having already learned that it took hydration to improve Lance’s mood and wanting to stop the fight Lance was looking for, Jennifer leaned between the seats. “Ian, just what kind of map book are you looking at? I’ve seen maps, but you know where houses are and stuff.”

  Ian reached down and pulled out the atlas map book he was using and opened it up. “It’s satellite images with a topographic overlay. Each page only holds a small section, so as you travel, you have to keep a few pages ahead.”

  They topped a hill and rode along a ridge on the right side. Jennifer could see a few lights in the valley in the distance but could tell from the sprawl it was a town. “What’s that place?” she asked, opening the atlas.

  Ian reached over, flipping the book open to where they were without looking, and said, “Marshes Siding.”

  “How did you even know the page? You didn’t look.”

  “Piece of paper I used as a book marker.”

  “Can you show me where the cabin is?”

  Reaching over again to flip the page, Ian glanced at the map and pointed at a tree-covered mountainside. “There.”

  “On the side of a mountain?”

  “No, see how the lines are far apart? The cabin is sitting on a shelf below the ridge and over a small valley or a big draw, however you want to look at it. The draw leads to a bigger valley where fields start.”

  “I can’t see it, but I can see a house on the other side of the mountain.”

  As the GPS told Lance to turn right, Ian leaned over, tapping the map. “We have lots of trees, but if you look close, you can make out the cabin, but if you look here, you will see a small gap in the trees and a tiny square. Those are the solar panels on the hill behind the cabin.”

  “Oh man, we have power!” she cried out.

  Ian laughed. “Cabin is a loose term, Jen. It’s spacious with two bathrooms and a massive projection screen on the wall so our dads could watch football during hunting season.”

  “I can’t wait,” she sighed, handing over the atlas, and leaned back. As they rode up a steep incline, everyone grabbed their ears as they popped except Lance; he just bitched.

  Pulling up to a small blacktop, Lance looked at the road with suspicion then looked at the GPS and saw the arrow pointing right. “Right turn now,” the GPS said again.

  Lance turned on the road and pressed the accelerator. “Just wanted to make sure since you had my ass on goat trails,” Lance said, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “How long am I on this God-sent passageway?”

  Ian sighed and looked down at the map. “Just over seven miles.”

  “Hold up, we’re like fourteen miles from I-75. When we get off, where is our break area?”

  “A mile after the turnoff.”

  “We aren’t stopping,” Lance announced, and everyone silently agreed.

  Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Ian took the bottle. “Get ready for it,” he said, putting the straw in the bottle and shoving the straw in Lance’s mouth.

  “Ready for what?” Lance asked when he finished with the water. Tossing the bottle in the floor, Ian just looked straight ahead. “What the fuck, dude?” Lance said, and Ian just pointed ahead.

  Lance turned to see a sign. “Cumberland Falls Rd.” “Well, at least they have falls,” Lance said.

  “Right turn ahead,” the GPS announced.

  Turning onto the road, Lance sighed, shifting his weight because his ass was numb. “I always thought driving would be cooler. This shit sucks.”

  Coming around a curve, a stinky was standing in the middle of the road and trotted right at them. Lance barely moved the steering wheel, missing the stinky with the Hummer, but everyone heard a thump as they passed. Ian just looked over at Lance. “Learned if I yank the wheel one way sharp, the trailer will lash out like a dragon tail,” Lance said, grinning.

  “Cool,” Ian smiled. Jennifer let out a sigh, seeing Lance was back to being smartass Lance and not asshole Lance.

  Following the road down into a gorge, they saw the Cumberland River and to the north the rapids of the falls. Driving across the bridge, Lance gave the sign a middle finger salute. “Uncle Doug has a note about the resorts and cabins ahead. He said it would be a place for people to run to, so move through fast,” Ian said.

  “That I can do,” Lance said, pressing the accelerator.

  “Lance, I know you can see the hairpin turns, and as you’ve said, this isn’t a Ferrari.”

  “No side-seat driving,” Lance said, leaning into the turn. The normal hum, or singing, of the massive mud grips was interrupted with the soft squeal of tires as they rounded the hairpin turns. Tired of arguing but happy that Lance wasn’t as bitchy, Ian just held on as the Hummer climbed out of the gorge.

  Stinkers were waiting when they reached the top, and Lance started dividing. “Pac man,” he giggled, barely taking his foot off the accelerator as the Hummer bowled into the crowd. The vehicle bounced as some went under, and others flew away with the impact.

  Seeing the pack thinning but more heading toward them, Lance tapped the accelerator. “If I had a plow on this thing, I would just ride around hitting stinkers.”

  “Right turn four point two miles ahead,” the GPS droned.

  Clearing the stinkers, Lance pressed the pedal down, reaching the turn really fast. As he turned on the new road, Lance smiled, seeing it was gravel but a nice, wide road. Able to stay at forty-five, Lance kept his smile.

  As they wound down into a valley, they could see small hilltops across it. A few lights could be seen, but what made everyone gasp was that they could see hundreds of pinpoint fires spread across the valley and up some hillsides. “Are those houses?” Jennifer asked.

  “And businesses, farms, cars,” Ian said as the Hummer dropped lower, following the road down.

  “Break area one point one mile ahead,” the GPS said
.

  “Bullshit, we are going to the cabin,” Lance said, seeing stinkers run away from a farmhouse beside the road. “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me; I’m the gingerbread man.”

  “Not a good analogy, bro,” Ian laughed.

  “Yeah, gives a whole new meaning to ‘eat me.’ Guess I’ll have to stay with ‘suck my nuts.’”

  Grimacing, Ian said with a shiver, “I think that would really hurt.”

  “Dude, I don’t mean it for real,” Lance cried out. “Allie hit me in the jewels with a disposable lighter, and I thought I was going to die. Be damned if someone chews on them.”

  “I said I was sorry, but you were supposed to catch it,” Allie cried out.

  “Yes, I should’ve caught it, Allie, but I thought you were going to hand it to me, not throw it.”

  “If Tiffany hadn’t been there, you would’ve caught it,” Ian laughed.

  “Don’t start, amigo. It was bad enough she saw me curl up in a ball, begging someone to shoot me.”

  “The junior Tiffany Carter?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yeah, we were at the park cooking out, and she came over,” Ian said, wiping his eyes.

  “She’s a whore,” Jennifer huffed.

  “Hey, no she’s not,” Lance snapped.

  Jennifer thrust her head between the seats. “Oh, yes she is. Tiffany sleeps with any and everyone,” Jennifer growled as Lance turned on another road.

  “She hasn’t slept with me, so she’s not a whore,” Lance said, lifting his chin. “She can be one after she sleeps with me.”

  “I think you and Ian are the only two in town she hasn’t slept with.”

  Slapping the steering wheel, Lance shouted, “Damn it, now I feel cheated.”

  “You mean to tell me you would sleep with a skank?” Jennifer said, shaking her head.

  “If she looks like Tiffany, hell yeah,” Lance chuckled.

  Shaking her head as she leaned back, Jennifer said, “She would put something on you Ajax wouldn’t take off. I know for a fact she’s had crabs twice.”

  The smile fell off Lance’s face. “Now, that isn’t kosher.”

  “Hey, you said as long as she looked good.”

  “Well, I want my equipment to survive!”

  “Then don’t sleep with a skank.”

  Lance sucked in a breath to reply but stopped, taking his foot off the accelerator and pressing the brake to ease to a stop. Letting out the breath, Lance’s mouth dropped open. “I sure as shit hope that’s people.”

  Ahead of them, I-75 stretched out, and they could see masses of people shambling along the interstate. “Where the hell did they come from?” Ian mumbled.

  “This is bullshit,” Lance huffed. “We can’t subtract that much even if we divide.”

  “Are they all moving north?” Jennifer asked, pushing Allie and Carrie back behind Ian’s seat.

  “Lexington is not that great,” Lance said, shaking his head.

  “That’s like—” Ian stopped when thump sounded on Lance’s side. They turned to see a man chewing at the window and his friends trotting up behind him. “We need to move before those on the interstate get off and come this way.”

  Taking his foot off the brake, Lance pressed the accelerator. “Number One, if they start coming off the interstate, H1 Alpha or not, the Hummer won’t make it through.”

  “We could always go back,” Ian said, pulling his AR up as another stinky stepped out and disappeared under the Hummer.

  “That is a negative, Mr. Potter. We will get to Hogwarts.”

  “I want the damn broom,” Jennifer mumbled, seeing the interstate getting closer as Lance sped up. The closer they got, the better the goggles’ definition became, and the shapes became clearer.

  The road they were on traveled under the interstate, and when they were a few hundred yards away, Lance yelled out, “Oh shit, not good!”

  Stinkers started falling off the interstate, landing in front of them. Jennifer watched one bounce higher than the Hummer as the bodies started coming down faster. “AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!” Jennifer screamed, closing her eyes as the rain of bodies became a steady downpour as they neared the underpass.

  BAM, BAM, BAM reverberated over the Hummer as the bodies hit it. “Get off my shit!” Lance yelled out at a stinky laying on the hood as they shot under the interstate. Jennifer opened her eyes to see a man in military camouflage moving his head but nothing else as a hand slapped her window. Looking at the hand, she knew the body was on the roof.

  Blowing out the other side, Lance started yanking the wheel back and forth. “Get off my shit, dick sludge!” Jennifer watched bodies sail off with each yank of the wheel.

  “They’re gone, Lance!” Ian shouted, seeing Lance’s arcs were getting wider and closer to the ditches.

  Panting hard, Lance straightened out on the road just as a stinky walked out onto it. Not slowing, the stinky was sent air mail by Lance. “Dude, most of those that were falling were soldiers,” Lance said, wanting his heart to slow down.

  “I’ll take your word for it; I just saw it raining stinkers,” Ian said and felt his hands going numb from gripping the handle so hard. After prying his hands off, he open and closed them.

  As Lance rolled down his window, everyone took a deep breath and yelled with him. “H1 Alpha, bitches!”

  Lance reached forward, laughing, and everyone looked at him, stunned, as he pulled out an iPod from the center console. “You’re not having a blinking match with the road, Lance,” Jennifer said as Lance’s thumb rolled around the iPod.

  “I’m watching,” he grinned and tapped the screen. “Uncle Doug played this once, and I think it’s fitting.”

  A disco melody started, and women started talking, and Ian busted out laughing. Jennifer listened carefully then, then the chorus yelled, “It’s raining men.” Jennifer laughed as everyone joined in singing and dancing in their seats.

  Chapter 16

  After another song, Lance turned the music off, but the mood was much improved. They moved between big, dirt roads and small blacktops, and Jennifer tried to contain her excitement as they headed into a valley that wasn’t even a quarter mile wide. The outlines of mountain tops could be seen around them.

  They saw a few stinkers as they passed a sign that Jennifer read, “Dewitt.” Allie tapped her arm, and Jennifer looked down to see Allie pointing out the window at a school.

  “We’re almost there,” Allie said and grinned.

  Jennifer wanted to laugh, looking at the helmet and goggles on such a little head. She smiled. “I’m glad.”

  The Hummer rolled up in the valley, and the spaced out farm houses went from few and far between to nonexistent. Ten minutes later, they all let out sighs as the GPS announced, “You have reached your destination.”

  Looking around, Jennifer saw trees around them but a field in front of them. “Where’s the cabin?”

  “It’s further up. We have to take the road past the field,” Ian said, checking his AR.

  “Well, let’s get the hell up there. My butt is killing me.”

  “We need to check the cabin first, Jen,” Lance said, cracking his door, and a thumping sounded at the back of the Hummer. He sniffed and started grumbling.

  The thumping stayed at the back of the Hummer as Ian looked over at Lance. “Whatever it is, it’s staying there.” Without responding, Lance threw open the door and launched out, closing it as he went. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Jump out without a plan and act insane,” Ian mumbled, following.

  He moved to the back of the Hummer, bringing up his AR. Stopping at the back, he shook his head, seeing a stinky impaled on the trailer jack. “Another one is trapped under the trailer,” Lance said from the other side. Ian glanced up and saw Lance pull out the Ruger.

  As the Ruger let out a cough, Ian watched the stinker’s head snap back. “Check under the Hummer,” Lance said, walking to the side of the trailer as Ian knelt. He saw enough body parts caught up in the undercarr
iage to make a few stinkers but didn’t see a whole one as he heard the Ruger cough again.

  Walking around the Hummer, Lance holstered the Ruger and opened his door, turning off the Hummer. “Wait here. Keep the doors locked, and if you see anything, call on the radio,” he said, about to leave, but stopped. “Turn your radio on.” Jennifer thought of a dozen comments, but Lance closed the door.

  Ian walked around to the front of the Hummer, joining Lance. “How you want to do this?” Ian asked as he checked his gear.

  “Follow the road up and check the cabin out and turn off that ‘Lethal Deterrent.’ Move to the back, and look at the shed, shop, and gym.”

  “You want me to take point?”

  Shaking his head, Lance said, “Nah, I got it, but let’s stay close together.”

  Seeing Ian nod, Lance moved up the farm road at the forest edge of the small field. Barely noticeable was a small road between a stand of cedar trees that led up into the woods. Lance peeled off, following it up as the forest closed around them. Lance wanted to turn around and tell Ian that it wasn’t as spooky out here when he had an AR and other weapons.

  NNNNNNN sounded, and Lance jumped three feet in the air and started beating his hip. NNNNNNN sounded again, and Lance quit jumping around. “A phone call? Really?” he whispered, and Ian fought not to laugh as Lance pulled out his phone, and his goggles shut off. “God damn it,” he hissed, flipping them up. “Hello, this isn’t a—” he whispered.

  His dad started, “Lance, you ma—”

  “God damn it, Dad, this isn’t a good fucking time. I’ll call you back,” Lance whispered harshly then pulled the phone away.

  “Lance—” His dad’s voice cut off as Lance turned the phone off.

  “That scared ten years out of me. I thought some demon from hell was trying to attack my goober,” Lance whispered, shoving his phone in his pocket.

  Once again, Ian followed Lance up the rise toward the cabin. Halfway there, Lance stopped and motioned Ian next to him. “You hear someone talking?” Lance asked.

  Listening for a second, Ian nodded. “Yeah, but I can’t tell what they are saying.”