Forsaken World (Book 1): Innocence Lost

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “Lance, wait for Ian!” Jennifer yelled, running for him. Lance threw open the gate and jumped in the buggy, stomping the accelerator and shooting out with Dino running behind him. Jennifer grabbed the gate and closed it. For what seemed like forever, she waited on Ian.

  Seething with anger, Lance barreled down the dirt road as fast as the electric buggy would let him go. “Lance, there are sixteen down there now!” Jennifer shouted over his earbud.

  Reaching up, Lance took his earbud out as he reached the valley, pulling out of the cedar thicket. He stomped on the brake and jumped out, pulling the bow and quiver out. Calmly clipping the quiver to his belt, Lance looked up to see the group moving toward him, moaning and growling.

  “Suck my dick,” he growled, pulling out an arrow. In one smooth motion, Lance let it fly, catching one in the mouth as it moaned. As it fell, Lance was pulling another arrow back. When his aim settled on a stinker no older than Allie, Lance let it go. The arrow hit the kid stinker hard in the forehead; her head yanked back, making her crash hard.

  The group was only thirty yards away and closing fast as Lance pulled another arrow and let it fly. Not even watching the stinker fall, he nocked another arrow. Pulling back, he released, catching a young man stinker that was trotting faster than the others.

  Pulling back again, Lance felt calm as he released another arrow, hitting an old man missing an arm. Dropping the bow, Lance pulled out his Ruger, aimed at the closest, and squeezed the trigger. The Ruger coughed, and a stinker’s head snapped back.

  Moving his aim, Lance squeezed again, and then he moved to another target as the group closed to ten yards. “I’m Lance Carver, and I’m going to kill you today,” he said, calmly moving his aim after killing another stinker.

  Squeezing the trigger then quickly moving his aim, Lance never took a step back and kept the stinkers ten yards away from him. Feeling the bolt lock open with his last shot, Lance calmly ejected the magazine as the last two came at him.

  Standing his ground, Lance saw one was an old woman missing half her face, and the other was a young woman missing her throat. “I’m not moving, whores,” Lance said, shoving the magazine in as a large mass flew past his head.

  Dino crashed into the young woman, and they rolled into the old woman, sending both to the ground. Springing to his feet, Dino bit down on the young woman’s neck and started shaking her like a rag doll.

  Lance aimed at the older woman as she stood up, but instead of moving toward Lance, she charged at Dino, shaking the young stinker. “That’s my dog, you old whore,” Lance said, squeezing the trigger.

  The old woman dropped, and Lance holstered the Ruger and picked the bow up. “Dino, come.”

  Dino opened his mouth, and the woman dropped. As Dino trotted over, Lance looked at the woman’s head. It was turned to her back. Her body wasn’t moving, but her jaws were. “Told you I would kill you today,” Lance said, walking over and pulling out his switchblade.

  Kneeling, he drove it in her forehead. He put his foot on her face and pulled the blade out then wiped it off on her shirt. Hearing Dino give a soft growl, Lance put the knife up and looked down the road to see a small stinker growling as it trotted toward him. “I don’t care how old you are,” he said, pulling an arrow out and grabbing the bow.

  “Dino, sit,” he said, drawing the arrow. Dino sat and watched the small stinker coming at them. When it was ten yards away, Lance let the arrow fly. It hit the toddler in the eye and passed out the back of his head. Lance didn’t see any more stinkers coming. Dropping the bow, Lance fell to his knees, gazing ahead.

  With his foot pressing the accelerator through the floorboard, Ian busted out into the valley. Racing over to the other buggy, Ian saw Lance on his knees with Dino sitting beside him. Relief flooded Ian as he took his foot off the accelerator, and the buggy slowed. Spread out like a fan in front of Lance were bodies of stinkers.

  Pulling up beside the other buggy, Ian got out and walked over to Lance. Trying not to gag, Ian stepped in front of him. “You could’ve waited.”

  “You didn’t have to come.”

  “My brother doesn’t fight without me,” Ian said, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder. Not replying, Lance kept his blank stare. “Lance, they can make it. Shit, look at the shit our dads did here, and we didn’t even know it.”

  Lance blinked and looked up at Ian with a glimmer of hope. “Yeah, they did,” he mumbled with a hint of a smile.

  “Remember, they did rent a boat three years ago in South Carolina and piloted it all the way to Bermuda and back. They know boats, so they can make it.”

  Turning away, Lance gave a nod as he let out a sigh. “They can make it.”

  Feeling better, Ian turned around and looked at the bodies. “Don’t run off like that again on me, dude. You want to kill shit, that’s cool, but we do it together.”

  Wrapping an arm around Dino, Lance hugged him as he stood up. “My bad,” Lance grunted. “We need the hybrid buggy to get these bodies out of here.”

  Ian looked at the bodies, and a shiver ran up his spine at the thought of touching them. “For real.”

  “One went after Dino when he attacked it. They protect their kind.”

  “Bro, you came down here and went ‘Die Hard’ on their asses, and they came at you.”

  Lance shook his head. “No, they wanted to tear me apart for food. They didn’t see me as attacking them, but when Dino grabbed one by the neck and used it as a chew toy, that pissed the last one off.”

  “How do you want to do this then?”

  After talking, they drove back to the cabin and put the trailer on the hybrid buggy. Grabbing plastic bags and rubber gloves, they loaded the rest of the motion detectors and cameras. When they were getting ready to leave, Jennifer brought out food for them.

  They rode back in silence and stacked as many bodies as they could in the trailer. It took several trips, but they moved the bodies two miles back down the road, dumping them in a small field. On the last trip, they watched Dino take down a stinker wearing a leather jacket.

  With the bodies gone and the UTV burnt stinky drove pulled back to the cabin, they went back to work on the detectors and cameras. The furthest was on the road almost one mile from the cabin. They barely talked as they worked, and Ian noticed Lance was keeping his head on a swivel, looking for a fight.

  After lunch, they drove back to the valley with a garden sprayer and buckets of bleach water. With Lance on the back, Ian drove over the spot where they parked and around the area where the others were killed. Soaking the area down, they headed back to the cabin.

  “You okay?” Ian asked as he locked the ATV shed door.

  “I will be, brother,” Lance said with a half shrug. “I’m sorry about this morning.”

  “It’s cool.” Ian grinned, patting Lance on the back. “You will tell Jen, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “She was really worried,” Ian said as he pulled out his key for the door.

  Walking in, they found the three girls standing beside the table, waiting on them. Lance walked over and stopped in front of them. “I’m sorry I did that; it won’t happen again.”

  They rushed him, wrapping their arms around him. “We were really worried about you,” Jennifer mumbled.

  Returning the hugs, Lance grinned. “I’m okay, and I’m sorry.”

  After a quick bite to eat, the three started on the task of putting the stuff Jennifer had spread around the cabin where it was designated to go.

  As Ian was stocking the pantry, he heard the security system beeping. “If it’s those damn deer again, I’m going hunting,” he mumbled, walking out of the pantry over to the monitors by the projection screen. A motion detector on the other side and near the top of the draw had been tripped.

  “Think it’s those deer?” Jennifer asked, coming up behind him.

  Shrugging, he huffed, “Don’t know, but if it is, I’m going hunting.” They watched another motion detector go off near the cr
eek that ran down the draw. Ian cocked his head. “That’s not the way that trail runs from the first detector.”

  “Let’s go to master control,” Jennifer said, taking off.

  They ran to the basement to find Lance already at the desk. “That trail doesn’t run to the second detector,” he said when they came in.

  “Why do you think we are down here?” Ian said, getting in the second chair. Pointing at the screen below the last alarm at the triangle that represented a camera, he asked, “Is that the camera that moves?”

  Using the mouse, Lance moved one more camera down. “No, this one is. But we should still see what it is,” he said, clicking the camera. A window opened on the massive primary screen, and the three sat, watching it. With the sun setting, the camera’s image was turning from color to black and white.

  Jennifer leaned over between the two chairs, pointing at the screen. “How far away was that first motion detector?”

  “I don’t know,” Ian shrugged. “Pretty damn far. What do you think, Lance, a mile?”

  “That’s close.”

  Studying the screen with the map of the camera and detector symbols, Jennifer asked, “So they have to move a quarter of a mile closer before we can see them with a camera?”

  “About that,” Lance said, watching the screen. “What, you think we need more?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m happy with what we got.”

  “Whew,” Lance sighed. “I’m glad because there is no way I would’ve laid out that much cable.”

  “Yeah,” Ian grunted. “It’s real spooky out there in daytime, even carrying guns.”

  Nodding in agreement, Lance played with the contrast to clear the image up as Jennifer rested her arms on the back of the chairs. “We had cameras at our house that were wireless. Why didn’t they use those?”

  “They put out radio waves that can be picked up,” Lance said, smiling at the improved image. “Uncle Doug goes over that. He said the only radio transmissions that need to come from the cabin are the radios we use. The ones he has for working around the cabin only have a three-watt transmitter, and that doesn’t go far.”

  Jennifer turned to look at the stack of Ham radios. “What about those?”

  “We aren’t allowed to transmit; only receive,” Ian said then pointed at the bottom shelf at six radios plugged into a recharger. “Those are radios we use when we scout out further. They have a five-watt transmitter.”

  “So we have big radios to talk to people, but we can’t?” Jennifer asked, turning back to the main monitor.

  “Having a secret hiding place does no good if you call out, letting everyone know where you are,” Ian said, glancing over his shoulder at her. “Uncle Doug said that.”

  “Company,” Lance said, making the other two jerk their eyes to the screen. In the far upper corner, they saw six figures come out of the tree line. The figures cautiously moved across the small, rocky creek and out of the camera’s view before they entered the tree line on the other side of the creek.

  “Those weren’t stinkers,” Jennifer said breathlessly, getting scared.

  “Not unless stinkers are carrying guns now,” Lance said, looking up at the map screen. “Whoever it is knows about the cabin. They are following the easiest slope line to us.”

  “Huh?” Jennifer asked, looking at the map.

  “That just means they are walking on the flattest part of the sloping hills to get here,” Ian explained, looking at the map, then turned to Lance. “Did you rearm the powerhouse?”

  “Shit,” Lance said and started opening the folder. He clicked the ARM button, and they watched the cabin systems screen, seeing a ten-thousand-volt increase in power. “Sorry, bro.”

  “No harm, no foul,” Ian said, turning to the map screen. “It looks like they are going to pass right by it.”

  “On Uncle Doug’s video, he said they never showed that to anyone, and I asked Dad, and he confirmed it,” Lance said, clicking to open a window for another camera. “If they are going there, they should pass close to this camera.”

  “But they will hit this motion detector first.” Ian pointed just as the symbol started blinking. “Seems someone has been snooping around.”

  “Where’s the intercom for the front gate?” Lance asked.

  “By the front door,” Jennifer said. “Why? They could come at the cabin from anywhere.”

  “That they could, but that fence is there for a reason. If they just try going through the fence, we know they are here to take. They may just be looking for a safe place,” Lance said.

  “We going to shoot them if they try going through the fence?” Ian asked.

  “You’re goddamn right we are,” Lance snapped. “We didn’t fuck with razor and barbwire just so someone could cut their way through.”

  “What if they just want a place to hide?” Jennifer asked.

  “Tough shit,” Lance said, getting up. “You saw the rules for new people, and I’m not in a trusting mood today.”

  “I’m not saying we let them in, but what are we going to do if they just want a place to stay?” Jennifer asked as Lance walked to the door, and Ian jumped up to follow.

  “Tell them to move on,” Lance said, walking out.

  “And if they don’t?”

  Stopping at the door, Ian turned around. “We shoot their ass,” he said then took off upstairs.

  Jennifer dropped down in a chair, watching the monitors. She watched the two leave the house, run toward the gate, set down a box, and run back to the house. Another motion detector went off as the two came back inside.

  Sitting at the desk, Jennifer waited for the sound of feet coming downstairs but didn’t hear them. “You guys coming back?” she hollered out.

  A few seconds later, she heard feet thumping down the stairs. Both came in carrying all their gear, putting it on. “You’re going outside after them?” she cried out, jumping up.

  “Bullshit,” Lance said, putting on his harness. “We can shoot their ass from the cabin if we have to.”

  Feeling much better, Jennifer sat back down. “Another detector went off.”

  “Yeah, saw it upstairs,” Ian said, chambering a round in his AR. He glanced at the map. “They are moving real cautious.”

  “Well, stinkers are everywhere,” Jennifer said.

  Racking the charging handle, Lance shook his head. “No, they are moving like they know they are sneaking up on a group of armed people.”

  “So how should they sneak up on armed people?” Jennifer asked. “I would think you would want to be careful.”

  “If you had no ill intentions, just walk up, keeping your hands away from weapons,” Lance said.

  “What if the ones you’re walking up on have ill intentions?” Jennifer said.

  “Leave them alone,” Ian said as a motion detector went off near the powerhouse.

  Using the mouse, Jennifer clicked one of the cameras near the powerhouse. “They don’t know who’s here, so I think they are just being cautious.”

  “No, I think they know who should be here,” Lance said, seeing movement at the extreme edge of the camera’s view. From the top of the field of view, he watched the group walk slowly toward the camera, moving very stealthily through the woods. “I think we should expect them to use force.”

  “So we just shoot them?” Jennifer asked, looking at the screen. As the group got closer, she could tell it was four men and two women, all of them carrying what looked like hunting rifles and shotguns.

  “If they even act like they are going to use force, we are,” Lance said. “Ian, put your earbud in. When we set up, get upstairs in the loft. Use one of the sliding air vents—whichever side they come at. I’ll take downstairs. Jen, you will stay here and tell us where they are.”

  When the group filed past the camera’s field of view, Jennifer clicked the camera over the powerhouse. “Can’t they see the cameras?”

  “Not unless they are looking real hard for them,” Ian said. “The h
ousing blends in with the tree trunk very good, and they are higher than eyesight level.”

  They watched the group ease up into a little group in front of the powerhouse door. From the way they were acting, Lance knew they were talking. “Be nice to know what they were saying.”

  “Shit, we can see them; that’s all that matters to me,” Ian said, watching a man point at the powerhouse door.

  “If they touch that door, they will die, won’t they?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yep,” Lance said with a shiver, remembering the burnt body of Glen they had dragged off the front porch.

  “Is there a warning there like the one you said was here at the house?” Jennifer asked as several of the group were now pointing at the powerhouse door.

  “Nope,” Ian said, watching the monitor. “There’s a sign on the door that says, ‘Danger: Do Not Open.’”

  Glancing over her shoulder at him, she asked, “It’s always been there, right?” Ian nodded. “So they have no idea that the door will kill them?”

  Ian shook his head. “Kind of defeats a booby trap if you come out and say that. Then, they could short it out or knock a hole in the cinderblock wall.”

  Jennifer turned around, not liking that. “It just doesn’t seem right.”

  “Well, we could let them destroy our powerhouse,” Lance offered. “Then see what they would do.”

  Throwing her hands up, she groaned, “I’m just saying.”

  “Jen, there are more of them than us. We need every advantage,” Lance said, seeing the group circle around one man. “Ian, is that Mr. Donald?”

  Leaning over Jennifer, Ian stared at the screen. “I’ll be damned. I think it is.”

  “Who?” Jennifer asked.

  “Mr. Donald. Our dads and Uncle Doug let him cut hay out of the small field in the valley,” Lance told her.

  “So you know him?”

  “We’ve met him once or twice.” Ian shrugged as he straightened up. “It was his brother’s son that was fried on the front porch.”