Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption

by Watson, Thomas A.

  FORSAKEN WORLD

  REDEMPTION

  Book Six

  …..

  THOMAS A WATSON

  Copyright © January 26, 2020

  THOMAS A. WATSON/A-POC PRESS

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Credits

  Sabrina Jean/FastTrack Editing

  Cover Art by Christian Bentulan

  This book is a work of fiction. People places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the written consent of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Thank you for acknowledging the hard work of this author. If you didn’t purchase this book or it wasn’t purchased for you, please go purchase your own copy now.

  A Special Thank You

  Leslie Bryant

  Yalonda Butler

  Jeff Ashby Jr.

  Cora Burke

  Anna Shirley

  Fleur Wilkinson

  Deb Serres

  Sara Andrews

  William Beedie

  Joseph Ruffolo

  Rebecca Larsen

  Tina Rush

  Charlie Jean

  Frederick Jean

  Dedication

  This is dedicated to all my fans, friends, and family.

  I couldn’t do this without all of you.

  Thank you.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine.

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter One

  Laurel River Lake

  Trading Post

  A slightly pudgy white man was sitting behind a huge oak desk listening to a tale in disbelief. His name, Victor Dunstan. He looked across the desk at a filthy young man with greasy black hair, Ricky, a member of the Pirates gang that had been wiped out. For the last hour, Ricky sat and told them of the horror he had witnessed weeks ago. Holding up a hand, “Hold on, boy,” Victor said shaking his head. “Let me get this straight. You were out on patrol and came across a machine killing infected, and you destroyed it?”

  “It killed Greg!” Ricky cried out as a man wearing fatigues stepped over from the corner.

  “Don’t raise your voice again,” he warned.

  Trying to appear small and submissive, “Sorry,” Ricky whispered.

  Chuckling as he leaned back in his chair, “Colonel Bren doesn’t like rudeness,” Victor grinned, motioning to the man in fatigues.

  “It won’t happen again,” Ricky practically whispered.

  Asking again for the third time, still not believing what Ricky was telling him, “So you and your patrol broke a machine that was killing infected?” Victor asked again, shaking his head.

  Nodding, “Yes, sir. It killed Greg,” Ricky answered in a low voice, cutting his eyes to Bren. “Not the machine, the stuff running the machine, I think. When Greg touched it, he died.”

  “And you don’t see a problem with that?” Victor asked.

  Looking at Victor with wide eyes, Ricky shook his head. “A problem with what, sir?”

  “Your patrol broke a machine that was killing infected and from what you’re saying, it was doing it autonomously,” Victor clarified and Ricky just blinked. “The machine was doing that on its own? Nobody was driving it?”

  Nodding vigorously, “Yes, sir. Izzy said it wasn’t being driven by remote control,” Ricky answered. “Izzy was the one over the radios and our power.”

  Hearing that there was a pirate with functioning brain cells, “And Izzy is where?” Victor sighed, hoping for more information.

  With wide eyes filled with terror, “Phoenix got ‘im,” Ricky whispered, glancing around.

  Fighting to remain calm and not pull his pistol out and shoot the imbecile on the other side of his desk, “That’s the machine that ran around spraying fire, correct?” Victor asked.

  Slinking down in his chair like he was trying to hide, “Yes, the Borg Queen sent it,” Ricky replied in a whisper. “We killed one of hers so she sent Phoenix to kill us.”

  Looking at Ricky hard, Victor knew the man couldn’t be older than twenty. At one time, he figured Ricky may not have been a complete moron but like the other pirates, the binge party they had been on since this started seemed to have taken what few brain cells any of them had left. “I trust this is the same Borg that’s on the radio near Pineville?” Victor asked, and Ricky gave a grin as he nodded.

  Turning to Bren, “So, what do you think?” Victor asked.

  Waving a hand to Ricky, “The Pirates are fucking idiots and whoever wiped them out did the world a favor,” Bren answered, and Ricky let out a gasp. “By dumbass’s own admission, multiple times, this machine they took out was killing infected by the hundreds, and these fuckwads broke it. I’m tempted to kill his ass right now.”

  Shifting his gaze back to Ricky, “I’ve heard of stupid shit, but killing a machine that is eradicating infected just tops everything,” Victor sighed, reaching up to massage his temples.

  “It killed Greg,” Ricky said again, like that was reason enough.

  Dropping his hands from his temples and turning to Bren, “Have this stupid fuck taken outside and killed. I want the slowest and most painful means you can think of to kill him,” Victor told Bren, and Ricky jumped up screaming.

  Two soldiers ran in and one buttstroked Ricky in the back of the head, knocking him out. As the soldiers dragged him out, “I was hoping stupid would be eradicated with the infection, but I’m proven wrong once again,” Bren said, moving up and sitting in the chair Ricky had just vacated.

  “So, you found the Pirates’ camp?” Victor asked.

  “Yes, and it was right where Ricky said it was. I only took a small team in, just to confirm, but we didn’t stay long because it’s inside the Wild Ones’ area. I agree with you, we don’t want to piss them off. I lost one patrol to them so I backed out fast. The destruction of the camp was total. And Victor, the Wild Ones turned loose the three stock the Pirates had bought from us. I asked Ricky about them when I got back.”

  Giving a groan, “You don’t think we’ve angered them?” Victor asked.

  Shaking his head, “No,” Bren said. “I told my men and the scouts who went with us to disturb nothing and leave everything as they found it. I lost contact with the patrol as they neared Girdler.”

  Putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands, “Just how much of a problem do you think the Wild Ones can be?” Victor asked.

  “We lost half a dozen scouts before we declared Knox County off-limits. None of them even got a chance to radio out, and neither did the patrol with me this time. They also wiped out the Devil Lords to the last man. I would consider them a grave threat. But we’ve proven, if we don’t go there, they don’t come out. I agree with you. Let them stay where they are and leave them alone. In time, they may reach out to us.”

  “Yeah, about what I feel,” Victor sighed. �
�I just wish we had a more definite area to avoid. If they can do what that idiot claims, they could hurt us very badly. Any word on the search for Diane?”

  “No. We know they headed west, but we lost them near Parkers Lake. A biker gang spotted them but couldn’t catch ‘em. They’d somehow gotten horses. Unless we get lucky with the reward, we aren’t going to find them.”

  Giving a long groan, “Damn. I wanted that bitch dead,” Victor mumbled. “Any new intel on the Wild Ones?”

  Shaking his head, “No, sir, and I’d advise against sending in any more scouts to get some. Let’s just question any people we find who’ve traveled through their area. Like we figured, they do let some move through their area, but none can stay. Any who try, don’t live. I might get one of my men to try and act as a survivor and move through, since we know they let people do that without killing them. But, I’d advise we make the exclusion area for our scouts to avoid even bigger. We need to include the north of Bell county, western Leslie county, and southern Clay county like the broadcast warns. Just for the fact we don’t know what in the hell they can bring to the battlefield.”

  Laughing, “You think they’ll send killer robots?” Victor asked.

  “No. But Victor, they have figured out how to kill infected without devoting manpower. For solely that reason, we need to leave their asses alone. Just from the reports we got from those few who have moved through their area, we know they are killing infected by the thousands. In time, they can wipe this area clear of infected. Then we can move against them if we have to. I just don’t want them to stop killing infected. I don’t think they realize it, but they’re helping everyone by killing off the infected in large numbers.”

  Listening to Bren, Victor couldn’t help but be impressed with the reasoning. “Mark the area and inform the scouts, none of our men are to go near there,” Victor ordered.

  “Sir, we need to tell all the other enclaves around us to avoid them as well. I don’t want the Wild Ones to think a patrol from someone else belongs to us. Somehow, they have next generation hardware and the knowledge to use it. As you’ve said many times, they don’t need supplies and we can’t even guess on the numbers, but to take out the Devil Lords and the New Dawn, they must be sitting on several hundred well-trained fighters.”

  “What if we had air?” Victor asked. This was a sore subject with Bren because all his choppers had to be left in Corbin when the refugee center had been overrun. There were now only three military units within fifty miles that had helicopters, and Bren didn’t like asking to use them from any of the three. He had only done it once with General Wade, and vowed never to do it again. The other two sites he didn’t even want to trade with, but like Victor said, ‘business is business’. Those two military units traded lots of ammo with the Trading Post.

  “Victor, I wouldn’t trust General Wade in Buckhorn to do shit! I’m willing to bet if choppers or planes showed up over the Wild Ones, they’d get shot down. The ease with which the Wild Ones penetrate camps is somewhat disturbing and to just leave pranks is just letting everyone know, they can kill whenever they want.”

  Throwing up his hands, “How in the fuck did they stay off the radar before this?!” Victor cried out. “It must have taken years to set up their area, and nobody knows shit!”

  “Sir, if you want my opinion, I think some of the Wild Ones were in departments of the government. That’s the only thing I can come up with that explains the weapons and tactics we’ve heard of. Then you figure, nobody had any information on them.”

  “Shit. Best explanation I’ve heard,” Victor admitted. “Very well. Advise all outposts that trade with us to avoid the exclusion area. If they don’t, we’ll broadcast out to the Wild Ones where to find them if they attack or disturb them. You’re sure you don’t want to try and get the Wild Ones to take a few out?”

  “I’d advise against it. I’m worried if anyone attacks or disturbs them, the Wild Ones will come for us first. We’re the closest sizeable threat. There are a few groups around with less than fifty, but they’re all allied to us. After us, they would just expand out till they get to the guilty party. They could’ve hit us after the Devil Lords, but we haven’t pissed them off and they don’t consider us a threat, so they leave us be.”

  Looking hard at Bren for several minutes, “And you don’t think the Wild Ones didn’t attack us because they were worried about our size?” Victor asked.

  Throwing his head back and laughing, “Really, Victor?” Bren howled out, then settled back into his business state again. “The Devil Lords had over nine hundred shooters and the New Dawn had over four hundred. Did the Wild Ones hesitate to attack both of them? Hell no, and they did it slyly by making them attack each other first. Then they only wiped out the winner. Sir, the Wild Ones wipe out those who come or are in their area. I just wish we had an idea of the area they declare. If they were after potential threats, they would’ve already hit us. We haven’t pissed them off yet and they don’t see us as a threat, and I would like to keep it that way. At the very least, until we can get more numbers.”

  “And you still believe the Wild Ones’ strength is around three hundred shooters?” Victor asked.

  Nodding, “Between two to three hundred,” Bren answered. “You don’t attack targets close to your base unless you can wipe them out. I do believe if the New Dawn and the Devil Lords had joined forces, they could’ve hurt or maybe taken out the Wild Ones.”

  “We’ve talked to those weirdo New Dawn survivors up in Buckhorn, but they never found any base near them. I also talked to Boss Hogg the week before and they’d never found any faction near them either.”

  Scoffing, “I could’ve hidden two divisions from those idiots in Knox County and they never would’ve found them,” Bren shot back, and saw Victor was lost. “Sorry. A ‘division’ is around ten thousand shooters.”

  “You’re being serious?”

  “Yes, sir. Now, I might have been exaggerating with two divisions, but I could hide one easily. I’m just trying to let you know it’s not that hard, and my numbers for the Wild Ones could be way off. There could be as few as a hundred or as many as a thousand.” Seeing Victor nod slowly, Bren continued. “I believe it when the eggheads say over eighty percent of America is dead and walking around as infected, but sir,” Bren paused and when Victor turned to him, continued.

  “Sir, there are small groups hiding everywhere. We have people hiding within five miles of us. I’m just saying they could have the numbers.”

  Slapping the desk, “My scouts scour the countryside! There’s no way!” Victor challenged.

  “I’m willing to bet, sir. Are you?” Bren grinned. “I could send a patrol out just to prove it. Let’s say, for ten stock of my choice?”

  Wincing at the bet, Victor shook his head. “Not that steep,” he groaned.

  Grinning, “I’m just getting my point across. This country is huge now. The scouts don’t check every closet, drainage ditch, and car trunk. And I’m sorry to tell you, they don’t know shit about moving through terrain. If it’s not near a road, the scouts don’t think anything can exist. With the eggheads’ predictions, there are still over thirty million breathing bodies in the states. Just using those numbers, there are a quarter of a million people within a hundred miles of where we are.”

  Trying to follow Bren but failing, Victor just blinked. “You think we can find a quarter of a million people within a hundred miles around us?”

  “Sir,” Bren sighed, “that encompasses over thirty thousand square miles. Before the outbreak, there were over a hundred people per square mile here. Now, I figure eight to ten. Again, using the eggheads’ numbers.”

  Relaxing in his chair, Bren watched Victor think about what he’d said. Bren knew Victor was smart, but mainly in matters of business. Hell, the man had been a billionaire before the infection. He had been with Victor since the center in Corbin, and it was he who had led a platoon to Victor’s house and rescued him. At that time, Bren had four thous
and troops, tanks, helicopters, and all the resources of the US military.

  The infected hadn’t been impressed and had flowed over the land like locusts. So many infected piled on tanks that the engines couldn’t breathe, and the only air an engine could pull in was hydrogen sulfide. Once trapped inside after the engine blew, you suffocated from the hydrogen sulfide. If you didn’t have a barrier, a tall barrier that couldn’t burn down, the infected would get you. Most outposts now, like themselves, used water as a barrier. Nobody knew why but the infected hated it, and it could kill them if they were submerged. They didn’t die fast, but they did die if they stayed submerged. But the important fact was, the infected feared and hated water, and that was all you needed to know.

  Even here, they had a small team of scientists studying the infected. The ‘eggheads’. It was only because of Bren that the eggheads held any status. He was the one who needed information on the infected.

  When they had been run out of Corbin, it’d been Victor who had gathered up the first of the scouts and taken over the lake. Understanding the importance of the site, Bren had joined in. At that time, he had still been trying to follow orders. But he was getting fed up on those orders, getting huge numbers of his troops killed. It was the end of April when he had stopped following those orders and had joined Victor, setting up the lake.

  The main reason he had hesitated was Victor had been setting up a compound that went against the very Constitution he had sworn to follow. Within a month, there were buildings and a power grid on the peninsula where there had only been forest. In the beginning, Victor had traded goods only, but before the end of that first month on the lake, slaves had been sold. It had bothered Bren in the beginning, but he’d gotten over it.

  The turning point for Bren, he had found humans, not infected, normal humans eating other humans to try and stay alive. It became very apparent the rule of law was only the strong survive. Rape was a given outside the walls, inside the walls also if you asked for some. But inside the walls Bren and Victor profited from it, so it wasn’t rape to him anymore.