Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Hell, Sandy and Mary treated Tyler and Chris, the boys they’d found, like young little boys, babying them. With so much going on, Jennifer hadn’t talked to Ian about Tyler and Chris but could tell, Ian wasn’t fond of them. She wasn’t sure about Lance but normally if Ian didn’t like someone, Lance didn’t either. But with the battle going on with his mom, Jennifer was sure Lance hadn’t even formed an opinion of them. Jennifer liked the two boys but with the tension at the cabin, still hadn’t gotten to know them.

  Hearing Lance and Sandy snarling at each other, Jennifer gave another deep sigh. On that second day after their return, Sandy had started getting harsh with Lilly and Lance, more so to Lilly. Jennifer had to admit, Lilly was handling it better than she ever could’ve. The first time Sandy yelled at Lance, Jennifer had nearly fainted. And Sandy had yelled at Lance, which Jennifer was still having problems with. All Jennifer had ever heard from Sandy about Lance was ‘her baby boy’. But until today, Sandy had never yelled at Lilly. Toward Lilly, Sandy was just cold and heartless. Never would she have believed that Sandy would yell at her ‘baby boy’. For weeks, Lance had just gone along. Then two weeks ago, Sandy had gotten really harsh with Lilly. She hadn’t raised her voice, but the tone was louder than normal and very cold.

  That was the first time Lance had yelled at his mom, and it had only gone downhill fast since then. When Lance had yelled at his mom, Jennifer did feel lightheaded. Because there was no denying, Lance was a momma’s boy and he loved her dearly. When Jennifer had talked to Ian about it that night, she’d been happy to hear that Ian had nearly fainted also.

  “ALL RIGHT!” Mary screamed, making everyone except Lance and Sandy jump. Lance and his mom just squared off, glaring at each other like two boxers in a ring. Taking a deep breath, “Sandy, we agreed to follow Ian’s and Lance’s lead,” Mary stressed Lance’s name hard. “You need to relax, or I’m going to agree with Lance and you stay here.”

  Shock hit Sandy’s face so fast Heath moved toward her, thinking she was about to faint. “Really?” Sandy gasped. “You’re taking his side?”

  “No,” Mary answered taking her mask off. “They’re better than we are at stuff like this and you know it, so stop it. This isn’t the time or the place for this.”

  “Fine,” Sandy snapped, bending down and snatching her mask off the ground.

  Turning to Heath, Lance tried to calm down. “You and Dwain will get in the track,” what they called the tracked buggy. “I’m riding with Mom and Momma Mary to the meeting place. Ian will tell you where to get to cover us.”

  Not trusting his voice Heath just nodded, thankful he wasn’t riding with them but if he’d been told to, he would’ve. As Lance picked his mask up, Heath saw Lilly wipe the tears from her face and put her mask back on. Before she turned to move to get in the track Lance grabbed her hand, and Heath saw Lilly jump and cut her eyes to the quad seat Razor where Sandy was sitting. There was almost an instant where it seemed to Heath that Lilly wanted to push Lance’s hand away, but she didn’t.

  “I want your mind on what we’re doing, okay?” Lance told her softly, and reached up to stroke her chin under the mask. When he did that Lilly was still looking at his mom and did step back a little, but Lance’s hand just followed. “If you can’t, I want the truth, baby doll, because you’ll stay here.”

  Giving a small sniffle, “I can,” Lilly mumbled, then looked into Lance’s eyes. “I can always watch your back, sw-,” Lilly stopped as she looked off and Heath realized he hadn’t heard Lilly call Lance by his pet name of ‘sweetness’ since the moms had returned.

  “She’ll calm down, baby doll,” Lance told her, finally dropping his hand and putting his mask on. “I know you can watch my back, but I want you to watch yourself. I promise you, if you get hurt I’ll blow up and it won’t be pretty.” When Lilly jerked back, Heath was confused for a second and then realized Lance wasn’t going to blow up at Lilly.

  “Lance, don’t,” Lilly told him.

  “Do you need to stay here?” he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

  Shaking her head, “No.”

  Lance hugged her but Lilly didn’t return it, and Heath saw her cringe when Lance hugged her. When Lance let Lilly go, Heath saw Lilly was looking at Sandy. Following her line of sight, even Heath gave a startle to see Sandy glaring at them. Even with her mask on, Heath could see disgust in Sandy’s eyes.

  “Load up,” Lance told them, heading to the track. He grabbed his rifle and bow and then went to the Razor, climbing behind the steering wheel. “Dino!” Lance called out and Dino got up and jumped into the backseat next to Mary.

  Moving over beside Lilly, Jennifer walked with her toward the track. “Lilly, get on intercom three so we can talk,” Jennifer said and Lilly gave a slight nod.

  Letting out a long sigh of relief Dwain headed toward the track, watching Jennifer climb up to the gunner’s seat. “Shit, and I thought Mom was hard on Kathy when we started dating,” Dwain mumbled and Heath only nodded, climbing in the back right seat.

  Chapter Three

  Outside Wild Ones’ perimeter

  Watching Lance drive off, Jennifer put in the ear bud for the intercom as Ian pulled out following him. They didn’t head down into the valley but along the slope, staying in the trees. No one ever came out and said it but everyone was nervous using roads and they only used them when they had to.

  Tapping the screen mounted on her right, Jennifer pulled up the intercom menu and tapped the one and three. One was the primary line that Ian used, but there were four channels so others could talk and if something happened, you could still hear Ian. “Lilly, you on?” Jennifer called out.

  “Yes.”

  Gripping the handle of the gun, Jennifer pressed the pedals and rotated the turret side to side slowly. “Are you okay to do this?” Jennifer asked.

  “I told you I should’ve moved over to the Bear Trap Clan,” Lilly said raising her eyes to scan around and resting her M4 on the lip of the side.

  “Lilly, like I told you, before you do anything, you need to talk it over with Lance,” Jennifer told her sternly. “If you do it without talking to him, I can guarantee you he won’t like it. I’m sorry for the way Momma Sandy is treating you, but she’ll stop.”

  “Why do you keep telling me you’re sorry? I’m the one she thinks is taking her baby. Me, an old woman,” Lilly shot back.

  For several seconds, Jennifer didn’t answer. It was the first time since Sandy had returned that Lilly showed fire. “Please, just talk to Lance before you do anything,” Jennifer told her again and then asked. “Have you?” but Jennifer already knew she hadn’t.

  “No,” Lilly snapped. “He’s being mean to his mom because of me!”

  “Lilly, he’s being mean because Momma Sandy is acting like an ass,” Jennifer told her.

  “Don’t you talk bad about her, Jennifer!” Lilly barked, lifting her rifle up quickly seeing movement but it was only a rabbit.

  Be damned if I would defend Momma Sandy if she treated me like that, Jennifer thought. “Lilly, you’re my buddy and she’s my Momma Sandy, so I can talk about her however I want to,” Jennifer told her.

  “Um,” she heard Heath cut in on channel one. “Just who are we getting?”

  “Diane,” Ian replied as Lance went around a fallen log. Ian just went over. “They met her on the trip here. She’s the one they helped.”

  “The one who escaped from the lake?” Dwain asked in an excited voice.

  “Yep,” Ian answered.

  Even though the track rolled over the log with ease, Jennifer tapped the screen so she could talk to Ian. “Boo, I know your track is awesome, but you don’t always have to run over stuff.”

  “Oh, come on. You barely felt it,” Ian laughed.

  Biting her bottom lip, Jennifer let her lip go. “Heath, Dwain, you don’t hear what I’m talking to Ian about,” she told them because whoever was driving always had to have their station to talk on channel one. “Ian, is Lance okay?”


  Lilly caught her breath as she waited what seemed like forever before Ian replied. “He’s okay to do this and continue on,” Ian replied.

  Jennifer knew Ian didn’t want to say more because Lilly already felt responsible for the turmoil. “Ian,” Jennifer said, spinning the turret to look behind them and then turned it back to the front.

  “No,” Ian sighed hard as Lance stopped at a tree line. “He can’t believe his mom’s acting like this.”

  “She has a right to,” Lilly chimed in.

  “You see my mom acting like that?” Ian shot back, coming to a stop.

  Before Lilly could reply, “Ian, your mom’s tried to fix us up since you were in grade school,” Jennifer told him.

  “Yeah, I was stupid,” Ian laughed as Lance sped out of the tree line, heading across the valley and back into the trees.

  “Do you think Momma Sandy will chill out?” Jennifer asked.

  Even though nobody could actually see him, Ian nodded. “Oh yeah,” he said confidently, and that did make Lilly and Jennifer feel better. “It’ll take some time, but she will.” Just happy there would be an end to the turmoil, Jennifer didn’t ask for a timeline.

  When they neared the perimeter, they could see stinkers to their right heading toward battle bot site three. “How much distance you going to give me to cross?” Lance called over the radio.

  “I’m thinking to let you cross while we cover, then you do the same,” Ian called back.

  “Copy,” Lance called back and sped across the narrow valley as stinkers marched away from them.

  After Lance had made it across, Ian sped over and they continued on. “We are outside the perimeter,” Jennifer called out.

  “Oh, you’re getting good,” Ian laughed, following Lance along a ridge. When he came to a stop, Jennifer already saw the stinker moving through the trees ahead. Lance was out with his bow and shot the stinker before Ian ever slowed. As Lance drove past the corpse, he reached out to grab his arrow from the stinker’s head.

  “I’ve practiced with my bow for an hour a day, but I don’t think I’ll ever get that good,” Heath said.

  “I’ve said the same damn thing,” Jennifer agreed.

  Diane had called out that morning on the radio. They had been monitoring the channel after the moms had told them. Lance’s computer program had pinpointed the spot just a mile outside of the perimeter, north of Bimble. Getting his mom, Lance had let her talk to Diane while he’d talked to Ian. Then Lance had told Diane to leave that spot but come back to it in an hour. That had been the first fight between Sandy and Lance; he hadn’t included her in the planning.

  What surprised Jennifer, Sandy had never told Lance not to patrol, build dangerous stuff, or anything like that. It was only everything else Sandy bitched at him about. Mainly anything that had to do with Lilly.

  Ahead, Lance came to a stop. “I’ll wait till you call,” Lance said over the radio.

  Not responding because Lance’s voice was tense and Ian felt sorry for his buddy, he continued on. Driving past, Ian gave a wave and then followed the ridge. The trees fell away below them, exposing the small valley below, and Ian spotted the house. Reaching down, he tapped one of the screens and then stopped. The house was on the other side of the valley just over a quarter of a mile away, point blank for the centrifugal gun.

  Dwain gave a startle as a soft hum sounded behind him and he glanced back to see the boom lifting up. The track was very quiet and unless someone was within fifty yards, they wouldn’t hear it as it sped along. Stopped, they would have to be beside it to hear those inside moving. Making sure nothing was near them, he glanced down and started tapping the screen beside him. It took a few seconds, but the image from the boom camera filled the ten-inch screen. He immediately spotted three warm objects on the opposite slope above the house.

  The camera panned around and there were a few stinkers in the valley, but the closest was over a hundred yards from the house.

  “Hey, brah. I got three above the house hiding. You have close to a dozen stinkers along the valley floor. Closest is a hundred yards to the house.”

  “Copy. Are the stinkers moving up or down the valley?” Lance called back.

  Looking at the screen, “To be honest, they aren’t really moving,” Ian told him, and Lance understood they were just milling about like bored stinkers did.

  “Heading in,” Lance called back.

  “Heath, Dwain, just keep an eye out. If shit goes down, Jennifer will deal with it while I move down the slope so we can get closer for effective fire from you guys,” Ian told them.

  “Will do,” Heath said scanning around.

  “Um, Ian?” Dwain called out tentatively. “This track armored?”

  “It’s aluminum plate so it should stop up to a 7.62, but I suggest if you see someone shooting, shoot them and not test it,” Ian replied. Not trusting his voice to reply Dwain just scanned around, hoping Lance didn’t run into any trouble.

  Coming out of the trees and into the valley, Lance pressed the pedal down and felt the vibration of the engine but could barely hear it. Two stinkers spotted the UTV as soon as they entered the valley and Lance glanced down at the instrument panel to see he was doing twenty-five MPH. Scanning around as he fought the desire to bury his foot on the pedal, Lance gave a startle.

  “Damn it, Mom! Scan around for threats!” Lance shouted because Sandy was fixated on the two stinkers to their front.

  “I’m watching!” Sandy popped off.

  “You’re concentrating on the stinkers in front of us! Look for idiots who shoot!”

  Sitting behind Lance and before Sandy could respond, Mary leaned forward and slapped the back of her helmet very hard. “Bitch!” Mary screamed. “Pull your head out of your ass before I stomp your ass in the ground!” Realizing Mary was right, Sandy concluded Lance was correct also and pulled her eyes off the stinkers in front of them.

  Passing to the left of the stinkers, Lance took his hands off the steering wheel and foot off the accelerator to slow down. He passed by the first one and held up his .22 pistol. He squeezed the trigger when the stinker was fifteen yards away and saw his shot only graze the side of the head. “Fuck,” Lance mumbled and shifted his aim at the stinker now behind him. He squeezed the trigger four times, just bracketing the face.

  Mary leaned forward and slapped Lance’s helmet. “You missed and it was in my area! You pull your head out of your ass before I beat your ass too!” Mary shouted and lifted her rifle, popping the other stinker twenty yards away as Lance dropped the pistol in his lap. Gripping the steering wheel, Lance sped toward the house.

  Watching from the ridge above, Ian just shook his head. “Shit, is he pissed off. He never misses that close.”

  Jennifer cringed because Ian’s microphone was open and they’d all heard it. She couldn’t remember Lance ever missing a stinker that close with his pistol. At the cabin they had all watched Lance do speed draws with that Ruger pistol, hitting quarters glued to a board at fifty feet.

  Stopping near the house, Lance angled the UTV so he could take off fast and not have to back up. Lifting his rifle up, he scanned around as Mary and Sandy climbed out with rifles ready and taking off their masks. “One is coming down from the southwest. About forty yards up the slope,” Ian called over the radio.

  Lance glanced up, “Dino, out,” he called over his shoulder and Dino jumped out. Even though Dino had been sitting behind Sandy, he circled the UTV and stopped beside Mary.

  Watching that in the thermal image on her screen, “Ian, would Dino bite Momma Sandy?” Jennifer asked.

  “Not unless she tried to spank the Ladybugs,” Ian told her. “You were there at the party when Dad tried to spank them. Uncle Doug had to lock Dino up.”

  Jennifer remembered the Fourth of July party very well and wanted to correct Ian, his dad hadn’t “spanked” the Ladybugs by anyone’s definition. He’d patted their butts. If a fly had been on the Ladybugs’ asses, it would’ve lived through t
he ‘spanking’ and probably never even flown off after the first ‘hit’. But the Ladybugs had acted like Bill had broken their hips, dropping to the ground and crying. True to form, Lance had come over to comfort them.

  “Then why did Dino go to Momma Mary?” she asked.

  “Duh,” Ian sang out. “He doesn’t want to take sides.”

  Thinking that was way too smart for a dog, even for Dino, Jennifer followed the figure down the slope in her gun sight. “Ian, I want you to think of a way Lance and his mom don’t go out together until they stop this shit,” Jennifer told him. She was glad Dan hadn’t come because he sided with Sandy no matter who she was mad at. Jennifer was expecting Dino to stomp Dan’s ass any day. Dino seemed to like Dan and Ann but it was clear, Dino was the alpha. Dan had growled a few times at some at the cabin those first few days, but Dino had stopped that.

  “Oh, I am,” Ian replied. “And I’m telling Momma to talk to Momma Sandy because she needs to fucking chill.” With tears in her eyes, Lilly just scanned her area.

  Mary soon saw the figure coming down the slope behind the house and step out of the trees. “Diane!” she called out with a sigh of relief and waved her closer. But Diane was staring hard at Lance, who still had his skull mask on. “Diane!” Mary barked in a low voice, startling her and Diane turned to her. “You need to move your ass. We are in the open and outside of our area.”

  “Can we come with you?” Diane asked, cradling the M4 they had given her.

  “We didn’t come here to talk. We came to get you and offer you and the girls a spot with us,” Mary said, then glanced around when Lance stepped out of the UTV, lifting his rifle. Three stinkers were coming up the road a hundred yards away.

  Flipping his selector off as he shouldered his AR Lance squeezed the trigger, dropping the first and then the other two in seconds. Further down the road, he saw six stinkers heading for them. Putting his rifle on safe and climbing back behind the steering wheel, Lance toggled his radio.