When Lance and Ian continued, Heath was spellbound. They had worked out ways to do everything that had been laid out. At the end, it was Ian who’d said if they found any other survivors on patrol that might fit in with Bravo, they would bring them, but it would be Jarvis who had the final say. Just looking at Jarvis’ face, Heath knew Jarvis would take in any the boys sent. Like everyone else, Jarvis and those at Bravo didn’t see and couldn’t believe the two were just boys.
When Jarvis had asked about the thunder bots, Ian had just shrugged and answered, “Just an evolution of our creations.” Heath didn’t know how much more evolution he could handle. Yes, he knew all the bots were controlled by computer, but to his mind, they were near magic and that terrified him. All he could see was a wave of battle and thunder bots deciding they didn’t want to play for humans anymore, and another plague would be released. Unlike stinkers, Heath knew he couldn’t run or hide from the bots. The only saving grace to Heath’s sanity was they had to recharge.
But like Ian’s new buggy, he hadn’t seen the thunder bots recharge, and that made Heath’s sphincter tingle.
In the barn at the build house, three small assembly lines had been set up. One made gun bots, one was for battle bots, and the last was for thunder bots. Like everything the boys did, nobody worked long hours on them. Each group had to send over a team every day to put in four hours ‘on the line’, as Ian called the work on the bots.
“What the hell are you thinking about now?” Dwain asked walking up, carrying a coffee mug.
Glancing over his shoulder, “Bots,” Heath answered, and was thankful to see Dwain give a shiver.
“I love those things, but on the inside…” Dwain paused, “I’m terrified of them.”
Scoffing, “I could write a book on the gut-wrenching fear I have of them,” Heath countered.
Waving a hand to the valley below them, “Those bots did that,” Dwain said shaking his head. “Even with that, I’m terrified of ‘em.”
Slowly turning to look Dwain in the eyes, “Can you imagine what Ian and Lance could do to anyone they really didn’t like?” Heath asked.
With a shiver running through his body so hard, Dwain spilled some of his coffee. “If I knew they were mad at me, I’d douse myself with gasoline, set myself on fire, and hope that would appease them with my pain, just so Lance and Ian wouldn’t chase me into the afterlife,” Dwain answered.
Very impressed and filing that away, “Yeah, I’d do that too,” Heath agreed.
“I just can’t figure out how they developed batteries that can hold charges as long as they do,” Dwain said, wiping the spilled coffee off his hand.
Heath just gave a nod, staring at the valley and saw a herd of deer cross the road below them. There were two battle bot systems completed but stored down in the valley from the build house. Everyone knew the boys had already decided where they were going, but nobody asked. Unlike the other battle bots that had Sterling engines powering the power station, this next generation didn’t.
On the side of the large battery that stored power there were two, and only two, solar panels. They were similar to the ones Heath used to have at his own house, two feet wide and three feet long, and on the back Heath had read the information plate saying they were five hundred watts. Just from what he knew of electricity, it should take two years with bright sunny days every day to charge the one ton battery for the power station. Dwain knew more about electricity and that’s why he’d helped Heath hook up the solar panels at the old house.
After the second group of battle bots and supplies had been taken down into the valley, Dwain had moved over to Ian. Knowing what Dwain was doing, Heath had followed. “When are we going to make the Sterling engines?” Dwain had asked. He’d wanted to know how to make them. Yes, the power-to-weight ratio sucked ass so you really couldn’t move them around easily. A gas-powered ten-thousand-watt generator weighed nearly two hundred pounds. A Sterling engine generator the same size weighed nearly four times as much, and that was just the engine and turbine. That didn’t take into account the mirrors and or thermal storage the boys had started using. When that was added up, the ten-thousand-watt generator was nearly over one and a half tons.
Taking off his mask, Ian had just grinned at Dwain as he’d stepped over to the huge battery and patted the only new addition, a three-foot-long, two-foot-wide, and one-foot-thick steel box mounted to the top of the battery. “This is our new creation. Think of it as a special battery,” Ian had smirked. There was one on the other battery, and each was the last thing put on by Lance. Everyone had seen the boys drive up with the steel boxes on the track buggy. Nobody had offered to help since Lilly and Jennifer had told everyone to let Lance and Ian do this part. Watching the boys move the metal box, Heath had known it was several hundred pounds.
What frightened everyone was they knew those steel boxes had come from the research area and like Dwain had said, ‘death lives in the research area’.
Not about to ask more, Dwain had moved off with Heath when Denny had come over with a laptop. Wanting to watch, Heath had moved over by his son and watched as Denny hooked up the laptop to the recharging station. With Dwain looking over Heath’s shoulder at the laptop screen, they’d seen the battery was getting twelve thousand watts from two five-hundred-watt solar panels.
The evolution of the battle bots seemed complete because there were only minor upgrades to the actual bots compared to the last ones put out. The upgrades this time was to the power station.
“How are they increasing power?” Dwain sighed out, still thinking about it.
“I’m sure if I asked they’d answer, but I’m certain I wouldn’t understand,” Heath chuckled. The gun bots being built now had all the upgrades from the trials, but one major change had been done to them as well, and it was a change Heath hadn’t liked. The gun bots could move now. They couldn’t move fast, only three miles an hour, but they could hit a stinker head at a thousand yards so they really didn’t have to move that fast.
Gun bots were mounted on a wheeled platform that, for all intents and purposes, was a motorized trailer. The platform was eight feet long and five feet wide with ATV tires at each corner. Each tire was connected to a small electric motor. Unlike the thunder bots, the gun bots had to be level to shoot.
When they were set up, four six-foot-long legs at each corner lowered down, lifting the platform off the ground until it was level. Only then could the gun bot be turned on to operate. It couldn’t shoot and move like the thunder bots. With his limited time in the military Heath knew this was a static weapon, even though it could move. Heath just really didn’t like the fact gun bots could move. Around the thunder bots, Heath already had to control his bladder so he wouldn’t piss his pants.
On the gun bots, Heath had asked, ‘Why the upgrade to move?’, and Lance had been the one who’d answered. “Anything that stays put can be taken out.” When Lance hadn’t said more and saw Heath just looking at him with a blank stare, “There’s military around and they have artillery. If gun bots can’t move, they can be taken out. So we’ll program them to move around their firing area.”
Oh, Heath understood the why, but it was the fact the gun bots had the same ‘special battery’ that the battle bots’ recharging station did. The only difference was their ‘special battery’ was half the size. Heath knew with that ‘special battery’, the only way gun bots couldn’t hurt him was when they ran out of the fifty thousand ball bearings stored in the hopper.
“Have you asked if the thunder bots have a ‘special battery’?” Heath asked.
“Fuck, no,” Dwain responded. “If they do, I don’t want to know. Ignorance is bliss in this case.”
“You know, with as many explosions as we’ve heard and know that’ve come from the research area, one would think the boys would stop,” Heath said, shaking his head before taking a sip of coffee.
Dwain just nodded. In the old world, Dwain knew they would’ve heard the explosions even with the resea
rch area two miles away. But now, with the world so quiet, they really stood out. None had shaken the ground so far and everyone was praying they never did. The first time they’d heard one, Dwain had thought the boys were practicing with the hand grenades because that’s what the first ones had reminded Dwain of from his time in the Army. He had been certain the noise could be heard up to ten miles away. But like everyone else, Dwain wasn’t going to say anything about the noise.
With the stuff Lance and Ian had made, they were alive only because of those two, just like the others. The explosions weren’t regular and there was never more than one in a week. Sometimes there wasn’t even one in a week. Dwain had just taken Heath’s position, ‘Don’t ask because I really don’t want to know. But I’ll help however I can’.
Tired of thinking about the robotic death Lance and Ian were building, “You think Seth is going to get his problem children under control?” Heath asked. Seth was the leader chosen by Lance and Ian for the GTs, group three. He was a tall robust man in his late fifties. Heath was certain he had seen Seth around before the infection and had asked Seth where he was from at the last meeting in the clubhouse.
Turned out Seth was from the area and used to run a farm south of Flat Lick. Seth had been with a group that Holly had told them about, one of the few that had impressed her. The one group Holly had reported that were rapists near Baughman, for some reason, they’d just died. Heath and Dwain had seen them on a patrol outside the perimeter with Lance and Ian in the week after the moms had returned.
On patrol a few days later, Heath and Dwain had slipped out of the perimeter just to check on the group. When they’d stopped on the ridge above the house the group had been staying in, they’d seen all six hanging from their necks in trees around the front yard. A sign was on each one that read, ‘Rape around here and you die. Wild Ones’
Bringing his mind back to the question, “I hope so,” Dwain answered. The GTs were in zone three and like everyone in the Wild Ones, they were set up in a draw. Lance and Ian had given the GTs instructions on what to do, like everyone else. Lance and Ian had dropped off rolls of barbed wire and instructions. GT group was to build pastures on the slopes and small valley floor around them. When Seth hadn’t asked questions, Lance and Ian had left to tell Heath and Patrick to send over help, even though the GTs were larger than both groups. Dwain had known as soon as they’d showed up Seth hadn’t needed them on the pasture fence, and they’d started on diversion fences.
By the second day, two thirty-acre fields had been fenced off and like Ian and Lance had told him, Seth made the fences eight feet tall with barbed wire six inches apart. And the next day, Ian, Lance, Lilly, Jennifer, and Rhonda had herded forty-two cows with ATVs from the area to the GTs’ site. It was quite clear what Ian and Lance had chosen for the GTs’ primary function in the Wild Ones.
The thirty-five members of GTs were spread out in five houses and one small mobile home up the narrow valley in zone three. With the Bear Trap and Beard clans helping, Lance and Ian had prepped the four houses with supplies taken from the Devil Lords’ storage houses around them. The mobile home wasn’t prepped.
Three of the GTs had moved into the mobile home, the problem children. Cory, who was nineteen and Rhett, who was twenty-one were both cocky young men who thought they knew everything. The last one was Rita, who was twenty-eight. While Cory and Rhett were just assholes, Rita was a bitch on top of being an asshole. All three had been in the original group of twenty-eight that’d been with Seth, and were the most vocal about any additions Lance and Ian brought in to join the GTs.
The three did work after Seth had gone and got them, but they never worked hard or long. When Dwain had met the guys, his first impression was they were from the country because Cory and Rhett looked like farm boys, but he’d soon learned they were from Lexington. When Dwain had seen Rita, his first thought was ‘whore’. Rita was pretty and had a hot body, but it was the way she flaunted it that just screamed ‘whore’. She expected everyone to do what she wanted because she was hot. That hadn’t bothered Dwain, the fact she was a cold hearted, grade-A bitch did bother him, though.
With all that going through his mind, “You want to talk to Seth again?” Dwain asked.
Shaking his head, “No,” Heath scoffed. “We voiced our concerns, as did Patrick. Twice.”
All the named groups had to send people to the clubhouse every day, for eight hour shifts, to watch the monitors. Those at the cabin weren’t included. Lance and Ian had planned on it, but Robin was over the scheduling and had informed Ian and Lance, ‘those at the cabin do enough, the others will take care of this’. Ian and Lance had both bitched and Robin had simply told them ‘fine’. But still, Robin had never given a slot of time to the cabin. Finally, Ian and Lance had just dropped it. Cory and Rita had been assigned yesterday for the GTs and were two hours late. This wasn’t the first time they had been assigned to the clubhouse, nor the first time being late. Every time they or Rhett had duty, they were late. “I say let’s talk again, or just do something,” Dwain suggested.
Slowly turning to Dwain and arching both eyebrows, “Do something?” Heath asked.
“Duh,” Dwain droned. “It won’t be long until Lance or Ian just cap the assholes. Let’s save them the trouble.”
Shaking his head, “No, that’s their call to make, not ours,” Heath stated firmly. Like Dwain, he wanted to help and not let the boys do all the heavy lifting, but was scared it could be seen as overstepping their role in the group.
Shrugging his shoulders, “I just want to help ‘em,” Dwain admitted.
“So do I, but they’re the ones who saved us and everyone else. That means we play by their rules in their playground.”
Not able to help it, Dwain grinned. “So, you heard Jodi reciting the man code when she came over last weekend?”
Nodding, “Yes, along with Denny,” Heath answered.
A wave of jealousy washed over him. “Lance and Ian are teaching him the code?” Dwain gasped.
“Nope,” Heath replied. “The Ladybugs are.”
Looking at Heath, Dwain thought he looked let down. “Is Lori learning the man code?”
“She knows the gist but doesn’t recite it. She’s adopted Lilly’s and Jennifer’s view that it’s stupid as fuck,” Heath admitted. There was no way he would ever come out and say it, but he really wanted Lori to become a Ladybug like Jodi. When Jodi had come over wearing the Ladybug mask, Heath had been envious because Lori had on the skull mask like everyone else wore. Even though Lance and Ian said everyone had to wear a skull mask, it didn’t apply to the Ladybugs, and that wasn’t lost on anyone.
It wasn’t that Lori wasn’t learning to fight and many other things. Things it would take years for them to teach the kids. He just wanted Lori to get the attitude of the Ladybugs. No matter what, those little girls would fight. One thing Heath didn’t have a problem admitting to anyone or himself, Allie and Carrie could scare the shit out of him. In Heath’s opinion, anyone not terrified of the Ladybugs needed to be shot for stupidity. Jodi, he knew, would never get that attitude. She was learning to fight and mimicking everything, but Jodi didn’t have that iron streak Allie and Carrie did. Jodi was very tender-hearted. That wasn’t really a problem since her best friends feared nothing, except Ian and Lance.
Last week, Lilly had started teaching Lori and Jennifer the basics of medicine, along with everything else they had to do. Oh, Heath had been thrilled about it and knew it was a vital skill that was needed. But Jennifer and Lilly didn’t hold the fear that Allie and Carrie did. The only ones who terrified others more were Lance and Ian. In time, Heath could see the Ladybugs surpassing the boys with that chip on their shoulder.
“So, you want to talk to Seth again?” Dwain asked again, since he could tell Heath was lost in thought.
Getting his mind on the question and thinking it over, “Let’s get Patrick and go over it this afternoon,” Heath sighed. “To be honest, I’m surprised the three are still
breathing,” Heath admitted.
Turning to look out over the valley below, “If there wasn’t so much going on, I’m certain they wouldn’t be,” Dwain offered. It was only when he’d said it, Dwain realized they didn’t have a problem with Lance and Ian deep-sixing the three. “I want to ask Ian and Lance if they think the three need to go… If we can do it for them,” Dwain said and felt Heath turn. “I want them to know we’ll do what’s necessary and help them however we can.”
Staring at the side of Dwain’s face, Heath gave a nod. “Now that we can do, and I really like that idea.” Emptying his coffee mug and turning toward the valley, “For your ears only, I’ll do it but I think it’s going to eat at me later,” Heath confessed and continued before Dwain could speak. “I could kill a person if they attacked or I even thought they were going to hurt a member of the coalition. Those three have been nothing but shit. But… they’re part of us and that’s what I think will bother me.”
“Not me,” Dwain scoffed.
“Then you haven’t been paying attention,” Heath shot back. “Everyone Lance and Ian brings in, they view them as a blank slate by giving them the benefit of the doubt. They view everyone as equal.”
About to object because he didn’t see anyone as being equal to Lance and Ian, Dwain stopped his reply. Going over events, conversations, and actions from the boys, Dwain could see it plain as day. “When do you think they don’t see someone as an equal?” Dwain asked.
Shaking the few drops out of his coffee mug, “Up until they make the decision to kill ‘em,” Heath answered. “Shit, if I’d been them, I would’ve killed Grady at the first meeting. But they were giving him and all of us the benefit of a doubt.”
“I could still drop the hammer on that fucker,” Dwain huffed.
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 9