Walking up the slope, Heath realized it was really steep. Two hundred yards up, the area around the path started opening up and he risked a glance to each side and saw the underbrush was gone. There were trees but they were spaced out, and only trees bigger than ten inches around. To his right he could see the ‘road’ up to the research area.
Then on his left, he saw areas of bright sun and it was a tiny field barely fifty yards wide from top to bottom on the slope. Turning his head, he saw it was a swath and not a field as it ran across the slope. He could tell the area had been cleared but now had lush grass. Noticing something sticking up from the ground, he squinted his eyes at what he thought was a stump, but it was too perfect. Following a line along the slope he spotted another and then another, all evenly spaced out, but the space was over a hundred feet.
“You need to get closer to Rhonda, bitch,” Dwain said behind him, and Heath jerked his eyes forward and saw he wasn’t even five feet from her.
Before he could reply, he heard a humming that seemed out of place but familiar. Tracking it down, he saw an electric robotic lawn mower like one of his neighbors had bought a few years ago. The small mower was just roaming around the clear-cut swath along the slope.
“Death is out in that clearing, Heath. You don’t want a closer look,” Lilly called out from the back. “We entered the killing field a hundred yards back when the underbrush was cleared away. Stay on the path because each trap up here has to be turned on and off manually and separately. Not even your RF tag on your wrist will save you out there. It only keeps you alive on the path.”
“Heath, you get me killed, I’m kicking your ass wherever we end up, heaven or hell,” Dwain vowed and could hear more of the electric mowers ahead. The area should’ve been leaf-covered but only the grass was growing under the trees and it was short.
Too scared to even respond, Heath just moved closer to Rhonda and locked his eyes on the back of her head. Leaning into the slope, Heath heard a buzzing and knew what it was instantly. He jerked his eyes from the back of Rhonda’s head, looking for the source of the electricity. Ahead he saw a six-foot post in the ground and three evenly spaced cables attached to it and running left along the slope. “I pulled down more power lines than that,” Dwain said behind him.
“They pulled this down, Dwain,” Lilly called out. “Your cable is to be used elsewhere.”
“It-,”Dwain stopped when he saw there wasn’t a cover on the cable anymore and it was just exposed one-inch wire buzzing with electricity. “Talk about an electric fence,” he gasped.
Despite the situation and the fact she was terrified, “I want to see you and Heath piss on this one,” Rhonda challenged with a forced laugh.
Ahead, “No, ya don’t,” Jennifer told her.
Heath was about to say something but stopped in his tracks when he looked ahead. A gun bot stood beside the path and its barrel wasn’t resting over the frame, which meant it was active. He fought the desire to run and willed his feet to continue on, but his brain overruled and he couldn’t move. When a hand touched his arm, Heath nearly dropped dead.
Whipping his head, he saw Lilly had his left hand and was pulling him up the slope. “You’re off the path,” he panted.
“I know where to step and not go, but if you don’t move, Dwain is going to shoot you,” Lilly told him.
Glancing over his shoulder as Lilly guided him up the slope, Heath saw Dwain actually had his pistol in his hand. “That’s a gun bot,” Heath panted, motioning with his head up the hill.
“No shit, and I want behind the motherfucker!” Dwain shouted.
“There are ten around the research area,” Lilly told them, and Heath almost went back down the hill, but Lilly wouldn’t let his wrist go. Heath was certain if he dragged Lilly down the hill Lance might get upset, so he continued on.
Nearing the top, the path met the ‘road’ at a thirty-foot gap in the electric fence. Dwain saw another gun bot on the other side of the gap and out of the corner of his eye noticed Heath was slowing down, despite Lilly pulling him. Grabbing Heath’s shoulders and pushing, “Get behind the killer shit, dumbass!” Dwain cried out, shoving Heath.
Seeing buildings just a hundred yards at the crest, Dwain wanted to take off running but just pushed Heath in a steady walk. When they were twenty yards away from the building, Lilly let go of Heath’s hand, “We’re out of the killing fields,” she told them, and Heath just collapsed. “Don’t touch shit unless you ask.”
Fighting the flutter in her chest, Rhonda looked around the area and directly ahead at what she thought was a building, but it wasn’t. The sides were canvas tarps, but the roof was ridged and flat. Several of the tarps were pulled to the side exposing the inside, and Rhonda’s eyes got big when she realized just how large it was. “This is the main area,” Lilly said walking over. When Rhonda didn’t budge from her spot, Lilly held her hand and led her over to the building.
“The research area is just over five acres. The main area where all the work is done is only about an acre, the rest is used for testing. As you can see, this is really a large platform,” she explained, leading Rhonda up metal steps and into the building. Rhonda looked down to see the floor was a heavy metal grate raised off the ground.
Noticing Rhonda looking at the floor, “Yeah, they didn’t want to level the area to build because it would’ve taken them too long so they drove metal posts in and welded the grates to them. I like it since to expand, we’d only have to drive in some metal posts, weld up the floor, then weld up the roof, and grab some tarps for the side,” Lilly told her.
“This covers an acre?” Rhonda gasped.
“Wow, you’re good, just about. We have just over forty thousand square feet of platform covered with a roof,” Lilly told her.
Looking around, Rhonda gave a startle. “There are trees in here!”
Sighing, “Yeah, Lance and Ian wanted cover over the top so they just welded the floors around the trunks. It doesn’t leak as much as you’d think. The water just flows down the trunk,” Lilly said glancing back and saw Percy was with them.
Stepping to the side, she saw the others outside with the moms. Heath and Dwain were sitting on the ground as Ian, Lance, and Jennifer talked to them. “Guys, we need to go and wait for everyone,” Lilly said and saw Percy was disappointed. “Percy, all experiments are shut down, but there are still things on this platform if you knocked over or bumped into that could level this area.”
Shuffling his feet, he moved to mere inches from Lilly’s side. “I’m staying with you.”
All of a sudden, like a blanket had been lifted, Rhonda gave a gag at smelling stinker, very strong stinker. “Oh, man,” she coughed, waving her hand in front of her face.
“Sorry, it’s not that strong to me anymore,” Lilly said and walked over to a tree through the floor. On the trunk was a big box with a yellow button. She pressed it and they heard a hiss, then Rhonda couldn’t help but laugh. Under the yellow button, printed on cardboard paper, a sign read ‘Ass Cover Scent’.
“What’s rotten?” Percy asked, and Rhonda gave a test sniff and did smell rotting meat.
“Animals out in the killing field,” Lilly answered. “Ian and Lance used to go and clear them out, but Jennifer and I stopped that shit. Like I said, the shit out in the killing field ignores the RF tag. We told them to leave it as a warning for anything else because they weren’t removing it anymore. A week ago we had a pack of dogs show up, and it wasn’t pretty. Shit, we didn’t even want them to get Tony’s dumb ass. That area is one of the worst.”
Having no doubt she would’ve left Tony’s body to rot, “Like the pack of dogs that attacked us?” Rhonda asked.
Hesitantly nodding as she thought, “I think this pack was a little bigger,” Lilly admitted. “I really doubt if more than half a dozen escaped, though. There are cameras here that record and that’s how they knew where Tony was killed.”
“You think the tigers came here and got shot?” Rhonda asked, but d
idn’t sound too unhappy about it.
Shaking her head, “No, we don’t know where they went, but it wasn’t here. Cameras, remember?” Lilly said and saw Rhonda sniffing the air hard. “That’s what the ‘Ass cover’ button does, sprays a gallon of scented air freshener over the main area.”
Lilly led them back to the others and noticed Percy looking at two fifth wheel campers. “The closest one is a lab. It’s set up much better than the lab on the platform, or main area,” she said, jerking her head back toward the main building. “The other is just a camper where we eat and have a place to relax up here. Ian and Lance can go for hours working up here, but Jennifer and I can’t.”
Nodding, “I totally understand,” Rhonda said.
“Well, that’s rule number one. That is the only place you can relax up here. If your mind starts to wander, you pull your ass inside that camper until you can think straight,” Lilly told her. “I’m not exaggerating when I say just how dangerous some of the shit they’re working on is and the main one, we don’t know much about it. Trial and error with that shit is deadly.”
Lance handed out bottles of water to everyone and then turned around to point at a tree far to the left that had a board with a twelve-inch orange dot on it. “Does everyone see that orange marker?” he asked, and they all nodded. “Once you pass that marker, you’re in a testing area. The four acres around the main area are divided and numbered but all you need to know is, you don’t go past an orange marker.”
Sucking down the water and nodding, they all turned as Ian spoke. “If for some reason you do go past an orange marker and through the testing area, you will come to the electric fence and you’ll see a red triangle. If you pass those you’re in the killing field, and you won’t make it through them.”
Raising her hand, Ian turned to Rhonda. “I’m here. Now, can someone take me back down?” she asked.
“Just stay in the main area, don’t touch anything, and you’ll be fine,” Ian chuckled, and Rhonda gave a depressed sigh.
“Let’s move into the main area so we can start,” Lance said and Lilly moved over, grabbing his hand.
“Sweetness, will you show them around and just give them a brief tour?” she asked.
Thinking for a second, Lance turned to Ian who just shrugged. “It’s not changing anything and all the ranges are shut down. I think it’s a good idea,” Ian responded.
Everyone was shocked when Lance turned to Jennifer. “I agree, and it’ll let them know how you came up with all that you did,” Jennifer said.
Sighing and turning back to Ian. “Ian, I’m just warning you. Jennifer keeps up like she hasn’t contributed here, I’m kicking her ass,” Lance growled.
“I’ll hold her ass down,” Ian popped off and Jennifer let out a gasp. “Keep on, and I’ll drag your ass down the hill and kick your ass.”
“I’ve mainly just filed what you two and Lilly have come up with and haven’t even done that much,” Jennifer whined.
“Lance, Ian,” Lilly said, and they turned. “I’ll kick her ass.”
Before Jennifer could protest, Ian reached over and grabbed her arm. “You have solved several big problems on three different projects and one big problem on the main one. Don’t sell yourself short,” he told her with an angry expression.
“I just pointed out something,” Jennifer said, and the three nodded.
“And that solved the problem,” Lilly said. “Jennifer, you can see a simple answer. I never would’ve thought of limestone.”
“So we’re all in agreement on a tour?” Lance asked Lilly, Ian, and Jennifer. The others were still lost, not realizing Lance was back to his original question.
Lilly turned to the group. “That is rule number two. No changes can be made that deviate from the outline of the day. Only if the others agree, the change becomes part of the schedule. Otherwise, everyone must leave the research area and talk it over.”
“The camper?” Percy pointed.
Shaking her head, “No, the research area. That’s just a break area. Ian and Lance only eat there when they’re working,” Lilly answered, then gave a small smirk to Sandy. “They do come up here to make plans, but they never work.”
Not catching the smirk and feeling lightheaded, Sandy glanced at Mary and saw her face was pale. The boys were terrified of this area and followed their own rules to the letter. “Lance, what kind of traps and how many are out in the killing fields?” Sandy asked, wanting her mind on anything else.
“Oh, Momma, I don’t really know offhand,” Lance admitted as he pinched his bottom lip thinking, and Sandy wanted a do-over to ask something else.
“Ms. Sandy,” Lilly whispered and she turned. “They don’t know how many because there are prototypes out there, but they know where each of them are and how to turn them off and on.”
“So, you’ve been out in the killing field?” Sandy asked.
Motioning to Jennifer, “We’ve been out once to learn the lay of the land and unless one of them gets hurt out there and we have to get them, we aren’t going back into the killing field,” Lilly told her flatly.
“I think around seventeen different types of traps, but I could be wrong, Momma,” Lance said looking over, and saw his mom talking quietly to Lilly. When Sandy turned back to him, “The one we have the most of in the killing field is deadly balls,” Lance said and just hearing ‘deadly balls’, Heath crashed to the ground in a dead faint.
“That’s why we shut down everything,” Ian said looking at Heath. Clearly embarrassed, Dwain bent over and slapped Heath’s cheek. “Fainting in the main building and knocking something over can be very bad,” Ian told everyone.
When Heath sat up, Rhonda shoved Dwain to the side and got in Heath’s face snarling. Grabbing Heath’s shirt, “You button your pussy up and put it away. You get me hurt because you fainted, I’ll rip your balls off and shove ‘em up your ass.”
“Fine, just don’t send me out in the killing field to let a machine do it,” Heath panted, getting up.
“It doesn’t kill your balls, Heath,” Ian laughed. “Come and let me show you the prototype.”
Not wanting to, Heath followed Ian and the others fell in behind them. “This was by far Jennifer’s greatest idea,” Ian said proudly.
“What, deadly balls?” Rhonda asked.
Shaking his head as he led the group around the outside of the building, “No, building small scale first before going full size,” Ian answered. He stopped beside a six-inch metal pipe. At each end was a metal box, and the metal box closest to him had a four-foot-tall pipe that extended straight up. At the lip of the extended pipe were four metal balls. They could see a chain connected to the balls that led into the pipe and on the opposite side was a two-inch-wide curved blade welded to each ball.
“This is built to quarter scale. The real one is forty feet long, and the scale goes up for everything. Each ball on the real ones weighs ten pounds and the chain extends out sixty feet. On the prototype, the chain, well, cable extends out fifteen feet, but the concept is the same,” Ian told them. Making sure the others were behind him, he hit a switch and everyone jumped hearing a hum when the balls started spinning and in less than a second, they were extended out and giving a deep hum as they spun through the air. “The spinning part is inside the pipe, you see? Centripetal force pulls on a cable system in the horizontal pipe that extends the balls out. At full speed, it’s turning at three thousand RPM.”
“I didn’t see this out there,” Rhonda mumbled in awe.
“No, the only thing above ground is the vertical pipe. The things sticking out of the ground are painted to look like tree stumps. When a sensor detects motion, it turns on. It can kill, but the main job is to create a barrier for the gun bots to take down the targets,” Lance told her as Ian turned the machine off. “We went with this design because it’s easy to build and maintain.”
Hearing ‘bot’, Dwain turned to the bots beside the gap where the path and ‘road’ came in. “Is it my imaginati
on or are those gun bots bigger?” he asked.
“No, they’re bigger,” Jennifer sighed. “They’re called ‘big gun bots’ because they throw a one-inch steel ball bearing.”
Having gone with Ian and Lance when they’d emptied out the building that had drums filled with the ball bearings, Rhonda turned to Lance. “Just why in the hell would anyone need that many steel balls?”
Looking at Rhonda and seeing she was being serious, “They used them to grind up rocks,” Lance told her and Rhonda just looked at him like he was crazy. “I’m not kidding. It’s the most economical way to smash up rocks. Throw some rocks in a drum, then throw in some steel balls and spin the drum. That’s why they had three different size steel balls there.”
Picturing it in her mind, Rhonda gave a nod and never even asked how Lance knew that. “So, why were they breaking up rocks?”
Shrugging, “I don’t know what that company was looking for, but that’s what they had them for. Usually it’s precious metals, but there are many other things they could’ve been after,” Lance told her.
“If they had half-inch and one-inch, what other size did they have?” Dwain asked.
“Four-inch,” Ian answered.
With his eyes getting big, “Are you going to make a gun bot to throw those?!” Dwain cried out.
Shaking his head, “No, but we made a cannon bot,” Ian said. “It’s just too much trouble to use those and besides, they didn’t even have two thousand of the four-inch balls. But the others, we’re talking like fifteen drums of half-inch and ten of the one-inch.”
Looking over at what looked like the body of another battle bot, Percy stepped to the side so he didn’t have to look around Rhonda. “It’s huge!” he cried out, and the others turned and saw him looking out and followed his line of sight. “Why did you make a bigger battle bot?! The power draw on that is going to cut the operation time down to barely a few hours at most!”
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 12