Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “I want to shoot Cory and Rhett. Rita…” Percy paused before adding her to the death list because the skank was fine as hell, but she was a bitch of mega proportions. “Rita, I want to just sew her mouth shut,” Percy finally said.

  “I’d shank all three and never bat an eyelash,” Heath stated with certainty. He had watched the videos Ian had given him and had tried out the technique Ian and Lance had perfected. Granted, he and Dwain had only practiced on stinkers, but felt ready to try it on real people. There were some other members in the GTs and Geek Squad who didn’t work and contribute like the majority, but they were never late and worked when they were supposed to. None came close to the three assholes.

  Hearing the door open, they all turned to see Patrick walk out and head toward them. “I thought they’d at least let you go help clear out the inside of the wall,” Patrick said joining the three.

  Giving a long sigh, “We fucking forgot that was the next stage,” Heath admitted, then caught just what Patrick had said. “You tried to go with them?” Heath asked.

  Nodding, “Yeah, David and I showed up at the build house at dawn to join in, but they told us to just head home and take care of the chores and they’d see us at the clubhouse,” Patrick answered. It wasn’t lost on Percy that none had a problem following orders from two thirteen-year-old boys.

  “But you know how to patrol,” Percy mumbled.

  “Yes, and they told us that,” Patrick grinned as he scratched his beard. “They said they didn’t want any of us getting shot by Bravo group, since they don’t know how to patrol yet. Lance and Ian told us they would have their hands full just watching their own group and didn’t need others around to worry about. I told him they didn’t have to watch out for us because if any of Bravo shot at us, even by mistake, we were shooting back.” Dwain and Heath both nodded in agreement as Patrick continued.

  “Ian said that’s why they didn’t want others to go. They told Jarvis and everyone in Bravo, if any person shot near anyone in their group, they and the people to their right and left were getting shot by Ian and Lance,” Patrick smirked.

  “Hold up,” Dwain gasped, throwing out his hands. “Who all went with them?”

  “Everyone at the cabin,” Patrick answered. “Lance was pissed that Holly and Dawn were coming, but it seems he’s learned to choose his battles with Lilly and Sandy.”

  “Shit,” Heath huffed. “Holly was running through the woods hunting deer the day she went into labor with Dawn. Being pregnant doesn’t mean shit to that girl.” They had all seen it and agreed with nods. The only reason Holly wasn’t doing more was because of Lilly, or truth be told, Rhonda. Lilly would tell Holly what she could and couldn’t do. Moaning and groaning, Holly would complain and even a few times get angry, until Rhonda showed up. It was very clear, Holly loved Rhonda but was terrified of her.

  “Fuck,” Dwain mumbled, and they all looked at him but Dwain had turned to Heath. “You know Kathy’s going to freak with Jodi going.”

  “If she does, you need to slap that bitch,” Heath popped off and Dwain gave a startle. “I wouldn’t take my kids patrolling, but I trust Lance and Ian to take them. Lilly told us the day they went to the cabin, our kids were safer with Lance and Ian patrolling than they were with us inside the new house. I can very easily see that now, and it was my own fucking wife who pointed it out. After we went out with Lance and Ian, Robin told me those two could get out of any clusterfuck they ever found themselves in.”

  All Dwain had heard was ‘slap that bitch’. “I slap Kathy and she’ll gut my ass. I sleep in the same bed with her.”

  Patrick watched the two and was more than a little envious. He and his brothers would love to have their kids at the cabin learning. His wife had hinted to Robin about asking Sandy and Mary if their kids could join the cabin, but Robin had said there wasn’t any more room. Granted, they were teaching their kids, but not at the rate or magnitude they were at the cabin. Just listening to Denny talk to Heath one day, Patrick had wanted to join in himself at the cabin to learn.

  “Dwain, I’m sure Kathy isn’t going to flip out,” Heath said. “She’s the one who wanted Jodi to stay there and like I told her that day, out of every idea any of us have ever had, hers was the best and still is.”

  “You really think Kathy won’t freak?” Dwain clarified.

  “I’m sure she’ll be anxious and maybe even worried. Hell, I’m nervous with Lori out there. All she’s done is sweeps inside the diversion fence and three patrols,” Heath admitted. “But if Ian and Lance took them, they felt they’re ready. Something you and I never could’ve done. Shit, Rhonda wouldn’t even take us, her own older brothers!”

  “If Kathy’s that worried, she could just talk to Ian and Lance,” Percy suggested.

  “Yeah, right,” Dwain scoffed. “Kathy nearly had a baby when they gave Jodi a gun, but she did admit she was in the wrong. Granted, it was later and only to me.”

  Shaking his head, “Why in the hell would Kathy even want Jodi going around without a gun?” Percy asked in bewilderment. “Shit, any parent who doesn’t teach their kids how to defend themselves should just go ahead, pull a gun, and shoot their kid in the head to save them from a horrible death.”

  Not about to enlighten Percy that none of their kids had weapons until Lance or Ian, Dwain turned back to Heath. “If they told Patrick and David not to go, they wouldn’t have let us go.”

  Agreeing with that, Heath looked down the driveway out over the valley floor. “Here they come,” he said, and everyone turned to see the track buggy leading two UTVs. “Percy, you know what they’re outlining today?”

  “No,” Percy snapped. “I’m doing good with just keeping up with what they have outlined for me.” Even though everyone knew Percy, Gail, Alvin, and Julie worked at the research area, none of them talked about it. So far, only a few people from the Bear Trap clan were the members of the coalition who’d actually seen and visited the cabin. After one of the Geek Squad members had gotten killed trying to snoop around the research area, it was avoided by all. It was only when Heath had informed the others that the traps near the cabin were just as deadly as those at the research area, everyone had stopped wanting to see the cabin. The gossip about the cabin tickled Heath when others talked about it, trying to guess what was there.

  The gossip about the research area was on a whole different level, and there was only fear when it was discussed.

  Watching the vehicles pull in Heath still shivered at all the skull masks, but then saw three Ladybug masks sitting in the left seats of the track buggy. Even without seeing their faces, he knew it was Jodi sitting with Allie in the first seat and Carrie in the next seat. “I wish they would let me watch how they build the next one so I could build one,” Dwain said in awe, looking at the track buggy.

  “It’s finished,” Percy said, and Dwain let out a groan. “It just needs the ‘special battery’ and it’ll be finished by Tuesday.” Hearing ‘special battery’, Patrick gave a shiver. He knew it was a creation of Lance and Ian and that was enough to let him know it was dangerous.

  Watching Lance climb out of the turret and Ian from the driver’s area in the front, Heath saw both were decked out for war. “Damn, how many stinkers were they expecting?” Heath mumbled, noticing extra magazine pouches on their vests. One new addition to each one’s left drop platform was a sheet rock hammer. He knew it was because of their dads. Above each of their desks at the cabin was the tool belts their dads had carried. Turning to glance at the others, he saw they were dressed the same way until his eyes got to Holly getting out of the UTV that Rhonda was driving. She wasn’t wearing a tactical vest like the others but had on a chest rig over her protruding belly. When Dawn jumped out wearing Multicam clothes following her, Heath couldn’t help but grin. Dawn was the only one not armed for war. Yeah, Dawn looked too cute.

  As everyone climbed out of their rides, they started unbuckling their vests and stripping them off. Only when the heavy vests were off did the
y take off their masks and helmets. “I’m designing a fucking plasma rifle,” Ian decreed. “I’m tired of carrying fifty pounds of ammo.”

  “Brah,” Lance laughed, pulling his XD from the drop holster on his vest. “You’d still have to carry ammo to generate the plasma.”

  Watching Lance pull a clip-on holster from his small backpack, “It wouldn’t weigh fifty pounds,” Ian shot back, grabbing his own clip-on holster.

  Picking his AR up and slinging it across his back, “Dude, we have enough shit to plan and build, but when we get the chance we can look into it,” Lance offered.

  Happy with that answer, Ian headed over to Heath and them with Lance. “We would’ve helped,” Heath told them before they reached the group.

  “Like I told Patrick, no,” Ian huffed. “Shit, we almost shot two of Bravo for losing their shit after seeing two hundred plus stinkers spill out of the high school.”

  “If Allie hadn’t shouted for them to stop and grab their balls, they would’ve taken off,” Lance chimed in, and Ian turned to Lance with a snarl. “Ian, she never raised her rifle aiming at them! Allie kept it in the low ready position!” Lance snapped as Lilly and Jennifer came over to join them. Sandy and Mary led the rest inside the clubhouse.

  “She should’ve let us handle it,” Ian popped off. “No sooner than Allie quit screaming, Carrie was fighting to lift up the SAW to shoot from the hip. That damn gun weighs nearly half of what Carrie does.”

  Lifting his chin, “Carrie would’ve operated the SAW correctly,” Lance stated.

  Cuddling into Ian’s side, “Shit,” Jennifer moaned. “Carrie’s my sister and I do love her. But I’ve never loved her as much as Lance does.”

  “Tell me about it,” Ian grumbled, turning away from Lance as Jennifer wrapped her arms around his waist. He loved Allie just as Jennifer loved Carrie but to Lance, the Ladybugs were his sisters. Ian and Jennifer had told Lance more than once, nobody loved their siblings as much as Lance loved his Ladybugs.

  Thinking of the newest Ladybug, Ian did admit to himself, he could spoil Jodi. Unlike Allie and Carrie, Jodi loved to make people smile and rarely threatened bodily harm. When Jodi did threaten, it was usually to join in a threat delivered by Allie or Carrie.

  “They did very well today, thank you,” Lance challenged, and nobody was going to counter it as Lilly moved to his side.

  It was on the tip of Jennifer’s tongue to thank Lance for not letting the Ladybugs use their bows, because they did want to and had asked. The problem was the bows the Ladybugs used didn’t kill a stinker unless it was ten yards away. This, Jennifer knew for a fact because Lance had chopped the heads off stinkers and brought them to the field below the cabin. The bows Allie and Carrie used were only a thirty-five pound draw weight. For nine-year-old girls that was awesome, but it couldn’t sink an arrow far enough into a skull to kill a stinker until it was ten yards away. That was entirely too close because if they missed, the stinker would be on them before the next shot if someone wasn’t covering them.

  As long as she could remember, Lance had always loved Allie and Carrie. He’d had cousins come to visit because Jennifer had met them. But Lance had never shown the love to them or any of Allie’s and Carrie’s friends. In fact, Lance had hated many of their friends. But like Ian, Lance was starting to love Jodi. Jennifer had to admit Jodi was very loveable, and privately would trade Carrie for Jodi as a sister.

  “How many did you kill inside the fence?” Patrick asked because everyone knew, don’t mess with the Ladybugs. If the girls didn’t scare enough on their own, they had Lance and therefore Ian as backup.

  Shrugging, “Maybe a thousand,” Lance answered.

  “Whoa,” Patrick gasped. “I bet with those battle bots, we’ve killed like a hundred thousand.”

  “Dude!” Ian laughed out. “We haven’t even killed fifty thousand stinkers around here.” The look of awe dropped off Patrick’s face as he gaped at Ian. “From our best calculations, we haven’t even killed forty thousand stinkers.”

  “Since Bimble is cleared, Bravo is in the fence?” Percy asked, and Lance and Ian turned to him in shock.

  “Percy, inside the fence won’t be ‘cleared’,” Lance stressed, “of stinkers for days. But yes, they’re all inside and staying at a large building near the northwest wall, far away from everything. Like always, we left two thunder bots to guard them.”

  “How many more do you think are inside the fence?!” Patrick cried out.

  Shrugging, “Shit if I know,” Ian replied. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they kill another two thousand over the next few days.”

  “Bimble wasn’t even an incorporated town! It’s a spot on the map! If you get technical, Bimble is a suburb of Barbourville and Barbourville didn’t even have a population of four thousand!” Patrick shouted.

  “Duh,” Lance droned. “Stinkers love towns. Girdler is smaller than Bimble, and I know we killed over two thousand there before we could move around inside of town.”

  “I wish you would’ve contacted us sooner so we could’ve helped,” Heath said in a low voice, but everyone heard.

  Before Lance and Ian cut loose on Heath about that, Patrick spoke up. “So, you’re certain on your numbers killed?”

  Nodding confidently, “Plus or minus a few thousand,” Ian answered. “We wouldn’t have gone into Girdler without the battle bot down the road to draw most out. Guys, yes, stinkers are dangerous, but they put out hydrogen sulfide and in a large group, that really fucks with your lungs. Trust me. Lance and I tried moving close to a group of thirty and nearly puked our lungs out our asses.”

  Everyone turned to Lance as he spoke, “The reason Bravo is staying where they are is they can breathe there. It’ll take them a week to gather the bodies and it will have to be done carefully so they don’t start huge fires, burning down the buildings inside the fence.”

  “I’m just glad stinkers aren’t as bad now as when this started,” Jennifer sighed.

  “If stinkers still excreted that much hydrogen sulfide, Bravo wouldn’t be inside the fence,” Ian told her, and Jennifer agreed with a nod.

  Knowing the boys experimented on stinkers, “How long do they make hydrogen sulfide after they die?” Patrick asked.

  “Fuck if we know,” Ian answered, shocking him. “We have some bodies set up in the area,” Ian said, and Patrick nodded because there were bodies around the area the boys had told everyone to leave alone so they could watch the decomposition rate. Some were in the forests, others in fields, houses, creeks, some covered with leaves and at least one hanging from a tree just to test how fast they rotted. “Patrick, we didn’t start that until four months ago and those bodies aren’t showing much rot.”

  “Gail’s calculations are the dead bodies are losing ten percent body mass a month,” Percy said. “Her latest calculation is after a stinker is put down, the body will be there for nine months producing hydrogen sulfide. Granted, not in the amounts of a stinker that’s moving around, but still enough to toxify an enclosed area.”

  “I haven’t read that in what she’s done,” Lance said.

  “She finished up her calculations last night before we left,” Percy answered.

  “So we can’t get into towns for years?” Patrick asked.

  Ian and Lance both grinned. “Want to bet on that?” Lance smirked and Lilly just groaned.

  “Lance, not today,” Lilly begged. “Our children caused me enough grief today.” Hearing the Ladybugs referred to as ‘their children’, the others fought not to laugh.

  “When did they not act good?” Lance challenged.

  Lifting her gaze to look Lance in the eyes, “They always acted good, but were just a bit too eager as they,” Lilly paused, changing her voice to mimic Allie, “‘Bust caps in mothafackers’.”

  Jennifer snorted, “Be glad they didn’t try to,” she paused to mimic Carrie, “Shank some bitches in the skull.”

  “I told them they weren’t big enough yet unless they practiced,” Lan
ce stated with pride.

  “Brah, you let ‘em shank a stinker, I will lay the smack down on your ass,” Ian warned.

  “Ian, the Ladybugs dish out ballistic therapy without batting an eyelash,” Lance popped off. “How many times have we had to get hands-on when a stinker got up in our grill?”

  “Unless we were testing, the only times we’ve ever had to go hands-on is when we cleared buildings. The Ladybugs don’t need to do that anytime soon,” Ian warned.

  “Dude, what if we get hit by a wave and they have no choice but head to a structure?” Lance snapped. “I can see it rather easily and you want to bitch about not even teaching them?”

  For several seconds, the others were expecting Ian and Lance to drop gloves and just duke it out. They had all seen it at least once, and it amazed everyone that the two could wrestle or fight like they did and still remain buddies. Finally, Ian gave a nod and a long sigh. “Brah, I will only go along with it after you show me how you plan on training them, and it better be off tha hizzy fo shizzy,” Ian relented.

  Leaning to Percy, “What does that mean?” Heath whispered.

  Turning to Heath, “Fuck if I know,” Percy shrugged.

  “Cool, sweet, and awesome,” Jennifer offered looking from Ian to Lance. “Lance, you get the Ladybugs hurt, you better pray Ian gets to you before I do.”

  “Really?” Lance droned. “You’ll know the Ladybugs are hurt when I’m dead.”

  Hitting Lance with her hip, “Jennifer and I want to learn hands-on with the Ladybugs,” Lilly informed him, and Lance gave a nod.

  “We do hand-to-hand all the time,” Jennifer groaned. “Why haven’t you two taught us that yet?”

  “You have learned it,” Ian corrected. “You just haven’t put it into practice, and we weren’t going to unless you asked.”

  “And the Ladybugs have asked for three months,” Lance sang out.

  Feeling Ian tense up, Jennifer patted his chest. “I’m not in the mood to watch you two go at it today,” she told Ian and he relaxed.

  “How long will it take Bravo to clear the inside of the fence?” Percy asked.