Using her napkin to wipe her mouth, “Lance, they’re grown-ups and want to help,” Sandy told him.
“Momma,” Lance warned, holding up a hand but never turning to her. “When they learn how to move with us, we’ll let them start on their own,” he replied. “Heath moves like a cow through the brush, and Robin doesn’t like to crawl through the leaves. Dwain is just too eager and moves too fast. I can say Kathy is the best at moving but takes too long lining up her shots, and we won’t even talk about Kathy and using a bow.”
Glad to hear she was the best who could move around in the Bear Trap group, Kathy almost told Lance she could shoot the bow very well but the stinkers never stayed still. Noticing the stern look on Lance’s face, Kathy just kept that to herself and continued eating.
“May I ask what you were doing there?” Lance asked.
“Emptying the supply house the Devil Lords had there,” Heath mumbled. Because Heath and Dwain were at the cabin a lot, they had seen the map in the bunker.
Letting out a deep sigh, “If you needed supplies, why didn’t you say something?” Lance groaned. “We would’ve made time and gone with you.”
“We didn’t need them,” Dwain said sheepishly, looking down the table. “We knew the Geek Squad would need more canned goods to make it through the winter until the greenhouses start producing. You two have enough shit to do. We wanted to pitch in.”
Casting her eyes to the ceiling, “Oh, dear Lord, thank you,” Lilly sighed to the heavens. When she turned to Lance, Lilly wasn’t surprised to see a scowl on his face. “Lance, they put on their big boy pants, so stop it. If the Bear Trap Clan had run into more than they could handle, they would’ve pulled out and called ‘No Joy’.”
“Li-,” Lance started, but Lilly slapped the table hard.
“I said they put on their big boy pants!” Lilly shouted, startling everyone. “You can’t protect them forever! You and Ian have to let them go out on their own so they can learn without two ninja gods with them! Shit, moving with you and Ian through woods, I’ve learned a fucking deer would be intimidated! Smoke makes more noise than either of you!”
With his mouth hanging open, Lance just gaped at Lilly. Knowing she had him off guard, Lilly smiled. “They didn’t go far and wanted to help, so let them. You and Ian can’t be the only ones who go outside the perimeter.”
“You, Jennifer, and Rhonda have gone with us!” Lance cried out.
Rolling her eyes, “Jennifer, did you hear what Lance said?” Lilly asked.
“Yeah,” Jennifer scoffed, “With them.”
Blinking in shock, “You want to patrol outside the perimeter without us?” Lance mumbled.
“No, but I will,” Lilly told him in a gentle tone. “Lance, think. Have the Bear Trap group fallen behind in any of the tasks you and Ian laid out for them?”
“No,” Lance huffed.
“Then that should tell you, they had time to do this. They had free time to do something that you and Ian were going to do, but took it upon themselves to try and take some of the load off you two,” Lilly explained. “Did they go far?” Lilly asked, and Lance shook his head.
“Did they go to one of the more dangerous areas to gather supplies?” she asked and Lance again, shook his head. “Think, sweetness,” Lilly smiled. “The Bear Trap group wanted to test themselves without bothering you two. They did it and you won’t say anything about it.”
“You’d better be listening,” Jennifer informed Ian. “I have to allot time each day to brush my teeth. We can only do so much, and if they want to help and felt comfortable enough to do it, leave it alone.”
Giving a nod to Jennifer, Ian turned to see Lance was looking at him. “We,” Ian stressed hard, “aren’t saying shit.” When Lance went to speak, Ian held up his hand. “Lance,” Ian warned. “There’s a special time that rolls around every twenty-eight days. I’m sure you noticed someone used a baseball bat today for killing stinkers.”
With his eyebrows rising and what Ian said registering, Lance gave a slight grimace as he turned to find Lilly was already looking at him. “Yes,” Lilly answered the unasked question. “Jennifer and I are sharing that ‘special time’ now and I have to agree with Jennifer, beating a stinker’s head in with a bat is very relaxing for the mood swings and stretching out the cramps.”
Shifting his gaze to Heath and the others, “Don’t go far, and thank you,” Lance grinned nervously.
Leaning over to Mary, “Why didn’t you just beat my ass?” Sandy whispered. “You see how they reined them in?”
“I always knew Jennifer could do that for Ian, but my son acted like a bitch. It took the end of the world for him to see Jennifer wanted his ass and wasn’t taking no for an answer,” Mary stated, making Ian groan but never saying anything. “I don’t want to fight you because I don’t think we could act like Lance and Ian after they fight.”
Glad to not be in trouble but feeling cheated, “Paint?” Heath asked. “We noticed some stinkers that had purple paint on them.”
“Yes,” Lilly answered. “Every other day, we go outside the perimeter to mark infected. Purple means they came in from the north. You see yellow, that means they came from the east, and green means west. I do agree marking them is genius because it lets us know how the stinkers move.”
Pushing back from the table, “I like Percy’s and Gail’s way of using the drone to follow certain stinkers,” Jennifer stated. “Their way, we don’t have to go five miles outside the perimeter costing us time we don’t have.”
“We’ve always stayed on schedule,” Ian gasped like he was insulted.
“Boo,” Jennifer sighed. “I’m not you or Lance. I’m still organizing what you’ve done in the research area. Then organizing current projects we’re working on. Practicing weapons, learning chemistry…” Jennifer paused, about to name off every subject she was studying. “School work,” she blurted out to simplify it. “Along with all the other stuff like weapons, maps, engines, electricity, planting, and so on. Then there’s the actual work. You and Lance, when it’s time, you two can just move to the next project and go. I can’t. I make notes so when I have a free moment, I can go back and pick up, moving that one area ahead. Yesterday, I held my pee for two hours. Why? Because if I had peed, it would’ve put me fifteen minutes behind schedule.”
“Jennifer,” Sandy called out, making Jennifer look. “I’m taking care of that this week,” Sandy smiled.
A wave of weariness filled Jennifer’s face that was way out of place for a teenager. “I can’t even sleep late anymore because there’s so much to do,” Jennifer groaned. “Now, Lilly’s teaching me medicine. I feel like I didn’t learn shit until I got here. All those years in school didn’t mean shit. The only thing I can say I learned that’s helped, I learned to read, write, and numbers. The rest was horseshit.”
“I know, and I’m working on it,” Sandy repeated, and Jennifer gave a tired smile.
“You feel that way?” Lance whispered to Lilly.
“Sweetness, I can honestly say, college was a breeze compared to the learning and work here,” Lilly informed him.
When Lance turned to Ian, he found Ian already looking at him. “Dude, they said they wanted to help!” Ian cried out.
“We do!” Jennifer cried out, and Ian nearly took off running. “But even both of you are starting to get tired. I’ve been around both of you for half your lives. I know when you two are tired, and you passed the ‘tired phase’ months ago. You two are now in exhausted stage. In normal times I wouldn’t be bothered, but the cock sludge stuff you two are doing now can kill you. I’m not talking just about the research area. I mean patrolling and working. Your ‘master plan’? We’re moving and working on pieces of metal that weigh tons. One mistake and many of us could be hurt. Do we need to do it? Hell yes!” Jennifer cried out. “But you two are starting to slow down, and the only time you do that is when you’re worn out mentally and physically. Has it occurred to either of you that for the past three weeks,
you haven’t gotten up before the alarm clock sounds?”
Ian and Lance just looked at each other for several seconds. Finally Ian shrugged, “I’ll admit, I’ve been a little tired.”
Before Lance spoke, Lilly did. “Lance, you’ve fallen asleep how many nights reading to the Ladybugs?” she asked.
“Are you saying I’m a bitch?” Lance snapped.
“No, and the first tit monkey who even suggests that, I’m shanking their ass,” Lilly informed him. “You and Ian both used to sit up reading late into the night but you two are so tired now, you pass out. Lance, two nights ago you fell asleep after reading the first page to the Ladybugs.”
As Lance furrowed his brow, “You did,” Sandy told him. “Lilly had the Ladybugs climb in her bed and she read to them.”
Giving a relived sigh, “Wondered how in the hell the story was six chapters from where I remembered,” Lance mumbled.
“Jennifer, Lilly, I’m handling that, so let it drop for now,” Sandy smiled at them. “If what I do doesn’t work, we’ll drug their asses,” she offered, and Mary busted out laughing.
“You give them melatonin and they’ll pass out like you shot them with a tranquilizer,” Mary chuckled.
“I don’t like taking that communist trash,” Lance moaned. “I wake up with drool all over my pillow.”
“It won’t come to that,” Sandy smirked. Since the rest of the clubhouse was listening, nearly everyone felt guilty as hell. Two ‘boys’ were working themselves harder than any of them, rescued all of them, and felt bad they weren’t doing more. The few who didn’t feel guilty thought the boys should do even more.
Realizing it was really quiet, Lance glanced around the clubhouse to find everyone staring at the cabin group. “What? Someone over here farted?” Lance asked. Sandy just gave a long sigh.
Several in the clubhouse chuckled as Heath cleared his throat. “Ahem, Lance,” he called out. “Have you and Ian scouted any of the large military groups around us?”
“Two,” Lance shrugged and saw Heath’s eyes get wide. “We scouted the group in Buckhorn since they’re the biggest, and the group near Peoples.”
“Near Peoples?” Dwain scoffed.
Nodding, “Yeah, there can’t be more than a thousand there and whoever’s over it is rather intelligent,” Lance admitted leaning back in his chair. “They’re using the South Fork Rockcastle River and streams to form a moat around them. All in all, they have about four square miles enclosed.”
Giving a nervous glance to Dwain, “So you haven’t scouted the Trading Post?” Heath asked.
An evil grin crept up on Lance’s face as he gave a sly wink at Ian, and Ian just laughed and held up a thumb. “Nah,” Lance smirked. “They aren’t that much of a threat.”
“I, ahh, thought you hated Victor,” Heath said.
Shrugging, “I’ve never met him. Why would I hate him?” Lance asked.
“You said you were going to make Victor ‘toss your salad’. That’s hate in my book,” Heath replied, and the color drained from Lance’s face.
“It’s Victor Dunstan?!” Lance bellowed as he and Ian both jumped to their feet.
Seeing both were frothing at the mouth, Heath swallowed nervously. “Yeah,” he answered meekly. “We thought you knew and that’s why I asked.”
“All anyone said was ‘Victor’ was over it with a Colonel Bren! Was Victor Dunstan the only slimy ass licker named Victor in the state of Kentucky?!” Lance screamed. Really not liking the bloodlust in Lance’s eyes, Heath’s mouth went dry. “There was one Victor in our neighborhood and we went to school with two!”
“No, there were others named Victor,” Dwain offered since Heath didn’t answer. When Ian and Lance turned their bloodlust gazes to him, Dwain wished he had kept his mouth shut. “Around here when someone said Victor, you knew who they were talking about. Anyone else named Victor, we always called them by their last name.”
Lance and Ian glared at Dwain as they huffed like caged animals. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Ian growled.
“We thought you knew,” Heath offered then lifted a hand, pointing at Rhonda and Holly. “They knew,” Heath tattled.
Lance and Ian both whipped their gazes to Rhonda, and she nearly jumped up and took off running. “Yeah, I knew, but I thought you did too. How was I supposed to know?” Rhonda asked and said a silent prayer that Holly kept her mouth shut. She had seen them mad before, but never going from zero to pissed off.
When they turned away from her to look at each other, Rhonda gave a sigh of relief. “We can make time,” Ian grumbled, and Lance gave a nod.
“Ian? Lance?” Mary called out and they turned to her. Unlike the others, she wasn’t worried about the glare. “I’m sorry, but Sandy and I have dibs on Victor,” she stated firmly.
“No, he’s ours,” Ian declared.
“Sorry, boys. We called him,” Sandy piped in and they turned to her and like Mary, she wasn’t intimidated by the glare. “What we have planned for that bitch will make people cry for years.”
Lance was about to object, but Mary spoke up in a harsh tone. “Boys, I’m willing to beat the shit out of both of you!” she snapped. “That fucker is ours! Fuck going outside, we’ll stomp your asses right here!”
The anger on Lance’s and Ian’s faces evaporated with the threat and they turned to each other as Ian threw up his hands. “Brah, fuck that!” Ian cried out. “I watched Momma kick Jason’s ass and showed you the video. Momma had to jump up to punch Jason in the jaw and laid his ass out with one punch. They want that dildo jockey that bad, they can have the old, wrinkled dick tit monkey. Momma hits me that hard she’ll take my head off, so screw you. You want to push it, you’re on your own,” Ian stated adamantly. Jennifer’s, Allie’s, and Carrie’s mouths fell open in shock. For the first time ever, they’d just heard Ian state he wouldn’t back up Lance.
Shaking his head, “Dude, I’m not insane!” Lance cried out. He had never seen his mom fight or even wrestle, but Mary knew Sandy could. Momma Mary had just told his momma that she didn’t want to fight her. Momma Mary didn’t say she would stomp his momma in the dirt so Momma Mary knew his momma could fight, and that was more than enough for him.
They both nodded at each other and turned to the moms. “He’s yours,” Lance said. “But if they attack and we see him in our crosshairs, we’re taking the shot.”
“You said they couldn’t attack us,” Sandy said, and Lance nodded.
“Not in force because they’d have to cross the interstate and that area is packed with stinkers. The only way the Trading Post could do anything is in small groups.”
The rest of the coalition sat in awe because they’d all just learned something; the boys were physically terrified of their moms. Shifting his eyes to Lilly, Heath noticed she didn’t seem surprised and then he turned to Jennifer and saw neither was she. Then he turned to Allie and Carrie to see they weren’t surprised, and that just confirmed Sandy and Mary were badass bitches.
Lance looked around the clubhouse and saw everyone was still looking at their table. “Since everyone’s done eating, we can get the meeting rolling,” he stated, pushing his chair back. Moving to the front of the room and stopping beside a podium, he opened up the laptop and saw Ian coming up.
“Excuse me, before we start, can I ask something please?” Everyone turned to Amie, who was over the Geek Squad. Though Amie had Oriental features and thick, long black hair, she stood at five feet ten inches. Ian joined Lance at the podium and saw Lance go back to setting up the laptop, so he turned around and nodded at Amie.
“Thank you,” Amie smiled. “First, I’m just asking because everyone here is in debt to you.”
Ian just shrugged. “Okay,” he said and could see Amie was very nervous. “You don’t have to be anxious, this is what the meetings are for. What did you want to bring up?”
“Um, I’ve been asked by nine of the younger members of the Geek Squad if there was any way they could learn like those
at the cabin,” Amie replied, then cringed. “They’ve begged me to ask if they could move to the cabin to learn.”
Standing motionless with his brain interpreting, Ian just blinked for several minutes. “We’ve sent over copies of all the stuff we have for everyone to study and learn,” Ian reminded Amie.
“Amie?” Mary called out, and everyone turned with Amie to look at Mary. “Sandy and I are working on something, but it will be another month before we know if we can do it. If we can do it, we won’t be able to take everyone but we’ll be able to take some.”
Amie and many others gave a sigh of relief. They wanted the kids to learn but were also learning themselves. Just listening to Heath and Dwain, at the pace their kids were learning at the cabin, many adults wanted to go there. “Thank you,” Amie smiled.
Standing up, Sandy looked around the clubhouse. “Those who want to come need to understand if we do this, you must commit. We can’t teach you anything unless you want to learn and do what’s necessary,” she told them, looking at the kids. It was only then in that instant, Sandy realized what everyone else saw. Lance and Ian weren’t kids. They didn’t even look like thirteen-year-old kids anymore. Sandy shifted her eyes to several eighteen-year-olds. Lance and Ian physically looked older than them.
The boys were now walking slabs of lean muscle with hair that came past their shoulders. Sandy had asked Lance if he’d wanted her to cut it and Lance wouldn’t hear of it. But it was more than the physical, Lance and Ian wore the expression of age on their faces that only worry and responsibility brought on.
With that realization setting in, Sandy wanted to sit down and sulk but continued looking around the clubhouse. “If you are taken in and don’t perform to your best ability, you will be removed and that spot will go to another. Those we teach, you’ll go back to your group and teach others,” Sandy explained, and saw faces filled with hope on all the younger people. “Those who don’t get a spot, we’ll arrange for someone from the cabin to come over to teach. We can’t do that until we have more security around us. Mary and I aren’t going to take resources away from our security. Lance and Ian have assured us they’ll tell us when we can, and their earliest projection was November.”
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 20