“Completely understand,” Amie nodded sitting down, and had several Geek Squad kids run over and hug her or pat her on the back.
“That’s why they’ve asked about security so much,” Ian mumbled to Lance. “Think that’s what’s in the envelope?”
“No, Mom said it has to be done now,” Lance reminded him as Sandy sat back down.
“First,” Lance said and turned to the table Rhett, Cory, and Rita were sitting alone at. “As of now, visits to Bravo group are suspended until the ‘master plan’ is operating.” The three scowled at him. It wasn’t uncommon for members of the groups to go and help Bravo when they could, mainly when they were cutting down trees and cutting lumber.
“Your choice, dickwads,” Ian huffed. “The thunder bots guarding them are shut down inside during the day, but we have six gun bots around Bimble to keep stinkers from piling up along the outside of the wall.”
Rita flipped her blonde hair off her shoulders, trying to act like a movie star. “How come you can go to any group’s location, but only a select few from the Bear Trap get to come to the cabin?” Rita spat.
“I’m stomping that bitch’s ass,” Jennifer snarled moving to get up, and Lilly grabbed her arm.
“Let Ian handle it,” Lilly told her quietly. Dropping back in her chair, Jennifer just glared at Rita.
“I’m so sick of this sly shit,” Jennifer snarled.
Ian turned to Lance, “You want to address that?” Ian asked.
“She asked you,” Lance smirked. “I answer it, my foot is going so far up her ass I’ll be able to tie my bootlaces in her mouth.”
“I want to see you try that,” Cory snapped.
As Lance went to put his boot in Rita’s ass, Ian stopped him. “You said I got to address this,” Ian grinned, and turned toward the room. “First, we set up your areas, dumb bitch, before you got here,” Ian grinned. “Second, I wouldn’t let any of you three near the cabin even if you could suck the chrome off a car bumper at fifty feet.”
Many in the room gave chuckles as Ian strolled from the podium over to the table the three were sitting at. He stopped and looked down at Cory. “You got a pretty mouth, boy,” Ian grinned and Lance gave a long sigh.
“Shit, Ian’s quoting movies,” Jennifer gasped, pushing her chair back from the table.
“Jennifer, let Ian handle it,” Lilly repeated. “We don’t need to mess up the plans they have. They tell us but I can’t remember all of them, and I know you can’t because you always ask me.” Jennifer turned to Lilly with a confused look when Lilly had said ‘we’. “You go over there to stomp that whore in the ground, I’m coming too.”
As Jennifer moved her chair back to the table, Ian had moved up to lean over Cory. “You my bitch?” Ian asked, then rammed his hip into Cory’s shoulder hard enough to scoot Cory’s chair he was sitting in a few inches across the floor. “Go ahead, make my day,” Ian chuckled as Cory just looked at the front of the room.
“Spank that bitch, bubba!” Allie cried out as she climbed up on the table to see better and then helped Carrie up. Cory was taller and bigger than Ian but it was very clear, Ian’s size was nothing but muscle.
“Allie, enough with the mouth before I spank your ass,” Mary snapped, and that stopped Carrie from issuing her encouraging words. It wasn’t lost on Heath and Dwain that the Ladybugs stopped.
Trying to get a rise out of Cory, Ian leaned down to Cory’s ear. “Everyone’s going to watch me stomp a mudhole in your ass and walk it dry, punk,” Ian breathed.
A chair scooted and others turned to see Seth get up, but Ian stayed leaning over Cory trying to egg him on. “Ian,” Seth said walking up.
“Seth, you touch me and it’ll be your ass getting kicked,” Ian informed him, but never moved from hovering over Cory.
“I wasn’t,” Seth chuckled. “I’ll kick his ass,” Seth stated, and that made Ian stand up and turn to Seth. “I know you can stomp his ass, but I’ll do it. I don’t want you hurting your hands.”
Cocking his head to the side, “The only way I’m going to hurt my hands is when I unzip my pants and pull out my dick for this bitch to gargle,” Ian replied, making Seth and others bust out laughing. The fact Seth was big and robust didn’t even faze Ian.
“Ian, you and Lance make stuff that’s magic to me,” Seth grinned. “I don’t want you to even get riled up. If you want their asses kicked, I’ll do it.” Then several others in the GTs stood up, telling Seth they would help.
Slapping the back of Cory’s head, “Pussy,” Ian grunted and headed back to the front of the room, stopping beside Lance at the podium.
“Damn, you quoted movies and didn’t stomp someone’s ass,” Lance stated in shock.
Ian scoffed, “Brah,” then pointed back at Cory. “He turtled up! Shit, Allie could kick his ass!”
“Let me, let me, let me,” Allie chanted as she jumped up and down on the table.
Smiling at Ian, Lance then turned and just looked at Allie. Allie stopped jumping and chanting as Lance dropped the smile. Grabbing Carrie’s hand, Allie pulled her back to their chairs. After they were in their chairs, Lance turned to Cory. “Shows you do have some intelligence. He would’ve hurt you bad,” Lance warned, then turned to Rita. “So bitch, you have anything else you want to say?” he asked, and Rita’s mouth twitched but didn’t say anything. “Damn, you have a spark of intelligence as well. I’m impressed.”
Lance started the meeting on what was going to be done and then Ian laid out the schedule. When Ian finished, he looked around the room. “Any questions?” he asked and none came.
“Heath?” Lance called out as he closed the laptop.
“Yeah,” Heath answered standing up.
“I need you and Dwain to come over in the morning and help move some stuff from the research area,” Lance told him.
Letting out a cry, Heath fell to his knees. “Please don’t make me!” he begged. “I’ll turn in my man card and wear a dress!” he howled with his eyes getting misty. “I’ll gargle,” he vowed with actual tears of fear in his eyes.
Ian and Lance both stared at Heath, speechless. “You can have my kids and you can have Robin, but please don’t make me go back there!” Heath whimpered. “I still have nightmares, and your machines know I’m scared of them and want to kill me!”
Slowly, Ian turned to Lance. “Dude,” Ian said. “You try and make him go, I’ll have to step outside with you.”
Stunned, Lance slowly shook his head. “I’d kick my own ass before Heath goes back up there.”
Dwain jumped to his feet. “Who do I gargle first so I don’t have to go?!” he cried out. “You can take pictures, I don’t give a shit!”
Ian and Lance both stepped from behind the podium and held out their hands. “You don’t have to come,” Ian rambled out. “We can take care of it with Percy.” Falling back in his chair and panting like he’d given birth, Dwain gave thanks to the universe but Heath was still on his knees.
“Heath, you don’t ever have to go there again,” Lance told him slowly.
Wiping the tears from his eyes as he got to his feet, “Thank you,” Heath muttered. The rest of the clubhouse just stared at the two. No matter what Ian and Lance had ever asked, Heath and Dwain had always done it. The research area now moved from a place of wonder to a place of horrors in everyone’s mind.
Chapter Twelve
Outside the Wild Ones’ perimeter
With a light frost on the ground, the eastern sky was starting to lighten up with a new dawn on this forsaken world as Heath adjusted his mask. It had been a long time since Heath could remember it being this cold the first week in November. Hearing someone coming, he turned to see Lilly walking up. “Bit nippy,” she chuckled behind her mask.
“Just thinking that,” Heath agreed. “What are we waiting on?”
“Jarvis,” she answered.
Not even trying to understand why, Heath looked around at all the equipment and supplies loaded on seven semi flatbed trailers
parked on the road with the engines idling. Then there were three mobile cranes and in front of those were six thunder bots. If that wasn’t bad enough, each thunder bot was towing a gun bot. At the very front of the line were the two tracks.
Today, they were putting in the last of ‘master plan’ traps. When Heath had seen the small scale model he had relaxed, but hadn’t believed Ian and Lance when they’d told him each one would take only a day to set up. After the three ‘master plan’ traps had been built, Ian and Lance had made the group practice for three days, setting them up in the valley floor.
The first trap had been set up to the east of Barbourville between Hedrick and Baily Switch on the Cumberland Parkway. Even with the practice, it had taken sixteen hours to set up and oh, did the stinkers start to get thick by the afternoon. Everyone knew without the thunder and gun bots, they never would’ve been able to set it up. The bots had been set up half a mile up the road and even that far away, the hydrogen sulfide had been rank by the afternoon.
Because it had taken so long, Heath had thought Lance and Ian would push for setting up the next trap back a day but they hadn’t. After loading the trailers it’d been midnight, so nobody got more than five hours of sleep. The next one was planned to be set up to the north above Green Road on Highway Eleven, and they’d had it up in only twelve hours. What had surprised everyone, Ian and Lance had told them the last one would be put out the day after.
Putting up the ‘master plans’, nearly the entire coalition had been used but the next day, Ian and Lance had only taken four from each group. They’d left before sunrise with dozers and excavators. A mile south of Crane Nest, they had used the equipment to block off roads and divert stinkers to the parkway and to Highway Eleven, and they’d been back before lunch.
With the one to the north, Heath could already tell a huge difference. Not that many stinkers had made it inside the perimeter lately, but the first battle bot site had reported only killing thirty stinkers all day yesterday. This morning when he’d looked, it had taken out only four last night.
The last ‘master plan’ was going to the east on the parkway between Baughman and Flat Lick. That was what Heath didn’t understand. Yesterday, Ian had told him Jarvis wanted to go see one trap set up. When they headed out to start, they would pass through Bimble and could’ve just picked Jarvis up. Knowing the boys had their reasons, Heath didn’t even try to think on them. Jarvis was the only person in Bravo group who had been inside the perimeter, and he could only come in when someone brought him.
Why? Because the parents were finally home, and that meant Lance and Ian could flood the area with death. Those who patrolled knew where they could cross the perimeter and it just so happened, those spots had cameras. Trying to cross anywhere else was taking your life into your own hands. Heath and Dwain had gone out when the boys had laid traps. It was the speed with which the boys could set up a trap that bothered Heath. They’d put out punji pits, spike swings, deadfalls, and then others that were creations of their own. There were four gun bots on the perimeter and the coalition avoided those areas like the plague.
After the first patrol, he and Dwain had practiced setting up traps like the boys had and now could, but not nearly as fast. When the boys were done, Heath couldn’t even tell where the damn thing was and that REALLY scared him. But like Dwain said, ‘If we can’t see it, then someone trying to sneak in won’t see it either’.
“You get lost in thought a lot,” Lilly chuckled.
“Sorry,” Heath sighed. “Trying to figure out how they can set up traps so fast.”
“Practice,” Lilly huffed. “And before you ask, they practiced before this and that’s all I can say.”
“Figures,” Heath mumbled, and turned to see Ian’s UTV coming and could tell Lance was standing up through the roof. “Doesn’t Lance ever drive anymore?”
“Yeah,” Lilly nodded. “But since he drove them here, Ian feels guilty he didn’t offer to help.”
The UTV stopped and Lance just climbed out on the roof and jumped off. Heath was about to walk over and then saw Lance was headed toward him. It took a second until Heath corrected that thought, Lance was coming over to Lilly. “Hey, baby doll,” he called out to Lilly with Ian, Jennifer, and Jarvis following.
When Lance stopped, Heath saw the moms, Patrick, Seth, Amie, and Dwain coming over. “We set?” Lance asked.
“We’ve been ready,” Lilly chuckled.
“Lance, why didn’t we just pick Jarvis up?” Sandy asked, and Heath made a mental note to tell her thank you.
“To tell the others in Bravo not to come,” Lance droned as only a teenager could and reminded Heath, Lance really was a teen. Lance and Ian didn’t do it often, and it’d been Robin who’d pointed out they were doing it more now because the moms were home.
“We’ve told them every day. You don’t need to belittle them,” Sandy replied, never acknowledging the ‘teen attitude’.
“Hey, I was being nice,” Lance snapped. “People get all teary-eyed if we don’t give warnings like, ‘you can die if you don’t listen’. I’m tired of telling stupid fucks how to hold their dick to piss and to wipe their ass after they shit.”
“Lance!” Lilly barked. “Lose the attitude with your mom!”
Locking his gaze on Lilly, “She’s my mom and I’m sick of stupid!” Lance cried out.
“Lance!” Sandy shouted. “Be nice to Lilly!”
Taking his mask off to reveal eyes wide with shock, Lance turned to Sandy and then Lilly and for the first time, he had second thoughts about them being friends. “So, I should’ve just picked Jarvis up on the way through and told them then?” Lance asked, but it was in a cordial tone. Before they answered, he continued. “That means this convoy of loud diesel engines would’ve sat in Bimble and we would’ve had to clear the east gate when they opened it because stinkers would’ve been there waiting. Here, they can’t hear the engines and by the time they do, we’re already moving and they won’t pile up outside the wall waiting on lunch.” Hearing it, Heath wasn’t the only one who nodded in understanding and felt stupid to not think of that.
Reaching up, Sandy pushed her mask up to expose her face. “Oh, you are so your father’s child. He expected everyone to think and reason like him, just like you do,” Sandy groaned.
“It’s not reasoning, Mom. It’s called not being stupid,” Lance countered.
“Fine,” Sandy said, giving up on reasoning with Lance. “Tonight, you’re on my team.”
Everyone saw a conflict of emotions on Lance’s face. He seemed to like the sound of that but at the same time, didn’t. “Mom, we have a mountain of shit to do,” Lance told her. Sandy didn’t say anything and just locked eyes with Lance. “Okay, what are we playing?”
“Fortnite,” Sandy answered with a grin.
It was Rhonda who’d told Heath what the envelope had held that Sandy and Mary wanted done. They’d wanted flat screens mounted at the foot of every bed. Three flat screens for the Ladybug bed, of course. It hadn’t even taken Ian and Lance half a day to complete it. When they were finished, they’d gone to work with the others, getting the ‘master plan’ ready. While they’d been gone, Sandy and Mary had hooked up game consoles to each flat screen and had put wireless headsets for each one. That night, the moms had informed them they were playing games. Rhonda had said the boys really hadn’t wanted to, but did play. Everyone had passed out in the early morning with game controllers in their hands.
The next day, everyone could tell a huge difference in Ian and Lance. They both appeared relaxed and giddy. Robin had gone to ask Sandy, and Sandy had told her the boys needed to be reminded they were still young. Sandy had explained they’d had to do that when finals were approaching. Lance was born old and the age had rubbed off on Ian, she’d told Robin.
“Mom,” Lance sighed. “Use your gun and don’t try to kill with your sword.”
“I like the sound it makes when I kill someone with my sword,” Sandy countered, and Jennifer coughed
to stop her own laugh.
“Can’t we play Call of Duty, Battlefield, or even Halo?” Lance whined, and Sandy just shook her head. Lance didn’t have the heart to tell his mom she sucked at Fortnite.
“I want to win this time,” Sandy told him.
“Well, quit trying to kill people with your sword!” Lance cried out.
Behind them, Allie yelled out, “Let’s go, damn it! It’s cold and my balls are pulling up inside me!”
Spinning to the road, “Allie!” Mary shouted back.
Immediately, “She just said, ‘damn it’,” Lance huffed, and Mary turned to face him. Taking a breath to reply Mary just let it out, not in the mood to argue with Lance about his Ladybugs. When Mary turned to Sandy, she saw Sandy just shrug.
“That’s not really a curse word,” Sandy offered.
Turning and walking off, “She’s my daughter. I gave birth to her and I never babied her that much,” Mary mumbled.
“Let’s load up before Allie’s balls fall off,” Ian snickered.
Everyone headed to vehicles with Lance and Ian climbing in the backs of the two tracks. The small beds had computers and multiple screens set up so they could control the bots as they moved. To most in the coalition, the bots were magic because the boys weren’t driving them by remote control. The bots traveled with them. Ian and Lance would sit in the backs of the tracks, giving permission to the thunder bots to shoot at stinkers. The gun bots wouldn’t and couldn’t be activated until they’d been set up.
Those not driving trucks or equipment mounted up in UTVs and pickup trucks and spaced themselves among the convoy to shoot the stinkers the thunder bots couldn’t. Seth had even asked if they could just shoot stinkers until they reached the build sites. Where Heath and Dwain had fear of the bots, Seth had unbridled terror.
When they reached Bimble, the gate was opened and the convoy pulled through and they could see the inner fence was complete now. Bravo was starting to fill the ten foot area between the fences with dirt. Pulling onto the parkway, the convoy couldn’t go faster than forty because that was the top speed of the thunder bots and that was still too fast to many, but Lance wouldn’t let them travel faster than thirty miles per hour.
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 21