Sighing, “Ian, I don’t want to go check the other camps on the west side of I-75,” Lance said. “Any large group trying to cross the interstate will get ripped apart by stinkers. Hell, there are still areas you can’t get near without a respirator. We were lucky on getting that convoy.”
“That wasn’t luck,” Ian huffed. “It was skill,” he declared. “We came up with a plan and executed it.”
Shaking his head, “Ian, we had to get David to hover that chopper over the interstate, just to make sure we didn’t set off the hydrogen sulfide with a spark,” Lance reminded him. “We had to reload two thunder bots in the field before they ran dry. That was fifty thousand ball bearings each.”
Ian wasn’t about to admit even he’d been worried about pulling the vehicles in the convoy off the interstate because he and Lance had done the first ones. After they’d seen it was okay, then they had let the others do it. “We have production running now, so we don’t have to worry,” Ian said. “Lance, the sooner we scout and know our threats, the sooner we can deal with ‘em.”
“Brah, if they leave us alone, I’m all for letting them live,” Lance said.
“Lance,” Ian said in a hushed tone. “You know they’ll attack us eventually, no matter what we do. One thing we’ve learned, it’s better to attack than defend.”
“I know,” Lance groaned. “I’m tired of being a soldier, scientist, builder, mechanic, machinist, farmer, and the hundred other things we do. I just want to sit back and relax for a minute. Hell, I want to take Lilly out on a date that isn’t a patrol.”
“Where in the hell would you take her? The movies and mall are closed.”
“House seven forty-two that we fixed up. I was thinking about making a nice supper,” Lance answered.
Liking the sound of that, “You mind if we double date?” Ian asked.
“Ian, you really thought I wanted to do that alone?” Lance droned, and Ian gave a shrug. “I still get tongue-tied with Lilly sometimes! I need you and Jennifer there in case that happens.”
“Let’s do it Saturday,” Ian suggested. Holding out his hand until Ian shook it Lance felt better, kind of. “We’ll get to slow down eventually, Lance. If we don’t soon, Jennifer’s going to start blowing stuff up.”
“She sleeps more than we do,” Lance shot back.
Nodding, “Yeah, she’s going to start blowing stuff up because you and I aren’t slowing down,” Ian told him. “Lance,” Ian sighed closing his eyes. “She started a special time yesterday and I’m treading carefully. I love her, I really do but man, when Jen’s red army is marching, she gives a new meaning to ‘Walk softly and carry a big stick’.”
Putting his arm over Ian’s shoulders as they headed to the clubhouse, “We can take her stinker hunting with her bat,” Lance suggested.
“Okay, that sounds good, but if you don’t mind,” Ian cringed, “would you back her up?” Lance just stopped and Ian walked out from under his arm before coming to a stop. “Lance, you’ve seen how she gets. She overloads her ass charging into stinkers. When she swings that bat at me when I run in to help, I dodge. Problem is, Jennifer is swinging that bat faster. You? I don’t think she’ll swing the bat but if she does, you’ll pop her ass.”
“You’re damn right I will,” Lance huffed.
“And she will have earned it,” Ian agreed. “So, will you back her up?”
“Hell, yeah,” Lance grinned, and they headed inside.
Walking in the door, Lance and Ian were both shocked to hear the noise. The noise was just talking but it was loud, and it did feel good to hear it. Feeling a mountain hit his side, Lance looked down at Dino. “What?” Lance asked and Dino just panted. “Percy didn’t bring your girlfriend?” Lance asked, then looked around until he spotted Percy. “She’s right there,” Lance said, pointing at the female mastiff.
Dino just sat down panting as Lance reached over and loved on him. Then Lance turned around scanning the room and for the first time, realized just how many dogs the coalition had. Granted, the only dog that had joined with members was Lori’s terrier with the Bear Trap clan. All the others had been found on patrols or just came up on their own.
There were mutts, but there were many breeds as well. Dino was still by far the largest and Darla was next, but compared to Dino, Darla’s hundred and eighty pounds were tiny. Lance was convinced Darla was part braindead because she was hard to train, but at least Percy was making headway.
Shifting his eyes to their table, Lance’s face turned cold. Narrowing his eyes, Lance stormed across the room. Anyone who didn’t move, Lance shoved them out of the way. “Tyler!” Lance yelled, and the clubhouse became silent. “How many times have I told you?! Don’t hang your chest rig on your chair!” Lance shouted, pointing at the chest rig loaded with magazines on the back of Tyler’s chair. “I told you when we left to just get a few clip-on magazine holsters but you wanted to bring the chest rig?!”
Clearly terrified, “I’m sorry, sir,” Tyler mumbled.
“Lance,” Mary started, only to be cut off.
“Oh no, not this time,” Lance snapped, and Ian moved up behind Lance.
“Mom, don’t,” Ian said, and Mary’s mouth fell open in shock.
“Tyler, you put your rig with your weapon. That’s why there’re spots beside each gun rack. If something happens and bullets start flying, your first instinct will be to run for your weapon,” Lance growled.
“He couldn’t help much in a gun fight, even with his weapon and ammo,” Ian sneered.
Glaring at Tyler, “If your ammo’s on your chair, that won’t help much if you reach your weapon,” Lance said with his face getting red.
“Lance, calm down,” Sandy snapped, and Lance jerked his gaze to her and Sandy gave a startle to see the hostility in Lance’s eyes.
“Mom, enough. I promised I would teach classes because you asked, but this is enough,” Lance said, then took a deep breath.
Knowing Lance was about to unload on Sandy, Lilly jumped to her feet. “Lance!” she shouted, stopping Lance’s mouth. As she moved around the table, “That is your momma,” Lilly reminded him. Softening the glare at his mom, Lance turned back to Tyler. Stopping when she was behind Lance in case she had to pull him away, Lilly gave a pause when she saw Lance turn back to Tyler.
There was hate in Lance’s eyes directed at Tyler.
“Douche monkey,” Lance growled at Tyler. “Put your chest rig on the wall with your weapon.” Feeling Sandy was about to speak, Lilly turned and very minutely shook her head at Sandy. Everyone in the clubhouse was in shock. Dwain and Heath were at the table in shock with the others. Tyler had called Lance ‘sir’ and Lance hadn’t chewed his head off.
Thinking about it, Heath could remember Tyler and Chris always calling both boys ‘sir’ and neither had ever corrected them. Turning down the table to look at Tyler and Chris, Heath realized something else. Tyler and Chris always sat near the moms. He had eaten at the cabin several times, and could remember Tyler and Chris always sitting near Sandy and Mary.
Very slowly, Lilly reached out to take Lance’s hand. “Calm down, Lance,” she said in a soft voice.
Finally tearing his glare away from Tyler, Lance turned to Lilly. “I’m going outside,” Lance told her, letting her hand go.
As Lance walked off, “I’ll be with Lance,” Ian said, spinning on his heel and following. Jennifer jumped to her feet and took off after them. Lilly wanted to follow but didn’t. Slowly, Lilly turned to see Allie and Carrie both glaring at Tyler. The last Ladybug Jodi was looking at Tyler but wasn’t glaring.
“Allie, Carrie, don’t,” Lilly warned, and both whipped their eyes to her. “This is between Lance and Tyler. You won’t go taking Lance’s side.” When Allie went to speak, Lilly just raised her hand. “What you should be doing is trying to help Tyler and Chris from pissing Lance off, thereby pissing Ian off. If you’re really Lance’s Ladybugs, that’s what you would do.”
Allie and Carrie both turned to look at each
other as Jodi turned to Lilly with her customary smile. “I’ll help them,” Jodi stated proudly. Allie and Carrie both turned to Jodi and then Lilly.
“We’ll try,” they said together.
“Now, I need to go calm Lance down,” Lilly told them.
“Stick your tongue in his mouth, that makes him happy,” Allie offered. Startled but not replying to that, Lilly turned and sprinted for the door as everyone started whispering to their neighbors.
Coming out the door, she heard Ian and Jennifer shouting at each other but knew she had to get Lance under control before going to them. Scanning the yard, she spotted him pacing on the driveway and took off. “Lance, why did you take Tyler’s head off?” she asked skidding to a stop.
Never stopping his pacing back and forth, “You’re really asking that?!” Lance cried out.
Looking away as she pondered that, “Um, yeah,” Lilly said. Because this was the first time she’d seen hate in Lance’s eyes, “Why don’t you like Tyler and Chris?”
Stopping his pacing and turning to Lilly, “Well,” Lance replied calmly, and Lilly nearly went back inside. “They’re lazy as fuck, dumber than a box of rocks, they have no drive, can’t shoot, and are completely worthless,” Lance said, counting off each on his fingers. “Need I go on?”
Thinking before replying, out of everyone at the cabin Tyler and Chris were the sloppiest and the laziest, Lilly reasoned. Tyler and Chris both knew their weapons but again, they were the worst marksmen. The only one at the cabin not doing as well learning, compared to Tyler and Chris, was Holly. Even then Lilly had to admit, Holly tried harder to learn than Tyler and Chris.
“Lance, you know what their family was like,” Lilly offered halfheartedly because in her eyes, Holly had it worse than Tyler and Chris did before the meteor.
Bringing his hand up and rubbing his index finger on his thumb, “You hear that?” Lance asked. “I’m playing the world’s smallest violin to drown out their worthless whining.”
Caught off guard and really not liking this from Lance as he continued rubbing his fingers together, “Sweetness,” Lilly said. “We just need to help them.”
Stopping his playing of the violin, “I’d sooner cut my dick off and sew it on my forehead,” Lance declared.
Lilly’s eyes grew wide as she heard and saw something from Lance she’d never seen him display before: jealousy. “Okay, Lance. Then just ignore them. They’ll have to figure it out,” Lilly panted. Making the connection, it finally made sense why Lance didn’t like Tyler and Chris. Lilly knew if Sandy found out she would treat Tyler and Chris differently, and that would destroy the two little boys. A part of Lilly thought Mary would also, but Lilly couldn’t be sure because Mary had more than one kid.
One thing Lilly had come to understand, Lance was Sandy’s baby boy and nothing was too good for him. Thinking about it, Lilly couldn’t even come up with a way to talk to Sandy about it. Lance had never had to share his momma with anyone except the Ladybugs, but Lance loved them so they didn’t count.
As Lance started pacing again, instances of the mommas coddling Tyler and Chris flooded Lilly’s mind and she wondered why she hadn’t seen it sooner. Tyler and Chris were the only ones at the cabin who got pampered by Mary and Sandy. The mommas helped and loved on everyone, but Tyler and Chris definitely got the lion’s share.
Hearing Jennifer yell at Ian and him returning it louder, Lilly remembered it was a special time for Jennifer. “Babe,” she said softly, moving up to Lance. “Just calm down. We don’t stay mad at those with us. Please, for me, calm down,” she begged.
When Lance turned to her with a relaxed posture, Lilly sighed with relief. “I’ll do anything for you, baby doll,” Lance smiled.
“Don’t get mad, but I have to stop Jennifer before she does something she’ll regret later,” Lilly told him, and Lance chuckled.
“Yeah, Jennifer doesn’t handle that special time as well as you do,” Lance admitted.
“In time, she will,” Lilly assured him, then kissed him quickly before taking off in a sprint. Lance turned to see Jennifer thrusting her chest out and bumping Ian as she glared up at him, but Ian was glaring right back and shoving with his chest. “If Jennifer was even five foot two, I might be scared of her,” Lance concluded as Lilly reached them, pulling Jennifer back.
In amazement, Lance watched Lilly calm Jennifer down in seconds. “I wish I could do that,” Lance admitted as Ian walked over.
“Jen needs to chill,” Ian stated.
“Lilly calmed her down. After lunch, let’s go find some stinkers for her to beat to death with a bat. That should cool her off,” Lance suggested, and Ian nodded.
Lilly hugged Jennifer tight as she tried to figure out how to get Lance over his jealousy. Now that she knew the cause, Lilly hoped she could figure out a remedy. She was ninety-nine percent sure if Lance accepted Tyler and Chris, Ian would as well. Because if one didn’t like someone, the other didn’t either.
Chapter Seventeen
Build House
Hooking up the gun bot to his track in the early morning light, Lance turned around to look at the other gun bot hooked to Ian’s track. They usually were towed by thunder bots but Lance had to drive the thunder bots, and they would be moving through trees today. Thunder bots could follow the track like they did each other, but Lance didn’t like that monster bot with a huge barrel sticking out and aiming up his ass.
He and Ian had waited until Tuesday to put the gun bots out, when Lilly and Jennifer wouldn’t have to cover the clinic. Lilly was going to drive his track with him in the turret. The three Ladybugs would be riding along in the seats. Jennifer was going to drive Ian’s track with him in the turret. Denny, Lori, and Rhonda would be in the seats. Lance was just thankful his mom hadn’t asked or even hinted that Tyler and Chris should come along. Holly was pissed that she wasn’t coming but had agreed to stay at the cabin and continue her lessons.
Every time Lance looked at Holly, his back hurt. Even though he didn’t want to, Lance’s mind tried to figure out how in the hell the baby in Holly’s gigantic belly was going to get out. To him, Holly’s belly looked as big as the rest of her body.
“Bit nippy,” Ian said coming over.
“Yeah, I hate to think about January and February if it’s this cold now,” Lance admitted. He watched Rhonda open the rear right door of Ian’s track and Dino jump in. “Maybe Dino needs to ride in the bed of the track, jumping up to get in those seats looks painful.”
“Dino rides where he wants,” Ian scoffed, watching Dino sit in the seat and stick his head out the window. They both turned as Lilly opened the left rear door for George, who leapt in with ease. “Yeah, it was easy for you, George, because Dino weighs twice as much,” Ian stated.
“You want lead?” Lance asked, adjusting his plate carrier and the gear attached to his body.
“Jennifer’s already told me we’re taking lead,” Ian informed him.
“Brah, she beat like thirty stinkers to death with a bat on Sunday,” Lance chuckled.
Nodding, “And for that, I’m thankful,” Ian replied. Lance just laughed as he and Ian bumped fists and headed to their tracks. Climbing in the turret, Lance checked the gun and put the headset on, followed by his mask.
He glanced over at the barn to see the frames of two more tracks they had started on yesterday. He and Ian had decided every group needed at least two tracks to move about and patrol from. When they’d announced it at the clubhouse, Dwain had headed for the build house to start working.
Lance was sure, using Jennifer’s idea of how powerful to make the special battery, the next generation of tracks would be much better. The two now had to be plugged into the grid and used for power, so the damn battery didn’t start pumping out more power or shut down. When they unplugged the tracks, everything had to be turned back on. Lance was just glad it was cold because the heater was electric and it could keep the power in check.
“Everyone set?” Lilly asked over the intercom, a
nd everyone replied ready. Lilly followed Jennifer out, and Lance knew Jennifer had already told Lilly she was leading.
Coming down the drive and into the valley, Lance couldn’t help but feel proud at what they had accomplished so far. A stinker hadn’t been spotted inside the three mile perimeter in a month but still, nobody went anywhere unarmed. Wild dogs had been killed inside, whole packs even. Last week, Seth and the GTs had killed over twenty trying to dig under the wall of barbed wire around the livestock. Not to mention, mean pussy was still about. Much to Ian’s relief, the tigers were staying outside the perimeter and were using the new treehouse the group had built for them.
As Jennifer headed up the driveway toward the clubhouse, Lance couldn’t help but remember the first time they’d taken this route to the valley where Victor’s business sat. If dogs attacked this time, Lance didn’t even think his pulse would speed up. In the tracks, they could button up and still shoot out.
They passed the clubhouse and the monitoring crew getting off duty all waved as they passed by. “Ian did a really nice job designing these tracks,” Lance mumbled. The track didn’t ride as smooth as the last buggy Ian had built, but it was close. Despite that, Ian had stated the next generation would ride better with a new suspension system, and the seats were going to have more shock absorption.
Spinning the turret side to side to keep watch as they rode along ridges, Lance stayed alert despite the fact they were inside the perimeter. Ten minutes later, he knew they were crossing the perimeter without even needing to check the map. He and Ian could now run patrols two miles outside the perimeter without ever looking at a map.
A quarter of a mile farther on, they reached the cleared thirty-yard-wide path for the electric fence. Even after showing a video of a stinker touching the fence around the research area, many just couldn’t believe it could kill a stinker. To prove it to everyone, after the first mile had been put up on the west side, Lance and Ian had gone and hauled back some stinkers.
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 35