Turning the fence on, they’d stayed on the inside while the stinkers outside were let go. With most of the coalition watching, the three stinkers had shambled toward the fence. When the first stinker walked into the fence there had been a crackle of electricity and then a sizzling of flesh for a second as the stinker froze in place. Three seconds after touching the fence, the base of the stinker’s skull had exploded, along with the spine. The body had just fallen back, crashing to the ground as the other two stinkers reached the fence to meet the same fate.
What stunned those watching the most, the stinkers hadn’t smelled like hydrogen sulfide anymore. Lance and Ian had left those three bodies, just to see if the others would pick it up and they had. By the second day, the stinkers started rotting, rotting very fast. In the research area they had discovered that but also found out, the parasite in the stinkers killed by the electric fence were dead. What few they could find intact under a microscope looked melted. Before anyone asked Lance had warned them, they still didn’t know why and the first one who asked, he was throwing into the fence.
The fence was nothing more than ten power cables suspended a foot apart. Heath had pointed out that a small person could squeeze between the cables without touching them. Looking Heath in the face, Lance had said anyone who had the balls to do that had earned their way inside.
Many in Bravo were envious of the fence until Ian had told them four strands were going to be run at the top of their wall. Unlike the perimeter fence, Bravo’s electric fence was to deter humans because as Jennifer pointed out, ‘If stinkers learn how to climb a twenty-foot wall, we’re all screwed’.
So far, they were averaging two miles of fence strung each day, but Lance was sure they wouldn’t be finished with the thirty-six miles until the middle of December. Even if they did finish faster, the special batteries wouldn’t be done until then. “When that fence is up, I’m taking a day or two off,” Lance thought out loud.
The main build area of the three buildings in the valley was another reason why the fence wouldn’t have power until December. Against everyone’s wishes, Lance and Ian had hit a machining company in Corbin after getting the military convoy. They now had metal 3D printers and more CNCs, but they didn’t have the power to run all of them yet. The smelting building was concentrating on metal for the special batteries, ball bearings, and glass right now. With that running, very little of the machinery could run to make bots because those furnaces sucked massive amounts of power.
Seeing movement, he spun the turret to catch a flock of turkeys running off. “Oh, I’ll be looking for you next week for Thanksgiving,” Lance grinned.
Lilly steered the track to follow Jennifer’s trail as she hit the intercom toggle. “Lance, you’re awfully quiet,” she called out.
“Just thinking of all we’ve done and we still have more to do,” Lance laughed.
“We’ll get there, sweetness,” Lilly assured him.
Feeling the track slow, Lance looked up to see Jennifer pulling to a stop nearly in the same place where he and Ian had the first time here. Thirty yards in front of Jennifer was a clearing at the end of the ridge where one gun bot was going. There was a battle bot traveling a mile of the road that ran through the valley, but they were moving it further north. It had been there three weeks and had only killed one hundred and four stinkers. That didn’t bother Lance or Ian because the valley road led to Highway Eleven where the north shredder was. The shredder was a mile further down the road, and the stinkers didn’t get off the highway because there were lights and noise.
When the track stopped, Lance glanced around at the forest. “Damn underbrush is going to be brutal next year,” he mumbled. Grabbing his laptop and thermal binoculars, Lance climbed out. Reaching back in, he pulled his AR out and slung the loop over his head to let it hang under his right arm.
“Damn it, Dino. I was going to open the door,” Ian moaned, and Lance looked up to see Dino had jumped out the window.
“Surprised he didn’t get stuck,” Lance mumbled. Setting his laptop on the side of the track, Lance let George out. “Heel,” he commanded, and George lowered his head like he was sad. “That’s not going to work today,” Lance said. “George, we know you. If someone doesn’t tell you to stay beside them, you like to wander a bit too far from the group.”
Lilly opened the hatch of the driver’s compartment. “I’ve been trying since this started to make him and Judy stop that crap,” Lilly admitted. “At least you and Ian have got them to stop that and listen better.”
Shaking his head, “Lilly, you give them treats after you punish them,” Lance said.
“Yeah, because they took their punishment,” Lilly countered. She had to admit, Lance and Ian could train dogs much better than she could and that bothered her because she was a vet. Next week, the boys were going to start training George and Judy to attack humans. They had the gear, studied and planned it out, but Lilly was still a bit nervous on that. However, she knew they needed more than just Dino trained to protect and fight.
Lance turned to stare at Lilly’s eyes behind her mask. “Baby doll, punishment is so they know they did wrong.”
Punishment consisted of a loud whistle they didn’t like, going in the kennel, or taking away their chew toys. Lilly would swear when George and Judy saw their chew toys put up, they cried. “But they did their punishment correctly, so they should be rewarded,” Lilly stated again.
Giving up, Lance walked off and stopped beside Ian’s track. Ian was in the turret but staring at the camera screen mounted above the gun. “You see something?” Lance asked.
“I think the battle bot down there killed a cow,” Ian answered, and that piqued Lance’s interest. Climbing up on the track and sticking his head inside the turret, he looked at the image. The screen was only twenty inches but gave high definition colors and had a thirty power magnification.
There was clearly a cow’s severed head on the road. “I think it was a bull,” Lance said.
“How in the hell did the battle bot chop off the head?” Ian asked.
“The horns probably slowed the shredders down enough that they reversed and spit the head out,” Lance offered.
Thinking about that, Ian nodded in agreement. “Should’ve thought of that, but seeing just a cow’s head complete with big ass horns kind of threw me,” Ian chuckled.
“What I want to know, is just how in the crap the battle bot caught a cow to kill it?!” Lance cried out. “It has flashing lights, plays loud music or TV shows, and is the size of a pickup truck. It’s not like battle bots tip-toe around, sneaking up on stuff or jumping out of the bushes.”
With his chuckle dying, “I damn sure should’ve thought of that,” Ian admitted. “Operating, they only go six miles an hour top speed. A cow can trot faster than that,” Ian said more for himself because Lance did the programming. Just thinking about it, Ian could remember seeing some cows near battle bot one two months ago. When the bot had gotten near them, they had trotted away, mooing.
Pulling his head out of the turret, “After we set up the gun bot and go down to move it, I’ll replay the video,” Lance said, jumping off the track.
“Want to use the one I pulled in or yours?” Ian asked.
“I’ll unhook mine and set it up,” Lance said, then turned to his track and looked at the Ladybugs. “If you need to pee, do it now,” he told them.
“I have a diaper on, thank you,” Allie snapped, and Lance gave a startle at the information. “I’m not pulling my pants down out here with all the stuff we have to wear,” Allie informed him.
Turning around to look up at Ian, “Holy TWAT munch!” Lance gasped. “That’s smart as fuck!”
Sticking his head out of the turret, “I’ll agree it’s smart, but I’m not sitting in a diaper full of shit. I’ll take my pants down,” Ian declared.
“You don’t have to take your pants down to pee, bubba!” Allie snapped.
“Another bonus for having man parts,” Ian declared. Lilly
, Jennifer, Lori, and Rhonda were all thinking that was an awesome idea and wondering why they hadn’t thought of it.
“Do all you Ladybugs wear one?” Lilly asked.
“Duh, yeah,” Carrie sang out. “Peeing in your pants, it runs down into your boot and makes it funky.”
“How long have you been wearing them and what made you think of that?” Lilly asked, and almost asked if they had one to fit her right now.
“We started in September after reading that book about the desert wars, and the soldiers riding around in tanks wore diapers and even the snipers wore diapers,” Allie answered.
Every female who wasn’t a Ladybug felt really stupid as Lance went over books in his mind. “I didn’t read that,” he finally said, then snapped his fingers as George tried to sneak off. George stopped and walked a tight circle before sitting back down beside Lance.
“Duh,” Allie sang out. “War books are to study. We want you to read us books that we can just listen to and not think.”
Having never heard pleasure reading described like that, Lance had to agree it was nice but wanted to find this book Allie was referring to. “What else did you get from that book?” Lance asked as Dino sat down beside him.
“Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet. If you’re not shooting, you should be reloading or moving. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice, ammo is cheap, but your life is expensive. Tracers work both ways, and friendly fire isn’t friendly,” Carrie offered.
“If the enemy is in range, so are you. Never draw the enemy’s fire, it irritates everyone around you. Always cheat, always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose. If you eat the cheese in MREs, eat the hot sauce so you don’t get stopped up,” Jodi added.
When Lance glanced at Allie, “Parking a bullet in the brain pan will always stop your enemy. A hand grenade is a great way to tell the enemy, ‘Fuck You’ but when you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade isn’t your friend anymore. In the absence of a plan, move toward the gunfire and kill everything,” Allie told him.
“Ian,” Lance said, turning back around. “They’re getting Man Cards.”
Now standing out of the turret with his eyes wide behind his mask, “I’ll help print them,” Ian declared, and the Ladybugs gave sharp gasps of excitement. “The day just started, but I feel I’ve learned more than enough to call it a day well spent.”
“Allie, show me the book when we get back. I want to read it,” Lance said.
“I’m reading it first,” Lilly challenged. “This book is information I should’ve already learned. I still just piss my pants.”
“It’s on the computer,” Carrie giggled, and Lance was glad he wouldn’t have to wait.
Rhonda and Lori climbed out of Ian’s track and walked over to the Ladybugs. “Do you have any diapers that’ll fit me?” Rhonda asked.
Lilly couldn’t see Lance’s face because of his mask but she could tell by his stance, Lance was figuring out the Ladybugs were becoming a force to be reckoned with. Shifting her eyes to Ian, Lilly saw just a little fear in Ian’s posture toward the Ladybugs. “We should all fear for the world when the Ladybugs become teenagers,” Lilly mumbled, and was very thankful that was still four years away.
Shaking his head, Lance turned to walk to the tree line but stopped because Dino didn’t move. “Dino, I can’t step over your ass,” Lance groaned, turning on the thermal binoculars and walking around Dino.
Dino got up and moved ahead of Lance but walked slower than Lance was, and Lance ran into him again. “You want me to ride you?” Lance asked, stopping beside a tree just a few yards back from the rocky clearing at the end of the ridge. The finger to the valley below was almost steep enough to be called a cliff, but from the clearing set four hundred feet over the valley floor, it gave a good field of view.
As Lance was lifting the thermal binoculars up, he felt Dino’s body push against him hard. Letting the thermals go as panic gripped him, Lance moved to turn as sonic cracks sounded over his head. Giving up on moving back, Lance dove to the ground. “Cover!” he screamed in the air.
Hearing bullets striking trees with dull thunks, Lance crawled over behind the one he’d been leaning against. Coming up with his AR, Lance started dumping ammo across the valley, having a good idea where the shots were coming from. “ARAaawwww,” Lance heard howling. Forgetting the bullets, Lance spun on the ground to see Dino in the clearing laying on the ground.
“Dino!!” Lance screamed, and Dino tried to get up but collapsed back down, then tried to get up again and go to Lance. Realizing Dino was trying to come to him, “Dino, lay down!” Lance shouted, seeing lots of blood on Dino. Walking on his knees Lance kept shooting across the valley, rapidly going through magazines.
Brrrrrrrrrrr sounded as Ian opened up with the centrifugal gun, and Lance heard Jennifer drive the track closer to the tree line to give Ian a better field of fire. No sooner than Ian had opened up, the bullets stopped impacting. Unlike the machine gun shooting at them, Ian didn’t have to pause.
Not caring about anything, Lance dropped his AR to let it drag across the ground as he scrambled out into the clearing to Dino and Rhonda jumped in the other track on the turret. “Three hundred yards west of the curve, and two hundred yards up from the road where that depression is!” Ian called out where the gunfire had come from.
There were no tracers, but Rhonda didn’t have any problems figuring out where Ian was shooting. Trees were falling and dirt was getting kicked up like geysers were erupting. As he scrambled to Dino, a part of Lance’s mind heard Ian and knew where the attackers were. He and Ian had been in that depression, it was on their topo maps. The bowl was on a small step of the slope about a hundred feet long, thirty wide, and twenty to thirty feet deep. There was no water in the bowl and even when it rained, the bowl only held a foot or so but as soon as the rain stopped, the water drained into the ground.
But that small part of Lance’s mind was drowned out by his desire to get to Dino. Scrambling on all fours Lance gasped as he reached Dino, seeing an exit wound on Dino’s left side with a small piece of intestine hanging out. Fighting down his panic, Lance reached back and pulled off his small backpack, throwing it down. Ripping it open, Lance pulled out the first aid bag.
“Dino, stay,” Lance said in a breaking voice when Dino tried to get up and move in front of Lance. Opening a dressing, Lance shoved it on the wound as ball bearings streaked over his head. Ian would fire a ten second burst, then stop and Rhonda would fire a ten second burst, keeping fire on the attackers.
Even with the dressing on, the wound was still bleeding heavily. Reaching in the kit, Lance pulled out a package of QuikClot. Pushing the intestine back inside, Lance felt queasy when his glove caught on a piece of flesh. “Easy, Dino,” Lance said with tears pouring from under his mask. Tearing the top off, Lance placed a hand on Dino’s neck and then poured the powder over the wound.
Dino’s head jerked up as he howled in pain. “I’m sorry, Dino!” Lance cried out, but forced Dino’s head back down and emptied the package. When he was done, no blood was coming out of the nasty-looking wound. Gripping Dino’s legs, “Roll over, Dino,” Lance said, and Dino howled in pain but rolled over like he’d been told.
Lance breathed a sigh of relief seeing the small entry hole barely bleeding. Opening another dressing, he placed it over the wound and shoved one of the ties under Dino so he could wrap it around his body and tie it off. After it was tied, Lance realized laying on the exit wound hurt Dino more, so he rolled Dino back over.
When it was tied, Lance shoved his arms under Dino and tried to lift. He managed to lift Dino but because the dog was so big, Lance couldn’t support his body and Dino whimpered in pain. “Ian!” Lance screamed.
Already moving before Lance had finished calling his name, “Denny, get on the gun!” Ian shouted and vaulted out of the turret. When Ian’s feet touched the ground, he was already running. Getting close, Ian skidded to a stop and dropped on his knees. The
first thing Ian saw was the massive amount of blood on the ground and then his eyes fell on the bloody clot and blood-soaked fur.
“We have to fireman carry him,” Lance said, moving to Dino’s head. “Every time he tries to stand, Dino falls down.” From the size of the wound, Ian had no trouble believing that. Easing his hands under Dino, Lance shoved them further under his body as Ian did the same from the back. Even with their arms all the way under Dino, they couldn’t grab each other’s hands.
“We just carry him,” Ian said, taking a deep breath and blinking tears out of his eyes. “On three,” he called out, then counted. On three they both stood up, supporting Dino’s weight on their extended arms. When Dino didn’t move as they lifted, both boys felt relief.
“Back of my track,” Lance said and with Rhonda and Denny still swapping fire, they carried Dino into the trees.
Lilly was already out of the driver’s compartment and in the bed of the track before they got there. “Good boy, Dino,” Lilly said in a breaking voice as she petted his head. Dino only whimpered as they moved him into the bed of the track. When Dino was inside, Lilly reached under one of the bench seats to pull out the large medical bag.
“Jennifer!” Lance shouted, moving to the left side of the track where ten-gallon barrels were strapped to the side. Undoing the strap, Lance knocked the lid off as he climbed up on the track. Moving up toward the turret, he opened the hopper. Grabbing the barrel he grunted, lifting it up with his tired arms. Before they’d changed to the lead core ball bearings, the small barrels had held fifty thousand ball bearings and weighed sixty pounds. The barrels still held fifty thousand, but now weighed over a hundred and ten pounds.
The hoppers could hold seventy thousand bearings but they only loaded fifty because the damn things were heavy. Fifty thousand could feed the centrifugal gun for over twenty minutes, and it could do it nonstop because they had tested them. As he dumped the barrel in the hopper, Lance saw it was only half full and didn’t think they had been there that long because the tracks were trading off keeping the attackers pinned down.
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 36