Forsaken World:Coming of Age (22 page)

Lance’s jaw fell open, and behind him, Ian dropped a handful of utensils on the floor as the simplicity hit them. “Man, do I feel dumb,” Ian mumbled.

“Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?” Lance snapped.

“You never asked,” Jennifer huffed, pulling on her vest. Thinking about that, Lance concluded she was right.

Grabbing his AR, he turned for the door. “Damn, you’re smart,” he said, walking away. “Hell, I’ve been trying to figure out how the asteroid had pushed up the underground water levels.”

When he walked outside, Jennifer turned to Ian in shock. Ian just shrugged shyly. “That was his idea. I was leaning toward the extra weight of the asteroid had influenced the gravitational pull of the moon, affecting the water levels.”

“You two can way overthink stuff,” she said, pulling her helmet on. “You call me smart because I think of the simple answer.”

“Well, that’s usually the correct and therefore the smartest answer. You knew it and didn’t have to think about it,” Ian said, picking up the stuff he dropped. Tossing them in the sink, he headed for the front door. “Allie on the monitors, and Carrie, come help open the gates.”

As Allie ran downstairs, Carrie ran after Ian. Jennifer slung her AR and headed to the back door to find Lance waiting in the hybrid buggy. “I hate riding shotgun stinker hunting first thing,” she mumbled, taking her rifle off and draping it across her chest.

When she climbed in, Lance pointed at a Ruger 10/22 with a suppressor lying on the dash. “Use that for the stinker hunt today,” he said. Sighing with relief, Jennifer picked it up. “No, leave it there until you need it. Stay on your rifle in case trouble comes fast. You want big bullets for trouble.”

Nodding, Jennifer moved her rifle until it was aiming out the side. She pulled the stock to her shoulder then flipped down her goggles. Like Ian and Lance, she wore the one with four tubes, which gave her a much bigger field of view. On her rifle mounted in front of her scope was a thermal. “How many people can say they learned to shoot off both shoulders when they started learning?” she grinned.

“Not many,” Lance grinned back as he drove around the cabin. “But I’m sure most alive right now can do it.”

As they drove through the gates, Dino joined them. They waved at Ian and Carrie then drove down the rise. Before getting to the cedar trees, Lance drove off into the woods. They had learned; don’t move through open areas if you could avoid it at all cost.

Staying just inside the tree line, Lance drove beside the field until he had cleared the trap perimeter then drove up the slope to the ridge. Jennifer scanned around but kept a sharp eye on Dino as she whispered, “I like these goggles a lot more than the other one. You can see around you much better.”

“The other one only gives you a forty degree field of view. The GPNVG-18 gives you a ninety-seven degree field and much better depth perception,” Lance whispered.

“How do you know that?”

He shrugged. “Read the instruction manual.”

They headed northeast to check on the spot that had been marked by the silver pin. Lance and Ian had been there several times over the last few weeks and confirmed it was an ambush point. The bikers were using it to catch people. Ian and Lance had watched a large group of bikers take down a family in a truck. Before they returned home, they erased the video of what they saw and just told the girls, not wanting images to complete the narration.

Since the road was in the next valley, they drove off their ridge and up to the next one, stopping at a house only long enough to take pictures. It was difficult in the predawn light, but they were satisfied and moved on.

Lance wanted to get to the ambush site before dawn to see if the bikers drove there every day. They always found the bikers camped a hundred yards back from the bridge. All around where the gang camped were shot-up vehicles. Once they caught someone, the gang pulled the vehicle away so it couldn’t be seen and even picked up empty shells so others travelers wouldn’t spot them.

When Lance reached the top of the ridge, he turned, following it north and drove much slower, glancing over at Dino every few seconds.

Jennifer leaned over until her helmet touched his shoulder. “Where the fuck are the stinkers?” she asked but was still scanning around and looking at Dino.

“I’m wondering the same thing,” Lance mumbled. “We’ve never come this far out without coming across at least one.”

Gripping her AR tighter, Jennifer sat up in the seat. Turning on her thermal and lifting her goggles, she looked around through her scope. Except for a raccoon, she didn’t see anything and lowered her goggles.

Continuing at pace just faster than a walk, Lance soon stopped and turned up the volume of his hunter’s ear. “You hear anything?” he asked, pulling his rifle across his chest.

“Bugs and birds,” Jennifer said as he got out.

“Yeah, that’s what I hear,” Lance said, grabbing the thermal binoculars. Putting them around his neck, he grabbed the M-14 out of the buggy then walked around the front of it. Jennifer got out as Lance patted his leg for Dino to stay beside him. “Follow slowly,” Lance whispered, slinging the M-14 across his back, and started down the slope.

Taking a deep breath, Jennifer followed. She was happy that birds didn’t seem to move as she eased past them, and the crickets never stopped chirping. When they could see the valley floor through the trees, Lance slowed more, moving to an area he and Ian had found to watch the area. They were still a hundred feet above the valley floor, and the bridge was three hundred yards away, but he didn’t want to get closer.

When Lance laid down on the ground, Jennifer eased up and went prone beside him. She glanced over and saw Lance looked disturbed. Almost putting her lips to his ear, she breathed, “What’s wrong?”

Lance reached over, pulling her ear to his mouth, never taking his eyes off the area as he breathed out, “That RV on the bridge wasn’t there two days ago. They never put anything on the bridge and keep it cleared so they don’t tip their hand and scare people off.”

When he let her go, Lance lifted his goggles and looked through the thermal binoculars. He saw several deer, a cow, and a few small animals but nothing else. He saw the camp area with a picnic table the gang used, and the metal drum that usually held a fire was cold. “I don’t understand,” he mumbled and turned to the RV. It wasn’t much warmer than the shot-up cars past the gang’s campsite and looked like it was brand spanking new.

Jennifer reached over and grabbed his wrist, making Lance look at her. “We aren’t going down there, so forget it,” she breathed out, and even with the hunter’s ear, Lance barely heard her.

“Fuck that,” he shot back, but it was quiet. “This is one of the gang’s killing grounds. Be damned if we offer up sport.”

Relieved, Jennifer nodded, and Lance passed over the binoculars. Lifting her goggles, Jennifer noticed it was bright enough out in the valley that she didn’t need them and turned them off. Pulling the binoculars to her eyes, she started looking around.

Feeling Lance move, she glanced over to see him taking off the rifle he had practiced shooting a long way with.
Sniper rifle,
she thought, pleased she was thinking like that. Before she looked back through the binoculars, Lance turned on the thermal mounted in front of the scope.

Like she had learned from the DVDs, Jennifer started scanning the area slowly, looking at every detail before moving her field of vision. “Lance, the RV just moved,” she whispered.

“It didn’t start up,” he said, moving his scope over to it.

“No, it shifted like someone moved inside,” Jennifer said, and a dark form stepped out of the woods several hundred yards past the bridge. “Someone is right inside the tree line past the bridge.”

Lance saw the person as they stepped up closer to the tree line. He reached up, zooming in his scope. “It’s a female,” he said.

“She’s looking around really hard.”

“She has a rifle. Can’t tell about a pistol,” Lance said as the figure moved back into the trees.

“Lance, I know I saw the RV rock again,” Jennifer said, and Lance shifted his aim at the RV and held it.

Less than a minute later, he saw what Jennifer was talking about. “I saw it move; someone’s inside it.”

Knowing there was nothing they could do, Jennifer hoped the female moved back into the woods and stayed there. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was hiding in the RV. “Someone just looked out the back window,” Lance said.

“I didn’t see it,” Jennifer said, glancing over, and she noticed Lance was using real binoculars.

“You can’t detect heat through windows. It only shows you the temperature of the window, and that won’t change unless they touch it,” Lance said, not taking the binoculars down.

Shaking her head as she lifted the thermal binoculars, Jennifer mumbled, “I’m reading all those damn pamphlets in those boxes when we get home.” When she heard the radio squelch in her earpiece, she almost took off running, but when she heard Lance talking into it, Jennifer fought not to wet her pants.

“Enterprise, this is away team. Any traffic from our spot from the Klingons?” Lance called.

“Are you insane?!” Jennifer hissed. “You said people can trace that radio and to only use it in emergencies.”

“So? We are where the gang is at. Who cares if more bad guys find them?” Lance said, watching the area in his binoculars. “Enterprise is the only one that has to keep transmissions short.”

Trying to calm her pulse down and fight the urge that she now needed to pee, Jennifer lifted the thermals up and watched the area as Ian’s voice came over her ear bud. “Negative, last was 18 hours.”

“Enterprise, call out if you hear one. Klingons are cloaked,” Lance said.

“Copy,” Ian replied.

“She’s looking around again,” Jennifer said.

Lance swung his binoculars up but didn’t see her until the woman moved her head. “I got her. She looks older,” Lance said, focusing in. “And she looks like hell.”

“Living outside in this bullshit, who wouldn’t look like shit on a stick?” Jennifer mumbled, watching the woman.

“She’s moved back,” Lance said, focusing on the RV. It was rocking much more now. Lance studied how the RV was pulled to the edge of the bridge. A car couldn’t get around the RV, but there was enough room to walk past it.

“What do we do?” Jennifer asked, watching the area.

“Wait.”

She dropped her binoculars and glanced over at him. “Lance, if I ask you something, will you tell me the truth?”

“Sure, if I can,” he said, wondering where this was going.

“I do the laundry and have been since we got here. Not once have I seen any underwear from you or Ian. What the hell do you do with them? I see them in your drawers, so I know they get cleaned, but you don’t use the washer like we agreed,” she said, noticing his body tense up.

“We, ah, wash them by hand,” he barely mumbled.

“I can wash them,” Jennifer sighed, pulling the binoculars up. “Girls are the ones that are supposed to freak out about boys seeing their undergarments. That seems trivial to a card-carrying man.”

“Girls don’t leave skid marks,” Lance muttered.

Holding the binoculars up, Jennifer just turned her face to him. “You’re kidding? You and Lance don’t want me to know you have body functions but won’t hesitate to have a farting contest that could kill a stinker.”

“It’s a guy thing,” Lance said with a shrug, never taking his eyes off the area.

Turning to put her eyes back to the binoculars, Jennifer sighed. “One of the many that I don’t think I’ll ever understand.”

Chapter Seventeen

They watched for half an hour as the woman would look out of the trees then duck back. Neither could figure out what she was doing, and when the woman stepped out in the ditch, they both gave a startle.

Jennifer didn’t want to watch but wasn’t going to let Lance know. When the boys had told them about the group they had watched get attacked here, Jennifer felt sick. When they told her they didn’t film it, Jennifer fought not to throw up. She could see it in their faces; they had watched and erased the film, hoping it would take it from their minds.

Next to her, Lance fought the urge to yell and scare the person off. Blinking tears away, Lance put the binoculars down and pulled the stock of his M1A up to his shoulder, watching through the scope.

Carrying a rifle in one hand and a collapsible water jug in the other, the woman moved down the ditch toward the bridge. She stayed in the ditch, keeping her head on a swivel. As she neared the bridge, the woman looked at the RV, cocking her head, but she didn’t stop as she walked out of the ditch to the bridge.

When the woman started across the bridge, Lance wanted to get up and head home but knew it was too late for that. He sucked in a breath as she walked past the door of the RV and off the bridge down to the creek that flowed under it. Looking at the creek harder, Lance saw it was steep on the north side, and on the near side, the ground sloped gently to the water’s edge.

The woman took the top off the jug and dunked it in the water. When it was full, she pulled it up and put the cap on, and Lance saw it was a five-gallon water jug. Looking around again, the woman slung her rifle across her back and picked up the jug, heading back up to the bridge.

Lance and Jennifer jumped as the door of the RV burst open, and men poured out with the first one jumping on the woman, and even from several hundred yards away, they heard her scream. Six men surrounded the woman as the seventh held down her arms.

The group moved in, took her rifle, then the man sitting on the woman flipped her over and tied her hands behind her back. The group laughed as she struggled; then, the others carried her over to the picnic table.

Jennifer felt sick as the men stripped the woman then held her spread eagle over the table and tied her up. That’s when she remembered what Lance and Ian had seen done on that table. Hearing a
click
beside her, Jennifer whipped her head around to see Lance leaning over his rifle with his finger off the trigger but inside the trigger guard.

“What the hell are you doing?” she hissed.

“I can’t watch this again,” Lance said in a broken voice. “I can’t. I know I can take them.”

“What if there are more inside the RV?”

“They are three hundred meters away, so use that mark in your scope if you have to shoot,” Lance said, controlling his breathing as one of the group dropped his pants. “Watch the RV. I have this group.”

Jennifer unclipped her thermal, laid it down, and pulled her AR to her shoulder. It made her rejoice they were going to do something and not just sit back, but it also terrified her.
Phhht
sounded next to her as Lance pulled the trigger, making her jump.

With her crosshairs on the RV, she could see the group off to the side, and one of the men to the back gave a jerk and collapsed as Lance pulled the trigger again. The others continued laughing as the woman screamed, never seeing or hearing the man hit the ground.

The next furthest man from the group barely moved as the bullet blew out the back of his head. The others heard the bullet impact, and one turned to see his buddy’s body fall. He opened his mouth just as a bullet entered his chest and blew out the front, hitting the man across the table in the stomach.

As one, the group froze as the man hit in the stomach yelled out, collapsing to the ground. When the man next to the screamer yelled as a bullet hit him in the chest, the last man standing around the table dropped behind it, not knowing where the shots came from. He lifted his rifle. Looking around, the man grunted as Lance put one through his chest.

The last man who was on the table on top of the woman rolled off, trying to pull his pants up and Lance sent one between his shoulder blades. Moving his crosshairs to the RV, Lance said, “Shoot any that are still moving, but be careful around the woman.”

When his crosshairs settled on the back window, Lance pulled the trigger and continued pulling, racking the RV with bullets. Feeling his bolt lock back, Lance ejected the clip, rocked a new one in, and continued firing into the RV.

Taking a breath, Jennifer put the crosshairs on the one furthest away, who was rolling around, and squeezed the trigger. Seeing dirt kick up from the bullet, she adjusted her aim, squeezed again, and saw the man jerk. Holding steady, Jennifer squeezed the trigger three times, watching the man jerk with each shot.

Satisfied, she moved to the next one as Lance reloaded. “Aim small, miss small,” she mumbled and took aim at another man. She put three bullets in him and moved on.

When his magazine emptied, Lance moved from behind the M-14, pulled up his AR, and continued shooting into the RV. He only carried two magazines for the M-14 and wanted its much heavier bullets for the RV, but he wanted to make damn sure if someone was inside, they were having a bad day.

As Jennifer moved to the last one, the one with his pants on his ankles, she pulled the trigger until she felt her bolt lock back. Ejecting the magazine, she rolled to her right, pulling one off her vest and inserting it before she rolled back. “They’re down, Lance,” she said, looking at the group sprawled around the table.

Moving her crosshairs up, Jennifer saw the naked woman looking around in shock at the group of would-be rapists. Most of them were dead, and the ones that weren’t would be shortly. The woman looked around for her saviors as she struggled against her restraints.

“Jennifer, I’m going to cut her loose. Cover me,” Lance said, getting up.

“Whoa,” she said, grabbing him, and saw him getting ready to argue. “You shoot better from far off. Let me go.”

Knowing she had a valid point but not wanting Jennifer anywhere near the bikers, Lance shook his head. “I need to check the RV.”

“I can do that. Now cover me, damn it. You can hit people from here easier than I can,” Jennifer said, getting up.

“Move your ass,” Lance said, getting back down on the ground. “Take Dino.”

“Come on, Dino,” Jennifer said, patting her thigh, and took off down the slope with Dino charging past her. Almost face-planting several times as she ran down the steep slope, Jennifer gave a sigh of relief as she burst out of the trees onto the valley floor. The ground was uneven, but it was flat—kind of. Dino slowed his pace so he didn’t run off from her as Jennifer pushed her legs harder.

Lance pulled his AR up and looked around and noticed the woman looking at Jennifer as she sprinted over. Moving his crosshairs back to the RV, Lance saw a thin trail of smoke coming out the back window.

Feeling like it was taking her years to cover the three hundred yards, Jennifer held her AR with one hand and pumped her other, wanting more speed and making a promise to herself she was going to work on the treadmill a little harder from now on.

Dino reached the area first and moved around to all the bodies, giving them a sniff, then moved to the table. Lance and Jennifer could see the woman talking to Dino. Lance moved his scope back and noticed Jennifer almost at the table. “Damn, that girl can fucking run,” he said out loud in total awe watching the sprint Jennifer’s short legs were churning out.

Locking her legs, Jennifer skidded the last six feet and almost crashed into the table. “Get the fuck out of here!” Jennifer snapped, pulling a knife out and hacking the woman’s bonds from the table.

“Can you wait so I can come with you?” the woman asked, jumping off the table as Jennifer cut her legs free.

“They have fucking friends close, goddamn it, and I mean a fucking shitload of these cocksuckers!” Jennifer yelled, putting her knife away and trotting over to the RV. Seeing a little smoke coming out, Jennifer pulled up her AR and peeked inside, clearing where she could see then stepped up.

The filth around her made her want to puke, not to mention the smoke. She moved to the back and checked the bathroom. Not finding anything, Jennifer pulled out her camera and snapped pictures then walked out. When she reached the door,
whoosh
sounded from the back as fire sprang up from the floor.

“Lance sure fucked it up,” she said, tucking the camera away and jumping out. The woman was picking up her rifle, and by instinct, Jennifer raised hers.

“I’m not going to use it on you,” the woman said, slinging it over her shoulder.

“Why are you still here? I’m not kidding when I say they have friends,” Jennifer said, facing her but sidestepping away, putting distance between them.

“I had to get what was left of my clothes and rifle,” the woman said with a pleading look. “Please, let me get my dogs and come with you. I’m alone; I swear to you.”

“We know. We watched the gang watching you,” Jennifer said as Lance came over the radio in her earbud.

“Goddamn it, quit chit chatting, and get your ass back here,” Lance screamed into the radio.

“My team is waiting,” Jennifer said and noticed for the first time that Dino was standing beside the woman, rubbing his side against her leg. The woman swayed as Dino’s weight pressed against her, but she didn’t move, only lowered her hand and patted Dino on the back.

“Thank you,” the woman said, clutching her clothes to her chest.

“You’re welcome, but you need to move fast because this is going to piss them off big time,” Jennifer said, turning. “Dino, let’s go!”

Dino looked up at the woman then spun around, taking off after Jennifer. When Jennifer and Dino entered the trees, the woman took off the way she came.

Hitting the slope, Jennifer’s legs started going numb as she tried as hard as she could to run up the hill but could only manage a stumbling jog. When she reached Lance, she saw he was standing and waiting on her. Jennifer stopped, putting her hands on her knees as she gasped for air.

“You can run, girl,” Lance said, patting her shoulder and looking down in the valley at the RV, which was fully engulfed in fire.

Pulling out her drinking tube, Jennifer sucked down a mouthful and looked up. “It felt like I was barely moving,” she panted then looked around. “Where is the brass?”

“Here,” Lance said, tapping his cargo pocket. “Cleaned the area so it would be a little harder to find, but we won’t ever use it again.”

“Smart,” Jennifer said, taking another long drink.

“We need to move before someone sees that smoke,” Lance said, looking around. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer panted, clipping her tube to her vest and straightening up.

Knowing she was tired, Lance eased up the hill back to the buggy. He would stop to let Jennifer catch her breath and look down at the valley. From the south, he saw two stumbling figures heading toward the smoke. “Looks like the Devil Lords will have a welcoming committee when they get here,” he said, turning to the north.

“Huh?” Jennifer said, still breathing heavily but not gasping for air.

“Stinkers heading for the smoke,” Lance said, bringing his rifle up and aiming north. He saw the woman and two dogs run across the road and into the trees on this side. “Seems our friend is coming.”

Jennifer looked to the north but only saw empty road. “Lance, please just talk simple. I’m too tired to interpret ‘guy.’”

“The woman just ran across the road with two dogs. She was running up toward the slope.”

“I told her to get away, Lance,” Jennifer said, glad her legs had stopped tingling.

“Let’s pull down the ridge and see if she follows,” Lance said, moving off.

“I swear if I have to kill that bitch after saving her, it’s going to be a slow death,” Jennifer huffed, taking off after Lance.

When they reached the buggy, Jennifer fought the urge to sprawl out on the bench and pulled her AR up to keep watch. Lance climbed in and turned the buggy around, following the ridge the way they came.

He passed the spot where they drove up from the valley below by a hundred yards then drove down into the valley. They moved up the next slope that led to the ridge that would take them home. Halfway up the ridge, Lance stopped at a small clearing and turned the buggy around. “Let’s see if she’s any good,” he said, climbing out and grabbing the thermal binoculars.

“You’re not going to get your sniper rifle?” Jennifer asked, climbing out.

“Out of bullets for it,” Lance said, pulling out an MRE and ripping it open. “We should have a little while, so eat.”

“No wonder that RV looked like Swiss cheese,” Jennifer said, pulling out an MRE as well.

“Jennifer,” Lance said, looking over and pulling stuff out of his pouch. “You did excellent in case you’re wondering.”

Fighting the urge to jump up and down cheering, Jennifer grinned and nodded. “Thank you.”

As they ate, Lance would look at the ridgeline across from them that they had come from with the thermal binoculars. Hearing Dino give a soft growl, Lance turned to look at him. Dino was looking off to their left, staring into the woods. “I got it,” Lance said, reaching back to grab his bow and quiver.