Forsaken World:Coming of Age (32 page)

When Lance joined Ian and Dino, Ian grabbed Lance’s arm. “Lance, we need to backtrack our route to see if we passed another camera already.”

“Dude, we were in the forest.”

“Not all the way, brah,” Ian said. “We crossed that bridge, and we took that pipeline here.”

“Ian, I’m sure the three musketeers have called in our deed.”

“Lance, we can’t let them know it’s kids.”

“Okay,” Lance said, thinking about it. “We can do the other deeds another day.”

They crossed the road and almost ran up the hill to the buggy. When they jumped in, Dino gave a soft growl, looking toward the pipeline they drove off of. “I got it,” Lance said, getting out.

When he started walking toward the pipeline, Dino moved with him. Moving around the trees, Lance kept his eyes forward looking at the clearing ahead that was the pipeline. He could see a figure right at the edge of the tree line just standing there. Bringing up his AR, Lance looked through his scope and saw it was a young, nude, female stinker.

Keeping the crosshairs on her face, Lance squeezed the trigger and watched her head snap back. “Thirty yards, no challenge,” he mumbled and moved up to the pipeline. Seeing two more moving over, Lance snapped up his rifle and dropped them. He stepped out on the pipeline and didn’t see any more.

When Ian didn’t hear any more suppressed shots, he pulled up to the pipeline and found Lance standing over a naked stinker. “Brah, you’re looking at stinker titties?”

“Ian, come here,” Lance said, staring at the body.

Ian climbed out and walked over. “Dude, stinkers don’t do anything for me.”

“Look at her arm.”

Ian looked down and didn’t see anything at first. “Yeah, she was bit,” he said, looking up at Lance, then his eyes grew wide. Jumping back, Ian looked back at the stinker’s arm, and a scab covered a bite on her bicep. “It could be old,” he panted.

“It’s not real scar tissue,” Lance said and poked the scar with a stick. The scab slid away, and clear, yellow fluid ran down the skin. “It’s like pond scum but pasty white like the skin.”

“Motherfucker, are you saying stinkers can heal? How can they? They’re dead.”

“They are dead, but they have shit in them from outside the solar system. Shit, for all we know, they’ll sprout wings and fly.”

Ian cut his eyes up at the sky. “Dude, that’s not even funny.”

Feeling his pulse quicken, Lance pulled out his camera and took some pictures. “Let’s get going and check our route for trail cameras.”

Spinning around, Ian ran over and jumped on the buggy and saw Dino sniffing one of the others Lance shot. Ian sniffed the air, and he could smell them, but as they had discovered, it wasn’t as strong. “Dino, come,” he barked in a whisper.

When Lance climbed in, they drove back down the pipeline, only slower this time. Along with the binoculars, they used the NV scope. Driving off the pipeline through the trees, Ian pulled over the hill and stopped looking at the bridge that crossed the river.

“We scout it hard,” Lance said, getting out. “The musketeer wipeout was only three miles to the east.”

Giving a nod, Ian climbed out, carrying the regular binoculars and spotting scope. Lance carried the thermals and NV scope. As soon as the scope was to his eye, Lance saw a fan of IR light across the end of the bridge. “Shit, this end past the outside guardrail on that tree that’s leaning away from the road,” he huffed.

“Got it,” Ian said then looked around. “See anymore?”

Panning the scope around, Lance didn’t see any more IR light. “No,” he said, grabbing the thermals. “We need to start carrying one of those radios that the gang uses.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Ian said, panning his binoculars around. “To the northwest, I see a big ass pack of dogs.”

Turning to look with the thermals, Lance sucked in his breath. “Shit, pack my ass. That has to be a hundred dogs.”

“Well, I don’t know what a fuck load of dogs are called,” Ian said, looking around. “We need to move before they come this way. I’m not ready to send that many dogs to Heaven. I’m not sure if we even could.”

“Let’s grab that card from the camera and book,” Lance said, turning for the buggy. “Let’s hold on this side of Highway 25 and check before we cross.”

Ian got up, grabbing his stuff. “Sounds like a plan.”

They climbed in the buggy, and Ian pulled down to the road. When they got close to the tree, they saw the trail camera easy enough now they knew where to look. Lance jumped out, popped the cover, and pulled the card. He closed and jumped back in the buggy.

“What, no surprises?” Ian said, darting over the bridge.

“Don’t want to push it,” Lance said. Ian pulled off the road as soon as they passed the guardrails for the bridge. “Any luck, they will think they forgot to put a card in.”

“Shit, we’ve done that enough,” Ian snorted.

Scanning ahead, Lance nodded. “That’s where I got the idea.”

Weaving in and around trees, Ian kept a steady pace until he saw a break in the trees ahead. “How far back you want me to stop?”

“A little further,” Lance said, looking at Dino, who was walking beside the buggy with his tongue hanging out.

Stopping a hundred yards from the highway, they eased up on foot. They were on a small rise over the highway. Pulling out his binoculars, Ian looked over where the bikers wiped out when they hit the oil slick. “Lance, they’re still there.”

Lance looked at the group through the thermals then around them. He could see warm areas where stinkers had been burnt that weren’t there before. “They’ve had company.”

“Yeah and all the bodies were burnt close to them,” Ian mumbled then panned up and down the highway. “Why the fuck are they still there? Don’t they know it’s dangerous outside?”

“Only two of them are alive,” Lance said, looking at the group. “One is colder.”

Looking over his binoculars at the group, Ian shook his head. “They have radios; why haven’t they called for help? Think it’s a trap?”

“Maybe but I can’t see them using members of their group as bait.”

“Let’s move down where we crossed and get to that side before those dogs head this way,” Ian said, crawling back.

Grabbing his stuff, Lance crawled back to the trees, and then they ran to the buggy and noticed Dino looking behind them. “Fuck it, let’s go,” Lance said, jumping in the buggy.

Turning the buggy north, Ian moved parallel to the highway until they reached the curve they used to hide them from the group. Lance jumped out and looked around with the thermals then the NV scope. “Clear,” he said and jumped back in.

Stomping the accelerator Ian threw dirt up as he darted back across the highway.

“Don’t leave tracks going into the woods; slow down,” Lance said as they bounced over the second lane.

Not wanting to, Ian slowed and pulled gently into the woods. He drove back up the hill, and they got out, heading back to the gully they had used that morning. Grabbing the stuff, they moved back to watch the bikers that were left.

As they set up, Ian looked west and saw the pack of dogs taking down stinkers as they moved down the highway. “Dogs are coming.”

Lance swung the thermals to see the massive pack moving down the highway with a large group of stinkers behind them. “This isn’t the musketeers’ best day.”

When Lance pulled out an MRE and settled in, Ian did the same. It took half an hour for the pack of dogs to travel the mile to the curve, and the two musketeers a half a mile away saw the pack immediately. One brought a radio to his mouth as the other struggled to stand up, using a stick as a crutch.

“I stand corrected,” Lance mumbled, looking through the thermals.

The two hobbled, using each other to walk past the oil slick then onto the road. From the east, a pickup truck was hauling ass toward them. When the two got out of the ditch, the dogs saw them, and the pack took off. “Going to be close,” Ian said, moving from the dogs to the musketeers and the truck.

“No it’s not,” Lance said as one musketeer let the other go and trotted fast toward the truck, leaving the one with the improvised crutch behind. “Well, for one, it isn’t.”

The pack caught up to Crutch and just swarmed over him like water. Even from two hundred yards away and below them over the barking, they could hear him scream. Most of the pack had stopped at him, but many realized that wasn’t enough and took off after the other one.

That pause was all he needed as the pickup truck screeched to a halt and spun sideways across the road. The last musketeer grabbed the side of the vehicle and pulled his body into the bed. The driver stomped the gas, burning the tires on the road and pulling into the median as the pack reached the truck.

Over a dozen dogs leapt in the air, and half made it into the bed of the truck before it sped off down the road. Lance looked back at Crutch and didn’t see any dogs at the mutilated corpse. Lifting his thermals, he saw the entire pack chasing the truck, which was pulling away.

Turning back to crutch, Lance saw the stinkers that had been chasing the dogs were just passing the corpse, continuing the chase. “Ready to leave?” Ian asked.

“Let’s wait,” Lance said, studying the scene.

They sat for an hour, and the road was pretty clear. “How much longer, brah?” Ian asked, looking around through the spotting scope. “I really don’t want that pack to come back.”

“Get the sniper rifle, and cover me. I’m going down there,” Lance said, putting the thermals down.

“What the fuck for?”

Lance pointed at the motorcycles and the body beside them. “I want to see what they left.”

“I don’t think it’s worth it,” Ian said, moving up the gully to the buggy. He came back carrying the M14. Setting it up on the lip, he looked over at Lance. “You get me killed, and I’m kicking your ass.”

“Dino, stay,” Lance said as he went over the lip of the gully and down the hill. Staying inside the trees, he moved parallel to the road until he was beside the pile of bikes. “Clear,” he asked Ian over the radio.

“The musketeer on the road is a stinker trying to crawl around, but other than that, you’re good.”

Taking a deep breath, Lance eased out of the tree line into the ditch up to the body of the biker who died in the crash. A knife was sticking out of the man’s forehead. Kneeling beside the body, Lance flipped open the leather jacket and emptied the pockets. Finding drugs, money, cigarettes, and magazines for a pistol, he moved over to the bikes.

Going through the saddle bags, he found maps and a pouch. He opened the pouch and saw a shit load of memory cards. “So it was your job,” he mumbled and tossed it in the pile of maps. He found two pistols and a busted radio.

Grabbing the maps and pouch, Lance darted back into the trees. When he got back to Ian, he was panting. “Find anything good for that risk?” Ian said, lifting the sniper rifle.

“Don’t know yet, but let’s get the fuck home,” Lance said, grabbing his stuff.

Dino followed them out of the gully and waited as they loaded up. When they drove off, Dino took the lead. The sun was setting as they reached their sweep area. “We’re back at top of ravine. Any kitty kills?” Lance called on the radio.

“No action. Got you on motion detector,” Lilly called back.

“She’s fitting in rather well,” Lance said, looking around the woods.

“I’m glad for the extra help, and now, Jennifer has someone to talk to,” Ian replied.

When they pulled up to the gates, Jennifer opened the outer gate. They both gave a startle at the glare she gave them as they drove past. Passing Lilly, they both jumped when they saw her scowl. “I would like to revisit my remark,” Lance said as Ian came to a stop, waiting on Jennifer and Lilly to close the gates and ride to the back of the cabin.

When they climbed in the back, Lance turned around, looking at them. “What bug crawled up y’all’s ass?”

“Just go,” Jennifer said in a neutral voice, but her eyes bespoke hostility.

Ian drove around the cabin and stomped the brake hard. “Who did that?” he asked, pointing at the mini excavator. It was sitting on the hillside with half the hillside dug away where the greenhouse was to go.

“I did,” Lilly snapped.

“You know how to drive an excavator?” Lance asked, looking at the mound of dug-out dirt.

“Let’s get inside,” Lilly said quietly.

Lance climbed out of the buggy. “Leave the motherfucker right here, Ian,” he said, turning to face Lilly and Jennifer. “We have been in some shit today, so I’m telling you now,” he said, dropping his vest to the ground and taking off his helmet. “If you think you’re going to ream my ass, I’m here to tell you I will kick your ass all over this mountain!” he shouted, throwing down his helmet.

Lilly and Jennifer looked at him wide-eyed and slid out the other side of the buggy. “What, you think I’m playing?!” he shouted, walking around the buggy. They watched as Lance got in a fighting stance. “Now, I’m warning you. Neither of you are my momma, so don’t think I’m taking this ass chewing lying down. Go ahead; I dare ya.”

All the anger was gone from their eyes as they turned to look at Ian. “Hey, don’t bring me in this shit. You two are the ones that set him off,” he said and spun around, heading for the cabin. “I will warn ya; get him in a headlock, and Lance will bite the shit out of you.”