Forsaken World:Coming of Age (8 page)

“Oh shit, I forgot about that,” Lance moaned. “You didn’t get cut by that damn razor wire, did you?”

“No, Allie and Carrie got out and closed it. Their bodies and arms are small enough to get between the loops.”

Impressed, Lance nodded. “Never thought about that.”

“Neither did I,” Jennifer chuckled. “They scared the ever-living shit out of me when they came up behind me.”

“Hey, I almost shot a raccoon for the same thing,” Ian chuckled, scanning out the window.

As they slowly drove past the Douglas farm, they saw the chickens in the yard they had let out but nothing else. Easing down the road, Lance passed the Ferguson farm then, taking a deep breath, backed down the really long driveway. With only a few turns, he backed the trailer to the carport and turned off the Hummer.

“Allie, Carrie, we are going to start now. We will be outside; it’s on you two to let us know if anything is coming,” Lance said, cracking the windows an inch. Lifting his nose, all Lance smelled were the smells of a farm. When they let Dino out, the goats in the yard bayed and ran away from the fence.

“I have point,” Ian said, moving to the house. “Jennifer, you next, and Lance, bring up the rear.”

With trembling hands, Jennifer kept her rifle aimed down and followed Ian. It didn’t take them long to make sure the house was clear. Then they went around and made sure all the doors were locked, and Jennifer went to work. Jennifer grabbed pillow cases and started filling them in the kitchen, and Ian and Lance moved them to the front door, grabbing the truck keys. Leaving Jennifer inside, Ian and Lance moved outside to the beehives and closed them up before the sun rose then headed back inside.

When all the pillow cases were gone, Jennifer started filling large trash bags. When the kitchen and pantry were done, Jennifer headed upstairs. As Lance sat down the last bag from the kitchen, he said, “Thought she said we didn’t need anything else up there.”

“Who knows,” Ian shrugged as Lance headed upstairs to see what she was packing. He found her in what could only be a young teen girl’s room.

Jennifer had something clutched to her chest and was looking up at the ceiling. “Thank you,” she said as Lance walked in.

“Need help?” he asked, looking around.

“No, I can take this down,” she said, grabbing a bag, and Lance noticed a bra in her hand.

“They have some of those in the bunker.”

“Yeah but not a lot of small ones,” she said and started shoving stuff in a trash bag. “Yours and Ian’s mom think all girls will have large racks.”

“Oh,” Lance said and spun around, leaving the room before Jennifer clarified anything else. Walking back to the living room, Lance took off his pack and pulled out his laptop. Turning it on, he pulled out his cellphone and grinned, seeing he had signal.

“You still going to try?” Ian said, walking over.

“Yeah, we aren’t home, so even if they do trace, we aren’t here.”

Nodding, Ian grabbed his squawk box. “Ladybugs, you see anything?” he called over the radio.

“A pretty cat is walking on the road, and two deer are on the mountain behind the house,” Allie’s small voice came back.

Ian looked out the window to see the world starting to get brighter. “Good job; we are almost done in the house.”

Hearing Lance’s computer beep, Ian walked over. “They haven’t sent another message,” Lance said, looking at his e-mail.

“Lance, our parents are in the middle of the ocean, and even if they could link up somehow, that’s not the best place to try and hide from something,” Ian said as Lance started clicking open other windows.

“Two of the message boards are down,” he said, clicking on other windows to start downloads. With two bags over her shoulder, Jennifer walked in and saw them looking at Lance’s laptop.

“Ready to load?” she said, dropping the bags.

Grabbing them, the boys followed her out to the trailer. Jennifer climbed in as they started passing up the bags. It was dawn when they finished, and they looked around to see Dino sitting inside the fence with the goats running around him. “You would think goats would try not to piss off a mastiff,” Ian chuckled.

Lance came back out, shoving the laptop in his pack. “Ready for me to pull back to the barn?”

“Yeah, it may be daylight, but it’s still spooky,” Ian said as Jennifer climbed out of the trailer, shutting the side door.

“You got that shit right,” she said turning around unslinging her rifle. As Lance climbed in the Hummer, Jennifer moved up the driveway and opened the gate to the pasture. Fighting to keep the goats from getting out, they called Dino over, and the goats didn’t want to be by the gate anymore.

Easing through the gate, Lance pulled over to the barn and shut the Hummer off again. They cleared the barn again and let Jennifer start the gathering as they moved over grabbing bee suits and a cart. “Brings back memories,” Ian chuckled, pulling the net over his head.

Pulling the cart over, they loaded up four of the hives and pulled them over to the Dodge truck. Being as gentle as they could, they put the hives in the bed and went back for the other four. When they were loaded they wrapped the hives in netting then went to the barn to find Jennifer cussing as she loaded rolls of barbwire.

“We have a lot of that,” Lance said, moving over to help.

“This is one thing we can’t really make,” Jennifer huffed as they put it down.

“We see someone walking down the road,” Allie’s voice came over the radio, freezing all of them.

Seeing Ian and Jennifer moving fast out of the barn, Lance hissed. “Move slow; fast movement is easily seen.”

They crept to the front of the barn and didn’t see anything in front of the house on the road. Turning, they saw a figure moving at a slow pace down the road. “Shit, they saw that from a mile away,” Ian mumbled.

Lance moved back inside the barn, taking off his pack. “You two keep loading,” he said, pulling out the 3D camo and taking off his vest.

“You’re going to it?” Ian huffed.

“Be damned if I’m going to let him come here,” Lance said, pulling on the outfit.

They watched as Lance turned into a bush and grabbed his rifle. “You don’t need to go that far out for it,” Ian said, moving to the trailer and tightening his gloves.

“I’m not,” Lance said, putting on his hood and glasses. “I’m going to the edge of the field.”

Walking out slowly, Lance headed to the corner of the field where the fence stopped at the slope of the ridge that loomed over the farm. As he walked, Lance noticed the cows moving away from the fence and from the figure walking on the road. The figure stopped and changed directions, heading toward the fence then veering toward the moving cows. “Never done that before,” Lance mumbled as he walked slowly toward the figure.

When he was a hundred yards away, he could smell the stinker easily, but it was nothing compared to the dead ones. He saw it at one time was an old man as he walked into the fence, reaching out towards the cows and growling. Easing to within thirty yards, Lance raised his rifle, put his sight on the old man’s head, and squeezed the trigger.

The old man’s head snapped back, taking his body to the ground with a flop. Looking down the road, Lance saw two more figures stumbling toward him from down the road. “Have two more half a mile away,” he called over the radio.

“Trailers almost loaded,” Ian called back.

“Ian, can you back that truck up to the horse trailer?”

“Yeah,” Ian called back dejected.

“Call before you do; I want to see how they act.”

Lance just stood motionless as the two figures slowly moved toward him. They were only a few hundred yards away when Ian called, “Starting the truck.”

When the farm truck started, the two figures went from a slow shamble to a trot. “Yeah, they have a hard on for sound,” Lance mumbled, staying motionless.

He watched the two move down to the ditch and stop by the dead old man then look up at the barn as Ian backed the truck up to the horse trailer. Lance lifted his rifle and shot both. “That’s why I don’t want to use that damn equipment,” he said, pulling out a squeeze bottle and moving over to the fence.

He squirted lighter fluid over the bodies then put the bottle up and pulled out a lighter and reached through the fence.
Whoosh
sounded as the flames engulfed the bodies. “Not as flammable unless you let them set for a few days,” he grinned, putting the lighter up and stepping back.

Hearing the truck turn off, he looked back to see the trailer backed up to the pig pen. He turned back to watch the road, hearing Ian and Jennifer moving the pigs in the trailer. Hearing grunting behind him, Lance spun around to see a sow moving around the field. “He could’ve told me he was letting the others go now,” Lance huffed.

“Getting the goats,” Jennifer called out, panting over the radio.

Looking down the road, Lance shook his head. “Four more coming down the road,” he called back.

Lance watched the group coming at him in a trot. “What the hell,” he said, looking at the bodies still burning. He couldn’t hear Ian and Jennifer. Easing back, Lance studied the group and noticed they avoided the fire and charged the fence reaching out at the pigs that were walking around the pasture now.

“They’ve changed,” he said, raising his rifle and snapping off four shots. Walking over, he squirted them down then lit them up.

“Done,” Ian called out over the radio.

Lance looked down the road and didn’t see any more stinkers. “Moving to you,” he said, turning around and jogged back. He stopped by the Hummer and found Ian and Jennifer panting. “Sorry I didn’t help.”

“Fuck that,” Jennifer said, getting up. “You shot the stinkers before they got close.”

Lance glanced over his shoulder and saw the first fire dying down. “They charged the fence trying to get the cows and pigs,” he said, ejecting his magazine and putting in a full one. “You two rest; then, we’ll leave.”

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Ian said and stood to look around.

“I want you two to rest for a few more minutes; then, we will just stop, and I’ll get the other truck,” he said, seeing the two were still breathing hard. “We will leave the shit there.”

“Fine by me,” Jennifer said, pulling her drinking tube off her vest.

Moving over to the Hummer Lance opened the door. “You two doing okay?” he asked, looking at Allie and Carrie.

“Yeah,” Carrie said and smiled. “Lance, can you catch that little goat?” she asked, pointing behind him.

Turning around, Lance saw a small black and white goat. “That’s a kid; where’s his momma?”

“In the trailer. Ian couldn’t catch him,” Allie said, sticking her head out. “Please, Lance, he’s so cute, and his momma is coming with us.” Looking at Lance with sad eyes, Allie poked out her bottom lip.

Letting out a sigh, he said, “Keep an eye out.” He pushed his rifle to his side so it was hanging under his arm. Easing over to the baby goat, Lance cooed, making the baby goat stare at him.

Watching Lance ease up to the baby goat, Jennifer shook her head. “Told you they would get Lance to catch it.”

“He needs to grow some balls and learn to tell them no,” Ian huffed. “I almost shot the damn thing when it jumped out of the trailer.”

When Lance got close, he reached for the goat, and it took off running. “Oh, you little bastard,” he growled and took off after it. For ten minutes, he chased it around the yard and finally dove at it, trying to catch it. Coming up with a face full of dirt, Lance stood, glaring at the goat. “Dino,” he called out in a low voice.

Dino trotted over, panting, and looked up at Lance. “Hold,” Lance said, pointing at the baby goat. Letting out a gruff, Dino lunged, and the baby goat squealed as it took off running. When the goat tried to turn, Dino just ran it over then grabbed the goat by the head and held it on the ground.

As Lance walked over with a smile, Ian shook his head. “I should’ve thought of that,” he said as Lance picked the goat up and patted Dino’s head. Ian looked over at the Hummer and saw both girls with looks of shock on their face. “Serves them right.”

Lance came over and tossed the goat in the trailer. “Ready?”

“Been ready,” Jennifer said, heading to the Hummer. “You could’ve said no.”

“Don’t even start,” he snapped and looked at Ian. “We’re leaving the gates open. I’ll ride in the back, so just stop on the road, and I’ll get the other truck.”

With Jennifer leading in the Hummer, they pulled out on the road and stopped beside the Douglas farm. Lance ran for the truck and jumped in. When the big truck started, he swallowed nervously. “It’s just bigger,” he said, putting it in gear.

Knocking down one fence he managed to get on the road. As he followed the others, Lance noticed they were really moving and looked down to see the speedometer at fifty. He grabbed his squawk box and called over the radio. “Slow down, and keep your spacing. The road is really narrow.”

They blew past the parked electric buggy, and Lance noticed as he pulled in the field he was still doing twenty-five. Looking up, he saw the Hummer disappear in the stand of cedars. “She needs to slow her ass down.”