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With Jennifer and Lilly in one of the hybrid UTVs and Dwain following them in his side by side, Ian led the group. Everyone was tickled that the tigers were back at the platform that had been built for them.
Reaching the build house, Lance and Ian parked with Dwain beside them while Jennifer and Lilly moved out and once again set up on the ridge overlooking the valley where the meeting trailer was at. “Lilly, stay on channel two because Heath’s radio can hear channel three,” Lance called over the radio.
“Copy,” Lilly answered.
Somewhat nervously, Dwain turned to Lance. “What’s that about?” Dwain demanded.
Slowly, Lance turned to Dwain. “I think your brother has already gone down.”
“Why?”
Shrugging as Dino stuck his head between the front seats, “Just the way he was talking,” Lance offered.
“Damn,” Dwain mumbled, looking off and then turned back to Lance with a sheepish expression. “Well, you’re right.”
Flopping his head back on the headrest, “I’m tired,” Lance mumbled under his mask.
“Lance,” Lilly called over the radio. “We are set up and ah, Heath and Robin are already down at the trailer.”
“Figured,” Lance called back. “How many do you see?”
“Six, and I don’t see anyone on overwatch below us.”
“You need to have a talk with your brother,” Lance told Dwain. “That was dangerous.”
“Lance, Heath said he liked the two he talked to. Trust me, he won’t throw his life away, but we wanted to make sure the guys were on the level before bringing you and Ian to meet them,” Dwain replied, starting his side by side.
Rubbing Dino’s massive head, Lance turned to Ian. “I really think we should ground them.”
“Fine, but you’re the one enforcing that shit on Rhonda. I’ll fight the others,” Ian snorted, turning the buggy on and pulling off. “That bitch is strong. I’m not getting my ass kicked by a girl with a rack that size, I’ll lose my man card.”
Lance just laughed, pulling his hand away from Dino and grabbing his radio, turning to Heath’s channel. “Heath, rolling down and yes, the spotters have told me you’re already there.”
“Just wanted to make sure,” Heath answered quickly. “Waiting on you outside.”
“Copy,” Lance sighed, letting the PTT go and holding his AR out the door. When Ian reached the valley floor they both scanned around for stinkers and lions, more terrified of the latter by far.
“Hope the lions moved on,” Ian said, pulling onto the road and heading north.
“Yeah, we have tigers already,” Lance grunted, scanning around as Ian drove up the valley. Rounding the last curve, Lance saw a group standing around the front of the trailer. “We are talking outside.”
“That’s what I was thinking. That trailer would be hotter than hell,” Ian agreed.
When Ian came to a stop, Lance climbed out as Dino jumped out and stared at the group with Heath. “Dino, chill,” Lance said as the new group shivered at the two grey skulls painted on the masks. Slowly, Dino walked over while sniffing the air and looking at the new group, then just dropped down lazily on the ground.
“I didn’t mean take a nap,” Lance chuckled, letting his AR hang under his arm. “Heath, we are still talking about grounding you.”
“Lance -,” Heath said, holding up his hands and Ian cut Heath off.
“First, Dwain, Kathy, and Rhonda scout outside your area and then you just run down and meet a new group we know nothing about. You guys are really trying our patience. All of you are lucky I have on this heavy-ass vest, otherwise I would take my belt off and spank your asses,” Ian snapped.
“I’d hide behind Jennifer,” Rhonda chuckled, walking past Ian with Holly.
“You’d have to leave sometime,” Ian grumbled, following Rhonda over.
“Lance, this is Patrick Stanton,” Heath said, pointing at a man who looked around forty. “Mr. Stanton’s oldest grandson. These are his younger brothers David, Colton, and Wesley. The two young men over there are Patrick’s sons Drew and Larry.”
Lance turned to the boys and thought Drew looked around sixteen and Larry looked around his age. Turning back to Patrick and his brothers, Lance stared at each one’s face, noticing bushy beards. “Lance, Ian,” Lance said, holding out his hand.
Shaking each one’s hand, Lance scanned them over seeing each held a hunting rifle or shotgun. Each of the men looked fit, but he could tell they were much thinner than they had been in the past life, and none were over six foot tall. “Not to sound condescending, but you don’t look like you’re from around here,” Lance said, stepping back and took off his helmet.
“We aren’t,” Patrick answered. “All of us except for Wesley lived up in Lexington. Wesley lived in Frankfort.”
“Lance, you want to head inside?” Heath asked, pointing at the trailer.
“I’ve sweated my ass off enough today chasing them down,” Lance huffed, pointing over at Holly and Dawn. “I’m not in the mood to sit in a mobile home that’s been shut up since we met you.”
“Well, Robin and I hauled a generator down this morning, and I put two portable A/C units in there and Robin brought some food,” Heath grinned.
Taking his mask off, Lance didn’t notice the new group relax. “Okay, Heath, you don’t get a spanking or grounded,” Lance stated, grabbing his PTT. “Come on down.”
“Lance, we need to keep eyes out for stinkers,” Lilly called back. “Besides, it feels better out here.”
“Baby doll, Heath set up an A/C in the trailer.”
“On the way,” Lilly answered quickly.
“Not to say we aren’t thankful, but don’t you think all of you are being a little too trusting?” Patrick asked, looking around and stopping at Dwain and Kathy.
“Why?” Lance shrugged as Ian took his helmet and mask off. “We have more guns than you and you don’t have anyone else on overwatch. Not to mention, you don’t have much for ammo. We could kick your ass.”
The entire group seemed very nervous and Ian chuckled. “Guys, chill.”
“How do you figure that?” the youngest brother Wesley asked with interest. “About the ammo.”
Ian pointed at each one. “None of your pockets are bulging and only two are carrying backpacks, and they aren’t heavy enough to be carrying a lot of ammo. Then, each of you are carrying a bat.”
Stepping over, Lance pointed at the XDM on Patrick’s hip. “Plus, your load indicator on your XDM is down, and nobody carries a pistol without one in the pipe except a dumbass, which I don’t think any of you are,” Lance grinned. “The only other conclusion would be no bullets.”
Patrick looked down at his pistol and sighed, “Yeah.”
“Now, why haven’t you guys put a fence around that house?” Lance asked. “I’m still trying to figure out how you survived that mass of stinkers that came through.”
“Grandpa has a storm cellar in the backyard. After that flood of-,” Patrick paused. “Stinkers, we started sleeping in the storm cellar at night. About the fence, it’s taking everything we can do to keep food and clean water coming.”
“You haven’t scavenged to the south or east,” Ian stated, turning to look down the road and saw the hybrid buggy coming.
The entire group nodded as David answered, “I take it, you know of that white supremacist group and bikers.”
“Yeah, we had to take those douchebags down,” Ian snickered as Jennifer slowed to pull into the yard.
“That biker gang attacked them!” David blurted out.
“Yeah, Devil Lords,” Ian nodded, turning back around. “After we attacked both and set up booby traps, making each think the other was doing it. We had to kill quite a few before the cock wipes started fighting each other. I hate attacking stupid people, trying to get a point across. It’s really much easier to just kill them.”
Watching Jennifer and Lilly get out of the buggy, Lance nodded. “Look at the trouble we went through to make their misery elaborate, and did any one of them appreciate the time and effort we put into it? Hell no!”
The four brothers all turned to Heath in shock. With a huge grin, Heath raised his eyebrows. “Told ya they don’t play around.”
Jennifer and Lilly walked over, seeing the shock on the newcomers. “I remember when that used to be me,” Lilly chuckled, then glanced around.
Letting his rifle hang under his arm, Lance waved at the trailer. “Let’s get inside and talk for a second,” he said and just walked off.
Carrying Dawn, Holly followed Lance up on the porch. “Have to admit, I be lovin’ the air,” she said with a grin.
Walking in, Lance saw the trailer had been cleaned up and the living room emptied of furniture. An eight-foot folding table now took up the living room with chairs around it. “We could’ve helped,” Lance called out, tossing his mask and helmet on the table before dropping in a chair at the end. The new group walked in sighing, but not as loud as Holly did at the relief of the cool air. The cabin’s temp was nice, the temperature in the trailer was damn near cold.
The four brothers took seats on one side of the table as Dwain, Heath, and Rhonda sat on the other side with Ian taking the chair at the other end. Watching Jennifer walk to the end of the table and sit on Ian’s leg, Lilly moved over and did the same on Lance’s left leg as she took off her helmet and mask.
“So, what has Heath told you?” Lance asked as Lilly sat on his left leg.
Patrick watched his boys head into the kitchen where Robin and Kathy were starting sandwiches. “That those that join up have to pull their weight,” Patrick mumbled, smacking his lips.
“I told him everything you told us,” Heath chipped in.
Nodding, “Okay. So, you need time to talk it over with the rest?” Lance asked, noticing all the brothers were turned to the kitchen to watch the sandwiches being made.
Blinking his eyes to break the trance the food held over him, Patrick turned to Lance. “Lance, like I said, it’s taking everything we have just to keep up with food and water. Then throw in taking out stinkers that get close and dodging patrols of assholes trying to pillage, we won’t be able to contribute much. We would love to help, but just can’t.”
Turning to Ian, Lance saw Ian give a nod as he spoke. “They know limitations. I like that.”
When Kathy and Robin handed the first sandwiches to Patrick’s sons, each finished the sandwich off in two bites. “Slow down,” Robin laughed, walking over and handing a plate to Patrick. “Take one and pass it down,” she told him, heading back to the kitchen.
“Well-” Lance started, and paused when Patrick shoved the entire sandwich in his mouth. “Dude, that sandwich wasn’t going to run away.”
Taking a bottle of water, Patrick drained it as the others, including Holly, gulped down the sandwiches. When his mouth was empty, Patrick nodded. “Sorry,” he gasped. “We’ve only searched houses, and lately have been coming up empty. Like I said, between chores, stinkers, and assholes, we haven’t found much food.”
“Like I was going to say,” Lance grinned as Kathy brought another plate of sandwiches in. “First, you need to leave that house you’re in. It’s a shallow draw with no water.”
The group was listening, but still shoved food in their mouths. “Where should we go?” Patrick mumbled with a full mouth.
“Somewhere with water for starters,” Ian chuckled, leaning over and opening Wesley’s bottle of water. Struggling to swallow the mouthful, Wesley grinned as he took the bottle.
“We assist each other,” Lance said as the other brothers drained water bottles. “If any move into the area we patrol and don’t help, they leave.”
Nodding, “So, we kick them out?” Patrick asked.
Shaking his head, “No. We kill their asses,” Lance replied in a dead tone, stopping the others from grabbing more food. “We aren’t going to provide a safe area and just have people live here without helping. Harsh, yes. But I’m not going to worry about someone getting pissed and coming back to ambush us.”
Leaning over the table grinning, “You’re not in our area,” Ian told the group.
“Gentlemen,” Lilly said, patting Lance’s leg. “This isn’t a handout. This is a hand up. The more help we have, the more we can patrol, keeping the area clear and spotting assholes before they get close. We’ve watched you and decided to offer you the chance to join, but the rules apply to all. Everyone works together.”
Patrick turned to his brothers. “I’m willing to try,” he stated. “I’m tired of beating infected to death with a bat and sharing a can of food between five people.”
David, Colton, and Wesley all nodded in agreement and Patrick turned back to Lance. “You’re going to have to give us some time to gather up some ammo and move, but count us in,” Patrick said.
“Dude,” Ian laughed, and all the brothers turned to him. “We don’t let folks go out until they know what the fuck they are doing.”
“That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Lance sang out, staring down the table at Rhonda.
“Bite me,” Rhonda snapped. “I’ve been running around since this started, hunting and gathering stuff.”
“Patrick, we’ll assist you in setting up and learning your area, then we would expect you to start helping,” Ian laughed, looking down the table at Lance.
“If you can help enough, just so we can catch our breath, we’ll patrol the state,” Patrick said.
“No, we just patrol the area around us,” Jennifer chuckled as their radios went off, making all tense up.
“Away team, this is Enterprise,” Allie’s little voice called out.
Grabbing his PTT, “Enterprise, this is away team, and it better be good,” Lance replied.
“The computer is blinking for battle bot one,” Allie answered.
Giving a sigh and glancing at his watch, “Yeah, it’s download time, Enterprise,” Lance called back.
“Damn it!” Allie’s little voice shouted, making them jump. “The screen is blinking red with a bunch of numbers and most are red and not white like the other bots!”
Pushing Lilly until she stood up, Lance pulled a small notepad from his cargo pocket and an ink pen. “Enterprise, read off the numbers.”
As Allie started reading off numbers, Heath leaned over to Ian when he stood up. “Ian, that’s your radios. Aren’t you scared someone will hear?” Heath asked, watching Ian walk down the table toward Lance.
“It’s only one watt,” Ian mumbled, stopping and watching Lance write down numbers.
Grabbing his PTT, “Allie!” Lance snapped, and let go to see if Allie stopped. Not hearing her voice, Lance pressed the PTT. “Repeat the last number.”
Allie repeated the number and Lance threw the ink pen across the room. “Shitfuck!” Lance bellowed, and grabbed his helmet and mask.
“What?!” Ian asked looking at the numbers, but had never learned the computer status codes.
“Some ass monkey screwed with our shit!” Lance screamed, shoving his mask back on.
Heath and his group jumped up as Lilly and Jennifer started pulling their masks and helmets on. “What?” Patrick asked.
Press checking his AR, Lance spun for the door and kicked it open. “Someone dies!” Ian shouted, following Lance out.
Checking his weapons, Heath glanced over to Patrick. “Just stay here and let us check this out,” Heath told him.
“Is a gang close? Because if they are, we want to help,” Patrick said, standing up.
Before Heath could answer, Jennifer stopped him by holding up her hand. “You serious?” Jennifer asked and Patrick nodded. “Any of you know how to run M4s?”
“All of us do,” Patrick answered as Lilly darted after Lance.
“Follow,” Jennifer said and ran out, following Lilly. Coming out, Jennifer saw Lilly standing in front of the buggy talking to Lance. Ian was already in behind the steering wheel drumming his fingers, and Dino was in the backseat.
Jumping off the porch, Jennifer grabbed Lilly and pulled her to the side. Yanking out her map, “What route are you taking?” Jennifer asked, and Lance jammed his finger on the map moving west to the bot site. “Meet you there,” Jennifer said, and Lance climbed in the buggy and Ian stomped the accelerator, taking off.
“Are you insane?!” Lilly shouted.
“No,” Jennifer said, pulling Lilly to their buggy. “Trust me, they won’t blunder in because they don’t want any to have a chance to escape. They want payback and that means they want to punish every person associated. Whoever messed with the bot, Lance and Ian will punish the kid who sat beside them in Sunday school. We would slow them down, and I don’t want any of that anger turned to us.”
“Patrick!” Jennifer shouted, stopping by their buggy. Patrick and his group ran over as Jennifer pointed in the back. “Our gift to you,” Jennifer told him, and Patrick saw M4s and other gear in the back. “Get it because we have to go.”
As Patrick and his brothers grabbed the gear, Rhonda jogged over. “We need to go.”
“No, you, WILL, wait on us,” Jennifer snapped. “If you go and scare away whoever did this, Lance and Ian will unload on your ass! Yes, they are mad, but unlike most people, when they get mad, they can think and let me tell you, it’s scary as hell.”
Stepping back as Patrick and them checked the weapons, Rhonda nodded as Heath and Dwain stepped over. “So, we aren’t going?” Dwain asked hesitantly.
“Bullshit,” Jennifer snapped. “I didn’t say that. We are giving them a head start, so they can scout the area. I don’t want their anger focused on us because we scared the assholes off.”
Nodding, Heath turned to Dwain. “That’s sound reasoning,” Heath declared.
“So when are we leaving?” Lilly asked with a growl.
“As soon as Patrick and his group gets the shit out of our buggy,” Jennifer said, turning to Lilly.
Looking over as the last of the gear was pulled out of the back, “They’re done,” Lilly said, climbing in the buggy and flipping her NVGs down.
“We want to come,” Patrick said, looking around at everyone as Lilly cranked up the buggy.
“Holly’s riding with us,” Rhonda said, walking over to the buggy she rode in with Dwain and Kathy.
Heath turned to Patrick. “We have room, but some will have to ride in the bed of the side by sides,” Heath said, glancing at Jennifer as she climbed in the buggy. “Can some ride with you?”
When Jennifer nodded, Heath started pointing at the six and telling them where to go. Patrick and David climbed in the backseat of Lilly’s ride and Patrick’s sons climbed in the small bed.
“Follow us,” Jennifer called out, flipping her NVGs down.
***
Ian sped around the trailer and drove up the slope behind it. Cresting the ridge, the buggy went airborne. Landing hard, the tires threw up forest debris as Ian drove through the trees and past the old guard position Heath’s group had used before they’d moved. “You know when the bot was attacked?” Ian asked, driving across the road that led to Heath’s old house.
“1711 was when the battery station reported tampering and delivered deterrent shock,” Lance snarled. “Recharging station shut down three minutes after that and at 1716, the bot started registering multiple failures. I should’ve programed the station to report when that happened, instead of waiting for download time.”
Running up the slope until he reached the ridge, Ian turned the wheel and followed the ridge northwest. “If the bot’s hurt, we show no mercy to any in the group responsible,” Ian growled.
“Agreed,” Lance replied. “They will die so slowly, they will swear time has stopped and will experience so much pain, death will be greeted happily. Depending on damage, I’m willing to hurt innocent members of their family.”
Driving off the ridge he was following as it headed north, Ian drove down the slope and sped across the road that led to Heath’s new place. “Shit,” Lance mumbled, and grabbed his PTT. “Stinkers on road heading to Heath’s,” he called out. “We aren’t engaging.”
“Well, we know it was working,” Ian spat out, driving across the road and up the slope of the ridge on the other side. “Not even four hours and we’re getting stinkers wandering down the road.”
“Copy,” Jennifer called back.
Nearing the edge of the patrol area, Ian slowed as Lance flipped up his NVGs and scanned around with the thermal scope. “Clear,” Lance reported, and Ian continued on slowly.
A mile outside of the patrol area, Ian crept over the ridge that overlooked the field the first bot was set up in. Lance scanned with his thermal scope and Ian flipped up his NVGs and scanned with the thermal binoculars. “All I see is a few hundred stinkers in the field but many more coming off the road to the north,” Ian said.
“Have a body beside the battery that hasn’t turned, but other than that, hundreds of stinkers in the field and around a thousand moving to the field,” Lance replied.
Putting the binoculars down, Ian turned to Lance. “Ready to retake the field?” Ian asked.
Flipping his NVGs down, “Let’s get some,” Lance snarled, and pressed his PTT. “No live bodies. Clearing the field.”
Driving down the hill, Ian saw a mass of stinkers in the playground around the bot that was just sitting still. The LED lights on the pole lit up the area and most of the playground was full, with stinkers near the recharging station and battery.
Busting out of the tree line, Ian sped across the field and stopped a hundred yards from the mass of stinkers that all turned and started toward them.
Jumping out and turning on his IR laser, Lance raised his AR up. When the laser hit the closest stinker in the face, Lance squeezed the trigger to drop the stinker and moved his aim. “Dino, guard!” Lance shouted, pulling the trigger when the laser hit a face.
Dino climbed out looking around as Ian started shooting from the driver’s side using his IR laser to aim. The stinkers moved en masse out of the playground at the duo as they changed magazines and poured hate over the area.
Holding the group at sixty yards, the two were running through magazines and widening their fields of fire to keep the stinkers from getting around them.
Lilly drove over the ridge and saw two green IR lasers sweeping back and forth across a mob of stinkers advancing on the buggy. Driving down, it looked like lasers were cutting down the advancing mob, instead of the head shots.
“Coming up behind you,” Jennifer called over the radio and watched Dino sit down beside Ian, watching the duo slaughter the wave of bodies coming at them.
Slamming on the brakes, Lilly and Jennifer jumped out before turning on their IR lasers. Moving up in line with Ian and Lance, they started engaging stinkers, though not as fast as Lance and Ian were.
“Make sure the suppressor is seated,” Patrick told his sons, showing them how as he stood beside the buggy.
“Shit,” Drew, Patrick’s oldest son gasped, looking at the wall of infected.
“Drew, Larry, keep your eyes on our back,” Patrick told them, moving to the line and bringing his rifle up.
Drew looked over at his brother. “Those guys are bat shit crazy,” Drew said, nodding at Lance and Ian.
“But they are cool as hell,” Larry agreed in a trembling voice.
Heath jumped out panting, seeing the wall of stinkers. “Dawn, stay here!” Holly shouted with a grin and jumped out, passing Heath while pulling out her sling shot.
“Great, another crazy teen,” Heath mumbled as Holly pulled back her slingshot and let a shot go. Heath was shocked, watching the stinker forty yards away drop. Moving to the line, “I’m finding one of those slingshots,” Heath said, lifting his rifle.
The wave of stinkers melted under the methodical and relentless fire.
Slamming in a new magazine, Lance saw the last ones standing drop when their heads exploded. Glancing at his barrel, Lance saw smoke pouring off. Flipping his safety on, Lance looked at the mass of bodies. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back with another bot,” he grinned.
