Survivalist Reality Show: The Complete Series

by Grace Hamilton

  Wolf nodded his head. “He’s right.”

  “What were your symptoms?” Fred asked.

  RC shrugged a shoulder. “Headache, tired, I wasn’t really sweating. I felt clammy.”

  “He had a gray pallor to his skin, as well, and I could see he wasn’t moving as quickly and nimbly as he normally does,” Wolf added.

  “I didn’t start to feel lightheaded until we got back to the house,” he added.

  Tabitha was nodding her head already. “That’s because the house wasn’t much cooler. With the fluid loss, your blood pressure would have dropped really low causing you to be dizzy or lightheaded, especially when you stand up.”

  “And the leg cramps,” RC groaned. “Those came after. That’s why I was laying down.”

  “Because you were dehydrated, you silly man,” Tabitha scolded him.

  He nodded his head. “I know. I wasn’t careful.”

  “What should you do if you think you have heat exhaustion?” Geno asked.

  “Cool down right away!” Tabitha answered immediately. “The best thing is a cool cloth on the back of the neck and your forehead. You have to lower your body temperature.”

  “We could just jump in the lake or the ocean,” Geno quipped.

  Tabitha shook her head. “No. You don’t want to do it too rapidly. Stop working, move to the shade, and hydrate. And fan yourself if you need to, but don’t work up a sweat doing it. Put your feet up, literally, and lie back for a little while to let your body recover.”

  Regan nodded her head, taking it all in and making a mental checklist for herself. The weather was horrible, and she could easily see each of them suffering from heat exhaustion if they kept trying to move during the heat of the day. They didn’t just need to be aware of threats from the outside—they needed to be aware of their own bodies.

  Everyone went quiet as they mulled over the additional danger the weather posed. Regan bit into her Clif bar, washing it down with water and deciding she was definitely going to make a real effort to stay hydrated, paying more attention than she’d been doing.

  “We need to figure out how we’re getting there,” Wolf said.

  “I thought we knew that,” Fred said, his eyes going wide.

  “Yes and no,” Wolf replied.

  “That makes no sense,” Fred replied, his crankiness not reserved for Heather alone.

  “We know how to get there on the main highway that leads through the city on the way out, but it would be better if we took back roads and stayed off the highway. The only way I really know is the highway. I don’t want to draw attention to the van. We have to pass through several small towns. It’s hard to say how many have been overtaken by guys like Damien. Remember, we’re carrying the equivalent of a million dollars in that van, not to mention the running vehicle itself,” Wolf pointed out, not hiding his own irritation with Fred’s bad attitude.

  “I know my way around the area fairly well,” Heather chimed in. “I mean, I used to. I’m sure it’s still a lot of the same back roads and stuff.”

  RC looked at her. “Have you visited the lands often?”

  She shrugged in response, looking a little guilty. “Not as often as I should have. I haven’t been back since—”

  But she didn’t have to go on. Regan knew what she’d been about to say before her voice had trailed off. They all did. She hadn’t gone back since her husband had been killed. Travis reached out and put a hand on his mom’s arm, offering comfort.

  RC nodded his head. “I think we can all say we haven’t been back as often as we should have. We take things for granted. We assume it will be there tomorrow. Then, one day, it’s not. People aren’t. We get so busy; we forget the things that are most important.”

  It was a sobering statement they could all agree with. Regan didn’t really have anyone in her life she was sorely missing, but she knew the rest of them were missing family and loved ones. When she’d been separated from her mother, she’d had no idea it would be the last time she ever saw her. So, yes, she knew what it felt like to wish you’d said how much you loved a person before you lost the chance. And, more immediately, she could appreciate what RC said on another level—she was unspeakably glad to have Wolf in her life and be a part of this group, no matter how difficult things were.

  “I’ll grab the maps,” Fred announced, unfolding his long legs as he stood up from the blanket.

  Regan watched him go and wondered if there was someone in his life he was missing. He’d never really talked about his life before the show. He’d talked about school, sure, but not his personal life. Now, Regan wondered if there was something about Heather that was hitting a nerve. One way or another, she intended to find out.

  Fred came back holding several maps. He unfolded the map of the area and laid it out on the blanket. The map of Florida and the one of the entire country were left neatly folded. They wouldn’t need those today, but it was hard to know for sure how long they could stay in any one area. They could very well find themselves in New York or on the west coast one day in the coming months. They truly had no way of knowing what the future held.

  Heather, Wolf, and RC sat on the blanket, chatting about the best routes. Because none of them had visited the area in some time, they couldn’t be sure what was the same and what had changed, but there was some relief to be had in the fact that their memories of the roads matched up.

  “We used to go through here,” Heather said, tracing a line with her finger. “It’s a lot of narrow roads and you’re likely to encounter some wildlife, but it’s not bad for traveling purposes.”

  Regan groaned. “Maybe the road with the least amount of wildlife?”

  Wolf chuckled. “Wildlife means meat.”

  She wrinkled her nose, but smiled. “Well, when you put it that way.”

  Wolf turned his attention back to the map. The three of them began talking once again. Regan looked up and found Travis and Lily happily sitting in the shade of a rather anemic tree. She supposed some shade was better than none. Geno stood at the back of the van in what shade it offered, surveying the area.

  “I’m going to take a little walk,” Regan announced—code to say she needed to use the bathroom.

  “I’ll go with you,” Tabitha said, getting to her feet.

  “Take your weapon,” Wolf ordered Regan, glancing up to meet her eyes pointedly.

  Regan didn’t argue, and picked up the 380 she’d set on the blanket while eating. Together, they walked away from the group to take care of nature’s call. When they finished, Regan took a look around the area, searching for signs anyone was around. They hadn’t encountered anyone since the family early that morning.

  “It’s weird, huh?” Tabitha muttered.

  “What’s weird?”

  “Having Heather with us.”

  Regan shrugged. “Weird only because we got used to it only being us. It was the five of us, then the seven, and now there are nine different personalities trying to come together.”

  Tabitha looked at Regan. “Geno thinks she’s bossy. In this one thing, I agree with him.”

  Regan chuckled. “I don’t know if she’s bossy, but I think she’s used to being the boss and telling her son what to do. She has a very teacher-like quality to her. I think it’ll get better. Remember, Geno didn’t exactly like me, either. I think the only reason he likes me a little more now is because he’s focusing his dislike on her.”

  Tabitha grinned. “You’re probably right. I hope we can all get along. Her way of thinking seems a lot different than ours.”

  “We’ve never had this much stuff to contend with. We didn’t have to worry about keeping things organized because we didn’t have anything. Back at the island, it was Fred in charge, but he was a lot quieter about it.

  Tabitha raised an eyebrow. “Quiet? All he did was lecture us.”

  Regan giggled. “That is true. I never knew there could be a scientific explanation for putting canned corn next to canned peas.”

  T
abitha rolled her eyes. “And when I put something back on the wrong shelf, you would have thought the world ended.”

  “Remember that first day back at the swamp when we realized we were on our own?” Regan asked as she stepped over a branch, thinking back on those days with a weird fondness that she hadn’t thought she’d ever feel.

  Tabitha shook her head. “No, I mean I do, but what part? There was a lot of stuff happening.”

  “The part where we had to unpack our bags like three times and Wolf made us share supplies.”

  Tabitha smiled. “Oh, I do remember. You tried to run away… what, like three times?” she teased.

  “Well, yeah. I didn’t like that one bit. I hated having to share my stuff with complete strangers! It was all foreign to me. I was used to being the boss of me, and then all of a sudden, I had all of you expecting me to listen to your opinions.”

  Tabitha slowly nodded her head. “I do remember how rough it was in the beginning. And Geno ruined the hammock and I thought you were going to kill him.”

  Regan burst into laughter. “The thought had crossed my mind. What I’m trying to say is, we all have to adjust. We have someone new in our midst and the group dynamics are going to change. She’s bossy by Geno’s standards, but I don’t think she’s being bossy to be mean. She’s really trying to help. She knows how to run a household. I imagine her husband relied on her to do that. That was her job, and then after he died, she did it all.”

  Tabitha turned to her friend and smiled. “Look at you, all evolved and everything. You sound like me—and now you’re making me feel guilty!”

  “You must be wearing off on me.”

  Tabitha smiled. “Thank you. I think I got caught up in my own frustration, and then dealing with Geno’s anger, it clouded my vision a little.”

  “Hey, I’m only telling you what you would have told me. You are way better at this counseling thing than I am. I only know what to say because you’ve said it to me on more than one occasion.”

  Tabitha smiled again. “I want to hug you. I know you’re not a hugger, but I really want to hug you.”

  Regan shook her head. “No way. It’s too hot, and I don’t want your sweaty body touching mine.”

  Tabitha burst into laughter as the two of them returned to the others.

  “It looks like they’re folding up the blanket to go,” Tabitha pointed out.

  Regan nodded. “Round two, here we come. Wanna bet they argue over where to put that blanket?”

  Tabitha sighed. “No, I don’t. I hope today isn’t as hot as yesterday. That was brutal.”

  “If it is, we’ll have to stop. There’s no way we can walk in that kind of heat. We’ll all be suffering from heat exhaustion.”

  When they got back to the van, everything was packed up and each of their water bottles had been filled. With the route mapped out, they were ready to set out.

  Wolf wrapped an arm around Regan’s shoulders. “Ready?”

  “About as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said on a long exhale, not looking forward to the long journey ahead of them.

  5

  Regan’s feet hurt, her legs hurt, her face was sunburned, and she felt completely miserable. The small gun that weighed next to nothing felt like a huge stone tucked into her waistband, making her extremely uncomfortable. The urge to stomp her feet and give up had been incredibly powerful for what felt like hours, but they’d finally decided to stop walking for the day and set up camp next to a small lake. Thank goodness—she wasn’t sure how long she could have kept going. But now that they’d stopped, the mosquitoes were thicker, and the bug spray they’d all coated themselves with was doing little to keep them from biting.

  She and Tabitha fought with a tarp to get it tied between two trees to create a lean-to. It was difficult to pull the tarp tight because they were both constantly swatting at the bugs flying around their faces. The struggle was almost enough to make her want to give up.

  “I’ll grab a couple rocks,” Tabitha said, her exhaustion level evident in her voice.

  Regan nodded, too tired to talk as she finished tying the rope around the tree. Tabitha returned a couple minutes later to place the rocks along the bottom of the tarp to keep it from blowing upward. They spread the other tarp on the ground to act as a moisture barrier. It would do little to keep the bugs off of them, but it was better than laying directly on the grass and weeds.

  Heather had already begun pulling out totes from the van, digging through their available food and talking to Lily about what they would eat for dinner. Lily looked like she could fall asleep on her feet. She was leaned up against the back of the van, staring into the tote as Heather pulled out various packages.

  “I want to sleep for a week,” Regan mumbled.

  Before she got the chance to collapse fully onto the ground and do just that, however, Wolf appeared, carrying an armful of twigs and branches to use for a fire. “We all do,” he pointed out.

  While they got to work on clearing an area for the fire, Travis and Fred came back from the lake, each carrying full gallons of water. RC walked over with a pot and the fire grate Heather had packed along from home. It was another reason Regan was grateful for Heather’s broad thinking. The grate was heavy, and she hadn’t been the only one to suggest it wasn’t really needed when it came to the thought of carrying it to the van, but it would make their lives so much easier.

  “I’ll get the fire going,” RC said.

  Regan moaned. “It’s so hot,” she complained.

  “It’ll help keep the mosquitoes back. Plus, we’re out of water. We’ll boil this water from the lake and save our purification tablets.”

  Tabitha sighed and walked up to where Geno was checking under the hood of the van. Nearby, Regan watched as Heather handed Lily a stack of blankets, pointing to the makeshift shelter. They were all tired, but Regan admired Heather’s stamina. This was their second night of camping out, and she felt more drained than ever—she didn’t have it in her to think more than a moment in advance of what needed to be done, but that didn’t seem to be the case for the other woman. Last night had been organized chaos. Tonight, Heather was taking over and making sure the setting up of camp went much smoother.

  “Hey,” Regan said, walking up to her.

  She smiled. “Hi.”

  “What can I do?” she asked.

  Heather reached into the tote and handed her the bag of rice and another pot. “Once they get that water boiled, will you start the rice cooking?”

  “Yeah,” she answered, and turned away to head toward the fire before pausing, and then turning back to Heather. “How do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Aren’t you tired?” Regan asked.

  Heather smiled. “I am.”

  “But yet, you’re moving like a machine. There’s no slowing you down. You haven’t grouched at anyone—you just keep moving.”

  Heather shrugged. “I can’t be grouchy and I can’t stop moving until everything is in place and everyone is settled. Once I know everyone is comfortable, I’ll sleep.”

  Regan shook her head, admiring the woman’s inner strength. “Thank you for taking care of us. I think we all appreciate your natural mothering, even if some of us don’t show it very well. Please don’t let some of the snarky comments hurt your feelings.”

  Heather looked taken aback for a moment, but then nodded, sweeping hair out of her face as she glanced around. “Thank you. I’m trying really hard not to be overbearing. It’s my way. I’m not used to living with adults and realizing they can actually think for themselves,” she joked.

  “Well, I think you’re an excellent mother, and you’ve shown far more patience than I would have been able to.”

  Heather laughed softly. “I’ve had almost fourteen years of training. A teenager is the ultimate test of patience.”

  Regan looked back at her and smiled. “You handle it so graciously. I think I would want to scream and yell before walking away.”

&
nbsp; Heather shrugged, glancing over to where her son stood with Lily, sorting out supplies. “As a mom, you get used to being underappreciated. I mean, I know my family appreciated what I did and they showed it in different ways, but it isn’t like they always said the words. It doesn’t always have to be said. I’m not blind, either, Regan. I know there are some tensions, and I am trying to do better.”

  “You’re doing fine,” Regan assured her, feeling bad that the woman felt the tension and was uncomfortable.

  “Thank you for talking to me. I really appreciate it. Momming is tough.”

  Regan laughed. “That’s why you’re still moving. You’ve had years of experience in taking care of others, even when you were already exhausted,” Regan said, the realization suddenly hitting her.

  “Maybe. You learn to rest when you can. When you’re tired, you dig a little deeper. It is very satisfying to see your family comfortable and content, even when you’re exhausted. Even when it isn’t your blood family, but your adopted family,” she said pointedly.

  Regan stared back at her with a new appreciation. The group may not have necessarily welcomed her in with open arms, but she’d been willing to take them in, despite their anger and abrupt attitude toward her. Regan had thought Tabitha was the kindest, most forgiving person she had ever met, but Heather was giving her a run for her money. How odd was it that she’d happened to meet two women who were this nice during the apocalypse? She was beginning to think it wasn’t such an anomaly. Maybe she was the odd one out with her sharp edges and aloof attitude.

  “I’m going to take your word for it,” Regan finally said. “But I’ll get this rice going,” she added, walking away and leaving Heather to her unpacking of the van.

  Once she got the water for the rice going, she helped arrange the blankets in the lean-to that opened to the fire. Tabitha was sitting on a blanket on top of the tarp and staring at the flames, completely oblivious to her surroundings. The woman was exhausted. Regan had a feeling she would rather sleep than eat. She knew she herself was certainly leaning in that direction, but she needed the calories or tomorrow she’d be seriously dragging butt.