Survivalist Reality Show: The Complete Series

by Grace Hamilton

  Fred headed off, leaving them alone once again. That was the other thing Regan appreciated about their time in town. There was a sense of normalcy they hadn’t gotten when they’d been camping out on the side of a road or living in the same house on a rather small island. She actually got time alone with Wolf, and time for herself. The town was technically smaller than the island, yes, but the houses and things to do kept everyone busy, giving them brief periods of rest and peace like the one they had now.

  “Was Lily in the park?” Wolf asked.

  “Yep. Travis was right by her side. She’s back to her old self for the most part. I think, with the cast on, you can relax a little,” Regan assured him.

  “Good. I know Travis will keep her safe,” Wolf muttered.

  Regan nodded her head. She was convinced Travis would take a bullet for Lily. Ever since the accident, Travis had rarely left Lily alone. He doted on her, really. It was very sweet, all in all, but she could see Wolf was getting a little worried about the close relationship. Regan had a feeling his eyes would be watching his daughter very closely over the coming months. The protective daddy role was real, even in the apocalypse.

  “Hey guys!” one of their neighbors called out, approaching them as they relaxed in the shade.

  “Good afternoon, Jan,” Wolf greeted the woman, smiling in welcome.

  Jan stopped under the shade of the pergola, looking down at them in their chairs. “I saw Fred leaving. Is he going to get your van?”

  Regan nodded her head. “He is.”

  “Good. I can’t wait to do some real trading. It will be like shopping! Boy, do I miss going to the mall,” Jan said in a wistful tone.

  “I hope once we get established, we can do more trading,” Wolf promised.

  “Me, too. With our new direction, I think a lot of us are going to get the chance to show off what we can do. Mac wasn’t the kind of man who looked at the big picture. I think Daniel will do great. He’s already looking to put together sewing groups. Heather said she had a lot of yarn. I have a whole room full, and I can’t wait to trade for some new colors!” Jan said excitedly.

  Regan laughed at her enthusiasm. Jan was one of the many people in the town who hadn’t left since the EMP had struck. They had lived a very sheltered couple of months and were itching for some excitement.

  “We’ll hopefully be seeing each other quite often,” Regan told her.

  Jan nodded. “I’m thrilled with the idea of trading and having a real farmer’s market. When I was a little girl, that’s the way things were done. My dad rarely bought anything. He would trade his veggies for things like tools and work we needed done around the house. As much as I loved TV and my automatic coffee makers, this slower way of life isn’t all that bad. It will take some getting used to, but we’ll all get there. I don’t know what caused the EMP, but maybe it was the universe giving us a nice big slap in the face to remind us life is about more than the gadgets we own.”

  Regan smiled and nodded, though she seriously doubted the EMP had been a slap from Mother Nature. More than likely, it had simply been a weapon used to disable one of the strongest countries in the world. She kept her thoughts to herself, of course, not wanting to pop the bubble Jan had crafted.

  “I think you’re right, Jan. It’s a learning curve,” Wolf commented. “Once the gardens and farms are established, and people remember all those ancient skills, things will get better. Trades will start happening soon, I think. We’ll have traders traveling the country like they did in decades past.”

  Regan raised her eyebrows. She didn’t see the future as being quite so rosy as the rest of them, but she was willing to keep an open mind.

  Not wanting to drift off again, Regan stood up and stretched. “I’m going to go help Tabitha in the clinic. She was on duty while Ben got some much needed time off,” Regan said, leaving the comfort of her chair behind.

  “I’ll leave you to your nap, Wolf,” Jan said with a wink before heading down the road to her own house.

  Her earlier musings about enjoying alone time were blowing up in her face, Regan realized. It seemed like Wolf was a celebrity in town and everyone wanted to talk to him. She waved goodbye to Jan and set out down the road, looking around her as she moved. That, she could blame Wolf for. Blame or thank him, either way, she supposed. Situational awareness was always on her mind now, even in this supposedly safe place. She was always looking for threats.

  Still, Regan listened to the birds singing as she walked and couldn’t help but feel happy. It was a good day. Things were going to be okay. She waved to people as she strolled along in no real hurry to get anywhere. When she got to the clinic, Tabitha was working on a patient.

  “Uh-oh, what happened?” she asked the little boy she’d passed earlier on his bike, who was now sitting on one of the beds with his legs dangling.

  “I fell,” he sniffled, a tear rolling down his cute, freckled cheek.

  Tabitha smiled, cleaning the cuts on the boy’s knees before putting a bandage on each. “Good as new. Be careful, and wear your helmet!” she instructed.

  Once the boy was gone, Regan sat down in one of the waiting room chairs, looking around the small clinic. “You’re going to have a hard time leaving, aren’t you?” she asked her.

  Tabitha sighed. “Maybe a little, but I agree with Wolf. I don’t think this place is going to last long. It’s only a matter of time before someone else decides they want to be the boss or some flu or other virus rolls through here. I hate to say it, but living in close proximity like this is going to lead to the inevitable. Daniel wants to bring in new people, which means viruses the people here won’t have previous exposure to. They’re not going to have the natural immunities a person gets from regular exposure.”

  Regan wrinkled her nose. “That doesn’t sound fun, but people get the flu and survive.”

  Tabitha shook her head. “The flu isn’t just the flu. It can lead to respiratory problems. Look at the members of this community. There are a lot of elderly people here. A virus could leave them extremely sick.”

  “Maybe they should quarantine the newcomers,” Regan said.

  Tabitha smiled. “You know, that’s a very good idea. The newcomers would have to be separated from the others for a good month before they were allowed to mix with everyone—especially the young and the elderly. Most viruses are only live for a few days to a couple weeks. I’m going to talk to Ben about that. He can help Daniel establish some protocols.”

  “What about when they go out scouting?” Regan asked.

  Tabitha frowned, shrugging. “I mean, I don’t know if there is a way to ensure they never get sick, but if they wash their hands and avoid getting too close to anyone they don’t know, they could really eliminate a lot of risk.”

  Regan held up her hand, waiting for the high-five. “You’re a genius. I hope Ben takes your advice seriously.”

  Tabitha grinned. “I really do think we’ll be better off in the swamp. I want to keep our numbers small, even if it means we won’t have a nice house to call home. I’d rather deal with the mud than deal with vomiting and other nasty symptoms. I do not want to deal with a stomach bug without toilet paper.”

  They both burst into laughter. It wasn’t exactly polite conversation, but it was real talk. It was their new reality.

  Regan nodded her head. “I guess I didn’t think about that. I can’t say I want to experience that, either.”

  “Think about the situation we’re in right now.”

  “What do you mean?” Regan asked, not following what she was trying to say.

  Tabitha wrinkled her nose. “You’ve got about fifty people using the same couple of bathrooms. There aren’t sinks inside the outhouses. We don’t have toilet paper. When people are done, they reach for the door handle and walk out to the handwashing station. There’s no way to avoid a nasty bug getting started. Human waste harbors disease. It’s a known fact.”

  “Great, so now I’m never going to want to use the outhouse
again,” Regan moaned.

  Tabitha let out a long sigh. “I need to talk to Ben. We need to change things there, as well. He has gallons of hand sanitizer here. We could take one of the dispensers from an exam room and put it inside the outhouse. When people are finished using the restroom, they can sanitize their hands before touching the door handle and we can set up some kind of log, so that the handle gets wiped down every hour or something like that,” she said, her voice slowing down as the idea took hold and she kept brainstorming.

  “You are really one smart cookie, aren’t you?” Regan teased.

  Tabitha shook her head and grinned. “I’m going down a rabbit hole! Pull me out. I’m going to start seeing germs and filth and dangerous sanitation practices at every turn if I don’t stop.”

  Regan smiled. “Don’t stop. The two things you have mentioned could go a long way to saving someone’s life. Your ideas are easy to implement, too, so I hope Ben and the others will listen. I know I will. I’ll put that sanitizer thing in the outhouse myself!”

  Tabitha nodded, but didn’t answer. Regan could see she was already thinking of other things they could do to prevent illness.

  “What do you think the reservation will be like?” Regan asked, wanting to prepare herself.

  “I imagine it will be a lot like this, but without the walls,” Tabitha answered.

  Regan nodded, hoping they could find a balance between what they had in town and what they needed in a more open, rural area.

  “Have you ever been to a reservation?” she asked.

  Tabitha nodded. “A few times.”

  “There are houses, right?”

  “Yes, but sometimes those houses aren’t in the best shape. I think it depends on where you go.”

  “I wonder if they’ll actually welcome us or tell us to keep on moving.”

  Tabitha laughed. “Heather, Wolf and RC seem pretty convinced they’ll welcome us with open arms. I don’t know if they’ll roll out the red carpet, so don’t get your hopes up. They may not have the means to take us in. It’s hard to say.”

  Regan sighed, hating the unknown. It was hard to constantly be on the move, with no idea of what lay ahead. Plus, there was always a chance that the reservation had already been taken over by guys like Damien. If the reservation was well-known and had a source of food and water, it would be a desirable place. Anyone who lived in the area would know it was there. She was hoping the sparse population as they got closer was a good indicator that the reservation was relatively safe. Most people wouldn’t be heading into the Everglades or the Cypress Preserve to survive. They’d be heading toward the coastal areas where food was more abundant. She and her group were the only ones crazy enough to go to the one place in Florida that had been practically uninhabitable before the apocalypse.

  21

  Two days later, Regan no longer had to worry about what the reservation would be like. They were on their way. The last ten miles to the reservation were going to be somber, however. They had no idea what to expect. Having put all of their hopes into making it to the reservation and finding a place to flourish in the swamp, they all felt weighed down by stress. They needed the reservation to be willing to work with them in order for them to make their life in the swamp a success. And now that Lily was on the mend and they didn’t have to worry about her succumbing to infection, all of their thoughts were on the future—and what it would look like.

  After a lot of hugging, a few tears, and a lot of goodbyes, Regan and the group had set out once again. Lily was riding shotgun while RC drove the van. It was dangerously low on gas, but Geno insisted it would make it there—or at least get very close. They had considered leaving it behind to avoid drawing any attention to themselves, but the supplies were too valuable. All they had in the world was in the back of the van. Life in the swamp wouldn’t be easy no matter what, and they all knew that and were prepared to deal with it, but if they could have something as simple as a fork and a pot to boil water in, they’d be that much better off.

  “It’s a little sad, huh?” Tabitha asked as they lost sight of the gate.

  “It is. Ten miles isn’t so far, though. We can visit,” Regan replied.

  Tabitha nodded. “I like the idea of having a real doctor nearby in case something does happen. A doctor with some equipment is better than no doctor and no equipment.”

  “I hope they can keep those walls up,” Regan whispered.

  “Me, too. We need them to survive,” she replied.

  Regan was actually happy to be walking. She was beginning to understand what Wolf had meant by talking about the walls trapping them inside. Those walls had offered the illusion of them being safe, but in reality, they’d been imprisoned, and she didn’t like that one bit. She liked her freedom.

  “Are you good?” Wolf asked as they walked behind the van.

  She nodded. “I am. Back to the alligator den, we go. I’m not sure the trade-off is worth it, but I’m hoping it will be.”

  He laughed. “We’ll figure out a way to avoid them as much as possible, and I think it will be worth it in the long run. I don’t like the idea of being with strangers. We wouldn’t be able to trust them like we trust each other, at least not for a good long while. We’d constantly be looking over our shoulders, wondering who was going to be the next person to start an uprising.”

  “I know. I get it. Tabitha also freaked me out about the germ thing. I’ll share germs with you, but I’d prefer everyone else kept theirs to themselves,” she said with a chuckle.

  Wolf laughed with her. “Good to know.”

  RC stuck a hand out the window of the van, waving goodbye as he drove ahead. He would be getting to the tribal lands and speaking with whoever was in charge ahead of their arrival. They were all hoping there were still some friendly faces in the crowd. And if RC sensed trouble, he would turn around and come back to warn them. Wolf hadn’t been pleased to send Lily ahead with his dad, but Tabitha and Ben had convinced him she was healthy, if still in a weakened state—and that was key. With her current immune system, she’d be susceptible to illness for a while yet and at this point, she wasn’t ready to walk even one mile. Traveling in the van was the safest option for her.

  “Is that where we’re going?” Regan asked as they passed a sign on the road announcing the reservation ahead on the left.

  He nodded. “It’s nestled against those huge cypress trees. The trees provide a wind block when the storms come through.”

  “Are they able to grow food here?”

  Wolf smiled. “Absolutely. The benefit of coming to the reservation is the fact that the people still living here have generations of knowledge. Our people have been farming this land for hundreds of years. The average person coming along wouldn’t be able to grow crops here, but my people can.”

  Regan nodded, remembering the bits of history he’d told her regarding his people. “I’m excited at the idea of eating anything fresh. I don’t think I’ll be picky about what vegetables I eat ever again. Green, yellow, red, I’ll eat them all if they’re fresh.”

  Wolf chuckled as they walked along. The mood of the group was lightening now that they were on the road again. Everyone felt eager and also a little apprehensive. Their time in the town had rested them, too, so they could make good time.

  They were within a mile of the tribal lands when she saw several people walking toward them. “What’s that?” Regan gasped, pointing up ahead.

  Wolf followed where her finger was pointing into the distance and smiled. “My dad made it, and things are good.”

  “How do you know?” she asked.

  “Because that is the welcome committee.”

  At the sight of the group ahead, Regan and the others all sped their walking, anxious to see what awaited them. When they came together, the greeters smiled and handed Wolf a thermos filled with clean, fresh water. He took a drink before passing it to the others. The group all stood in the middle of the roadway, shaking hands and giving each other the once over.


  “Hi!” Heather greeted one young woman before hugging her.

  “Does she know her?” Regan whispered to Wolf.

  Wolf shrugged. “Probably not, but the fact they are out here on the road to welcome us is a good sign. They’re welcoming us home. My dad must have told them about us and they want to bring us in.”

  Regan smiled and nodded her head. “Awesome.”

  There was a round of introductions as they continued to walk the last mile to the lands that were gated, but not walled. Regan was okay with a gate. It was a simple arm across the roadway that led into the reservation. She could see some fencing material piled up behind the gate and wondered if they were planning to build a fence around the property—no matter what, it would be a fence rather than a wall. She wasn’t sure how it would do any good, but dismissed it from her mind as she focused on the many conversations happening around her.

  As they passed through the gate, Regan scanned the area, which seemed to be devoid of trees on three sides. She couldn’t help feeling that the flat land looked desolate and disappointing. She could see cornfields on the south side, but not much else. She looked at Wolf, questioning him with her eyes. This was where he thought they would be able to thrive? What were they possibly going to trade for?

  “Little further,” he told her in a low voice.

  She could see some trees in the distance, and the smell of the marsh to the north definitely got her attention. The road they were traveling was a mixture of dirt and gravel, and with a lack of cars driving over it, the weeds were taking hold. Soon enough, the road would be gone as nature absorbed it.

  And then they turned a bend, and she finally saw the houses sporadically placed around the area. There was a row of older mobile homes further down the road on the left. They didn’t look inviting, but the large wood building she saw backed up against the thick cypress trees gave her hope. There was a carved wooden sign declaring it to be the community center.

  “There’s almost no one here,” Fred said with disappointment as they looked around the area.