Surviving Rage | Book 1

by Arellano, J. D.

  Daniel’s neighbor wore a brown suede leather jacket over a flannel shirt, blue jeans, and brown hiking boots. On the left side of his belt was a scabbard, from which an ornate knife handle protruded. On the right side was a holster, which held a big revolver with a black grip. Around the man’s neck hung a bolo tie with a turquoise stone in the center. His face was long , with deep wrinkles from too much sun exposure. The eyes that stared back at Daniel were a dark brown and conveyed wisdom and intelligence. Though he couldn’t explain it, Daniel instantly felt trust towards the man.

  The man motioned to one of the wooden chairs on the porch as he lowered himself into his rocker silently. When Daniel was seated in one of the chairs, the man looked over at him, nodding as he spoke. “Reinforcing the place, hunh?”

  Daniel nodded. “Yeah. Feels like the right thing to do with the infected running around. Plus, I’m not too sure about whoever is staying at the lodge.”

  The man nodded, waiting for several long seconds before he spoke. “The infected are around, but mostly towards the far side of town. They’re hungry, but they’ve already worked through the people there. They’ll turn on each other soon.” He reached over to the small table on his left and picked up a pipe. “You smoke?” He asked, before lifting the pipe to his mouth and extending the flame from his lighter over it.

  “Not normally. A cigar once in a while, but probably not ‘til I get used to this altitude.”

  The man nodded, taking a long pull from the pipe as he set his lighter down on the table. He blew a thick cloud of smoke towards the door, away from Daniel.

  “Name’s Douglas.”

  “I’m Daniel. It’s good to finally meet you.”

  “Agree. I’ve seen you come and go several times, with your wife and daughters. You’re always busy when you’re here, then you’re gone.”

  “I know. I wish we’d slow down some and enjoy it more, but the family loves skiing in the winter, and water sports on the lake in the summer.”

  Douglas took another pull from his pipe, exhaled, then looked over at Daniel. When he spoke, his tone was a somber one. “You need to know the land around here if you’re gonna stay.”

  Daniel nodded. “We are gonna stay,” he replied, giving a small shrug. “Still learning the land, but we’ve got a good path to the top of the mountain and over to the other side.”

  “Where you all go to shoot.” The older man added, examining his pipe as he held it in his big, calloused hands.

  Surprised, Daniel recoiled slightly. “You know that?” Growing instantly concerned, he asked, “Can you hear us from here?”

  Douglas shook his head. “No, don’t worry about that. You chose a good spot. People would have to be on that side of the mountain to hear you all shooting.”

  Cocking his head to the side, Daniel followed up with another question. “So then how do you know we shoot there?”

  The old man smiled at Daniel as he lowered the pipe from his lips. “Been watching you. You’re a damn good shot. So’s your wife. The girls are coming along, too.” He shook his head. “The boy, though…”

  Daniel’s mind was reeling over the fact that the man had been watching them. His evaluation of the skills was accurate (though he preferred to be modest about his abilities), telling him that Douglas wasn’t just making things up. “Yeah. Paul’s struggling. I’m not sure what to do.”

  “Where’d he come from, anyway? Never seen him up here with you before.”

  Daniel told him the story of how he’d rescued the boy from the supermarket parking lot. “I need him to help defend the family if he’s going to stay. The last few times we’ve called on him, though, he’s failed to step up.”

  “You might be asking a cat to fetch.” The man replied, looking towards the door into the house.

  Following the man’s gaze, Daniel saw a dark skinned woman in the doorway, holding a pitcher. She opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, her feet padding quietly on the wood. The woman’s features were decidedly Native American, with high cheekbones, a prominent nose, and dark, gently arched eyebrows. Her long, straight black hair was streaked with grey, hanging in a long ponytail down her back. She wore a white button up shirt and blue jeans. Like Douglas, she wore turquoise stones as accents, though hers were in her earrings and on a bracelet around her wrist.

  Douglas smiled at the woman as she entered, his eyes lingering momentarily before he turned to Daniel. “This is my wife, Janice.”

  Daniel smiled at her. “Hi Janice, I’m Daniel.”

  “Hello Daniel. Iced tea?”

  “You know, that sounds great.”

  Janice set three glasses down on the coffee table and filled them. She looked up at Daniel, her hand hovering over a small dish of sugar. “Sugar?”

  Daniel shook his head. “No, thank you.”

  She smiled. “Douglas and I prefer it as is, too.” She passed the glasses to Daniel and her husband before sitting in a chair next to Douglas, reaching over and briefly rubbing his shoulder as she did.

  Daniel brought the glass to his lips and took a sip. The tea was amazing, full of fruit flavors, with an underlying flavor of black tea. Before he realized it, he’d drained two thirds of the glass.

  Douglas smiled at him, the lines on his face showing that it wasn’t just the sun that had caused them. “Thirsty, are ya?”

  Daniel nodded enthusiastically, bringing the glass back to his mouth and gulping down the rest. Looking over at the older woman, he shook his head. “This tea is amazing.”

  Janice smiled broadly, pride showing on her face. “I’m glad you like it.”

  “I do.” He pointed at the pitcher. “May I?”

  “Of course.”

  Daniel poured himself another glass, then sat back in the chair to relax, determined to make the second glass last longer. He took a breath, settling into the chair, enjoying the feel of the pillow against his back. In the trees nearby, birds chirped while a woodpecker hammered away at a trunk. Remembering their earlier conversation, he tilted his head in Douglas’ direction, asking, “What was it you were saying about cats playing fetch?”

  Douglas looked over at him, his voice taking on a serious tone. “I said you might be trying to teach a cat to fetch.”

  “I’m confused.”

  “Does a cat play fetch?”

  Daniel scoffed. “Mine sure don’t.”

  “Exactly. Maybe Paul’s a cat and guns are playing fetch. They’re just not in his nature.”

  Daniel nodded, looking out the screen towards his house. Serafina and the others would be expecting him home soon. “That makes sense.”

  Janice spoke up. “Let me help.”

  Daniel looked at her, surprised. “Oh, okay. I actually know how to shoot and have trained the other so far, but if you -”

  “With a bow and arrow.”

  Daniel sat back, analyzing the thought. “Hunh.” He shrugged. He wasn’t getting anywhere with the teenager, so it couldn’t hurt. “Okay, why not?”

  Douglas looked out the screen of the porch as he spoke. “Janice here can put an arrow through a grape at fifty yards.”

  Daniel nodded, impressed. “Wow.” He realized that someone with a bow could provide an extra layer of defense, and one that was relatively silent. He thought back to what Takoda, the man he’d seen at Mission Bay, had said:

  ‘Sometimes the silent weapon is the right one. The wind will carry sound to ears who wish you harm.’

  Daniel nodded. Having Paul proficient with a bow and arrow could be a big help. He grinned as he regarded the woman. “If you can teach him to hit a person at twenty yards, I’ll be happy.”

  She smiled back, confidence showing on her face. “No problem.” Rising from her chair, she disappeared into the house. Within seconds, she was back, holding a beautiful wooden bow, engraved with the pattern of a snake along its length. The bow was big, seemingly too large for her small frame, but she held it with ease and confidence.

  “This lady is a part of
me. Together, we sing.”

  She held up another bow in her other hand. “I’ll train the boy with this.”

  She extended it towards Daniel, who took it in his hands carefully. It was light, perfectly balanced, and felt like it was strong enough to withstand a thousand pulls and releases. Like the other, it was engraved with animals, this one with eagles etched along its length.

  “This is really nice. Where did you get it?”

  “I made both of these.”

  Stunned, he replied, looking down at the perfectly carved, perfectly balanced weapon. “Really? That’s...incredible.”

  She smiled again. “Thank you. I’ve made quite a few over the years. I have several more in the garage, if you and the others would like to learn as well.”

  Daniel nodded. “Yes, that sounds great.” He put his hands up. “I need to finish training them with handguns and rifles, first, though.”

  “Understand. When you’re ready.”

  Looking over at Douglas, Daniel asked, “So you two are staying?”

  Without taking his eyes away from the trees outside, Douglas responded, simply, “This is our home.”

  “I see. Do you have everything you need?”

  “I have her, and we have food, water, and shelter. That’s all we need.”

  “Do you have enough food, though?

  “Janice and I hunt and fish. We’ll be fine. We’ll cook over a wood burning stove when the gas goes out.”

  Daniel rose from his chair, nodding. “Alright, well, please, let me know if you need anything. In the meantime, I’ll let you know if I see anything to be concerned about.”

  Douglas looked at him, his eyes suddenly hard. It was like a switch had been flipped, taking him from a kind, warm, old man to a hard, seasoned soldier. “You mean like the men at the lodge?”

  Daniel stepped back, surprised at the comment. “You know who’s there?”

  “I’ve been close enough to see. They’re led by a man named Grayson Halwell. He’s a Deputy Sheriff, though now that the Sheriff is dead, he calls himself Sheriff Halwell.” Douglas shook his head, anger seeming to seethe just underneath the surface. “He’s not a good man.” Douglas told Daniel about how Halwell had made it into the sheriff’s department, how he never took his job seriously, and how he was always harassing women, young ones in particular. “I hate to think what he’s doing now that he considers himself to be the law of the town.”

  Daniel absorbed everything, questions turning over in his head. There was a lot to find out, and he’d have to do so soon. “How many men are with him?”

  Douglas shrugged. “Not sure. At least twelve, but on the two days that I watched, more came, offering women and girls as a way into his group.“

  “What the hell?”

  “Yeah. Bad people are out there, Daniel. Be careful when you leave. You don’t want them following you back.”

  “I know.” He thought of Serafina, Ashley, and Brenna. He needed to train them quickly. They’d increase their training time in the day, and he’d get up even earlier and stay up even later to work on the fences. He also wanted an escape route for them, just in case they were overrun.

  There was so much to do.

  Shaking his head, he looked at Douglas and Janice. “I’ve got to get to work. Thanks for your hospitality.”

  “Of course. I’ll help you with your fence, just let me know when.”

  The fact that he knew about Daniel’s plan to build a fence momentarily surprised him, but he realized the man was probably watching them the whole time this morning. It wouldn't be hard to figure out their plans based on what they’d brought back. “Thanks. I will.”

  Janice spoke up. “Send the boy over when you go to practice shooting.”

  “Okay.” Daniel replied, reaching for the door. Stepping outside onto the sidewalk, he heard Douglas’ voice calling out once more. “And watch your left pinky when you shoot. You’re extending it sometimes. Less accurate that way.” Sighing and shaking his head, Daniel raised a thumb back towards them as he crossed the street, heading back up to his family’s cabin.

  Something bad was coming, and they needed to be prepared.

  CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

  “Did you see something?” Harold Ingram asked, leaning forward and peering into the early morning. The fog that hung over the valley made lookout duty hard this time of day, but he was trying.

  He was also taking the job seriously, unlike Ricky, the guy that had been assigned lookout duty with him.

  Harold had known the man for all of a day, and he’d hated the guy for every minute of it. He was constantly drunk, horny, or both. Harold had seen the way Ricky had looked at his wife, Wanda, his eyes lingering on her ass whenever she walked by, and it made him want to plant his fist in the guy’s mouth.

  Of course, his wife was another source of anger and frustration for him, with her swinging hips, low-cut tops, and tight fitting clothing. He swore that she’d even had the scrubs she wore for work at the VA hospital tailored to flaunt her body, showing everyone who cared to look what a hot piece of ass she was.

  Apparently, it hadn’t gone unnoticed, either.

  When she’d started picking up shifts at the San Diego VA Hospital, he hadn’t thought much of it. When she started getting home later and later, she’d blamed the workload and the traffic. The extra money she earned, she explained, would help them save for the house they wanted to buy in the future.

  Eventually, she began taking back-to-back shifts in San Diego, spending the night in a hotel on the night between the two shifts, leaving him home alone with the stupid dog she’d insisted on getting. Initially, she would call him when she finished her shift and got back to her hotel, spending time on the phone with him, each of them talking about their day and what they’d do together when she got back, but as time went by, the calls became shorter and shorter, and soon took place from her car as she drove to the hotel.

  Never one to be jealous, Harold couldn’t help but wonder if she was being unfaithful. He’d known better than to ask her if she was seeing someone, having heard from her many times how much she’d hated the accusations her ex had made, so he kept his suspicions to himself, remaining supportive of her, even as she spent more and more time away from him.

  He’d tried to focus his energy on his work, but selling new pharmaceutical drugs simply wasn’t very interesting. Sales in general wasn’t interesting or fulfilling for him. Sure, he was good at it, earning high commissions quarter after quarter, but the time he spent in his car, driving from office to office, was time he spent wondering if his wife was in the arms of another man.

  Frustrated with his marriage, frustrated with his job, and frustrated with his life in general, he began turning to food and alcohol for comfort. With Wanda gone most nights during the week, he’d begun eating the majority of his meals in front of the TV, washing down burgers, hot wings, or pizza, with beer.

  It didn’t take long for his poor dietary choices to catch up to him, especially after he began skipping evening sessions in the gym in favor of watching basketball with a beer in his hand. He saw the weight gain in the mirror, but with Wanda in another city most of the time, he found himself unmotivated to make any changes. When his clothes began getting tight in the waist and butt, he simply had them tailored, giving him a few extra inches of space.

  He’d waited for Wanda to notice, but if she had, she hadn’t said anything. Their time together on the weekends became more and more mundane, with the two of them sleeping in then spending most of the day sitting around their condo, with him watching sports and her constantly on her phone. They finished the day with dinner at a restaurant, where she still routinely looked at her phone, smiling as she did. Sex became a rarity, and when it did happen, it was clear his efforts were largely unappreciated.

  His world came crashing down when his worst fears were realized. Wanda was in the shower, singing some popular new song softly as she washed her still fit and tone body, when her phone had buzze
d on the nightstand. Looking over, Harold realized she’d left it unlocked, which was unheard of. A text had come in, causing her phone to vibrate, and as he looked at the device, another followed.

  Chad.

  Hands shaking, Harold picked up the phone, opening the text messaging app. There were two new messages from ‘Chad,’ the most recent of which was an image. Opening the message, he was greeted with a picture of the man’s penis.

  ‘ He misses you,’ the message said.

  A pit formed in Harold’s stomach as he scrolled through the messages, listening for the sounds of his wife in the shower as he did. The text exchanges had been going on for more than four months, and ‘Chad’ wasn’t the only one sending pictures of his naked body.

  Of all the sexual things they discussed, none hurt more than his wife’s description of him.

  Loser.

  Wanting to scream, he’d marked the messages as unread, locked the phone, and placed it back on the nightstand where it had been. Grabbing his coat, he’d left the condo without a word, driving to a liquor store before continuing to a nearby hotel, where he’d called an escort service. By the time the woman, a beautiful blonde with a tall, athletic build, arrived, Harold was drunk off his ass.

  When he’d been unable to perform, he’d broken down into tears, falling onto his side and curling up into a fetal position. Unsure of how to respond, the woman had simply hugged him, showing him more caring and compassion in those few minutes than his wife had shown in the last six months.

  He spent a thousand dollars that night, paying only for the woman’s company, as he let it all out, sharing his pain and sorrow with her.

  His phone rang repeatedly, followed by a series of text messages as Wanda demanded to know where he was. Sometime around one a.m., his phone buzzed a final time, the screen showing the text she’d sent.

  YOU’D BETTER NOT BE CHEATING ON ME!

  He turned it off before walking the gorgeous young woman to the door, thanking her for spending the evening with him. Looking at him, her brilliant blue eyes filled with sympathy, she’d brought her hand up to his face, cupping it softly. “Find someone who loves and respects you.” She kissed his forehead before leaving, her hips swaying slightly as she walked away.