Slowly Tabitha started to feel a bit more relaxed. It might have been the fact that she was back in her element here in the woods, where she felt at home. It might have been that she had blown away about a half a dozen zombies. Quite honestly, it was both of those reasons, but there was the most important one and she wasn’t about to let anyone know that one.
The fact that she survived one of the most vicious attacks that she had been through since this whole mess started was the best adrenaline rush ever. Hell, she even found humor with little red riding hood over there.
All of her emotions she experienced in that short span of time. “What a fucking rush!!” she thought to herself. Tabitha was alive and she was damn happy about it. When she saw another zombie making his way toward her; she took a couple of steps in its direction took her mark and blew his head clean off.
Ceara looked around and saw Cupcake three go to Charlie, Ceara thought the girl was enjoying this too much. A few more deaders were coming out but at least it was fewer, she took aim and dropped another one. She got a look of panic and ran over to Alden shoving the shotgun at him, “I AIN’T GOT NO IDEA HOW TO RELOAD THIS DAMN THING!!!”
Alden grabbed her shotgun and slammed his pistol in to her chest, “Damn girl, you are going to get us all killed! I got three left in that one, use them right!”
He reloaded her shot gun as Ceara dropped a deader that had made her way almost to them. Two more shots and she knew she was empty, but Alden had said not to let it empty so she was almost scared to tell him.
Alden turned and shot one more that lay on the ground still moving then turned and signaled for the others to come in. Sitting down on the old foot locker he reached in a cooler and pulled out 4 beers, “here you all earned these today” he said as he tossed the cans to each one of them.
Opening his he poured it into a small metal bowl and Tonto came up and started to lap it up. Alden reached down a grabbed a thermos took the top off and poured coffee into the cup from the top. He watched as Maximus walked up to the dog bowl, Tonto growled at the other dog and Alden barked, “Tonto mind your manners, you share with that one, he’s one of us now.”
Taking another sip he looked to Ceara. “Cupcake two, where’d you say there were more? Off that way?”
Pointing back behind the group Ceara nodded, “I don’t know how many but not as many as we just had, I know that.”
Alden looked to the woods then to the group. “Okay kiddies, here’s what we’re going to do now. You are going to play pick up, in other words I want all those bodies dragged down the hill there to an open space by the rocks near a stream. Take a gallon of gas… gas not kerosene we’re going to need that and gas is a hell of a lot easier to come by,” he pointed to a red can.
“Then burn the bodies, start with two and add one at a time I don’t need or want no roaring bonfire but we need to get rid of them before they really stink up the place.”
Charlie nodded as Tabitha spoke up, “Us… why do we get the shit jobs old man?”
Alden turned to her, “Okay little girl, I’ll stay and burn the fucking deadheads and you can go into those woods find the enemy, without them finding you first. Then I want you to set traps that will kill them or disable them so you can use a knife to stab the brain or cut off the head. When you are done with that, I need you to work your way back here, by then it will be dark so I hope you’re good at navigating a compass in the night. Oh and do this quietly so if there are any other humans around they won’t find you, cause you know, not all of them will be as nice as me.”
Turning he reached into the van and pulled out a machete and another large knife. “Oh here missy, you’ll need these, and if you do come across humans who are not of the conversational kind you need to kill them too, quietly. Think you can handle all that?”
Tabitha shook her head and looked to Charlie and Ceara, “Okay come on let’s get these bodies out of here.”
Alden smiled and put the knives on his belt. Tonto got up, Alden grinned, “Naw boy, you just stay here and guard the children. I’ll be back soon enough.”
He turned and moved into the woods seemingly without even causing the bushes to move….
Part 2 – Adapting
A small band of survivors, who normally would not have mixed in the world as it were, have now ended up together. They all came from different walks of life yet each one brings their own talents to the group. The task before them now is learning how to adapt in a world that has only one rule. SURVIVING Day By Day.
Chapter 1 - Gathering:
Ceara slid the gun Alden had given her in the back of her pants, walked to the nearest deader kicking it, “What did the old man call them? Deadheads right? I kinda like that, I may have to call them that too.”
Bending down to grab the arm of the deadhead she jerked but the man didn’t move, she looked around and counted nineteen bodies. “How are we supposed to move them, I can’t carry these things?”
She headed off to the truck looking for anything that could help her. “OF COURSE!”
Ceara turned to look at Charlie, “It’s locked! Does he not trust anyone?”
She stomped back over to the deadhead, just stood there looking at it. Maximus nudged his nose into her palm and she absently began to pet him. “You got any ideas?”
Maximus barked and trotted off into the woods, “Of course, work starts and you leave.”
Ceara grabbed the man’s legs and began slowly dragging him, at first it was easy going but when she got to the woods the damn body hung up on every damn thing. Ceara dropped the legs to wipe the sweat from her brow, with a hand on her hip she sighed a deep sigh. She knew she had a good fifty more yards and all of it through woods.
Charlie spotted her through the trees, “WHATCHA DOING?”
Ceara rolled her eyes as Charlie made his way over to her with Tonto and Maximus at his side. “I am doing what the old man said, dragging the deadheads down to the clearing.
Charlie laughed, “Well umm I cleared us a path over there.”
He pointed to where he had just come from, “Seemed to me we would want a clear path. Plus well… I wasn’t going to do one at a time. I figure we got a tarp, we can load a few up and we can drag them down together.”
Ceara felt about as stupid as Charlie must think she was. “Yeah well you could have told me you had a plan instead of letting me look like a dumb ass.”
Charlie blushed, “Sorry, I just thought you would ask if you wanted me to help you.”
Ceara sucked her teeth, a habit her father had hated since she was very young. “Ok fine, I’m asking now, what do you got in mind?”
Charlie walked back over to the cleared area, “Lay out the tarp here, and look at the edges, there are grommets to tie a rope too. I think we could rig up a harness for each dog and have them help. I bet we could drag five or six at a time down there.”
Ceara laughed, “Ok sounds good but I’ll harness Maximus, you get killer.”
Charlie glared at Ceara, “The old man is named Alden and this is Tonto.”
He walked off to his van before Ceara could say a word, “Great now I look stupid and I’m an ass.”
Tonto had gone with Charlie but Maximus laid down watching Ceara, “Yeah I know, I have to watch what I say.”
She went to camp grabbing the tarp, spreading it out where Charlie had said. Looking around Ceara wondered where the new girl went. She was more than happy she was nowhere in sight, hell Charlie was doing good enough on his own making her feel bad.
The closest deadhead to the tarp was a petite woman, which was one Ceara thought she could manage. She pulled the woman over rolling her on to the tarp. Charlie came back with some rope making some kind of knots, Ceara went to the next deadhead, and this one was a young man. The smell was enough to make her sick; if she had anything on her stomach it would be all over the ground now.
She realized that the only way to know the sex of some of them was the boobs on the chest, she wondered if a few of the
ones that had little to no head left were just flat chested women. It really made no difference but Ceara thought that these people deserved better than what they got.
At one time they were just like them, just trying to survive day by day but they lost. Did that mean they lost all rights to respect in death? Ceara didn’t realize she was crying until Charlie laid a hand on her shoulder, “You okay?”
Ceara looked over her shoulder into his eyes, “I’m sorry I’m such a baby, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings before. I think you are my only friend here.”
Charlie smiled, “Nah, Alden likes you, he is just in survival mode, but he will like you more if you learn a little more than you do now. I’ll teach you to shoot if you want.”
Ceara looked back to the deadheads, “Do you think we could say something, sort of like a funeral for them before we just burn them up?”
Charlie nodded, “Yeah, if you want.”
He kicked the deadhead off the tarp and smiled at Ceara, “Ok first lesson, heavier on bottom. More stable, if you have light ones on bottom it means we would be top heavy and half way down they would all fall off and we would be loading them again.”
Ceara nodded, “If we have another tarp and a little more rope maybe we could make a top to keep them a little more controlled, maybe even take a few more in a trip, right?”
Charlie shrugged, “We could but I think we need to keep this simple for now. Maybe once we know this works we will go for better, but I like your idea”
Ceara smiled, she knew he was trying to make her feel better. “Ok, so let me go get tubby over there and we will get this sled ride underway.”
She drug the man over that she had worked so hard to get where he was just to drag him back up the hill toward the tarp. “Hey, on the upside, I bet we sleep well tonight.”
She rolled the man on the tarp and did her best to position him so they could load more. Charlie had lifted one man up on his shoulder and dumped him on the tarp beside the other one.
By the time the sun was almost set they had their first load ready to go. Charlie called both dogs over and hooked the ropes on them. Ceara was really impressed they looked like real harnesses. She would have just tied the rope to their collars but Charlie knew they would have been choked if he had done that.
He set both of them side by side in the middle, “Grab a corner, I’ll get this one. Just help them pull as much as you can. OK GUYS PULL!!”
The dogs did just what he wanted and Ceara yanked on her corner and soon they were moving down the path Charlie had made.
In the clearing there was now a good size wood pile created by cupcake three. Ceara wiped the sweat off her forehead, “I was wondering where you disappeared to?”
Tabitha shook her head, “Someone had to get the bonfire ready to go didn’t they?”
Ceara hadn’t even seen her grab the kerosene but there was the can that Alden had told them to use. “Yeah I guess.”
Ceara unhooked Maximus and gave him a hug, “You did great!”
She went to let Tonto go but he growled at her, “What?”
Charlie slipped the harness off him, “He just needs time to get use to you is all, he’s a great dog”
Charlie ruffled the dog’s head, “Tonto you and Maximus go relax for a bit while we get this done.”
Tonto trotted off with Maximus on his heels. Ceara and Charlie moved the six bodies to the pile of wood. Ceara took Charlie’s hand and began the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father who art in Heaven….”
Tabitha snorted, “Well he damn sure ain’t here is he?”
Ceara ignored her and continued through the rest without any more interruptions. As soon as she said amen Tabitha tossed the match on the wood and blazed to life.
A few hours later the last of the bodies were pushed from the fire and into the water, the smell of burning flesh had drove all three to wrap shirts around their heads covering their noses. The dogs had run off after the last load was brought down.
Ceara walked back to camp leaving both Charlie and Tabitha by the lake, she sat on the log by the campfire. She laid her head on her arms across her knees. She just wanted this to be over, it was one thing to live through this; hell she had even had to kill her own Dad but this was worse.
This was them just being attacked for no reason other than that they were walking happy meals to these fucked up people. That was what was bothering her, at one point they were just like her or Charlie or even… no not Alden, she was pretty positive there was only one Alden on the planet.
They all had families, they all wanted to live, they all tried to do the right thing and now they were nothing more than rabid animals. How long before one of them were bit, would they be able to shoot the other, could she shoot Charlie?
She didn’t know, one thing she was sure of was that making friends in this world was not smart. She had to make herself not like any of them, that way if they got bit she could shoot them. Charlie came walking up through the clearing, Ceara smiled at him and waved. Thinking to herself, “Too late girl, you already like him.”
Charlie looked at Tabitha and back towards where Ceara had gone. “Err do you need me here?”
Tabitha looked towards camp then to the young man. It was the first time she honestly felt sorry for someone, “Naw, I got this. Go look after cupcake number two. I’ll be along shortly.”
She watched as he turned and took a few steps up their makeshift path then he stopped when he thought he was outta sight and bent over putting his hands on his knees. She thought “yeah you might be outta sight but I can damn sure still hear you” As Charley’s retching echoed off the rocks.
Charlie walked back into the camp, wiping his mouth off with his sleeve. Ceara waved and smiled at him and he simply nodded. He was sick to his stomach first and second he was just a little annoyed at both Ceara and the leather Tuscadero down by the stream. To him they had no idea how important Alden was to them as a group for staying alive. “Hell” he thought “if it hadn’t been for him they’d been throwing rocks and sticks at the biters or deadheads” as Alden had so aptly named them. Walking over to a stool he sat down a reached into the cooler that held the beer and the water opting for the latter. He took a short swig and rinsed his mouth spitting out the rest of his vomit then took a big gulp.
He looked at Ceara, her soft eyes glimmering from the fire as she sat with her head in her hands. He liked her, a lot, but he had to try to get her and the other girl to understand how important Alden and his dog were to their very existence. He knew as far as Alden was concerned that the girls could go their merry way to a shopping mall or whatever shit beauty parlor they wanted. “Damn”, he thought “I’m starting to think like the old man, now that’s some scary shit right there.” reaching down behind the stool he found the flask that he saw Alden stash. Pulling it up he grabbed another bottle of water then rose and walked over to where Ceara sitting
“Mind if I sit down?” He asked as he handed her the bottle of water. “Yeah… sure I’d like that. Thank you for the water.”
Charlie smiled softly as he sat down. Tonto was lying next to Maximus both dogs seemed so relaxed, they were almost like brothers Charlie thought. Opening the cap of the flask he took a small sip then offered it to Ceara. “Take it light I don’t know what brand it is. Hell, he probably made it himself with napalm and vinegar.”
She giggled as she put the bottle to her lips. Her eyes went wide then squinted as she swallowed. A deep rush of air went in as she tried to catch her breath and keep the warm whiskey down. Coughing her voice was a little raspy as she spoke, “smooth” was she could get out. Charlie looked at her and the two of them started to laugh.
Charlie put the cap back on the flask and set it down next to him. Ceara put her fingers in front of her mouth as she gave up a little burp then giggled. “I think you were right about the ingredients.”
Taking another sip of water Charlie wasn’t sure if it was everything that had happened or the whiskey but he suddenly just s
poke up. ”Ceara you got to understand something about Alden. He’s a tough old bastard, but he has a soft heart. I don’t know how I know but I do. He cares about the innocent and right now that’s you, me and Tusky down the way there.” Pointing back towards the stream, “You see, Alden told me he was retired military, a Drill instructor, he told me he was also some sort of special ops shit and after seeing what I’ve seen I believe that. His only love is that dog,” pointing to Tonto, “But he has a core belief of protecting those who can’t protect themselves.”
As he took a sip Ceara spoke up, “I know he has our best interest at heart. I just hate being told what to do.”
Charlie smiled,”Tell me, did you have any idea whatsoever what to do when that group of biters came charging at us?”
Ceara simply shook her head, “No but….”
“No butts about it Ceara, we’d been dead if you or I would have been in charge.”
Ceara nodded as she took a gulp then put the empty bottle down.
Charlie reached down and put another log on fire then poked at it with a stick so it wouldn’t flare up to bright. He looked to Ceara who appeared to be shaking a bit. She had pulled her knees up to her chest with her arms wrapped tight around them. Getting up he picked up the two bottles and walked over to his van. Placing them just inside the door he reached in and pulled out a large blanket. It was mixture of browns with a large wolf’s head printed on it. The blanket was soft and thick.
Walking back over, he stepped behind Ceara and wrapped it around her shoulder. “Here this should keep the night chill off your back.”
Ceara looked at Charlie, “thank you” she said with a smile.
Charlie went back to the van and pulled out two large cans of Dinty Moore stew. “I’ll hold off on this till Dad gets back but I figure this might be supper.”
Tabitha finished with the last little bit then rolled some of the smaller rocks down into the stream with her stick and her boots. The sun had set and it was dark now. A half-moon was shining bright upon the creek and the path. When she was sure she had done all she could she turned and began to make her way back to camp.
Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins Page 16