Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins

by Allensworth, Audra

  Colt headed to the kitchen thinking she would follow him. Once he rinsed the cans off he opened them and dumped them into the same bowls they had eaten the soup in last night. He held one out to Beth, “At your service my lady”

  He did a bit of a bow hoping to make her smile.

  Beth put the phone down on the table and now she felt like she had hit the wall. Something deep down inside told her that she better get honest with Colt, because keeping all of this information to herself and now finding out that her closest friend was gone she just could not think straight anymore.

  All of her training that she had been through was about to come out. With a simple smile she walked over to the table and took a seat. “Colt…. thank you, but I am just not hungry right now. You eat your share first and I will have some a little later.”

  Beth tried her hardest to be sweet and kind but honesty was harder; in her contract she had signed with the government, she could not let out any information from the CDC. Bound by legalities but that was the question! What CDC!!?!! Was it still standing???!!! Was everyone gone??!!! Those were the questions that were continually going through her mind, like marbles in a hat box.

  Colt sat when she did and began eating his fruit; he spooned up a couple of bites. She was thinking, he had no clue just what was on her mind but he thought it was about the messages. Setting the spoon down, then laying both hands on each side of the bowl and leaned forward, “Ok Beth, I ain’t wanting to be a dick or even pry into your business but we are kind of in this shit together and secrets could get us killed.”

  She sat there still thinking, Colt took a couple more bites, “Ok when you decide to talk I’ll be cutting wood out back.”

  A little frustrated he got up and went out back grabbing the axe on the way out.

  Colt started setting logs on the stump and splitting them with the axe. Meanwhile, Beth just sat there listening to Colt making vicious chops on the wood which brought her attention to the window. Immediately she realized that Colt was right…they were the only two people that she knew of right now that had survived and that he had a point about being in this shit together.

  “Screw my oath!” Standing up Beth quickly made her way out back to where Colt was. Without hesitation she calmly said, “Colt…. ummm….. I will tell you some information that you do need to know and you’re right. Quite right….. If we are the only ones who have survived then …. yes… we ARE in this shit together.”

  Still standing in front of him, but more calmly and being even a little flirtatious she continued, “I think it would be better if you put down the axe first.”

  Colt set the axe up against the log, wiping his brow with his sleeve, trying to lighten the mood a bit, “This shit is harder than it looks”

  He leaned on the stump, “Ok I’m all ears, so talk. What is going on, what do I need to know?”

  He crossed his arms ready to hear something that he would see as trivial but she obviously thought it wasn’t, so he wanted to hear it, if only to let her talk it out.

  “Look Colt…. I don’t know where to begin. So I guess the only way to start is just lay it out, but before I do I want to tell you that I am sorry. I am sorry for what has happened and I just couldn’t come out and tell anyone because of where I work….”

  She saw a chair over by the corner of the house and walked over to retrieve it. Picking it up she moved it closer to where he was standing and took her seat. Taking in a deep breath, then releasing it slowly she continued speaking with extreme care but in a very businesslike tone.

  “I work…. worked for the Center for Disease Control and I had been employed there for a very long time. There is no way to say this but the reason that I could not tell you any of this is well, because it would be classified.

  Now after receiving the messages I just got, I honestly don’t think that this is going to turn out good.”

  Continuing to look at Colt she had no idea where to go from there, she had stopped talking and she searched within her mind for the words that she could say.

  “I will answer any questions that you may have. I know there must be many but allow me to apologize again, because I was only doing what I have been trained to do and with what you said earlier I await your questions.”

  Colt stood there just staring at her, “Well so much for what I thought it was….”

  He had so many emotions running through him he didn’t trust himself to talk. Grabbing the axe he started chopping wood again. After four or five logs were split he set it back down and started pacing, “YOU? You did this, you and all your fucked up people! THEN you lie to me and I tell you all about Jessica!”

  Colt threw his hands in the air, “YOU KILLED JESSICA!! How the fuck did you think I will feel??”

  Taking a deep breath he looked right at Beth, “I will not stay with the woman that had anything to do with the CDC, I will help you only till we find the others we heard last night then Beth you are on your own.”

  He started back to the cabin, “Pack a bag, we are going to look for them.”

  Closing her eyes, “Well that went as expected!’ shaking her head while standing up Beth quickly turned and followed Colt.

  Seeing and hearing his reaction made Beth grow angry especially when he included her as being involved with this. Standing her ground she allowed Colt to finish and then she barged in the cabin right behind Colt, in with a very stern tone, “Ok, Colt! Let me address one thing at a time! I, ME, did NOT do any of this Colt. Do you know how many CDC’s there are AND I feel hopeless too.”

  Pacing the small cabin Beth continued her rant, “Do you remember that I said that I killed my own family??? Do you??! That I sat there and watched my Dad turn on his wife? My Mom??? Then I had to put all three of them down?!?! Colt, that isn’t even right grouping me with the whole CDC. Facts are facts and I am getting them just as you are.”

  Stopping dead in her tracks Beth took another breath and began calming down. “Ok Colt… let me continue then you can say all you want. I started off with an apology for I knew what your reaction would be. Secondly, how is this for being classified……”

  With no hesitation, Beth wanted to get gut level honest with Colt. If she would have said this in any other circumstances she might have been executed. Hell, she didn’t know what the rules were now or even if any rules still existed. Before the outbreak if someone were to leak information such as what she was about to, would at the very least cost them their career. The way Beth looked at it, her government had failed her and she had nothing left to lose.

  “The idiot that we, the people, put into that office in Washington D.C. made so many irrational budget cuts that caused government facilities to make cut backs. These cut backs cost the jobs of a lot of the old timers who worked at the CDC. Those cuts were worldwide, Colt!!! Not just in Kentucky but globally. Many of the newbies that acquired their jobs got them from either blowing their bosses or being born from them, kept their jobs.”

  Beth threw her hands up frustrated with the whole situation, “Most of them were barely qualified to have worked at a local McDonald’s cleaning toilets. So these morons had no idea what kind of diseases or chemical viruses could do to the world’s population. Many of these people found it more interesting playing video games than actually taking the time to learn what could actually happen from their actions.”

  Beth knew she was rambling but she needed to get this out so Colt would understand. “Our facility was one of the old ones and we lost many of our old timers. Hell, Colt….if I would of been employed there three years earlier, they would of cut my throat like they cut everyone else. But that is neither here nor there!! God damn it, Colt!!! I fucking lost people too….. and after reading the text that I got from our local nerd boy Steven the big boys above fucked us royal!!!”

  Colt leaned on the couch with one hand, “You done? Well as far as you losing your family, yeah I do remember! What I remember is you put them down, is that what they teach you at the CDC? Well ain’t t
hat NICE, they teach you to detach and kill! I stood by Jessica till there was no hope but I guess you already knew that, didn’t you? So what the fuck, just kill everyone right?”

  Colt stormed off to grab a bag, “I guess I really didn’t have to tell you if I get bit to shoot me, hell we already know you will! What was the damn text Beth?? What was so much that you dropped your phone?”

  The phone made him realize something “Does your phone work?? Have you been talking to people this whole time? Never mind, I don’t even care, it doesn’t matter, just get your stuff together.”

  He stopped packing and looked at Beth, “Look, I guess I can’t blame you specifically and I don’t have any clue where the outbreak started but I thought it was on the east coast. All I know is that the CDC is supposed to protect us, NOT destroy us and to me it seems they did just that.”

  Throwing the backpack over his shoulder, “We still need to find the others, just give me some time; I will try to process everything you said. But we still have to move forward.”

  Quickly Beth stepped in front of Colt, “Just a minute!!”

  She wanted to leave too but did not want to move forward yet.

  “From where we are now Colt we have shelter and I damn sure don’t want to finish this conversation out there!!! So allow me to leave with you on a final note and you can process the hell out of whatever it is you have to process…. I will give you that.

  First of all, Colt, Jessica was restrained and you said yourself that she allowed you to restrain her hoping for a cure. She was only one!! Yes, if Dad would have been only one and by himself, I would have done the same thing. However, the way that he reacted when he became reanimated told me how to react, kill or be killed and what good would I be to the rest of those whom I may be able to help??

  “Secondly, Colt…” She kept saying his name because he was alive and he was a person. Her agency always taught everyone to treat everything like a subject. With the CDC now being gone to her, everything was now changed. “Before our President made his dramatic changes…”

  Scoffing after saying that word, “Well that is what we all got, Change!!! Government changed their spending and did many budget cuts. Great change, huh!! They tried to hide their spending at the cost of many people’s lives!!!”

  Beth took a deep breath, “Finally, Colt…. the text that you inquired about was from my closest friend in the world Kelly. She was like a sister to me and we had grown up together. Hell, her son and I shared the same birthday!!! We both worked at the CDC and she along with her husband Brad got bit. That was her last text Colt, THEY BOTH GOT BIT AND WERE LOCKED IN THEIR FUCKING CAR!!!”

  With tears pouring out of her eyes she opened the door and walked outside.

  Colt released a heavy sign as Beth left him standing, she just didn’t get it and he knew it. Turning he walked through the kitchen grabbing a water jug, and then went out the back door to grab the axe.

  He walked around the front of the cabin to join Beth; she was at the tree line waiting. He could tell by her look she thought he wasn’t going to be coming. He swung the axe over his shoulder as he walked passed her.

  “Stay close, don’t make too much noise and just tug my shirt if you see anything.”

  Beth fell into step with him, “Really, no noise? I was planning on just screaming here we are!”

  The sarcasm wasn’t lost on Colt, he smirked at the comment, “Yeah, I know you know, but I figured we would try to get off the other topic.”

  The underbrush was thick and few steps Colt almost tripped, each time pointing the spot out to Beth to make sure she didn’t fall.

  They headed northeast trying to follow the location the both knew the gunshots had come from. Colt was concerned after the first hour when the trees got so thick he couldn’t see the sun, what if they couldn’t find their way back to their own cabins. He was about to turn around to tell Beth he wanted to head back, he wanted to find clothes or something to mark their trail.

  Just as he turned he felt her tug on his shirt, hard! Glancing at her, Beth pointed to the North West; there was a pack of at least fifteen of the monsters. They had already spotted Colt and Beth and working their way to them, “Oh fuck Beth, we’re dead!”

  Before Beth even had a chance to think about what to do, she quickly reached behind her and pulled out her Beretta and started running right alongside of Colt. She knew that the truck was too far away and with the infected hot on their backs, it really seemed like there was no chance.

  “Colt, follow behind me in a zigzag pattern!”

  Beth didn’t want to look back because she was certain if she did then either one of two things would happen. First, she might run into something and that would not be good or second, it would take a few seconds to re-focus again and those seconds she couldn’t afford to waste.

  Going back to the cabins was out of the question and all she could think of was trying to locate where those shots were coming from that they had heard. Breathless now, but still running as fast as she could she asked, “Colt, remember where those shots were from? If we can hopefully find others maybe they can help!!!”

  Just then she looked back and noticed that they were a little ways from them now but still she didn’t want to stop because that would only give the infected more of an advantage.

  Colt had to wonder on the statement, calling out, not worrying about who or what heard him, “Well, we were headed in that direction when you just took off, damn it! We have to cut back this way!”

  He yanked her back to what he thought was northwest. He didn’t know when he did it but he now had his gun in his hand and the axe in the other. He considered dropping the axe but it might come in handy.

  Colt ran and could hear Beth right behind him, “Let’s see if we can lose them, do you remember if there was a stream or anything? We might be able to swim, maybe they can’t!”

  He stopped putting a hand on a tree, trying to catch his breath. “Beth, I can’t go much more, shit I should have started jogging when Jessica told me.”

  He looked up to Beth hoping for a little smile, “OH FUCK DROP!!”

  He raised his gun and fired as soon as Beth dropped. More of the monsters were coming. “SHIT!! Ok I think running is out now, but I ain’t going down easy! Ok Let’s go; we shoot, we move… Ready??”

  Beth actually liked that idea with a nod of her head she looked straight ahead, “Colt, damn good idea you got there and as for taking up jogging well I think we are way beyond the jogging point now.”

  Chuckling softly hoping that remark would make Colt feel a little encouragement, Beth quickly got an idea then continued, “Except when we start shooting we do it full throttle out because if whomever IS still out there and if they DO hear our fire then maybe they will come running, like calling out the Cavalry so to speak.”

  The safety was off and right after she took the lead she began firing taking the first one out dead on; right between the eyes. The second one she hit somewhere below the chest and he just kept right on coming. Looking over to see how Colt was doing Beth saw that he was bound and determined to follow her lead, except he looked extremely pissed off.

  That triggered something inside of Beth that caused her to think about when she had to put her family down. All of this death and destruction that had been started by the government that she worked for, that promised they would protect the citizens of the nation. Well that was the biggest amount of bull shit and she had been brainwashed into thinking it for years.

  There was no terror in Beth now, it had been replaced with pure anger and that anger now was coursing through her veins. There was no more government official inside of her. Beth’s family was gone, Colt’s wife Jessica was gone and right now all she knew was that she was not about to let herself or Colt die. Without hesitation Beth began rapidly firing her Beretta at any moving target that was coming at them.

  Colt followed Beth and kept firing, each one in his mind was the monsters that created this, not humans, never humans.
He fired shots not knowing where he was hitting them but running and firing was his plan and he was sticking to it.

  The monsters seemed to be circling them, Colt wondered if they still had some kind of brain function. He fired at the three in front of them and Beth lead the way threw them, “Well if any of those mother fuckers are coming they need to get their ass here!!”

  Leaning on a large tree he leveled the gun shooting two more than a click, “Beth I have to reload, cover me!”

  Colt reached in his pocket pulling out a few bullets, he released the clip and started filling it with the bullets he had, reaching back in his pocket for more when he had the first ready to slide in. He hit the ground with a monster on top of him; he only worried about the mouth. Everything was so fast, they were so strong.

  Colt tried to swing the axe but it was useless. Suddenly gunshot rang out and the man went limp on Colt and he was covered by thick bloody chunks. He shoved the man off scrambling to find his gun and the clip, as he quickly wiped the blood and brains off his face. He found the gun then the clip and slammed it home not worrying about if he was fully loaded or not. He looked to Beth, “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” Just then from out of nowhere coming from up from her left side one of the infected reached out and grabbed her arm and pulled on her. Both of them went to the ground as their legs tangled up. Like Colt, Beth paid no attention to any other part of the subject, just the mouth. The muscle tissue where the cheek bones were located was hanging in chunks off of the chin and the teeth were fully exposed. There chomping action of the teeth was very ferocious.

  Tilting her head to the side Beth instantly pulled her arm away and shifted her weight flipping the subject under her, then while sitting on top of his legs Beth hit him with the butt end of the gun dead center in the face which knocked him flat on his back. With her gun in her hand Beth fired off a round that went through the bottom of the subjects chin and exited through the crown of his skull. This was the first time that Beth had been that up close and personal with one and was shocked seeing the brain matter burst out onto the nearest tree bark.