It didn’t take long for the coffee to boil. He poured a cup and went to the truck taking out a map of the park he walked over to the picnic table and laid it out. The sun was breaking through the trees and he could tell that it was going to be a warm day. Taking out a pencil he marked four different sets of cabins on the map, one he X’d off, as it was off behind where they were, which left just three.
Studying it and using the land marks he had seen as he evaded the deadheads, he was able to mark off one more leaving just the two.
Taking a sip of coffee he reached into his cargo pants and pulled out a tipped cigar and lit it. “I hope one of the new kids paid attention or this will be a long day hunting for those cabins.”
He walked back over to the fire poured another cup and turned on his log to face the sun rise. “Yeah it’s going to be a good day to die.”
The scent of coffee passed through the air and landed right in Beth’s nose. While taking in another deep breath she slowly began opening her eyes. Surprisingly she had survived the night and was amazed that no one from the group had killed her.
Beth had still felt some of the tension hanging in the air before she had drifted off to sleep. However with the smell of coffee and seeing Alden was an eye opener. She didn't realize she had been living with complete insecurity. With his presence there was now a security she hadn't felt since it all started weeks ago.
Unzipping her bag Beth pulled her legs up to her chest and began to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes. Then as she ran her fingers through her hair; Beth started to stand up and stretch quietly. Looking around Beth noticed that everyone except Charlie was still sound asleep and she didn’t want to wake any of them, especially Colt.
For some reason Beth felt so sorry for him because of his loss of Jessica. She even felt responsible in some way, but knew that the events that took place weren’t her doing. However she still felt ashamed, especially when Beth the thought of what she had to do to her family back at home.
Slowly she made her way over to the shower house and when she had passed Alden, Beth nodded and softly said, “Morning, I will be right back.”
Once inside she went about her usual morning routine of just going to the bathroom. She had planned on brushing her hair and teeth but she realized she didn’t have a tooth brush or even a brush so when she was finished she made her way over to the mirrors and turned on the water.
Quickly she did a cleanup of herself and tried as best as she could to make herself half way presentable. When finished she made her way back out by the camp fire and rubbed her wet hands together. “Alden, I trust that you slept well. I did as best as I could.”
Shying as she spoke her last word, Beth really did not have any idea of what to say to Alden because for one, he was completely unreadable last night, Two, she felt she had said enough and thought if Alden wanted to talk he was capable of doing just that.
As Charlie was getting situated into his sleeping bag Ceara woke up, “Is it morning already?”
Sleepily she rolled over toward him, he covered up relaxing back on his pillow, “It’s morning but you don’t have to get up just yet.”
Ceara hugged her pillow, “Good, coffee may wake others up but sleep does me wonders.”
Both closed their eyes and nodded off. Colt had heard the short conversation and his thoughts went to how comfortable this group sounded around each other. He got up and headed for the tree line.
Beth was at the fire with Alden when Colt had got back from Mother Nature’s bathroom. He saw the map on the table, “Sir, is this the park? What are the circles?”
Stifling a yawn, “Ok, maybe that will wait… mind if I have some of that coffee?”
Alden stretched and turned to smile at Beth first, “No worries Miss, I was just meditating I do it every morning that’s why I didn’t say anything.”
He stood and looked at Colt, “Go ahead and grab a cup of my lifer juice, and please do not call me Sir again. I am a retired First Sergeant, a Non-Com we worked for a living unlike the officers I served under. I’m glad you two are up I need to be able to prick your minds as to where these cabins are.”
Alden looked over to Colt, “I know things got hectic for you two right before we showed up. Get some Coffee both of you and come back here to the table. Beth over there in that wood box by the truck you’ll find some powdered cream and sugar if you need it.”
He set his mug down and took a seat at the table. Beth saw the mugs lined up on the adjacent log that was right by the fire. After making her way over she picked up the tin army mug, turning to the coffee she began pouring and the smell made it feel like this was nothing more than a campout.
With her coffee now in hand she made her way over to the picnic table blowing it to cool it down along her way. Taking a sip Beth remarked, “Alden, you make a great cup of coffee if I do say so myself.”
She never liked cream, sugar or any of the foo foo stuff. “As for the condiments Alden, I like mine black but thank you kindly for the offer. I never was much for that stuff and when we were in college we didn’t have much time to add a splash of anything. All we had time for was just hoping it was hot and getting to our next class as soon as we had too.”
Finding her seat Beth took in the beautiful sunrise then looked down at the map. Colt nodded to Alden, “Thank you si… ummm Alden, I’ll join you in just a sec.”
He went to the fire grabbing one of the turned over tin cups in one hand and the old tattered dish towel that was thrown over the log in the other to get the hot pot of coffee. Once he poured his cup he went to the back of the truck to look for the cream and sugar. Picking up this and that, looking in and around other things, muttering under his breathe, “Damn what don’t this guy have in here? Well… everything except cream and sugar.”
He turned back to Alden, “Sir, where did you say the cream and sugar is?”
Alden rolled his eyes, and smiled at Beth then turned. “Next to the rear tire there is a brown wooden camp box, lift the latch, open the lid. Inside on the left hand side you’ll find the cream and sugar.”
Looking back to Beth, “Please tell me he is just waking up and ain’t really that dense.”
It was more of a statement than a question. Colt went to the side of the truck retrieving the cream and sugar. He glanced back to the table wondering if he would ever like the old man, seemed to him that Alden was just a little to prepared for the whole world to go to shit. With his coffee made and the condiments replaced, he joined Alden and Beth at the table.
He took a small drink then set it aside and began looking at the map, “How did you come across a map of the park?”
Alden looked at him then at Beth, “When you first came into the park there was a little Ranger shack; right outside was a rack full of maps. Didn’t either of you think to get one?”
He chuckled took a sip and smiled at them, “and now with the whole world gone to shit, the poor yuppies with their GPS units are just shit out of luck ain’t they. I always told my troop’s one of the most important things I’ll ever teach you is how to read a $2.00 compass and use a map.”
Listening to Alden talk about all the yuppies caused Beth to damn near spit her coffee out of her mouth because she herself, had used her phone’s GPS to get out.
“Well, I haven’t quite heard it put that way but I can tell you Alden that even a Tom-Tom makes errors big time when it tells you to turn right and if they would turn right then they would sometimes turn into a brick wall. One time when I was going north to Illinois I was using mine and it said “Turn right in 20 feet and I was just going across the mighty Mississippi River. I was like, “Seriously?” “How?!?!”
Beth was trying to lighten the mood just a bit, not wanting Colt to feel uncomfortable because she knew that all he was trying to do was find out what was going on.
Colt smiled, “Well, GPS isn’t what I was concerned with and believe it or not, I do know how to read a map.”
Tapping the map, “We’re here, I se
e that and you marked that cabin site off. A bit too far north and considering that we came from the south that stands to reason to mark it off. We came in on this road.”
His finger trailed a road several miles from their camp. Beth broke down I would say about here.”
He showed Alden where he thought her car was with the rest of her supplies.
“We didn’t go more than a few more miles so I am guessing this is the site.”
Colt circled one of the sites, “Least I think I’m right with that guess.”
Alden smiled, “Good job son. You’d be surprised how many people wouldn’t even been able to remember where there car broke down let alone where they came in at.”
He stood and walked over to the fire and poured another cup of coffee. Then turned to the couple at the table he motioned with his hand to put theirs over their ears. Both looked at him puzzled till they saw him pull out a shiny whistle from under his shirt. It was attached to a chain which held Alden’s dog tags. Beth and Colt took the hint and quickly covered their ears just as Alden blew hard three times.
Tonto jumped up and looked directly at Alden and went to his side and started to bark. Maximus jumped up and landed on top of Charlie barking wildly. This caused Charlie to try and jump up but with the dog on him he could only manage to roll and yelled, “GODDAMN, SON OF A BITCH WHAT THE FUCK???”
Ceara tried to move but Maximus’ paws were holding her bag down. Alden yelled out, “RISE AND SHINE CUPCAKES; DROP THE COCKS AND GRAB THE SOCKS IT’S MORNING!!”
Ceara yanked the sleeping bag out from under Maximus, “Get OFF!”
Maximus took off to pace by Alden still trying to figure out what to do when that sound happened. Ceara reached over grabbing her jeans and shoved them down into the sleeping bag to get dressed. Laying down she pulled them up and unzipped the bag and threw the top back,
“Nice Alden! What would you have done if EITHER of us took a gun to bed and just started shooting?”
She sat up running her fingers through her hair and smacking her lips. Morning mouth always drove her crazy. Crawling to the end of her bag she finally stood, stretched and yawned.
Glaring at Alden, “I’ll be back.” She went to her jeep and grabbed her bag then headed to the shower. Fifteen minutes later she was back at the campfire. “Ok I cooked last night, who’s making breakfast?”
Tabitha was slipping into her jeans while everyone was moving about camp. Watching Ceara get all stirred up about getting the crap scared out of her caused Tabitha to laugh out loud. Smelling the coffee made her quickly gather her stuff together from the night before and neatly placed it over at her own little corner of the camp.
The sun was shining through the trees as it was now rising brightly and the chirping of the birds was actually very nice hearing. Making her way over to the coffee pot Tabitha remembered about the night before and the “newcomers”. She thought that the guy was kinda cute and had a nice tight package but the chick, well she just was all confused on her feelings with her.
Realizing that she had to lose some of her billy bad ass attitude or they would never get anywhere. She walked over to Beth and extended her hand. “My name is Tabitha, not Tab or Tabby, just straight Tabitha and since we are in the same boat I wanna apologize for my outburst last night. It was totally out of line, but hey…”
Beth interrupted Tabitha with a smile on her face, “Don’t worry about it Tabitha. I probably would have done the same thing if I would have been in your shoes.”
Beth motioned for Tabitha to join her, “In fact, when I found out through a text message from Chad what had gone on I was completely shocked, but I was very angry. My first and foremost thought was protection. All I wanted to do was run to try to get out of town so that I could save my family.”
Tabitha then realized that at that very moment Beth must of lost someone because that smile went to a frown and a tear began to form in her eye. Tabitha quickly perked right up, “Hey, let’s not talk about that right now….”
Going over to the fire Tabitha picked up the coffee pot, refilled everyone’s cup then grabbed her own cup and poured her one herself. In hopes of putting a smile on Beth’s face, Tabitha playfully walked over to Alden, “Sooooooooo Alden what’s cooking?”
Alden grinned a little, “Well kiddies I think toast and coffee will be on the menu.”
Reaching down he picked up a small flat piece of metal that had wire hooks folded in. Unfolding those wires stood up and interlocked with each other forming a small open square structure. “Charlie, bring me that bread.”
Charlie got up and headed to the camp box and brought out a loaf of bread. Alden took four pieces and placed them on the wires then placed the whole contraption on the coals of the fire. It took only a minute and he turned the bread, a minute more and he pulled the first four pieces off. “Come and get it” he called though they were already all standing there.
He placed four more pieces on the toaster. It took only minutes and he had enough for everyone to have at least three pieces. Ceara was picking them up and placing them on a plate. Charlie looked at them then at the group, “Great, who does he think we are Elwood blues,” mimicking Dan Akryod from the movie “Four pieces of dry white toast.”
Alden walked over to the truck and reached in the back and pulled out a small plastic bag and a little picnic basket. He walked back to the table and placed the items down. Opening the basket he took out four little jars of jam and a small plastic knife and set them down, “Take your pick and when you’re done if you need to there are some small toothbrushes and toothpaste. I’ve acquired many things from my many stays at the Holiday Inn over the years for you all to brush your teeth with.”
Ceara grabbed the grape jelly before anyone else could grab it. She made a grape jelly sandwich and took a big bite then leaned over to Charlie and whispered, “Holiday Inns over the years my ass, I bet he raided every hotel between his home and here.”
Charlie kind of laughed, “Maybe.”
Ceara sat eating her sandwich just watching everyone. “So are we going to be able to find those cabins? It shouldn’t be that hard right, I mean we know where they were attacked…. well Alden will remember and from there they should be able to back track from there right?”
Beth took another drink of her coffee and eagerly walked over to where Ceara was.
“The cabins are actually pretty nice and there were only a couple of the infected that Colt and I had to take down when we first got to the cabins. The only thing that worries me is that with all of that gun fire and commotion yesterday; it that may have brought more in. But if we are able to get back to the cabins, I think with a little work that we could all make them livable dwellings. They will of course, have to be scouted out again and then we would have to dispose of the carcasses so that won’t draw anymore of the subjects or wild life.”
Beth reached down and grabbed a plain piece of toast then took a couple of bites. After swallowing them she without thinking continued, “Then of course will be that horrific smell.”
Colt stood and walked to the fire and poured his coffee into it, he still wasn’t sure about this group, “I’m guessing that with the loud ass whistle that just let every monster in a two mile radius know just where this camp is, that we’re packing up?”
He went back to the table, “Me and Beth don’t have anything but what’s on us, what do you need help with? I’m sure we can be of use with something.”
Charlie was listening to them while he ate his toast, “Packing up shouldn’t take too long seeing as how we’ve been sleeping in bags on the ground under tarps.”
He turned and looked to Tabitha, “We can pick up your ride on the way too if you still got gas.”
His faced turned to a frown and looked to Alden, “That brings another question up Boss. We are going to need to get some extra gas sooner or later in case we have to leave. I mean, I don’t want to jump in hit the gas, and go say… five hundred feet before it goes putt putt poop.”
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br /> Finishing off her little bit of coffee Tabitha answered, “Well I have got some gas tanks in the back of my ride up the road a ways. Come to think about it if I remember right they’re full I think or at least one of them is. I parked it back by the entrance not far from where our camp is. That’s when Alden came across me. I didn’t come with much more than the car and I got my five finger discount when I got that as well.”
Alden threw the last of his coffee on the fire, “Colt, you and Beth put the fire out. There was a couple of metal trash cans in the shower house fill’em up and dowse it with that. Charlie you and the girls get your stuff packed up; I’ll get my truck ready. Ceara, you take Beth with you. Tabitha can ride with Charlie till we find her car.”
The camp became a buzz of activity as everyone went to complete their assigned tasks. Colt and Beth brought the water out and dowsed the fire then scattered the ashes around in the fire pit to insure it was out. Tabitha was helping Ceara get her gear to her car. Even Tonto joined in pulling on the rope that was attached to the tarp that hung out from Alden’s truck causing it to collapse right on Alden’s head as he was bent over storing things in their appropriate place. “DAMNIT DOG!!!” Alden yelled as the others turned and started to laugh.
Tonto just sat there with the rope in his mouth. Tabitha looked to Ceara, “I’m getting to like that dog more and more, “ the two just chuckled and continued packing up.
Within fifteen minutes the camp was done and everyone was loaded. Alden’s truck pulled out first then Ceara’s jeep followed by Charlie’s van. The sun was up full and shining bright. Looking in the side mirror of the van he turned and looked to Tabitha, “And the adventure continues.”
Part 3 – Home Sweet Home….for now
The small band was soon becoming a close knit family; They had shared meals, and drinks and stories with each other. But more importantly they had fought side by side. They were now moving on to what they all hoped would be a safe home …. Though each one still had their doubts….
Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins Page 24