Chapter 1 – Where the Heart is
The caravan traveled less than two miles before they came across Tabitha’s little car. Ceara tapped her horn once quickly, to let Alden know to stop. He pulled up next to a blue 98 firebird. He got out and scanned the area; Tonto jumped out and moved to the side of the road his nose down sniffing, then went to the other side and repeated it.
Finally he stopped in the middle of the road, away from the caravan and sat with his eyes scanning back and forth. Colt called to Alden, “What’s he doin?”
Alden looked back at Tonto, then to Colt, “Who him? He’s checking for IED’s.”
Tabitha got out of Ceara’s car and walked to her own. Alden was peering in the back window. “Are those filled with gas?”
Tabitha rolled her eyes, “Well Yeah.” She said sarcastically.
“Well then I would sure appreciate it if you finished that cigarette back over by Ceara’s car. Give me the keys and I’ll open it up.”
Tabitha handed the keys to him but just stood there smoking. Alden glared at her and reached up pulling the butt out of her mouth and tossing it on the ground, stepping on it. Before she could say anything he opened the driver’s side door and the fumes poured out hitting them in the face.
He turned and smiled, “I just saved you from becoming a crispy cupcake. Let’s open the other door and let this thing air out a few minutes.”
He turned and headed back to his truck. Tabitha chuckled as she stepped back and looked at Alden’s back mumbling, “Ya think?!”
Putting her hands in her back pockets, Tabitha walked over to the passenger door, both doors open she walked away from the vehicle quickly, “Damn!!!! FUCK!!!! Thanks Alden!!! I didn’t think about all of that shit. But I would care to venture a guess that I wouldn’t be the only crispy cupcake….we’d all would have been roasted cupcakes.”
She headed about ten feet or so back a ways from the car so she could get some fresh air.
Colt sat in Alden’s truck watching everyone, he wondered about Alden and what that man had been through, what he had seen in his years. The guy was far from a novice at the survival stuff and it seemed like he had a little bit of everything they needed.
After a few minutes of letting Tabitha’s car air out they all climbed back in to head to the cabins.
Alden looked to Colt, “You got any thoughts on how to get there?”
Colt knew the man already had a plan but if the man was willing to meet him in the middle then so would he, “I thought we could head out the way you guys came in and go south to the entrance that Beth and I took. That way if there is anything Beth wants out of her car; she can get it without us needing to hike to it. I would say the cabins aren’t more than five miles from where we left her car and we took one turn but that would be on the map. To be honest, I don’t remember any other turns before we saw the cabin sign.”
Alden nodded, “Had the same thought myself on Beth’s car and paying attention to the turns helps a lot. You said there was a sign pointing to the cabins?”
Colt nodded, “Wouldn’t have found it otherwise.” For the first time Colt smiled at Alden, Alden returned the smile.
Fifteen minutes later they were pulling up to Beth’s car, Alden threw the truck into park, “Ok you go see if she needs anything out of there.”
Colt jumped out and ran back to Charlie’s van, Beth had already climbed out, “Beth do you need anything out of there?”
“Yep,” wasting no time, Beth went to the back seat to see if anything had fallen out of her bags which were already in Colt’s Land Rover. It was a good thing that she did because laying there on the floor board was her own childhood stuffed puppy dog named Chappy.
Chappy had been with her all of her life and there was something about that dog that always reminded her of safety. Gently picking up her old friend Beth clutched him tightly to her chest. Closing her eyes just for a moment, Beth brought Chappy up to her nose and took a deep breath. The smell reminded her of home, of her family and most importantly of her sister. A tear began to appear in her eye and the memories rushed in quickly.
Not too long ago she had laid Mary’s own stuff animal, Puppy, in her dead arms, she had grabbed her own as a last thought when she left her childhood home.
Colt came over and peeked in the window. Seeing how Beth was and realizing that they needed to hurry up he tapped the window. Opening her eyes, Beth brushed the tear off of her cheek, “Coming…” she said.
Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and up in the passenger side was an atlas. With Chappy tightly in her left hand she snatched the atlas with the other and then exited the vehicle. Hurrying over to Alden she handed him the atlas, “This may come in handy for future reference.”
Then after she was finished, she quickly ran back to Charlie’s van to the passenger side and got in.
Alden pulled out heading up the road, within ten minutes they found the turn to the cabins. Colt pointed them out as soon as he could see them, “There they are Alden.”
He pulled up and stopped turning off the engine, just sitting in the truck as he scanned what he could in front and to the sides. The trees were cut back nicely giving them a wide view and large open space. The three cabins were arranged with two to the back and one up front. Alden smiled at Colt, “Well son let’s check this out. When we get out though stay right by your door. I’ll let Tonto out and he’ll do an initial search. You’ll know if he spots anything unusual. He won’t bark, he’ll back up and just sit and stare. Don’t go near him let me do that.”
Colt looked at Alden then turned and looked at Tonto in the back, he was just sitting there panting his tongue hanging out with almost a smile on his. “What? Would he bite me?”
Alden began to open his door, “Yeah he might…. If you’re lucky…. otherwise he’ll just drag you to the ground and rip your throat out.”
Alden stepped out and opened the little side door. Tonto jumped out and sat right in front of him almost like a soldier at attention waiting his orders. Pulling his forty five from its holster Alden walked to the front of the truck and then towards the cabins. Tonto was right beside him. As they reached the gravel drive he stopped and scanned the area again. He could see a shed off to the left of the first cabin, it sat back a about fifty feet and was almost covered with trees and bushes on three sides. If Colt hadn’t mentioned it he wouldn’t have noticed right off.
Reaching down he petted Tonto’s head; then with his hand he motioned from the first cabin then the third in an arc. “Search,” was all he whispered. Tonto was off in a flash, he got to the first cabin his nose to the ground. He went first to one side then to the other, and then he continued around the back, ending up on the front porch. He turned three times and went to the next two cabins and repeated the same scenario always ending up in the porch and turning three times. When he finished he trotted back to Alden who turned to the caravan. “Okay Cup Cakes…. Bring em up.”
Tabitha got out and looked around. “Kinda peaceful if you ask me.”
Looking up at the sky the sun rays were shining down and the wind blew gently through the trees. She got lost if just for a moment in all of the splendor and beauty, but was brought back to reality when the smell of rotting corpses passed by her nose. Raising her eyebrow and grabbing her nose Tabitha looked around and saw the dead bodies just lying on the ground. Walking over to Ceara, Tabitha chuckled and whispered into her ear, “Nothing like the smell of rotting flesh to welcome you home …….NOT!!”
Standing there alongside of Ceara, Tabitha spoke right up, “So, Alden…. you got any plans on what to do with the bodies? If you want we can do what we did last time or just hall their nasty ass’s way out in the woods.”
Noticing that Beth had just gotten out of the van, Tabitha made her way over to her. She noticed that Beth was holding onto her stuffed animal and thought that it must have some sentimental meaning. Tabitha felt bad for carrying on the way that she did the night before; she spoke
up, “Hey Beth! Damn girlie!! These are some nice digs here….. We all can have our own little houses on the prairie so to speak.”
Beth turned to Tabitha, “Well, I think that with a little work and some time that we could make this our safe zone where we can quarantine us away from the rest of the world.”
Beth then walked over to where Colt was standing, “I would like to continue our conversation sometime but I want to say that once again I am so sorry for not telling you the truth from the very start.”
Colt looked at Beth and tried to smile but it didn’t quite reach his eyes, “Beth, what is past is past… nothing will bring Jessica back, but I will tell you this. If it comes out that you had anything to do with it I will never forgive that.” He shrugged, “Not like it really matters if you have my forgiveness or not but it is a fact.”
Colt walked off to join Alden, “Well we can go see that shed now or wait till later, up to you.”
Ceara made a face at Tabitha’s comment but the girl was now off talking to Beth, so Ceara went to Charlie. “Do you think we will all stay in one cabin at first? Not really sure how we could let others know if there is trouble.”
Looking around at the woods, “It wouldn’t be hard for them to know we are here or sneak up on us.”
Alden looked to Colt, “Yeah, show me this engine thingy as you so aptly put it,” putting his hand on Colt’s shoulder and grinning the most mischievous grin.
The two walked off behind the first cabin. Charlie looked at Ceara. “I’m not sure what He’ll want to do,” nodding toward Alden, “but if I know him he’s already got that planned out plus the next few days’ worth of making this place safe.”
With his hands in his pockets he walked over to the first cabin and up, the steps peeking in the window he turned to Ceara, “Hey come here, these places look sweet they got beds and couch’s and everything.”
Ceara walked up next to him and looked in; Charlie turned and opened the door slowly. The smell from the dead bodies hit him, “OH HOLY HELL THAT’S RANK.”
Stepping back waving his hand in front of his face, his face was scrunched up as the smell of rotting flesh hit Ceara. With her arms flailing she bolted off the porch a few yards away, bent over with her hands on her knees and began to vomit. Charlie walked over and patted her gently on the back, “Good thing you didn’t have sausage and waffles,” he said chuckling.
“I say we bypass this one and pick another before the others find out just in case we get our own.”
Maximus was sniffing around and suddenly turned towards the cabin and bolted in. Ceara screamed, “MAXIMUS NO!”
It was too late he was up and inside. As Charlie followed Ceara back into the cabin they both pulled their shirts up over their noses.
Maximus was in the front room chewing on one of the bodies. Ceara screamed again, “MAXIMUS NO!!!! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THAT THING.”
Maximus stopped and looked at her and put his head down. As Ceara reached for him Maximus suddenly laid down on his back and started rolling in the guts. Once again up came Ceara’s breakfast or what was left of it.
Tabitha stood there taking in all of the comic relief that was taking place. Somehow no one was paying any attention to her and she thought to herself, “Ok Tab….take note….. they are over there, and Red is upchucking, so that tells me that cabin number one is gross and those that picks their nest must clean their nest.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Tabitha high tailed it to cabin number two. “Well let’s see what is behind door number two?”
Opening the door Tabitha peeked inside and said, “Housekeeping”
Stepping over the threshold she saw the couch and the tiny little fireplace that was directly across from it. There was the smell of the infected but it was very obvious why, there was one lying on the floor shot between the eyes. She also detected a moldy scent, leaving the door wide opened Tabitha made her way to the back of the cabin where she found out that the other doors were shut and she decided to open them up and air them all out.
When she got to the bedroom she noticed that it was disheveled a little with clothing and a suitcase that was lying wide open. A few clothes were left inside along with a baby doll. Tabitha picked up the dolly, it was wearing a blue dress with a petticoat underneath of it. “How cute”, she said out loud, then she suddenly looked up and realized for the very first time that what must have happened her was tragic.
Speaking to the doll, “Is that daddy in the dining room? Where was the family that was here?? Who did you belong to?” Holding the doll Tabitha walked back through the cabin and outside where she ran into Beth.
“Hey Beth… check this out…”
Beth looked down and then remembered the discovery that Colt had when she and Colt got there. “That must of been that little girls”, said Beth.
“Little girl?” inquired Tabitha.
“Yes, when we got here there was a family of infected here and Colt had to….” Beth took a deep breath and held onto Chappy tighter.
Tabitha still holding onto the doll interrupted, “Well let’s just put this pretty dolly in here on the mantle and she can keep watch over the place.”
Every time Tabitha tried to talk to Beth she somehow kept bringing up bad memories and she was always trying to keep upbeat when she realized that she had done it again. After Tabitha had placed the doll on the mantle; she turned around and saw Beth staring out the window.
Beth was really lost in thought about what Colt had said to her. How could he say what he said? She felt horrible enough just knowing she had been employed by the CDC and for him to come back with an ultimatum like that caused Beth to feel completely and utterly hopeless. No matter what she did or how she tried to make things right by Colt she felt that it was pointless.
Clutching her Puppy even tighter Beth looked at Tabitha with a very sad look, “If you want maybe Chappy could stay up on the mantle with the doll and both of them could watch one another?”
Tabitha was completely taken back by her remark and cheerfully Tabitha replied, “SURE!!”
Beth walked over to the mantle and placed the stuffed animal by the doll. When she had finished she walked over to the window and saw everyone gathering back outside again. For the first time now Beth felt the heavy weight of the world back on her shoulders. Down deep inside she felt responsible and did not know how to fix it.
She even wondered if the president was in a safe and secure location. Part of her hoped that he was alright and that somewhere in the world that a part of the CDC was working on a cure then the other part of her had hoped that the infected had found him and plucked him clean like someone eating a leg at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Alden and Colt opened the door of the shed slowly, Tonto gave no indication of unfriendlies so Alden pushed it the rest of the way open. Inside right in the middle was a large gas generator capable of producing enough electricity to run all three cabins.
Alden walked around and surveyed the machine at the back was the fuel tank and he opened it up. “I’ll be damned we got a break kid, the son of a bitch is full.”
He walked around to the side and read the instructions. Bending down he opened a small door. The battery compartment was empty someone had taken the twelve volt starter battery. Colt was standing behind him looking at the loose wires, “Am I right, whatever should be there, ain’t there?”
Alden stood, “Naw, were good, some asshole took the battery but I got a spare in my truck that should work.”
Colt looked at him, “Why would somebody take it?”
Alden did that mischievous grin again, “Why do I have a spare in my truck?”
The two spent a few more minutes checking out the shed. In the back was a wall locker that was padlocked. Alden turned to Colt who was picking up several tools on a bench and putting them back. “Hand me that crow bar.”
Colt brought it over and Alden with one huge pull snapped the latch off the door. Tonto was poised ready to strike as Alden opened it. Colt grin
ned, “JACKPOT.”
Inside was an array of firearms, hunting rifles. Alden also found some ammunition for the rifes, he wondered for a minute where the ammo for the handguns was. As they got back out front Colt called out to Beth, “Hey Youuuuu GUUYYYSSS!”
Ceara came out of the first cabin holding onto Charlie with Maximus right behind them. Ceara’s face was pale and she looked weak. Alden looked to Charlie, “What’s wrong with her she alright?”
“No man….” before he could finish Maximus walked by Alden, “Oh shit, what the fuck did he roll in.”
Alden pulled his tee shirt over his nose. Colt grabbed his own tee shirt, “Oh, dude, sick.” Maximus was bounding around wagging his tail but no one would pet him even Tonto was keeping his distance and every time Maximus got near him he growled and snapped at him. Alden looked to Ceara, “After the other girls get out here, you and Charlie take that damn dog and get him cleaned up.”
Ceara looked at Alden, “And just where are we going to do this at?”
Alden cocked his head, “Well kid, that ain’t my problem but if I were you I would head to the creek I can hear.”
Ceara’s brow furrowed, “Creek, you hear a creek?”
She tilted her head as if that would help her hear better, “I don’t hear anything?”
Alden went to his truck and pulled out the plastic bag and tossed Ceara a couple of hotel shampoos, “Use these, and if you head through the woods, down I would say a quarter mile south, you will find what I hear. Charlie you go with her.” He motioned to Colt, “Give him one of those 22’s.” Colt handed over one of the three rifles he was carrying, assuming that was what the 22 was. “Does anyone know how to use these?”
Alden started laughing, “I doubt any of you ever had a need to know, except maybe Tabitha but we will have practice in the next day or two. Charlie, keep the hand gun just in case, you fire off a shot and we will know you’re in trouble and you need us.”
Ceara scrunched up her nose, “Why is it always Charlie do this and that, I can do stuff too, I ain’t helpless!”
Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins Page 25