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

by Allensworth, Audra

  They peeled back just as a group darted trying to leave the camp. Alden’s horse came out the other end of the camp without him. Tonto had taken three or four of the bad guys down. Sounds of men yelling rang through the early morning air, “GET HIM, WHERE THE FUCKED HE GO NOW?” Alden’s silhouette would appear from behind a vehicle or tent then disappear again. He had his knife out now and was moving through the carnage with amazing speed. Hand to hand combat was his field and he was killing the men as one would swat flies.

  Spinning down and around a small tent he came behind two men who were firing towards Tabitha’s position. He grabbed one by the arm and spun him around. As the man faced Alden the knife cut quickly across his throat. The second man never saw what happened as Alden stepped forward grabbing him by the neck and pulling him back driving the knife blade into the back of the man’s skull.

  Ceara sat watching everything unfold in front of her eyes, as Colt ran to the people at the trees Ceara looked to Charlie. “What the hell is he doing? The dumb ass is going to get killed!”

  Charlie never took his eyes of the fight but just shrugged unable to give a good answer. Ceara saw as Colt ducked and she started to stand but Charlie yanked her back down, “Don’t get seen damn it!”

  Ceara watched as Colt ran back to the edge of the camp that they knew Beth was hiding. Ceara breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Beth was probably knocking the crap out of Colt for taking such a risk. She began looking for where Alden and Tabitha was hiding but couldn’t find them.

  Ceara started scanning the camp and began noticing different areas of the camp were scrambling to escape something and knew what that something was, she smiled knowing that Alden was just fine and right in his element.

  A small group of the camp’s members were heading toward them trying to escape the carnage surrounding them. Ceara looked to Charlie, “Seems wrong to just gun them down.” Charlie looked to her, then back to the people coming at them. “We do what we have to, don’t get soft now. Just think about what that guy did to Max and what he would have done to you. They are all just like him and you could have been one of those tied to one of those trees.”

  Ceara paled, knowing he was right, “Ok so when do we do this?” Charlie lifted the gun taking aim, “Soon”

  Charlie watched as they came out from the camp by the only exit they had. Alden’s plan seemed to be working, with Tabitha on one side and Beth and Colt on the other, the dogs of war in the center and rear an unknown killing machine, there was only one option left. He pulled the bolt to the back and chambered the first round from the belt. He saw about five at first then noticed another group trying to get out.

  Their heads were turned back towards the camp, they were trying to shoot and run which wasn’t working very well. Their shots were hitting the vehicles, the tents but not the dogs or Alden from what Charlie could see. As they started to bunch up he looked to Ceara, “Get ready here we go.”

  With that he pulled the trigger and the machine gun came to life. The first shots hit low in front of the group kicking up dirt. The sound of the machine gun seemed to be mask at first by the rest of the gun fire. His second round of shots began to find their marks as one suddenly stood straight up and twitched violently as the bullets tore through him. A woman standing next to him screamed, “HOLY FUCK!!!” then turned her rifle towards the woods opening fire.

  She was holding an AK-47, Charlie had seen many of these on the news before the world went to shit. The braaap sound told him that it was on full auto. He ducked and realized that she was not aiming anywhere near him and Ceara.

  Charlie let loose with another burst, holding the trigger a little longer; the bullets first hit the ground in front of her then tore through her midsection almost cutting her in half. Charlie heard Ceara make a sound like she was about to throw up. Just then bullets started hitting the tree they were hiding behind. “Ceara, honey you have to stay with me on this.”

  He looked back and the group that had all dropped to the ground and were now focusing on their position. He heard a man yell from the group, “FUCK THE ONES ON THE SIDE, GET THAT BASTARD IN THE MIDDLE HE’LL CUT US TO SHREDS.”

  Suddenly the log exploded from bullets hitting it. Dirt and bark was flying everywhere as the enemy had now trained their guns on Ceara and Charlie. Charlie tried to duck down when he grunted, “Oh fuck.” A bullet had hit him in his right arm as he sank behind the log.

  With all of the yelling going on Tabitha looked over in the direction of where Charlie and Ceara were at. Tabitha could tell that Alden wasn’t backing down and she saw at least four of the idiots that were dropping on the ground after the explosion happened were beginning to get up. “OH NO YOU FUCKING DON’T!!!” Quickly Tabitha stepped forward and unloaded five three round bursts one right after another at the four people. She couldn’t really tell if they were men or women and she sure didn’t give a rats fucking ass at that point.

  When their bodies hit the ground Tabitha dropped and looked back in the direction of where Alden was. There were a couple more stragglers that were coming up from out of the smoke and they immediately saw her. Quickly Tabitha side stepped to another tree and fired again but this time she kept right on pulling the trigger, they must not have been thinking clearly because they ran straight for her. The morons were focusing on the flash bangs that were emanating from her fire, trying to get to her. The one she hit dead center in the chest while the other one’s head blew up like a watermelon.

  On the other side Beth could see what Tabitha was doing and she kept right on firing as well, taking a few out at a time. With all of the gun fire and after the explosion it was really easy to pick a lot of them off one by one. Realizing now that Tabitha had a little bit of an edge from her side Beth stepped back a bit and dropped while creeping up to where she could see where Alden was and she thought that if she could get a better angle on him by being off to the side she could perhaps get a better chance of getting a straight shot of their leader. Within a matter of seconds Beth had moved about fifteen yards farther up on off behind a tree where she stood slowly and peered around it.

  From the position that she was now standing, Beth could see that their leader was about thirty yards out and trying to take Charlie and Ceara out. Beth then looked over and saw that Tabitha had picked off a few more and then she looked back to where their leader was and then back to Alden. She saw that Alden was moving in the opposite direction and wasting no time, Beth pointed her gun in the direction of their leader and unloaded several rounds in his direction.

  Colt stopped firing and watched as Beth made her way around the perimeter, he was more than pissed that she just took off. Hadn’t she just bitched at him for taking chances? A bullet ricocheted off the tree causing bark to splinter hitting him in the face and shoulder. His attention now back on the fire fight, he picked the group of three he thought had just fired at him. Pulling the trigger allowing the three-round burst to pepper them and then dropped to the ground and low crawled as more bullets hit the tree he had just left. Colt looked through the shrubs; he saw several dropping from Ceara and Charlie’s assault.

  Alden looked like a jack in the box to him, or playing a game of peekaboo with the group and the group was losing badly. Every time he appeared it was in another location, fired and was gone again. A couple of times Alden hadn’t needed to fire, he had either used his knife or his bare hands. Colt couldn’t help but admire him.

  He noticed the group’s numbers were quickly dropping but they were still outnumbering them at least three to one. The coverage from Charlie and Ceara had stopped making Colt wonder if they were ok. If they were ok, did they need help? Colt got to his knees targeting a few that were heading out of camp and pulled the trigger allowing the M-16 to empty its clip. He reloaded and took aim again but being a bit more careful with making sure the bullets hit their targets.

  When Ceara saw Charlie jerk backwards then yell, she looked at his arm where he had grabbed, “Oh my god you’re shot!!” The blood w
as oozing through his fingers and pouring down his arm, “Charlie you can’t shoot with that!”

  She looked over the log to see the people coming at them, she ducked back down, “Tell me how to shoot this and you can load, but we have to keep firing! They are getting closer!” Panic was seeping into her voice, she wasn’t thinking about herself but what could happen if Charlie didn’t get help soon.

  There was a lot of blood and all she could think was, “What if it hit an artery?”

  Charlie bit his lip, grabbing his knife he cut his sleeve and pulled it off. “Tie this around my arm, Ceara.” She grabbed the cloth and tied it where his wound was. “Pull it tight, real tight.”

  She cinched it done and saw his face wince from the pain, “Honey you can’t shoot like this show me how.”

  Charlie leaned up kissed her and spun around, “The fuck I can’t.” He took hold of the handles and yelled, “ALRIGHT YOU MUTHER FUCKERS THAT FUCKING HURT.”

  He pulled the trigger and held it down for a few seconds as the bullets flew out and began to rake the ground in front of the enemy. The fierceness of the fire caused two men to try and get away by crouching. Charlie aimed right for them and let loose another barrage, tearing one man’s head completely off. It landed in front of one of the women who had been trying to reload her shotgun. She screamed and pulled the trigger causing the shotgun to fire into the ground in front of her. The buckshot hit and bounced back slamming into her face and tearing out half of her cheek along with an eye.

  The women rolled with her hands to her face screaming then jumped up to run away only to be hit by a bullet fired from somewhere else. Charlie started firing but slowed it back down to the short bursts the way Alden had said. The group was trying to organize around one tall man in the center. He had long flowing black hair, a mustache and a beard. His shirt was a military desert camo jacket with the sleeves gone. He had tattoos over both arms and a large necklace with what looked like locks of hair hanging off it. Charlie watched as the man suddenly ducked as shot rang out from his left side. Looking over he saw Beth aiming again to fire another round. Charlie heard Ceara scream “RELOAD!”

  He looked at his and saw the belt was almost gone. Charlie popped the top the way Alden had showed him and Ceara handed the new belt. Within seconds they were firing again.

  Alden had lost count of the how many he had killed. He’d worked his way to the pens. He let loose the animals first and the cows scattered along with some horses and a few sheep. As he reached the next pen he saw it wasn’t humans but wanderers they had penned up. He squatted a few feet away trying to decide what to do. Suddenly one of the men made the decision for him. The guy ran up and unlocked the gate throwing it open. The wanderers were free and heading towards the few wounded lay on the ground. The man turned and unknowingly ran toward Alden.

  Alden was hiding behind a tent and as the man ran by, Alden tripped him, then rolled to his left and sprinted away whistling for Tonto. Both dogs heard him and followed. Alden dove under a large bus as Tonto crawled in first followed by Maximus. Alden reloaded and looked at Tonto, “We’re gonna lay low here for a minute let the troops go after the rest, then make a break for it.”

  The wanderers soon turned their attention to the living ones at the front where all the shooting was and began to go towards them. As they passed by the bus Alden laid still then moved backwards followed by the dogs. As he stayed low he watched as the wanderers began to attack the others. The gunfire continued as he began to rapidly search the tents and trucks, looking for survivors then for weapons and supplies.

  Colt flinched as his own blood got in his left eye, running his sleeve over his eyes. He had known the bark had stung his face but he didn’t realize it had actually injured him. Just as he refocused he saw one of the group take aim and fire at him. His reaction time was a split second too late but it was enough to save his life. The bullet ripped through his shoulder causing him to drop his M-16, “SHIT!”

  He tried to reach for the gun but his arm wouldn’t respond to his mental commands. Colt looked to his shoulder and saw so much blood but he could feel the blood going down his back too so he thought that the bullet had went clean through.

  He pulled off his shirt and did his best to wrap his shoulder, then reached with his right hand for the gun. It felt awkward in the wrong hand but he would be able to shoot he thought. His shoulder screamed as he forced it to support gun. Once it stopped shaking so much he pulled the trigger just once to make sure of how much it would jerk and if he could keep it level. It wasn’t as stable as before but it was good enough to get through the rest of the fight. He began taking aim and pulling the trigger, just hoping this fight would be over soon.

  Alden could tell by the rate of fire from the woods that his people were starting to either tire or they’d been wounded. He watched the center of the enemy’s lines as terror and confusion started to show. He could hear the screams and shouts as they turned their weapons on the wanderers. Alden snapped his fingers and both dogs looked to him. He grinned a bit at Maximus who was definitely showing improvement.

  He started to move between the vehicles again when suddenly a man ran straight into them. The two dogs immediately attacked, Maximus hit the man’s thigh as Tonto went for his arm. The man hit the ground screaming as the two dogs tore into him. It was only a matter of seconds and Tonto had the man by the throat silencing him. Alden reached down and picked up the man’s rifle, a Les Baer 308 sniper rifle. Turning to the downed man he searched him and found four 20 round clips. “This is just what I need.”

  Alden moved quickly to a Winnebago camper and climbed up on top. The dogs laid down at the back where the ladder was. Alden laid down on the roof of the camper and placed the extra clips beside him. Pulling the rifle up he adjusted the scope and began to scan the battlefield. He could see Charlie and Ceara were back up to firing again though he noticed Charlie had some sort of bandage on his arm.

  Moving along his own people he found Colt, he also had been wounded. “Son of a bitch” he mumbled. He could see that Beth and Tabitha had moved from their positions and were now farther apart than he wanted them. Moving his sight back to the enemy he could see the leader pointing and shouting orders.

  “This guy has some training, he’s figured out the guys are trying to flank him and he ain’t going to let that happen.” Suddenly two men to his left caught his eye. They were moving slow and staying close to the ground, but that wasn’t what worried him it was the long tube one of them was dragging. “Fuck, Fuck Fuck, They got a goddamn RPG.!”

  He watched as the fire increased on the rest of the group. Alden knew they were simply laying down cover fire for the two to get into position. He focused his sights on them and waited. It didn’t take long. The two had worked their way around to the front end of a small station wagon. They had a good line of sight on Charlie and Ceara’s position.

  Alden readied his weapon and waited for his shot. The men kneeled and the first one placed the RPG one his shoulder. A loud crack rang out as Alden took his first shot. The second man slumped over dead as the bullet had passed directly through the back of his neck and out the front leaving a large hole where his adams apple had been. The first guy started to turn and look but it was too late.

  Alden had already sighted and fired then ducked he knew he was going to hit his target. The bullet traveled right into the back of the tube and hit the grenade causing it to explode. The station wagon was rocked by the explosion as shards of shrapnel tore into it. Smoke billowed up and Alden popped his head back up and took aim at the main group. He quickly took out three more on the far right as the leader who had dropped to the ground during the explosion was now trying to figure out where the new threat was coming from. The flames on the station wagon had made it to the gas tank. Alden could only hope his little band would stay put and keep their heads down.

  Colt watched the guys that had drug the tube but he had no clue what it was, thank God Alden did. The whole thing blew up right in t
he second guy’s hands, Colt wondered if the guy even felt a thing before he died. Colt took aim and shot another man, but just as he did he saw the station wagon really catch fire. He dropped his gun and began looking for Beth, a couple of shots rang close to his head so he dropped down making his way toward the last place he had seen her. He knew he was way out of the position that Alden had wanted them but the fight was winding down and he had to make sure the others were ok. Beth was a good fifty feet from where he had last spotted her, she was crouched behind a tree and shooting her berretta. Colt got to her just as she took aim at his head, “Damn Colt, do NOT sneak up on me!”

  Colt got in close and looked out where she had been shooting, “Why are you using your gun not the machine gun?” “Out of ammo, you got any left?” Colt handed his M-16 over and pulled out his 45, “I can’t use that thing now anyway.”

  Beth looked at him and realized he was shot, “You kneel down and fire, you are losing a lot of blood. Until I can look at it you don’t need to pass out.”

  Colt did as she said, he was happy that she was fine; he would much prefer him shot than her. She could help in the safety but they really needed her for the aftermath, he had no idea if any of the others were wounded or worse dead. Beth fired the M-16 into the group and Colt shot a couple more.

  Tabitha was running low on ammo so she switched to single shot and made her way to the edge of what would be Charlie’s line of fire, the guy that was shouting orders was now on the ground but still trying to give orders. Tabitha dropped to one knee and took aim, taking a deep breath she released it and squeezed the trigger. The man would be giving no more orders; his jaw was now laying three feet to the right of him with his brains following. Tabitha yelled out then dropped back before any of them could take aim on her. She ran around the edge making sure that she could shoot the enemy anywhere on their bodies, but she knew the wanderers needed to be shot in the head.