Surviving Day By Day (Book 2): Fears, Flames, and Future

by Allensworth, Audra

When Beth had finished, before she had rolled him back over, she got her syringe and filled it once more with 2 cc of morphine. Softly she caressed his back and steadily worked her way down to the waistband on his boxer shorts. Slowly she kept rubbing then pulled them down slightly and reached for an alcohol pad to sterilize the place where she was going to place her injection. Colt jerked and shouted, “DAMN THAT’S COLD!”

  Then Beth reacted even quicker as she injected the needle and dispensed the morphine slowly. After pulling up his boxers Beth put some more Bactroban on the stitches and placed a gauze pad over it then secured it with surgical tape. Beth looked down at the other end of the couch and found a pillow. She slowly rolled him back on his back, retrieved the pillow and placed it underneath his injured arm. Beth looked at Colt and his smile returned. “Now we are almost done.” Beth then applied more of the cream to his stitches on the front by his collarbone, applied the gauze, then surgical tape. When she had finished she stood up and went over to refill his water glass then came back and handed it to his good arm.

  Alden was securing the cattle with Ceara and Tabitha as Charlie walked up and kissed Ceara. Alden casually looked to Tabitha and winked with a little grin and then nodded for her to follow him to their Cabin. Tabitha looked at the young couple then smiled at Alden and they slipped away unnoticed.

  Charlie reached for the tear in Ceara’s shirt pulling it to the side, and looked at Ceara’s wound. It was red and swollen, the skin had been burned around it but the hot shrapnel had cauterized the wound so that was a good thing. “Maybe we ought to go get some peroxide on that, get it cleaned up and put a real bandage on it.”

  Ceara looked down at her side then to him, “Yes honey, I guess you’re right.” The two turned and walked up to their Cabin. Charlie opened the door and held for her as she entered.

  “You go sit in the kitchen; I’ll get the medical kit.” Charlie said.

  Ceara smirked and winked, “Yes Doctor.”

  Charlie went to the bathroom and returned with a white box that had a red cross on it. It was one that they had grabbed from the pharmacy in town. Setting it on the table he opened it. There were little square packages that read betadine on it. Tearing it open he wiped the wound gently as Ceara winced and sucked air through her teeth.

  “Damn honey I’m sorry I know it stings.” Charlie said as he opened one more.

  Ceara sucked in again and twitched a little, “You seem to be enjoying this Charlie.” She said with smirk.

  He threw swabs in a trash can and opened a 4×4 in bandage and placed it on her side then used the medical tape to secure it. When he finished he leaned down and kissed the bandage. “There your boo boo is all better.”

  Ceara gave him a pout, “What no cookie, no sucker that’s it?”

  Charlie kissed her on the lips, “Best I can do honey, let’s go relax.”

  “Not until I look at that shoulder she said.” The two switched places and Ceara pulled the bandage off. Charlie’s wound was bleeding somewhat and she knew he needed it cleaned and stitched. It was Charlie’s turn to wince as Ceara started with the betadine. “Smarts don’t it,” she said with a grin.

  She dug through the kit and found a small surgical sewing kit. “Damn I got the tools but I don’t think I have the knowledge.”

  Charlie looked at her, “What? You never had to sew a shirt or put a button on a coat?”

  “This ain’t the same thing and you damn well know it.”

  “Sweetie sewing is sewing it’s all the same.”

  Ceara looked at him “except this is going to hurt you like hell.”

  Charlie smirked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag of white powder. “Maybe not, I found this in the RV they had a bunch of it.”

  Ceara looked at it and snarled, “I AIN’T PUTTIN NO FUCKING METH ON YOUR WOUND!”

  Charlie took her hand, “No you’re not. That ain’t meth, it’s cocaine, God’s own pain reliever. That selfish fuck fed the masses the meth but kept the good shit for himself.”

  Ceara looked at him confused, “I don’t have a needle and I wouldn’t want to risk it. I don’t know what the strength is.”

  Charlie smiled, “You don’t have to, I used to watch the druggies rub it on their teeth when they had a toothache. I figure you could just sprinkle a little around the wound and rub it in gently and it will numb that area.”

  Ceara frowned, “Okay if you think it will work.” She sprinkled it on the front of his shoulder then put the rest on the back of the wound rubbing it slowly as Charlie winced and tears came to his eyes.

  Ceara was at the front and looked at him, “Well?”

  Charlie waited a few minutes then pushed on the wound and smiled, “Sew away nurse.”

  Ceara was shaking as she started to push the needle into his skin, “You let me know if this hurts and I’ll stop and get Beth.”

  Charlie smiled, “If what hurts?” Ceara realized that the cocaine was working like he said and Charlie truly was feeling nothing. Slowly she worked and got the first one sewn up and tied off then moved to the back. In a few minutes she was done and had a new bandage on it.

  “What no cookie, no sucker, that’s it?”

  Ceara bent down and kissed him, “There how’s that. Now let’s go rest.” The two walked into the front room and plopped down on the couch. Both put their feet up on a small cedar coffee table and Ceara leaned back into Charlie’s good shoulder. They sat there both looking at a painting on the wall across from them of the sun on the horizon of a lake. Ceara broke the silence, “Someday it will be calm again, huh?”

  “Yeah” Charlie replied.

  Ceara snuggled into him a little closer, “do you think the sun is rising or setting in the painting.”

  Charlie thought for a moment. “I’m going to say rising. The dawn of new day.”

  Ceara looked up and kissed him, “My Charlie, always the optimist.” Soon the two were fast asleep.

  Colt laid back not caring about anything going on, he watched as a butterfly fluttered in the window. He watched as it worked around and saw it land on the cedar post on the porch then came back. He could hear Beth in the kitchen, she was busy but he didn’t know with what. He looked down at himself and started to snicker, then down right laughing.

  Beth came in looking concerned, “What’s going on?”

  Colt tried hard to stop laughing but every time he looked down he was struck with a new bout of laughter.

  Beth sat on the edge of the couch trying to look in his eyes, Colt shook his head. “I’m ok.”

  He took a deep breath refusing to look down again, when Beth spoke again there was concern in her voice, “What is going on?”

  Colt reached up caressing her left forearm, “I just thought about everything that happened today, total death and destruction. All that was really depressing, but here I sit, stoned and damn near naked.”

  Beth smiled, “Colt everything happened as it was suppose to.”

  Colt smirked, “So tell me if this… was this supposed to happen?”

  Before Beth knew it Colt was kissing her. She pulled back and pushed him gently back to the couch, “Colt, you are not in your right frame of mind. Once the medicine has worn off, then and only then will we discuss what just happen.”

  Colt looked stricken, Beth laid her hand on his chest, “I won’t say I didn’t enjoy it but you loved Jessica, I don’t want you regretting your actions later.”

  Colt tugged on a blanket that lay across the back of the couch; he was now very self-conscious and pulled it over himself. “I know…. I’m sorry Beth. You’re right, I shouldn’t have done it…. Not now anyway.”

  Beth took a minute to fix the blanket for him, “Now anyway…” With that she left the room to take a shower and wash the day’s events away, well not all the events anymore.

  Chapter 3 – Hop along Gang

  Alden placed a tube on the table and went to the cabinet pulling out a bottle of Jack Daniels, grabbing two glasses from a
nother cupboard, he went back and sat down. Tabitha walked in from the other room, “What’cha got there?”

  Alden opened the tubes and smiled, “A gold mine.” Rolling the first set of maps out, he looked at them. They were state maps of Southern Missouri and Southern Illinois. The next set was maps of State Parks in the area.

  Tabitha picked them up as Alden laid them down, “You thinking of moving us again?”

  Alden took a sip, “Yeah, what with all the brouhaha that’s happened around here I think we need to try and find another home. Something that can be defended a little better. They got to Charlie and Ceara’s and no one knew it. I don’t like that.”

  Tabitha picked up a flat map of Northern Arkansas, “What about here?”

  Alden smiled, “Well if I thought it was safe, I’d have stayed home.”

  He pointed to a spot on the map just north of Conway, Arkansas, “That’s my place and it was being overrun by people from Little Rock.” He kept scanning the maps as Tabitha got up and fixed a pot of coffee. Sitting back down she picked up another map and was looking at it, “So what about the horses and stuff how do we move them? We can’t just ride them everywhere.”

  “Well seeing as how you and I are the only two who really came out of this unscathed, it’s going to be up to us to do some scouting in the morning. I have this map here of our current park and noticed they offered Horse Trail rides. That would mean they have or had horses, probably the ones that are tied up out there. So I’m willing to bet that right here,” pointing at a Rangers station on the map that had a horse head beside it, “There is a barn and a corral which would mean somewhere nearby they had horse trailers.”

  Tabitha leaned over next to him looking at the map. Alden took a sip of his whiskey and looked at her as she leaned in a little farther, He glanced down and noticed her shirt had been torn on top and was showing a little more than she probably wanted. Leaning back he smiled and cleared his throat.

  Tabitha looked at him and he smiled and pointed to her top. “Oh shit,” She said as she blushed a little, “I’m sorry, I guess I should change.”

  Alden grinned, “No apologies necessary, you just gave an old man a little thrill.”

  Tabitha got up and smacked him on his shoulder, “The proverbial dirty old man huh?”

  “Yep and after today I once again earned that title.”

  Tabitha flipped her hair and turned, “I’ll be right back.”

  He watched as she walked out and then got up and poured a cup of coffee adding just a shot of whiskey. As he sat back down, Tabitha came back in pulling a clean tee shirt down. Alden chuckled and Tabitha looked at him, “What now?”

  He smiled, “did you even read the shirt?”

  Tabitha looked down and saw the words SEXY written in pink across the black tee shirt, “well it’s the truth,” she said with a wink.

  The two went over the park maps for another thirty minutes. Alden got up walked to the front door. Stepping out on the porch he saw Tonto and Maximus both laying down facing away from each other. Tabitha walked up behind him, “What is it?”

  Alden smiled “The dogs are wore out but they’ll wake if they hear anything, and look there” pointing to the two other cabins. “There are no candles or lights; the kids are asleep.” He turned to her, “Which is where we should be. Come on, it’s been a long day.”

  Tabitha turned and he followed her in and headed to her room, “I guess you’re right.”

  Alden blew out the oil lamp in the kitchen and was walking towards his room when Tabitha appeared in her doorway. “Alden?” She started almost as quiet as a church mouse, “Could I sleep with you tonight. I just don’t want to be alone.”

  Alden looked at her and kissed her forehead, “yeah sure, but be warned I snore and I don’t want no shit about it.”

  Tabitha smiled, “I know, I’ve heard it before.”

  Tabitha was under the covers as Alden walked in from the bathroom in his boxers and a tee shirt. He climbed in bed lying on his back and Tabitha rolled over and snuggled up to him. Placing his arm around her shoulder he laid there looking up at the ceiling thinking how lucky they had all been. The fact that no one had been killed was nothing short of a miracle and he knew it. The sound of Tabitha’s breathing was soothing and soon they were both fast asleep. Snoring in unison…….

  Alden woke up in a cold sweat. The nightmare had returned, not of the day before, but of the battles he’d fought over the years. Sitting straight up, he looked about the room. His body was covered with sweat. He got out of bed grabbed his camo pants and went to the bathroom. Lighting an old oil lamp after he closed the door he pulled his tee shirt off. It was then that he noticed he had not come out of the fight unscathed.

  On the lower back were spots of dried blood. Turning so he could look at his back in the mirror he saw three wounds from what appeared to be shrapnel. “Fuck! How the hell did I miss those??”

  Two of the wounds were starting to fester and had turned purple and green. He knew the shrapnel was still in there, the other one was just red and bleeding a little. He reached back and could only touch one of the bad ones. As he did he winced as the pain shot through him. “Damn that son of a bitch is deep.”

  He pulled his pants on then headed to the kitchen. Grabbing his metal coffee pot he filled it with water and then placed the coffee in the top. Walking out the back door he headed to the community fire pit and started a small fire, soon the coffee was boiling and he had his cup full. Sitting in a chair he looked up into the early evening sky. The sun was about ready to set. The sky had small red glow on the western horizon that blended into a purple then dark bluish then black as the stars started to come out. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled pack of Marlboro’s he had taken off one of the dead men along with a zippo lighter with a skull on it. Looking at the lighter he smirked, “How appropriate.”

  He lit the cigarette and took a long drag off of it. His back was sore and he knew he was going to need one of the others to get it out. He didn’t have the heart to wake any of them though. The young ones had a fought a battle that would have tested any combat veteran and they came out of it with minor injuries, but alive.

  He watched as a star shot across the sky and wondered how many more battles they may have to fight. He knew he had to find another location, this one was just not secure enough; nor defensible enough for his liking. Alden got up and walked to his truck reaching in and taking out one of the AKs they had captured. Tonto walked up, sat down and looked at him. Reaching down he petted the top of his head. “C’mon boy, let’s check the perimeter. I want to make sure we didn’t miss anybody.” The two walked off into the woods and soon had disappeared.

  Ceara woke up before Charlie and looked over at him sleeping so restless. From his face she could tell he was having bad dreams, but after the night they had she thought all of them would have many nightmares.

  Ceara kissed him gently on the cheek and sat up to stretch, her neck and shoulder immediately cramped. Rubbing her shoulder to work the kink out, she thought that she hadn’t moved from his shoulder once she had falling asleep. As soon as Ceara’s shoulder and neck finally relaxed, she went to the bathroom then to the kitchen wanting to get a drink.

  Leaning on the counter she held the glass under a faucet that she never turned on. She no longer wanted the drink she thought she wanted so badly. Instead she began remembering all the details of the night before. Without even realizing it, she set the glass back on the counter and walked to the front porch and sat on the steps. Maximus came over nuzzling his nose under her hand and laid his head on her knee as she absently petted him. She let the memories flow through her mind knowing there would be no way to stop them no matter how bad she wanted too.

  Ceara kept replaying the young man that she thought was no more than sixteen or seventeen, the gunfire from her and Charlie had torn him in half. That wasn’t the worst of it, the worst part was the boy had looked right at her and his eyes ask why before he col
lapsed face first in the dirt. The boy had red hair like her and she knew he wasn’t close enough for her to remember it but in her mind he had freckles and dimples.

  Alden would smack her for even dwelling on it but she couldn’t help but wonder what the boy’s life had been like before the nightmare started that they were all forced to live. Was he with the group just to survive, was he just lost and trying to survive just like they were? Could he have been running toward them to escape the group he was with? That question was the worst, she couldn’t remember if he was carrying a gun but it all happen so fast that Charlie couldn’t take the time to question each person running at them. Ceara looked to the door, in her mind seeing Charlie still asleep on the couch; she hoped he wouldn’t be doing that same thing she was.

  Turning back to Maximus she began talking in a low voice, barely above a whisper, “We got lucky, you know that right?” Maximus lifted his head off her knee cocking his head at her and then laid his head back on her knee. “We could have found them instead of Alden and Charlie; I bet I would have been one of those women tied to the trees or a wanderer. Not sure which would have been better, but I think a wanderer would be my choice. We got lucky, and we can’t ever forget that and Maximus it is our job to make sure we don’t ever lose them, okay? You have to protect them just like you do me.” Maximus barked as if to tell her he would, Ceara giggled, “SSHHHH everyone is sleeping.”

  Beth was awaken by the barking of Maximus. Being startled, she sat straight up and sprung out of her bed then ran to the front of the cabin. After all the hell that everyone had been through the night before she amazingly still had some adrenaline left over. When she had got to the window surprisingly she saw Ceara smiling and rubbing Maximus.

  A smile quickly came to Beth’s face as she slowly released the breath that she had been holding. For a moment everything appeared to be right in her world. Ceara was with Maximus and both of them were in good health. Beth, herself, was doing well and she wondered how Charlie was doing, part of her felt guilty that she hadn’t made the trip to their cabin to check on them.