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

by Allensworth, Audra

Ceara looked confused, “Yes I have, but I never made stew. Why, what did I do wrong?”

  Tabitha poured out half the water then added seasoning and the canned corn, tomatoes, potatoes and a can of store bought kidney beans. “You always add more juice from the vegetables to make sure you have a good flavor.”

  Ceara leaned over looking into the pot and saw what a difference that made. “Yeah I see what you mean, Alden you ready to add that meat?”

  Alden picked up the pan with a towel to protect him from the hot handle, “All ready here!” He dropped the meat in and moved the pot to the fire; it was then that they finally saw him wince in pain.

  Tabitha stepped up, “Let me get that for ya.” As soon as she had the pan she quickly stood up and took the pan back into the kitchen and placed it in the sink.

  Beth stood up and calmly walked over to Alden, as she did she saw Charlie and Colt looking at Alden then to her as if to ask, “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  Tabitha went back outside and joined Beth. Neither of them touched him because they didn’t know how to start. Beth finally spoke up and gently touched his shoulder. “Alden, Tabitha said that you might have hurt yourself and I don’t want to hear any excuses but after seeing the blood on your side of the bed I would like to take a look at your back if you don’t mind?”

  Alden looked at her and then the rest of the group. “Okay I knew this was coming but I’m telling you now, I’ve had worse; so let’s not get our panties in a bunch.”

  He sat down at the picnic table unbuttoned his camo shirt took it off then pulled his tee shirt over his head. This was the first any of them had ever seen Alden with his shirt off. The scars on his back gave proof to his statement about having worse. There were scars on his back that looked like bullet wounds. There were definite knife wounds too. One was very pronounced; it was in the middle, just off his right shoulder. Charlie was the first to speak, “Holy shit”, he mumbled.

  Beth saw where the blood was coming from and the way that it looked the wound was not that big of a deal. “Tabitha, I will be right back.”

  As Beth walked off to get the medical kit, she thought about all of the wounds that she saw on his back. It then became very clear to her that Alden had indeed been through a lot of shit before the world itself went to hell. In fact seeing how he was made her really think that they all had a pretty damn good chance of surviving this. Once inside she retrieved the kit and a bottle of peroxide then went back out to help Alden. Quickly Beth opened the kit after she sat the peroxide to the side then put on a pair of rubber gloves. She got a pair of tweezers and a surgical scalpel. “Ok Alden, you know the routine… on the count of three, deep breath. One…. Two….. three…”

  As soon as Alden inhaled she worked quickly. Making a small incision on each side of each individual wound she then could see the tiny bits of shrapnel. Beth then handed the scalpel to Tabitha and continued to work. Working with the tweezers she pulled one small chunk out of the one wound and two tiny little ones out of the second. When the pieces were all removed Beth said calmly to Alden, “Ok release your breath slowly……we’re almost done.”

  Alden smirked and replied, “What’s this WE shit?!” Beth then grabbed the bottle of peroxide and poured it over the wounds and watched it begin to bubble.

  Ceara leaned over to Charlie, “Should it be bubbling like that, doesn’t that mean that it’s infected?”

  Charlie leaned down, “No, not always. It could be getting all the dirt out of there. Let’s face it the car wasn’t exactly sterile when it blew up.”

  Ceara stifled a giggle and Alden turned looking over his shoulder at her, “Something funny cupcake?”

  Ceara went to the pot stirring the stew, “Nothing Alden, stop being so cranky all the time, jeezes.” She brought the spoon up to her mouth and tested the stew, “Hey this ain’t bad! Still needs salt though and I don’t know but it needs something else. Charlie, come taste this.”

  Charlie walked over and took the spoon from Ceara’s hand and tasted the stew. “Yeah I agree it needs salt, and some oregano and a bay leaf with a little sage but we don’t have those so I guess I’ll just settle for more salt. Hell if the Wanderers don’t get us we’re all going to die of a heart attack.” Handing the spoon back he looked at her and whispered, “Did you see his back. I’ve been with him longest and I never knew he had that many wounds. No wonder he calls us all cupcakes.”

  Beth had finished bandaging Alden’s wounds and he was getting dressed as he spoke. “I made it to the ranger station. There’s gas and food there.” Looking at the group he smiled. “After dinner we can talk about where we want to go and how we’ll get there.”

  Ceara listened but didn’t really want to think about leaving, she went into Beth and Colt’s cabin and got everyone a bowl, spoons, and salt. She started to grab glasses but decided not to, she could use it as an excuse to not answer the questions yet.

  Setting everything down she noticed the silence that had fallen on everyone. She didn’t think she was the only one not wanting to leave so soon. “How about this, we can all sit and enjoy the stew, we can just talk about nothing and once the dinner is done we can all sit around and talk. Is that fair?”

  Alden nodded, “Sure, kid that’s what I said or I’m pretty sure I did… but I want it talked about tonight.” Alden winked at her and Ceara headed back into the cabin and got the glasses determined to eat for at least an hour.

  Chapter 4 – Facing the Truth

  The group sat around and ate their stew slowly making sure to enjoy the flavor, the meat, the serenity and the quiet….or that is what everyone was trying to make each person believe. The fact of the matter was plain and simple; everyone was avoiding the elephant in the room.

  Beth looked over at Colt and felt so sorry for him, the continuing trials that he had undergone since the very beginning. However; it wasn’t just his loss, but everyone’s that sat at their little table.

  She then remembered the last Thanksgiving when all of her family had been gathered around the table. The memories, stories and love fleeted through her mind, but those thoughts quickly dissipated when Tabitha cleared her throat.

  Sitting there feeling everyone’s eyes, Tabitha looked up, smiled a little and remarked, “Great stew…”

  Charlie looked over to Ceara and winked, “Damn good stew even though we didn’t have no bay leaves.” Ceara shook her head as she took another bite trying to keep her mouth full because quite honestly, she didn’t want to start talking about anything for fear it could bring up whatever Alden had demanded they all discuss.

  Charlie had a good idea what Ceara was up to, he got up looking at her, “Come on, I’ll help clear the dishes.”

  The two went around and collected all the bowls and took them into their cabin. Charlie was stacking them up and turned around seeing Ceara standing by the kitchen table looking out the back door. Walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist. Laying her head on his good shoulder she looked up at him, “I don’t know if I want to do this, Charlie.”

  Charlie sighed as kissed her cheek, “I don’t know either, but with all that’s happened, I really want to get away from here. There are good memories, but they are outweighed by the bad.”

  Ceara pulled away from Charlie, “You know I could have ate for another hour if it meant I could avoided the talk. I feel like I am getting ready to go face my dad after I snuck out of the house but got caught on the way back in.”

  Charlie swatted her butt, “You use to sneak out? Hmm…I found a bad girl.”

  Ceara just looked at him, “Not funny Charlie.”

  Charlie ran water over the bowls, “I was just trying to make you laugh.”

  Ceara went to the back door, “I know, I’m sorry. You have to admit that the thought of leaving even this messed up place is scary. Where do you think we should go?”

  Charlie dried his hands on a cup towel, “It has to be warm or at least can’t get below freezing in the winter, plus we nee
d somewhere close enough to an area we can get some supplies.” Ceara leaned her head on the door frame, “So south but do we stay in the states or do we think about Mexico?”

  Charlie pulled her from the door, “Let’s get out there, all we are doing is talking about it twice and I would rather only do this once.”

  Alden got up and went to his cabin, returning with a handful of maps and an atlas. He set them on the table and poured himself a cup of coffee. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the pack of cigarettes, lit one then took his seat at the table. He opened the atlas to the page that showed the United States and the major highways. He took a pen out of his pocket, and pulled a piece of paper from the pile of maps and handed them to Colt, “You’re the local college kid, I figure your math is better than mine, so you’ll be figuring time, distance, and gas mileage. What we call logistics.”

  He watched as Charlie and Ceara came back and sat down. “Okay here’s the deal as I see it. Look around, this place is nice but we can’t defend it well, too many trees and places for us to be snuck up on. On top of that, we do not have the equipment to clear the trees back as far as I want. Plus it’s not too bad weather wise right now but come November this place will get downright cold and I for one, don’t want to have to be feeding fire places every night just to keep my ass warm.”

  He stopped and took a sip of his coffee as he looked into their eyes to see if they were following him. Setting the cup down, he continued, “So here it is. The ranger station has two piggy tanks of gas on stilts and they’re full so that’s about 500 gallons total. We have the RV, my truck, and Charlie’s van. These are the biggest vehicles and we need them to haul the supplies. I say we take those and use the horse trailers for the horses and to haul the tanks of gas. We can pull the rails off one of the trailers and use ropes or something to lower them onto the trailer. We should have enough room to take at least one if not two of the cows. The third we will slaughter and salt the beef. Also we clear out the country store over there and take all the food we can. Then head to a warmer climate that’s not so populated. This is where you guys come in, where do you suggest?”

  He sat back and looked at them. He wanted the group to make a decision as a group. He knew where he wanted to go but wanted to hold that to see what they had to say.

  Ceara sat with everyone silent but she had a thought after what she and Charlie had talked about. “I know this is probably a stupid idea, but if you are worried about protection, what about the plateaus in New Mexico? They are high and flat, so no one could walk up or attack us.”

  Alden looked at Ceara, “I wouldn’t say stupid so much as not thought through. Mesa’s would provide great protection except how will we get the supplies up and down. Most of those are almost straight vertical cliffs.”

  Charlie piped up pointing at the map, “SUN CITY, ARIZONA. Right there. It’s a retirement community, so most of the Wanderers would be toothless anyway.”

  Alden smiled then smacked him upside his head. Ceara laughed and looked over the map, “Well, Arizona and New Mexico look pretty flat but really dry, we need the rain water don’t we?” What about somewhere like Texas?”

  Colt shook his head, “Texas and Oklahoma are both out, you think the rednecks we just faced were bad? You haven’t seen anything till you meet a few of the backwoods inbreeds in those states.” He looked over at Charlie, “But the same principle would apply, not many of them would have a full set of teeth.”

  Alden grinned, the kids were having fun and he liked that.

  Tabitha sat back and listened to each idea. She really liked Arizona. She looked over at Beth and she was sitting there looking at one of the maps too. Tabitha leaned over to see what map Beth was looking at. Beth was also looking at the one in New Mexico but she also had her hand under a few pages. Reaching over, Tabitha flipped it up to see what the other idea that Beth had was and just as she thought, Beth had Arizona picked out too. Tabitha leaned back and smiled from ear to ear then chimed in, “Ya know, I love the idea of Arizona because of the warmth and I agree it would be awful dry, but I am sure that there are some rivers or streams around. What would be great if there were some National Parks like the one we are in here?”

  Beth flipped the pages over to Arizona and looked up at the top of the page where some of the landmarks were. Beth put her finger on Tonto National Forest which she saw was north east of Phoenix. Beth looked up and began to speak, “Alden, she has got a point. Look at the map here, Tonto National Forest has a really big dam there, the Tonto River and Cherry River flow into it.” Beth looked over at Tonto lying down by Maximus, then to Alden and smiled, “Hey, that is a pretty good sign I’d say.”

  Tabitha patted Beth on the back and laughed, “There ya go!!! We’d have warmth, a good water way and we would also be in a National Forest like this but it would be pretty good weather for most of the year. Most of the Wanderers may not last long when the cold winter months come later in the year. I mean, this has never happened before, and by then those who have been dead and wandering around, would be pretty damn decomposed by now?”

  Beth looked over to Alden and spun the map around. Looking over to Colt, Ceara then over to Charlie she continued, “Fact of the matter is this…. Alden is right. Hell, we are all right! Charlie has got a great idea about the retirement people, and Ceara has a good idea about flat areas of New Mexico and something else; Mexico and Arizona are neighboring states so if Arizona doesn’t look promising then we have a contingency plan.”

  Beth and Tabitha sat back looked at one another, then looked at everyone else and waited. Alden looked at the map as the two girls spoke back and forth. When they finished he sighed, “Good plan except for one major problem, two thirds of the entire population of Arizona is less than fifty miles away. Those are numbers I really don’t want to face. The Wanderers would be one thing but survivors of Phoenix would have already migrated that way.”

  Charlie shook his head, “I agree with Alden I remember what Kansas City was like when I came through there. Wanderers all over the place and I was fifty miles south. I think we need to stay away from the big cities but how the hell do we do that in this country nowadays?”

  Ceara pulled the map over looking at it again and saw what Charlie and Alden were saying but she also thought that Beth had a good idea too, “Well there is Apache National Forest right there.” She tapped the map, “It looks like it is away from any major cities but I do have another question.” Ceara pushed the mapped to the center of the table so everyone could see where the park was, “If we are just going to another forest, why are we leaving this one? I guess I just don’t understand the logic.”

  Alden looked at the map once more, his eyes scanned back and forth across the south western states. “Ceara it’s like this. We are south, but we ain’t far enough south that winter can’t come and kick our cold little asses. Plus we’re within a couple of hundred miles or so of three major metro areas. To the north we have St Louis, to the south Little Rock, and to the east Memphis. I just feel we’re too easy a target here. Plus, as I said, the numbers ain’t on our side right now. He looked down at the map and leaned forward. His finger tapped a small dot in New Mexico. “Fort Sumner, there’s a lake nearby and were far enough away from major cities but close enough to small town to scavenge for supplies.”

  Colt sat back, “Ok, so let’s say we pack up and move all the way to New Mexico, but we have to get out of here first, right? We don’t know if the gas at the ranger’s station is any good, we don’t know that we aren’t going into a worse place than we are here and let’s be honest… Speaking just for myself, if you want to pack up in the next day or two then I am useless. For the move, I’m wondering about doing it before we are all one hundred percent.”

  Charlie rubbed his shoulder, “I have to agree, I think we need time to recover. Is there any way we can fortify this place or maybe we can just move up to the ranger station?”

  Alden looked over at the group and it dawned on him. As good as
they fought the day before, he knew he was pushing them a bit hard. He had to remind himself that these were cupcakes fresh from the oven. He could not expect them to just forget yesterday and suck up their injuries and move forward. He stood up and sipped his coffee, “Colt, Charlie, you gentlemen are right.”

  The two young men looked at each other first confused and then with a smile, Alden went on, “When the sun comes up tomorrow, we’ll take a small party and go to the ranger station to see what’s what.”

  Ceara smiled at Charlie and Colt, knowing both were pleased with themselves getting Alden to say they were right. She got up from the table, “Ok so that’s all settled, we are going to Fort Sumner and we are going once everyone is back up and moving. So that leaves us with our original issues with the lack of protection. I really do not like the idea of someone else sneaking in.” She looked to Alden, “How do we make this place safer while we are still here?”

  Pouring another cup of coffee, Alden pulled his chair closer to the fire. The night air was chilling his bones; though it was late April it was not quite spring yet. “If we had a dozer we could take the tree line back a few hundred yards. Giving us what would be called a kill zone, but seeing as how we don’t have one, I would say that we search out a place that is a little more in the open. Such as the ranger station, a place that is defensible and also has a good view of the land so we can’t be snuck up on like what happened to Charlie and Ceara. Only daylight will help that, now that being said I have one more thing I would like to propose.” The entire group turned to look at him as he stood and picked up a stick by the fire. Alden reached into his side pocket and pulled out a plastic bag, “Anyone want to cook marshmallows?”

  Beth looked over at Alden and smiled, “Oh my fricking God!!!! I haven’t had those since I was a kid!!!!!”

  Tabitha got up and started walking around the grounds looking for sticks that they could sharpen to be able to roast marshmallows. She really enjoyed how this makeshift family was getting along together, but more importantly how they all worked together. As she walked around she found about a half dozen or so nice size sticks. When she had gathered them she walked back and along the way she thought about how she would offer to go out to look for the Ranger Station. “I have one thing to add before we start roasting our marshmallows…… While everyone is recovering and resting, I would like to be the one to go out for a hike to see what we can find as far as getting another spot.”