Alden sat up and turned to him, ‘Final warning and you don’t get another, I already told you, I am a retired First Sergeant from the Army. Not an Officer, I worked for a living. So you will refer to me as Alden, Al, First Sergeant or even Top, but never, ever Sir got that?”
Heath blushed a little, “I’m sorry si.. Top. My mother raised me to use the terms ma’am and sir. I should’ve have known better with you. I worked for a guy while I was going to college who was ex-military and he used to say the same thing.”
Alden smiled, “See, I knew you was a bright boy.”
He got up and went to the picnic table and Heath followed, “Tabitha pull out one of those atlases.”
Tabitha reached down to a leather satchel, and handed one to Alden, he opened it and began to go over the route with Heath and Tabitha. “I think the time has come for us to move. It will be a shock to the others but I would like to be up and out of here in the next couple of days”
Tabitha looked at him puzzled, “You gotta feeling, Al?”
Alden smiled at her, “You’re getting to know me, Tabby. Yes, I just think as my Grandmother used to say, we’ve overstayed our welcome. Tomorrow when the rest get up we’ll let them know.”
Alden closed the atlas and put it back. Heath stood and stretched, “ So… Top… do I stand first watch with you tonight?”
Alden looked at Tabitha and she nodded. “Yeah Heath, you’ll get your initiation of guard duty 101 with me and Tabby tonight.”
Alden turned to go make another pot of coffee as Tabitha looked at Heath, “Just another heads up. He’s the only one who can get away with calling me Tabby.”
She turned to go get some more wood for the fire. In just a few moments all three were heading up to the rooftop. Sitting there in silence as they each had their own thoughts of what was to come in the next few days.
Chapter 9 – Head’em Up, Move’em Out
The next two days were a blur for Ceara; Alden had been barking orders from the word go. He had them fishing a few hours both days at the crack of dawn. Then he and Heath had gone hunting, they had killed several rabbits and squirrels but the deer seemed to have left the area.
Once the meat was salted and packed, Alden had got everyone making choices about what would and would not go with them. Two of the horses and both cows would go, so the trailer Alden had found was hooked up on the first day.
All the food, tools and clothes would go into the vehicles. She watched as everyone else was working furiously to get everything in the cars, “Charlie!?”
Charlie stopped loading wood into the back of his van, “Yeah?”
She motioned for him to come over with her; he dropped the wood and came over, “What’s up?”
Ceara looked worried, “I want to take my dishes that Beth got me but there isn’t room in my jeep, do you have room in the van?”
Charlie looked from the kitchen as if seeing the stack of dishes, then to his van, “Ceara, I love the dishes too, but honey those will get broke in the move. We have no way to pack them right.”
Ceara began tearing up, “But I want them!”
Charlie felt like an ass for telling her no, so he met her in the middle, “How about we take six of the plates and wrap those in clothes?”
Ceara knew he was trying to understanding, “Ok, I can do that; I just don’t want to give it all up.”
Charlie gave her a kiss on her cheek, “You go help Tabitha, and I’ll see what I can do.” Charlie headed to the generator shed and soon was back in the cabin. After a half hour he carried out a wood crate and placed it up front in the van between the seats then returned back to finish loading some spare firewood. He thought it was not vital, but Alden did. He had told Charlie he didn’t want to get stuck somewhere where they were tearing up buildings and shit to just start a fire. Taking his time he had got the last of it in the corner of the van and had it secured with a rope to keep it from falling over. Looking inside he knew he had more room than he thought and went to see what else someone might want to take.
Just then Beth walked out with all of her medical supplies and her own travel bag along with a few personal items. The only personal things she had were some pictures that she had kept in her purse, but they were the most important memories of years gone by. “Hey Charlie, here is the medical stuff and this bag right here. I can place it between my feet when we are ready to go but to be quite honest, we don’t have a seating arrangement yet.”
Charlie looked over at her while laughing, “I imagine that Alden has that already made up and that is probably the last little detail on his things to do list.”
Beth laughed, “Yeah, that man does have his shit wired tight and knows how to organize. We had to do a lot of that at the CDC, some things you never forget. Things like that just come natural for some, while others have to learn how. From the looks of it you look like you’re doing a mighty fine job there.”
Beth walked over with Charlie to see what all he had done. Suddenly something caught her eye, from inside the wooden crate which was sitting in the seats. “The plates….”, she said.
Charlie ran his fingers through his hair then brushed the sweat from his brow, “Those meant a lot to Ceara, and when she asked if there was any way that we could take some of them, I damn sure didn’t want to let her down.”
Beth looked back at the cabins, then around to see everyone busting their asses to get things ready then looked back to Charlie, “It’s like my Grandma use to say on those holidays where we would break out the good china, ‘Nothing better than the good stuff for my family.’ While the rest of the time we would eat on paper plates.”
Charlie smiled, “Growing up in the orphanage we ate on those inmate kinda trays that had sections in them, never nothing like these here. I like them, hell Beth I love them, just as I am beginning to love….”
Beth smiled and winked when Charlie had abruptly stopped. “Well, on certain occasions we do need to break out the fine china, but it sure would be nice to find some paper plates; let’s be honest, sometimes just burning the dishes is a lot quicker than washing them up.”
Charlie found a nice big heavy blanket and laid it across the wooden crate then tucked it in very carefully. “Well Beth, maybe we can find some of those along the way to Fort Sumner.” Charlie looked back to the cabin and his thoughts now were on Ceara and trying to get everyone out of there and safely.
Colt was in the cabins getting blankets and pillows; he knew they could be thrown on top anywhere. Heading out to the picnic table he stacked all of them up there. “Hey guys, I am putting the soft crap here! When you get to the point of being full, grab some and load it on top.”
Ceara, Beth and Colt all waved and said, “OK”.
Alden had most the weapons in his truck, but Colt kept his and Beth’s guns with ammo, plus knives. Just for good measure he had thrown in a few screw drivers. All this was put into the rover’s glove box, as he slammed it shut he looked at the dash and saw the gas gauge. “Guess that’s next on the to-do list.” He headed off to the shed to get the gas cans they had all stored in there.
After finishing up helping Charlie, Beth turned as saw Colt head off to the shed. She noticed that he was walking pretty well and the way that he was using his arm, it too was getting much better. With everybody doing what Alden had instructed, she decided to sneak off to the shed to see if she could help Colt out.
When she got to the shed she could hear things being moved around so she called out softly, “Colt? You need any help?”
Colt stood up with a siphoning tube in one hand and a gas jug in the other. However, when he looked up at her he winced in a little pain. Quickly Beth took a couple of steps towards him and took the jug from him. “Here, allow me to help with that. I see your arm is getting better but sweetie, how about you take just a break out here for a minute or two with me?”
Colt was bound and determined to get the work done, “Beth, I got this and I’m ok. We got a lot more to do so that we can get goin
g”, he said as he walked past her then out the door with Beth following behind him. She noticed that he was limping a bit more and she quickly stepped in front of him, “I do believe I said a minute or two. Charlie, along with everyone else, has been doing their part and I know you have. Now, maybe I am being a mothering hen or maybe it’s that you look hot and sweaty which I find ummmm….”
Colt stopped and then got a look on his face of embarrassment. Beth carried the jug over underneath one of the big oak trees and went over to grab one of the lawn chairs that she saw sitting up by their porch. “You stay right there now…”
Colt watched her walk back and forth trying to get everything she needed to take care of him. That gesture reminded him of how Jessica would be when he had been working out in the garage on a hot Saturday afternoon, she would fix her homemade lemonade and bring him a nice cold glass. Shaking his head and thinking about Jess caused him to get a little weak. It was either that or the idea of the lemonade. Either way, when Beth had brought the chair over there then placed it under the tree, Colt carefully made his way over to sit down.
Beth helped guide him most of the way but he tried hard to make it by himself. “Guess you’re right doc, a little break might be alright for a minute or two.”
Once he was seated, Beth took the tube out of his hand and wrapped it tightly around her waist. “I got your ‘DOC’ for ya… now you just sit right there and I will be right back.”
She hurried down by the stream where she had placed a couple of quart jars of sun tea that she had made the day before and brought them back to the cabin. Quickly, she poured him a glass and added some sugar so that it would be sweet. When everything was complete, she reached into her pocket and got some Tylenol that she had, Beth shook the bottle to made sure she had enough to give him a couple. “Full bottle, now let me get a wet rag.”
Beth got one of the wash cloths wet from some of the water that had been boiled earlier which was room temperature now and rang it out. After getting everything together, Beth went back outside and made her way over to where Colt was sitting rubbing his shoulder. “Here ya go Colt.”
Colt looked at her with a bit of surprise on his face then asked, “What’s this?” Beth smiled, “Back home in Kentucky we often made homemade sweet sun tea, and with everyone working so hard I thought that you might like a glass. Here is a wet washcloth that you can put around your neck and here is a couple of Tylenol to give you a little bit of pain relief.”
When she was finished Beth ran back to their porch, grabbed the other chair then began to bring it over to where she could sit beside Colt. Along the way she passed by Alden and he asked, “Everything alright?”
Beth looked over at Colt then back to Alden, “Yeah Alden, he’s just a little sore and exhausted. I have noticed that he is favoring his shoulder and walking gingerly on his injured leg. I fixed him a glass of sweet tea, along with getting him some Tylenol for the pain, if that is alright with you?”
Alden looked at her then looked over at Colt rubbing his shoulder then back to Beth and asked, “I think that would be fine, but this sweet tea you mentioned…”
Beth smiled, “Inside there are a couple quart jars that I made yesterday and placed it in the stream like Heath said the other night. It’s nice and cool, all you gotta do is add some sugar and you’re good to go.”
Alden looked at the cabin then looked at the other’s working steadily, “I might just take you up on that, we all have been doing things in double time, so I guess you guys go take a little break.”
With that being said Beth made her way back over to where Colt was and sat down beside him. Colt turned and asked, “He ok?”
Beth smiled, “Yep, now you just relax for a bit and let that Tylenol get on board then we can get right back at it.”
Colt leaned back and sipped the tea, “Holy Shit Beth, this is good!!! It’s even a little cold!” He got a big grin, toasted Charlie as he walked passed with an arm load.
Charlie glared at him and went on to his van. Ceara was there loading up some more food supplies, she glanced over to Colt, “You know everyone seems to forget you were shot too… What the hell makes him so special or is it just that he’s a pussy?”
Charlie laughed, “I think it’s because you took care of me, so no one really noticed I was shot, plus the bullet went clean through my arm. It broke Colt’s collar bone, but you know what? We are all tired so I am going to find out why he is getting to just relax.”
After unloading the things into his van, he walked back to Colt, “What makes you so special?”
Beth laughed, “Don’t worry Charlie, pop a squat, Alden is going to get the rest so everyone can enjoy a break.”
Charlie dropped where he was, “Ain’t got to tell me twice…HEY CEARA COME ON OVER!!”
Ceara headed over and dropped on the ground by Charlie, “Another meeting?”
Colt sipped more of his tea, “Nope just a break.”
Heath drug a chair over and sat down, “Looks like we will be ready to pull out in the morning.”
Ceara looked to all the cars and back to Heath, “You’ve only been here a week, but this has been home to us for about a month, if I am doing my time right. I’m going to miss this place.”
She laid her head on Charlie’s shoulder, “We’ve been through a lot here, but it worked for what we needed, while we needed it.”
Alden walked up with some plastic cups and the two jars under his arm. Setting them on the table he poured everyone a glass and then took one for himself. The group sat sipping tea quietly and just looking out at the cabins.
Alden spoke up, “Cupcakes,” He turned and smiled at them, “You all made this home and I know it’s hard to leave it, but it’s the best thing for now”
Reaching into a brown sack he had set by the table earlier he opened it and tossed a bunch of old newspapers on the table. “This is what was happening while we were all heading to this little place of safety.”
Each paper had headlines in bold print across the top, “INFECTION SPREADS,” “WORLD WIDE PANIC NOW EXISTS,” “SHELTERS NO LONGER SAFE,” U.S. CAPITAL SHUT DOWN AFTER BEING OVERRUN’. The last one caught everyone’s eye, “NO HOPE!!!!! GOD BE WITH THOSE WHO CAN STILL READ THIS.”
That was the only thing on the page, the rest of the paper was simply filled with names. Alden let it all sink in, “This is what happened to our country. The papers are filled with articles about how scientists and doctors were trying everything. It told stories of safe houses being overrun from inside. The only useful information I got was that animals were immune, but the doctors could not isolate why.”
He let them all read a little then went on, “So now you know what I know and you know that whatever this is, it’s here to stay, at least for now. As we head out tomorrow morning, I want everyone on high alert. Each driver will have a co-pilot, except me. I’ll Have Tonto, I gathered some hand held radios that run on double A batteries, each vehicle will have one and it will be on and turned to channel 6 at all times while we’re driving.”
Alden looked to each one making sure they were all listening, “We will all be up before the sun and we will stop two hours before sunset to make sure we have a secure camp. We’ve all got to know each other for the most part, except Heath, and he will get used to the way things are. If everyone does what they’re supposed to, we should get to Ft. Sumner in one piece. You all watch each other’s back and I’ll watch all of you.”
Alden swallowed hard before continuing, “If anything happens to me, I want you all to promise right now that you will put me down and continue on your mission. You, as far as I’m concerned; are now the new Hope for the world.”
He looked at Charlie first, “You’ve been with me the longest, I want your promise.”
Charlie looked at Alden and then to Ceara. She reached over and took his hand squeezing it tight. Charlie looked to the ground as the gravity of Alden’s words sank in. “WELL?” Alden said in a firm voice.
Charlie raised
his head and stood up reaching out he shook Alden’s hand, “I Promise.” Alden took it and squeezed it hard as he shook it, “Good man.”
Ceara lowered her head; she didn’t want Charlie or Alden to see she had started crying. The thought of losing any of them hurt her to the point her chest hurt. The sun was setting on the group, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m not hungry, but if you guys are I’ll throw something together.”
She got to her feet hoping no one heard her voice cracking, “I’ll make another sweep of the cabin to see if there is anything left, Charlie you help Colt get the gas in the cars.”
She quickly left not waiting to see if anyone wanted dinner or not. Ceara reached the cabin with Maximus on her tail. The door closed and she slid down it breaking down into tears. Maximus nuzzled her and she wrapped her arms around his neck, “Why did he have to talk about us dying!”
As Tabitha stood to watch Ceara walk off, she knew what Alden had said struck a nerve. She knew that it had to be said but there could’ve been another way to phrase it. However right now she wasn’t feeling that ballsy to jump Alden about his vocabulary. “Alden, you got my word and I promise, but that isn’t going to happen cause you got me covering that old ass of yours.”
Just then she swatted his back side quickly and ran up to Ceara’s cabin. Leaning against the door Tabitha tried pushing but to no avail as it was being barricaded. Tabitha chuckled and spoke softly but in her own way of speaking, “You know Red, if I really wanted to get my ass in there I could, however Beth would probably need to fix whatever you broke when your body goes flying across the room as I come barging in. So I will just say my peace from here if that’s alright with you?”
Tabitha listened and could hear Ceara whimpering down on the floor so she too slid down and continued speaking, “You know how Alden is, Red, he puts what he has right out on the table with no surprises. He always has, ya remember all of those times, like when we had to go up against all of the redneck motherfucker’s that tried to hurt you. Well, Alden laid it all out on the line there and we sure in the fuck didn’t know if we would make it through that. What’s more Ceara…”
Surviving Day By Day (Book 2): Fears, Flames, and Future Page 15