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

by Allensworth, Audra

  Beth sat there and looked at her watch when the convoy started moving again. Several bodies were still decomposing along the sides of the roads and some were even skeletal which told her that they had been devoured long ago. Putting her foot on the gas she followed right behind and kept an eye on all of the surroundings along with Tabitha, Heath, Ceara and Charlie bringing up the rear.

  Beth noticed that Alden’s trailer was swerving just a bit and when she finally saw why she tried to avoid the severed body on the road but it was no use. Beth rolled over the head and popped it like a pimple. Beth’s stomach turned once more and all that she could do to keep from throwing up was just to keep her eyes focused on Alden’s truck up ahead. Colt looked to Beth, “Was that what I think it was?”

  Beth didn’t trust her stomach to allow her to talk, she just nodded. Colt leaned on his window watching the sad little town disappear. “I have to think about all these poor people that moved to this little town to get away from the dog eat dog world, too bad they didn’t realize it would become a man eat man world.”

  Beth looked at him like he lost his mind; he kept looking out the window without noticing her look. “Jessica wanted to move to a place like that too, but I guess nowhere was safe as far as towns go, huh?”

  The road seemed to open up some and they had picked up a little speed. The signs were letting them know just how far before they would once more see the total destruction of a town. Several of the cars they past had people with gunshot wounds to the head but they were too decomposed to tell if they were alive or a wanderer when the bullet went through their brain. Colt pulled his eyes from the window, “I just saw a billboard for a truck stop up ahead, do you think it could be somewhere to check out? It would be out away from everything so shouldn’t be any Wanderers, well not many. We may be able to find some good shit in there.”

  Beth smiled at him but shook her head no, “Colt, we have all the supplies we need to carry for now, once we get low we will search for more. No use carrying more than needed.” Colt leaned against the window again, “I’ve always hated long road trips, and I get edgy sitting in a car too long.”

  Alden had gotten them past Mt Home and they were now headed south, Tonto was looking out the window and getting a little antsy. Tonto knew this part of the country fairly well. Alden reached over and rubbed his head, “That’s right boy we’re headed home for tonight but tomorrow we’ll be back out again. The little two lane highway they were on was not traveled much as it switched back and forth down through the Ozarks, reaching the outskirts of Timbo, Arkansas. Alden slowed his truck and then came to a stop. Getting out he stretched his legs as the rest pulled up behind him. As they got out, he turned to them. “I’m going to take us to a secure place for tonight; we should be there in another couple of hours depending on traffic.”

  The whole group started to chuckle as Charlie spoke up looking around and waving his hand, “Yeah Alden this certainly looks like rush hour to me”

  Alden smiled and took a drink of water while the dogs were off taking care of their business. “You see, we’re all down in my neighborhood. So I figured the best place to stay the night would be my place. Now pay close attention, I do know the infection has spread down here, but I don’t know how bad. Some of these families in this part of the country have been here since before this was a state. I’m warning you right now, you stay tight with my truck and we shouldn’t have any problems. Veer off or fall back and you’re fair game for them.” As he whistled the dogs came running and jumped into their vehicles.

  Beth got out before Colt did and walked over to the passenger side to help him out. He had already opened the door and was trying his best but Beth immediately spoke up, “Now let me help you. I know you’re stiff and you wanna do this on your own”, she laughed.

  Honestly she knew she was being over protective, but she had seen him squirming over the past hour and could tell he was in some pain. Colt looked over at her with a look of frustration, but it was not meant for her, “I will be glad when we just get moved is all and I can at least rest properly.”

  Beth and Colt were sort of listening to Alden but by the time they could get a word in edgewise Charlie along with everyone else went by them getting into their vehicles. Charlie stopped long enough to say, “Guess we’re staying at Alden’s house tonight, so we may get some well needed rest.”

  Beth looked at Colt, smiled, “Your wish is granted. Alden’s house has got to be top notched so let’s get you back in and get on our way.”

  Ceara came running up to Charlie, “Everything alright?”

  Charlie replied, “Yep, just telling them what Alden told us.” Charlie and Ceara hurried back to their vehicle and after Colt was inside Beth ran over to her side, jumped in and started up the Rover. They drove for a few minutes when out of nowhere Beth spoke up, “You know something Colt? I never did thank you for picking me up and not leaving me… even when you found out everything about me. If I ever did thank you, I don’t remember it but I just wanted you to know that I am grateful.”

  Colt smiled, “You did thank me and just like then, there’s still no reason for it. When I pulled up on you my first thought was to keep going, kind of ashamed to say it, but all I thought of at the time was losing Jessica. When she got bite she was normal for a while, so I didn’t know if that could be what was happening with you too.”

  They all pulled out following Alden again, after an hour the roads started getting clear. Colt started watching, noticing all the cars, truck even buses were pushed into the ditches. He grabbed the radio, “Alden?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Your friends clearing the roads or are we just getting lucky?”

  Alden grabbed his mic, “Like I said, these folk around here have roots that go back. Waaaay Back. Most of them never had any use for the government in the first place; so they damn sure don’t need them now. They take care of their own.”

  Just then Alden turned at a bend, there in the road was a rail set up on two sawhorses. The men standing beside the makeshift roadblock wore simple clothes of jeans with blue jean shirts or bib overalls. All were carrying large hunting rifles or shotguns. Alden slowed his truck and stopped at the rail. One old man walked up and was looking over Alden’s rig then leaned and looked at the rest of the vehicles pulling up behind him. He turned and looked to Alden, “So son. My names Dan, and these here are my friends, and right now you’re trespassing on our land.”

  Alden looked at the man as Tonto stood in the seat and the hair went up from head to tail. A low growl came from him as Alden reached slowly back to pet him, “It’s alright boy.”

  He looked at the old man with cold steel eyes, “You’re Dan C Humeseton out of Choctaw Bay. Your daddy was Dan D. that about right?”

  The old man nodded and spit some black tar chew on the ground, “How’d you know that?” he said.

  Alden grinned a little as he took out a smoke and lit it, “Your mother’s name was Marion, fine woman as I remember.”

  A puzzled look came on Dan’s face, “Just who the hell are you?”

  “Names Alden Godfrey, your mother was my Aunt.”

  Dan’s face fell, and then he looked up grinning, “Well I’ll be damned. Hell Alden, we’d heard you were dead. Tom’s boy over there, said he heard gunshots from your place, but it took him two days to get there and when he did, he didn’t see you nor your dog and there was bodies and zombies wandering around. He came back and we figured you done been ate.”

  Alden smiled and got out of the truck and shook Dan’s hand. The rest of the men came over and greeted him. Alden smiled as he went on, “So you gentlemen own this road now?”

  A big man stepped forward, “Names Granville Ryan, most folks call me Granny. We took over the counties when them feds up and lit out. The city slickers that had their vacation homes also took out and went to them there shelters or whatever they was calling ‘em. After a couple of weeks the radio quit broadcasting, so we figured that it was all over and we w
ould just stay put and rebuild our little part of America. Things went good for a week then them biker folks came through here and we had a time with them. Then the army fellers who decided that they were going to be the new government came, and we took care of them too. Now we have these roadblocks set up all around these mountains. Simple rule, no one in.”

  Alden looked at Dan, “Now that don’t include me does it?”

  Dan shook his head, “Naw, you’re okay, but what about them back there, who are they?” Alden turned and looked at the ragtag caravan, “They’re my kids, I went to gather them up and bring them here before we went west.”

  Ceara rolled down her window trying to hear the men talking; Charlie had pulled out his gun just in case things didn’t go the way Alden thought they would. Ceara sat back down, “This sucks, I can’t hear shit! Should we get out?”

  Charlie kept looking to Alden, “No, he would wave if he wanted us out there. If we just walk up and don’t know what he is telling them we may mess things up.”

  Several minutes past when Colt came on the radio, his voice was very low, “You guys are not going to believe this, Alden just told them we are his kids! I claim son in law”

  Ceara grabbed the mic, speaking low too, “I guess I am a daughter!”

  Charlie just looked at her, “He is protecting us and you guys make jokes?”

  Ceara pouted, “Damn, you are a son, cause you are just like him!”

  Charlie smiled, “I would be happy to be known as that!”

  Ceara called across the mic, “Charlie claims son.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

  Tabitha came across, “Sooooo that makes you and Charlie brother and sister, you will fit in nicely around here, I think.”

  Beth came on next, “Kill the noise until we are out of harm’s way.” The radio fell silent. Ceara put it back on top of the box of dishes, “Charlie we don’t make fun of him, we all love him. Stop being worried about how he will take things.”

  Dan looked down then went and talked with the others; coming back he looked at Alden, “Mom always said the saddest thing about ole Alden was he never got married.”

  Alden grinned, “Yeah… well… that don’t mean the plumbing was broke.”

  All them broke into laughter as Dan slapped Alden on the back, “Well I guess you’re right there son. You stay on this road for another hour we’ll radio ahead and let them know ya’ll coming. You’re heading to Bald Mountain right?”

  Alden nodded. Dan grinned, “Okay then you keep them kids tight with you. You have any troubles just call on your radio on channel 9.”

  Alden shook Dan’s hand and walked back to the Land Rover, ‘YOU ALL FOLLOW ME. KEEP IT TIGHT WE SHOULD BE WHERE WE’RE GOING IN AN HOUR.” Alden walked back and climbed in the truck, then shook Dan’s hand once more, “Thanks for keeping our Mountain safe.”

  Dan nodded as Alden then drove away. Picking up his mic he spoke softly, “Those there are kinfolk, ya’ll play nice now.. hear.”

  Few minutes past and they were back on the road, soon Ceara had her window down and the breeze blew through her hair. A feeling of apprehension came over her, “Charlie, nothing is wrong here, no cars, no dead and no Wanderers. Not even a sign of what’s going on anywhere. If the government can’t do it, how the hell do these rednecks keep a mountain safe?”

  Charlie watched the road, “No one says the mountain is safe, they have the road patrolled and we have to still keep an eye out.”

  Ceara pulled her feet into the seat wrapping her arms around her knees, “I get that, but how did they all keep from being bit, and if this is Alden’s home and they are his kin why doesn’t he want to stay here. If you ask me, he don’t trust them either.”

  Charlie looked over to her, “If Alden trusts them, I trust them, if he doesn’t I don’t. We have to wait till we get there to know how he really feels.”

  The trip to his cabin took another hour as the group followed Alden’s truck zigzagging back and forth through the mountains. Finally he turned down a dirt road past a gate the held a sign, ‘PRIVATE PROPERTY TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT’ Charlie looked at Ceara, “I guess we’re here.”

  Ceara giggled, “Ya think?”

  Alden pulled up and got out of his truck as Tonto jumped out behind him and romped through the woods showing he was home and happy. The cabin in front had a covered porch that wrapped around the whole house. It was a simple log cabin with a brick stone chimney on one side. Alden walked carefully up to the house, and when he reached the steps of the porch he stopped and knelt down. Reaching carefully under the first step he slowly pulled out a small rectangle box, and then pulled two wires of it. Charlie was standing beside him, “What’s that?”

  Alden smiled as he stood, “It’s sort of a combination security system and one time use doorbell.”

  Handing it to Charlie he walked up the steps and stopped again. Tabitha and Ceara had walked up and Charlie handed the green box to them. Tabitha took it and turned it over and read what was printed, ‘FRONT TOWARD ENEMY’ Turning it over she continued, ‘WARNING EXPLOSIVE IS POISONOUS IF EATEN.’ Ceara looked at her, “So that’s a Claymore? I’d always heard it said Do Not Eat, but I thought it was a joke.”

  They looked up and Alden had disarmed another of his security devices and then opened the front door. “Welcome, my friends, to my little home.”

  As they all walked into the front room they noticed that it was rather large and spacious. The fireplace was on the far wall and there were two large dark green leather recliners and a sofa. An oak desk was in a corner that had a large window that looked out front. On the other side of the room was a small round oak table with 4 chairs.

  Towards the back on the left was an open door that led to a small kitchen. The next door was closed, and the last door led to a large bathroom. There were two ceiling fans with lights, one over the chairs in the sitting area and one over the dining table. Alden smiled and pointed to the door on the right, “For those who need to the bathroom it’s over there. The center door is my room, and I emphasize MY.”

  Setting his small pack on the table, he went to the kitchen where they could hear water running. Charlie watched as he saw what Alden was doing, “Figures, man’s gone for two months first thing he does is make coffee.”

  Beth looked over to Colt, “Well I thought that it would be much better, or at least bigger than this.”

  Colt was a bit sore from being in that seated position that the couch looked damn good to him and he really didn’t care about anything else. Tabitha overheard Beth’s remark and she replied, “Well, it’s not a fortress BUT it looks fine by me.”

  Beth shook her head, not that she was angry or disgusted but she felt she needed to explain herself, “No, what I meant Tabitha, was I figured with him being retired military and that he was by himself that he I a much bigger place…. And with the way that he is about survival, I just kinda had the impression that this place would be like a fortress.”

  Tabitha stretched her legs and walked around looking at how the place was laid out. “Yeah, I can see where you would have thought that, but this place is simple enough for a man like Alden to know right where everything is at, and if the zombies were around he sure as hell would know it and so would Tonto.”

  Beth walked over to the window and checked the outside. The yard was cleared and held only small stumps leaving a huge open space. Then began the woods filled with cedar trees and some big oak trees that were nestled further back. She saw Tonto and Maximus running from one end of the house to the other, as if Tonto was having a buddy over for a sleepover. Turning around Beth saw Ceara and Charlie along with Heath making their way towards the kitchen where Alden was making coffee. Deciding that something to drink would be pretty good and probably something for Colt wouldn’t be bad either, she made her way into the kitchen.

  Colt dropped on the couch, sighing in relief, “This is comfortable, I call dibs!”

  Alden called from the kitchen, “You drop on your furni
ture like that? There ain’t no dibs on the couch, but that is a sofa bed, so fight over that.”

  Colt looked over his shoulder to the kitchen, “Sorry Alden, just relaxing.” He looked back to the others, “Dibs on the sofa bed!” He smiled to Beth, “Snooze you lose.”

  Beth smiled back, “You got that right.”

  Ceara sat down on the other end of the couch petting Maximus, who had just came in with his tongue hanging out, “You guys can have the sofa bed, me and Charlie will take a spot on the floor. Hell, we slept on the ground, so that won’t be too bad.” She glanced around and realized there were no photos of family, but on the mantle he had a few in a row. She got up going over to look closer, “Charlie… look at this.”

  There were a couple of pictures that looked like a platoon, she tried to see where Alden was, and she pointed to a guy on the side, “Is that him?”

  Charlie looked over her shoulder, “Yeah, I think it is, don’t look happy there either, does he?”

  Ceara set it back and grabbed another one, “HOLY SHIT!! Look at this! Ain’t that Ronald Reagan? What is he pinning on Alden?”

  Charlie was holding a shadow box, “I would say this.” He turned it to Ceara, “I think this is the Medal of Honor, I don’t think there are any other that the President pins on a soldier.”

  Ceara was staring at the picture, “Wonder how old he was, I bet he was about twenty five in this.”

  Tabitha came over to look, “Damn the man look good!”

  Ceara giggled, “Tabitha that is just wrong, we were looking at what he has done.”

  Tabitha shrugged, “Sue me, I noticed other things.”

  Ceara looked back to the picture, “He does look pretty good.”

  Charlie picked up another one, “Look at this.” The picture was a man repelling out of a helicopter. “Well if any of us doubted what we thought he was capable of, this should clear it up.”