Ceara smiled and pointed to her top lip, “Honey you look like a little kid with your milk mustache.”
Charlie ran his sleeve across his upper lip as he blushed, “Hey it was good and cold.” He refilled his own coffee cup and went back out the front door. As he got outside he walked over and let the cows and horses out of the trailer.
Tying the horses up first, he then took the cows over by the shed and got a stool and some mason jars that were in a wooden box. Setting a jar down he began to milk the first cow and ended up with five jars of fresh milk. He finished the second cow and had six more. Securing the lids he let the cows go roam and eat, as he carried the fresh milk back in the cabin and placed them in the refrigerator. Smiling at Ceara who was just finishing up cooking the last of the bacon, ‘I gots my chores done MA,” he smiled, Ceara took a dish towel and tried to snap him with it as he ran out of reach.
Ceara smiled as she put the cup towel back on the counter with the clean dishes, “I think Beth is right, finding paper plates really would be a great idea.”
She glanced out the back door and saw Tabitha and Colt were already out with Heath, “I guess we should get out there, do you have any idea what he plans on teaching us?”
Charlie headed to the door, “Not a clue. Should we go get Beth?” Ceara glanced to the living room, “HEY BETH, WE ARE HEADING OUT WITH HEATH. COME ON OUT WHEN YOU ARE READY!” Turning back to Charlie, “I think she is wanting to avoid Alden for a little while.”
They both headed out back, joining the rest. Ceara looked around, “Soooo teacher, what are we learning?” Heath turned and watched as they all gathered around him. He looked at them and smiled, “Well boys and girls, have a seat on the ground,”
He laughed a little trying to break the ice. He saw a smile on Charlie’s face along with Colt and Ceara’s as they sat down. “Now seriously let’s get started, Lesson one and I’m sure you have all done this or you wouldn’t be here now. That lesson is; Do Not Panic; If you become separated from the group simply sit down and relax for a few minutes. You are not lost, you are simply where you are, we, the group is not lost, again we are simply where we are, that being not with you.” He chuckled a bit, “Once you have relaxed your task is simple, that is to get from where you are, to where the group is. Remember I said simple, it may not always be easy. In our situation, the reason the group or you split up is because it was necessary for survival.” Charlie yawned and Heath looked at him, “Am I boring you?”
Charlie frowned, “Yeah little, I mean, we all know what to do as far as staying calm, I need to know how to do things like figure out which way is north on a cloudy day, or what kind of berries won’t give me the galloping trots?”
Alden suddenly stepped up from out of nowhere. Charlie was the only one who didn’t jump. Heath turned quickly, ‘WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?”
Ceara moved back a few feet and was grabbing Charlie’s arm, “JESUS CHRIST ALDEN!!! WHAT THE HELL?”
Colt did a crab walk back towards the cabin simply yelling, “FUCK!” Alden grinned, “Lesson one, Expect the unexpected.”
Heath gathered his composure as the rest moved back into place. Alden took a small backpack off his shoulder and opened it. “When everything went to hell I went shopping at my Local Army Post. One of the things I grabbed was as many knives as I could. A good knife will go a long way in a survival situation.”
Reaching into the bag he handed each one of them a brand new KA-BAR knife still in the box. “These were standard issue to almost every soldier back in Vietnam and they have been battle proven since World War Two. You take care of it and trust me it will take care of you.” Alden picked the bag up, “Okay Professor the floor is yours again.”
Heath picked up the box containing his knife and before Alden could leave he reached out to shake his hand, “I don’t know what to say. I’ve always wanted one but never got around to buying one for myself. Thank You.”
Alden shook his hand and simply said, “You’re welcome.” Then turned and went back around the cabin.
Heath smiled then turned to the group. “I know you all know about low fires, so I want you to build one. Then I want you take some of that water out of one of those old buckets sitting by the shed. I want you to get a pan and boil it until you think it’s safe to drink. I have a test kit when you’re finished.” Heath turned and walked away to admire his new gift.
Ceara looked to Charlie, but he looked lost too, she glanced over to Tabitha and Colt and neither of them seemed to know either. Ceara took a deep breath, “Well, we all know how to build a fire so we can do that, do we make one fire or four small ones?”
Tabitha went around looking to the woods, “My guess is we each build one, he wants to know what each of us knows. So see ya campers….”
She headed into the surrounding woods, Charlie smiled at Ceara, “Bet I get mine started before you do!”
Before Ceara could say a word, Heath hollered over, “Oh I forgot, no matches, and I will ask how it was started!” Tabitha was easily heard cursing from the woods.
Charlie shrugged, “Bet I still beat you.”
Ceara frowned, “I ain’t going to say anything, I have no clue how to do it without matches.” The rest followed Tabitha, each gathering kindling and wood for a small fire.
Within forty-five minutes everyone was back and Tabitha had her fire going, Ceara looked on amazed, “How did you do that?????”
Tabitha smirked, “Lighter, he didn’t say not to use lighters!”
Ceara laughed, “TOSS IT OVER HERE!!”
Charlie and Colt were both still working on getting their fires going as Tabitha threw the lighter to Ceara. Another ten minutes and Ceara had hers going too. She smiled over to Charlie, “What’s taking you so long over there?”
Charlie looked over surprised, “How the hell??”
Ceara got up brushing off her knees, “Talent, you know what they say, you want it done right ask a woman.” She motioned over to Tabitha to show Charlie she had her fire going too. Charlie looked back down trying to get his going before Colt.
Ceara headed over to the water, she stood trying to figure out how to get it over the fire. A medium sized stone caught her eye, grabbing it and putting it in the center of the fire. It didn’t quite land like she had wanted but it would have to do. Ceara got a small pail full and set it on her rock in the fire. Stepping back she smiling until the pail fell over into the fire putting half of it out. “SHIT!!”
She grabbed the pail and tossed it off to the side, then worked the stone with a stick to level it out better. Once it was how she wanted, Ceara built her fire around it again and went to get another pail of water.
Charlie had gathered his sticks but had some shavings off a cedar log that he has trying to get started by rubbing a stick on another one like he’d seen in the movie Castaway. His luck was failing almost as fast as his strength. Having tired and his wounded arm aching, he threw the stick down, “Fuck I ain’t ever going to get this.”
He picked up his knife and was just playing with it when it fell and hit against a piece of metal. Seeing a small spark fly he grinned, “Hey Colt, come here.”
Colt wasn’t having much luck with his fire either, so he decided to see what Charlie wanted. Charlie had gathered his shavings into a pile as Colt knelt down, Charlie smiled, “Watch this.”
He took his new knife and flicked a few times on the metal on the third try a spark flew, landed on the shavings, smoldered and went out. Charlie had a system going quickly and sparks were flying. Soon his fire was started. “See Colt simple.”
Colt smiled back he got another idea. Getting up he went to the cabin and came back quickly holding his compass. Flipping it open he pulled the little magnifying lens out and held it so the sun hit it. Colt grinned, “Hey Charlie, check it out.”
Charlie looked up and saw Colt’s little fire going and gave him a thumbs up. Charlie got up and went to his van, where he found one of the metal canteen cups Alden had used. He po
ured his water in then carried it back to his fire. Setting it down he now had to figure a way to heat the metal cup. Going to the shed he found two small iron bars, “These will work nicely.”
Setting them down next to his fire he spaced them just enough to set his cup on them and soon his water was steaming.
Beth sat in the house looking out the window watching everyone with their survival test. She felt horrible about upsetting Alden but it was very true that there were a lot of things that she hadn’t been totally honest about with her involvement with the CDC. True she had been employed with them for years and she did know how many things were ran before the new President made his notorious budget cuts. However, when she saw the picture of Alden and President Reagan she remembered the underground survival plan that was enforced by him just in case of a nuclear holocaust or something cataclysmic happening.
Well, this was pretty cataclysmic and she just simply thought that if someone was down there that they could give her any information. Beth wasn’t worried about the President coming after them, because she was certain that he along with his cabinet were no longer living or no matter, what they would have found some way to get word out to the citizens of the United States that he was still overseeing this whole mess.
Then she thought about the government dropping everything and coming after this small group. Beth didn’t hold much faith in that either, simply because of what Cline said back at the small store when they had to go for supplies. If the base commanders were going rogue, she felt pretty sure the government had a lot bigger fish to fry than seven survivors.
Quite honestly, she really wanted to have a sit down with Alden and discuss all of the information that she knew, problem was that she didn’t know how to begin. Working for the CDC was not like working for Sears, Macy’s or a local 7 Eleven. When you’re trained for years to keep your mouth shut, then that’s what you do. If a person with top security clearance spouted off about things like the deep insides tactics of NORAD and AREA 51, they not only didn’t stay employed, but were usually give three hots and a cot for life.
Sure those things existed, but if the citizens of the world knew the real truth of these, then ninety five percent of the population would have freaked out. Not surprisingly, some of these government forced suppressed memories came to the surface when Beth saw that picture. She so wanted to open up that laptop and check things out but after hearing what Colt said about his computer knowledge, and the fact that the world, as she knew it, right now was pretty much gone. She did not know what to think, so she just sat there on the couch for the longest time.
Seeing Colt trying his hardest along with Ceara and Charlie; then Tabitha being Tabitha caused Beth to think about her family. She missed them so much, and if she could have stopped this shit she would have. Now these people out there were her family and the new guy Heath was just that, a new guy. She didn’t really feel comfortable with him, but in the beginning no one really felt comfortable with anyone.
Just then she giggled when she remembered trying to con Colt with the case of water, to give her a ride, she had sat the water on the hood of his Rover. She thought about how she must have looked after several days on the road and no shower. Colt looked just as worn out as she felt, it was the simple fact that they were both alive because they teamed up. “Damn it,” she said quietly. “I don’t know how to make this right, but I got to talk to Alden and the rest of the group.” Slowly she stood up and walked to the door, opened it and walked outside. Quietly she made her way over to one of the lawn chairs and sat down.
Colt watched Beth walk outside and knew that meant she wanted to deal with things head on, “That’s my girl!”
He smiled at her and waved to his fire, Beth gave him a thumbs up returning his smile. Turning back to his fire he had to decide on how to make water drinkable, he saw everyone else boiling theirs, so he figured they must know how to do it. Colt jogged across the yard heading inside to find something to use. All the pans looked too big to use so he grabbed one of the mason jars off the cup towel. He got the water out of the barrel and went to his fire; he set in in the middle and waited for it to boil. Colt sat watching it, pretty proud of himself as he saw bubbles form on the jar, it was going to work, it was about to boil. Five minutes later the water was starting to really boil, Colt looked over to Charlie, “Hey, how long does it need….”
A loud crack brought his attention back to his fire, his mason jar now sat in two pieces and his fire was all but out. “What the hell?? I saw my mother can and she always used jars and put them in heat?”
Ceara laughed, “Colt, she didn’t put them in a fire and she always placed them in water at low heat, right?”
Colt didn’t want to hear it, he was pissed that it was one more thing he didn’t do right. He glared at Ceara, “Couldn’t have shared that bit of info BEFORE I put it in the fire?”
Ceara’s back straightened, “Did you ask? NO! Did you let us know that you were going to use it? NO! Did you show us once you had it all set up? NO! You sat over there, once again trying to do everything alone, that isn’t OUR fault! I didn’t know you were using it until it broke and I looked over there.”
Colt looked to Charlie for help and he merely shrugged. Colt stood up kicking dirt on to the remains of his fire, “Well at least I can tell Heath what not to use right?” He tried to smile but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Beth saw the frustration in Colt’s eyes; she sat there feeling sorry for him. It was becoming very relevant that tensions of surviving was just that ……tense. Suddenly Beth remembered when things would get bothersome at work and she along with friends would either make fun of one another, which she didn’t think that would be a good idea, or they would go out after work to relax and unwind. That is exactly what they all needed to do. Too many emotions were running high and somehow they needed to be lowered. Beth quickly stood up while running her fingers through her hair. Slowly she walked over to Colt and seductively whispered in his ear, “I bet you could get my fire started.”
Then she bent down and began trying the same thing that all of the others had been doing. “You see Colt…. All you have to do is once you get a spark then you simply put your lips together and blow.”
Tabitha snickered and looked over at Charlie who was turning three shades of red and by the look on Ceara’s face it too was becoming the shade of her red hair. Tabitha knew what Beth was trying to do and she walked over to Ceara and whispered in her ear, “Red, now relax ok? Shit here has been getting too serious and all Beth is trying to do is calm Colt down, just like you tried to break the tension with making breakfast. Ceara looked over to Colt and then over to Heath, which his eyes were becoming wide with curiosity. Tabitha then walked over to help Beth as she squatted down right in front of Heath, “You mean something like this….”
Then between what Beth was doing with getting the first spark and Tabitha then blowing to cause a smoldering effect then a small flame, both of the ladies had started a fire. Tabitha quickly jumped up and said, “Ok, what’s the next training tip cause I’m done with this one?”
Heath was standing there with his hand in his pockets and smile on his face. None of them knew he had been watching the whole time, “Okay now let’s check everybody’s work walking to Tabitha’s first. “Well now you fail.”
He kicked dirt on the fire, “I said no matches; you used a lighter and guess what, that don’t count either. Also you failed to get the water, you were so happy with fire you forgot the second half.”
He turned to Ceara’s fire. Her water was boiling nicely but after hearing what he said to Tabitha she knew he’d seen her too. She sat back on her knees and watched as Heath kicked her fire out and spilled her water. Looking down at her, “fail” he said quietly.
He walked to Charlie who stood up. His fire was going good and his water had been boiling for about three minutes he took it off and smiled, “It should be good after it cools. I remember the sisters had us do this every time they shut off the
water and we had a boil order in effect.” Heath smiled, “You passed.”
He turned to Colt you get a B for trying, remember now glass breaks over an open flame.”
Heath walked to the center, “Make your fire and boil your water for one to three minutes depending on the altitude then let it cool. Boiling will kill any parasites or nastiness in the water. Now, your next test will be to make a shelter. You can use whatever resources you can find out here; nothing from your packs or from inside the house. GO!” He turned and walked away meeting up with Alden a few yards away the two stood and talked as the others stood looking at each other.
As Heath walked up, Alden smiled at the young ranger; he had been standing near an overlook on his property, “Hell three weeks with me, I could make you a decent drill sergeant.”
Heath chuckled, “Naw, I don’t think so. I’m only Boy Scout mean.”
The two laughed, then Alden’s voice changed it was serious and quiet, “Don’t let on but look down there off the right of that big rock.”
Heath saw the rock then saw what Alden had seen. “Wanderers… damn it. How far off?”
Alden stood and watched, “About 4 miles as the crow flies, closer to 15 by foot. They would have to work their way across that ridge over there if they decide to move this way. I’ve been watching them for about a half hour, they seem confused and are looking for a direction.”
Heath looked at the group of Wanderers then back to their own little party, “Should I tell them?”
Alden shook his head, “No, I’ll tell them.”
Alden turned and walked over to the group which seemed to be discussing the best way to do the next task. “I want to add a little spice to this party, your scenario from here on out is this… you all know there are Wanderers about, so you must maintain noise discipline. In other words, talk quietly and no yelling. I’ll be grading you on this one.”
He turned and snapped his finger once, and Tonto and Maximus were by his side. “Tonto, Stay, Guard.” Tonto sat down with his head straight up. Alden looked at Maximus and petted his head, “You’re with me, come on boy it’s training time.” Alden turned and walked away.
Surviving Day By Day (Book 2): Fears, Flames, and Future Page 20