The room once again was filled with laughter, As Tabitha turned red and giggled, “Oh just shut up.” She pushed Colt out of the way and headed for Alden’s room to change. Alden looked to Colt who was till dumbfounded, “Well you had your shot, but I hate to tell you Heath just went in there,” Pointing to the bathroom.
Charlie smiled at Colt, “ Hell I hope you like cold showers. Hell, you may need one after the eye full you got.”
Alden had walked back in with a fresh cup of coffee, “Charlie to answer your question. I have what’s called an electric shower head. It heats the water as it comes up and out, so you don’t need a hot water tank. I also use a tank less heater in the kitchen and the bathroom sink.”
Ceara eyes got wide, “You have unlimited hot water?”
Charlie smiled as he wiped his face and hair to get the beer off, “I sure as hell hope so.”
Ceara stepped over Charlie’s feet and headed to the kitchen, “I’m starting the clothes since the shower won’t be affected” She got to the laundry room and started separating the clothes, first would be the clothes from the day’s fight. Ceara was hoping that most of the blood would wash out. Once the washer was full she started it and looked to the rest of the clothes, it looked close to the three loads Alden had okayed.
Ceara headed out the back door going around to the front to get the food out of the van for the stew. She got back inside to find Tabitha browning the meat, together she and Ceara had dinner done and served by the time the first load was drying on the line.
Charlie had finally taken his second shower after letting Colt go before him. When he walked out and into the laundry room. Ceara was taking the last load out as he touched her shoulder. She spun around quickly, “What?”
Taking her hand he smiled at her, “Honey I was just joking around and you may not have noticed but it did lighten the mood a little after this morning.”
Ceara glared at him, “I didn’t think it was funny at all and I don’t think Beth thought it was so funny either.”
Charlie looked down, “yeah I guess maybe I owe her an apology too.” He turned to leave when she reached out and took his hand. Charlie stopped and turned back and Ceara pulled him back. The two looked at each other for a long time when Ceara finally broke down and hugged him tight, “Why did he do it Charlie? I mean we won, sort of. I never saw the ones who bit Carol Ann and Jr.”
Charlie hugged her back, “He just gave up honey. He’d had enough I guess.”
Ceara let go and looked at Charlie, “If I got bit, could you do it?”
Charlie stared at her in disbelief. He’d thought about it in passing, what would he do if her or anyone of the group was bitten, he quickly pushed it out of his mind. “I know I promised Alden a long time ago I would but…… I don’t know. What’s more, I don’t know if I did lose you if I would not do the same thing as Biff.”
He turned and started to walk away when Ceara called him, “Honey you want to help me hang these.” Charlie went back and picked up the laundry basket and the two went out the back to the clothes line.
Ceara stood at the line taking the jeans as Charlie shook them out and handed them to her. They did the chore in silence for several minutes; Colt joined them in the yard. “Ceara, the food was great.”
Ceara smiled at Colt, “Good, glad you liked it.”
Colt leaned on the clothesline pole and acted as if he were fixing a pair of the hung jeans. Ceara laid a hand on the line looking at Colt, “Spit it out Colt, if you got something to talk about, just say it.”
Colt cleared his throat looking to Charlie, “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I heard what you guys were talking about. Charlie, you said you didn’t know if you could do what has to be done if any of us get bit. All I ask is that you think about the life you would doom any of us to if you didn’t kill us. Not only that, think about how you would feel if, let’s say, that I got bit and you wanted to wait for some cure to come along. Then I managed to bite either you or Ceara. How would you feel then?”
Charlie started to reply but Colt held up his hand to stop him, “Then you said you may just do the same thing Biff did…. Charlie, you can’t do that. I’m not going to judge a father; Alden showed me I don’t have that right. I do believe I have earned the right to judge our own group though. You, or anyone else in this group that think killing themselves is the way to go then I need to leave. I don’t want to worry about the Wanderers and the people I’m with.”
Charlie dropped the shirt he has in his hand, “WHERE THE HELL DO YOU GET OFF JUDGING ANYONE, YOU FUCKING YUPPIE. WHAT’S MORE I WAS TALKING TO HER.”
Ceara spun around. She had never seen Charlie like this, “Honey… Charlie, now you just settle down.”
Charlie looked at her his eyes wide and his face red with anger, ‘SETTLE DOWN? FUCK THAT?” Before Ceara or Colt knew what was happening Charlie dove at Colt knocking him to the ground and began to hit him as hard and as fast as he could. “FUCK YOU!” He screamed.
Ceara tried to pull Charlie off but was not having any luck. He had locked his legs tight around Colt’s side. Colt was twisting and turning but the only thing he could do was cover his face as Charlie kept hitting him.
“ALDENNNN” Ceara screamed, then pulled again on Charlie yelling, “LET HIM GO CHARLIE STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!”
Colt had finally got a hand free and hit Charlie square in the jaw then landed a few more glancing blows but it did no good.
As Ceara was pulling she suddenly found herself and Charlie being lifted off the ground as Alden’s voice boomed, “THAT ENOUGH GODDAMN IT! BREAK IT UP!”
Ceara landed on her butt as Alden separated her from Charlie. He then tossed Charlie to the ground. Colt sprung up and dove for Charlie but never made it. Alden caught his arm and tossed him like a rag doll right next to Charlie. He stepped between the two quickly, “NEXT MOTHERFUCKER THAT WANTS TO THROW A PUNCH THROWS IT AT ME! NOW WHO WANTS A SHOT AT THE TITLE!?”
The look of ferocity in Alden’s eyes was enough to back both the young men down. Charlie rolled away from Colt and got up stammering, “He had no right to listen in to me and Ceara, that was between us and it didn’t even concern him”
Colt had stood and began to tell his side when Alden held up his hand. “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER FUCKING WORD RIGHT NOW. BOTH OF YOU WILL GO YOUR SEPARATE WAYS AND IN ONE HOUR WE’RE ALL GOING TO HAVE COME TO LOKI MEETING OUT FRONT.”
He watched as Colt turned and saw Beth running to him, “Are you alright?” He looked at Charlie and Alden, “I’m fine just fine.” He turned walking away telling Beth what happened.
Charlie looked at Ceara and turned heading for the woods, “FUCK THIS SHIT, I’M FUCKING DONE.”
Heath and Tabitha were the last to arrive. Heath looked at Alden, “Dissention in the ranks I take it?”
Alden spun causing Heath to step back quickly because of the look in Alden’s eyes. Alden took a breath, “Yes and we’re all going to get this shit straight tonight in about an hour.” Alden looked at both Heath and Tabitha, “There’s a meeting out front in one hour be there.” Alden turned and walked into his house slamming the door behind him.
Beth walked beside Colt as he headed in the opposite direction of Charlie. Seeing a huge cedar tree Beth gently put her hand on Colt’s shoulder and guided him with her. At first he pulled away, Beth let him go and just sat right down underneath the tree. “Colt; don’t take your shit out on me. Now get your ass over here and let’s talk. I don’t want to talk about what happened or what you think happened. I just want to talk.”
Colt walked a few feet away and then turned back looking straight at her. After a minute or two he made his way over to where she was seated. Colt knelt down grabbing up a stray branch and broke it in two; Beth thought Colt was picturing Charlie. Colt tossed the branch to the side, “Beth, all I said to the kid was that if I got bit he better fucking kill me. WOW, now that was horrible wasn’t it??” Colt spun around looking at Beth, “You would kill me wouldn’t you? Or
are you like HIM?” He didn’t give her time to say a word, “And would you pull a Biff and kill yourself too?” He was glaring at her now, “Well??”
Beth quietly sat there listening to Colt very carefully but she also was watching his actions. He was still upset, mad and quite agitated. Sitting back on the ground Beth crossed her feet at the ankles and lay back on her elbows. Looking up at the sky then back to Colt she smiled softly, “I’m going to say this once more, don’t take your crap with Charlie out on my, cool your jets. Now, to answer your question…. I want you to think about what happened to me with my Mom, my Dad and my sister Mary. I did kill them and this was even with the information that I had only had from text messages. Now you have to think about this….. After what you asked me do you think I would kill you or wait for a cure???? Seriously Colt?! The answer is obvious!!! But did I kill myself? Well I am talking to you now, so that answers that question too.”
Beth picked a daisy that was growing beside the tree and played with it for a minute, Colt knew she was gathering her thoughts and just waited, “Colt, I believe that there is still hope out there and I do believe that somewhere in the world there is a safe haven! Hell for I know, we may be the safe haven. Lord knows I tried to get in contact with the CDC underground agency when Alden blew up at me and all I was trying to do was seek out any information that may be out there if there is any.”
Beth sat up and crossed her legs underneath her and took another deep breath. Colt stood right there taking it all in and the look on his face was difficult for her to read but instead of letting him get a chance to break in with another word she continued, “Biff was extremely country and a laid back redneck okay? He had seen all of his world go to shit in a matter of seconds and to him, well he only thought of himself and his boy, if I was to take a guess. I mean look at how he argued and struck his child when Alden broke that up. Hell, even Alden doesn’t allow that kind of brutality around. So Colt….. Biff, to me was a self-centered asshole and that little boy was trying to be a big boy by offering to step up to take care of his Daddy and his Daddy turned out to be a selfish, self-centered asshole. Not to mention, judge, jury and executioner! Now you let those words sit there and sink in for a minute. That is the truth Colt!”
Colt looked to the woods, “Alden said that Biff just wanted his family back together and couldn’t mentally deal with it. I just don’t get Charlie, it isn’t like I sat there and just listened in on them! That asshole acts like I was creeping around and listening to him and Ceara. What the hell did he think I wanted to see, a make out session? I ain’t like that Beth! I just went in there to put my bowl in the sink and to thank Ceara, and then I heard Charlie.”
Colt dropped onto the ground beside Beth, “I think that Charlie thinks that I meant he was weak, I didn’t mean that Beth. I just meant that I have seen both sides of this, kill the Wanderers and wanting to keep one alive to find a cure.”
Colt looked into Beth’s eyes, “Killing the one you love isn’t easy, hell it kills part of you too. You know that from what you went through, but does Charlie? Do you think that he has had to kill any that he knew? The kid is awful quiet about his past.”
Beth leaned her head on Colt’s shoulder because she felt that maybe giving him some sort of human touch may help. Looking off into the woods Beth calmly spoke, “Colt, some people that have seen a lot of stuff throughout their life, they just doesn’t like putting it out there for everyone to see. They would rather not think about it, and be grateful for what they have right in front of them today. Well, looking at him and thinking about what he has said about his past because I have caught bits and pieces, Alden is like a Dad to him and Ceara, well that kid loves her. I mean really LOVES her. Hell, I’d venture a guess that this is true love to him. To answer your question of whether he has killed anyone he knew. I bet he has and just don’t want to talk about it because of the way he snapped on you. We’ve heard him talk about the Sister’s at the orphanage and I think he may have had to put one or more of them down.”
Beth began gently caressing Colt’s arm, “Charlie’s reaction shows it struck a nerve which then brought reality to him about how he loves Ceara and he just doesn’t want to think about what he may or may not have to do like what you had to do with Jessica or what I had to do to my family.”
Colt laid his head back on the tree just thinking about how his words may have affected Charlie. He and Beth sat in silence watching the world go by.
Heath watched with Tabitha as the group dispersed, “So I guess Colt and Charlie are not playing well with each other.”
Tabitha giggled, “Guess not.”
Looking to Tabitha and hearing the front door slam Heath smiled, “There’s a jug of lemonade in the fridge over there on the back porch. Want some?”
Tabitha nodded and the two walked to the back of the cabin. Heath opened it and took out a glass gallon jug, grabbing two plastic cups off the top of the fridge he handed them to her and then poured the lemonade. Taking a sip Heath smiled, “I always got a kick out these backwoods, down south people. It seems to me that the way rich folks up north with their Cadillac and Lincolns and big bass boats, they’re all just their idea of status symbols; things down here are the washer dryer and refrigerator on the front or back porch.”
Tabitha choked on her drink and then swallowed. Heath walked over and sat down in one of two matching wooden porch chairs. He watched as Tabitha joined him. “I’m not sure what Alden has planned in an hour, but I got a feeling it is going to be decision time for all of us. I think he’s going to put out what he would call our own set of Rules of Engagement, and standing orders of conduct.”
He took a sip and looked out to where Beth and Colt were sitting. Tabitha took another drink of her lemonade and smiled, “Rules Of Engagement!! Yaaaaaa, I think that is what Alden has in mind. All I can tell you Heath, is that everyone is really edgy right now, most of all Alden. These were his folks and even though he didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of their backwoods ways, it was still THEIR ways…..not his and most importantly not mine. Biff really was wrong with what he did, but he had his reasons, stupid as shit, but still his reasons. Charlie’s just a very impressionable kid and whatever took place must have really ruffled his feathers which naturally ruffled Alden’s.”
She sat her glass on the ground beside her chair and looked over to Beth and Colt. “Those two over there have been through their own shit. Hell, which one of us hasn’t been through a lifetime of shit in the past few months? Not much of a story with my life though. Nothing big ever happened and no one ever gave a rat’s ass about me or my business. That was until I wound up in this little family right here, then my look at life changed and I mean dramatically!”
Tabitha smiled widely and looked back over to Heath, “You could say this whole zombie shit was and isthe best thing that ever happened to me because I have a reason for living now and nobody is going to take that away from me if ya can understand that.”
Ceara watched as every step deeper into the woods Charlie seemed to get angrier. She never shrunk from him; his anger didn’t scare her but did worry her. “Charlie.”
This was nothing more than a whisper but Charlie rounded on her, “WHAT?”
Ceara put a hand on her hip, “Charlie Davidson, you can just stop that! I didn’t do anything.”
Charlie kicked at a branch knocking it into a tree, “I would have kicked that jerk’s ass.”
Ceara kind of giggled, “Honey, you did kick his ass.”
Charlie looked back at her surprised, “I did?”
Ceara went to a small clearing and sat on the grass, “Come sit down,” she patted the grass. At first Charlie seemed like a caged animal, not wanting to sit down and Ceara wrapped her arms around her knees, “You know there are better ways to deal with pent up energy than to punch your friend.”
Charlie walked around huffing for few minutes. He looked over to Ceara and dropped his head. Sitting down he started to pull blades of grass, “That question y
ou asked me. Well you asked me, so that was between you and me, not him.” He looked at her as a tears came to his eyes, “I’m 23 and been alone all my fucking life until you came along. Yeah I’ve been with people, the other kids from the orphanage and shit but I…. well….. I never had a girlfriend and the only person who I ever could call family, I killed him just minutes after he said he’d been proud to be my dad. He’d been bitten and turned.”
Ceara suddenly realized why Charlie had been so quiet when others were talking about what happened before. Charlie reached over and held her hand looking into her eyes, “Alden has been my dad and I never told him, Beth has been my Aunt and I never told her. Colt….. well Colts my brother, and Tabitha’s like a sister, but you well…. I always thought of you as my girlfriend.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek gently, “Sounds silly doesn’t it, to pretend I finally have a family?”
Ceara lay back on that grass and pulled Charlie down with her, she looked to the break in the trees over them watching the clouds. She laid curled into his shoulder, “No it doesn’t, we are all doing that in some fashion, but why didn’t you tell us about...what happen to you?”
Charlie softly rubbed her back, “Why, I don’t want everyone feeling sorry for me.” He felt her nod, “So if Alden is like your dad and everyone else is how you say, does that make Heath a long lost uncle?”
Charlie finally laughed, “Yeah, that kind of fits, he is sort of like Alden.”
Ceara turned to Charlie rising onto an elbow and laid her hand on his chest, “Charlie, listen, if we are all family then you have to look at it like that too. Colt didn’t mean to overhear, but he did. His delivery on what he said needed A LOT of help, but he was saying what we were all thinking. He is the only one of us that was married, did you realize that? He lost the love of his life and he is the reason he lost it.”
Charlie’s eyebrows raised, “Oh I don’t mean that he got her bit, I mean he did everything to keep her alive hoping for a cure and ended up having to shoot her.”
Surviving Day By Day (Book 2): Fears, Flames, and Future Page 25