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

by Allensworth, Audra

  An hour went by and Alden started to slow down. Grabbing the radio one more time, “Okay Kiddies we’re going to stop, I just passed a sign that said there was a lake up here. We’ll check it out, if it’s safe, we make camp.”

  Heath called Alden, “What’s the name of the place?”

  Alden smiled at Tonto, “Lake Fucka”

  Heath looked at Tabitha, “Damn, all I wanted to know was the name, he didn’t have to call me a fucker.”

  Ceara was snapped out of her thoughts when Alden came across the radio telling Heath they were going to Lake Fucka. Looking over to Charlie, “Did he just say Lake Fucka?”

  Charlie was laughing and just nodded. They soon turned and saw the sign Lake Fuqua and now Charlie and Ceara were both laughing. Alden drove through the small entrance and made his way around the winding road as the rest followed.

  They didn’t drive over fifteen mile an hour and Ceara was watching everywhere for signs of Wanderers. She had only seen one, but if she saw one that meant Alden probably saw ten. Fifteen minutes later he pulled into a small camp area that sat right on the lake, he jumped out and motioned where everyone else should park. Ceara was climbing out when Alden snapped for the dogs, Maximus jumped over her to run to Alden. “Damn whose dog are you?” Ceara was huffy and pouting as the dogs took off in the sparse woods. “Why is he sending them out anyway? We can see all around us and the lake is at our backs.”

  Charlie wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead, “Honey, he is still your dog but just like us, he has a job, he’s just a little more eager to get it done than we are.”

  Alden threw out the tarps and rope, “Ok boys and girls you have all had lessons on this, let’s see what you learned. Heath and Tabitha can get firewood.”

  An hour later they had a makeshift camp and Heath had a fire going, standing up he dusted off his hands on his jeans. “So what are we going to be cooking over this?”

  Alden went to the back of the van and pulled out the fishing poles, “There’s going to be some decent fish in the lake, so I plan on catching a few.”

  Charlie jogged over grabbing one of the poles, “I’m with you on that!”

  Ceara, Beth and Tabitha watched the boys head off to the lake then began setting up for the dinner the boys were sure to bring back.

  The girl talk took over within minutes, Ceara grinned over at Beth “You know what I miss sometimes? I miss makeup, curling irons, phones and JUNK FOOD!”

  Tabitha started laughing, “Makeup? I never worried too much about that. I miss the normal shit, like being able to just walk without looking everywhere at once.”

  Beth laughed, “Way to bring the mood down Tabitha. I miss being able to go to work, I always thought I would make a major difference in the world.”

  Ceara set plates and silverware on the blanket that was serving as their table. “Damn you guys make me sound shallow. I miss pampered stuff and you guys miss important things.”

  Beth gave her a quick shoulder hug, “No honey we miss those too and I’m sure you miss important things too’”

  The boys rejoined them with a string of fish and Ceara clapped, “Those look great!” Charlie smiled, “Alden was right, there is plenty of fish in there, but he still beat us. He was pulling them out left and right.”

  Alden shrugged, “It’s all in the wrist.”

  Tabitha smirked, “Know a lot about wrist action Alden?” The stunned silence was followed as everyone stared at Tabitha.

  Alden shook his head, “Never had much use for wrist action.” Tabitha burst out laughing and everyone relaxed.

  Soon they were all enjoying the fish and relaxed with small talk, most was about how they would get through Oklahoma. When all the dishes were put away, Alden laid back on his elbow with his legs stretched out, Tonto curled up right behind him. “So cupcakes, I have a question about the factory.” Everyone turned to him waiting for him to continue. “If I remember right, I told you to tell me anything that happened, I didn’t care what it was…. I wanted to know. So there something you want to tell me?”

  Colt glanced to Charlie, and then to Tabitha and Beth, everyone sat in silence. Charlie took a deep breath, “Well I guess I get to tell the story. We were sitting out there watching when we spotted a few Wanderers, we knew you guys were already in the factory, and didn’t want to come across with noise drawing attention to you, in case there were any inside. We improvised making Molotov cocktails out of empty beer bottles, gas, and tore up a couple of t-shirts.”

  Charlie glanced around looking for help as Alden’s eyes bore into him. Tabitha took pity on him and picked up where he left off, “We piled up tumbleweeds and doused those too. Colt and Charlie rode on the roof as I drove getting the things to follow us. Charlie was right, they did come right at us and the cocktails worked great. Once they were pretty much grouped close enough to the pile of tumbleweeds we set that on fire, and well, that about sums up what happen. By the way, just to clarify, you said you wanted to know, you didn’t say when you wanted the info so….”

  Alden stayed relaxed but his look told all of them he was debating on getting pissed. Colt started smiling; the old song from The Talking Heads, Burning Down the House kept running through his head. Alden looked over at him “Something funny kid?”

  Colt blushed but was still on the verge of laughing, he then looked to Tabitha and Beth and just started singing.

  ‘Burning down the house

  My house is out of the ordinary

  That’s right, don’t want to hurt nobody

  Some things sure can sweep me off my feet

  Burning down the house

  No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin yet

  Everything’s stuck together

  I don’t know what you expect staring into the TV set

  Fighting fire with fire

  Burning down the house

  Burning down the house

  Burning down the house’

  Colt even began doing a bit of a dance and bumped shoulders with Tabitha; she started laughing and joined in with him singing. Soon everyone was singing except Alden, he just sat with a smirk. The song tapered off, Alden tossed a fishbone aside he had used as a toothpick, “I’ll make sure to clarify next time. Good thinking on the Molotov cocktails, there may be hope for the bunch you yet.”

  Alden watched the fire for a bit then got up, “Okay cupcakes…. You all know the drill. Guard duty will start in two hours so draw straws, or play that little hand thing game you all do and figure it out. I’ll take the dogs and do a little scouting”

  Alden walked off with the dogs at his side heading back down towards the lake. He was standing there gazing off at an orange glow in the distant horizon. The sun was dipping low now and almost gone when Heath walked up behind him. “I drew last watch so I thought I’d come see what’s up.”

  Alden smiled a little and pointed to the west, “You see that orange glow?”

  Heath nodded. “Well that’s about where we will be by tomorrow afternoon.” As Heath looked at him, he could tell that Alden was making another one of his ‘we might be in deep shit points’ but Heath couldn’t figure it out so he grinned, “Well yeah, but what’s over there that ain’t over here?”

  Alden reached down and picked up a few rocks off the shore and started to skip them, his voice trailing off, “Hopefully nothing,” Tossing a couple of stones, he then looked at Heath with dead seriousness in his eyes, “Or possibly a whole bunch of something…. That there is Fort Sill, if there still is a Fort Sill. I’m not sure I really want to find out.”

  Heath looked at him then back west once more as it dawned on him.. “This could be a safe haven full of Military soldiers still surviving?”

  Alden nodded, “yeah, or a wanderer production factory…. There may well be a few thousand of them trapped inside the fence.” Alden looked at Heath “you go get some sleep, son. We’ll worry about that in the morning.”

  Heath turned and walked bac
k to the camp and laid down on his blanket next to Tabitha. She rolled over and looked at him, “Everything all right?”

  He smiled weakly “yeah Alden’s got first watch then he’ll give it to Beth and Colt.” He lay back with his arms under his head looking up at the stars; his mind drifting away to sleep wondering if he would be the same tomorrow.

  As the sun came up Heath had the coffee going and had poured a cup. As Alden and the others were stirring, he walked back down to the lake looking back west again. Alden poured a cup and looked at Tabitha who was watching Heath. She turned to him, “Alden, I’m worried about him; he kept going down there this morning and staring off across there like he was searching for someone.”

  Alden took a sip and looked at Heath then smiled at Tabitha, “It’s probably nothing. We’re getting back close out west to where he started from. Maybe it’s bothering him a bit”

  Alden walked down to the lake and next to Heath, “See anyone you know?”

  Heath turned and looked at him puzzled, “Huh? What…?”

  Alden smiled a little, “You know what I told you last night needs to stay between you and me till we get closer.” Heath nodded as he looked back to the camp. Alden took a sip of coffee, “Plus we got about twenty five or thirty miles to worry about before we get there, and let’s face it, a lot can happen just ten miles up the road.”

  Heath turned and realized what Alden was doing. Heath snapped back to the present. He couldn’t worry about two hours or thirty miles, he had to worry about right here and now and the next ten minutes. Smiling he headed back to camp looking back over his shoulder, “Thanks Alden.”

  Alden raised his cup in a toast’ “Oh and keep the girls up there for a few minutes. I need some privacy.” He turned and headed for some bushes unbuckling his jeans and whistling.

  Ceara started walking toward the water. Walking by Heath she mumbled good morning and was shocked when his arm snaked out around her waist, “What the hell Heath, What are you doing?”

  Heath turned her around walking her back to camp, “Spots taken…”

  Ceara blushed beet red when she realized what he was saying, “Oh-umm-oh ok.”

  She turn toward the woods, “I think I’ll just walk over here.” Heath laughed as he rejoined the others.

  Breakfast was a little bread and leftover fish, Alden had everyone organized enough that within an hour they were back on the road. Ceara sat behind the wheel to give Charlie a break. Smiling Charlie had told her to try not to rear end Tabitha again. Ceara figured it would be awhile before she lived that down. She watched the fields pass and noticed that there were several Wanderers in them, “Charlie, is it just me or are there more out there then there were yesterday?”

  Charlie didn’t answer very fast and Ceara wondered if he would. “I don’t know if there are more, or if there is just less trees to hide them.”

  She hadn’t thought of that but he was right, the trees were thinning out. They drove in silence for some time when Charlie started laughing, Ceara looked at him confused. He waved to the road, “Pay attention to where you are going.” Ceara turned back to the road, “Well, what are you laughing at?”

  “I was just thinking that Colt was the last one I would have thought would break out in a song while discussing something serious. Not to mention the song he chose.”

  “So that really was a song? I thought it might be, after Tabitha started singing too.” They rode in silence for several minutes; Ceara glanced over at Charlie as he watched the fields. “What’cha thinking about?”

  He looked over at her with a sheepish grin, “I was just thinking that if the world does recover that landscapers will make a killing.”

  Ceara shook her head, “Only you would think of that.”

  As Tabitha watched the scenery go by she was amazed that they all were still trudging on and what’s more she was one of the survivors that was in this group. Chuckling out loud as she stretched her legs out in front of her as far as she could while she was sitting in the Jeep Heath looked over at her with a grin. “What are you laughing about over there?” he asked.

  Tabitha sat straight up, ran her fingers through her windblown hair and remarked, “I just find it totally amazing that those people that said I wouldn’t amount to shit, probably became zombie shit, and here I sit!”

  Heath laughed, “You know Tabitha you do have a way of speaking your mind.”

  Looking out the window Tabitha continued, “It’s not just speaking my mind darling; it’s stating the cold hard truth. Nobody thought I would amount to anything, let alone give me a second thought, if I would’ve made it out alive or not. I never had no use for people, until I met that old man Alden. I really didn’t care for him to much in the beginning.” Tabitha smirked as the first memory of Alden landing on top of her ass entered her mind.

  “Well, Tabitha if ya don’t mind me asking, how’d you and him meet up?”

  Tabitha looked over Heath, “Well it sure wasn’t hearts and flowers…. But let me just say that he saved my ass, literally, and I sure as hell would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for him. That right there was all the determination that I needed to keep on keeping on. Charlie and Ceara were already with him, and then the rest of our little family just came along shortly after that.”

  Tabitha looked out the window and then thought about what Heath had lost, “Look Heath, I don’t know that much about you, and from what I do know, I am awfully sorry for your loss. Hell, to lose your family has got to be one of the hardest damn things in this world right now.” Gently, Tabitha put her hand on Heath’s shoulder, “But I am here if you ever want to talk about it.”

  Heath looked out the window and when he felt Tabitha’s hand on his shoulder he held back the tears. The memories of his son, not to mention the thoughts he conjured up of what may have happen to him were just too hard to sort out. He didn’t want to really talk about it right now with her, or anyone.

  While Tabitha gently rubbed his shoulder, she could see that he was holding back and this caused her to smile. “Heath, now that was me trying to be a sweet little thing, that just don’t work for me so I will go back to being the sexy, bad ass, biker babe.”

  Heath managed to muster up a tiny smile and Tabitha reached down to turn the knob on the radio and when she did all that came through the speakers was white noise. “Shit! I sure as hell miss having tunes.”

  Turning off the radio Tabitha then looked over at Heath and she desperately wanted to change the subject to something that made him smile again. Just then she saw a dead body along the side of the road and this caused her to ask, “So Heath tell me something, out of all of the zombie movies which one do you think will go down in history as being THE zombie movie that best depicts our current situation ?”

  Heath chuckled and remarked, “Haven’t thought much about it….. Why? What is yours?”

  Tabitha turned around in the seat with her one leg up under her, “Well, I would have to say that my all-time favorite would have to be from Shaun Of The Dead when Ed turns to Shawn and says, ‘Who died and made you fucking king of the zombies?’ Tabitha laughed and then continued on, “Or my second all-time favorite would have to be ZombieLand!!!! Remember when Columbus was saying all of his rules to surviving a zombie apocalypse… double tap??”

  Heath laughed, “Yeah running happy meals!!!”

  Tabitha replied quickly as he finished, “To quote Columbus correctly, ‘In those moments where you’re not quite sure if the undead are really dead-dead, don’t get all stingy with your bullets. I mean, one more clean shot to the head, and this lady could have avoided becoming a human Happy Meal. Woulda… coulda… shoulda.’ Both of them broke out laughing at the same time.

  Colt and Beth rocked out to AC/DC for a while as the scenery passed by. Beth looked over and giggled, “I cannot believe you started singing when we all knew Alden was ready to blow a gasket. You know that could have gone really bad?”

  Colt glanced over at her and grinned, “The damn song w
as just running through my head and I kept trying to ignore it. Then Alden asked and I couldn’t think of anything else, so I just said screw it and started singing.”

  Beth popped the cd out of the console and tossed it back into the glove box, “You got any other CDs?”

  Colt jerked a thumb to the back, “There should be a case in the pocket behind your seat.” Beth spun in the seat and reached behind the seat pulling out a small cd case. She quickly unzipped it, “You know a person’s musical choices say a lot about them.”

  Colt smirked and grabbed the case from her, “Really? Now I’m not so sure I want you looking! You may decide that I’m not worth your time.”

  Beth snatched the case back, “Now I really have to see what’s in here.”

  Beth smiled over at him, “My, my, my aren’t you the diverse man? Let’s see, southern rock, hard rock, eighties girl bands and some classical.”

  Colt laughed, “Don’t think it is all me in there, some of those are Jessica’s.”

  Beth slid a Joshua Bell disc in the player, “I never knew anyone that liked Josh Bell.”

  As the soft violin music filtered through the rover Colt just listened for a little while, “Jessica use to play this when we argued, or I should say when she wanted to end the argument. She kept a disc in the house and in both vehicles. I always knew when it started, that the fight would end and we would be ok.” Colt looked over at Beth, “You mind if we change the cd, not liking where my mind is going.”

  Beth ejected the disc, “Colt I don’t ever want you to be uncomfortable, but maybe the reason I loaded the disc is that Jessica coming through me and letting you know to let the past go and it’s ok to move forward.”

  Colt looked over at Beth, “Maybe and maybe I do need to listen to it.” He took it from her and reloaded it.

  Alden was watching the road and the scenery. It was the latter that was beginning to concern him. The big round bales of straw and hay were not lined up in an orderly fashion. Rather it seemed to him that they were set up more as an obstacle course. One in which Wanderers would be funneled down into a shooting gallery. His thoughts were confirmed a couple of more miles down the road. Alden slowed his truck to twenty miles an hour as he saw the headless bodies lined up along the fence with the heads posted on poles right above them. Some of the heads were still alive, He could see the eyes moving and the jaws going up and down. Grabbing the radio he started to call out, “Alright Cupcakes look…..”