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

by Allensworth, Audra

  Beth smacked him in the arm, “Behave!” She looked toward the gas station and shook her head, “I’m not sure about this place, Colt. The kids are just so far underweight and this crap has only been going on for a few months. I don’t know if we should just leave them, but I don’t see any way of saving them either.”

  Colt leaned on the rover, “I know that look, what do you want to do?” Beth smiled, “Well they need vegetables and we found a lot at the farmhouse and in the ranger station. Do you think Alden would let us leave some for them?”

  Colt looked around the town, “Ok Beth, this is not to be mean or to sound like a callous ass hole, but if these people find out what we have, we may not get out with anything. You saw how the one guy acted and I would bet the military control isn’t as secure as they think it is. I don’t want to test it, you can ask Alden, but that is my opinion.”

  Ceara and Charlie joined Heath and Tabitha, Tabitha was sitting in the driver’s seat of the Jeep, one hand on the steering wheel and the other draped over her knee with a cigarette in her fingers. Ceara was jealous that she could act like this was just a normal afternoon. Charlie glanced back to the rover, “What do you guys think happened with Beth, Colt looks frustrated.”

  Ceara looked over to them and smiled, “Maybe Colt is being over protective and Beth isn’t letting him.”

  Charlie cocked an eyebrow as if asking why she would say that. Ceara’s shoulder lifted and dropped in a shrug, “Well, you heard him tell her not to go in there and she did anyway.”

  Heath chuckled, “Let me give you some advice Charlie, you want a woman to do what you want, just tell them to do the opposite.”

  Charlie started laughing drawing several looks from the town’s people. Ceara huffed, “Aren’t you divorced, Heath?” Heath smirked, “Yeah, my mistake… I told her I wanted her to spend her life with me. So you see, rule still goes… I should have said I wasn’t interested in a relationship and I would still be married.”

  All four started laughing as Beth and Colt joined them, Colt leaned on the Jeep, “What’s up?”

  Ceara smiled, “Heath is giving Charlie relationship advice, and I think he is nuts.”

  Colt looked to Heath, “So what’s the advice?”

  Tabitha flicked the cigarette to the ground, “It don’t matter, advice this day in age don’t count for shit. You want a relationship to work with me, you better damn well face I am your equal.”

  All eyes turned to Tabitha and Heath leaned in the open door’s window, “And just where did that come from?”

  Tabitha sat back in the seat propping her foot on the door, “Facts baby, you want to play games, then play them somewhere else. That rule of yours is shit.”

  Heath signed, “Damn girl chill, it was a joke.”

  Tabitha face broke into a huge grin and looked to Ceara, “Now there is your lesson, scare a man, and they’ll do what you want.”

  Heath glared at her but couldn’t hide the smile.

  Charlie leaned over whispering to Ceara, “I think we will play by our own rules, deal?” She quickly nodded; she didn’t want to have to deal with these weird rules.

  Colt laughed at Tabitha, “You guys know she is right, if Jessica got mad at me, I did anything to get back in her good graces.”

  Ceara looked to him, “What about when you were mad at her? What would she do?”

  Colt stood for a minute looking at the horizon, “That’s a funny thing, now that she is gone, I don’t ever remember being mad at her.”

  Beth laid her head on his shoulder, “Well when I am mad at Colt, I can tell you what I do. I talk or yell or do what I need to and get him to talk to me. That is the only thing you kids need to remember, talk about everything.”

  Heath started laughing, “How the hell did we get on this damn subject?? Shouldn’t we be more worried about getting out of this town together and in one piece?”

  Alden was sitting at the counter, Tonto and Maximus were lying at his feet. He had watched Beth walk in and give the kids a slight physical then leave. Goodspeed poured another cup of coffee and sat down next to him with a state highway map. He unfolded it across the counter and took a red pen making a mark on Bray Oklahoma. “This is where we’re at.”

  Moving his pen on the map he drew another red circle, “This here is Lawton,” Goodspeed looked into Alden’s eyes, “Not a good place. What hasn’t been burned down, is definitely overrun with those bastards. Not to mention there are some groups still holding their own there, but they ain’t the neighborly kind if you get my drift.”

  Alden frowned and nodded, “Yeah we have had our own run-ins with the welcome wagon from the hood. It didn’t work out too well for them.”

  Goodspeed chuckled, “Anyway when you leave here, you need to head south down here to Highway 53 then west to 65 then south to state highway 5. This will get you under the interstate. Trust me you don’t want to try and cross 44 anywhere near an entrance ramp.

  Robinson took a scouting party of forty out and came back with twenty-seven. He said they were ambushed and cut off by a herd of them, and as Robinson said they were vicious animals.”

  Alden took a sip and pointed, “Fort Sill?”

  Goodspeed shook his head, “No, they were infected from within and it took less than forty-eight hours for it to fall. Some of those men out there were the last to leave. They used tanks and heavy machines to block the gates and seal them in or at least behind the fence. I haven’t heard of any mass migrations so I would suggest you steer clear of there.”

  Alden was looking over the map when he realized he had an admirer. Looking down a young boy of about five with dark brown eyes was watching the two old men intently. Alden reached down and pulled the young boy up in his lap. He took the small hand in his and spoke in soft quiet tone, “Welcome back to the world of maps. You’re young enough to not have been spoiled by the world and all its electronic gizmos.”

  Even Goodspeed chuckled as he looked out at his own men. Some who were still in their early twenties he knew had almost cried when the grid went down and they lost their GPS on their cell phones. Alden reached down and took hold of Goodspeed’s red pen. On the right side of the map he drew a large red circle with points sticking out. In the center he added a smiley face and wrote the word SUN on top. The little boy’s eyes lit up as he blurted out the word “SUN”

  Alden smiled, “Yes Sun. It will always rise in the east.”

  Alden turned his stool around still holding the boy and pointed out the window to the east. The boy grinned and looked at him, “da sun wakes up over there and goes to bed over there.” The boy was pointing back to the west.

  Alden smiled and looked at Goodspeed, “Kids already got a working knowledge of the map.”

  Goodspeed reached over and picked the boy up out of Alden’s lap, “Yes little Tommy here is quite a trooper. We found him wandering through the fields one night. He was carrying a Mickey Mouse doll and a loaded 22 pistol. He had a note pinned to his shirt. It simply told of his dad being bitten and he had sent Tommy to town to get the doctor.”

  Goodspeed set the boy down and told him to go see Carol. The boy scampered off to one of the ladies with the other children. When he was gone, Goodspeed looked at Alden, “We found his mom and dad about an hour later both had been bitten and both had bullet wounds to their heads. When we found the bodies we knew it was them; the mother had a family photo in her hand. I figured Dad killed Mom, and then offed himself after the boy was gone.”

  Alden looked at the boy then to Goodspeed. “You know Sergeant Major, I’m glad to see there are some old dogs like you and me still around, we know what this is all about. If we don’t figure out a way to beat this thing, we need to train them to keep going.”

  Goodspeed reached down into his side pants pocket and pulled out a silver flask. While no one was looking he poured a little of its contents into each cup then raised his in a toast, “You’re right Top, it ain’t about you and me; it’s all about them.”


  The two touched the cups and talked for another thirty minutes. Finally Alden got up and shook Goodspeed’s hand. The two men walked back out, Alden heading to where his group was waiting. Goodspeed walked over to Robinson.

  As Alden walked up Charlie smiled, “Everything okay…. Top?”

  Alden looked at him, “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Charlie grinned, “I heard him call you that earlier, I thought he knew you, and that was your nickname.”

  Alden roared with laughter, “Only a fucking cupcake would come up with that analysis.”

  Charlie started to turn red and looked down as Alden reached over and took hold of his shoulder, “No, No Charlie its okay, I’m just teasing. The term Top is slang for a First Sergeant, who is commonly known in a company as the Top Sergeant.”

  Charlie looked at him, “So err… is it okay if I call you Top?”

  Alden smiled at him, “Well yeah if you want. I just figured we were more friends.”

  Alden turned and snapped his fingers. The two dogs jumped up. Alden pointed to his truck and Tonto jumped in he looked and snapped his finger once more and pointed to the van. Maximus took off and ran straight to Ceara, jumping up with his paws on her shoulders almost knocking her over he licked her face. Alden called out, “GATHER YOUR THINGS WE’RE MOVING OUT IN FIFTEEN MINUTES. WE GOT A LONG WAY TO GO.”

  Robinson had mounted a Humvee and had two more beside him, “TOP, SERGEANT MAJOR HAS ORDERED US TO GIVE YOU AN ESCORT DOWN TO COMANCHE; AFTER THAT YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN.”

  Beth jogged over to the Land Rover and got inside. She wasn’t comfortable with goodbyes especially with the way the world was now. She didn’t want to leave these children, nor did she like the thought of leaving without giving them at least some vegetables. She knew the world had changed but she was finding more and more wrong with it every day. Once inside and after putting her seat belt on, Beth reached back and grabbed her journal to make a quick entry of what they just had experienced. When she was finished Beth returned the journal and looked over to see Colt, then as she felt the tears pooling in her eyes so she turned looked out the window.

  Tabitha beat feet back to the Jeep and jumped in the driver seat, as soon as she did that Heath snapped his fingers with a smile on his face, “You! Shotgun.”

  Tabitha cocked her head, “And just who the hell do you think you are snapping your fingers at?!”

  Heath joking replied, “I am the driver of this vehicle right here, and until we get out of here, I’m in charge.”

  Tabitha pouted her little lips together, winked at him then slid over, “Fine! But I just don’t understand why I can’t drive.”

  Once Heath was in his seat, he looked out and then back to her, “Everything has run pretty smooth so far and I would kind of like to keep it this way.”

  She understood because of the tension that had gone down when they first arrived. However, when Heath had snapped his fingers at her it did get under her skin, “You ever snap your fingers at me like that again and I will…”

  Heath looked over at her, “You’ll what??? Kick my ass? Well, if you want a chance at the title, we can duke it out later, but right now I just want to get going before it gets too late.”

  Tabitha perked up and smiled, “Rain check it is then.”

  Charlie pulled out behind the others; he and Ceara watched the small town disappear rather fast. Ceara really wasn’t paying it much attention; she only had eyes for Maximus. He was jumping between the front and back seat, each time licking her in the face. Ceara couldn’t stop giggling. Charlie looked over and smiled, “I love your giggle, you don’t do that much.”

  Ceara ruffled Maximus’ ears, “Well hopefully we will have a reason to have it more when we get wherever we are going. You know that place really freaked me out, and I understand that Alden couldn’t tell me what was going on, but damn, this is my dog. How would he feel if I just ordered him to bring me Tonto?”

  It was Charlie’s turn to laugh, “I wouldn’t suggest that.”

  Ceara just looked at him with a ‘this isn’t a joke’ look. Charlie tried to hide his smile, “Ceara do you really think Alden would do anything that would put Maximus in danger? More, do you think he would put your needs under those of some fucked up little town?”

  Ceara shrugged, “No, I guess you’re right, but that scared me!”

  Charlie took a swallow wondering if he dared say what he was thinking, “Ceara, did you see what was going on? What did you want him to do? Wave to all those guys with guns, and say time out, I need to explain things to Ceara? I know we all think he is all powerful but even he has limits. He had to keep the situation under control, and he did….right?” He took a quick glance at her to see how mad she was, the glare told him.

  “I never thought he has all the power but he could have winked at me or gave me a sign.” Ceara sighed, “You’re right though, that town could have gone either way and I am glad we are out of there! Those people were assholes, they acted like we…”

  “Invading?! We were, Ceara, they have a safe zone and a lot of kids. They have to worry about keeping all of them safe. I don’t really blame them for being closed off and protective.” Maximus laid his head in Ceara’s lap and his body in the rear floorboard as she absently petted his head, “Wow, I didn’t look at it like that. I guess I just see us as the good guys and think we should be seen that way, but I guess we could have been like the assholes we had to deal with.”

  Charlie nodded, “I don’t know how we would react to a whole line of cars driving up to our cabins before. I don’t think we would have been very friendly either.”

  Alden didn’t like following the Humvees, he would have preferred to be out front where he could see what was coming, but he had to trust Robinson and his squad. The soldiers had put two of the Humvees in front and one in the rear a standard convoy. Looking at his watch he saw it was now one in the afternoon. He knew from going over the maps with Goodspeed, that they would be in Comanche in about thirty minutes. Then it would be time to snake their way past the interstate.

  The group soon pulled into a burned out town. Robinson’s Humvee pulled over at a crossroad and he signaled to the other two to join him. Getting out of his vehicle he walked up to Alden’s truck, “Okay Top, this is where we part company.” Robinson looked west then back to Alden, “You stay on those back roads,” handing Alden a state map of Oklahoma, “Use this; it has more of the county roads and smaller highways. Stay away from the major ones, but I think you already know that. Once you get to the state line you only got about two hundred miles to get across the panhandle of Texas and into New Mexico. I don’t think you’ll have much trouble.”

  Alden looked at him puzzled, “and why’s that?”

  Robinson motioned to his men to get ready, “Well…. I imagine it was a lot like around here. When everything went to hell most folks ran to the government shelters, which of course were all set up in the major cities. Lawton was the city for this area. Across the state line they split it between Lubbock and Amarillo. We had some folks come through that were heading east back in the very beginning, they said there wasn’t nothing but dust between the two major cities.”

  Alden looked at the map he was holding then back to Robinson, “Well thank you Sergeant. Good luck to all of you, stay safe and alert.”

  He reached his hand out and Robinson took it a gripped it tight, “You too Top, you and your group seem to be good people, watch your ass, I’d hate to hear you ended up on the wrong side.”

  Alden watched as Robinson got back in his Humvee and the army vehicles lined up, the soldiers manning the machine guns saluted each of the caravans as they drove past. Once again Alden’s eyes were focused ahead. He had come to learn to leave the past behind.

  Charlie and Ceara were the last to pass the Army vehicles. Ceara waved halfheartedly at them as Maximus barked. Charlie watched in the rear view mirror as the Army guys turned and headed back to Bray. Charlie reached over and took Ceara’s h
and, “You know it’s really getting sad the way we meet folks anymore, and the only thing I can think of is; are they future targets for us.”

  Ceara looked at him, “Charlie! What the hell is that all about?”

  “I don’t know Ceara. It just seems that we’ve met three groups since this craziness went down. Two of them were factions of military that have broken away were okay, the other was the group of bikers and gang bangers who, well they were bad from the start. I just wonder if things will ever be normal again?”

  Ceara was still holding his hand as Maximus came up and laid his head on both of their hands. She smiled at the dog, then at Charlie. She turned and looked out the window, “I don’t even know what normal is anymore, Charlie.”

  Colt drove in silence; his mind was on the town and what Beth had said about the children. He had to wonder if they would survive for another year; even if they could avoid the Wanderers. Beth rubbed his arm, “What’s on your mind?”

  Colt didn’t want to really put a voice to his concerns, “Just wondering how far we will get tonight?”

  Colt Johnsten don’t you start lying to me, I know you a little better than that, and can tell when you are lying.”

  Colt smiled, “And how can you tell that Dr. Canter?”

  Beth shook her head, “Oh no you don’t, you are not changing the subject, besides I won’t tell you how I can tell. That is my little secret. Now talk to me, what is going through that pretty little mind of yours?”

  Colt chuckled and glance at Beth with an eyebrow raised, “Two words to never tell a man and you use them in the same sentence, pretty…. And little. You wound me Beth, deep.”

  Beth shifted in her seat grinning, “Talk to me, damn it!”

  Colt’s humor disappeared, “I was just thinking about those kids. I can’t see them living out another year. If the Wanderers don’t get them; the malnutrition will. I just don’t see that many being together and not having an infection. I just don’t see it staying safe. To be honest, I am worried about them and can’t do a damn thing about it.”