Colt glanced at Beth, “Worse thing…. I don’t know what I would, even if I could. I don’t want that many around us, to put us at risk.” He slammed a fist into the steering wheel, “God, I hate what this shit is turning us into. Are we really that much better than those fucking losers we killed?”
As Colt’s fist hit the steering wheel, Beth’s eyes got as big as saucers, but she never said one word or made one sound. Instead she listened and when he finished asking his question she just sat there and tried to think of an answer. She knew that she could give him a professional opinion but at this moment in time professionalism went out the window. Reaching over she placed her hand on his knee while he drove, “Colt, now you have to stop thinking like this. …”
She paused and remembered everything from day one when she got the text from Chad to now, and then continued, “I know that we all found one another and are surviving together through this and those people back there are trying to survive the best way that they can. We can’t lose our hope, and our hope is to move on and form some type of civilization for us. Hell Colt, there are probably hundreds of survivors out there, some are good and some well, some are just way out there. That is just life Colt; everyone is not going to have the same goals and ambitions. They are all living and surviving as we are; day by day, and that is just how we have to look at it, sweetheart. I honestly don’t know if there is a cure or if there is someone still back at the CDC in an underground bunker that may be working on an antidote. We may find out there is a cure, and if there is, then we may be able to get help for children such as those back there; or ones that we may meet up with around the next bend.”
Beth took her hand off of Colt’s knee and placed it back on her lap. After a few moments of silence Beth murmured, “Hope Colt….we must keep hope, for that is what separates us from them.”
Heath and Tabitha drove in silence behind Alden. They watched sides of the small roads as Alden was leading the way. It had only been about a half hour when Heath saw the Interstate ahead. Grabbing the walkie he saw Alden’s brake lights come on. “HOLY CHRIST ON A CRACKER!!!! SHIT ALDEN LOOK AT ALL OF THEM.”
Alden had come to a stop about a quarter mile from interstate 44. Heath stopped behind him and grabbed a pair of binoculars from behind his seat. He opened the door and stood on the floor of the Jeep and scanned the highway that ran above the road they were on. He couldn’t believe the amount of dead that were wandering back and forth across the road. He looked at Tabitha, “What the hell, how the fuck do we get past all that without attracting attention?” He handed the binoculars to her, ‘Here look for yourself.”
Tabitha put the binoculars up to her eyes and everything appeared blurry at first until she dialed in the view a little better. “FUCK!!! From what I see there are way too many to get a correct headcount but if I was to venture a guess I’d say way over a hundred. The only way I can see us of having a snowballs chance in hell is to have something a whole lot bigger than our last distraction.”
Handing back the binoculars to Heath, she retrieved her lighter and held onto it tightly. Heath resumed looking back out the window through his binoculars while Tabitha looked around at all of the buildings and other landmarks that could somehow spark an idea. “I am going to make a suggestion Heath, that maybe somewhere down the line, we need to find a bigger and badder vehicle for future use. Something that we can reinforce and make strong enough to help protect us all if we have to go out on our own for supplies.”
Heath nodded his head and smirked, “Well Tabitha that is all fine and well, but right now let’s just think about getting through this mess with what we have right now.” Tabitha looked at her hand that was clutching onto her lighter.
Alden signaled for everyone to get out and meet him up front. As they gathered around he was looking back at the highway. “Here’s the deal folks; we need to get past these Wanderers, with as little attention as possible. The minute we start driving under that highway they’re going to be coming at us. I can’t tell what’s on the other side so I don’t know if we’re going to get jammed up or fly right through.”
Heath looked at the rest, “I don’t know guys, that’s a hell of a lot of them. I don’t think that fence will hold them long if the get all riled up.”
Charlie looked back and forth he could see the bodies moving but couldn’t really tell how many. Alden handed Colt his binoculars, “Look over there.” He said pointing back north, “You see that big silver tanker. Is it just me or does that thing say BP on the side?”
Colt looked and smiled, “Well yeah it does Alden, but how the hell do we light that son of a bitch up?”
Alden looked at the rest, “Suggestions?”
While still holding tightly onto her lighter, Tabitha looked over at Colt, “Well Colt, since you did have the honor the last time, I am surprised that you don’t have an idea first.”
Colt looked at her with a very cocky look, “That’s why I asked how do we light it up!”
Tabitha folded her arms and looked straight ahead while shaking her head, “Well sneaking up on them isn’t going to work, because I’m sure they would smell us, if they don’t already. I say we just blow up the whole damn truck!”
Beth looked over to Tabitha then back to Alden, “Maybe taking a sniper rifle and hitting it with that?”
Colt looked surprised at Tabitha and Beth, “I don’t know if we need to do that just yet, that truck could supply others that come along later. Do we really need to do anything yet? The things are up there, and we may be able to worm our way through the cars on this road.”
Ceara leaned on Charlie’s shoulder, “Personally, I think we blow it now on the off chance we can’t get through, I don’t want to be rushed or run the risk of some of them not turning to the burning truck if they are closer to us. Alden is always saying we take opportunities that present themselves and we need to make sure we save ammo. My vote is to go ahead with Tabitha’s plan.”
Colt nodded, “Good point, guess I am still not in the killing mode. I will go along with whatever you guys are thinking.”
Charlie looked at Colt, “Seriously??? Not in the killing mode? You have got to be shitting me. Dude, we’ve been in full blown killing mode since we took out those bastards back in Missouri.” Charlie shook his head then looked to Alden, “I say we blow the tanker and make a run for the border.”
Colt glared at Charlie, “You know kid, sometimes we do what we have to, not what we want to. Just because I am a survivor and want to keep those around me alive does not put me in a killing mode.” Beth reached for him but he jerked away walking back to the Land Rover, “You guys do what you want, I will follow your lead.”
Ceara stood gawking with her mouth hanging open, she turned to Alden, “Damn, little bit of a drama queen, isn’t he?”
Charlie laughed but Ceara could tell it was forced, “Charlie, don’t take shit personally, I don’t think he was really offended; he just hates how things are. Hell, I don’t think any of us are happy about it.”
Alden smiled at them. “Well shooting the tanker will only spill the gas. Contrary to popular belief, hitting a gas tank with a bullet only works in the movies. Now if we hit it and spill the gas then say shoot a flaming arrow that may give us the desired results.” He turned and looked at Tabitha, “I know you’ve been itching to use that crossbow ever since you picked it up back in Arkansas; now I guess will be your chance.”
Ceara laughed at Tabitha’s face; if she didn’t know better, she would swear that Tabitha just woke up on Christmas morning. She was actually bouncing on the balls of her feet. Ceara bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at her. Ceara whispered in Charlie’s ear, “I hope she doesn’t need to pee, she may have an accident.”
Heath heard Ceara and laughed but the questioning look from Tabitha stopped his laughing. Ceara got a serious look, “Tabitha, have you ever shot one before? Do you know how to shoot that thing?”
Tabitha shrugged, “I ain’t shot one before bu
t there’s got to be a first time for everything, Right?”
Ceara smiled, “Yeah, you gotta point there, kind of high stakes to learn by though.”
Charlie walked over to Alden, “How many arrows do we have?”
Alden cocked an eyebrow, “About a gross, but I’m not planning on more than two being used.”
He looked to Tabitha, “Come on, I’ll give you a few pointers.”
Tabitha went over to retrieved her massive medieval weapon and looked over it very carefully. She had seen several of them before in hunting magazines and always read any articles on them, so she did have a little background in knowing how to operate one of them. However she knew she lacked the on hands experience. A grin played across her face, boy was she getting it now.
Being very careful she placed the crossbow on the built-in stirrup, steadying it with her foot. As it rested on the ground, Tabitha retrieved one of the arrows. She place the arrow into her mouth so that she could use of both of her hands. Looking up at Alden, she winked at him, but on the inside she was worried about messing this up. Ceara was quite right. If there was a time that the pressure was on, it was right now.
Taking a deep breath, Tabitha pulled the bowstring back with both hands toward the cocking mechanism. As soon as she heard the ‘CLICK’ Tabitha chuckled, and placed the arrow in the slot, “Locked and Loaded…… Alden whatchya think? We ready to do this or what?”
Alden grinned as he took the weapon from her to inspect that she had it properly locked and loaded. Eyeballing the bolt to insure it was properly placed; he began to hand it back then stopped and turned it over a little, pointing at a small crank handle on the side. “Use that the next time, it’s a lot easier than trying to muscle that bow string back.”
He looked to the tanker up on the highway. “Now comes the hard part, we need to figure the angle on which you will shoot so that the arrow will land where the gas is. You don’t want to aim too high your arrow will sail over the top, too low and it will not make it. You need to try and drop it right at the rear of the tanker.”
Charlie walked up and handed Alden an old M-1 Garand rifle. Alden looked at Tabitha then to Charlie, “Wrap the tip of that arrow with a rag dipped in gas. Let me put a few rounds in the back of the tanker then light the rag. Tabitha, as soon as it’s lit you fire, I don’t want to lose a crossbow. Charlie you get another arrow ready just in case.”
Ceara half-heartedly, “I got a question, if we don’t want to draw their attention, why are you going to shoot a gun?”
Alden nodded, “You’re right kid, but if the plan goes well we will only draw their attention a minute or two. By then I’m hoping we have a lot bigger distraction for them.” Alden looked to Tabitha and Charlie, “We ready?”
The two nodded as Alden took aim and fired five shots quickly. They could all hear the bullets hitting metal.
Heath was watching through the binoculars, “Damn he’s good, he put five shots in the size of a silver dollar I bet.”
Alden looked at Charlie, “Give it a minute or two to drain out then light it up son.” Charlie waited then lit the arrow and Tabitha fired. The arrow soared over the top of the tanker, “SHIT,” Charlie cried as he quickly set up the next arrow and Tabitha used the crank on the side to cock the crossbow and readied it as Charlie set the arrow in and lit again.
As Tabitha pulled the trigger Alden watched a wanderer walk right in the path of the truck. The arrow flew true and hit the wanderer in the head who then fell forward. Alden was laughing, ducking before he even told the rest to get down. As he dove for cover he shouted, “CUPCAKES, YOU ALL MAY WANT TO DUCK YOUR FUCKING HEADS!!!!”
The explosion rocked the whole area. A fireball shot almost a half mile in the sky as the tanker itself went up into the air dragging the truck that was hauling it along. All came crashing back down and more explosions began as the gas poured under the other vehicles on the highway.
Alden looked to his truck and began running as the rest laid there and watched him. Charlie was the first to notice, “What the hell is he running for?” Seconds later they all knew as car and body parts came raining down on top of them.
Everyone bailed for cover, after a few minutes Tabitha then jumped up in the air, “YA BABY!!!! FUCKIN A!!!!”
She looked over to hear more pieces hitting the ground. Seeing Ceara looking at her Tabitha wink at her, “How’d you like that Red?!”
Ceara looked at her and smiled, “Not too bad girl.”
Beth looked over and began laughing, “Ok Tabitha, I got to say, I was worried when you missed the first time, but when I saw Alden go down I knew that you must of hit something and boy, you sure as hell did!! Damn fine shot girl!!”
Ceara stood up looking around she felt a queasy knot in her stomach, there were body parts scattered here and there. Before she could really look at things Alden yelled, “Mount up!”
Everyone ran to their vehicles and began making their way down the road. Less than a quarter mile they stopped again, Ceara looked to Charlie, “Can you see what it is?”
Before he could reply Alden was over the radio, “I need you cupcakes up here double time, we have cars that need moved!”
Charlie threw the van in park and they got out jogging up to Alden. When everyone was there, he pointed out a wreck with four cars and one pickup. “I can’t push them out of the way and the shoulders are piled up with every other dumb ass that tried to go around. Heath you take the SAAB, you may need Tabitha to steer while you push. Ceara, you take the Volkswagen; once Heath is out of the way you should be able to push it easy enough. Beth, you take the Toyota; Colt can push it. I will take the truck. No one try to start any of them, we don’t know what damage was done in the actual wreck. We don’t need to repeat the scene we just saw.”
Ceara ran to the Volkswagen jerking open the door, just as she went to get in a wanderer grabbed her. Screaming out she tried to pull away but she was in his grip. The guy had his teeth on her arm just as the shot rang out. The man’s head exploded and Ceara fell to the ground screaming holding her arm. Charlie grabbed her shaking her, “Did he get you??”
Ceara couldn’t form any words; terror was flooding all her senses. Alden shoved Charlie to the side and grabbed her arm; as soon as he knew the skin wasn’t broke he jerked Ceara’s head up, “YOU ARE NOT BIT!!”
Ceara heard him but didn’t really understand, she saw the guy bite her. Alden forced her arm in front of her eyes, “No Bite Ceara! Look, you are ok!”
Ceara swallowed and dropped her eyes to her arm then back to Alden, in a very childlike voice, “You don’t have to shoot me?”
He shook his head, “No, you are ok, but I think we need to let you sit this one out, Charlie should be able to handle this alone. Go back to the van.” He pulled her to her feet and handed her off to Charlie, “Take her back and don’t let her come back up here.”
Beth finished steering the Toyota as Colt pushed it along, she set the brake and something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Lying on the floorboard of the passenger side was a 2012 United States Atlas. Quickly she retrieved it and could tell almost immediately before even opening it that it had hardly ever been used. After opening the door she handed the atlas to Colt, “We might as well scavenge a few cars while we are moving them. Here I thought that Alden might want to update his collection.”
Colt laughed and tucked it under his arm. Seeing a little red Dodge Dart, Beth opened the door and the body that was inside fell out onto the ground. The corpse was severely decomposed but was mostly intact except for the head which was only half there. “Must have chosen to take the easy way out.”
On the floor board she saw a Smith and Wesson Colt 45. “Damn nice piece for a piece of shit car!” she said out loud as she handed the gun to Colt.
Colt checked the gun, only one bullet was used, “At least the damn coward didn’t take any with him.” He slid it in his waistband and ran over to another Toyota, he looked in the window to see a woman in the seat
fighting against the seatbelt trying to get to Colt. Colt waved to Beth letting her know this one was off limits.
The rest almost had all the cars out of the way enough to get through. He ran to the next car and saw a sight he would never forget, a child’s car seat with nothing but blood and guts all over it. He didn’t even want to think of what happen to that innocent child. As he stood there he wondered just what happen to all the infants, could they be turned or would they just be food. The thought made him nauseous; everything on his stomach came up as he bent over the edge of the car.
Beth was looking around in a few more cars, when she heard Colt. As soon as she heard him, Beth was running over to see what the problem was. Placing her hand on his back while she looked into the car, Beth already knew what had happened, and that was one road that she didn’t even want to go down. “Colt, sweetheart… let’s get back over and see if Alden is ready to go. Come on now, we have done good here and we need to get going. We still have a long way to go before nightfall.”
Colt kept his head down and wiped his brow as Beth walked beside him while rubbing his back. When they got back over to Alden, Beth spoke right up, “So we about done Alden? I think we need to get moving before more come out of the woodwork.”
Alden looked at his small group. This day had taken its toll on all of their nerves. He turned to Beth and Heath, “Let’s get moving. I want to get away from populated areas and find us a quiet spot to stop for the night. I’m thinking up here about thirty miles will hit the Red River. I think that would be a good spot.”
Alden watched as they all went to their vehicles and soon they were on the road. The road was abandoned as they drove straight west. The only town was a little one called Fredrick which had been deserted.
Another hour had past and they were rolling into a town that brought a smile to Alden’s face. Picking up the walkie he called out, “We’re turning south and heading down to the Red River, and yes, this is home of two of John Wayne’s Movies…Eldorado and Red River.”
Surviving Day By Day (Book 2): Fears, Flames, and Future Page 38