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

by Allensworth, Audra

  Alden got up and retrieved a paper and laid it on the table, “Santa Rosa fell in the first month, it swept through the town before anyone really knew what was going on. It isn’t a decent size town but I think that is where we need to go.”

  Colt watched all the reactions to needing to go back out into the unknown so soon, “Who are you thinking about going?”

  He knew Alden well enough now to know only a few would go.

  Tabitha heard just enough when she suddenly came around the corner. The smell of coffee was almost intoxicating but when she heard Colt ask his question, she stopped dead in her tracks, chuckled then walked over to the coffee pot, poured herself a cup and finally turned around to face the group and inquired, “So let me get this straight… after all of the shit that went down this morning and all of us just getting up …. Alden over there is making a shopping list now? As rudely as we’re woken up this morning, I think I will just go back to bed.”

  Alden spoke up, “Hold up cupcake.” He watched as Tabitha turned around, “I just wanted to know if you girls needed any feminine products?”

  All three of the girls looked at each other than at him. Ceara was blushing and giggling a bit. Beth was straight faced as if his statement was like asking if she needed dish soap. Tabitha’s mouth was stuck open then turned to Heath, “Finally a guy with a heart.” She turned to Alden, “Yes very much so. I for one am tired of wading up newspapers and whatever else I can find to deal with that issue.”

  Alden grabbed a post it pad and wrote plugs for the girls. Getting up he walked back into the den and found a stack of phone books. Coming and sitting in a recliner in the front room he looked through them until he found the one for Santa Rosa.

  Charlie had joined him, “Find anything interesting?”

  Alden Smiled, “Yep they got several truck stops which I figure we’ll hit last but they got a family dollar and few local shops. Hell they even have a women’s store called Fantasy clothing That ought to perk you boys up a bit.”

  He tossed the phone book to Charlie and went to get more coffee. “I’m going to head outside and check on the horses. You get your rest mister along with your cupcake. She’s had a rough go and she’s going to be riding the bench for a few days.”

  Charlie was looking at the ad in the phone book when Ceara plopped down next to him. Looking over at what he was doing she slapped his arm, “Don’t you go getting no ideas Mister. So what did Alden say?”

  Charlie held her hand, “You and I are out of commission for a few days. Which I take it is we are going to be doing the entire house and ranch chores.” Ceara sat up, “Horseshit I’m fine.”

  “NO YOU’RE NOT!” Alden said as he poured another cup of coffee.

  Charlie looked towards the kitchen then to Ceara, “Man’s got the hearing of a bat. Look honey let’s just do what he says. We take it easy. You cook and clean and I’ll shovel horse manure and keep the weeds and rocks mowed.”

  Ceara looked at him then laid her head on his shoulder. Flashes of the dream came back briefly, “Sure, I guess…maybe it is for the best.”

  Colt rose from the table, “So who is going and when should we be ready?”

  Alden looked to Colt from the kitchen, “We won’t go today, but I am thinking tomorrow. As far as who, well it will just be me, Heath and Tabitha.” He walked back to the table and flipped through the newspaper, “See this add? It’s for Isaac’s Gunsmithing. Any of you have any idea what I want to go there for?”

  Ceara smirked, “Ummm ammo?”

  Alden raised his eyebrows, “Ummm no”

  Heath leaned over looking at the ad, “You want to make our own bullets?”

  Alden nodded,” We’ve been lucky on our supply but that won’t last, so we get supplies if we can, not to mention there will be cleaning kits, whetstones and other things we could use.”

  Tabitha came up behind Alden and looked down at the ad,“Ok, you’re right,making your own ammo would come in handy in case we can’t find any for a while. Wonder if they also have some more arrows for my crossbow.” Tabitha turned walking to the sink and rinsed out her cup then continued,“Maybe if by any chance they have just a regular compound bow it might be a good idea to pick up one of them too. It would be a hell of a lot easier making your own arrows.” Tabitha walked back over to the table and took a seat.

  Alden kept looking over at the map then back to the ad. Beth took the seat Colt left,“Alden, if you need me to go along I will.” When she had finished she looked to the front room at Ceara then back to Alden. She saw in his eyes why the answer was no. Alden spoke calm and quietly,“No she needs you here.”

  Colt laid a hand on Beth shoulder,“I think we should get some shut eye, we have duty tonight.”

  Beth nodded pushing the chair back,“I will bid you all good day.” She smiled at the group and left with Colt.

  Ceara jumped up,“HEY!! I just got it!!! Charlie you can’t mow rocks!!”

  Heath, Charlie and Alden all busted up laughing and Tabitha shook her head,“Damn Red, took you long enough.”

  After getting into their room Beth went into the bathroom and got ready for bed. Always after a good meal she loved getting some sleep and with everything that had taken place she figured now was about as good as time as ever to get some shut eye. When she had finished getting into her comfy jammies she exited the bathroom and found Colt already lying in bed with the covers pulled back waiting for her to enter in beside him.

  “Colt, I am really worried about Ceara. I know that we all have had our losses with friends and family. However with Ceara, we ARE becoming her friend and family, especially with Charlie.”

  Beth lay nuzzled up close to Colt’s chest and listened to him breath. Colt wrapped an arm around her and held her close,“Honey, Ceara isn’t the only one getting close, we are all getting that way. I was thinking….” He paused for a minute and Beth lifted her head to look at him,“What?”

  “Alden is leaving you here tomorrow to deal with Ceara; at least that’s how it seems. I was wondering if he wants me to maybe talk to Charlie about seeing things from Ceara’s side?”

  Beth laid her head back down on his chest,“I don’t know, but it is possible. Alden does have his ways and he just kind of thinks we understand his thinking.”

  Alden walked outside and looked to the side of the house. Larry had put in a forty foot tower antenna with a TV aerial and straight stick for a ham radio. Alden grinned and walked to his truck, opening the back he pulled out an old piece of canvas that covered a large black radio. Carrying it over to the picnic table he set it down. He then went to the tower and found the coaxial cable for the radio.“Damn the connectors missing.” Alden went to the shed and found a work bench with an assortment of storage trays along the back. Searching the through the drawers for several minutes, he found what he was looking for.

  Alden was sitting at the table with his tool kit and the cable, whistling an old tune as Heath walked up.“So what ya making now?”

  Alden smiled,“You see that tower?”

  Heath looked to the side of the house,“Yeah I’ve seen TV antennas before what of it?” Alden kept working on the cable end,“Look up son, yousee that fiberglass stick at the very top.”

  “Yeah what the hell is that?”

  “That my friend, is a ten meter radio antenna, I get this fixed and plug it into that radio and we can see if there is any traffic coming from anyone else who might still be alive.”

  Heath smiled. Charlie walked up overhearing Alden,“Err didn’t you give Beth a bunch of shit for contacting the outside?”

  Alden stopped and looked up,“Who said anything about contacting anyone? I plan on just listening to see what the hell if anything is still alive out there. Beth used a computer which could be traced. Unless we key up and talk they won’t know we’re even alive. What’s more is,they would need at least three points of contact to triangulate and find our exact position.”

  Alden attached the cable to the back of the radi
o, then using an extension cord, plugged the radio into an outlet on the house. The front of the radio lit up. Alden made a few adjustments then hit a button and the radio began a scan of all the channels.

  “There we just let it run for a bit. If it picks up anything it will lock on to the frequency and log it. Then we can come back and add it to a program channel to save it.”

  Charlie looked at Heath,“And you understand all of this shit?”

  Heath smiled“well yeah, we used them all the time at the ranger station.”

  Charlie grinned,“You know what, I’lljust go over here and paint rocks.”

  Heath grabbed his arm,“Nope no way Jose, you’re going to school and I’m going to teach you about basic communications.”

  Alden smiled as Heath sat down with Charlie and began going over the various knobs and switches on the radio. Getting up, he slid unnoticed over to the barn and began to feed the horses. His little platoon was growing up quick, each one teaching the other what they knew.

  Chapter 24– Remembrance

  Ceara stayed busy washing clothes and hanging them out to dry. Alden had agreed to let them use the washer once a week but drew the line at using the dryer. As she worked at getting all the jeans on the clothesline,Tabitha came out to join her.“You ok Red?”

  Ceara shook out a pair of jeans,“I’m ok, even though I justdon’t really know what happened out there today.”

  Reaching down,Tabitha proceeded to help hang the laundry,“Look Red….. We have all been under a lot of stress lately.” Tabitha laughed out loud as she got finished hanging the jeans,“Shit! A LOT is a fricking understatement. Each one of us have had our share… some more than others and well,” Tabitha ran her fingers through her hair and turned facing her then continued,“Ceara, out of all of our little family we got going on here,you and I are about the closest ones here.”

  Ceara stopped hanging cloths and looked over to Tabitha and with the most puzzled look on her face she asked,“How do you figure that out?”

  Tabitha placed her hand on Ceara’s shoulder,“Colt, Beth, Heath, Charlie and hell even Alden all had close friends and family that they all lost. Together they have talked about it and all you have had to do is listen.”

  Ceara stood there, still unsure of what to think, which caused Tabitha to break it down. “I know Charlie has talked about his kinda of adopted Dad and the Sisters he had growing up in the orphanage. Well, those people were his family and then Beth what she had to do with her family and her sister Mary especially, that traumatized the shit out of her in the first few days. I saw it for crying out loud.”

  Tabitha took her hand off Ceara’s shoulder and grabbed another pair of jeans along with some clothespins, “Simply put Red, you and I haven’t really lost anyone important to us and it would devastate us if anything would happen to anyone of us. We are our own family, and maybe that is why you’re having the issues that you’re having. Fuck knows I have had mine. Sure I lost my parents and a few other acquaintances, but nothing like the stories I have heard of having to put your own blood down. What I have gathered from Beth would be horrific, but she seems to be handling it ok as the days go by.”

  Tabitha hung the jeans then turned to finish speaking so that Ceara could hopefully open up to her, because she felt that is exactly what she needed to do, “Ceara, we all handle things differently and you haven’t really talked much, but I am here if you ever want to. I am a good listener and shit what else do I have to do nowadays except keep all your asses and mine alive?”

  Ceara gave her a small smile, “Well, I don’t think it’s just you keeping us alive, I’m pretty sure we all keep each other alive.”

  Tabitha shrugged, “Some more than others.”

  Ceara stopped halfway between hanging up the last pair of jeans and just stared at Tabitha. She knew Tabitha was a smart ass, but did she intend that to be as mean as it sounded? She didn’t reply, she just finished hanging the jeans.

  Tabitha stepped up to her, “I didn’t mean that the way I think you just took it. I meant that some of us have the killer instinct, and some don’t. I don’t think Colt quite figured out that the old world isn’t coming back. Did you see him try to avoid killing the zombie kids?”

  Ceara nodded, “Yeah, I did see that… I think he hopes, but deep down he knows. Earlier you said that neither of us has lost people we cared about but I have…. After a few weeks of hiding in my apartment I found Maximus in one of the empty ones. I was out of food, so I knew we couldn’t stay there anymore. The next day Maximus and I made our move; there was a fight to get out of the complex. Once we got out of Memphis, we went to go find my parents.”

  Ceara looked out over the clothes line into the dessert, “They lived way out in the country, no one around for miles, so I thought they had to be safe. They were home but…”

  Ceara looked over at Maximus laying on the ground, “He told me before we ever went inside, he didn’t want to go in but I didn’t listen. They were there; my Dad had fed on my mom for days. There wasn’t enough of her to turn into a wanderer. I had to kill my Dad, he tried to bite me and I just reacted.”

  Ceara turned back to Tabitha, “I’m not brave like Beth, she killed her family out of mercy, I just killed out of reflex. If I had known it was my Dad, and really had a second to think, I don’t think I could have done it.”

  Tabitha stood there quietly listening to every word that Ceara spoke. When she had finished Tabitha smiled softly, “I did not know about your folks Red and I am sorry for assuming that you hadn’t been more experienced. Hell, my folks, just came and went as they pleased, so I raised myself. When the shit was hitting the fan I just….”

  Tabitha’s paused and tried to think of a nice way to put it without sounding too crass. “I just thought that they would weigh me down. If I had any chance of making it out alive, it sure as hell was not going to be trying to gather them together and making them come with me. Sure I sit back sometimes and wonder if they are still out there, but from just knowing how pathetic they were when I was around, just leads me to believe that they aren’t.”

  Ceara grabbed the basket and looked to the sunset, “I’m sorry your childhood sucked, your parents missed out on a great person.”

  Ceara looked back to Tabitha, “These will have to hang out overnight. Since Beth and Colt are sleeping before their watch do you want to help me try to throw something together for dinner?”

  Tabitha rolled her eyes, “God knows that part hasn’t changed, women still do the cooking!” She followed Ceara in the house and took the basket from her throwing into the laundry room. “So what are we cooking?”

  Ceara got an embarrassed look, “I ain’t got a clue, I’m really not much of a cook. BUT… Charlie caught that duck a couple days ago, do you think we could make chicken and dumplings with that?”

  Tabitha busted out laughing, “Not sure how you are going to turn a duck into a chicken!” She pulled out a chair from the small kitchen table, “But this I got to see!!”

  Ceara turned beet red, “You know what I mean! We have a lot of that off brand Bisquick so that would make the dumplings, right?”

  Tabitha went to the cupboard and pulled out one of the boxes reading the back, “Yep, says it right here.”

  Ceara got a large pot out and filled it with water then set it on the stove, “So dinner is planned!” She grinned and joined Tabitha at the table, “You know what you said outside, I think it was pretty shitty the way your parents treated you. I think you’re great and they should have seen it too. Thank you for being so nice and listening to me out there.”

  Tabitha sat there and a smirk came across her face. Ceara looked a little confused and Tabitha quickly responded while laughing, “Well that is one hell of a compliment if I have ever heard one. Now to let you know just a little more about me that you really might not know and if you do, well what the hell……. I was a pretty big bad ass growing up, and it took this whole zombie shit for me to actually get the family that I have always
dreamed of. So to be very honest with you, with all of the sadness and hurt feeling aside, I am pretty damn happy that the world did go to shit. If it hadn’t, I would still be living alone in the woods and another thing….. I wouldn’t be sitting here watching you trying to make a duck into a fucking, clucking chicken!”

  Ceara started laughing too, “Hey they said it’s a miracle we all survived so what’s one more miracle?” She leaned onto the table, “But you were a badass because you had to be. Well, I guess that hasn’t changed either, you still need to be. I am glad that we have you, really glad Alden didn’t kill you that first day.”

  Ceara thought back to the day Tabitha joined her, Alden and Charlie… She was trying to sneak up on them but Alden had heard her. “You know if you had snuck up on any other group I bet you could have done it, but I think Alden hears a flea fart.”

  Colt woke up with his arm killing him, he started to turn over but realized Beth was lying on his arm, causing it to fall asleep. He shifted trying not to wake her up, but the minute he moved, her eyes opened. “Damn Beth, I’m sorry… I was just shifting.”

  She reached over to the nightstand and picked up Colt’s watch, “It’s eight so I guess we should get up, I’m sure the others have eaten and we better get something before our watch.”

  Colt sat up stretching out his arm trying to get the blood circulating again. “Wonder what the made for dinner, I’m kind of hungry.”

  They both went around the room, getting dressed, and making the bed. They soon joined the others in the living room.

  Beth noticed that Tabitha and Ceara were making something and for the first time in a long time she saw Ceara smiling and laughing. Tabitha looked over and saw her and Colt, “Hey guys!!! You both sleep alright?”

  Beth made her way over to get a cup of coffee which smelled great. “Yea we slept good for the most part, however I slept on Colt’s arm and it fell asleep.”

  Tabitha made her way over to get a bowl along with a measuring cup and came back to sit down with Red. “I hate that shit when that happens. Why on earth they call it ‘falling asleep’ when that is what wakes your ass right up!”