Alden looked to the group, “Okay we follow them back. Heath you and Tabitha bring up the rear in the truck.”
He lowered the gate, turned and whistled the dogs came running and both jumped into the bed of the truck. Alden closed the gate and climbed up on his horse which Ceara was holding. She handed him the reins.
The group rode off with Alden and the two Indians in the lead, followed by Charlie and Ceara, then Colt and Beth right behind them. Heath slowly pulled forward and let the group get a good lead then began to follow them.
An hour went by when the rode up over a rise. The younger man slowed and got off his horse. The others followed suit, as Heath pulled to a stop and climbed out with a pair of binoculars.
Alden turned to the group, “Ya’ll wait here while we scout this out.” He opened the rear gate and both dogs jumped out. He looked down at them then knelt in front of Maximus, “To Ceara.” He pointed and Maximus went right over and sat straight up next to her. Alden smiled as he walked past her, “He’s your dog, so he’s with you.”
The three men and Tonto took off on foot, as the others tended to the horses, Heath and Tabitha both kept watch from the bed of the truck.
Ceara looked down, and petted Maximus, “How long do you think it will be before we are in the middle of shit again?”
Charlie looked off in the distance where Alden had walked with the men, “Five minutes or not today at all… no way to really know.”
Ceara looked the same direction Charlie did, getting a faraway look in her eyes, “I wish we could see a light at the end of the tunnel.” She looked over to Charlie, “Do you want to know something that has bothered me since we met Colt and Beth?”
Charlie glanced over to her, as he got resituated in his saddle, “What’s that?”
“Well, Colt was married to Jessica, right? She got bit, and Colt stayed with her until he said she starved to death. But if she starved to death, why aren’t any of these dying off?” She shifted back in her saddle, and Maximus trotted around the area marking spots here and there. “If they can die, why the fuck aren’t they dying??”
Charlie stayed quiet for a while, watching a lizard dart in and out of a grouping of rocks, as Maximus tried to catch it. “Maybe they are, and we just don’t see it. I mean, if they are dropping, it isn’t like they are going to come to New Mexico to let us see them. Just the ones that are surviving somehow are still moving.”
Ceara nodded, “Maybe, but maybe Colt’s wife wasn’t really dead and he just left her. I don’t think he would have done it on purpose but maybe he just thought… you know, that she was really dead. It’s not like he would be able to check for a pulse.”
Their voices quieted as Colt and Beth rode up beside them, “What are you guys up here in such a deep conversation about?”
Ceara blushed; Colt took it that she and Charlie had been discussing personal stuff, “No worries Ceara, you two keep those talks between you.” He gave her a small smile and winked at Beth, “But for now, I think we should really be focusing on the task at hand.”
Alden, Stray Eagle, and Billy reached the edge of a ridge that dropped off, overlooking a valley a few hundred feet below. There at the bottom, was a herd of at least fifty Wanderers. They were moving away from the cliff of the ridge. Stray Eagle pointed off to the west, “Our camp is over there. The way their moving would bring them close enough that they may be able to smell our cooking fires. If they drift a little more to the west, they’ll run right smack dab into it.”
Alden started to raise his binoculars, when suddenly Tonto gave out a low growl. Looking down at him, he saw that Tonto was looking east. Alden turned to see. Grabbing Stray Eagles shoulder, he pulled him down to a squatting position. Billy followed them as Alden pointed off to what Tonto was growling at.
There in the desert, they saw six military Humvee’s heading straight for the herd. Alden raised his binoculars, and could see each Humvee had four men and they appeared to be armed only with standard issue M-16’s. Alden could see from the lay of the terrain the soldiers would drive right into the herd, before they saw them. The herd was behind a small set of rolling hills.
“Damn it!” Alden mumbled. Stray Eagle looked at him, “Do we warn them?”
Alden shook his head, “Can’t risk it. I don’t trust them anymore. We’ve heard of bands of rogue soldiers, this could be just a scouting party. There could be a lot more, and I ain’t willing to risk my people…. or yours.”
Stray Eagle looked at Billy then back to soldiers. “So we wait.” Alden nodded, “Yep.”
It took only a matter of minutes before the soldiers came up over a hill right into the middle of the herd. The Humvees broke formation, and the soldiers started firing more indiscriminately, with no sort of organized attack. One of the Humvees made a hard right turn, trying to get away. The vehicle hit a large rock; one of the soldiers in the back was thrown out.
The Wanderers were on him quickly, tearing and ripping at his body. His screams echoed across the valley. The driver slammed on the brakes and cloud of dust went up. He tried to back up, but wasn’t paying attention. A large female wanderer was suddenly at his side, grabbing his arm and biting down.
The driver panicked and stepped on the gas. The Humvee took off dragging the woman, whose teeth were firmly buried in the man’s arm. The passenger in the front seat fired his rifle hitting her in the head. The flash from the muzzle blinded the driver, and he slammed into the side of another Humvee that was passing right in front of him. Both vehicles lurched sideways and flipped over.
Billy cried out, “SON OF A BITCH!”
Alden turned to Stray Eagle, “Keep him down and quiet. These guys are desk jockeys, their drunk off their asses, or….. Hell, I don’t know, but they damn sure don’t have a clue as to what they’re doing.”
The other vehicles turn to help their friends, but in doing so, they had to slow down. Alden watched as the Wanderers seemed to be closing in on the two downed vehicles. It seemed they were actually avoiding the ones still moving. The four remaining Humvees started to form a moving circle around their buddies and the shooting began to be more accurate.
Alden could hear a man yelling orders, but couldn’t make out exactly what they were. He watched as they began to set up an organized defensive perimeter.
Just then, Billy grabbed Stray Eagles arm and pointed down below the cliff they were on. Alden had to lean over to see what had got his attention. He said only two words quietly, “Holy Fuck.”
Below them in the cliffs were caves and Wanderers seemed to be pouring out. The herd, which had been fifty, now suddenly seemed to be at a hundred, with more just coming.
Some of the Wanderers had snakes hanging from their teeth as they moved towards the soldiers. Alden looked at Stray Eagle, “Friendly or not, we can’t let that many loose out here. They’ll certainly find either your camp or ours.”
Stray Eagle looked at Alden, then Billy, “You go warn the others. Tell them to prepare to move quickly.”
Billy nodded and slid back away from the edge then stood, and bolted back to where the rest of Alden group was and the horses.
Charlie and Ceara watched as Billy was running full speed towards them. Charlie looked at Ceara, “This ain’t good.” He turned to the others. “YOU ALL BETTER GET UP HERE!”
Off in the distance, Tabitha and Heath could see the Indian that had come with Stray Eagle, headed right for all of them. Quickly she grabbed her gun that was laying on the dash of the truck then looked over to Heath, “This doesn’t feel right.” She got out of the truck, and ran over to where Charlie was.
Billy told them all to get armed and get up to the ridge. They all moved to join Alden.
When they all saw what they were facing, Tabitha thought about all of the other fights with herds before, and how they got through them.
This, by far, was one of the biggest group she had ever seen before. Molotov cocktails were not going to cut it this time. What they really needed was something alon
g the lines of a grenade launcher, or even better catapult that would break up the herd. Quietly Tabitha whispered to Charlie, “We need to think of something here, little brother. You have any ideas?”
Ceara stood on the edge, looking down at the massive number of Wanderers surrounding what Ceara thought was about fifteen to twenty men in army vehicles. She heard Tabitha and looked over to her, “I don’t know that we can do anything, those guys were stupid. How the hell did they get in that position? You can’t tell me they don’t know Wanderers are all over the place.”
The anger and accusing tone surprised not only Charlie, but also Tabitha, who raised an eyebrow at her. Ceara looked back to the crowd, “I know I sound harsh. Hell, I sound like a bitch, but damn it, if we have to think about every move we make, why shouldn’t they have to?”
Charlie watched the group below, “I don’t think you have to worry about going down there, we wouldn’t have time, even if Alden said we had to.” He moved his head motioning for Ceara to look.
She looked back to the group, they were totally surrounded and the Wanderers were five to ten deep, which stopped them from being able to just drive through to safety. Ceara turned and walked away, “I don’t want to watch it.”
Maximus followed her or so she thought. He ran beside her but once she stopped he didn’t. “Maximus get back here!”
Maximus found a way down the ridge and took off, “NOOO…. ALDEN!!!!”
By the time Alden got over there Maximus was out of earshot, “Damn dog! Ceara you will just have to wait this out.” Alden turned to tell Charlie to watch her, but Ceara took off after Maximus. Alden cussed loudly, “Get your fucking gear; we got no goddamn choice now!!!”
Colt jumped off his horse, tying him off to the tailgate of the truck. Heath had the bag open, handing out the guns. He handed Colt an M-16 with a couple of clips, “I don’t know Alden’s plan, but if we stay up here we can pick off a bunch from here.”
Tabitha grabbed a rifle but slung it over her shoulder, “I’ll stick with the bow for now, but never hurts to have this as a backup though.”
Maximus followed a steep downward trail; he only had eyes for the Wanderers. Ceara had a much harder time following him. He continued to get further and further from her. She tried to speed up, but hit a spot of loose rocks and began to fall. She heard Charlie yell as she fell, as she slid to a stop she only then realized he had followed her, “What are you doing?? Get back with the others!!”
“Get back where? How? Right now we’re pretty fucked. That last trip was a drop off of about twenty feet almost vertical. LOOK!”
Charlie pointed behind them and Ceara saw the slope they had both slid down. He was right it was almost straight up, above them stood Alden.
He was watching Maximus who had worked his way almost to the bottom weaving in and out and over the rocks. Looking back to the kids, he saw that Ceara had lost her rifle. It was on the last ledge that she went over. Charlie on the other hand still had his. “CHARLIE YOU TWO STAY PUT. GET BACK UP INTO THOSE ROCKS, AND TAKE COVER.”
Maximus was at the bottom running back and forth barking wildly. Several Wanderers spotted him; they began to move towards him. Lying on his belly, Alden took aim, and began to fire slowly, picking the target closest to the Maximus.
Charlie pulled Ceara back with him behind a small boulder. The ledge was too narrow to get a good foothold, let alone be able to aim and shoot. He looked at her, “Honey we have to stay put and be quiet”
Heath slipped up next to Alden, and looked over the ledge, “Damn it, those Wanderers are going to get to them sooner or later, unless someone gets down there.”
Alden fired a few more shots, each one a head shot. Looking at Heath, “I can’t leave them there, you know that.”
Heath nodded. He slid back, stood, and ran to one of the horses. Grabbing the reins of another he rode off along ridge.
Alden was still firing trying to keep the Wanderers off Charlie and Ceara as Maximus was attacking some and then running back away. “That damn dog is going to get himself killed.”
Ceara tried to jerk away from Charlie, “LET GO!! I have to go get him!” Ceara continued to scream and fight, till Charlie locked both her arms behind her back, “STOP IT! You are going to get us killed! LOOK!!!”
Ceara looked around and saw several Wanderers trying to climb to where they were. She stopped fighting Charlie, but refused to be silent. “MAXIMUS RUN!!!”
Charlie clamped a hand over her mouth, “FUCK, I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS IF WE GET OUT OF THIS!”
Ceara spotted Heath working his way down the ridge, Ceara pointed and bit down on Charlie’s hand. He immediately let go, “Shit!” But he began watching Heath too, “That idiot is going for Maximus!”
Ceara glared at Charlie, “Idiot?! If you ask me, he is the only real man here!”
The Wanderers that were going after Ceara and Charlie saw Heath and the horses, they turned to go for them. Charlie wondered just how much patience he was going to need to get out of this with the girl that was supposed to love him. “We have to get down there so we can grab that second horse.”
Both began working their way down the ridge, sliding here and there but managed to safely reach the floor of the canyon. Just as Charlie turned, a horse whinnied loudly, he jerked around to see the Wanderers surrounding Heath and both horses, Maximus was attacking one so Charlie focused on Heath. Ceara’s blood curdling scream made Charlie’s blood run cold; she just stood screaming as she watched several Wanderers rip her dog apart.
Charlie grabbed her forcing her to turn away, but he wanted to get Heath out of there. Knowing that no gun shot would be louder than Ceara’s scream, he pulled his M-16 peppering the whole group, hoping to give Heath an opening to escape.
Alden watched the carnage below. A tear came to his eye when saw Maximus get killed, then his face turned red. Standing up, he pulled a grenade from his vest, and pulled the pin. Aiming just beyond Heath and the rest, he threw it. It exploded right before it hit the ground. The Wanderers that were closest lost their heads. Others were torn apart by the shrapnel. He turned his rifle to the herd closest to Heath, and began laying down cover fire on full automatic changing magazines with lighting speed. He called out to Colt, “BRING ME THE AMMO BAG NOW!”
Changing another magazine he watched as Charlie was spraying the group too. One of the horses broke free and took off running, but Heath was not so lucky. His horse was rearing and bucking and Heath was losing his grip.
Colt ran up and dropped the bag next to Alden. Colt reached in the bag and handed Alden a fresh magazine then turned to watch as Heath was pulled out of his saddle. His screams were horrific and the Wanderers started to tear and rip his body apart with their hands and their teeth.
Alden raised the rifle quickly, one shot rang out, and Heaths screams ceased.
Charlie grabbed Ceara’s arm and started to pull her back to the rock as she continued to scream for Maximus. “I HAVE TO SAVE HIM DAMN IT!”
Charlie spun her towards him and slapped her face hard. “NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME, WE’VE LOST MAX, WE’VE LOST HEATH. I’LL BE DAMNED IF I’M GOING TO DIE OR LET YOU DIE. NOW YOU GET YOUR FUCKING HEAD STRAIGHT! WE’VE GOT TO GET TO THOSE ROCKS! IT’S OUR ONLY CHANCE!!!”
Ceara knew he was right, she knew there was nothing she could do but she didn’t want to leave Maximus. That was her dog, it was her job to take care of him, and she couldn’t leave him. She felt Charlie pull on her arm, “Come on!”
Ceara hadn’t realized he had led her back to the rock wall. The shock was setting in, Heath was dead and the Wanderers were feasting on what remained of not only Heath but Maximus and the horse as well. Charlie jerked her arm again, “MOVE DAMMIT!!”
Ceara turned to him and just followed, part of her wanted to walk into the group and blow her own brains out but she wouldn’t do that to Charlie.
“I’m right behind you, just go, let’s get out of here.”
Once Tabitha heard Heath screaming, she imme
diately dropped to the ground. The Wanderers were so numerous that she couldn’t pick just one to aim at with her gun. Sitting there in shock, all Tabitha could do was look out and watch them swarm over his body after Alden had fired.
Beth stood there for a brief moment watching Alden do what he did best, until she noticed that Tabitha was on the ground. Looking over to Colt, “I got to get her, come on.”
Colt looked at Tabitha then over to see Charlie and Ceara trying to get back up into the rocks out of harm’s way. Colt turned to join Beth, and both of them gently placed their hands on each of Tabitha’s arms, “Come on Tabitha….. we got to go……. we need to help them get out of there while we still can,” pleaded Beth.
Tabitha was almost like a statue when Colt realized that he needed to take charge. Leaning down in her ear Colt spoke very clearly and with a firm voice, “Tabitha! Red needs you!!!!! Come on get your ass up!!!! Let’s go!”
Tabitha came out of shock looking up to see Colt. Tears were falling down her face as she rose to her feet. Colt looked over to Beth, “You got her?” Beth put her arm around Tabitha’s waist and nodded. All three were moving slowly at first and Colt then started picking up the pace.
Beth turned to look over at Colt, “What the hell just happened?” Colt shook his head as the three of them made it over to the edge of ridge, “We will discuss this later honey…. right now, I just want to get Charlie and Ceara out of danger, I don’t want to lose anyone else!”
Beth looked over to Tabitha and noticed that bad girl reputation that she had carried for so long was long gone. “It will be alright Tabitha….. Let’s just stay focused ok?”
She couldn’t even utter a word and the only thing that Tabitha could do was hang her head while crying and simply nodded, trying to show Beth some form of acknowledgement.
Colt leaned over to Beth, “Stay with her, I am going to help Alden… I don’t know what he has planned, but we better to do something fast!”
He ran back to Alden snagging up one of the M-16’s out of the bag, taking aim he took out several Wanderers then looked over to Alden, “Any thoughts?”
Surviving Day By Day (Book 2): Fears, Flames, and Future Page 54