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

by Allensworth, Audra

  Beth walked over to the couch, “I am sure that everything is alright…. just concerned with it being late and all.” Honestly, Beth was lying to herself and she damn well knew it, but she was trying hard to hide her major fear.

  Colt stood up going to the window, “I heard the horses head out a little bit ago, so I figured Charlie and Ceara went for a ride, Alden is Alden, so he will take care of himself.” Colt went to the table and put the lid back on the bottle, “And I think we have had just about enough of this, none of us have eaten today.”

  Colt put an arm around Beth’s waist, “Honey, we can’t stay in this mood… I think we should start supper. Not sure how many will eat, but we need to try to get back to the normal way we had before this morning. I just know, we can’t stay in this funk.”

  Beth and Colt walked to the kitchen and began just going through the motions to make sure they all ate. “Who has watch tonight?”

  Beth shrugged, “Pretty sure it’s Charlie and Ceara, Tabitha and Heath were on last night so they… she should be sleeping.”

  Colt went to the living room to tell Tabitha to try to get some sleep, but she was already curled up passed out with the stuffed dog. He walked back in the kitchen, “She’s out, we need to keep an eye on her in case of nightmares.”

  Spirit caught up with Charlie easy and they were following Tonto, Ceara called over to Charlie…”This isn’t good!!! Tonto is in a dead run!”

  Charlie just nodded, kicking his horse into a faster run. Suddenly Ceara screamed, just as Tonto came to a halt. Charlie and Ceara both pulled up hard on the reins and both were pulling out their rifles.

  They could see Alden on an outcropping of rocks and all he had was a knife. Below him laid several bodies, all bloody, and all permanently dead. Alden had been defending himself with the knife, trying to keep the others from hearing him. His hands and clothes were covered in blood and his eyes showed he was tired, very tired

  Charlie looked quickly over to Ceara, “Can you do this? If not, I need you to get your ass to the house and get Colt for me!” Ceara was just staring at Alden, “CEARA!!! Yes or No damn it!”

  Ceara pulled her eyes from Alden, “I’m here, and he needs help now… he doesn’t have time for me to pussy out and go get Colt. How do you want to do this?”

  Charlie looked around, “I’m going to ride around that way, once I’m there I am going to start drawing them all in my direction. Once they come for me, you get your ass in there and get Alden off those rocks. After you have him, you guys circle back to me, and we will lead them away from the house.

  Ceara watched the group, there were about ten… “Don’t you just want to kill them?”

  Charlie spit on the ground, “No, couple of reasons…. we don’t have the ammo to waste and the noise could draw more attention than we want.”

  Ceara checked her own rifle, “Ok, let’s do this, but by God you better be careful, don’t let them get anywhere near you!”

  Charlie kicked the horse calling over his shoulder, “Stop worrying, I got the best teacher in the world!”

  Ceara sat waiting for Charlie to draw their attention, “Yeah, the best teacher in the world that is stuck up on some rocks.”

  Suddenly Charlie was yelling and screaming like a madman. It had the effect he had thought, the Wanderers turned and began going for him. Ceara’s heart skipped a beat; she didn’t want to be here but knew she had to help.

  Soon Charlie had them far enough away that Ceara was able to ride up. Alden wasn’t climbing down, “Alden, come on! We don’t have much time!”

  “Cupcake if I could I would, I broke my ankle!”

  Fear gripped Ceara, Alden was hurt, how could he be hurt! That was against the rules! She shook her head and jumped off Spirit and started scaling the small rock formation. Once she was able to reach him, she could see Charlie and Tonto leading the Wanderers further and further away. Alden grabbed her arm pulling himself up, “Ok kid, Just let me lean on you and I think we can get down this. Give me the rifle; I can use it as a crutch too.”

  Soon they were back down the rocks and Ceara was back on Spirit, “How are you going to mount?”

  Alden motioned her to follow him; he got up on a small boulder that gave him the height he needed to be able to mount behind her. “Ok, let’s go get Charlie and Tonto… I got to admit I was pretty damn happy to see you two.”

  Ceara smiled just a little, “Bet you won’t be happy to see Beth when she has to set that ankle.”

  Alden poked her in the side, “Yeah well I bet I handle it better than any of you cupcakes.”

  Alden was happy to see the smile on Ceara’s face, it was still sad but it was a start. Once they had rejoined Charlie, they led the group of Wanderers further away from house and then kicked the horses into a run to get away from them. Ceara knew the running was hurting Alden but they just had to do it for a few minutes.

  Charlie slowed to a walk and turned back east to the house, “So Alden, what happen?”

  Alden had beads of sweat on his forehead from pain, “I went out to be alone and I guess a few of the deadheads made their way in our direction. When Tonto and I headed to safety, I caught my foot in a group of rocks, it snapped, I don’t think it is broke clean through. Simple as that, I was screwed, only choice I had was to send Tonto for you.”

  Charlie smiled, “Good thing Ceara wanted to go for a ride, we were already saddled up and headed to you as soon as we saw Tonto out alone.”

  Ceara looked over her shoulder, “Would the ride be easier if I rode with Charlie and let you have Spirit by yourself?”

  Alden sucked his teeth, “Kid, I have to admit that every step is causing my ankle to hit and having stirrups may help stabilize it.”

  Charlie and Ceara were soon riding together and Alden had Spirit to himself. After about thirty minutes they were riding up to the house with Ceara calling out, “BETH!! ALDEN’S HURT!!”

  Alden glared at her, “I ain’t dying… stop your damn yelling!!”

  Alden looked at Charlie, “I bet she was the class tattle tale in school.”

  Charlie was standing next him now and chuckling under his breath. As Alden began to swing his leg out of the saddle Charlie caught him before his bad foot hit the ground.

  “I got you, just lean on me.”

  Alden scowled at him, “What are you, a fucking songwriter now?”

  Charlie helped Alden into the house and over to the sofa, but saw Tabitha passed out, “COLT!”

  Colt came in scooping up Tabitha carrying her to the corner of room, laying her on Maximus’ blanket.

  Charlie helped Alden down to the sofa, “Now you lay here while I get some wood for a splint, while Beth takes a look at it.”

  Beth came out of the kitchen in a hurry not knowing what was going on except all she heard was the terror in Ceara’s voice.

  When she saw Alden on the couch her eyes went right down to his ankle because he was moving his leg more than the rest of his body.

  “Colt!” yelled Beth. “Honey, get that bottle of Jack for me, we are going to need it.”

  Beth turned around and headed into the bedroom where she got some of her medical supplies and came back in. Opening up her bag she grabbed her box cutter. Colt came in with the bottle, “Damn! Is it that serious, do we have to cut the leg off?”

  Beth chuckled then continued, “No honey, just open the bottle and give it to Alden. Now Alden, I am going to cut the pant leg of your jeans here. I need to get a better look at your ankle and right now I don’t want you standing on it. Ceara can stitch them up later.”

  Quickly she cut the pant leg and then unlaced his jump boots, slipping them off slowly. Carefully she pulled his sock off and Alden inhaled a deep breath then said, “Fuck!”

  Beth continuing to work said, “Take a bigger drink!”

  Alden looked over and saw Tabitha lying curled up on the floor, “She looks like hell. Is she doing alright?”

  Charlie chuckled ‘Yeah and you look like you ju
st came from the spring prom.”

  Alden glared at him, “switching professions so soon. Now you’re a fucking comedian, outside a singer. Pick one, you little shit.”

  Colt squatted down beside Beth, “She’s alright, just taking what happened this morning really hard and we had a few drinks. However, Tabitha drank a few more than I did.”

  Beth carefully examined the ankle and noticed some areas were turning black and blue but the swelling was minimal which was very good. “We were worried about where you guys were, I guess now we know. Getting up, Beth went back to their bedroom and retrieved an ace bandage then came back to where Alden was still laying.

  Alden had taken a few more drinks, “Don’t hurt too bad now. So, how bad is it, doc?”

  Beth smiled and began wrapping his ankle tightly. “From the looks of it Alden, you have a hairline fracture to your ankle. I’m wrapping it and then for extra protection we could put a splint on it, or you can wear your high support combat boots. Those would probably be the best means of support that you could get. Then at night you could wear the splint, so you could switch off. However, you’re gonna have to be off of it for at least a good week. I mean off of it, I mean no cross country hiking. I mean take it easy and the rest of us will have to pick up the pace around here.”

  When Beth was finished, she put all of her stuff back in her bag and took it back to the bedroom, then came back out into the living room. Seeing a pillow on one of the other chairs she picked it up and placed in gently under his foot then went back into the kitchen where she continued finishing dinner.

  Charlie went to a closet and came back with two blankets that had the typical southwest print. He put the first one on Tabitha. He watched as she pulled it up and then let out a small moan. Turning he laid the second one on Alden as he was taking another drink from the bottle. “Hey chief, go easy on that stuff.”

  Alden looked at him, “is it your foot that’s fucked up? No I didn’t think so. So take your singing, comedic ass outside and check on my dog.”

  Ceara waved for Charlie to join her outside, they walked out on the porch sitting on the steps. “Well I guess it could have been worse, right?”

  Charlie looked out at the yard, Tonto was laying down, “Yeah, he could have been killed, we could have had to fight those things again or worse we could have been somewhere Tonto couldn’t have found us.”

  Ceara looked over at Tonto, “No, I don’t see Tonto not finding us if Alden is hurt, or in danger… Maximus would have gotten side-tracked by a squirrel.”

  Charlie reached for her hand, “Honey, don’t.”

  Ceara sat there; she didn’t pull away from him but part of her wanted too, “Don’t what? Admit that my dog wasn’t trained very good; admit I should have paid more attention, admit that Maximus is gone and Tonto is here because he is a well-trained dog? What exactly am I not supposed to do?”

  Charlie sighed, “Don’t keep thinking of the what ifs and mostly don’t start thinking less of Maximus than he really was. He was a great dog that took very good care of you and every single one of us.”

  Tonto seemed to know he or his friend was being talked about and came over laying his head in Ceara’s lap. Ceara jumped but then gently petted Tonto’s head and scratched his ears. “You know I will miss him a lot, he was my dog and it will take me awhile to know how to deal with it.”

  Charlie released Ceara’s hand and pet Tonto too, “Thanks boy, Alden is safe because of you.”

  Ceara laid on Charlie’s shoulder, “Maybe we should all get drunk tonight. We could have a party for Heath, he escaped this shit hole we call a world.”

  Charlie shook his head, “No honey, we have watch tonight.”

  “Who cares, we could take one night off!”

  “Ceara, you know we can’t. Especially with Alden getting hurt, didn’t you notice the Wanderers were coming this way?”

  Ceara shrugged, “Yeah, but we led them in the other direction.”

  Charlie leaned on his elbows, “But we don’t know that they were the only group.”

  She nodded, “Yeah, I guess.”

  They sat in silence for a while, each in their own thoughts.

  Colt stood in the kitchen with Beth, “You know, if too much more happens today, we are all going to just fucking snap.”

  Beth glared at him, “Language…”

  Colt looked surprised, “What?”

  “Tabitha came to us with her language the way it is, I will accept that, but not from you.”

  Colt stuck his tongue out at her and smiled, “Yes dear.”

  Beth smirked and slapped him on the arm, “I just don’t want us changing who we are, not for anyone or anything. This world can change, but we control who we become.”

  Colt wrapped her in his arms, “I love how you word things, you know that?”

  Beth kissed him then began moving around the kitchen, “We have leftover chili, so I think we will just have that.”

  Colt helped her for the next hour and soon the table was set and the food was all out on the table. Beth went to wake Tabitha and helped Alden to the table, while Colt got Charlie and Ceara.

  Alden reached over and pulled Heath’s chair to where he could lay his foot on it. Charlie and Ceara came in and sat next to him. Beth came in with Tabitha stumbling behind her. As Beth took her seat Tabitha looked at the table with blurry eyes. Suddenly her face turned red as she screamed, “GET YOUR FUCKING FEET OFF HEATH’S CHAIR GODDAMNIT.”

  Alden’s foot hit hard as Tabitha jerked the chair out from under him. “OW DAMN YOU, TABITHA.”

  Charlie jumped up quickly as Alden reached and jerked the chair back. Getting between them, he grabbed Tabitha by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Back down Tabitha… Alden has a broken foot, ankle, or some shit and he needs the chair to keep his foot elevated.

  Tabitha tried to grab the chair again, but Charlie stopped her, “Are you listening to me? A lot went down while you were passed out in the corner. Alden got attacked by Wanderers and Ceara and I had to save him.”

  Tabitha looked at Charlie, Alden, and finally Ceara. “What the hell are you talking about Chuck? What Wanderers? Where was Alden? Why didn’t anyone wake me?”

  Colt had come up beside her taking her arm, he escorted Tabitha to a chair and sat her down. He poured her a cup of coffee and glass of water, “You started drinking and passed out. Alden went for a walk and got attacked by another band of Wanderers. Tonto found Charlie and Ceara, he led them back to Alden and they got him here.”

  Colt moved to his seat and continued pointing to Beth. “Beth fixed his ankle and then she and I fixed supper.” Colt turned and looked at Alden, “Oh and by the way after dinner, I’ll start the generator for a while so you can take a shower. Tabitha may look like death warmed over but… damn man you smell like it.”

  Sitting there twiddling her fingers, Tabitha fidgeted in her chair. Feeling as though she had been scolded along with being embarrassed from what Colt had said and how Alden had reacted.

  Tabitha finally stood up and went to her bedroom. For the first time in a long time, she was alone and looking around the room, she then realized that Heath was not going to be there tonight or ever again.

  She didn’t need a hot shower and she didn’t want it. However, instead of doing nothing and since Colt did say she looked like shit, she thought that maybe cleaning herself up might make herself feel a little better. She was too angry, hurt and just plain sad.. Tabitha grabbed a clean pair of jeans from her Chester drawers, and a black tee shirt that said REBEL in big red letters across the chest. Tabitha then made her way into the bathroom. Taking of her clothes, Tabitha threw them on top of the hamper and jumped into the shower. The one thing that she liked about taking a shower was that it hid the sound of her crying. The fact that she lost Heath was one thing, but the other was how she had let herself get so drunk that she wasn’t able to help the others out when they were being attacked earlier.

  She knew she shouldn’t have jum
ped at Alden the way that she did. Her only thought was she wanted to just be left alone by everything and everyone.

  After she was out of the shower and dressed, she towel dried her hair. When finished she re-entered her bedroom and fell onto the bed burying her head in the pillows where she cried herself to sleep.

  Ceara looked around the table, “Sorry guys, I guess Tabitha just can’t be in the same room with me. You guys think I should maybe make myself invisible for a few days to give her some space?”

  Colt took a bite and kept his eyes down, “No, we have never been like that and we can’t start now. Beth said it best to me just a little bit ago. Let me see if I say it right; we don’t want us to change who we are, not for anyone or anything. This world can change but we control who we become.” He glanced towards Beth, “Did I get that right?”

  Beth nodded with a smile, “Pretty good.”

  Colt looked over to Ceara, “Simply put, we are a family; we support each other through good and bad. We don’t splinter off, we work through things. I know this is the worst that has happen, but we will be stronger for it.”

  Ceara began eating then after two bites she laid her spoon to the side, “No offense guys, but I’m just not hungry.”

  Alden glanced to her bowl, “Eat… you haven’t eaten all day and you need food.”

  Ceara pushed the bowl away, “I can’t, I just don’t want it.”

  “Didn’t ask if you wanted it, did I? I said eat and I meant it, your mind is telling you that you aren’t hungry, but your body will disagree. Finish just one bowl and I’ll leave you alone.”

  Ceara rolled her eyes as she pulled the bowl back in front of her, barely above a whisper, “He didn’t make Tabitha eat.”

  Alden smirked as he put another bite in his mouth, “Yeah, that’s because she needed to sober up a little before putting food on her stomach. That is unless you wanted to wear it?” His cocked eyebrow made Ceara grin.

  Alden finished his bowl and popped a couple of crackers in his mouth then looked at the group. “Today was the hardest day I’ve had in a long, long time. For you people, it may have been the hardest ever. To lose a family member in all this shit is one thing. To lose a brother in arms is entirely different. Heath fought to protect this group, because he believed in it.”