Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins (11 page)

Colt ran around the desk, “ok ok I’ll look but no yelling, don’t even talk!”

The guy pointed to another room, “Controls are in ther
e somewhere, hurry up asshole!”

Colt ran to the room and saw a small panel of switches he just started hitting them then ran back to the other room and the cell opened. The man was free and running right at Colt, the punch landed before Colt knew what happen. The man grabbed the gun out of his waistband and was gone. Just for a minute Colt thought about yelling it was empty but ended up not saying anything at all. He rubbed his jaw as he ran back to the other room to retrieve the loaded gun he had set down to hit all the buttons. He went out of the office hoping to be going any directio
n other than the man had taken.

Colt found another office that looked like one of the higher ups, rifling through the drawers he found a set of keys. “Ammo room?” He had to try. Just as he closed the drawer
he saw brochures on the desk, ‘Elephant Rock Park’
under that was a map, “YES!”

He snatched both up shoving them in his shirt. Back tracking to the other room and started trying keys, he was halfway through the ring when he heard the scream, “he must have figured out I was out of bullets.”

Colt kept going with the keys and found the one that worked; he slid into the room shutting the door again. He released the clip in the gun he was holding, he needed to know which kind to look for. They must have all been issued the same kind of gun because the first three boxes looked like the right bullets. Colt slammed his clip back into the gun and grabbing what looked like a camo tote bag he shoved several boxes of bullets in it, he found what he remembered TV shows called a nightstick and then he spotted what he thought could be one of the best weapons to have, Tasers. He shoved three in the bag and what looked like the charger thing for them. He would
need to
figure out how to use it later.

Taking one more survey of the shelves he spotted two fully loaded clips and one empty, he grabbed the full ones shoving them in the bag too. Zipping up the bag he slung it over his shoulder and cracked open the door. No one was in the hall so he edged out making his way back to the auto bay he had come in, it was closed. One of the buttons he hit must have closed it, now what? He had to find another way
out;
he made his way slowly down the halls carrying the night stick. Finding stairs he went up a flight and opened the next door, monsters were everywhere. He closed it back wishing for a way to bolt it closed, but just headed up to the next floor.

This one wasn’t as bad, he would have to chance it. Crawling to a desk then to the next cube in the office, then the next but the way out was blocked by two monsters. Colt grabbed a coffee cup off the desk spilling very old moldy coffee on himself but he threw it as hard as he could, it shattered on the far wall and the monsters went that direction. He bolted for the door. Several were in the parking lot so he ran as fast as he could to the first car, throwing open the door jumping in, he search for the switch for the siren. Finally finding it he threw the switch and the noise was deafening. He crawled out and went as fast as he could away from the car. The monsters were going straight for
it;
he dove under a car to avoid a couple
. Colt crawled under several cars dragging the bag with him. When he thought it was safe, he
was back on his feet and running again.

He made it to his car throwing the bag in and tossed the night stick in the seat. Starting the car up and threw it into gear, speeding out of the parking lot he had hit one of the monsters but he didn’t care, he was safe again.

The cool drag that Tabitha took from her cigarette was about the best thing she had tasted in a hell of a long fucking time. She was so sick and tired of this zombie apocalypse
shit
that she was about ready to scream. The so called socialistic government was trying to feed their line of bullshit
to the main stream media as a ‘terrible mistake’
that would be soon under control and that the world as everyone remembered it would go back to the way that it was. Tabitha’s only response to that television broadcast before the power went out all over the world was, “That is the biggest bunch of fucking bullshit that you are trying to force down our throats and this bitch ain’t gonna buy your fucking hog wash.”

With her cigarette hanging from her mouth she laced up her
black,
pirate strap boots. Everyone she knew either was dead or had fled town when everything went to shit. Sure she could have ran like everyone else did but being the rebel that Tab was she wasn’t about to become one of them.

She had spent all of her teenage years in Camdenton, Missouri and really liked it there. Often in the summer she would spend time in the Ozarks and instead of staying in one of the hotels there
;
Tabitha would stay up in the woods camping out. Her parents were not much of the parenting type and it was a surprise that Tabitha had made it as far in life as she did. She figured that the only reason that she was born was because her parents must have gotten stoned off their ass doing hits of acid one night during the 70’s. They did however help her to grow up and when she turned seventeen she dropped out of school her senior year. The logic was simple. School
,
in her mind
,
was a cult that for twelve years of
one’s
life brainwashes each and everyone one of them to believe in THEIR way of thinking.

The world was a lot like one big huge cult to Tabitha. From schools, to morning board meetings to even churches and dances. Over eons Tabitha believed that these cult organizations
had decided to
set the ground rules of life. The only rule that Tabitha felt comfortable following was her rule of being a free thinking individual who made choices all of her own and not follow the crowd.

Tabitha didn’t have many boyfriends because their
Mom
mies didn’t think that Tabitha was the type of girl that their bible thumping sons should be caught dead with. So her life’s course would be that of a loner and she was totally fine with that. It had worked all of her life and with her now being twenty six years old her motto was, “If it ain’t broke then don’t fuck with it!”

Sure she missed a good piece of ass from time to time but that was what Duracell batteries and “toys” were made for.

So when the world went to shit, literally and the neighbors turned into walking zombies Tabitha had no problem killing them. Many didn’t care much for her in the first place and putting a machete right between their eyes actually was the best kind of therapy for her. She had to think up a strategy though for surviving this nightmare. Living off the land was no problem and when everyone started fleeing the town Tabitha began doing what she knew best
…. s
tealing. Yes, Tabitha stole to get through this life. She really didn’t believe in working and money to her was the head controlling element of the so called free world. In other words one could be and live free as long as you worked in a corporate office and stepped over people for the almighty fucking dollar! Everyone had been so brainwashed since the day that they were born of what to do, how to do it and who to be while you were doing it.

Most people would loot for microwaves, big screen televisions and or the latest and greatest desires of the xbox,
WII or
Pokemon card collecting junkies. Tab knew that these things would hold no purpose in the world now. So she did what she did best. Tabitha’s first break in when the world went to bad was an Ace Hardware store. Then she walked into a Wal-Mart like every other person was doing and while most headed to electronics and housewares she made her way to the canned good aisle on the grocery side. From peaches, to beans to even ramen noodles she loaded up her huge back pack and before anyone knew it she was in and out of the building in a flash.

Tabitha’s small frame often surprised many people with her only being 5’3 and a hundred and seven pounds because many thought that she was the tiny adorable type. When
in truth,
she was just the opposite. Fierce, feisty and hard core was what she was all about. With auburn hair that hung down past her shoulders and dark eyes. However the town of Camdenton was all dead now and she realized that maybe it was time to get the fuck out of dodge. She had been crashing at one of her
parents’
friend’s
house when everything went down and no one was living there anymore. They never came back and Tabitha thought that they just became part of the apocalypse or fled. Either way she couldn’t stand staying where she was and wanted out. So she packed up all of her supplies and grabbed a map that she snagged one day on one of her shopping sprees. After placing the map inside her back pocket of her jeans Tabitha put her back pack on then grabbed her machete before walking out the door.

Leaving in the day light was much better than leaving at night because for some reason the zombies came out more at night. Maybe it was because it was cooler or something like that but Tabitha knew the truth. She figured that they couldn’t either stand their own hideous sight of one another or that the smell of their rotting flesh even got to them. After leaving the house Tab walked briskly through the streets. A few zombies she took out with one clean swipe. She had become quite good at decapitating the bastards. Sometimes she knocked their heads off so fast that they flew like home run hitters. Often she would hit them right between the eyes making sure to destroy the brain but when she would knock a home run she sure as shit wasn’t going to go chase the bastard. She thought, “It’s a HEAD! It will only bite what it can catch on the side or at a rolling speed.”

A
fter walking for what seemed to be an hour Tabitha saw a 98 Firebird with its door wide open. Running up to it the poor son of a bitch that was in there had shot himself point blank in the head with a Colt 45. Shaking her head Tabitha reached inside and pulled his ass out onto the ground. She picked up the Colt and shoved it down in the front of her jeans. Sounds of the dead were creeping up behind her and quickly she spun around, pulled out the 45 and popped a couple rounds right through their heads. Their heads popped like huge pimples and brains went everywhere. More zombies came quicker now after she had fired her gun. Quickly she threw her back pack in the back seat and jumped in the car making sure to close and lock the door behind her. Surprisingly the idiot left the keys in the ignition before he blew his brains out. That was probably the smartest thing that the moron had done in his life.

Turning the key the car roared to life and before she knew it she drove off down the street like a bat out of hell. She had no idea where she was going but knew that she was safe for the time being. When Tab felt a little more comfortable she looked down at her gas ga
u
ge and it read a little over a half of tank. That was a good thing because Tabitha figured if she could get to the woods that she would have a far better chance of surviving on the land in the woods than if she was to fight with the fuckers on the streets.

Once she reached the out
skirts of town she found a place to pull off the side of the road that look
ed
uninhabited. After pulling off the side of the road she decided to leave the car running while taking a look at her map. Going north was out of the question because she really didn’t see any camp grounds or recreation areas around. All Tabitha saw was city life and well she had her fill of that. Flipping the map over
,
she noticed in big black letters MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FORREST. That
would be
the spot for her. It looked like it was perfect. If there was any wildlife around then she would have meat to eat and she definitely could find a place to hunker down.

The rays of the sun were streaming through the window and this caused her to look up and perhaps find some sort of landmark that would tell her where she was at. Holding her hand up to shade her eyes she noticed a sign up on the right hand of the road, 119 miles Fort Leonard Wood. She was definitely headed in the right direction. All she had to do now was try to find enough fuel to get to Mark Twain and she was banking on the fact that there would be many deserted cars on the way so she could either get the gas out of them to put in hers or she could just steal the next available one that had the keys left in them.

Off in the distance Beth could see another street sign and hopefully this one would tell her how much farther that she would have to go to get away from civilization. Quite honestly she would be so happy at that
moment
in time if there
were absolutely no abandoned cars
, frantic drivers
or
people screaming as she drove by.

This was what she had been subjected to over the past hour and a half. Beth immediately figured out that taking the interstate was not the brightest idea. She was thinking in the beginning that she might of gotten out in time but others must of thought the same thing for that would explain the carnage that was scattered all over the streets. There had to be a secondary route that would probably be better but Beth did not feel comfortable pulling over just yet to grab the map that was in the glove compartment.

Continuing on down the interstate she was growing somewhat exhausted but when the sun shining through her window it made her more alert to what was going on around her. She noticed that up ahead there was a place that she could pull off to take a look at the map. Slowing down she parked the car and left the engine running. After looking at the map she noticed a mile marker on the side of the road then realized she was had crossed the Missouri state line thirty five miles back. She noticed that there were some back roads that looked more promising than taking the jam packed interstates. Suddenly something off to the left of the map in big bold letters caught her attention: ‘MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FORREST’.

Putting her lips together while
nodding
her head in agreeance
,
Beth knew that not many people would be up there and perhaps there were some cabins that she could lay low for a bit. This looked very promising. Beth knew that she couldn’t keep driving for a few reasons. First and foremost she had only a limited supply of gas in the trunk of the car and secondly driving without having a destination or some sort of plan wasn’t very smart especially with the dangers out there right now.

She reached over in her purse to get out her cell phone and found that it had only a half of battery life left but she wanted to see if there were any messages from any of her friends. Maybe Chad or someone from the CDC would have contacted her but
it was to
no avail
,
there were no messages. She tried using h
er GPS and managed to figure out
her path on how to get to Mark Twain Forrest. Beth knew how to read a map but by using the little luxury that her cell had gave her a sense of security that she needed.

Once she mapped out her journey Beth turned the power off on her cell and folded the map with only the portion of the directions facing up so where she could see them then placed in on the passenger seat. Realizing time was of the essence Beth popped the trunk and got out to go put some more fuel in her car. She grabbed a funnel and the gas then quickly got to work. Beth made it a point to use all of her senses because as long as she was exposed she knew that she was a target. When she got finished she screwed the cap back on and placed the funnel along with the gas can back in the trunk of her car.
Moaning could now be heard off in the distance and Beth paid no attention to it. She took a couple of quick steps over to where she had left her door open then jumped in slamming the door behind her.

Driving off she continued on till she saw the exit 123 for Missouri B towards Biehle. This way looked a hell of a lot less congested then the way she was going originally and she was right.
Hardly anything
was lurking out and about. However she did see a few abandoned automobiles along the way with their doors left open. More than likely the occupants either had been attacked or had run out of gas and decided to go on foot would be the only way of survival that they had.

As she continued,
Beth’s mind wondered off on what could of happen at the CDC. She knew that there were some real retards that worked there that shouldn’t even be employed to clean out bathrooms at the local burger joints around Paducah let alone the fricking CDC. Beth
also
knew that something had not been told to her because of
the short
Chad
message. Chad was an old timer like her and didn’t like the way things had changed but he didn’t have much say so in who
or
what these morons were doing. Many of these “individuals” were strictly hired because their
m
om
mies and daddies work for the CDC and they just wanted to get them a job to hopefully get them out of the house.

Oh they were not all sub-intelligent, but
some of them were just smart enough to be dangerous. These people were the kind of people that when they were kids they would sit alone in their rooms for hours on end with the doors locked, playing on XBOX Live and wanting world domination. Yet their parents would get them a job working at the most powerful organization in the world that survived solely
to protect
the world from horrific things that could end it within a matter of a split secon
d. Yes, everything that was an
ything went to hell when they got the new leader of the free world in office and he started raising the spending level while cutting the budgets on important things like the CDC. Which in turn caused Beth’s superiors to cut
a lot of
the old timers and hire these DeVry, Vatterott rejects.

For the first time Beth felt utterly helpless and alone. Perhaps she was the only one who made it out of the CDC not infected. With how fast the infection had spread from the guy who bit
her dad
in the parking lot to his death in his bedroom was one thing. But when
Mom
had then got bitten from him and then Mary
,
it may
have
quadrupled since that time. Quite honestly, Beth was going from thought to thought and didn’t stop long enough to focus on just one. Her mind was like a marble in a hat box and the box was being
shaken
a lot. There were so many questions that she had and yet she herself had no answers only assumptions.

For over another hour her mind would race while she would surprisingly follow the directions that were on her map that she would occasionally look over to take a quick glance then back up to see the
highway
sign or destination mile marker. However, the sun was down now and night had engulfed her car like a blanket that is pulled up over
one’s
eyes. Pushing the buttons on her radio Beth would occasionally here a special alert message informing listeners to stay in their homes, this is only temporary and that help will be on the way.

Scoffing out loud, “Yeah, some help!! If they come looking for you they will probably shoot first and ask questions later
,
if it is up to them.”

Beth had such a vendetta against the government for how they were running things over the past years, she figured that they don’t want to be blamed for a goddamn thing and to make sure that they will take whatever measures they need to prove that they themselves did not have any responsibility in this situation at all. Just then Beth had an epiphany. Maybe she was the only one left that could let the secret out and prove the government did have a huge part to play in this. She knew that they would be lying through their teeth trying to blame it on terrorists or some other part of a third world country and right then and there Beth was determined that if she in fact was the only one left alive that she would sing it from the fucking roof tops to show the country that the government had a big hand in this fubard situation.

Just then off in the distance she could see lights and they were high in the sky. Wanting to know if she could hear any noise Beth pushed the window button to roll it down just a bit so she could hear anything. The noise was going away and it was the sound of helicopter blades. Perhaps that was a good sign. Beth thought that this may be just the thing that she needed to show her that she had made a wise decision to go to the
forest
. Maybe they already had made up a quarantined area so that civilians could take refuge until things did get under control.

Feeling a lot more at ease Beth continued on down the highway while watching for more signs pointing out how many more miles it
would be
until she would get to her destination. Reaching down to retrieve her bottle of water in the drink holder Beth finished it off and a small smile came to her face. She was feeling a lot better but after another thirty minutes had past and she had not seen
any more
lights Beth’s worrying started up again, more so now than she was before.

There were no lights, there we no sounds……nothing……nothing at all. When she was about ready to pull over to regroup on the long deserted highway
there was another sign which read, ‘
Mark Twain National Forest 20 miles
’
. Quickly she looked down at her gas gauge and she saw that she only had a quar
ter of a tank left. This was it,
s
he would get to her destination but after that she had no idea what would be in store for her. Hopefully there were some cabins that would not be occupied and what’s more
…
no infected! Beth was banking on the fact that since she hadn’t seen any traffic and that since she was out of the city hopefully none of the infected had made it out this way. The next sign she saw was 5 miles until she arrived to the
f
orest and she immediately slowed her vehicle down. Beth had enough gas to take her into the
f
orest and felt more secure going into the unknown
,
locked inside her car until she could assess the situation

Finally, when the entrance
was visible,
Beth rolled up her window and made her way into the
f
orest. The roads were empty and no cars were visible. Nothing but trees and shadows moved in front of her head lights. She drove a little farther and then decided to crack her window just a little so that if there were any noises or smells out there she may be able to pick up on them. Beth heard the wind blow softly through her window but that was the only thing that she heard. As for what was out there to be smelled, there a lot different smells and none of them smelt like death and rotting corpses. Up ahead she saw a sign that said
‘
Cabins
’
and an arrow pointing to the right. Beth began slowing down so that she wouldn’t miss her turn. She continued on for a little while longer until her car finally gave up the ghost. The gas gauge was on empty and she started getting very nervous because now she would have to make it on
foot
.