Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins (52 page)

“I’m fine, just a little bump.” Alden glared at him, “Don’t you lie to me boy, now the truth.”

“Alright alright,” Charlie started off, “It hurts like hell but I’m okay.”

Alden looked into his eyes and saw they were clear though one was dilated, “You have a mild concussion so just relax.” He turned to the group, “Here’s the deal. That guy they sent they will expect him back and soon. If he’s late they’ll figure he….,” Alden looked at Ceara, “Well they’ll just figured he’d take advantage of what he had.”

Alden saw the look on Ceara’s face pale, she knew what he meant. That along with the use of the horses can give us a bit of an edge.” Alden looked at all of them he was nervous about what he was going to ask them to do. Killing wanderers was one thing
,
this was different and he knew he had to choose his words wisely. “These people have attacked us twice. It’s apparent they want our supplies and judging by that guy they wanted you girls too. So now we have a kill or be killed situation.”

Alden paused and watched as the expressions on their face changed. Charlie was looking down at his feet. Colt was looking to Beth and both Tabitha and Ceara looked at each other then back to Alden. Charlie spoke first, “I’ve never killed anyone before, but they were going to…. well they were going to hurt Ceara and I don’t think they care about what’s right or wrong they just care about hurting and killing for themselves. So you know what
…
FUCKEM! I say we do what we need to do to protect what’s ours.” He stood wavering a little and held onto Ceara. Ceara
grabbed his arm to steady him.

Tabitha watched and then looked at Beth and Colt who suddenly were holding each other’s hand. “He’s right,” she started off, “Our own little Rambo is right. I don’t want to be some sort of slave to those fucking assholes. I say we kill them before they kill us.” Alden reached down and grabbed the black bag. Taking the L.A.W. rocket launcher out, he set it aside. He pulled out an M-16 with a tube under it.

Colt looked at him, “Okay I know what an M-16 is. What the hell is that under it?”

Alden smiled, “That’s an M-79 grenade launcher. This one’s mine don’t worry you ain’t shooting it.” He pulled out two more M-16
’s and a M4. “These are yours.”

He handed one to Tabitha, Colt and Beth. Ceara looked at him, “What about us?” Alden looked at her. “You two will get yours in a minute.” He pulled out the magazines for the rifles and handed them to each one and showed them how to load it once more. “You’ve all been trained so you know what to do. If it misfires pull this handle back and clear it then physically look to make sure, then reload. Got it
?
”

Tabitha smiled, “Yep
,
I got this.” Alden watched as Beth and Colt loaded their weapons then he turned and went to the truck. He returned carrying a large dark green duffel bag along with two large green cans that said
‘
Ammo
’
on the side. Opening up the duffel bag he pulled out a large machine gun, “This is an M-60 machine gun.”

Setting it on the table he pulled the two legs out from the front slowly so Ceara and Charlie could see how it worked. He flipped a switch on the back and pulled the top up then opened the ammo can and took out a belt of bullets. “You set this in here, close the lid and pull th
is handle back. That loads it.”

Alden picked it up and aimed towards the woods and pulled the trigger just once and it fired five shots. “There is no semi auto on this. If you hold the trigger you’ll go through a hundred rounds in less than twenty seconds. So use short bursts. Ceara will load, Charlie will fire. You two will not be going into their camp
,
you
r job
will be placed to cover us. There are four horses so we need to double up
,
the fourth horse will be carrying the weapons. When we get close Tonto will let us know so stay quiet and stay tight. I’m not going to sugar coat this, this will be bloody but if you keep your heads
, we
will all
come out alive.”

Colt sat on the edge of the porch holding the gun, he didn’t know if he could willingly go look for people to kill, but he knew if they didn’t go there, then the group would come to them. Alden had said it, kill or be killed, but had it really gotten to this point? He knew the answer, and didn’t like it. “Well, I’ve been thinking… if they came here risking everything to get your truck I
figure
they are either running low or just want everything that
they come across
all for themselves. That may give a bit of advantage, not much of one
,
but a little.” He looked around to the others wondering if he
just sounded completely stupid.

Ceara was the next to speak, “I am ok with this, the assholes tried to kill you guys while we were in town and even shot Maximus. THEN they came back, I know Alden said they would but I kind of hoped they would leave us alone. They didn’t and next time we will be overrun… so we attack first!”

Tabitha stood right there and wasted no time in her response. “I came into this situation having nothing to lose and now that I have you guys to lose….well that ain’t gonna fucking happen. I say kill the goddamn bastards and let God sort it out
,
cause I am sick and tired of standing around talking about this shit. It’s either them or me and it sure in the fuck ain’t gonna be me! Now let’s get this fucking thing started!” Beth looked at Tabitha then to eve
ryone else. “I agree. Fuck’em!”

Alden looked at them sternly, “Okay
,
it’s settled.” He placed the weapons back in the bags and then tied them to a horse. Taking the reins
of the second horse
in his hand he mounted and then turned and put his hand out to Tabitha, “You’re with me.” Tabitha took it and swung up behind him, her hands around his waist.

“The other two are around back already saddled.” Alden kicked the horse into a walk as the others followed around the cabin.
Colt and Beth got mounted up with Colt having the reins. Ceara jumped up and Charlie climbed on behind her. He looked to Alden, “What? My head hurts.” Charlie trusted Ceara’s handling of a horse a lot more than he did
himself.

The group rode off with Tonto in the lead. As they were riding Alden was watching their faces. Words were one thing but expressions told the truth. He knew his little group of soldiers were scared but he also knew they were willing to fight for each other and that gave them the ultimate edge. As their horse wound through the woods Tabitha suddenly leaned forward, “Psst, Hey Alden.” She said quietly. ”Yeah what is it?” Tabitha giggled, “We’re coming to get you, Barbara.”

Alden turned his head and smiled, “Good one Tabby, Good one, now pay attention.” Tabitha felt Alden laughing as they rode off, with the others following…..

Ceara gently guided the horse through the trees, Charlie had one arm wrapped around her waist and held
a knife
with the other. The smell of the trees were all around, she smelled oak, chestnut, juniper, hickory, and even a brush of holly here and there passed her nose. She leaned back to Charlie relaxing her head on his shoulder, “This would be so nice if we weren’t so worried about what was about to happen.”

Charlie gently kissed her cheek, “Our time will come, but first we have to know that the area is somewhat clear.” Ceara smiled and sat back up guiding the horse to follow in behind Alden and Tabitha. Looking back she watched Colt and Beth, both were watching all around and neither seemed to want any part of this. Ceara understood Beth’s issues; she is a healer and Al
den is asking her to take lives.
Colt
,
she didn’t know what to think of. He should hate these people but he
still acted all self-righteous.

The adrenaline that was coursing through Tabitha’s body was so intense that the only thing that she thought about was killing all those son of a bitches and taking no prisoners. That asshole back at camp sure didn’t want to fucking play when he took Ceara and when Tabitha saw how Alden ended his pathetic life made
her want a piece of the action.

As they continued on Tabitha looked from right to left and noticed that the wind was blowing slightly and she could smell smoke way off in the distance. “Alden?” whispered Tabitha in his ear, “Smell that?”

The only response that Alden did was gave a slight nod of his head in agreeing with her. That was enough for Tabitha to pull her gun out from behind her back. This was Alden’s
party
and she was just waiting for further instruction. She looked up over his shoulder and tried to see if she could make out any images, movements or hear any other noises. Nothing, but she knew w
hat she smelt and so did Alden.

Alden had watched Tonto as they rode through the woods; he was their best bet of pulling this off. The fact that he was going up against superior odds with a handful of kids had him real worried. “What the fuck are you doing old man,” he thought to himself. He listened to Tabitha, he worried about her too. She was young and full of piss and
vinegar, but she was too eager.

As the group closed in Tonto stopped and circled three times. Alden halted the group by putting a closed fist in the air. “Tonto says we got company,” he said to Tabitha, “We need to dismount” Tabitha got down
,
then Alden. He walked back to the rest, “You all stay put, I’m sending Tonto ahead to see what’s what.”

Colt followed the others, wondering if he would see tomorrow’s sunrise or if that he saw that one, then how many more would any of them see? He felt Beth’s arm tightened around his waist, he looked back over his shoulder, “What’s up?” Beth pointed to the front, “Alden stopped.” Colt pulled up the reins stopping the horse; he was starting to get the hang of riding the horse. He helped Beth down just as Alden and Tabitha walked ahead, “Do you think we are supposed to follow?” Beth shook her head and whispered, “Let’s just see what he does.”

Alden
looked to Tabitha, the hate in her eyes over rode her fear and that wasn’t good. “Tabitha, you come with me.” The two walked a little ways up and Alden snapped his fingers, Tonto took off quickly but low to the ground. “He’ll search and get close if they see him they may just figure he’s a stray and they’ll t
ry to catch him. Try mind you.”

Alden turned to Tabitha, “You need to put that hate away. Hate will cause you to make an irrational decision and that will get you killed, which will upset me. The worst part is you may get one of them killed,” pointing to the group, “and that will piss me off. I need you with a clear head and a clean heart.” Tonto barked twice
in the distance.

Alden grabbed Tabitha’s arm and pulled her down. “Keep your eyes peeled and don’t move.” He quickly cut some branches off a bushes and shoved them down the back of her shirt, then cut some more for himself. He looked into her startled eyes
, “camouflage,” he whispered.

Colt slid off the horse and tied him off to a tree.
Charlie
and Ceara were getting down too
,
Beth and Colt
walked over to
joined them, Colt looked to Charlie, “Do you guys know what’s up, is the
camp around somewhere close?”

Charlie put his hand on his head, “Damn I got a headache. Yeah I would guess so Colt. Damn Tonto can smell trouble a mile away and I’ve come to trust that dog’s nose.”

Charlie knelt down on one knee, and looked at Beth and Ceara, “You guys wouldn’t happen to have any aspirin would you. I got a feeling when the guns start to go off my head will kill me before anything else
has a chance
.” He shook his head slightly, “Well at least the ringing in my ears has stopped. I think that’s a good sign.”

Ceara wasn’t paying much attention to the group, she was watching Alden and Tabitha to see what they were doing. When Alden pulled
Tabitha
down, Ceara turned to everyone, in a loud whisper, “Get down!”

Maximus started to run to get with Tonto, Charlie snapped his fingers and Maximus came back and sat beside him. Charlie smiled at Ceara, “I’ve been working with him.” Ceara looked hurt, “Why not teach me to do it too, he is my dog.” Charlie’s smile vanished, “I was planning on surprising you.” Ceara felt bad for being petty, “Well it is pretty good!”

Charlie relaxed a little knowing she wasn’t mad. Ceara grabbed Maximus’ collar to make sure he didn’t decide he wouldn’t have to listen to Charlie and take off. “Okay, so what now? Alden and Tabitha are crouching down up there, we are crouched here but we have no clue what’s going on.”

Colt looked up to Alden; he almost wanted to laugh at Tabitha with the brush stuck down the back of her shirt. Turning back to Charlie, “I can’t help you with any aspirin but we do have it at the cabins, don’t help you now though. To be honest
,
I don’t think you will even notice your head till all this is over.” Ch
arlie gave Colt a slight smile.

Alden watched and listened as he heard the voices of what sounded like two men and a women trying to catch and coax Tonto. “Come here
,
puppy,” He heard the women say. The one of the men yelled, “Get him.” The laughter that followed told Alden that Tonto was just playing with them. Tabitha looked to him as he knelt and smiled. “What the hell is he
doing Alden?” She asked.

Alden placed
a hand on her knee he pointed with his other one, “Just watch, and when faced with superior numbers the best way to win is to divide and conquer.” They sat and watched and listened as the voices which started out in one location suddenly seemed to be coming from two then three different areas. Tabitha looked to Alden, “How the hell did you teach that?”

Alden chuckled, “I didn’t he picked it up on his own. I have no idea how he just started doing it in Iraq. He would sneak into the enemy camp and get them to chase him. Then he would get them separated and have one; just one mind you, to follow him. He’d stay just out of their reach and bring them straight to us. He’s doing the same thing right now. So get ready and don’t jump
the gun.”

Beth kept her eyes wide on everything that was going on around them but when she heard Charlie ask Ceara for an aspirin she got a mother like look on her face but let everyone finish talking before she interrupted. Quietly she walked over behind Charlie then place her fingers on the each side of his temples then slowly began massaging them. “Charlie, honey, I know that this doesn’t help much and we are all on edge
,
but try to stay focused and when this is all said and done we will get back to camp and your Tylenol will be waiting for you. Ceara looked really worried and Beth motioned with her head for her to come over and take her place. “Ceara, would you like to come over here and trade spots with me?” Beth thought that by giving Ceara something to do
, it
would hopefully calm herself down along with maybe making
Charlie feel a bit better too.

Charlie smiled weakly at Beth, “Thank you.” He felt Ceara’s finger on his temples as he kept trying to see what Alden and Tabitha were doing. “I wonder if we should maybe get that big ass gun out of the bag yet.”

Colt looked at him and shook his head, “No I don’t think he’s ready for that yet.” They could all hear Tonto barking and almost seen him running through the bushes. The voices seemed to be getting farther apart as the group was getting more and more spread out. Charlie looked at Colt, “You think he’s bringing them all or just one?”

Colt sneered, “If it were up to me we would be back at camp taking them out as they tried to attack us.”

Ceara came around looking everywhere at once, “Colt don’t be stupid, we couldn’t just wait. What if their whole camp came at once? We would all be killed and not to be rude but me, Beth and Tabitha got more to lose than you do, don’t we? Just what would you do if your wife was still alive and here, wouldn’t you protect her or would you
just
bury your head in the sand
and
waiting?”

Colt hadn’t even thought of it like that; no, he would never run the risk of anything happening to Jessica. He knew he would have searched anyone down that even thought about touching her and it wouldn’t matter if it were to kill her or use her like Alden had suggested. “No Ceara, I’m sorry. You’re right; I would never just sit and wait for it. Guess I wasn’t thinking in those terms.”

Ceara nodded, “Glad you can see it from our point.”

Alden
watched as a young woman chased Tonto and
when
she was within ten to fifteen feet of Alden
,
she spotted the horse. The woman stopped and just stared at the horse for a
Moment
then turned to yell to her friends. Alden leaped like a lion on its kill and wrapped his hand around the woman’s mouth as the two fell to the ground.

The woman was kicking and thrashing trying to get away when Tabitha put her pistol in the woman’s face. Kneeling down Tabitha then looked at her and placed her finger up to her lips and whispered, “I think it’s in your best interest right now not to make one sound or my friend here that is pointed at your forehead will make an even bigger sound and you won’t have a chance to blink let alone even think about hearing your brains hitting the front of that tree over there!”

The woman’s eyes were as big as saucers and she shook her head quickly in agreeing with what Tabitha was saying. While the woman was still trembling Tabitha held the gun steady and looked up at Alden the
n gave a quick nod of her head.

Alden sat her up and quickly shoved a bandana into the woman’s mouth. The zip tied her hands behind her back. He turned to Tabitha, “Take her back to the others and then you make her kneel down and zip tie her ankles.”
He handed her another zip tie.

Tabitha nodded, “What about the other two?”

Alden looked at her with cold steel eyes, “One belongs to Tonto the other
,
I’ll take care of.”

Tabitha stood and looked at him. She felt a sense of coldness coming from him she had never felt from any human being before. She knew he slit the one man’s throat and she knew that happened because he had attacked the group, but now she was seeing a part of Alden that almost scared her. He wasn’t mean or cold or ruthless. No, he had been trained all his life for
this;
this was simply a job to him. His occupation was to kill. She turned and jerked the woman to her feet, “C’mon sweetie let’s move.”

She pushed her in front and prodded her back towards the others. Only turning once to look back over her shoulder, she saw that Alden was still kneeling watching her. He turned and moved silently a little further into the bushes as she heard
Tonto’s playful bark once more.

The others watched as Tabitha lead the girl to them. The girl was early twenties with long brown hair that was as dirty as she was; her clothes had not been washed in days. Tabitha shoved her to the ground, “Have a seat! I think we can all have us a little pow wow.”

The girl’s eyes were wide and terrified but they still had a hint of defiance. She kept glancing back toward the way she had come. Colt got close to her and softly said, “I would suggest you not yelling once we take the gag off, we nothing to lose by killing you and not a whole hell of a lot by keeping you alive. Your choice, will you yell if I remove it?”

She girl shook her head no and Tabitha laughed, “She may be smarter than I thought.”

The girl swallowed hard as Colt took off the gag, “What’s your name?”

She looked at all of them and simply said, “Stephanie.”

Colt smiled, “See, easy questions Stephanie. Now, is everyone in your camp now or are any out hunting….. or stealing?”

She looked like she didn’t want to answer but a nudge from Tabitha got her talking, “They’re all here except one we sent to look for you guys. We
wanted you to join our group!!”

She didn’t know that the guy had been killed, Colt kept smiling “Well that is very nice of your people, just how did you know where we were and why did you not just come to our doors?
You want to know what I think? I think you
are just trying to save your pretty little skin. The man you sent to invite us
…” Colt did quotes in the air as he said it. “
is dead, never mess with people that care about each other and will protect the others with their lives.”