Surviving Day by Day (Book 3): Still They Come
Read Surviving Day by Day (Book 3): Still They Come Online
Authors: Audra Allensworth
Tags: #Zombie Apocalypse
Book 3
By Audra Allensworth, Robert Parsons, Janna Shaw
Kindle Edition
Copyright 2014
Parsons Productions
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
Surviving Day by Day Novels
So It Begins
Fears, Flames, and Future
Still They Come
Acknowledgement:
We would like to thank Mr. Paul Natale for his tireless help in editing our books. Thank You So Much for helping us amateurs turn out a professional story.
Chapter 7 – Ghosts in the Ghost Town
Chapter 8 – Storm Cloud Brewing
Chapter 9 – The Good, The Bad, and….
Chapter 12 – What’s in a Name?
Chapter 13 – Can Life be Normal
?
Chapter 14 – Sex, Humor, and Wire
In the beginning the infection started. It rushed across the nation like a tidal wave. Few survived the initial outbreak. Those that did were ill prepared for what was to come. Little did some of these people know how strong they were deep down inside.
This is a story of such individuals. Beth a member of the C.D.C; Charlie, a simple handyman; Ceara, a simple young farm girl along with her new found friend Maximus a German Shepard; Tabitha, the typical southern rebel girl; and Colt, the meek and mild husband whose wife had died of the disease. These few people would escape to the woods, and somehow come together as a group. They came from all walks of life, and from various backgrounds. Trying to escape the insanity of massive death, they each arrived in a small National Park in Southern Missouri.
One by one they stumbled onto the only person who could possibly help them Survive Day by Day. Alden, a retired U.S. Army 1st Sergeant with years of combat experience behind him, a trained military dog, and a pure and simple don’t mess with me attitude. Taking them in one by one, he taught them the simplest rules of survival. Number one was to always work as a team. The civilians soon learned that the only way to stay alive was to develop the will to kill the undead, and sometimes the living.
As time went on, they ran into others who had survived. Some had decided that it was a take what you want world now, and they were out only for themselves, damn the rest. Others were like their small group, just trying to keep alive and keep surviving Day by Day.
They realized that to keep living they would have to start moving and look for safer places to live. An area that would not have had a large population even before the world turned. Alden knew of such place in New Mexico, so the group began to push west in search of others who like them were trying to carry on.
Constantly searching for food and supplies was not an easy task. There was the risk of death at every turn. It seemed as they traveled there would be no safe place. Death and destruction littered the world.
Finally, they arrived at Alden’s old army buddies place, outside of Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. They finally thought they had a home, where they could feel safe. A place where they could try to start anew, but this was not to be. The battles with the dead, though not as often, still occurred. One member they had picked up along the way had died along with a faithful friend, Maximus.
The story continues as they pick up the broken pieces of the group, trying to hold onto the belief that someday, somewhere, things will get back to normal, if they could only hold out and Survive Day By Day.
Time had moved on as the remaining members learned to move forward; each in their own way finding how to accept the loss, however they could. It had been two weeks and Ceara was finally coming to terms with Maximus’ passing, more accepting her responsibility in the death of Heath. She was beginning to get on everyone’s nerves because at no time would she go off alone, nor would she allow others to.
Alden, a retired military man, was still suffering from a severely sprained ankle, after a run in with several wanderers, was stuck close to the house. Charlie and Colt had made jokes that she was lucky Alden couldn’t get out too far with his ankle. He wanted to lay odds on when it finally would happen. Alden had told Ceara repeatedly to ease off but it did no good.
Charlie would do his best to make Ceara laugh by making fun of Alden becoming a grumpy old man. He did imitations of Alden hobbling around on his makeshift crutches; of course, he was always sure Alden was out of sight when he did this.
Ceara sat on the fence watching Charlie. Her eyes widened as she looked to the house. Charlie had finally made her burst out laughing, but he knew there would be a cost. Charlie looked around; he paled when he saw Alden standing on the porch, “Having fun kid? I’m not going to need this crutch much longer, but you keep it up, and I might have a storage place for it.”
Charlie looked back to Ceara; she was trying to stifle the laughing, “Sorry, he just kind of appeared,” she said.
Alden made his way across the yard, “It’s good to see that smile again, almost good enough to ok the imitations…. even if they did suck,” Alden joked.
Charlie smiled, “Hey, no offense boss, just trying to get Ceara to realize its ok to laugh again.”
**********************************************************
Tabitha made her way to the back of the house to retrieve her crossbow. As she got to it, something caught her attention. Off in the distance, she could see a few rabbits grazing on some of the scrub brush. That was the one thing about the desert and the world on hold for a while, was that there were no lawn mowers or weed eaters. The wild life was coming closer and closer to the house.
The group hadn’t had any meat in a while. Tabitha thought about how, if she was lucky, after she was out on one of her so called ‘expeditions’, she could make the best homemade rabbit stew.
Throwing the cross bow over her shoulder, she checked to see if she had enough arrows and that she had her bowie knife. When she had everything safely secured and double checked, she walked back to the far end of the corral fence.
The rabbits were too busy with their meal and she wanted the biggest and fattest one of the three. Tabitha crouched down, she knew to get to him she had to creep around and hunker down to sneak up enough so that she could get a clean shot.
Ceara noticed that Tabitha was squatting down and slowly moving to an angle quietly. “Charlie?” she whispered. “We can’t lose sight of her. Just where is she going?”
Ceara then hopped down and headed over to talk to Tabitha. Charlie stood there for a moment, then spoke, “Honey, leave her be. She will be alright. I mean, if it was anything to worry about, I know that Tabitha would let us all know. Remember we have to be aware and prepared?”
Ceara turned around, “Well, I am just going to go help her, see if she needs anything.”
Tabitha was about twenty five feet behind the biggest rabbit as she slowly stood and got her crossbow cocked and ready to take the shot. The wind blew just a little and the targets ears wiggled just a bit, but it did not move and went right on with its feeding. Just as Tabitha was about to pull the trigger, Ceara walked right up and in a normal voice, “Tabitha! You need any help with anything?”
That was all that it took, and all three of the rabbits bolted off into the desert and disappeared around some rocks…
Rolling her eyes as she looked over at Ceara, “If I needed your help I would have asked, all I was doing was trying to get us some fresh meat for some stew. So, if you don’t mind, I would really like to go find our dinner!”
Walking briskly away from Ceara, Tabitha really just wanted some time away to collect her thoughts and get back into the routine of living and surviving. Ceara started walking behind her and speaking at the same time, “Well, let me just go with you. I can keep you company.”
Tabitha was getting aggravated and she suddenly stopped, spun around and sternly spoke, “Why don’t you go take care of Alden, Charlie, or your horse that you love so much and just leave me be for a while! That is all I am asking… please!”
Tabitha didn’t give her a chance to answer because as soon as she made her statement, she took off running into the desert.
After getting about a hundred yards away into the desert, Tabitha sat down on a large rock and listened to anything in particular that sounded like a rabbit or something that she could bring home for dinner. While sitting there, Tabitha started thinking of the last time she and Heath were on watch, it brought a smile to her lips. Tabitha was drawn back to the present by a sound of rustling up in the distance, then a crunch which sounded like her fat furry little bunny and she began the hunt once more.
Colt walked around the house. He and Beth were the only ones left in there. He joined her in the kitchen wrapping an arm around her waist as he reached for a cup. “How are we doing with supplies?”
Beth looked confused, “Well good morning to you to and what brought that up?”
Colt filled her cup and filled his own, “Good morning… I just thought about it when I looked at the coffee pot. In the mood Alden’s been in with that ankle, I would hate to run of his life’s blood.”
Beth grinned as she sipped her coffee, “Well his ankle is better, he is outside with Charlie and Ceara now. To answer your question, there was plenty of coffee in the trailer. I would think we have enough for another year. That is if we stay here.”
Colt sat at the small kitchen table, “What do you mean?”
Beth joined him setting a plate of biscuits down, “Well, just think about it, we thought we were safe and home at the cabins, but look what happened. We can’t think this is it; we may have to leave here too. I don’t want to sound negative or be a downer but the fact is we don’t know what tomorrow holds.”
Colt sat in silence for a little while and just drank his coffee, and eating a couple of biscuits. “I know you’re right, but don’t say this to anyone else just yet. We’ve all been through enough and need some down time. Ceara seems to be doing better and Tabitha headed out to hunt so she is doing better too, let’s just be happy for a little while.”
Beth looked to the back door, “Yeah, she went out about thirty minutes ago. I’m really hoping the worst is behind us for at least a little bit.” She looked back to Colt, “I wouldn’t say this to the others but I had to voice my worries.” A small smile played on her lips, “That’s what I have you for.”
Colt smiled as he stood he leaded over and kissed her cheek, “Yes it is, that and anything else you have need of.”
Beth cocked her head at him and his smile got bigger, “I meant protection or talking or anything like that… get your mind out of the gutter, Miss Canter.”
Feeling herself get a little flushed, she knew that this wasn’t the time for that but just having Colt there, helped her feel safe and protected. “I’ve been thinking about the Indians and how Alden is going to deal with them now. I mean, they did the honorable thing when it came to bringing back Heath and dressed him out for burial. That showed a lot of respect for us.”
Taking another sip of her coffee, Beth looked over to Colt and cocked her head ever so slightly, “I know that the Indians are allowing us to share their land with them because of Alden’s friend and of course his history. Maybe we could talk with Alden and perhaps find a way to somehow unite with the Indians to band together stronger. I know it is a long shot but we are weaker now that we have lost two family members.”
Colt sat back in his seat and placed his hands behind his head, “So you’re thinking about bringing them into the fold?”
Beth shook her head, “Not exactly into the fold, so to speak, but the fact that we do share the land. I thought maybe together we could work on a way of building this land into a fortress of some kind. In history, when Kings and Queens ruled the world, they had bridges, moats, and barricades that kept out the enemy. With the extra man power maybe we all could do something like they did back then. Alden, however, is not up for that kind of work yet; but it would give him something to think about.”
Colt pursed his lips together and his brow furrowed, “That wouldn’t be a bad idea but selling it to Alden…… I don’t know, Beth.”
Beth smiled, “Well the world is now different, I say we should at least put the idea on the table.”
*******************************************************
Alden had worked his way to the picnic table and had his leg propped up on the seat. He watched as Ceara ran after Tabitha. Looking at Charlie; he frowned a little, “Ceara means well, but she is going to have to fold in those motherly wings of hers.”
Charlie nodded as he began to fiddle with the radio once again. The static, came and went then suddenly as clear as day:
“This is Gunnison Central to Jackson Hole…”
“Go for Jackson Hole...”
Charlie’s eyes lit up and Alden winced in pain when his foot hit the ground as he sat straight up.
Charlie turned the volume up. “Careful now son, don’t lose them.” Alden said quietly.
“…Gunnison Central, we have had no movement now for over two weeks, reports still coming in from other stations. Bailey reports word from the eastern slope is they have them stopped at all main mountain passes. Vail and the rest of the main tourist towns have been burned down. Highway dynamited to stop the flow of the infected.….”
Alden looked at Charlie, “That’s Colorado there; I’m guessing the other is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This is really good news.”
Charlie started to grab the mic, “Should I answer?”
Alden grabbed his hand and shook his head, “not yet buddy, we don’t know how many are on this party line and who all might not have good intentions.’”
“… Roger that Gunnison, Cheyenne is gone now, so is Ft Collins. We heard from Butte last night. They were able to reach some town way up north called St Johns. The infection has not made it there or most of the remote areas of Canada.”
“…Roger that Jackson Hole. Maybe there’s still hope. Stay safe! Next contact time in 12 hours… Out.”
“…Roger that Gunnison, 12 hours out…”
The radio went statically again as Charlie reached to turn it off. Alden grabbed his hand again, “Wait a few minutes.”
The radio continued to scan the channels for about five minutes then suddenly stopped for a second and moved on. As Charlie reached to turn it off, it stopped.
“Yeah we heard them. Those bastards in Gunnison have a fucking army up there and no one gets in without going through a complete security check and then a physical and quarantine for thirty days.”
Another voice came right back. “Yeah we sent some guys over to Provo only two came back and they each were missing their fingers. Bastards cut their fucking fingers off so they couldn’t shoot.”
“Fuck, leave the Mormons alone. A group from Vegas tried to attack them to get some new meat and they lost more than their fingers….”
The radio started to scan stopping briefly on the frequency but moving on. Charlie went to turn it off and Alden smiled.
“Here watch this. He turned the radio towards him and hit a button. The frequency number stopped and Alden grinned, “Write that one down. That’s the bad guys.”
Hitting the button once more another frequency popped up. “Now write that one down that’s the good guys, I think.”
Alden leaned back and pulled his leg up on the seat again. “That button has a last frequency feature that will remember the last ten frequencies it locked on too.”
Charlie looked at Alden, “At least we know there are others like us, but also like the ones we ran into in Missouri.”
“Yeah kid there’s going to be all kinds that start to pop up now that things seem to be calming a little. There will be groups of good and bad forming all across the land. You just don’t say anything to anybody yet, not till I give you the go ahead. We don’t have the numbers to defend ourselves, so the less they know the better we are.”
Ceara watched Tabitha take off; she stood there wondering if she should go after her. She knew she was going a bit overboard on the whole issue, but look at what happened last time. She ran off and there were two less in their group. Ceara decided that since Alden had told her to back off, maybe everyone thought it was just her that made lousy choices. Ceara turned to go back with Alden and Charlie when she noticed they were messing with the radio. “Did you guys finally get something?”
Alden shook his head no, “Nothing to use, but like always we will keep at it. We’ll get lucky soon or later.”
Ceara noticed Charlie’s ears turn red, a sure sign he was hiding something. She looked back to Alden, “Well, what did you hear that we can’t use?”
Alden smiled, “Nothing worth sharing.”
Ceara changed tactics, “Charlie, what did you hear, are there a lot out there?”