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

  Surviving Day by Day- Fears, Flames, and Future

  Book 2

  By Audra Allensworth, Robert Parsons, Janna Shaw

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2013

  Parsons Productions

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

  Surviving Day by Day Novels

  So It Begins

  Fears, Flames, and Future

  Acknowledgement:

  We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Paul Natale for his tireless contribution in editing both the first and second book of Surviving Day by Day.

  Paul is a very good friend of ours and he gladly stepped up to offer his help. If it weren’t for him we might still be editing....

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 – Battle Worn

  Chapter 2 – No Pain, No Gain

  Chapter 3 – Hop along Gang

  Chapter 4 – Facing the truth

  Chapter 5 – Boy Next Door

  Chapter 6 – Then There Were Seven

  Chapter 7 – Lemmes

  Chapter 8 – Teach Them to Fish

  Chapter 9 – Head’em up, Move’em Out

  Chapter 10 – Born on a Mountain Top

  Chapter 11 – Boy Scouts

  Chapter 12 – Pitching a Tent

  Chapter 13 – Only Have Today

  Chapter 14 – A Hard Reality

  Chapter 15 – Unknown

  Chapter 16 – Westward Bound

  Chapter 17 - Restocking

  Chapter 18 – Burning Down the House

  Chapter 19 - Free Men of Bray Oklahoma

  Chapter 20 – Wanderers in the Wild

  Chapter 21- The Simpler things in Life

  Chapter 22 - Homestead

  Chapter 23 – Not Alone

  Chapter 24– Remembrance

  Chapter 25 – Supply Run

  Chapter 26 – General Store

  Chapter 27 – Welcome Wagon

  Chapter 28 – Life As We Know It

  Chapter 29 – Fears

  Chapter 30- - Future

  Prologue

  A horrible virus had been developed but had not been kept safe and protected. How the accident happened was not as important as the ensuing Apocalypse. The speed at which it spread was beyond anyone’s imagination. Within weeks it had gone worldwide. It infected people regardless of sex, race, religion, or financial status.

  Each of the survivors came from different parts of the country and from different walks of life. Alden Godfrey a retired Army Vet from Choctaw Bay Arkansas. He is about six foot three, in his fifties, slender man with more grey in his hair every day. Charlie Davidson a young man no more than twenty three, light sandy brown hair, just the type of guy everyone loves. He had grown up in an Orphanage and had become a handyman in Topeka Kansas, Ceara Gillian, prior to the outbreak was an out of work, college dropout who managed a web site for her local church in Kennett, Arkansas. She is twenty-two, five foot five with long, straight, red hair. Beth Cantor a Physician who had worked at the CDC but had the good fortune to not be there the day the ------ hit the fan. At thirty-seven she is the classic picture of grace and beauty. Beth stands five foot six with short, dark brown hair. Colt Johnson was once an I.T. Manager in Memphis Tennessee, happily married and planning out his future. At thirty-two he had everything on track; that is until the outbreak. Now he has lost everything he knew and trying to adapt to this new life. Beth was the first person he has trusted since it all started, and now he finds himself having feelings for her. Tabitha Montgomery, simple wild child from Camdenton, Missouri. She is slender with long, wavy, dark brown hair. At merely twenty six she has seen a life time of hurt, mostly directed at her. She is the only survivor that was more at home in the outbreak than prior to it.

  They all escaped and headed to the hills. Fate brought them together one by one until they formed a small group. Each one brought their own unique talents and personal horror story. They learned quickly that the world was not what it had been anymore. At any given moment, around any bend there could be danger and death waiting.

  We left our group at the end of a fierce battle with not the Wanderers but fellow survivors. Several times they had fought Wanderers but it was a rude awakening to fight the living. They soon found out that not all survivors were out to help each other. Alden had done things that none of their group knew or could even imagine he was capable of. It seemed that killing was second nature to this man, second only to the ability to plan out the killing. Now he wants and needs to know just how the others will look at him.

  One thing is certain though the only way to stay alive was keeping each other close and Surviving Day By Day......

  Chapter 1- Battle worn

  Ceara walked around in a daze, not really seeing all the carnage that lay at her feet. The station wagon Alden had blown up still burned, she stood staring at the flames letting them hypnotize her. Alden’s voice cut through her thoughts,

  “We need to check the vehicles and tents, and anywhere you think one of them can hide, YOU CHECK, DON’T SEARCH! Don’t forget the Wanderers, they are around and you can be assured more are on the way. We do it quick, we need to get what supplies they got and get out…. FAST! Understood?”

  When no one replied Alden picked up a piece of stray metal from the explosion and slammed it hard against a nearby van. The noise got everyone’s attention, “AM I UNDERSTOOD?!” Everyone nodded and he returned the nod, “Let’s get this done and get out of here.” Snapping his fingers he pointed and quickly Tonto and Maximus bolted off to secure and guard the perimeter.

  Ceara walked to the first tent, pulled out her knife and then entered. The only thing in the tent was a lantern and a sleeping bag, she snatched the lantern unsure if it would be of use or not. The next three tents had even less; she wondered if this was even worth their time. The next in line was an old beat up Toyota Tercel; she searched through the car and found a couple of maps, some ammo and a pack of gum. Ceara pocketed the gum with a bit of a smile, she loved chewing gum. The trunk held a few blankets but she left those. She came around the car and saw Charlie searching nearby. She could tell he had found a few things but she couldn’t see what it was.

  Charlie jumped when Alden slammed the metal. Having been shot in the right arm, he wasn’t that energetic but knew they had to get what they could. He watched as the others walked away in different directions. Charlie walked among the dead bodies and recovered a lot of small pistols of various calibers. As he picked up one nice looking 9mm, a wanderer who was missing half his body from the waist down along with one arm, and who still had some fight in him, growled at Charlie. He quickly checked the pistol and fired and single shot into its head. He came across one woman who was clutching a large black duffle bag. Her head was gone and the left side of her body was torn apart. “She must have been right next to the car when it blew,” Charlie thought. Feeling sick to his stomach he pulled the bag free and looked inside. It was filled with clips of ammo along with arrows, knives and hand grenades. “Sweet” he muttered. Reaching in, he pulled out an old Bolo machete in a sheath. He strapped the sheath to his waist and put the other guns in the bag. He pulled out the machete and continued his search.

  Next
Charlie moved to the Winnebago that Alden had used as his vantage point not an hour ago. Opening the door slowly he held the machete in his good arm. The odor of the inside made him gag. He moved slowly into it. The keys were in the ignition. He turned and saw what was causing the odor. “Fucking METH HEADS!”

  There on the table sat all the makings for a portable Meth lab. Charlie opened the driver’s window and then grabbed the boxes that held all the chemicals and tossed them out the door. Turning back to the inside he saw a driver’s license lying on a counter. Morris Higgenbotham, was the name. Charlie snickered, and placed it in his pocket. As he searched the RV he found more and more guns and ammo. Turning he walked back out and went to Alden. “Hey Boss. You need to check this out. The RV is full of shit we can use; we should just drive it out of here.” He handed the license to him.

  Alden looked at the license and smirked, “Higgenbotham. No wonder the guy was pissed at the world. Poor bastard probably got shit on all his life.”

  Alden walked over to the RV and climbed in. The gas gauge read full, turning to Charlie, “Figures his vehicle was full. Chicken shit probably kept it that way so he could run and leave the rest.” Alden moved quickly through the RV then turned to Charlie, “Tell the rest to bring everything here. We’ll load it up and take this bitch back to our camp. I’ll need Ceara and Tabitha to take the horses since we ain’t leaving them.”

  Colt watched everyone going around searching; he took Charlie’s lead and started checking the dead for their weapons and ammo. The leader had a nice rifle, Colt had no clue what kind it was but it looked impressive. He searched the guy’s pockets and found four fully loaded clips. One pocket held a bag of pot that he emptied all over the ground, Colt hated drugs, no matter what all the news reports prior to the outbreak had said about legalizing pot. The way he figured it, it some type of drug got them in this mess.

  He wandered around and noticed a cooler setting by a larger tent. Colt made his way to the cooler and reached with his left hand and soon remembered why he wasn’t using it. Pain flared through his shoulder, arm and across both his chest and back, he dropped to one knee to fight off the nausea and dizziness. Taking a deep breath he stood again and reached with his right hand to the cooler. “They have ice? How the hell do they have ice?” The cooler had both ham and bologna but the cheese was molded. Shaking his head, “They were too worried about fucking, drinking, and drugs to keep their own supplies safe.” He pulled the flap of the tent back and saw a man huddled under the cot doing his best to stay hidden behind the blanket that was hanging over the edge. Colt didn’t have his gun and berated himself for not thinking of it, before he could back out a shot rang out ripping through his upper thigh. Colt fell back grabbing his leg, screaming out to anyone to help.

  Beth’s head jerked up when she heard the gunshot and Colt scream, she looked over to Tabitha. Tabitha wasted no time, “Fuck this shit! I’m on it!”

  Tabitha turned and hurried over to the tent where she heard Colt screaming, Beth was running right behind her. When Tabitha pulled back the flap of the tent, Beth had her Beretta already in her right hand locked and loaded. After seeing Colt on the ground, the look in his eye was grateful that Beth was there, but she also saw his fear. Immediately Beth looked over to see the enemy trying to stand up and before he could get a word in edgewise Beth took aim at her target and shot the asshole right between the eyes. Tabitha looked over to Beth, “Damn fucking straight girl! Shoot first and ask your goddamn questions later!!”

  Beth put her piece in the back of her waistband and dropped down to sit beside Colt. Carefully she looked at the injury on his leg and realized that he had been shot. She tried to, but couldn’t get a good look at it, she couldn’t tell if the bullet had gone through or not. “Colt… I want you to listen to me….we have got to get you moved and out of here. I am going to dress your wound as best as I can here to try to prevent any more blood loss. We will get you back home soon where I can work on you there.”

  Beth reached up to the shoulder sleeve of her shirt and ripped the arm sleeve off. Quickly she tied a tourniquet around the leg but every time Colt made a sound of agony it just made Beth feel worse, which made her work even faster than before. When she was finished she looked over to Tabitha who had been watching the whole time. “Tabitha, here is what I need you to do, grab that blanket off the cot in the tent, we can get Colt on it for now until we talk to Alden to see what he wants to do. For right now, we need to stabilize him and make him as comfortable as we can.”

  Tabitha looked over to where the blanket was and carefully made her way over to grab it. Once she had it she walked back over to Beth, “Here it is, now just tell me what to do.”

  Beth looked over to Colt and gently brushed the top of his forehead. “Colt, I need you to roll over in my direction while Tabitha slides the blanket underneath you. When you come towards me I’ll gently pull you, as I do you need to take a deep breath.”

  Beth looked up to Tabitha, “Tabitha, I need you to fold the blanket in half and then once I have him on his side I need you to place the half folded blanket underneath him.”

  Tabitha looked at her then to Colt, “Ok I can do this.”

  Beth looked back to Colt and said, “On the count of three you try to roll while I pull you to me…remember to take a deep breath and hold it.”

  Colt was in a tremendous amount of pain and he just wanted to get the fuck out of where they were right now and with a nod of his head he began counting, “One…..”

  Beth continued, “Two…” and all three of them said, “Three”. Within a matter of seconds Tabitha laid the half folded blanket down underneath Colt’s back and Beth spoke softly, “Colt…. I am going to roll you back over and I want you to release your breath slowly. When you land on your back Tabitha is going to be on the other side and I need you to roll towards her.”

  Gently Beth helped him roll over and he did pretty well at letting out his breath but when he did he let out a loud, “FUCK THAT HURTS!”

  Tabitha quickly put her hands on Colts left side and said, “Come on Colt, deep breath and come to me baby.”

  Colt looked at Tabitha with a raised eyebrow then over to Beth. Beth began chuckling, “Good one Tabitha, way to get his mind off his pain.”

  Tabitha smiled, “Hey, I am just doing what I do best.” Colt took another deep breath and quickly he began rolling and Tabitha helped him as best as she could. Beth found the other side of the blanket and unfolded it so that it was completely flat.

  “Ok Tabitha let’s get him back on his back.” When Colt was returned back Beth wrapped the blanket around him and sat there with him. “Tabitha, you go help the others and I will sit here with Colt for a bit to make sure he is alright.”

  Tabitha looked over to Ceara where she was trying to get a handle on one of the horses. “Yep, looks like Red over there could be using some of my help.” Slowly Tabitha stood and made her way over to Ceara. When she got there Ceara had the one horse settled. Tabitha then walked over to the other horse and took control of it.

  Alden heard the two shots and almost knocked Charlie over as he made his way back out of the RV. He saw where the girls were and saw Colt laying on the ground. Jumping down, he bolted across the camp. He watched as the girls wrapped Colt up. Kneeling down he looked at Beth, “I know you’re a nurse or some shit, but trust me I have a little experience with injuries made from gunfire.”

  Noticing the blood had already soaked Beth’s shirt sleeve Alden knew what had to be done. Standing up, he calmly walked over to where the campfire was still smoldering. He knelt down and blew on some coals as he added a little wood, then took his knife and stuck it in the fire. Turning it he kept asking Beth how Colt was holding up. She was holding his hand and comforting him, “He’s weak Alden, real weak.”

  “I bet,” was his only reply. The blade had turned red on the tip and black a little farther up as Alden pulled it out of the fire. Walking back over he looked at Beth, “I know this ain’t what you
’re used to but we need to stop the bleeding now.”

  Beth looked at Colt with a tear in her eye then to Alden, “I know I just wish there was another way. I was hoping we could get him back and I could suture it.”

  “No time,” Alden said as he pulled the bandage off. He took a stick and wrapped a clean part of the sleeve around it. “Beth you hold him. Colt here bite down on this.”

  Colt did as he was told not thinking to ask Alden why. Colt’s scream was muffled as he bit down on the stick and broke it when Alden touched the red hot blade to his wound. The smell of searing flesh caused Beth to gag. Alden wasted no time and rolled Colt over and slapped the knife on the other side of the wound. Again Colt bit down hard and the smell again caused Beth to gag.

  Charlie came out of the RV running, “HEY GUYS LOOK WHAT I FOUND!” As he got to where Colt was lying he looked down, “Oh man that fucking stinks.”

  Alden turned and stood, “Just what did you find Cupcake, a rubber sex doll.”

  Charlie stammered, “err uhh no. I found this; it’s like a complete surgeon’s bag from the army or something.”

  He handed it to Alden who grinned for a moment then turned to Beth and Colt. He tossed the bag next to her. “It’s a Special Forces medic kit, and he’s right it’s a portable surgical bag.”

  Colt raised his head and looked at Charlie, “You couldn’t have been just one minute quicker, you fuck!” Colt collapsed back looking to Beth, “Next time hide me in a damn tent until Charlie is done searching the grounds!” He tried to smile at Charlie to let him know he was joking… kind of. Colt was not used to being the center of attention, “Ok, ok Beth is taking care of me, you guys finish what needs done!”

  As soon as Alden and Charlie walked off to finish the search Colt looked to Beth, then down to the ground. “It really makes me look pretty stupid getting shot twice, but don’t fucking tell that old man! He will get that damn knife ready again.” Colt looked down at his leg, “I bet Alden thinks I’m a complete idiot.” Beth started to talk but he cut her off, “I don’t blame him either, I suck at this survival shit.” He hit the ground with his good hand, “I am going to get everyone killed, I got Jessica infected and now I can’t protect myself much less those around me.” Frustrated tears shimmered in his eyes as he looked back to Beth, “I try to help…”