Surviving Day by Day (Book 3): Still They Come (18 page)

“Damn it, what the hell?” Reaching down, he tried to pull a back corner. It was caught on something underneath. As Charlie reached under the tarp, he suddenly yelped in pain, ‘SONOFABITCH!” Stepping back he looked at the back of his hand. It was covered with scratches. Tabitha walked around the shed, “What’s up?”

Charlie explained what happened, then turned again to the pile. Reaching down he took the edge of the tarp, “Tabitha, you pull on this slowly while I try to get it unhooked.”

Tabitha grabbed the corner, “You say when, little brother”

Charlie reached underneath slowly this time, “Okay pull.”

As Tabitha pulled, Charlie felt around the tarp and worked the stuck edges off the metal he could feel.

Suddenly the tarp broke free and Tabitha flew backwards landing hard on the ground. Charlie looked at her and started to chuckle, “Oh damn, Tabitha, I’m sorry... are you alright?”

Tabitha stood and brushed herself off, “Yeah, as they say, nothing hurt but my pride. What the hell was it caught on?”

They both turned and gasped. Charlie’s eyes went wide, “Holy shit, will you look at that.”

Tabitha was looking but didn’t know what she was seeing, “Call me dumb Charlie but what the hell are those things?”

Charlie smiled at her, “Those are rolls of concertina wire. They strung that shit up on top of prison walls and stuff.” He saw her look, “What, I did read…”

Tabitha smiled, “Back where I came from, there were people that called that barb wire on steroids. That would be perfect if we did some sort of fence line and not make it so high but just enough that those zombies would get shredded if they happened to try to cross it. We would have time to get to them and blow their heads off. It would definitely slow their dead asses down.”

Charlie shook his head, “Alden will have a field day when we tell him of this treasure and maybe this will get him to thinking of ideas too.”

******************************************************

When Beth got inside, she stood looking out the kitchen window. All of her emotions were beginning to take their toll. Her stomach was making angry noises, and the fighting between Colt and Ceara was really aggravating her, not to mention that the lack of sleep was beginning to creep up on her. Taking a deep breath, Beth turned on the faucet and splashed some water on her face. That made her feel somewhat better, and she remembered how Alden was feeling. He wasn’t going to stay off his leg and trying to get him to do so was pure hell.

She got a towel and dried her face and reached up in the cabinet grabbing two aspirin for Alden. Beth fixed a pitcher of sweet tea. Within a matter of minutes, she had a tray set up for the both of them with two glasses of sweet tea and two aspirins. Beth thought about slipping a Vicodin in his glass, but that would probably just piss him off. She didn’t want anyone else being pissed off. However, the thought of a stoned Alden did make her giggle. She made it back outside to where Alden was sitting. “Alden, I know you didn’t care for the Kool-Aid, so I made a fresh pitcher of my sweet tea, and brought you two aspirin to help relieve some of the pain. If you would stay off of it for even a day, you would feel a difference. Since you won’t, I can just treat you for the pain.” Quietly she took her seat beside him and began drinking her tea.

They both watched as Ceara and Colt came out of the barn, Alden sat up. “Do I need to get the clothesline, or did you do what you were told?”

Ceara smiled, but held back just a little, “We worked it out, Colt knows why I acted the way I did, and I tried to see things from his side.”

Beth set her glass down, “Tried or did?”

Colt walked over grabbing Beth’s tea, “We’re good, honey.” He took a drink, and then looked to Beth, “Damn, I’m away for a little while and you are getting another man tea. Here I am left out in the cold.”

His wink let Beth know he was just trying to change the subject.

Beth smirked, “Well I am here to help, not serve... you want tea, you know where it is.”

Colt reached out grabbing her glass again, “Yep, sure do, and it tastes great!”

Beth took her tea back, “Oh, no you don’t.... tell you what, you go help with the traps and keep me safe, and I will see about MAYBE getting you some tea.”

Colt leaned over giving her a quick kiss, “Yes dear, love you too.”

Colt stepped off the porch and stopped in mid-step, turning he looked back to Beth. He saw her look and it was the same as he was feeling. Beth gave a quick smile, “Go... scoot, there is work to be done.”

Colt turned back to walk off and Ceara fell into step beside him, “Was that the first time you said that?”

Colt simply nodded, “Let it go though, I need to process that and make sure of how both Beth and I are really feeling about each other.”

Ceara and Colt walked around the barn, “I’ll drop it, but just one thing, the rest of us know how you guys feel. I’m surprised you guys don’t.”

***************************************************************

Charlie had separated the rolls of wire, spaced them apart so they wouldn’t get tangled up again. Ceara and Colt had joined him and Tabitha. Ceara looked at the wire, “So Charlie, how do we do this?”

Charlie looked at them, “We take these rolls out, and then we will cut them one at a time. Letting them uncoil. After that, we can stretch them out a little and let them intertwine with the next one. That way if a wanderer gets caught up, the more he struggles, the more he gets tangled. The more he’s tangled, the easier it will be to kill.” Charlie turned to Colt, “We’re going to need some stakes to pound into the ground to wrap this stuff around. Nothing big, we just some metal poles that will go down about two feet, and leave about two or three feet on the top.”

Colt looked at Tabitha, “Come with me, we got some of those long metal angle stakes in the barn. We can put them in a wagon along with the rolls and just ride around the house setting stakes.”

Tabitha walked along with Colt. Many things were running through her mind. Things were starting to look pretty good. “Glad to see that you and Red worked things out. I know she gets on everyone’s nerves, but we have to put it behind us. Hopefully we can all survive when this hoard comes.” Tabitha stopped and suddenly looked at Colt, “You think we will be able to hold up here and actually keep this life going of ours since we are putting all this work into it? Cause I sure as hell would hate to go to all of this trouble just to pull up stakes, so to speak.”

Colt chuckled, “Pun intended?”

Tabitha smirked, “Yeah brother, and you know what I mean.”

Colt brushed his hair back, getting it out of his eyes, “Tabitha, we got to try something, because the way I look at it is, those wanderers out there will be dying off sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, and when they do, I would like to see all of us hunkered down with a fort, warding off the dead. Let’s face it, once the dead are dead, we will have to deal with the living.”

Tabitha took off walking and Colt walked beside her, “That was what I was thinking.”

When they reached the barn, Tabitha jogged over to pick up some of the stakes. “I will carry these over to the wagon and you can bring up the rest, but we kinda need to step it up… daylight is burning.”

Colt and Tabitha walked around to the front of the barn, and Alden sat up straighter, “What’s up? What are you planning with those?”

Colt looked over and set the stakes on their end, “Charlie found a couple rolls of barbed wire and we are going to use Beth’s idea, kind of... we are making an above ground trench!”

Beth smiled, “And how is that a trench?”

Colt winked at her, “Well a trench stops them in their tracks, right? This will too, plus this will keep them level with us, so we just go along, take them out and clear away the debris.”

Alden smiled, “I like your thinking!”

Tabitha pushed Colt, “Get a move on, we got a lot to get done.... Hey Beth, how is dinner coming along? If I need to, I can make it, I’m sure Colt wouldn’t mind doing all this.”

Beth laughed and waved them off, “You guys go on; I have dinner handled just fine.”

Colt lifted the stakes back off the ground, “Ok, head’em up, move’em out...”

Tabitha looked confused, “What the hell?”

“Rawhide! Didn’t you ever watch it?”

“Just move, I don’t have time for trivia.” Tabitha was laughing as she started loading the truck.

Beth looked down to Alden, “You need any more to drink?”

Alden looked up from what he was working on, “Some coffee would do good right about now.”

Turning quickly, Beth made her way inside to make a fresh pot of coffee. Once it finished brewing, she then picked up Alden’s cup from the counter, filled it, then grabbed the pitcher of sweet tea and made her way back out to patio.

After handing Alden his cup, Beth turned to Niz, who was refilling her glass. “Now if you’re all doing fine, I am going to get supper done. I can’t remember when the last time I ate was.”

When Beth made it back inside, she placed the pitcher back in the fridge and started getting some cans of vegetables out of the cupboard. Poor man’s stew was on the menu for the night and she thought that with everybody working as hard as they were, this dinner would be very nourishing, especially for Niz and Alden with their injuries.

Once she had the soup cooking, she remembered that there were some chunks of leftover meat. So she decided to dice them up and throw them in the pot. While she was doing this, something hit her like a ton of bricks. Colt had told her that he loved her, but she was so exhausted, hungry, and just plain wore out that she hadn’t wanted to deal with it when it happened, but now...

Looking out the window, she could see Colt with Tabitha off in the distance. All Beth could think about was that deep down inside, she did have feelings for him. She first had these feeling when he told her about how he cared for Jessica even in the very end. He, like her, just wanted to try to save the one that he loved; just as Beth had wanted to go into medicine, to come up with cures for diseases.

Beth continued to stir the pot of stew, but now a smile came across her face. She knew there would be a time to discuss things with Colt, hopefully tonight, after dinner and after she had made her rounds.

Alden came in the back door, “Damn, that smells good. You’ve come a long way from your Ruby Tuesday or Applebee's days, haven’t you?”

Moving next to her, he took the spoon, dipped it in, and took a sip, “Needs salt.”

He handed the spoon back to her as she giggled, “I bet every man left in the world would walk in here and say the same thing.”

Alden smiled as he turned; he grabbed a beer from the cooler of water. As he reached the back door, he looked back, “Yeah Beth, I bet you're right. Every man would make the same statement, except one.”

Beth turned, “Yeah, and who would that be?”

Alden opened the beer and took drink. Then pointed with it out the window, “That man out there, who else?”

Limping back to the table, he looked at Niz, “How you holding up kid?”

Niz frowned a little, “I’m okay; I just wish I could do more. I hate being all bummed up like this. I’m used to pitching in but I can barely move my arm sometimes.”

Alden took another sip, “I wish we could get word to your medicine man. I’m sure he has some native recipes made from shit we got growing right around here.”

Niz smiled “I know he used to use some of the juices from the aloe plants, but he mixed them with something else. One ingredient was the venom of snake.”

Alden looked at her, “You know that really doesn’t surprise me, as most venom is like a neurotoxin. If you rub it on, it’d make that area go numb.”

Niz chuckled, “Yeah, that’s why you have to add the other plants to it, or you get the most horrible burning sensation. We had one young brave find out the hard way. He got stung by a bee on the inside of his thigh, so he snuck into the medicine man’s tepee. He took some of the ingredients, but he didn't know how to mix it right. Putting it all together in a mud mixture, he spread it in the sting, but got some on his...well, you know.” Niz was laughing now.

Alden was chuckling, “Don’t tell me? He jumped up and went Whoaaa, whoaaa, whooaaaa, shit....?” Alden was dancing around on his good foot holding his hand over his privates as the two were laughing uproariously...

Several hours passed.... Colt, Tabitha, Ceara, and Charlie had the corral and barn secured. Charlie was very proud of the barbed wire fence. All four were dirty and sweaty as they joined the rest for dinner. Colt gave Beth a quick kiss and headed for the shower before any of the others could.

When he walked back out, he towel dried his hair, “Damn, I already need another haircut.”

Alden laughed, “Told you guys, high and tight is the way to go!”

Colt shook his head, “And lose all this beautiful hair? Beth would kick my ass. She loves to run her...”

“COLT”, Beth was blushing, “I think we get the jist of your need for your hair.”

Colt winked at her, “I was just playing honey. I was just going to say you love playing with it while we sit on the porch and talk. Where was your mind?””

“After dinner we can go trim your hair,” Beth turned to the others, “You three hurry up and shower, dinner will be done soon and everyone needs to get fed.”

Within the hour, everyone was sitting down to enjoy the stew Beth made. Everyone was worn out. Ceara looked to Alden as he pushed his bowl away and drank his coffee, “Alden, we have the barn and corral all done, but we still have to get the house secure... but it’s dark out and I kind of don’t want to go back out tonight....”

Alden set his coffee down, “We don’t set anything up at night, and if they attack tonight, then we will move to the barn. Tonight won’t be a normal guard; we are going back to the two hour watches. I want someone one wide awake and keeping a very close eye on things.”

Colt leaned back, stretching an arm across the back of Beth’s chair, “So what is the schedule? I don’t think asking myself, Charlie, Ceara or Tabitha to take an early watch is a good idea. We are wiped out and would fall asleep on duty.”

Alden nodded in agreement, “Niz and I will take the first watch, and we will take a four hour set. Then you and Beth, then Charlie and Ceara.”

Tabitha smirked, “You putting me with the new pups?”

Alden grinned, “They need to be trained, but no... I’ll take the last watch with you. We will have Tonto too, so it will be fine.”

Everyone moved to the living room to relax. Beth laid her head on the back of the couch where surprisingly she had found Colt’s arm. “Sorry Colt, I am just tired.” Lifting her head back up, Colt put his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it softly, “You must be, with all of the medical stuff and taking care of everyone. Not to mention making us dinner. Why don’t you go get a shower, we will all pitch in and do the dishes?”

Beth looked over to Niz and then to Alden. “Not yet, I really want those two to go get bathed, so I can get Niz her medication on board.”

Niz reached up and rubbed her shoulder. After having a good meal and now relaxing, she realized that stiffness had set in. “Beth, you know how I feel about medication, but I do have to agree with you on this one. It’s pretty stiff and tender.”

Beth shook her head, “That is a very good sign that it is healing, and while you are sleeping, the medication will allow your body to heal better. I promise, you will notice a difference in the morning.”

Alden reached over and patted Niz on her good shoulder, “You heard the doc... now scoot!” He then raised his cup to his mouth to take another sip of coffee winking at Niz.

“Yes, dad”, said Niz with a sweet smile on her face. She got up slowly then made her way to the shower.

Beth shook her head and laughed, “So how does this work for you, Alden? Can I tell you to scoot like that?”

Alden put his cup down and replied, “Nope. I am a tough old man and I will be just fine.”

Charlie looked over and with concern in his voice he suggested, “Alden, Beth is right. What is good for the goose is good for the gander and you will feel better too, once you get cleaned up.”

Tonto was lying on the floor with the pups, playing with his flopping tail. Ceara got down on the floor with them, “What about Tonto? Can I change his dressings, Beth? I want to learn.”

Beth nodded, then started to get up but surprisingly, Colt pulled her back down beside him on the couch. “Beth, you sit still for a while. How about you just tell Ceara what she needs to do to take care of Tonto, and she can go get the supplies?”

The couch did feel quite good and sitting beside Colt made her feel cozy. “Fine, you win,” she chuckled.

Ceara stood up, “You heard the man... what do I need?”

“Go into our bedroom and get the gauze along with some paper tape. You will need some peroxide, along with some of that antibiotic cream, and some rags to pat down the wound.”

Ceara turned to go and then smiled at everyone, “Damn, I’m sore.” She headed off to the bedroom, scooping up the gauze, paper tape, rags, and antibiotic. Ceara got back kneeling by Tonto, petting him, “I am going to play doctor with you, so be a good patient for me, Ok?”

Ceara looked to Beth for instructions, Beth leaned forward, “First you need to cut the old bandage off. Ceara looked at her supplies and then looked to Charlie, “She didn’t tell me about scissors, so will you go get them, please?” She drew out the please as she smiled.

Charlie rolled his eyes, “No problem, I wasn’t relaxing or anything.” He got up and went to get the scissors, calling out to the living room, “Anything else while I am back here?”

Beth looked to the supplies and called out, “The peroxide, too!”

Charlie came back in, and handed over the things and then laid down on the floor at Tonto’s head. “Ok boy, I am going to keep you company while Ceara helps you out. The three puppies abandoned Tonto’s tail to climb on Charlie; Tonto looked to Charlie then laid his head down on the floor. Charlie laughed, “Ok fine, I’ll keep these guys busy for you.”

Charlie picked one up, “Ok, so this is Mickey, right?” Tabitha nodded, “Yeah and he’s mine, so be nice.”

Charlie pointed to one of the others, “Tiger?” Ceara nodded and she cut away the old bandages off Tonto. Charlie set Mickey down and picked up the un-named puppy. “So little guy, you still need a name. Let’s see...” He flipped the pup around looking him over, “Has anyone laid claim to him?”

Colt shook his head, “Why don’t we just let that one be everyone’s dog, no rights to anyone specific.”

Charlie smiled, “Kind of like a family adopting him?”

Ceara knew what Charlie was thinking, “Charlie, you were adopted a long time ago by Alden. I don’t think it needed to be official.”

Colt laughed, “Hell, we all adopted each other!” He rubbed his jaw remembering the fight him and Charlie had, “We fight like a family and protect like one too.”

Charlie smiled at everyone, “They say better late than never, but I wouldn’t have traded all the time in the home, if it meant missing out on having this family.”

Charlie looked back to the puppy, “We could call him Potter, after Harry Potter... he was an orphan that got adopted by the whole wizarding community?”

Alden shook his head, “Not much use for wizard kiddy stories.”

Charlie nodded, “How about Sawyer?”

Tabitha shook her head no, “That kid did nothing but make trouble, and we don’t need a dog like that.”

Charlie started laughing, “How about Batman, he was an orphan, too.”

Beth grinned, “I like that, and we will have our own little superhero!”

Ceara shook her head no, “Sorry but that just doesn’t fit, you can’t name a dog batman... all the other dogs will make fun of him.”

Everyone busted up laughing; Ceara lowered her head, “Well, you don’t know; they might.”

Alden looked at the puppy, “How about Crixus?”

Everyone stopped laughing and looked confused at him. “Crixus was another famous gladiator, might be fitting to pay tribute to Maximus to do that. It was just a thought.”

Ceara had tears in her eyes, “Thank you Alden, I think that is perfect.” She quickly started working on Tonto again; she had his paw almost finished. Charlie set the puppy down, “Crixus it is.”

Tabitha sat there and watched Ceara tend to Tonto’s paw. A tear formed in her eye and she tried not to show it but when she sniffled, Ceara looked up at Tabitha, “Did I do something wrong?”

Shaking her head no, Tabitha held onto her pup, “I don’t think I ever said I was sorry to you for losing Maximus. He was a great dog. A little goofy, but he was a great dog.”

When Tonto heard Maximus’s name, he lifted his head and his tail wagged. Ceara had just finished with that bandage and Tabitha’s pup ran over to nip at Tonto’s tail playfully. Ceara wiped the tears from her eyes, “its ok, Tabitha.” Ceara looked over to Colt, then back to Tabitha, “We have all made mistakes and some more than others. We just have to learn from them and go on.”

Beth looked over to Colt and laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. “I couldn’t have put it better Ceara. However, I would like to add just one thing to that.”

Ceara looked up to Beth, “What would that be?”

“Once we learn from them, then we remember them, so that we do our best not to repeat those same mistakes. For those who forget those are doomed to repeat them.” Beth looked up at Colt and laid her head back down on his shoulder. Beth thought back, remembering Colt’s reaction when he found out the truth about what she had done for a living. That was what had made her make that statement. She knew what had happened would cause her to never hide the truth from anyone again. “With things the way they are, anything from secrets, to not planning, and more than just that, it comes down to not thinking could end up bad for anyone of us, so we just have to stay alert.”

Alden heard Niz’s footsteps moving from the bathroom to her room and stood up, “You cupcakes continue your soap opera hour while I go get cleaned up.” Ceara laid down beside Charlie and noticed the sound of silence.

After about five minutes, Charlie wiped the hair out of Ceara’s eyes, “What are you thinking about?”

Ceara looked up and then to everyone that was sitting quietly. Taking in a very deep breath, letting it out slowly she continued, “The wanderers.... will we be able to survive this next wave? Where will we be next week at this time? Or even next year? I just am tired of fighting to live but I just don’t know what else to do anymore.”

Niz walked back into the front room wearing a pair of buckskin pants, a tank top, and a buckskin vest adorned in Indian beads. As she went to sit down, Ceara noticed the design of a wolf’s head on the back.

“Oh my God Niz, that looks like Maximus.”

Niz smiled, “It’s a wolf. One of the grandmothers made it for me a few years ago. I never thought about it, but yeah, I guess a shepherd and a wolf are almost like twins.”

Niz did a little turn so the rest could see the back then sat down in a recliner.

Beth got up and went to her room, returning quickly with a white bottle.

“Here Niz, take one now and then when your shift is done go ahead and take the other two.”

Niz popped it in her mouth, picked up her tea from the coffee table, and took a drink as she leaned back.

Everyone was watching the puppies playing and jumping over and on Tonto, who simply lay there quietly. As Alden walked back in, Tonto sat up. The puppies began to jump and nip playfully at his jaw and throat. All of them, except one. Tonto growled lowly as they continued to play. He suddenly barked and took a quick nip at them, sending them all yelping to their master. Mickey was between Tabitha’s feet, as Tiger jumped in Ceara’s lap. Only Crixus remained. He was sitting as straight as he could next to Tonto watching Alden. Tonto got up and limped over to where Alden was standing, then sat down and looked up at him. Crixus followed, sitting next to Tonto.

Alden reached down and rubbed Tonto’s head, “Yeah I know boy, damn cupcakes can be a real pain in the ass.” Tonto licked Alden’s hand, afterward went and laid down next to his empty chair. Crixus sat looking at Alden then to where Tonto was. Turning he trotted over and laid down next to Tonto. Charlie looked at Alden, “How the hell did you do that?”

Alden smiled and picked up his coffee, “I didn’t do anything. That’s just one smart little private right there.” Alden went to the kitchen and returned with his cup full. Sitting down, he looked at the rest, “Okay kiddies unless you're all going to tell each other bedtime stories, it’s time you all hit the racks. As they all got up saying their goodnights and heading down the hall, Alden spoke up, “Oh and boys... When I said racks... I meant the beds...” He grinned and winked as the two men turned and smiled they came to attention and saluted then grumbled, “Yes, Sir.”

Alden turned to Niz, “How’s the shoulder?”

Niz smiled weakly, “It’s sore as hell. There’s no way I can hold a rifle.”

Alden stood and went to his room. Returning he handed her a small Ruger 22 pistol. “This should work for you. It’s night so we will be in defense mode anyway. This is lightweight and easy to use.”

Niz looked at it, “Will this do the trick?
Alden smiled, “Sure will. Too many people think that to kill the damn things you need a big bullet. Not true, you only need to hit them in the head and a .22 hollow point will do the rest just fine.”

Niz got up and went to lock the doors while Alden was pulling the blinds down and securing the windows. As they both returned to the living room, he lit a small oil lamp and turned it down.