Surviving Day by Day (Book 3): Still They Come (11 page)

As he reached the top of a hill he sighed, “Fucking finally…”

There in front of him were the lights of the town, walking down the hill he found the dirt road that led to it and began moving along towards home. His spirits being lifted a little, he decided to try to take his mind off of the pain by singing a song he had heard in a movie once... “Show me the way to go home. I’m tired and I want to go to bed.”

His voiced raised loudly on the next line as he could hear voices and laughter ahead coming from the town...”I HAD A LITTLE DRINK BOUT N HOUR AGO AND IT WENT RIGHT TO MY HEAD...”

He didn’t see the four deaders in front of him until it was too late. He stopped and his eyes went wide with fear. Turning around he wanted to run, but it was too late, he was boxed in by a whole herd. They were on him in an instant. He pulled his knife and stabbed one in the eye then another in the forehead. The knife stuck but he was too weak to pull it back out. Grabbing the revolver from his holster, he aimed and pulled the trigger only to hear it click. Frantically pulling the trigger each time, the gun went click.

He screamed as the first one bit into the back of his neck. He tried to hit the one in front of him with the pistol but the blow just glanced off its head and had no effect. He was screaming loudly now as the deaders began to rip, bite, and tear into his flesh. Falling to ground from their weight, he laid there and watched as they tore him open feasting on his organs. It wasn’t long afterwards, he fell silent.

Looking at the body on the ground, the other deaders somehow knew there was not enough room. They turned to the lights up ahead and the voices from the town. Slowly they started to move towards their next meal.

The two men standing guard at the edge of town were drinking beer and sharing a joint. The music blaring from the tape deck back down the street caused them to start singing along to Sweet Home Alabama. They could hear the women screaming and laughing and knew that soon their shift would be over and they could go join in the fun of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. One of them jumped off the fifty gallon drum he was sitting on, “Mike I gotta take whiz, I’ll be right back.” Mike waved the joint at him, “Yeah go ahead, just don’t piss down your leg.”

The man stumbled off into the desert, “FUCK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!”

He walked a few yards out then unzipped his pants. He was just about finished, when the first one got to him. He never heard it come up from behind. ‘OH FUCK MIKE... MIKE OH SHIT!”

The deader was on him biting and tearing at his arm that still held his manhood. The man jerked his arm back and swung at the deader, then screamed in pain as another had bitten down where his hand had been. Mike came running, hearing the screams of pain from his partner. ‘WHAT THE?!!? JOHN WHERE ARE?!?!? OH FUCK DUDE SICK!”

His eyes locked onto John who was now covered with three deaders, one on each side of him biting and gnawing at his arms and one in front eating its way up to his stomach. Mike fired a few rounds from his rifle, hitting the one on the right in the head and the other one in the body. “FUCK THIS!”

He turned to run and was met by five more between him and the safety of the town. He fired till his rifle ran out of ammo. By then it was too late.

Back in the bar Clara, one of the girls stopped dancing. She had stripped down for the guys to just her G string, “What was that?”

One of the bikers slapped her ass, “What the fuck was what? Keep dancing baby.”

Clara jumped down off the table, “Fuck you, I heard gunshots.”

The man stood and tried to grab at her, “Well honey, that’s what I was planning on and I didn’t hear shit.”

She pulled away and grabbed her jeans sliding them on quickly, bouncing to the door trying to get them all the way up. She ran out the door. One of the other girls walked over to Clara, “Are you sure?”

Clara turned, “Yes Cass, I’m fucking sure. I know gunshots when I hear them. Lord knows I’ve heard enough,” Clara ran out the door  

        The wind was blowing slightly, crickets were chirping, but as they scanned the street they saw nothing and heard nothing more. Cass turned to Clara, “Maybe those two idiots, Mike and John, were just popping off rounds. Come on; let’s get back inside before they get restless. They get mean when they get restless and I don’t feel like going through that tonight.”

The two women turned to go back in, Clara looked back over her shoulder as Cass went ahead. She scanned the street both ways then turned to go in, just before the herd came into view.

The main body of the herd walked down the main dirt street heading straight for the bar. It numbered close to two hundred. Another herd was moving in from the east of town numbering around seventy; a third herd was coming in from the other end numbering about another fifty.

The music was blaring, the girls and guys were laughing loudly. The beer and whiskey was flowing freely as were the drugs. It was no wonder no one noticed till it was too late, as the herd poured through the door.

A young man who was passed out by the door was the first to be overwhelmed. He had four on him before he could even scream. Clara was dancing topless on the bar and just spun around when she saw them flowing into the bar. “OH JESUS, HOLY SHIT RUUUNNNN!”

Chairs flew everywhere as the people inside tried to get up and get away. One man pulled a pistol and just started firing, hitting another biker in the leg as he was trying to kick a deader. The man fell and was mauled immediately. The deaders ripping and tearing his flesh off.

Five men ran to the back of the bar. Throwing open the door; they were met by the second herd. They pulled their guns and knives and began fighting furiously, shooting, slashing and stabbing wildly at the onslaught of horror coming at them. One pushed another man right into the herd as they were all trying to retreat back into the bar. The man stabbed three before one bit into his arm that held the knife. He turned to the group. “You mother fucker, I’ll kill you.”

The man who pushed him, turned to run, was shot in the back by the man who just yelled. The next instant, both men were on the floor being eaten alive by deaders. Their screams along with the others in the bar were horrifying.

Cass had run up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms, slamming the door shut. She lit an oil lamp so she could see, then pushed a dresser in front of the door and sat on the floor. She heard footsteps outside and then pounding and clawing at the door along with snarling and growling. “Go away, Go away, leave me alone!” Cass screamed.

This only encouraged the deaders more. They began beating harder on the old wooden door. It finally started to break and the dresser moved a couple of inches. Cass turned and put her feet on the dresser trying to push it back, but there were too many. Suddenly a surge on the door caused the oil lamp to fall off the dresser and break right in front of Cass, splattering her with oil. Within seconds, she was engulfed in flames as the deaders broke through. Her screams echoed through the night.

The rest of the gang members were sleeping in various houses, up and down the street. Hearing the gunfire and the screams woke them all and brought them out, guns blazing. Some were half dressed; others only in their underwear, and few were naked.

As they hit the street, they were unaware of the numbers they were facing. They could see the flames shooting out of the top of the saloon and hear a woman's scream for what seemed like a long time. The group headed towards the main herd shooting as many as they could. They spread out trying to take cover along the other buildings and pick off the ones they could see.

As soon as they started to fire, the herd turned and came at them. The herd was moving slow and methodical. The gang was barely holding them off, but they were getting a lot of headshots. A bearded man looked to the woman beside him, “run back to the room and grab the ammo can, we’re going to need it.”

As she turned she was met by a deader, who reached up, and grabbed her arm, then bit right into her breast. She screamed in horror and pain. The man turned and fired two shots, then ran across the street to get away from the new herd, which had now appeared. The woman shot the deader in the head, then turned and ran into an old store slamming the door behind her. She looked out the window at her boyfriend who had left her to die. In her anger, she broke out a window pane and fired three shots at him, “YOU BASTARD!”

She hit him in the chest and he fell back against a wall and was swarmed. The woman realized that her act of revenge had caused her more problems than it was worth. The door broke open and more of the deaders poured in. The woman turned and scanned the room. She leaped over an old table then pushed some other wooden chairs in front of the ones coming at her. They tripped and fell over them. Running through the house, she made it out the back door. There sat an old pickup truck. She jumped in and saw that the keys were in the ignition so she started it up. As she hit the gas, several of the deaders had made it to the truck. She tore off into the desert screaming and crying.

The saloon was engulfed in flames; the gang was trying to fight their way out of the town, as the herds that had them surrounded. As the saloon collapsed, a lot of it landed on the bikes, trucks, and cars. One of the trucks held a portable fifty gallon gas tank in the bed. The explosion rocked the desert and destroyed the other nearby buildings. The fireball could have been seen for miles.

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

Running Buffalo had gathered a small army of braves, numbering close to a hundred. They had decided in a tribal council less than an hour earlier that after the battle at the ranch, these intruders in the ghost town had to be dealt with. They had gathered their arms and rode through the night to attack before dawn.

The tribe was only about two miles when they saw the fireball. Running Buffalo looked at Stray Eagle, “What do you think?”

"I don’t know, but I’d guess somebody dropped a match in the wrong place.”

A couple of the braves nearby chuckled.

Running Buffalo turned in his saddle. “LISTEN UP. WE’RE GOING IN, STAY TIGHT, STAY ALERT.”

Within minutes, they were within sight of the town. Running Buffalo stopped the tribe holding up his hand. It was an hour before the sun would come up, but he could see a lot from the flames in front of him. The whole town was burning, and they could hear sporadic shots from within, along with a few screams. He turned to some braves, “You go that way, see if you can find any survivors.”

Then pointed to another group, “You go that way, and you all remember, we’re not here to save anyone.” The braves all nodded and rode off.

Running Buffalo turned to Stray Eagle, “we’ll wait for the sun, then go in and check things out. I don’t want to ride into a war that we didn’t start.”

As the sun came up, the scouts came back. They reported they had killed several deaders and also a few bitten bikers and women. They had put them out of their misery.

Running Buffalo signaled for them to move forward; they hadn’t heard any gunfire for a while. As they neared the town, they started to come across more and more deaders. The braves used bows and arrows to take them out. Riding up to the edge of town, they watched as the buildings were still burning. Almost all of them had collapsed in on themselves. There were burned bodies all down the street. Some only slightly charred, others were burned beyond recognition. They worked their way through the carnage, putting anything still moving out of commission. As they reached the end of town, Running Buffalo waved for all the braves to come to him.

“Make one more pass then head back. Stray Eagle and I will go to the ranch and check on Niz.”

He watched as they rode back through the town then looked at Stray Eagle, “we’ve done enough, let’s go.”

The two rode off as the sun was shining bright, with few clouds in the sky.

As they rode to the ranch, they came across straggler deaders and shot them with arrows or stabbed them. It was soon apparent why they were moving the direction they were. They were following gang members who were badly burned or bitten or both. These too, they took out.

They reached the edge of the ranch and could see movement on the porch. Stray Eagle looked at Running Buffalo, “Things look like they had a quiet night.” Running Buffalo grinned, “They deserved it and needed it.”

Stray Eagle turned and looked at him, “why needed it.?”

Running Buffalo shifted in his saddle, “I’ve been thinking about that town back there. It was attacked from three sides. Now either these deaders are getting smart or there's a hell of a lot more out there and more coming our way...

The birds chirping, before the sun even rose, woke Alden straight up. That along with the fact he rolled over on his sore rib. “Shit, damn that hurts.” Sitting up, he swung his feet over the edge and examined his calf and the snake bite. It was red, but the swelling was minimal. He gave a sigh of relief, “Well, looks like I got the poison out in time.” Alden slid on his jeans, slowly standing to check his balance and his ankle.

Pain shot through his leg as he gritted his teeth, “Jesus, that’s sore too.” Limping and half hopping to the dresser, he grabbed a pair of socks then hopped back to the bed. Soon he had the socks on and was lacing up his jump boot tightly. Scanning the room, he spotted the crutches left for him, he thought about how much he hated the thought using them again. As he reached for them, Tonto raised his head and whimpered.

Alden reached down and petted his head, “Let’s see how you do.” Alden got up and grabbing the crutches, he made his way to the kitchen to get the coffee pot ready. He opened the door and Tonto limped outside and went to take care of his business. It took several trips to get everything out to the fire pit.

With the fire started, he made one more trip in to get his cup. As he came out, he stopped and looked out across the desert. He spotted the two men on horseback and knew immediately it was his old friends. Looking down at Tonto, he smiled, “You know buddy, I want to be a good host but my leg hurts, so they can go get their own damn mugs.”

He pulled a chair over to the table and put his foot up on an ottoman. He continued to watch his friends riding up to the ranch as the sun came up.

By the time Running Buffalo and Stray Eagle arrived, the coffee was brewing nicely. Alden held his cup up as a salute, “Welcome, my friends. The sun is up, the sky is blue, and it will be warm today. Coffee is hot, but you have to get your own mugs, my leg is still a little sore.”

As the two men got off their horses, Stray Eagle smiled, “No problem, Alden.”

He turned and headed for the house. Running Buffalo took a seat next to Alden and reached down to rub the top of Tonto’s head. “How’s he doing? He going to be okay?”

Alden had taken a sip of coffee, “Yeah, I need to get him another purple heart, but he’ll be fine. He took a round to the side of his paw. Your daughter should be okay too. I expect it will be a few days before she can move. How did things go in town?”

Stray Eagle walked out and over to the pit. He poured two cups, then added some creamer and sugar to one. Placing one on the table, he handed the other with creamer to Running Buffalo, who thanked him. Alden raised an eyebrow and grinned, “I never would have taken you for cafe light kind of guy.”

Running Buffalo smiled back, “Hey, when the days turned dark, so did my coffee, but now things are a little brighter, and so is my coffee.”

The three men shared a laugh. Running Buffalo took a sip, then looked at Alden and explained what they saw when they got to town, and on the way over. Alden listened intently as Running Buffalo gave his view, “All in all, I think we have more of the dead ones around then we thought. We need to find out how many, and more importantly, why they keep coming?”

Alden took another sip of coffee, “Well before all this happened, there were about 314 million people in the U.S. and so far I’ve only seen a few hundred survivors at best. These things only feed on living flesh. If not, they would start eating each other and that I haven’t seen. So it goes to show us we are well outnumbered. When the food supply starts to run out wherever they are, they will wander around looking for something to eat.”

Running Buffalo and Stray Eagle both sat silent as they thought about what Alden had said. It was Stray Eagle who broke the silence first, “Three hundred million you say.”

Alden nodded. Stray Eagle shook his head. “Well I guess the president can kiss his clean air program goodbye, cause with that many rotting corpses, the air in this country is going to be real foul, real quick.”

Alden and Running Buffalo looked at him then at each other. Soon they all laughed loudly.

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

Charlie rolled over and sat up in bed. Ceara opened her eyes and sleepily asked what was wrong. Charlie got up, walked to the window, and looked out. He couldn’t see the men, but he could see the smoke from the fire pit and heard the voices. Turning, he smiled at her, “Come on honey, Alden’s up and we got company.” Charlie finished getting dressed and then went to the bathroom. When he came out he chuckled seeing the line waiting for their turn. Tabitha, Beth and Ceara were all waiting with towels and toothbrushes in hand. “Where’s Colt?”

Ceara spoke up, “He was a gentleman and went to do his business outside, unlike you.” She pushed past him and smiled to the girls, “I won’t be long.” Ceara came back out in a few minutes, “Next.” She walked back to her bedroom to drop off her things, then headed towards the kitchen.

Beth turned to Tabitha, “I won’t be long, it’s going to be a very busy day, so I want to get in and get right back out.” After shutting the door, Beth jumped in the shower and surprisingly the water was still hot. Wasting no time, she washed her hair and body then immediately rinsed off, making sure that she still left enough hot water for Tabitha. When she stepped out of the shower, Beth wrapped a towel around her and began brushing her teeth then followed by combing her hair. All the while, thoughts of checking on Niz and her condition; then going to look in on Alden and Tonto ran through her mind.

Slipping into her jeans, Beth thought back to when she first had to tend to anyone in her adopted family and a tear fell down her cheek. The memory of Maximus lying on the table outside of the cabins when Charlie, Tabitha, and Colt were first attacked. This time it was not poor Maximus, but his brother Tonto and his injury was not nearly as bad as Maximus’s, was but still an injury.

Wiping the tear from her face, Beth looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled softly, “Pull yourself together, Beth. A lot of people need you!” She put her shirt on and then threw her towel over the towel rack for it to dry. Once finished, Beth opened the door and saw Tabitha looking off down the hallway towards the room Niz was in. “Everything ok?”

Startled, Tabitha smiled, “Ya, sure... just thinking about everything that took place, but she doesn’t seem to be making a sound.”

Beth stepped past her, “You go get cleaned up and I will take care of Niz. When you're finished, you can come back down to help me, or go help Ceara. Either way, your choice.”

Tabitha walked into the bathroom, closing the door, she started the shower. As the water began flowing down her body, she took in a very deep breath and tried to forget everything, if just for a little while.

Opening the door to where Niz was, Beth quietly walked in and made her way over to her bedside. Beth grabbed her stethoscope and blood pressure cuff; she began taking Niz’s vitals. Not surprised at all, Niz was resting comfortable with her BP at 130/75. Then Beth grabbed her digital ear thermometer and Niz’s temperature was 99.1, which with just being through surgery, and her body recovering, a small elevation of temperature wasn’t too bad. Gently, Beth turned Niz’s head to where she could see the bandage covering the wound. A little blood was present on the gauze and when Beth took it off, Niz moaned slightly. “Niz, you’re alright and you’re safe. I am just going to have a look here at your wound and then you can get some rest.”

“Is it bad?” mumbled Niz in a low voice.

Beth worked quickly to check the stitches then clean the wound. “Niz, you got hit in the collar bone and some fragments did chip it slightly. However, I did get the bullet out along with the remaining pieces, but you're going to be sore for a while as you begin to heal. I will give you something for the pain for the first couple of days, that way your body will start healing a little quicker.”

Niz opened her eyes. Everything was a blur at first, but started to come into focus slowly. “I’m thirsty, could I have some water, please?”

“Of course you can, but I will hold off giving you your pain shot and antibiotic until you do. Are you hungry at all?”

Beth didn’t think she would be, but wanted to offer and not be rude.

“No, just extremely thirsty.”

Beth stood up and smiled softly, “I will be right back with your water.” She then turned to leave the room, making her way into the kitchen where she saw Ceara. “How’s Niz?”

Beth grabbed a glass and filled it with some cool water, “She is awake and is thirsty, which is a very good sign. I am going to go give her this. If you would like, you can go tell her father that she is awake for a bit. That is until I give her another shot, so if he would like to see her, now would probably be the best time.”

Ceara was more than eager and she immediately headed out the door. Beth smiled and walked back to where Niz was. “Here you go, dear. Take small sips so it stays down. I just told Ceara that you’re awake and to go tell your Father. I will hold off on giving you your medication until you speak with him, if that is alright with you?”

Niz struggled with the glass with her one good arm as Beth held it firmly, “Here honey, let me hold. I will try to find some straws, but in the meantime, we got to make do sweetie.”

Niz relaxed and drank her water.

Ceara got outside hearing the men laughing, “Ummm Running Buffalo - Sir - umm Chief... Beth said that Niz is awake for a few minutes, if you want to go see her.”

Alden cocked an eyebrow at her, but Running Buffalo was the first to speak, “You can call me Chief or Running Buffalo, either is fine. Just don’t call me Buff.”

Ceara smiled, “Well she is up but not for long, Beth is going to give her one more shot to make sure she stays still for at least one more day.”

Running Buffalo looked to Alden, “I want to take her home. I need to check on my people and I don’t want to leave Niz here and not know what is going on.”

Ceara took a step forward, “She is shot, why would you want to move her?” She looked to Alden, “What’s going on? Why is he saying that he needs to move her?”

Alden held up his hand, “Cool your jets, I’ll explain but I haven’t finished even one cup of coffee yet. Go back inside, and let the others know there will be a meeting in an hour. Until then I need you to leave me and the Chief alone to discuss a few things.”

Ceara just stood there staring at Alden, “Are we in trouble?”

“Cupcake, do as I said and I’ll fill everyone in, in an hour.”

Ceara felt a tug on her pants and looked down, “Hi Tiger...” She scooped up the puppy and looked back to Alden, “I told everyone he would name himself!” She held out the puppy to face Alden, “Say hi to Tiger!”

Alden smile but did a shooing motion, “Scoot, now... don’t make me get up.”

Ceara still stood there for another minute, then sighed turning to walk in the house. Charlie was walking out just as she opened the screen door, “You can’t come out, Alden is having a meeting.”

Ceara looked back to the men then followed Charlie into the kitchen, “Ceara, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but it ain’t good, I don’t know if it’s wanderers, or those losers from that town. Alden said there will be a meeting in an hour.”

Just as she finished Colt walked in, and she had to tell the story again, but when Tabitha came in Ceara called Beth in too, so she wouldn’t have to tell it two more times.

Colt filled his coffee from the coffee pot inside, but turned and poured it down the drain, “I need coffee.... from outside.”

He walked out the back door earning a glare from Alden, “Didn’t Ceara tell you?”

“Yeah, but you know how it is Alden, I ain’t worth a damn without coffee!”

“You ain’t going to be worth a damn if you don’t get your ass back inside, or better yet get out there and get your damn chores done.”

Colt smiled, “Morning gentlemen, coffee smells great. So what....” He trailed off, the look from Alden made him realize this was not playtime. Alden didn’t have to say another word, Colt walked back in the house, looking to the others, “I know this much, it ain’t good!”

Ceara rolled her eyes, “You had that tidbit of info before your dumbass walked out there.”

Alden sat with the two men and talked, while the others watched from the kitchen window. Running Buffalo would look to the house a couple of times and so did Stray Eagle. Charlie looked to Ceara, “I think they’re talking about what to do with Niz. I think Running Buffalo wants to take her home and Alden seems to be saying she’s fine here. What gets me is the why?”

Colt looked at him, “Why what?”

Ceara looked back at Colt with a sarcastic smile, “Why are they even having the discussion, dumbass. I mean something is up, we've all been with Alden long enough to know when he starts rubbing his chin and looking out a thousand yards off, he’s worried about something attacking.”

Running Buffalo finally stood along with Stray Eagle. Alden grabbed his crutches and rose too, he made a hand motion to Tonto who simply laid back down. Running Buffalo reached out and grabbed Alden’s forearm and the two men clasped in a brotherly shake. Then Running Buffalo and Stray Eagle turned towards the house

As the two men entered Stray Eagle looked at the rest, “We’re here to see Niz, if we may.”

Beth smiled at them, “Follow me, she’s right down here.” Leading the two men to Niz’s room, Beth quickly explained what she had done for her. “I’d like to give her a day or two to recoup if that’s alright?”