Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins (57 page)

He started to move between the vehicles again when suddenly a man ran straight into them. The two dogs immediately attacked, Maximus hit the man’s thigh as Tonto went for his arm. The man hit the ground screaming as the two dogs tore into him. It was only a matter of seconds and Tonto had the man by the throat silencing him. Alden reached down and picked up the man’s rifle, a Les Baer 308 sniper rifle. Turning to the downed man he searched him and found four 20 round clips. “This is just what I need.”

Alden moved quickly to a Winnebago camper and climbed up on top. The dogs laid down at the back where the ladder was. Alden laid down on the roof of the camper and placed the extra clips beside him. Pulling the rifle up he adjusted the scope and began to scan the battlefield. He could see Charlie and Ceara were back up to firing again though he noticed Charlie had some sort of bandage on his arm.

Moving along his own people he found Colt, he also had been wounded. “Son of a bitch” he mumbled. He could see that Beth and Tabitha had moved from their positions and were now farther apart than he wanted them. Moving his sight back to the enemy he could see the leade
r pointing and shouting orders.

“This guy has some training
,
he’s figured out the
guys
are trying to flank him and he ain’t going to let that happen.” Suddenly two men to his left caught his eye. They were moving slow and staying close to the ground, but that wasn’t what worried him it was the long tube one of them was dragging. “Fuck, Fuck Fuck, They got a goddamn RPG.!”

He watched as the fire increased on the rest of the group. Alden knew they were simply laying down cover fire for the two to get into position. He focused his sights on them and waited. It didn’t take long. The two had worked their way around to the front end of a small station wagon. They had a good line of sight on Charlie and Ceara’s position.

Alden readied his weapon and waited for his shot. The men kneeled and the first one placed the RPG one his shoulder. A loud
c
rack rang out as Alden took his first shot. The second man slumped over dead as the bullet had passed directly through the back of his neck and out the front leaving a large hole where his
adams
apple had been. The first guy started to turn and look but it was too late.

Alden had already sighted and fired then ducked he knew he was going to hit his target. The bullet traveled right into the back of the tube and hit the grenade causing it to explode. The station wagon was rocked by the explosion as shards of shrapnel tore into it. Smoke billowed up and Alden popped his head back up and took aim at the main group. He quickly took out three more on the far right as the leader who had dropped to the ground during the explosion was now trying to figure out where the new threat was coming from. The flames on the station wagon had made it to the gas tank. Alden could only hope his little band would stay p
ut and keep their heads down.

Colt watched the guys that had drug the tube but he had no clue what it was, thank God Alden did. The whole thing blew up right in the second guy’s hands, Colt wondered if the guy even felt a thing before he died. Colt took aim and shot another man, but just as he did he saw the station wagon really catch fire. He dropped his gun and began looking for Beth, a couple of shots rang close to his head so he dropped down making his way toward the last place he had seen her. He knew he was way out of the position that Alden had wanted them but the fight was winding down and he had to make sure the others were ok. Beth was a good fifty feet from where he had last spotted her, she was crouched behind a tree and shooting her berretta. Colt got to her just as she took aim at his head, “Damn Colt
,
do NOT sneak up on me!”

Colt got in close and looked out where she had been shooting, “Why are you using your gun not the machine gun?” “Out of ammo, you got any left?” Colt handed his M-16 over and pulled out his 45, “I can’t use that thing now anyway.”

Beth looked at him and realized he was shot, “You kneel down and fire, you are losing a lot of blood. Until I can look at it you don’t need to pass out.”

Colt did as she said, he was happy that she was fine; he would much prefer him shot than her. She could help in the safety but they really needed her for the aftermath, he had no idea if any of the others were wounded or worse dead. Beth fired the M-16 into the gro
up and Colt shot a couple more.

Tabitha was running low on ammo so she switched to single shot and made her way to the edge of what would be Charlie’s line of fire, the guy that was shouting orders was now on the ground but still trying to give orders. Tabitha dropped to one knee and took aim, taking a deep breath she released it and squeezed the trigger. The man would be giving no more orders; his jaw was now laying three feet to the right of him with his brains following. Tabitha yelled out then dropped back before any of them could take aim on her. She ran around the edge making sure that she could shoot the enemy anywhere on their bodies, but she knew the wanderers
needed to be shot in the head.

Charlie watched as the car was burning and then suddenly saw the leaders head explode. He fired a few more rounds then looked back to the car. Grabbing Ceara’s arm he yelled, “GET DOWN!” he pulled her to the ground and rolled on top of her just as the gas tank on the car exploded.

The whole ground shook from the force and the screams from the enemy increased. Flaming debris was falling all around them a couple of hot shards landed on Charlie he brushed them off quickly then heard Ceara scream, “I’M ON FIRE
,
GOD CHARLIE
,
I’M BURNING!” He sat up and looked at her trying to figure out where she got hit. The side of her shirt was smoking. He quickly ripped it open and saw a piece of shrapnel from the burning car had embedded itself in her side. “Honey lay still and bite on this.
”

He put a stick in her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes. He took out a small knife, “YOU ARE NOT GOING TO STICK THE DIRTY
DAMN
THING IN ME!” Ceara screamed at him.

“Honey I have to I have to get that out before it burns any deeper.” he didn’t know how he knew he just did. It had to come out. Kneeling across her chest he bent down and put the tip of the knife on the metal that was sticking out. Diggin
g
in just a bit he flicked the knife and the shard popped out. Ceara grabbed as his arm with tear
s
in her eyes, she bit hard on the stick and the moaned. Charlie looked down. “Stay down and don’t move! He tore off more of his shirt and placed it over her wound. “Just hold that tight, I got to get back to shooting.”

As he took his place behind the M-60 he saw that the car’s explosion had caused a lot of deaths, both human and wanderers. The enemy was no longer shooting at them but at the wanderers, some who had literally been blown in half but were still crawling, trying to get to the humans. Charlie held his fire as he searched for his own people. He saw Tabitha picking herself up out of a briar patch, it looked like she had dove into it. Looking to his left he could hear Colt’s forty five shooting slowly.

Then he looked for Alden, the sound of the rifle was clear but he couldn’t see just where it was coming from. All he did see was wanderers and bad guys dropping like flies. One guy stood up waving a dirty white bra and screaming he surrendered. A wanderer bit him in the back of his leg and he dropped his white flag. Charlie watched as the man’s head exploded then the wanderer who was biti
ng him suffered the same fate.

Alden laid on top of the Winnebago; he was picking his targets carefully. Seeing the white flag meant nothing to him now he was in no mood to take prisoners. He fired a few more rounds then stopped and surveyed the scene. It was one of death and destruction; tents were going up in flames; as were several bodies. A few of the bad guys were trying to run away a
nd Alden took them out quickly.

One was sitting in the middle of his group, next to what was left of the leader. He had definitely lost his mind, sucking his thumb and rocking back and forth with his other arm across his chest. The rest of the humans had circled them and were shooting the wanderers that were still moving. Alden climbed down off the camper and the two dogs jumped up. “Let’s go finish this,” he said to them.

He shouldered the rifle and pulled his forty five out making sure it had a full clip. He also made sure his knife was at the ready as he walked towards what was left of the group. He looked at them as he approached. One girl pulled her shotgun up and he
shot her through her left eye.

Another man screamed, “YOU FUCKING BASTA….’ That’s all he said before a bullet tore through his mouth. Alden’s eyes were coal black and narrow. He fired methodically at each one of the remaining members killing them. As the last human went down he turned his attention to what was left of the wanderers. Pulling his knife he stabbed
them in the head and moved on.

When he was done he turned towards Charlie and Ceara’s spot. They were standing holding each other. Charlie eyes were teary, as were Ceara’s. Alden then turned and saw Tabitha walking out of the woods and looking around again he saw Colt and Beth.

His little band of warriors had made it, but at what cost
?
How would they feel about him now that they have seen what he was capable of?

Book two will be coming out in 2013

It will be continuing with the survivors as they try to grow past their past and survive the future