Survivors Series (Book 1): Heroes Aren't Born

by Voeller, Cody

  “That’s not entirely true,” said Matt,

  “Explain.”

  “We’re going to have to get more food eventually. Now that we know there are other survivors and that they may not be friendly the longer we wait the likelier it is that we’ll have to compete for resources. How do we know we can take on whoever shows up if they're hostile? Admit it, dude, we got lucky with Cole, you got lucky with Cole.”

  “You’re right, I got lucky so why do you guys want to tempt fate again without any real reason.”

  “I just told you the reason. We’re going to have to do it anyways, why not sooner rather than later.”

  “The Walkers…”

  “We can handle Walkers,” Justin interrupted, “They’re easily taken care of.”

  “Don’t get cocky,” I told him, “It’s a good way to get you and everyone else killed.”

  “Yes mom,” he said sarcastically.

  Sarah walked into the room but stayed silent. “Come on James, we have to go and do something. I know you want to take it easy after the hospital but we can’t just sit here.”

  I looked at Sarah who was now crossing her arms, Not good, I thought. “Just, let me think about it ok?” Like I said before, they didn’t have to listen to me, they could have easily left and done whatever they wanted.

  “That’s more than we were hoping for,” said Matt.

  “Yeah, we figured you’d say no right away,” commented Justin.

  “Yeah well, I’m not saying yes.”

  “We know. Just think about it,” said Justin.

  “Yeah ok.”

  They turned and when they saw Sarah’s crossed arms and displeased look their muscles tensed. They made a beeline for the exit, nearly running away from her. I did my best to suppress a grin. “And what are you smiling about?” asked Sarah, her arms still crossed.

  “Nothing at all.”

  “So they want to do a raid.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And what did you say?”

  “You were standing right there so you heard what I said.”

  “True.”

  “Why are you upset?”

  “Because you didn’t say no.”

  “Saying no would have made things worse.”

  “How?”

  “Sarah, I have no real authority. They don’t have to listen to me and if I had said no they might have decided to go anyways. So I had to make the compromise. Saying maybe gives me time to think and plan and keeps them happy for the moment. Would you rather they run off to go on a raid with or without a plan?”

  “I’d rather they not go at all.”

  “Yeah I know, but that’s not possible and they are kind of right.”

  “And I suppose you’re going.”

  “I have too. You know that.”

  “Yeah and I can’t decide whether I like you or hate you for that.”

  “You know I’d rather have no raid and just stay here with you but I can’t.”

  “Don’t worry about not staying with me, I’m coming with you.”

  I knew this was coming “And I suppose I can’t convince you to stay?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Didn’t think so.”

  “You know me so well,” she said smiling.

  “I do. Fine but you’re staying with me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good,” I said putting my arm around her.

  “So Liz saw you with Michelle.”

  “Yeah… so.”

  “She just said you were really good with her.”

  “We just talked about whatever came to her mind.”

  “Yeah but you’re the only guy who treats her like that. Most of them just ignore her.”

  “I have a lot of experience with kids. I helped with my little brother and my nephews and nieces.”

  “Liz says you’ll be a good dad.”

  I gulped, “I don’t know about that.”

  “I agree with her.”

  “You do?”

  “Of course,” she laughed when she looked at my panicky face, “Don’t worry. There aren’t any plans for any more kids.”

  “Oh thank God.”

  She laughed loudly, “For now,” she winked and walked away leaving me speechless.

  That night after dinner we were hanging around the table and Matt and the guys kept glancing at me. I decided to give in, “Alright, listen up. It has come to my attention that some of you are bored. Some of you want to go on an adventure. So I’m working on a plan to hit the Costco. This is going to be a lot more work and probably more work so this is volunteer only. Who wants to go?” Almost every hand went up. I smiled, “Ok, let’s get to work.”

  CHAPTER 20

  We spent a little time that night talking about how we could make the most out of hitting the Costco. Our small cars couldn’t really fit a lot of supplies so we figured that the first thing we would have to do was steal a couple trucks. We talked about the different areas we could get trucks from. We could get them from driveways, the side of the road, from anywhere in town really, but if we wanted vehicles that we knew would work we would have to go to a dealership. There were several that we could choose from but doing so would make this a two-day raid, first to get the car and then to actually raid the Costco. If you included the day to scout the area then it would take a grand total of three days to take care of the Costco, I wasn’t going to rush things. We sat at the table the next day and decided to take a run at the Ford dealership in town and snag any trucks on the lot. “So Thomas you’ll be here to give us cover,” I said pointing at the map I drew.

  “Sorry man, I’m sitting this one out. I’m not going on the Costco raid either.”

  “You sure?”

  He glanced at Christina and smiled, “Yeah I’m sure. I’m going to spend a little more time healing up. My arm still hurts sometimes so I think I’ll stay.”

  I knew his arm didn’t really hurt that much and I knew he was staying because Christina didn’t want him to go. He didn’t have to make an excuse but I wasn’t going to say anything. I nodded, “No problem. Like I said, this is completely voluntary. Ok then, Matt you’ll take Thomas’ place and provide us cover.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “Good. We’ll roll in, clear the building, grab the keys and get the hell out.”

  “What about the batteries?” asked Jason.

  “Well, we could use the cars to jump them but that would be a pain in the ass. I know, there’s a jump kit in the back of my car. We’ll just charge it on the generator and take it with us.”

  “And the gas?”

  “There should be enough in the tanks that we can get back here.”

  “What if it’s gone bad?”

  “Shit, well it really should be fine but if it’s not then we’ll just have to leave ’em there.”

  “Wait, gas can go bad?” asked Liz.

  “Yeah. It’s because it’s so refined.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah but it really shouldn’t have gone bad yet. The fact that it’s cold should help. We’ll be fine.” I said confidently.

  “Ok, so we’ve got the transportation thing down. What about the store?” asked Sarah.

  “Right. Well, I’ll do recon on the store with the bike. Alone,” I said looking at Sarah who frowned. “I’ll check the area for Walkers and check for an easy entrance and all that. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours. When I get back we’ll add any finishing touches to the plan and then hit the Costco the next day.”

  “So how are we going to handle the Costco itself?” asked Justin.

  “There are a couple problems that I’ve run into, mainly the size of the building. It’s huge and that makes it nearly impossible to clear in a reasonable amount of time. We’ll have to work in teams to get the supplies. I’m thinking teams of two, one shopper one guard, we have to watch each other’s backs. So if Christina, Thomas, and Michelle are the only ones staying then that me
ans we have nine people going. With Matt as a rear guard, we’ll have four teams of two. I’d really like for each of us to be able to have our own rig to maximize how much we can bring back in one go. If the nine of us go to get trucks we could leave the vehicles we take and just come back in the trucks. And we could always go and get the cars later. So, Sarah and I will be a team,” I said questioningly as I looked at Sarah for confirmation. She nodded and I continued, “You six can decide how you want to split up, remember one will be doing the guarding, the other filling carts.”

  “When are we getting the trucks?” asked Carrie.

  I thought for a minute, “Two days if that’s ok with everyone.” I looked around at them as they nodded in agreement. “Ok, rest up everyone. We’ve got a lot to do in the next couple days.” I left the table and went to grab my bow. Ever since I hurt my shoulder on that stupid shovel I was afraid that the muscles in my back would weaken so I decided to use my bow more often and try to ratchet up the resistance. I’d always liked using my bow, when I was younger it felt like I was robin hood and I always thought it was cool how you could kind of see the path your arrow would take before firing it. With a gun there was no chance of that, it just traveled too fast, but an arrow you could watch leave your bow. Another unique thing I noticed with my bow is that unlike with a rifle or pistol, the spot I chose on my target is far more specific. I choose it quickly and let it fill my vision until a spot the size of a dime was as big as a dinner plate. It’s difficult to explain if you’ve never spent a lot of time with a bow in hand. It’s something I could never duplicate with a gun. Using the bow felt more instinctual than using a gun. I’ve shot it so many times that I could turn, find a target and release an arrow all in one quick breath. Walking outside with my bow and quiver I began setting up several large thick foam targets at varying distances. Setting up three black and white targets I started to stretch my shoulder a bit, trying to loosen the muscle of my hurt shoulder.

  “Whatcha doin’?” I heard a small voice ask.

  Turning around I saw Michelle watching me. “I’m going to practice shooting my bow,” I told her smiling.

  “Can I watch?”

  “Sure but you need to stay back behind me ok? I don’t want you to get hurt on accident. Can you do that?”

  “Yep,” shr nodded and took a few small steps backwards.

  “Good, now watch,” I pulled and arrow from my quiver and notched it, making sure the color coded fletching was positioned correctly. If it wasn’t then the fletching would brush the bow and throw off the trajectory.

  I began to pull on the string when I heard someone call, “Michelle! Michelle where are you?”

  Michelle wasted no time yelling back as I lowered the bow and turned to see who it was “I’m with James shooting arrows.”

  “What!?” I heard the voice call.

  “I’m with James.”

  Liz rounded the corner and came over to where we stood, “You should be out here. James is busy and it’s too dangerous for you to be here.”

  “But he said I could watch,” she complained.

  Liz looked to me for confirmation, “I did say she could watch,” I said shrugging.

  “Well I guess it’s ok then, but you shouldn’t have ran away from me like that. You can watch James practice but then you’re going back inside to read.”

  “Ugh. You always make me read,” she whined.

  I laughed until I remembered something, “We haven’t gone to the library yet. I keep forgetting. You must have gone through most of the books it the house by now.”

  “It’s ok. And I haven’t gone through all of them. I don’t really like historical or political books, but I’ve read and reread most of the novels you have. I’ve kept myself entertained.”

  “Well, that’s the next place we’ll go after Costco ok?”

  “Great. There aren’t a lot of books for Michelle to read but I make her read the ones you do have, we just started Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She’s going to have to finish it today if she’s not good,” she said as a mock threat.

  “I didn’t do anything,” she said in her defense.

  I laughed, “Ok you two. I have to practice so if you want to watch Michelle then you have to be quiet. Ok?”

  “Ok.”

  I turned and raised the bow. Taking a deep breath I let the closest target fill my vision and let loose the arrow. One after the other the arrows flew from my hand and struck the soft foam. The thrum of the bowstring filled the air in a recognizable rhythm and I moved on to the second target and kept going. After I finished with the second and the third target I felt my shoulder burning. It never used to do that, not after I became accustomed to the current weight of my bow. Michelle and Liz applauded lightly and I turned and took a small bow. “That was really cool,” said Liz.

  “Thanks but it’s not anything special. Just lots of practice.”

  “So you could teach me?” she asked hopefully.

  I smiled, “Let me guess, Robin Hood?”

  She smiled slightly embarrassed, “The Lord of the Rings.”

  “Ah. Gotcha. Elves or humans?”

  “Elves if course.”

  I laughed, “Yeah I could teach you. But I should warn you, your muscles are going to be very sore while you learn. You’ll have to do exercises to build you back and shoulder muscles since they do most of the work.”

  “That’s fine, what else am I going to do?”

  “Alright then. After the raid, I don’t want you to be sore and not one hundred percent.”

  “Yay,” she said hugging me.

  “Well, I should probably get my arrows.”

  “Can I help?” asked Michelle excitedly.

  “Sure but you have to be careful not to hurt yourself or break the arrow ok? I’ll show you how.” We walked down to the first target, “So when you pull the arrow out make sure you twist it while you pull so it doesn’t break. Don’t ever touch the tip, it’s sharp even if it doesn’t look like it.” Together we worked to collect all the arrows and put them in my quiver. “Can you carry a target back for me?”

  “Uh huh,” she said hefting one of the targets.

  “You can just put it in the garage,” I said grabbing the other two and following her to the garage.

  “Ok Michelle, now it’s time to read,” Liz called after her.

  “I don’t wanna,” she yelled back.

  “You know,” I said to Liz, “Maybe she should do more than read.”

  “What else would you have her do?”

  “Well, I’m already going to teach her how to fight, she might as well learn how to shoot too.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  “In the kind of world we’re in I think it’s the best idea. She’s around guns all day, she sees us armed nearly twenty-four seven. Better to teach her before she decides to pick one up out of curiosity.”

  “I guess, but she’s only eight.”

  “I was shooting when I was her age.”

  “Fine, when do you want to teach her?”

  “How about now?”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Why not?”

  “Fine. Michelle,” she called.

  She ran up to us, “Liz I don’t want to read,” she crossed her arms.

  “Well, good thing you have a choice. You can either come read with me or you can learn to shoot with James.”

  “James,” she said quickly.

  I laughed, “Don’t think you’re getting out of it that easily. You can learn to shoot with me but then you’re going to go back and read with Liz.”

  “Fine,” she pouted.

  I went inside and grabbed the HMR .17 for her like I said before it had less kick than a .22 but had more of a punch, it was perfect for her to start out with. Back outside we sat down and I started going over the different parts of the gun and how it worked. I showed her how to load the magazine and slide it in the gun. We talked about how she should hold the gun and aim.
“What hand do you write with?” I asked her.

  “My right,” she said raising that hand to show me.

  “Ok, so this is how you’re going to hold the gun and when you aim I want you to close your left eye and look through the scope. Do you see those little lines that make a little cross?”