Surviving Day by Day (Book 3): Still They Come Read Free

noticed they were messing with the radio. “Did you guys finally get something?”
    Alden shook his head no, “Nothing to use, but like always we will keep at it. We’ll get lucky soon or later.”
    Ceara noticed Charlie’s ears turn red, a sure sign he was hiding something. She looked back to Alden, “Well, what did you hear that we can’t use?”
    Alden smiled, “Nothing worth sharing.”
    Ceara changed tactics, “Charlie, what did you hear, are there a lot out there?”
    Charlie looked back to the radio making sure it was all put away right, but he wasn’t fooling Ceara, he was trying not to look at her. “Nah, not much… just a few rogue groups here and there.”
    Alden glared at him and then to Ceara, “You will get info when it’s complete, we are not about to go off halfcocked. If we do that, we will get killed.”
    Ceara sat down by Charlie, “Ok, ok fair enough… I just don’t like feeling like I am being lied to.”
    Charlie finished with the radio, “I told you before I would never lie, but sometimes telling partial information is just as bad as telling a completely bogus story. People go off the info they have, not thinking about what could happen. When just a little more input would change the whole outlook.”
    Ceara picked up the piece of paper with the two numbers, one with a happy face drawn by it and the other with a frowny face, “So is this two of the places that we need more intel on?”
    Alden took it from her, “You could say that. So what’s up with Tabitha? She put you in your place? I have been telling you to back down on the whole, ‘We can’t go off alone’ thing. You have to let everyone be who they are.”
    Ceara looked to the area Tabitha a disappeared to, “I know I have to let everyone be who they are, everyone but me.”
    Colt and Beth had walked out to join everyone in time to hear the last comment. Colt sat down on the other side of Ceara. “No you don’t have to do that, you have to be who you are too. We are all still learning, Ceara, and we are all growing. I blamed myself for months after Jessica was bit. Beth can attest to that, she saw the end result of that blame. Thankfully she did for me what I hope I can do for you.”
    He looked to Beth and she gave him a little nod of encouragement, “We all have choices in life, not in death. We all have the ability to see as far as our imaginations can take us. That is a very bad thing at times. With Jessica, I kept thinking if I had just been there and not gone to the store, I could have protected her. You are now doing the same thing…. if you had just held on to Maximus or if you hadn’t run after him, then things would be different. Tell me something Ceara, how is it helping you to do all these ‘what ifs’?”
    Ceara looked right at Colt, “I just don’t want to have anything like that be my fault again.”
    Beth reached across the table rubbing Ceara’s arm, “Then you have learned all you can from it, it’s time to let it go. There is no reason to continue to overcompensate for what is past.”
    Alden stood up grabbing his crutch, “Couldn’t have said it better, anyone for peanut butter sandwiches?”
    Ceara started laughing, “Ok I got it, topic is closed and I need to just go back to the way I was, just a little wiser.” She started to the house, “Who else wants one, I’ll make them?” Everyone raised their hands; she shook her head laughing, “Coming right up.”
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    Tabitha was back in rare form after catching two huge jackrabbits that she had bound together and thrown over her shoulder as she continued to walk through the sparse trees. Figuring that she had enough rabbits for some stew, she just wanted to continue with her walk which gave her a lot of time to think.
    She found herself talking softly, “Heath, I know you can hear me and the one thing that I hope for is that you and your son are reunited. That gives me some comfort