Anthony Newman - American Survivor

He parked the Jeep several hundred feet from where the cabin was located on the map. He told the others to stay in the Jeep and keep quiet while he checked things out. He had missed the cabin in the dark, and he was forced to backtrack to find it. He was surprised to see an older cabin behind a modern looking cabin. There was no one around, and he searched until he found a key hidden under a fake rock by the porch. Joe let himself into the cabin. The cabin was beautiful on the inside and was much more attractive than his home. Joe took a quick tour of the place and was surprised to see the cabinets held several days’ worth of food.

Joe walked back to the Jeep and drove to the new cabin. Everyone piled out of the Jeep and headed inside. Joe sat Dan on the couch and started a fire in the fireplace.

“This is your new home, and I need to leave you with some rules for staying alive. Don’t have a fire in the daytime. There are bad people north of here, and they might see the smoke. Don’t make any loud noises. Saw the firewood. Never chop it with an ax, because that would make too much noise. You have enough food to last until I return in a day or two. Please stay close to the cabin until I return. Oh, I’m leaving the shotgun and two pistols with you. I need the Mini 14.”

“Joe, please stay with us,” Jane pleaded.

“I have to get back to my family. I was supposed to return yesterday, so I know they are worried. If you do what I just said, you will be okay. I’m leaving the Jeep behind the old cabin. Do not use it unless it is to escape an attack. I plan to leave it here and use it for scavenging trips into town. I need to go now,” Joe said as he shouldered his backpack and lifted his carry bag.

“Where is your home,” Ginny asked.

“It’s about five miles away,” Joe answered as he walked in the opposite direction of the cabin. He liked these people but trusted no one.

Joe walked the mile and a quarter to his cabin and unloaded half of the medical supplies and his rifle, choosing to carry the Mini 14 since it was a semiautomatic and had three 20 round magazines. He selected several cans of vegetables, a bottle of vitamins, and then hiked to Cobie’s cabin.

It was after midnight when Joe arrived at Cobie’s cabin. He dropped his bags and gear on the porch, and then rested his back against the cabin wall. He didn’t want to wake the girls up or scare them, so he planned to sleep on the porch until dawn. He had barely fallen asleep when he opened his eyes and saw that beautiful face a few feet from his.

“Joe, why are you on the porch? Come on in the house. Cloe, grab his gear. Joe when you didn’t get home we were scared to death something had happened to you. Are you okay?”

“A lot happened in the past two days, but I’m okay. I met a family and helped them. I also met two gangbangers and ruined their day. I’m sorry, but I only made one run to the Vet’s office before my day went to crap,” Joe said as he stumbled getting up.

Cobie placed her arm around him to help steady him when she felt the cold sticky blood seep through her t-shirt. She helped him to a kitchen chair and told Cloe to light the lantern. She saw that the wet spots on Joe’s hip and her side was his blood.

“Joe you’ve been wounded. Were you shot,” Cobie fearfully asked?

“Yep, one of the punks got off a lucky shot and got me in the hip. One of the ladies doctored it for me,” Joe answered.

“What ladies?” Cobie asked.

“Oh, there was a man, his wife, and two kids plus another woman and her two boys. I took them to a cabin about a mile away to help them get out of town. It’s real bad in town,” he said.

“Take your pants off and drop your shorts enough so I can get to your wound,” Cobie ordered.

“I’m okay.”

“You heard what I said. Do it now,” Cobie said with resolve then added, “or I’ll kick your ass.”

Joe needed help standing, and Cobie took his pants off and laid him on the couch. She pulled his shorts down on the wounded side, cleaned the wound, and applied more of the antibiotic salve. She then placed a wad of gauze on top of the three-inch-long gash. She kept the pressure on it for fifteen minutes until it stopped bleeding. Joe fell asleep, and Cobie gently lowered him until his head was on a pillow. She covered him with his sleeping bag and sat up with him the rest of the night while Cloe went back to bed.

Cloe woke up an hour before daybreak and saw her mom placing a log on the fire. She looked over at Joe and for the first time wanted him to stay in their lives. He had taught her a lot about trapping, hunting, and survival and she wanted to continue the lessons. Cloe knew she had to be kinder to Joe or he would eventually get mad and leave them alone. She noticed that Joe wasn’t asleep and that he watched her mom through squinted eyes.

“Good morning mom, how is your patient doing?”

“I think he’s okay. He’ll need some pain pills when he wakes up, but the bullet just made a gash in his hip,” her mom replied.

“Mom, can you teach me how to care for people? Mr. Harp has been good to us, and I’d hate to think something bad could happen to anyone of us, and I couldn’t help them,” Cloe asked.

“I’d be glad to. We’ll start with you reading the first chapter in the First Aid manual, and I’ll answer questions.”

Joe’s hip was throbbing with pain, and he said, “You can start by teaching her to give her patient some pain meds before his hip falls off.”

Cloe fetched a bottle of Ibuprofen and handed Joe the pills while her mom poured a glass of water for him. Joe swung his feet around and sat up as he winced in pain so he could swallow the pills. He downed the pills with a swig of water and grinned to hide his pain.

“Joe, I’ll fix some breakfast while you give us the details about your trip,” Cobie said as she put coffee in the old coffee pot and started a fire in the cook stove.

Joe told them every detail except how he killed the punks who were going to attack him and those families; the girls didn’t ask. They were happy that Joe had added to the medicine cabinet but were very happy to see more toilet paper, soap, and a bottle of dishwashing liquid.

“Joe it’s amazing how most women wanted a diamond ring or fancy car before the lights went out and now I’m dancing for joy over toilet paper. I was never a high maintenance woman, and God knows we never had much, but we always had toilet paper and soap,” Cloe said.

Cobie went outside to bring in a load of wood when Cloe walked over and sat on the couch by him.

“Joe, I’m sorry for being a brat at times. I was raised better than that,” Cloe apologized.

“Cloe, you never hurt my feelings. I knew your world had been turned upside down and you were only adjusting to the new normal,” Joe said.

“Joe, my mom worked her ass off to make sure I never knew we were poor. She sacrificed everything a woman would want, so I had decent clothes and a good school to attend. I’ll never be able to pay her back. My mom is the best woman in the world,” Cloe said with tears in her eyes.

Joe pulled the young teen close and said, “You are a good person, and that means more than anything else to your mom. She loves you more than her own life, and all you have to do to repay her is to keep being the good person you are. If you grow up to be half the person your mom is then you will be one hell of a good woman. You already are almost as beautiful as she is now.”

Cobie had heard them talking and listened from the other side of the door. Tears came to her eyes. She was so proud of her daughter and liked the way Joe had made Cloe feel good about herself. She thought that maybe it was about time for Cloe to have a father figure in her life.