Withstanding The Odds (Survival Series Book 2) Read online

  Withstanding The Odds

  Survival Series Book 2

  Kip Nelson

  Copyright © 2019 by Kip Nelson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter One

  Darren woke up. It was years ago, his birthday. Stacie was standing in the doorway, clad in one of her silken robes. Brent bounded past her into the room, leaping on the bed with a present in his hands. He looked so proud of himself. It was the first time Brent ever had chosen a present for his father himself. Darren couldn’t even remember what it was exactly, but the fact that Brent had chosen it made it special. Darren had been perfectly happy in that moment. He had the perfect family, and was confident that nothing ever would change.

  Brent asked him how it felt to be old. Darren had tickled him and tossed him on the bed playfully, claiming that he wasn’t old. Brent giggled, and then Stacie ushered him off to get ready. She closed the door behind her, bit her lip, and slowly undid the thin piece of silk that kept her robe together. She crawled onto the bed, the robe fell open, revealing her supple flesh. Darren felt a sharp intake of breath as she promised him a special birthday present of her own.

  Now it was years later. He was in the hospital, pacing back and forth as he waited for news from the nurse. Brent was sitting on the chair, his legs swinging. He was reading a Spider-Man comic. Darren’s stomach crawled with nerves.

  Things with Stacie hadn’t been too great during the past year or so. Some of the fire had left their marriage, and Darren wasn’t sure how to get it back. It felt as though it was just one of those phases that married couples went through. Times were tough, especially with Michelle on the way. He hoped that once their little girl was born things would start to get back to normal.

  But the love of a child couldn’t mend the love he and Stacie needed to have for each other for a marriage to work.

  “One day you’ll remember this as really special,” he told Brent. “When you were being born, I was standing out here alone, freaking out, wondering what was going to happen.” He’d wanted to be in with Stacie, but she had wanted him to remain outside. She said she didn’t want anything to ruin the way he looked at her naked body. He tried telling her she was being silly, but she wasn’t having it.

  At 2:10 p.m., Michelle came into the world. So small, so weak. Brent had looked at her, amazed.

  “It’s our job to look after her,” Darren said. He wondered if Brent fully grasped his duties as a big brother.

  Stacie looked pale, weak, but she was smiling. Darren kissed her softly on the lips and then handed Michelle back to her. There was something wrong. Darren knew it, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Stacie just seemed like a shadow of herself, while he was bursting with happiness. He told her she was beautiful, and that they should be proud of giving birth to such a cute baby as Michelle.

  “Was I cute?” Brent asked.

  “Sure you were, Buddy,” Darren said, laughing. He didn’t remember Stacie laughing.

  Somehow, he’d gotten the sense that the birth of their daughter wasn’t as happy an occasion for Stacie as it was for him. It became apparent much later.

  A few months after Stacie and Michelle had returned home from the hospital, Darren had been trying to figure out a way through life. It seemed as though, somehow, he and Stacie had taken the wrong turn somewhere and found themselves in a labyrinth. There was no string to help them find the way out, only dark shadows of emotion. He couldn’t remember the last time they had been physically intimate. Every caress he gave her was met with her turning her back to him, saying that she was tired or drained. Darren replied with a sigh. He didn’t want to push her, but she was his wife. They were supposed to be partners.

  Things hadn’t changed as much as he had hoped with the birth of Michelle. Stacie seemed to be going through the motions of her life without properly engaging in them.

  Darren didn’t understand what had happened, and Stacie never wanted to talk about it. They were like two strangers living together, and Darren had no idea at which point things had turned for the worse. He’d looked back over the years they had spent together and tried to pinpoint an exact moment where things had shifted, but he was unable to find one. There just had been a long crawl to misery, and neither of them had done anything to stop it.

  One day, Darren was coming in after working in the yard. Michelle was napping and Brent was out playing with his friends. He heard sobbing coming from their bedroom, and when he peered in he saw Stacie perched on the end of the bed with her head in her hands. She looked forlorn, red-eyed, and her body shuddered.

  Part of him, to his shame, thought about walking away and leaving her to her sorrow. But he still loved her. He walked inside and closed the door behind him. As soon as she became aware of his presence Stacie turned her face away, trying to put distance between them again. This time Darren wasn’t going to be so easily dissuaded. He walked up and sat down beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

  She flinched.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked softly,

  “She’s just not what we hoped for, is she?” Stacie said. “All of this…it’s not what we’ve planned. It’s just…it feels like we’ve missed a step somewhere.”

  Darren couldn’t believe his ears, and he wasn’t sure how to respond. Michelle was a darling girl and he valued the life that he and Stacie had built together. To hear that she thought it wasn’t enough made his heart break. He rose from the bed, feeling anger rising within him, and he knew he had to extricate himself from the situation as quickly as possible before he said something he would regret.

  “Stacie, I love you, and the kids love you. We’re a family, but right now you don’t feel like a part of it. I guess you have to figure out if you want to be a part of it or not.”

  He closed the door behind him.

  It was their wedding day. Stacie was resplendent. The white dress clung to her curves, and Darren knew that he was a lucky man. He had no idea how he’d managed to land the voluptuous, raven-haired Italian beauty, but they were going to spend their lives together, and it was going to be wonderful. When she walked up the aisle he thought his heart was going to break due to the sheer force of the love and passion he felt for her.

  When they clasped hands an electric feeling surged through him. Everything melted away when he looked in her dark, liquid eyes. She was his universe, and within those eyes he saw his entire future. She was his home, his family, and they would be together forever.

  They spoke their vows and kissed each other tenderly. Cheers rose from those in attendance. They ran to the car, showered in confetti, smiling and laughing and kissing. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

  That night was the night Brent was conceived. It was passionate and sultry, filled with lust and love and temptation. They seduced each other and basked in the warm glow of their love. Brent
was a product of that love, but in that moment it just had been the two of them in blissful union. They shared whispers about the future, and both had the same ideas of how their lives were going to turn out. Darren knew that Stacie was his soul mate, and he easily could imagine the two of them sitting on a porch together when they were older, looking out at the sunset while their grandkids scampered around the yard.

  It was going to be a perfect life.

  Darren woke up alone. Stacie’s side of the bed had not been slept in. The closet door was open and her clothes were gone. He went downstairs and found the note she had left for him on the kitchen counter. He read the words, but he could not believe them. How could she leave him so easily? How could she do this to Brent and Michelle?

  The signs had been there long before Michelle had been born, but Darren had been sure that things could have become better. All they needed was a chance. Darren knew that Stacie had been struggling, and in that moment he felt like a failure, not just as a husband, but as a man. His wife, the love of his life, had been struggling emotionally, and he hadn’t done enough to help her.

  He’d asked her to decide if she really wanted to be a part of their family or not, and she had chosen the latter.

  He almost understood how she could do that to him, but never would understand how she could leave their children. He read and re-read the letter, hoping that it would make more sense the more he read it.

  It didn’t.

  Stacie had left, and she wasn’t coming back. The dreams he’d had for the both of them had been his dreams alone. He wondered if their entire relationship had been a lie. Tears fell from his eyes as Brent came down the stairs. He saw his father clutching the letter, and knew something terrible had happened.

  Darren somehow had to tell his kids their mother had left them, while trying not to break down himself. Stacie had been his everything. Pictures of her haunted him, and even when Darren took them down he still had his memories. Even though she had left them, she was not truly gone. How could she be when she was such an integral part of their lives?

  She never would be gone.

  It was the first time they had met. She was at the end of the bar, looking gorgeous, in a green dress that showed off her voluptuous curves. Her long black hair fell to the middle of her back. Silver sparkled around her neck, and her eyes shone. Her smile lit up the room. As soon as Darren had laid eyes on her, everything else had melted away. It was as though she had been plucked from one of his dreams and made real. He watched as a few men approached her. They all were rebuffed. Darren licked his lips and always told himself that he needed just one more drink to work up enough courage.

  Then she turned toward him and smiled.

  His whole world changed in that moment.

  It was as though something possessed him. A force lifted him and made him walk across the bar, closing the distance between them. He sidled up to her and was immediately intoxicated by her floral perfume. Her beauty played havoc with his senses, and he knew that if he didn’t marry this woman, he always would regret it.

  He bought her a drink, and the rest was history.

  Darren groaned as he opened his eyes. His body ached all over. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. Groggy, it took him a few moments to regain his awareness of what had happened, and then his eyes shot open. They darted around, looking for his kids. He tried to move, but found that his hands had been tied to one of the rocks. He kicked and yelled.

  “Where are my kids? Brent? Michelle! If you’ve done anything to them…”

  “You’ll what?” a voice replied. A shadow fell over Darren as the man who had knocked him out towered above him. He snarled. Darren snarled back.

  “What have you done with them? Who are you? What do you want with us?”

  “So many questions,” Goatee said. Darren looked past him, trying to see any sign of his kids. He only saw the other two men laid prostrate on the ground. Fear and anger ran through his mind. He had let his kids down, and that was unforgiveable. If any harm had come to them, he would kill this man, and he wouldn’t regret doing so.

  He tested the strength of the rope to no avail. The man had done a good job of keeping him secure. Darren was completely at his mercy.

  “Are you going to answer any of them?”

  “Sure thing, Dad,” Goatee said with a wolfish grin.

  This only served to enrage Darren even more. He struggled against his restraints and kicked at the ground, but Goatee was standing out of range of any attack he could have made. Goatee folded his arms and waited patiently for Darren to get through his outburst. Gasping, Darren had to stop because his body ached from where he had been beaten. It had been a long time since he had been involved in a real fistfight, and he quickly was remembering how much it hurt. Despite all his training, a fistfight still was something of a lottery. Since there had been three of them, he considered himself lucky still to be alive.

  “I might answer them, if I’m in the mood. But the thing is you’ve killed some people I was quite fond of. I mean, I wouldn’t say I loved them. After all, how can you love a man with a face like that? But I considered them allies, friends even. We’d been through a lot together, and now they’re gone. It’s quite a compliment to you really. They were tough sons of bitches, and you must have been tough to take them out. But you also have to pay. Justice needs to be served.”

  Goatee spat on the ground beside Darren. His phlegm left a dark stain on the rocks. He crouched down onto his haunches. Darren noticed that he held the gun in his hands. Even if Darren could escape, it was going to be an uphill battle actually to overpower Goatee.

  Goatee still was out of reach of any attack, but now that he was closer, and they weren’t lost in the heat of battle, Darren could get a better look at him. His goatee was flecked with gray hairs. He had a scar that ran below his right eye, and his nose looked as though it had been broken more than once. His skin was pockmarked and he smelled rancid. His teeth were yellow, his clothes torn and stained. The man was a product of the wild, a natural predator. Darren didn’t think he had fallen far when the world had ended.

  Darren certainly had his work cut out for him.

  Chapter Two

  “Where are my kids? I want to see them,” Darren said.

  “You’ll see them when I allow you to see them. You seem to think that you’re in a position to make demands. You’d better have a swift rethink there. I’m the one in control now, and you’ll do well to start listening to me,” Goatee said.

  “I just want to see my kids,” Darren groaned, twisting his neck around.

  “Dad!” Brent called out.

  “Brent! Is Michelle there with you?” Darren called out, his heart leaping. Michelle’s voice soon followed. Darren could hear the fear held within. He blinked, holding back tears. He had to be strong for them, just like he had been after Stacie left.

  “Shut up!” Goatee shouted, rising from his crouching position. He whipped the gun through the air and pointed it at the rear of the cave. Darren couldn’t see Brent and Michelle from his vantage point, but he had a good idea of where they were.

  “I told you to be quiet!” Goatee thundered. “If you can’t do something that simple then I’m just going to have to teach you a lesson.”

  “Leave them alone, they’re just kids,” Darren said, trying to get the attention back onto him. Goatee sighed and turned back to Darren, pacing across the ground in front of him.

  “I envy you this cave,” Goatee said, tilting his head up to look around the sturdy walls, “but I don’t envy you those,” he said, nodding toward the children. “I’ve never been a family man, and I’d hate to be one in a world like this. There are a lot of dangers around.” He smiled as he said this and narrowed his eyes toward Darren.

  Darren scowled.

  “What do you want?”

  “Oh, there’s plenty of things I want. Justice for one, like I mentioned. I have to give it to you, you showed some good skills back there. If things h
ad gone a little differently, I might be lying there with my friends, but unfortunately for you they didn’t. Still, I have to avenge their deaths. It’s part of the agreement we had. We always promised to look out for each other, and I am a man of my word. I’m sure you understand that. It’s a good lesson to teach your kiddies, after all. Now, me? I never had a good father. I learned all I know on the streets. I wonder what it’s like for them, having you to take care of them. You’re running a tight ship here. I mean, they haven’t even peed themselves yet. You’ve made it pretty good, I have to say. I didn’t think most people had it in them, but I guess you’ve got that survival instinct.”

  “Yes, I have,” Darren said pointedly, gritting his teeth.

  “Well, sometimes that’s not enough. My friends had that instinct too. We were going to ride through this world together, you know. But now those plans don’t mean shit.” He spat again. “And it’s all thanks to you.”

  “Look, you can do what you want to me, just leave my kids alone. I’m sorry for your friends, alright? But what did you expect me to do? I have a right to defend my home, my family. You guys came charging in here. I’m hardly likely to let you have the run of this place.”

  “It might have gone easier for you if you had. There is a pecking order to the world, a food chain. You’re not at the top, just FYI.”

  “Why were you even bothering us?” Darren asked.

  “We noticed you the other day. You’ve been busy bees, and we just wanted to check out your little lair.”