by Sage du Toit
She lay there and curled up into a ball and cried into her knees. What was she supposed to do now? They were going to be out looking for her. She needed to get out of Atlanta. Sam wandered aimlessly, just running from hiding place to hiding place. Staying in back yards and sometimes climbing over fences and just hiding in the corner of a back yard. She was afraid to go in any of the houses, she knew she couldn’t stop. She just had to keep going.
Chapter 27
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10 December 2020 N-Day +153
Atlanta, GA
She had slept for a little while in a playhouse she found in a back yard. It was a cute playhouse and even had a miniature kitchen and bedroom set up in it. The bed was only toddler size but she curled up on it with boots and ruck still on and her knife in her hand. She didn’t know how long she slept but it was still daylight when she woke.
There was a full moon and light was shining through the window. She checked through the play kitchen hoping the kid had stuffed some crackers or chips out here. No such luck. She sipped her water and wondered how she would filter more, Tom had the water filter and the fuel bricks. She felt tears start to flow and decided she wasn’t going to start crying again.
She took out her compass and not having any idea where she was in Atlanta, she decided to go east. She needed to find a map. She was too close to a highway but she needed to go into a gas station and get a map. Even a Yellow Pages would work, she could get a map out of that. She was sitting in the woods looking at two gas stations. One was a small station right next to the woods and the other was across the six-lane highway and was a much bigger station.
She waited for a bit, watching and listening. Then she ran for the back of the small building. She had no idea what time it was but it was still early morning, the sun had just come up. There wasn’t a door at the back of the building so she slipped around the side, hoping it would be there. The door was open and she quickly ducked inside and hid behind an empty shelf. All of the food was gone and the store was a mess. They had turned over shelves and tossed stuff they didn’t want. Well at least they had looted it already, they shouldn’t be back.
She went to the cashier station and found the maps, they had all been tossed on the floor. She went through and found a fold out map of Atlanta and one of the State of Georgia. She sifted through the maps and found one for Alabama too.
She tucked them in her pocket and took a quick look around. There was a stock room in the back and she quietly sorted through the mess of shelves and boxes that were thrown around. Finally, she found a bag of peanuts that was stuck the bottom of a box. She hadn’t eaten in two day so she opened it up and tossed a handful in her mouth. She also found a bottle of orange Gatorade in the bottom of the cooler where all of the rotten milk was.
She went back out into the trees behind the gas station and unfolded the Atlanta map and looked for the highway she had seen a sign for. If the streets were right she had gone back north.and a little east. She got her heading and stowed the map and took off through the trees. She was going to head toward Douglasville like they had originally planned.
The problem was going to be getting over the major Freeways without being seen. She had seen the gangsters out driving around looking for her...or rather looking for anyone.
11 December 2020 N-Day +154
Atlanta, GA
Sam had run out of water yesterday. The Gatorade had helped, but she needed water. She was tempted to drink if from an outside faucet on a house. If she tested it first...maybe it would be OK. But Tom had warned her about drinking unfiltered water.
She had been sticking to the woods but she came out in a subdivision to find water. These were smaller houses and it was at the end of a cul de sac. Sam found one with a wooden fence and carefully climbed over it. She looked in the back windows of the house and didn’t see anything, so she tried the back door.
She was surprised when it opened. She entered the house and saw it had been ransacked. She went to the kitchen, hopeful it would be a gas stove, but it was electric. Desperate for water she took out her test strips and tested it. It showed clean, so she filled up her canteen and took a drink. She drank her fill and then refilled the canteen. She left the house after doing a quick search and not finding any food or anything useful.
By the end of the day she had drank all of the water and was looking for another house to get more water from. She was just about to climb over a fence again when she heard and then saw the gangster’s truck. How the hell did they find her! She jumped down from the fence and started running. She ran until she was out of breath again, zigzagging out of trees and through back yards. Cutting in different directions so they wouldn’t find her again.
She was out of breath and lost again. She needed to reorient. But suddenly her stomach started cramping. She leaned next to a tree and retched water up. She kept retching until there was nothing left and her body kept trying to expel more that wasn’t there. ‘Well shit,’ she thought ‘I guess drinking the water was a stupid idea.’
She staggered through the woods trying to find a place to stop. A shelter or even a bridge to sleep under. Her body kept wanting to retch but she hadn’t eaten since yesterday so there wasn’t anything there except the contaminated water. Then her bowels starting rumbling. She barely had time to get her pants down. She reached back and fished the wipes out of her bag, almost losing balance and landing in the mess she just deposited on the ground. Lucky she was able to catch herself on a small tree. She cleaned herself up and kept the wipes handy.
She was feeling very shaky and could barely walk. She stumbled out of the woods onto a dirt road and saw a big tower. ‘Cell phone tower, but no service.’ she laughed at her own thought. There was a big white work truck next to the tower and she walked over to it. The door was unlocked and the windows were closed. She looked inside and didn’t see a body. She crawled into the backseat and removed her rucksack. She pulled her poncho liner out of the bottom of her ruck and lay down to sleep as her stomach and bowls continued to rumble.
12 December 2020 N-Day +155
Atlanta, GA
She got up two times during the night and rushed into the woods next to the truck. When she woke up in the morning she felt so weak she was barely able to move. She sat up in the back seat of the truck and looked out the front window. The sun was up but she didn’t know how she was going to get up too. She looked down and in the floorboard of the front seat she saw what looked like an old-style lunch box. She crawled over the seat and opened the box. Inside was two bottles of water, a moldy sandwich of some type, a bag of Doritos, baggie of molded carrots and a Twinkie. She took out the water, Doritos and Twinkie and climbed back into the back. She opened a bottle of water and took a small sip. She was hungry but her stomach still felt upset. She wasn’t sure if she should eat and waste the food. She decided on the Twinkie and ate small bites as she haltingly drank water.
While she was waiting to see if her stomach was settled she took out her map and compass. She had no idea where she was...all she could do was take an eastern direction from here until she came out on a street. She waited an hour and when it seemed her stomach was settled she took off. She still felt week and queasy but the good water and little bit of food helped.
She came out in an industrial area and had a hard time finding a street name. She kept walking east until she encountered a big river. Across the river she could see a giant amusement park and to the north there was a freeway overpass. She pulled out her map and saw that she must be standing next to the Chattahoochee River and that had to be Six Flags across the way. She was sad that she would never get to go to an amusement park again...or go with Tom. She was sure they would have had a blast doing something like that.
She suddenly realized that her and Tom had never even been on a date. The end of the world happened and completely obliterated any thought to dating. Sam sat at the edge of the river and just contemplated everything that had ha
ppened recently. She certainly learned her lesson about drinking water without treating it first. She sat there for a while thinking and remembering her times with Tom and she let her tears flow. She told herself she wasn’t going to cry again after this, but she knew that was a lie. She headed north to her only way over the river.
She was about to climb up over the multi-lane freeway and she was looking and listening for the gangsters. Her heart was pounding because they seemed to always find her at just the wrong time and now would be one of those times. Looking ahead, she saw that if she could get over this bridge...they might not be able to follow her. Something had happened to the other side of the bridge. Maybe a tanker exploded or something? That side was completely collapsed. And on this side, there was a major car pileup with two 18 wheelers jackknifed and crushed together in the middle of the road with cars rammed in from all sides.
She climbed over the side of the bridge and ran to the first car and ducked behind it. She checked behind her and ran to the next. The cars were blackened on one side and there were dead bodies inside and out. Some of the burned and mangled. When she got to the 18 wheelers she saw there was plenty of room for her duck and go under. Once she was on the other side she checked and didn’t see anyone. She realized this wouldn’t be the only bridge across, but at least it would keep them from coming over right here where she was crossing.
She walked by Six Flags Over Georgia and wondered what it was like. She kept craning her neck and trying to see over the fence. Then she wondered if she would find food in there. There were always a lot of food places and places that had snacks. Unless they had already looted it all. She was standing in some trees between the road and Six Flags when she looked the other direction and saw a Hotel. She finally decided that was what she really needed. A good rest!
She went into the first hotel but she couldn’t get in any of the rooms because they all had electronic readers on them. She went to the next hotel and it was the same thing. The third hotel had real keys for each door. She took several keys and went to find a decent room.
The rooms weren’t great and they had a funny smell, but she wasn’t sure if that wasn’t from being locked up for so long. She found one on the very back of the building on the second floor. She went back out and went to the front lobby. She checked the vending machines and they were all emptied. The same with the small kitchen off the lobby that made the continental breakfast in the morning. But the stove was gas, so she could sanitize some water.
She found the biggest pot and filled it with water and put it on the stove. She then looked around the other areas downstairs and found some dish soap and laundry soap. She decided she would wash her clothes once she got back to her room. There were some clear water pitchers and she filled them up with the sanitized water and took them up to her room. She took a cold shower first and washed her hair and body with the dish soap. She was shivering when she got out so she poured some of the hot water on a cloth and wiped it over her cold body.
She wrapped her hair and body in a towel and then washed her clothes, using some of the warm water to wash them in the tub. She decided she could go sanitize more water later, she had already filled up her canteen. Her clothes were all washed but she didn’t have anything else to wear so she decided to just sleep. She at the bag of chips she had found in the lunch kit, it wasn’t enough. Her body was tired from being sick and lack of food.
13 December 2020 N-Day +156
Atlanta, GA
Sam lay in bed sipping water. She had dressed and gone downstairs and boiled more water. She was having a hard time convincing herself to get up and move. She was just so tired. She decided not to go look around Six Flags, that place was just too big and if they had already picked this hotel clean, that place would be wiped out too.
It was already late afternoon and she hadn’t motivated herself to move. She was so hungry though. She could tell that she had lost some weight. She tried not to look at herself in the mirror too much. She had a light scar across her forehead now and her nose didn’t look the same to her, even though it was straight. But the biggest change was how sunken her face looked.
She finally decided she wasn’t going to find food laying here. She needed to remember her tricks on finding things...she would look in places other people didn’t think about. She just needed to find a little food for herself.
She packed up the little bit she had and put on her freshly washed clothes. At least she was clean again and had clean clothes. She checked her map and plotted out a straight line to Douglasville. She set her compass for the right direction and headed out.
The sun was already high overhead and it was a clear day. It was chilly out but with the sun it felt nice. She walked behind the huge building next to the hotel and headed for the tree line. She walked for a few miles, passing large warehouses with tons of truck vans and large trucks parked around them. She considered going in and looking for food but they were just such big places, she knew it would take her too long and none of the trucks had food brand labels. She wasn’t too worried about the gangsters, but she knew she still needed to be safe. They were probably still looking for her...especially since she had killed one of them.
Most of her hike was through the trees and she enjoyed the peace of the woods. She felt much safer in the thick woods and closer to Tom. She came out of the thick tree line and saw she was at the end of a road, in a giant circle. There were two smaller warehouses and she decided these wouldn’t be too overwhelming to check. If she could find a break room or locker room with lunch kits, she might get lucky.
She walked up to the first building and saw it was three different businesses and she picked the middle. She searched all through the offices and rooms and didn’t find a bit of food. She did find a bunch of take out menus. A lot of good that did her now. She went to the end business and the same thing. ‘What ever happened to people bringing a healthy lunch to work?’ she thought.
She was beginning to think her idea was crap. She walked to the other end of the building and went inside. There was a reception area at the front and sitting on the desk was a box of flavored crackers. She ran and picked up the box, it wasn’t even open yet! She looked through the desk drawers but didn’t find any other food.
She walked through the building and found the coffee room and found the probable receptionist because she was on the ground dead with the open coffee can in her hand and spilled everywhere. Sam frowned at the waste of coffee and wanted a cup so bad. But she wasn’t desperate enough as that.
She looked through the cabinets and found a little creamer and sugar container sitting out on the counter open but she was afraid they would be contaminated. She shrugged, happy with the box of crackers. She checked the refrigerator last and found four bottles of water and put them in her pack. At least she had drinkable water for a day or so and wouldn’t have to stop to boil any! She walked out their back door and into the woods after taking a bearing on the direction she needed to go.
She needed to find a safe place to stop and eat. With the dead bodies in the building she didn’t feel it would be safe and she didn’t have Tom’s tester. She walked a short way and came upon a cookie cutter neighborhood, almost every house looked the same. She walked through the neighborhood, carefully checking before she crossed from house to house. She didn’t see any signs of movement.
She crossed the whole neighborhood and since it was already getting dark she decided to try one of the houses. She picked a house that didn’t have a car in front of it that was toward the end of the cul de sac and tried the front door. It was locked. She went around to the back and found the back door had been busted open. She went inside and saw the house had been looted. She searched through the house and made sure no one was there she then barricaded the back door closed. She checked through the kitchen and found nothing. The stove was electric, but that was OK because she had water for now.
She barricaded herself in what looked like a hobby room on the back of the house that had
a single bed in it. She sat down on the bed and removed her gas mask. Taking a careful breath, she did have some injectors if she needed, but it was fine. She got comfortable and lay on the bed eating crackers and drinking water.
Chapter 28
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14 December 2020 N-Day +157
Atlanta, GA
She woke up in the morning and realized she had eaten the whole box of crackers the night before. She didn’t know why she wasn’t sick from eating the whole box. She used the bathroom and washed her face, getting ready to leave when she looked out the window. It was pouring down rain.
She jumped when it suddenly thundered and she saw a flash of lightning in the trees behind the house she was in. Looked like she was going to be stuck in this house for the day and no food again.
She spent the day going through the whole house. Checking every drawer and closet. She tried on some clothes but they were all either way too big, three times too big, or children's clothes that were way too small. The bathrooms had toothpaste and old used brushes, but nothing new and she wasn’t about to use someone’s old nasty toothbrush, so she brushed her teeth with her finger. Apparently, these people didn’t believe in keeping any backups of anything, not even soap or deodorant.
She went through the stuff in the room she had slept in the night before, it was all scrap booking things. Ridiculous stickers, ribbons, sheets of colorful paper, colorful pens and markers, ink stamps and weird tools for putting designs on the paper. She found a scrap-book and looked through it. Each page had one picture on it with lots of embellishments and decorations around it. She thought the person doing this must have a lot of time on their hands. Unless she was doing them and selling the books. But this book obviously was of her family, she had seen pictures around the house and recognized the people in the scrapbook from those.
