I forgot to mention the Easter Day services last month. The whole thing was kind of a downer. We had an Easter egg hunt for the few kids in town. Dylan participated, but he’s getting to that age where such things aren’t that big of a deal anymore. The event mostly just left me missing Violet and thinking about what fun she would have had hunting for eggs. Afterward, the town got together for a cookout, a communal event we haven’t had in quite some time. It seemed somewhat forced, though, and people just didn’t seem very comfortable. The people from Spencer pretty much talked to people from Spencer, and people from Glasgow stuck to their own as well. It’s such a shame. We had such great community relations back in Spencer, but it’s just never felt right here. In a way, I’m glad to see that it’s not only ME feeling this way; but in another way, it’s kind of a shame to see that it’s not only ME feeling this way.
Things are good with Chase, and I think Dylan is getting used to the idea of Chase being a new father figure. They go out together in the evenings sometimes and throw the baseball or Chase will take him to the pond to fish. It’s nice to see them bonding. I have a lot of flashbacks to Chris and Dylan, but I try not to dwell on them, doing my best instead to focus on the here and now.
Speaking of the here and now, the town’s supply situation is growing increasingly bleak. We have reduced our weekly per-person script allotment we receive each week. We used to be able buy about a paper shopping bag full of items with the amount we received, but now the same amount of script gets us about a half shopping bag. Talk about inflation! Unless our scavenging teams stumble across a big stock of supplies somewhere, I have a feeling it’s going to get even worse between now and when the garden starts producing.
At least the water is holding out. We’re still hauling water for our crops that are struggling to survive in the dry, sun-beaten earth. We’ve been using more and more of it as the crops continue to grow and the sky continues to work against us, refusing to open up and provide a good downpour. We get little sprinkles here and there, but nothing that really saturates the ground. We need one of those long soakers like the ones we used to get back in Spencer.
Now that most of the harder work on the garden has been done and we’re waiting for the fruits of our labor to be realized, we’ve taken to posting a night watch. We had an incident about a week back where a wild animal – we think it was a deer – got over the fence and gave a patch of our crops a good nibbling. It sucks when it’s my turn to be out there on watch, but it’s a necessary part of the work. Each of our 10-person farm crew (except Dylan) takes a night, and then we start the rotation over again. It only works out to three or four nights a month, but they are still three nights that none of us look forward to. My first night-shift will be tomorrow. Oh boy! Not much of a Memorial Day for me, but we don’t pay a whole lot of attention to holidays these days, they’re just more notches on the calendar.
I’d write more, but there’s not much more to say. We’re just living life. We work, we eat, we sleep, and then we start all over again the next day.
Saturday, June 7 th
8:43 p.m.
This Georgia heat is a KILLER! It really takes it out of you when you’re working in it all day. I never realized just how good we had it back in Chicago. I mean, we usually got a couple weeks where the humidity came in thick and temperatures hit the upper 80s, sometimes lower 90s, but this place puts those days to shame.
Beyond our dwindling supply situation, we’re now on a water boil/filter alert after the supply we were getting from the water house began churning up a rusty sort of material. The appearance of this sludgy brownish material is spotty right now. The consensus around town is that we’ve used so much water in the past few months that the well is close to running dry and we’re sucking up material from its bottom.
We’re currently on the lookout for a new supply, but since we’ve been inside nearly all the homes in the area, we haven’t found a lot of options. If we lose the water house, we might have to rely almost solely on the small pond where Chase fishes. There’s a stream and a small river within driving distance, but hauling enough water for the entire town from these locations could prove difficult, dangerous, and consume more of our already dwindling fuel supply. But without rain, even THESE sources are starting to dry up. Chase has noticed a substantial decrease in his pond’s depth recently, and he’s seen some vehicle tracks and footprints around it that he say’s don’t look like his or Bob’s, and they are about the only two who go out there from Glasgow. If we don’t get relief in the form of a good rain soon, we could find ourselves fighting a water war to keep other people away from our limited supplies.
Friday, June 13 th
5:14 p.m.
We’ve taken to sitting outside much of the time in the evening. This oppressive Georgia heat is just too unbearable. Even when there IS a breeze, without air conditioning inside, all it does is circulate the oven-hot air.
Sleeping is ridiculously difficult in this type of weather. It’s so uncomfortable. You feel like you’re lying in a pool of sweat when you’re in bed. And now I have a bed partner in Chase. Great! All those chilly winter evenings when I could have used a man for snuggling up to and he wasn’t there. Now the Georgia sun puts us under the broiler, and I’ve got a big man adding extra body heat…just what I need. But hey, I won’t complain too much. He makes up for it in other ways. But that’s getting less enjoyable now too. Even when it’s cool enough for a little romp in the sack, the last thing I really want is to go getting myself all heated again. But I suppose I can deal with it.
Being outside at night is kind of nice. We’ve been interacting more with our neighbors, since many of them are coming outside too. We might make this a community yet. I still think we have a ways to go, but having the heat as a common complaint is actually helping bond us together. As they say, misery loves company, and with this heat, there’s plenty of misery to go around.
On a lighter note, Dylan and I have been teaching Chase how to play cards. About the only card game that Chase knew before he joined us was poker, so we’ve been working on teaching him how to play solitaire. It’s kind of funny to watch. Dylan has gotten really good, and he “supervises” Chase when he plays. It’s hilarious! Dylan will point out cards for Chase to play before Chase sees the move himself. Chase will then explain to Dylan that he needs to let him find his own plays because that is how he’ll learn, but Dylan just can’t keep his little mouth shut. He loves that he’s better than Chase at something. He’ll wiggle and squirm, and make little noises until he just can’t help himself, and then he’ll point out a play that Chase has missed. I can tell that it frustrates the hell out of Chase, but he does pretty well at keeping it together. The other night, though, he got so fed up with Dylan telling him what to play that he got up and stormed off. It was the first time I’ve really seen Chase get upset. He was back a couple minutes later and apologized to Dylan for his behavior. I like it when a man can admit when he is wrong. It shows that he’s slightly more advanced than a ten-year-old, and that’s often more than a woman can hope for in a mate (tee-hee).
Friday, June 20 th
5:49 p.m.
For the first time ever, our scavenging teams came back from a mission empty handed. Well, I shouldn’t say that. They had some stuff, but there wasn’t any food. It’s definitely a bad sign and bodes poorly for the future. All they brought was some summer wear from a resale shop they discovered in a tiny town a good 25 miles from Glasgow. It was hardly worth the gas it took them to get there and back. But I’ll admit, with summer temperatures in full swing, having some warm-weather wear will be good…just not as good as food.
We still have at least a month or two before we can begin harvesting our crops, and while our well water has cleared for the moment, we’re not taking any chances. We’ve begun hauling in water from Chase’s pond as well as from the small river (which has about withered to the size of a creek) that’s within striking distance of our scavenging radius. We’re putting t
his extra water in a large tank located at the edge of town. We use it mostly for the crops and watering the livestock. I don’t know what we’ll do if we lose the water from the well house completely. We have a meeting scheduled for after church on Sunday to discuss options, but unless they consider drilling a new well or getting us all outside to do some rain dances, I’m not sure there are many options to consider.
Tuesday, June 24 th
3:22 p.m.
Well, I can’t say that our Sunday meeting regarding the water issues we’re having came to much…at least not regarding the actual WATER issues themselves. More than anything, it became apparent that there is a growing segment of our group (led mostly by Barker) that thinks venturing outside our expanded safe haven of scavenging is a good idea. They want to send a scouting party to Atlanta to see if the situation there has shaken itself out and whether any sort of organization has been implemented among survivors. The other day, we picked up some radio communications that sounded like they were from other scavengers. It was mostly just random back and forth chatter about the various supplies they had gathered and where they were taking them, but it sounded like locations in and around the Atlanta area were being referenced.
I guess this piqued Barker’s interest, thinking there may be bigger, better pickings outside our small search area. Gerald and many of our people aren’t hot on the idea since we’ve actually SEEN how things are in the bigger cities and because we had to fight our way through Atlanta. We tried to explain the dangers – whether it’s encountering other people or picking up a disease – but they just don’t seem to get it. They say that the danger of us running out of food and water outweighs the risks, especially if we’re careful, take things slow, and travel mostly at night.
They want to send one of our security teams to scout things out in a few days. Barker is insistent. He wants a group of five people to go on a three-day mission, doing their best to make contact with survivors in or around Atlanta. Gerald is against it, but he finally gave in as long as Barker was willing to modify the mission’s objectives. Instead of making contact, they will scout the situation first and report back to us in Glasgow so that a group decision can be made as to how best to proceed.
Barker begrudgingly agreed.
The team heads out tomorrow morning and will be expected back Friday night. They are taking radios with them so that we can keep in contact in the event of delays or other issues.
Friday, June 27 th
4:15 p.m.
Gerald stopped by the garden today. He reported that we had lost contact with the security team we’d sent to Atlanta. Their last reported location was just east of the city where I-20 links up with I-285.
Barker told him that it was probably just a radio glitch, but that was at noon. We still haven’t heard anything since…and they have backup radios, so his theory doesn’t fly. Hopefully they’re okay. We’re trying to look at the situation positively for the time being. Maybe they’ve linked up with other survivors and are so busy getting a rundown on what has been happening in the heart of the state that they just haven’t had a chance to check in yet…but I doubt it.
Saturday, June 28 th
6:15 p.m.
We still haven’t had word from the scouting team. They are officially a day overdue, and there still hasn’t been any radio contact. Unfortunately, I think they’ve had it. You can’t send people off to explore big cities willy-nilly these days. And these people from Glasgow have been so isolated that they have no idea what awaits them out in our cruel and crazy new world.
So now it appears that our already small community is going to be smaller by five more people. What a waste. Sadly, three of them were our own people from Spencer. I know I shouldn’t look at it that way, but it’s hard not too. I just have more of a bond with them.
Hope fades for their return by the hour. And while it’s a terrible way to view it, now there are five less mouths to feed. At the same time, there are five less people to keep us safe and help us gather supplies.
Sunday, June 29 th
12:12 p.m.
Church was cancelled for today. Right before the service was about to begin, a lone survivor from the Atlanta scouting mission team (Greg, one of our Spencer people) straggled into town. He had been badly beaten and was very dehydrated, but he was alive, and I guess that’s all that matters.
After having some time to recovery, he related that the team had been taken captive by a large group of armed men with big, brightly colored X’s on the side of their vehicles. He explained that there were at least 20 men, and they had shot three of our people right off. They had tortured the other one (who he believed was now dead, but he wasn’t sure), and Greg had expected to be killed as well. They beat him, then tied him up and threw him in the back of one of their vehicles, saying they were going to take him back to their boss for interrogation. During a supply stop on the way to wherever it was they were going, Greg managed to get free from his bindings.
He escaped on foot and traveled for miles until he was sure he wasn’t being pursued. Eventually he was able to locate an operable vehicle and make his way back to Glasgow.
He said that he didn’t think the other man, Terry, who had been captured, had divulged any pertinent information regarding our town’s location, size, or supply situation, and that anything he did give up had been in an effort to misdirect their captors.
I hope Greg’s right; otherwise, we could all be in big trouble. The last thing we need it for a heavily armed group from Atlanta coming here to raid our town.
Friday, July 4 th
9:43 p.m.
Today was nice…HOT, but nice. We had a Fourth of July celebration. I guess calling it a “celebration” is pushing it a bit. We had a gathering in which we played games like horseshoes, bean-bag toss, ring-toss, and more, had drinks (there’s still plenty of alcohol left – if only we could use it to water our crops), ate appetizers, and sacrificed one of our hogs for a pig roast. Unfortunately, I didn’t partake in the drinks, choosing instead to stick to lemonade. I wasn’t feeling so hot. I don’t know if I picked up a summer bug or if it was something I ate. I just pray it isn’t anything more serious.
Overall, the event was a pleasant affair – nothing like the Fall Harvest Festival back in Spencer, but it was a chance to get the community together and at least try to bond us all a little more closely. I think some of the excitement was tempered by all the issues we’re facing – lack of food, lack of water, and the loss of the scouting party. Once darkness fell, we had fireworks – something else there is no lack of. We kept most of them small and close to the ground since no one wants to be sending flares into the night sky, potentially signaling our location to outsiders.
Erika was there with her skuzzball boyfriend, Reggie. Ugh, it gives me the shivers just to think of them together. What a downgrade after having had her shot at Chase. I could see being with Reggie if he had a great personality or something, but he seems like a real dud…and not too bright to boot. He works on one of the town’s scavenging teams. Maybe he brings her back good loot on the side. Maybe he’s great in the sack. Yuck! That’s even WORSE to think about.
After we left Spencer, I thought that Erika and I might at least be amicable toward one another, but I guess that ship has sailed. Oh well, at least she hasn’t attempted any more drunken confrontations with me. I suppose I should be thankful for that. I DO catch her staring longingly at Chase every so often when we’re around her, but she had her chance and blew it, so I don’t feel too sorry for her.
In other news, our corn crop is nearly knee high, which is what we want by the Fourth of July. The watering process goes on. We had a nice rain the other day, but it wasn’t nearly what we needed to really get the ground good and saturated.
Things have gotten so bad on the food front that we’ve resorted to slaughtering some of the animals we brought with us from Spencer. Up to this point, we’ve been hesitant to do this since we are using our livestock largely to supplement o
ur food supply with dairy products – milk, eggs, and cheese. We were also breeding them. But we’re just so low on food that we have to make up the shortfall somewhere. The slaughtered pig for the Fourth of July celebration was a real pick-me-up for a lot of our residents since none of us have had much meat lately. I had a little ham, but I didn’t want to overdo it since I’m feeling under the weather. Of course. The first time we’ve had fresh meat available in weeks, and I can’t enjoy it. Go figure!
Friday, July 11 th
10:19 a.m.
Well, I guess I know why I wasn’t feeling well at the Fourth of July event…I’M PREGNANT!!!!
I took the day off from work (yes, that’s allowed, I’m just not paid for the missed day) since I was experiencing a serious bout of morning sickness. Thankfully, Chase is contributing to the family wages because I’ve had three such mornings in the last week. The other two times, I tried going in for the second half of the day, but my contribution was minimal to say the least. So today, I figured I’d just stay in bed and hope to be in better shape tomorrow. With the cost of food at the store lately due to falling supply levels, our wages aren’t going nearly as far as they used to, and we need every extra dollar of script possible just to put food on the table. Now it looks like we’re going to have another mouth to feed!
The Pandemic Diaries [Books 1-3] Page 34
