The Dead Lands Diary [Vol. III]

by S. David Staggs

  HANK: I was. I am very thankful for it too. I do not take it for granted in the least. After a couple weeks more infected began to show up. I’d hear them and I’d peek through the shades and see some wandering down the road or closer on the sidewalk. Sometimes they were in rather large groups and they just walked on by, unless something caught their attention. A few houses down and on the other side of the street, was a house with a wind chime. The wind caught it while a group of maybe 10 or so were walking by and they quickly changed direction and went right toward it. One of them grabbed it and tore it down. For a moment they kinda like…fought over it. Then they just dropped it. Guess they had lost interest when they realized they couldn’t eat it. Still, they stayed on the porch and front lawn. I pulled up a chair to the window and watched them. I thought maybe I could learn something about their behavior. After a little bit over an hour, a car alarm went off somewhere further down. It was nearly inaudible it was so far, but they heard it. They reformed and walked toward the sound and eventually out of sight. I learned that they were easily drawn to sound and therefore could be distracted easily.

  ME: How long before you discovered the other type?

  HANK: You mean the pack hunters?

  ME: Yes.

  HANK: I heard that screaming they sometimes do. I was startled by it as you could imagine. That was new behavior I had yet to see. I made my way back to my window seat but I was much more apprehensive now. It was around dusk and these four infected people were making their way down the road. I noticed right away they were not like the others. Much more alert and much more predatory. If they thought they heard something they’d crouch slightly and look around and then start smelling the air. You’ve seen this no doubt.

  ME: More than I’d like to.

  HANK: Well, I suddenly felt over exposed. I only had the shades slightly drawn but I closed them much further and just peeked through a single shade now. I was even scared they’d smell me or catch my scent from whenever the last time I was outside was. It had been awhile though, so I discarded the thought. They walked a few more yards down and then stopped again in the street. One looked back in my direction and I got nervous. Had I made a sound I was unaware of? Of course not. It was just looking around in general but I was terrified it had locked onto me looking. After about an hour, three of the four laid down on the ground and seemed to sleep or go dormant…not sure what they do. The other appeared to be on guard.

  ME: Really?? We never witnessed that behavior. That’s interesting and rather creepy. Scary, actually.

  HANK: I agree. Those ones are pure predator. I went and took a nap on the couch but it took me awhile. I just kept imaging I’d snore or accidentally yell in my sleep or fall off the couch and they’d hear me. I eventually dozed and woke up a few hours later. I went to the window again. Now a different one was awake and the other lying with the other two. As scared as I was, I was also fascinated. What kind of virus or microbe could cause these types of physical and mental changes? Not to mention reanimation! I went and got a bottle of water from the pantry and on my way back they screamed outside and I nearly dropped my bottle. I rushed to the window and looked out. They were gone. Nowhere in sight. Something got their attention and they were gone. Although I was fascinated watching them, I was glad they were gone! It felt safe to sleep now. Still…it took awhile. I had been sleeping relatively well until I saw those monstrosities.

  ME: They’re horrible.

  HANK: Indeed they are. After August it slowly began to cool down. After being stuck inside for the most part for most of the summer, it was welcomed. That was another factor to having a hard time sleeping, it was too hot some nights. I went outside the back to get air when I needed to be out. Very high wooden fence and I knew I wouldn’t be seen. I stayed inside at night though. Of course, I also went out when I needed to relieve myself. Kind of goes without saying.

  ME: Right.

  HANK: September was easy going but it dipped in temperatures in October. It was later October…almost end of the month if I recall. It was sleeting that day and rather chilly. As I always did, because what else was there to do, I went and sat by the window with a bottle of tea. I peeked out and one was standing in the street. Alone and had it’s head down. First time I had seen a lone one and I thought perhaps I’d witness some new behavior. He had a hood on and was facing down the street. He looked up and around. He took a few steps forward but wasn’t staggering like most do. He looked around again and this time in my direction and I was shocked! It wasn’t an infected. It was a living person! I hadn’t seen another person in months and my first inclination was to burst the door open and start yelling for his attention. I quickly rationalized that such a reaction would make him think I was an infected and he’d run away. Or perhaps shoot me.

  ME: He was alone?

  HANK: Yes. I went to the front door, which I hadn’t opened in a long time, and opened it. It made a pop sound and creaked. He looked over, clearly startled and he was about to run when I raised my hand and said hello. Then he was completely dumbfounded and unsure of himself. I told him I was alone and he was welcome to stay or go on his way. I wouldn’t have blamed him for a second if he just kept on going. Hard to trust people. Especially now. I hoped he wouldn’t go and he looked around and down the streets and then walked over to me. As he approached I could tell he was very young. Turned out he was seventeen. I extended my hand and, albeit reluctantly, he shook it. I welcomed him inside and after a moment or two he proceeded in. Once inside he looked around and seemed satisfied. I introduced myself, as did he, and we talked. Once he realized it truly was just me I could tell he calmed down. I cannot express how happy I was for human contact! If I would have had to go all winter just by myself I would have needed my own psychologist! He told me his name was Quint.

  ME: Oh! Quint came here with you?

  HANK: Yes. How is he doing over at The Retreat?

  ME: Last I saw him he was good. He declined an interview but that’s okay, cause I can know some of his story by yours.

  HANK: Indeed! Wonderful!

  ME: How was he? Bad shape?

  HANK: Very apprehensive. Extremely, rather. After a few hours he was much more eased and after a few days he was much more comfortable. He spoke very little at first. He’d answer questions but his responses were typically only a few words. After a couple days though he started to open up a bit more. I think he enjoyed my company as much as I did his. He told me he had been out on a long camping trip with a friend of his and his friends father. They were far away in the wilderness and his parents never would have known where to look. There was no phone reception. When things got bad they were still out there. Totally oblivious. They cut the trip short when they ran into an infected in the woods. Just one. They thought he was just someone crazed or perhaps on some kind of bad drug or whatnot. His friend got bit on the shoulder. At that point, the kids dad threw the fellow down and started punching him in the head trying to knock it out but that wasn’t happening. Eventually it stopped because he did enough trauma. Of course, after not finding a pulse he thought he killed the guy. He noticed then though that man had already looked dead but he brushed it off. They drove on out of the area to find help. They came upon a ranger station and went inside to report what happened and they were greeted by a dead ranger on the floor, thrashing about. He was missing a leg and Quint said it just growled and growled. Eventually it screamed out but they were so far out from anything. When they realized he was dead they couldn’t wrap their heads around it. Logical reaction of course. His buddy started getting feverish and they headed back toward home. Quint was dropped of at his house on the way through. He never saw them again. Of course his friend was doomed. Probably turned and killed his dad, hard to say. Quint said bodies were scattered here and there when he got to his house. Inside he was greeted by an empty house. No mess, no sign of anything…just empty. He never saw his parents again. Poor kid, he’ll always just have to wonder where they went and what happened to them. The
ir car was gone. One of them anyway. He reasoned they went out looking for him and ran into trouble. For awhile he just stayed in his home and made what food and water he had last. Just like I had been doing. He made it last until October and then he decided to take the other car. It broke down somewhere between there and here and he took to foot. That’s when he found his way to my place.

  ME: Incredible story. Been through a lot.

  HANK: Indeed he had. He’s pretty resilient. Tough kid. He would have moments where he’d zone out or get quiet but that’s to be expected.

  ME: Kinda like Ben, you met him?

  HANK: I have, yes. He’s came to talk to me.

  ME: He tell you what happened to him?

  HANK: Bits and pieces. He’s slowly opening up.

  ME: Good, good. Cause I think he truly needs it. If he ever opens up you’ll understand why.

  HANK: For his own sake, I hope he does. He obviously told you, so I think in time he’ll tell me.

  ME: I’m fairly sure he will. Once he gets to know you fully and establishes trust and all.

  HANK: Indeed.

  ME: Where were we?

  HANK: Yes, right. Well, we rationed the best we could and thankfully made it through the winter but ran out in April. Although that was disappointing, we were grateful the weather was warming up. Would have been far worse if we ran out in the middle of winter.

  ME: Absolutely.

  HANK: We had to hit the road. We didn’t know what awaited but we had little choice. We headed east and ended up in Defiance, Ohio. There, we got extremely lucky again. About twenty miles outside of town we found a FEMA shelter that was set up at some school. It was abandoned of course but it was still fortified. Amazingly, we only came across five infected inside and they were sluggish. We dispatched them and buried them. No other bodies or anything. I think they just began to feel like sitting ducks and left. Perhaps many infected were swarming out of the city and they knew it was only a matter of time. Who’s to say, right? Either way, it had fences constructed around it and the gymnasium was still stocked with food and water. Rooms through the building were filled with cases of water and cases of MRE’s. We just happened to drive down the right road and discovered a goldmine!

  ME: You stay long?

  HANK: Why of course! We had enough to last us for a quite some time as you can imagine. It’d have been rather naive to leave that behind. Yes, we stayed all summer and that winter. Were there for over a year. We didn’t leave until…mid July? Yes, that sounds right.

  ME: You did well for yourself from the start of it all. I know your first winter was better than mine. We barely survived.

  HANK: I’m sorry to hear that. Truly.

  ME: Thanks…sorry, just brought back bad memories.

  HANK: No, of course. Perhaps you’d like to have a sit down with me sometime?

  ME: [laughs] I don’t know. Maybe someday, I don’t know.

  HANK: You said yourself I’ve helped many people here. Why do you veer from it yourself?

  ME: I’m just not one to easily open up. I’ve kind of just dealt with it on my own.

  HANK: And how many people have you interviewed that probably told you that it was a huge help to get their story out? I imagine quite a few?

  ME:…..

  HANK: That’s what I thought. Just something to think about, Jack. No pressure.

  ME: I’ll consider it. But let’s get back to you.

  HANK: Ah, you’re good at distracting things away. Okay, please continue.

  ME: So that summer, winter, and then all the way to July you had no incidents?

  HANK: Not many. We kept quiet and stayed smart. We never wandered far. There were no reasons to wander anywhere anyway. We kept all candles away from windows at night. On clear nights in the summer we slept on the roof on shifts. Had two lawn chairs set up. When we weren’t on the roof we folded them and set them down as to not be noticed. We’d watch for large groups of them and for people that might pose a threat. We had hoped to find people, decent people, that would want to stay with us and join us. We had enough to go around, that’s for sure. We only had two encounters with other people. The first were a large group of bikers that drove through. We didn’t try to get their attention. Not that I am judgmental by any means, but I wanted to be cautious. The other was a young couple that stumbled upon us. Near us, rather. Quint spotted them and we decided to approach. They were standing outside with a map on the hood of their car. We startled them and the man drew a gun on us. I was starting to think we made a mistake, but I guess we looked innocent enough cause he lowered the gun and apologized. He wasn’t stupid, he had his guard up still, but he didn’t seem threatened by us. We offered food and they came in. Once they saw it was just the two of us and we meant no harm they holstered their firearms. We had hoped they’d stay with us but they declined. They were on a mission to find some folks south of there. They stayed a few nights to get some much needed rest though and we sent them off with many cases of water and food. I do hope they’re okay and found who they were looking for.

  ME: I hope so too. What were their names?

  HANK: Preston and Nancy.

  ME: So what made you leave?

  HANK: It started getting crowded. The dead had begun to wander even more from the nearby cities. At night we’d sometimes see them gathering around the fences. Sometimes the fast ones. They couldn’t see us nor smell us but it’s as if they sensed we were there. Or maybe that’s just the paranoia we began to have. We felt unsafe though. On the property was a small bus and we stocked that thing with water and MRE’s. Then we hit the road and continued east. We drove quite a distance and stopped to rest somewhere near a place called Wayne. Found a small farm house and parked the truck in the barn. We spent two nights in that barn. We were actually going to stay a week but on the second night we heard that awful screaming. Then later we heard some footsteps around the barn and growling so that was enough for us. That morning we opened the barn doors and drove on out. As we were going down the driveway Quint yelled out in surprise. Startled me greatly and I asked what the problem was. He told me to check the side mirror. I did and nearly yelled out myself. Coming from behind the barn and around both sides were dozens of them. Slow ones, yes, but dozens. Enough to have had the combined strength to get in those doors. We didn’t even realize any were outside, let alone dozens! We realized then that we needed to be more aware of our surroundings. That could have gone very bad.

  ME: Yep. We learned the same way and made errors.

  HANK: We had a long drive and ended up around a small place called Monroeville. We parked behind a body shop outside of town. We didn’t want to risk going in so we just took two shifts in the truck. Now and then in the night I would catch glimpses of dark silhouettes shambling down the road or in a field. At one point one walked right past the bus on my side. I saw it creeping up in the mirror and nearly jumped. Thankfully it wasn’t a runner. I slid down in my seat and was glad the bus sat up high. I nearly held my breath as it wandered past, oblivious that we were there. It crossed the street and I let out a sigh of relief! Eventually it was out of sight altogether. I woke Quint up and told him to take the second half of the night shift. When I woke up later, near dawn, he was asleep and I was rather upset and pushed him awake. He jumped so high he nearly hit his head on the roof. He quickly understood why I was angry and he became angry at himself and apologized profusely. The sun came up and he said “where to?”

  I said well, if you wanna have some fun let’s head directly north to Sandusky. I assumed he would understand but he did not. He simply asked why Sandusky? I told him that’s where Cedar Point was. Again he looked slightly confused and then I saw he got it. He wanted to clarify and asked if I was speaking of the amusement park [laughs]. He’s a good kid. I suggested we get some hot dogs and ride a few coasters [laughs]. Levity is good. He did recall, however, that there were islands out there but I said it wasn’t worth it. They might be inaccessible or overrun by those things or taken
over by people that won’t let us in. Or worse, people that would kill us and take our things.

  ME: I had some good times out there.

  HANK: As did I. Sadly, Quint had never been. I suggested we just keep heading east and see. So that is what we proceeded to do. We headed a little north though in order to avoid the bigger Norwalk which may have been overrun. No need to take any more chances than we needed to. Hours later we ended up outside of Oberlin and rested at a farm. We decided to just do as we did the last time and stay in the truck. We weren’t keen on staying in another barn with zero clue of our surroundings. No, that first barn was enough for the two of us. The next night we spent in Weymouth. The next morning the sun wasn’t even up yet but I was wide awake and decided to get an early start. Quint was sleeping so I woke him by turning the bus on. He did not find this as amusing as I did. And there’s not much left to say. Nothing eventful that I recall happened between there and here. I won’t lie, following the signs and finding you guys, we were scared. But Quint convinced me we had to take a chance eventually. What was the plan? Drive all day just to sleep in some unsecured place and then keep going? The point was to find a place to be safe so we had to try. You people welcomed us with open arms and fed us and spoke with us and we knew we made the right choice. I am very grateful. Quint is too.