Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  We'll have to be careful about what kind of wood we're burning because we don't want to send up smoke-signals.

  We can't have target practice until we're sure that the convoy is out of the area.

  We need to get the fence built and plant something to climb all over it to disguise Marisa's trailer and our property. Oh Lord, please don't let those military guys come to our home. We're scared and nervous.

  9:30 PM...

  Supper was delicious! Marisa wants a cook stove at Caleb's house. We all groaned, remembering the effort it took to get the thing up here. Jason says she shall have it even if he has to check every house in the county. He's still beaming because he has his son.

  He's thrilled that Marisa is willing to love and raise Michael as her own. I told him that anyone can have a baby, but it takes a parent to raise one. Being a parent doesn't mean you have to give birth to a child. It means that you’re the one who cleans up the diapers, bottles, and vomit, and gets them through potty training, middle school, high school, and college. A parent is the person who's proud to say "this is my son" or "this is my daughter."

  He nodded, and I'm sure he knows exactly what I meant.

  Mick is a total grump. He's worried about the convoy, and the people in the pull-off, and getting the fence done, and finding a way to collect water, and Soo and Hisa in the trailer, and a hundred other things. We didn't talk to him tonight. No one wanted to get their head bitten off.

  He's sleeping now and I could reach out and touch him if I wanted to. I hope I don't startle him when I climb in bed.

  Bye for now.

  Saturday, January 18

  Mick and Jason walked down to the pull-off this morning, before dawn, in the dark! I wish I could smack them both in the head!

  I screamed for ten minutes that "they'd forgotten their responsibility to this family, and any member of this family who foolishly puts themselves in danger is selfish and taking a chance with the entire family's welfare, and if they had gotten killed it might have killed us too 'cause we couldn't make it without them, and now they made my back hurt worse 'cause I was all tensed up!"

  Mick was brave enough to say "no one would kill you because you'd come back and haunt them." He ducked after he said it.

  That was all it took for me to start screaming again. I wanted to throw something at them, but we need everything we've got.

  He wrapped his arms around me and said he was just kidding He asked me to stop screaming before I called the National Guard or a mob of HDI's down on us. He said that, if I would "hush for a little while," I could meet the surprise he had waiting outside. That caught me off-guard so I tried to settle myself down. When they thought I was calm enough, they told me what they'd found.

  The three motorhomes at the pull-off had tags from various states north of here. One was Tennessee, one was Kentucky, and the third was South Dakota. Both motorcycles had tags from Virginia, and the white Chevy had tags from Florida.

  There was a pile of smoldering bodies about 50 feet from the camp. Mick couldn't tell if they were HDI's or non-infected folks because there wasn't much left. He says the air smells like burning flesh and caused him and Jason to gag a few times.

  They decided to check out the vehicles and started with the Chevy truck. It was unlocked and the inside held a few empty beer cans and snack wrappers along with an ashtray full of cigarette butts. There was a road atlas on the seat and a picture of two older folks and four younger folks being used as a bookmark.

  In the truck camper was a fishing pole, tire jack, spare tire, and garbage. There were drag marks in the dust, like someone had pulled out something about the size of a laundry basket.

  They headed for the pop-up camper and found an unmade bed with a blanket and a couple of pillows. There was various newspapers on the floor, a couple of western novels, and another filled ashtray. A pair of jeans and a few shirts were laying on the little couch. There was an assortment of normal, everyday stuff and small appliances lying here and there. They could tell the camper had been searched.

  They abandoned the camper and headed to the motorhome with Kentucky tags. It was completely dark inside, so Mick switched on his flashlight. As soon as he stepped up on the first step a young, female voice said "If you come any closer, I'll kill you." He just about jumped outa his skin.

  "We won't hurt you" he said. "We live right up the road. We drove by here the other day and noticed your camp." There were a few uncomfortable seconds of silence before she replied. "How do I know you're tellin' the truth?" she asked.

  Mick could hear nervousness in her shaky voice. He pointed the flashlight around the room until he found her. She seemed ready to defend herself. "You don't know" he said, "All I can do is promise you that we’re good people and won't hurt you. My wife and kids are up at the house, and this is my daughter's boyfriend.” He motioned toward Jason. “My granddaughter's up there too, and there's a couple other people we helped. We might be able to help you."

  She sighed, dropped her arm, and walked towards him. She stopped half-way and stared.

  She moved like a scared rabbit. Every little move he or Jason made startled her, and she couldn't stop jerking her head in every direction, looking for threats.

  "We're gonna step out here in the moonlight and if you wanna come out and talk, we'd like to hear what happened" Mick told her. He motioned for Jason to step back and they both backed away from the motorhome and waited to see if she'd come out.

  She stepped out with her arm lowered and a death grip on the knife in her hand. She looked them over two or three times each and seemed to relax a little. She sighed again, eased her death grip on the knife, and began telling them what had happened.

  "My name’s Diane Ruske" she said. "My mom died last year from colon cancer. Dad and I were the only ones left in our family."

  She pulled one of the lawn chairs over to the table and sat down. She placed the knife on the table top and rested her hand beside it while Mick and Jason dragged over lawn chairs for themselves.

  "We was headed back to Kentucky after spending Christmas at the beach" she said as she toyed with the knife on the table. "We was runnin' on fumes so we pulled off the highway to get gas at the truck stop. Dad went in to pay 'cause and the cashier said there wasn't any gas and we'd have to go somewhere else. There was no way we could make it somewhere else."

  She stretched her feet out in front of her and leaned back in the chair. "We didn't understand what was happening. We don't listen to the radio, we just listen to CD's. Dad bought a couple Diet Coke's and came back to the motorhome to tell me what the man said."

  She leaned forward and looked at Mick to try and determine whether or not he believed her. "We saw two motorhomes at the back of the parking lot. There was two men and a woman, and three little kids standing beside 'em. Dad drove the motorhome back there and we got out to see if they knew what was goin' on." She adjusted in her chair a little, wiped her hand across her face, and kept talking.

  "They told us the world was fallin' apart. Martial law was called and people was lootin' and riots in the cities. No one was able to get gas and the food was gone from the grocery stores. The military was taking teenagers away to fight in a new war."

  "While we was talking to them, a pick-up truck pulled in the parkin' lot and some guys ridin' in the back started bustin’ out the windows in front." She continued her story.

  "Dad said we needed to get back in the motorhome and be quiet, so we did. There was people driving all around the parking lot. Two motorcycles came back where we were and went behind the motorhomes. A lot of people were bustin' out windows and goin' inside to grab food or whatever. After a couple hours, the parkin' lot was empty 'cept us, and a white truck with a camper that was parked beside the gas pumps. There was a few empty cars there too." She started crying but wouldn't let Mick comfort her.

  "We wanted to go outside and talk to the people in the motorhomes, but cars kept comin' in the parking lot, drivin' around, and pullin' back out
again. Dad didn't wanna go out there while there was cars drivin' around. After a couple more hours, it was gettin' dark and there wasn't any more cars comin' in, so we got out of the motorhome. The other folks was already out and standing around back, talking to the motorcycle guys and the guy with the white truck." She stopped and paused.

  She asked Mick if he had any water, and he didn't. I could smack him in the head for not taking his backpack.

  Jason had a half-empty water bottle in his coat pocket. He pulled it out and gave it to her. She swallowed every drop in four swallows and continued her story.

  "We all agreed that we needed to get away from the gas station. We told 'em that we didn't have enough gas to get out of the parkin' lot, so one of the motorcycle guys cut the air hose loose from the little machine you use to air up your tires, and he got some gas out of a truck in the parkin' lot into a big soda bottle. He poured it in our tank and went back to get more. He did it three more times, then he couldn't get any more to come out." Her head was down and she seemed tired, but kept on talking.

  "We went inside the gas station to see if there was anything left. We found a few candy bars and two cola's that were rolling around on the floor. Nearly all the cigarettes were gone and Mr. Hames, that's the guy in the white truck, took what was left. Everyone was getting nervous, so we took what we had and got outa there. When we saw this spot, we thought it would be a good place to make camp. We thought there would be safety in numbers, ya know, and we tried to park our motorhomes and the camper in a circle."

  She stood and stretched her arms above her head. "We all had some food and water in our motorhomes, and the guy in the white truck had some food in his camper. We dug a hole for the fire and Mr. Hames built the wood thing to go over it. Mr. and Mrs. Talley had a big, heavy pot in their motorhome, so we used that to cook food when we run out of gas for the stoves."

  "The kids belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Talley. They was comin' back from Mississippi and headin' for the hills because of all the bad news. They was in Mississippi to see Mr. Talley's folks for Christmas.

  “Amos Pickens was the guy in the other motorhome. He was goin' to Florida to retire 'cause the weather’s warm and the cold weather up north bothers his arthritis.

  “The motorcycle guys was Tyler and Jacob. They mostly kept to themselves. I don't know where they came from or where they was going. They was both really nice. We were doing okay 'til yesterday." She was fidgeting again.

  "I went off in the trees on the other side of the road 'cause I needed to go to the bathroom. When I was done and ready to go back, a buncha army guys pulled in. I squatted down behind the bushes. I couldn't hear what they were sayin' but it sounded like they was yellin' orders, ya know, like they do in the army shows on TV?”

  “They were tryin' to take Mr. Talley, Tyler, and Jacob and put 'em in the back of a big truck with a green top on it. Tyler pulled out this knife and was tryin' to stab the army guys. Mrs. Talley started yellin' and hittin' the army guy who had ahold of Mr. Talley.

  "Mr. Pickens looked like he was gonna be sick, and he sat down in one of the chairs. Dad was trying to say somethin' to one of the army guys, and was walking over to him. Mr. Hames was headin' toward his truck, tryin' to be sneaky about it. Tyler was still fightin' and tryin' to stab 'em. Jacob started fightin' too, and he got an army guy on the ground and was punchin' him in the face. Mrs. Talley was still screamin' and kickin' and the kids was tryin' to kick the army guys too. Mr. Talley was tryin' to get Mrs. Talley and the kids to stop. Some of the army guys were yellin' and tryin' to get Mrs. Talley away from the army guy who had Mr. Talley. Then, three of the army guys pulled these big guns off their back and started shootin'. They shot everyone, includin' Mrs. Talley and the kids, and Dad too."

  Tears were rolling down her cheeks and Mick said she was staring him straight in the eye. He said he felt a little sick. He was relieved when she finally looked away. He thought she was finished, but she wasn’t.

  "I crunched down behind the bushes and watched to see what else they was gonna do. I wanted to run to Dad, but they shot him in the head and I knew he was dead. They shot all of 'em in the head." She had to stop and gather herself.

  "They took all the bodies back in the field and lit 'em on fire. It was awful. I didn't want 'em to burn Dad, but I was afraid to go talk to 'em." She looked to Mick for assurance that she'd done the right thing. He nodded.

  "They took all the food and water, and they looked in Mr. Hames' truck and took some stuff out of the back and some stuff out of his camper too. They left outa here and went that way. I snuck over here and saw the moon shinin' on Tyler's knife, so I picked it up and went in the motorhome. It was dark, but I didn't go to sleep. I just kept sittin' there and thinking about Dad and them little kids. It felt like it was dark forever. Next thing I know, you guys was coming in the motorhome. I was afraid you was the army guys coming back."

  Diane dropped her shoulders and laid her head on the table. She started sobbing. Mick went over to put an arm around her shoulders. She stood up, buried her face in his chest, and kept on sobbing. He told her she was safe now and that we would take care of her. She finally agreed to come back to the house with Mick and Jason. They got here just as the sun was rising over the trees.

  Who are those people in the military uniforms and vehicles? For the life of me, I can't imagine our own military stealing food and killing American citizens that are healthy and not infected. It just doesn't sit right. It has to be something else... It just has to be.

  Diane’s a black teenager. Her skin almost glows. She has beautiful brown eyes and long black hair. She still looks very young but you can tell she's going to mature into a beautiful woman. She's taller than me and kinda chunky.

  She has sad, haunted eyes that look older than they should. She has a couple scrapes on her arms and a burn on her left pointer finger. We cleaned them and put burn cream, along with a band aid, on the finger.

  I made a bowl of oatmeal and she ate a good bit of it. She's asleep on the futon in Mick's office. Every once in a while, I hear her cry out in her sleep. God bless this poor child. She's only eighteen years old and she's been through a lot in the past year with her mother passing away. Now, she's lost her Dad. My heart hurts for her. If she'll let us, we'll try to keep her safe.

  2:00 PM...

  I made powdered egg and bacon biscuits with grits on the side for lunch. No one complained.

  Diane came out of the office for lunch, but mostly she just pushed food around on her plate while I introduced her to everyone. After lunch, she went to lay on the futon again. I know she's a physical and emotional wreck. Only time will ease her pain.

  Jeremy didn't come for lunch. He was boarding up windows at Caleb's house and didn't wanna turn loose.

  We're all looking forward to Nana's pork chops tonight. She's making real mashed potatoes to go with them.

  Hisa says she and Soo will be here for supper tonight. Yay! I'm so glad Soo is healing and getting back on his feet.

  10:00 PM...

  Nana's pork chops were out of this world. Pop and Mick ate two each. She fried them in lard. That'll add some fat to our diet.

  There's a lot of mashed potatoes left, and Nana said she'll fry them like pancakes for breakfast tomorrow morning. She'll do it on the cook stove 'cause Pop's been turning off the propane in the motorhome during the day.

  Everyone was here for supper. The kids were buck wild 'til they got warm in front of the fireplace and got their little bellies full.

  Soo looks great! Hisa said she's weaning him off the pain medications because she doesn't want him to get addicted. He seemed like his old self (what little I know of him before he got shot). He's looking forward to getting back to work and helping Mick put up a fence. An hour after supper, he started getting tired, so Hisa took him back down the hill. I stepped outside to have a cigarette and heard her talking sweet, like a new girlfriend, as she held his good arm and led him down the driveway.

  When Jeremy saw Dia
ne I thought he might have to pick his jaw up off the floor and wipe drool from it. That boy looked like he was smitten. They sat close together and talked quietly through supper. A little while later, Diane got up and went back to the futon. I'll stick my head in there before I crawl in with Mick, just to make sure she has enough blankets.

  My back is sore, but much better than it was. Mick's already asleep and snoring quietly. He says he'll be working on the water situation tomorrow.

  He's sending Jason and Jeremy back to TSC to pick up the rolls of fencing they left. They'll take Jason's Dodge and the flatbed trailer. Mick said he forgot to check the back of the warehouse area for propane canisters, so they'll check on that as well.

  Pop plans to work on a greenhouse idea he has. He thinks he remembers how to build it and can use small PVC pipe and clear plastic that we have in the barn loft. He said it's called a "hoop house."

  He said it's time to start planting and growing early crop seedlings. Most of them need to grow in a greenhouse until after the last frost, but we can put some cold weather stuff straight in the ground right now. The only problems is that we don't have a garden spot ready. I told him to start planting them in my flower beds, around the hedges and roses. He said "sounds like a plan."

  Jeremy said all the herbs and flowers at Caleb's house look dead but there's a big patch of sun chokes (Jerusalem Artichokes) in one of the garden beds. The stems and leaves are dead but the root tubers should be good. I've heard about sun chokes. They look kinda like small potatoes. They're supposed to taste like water chestnuts. I'll go over there as soon as I get a chance and check them out.

  I know we can eat dandelions and dollar weed, but none of that is up and growing. I have a book on mushrooms that has pictures of poisonous and non-poisonous varieties, so I'll pull that out for studying. I wonder what Mick would say if I served him a weed salad.

  I'm gonna check on Diane before I jump into my own bed. Tomorrow's laundry day again, and I'm not looking forward to it, but I refuse to let that pile get back up to my knees.