Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  She has a fever because of a tear on her “bottom” she got when she was raped. Hisa had to sew it up and now it's infected. She's cleaning it herself, and Hisa still has her on antibiotics. Hisa's not really worried about it and believes it'll heal with no problem.

  I was there when Rick and Ian asked what was causing the fever. She told them her “ripped up butthole was infected.” They suddenly decided to get out of there and find work to do. Hisa laughed with me and Josie 'til we were all in tears.

  I noticed that Ian and Rick were wearing new jeans and shirts at supper tonight. I'm glad they have clothes now, but we all need more. Rebecca has a couple tubs of summer clothing in her bedroom at the Masterson house. Jason said he'll take her to get them after the men leave. I asked Deuce if he had any, and he said there were several tubs in his walk-in closet. I'll ask Jason to get those as well.

  My family has lots of summer clothes but everyone else needs some except for Deuce and Rebecca. We also have plenty of winter clothes and again, everyone will need those as well.

  We need to start lootin' houses again and take all the clothes we find along with the food. We need all the quilts, comforters, and blankets we can find before winter comes again.

  I wasn't surprised to find out that Elaine can sew. She said she can make clothes out of curtains, so we'll take any we find.

  Mick just sighed and that's a signal for me to get off this stupid computer and get in bed,

  Bye for now.

  Monday, March 24

  They're gone. They left right before dawn and were prepared as they could be. Now, the worrying starts. It's only 25 freakin' miles but it seems a lot farther than that. I pray they don't run into a fake military group.

  Maybe they'll be back before supper.

  Jason and Rebecca are at the Masterson house, gathering clothes. I asked for all the bed linens and towels. Rebecca told Jason they should take the goat trailer because there’s a lot of bed linens, clothes, and towels. That sounded great to me.

  Soo and Elaine are on watch out front and Pop is on watch with Luke out back. Rona went back to her motorhome right after the men pulled out. I'm sure she's worrying as much as I am.

  Carisa's sitting in the radio building and has made contact with the men already.. They said they'll check in again when they get close to the stash. That could be any minute, I'm guessing.

  Mr. Hobbs is in the garden harvesting whatever he can.

  I need to get out to the kitchen, unload the dehydrator, and start a load of parsley.

  Carisa brought up a large garbage bag full of pint-sized plastic containers last night. I'll be filling one of them with dried basil leaves this morning. I also need to get my nose in a book and find out how to preserve fava beans.

  See ya later.

  3:00 PM...

  They're safe and on their way home. They had trouble with a few HDI's, but there was no fake military group to be seen.

  Dane said they got quite a bit from the stash and he'll talk about it when they get here. I can't wait for them to arrive!

  Just about everyone is on the front porch, waiting for them. I'm headed there myself.

  See ya later.

  10:30 PM...

  The only trouble the men had was driving through a very small town about five miles from the stash. There were HDI's on the street and they had to shoot and drive their way through. Mick said they probably took out about 40 HDI's. Thank the Lord for small towns. I wondered aloud where the rest of their population went. Mick said there were HDI's on the side streets and in several of the shops and buildings but they only took out the ones that were close and blocking their way.

  The stash was inside a little rundown shack back in the woods. There was a red X painted on the roof, duh. They had to park on the edge of the woods and carry everything, but the hand dolly made it a lot easier.

  The delivery truck held three large tubs of flour, one large tub of sugar, and a large tub of salt. It also held two barrels of sweet sorghum syrup along with six 12-count cases each of corn, green beans, potatoes, beef ravioli, and chili.

  There's a huge box labeled “beef jerky” covered in layers of plastic wrap. There's a case of sauerkraut, a case of dill pickle spears, a case of brown gravy, and a large box full of Jell-O and Jell-O pudding mix in many different flavors. I was drooling over the glass jars full of sauerkraut, gravy, and pickles.

  They also got a huge box full of Corel dishes and mugs along with two nice propane grills.

  Rounding out the delivery truck was a 50 lb propane, two 100 lb propane tanks, three M16's (yeah baby), a large tub of .223 ammo, 6 hand grenades , a tub of .45 ammo, and several pieces of what Rick says is a M79 grenade launcher. A GRENADE LAUNCHER?

  The Jeep held a large amount of medical supplies. There were several more rifles and pistols, and ammunition to go with them. Mick said they found 20 National Guard uniforms but Rick thought it would be a bad idea to have them on the compound..

  This was a good haul and we're very happy to have it. It may not sound like much, but we probably added on a good one or two weeks to our food supplies. The flour, sugar, and salt will last a lot longer than that.

  There's a bus full of gypsy traders behind the trailer fence. They pulled up right before dark and Samuel asked if they could hide the bus behind the trailers and camp overnight. Of course, we said yes. We saw firelight from their charcoal grill about an hour after they parked. I need to find out if they have anything for Lisa’s birthday.

  I didn't get the fava beans taken care of but I found instructions for them. We'll blanch them and freeze them in plastic containers.

  Jason and Rebecca brought the goat trailer home full of clothes and linens.

  I think Luke and Larson can wear some of Deuce's clothes and Rebecca can share hers with several of the girls. Most of Mr. Masterson's clothes are fancy, but Elaine says she’ll make something of them. She'll also alter Mrs. Masterson's clothes. They brought quilts, comforters, and a good number of towels and sheet sets. They brought home a huge amount of cloth dinner napkins and Elaine says she can make summer blouses and halter tops with them.

  Right before dark, Jeremy took out two HDI's in the big field across the road. One of them was walking on his knees because he had no legs and feet below them.

  The men will take the HDI bodies to the power lines tomorrow morning and burn them. I bet they came out of the woods when they heard Jason and Rebecca at the Masterson house.

  Fence work will resume tomorrow. I think the men are looking forward to it. They should be able to get a lot done since most of them will be here.

  Mick's finally sleeping and I'm heading out to the porch for my last cigarette of the day. I have 11 cigarettes left. I'm gonna miss those terrible little coffin nails.

  Bye for now.

  Tuesday, March 25

  I wanna scream but... oh, hell... THERE ARE 15 BABY CHICKENS IN THE COOP! They're yellow, fluffy, and adorable. Go Rusty! He's an awesome rooster.

  I hope at least half of them are female. Soo said it'll be a few weeks 'til we know for sure. I'm sending a big thank you up to Jesus that we have baby chicks.

  I have no idea what to do with them. Soo's gonna take care of it. We're gonna need more chicken feed and Mick says there's none at the milling company. Pop said they would eat garden scraps so we'll make sure to pick some out of the pigs bucket for them.

  Nana and Elaine made sausage biscuits for breakfast. They put out several jars of jam for those who didn't want sausage.

  Last year, I bought several pork roasts when they were on sale. I ground them up, added a few spices, and made sausage from a recipe I found on a YouTube video. I fried the sausage patties and canned them in some of my tall canning jars. I was able to get nine patties in each jar. Nana used several jars for breakfast. No one complained, and we emptied more canning jars to re-use.

  Josie came in for breakfast today. She says she's anxious to get on the duty rosters. She's gonna have scars across her back from t
he lashings she took. She says she's lucky to have her life and anyone who's turned off by her scars is not worth the time of day.

  Kevin was on watch out front and saw two pickup trucks driving slowly down the road. That made everyone nervous and, of course, Mick will worry about it all day. I'll be right there with him.

  Rick and Ian are building a pig pen attached to what's left of the shed at Marisa and Jason's house. The pigs will have a lot more room and can root for acorns and whatever else pigs root for.

  Ian said they'll have the pen finished before lunch, then they'll help with the fence.

  I'm thinking about going back to all the refrigerators to look for pickle jars and other glass jars we can use for canning. I'm sure we won't enjoy it but we can clean and disinfect them before using them. Actually, we must do it. We need jars desperately.

  Samuel came up the hill and told Marisa that they'll be leaving in an hour or so. I need to get down there and see what I can find for Lisa. I have no idea what to use for trading. We need every speck of food we have. Maybe they'll take water or dried basil. I suppose I can offer them a pint container of salt.

  I'm heading down there now. See ya later.

  3:00 PM...

  I couldn't find a darn thing for Lisa's birthday. I traded the Gypsies a barrel of water for two jars of Uncle Scott's Liver Pate' and two boxes of instant mashed potato flakes.

  Shawna told me that Lisa likes weapons and camping.

  I pulled out a nice backpack, took it to Rick and Ian, and told them to make a “killer bug-out bag.” They started digging through boxes and tubs right away. Shawna said that Lisa will love it.

  Jesse and Jeremy came home with a trailer load of square bales. They ate lunch, unloaded the hay into one of the trailers, and left to get a second load. They're gonna continue to look for hay until they run out of places to look or all the trailers are full.

  They looted a house several yards from the hay barn. The windows were boarded up and there were two fresh graves beside the house. There was a man HDI inside and Jeremy said he was somewhat “fresh.” It took two bullets to put him down for good.

  They brought home a small amount of home-canned food and 24 empty quart jars. Jeremy said the sheets were disgusting and had blood all over them, but he'd grab them on their second trip if I wanted him to. I declined the sheets.

  They also brought home a 12 gauge shotgun and a half-full box of shells.

  Dane and Kevin went out for another load of logs. Rick and Ian finished the pig pen and took their places working on the fence.

  Larson brought in four more quail. Rona cleaned them and added them to the freezer with the others.

  Pop and Mr. Hobbs are almost ready to start planting seeds in the garden near the pools. Pop said they need to rake the ground two more times before planting. I hear the tractor at the bottom of the hill so I guess they're working on it now.

  I just heard gunshots! I pray it's the boys getting quail, but I'm going out to check anyway. See ya later.

  10:00 PM...

  It wasn't the boys getting quail.

  Two pickup trucks stopped at the front gate and four teenage boys got out. They motioned to Mr. Hobbs and Pop who were working in the garden. Mr. Hobbs headed toward the gate on the Kubota. Pop was walking, so he was good distance behind.

  Rona and Deuce were on watch duty and they started down the hill to find out who they were and what they wanted.

  Pop saw one of the boys swipe his hand across his throat, indicating that he wanted Mr. Hobbs to cut the engine so they could talk to him. Mr. Hobbs cut the engine, climbed down off the tractor, and began walking toward the gate. Pop panicked and yelled at him to get behind the tractor, but I guess he didn't hear him.

  Rona and Deuce were almost down the hill and Pop was standing behind the Kubota, aiming his pistol toward the gate when one of the boys propped his arm on the shoulder of the boy in front and used a .357 Magnum to shoot Mr. Hobbs in the chest. He fell to the ground.

  Rona motioned to Deuce to hit the ground and he dropped like a rock. Rona and Pop began shooting toward the boys, and two of them fell to the ground within seconds. The remaining two jumped inside the front pickup truck. The tires squealed as they drove away. Pop says he put at least two bullets through the rear window of the pickup but it kept going.

  Rona sent Deuce running toward Clinic Diane.

  Pop and Rona ran to Mr. Hobbs who was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Several of us began running down the hill, and Hisa came running from Clinic Diane with a black bag in her hand. She passed a few of us and made it to Mr. Hobbs several seconds before we got there. Pop was bent over him and holding his hand.

  The buttons flew off his shirt as Hisa ripped it open to look at the wound. She sat back on her heels and looked up at the rest of us. I saw no hope on her face.

  Mr. Hobbs pulled Pop closer and whispered to him. His hand went limp in Pop's hand and he laid his head on the ground and left this world.

  Elaine was screaming and crying at the top of her lungs. She said “dad? Dad? DADDY!” as she shook him. “No daddy! You’re gonna be fine, get up, it's gonna be okay” she screamed. The rest of us were crying as well. Hisa grabbed her by the shoulder and told her that her Daddy was already gone. Elaine started wailing just as Dane and Kevin pulled up in the log truck.

  Dane's jumped from the cab and ran straight to Elaine. He looked to the rest of us for an explanation and Rona gave him a short, tearful version.

  He picked up Elaine and started walking. She laid her head on his shoulder as he carried her to Clinic Diane. He bellowed over his shoulder for Hisa to follow 'cause he thought Elaine needed a “sedative or something.” Hisa got up, sighed, and followed them.

  Jesse was out getting hay and everyone dreaded the moment he came back.

  Rona sent Rebecca and Valerie up to the house for sheets to wrap Mr. Hobbs' body. We all stood and waited for them to get back.

  Rick and Ian walked up and we told them what happened. They took the sheets from Valerie and wrapped Mr. Hobbs' body. They picked him up and carried him to the porch of the Hobbs house. We'll bury him in the little graveyard tomorrow morning.

  Pop waited at the bottom of the hill for Jesse and Jeremy to return. The rest of us went back up the hill and hid with our grief in our bedrooms, motorhomes, and little wooden buildings.

  I looked out the front door a couple of hours later and saw the flatbed trailer, stacked full of hay, sitting beside the trailer fence. Pop was no longer at bottom of the driveway. Marisa told me he went to his motorhome and would only allow Nana inside.

  He came in for supper and ate in silence before heading back to the motorhome for the night.

  Hisa came for supper plates to take back to Josie, Dane and Elaine. She said Elaine was in serious emotional distress and won't let go of Dane's arm. I don't know where Jesse went. We didn't see him at supper time.

  Mick's asleep in the recliner and I'm crawling into my bed. I wonder when I'll wake up from this hellish nightmare.

  Bye for now.

  Wednesday, March 26

  1:10 AM...

  Yes, you read that correctly. It's currently 1:10 AM.

  Two hours ago, the Gypsy Trader's bus stopped at the driveway and one of them laid on the horn for about two minutes until Mick and Jason got down there to find out who was honking.

  It was dark and drizzling rain. Mick and Jason could only see the bus silhouette. When they got close enough to see the colorful bus, they went straight to the door.

  Samuel's dying. He was shot by two teenage boys is a pickup truck. The teenage boys were parked on the side of the road with the truck hood raised. One of them was lying on the ground in front, and the other was sitting on his knees beside him.

  Samuel thought something bad had happened to them and he stopped the bus to see if he could render aid. As soon as he stepped on the middle stair, one of the boys raised a pistol and shot him in the chest. Samuel fell backwards on the deck beside the driver
’s seat.

  The boy stepped up on the first step and declared that he was taking the bus and everything inside. He waved his pistol around in the air and screamed “Get yer asses out.”

  Isaac stood from the front seat on the passenger side and swung a Guitar as hard as he could toward the boy's face. The blow knocked the boy out the door and onto the ground. Isaac quickly closed the door, jumped in the driver’s seat, and got outa there.

  When he was sure their attackers could no longer see the bus, Isaac took left turns and right turns, and put some distance between themselves and the main road. He stopped behind an abandoned warehouse in an unfamiliar area and tried to stop the bleeding. The bullet hit Samuel in the left middle torso underneath his heart. Isaac said he thought he could hear broken ribs rubbing together when they moved him. There was no exit hole on his back.

  After an hour of screaming and twisting in agony, Samuel passed out. Isaac checked his pulse, and he was still alive. The only medic that the group knew of was Hisa, so Isaac started the bus and tried to find his way out of unfamiliar territory. He knew Kapper Hill was 45 miles away and he knew he had to drive through the area where the two survivor groups are at war. He was scared to death.

  The bus has one working headlight and Isaac was having a rough time finding his way back to the main road. It was dark, foggy, and drizzling rain, and it took him two hours to find his way.

  He stopped twice to check Samuel's pulse and found that he was still alive but his breathing had begun to sound rattled. He stopped a third time because he had no choice. They had to re-fuel. It took several minutes to get their five-gallon fuel cans emptied into the tank. Isaac was pacing. He knew he needed to get Samuel here fast, and time was flying by.

  I suppose both of the warring survivor groups were staying in because Isaac made it through the area with no problems.

  Hisa has Samuel in Clinic Diane. The look on her face told me that there's no hope. Hisa can't do that kind of surgery, especially since she failed to re-inflate Samuel's lung with the equipment Josie's doctor left. She told us to get out of Clinic Diane and send in Samuel's grandchildren. All we can do now is wait.