Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  Montel, Darryl, Melody, and Bree asked Chris Knellson for several acres where the ckd's house is located. Brody and Serena Wilkerson agreed to join them and form their own compound. There's enough empty houses there for a small group.

  The Major said yes, and called to his unit to send several supply trucks this way. Brody will be listed as “owner” and we will have new neighbors whom we believe we can trust. Chris says he'll spend several days with them and help them get settled. He'll have his troops start on a fence, but he's not sure they'll be here long enough to finish it. We told them we'll help anytime we had a spare moment.

  Chris said he'll need to look over his books and decide what they can grow for the government. Every one of them told him “no thanks.” They don't wanna be members with badges. They want the one allotment and then, be left alone. Chris said that wouldn't be a problem, but the land would be listed as “ownership pending” unless one of them registered as landowner. None of them took the bait. They said they’ll deal with it their own way if someone decides to try and take over.

  Their “one time allotment” will probably be big since they’re lacking everything except shelter.

  Tessa, Bree and Pao asked to remain here at Kapper Hill. Chris told them the decision was up to us. We voted to allow them in and they'll be living in Isabella's little wooden building until we can get a separate building set up for Pao. He's nineteen years old and probably won't mind bunking with a couple of women, but I think he needs his own space.

  I asked Chris to verify that additional supplies would be arriving for Tessa, Bree, and Pao along with the supplies for the other compound. He sighed, went back to the radio building, and ordered the entire unit to head back this way. They should arrive by tomorrow night.

  I hope they set up the mess hall again.

  I just heard the trucks with the cleanup crew arrive for their shift change. I wanna know how many HDI's were taken out. Josie said that three cluster bombs were dropped in the quarry. Chris said he'll know the numbers when the cleanup crew is finished.

  By the way, none of the fake military members survived, and the strike team is on their way to someplace else.

  I'm headed to bed to try and sort this all out in my head.

  Our world is changing in a big way, again.

  I'm praying it's for the best.

  Bye for now.

  Wednesday, April 16

  This morning, I told Major Chris Knellson that we were sending several members to town with trailers and trucks.

  Since town in almost bare of HDI's, we need to get in there fast before every shop and business is looted and empty. He agreed.

  Rona and Kevin are driving the delivery truck.

  Jason will ride along with Soo inside a big rig with a flatbed trailer attached. Jeremy and Jesse are taking the Jeep with the goat trailer attached, and Shawna and Lisa are headed out in their grandfathers Cadillac SUV with Isaac riding along.

  Ian and Rick are going as well. They'll mostly be scouting and guarding our people.

  The TNMNS (you know, the Teenage Non-Mutant Ninja Soldiers) begged to go, but Rona wants to check for fake military and HDI's who might have gone back to town since the battle.

  Mick feels better this morning. He had biscuits and jam for breakfast and was allowed to have caffeinated coffee. That put a hop in his step. He's able to get around with no assistance, but he's moving a little slow. Time will take care of that.

  Dane's in the same shape as Mick. He came in with Elaine for breakfast and headed right back to bed for a nap afterward. I plan to speak to Chris about moving the woodshop from the Peterson place to the hill inside the compound. It's time for Dane and Elaine to have their own place and get out from under Marisa's feet.

  Rona and Kevin looted a specialty store while I was looking for Mick. They brought home bee-keeping equipment, including several empty hives and the gear needed to tend them.

  There are two or three see-through bee hives on the walls at the store. Kevin says there's holes in the wall which allows the bees to come and go. You can actually see the inner workings of a hive. I'd love to see them, but I don't wanna be there while they're catching bees. They have no idea how to move a hive. Chris said there's books on the subject in the unit’s book distribution truck.

  I stored lots of honey before the collapse, but not enough to last forever. Those hives will be a huge asset.

  Pop and Emma are in the garden, dressed in bee-keeping gear to keep the flies away.

  Nana's picking poke weed so we can have poke sallet with eggs for lunch. I could almost see Pop's mouth water when she mentioned it.

  She'll pick the youngest greens and parboil them. Then, she'll dump the water and rinse them. Next, she'll boil them again, rinse them, and let 'em drain. She'll mix it together with eggs and stir fry it in lard just enough to cook the eggs before serving.

  Amber asked if she could have the leaves as a salad instead of cooked. Nana yelled “NO!” She caught herself and gently explained to Amber that it was dangerous to eat them that way.

  My heart almost skipped a beat thinking of Amber lying on the floor, dead from being poisoned by an uncooked leaf. I asked Nana to keep the bowl of greens on top of the refrigerator.

  Pao chimed in and said he knew how to make ink from the dark purple poke berries when late summer and fall comes around. He learned it in an American history class.

  Rebecca's sick and I noticed that she looks terribly thin. I demanded that she have another checkup with Battle-axe today or tomorrow. I want her checked out thoroughly. I know that sounds bossy, but I can’t help it. If she's not pregnant, then something has to be wrong. We need to know what it is and how to treat it.

  Chris, Josie, and Mick are in the radio building, monitoring the movement of Chris's unit. The unit has been threatened by sniper fire twice since they headed back this way. Chris is very concerned because it happened at night. That means that the snipers have special headgear and/or goggles.

  He believes the fake military is watching their every move. That makes me very nervous. I asked him if we should have the unit camp at the pull-off, or maybe the truck stop instead of our field. He rolled his eyes and told me that he had “something for protection” headed here from home base, and that he's better qualified than I am to command a military unit. Well, duh!! I KNOW that, but what about after his unit leaves? Who’ll protect us then?

  I'm thinkin' about my family and our compound. Sometimes I like Major Chris Knellson, and sometimes... not so much. Josie says she trusts him, but I'm still on the fence post, and so is Mick.

  I'm gonna head out to the kitchen and listen in from the kitchen window. Hopefully, it's open.

  See ya later.

  3:30 PM...

  Rebecca agreed to go to home base for a more thorough checkup. Battle-axe says she's not pregnant and needs to be seen by an internal medicine specialist or other experts. I'm a nervous wreck about the whole deal, but I can't let her stay here and continue to wither away.

  Jeremy's having a conniption fit and wants to go along, but he's not allowed. I thought he might try to follow from a distance until Chris said “Don't even THINK about following. You will be captured and reprimanded.” Geez! Amber would say “he's not the boss of us!”

  Josie tried to tell us it was for Jeremy's own safety, but I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd do if someone was cartin' a “Mick with unknown illness” away to God knows where.

  The lootin' crew came back with every square inch of available space packed to the gills.

  Emma was very pleased to see that they'd looted a fabric store and the entire goat trailer was full of fabric and sewing notions. Rona made the mistake of saying there was still lots of fabric there, and they'd only brought home a small portion.

  Emma immediately turned to Mick and said “I’ll be needin' another one a dem little houses hooked up to mine so I can make quilts and sew up clothes fer tradin' to them others after I make tha ones fer us.” Mick told her he'd
get it taken care of, but it might have to wait until he can walk a straight line. She said that'd be fine but she needs it as soon she can get it. Okay, Emma, you slave driver.

  Guess where Rona and Kevin are right now. Yep, they took Emma and Isaac along with a big rig and trailer to the fabric store. I hope they get everything down to the last spool of thread because it makes me nervous having someone Emma's age off the compound. Rick and Ian are following them, but I'm a nervous-nelly.

  Rona says that HDI's are coming back to town, and she seems pretty upset that there's more of them around. I'm upset as well. We need lootin' crews out ASAP.

  With Rona's report, Chris authorized two military teams with four members each to escort our crews while they're looting. That made me feel a little better. Now, Ian and Rick can loot as well. They're familiar with the compound and know what we need. We'll be better off if they're used for lootin' instead of protection only.

  I have supper duty, so I need to head out and figure out what to cook. I haven't the foggiest notion what Emma and Nana (Queens of the Kitchen) have planned.

  See ya later.

  10:00 PM...

  The unit arrived about an hour ago. It's noisy outside and, of course, there's sporadic gunfire as they take out HDI leeches, looking for supper.

  Mick and I decided that we couldn't stand to sit on the porch, listening and watching them. We came in to talk, sleep, and type.

  Chris was gritting his teeth the last time I saw him. I'm pretty sure that Dane gets under Chris Knellson's skin. I kinda like that.

  Jason, Soo, and Isaac brought home the last four little wooden buildings known to us. One will be used for Pao and another will be Emma's sewing room. Hopefully, the third will be set up to use as a mini-kitchen. Dane will probably want the fourth to add to his wood shop house. He's at the bottom of the hill, guarding his space. He's telling folks who want to set up that they'll bring over the woodshop tomorrow morning, and the space is reserved.

  Pao had an interesting suggestion at supper tonight, and the men are considering it. They'll probably put it into action if the Sergeant who recommended the guard towers thinks it's a good idea.

  Pao suggested that we use big rig trailers standing on their ends and buried a few feet deepas guard towers at the corner of the fences. Mick says they'd have to be framed up on the inside and reinforced so they won't buckle, but it'd take a lot less time than building a fully enclosed tower from scratch.

  Floors can be put in at the level we want and stairs can be installed inside the trailer so that anyone climbing the stairs can pay attention to what they're doing.

  Enemies won't have any idea how many men are inside the tower. The bottom half can be used for storage, ammo, supplies and/or sleeping quarters if two guards are on rotation. Of course, windows would be cut so the men on watch can actually “watch”.

  We'll need steel sheeting because bullets will go through the trailers. The best thing about using trailers is they’ll be enclosed and a good barrier against flies. The windows can be covered with netting.

  Mick and Dane both agree that it would be a better idea to use them as temporary towers until we can gather enough brick to build solid ones. Anyway, it's something to think about.

  Emma's the CEO of an entire big rig trailer full of fabric, notions, and sewing machines.

  It's parked behind her little house so she can have access. Now, she wants a generator so she can use the machine's they brought home. Kevin promised to get one for her.

  She says there's enough room to work in the rear of the trailer, but she'd still rather work in a wooden building because of the heat. We told her that we already had one for her and she jumped up and clapped her hands.

  I had a chance to sit with Pao earlier this evening, and he told me his story. It's interesting. I'm surprised he's still alive.

  Pao's mother was Vietnamese and his father was American. They met when his father was stationed at Da Nang Air Force base during the Vietnam War in 1973.

  His father, Jim, had just turned eighteen and was deployed three weeks after his birthday to work on military aircraft at the base. His mother, Vien, was sixteen years old and lived with her family about half-a-mile from the base.

  Vien delivered goat’s milk to the Commanding Officer at the base because he hated powdered milk in his coffee.

  To make the story short, I'll jump a little. Jim and Vien fell in love and spent every moment they could together while Jim was stationed there for two years. Then, the war ended and Jim headed back to the United States.

  He kept in touch with Vien for two more years before he was able to get her out of Vietnam and into the United States. They were married the day she arrived. Several years went by and Vien never became pregnant. Jim didn't care, and they were both happy. When she was thirty-eight years old, Vien became pregnant with Pao. She and Jim celebrated, and Pao was born nine months later.

  Pao's name came from a Filipino man Jim was stationed with. His name was Pao and Jim always called him “Old Pao.” He and Jim were friends during the war and several years after.

  They were stationed together in California, and Old Pao's wife took Vien under her wing and taught her the ropes of living on a military base in the good ol' USA. Several years went by and old Pao was diagnosed with cancer. He fought it for six months before finally giving in. Jim and Vien were both devastated over his loss.

  Jim retired from the military and moved Vien and baby Pao to his native state of Georgia. They bought a nice house in town and a little cabin in Tennessee where they spent summers hunting, fishing, and basically, enjoying life.

  Pao was trying to get to the cabin when he was captured.

  The world collapsed and Pao's family was at home in their little subdivision. Several residents left their homes to head out to unknown places.

  Jim and Vien began packing their truck and trailer with supplies, food, weapons, and sentimental items. Pao and Jim were loading a large generator into the back of the truck when Jim grabbed his chest and fell to the ground. He told Pao he was having a heart attack and asked for Vien.

  Pao ran inside and yelled for his mother to come as fast as she could. She ran out the door and Pao followed. Vien had the phone in her hand and was trying to call 911, but no one was answering. She handed the phone to Pao and told him to keep trying,

  Twenty minutes later, Jim was dead in Vien's arms. Pao bent over his father's body and cried with her. After several minutes, Pao tried to get his mother up and back in the house while he took care of his father's body. She wouldn't budge, so he went inside the trailer and sat on a box while watching her grieve.

  He heard something bang up against the trailer. The trailer shook and he was thrown off his box and onto the floor. He heard snarling and a sudden howling sound. He got off the floor and stood up just in time to see his mother being dragged across the road and in between two houses. He grabbed the closest gun, which was his Browning AB3 Bolt Action rifle, along with a handful of 7mm ammo and went after her.

  He ran between the houses where the HDI's had dragged her, and came to a halt as soon as he cleared the rear. There were approximately a dozen HDI's snacking on a woman, three children, and his mother. Several of them noticed him and headed his way.

  He was able to shoot three times toward the group. One of his shots hit an HDI in the knee and it fell to the ground. His last two shots missed. He turned and ran as fast as he could back across the road and inside the house. He threw the locks on the door and slid down to the ground, up against the door, to regain his composure.

  Several seconds went by before the HDI's began banging on the door, and Pao felt the vibration against his back. He jumped to his feet and ran to the basement. The lock to the basement door was on the outside, so he couldn't lock the door. He wedged a chair underneath the knob.

  He went to the far corner, sat down, and tried to figure out what to do. It took about twenty minutes for the HDI's to crash through the bay window on front of the house, and
he could hear them walking around the main floor and banging into things. He sat at the top of the stairs and waited to see if they'd try to come through the basement door.

  He stayed there several weeks, eating what his mother had preserved and stored. Then, he heard the HDI's leaving the house and there was silence.

  He waited another day before opening the door and sticking his head out. The interior of the house was mostly destroyed and HDI goo was all over everything.

  He drove the truck and trailer down to the basement door and loaded everything he could inside the trailer and the truck bed. He pulled his father's map out of the dashboard, checked his route, and headed toward the cabin near McKelvey Hollow, Tennessee and the Tennessee River.

  He made it as far as Leeds, Alabama before he ran out of gas and left the truck on the side of the road. He grabbed a gas can, and started walking. He'd seen a sign advertising gas, lodging, and food three miles ahead and he hoped to find gas there. He had to run from several HDI's on the highway, but he made it to the gas station.

  There were cars abandoned all along the road and in line at the gas station. He siphoned what he could out of several vehicles until his gas can was full. He noticed a bicycle behind the station and hopped aboard to ride it back to the truck and trailer. He had to prop the gas can and hold it on the handlebars with one hand while steering with the other as he watched the mile markers go by.

  He finally came to the area where he'd left the truck, and it was gone. It seemed like it had disappeared into thin air. He rode the bike another mile down the road, just to make sure his memory was correct, and found no sign of the truck.

  He had no choice. He left the gas can on the side of the road and started pedaling, trying to remember the route he was supposed to take. He spent nights sleeping in garden sheds.