Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  She got heating lamps, lawnmower parts, welding supplies, agricultural sprayers, garden tools, outside canopies and tents, all sorts of machine fluids, garden hoses, and animal medications along with feed bowls and buckets.

  She got salt blocks and mineral blocks and every piece of horse related gear she could find, including the shelf of Mane and Tale that Pop hid behind when Willy Spears was killed. We can use “Main and Tail” for shampoo. I remember when it was popular to do so. Ahh, the good old days.

  Soo, Jesse, and Jeremy visited several small shops in a strip mall. They brought home all kinds of cookware and electric gadgets we can plug into the generator. They also got a huge amount of lingerie (not the kind you're thinking of) like socks, underwear, pajamas, and bras.

  They continued along the strip mall to a barber shop and loaded up all sorts of clippers and supplies as well as a barber chair.

  They visited a salon and left most of the frou-frou stuff, but brought home all the white towels, robes, and personal hygiene items including wax. WAX? Okay, whatever.

  Several shops still had soda machines in the employee lounges, and they raided every one they found.

  They went inside a jewelry store only to check the employee lounge for soda machines or snacks. They hit pay dirt with a Pepsi machine, a Coke machine, and a snack machine. They should have taken any gold or silver jewelry they could find. I need to remind them of that.

  The liquor store was cleaned out. They couldn't even find a small nip underneath the edge of the counter.

  They also raided a tobacco shop with no tobacco to be seen. It had already been taken. They found a “roll your own” machine and a bunch of filters and papers. There was a box of disposable lighters with pictures of half-naked women on a shelf in the manager’s office. They also found a cigarette pack full of, not cigarettes, but marijuana seeds. We're gonna grow marijuana for medicine and trade. Count on it.

  They found a Smith & Wesson .45ACP in a holster that had been velcroed underneath the top of the office desk. The gun was loaded, but no spare ammo was found. Soo noticed footprints on the seat of an office chair, so he climbed up and slid a ceiling tile out of the way. There was $10,000 in cash up there. Ian took it to wallpaper more of the walls in his little wooden building.

  There was a small hotel with a bar near the strip mall, and they ended up with a lot of dishes, glasses, cups, cookware, and serving containers. There was no food.

  They headed to the laundry area and took every towel, bedspread, and sheet they could find along with cloth napkins, robes, and disposable slippers. They also took several boxes of hotel sized shampoo, soap, mouthwash, and toothpaste.

  Pop and Kevin are working on plans for the guard towers this afternoon. I prayed and asked God if Mr. Wilson, with his architectural expertise, could send great ideas to Pop and Kevin's brains. Now, I'm praying that Pop and Kevin can understand those ideas and see them to fruition.

  When the unit pulled out this time, they left 72 HDI's behind. I made sure to record the number in our HDI report book.

  Josie heard from Chris this afternoon. He's nervous and on edge. He's lost contact with his scouts on horseback. I'm praying those scouts are just out of range. For some reason, I doubt it.

  I don't know what else to tell you. I'm sure I'll be able to report more looting finds when I sit down to write tonight.

  I'm gonna head out and see what Elaine and Emma plan to make for supper to top the yummy soup Shawna and Lisa made.

  My nerves are almost shot.

  See ya later.

  11:00 PM...

  Ian and Rick returned with a lot of bullet proof windows and a very, very useful tool.

  When the delivery truck was full, they headed home. They came upon a small house with a sign that advertised portable lumber service and a phone number to call.

  They hopped out of the delivery truck like greyhounds chasing a rabbit and went to investigate.

  A nice portable lumber mill was parked at the back of the house. They hunted for a vehicle to pull the trailer home and found a Dodge truck inside the garage. They found the keys for the truck hanging on a nail beside the house entrance door. For some reason, they didn't go in and loot the house. They were hyped up over the lumber mill.

  They hooked the Dodge to the trailer, poured a five gallon can of diesel into the tank, and brought that lumber mill home. Every man on the place touched and toyed with the lumber mill for hours. Pop showed them how to use it and they began making lumber.

  You would've thought gold had dropped from the sky when they started hootin' and hollerin' as the first boards were made. That lumber mill is a huge asset. Now, we can build proper houses or add on to the little buildings easily if we can find nails, screws and bolts. Otherwise, we'll have to use the dovetail method described in my foxfire books and build the outer walls with logs.

  The best part? We can now use lumber to support and reinforce the tunnels we intend to dig into the hillside.Ian and Rick got lots of pats on the back before everyone headed back to work.

  Elaine and Emma made ground venison steaks with mushroom gravy over the top for supper. They also served real mashed potatoes seasoned with chives and garlic powder. Emma threw together a sweet corn casserole which was made with cornbread mix, freeze dried cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, cream corn, whole kernel corn, sugar, eggs, and lots of butter. I could eat that corn casserole for dessert.

  Supper was wonderful. There's no way I can decide whether I liked lunch or supper best. I felt guilty eating both meals because we are so blessed and I kept imagining less fortunate people and their children out there, scrounging for something to eat.

  The men sat on the back porch to talk about everything we need to get done. They stayed out there until the mosquitos, flies, and gnats drove them inside.

  Josie drove me crazy after supper because she hasn't heard form Chris since this afternoon and she can't raise the unit on the radio. She's almost in a panic. Hisa sent her to bed with a cup of warm goats milk.

  I think I'll head there myself. Bye for now

  Saturday, April 19

  Great find alert!

  Dane, Elaine, and Jeremy decided to tour the outskirts of town this morning and found a small retail building with worn out signs advertising prices of cheese making supplies and specialty cheese.

  The shop was overgrown, but a path to the door had been kept clear. The average traveler wouldn't have known what the shop sold unless they got out of their vehicle, brushed a few small branches aside, and squinted to read the sign. Dane spotted a piece of Plexiglas on the ground and knew right away why the sign was so faded.

  The shop wasn't looted, and there were several wheels of real cheese in back. It appeared that the shop mostly sold cheese making supplies rather than actual cheese, but the few wheels in back looked like gold to Dane, Elaine, and Jeremy.

  Dane used his knife to slice into a roll of sharp cheddar. He thought he'd died and gone to cheese heaven. I asked if he used the same knife he's used on HDI's and he said “no, I used a pocket knife” and looked at me like I was stupid. Hey, I had to ask, right?

  The shop had a good supply of cheese making equipment, supplies, cheese wax, additives, molds, and books.

  We're low on butter and need to come up with something quick. We need a butter churn and a book.

  Breakfast this morning was that good old standby known as oatmeal. Hey, it fills our bellies.

  We have a couple cases of Farina that Chris left. We need to figure out all the details. Is it a hot cereal? Is it a side dish like grits? We're Southern. We know all about grits, oatmeal, and cornmeal mush, but Farina's a new one on me. Shawna says it's a porridge, almost like cream of wheatm but “things can be added to make it tasty and more appealing.” She'll make it on her next breakfast duty.

  Tessa and Bree have lunch duty with Nana today. Tessa says she's Italian. We got a good bit of supplies from that Italian restaurant including half a wheel of mozzarella cheese and a dozen triangles o
f parmesan. I hope we have some sort of Italian dish for lunch.

  Right now, I'm gearing up to head out on a lootin' run with Rona and Kevin. I don't know if anyone else is heading out, but I do know that Mick and Dane are scouting out the best area to begin digging the tunnels.

  I also know that Jason, Isaac, Soo, and the remaining fellows, except the ones on watch, will be working with the lumber mill and the tower plans that Pop has drawn up.

  I know that the boys will be setting traps, snares, and hunting with adult supervision. I have no idea who that adult will be.

  Nana, Emma, and the girls will be canning garden produce all day. Chris left an abundance of canning jars, lids, and rings. I don't know the total, but Nana says it's a big number.

  Of course, Josie will be stalking the radio.

  It's gonna be a busy day.

  I almost forgot that half the world wants to take what we have and kill us... almost.

  See ya later.

  2:15 PM...

  When we arrived in town, I was surprised to see the number of HDI's that came back or wandered in from other places. It was no longer an abandoned town and the HDI's had taken up right where they left off. At least there were a lot fewer than before the cluster bomb incident, but we had to take out several and make sure we had someone on watch at all times. I believe the silencers on the guns gave us a huge advantage.

  We hit clothing stores and sporting goods stores. I knew we'd find no weapons in the sporting goods stores, but I was after clothing and hiking boots. We'd bring home sports equipment only if we had room, however, I wanted every baseball or softball bat in the place.

  We had the Dodge with the goat trailer attached. We packed the trailer and the bed of the dodge with as much clothing, boots, and sneakers as we could fit inside. I found several arrows in the storage area and stuffed them in as well. I don't know if they're good for protection, or the type of bows we have. But heck, an arrow is an arrow. It propels forward and sticks into something. That was good enough for me.

  Rona was on watch when Kevin and I closed the trailer doors and slid the lock in place. I looked up to see her backing along the side of the trailer with her rifle raised. I looked past the rifle barrel to see what it was pointing toward.

  A small compact car had pulled up and was blocking our way out of the parking lot exit. I pulled my Glock and edged my way up to Rona's side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kevin squat and hide behind the goat trailer.

  Two men dressed in fake military uniforms got out of the car and began walking toward the front of the Dodge. They had shotguns pointed straight at us. The first thing that popped in my head was that any HDI who tried to eat me would be pulling little bits of lead out of his teeth.

  They ordered me and Rona to drop our weapons and get down on the ground.

  I felt Rona nudge me in the ribs and we both threw ourselves to the left and fired toward the men. One of them was hit in the leg and the other ducked and started coming toward us.

  We were scrambling around, trying to get behind the goat trailer, when the man was shot started screaming. The second man was caught off guard and snapped his head around to see his partner in crime being eaten by a group of six HDI children. Kevin stood from the driver’s side of the Dodge and took out the second fake military man with a shot to the head.

  The HDI kids began howling, and we saw several more drop from a tree beside the road. They rushed toward the newly dead man and began chomping down. The first man was still screaming and more HDI kids began dropping from the row of maple trees lining the street and heading toward both men.

  It was only a second or two before several of them noticed us, jumping inside the Dodge. Kevin started the engine. He was in the driver’s seat and Rona was in the back seat. I landed in the front passenger seat.

  We went into full panic mode when eight or nine HDI kids jumped on top of the Dodge and the goat trailer. We panicked a little more when we realized that the little compact car was still blocking us in.

  Kevin slowly drove the Dodge forward as HDI kids beat on the roof and the windows. They looked like they'd never been human, and reminded me of Gollum from Lord of the Rings, but they were bloody and had chunks of flesh missing from various parts of their bodies. Maggots were crawling around in their wounds.

  Black, slimy, goo and wiggling maggots began covering the windows. I could barely see out. The windshield was almost as bad. Kevin had to search for clear spots in order to see ahead. Rona sat in the back seat and cussed those HDI kids up and down. She said words that I've never heard her say before. I wondered if her time traveling with the military gave her the new vocabulary.

  The HDI kids climbed all over the clothing we had in the bed of the truck and began howling and banging on the rear window. It wasn't long before black goo, maggots, and pieces of flesh covered the entire rear window. That made the howling sounds even scarier and we couldn't see when a fist was headed toward the window. I was terrified, and jumped when each one landed.

  I screamed for Kevin to slam his foot down on the pedal and knock the compact car out of the way. He screamed back and said he didn't want to damage the front of the Dodge, or the radiator and possibly, the engine.

  He was slow and steady as he used the Dodge to push the car out of the way. I don’t know how he kept his composure.

  We made it through with a dozen HDI kids all over the hood, roof, and goat trailer. It took two miles of brake slamming and high speed to get them off the vehicle. I buried my face in the back seat and wondered what in the world possessed me to think I could go into town without finding trouble.

  We had to stop a few miles from town and use several pieces of clothing from the truck bed to clean the windows. Then, we headed home. Kevin and Rona joked about the HDI’s the entire way.

  I couldn't think of a thing to add, so I kept my mouth shut. I told them I needed some doctored tea and headed in here to cry in my pillow. I am sick and tired of all this crap.

  I asked Carisa to bring me a bowl of cereal and cold milk for lunch. I ate half of it and now I'm going to lie on my bed and feel sorry for myself.

  See ya later.

  11:20 PM...

  Okay, well, I got it together and headed out of the bedroom around 8:00. No one said a word. They watched me walk across the room and get a bottle of water from refrigerator. I took a couple of swallows before asking them “what the hell they were looking at.”

  They eased off and went back to their conversations. Regardless, I will never forget those child HDI's. None of them could have been over twelve years old and now they are real monsters. The thought is rubbing a blister on my brain.

  I found out about that tomorrow's Isaac's birthday. He wants cornbread, turnip greens with bacon, a bottle of hot sauce, black-eyed peas, a sliced onion, and a tall glass of milk. He said he'd pass on the cake if he could get a pecan pie. The thought of that meal makes my mouth water. I know there's a pecan pie in the freezer and I need to remember to pull it out to thaw tomorrow morning.

  Rick helped Mick and Dane decide on a spot to start building a tunnel. They asked Pop to come take a look so they could get his opinion. He said it'd make a fine spot.

  So, what do we do now? Do we concentrate on the tunnels? Do we concentrate on the guard towers? Do we split up into teams and concentrate on both at the same time.

  Do we continue sending out looting crews now that we know HDI's and fake military are back in town?

  I guess I'll lie in bed and ponder those questions like I'm sure the entire adult population at Kapper Hill Compound is pondering them. Bye for now.

  Sunday, April 20

  I actually remembered to take the pecan pie out of the freezer. We still have one left inside. Isaac will get as much of the pie as he wants. He can award any remaining pieces to whomever he desires, or he can take them to his little wooden building to squirrel away for later.

  I asked Mick to go to the basement and pick out a rifle and pistol to give Isaac as his own
personal weapons. I can't think of anything else to give him.

  Kevin's busy, digging the entrance to the tunnel. He headed out right after breakfast. Since we have only one backhoe, the remaining men split off to do looting and tower work. I asked Mick to leave one of them with Kevin in case he gets far enough inside for the tunnel to collapse on him. Larson volunteered to stay.

  Mick hopes that Kevin will get in deep enough so that they can begin building the entrance support.

  Dane and Pop both believe that we should use at least 4x4 posts as the main supports. I suggested that we simply use logs from the lumberyard. I got lots of high-fives and an "Atta girl" from Pop.

  Emma and Nana are harvesting in the garden and I'll head out to start preserving food when they get back. Carisa has taken over the herb drying. She keeps up with it a lot better than I do and has all her little plastic containers in a row on the kitchen counter. If you touch them, she will skin you.

  Laundry duty belongs to Shawna, Lisa, and Elaine. It's so much easier than it used to be thanks to the young soldier who rigged up the lawnmower contraption.

  Ian and Rick are going out. I don't know what they're looking for, but they took the Silverado and several rifles.. Maybe they're going hunting. I hope so.

  Josie stays with the radio every minute. She set up a thick pallet inside the radio building and we have to pass her food through the kitchen window. She's not bathing and is barely sleeping. Thankfully, she scarfs down every crumb of food we give her..

  We haven't heard from Chris at all. I wanna know about Rebecca, enemy troops, and what the real military plans to do.

  I have no desire to go to town. Actually, I'm a little afraid of it. I think I'll go with Jason to loot a few houses in the neighborhood with the BIG, MEAN, DANGEROUS dogs. Marisa wants to go along, so I guess Amber and Michael will stay with Nana.

  Wait a minute....

  Okay, Deuce says that Josie is in the radio building, freaking out. See ya later.

  2:00 PM...