Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  Pop was standing watch and Larson was in the tower with him.

  Larson saw them first and pointed them out. Pop said he watched as they made their way in a random pattern across the field and near the road.

  They were bending and picking up objects from the ground.

  Pop was shocked. He knew that wasn't normal HDI behavior and wondered aloud about it at supper. Chris said it may be the result of a mutation.

  HDI hunters and gatherers? That's a scary thought. Could they form communities? Shudder! I will not miss the HDI's if that weapon hits.

  I wonder about the wild people. If they live underground, will they survive? I guess that's a question for later.

  Anyway, Pop and Larson took out the three HDI's and their bodies were loaded up and taken to the power lines.

  Chris says the quarry is full and ready to be bombed, but he's not calling for planes unless he gets word that the threat of nerve gas has been eliminated. Wouldn't Uncle Sam be proud? Chris will save him a bundle if the HDI's in the quarry are killed on the enemy's dime.

  Chris and the crew didn't see any wild people. They were either hiding, or have moved on. For some reason, I feel sorry for them. I could still see humanity in their eyes. It was unsettling then and it's unsettling now. I need to push it out of my mind. There's nothing I can do about it.

  Josie wants to raise one of the Wilkerson kids as her own. She wants the youngest girl, Tricia. That sounds good to me. I wonder if she's spoken to Chris about it.

  Marisa and Jason will take Vicki and Dale. I knew they would. Marisa was a little hesitant to get close to them because of what happened to Caleb, but Jason was eager to claim them both. It didn't take long for Marisa to come around.

  I've got Deuce and Merry. Marisa has the new kids. Josie has a new kid. If more kids come along, someone needs to step up to the plate and help this village raise them.

  The kitchen window needs to stay closed when I'm in there. Every time that radio beeps, clicks, or squawks, I jump outa my skin. Carisa says she does the same thing and plans to avoid the kitchen if at all possible.

  The teens are handling this pretty well. They're staying busy planning, checking stock, and counting bullets. Jesse handed Dane a list of every weapon we have along with an accurate count of ammo to match. I think Chris was a little perturbed that Dane got the list, but Dane is our head of security. He needs the list. Of course, we'll look to our military folks and pass ideas by them anytime we get a chance.

  My mind has wandered all day long. What happens next?

  I'm know there's a big civil war coming, but I don't know what to expect. Perhaps I should wait and find out if we make it through this latest threat before I ponder the situation. My gut tells me that we will make it. I don't know why, but it does.

  My biggest worry is the rest of the country.

  Will we find another community to make friends and trade with? What if they're on the side of the dictator?

  I just can't imagine it. I have no idea what kind of person would follow such a tyrant. Surely they're aware that he's not only killing HDI's but he's killing normal, everyday people along with them. That includes children.

  A couple of the old modern day prophets may have been right. The human race will destroy itself. No need for divine intervention or space alien moderators. We're on the path to destruction. We have been all along.

  I just don't understand why everyone can't see what's right in front of their face. Why can't we all just eat, drink, and be merry? It infuriates me.

  We plan to have a fire drill tomorrow morning. We need to know exactly how long it will take to get the horses and pigs to the cave, get back to the compound, get the goats and chickens in the tunnel room, and make sure everyone on the compound is there. We'll have breakfast there and test out the oven as well as the air filtration system. I'm not looking forward to it, but I think it's a good idea.

  I'm climbing in bed to be near my husband. I may be sending him off to war any day now. I have no idea how much time we have left. Bye for now.

  Sunday, May 18

  2:00 PM...

  The fire drill is over, thank goodness! The horses played their parts by being ornery when we tried to load them onto the cattle trailer.

  The pigs couldn't have cared less, and the goats followed the rattling feed bag inside the cave.

  We had trouble catching the chickens, but only for a few minutes. They were very happy to be back in their runs and pastures when it was all over. We accomplished what we needed to do and it took six hours.

  We baked 80 biscuits, and that took a lot of time. We'll have to eat in shifts because we can't fit that many biscuits in the oven at once. Nana and Elaine want to get the biscuit dough made, cut, and frozen in packages of 18 while they're able to work in the clean kitchen. They also plan to get muffin batter mixed and inside empty milk jugs so they can just pour it in the tins and bake them when the time comes.

  The radio works fine inside the tunnel room. Chris says he'll be monitoring it every moment we're there. I guess we'll sleep to the sounds of clicking, squawking, and blips. I don't care. I wanna keep up with everything that's going on, day and night.

  Jeremy and two soldiers headed out after lunch to take the supplies they'll need to the cave.

  They're also rigging up plastic “doors” for the entrance and exit to the large room in the rear, and laying sheets of plywood over the sinkholes. They actually plan to make their beds on the plywood because the horses won't step on them and will probably ignore all the gear they have.

  The pigs are a different story. They're using pallet fences for the pigs. Posts will be driven into the ground and the pallets will be slid over them. It's a perfect temporary fence. If I'd known about it sooner, I would have used the idea for something like a rustic fence around an herb garden.

  There's no way to seal off the first room of the cave. The entrance is huge, and we're using the last of our plastic to take care of the doors and cover the garden rows.

  They plan to live in their gas masks and clothing including hats and gloves. Mick said the temperature in the cave is cool. Maybe Jeremy and the soldiers won't sweat to death.

  I need to learn the names of the nine soldiers. I don't have extra space in my brain to try and remember them right now. I'll do it after this is over. I know that each of them will have a story to tell. I wonder if they'd mind wearing name tags.

  We've decided to go into action as soon as the alert comes in. Chris says it'll be a 24 hour warning, but no one wants to take a chance on waiting 'til the last moment. If it were up to me, I'd already have everyone living there.

  I guess Chris said “yes” to adopting little Tricia. Josie's been carrying her around the compound all morning. She was responsible for her during the fire drill.

  Josie looks frightened and that scares me. She knows a lot more about this type of weapon than I do. If she's worried about it, I'm worried about it.

  Since the tunnel room is ready to go, the men have turned their attention back to cleaning up the damage from the battle and placing little wooden buildings on the hillside. Tim almost has the framing ready for Lisa's new house. He's working on the roof now.

  While they were looking for air filtration supplies, they came across a hardware and building supply store. Mick says the inside is trashed and looks like someone has been living in the back offices. The supply yard is full of brick, rock, tile, marble, granite, and more.

  Tim pointed out several pieces of granite he wants to use in Lisa's house. He also wants rock to build a rock fireplace. Mick told him he'd help get the supplies if we're still alive after the threat passes. I told Mick that I wouldn't mind a few pieces of marble on top of a couple of wooden rolling carts to hold condiments and such.

  If we survive, we'll need to build a larger place for a dining hall with a concrete floor where forty people can sit and eat at the same time.

  We rescued several metal, folding picnic tables from the battlefield. We can also
loot houses for more tables and chairs. We can store dishes on shelves along the wall and use the wooden carts to move condiments around the area.

  I'd like to have the hall hooked up to the little kitchen building.

  Mick thought that was a great idea and said he'd draw up plans while he's busy sitting in the tunnel room, waiting for death to leave the area. Those words put me in a somber mood.

  Crap! I just realized that we didn't factor in moving Kevin and Isaac from the clinic. We should add 20 minutes to the time, I'm sure it won't take that long, but I like to leave room for error. Maybe Chris left that part out of the drill intentionally. It wouldn't make sense to move two injured men for a fire drill. For Pete's sake, we could have just pretended! I'm gonna need to know where in the order of things that fits in.

  I'm going to the tunnel room to check it out for the umpteenth time. I just wanna make sure.

  See ya later.

  10:30 PM...

  We had a visit this afternoon from Tommy and Bill of Times Nine Farm. They pulled up to the gate, got out of their truck, and waited for someone to come down the hill.

  There were two soldiers standing watch in the left guard tower since the right tower still needs flooring.

  The soldiers aimed those nasty looking M16's toward Tommy and Bill to make them talk. Several words were exchanged and one of the guards whistled toward the house.

  Dane and Mick headed down and recognized the men who'd been held captive with them near the rock quarry. They spoke for 20 or 30 minutes before Tommy and Bill got back in the truck and headed down the road. Mick and Dane came back up the hill.

  They said the men stopped by to tell Mick they'd seen his notes in town but they already knew about the weapon because they're registered landowners and received their supply of gas masks.

  Mick said they tried to drill him about our plans to protect ourselves. He told them we planned to stay in the basement and ride it out. He doesn't want anyone, other than the compound members, to know about the tunnels. I thought that was a smart move.

  Anyway, they said they'd be doing the same. They have three houses in a subdivision with basements and they're set up and ready to go.

  They asked if we were still on for the trade meeting scheduled for May 26th and Mick told them that we'd be there if we were still alive and the threat had disappeared. They were happy with that and headed home.

  Now, we wait.

  The men have plenty of work on the compound to keep themselves busy. They need to build new floors in the guard tower and finish replacing the little wooden buildings.

  There's still lots of cleanup to do in the onion field, but we've had an influx of HDI's coming out of the woods behind the Masterson place. I've heard at least eight gunshots since supper. There'll be more bodies to take care of in the morning.

  An idea suddenly occurred to me and I need to write it down so I'll remember. It's the safe room at the Masterson house. It must have an air filter of some sort. Would it run on a generator? I have no idea what size the room is, but it might be able to support two or three people. Is it airtight? I'll mention it to Mick. Maybe we can take a look at it tomorrow. Maybe he and I should honeymoon in there while the rest of 'em stay in the tunnel room. Yeah, right. I couldn't stand to be away from my kids at such a dangerous time.

  Tomorrow's the 18th. Chris told us about this on the 15th, but he knew about it the day before. Did he factor in that day when he said “within ten days?” These are the types of details I need to know. I plan to corner him and ask him first thing in the morning.

  What am I forgetting? There has to be something I'm forgetting. I can feel it. Maybe it'll come to me while I'm sleeping, if I sleep. I'm beginning to feel anxiety coming on. I'll probably be up before the sun tomorrow.

  Bye for now.

  Monday, May 19

  I was right. I was up at 3:30 AM.

  I sat on the back porch and listened to the crickets, birds, and night time animals.

  As I sat there, I realized that those sounds will be gone for a long time after this idiotic weapons is dropped on us. I wonder what it'll do to the environment and ecosystem. I wonder how long it'll be 'til the birds come back. I hadn't even thought about it 'til I sat on the porch this morning.

  I wish I had a cigarette or ten. I know they're really bad for you, but they calm me. The last one I had was the one I got from young Kenny on the day Kevin and Rona were hurt. I'd probably cough my lungs out with the first drag. Oh, well. I do feel better without them but, man, I really liked smoking. Ah, the good old days.

  I can hear the military folks getting up already. They like to do PT if there's no danger in the air. I'm not talking about the kind of danger we're expecting. I'm talking about the “in your face” kind of danger.

  Emma and Nana should be coming in the door any moment now. I think their assistants will be Sabrina and Anna. They'll have to wake them up. They're typical teens and like to sleep 'til noon.

  I wonder if I can sneak back to bed and fall asleep beside Mick again. Oops, never mind. He's awake.

  See ya later.

  10:50 AM...

  The men were cleaning HDI bodies out of the field before breakfast this morning. Mick left early and came up the hill for tools to work on the floors inside the right tower. He told me that all the HDI bodies were holding shell casings in their hands.

  The hunter gatherer HDI's were picking up shell casings. It shocked me and didn't know what to do with the information. I couldn't think of anything to say so I stood there with my mouth gaping open and tried to figure it out.

  Several seconds went by before we heard a barrage of gunfire coming from the left tower. Mick looked through the living room peep holes and saw soldiers running down the hill with their rifles. Then, he looked across the field and said “HOLY SMOKES” as he ran out the door.

  I would guess there were 25-30 HDI's in the field and they were hunter gatherers. They were walking in random patterns and picking up shell casings.

  The guards were having a hard time of it, getting head shots on them, because they'd bend over at the most inconvenient time. Several of them made it to the trailer fence and were trying to make a body ladder to crawl over.

  The soldiers boosted one another up onto the top of the trailers and helped the guards eliminate them all. Mick heard someone yell “shoot 'em in the legs first” and that's what they did. They shot the legs out from under them and took their head shots while the HDI's were lying on the ground. Ten minutes later, they were all eliminated.

  Body cleanup began immediately after the last one was assumed dead. The men were very careful approaching the bodies in case a bullet had simply skimmed off a cheekbone or grazed a skull instead of hitting the brain. Mick waved from the field which indicated to me that they were all dead. Jason drove the truck and trailer down and out the gate. It took about an hour and a half for the leery men to load all the bodies. They've taken them to the power lines to unload and burn.

  We don't know where they came from. Ian and Rick said they weren't in the woods when they were stalking North Koreans. This is a mystery, and why in the world would they want shell casings? Anyway, the field is clear again and those not on burning duty have gone back to their projects.

  It's time to start lunch preparations and I'm on the cooking crew.

  See ya later.

  1:23 PM...

  It's time!

  The alert signal sounded thirty minutes ago. I'm grabbing my pack and computer.

  See ya from the tunnel room, I hope.

  9:00 PM...

  We're in the tunnel room and everyone's still getting settled.

  It's quiet. People are moving around carefully and whispering as they try to get comfortable. We're using the big spotlight that Monty and Jack had rigged up when they built the air filtration system. It works a lot better than flashlights and solar lanterns.

  A lot of folks are wearing their gas masks, and I keep reaching toward mine and then pulling my hand b
ack. I think I'm waiting on the soldiers to don theirs. I feel somewhat safe without mine as long as they're without theirs.

  I don't know what to do. Should we be listening for aircraft? Can we rely on the click codes to get it right? I pray they get it right.

  Someone's “clicking” to Chris and he's “clicking” back. I have no idea what any of the codes mean and I hope Josie will make her way over here soon to tell me what she knows. We don't wanna step out of this room too early.

  Because of the HDI's this morning and the alert right after lunch, we didn't get a chance to check out the safe room in the Masterson house.

  We're a little crowded in here but it's not too bad. At least we don't have to worry about the animals making noise and alerting anyone standing on our heads. I'm pretty sure there are no NK's above the ceiling.

  We ate creamy potato soup with bacon bits mixed in for supper. Nana and Emma prepared it while we were getting things done. I'm grateful that we had the fire drill. Things moved a lot smoother when the real alert sounded.

  I'm thinking about Jeremy and his cohorts in Beggar Cave. Please Lord, let them be okay. Please let the plastic doors hold up and keep the poison out.

  Is this truly the last day we'll have to deal with HDI's?

  That's really the only good that could come from this. I won't be able to stop looking for them for several weeks. I've become accustomed to listening carefully when I'm near the fence and in the meadow. I've been somehow trained to check behind every corner and vehicle on the street whenever I go off the compound. It's gonna be a hard habit to break and I'm not entirely sure I'll let it go.

  The soldiers will leave after the threat has passed. Ian and Isaac will stay behind. I don't know if Rick will stay this time. He's such a soldier at heart. I'm not sure he could stand to be away from that life too long. He's really good at it. I wonder if the military would accept part-time solders again. Heck, that's what the National Guard was.