The Dystopian Diaries

by K. W. Callahan

  I wondered if the man was Ben’s father, a thought that instantly urged me to action. I felt bad enough for the kid, so I could only imagine what the boy’s father must be enduring having to worry about the whereabouts and condition of his son.

  I abandoned my inspection of the shed interior and headed for the front door, my gun at the ready just in case Jesse or Madeline was lurking nearby.

  I expected the door to be locked, but it wasn’t, and I barged inside. I headed straight for the bound man, knowing that time could be of the essence. I figured that if Jesse and Madeline had done this to this poor guy, then they’d likely have few qualms about doing the same to me.

  I first removed the gag from the man’s mouth and asked him what had happened. He quickly explained that he had come to the shed with his family looking for help. He had left the majority of his family sheltering nearby to keep them safe while he had inspected the shed, hoping that he could either find help or supplies within. But during his search, Jesse had surprised him, pulling a gun. Jesse had then instructed the female who was with him (I guessing it was Madeline) to tie the man up.

  Okay, I’m really pooped. I’m going to have to wrap this up tomorrow.

  October 18th

  2:19 a.m.

  Well that didn’t work out exactly as planned. After a couple hours sleep, I feel fully rested and wide awake, and once again I’m unable to sleep. I just keep reviewing my plan for later today over and over again in my head.

  So back to the shed and the guy tied up inside it. The guy was telling me that he had been held captive in the shed for several hours before his family decided to come to his aid. But a shootout had ensued between them and Jesse and Madeline, and several of the man’s family had been killed. Several other members were injured, and one was captured (who I assume was Ben). All the while, the guy kept interjecting how bad Jesse and Madeline were and how we needed to get out of there before they came back.

  I therefore began working on the ropes that bound the man, but they were very tight. So the guy told me to find something to cut them with. I had just begun searching the shed for a knife or a pair of scissors when I heard someone whistling in the distance. Fear getting the best of me after hearing what the guy had told me about Jesse and Madeline, I quickly replaced the gag, told him I’d be back soon, and made my escape.

  I feel terrible, but I had no desire to get into a firefight with those two. They sound like real badasses. I can’t imagine Madeline as the sort who would kill indiscriminately, but you never know. She might be the Ma Barker type or something – a sweet looking woman belying the instincts of a natural-born killer.

  Now I have to deal with this. Before it was Ben, but Ben was already dead, so time wasn’t of the essence. But this poor guy tied up in the shed is still alive, or at least he was when I left him. I pray he still is. Therefore, tomorrow I’m going on a rescue mission. The thought terrifies me knowing who I’m up against in old Bonnie and Clyde, but I can’t just let them torture that guy or whatever they have in store for him. What kind of sick people are these? Are they keeping him as some sort of demented game or as a slave or something? Why did these people have to choose my club to hide out in? Jesus, 12 people left on the face of the planet and I wind up with these two psychos as neighbors. Great, just great.

  5:55 a.m.

  Okay, I’m up and ready to go. My plan is to get to the shed before “Bonnie and Clyde” as I’m now referring to Jesse and Madeline head out for the morning (which I hope they do each day, otherwise I’m screwed – as is the guy in the shed). I’ll lay low until they leave, then I’ll bust into the shed, cut the guy free (I brought my hunting knife with me), and we’ll get the hell out of there.

  What comes after that? Well, I guess I’ll get to that when I’m there. Maybe the dude will be cool and we’ll be able to find a new spot to hold out away from Jesse and Madeline. I kind of like the thought of having someone else around. Might be kind of nice. He might know stuff I don’t about survival skills. He must know something to have survived this long post flu. Guess he hit a buzz saw in the form of Jesse and Madeline, though.

  But first things first, got to get him out of there. Then we can figure out the rest after that.

  Poor Miles. I feel bad having to keep tying him up, but I have little choice. There’s no WAY I’d even consider bringing him along now that I know who I’m dealing with and what they’re willing to do to humans, let alone animals. Would they eat Miles? God only knows. People like that might be willing to do all sorts of crazy shit to survive…or just for fun. Ugh!

  Okay, time to go. Wish me luck.

  October 19th

  5:56 p.m.

  I don’t know what to do. I’m exhausted, scared, and Miles is gone. I’ve been looking for him ever since I got back to camp earlier today. There’s no sign of him anywhere.

  This is horrible. I can’t believe what has happened. If Miles is hurt or worse, I’m not sure I’ll be able to live with myself. I feel like I should still be out searching for him, but I’ve been looking for almost six hours just walking around the club calling for him, and nothing. I’m literally exhausted. In fact, I’m too tired to write. I just need to eat something, rest my feet for a few minutes, drink a shit-ton of water, and get back to looking for my buddy. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

  10:03 p.m.

  I searched for Miles until it got too dark to see. It’s getting cold out. I can only pray that my sweet Fatty is okay out there all alone in the dark woods. Makes me want to cry just writing the words.

  I tried to sleep to take my mind off the situation, but sleep won’t come, not after the last 36 hours I’ve had. My mind just keeps spinning a mile a minute, going from one sad subject to the next, one mistake to the next, one error in judgment to the next. My stomach is in knots.

  Since sleep remains elusive, and I can’t search for Miles in the darkness, I guess I’ll write. It’s all I can really do to alleviate at least a little of the pressure, anxiety, and depression I’m suffering from right now.

  I guess I’ll pick things up from yesterday morning. Things started off well. Miles and I ate breakfast, I tied him up to his tree (explaining that I hoped it would be the last time I’d have to do it for a while), and then I bid him farewell after a big hug goodbye.

  It’s like he knows something is up whenever I leave him. He looked at me with those big sad eyes of his. It just rips my heart out. And it’s even worse now that he’s gone – almost unbearable. I’ve lost my only companion in this miserable world. In a way, I suppose it serves me right for being such an idiot…but it doesn’t serve Miles right, not by a long shot. All he ever did was be a good, loyal dog who loved his master unconditionally. And I blew it. I blew it BIG TIME!

  I got to the maintenance shed at a little after seven. I figured I was probably early, but since I knew so little about Jesse and Madeline’s routine, I wanted to make the most of any opportunity with which I was presented.

  I set up my position in a thick grove of trees maybe fifty yards from the shed. From my location, I could easily see the shed’s front door without being visible to any one exiting it.

  It was about an hour (seemed like the longest hour of my life) before I saw the couple exit the shed. As they departed, I found myself wondering what it must be like for the poor guy tied up inside having to spend the night like that with those two murderous thieves.

  Jesse and Madeline left, Jesse with an ax in hand and Madeline retrieving a small metal cart from behind the shed. I assumed they were heading off to scavenge wood.

  I waited until they were gone, took a few extra minutes to let them get a good distance away and make sure they weren’t coming back, and then I made my move.

  I rushed to the shed, hunting knife out and at the ready. The guy was still tied up inside, almost in the exact spot where I left him the previous day. First I removed his gag. And this time, I made quick work of his rope bindings. All the while, he was thanking me profusely and urg
ing me to hurry before Jesse and Madeline returned.

  It took me a minute to cut through the ropes that bound his wrists behind him as well as his ankles and legs together. It then took me a minute to get him to his feet since he was very stiff not only from being tied up but for having sat on the shed’s hard floor for so long.

  I gave the guy a minute to stretch and work out the kinks, all the while peeking out one of the bullet holes in the front door to keep watch for the return of Jesse and Madeline.

  It was just as I was turning to tell the guy that it was time to go that I saw him holding something up above his head. He brought it down before I had a chance to defend myself, cracking me across the side of the head and knocking me unconscious.

  When I awoke, I found Jesse and Madeline had returned, and I…

  October 20th

  5:37 a.m.

  Sorry, I guess the day finally caught up with me. I must have dozed off there while writing. Damn! When I fell asleep, I left my lantern on and the batteries died. That sucks! I don’t have that many extra batteries left.

  I’m waiting here for it to get light enough to go looking for Miles again. While I wait, I’ll continue relating my trip to the maintenance shed. I was at the part where I had been knocked unconscious by the captive guy I’d just untied, and when I came to, it was too late to make my escape, Jesse and Madeline had returned. It was then that I realized that I had taken the place of the man who had hit me. I found myself bound on the shed floor, but not gagged.

  Jesse stood in one corner of the room, ax in hand, staring down at me. Madeline sat on a small stool nearby holding something in her hand. My vision at this point was still a bit blurry, and between that and the throbbing of my aching head, it took me a few minutes to completely regain my wits.

  Just as the totality of my situation began to hit, I saw Madeline coming at me with something from the corner of my eye. I instinctively flinched at her approach, but she said some soothing words, which surprised me, and I realized that what she was holding was a bowl of water and a damp, pinkish-hued cloth. It was then that I understood that she meant to clean my head wound, and that the pinkish hue of the cloth was likely from my blood, meaning that she’d already been tending to me.

  This realization calmed me somewhat, but I was still terrified at finding myself held captive by these two after seeing what they’d done to Ben and how they’d held the other man prisoner in their shed.

  Then Jesse told me not to worry, that they weren’t going to hurt me. I asked him what the bindings were all about then, and he explained that they knew I’d be frightened when I regained consciousness. They didn’t want me doing harm to myself or them.

  I found the explanation laughable coming from old Bonnie and Clyde, but I let it go.

  Then Jesse asked me why I had freed the man they were holding.

  I told him that I had come to talk to them about Ben who had died at my camp, but that when I’d arrived, they weren’t at the shed. After seeing the bullet holes in the shed’s exterior, I’d gotten curious and peered inside to discover the man bound and gagged on the floor. I went on to say that I had tried to help the man but that they’d returned before I’d been able to do so. I had therefore returned today to assist their prisoner and that was when he’d told me what had transpired here. Once I had him untied, however, the guy had hit me with something (I wasn’t sure what), and when I awoke, he was gone, replaced instead by Jesse and Madeline.

  Madeline then asked me what the man had told me had happened there.

  After I gave her a general rundown of what the guy had said, she just shook her head sadly and said, “And you believed him?”

  I told her that after seeing what had been done to Ben, and finding the guy tied up on THEIR shed floor, I felt I was well within my rights to believe him.

  She just nodded sadly and said she supposed she could see my point of view, but that what the man said had happened was far from the truth. As she tended to my head wound and applied antibacterial ointment to it, she explained what REALLY had happened.

  She said that the man – “Luther” she said his name was – had arrived with his family seeking assistance. She said that Luther had told them they had an injured person in their group, which was comprised of six people, four of whom included him, his wife, and two adult sons. Luther told Jesse and Madeline that the other two members, a man named Pete and his young son Ben, had joined them after the flu outbreak.

  Okay, I’m going to take a break from writing, have some breakfast, and get ready to look for Miles. I want to be set to go as soon as it’s light out enough to see. I’ll get back to my story later.

  8:58 a.m.

  I don’t know what to do. I’ve looked for Miles all over the place and there’s no sign of him anywhere. Even the rope that I had tied him to the tree with is missing. And with him having been gone for so long, I’m kind of afraid to venture too far out looking for him. I’m afraid that if I keep wandering around the woods, he’ll come back and I won’t be here. Then he might get scared and run off again. If he’s hurt or something, I wouldn’t be here to tend to him.

  I guess the best bet is to just sit tight here and hope he finds his way back. I don’t know where else he would go. I can’t believe this is happening. It’s like things couldn’t go worse lately. Every time I think I have things in hand or make a decision to take control of my fate out here, it all blows up in my face.

  I suppose that since I’m just sitting here killing time, waiting for Miles, I might as well write. I need to finish up the story of my return trip to the maintenance shed anyway.

  So Madeline was telling me that this dude, Luther, the one they had tied up in the shed, had lured them with this sob story about one of his group being injured and needing help when he first arrived. She explained that this story had gotten her and Jesse to lower their defenses and offer assistance. But as he led them to where the supposed injured person was located, he pulled a gun on them. Jesse was carrying a weapon of his own, and a shootout ensued with Jesse and Madeline retreating to the relative safety of the maintenance shed – thus the bullet holes in its exterior.

  According to the couple who had holed up inside against the onslaught from this group of outsiders, the firefight continued for almost half an hour before Luther and his minions had tired of the exchange and changed tactics. This was when Luther brought out Ben as a sort of hostage. He came forward toward the shed using Ben as a human shield, holding a knife to the boy’s neck. Jesse said that if he was a better shot, he would have tried taking Luther out since there was a considerable size difference between Luther and Ben, which left Luther exposed at times. But Jesse was afraid he would miss and hit Ben instead.

  At this point in the ordeal, Luther ordered Jesse and Madeline to come out or he would kill Ben. Jesse, thinking it an odd threat, and most likely a bluff, since Ben was a part of Luther’s group to begin with, didn’t take the threat seriously.

  But all that quickly changed.

  Jesse said that when he failed to respond to Luther’s threat, Luther sliced Ben’s throat. Before Jesse or Madeline could react, Ben tried to break free from Luther’s grasp. That was when Luther shot him as Ben ran off into the forest.

  I guess that’s how Ben came to be at my camp, injuries and all. Poor kid.

  At the same time all this was happening, Jesse said that the others in the group tried to make a final push to take the maintenance shed. Jesse and Madeline ended up shooting and killing or at least wounding several of them.

  Amidst all this, Ben’s father tried to attack Luther, who had injured his son.

  It sounded like a real melee from what Jesse and Madeline were describing. Luther ended up shooting and killing Ben’s dad, but the distraction was enough that Jesse was able to break from the shed and render Luther incapacitated.

  Madeline explained that contrary to what I apparently believed about them, they aren’t bad people. But they didn’t know what to do with Luther. They didn’t
want to let him go for fear that he would threaten them or someone else in the future. At the same time, for as bad as he was, they didn’t want to kill him. Madeline said that they would fight to defend themselves and their home when attacked, but just killing someone unnecessarily wasn’t something that they found within them. And it wasn’t as if they could call the police to come get the guy. Therefore, they were left with the option of detaining Luther while they tried to come up with a solution, something they were having trouble doing.

  During the recounting of this tale, Madeline had finished her treatment of my wound, having cleaned, applied ointment to, and bandaged what was – and still remains – a several-inch gash on the side of my head.

  I didn’t know what to make of what they were telling me at the time. I still don’t. I think I believe them, but who knows if they were telling the truth, if Luther was telling the truth, or the truth lies somewhere in between.

  What I knew then (just as I know now) was that I needed to find Miles. I therefore thanked Jesse and Madeline for their tending to my wound, but told them that I needed to get to my dog back at camp. They seemed sympathetic to my concern regarding Miles, and they told me that as long as I didn’t do anything stupid (I’m amazed they didn’t say “anything ELSE stupid”) that I was free to go.

  Then Madeline untied me as Jesse stood watch nearby, ax in hand, and helped me to my feet. But as I stood, I felt lightheaded and collapsed. I re-attempted a few moments later with similar results. The lightheadedness was accompanied by a bout of overwhelming nausea that time.

  It was at this juncture that Madeline guided me over to a small mattress laid out on the shed floor and told me to rest.