So anyway, back to this interesting set of events. Late last night, our scouting party returned. They reported that they made contact with leaders of the group that has organized the majority of Chattanooga’s remaining residents. These leaders informed our scouts that they represented about 80 to 90 percent of the city’s survivors.
Lamar – the member of our group who lost his wife in the Nashville attack – offered to lead the scouting expedition. I think that without her, he feels he has little to lose. He said that the leaders of the city seem a reasonable lot. While both sides were initially wary of one another (which is certainly understandable in the post-flu world), their meeting was civilized. I guess that’s about the best that can be hoped for these days.
Lamar went on to relay to us that apparently the remaining residents of Chattanooga are meeting with the same sorts of issues we encountered back in Spencer. Their main duties revolve around finding food and fresh water, staying warm in the falling temperatures, fending off outside groups searching for supplies, keeping conditions sanitary, and trying to ensure that people remain relatively content with their new and substantially more difficult post-flu lives. Lamar said that after some time spent getting to know one another – that included rehashing brief post-flu histories on both sides as well as enjoying several introductory drinks – an agreement was reached with the city leaders. One of these leaders is a priest who Lamar said added to the level of trust he felt toward them. While pertinent details regarding our group and its current location weren’t divulged, Lamar explained to the city representatives that we had supplies to barter in exchange for safe harbor in Chattanooga. But the leaders of the city said that weren’t looking for more residents. They did however say that they would allow us several nights within the city limits and would guarantee our safety (as much as safety can be guaranteed these days) in exchange for a reasonable amount of bartered material.
Lamar said he neither accepted nor declined the offer, saying that he would relay the offer to the rest of our group. The city leaders understood but also explained that should we attempt some sort of action against them, they were fully prepared to defend the city with deadly force.
So the issue to stay or go is now being put to a vote.
There’s no guarantee that the people of Chattanooga are being truthful regarding their intentions to let us reside (albeit temporarily) peacefully within their city limits. But having that option would give us the chance to catch our collective breath. We could empty the portable toilets and re-supply our fresh water.
Who knows, we might even make a good enough impression on the existing population for them to let us stay indefinitely.
9:07 a.m.
The vote to give Chattanooga a chance passed 42 in favor to 17 against (the kids get votes in these decisions too). Gerald took Lamar, Chase, and several others back to town to negotiate the exact terms of our bartered payment. Hank, Erika and I have stayed behind. We have been left with the instructions that should they not return by noon, we are to get the train and the rest of our people moving again, push through town as quickly as possible, and stop again (if the situation presents itself) ten miles past the other side of the city limits. Gerald said to give them a day and they’d catch up with us…if they could. That’s the plan at least. Hopefully I won’t have to execute it.
11:01 p.m.
Eleven o’clock and no sign of the negotiation team. Still an hour to go before our set departure time. God I hope they’re okay. I’m trying to remain calm. I’m just worried. What if something has happened to them? What if they were just waylaid and I end up leaving them here?
11:34 p.m.
Now I’m really starting to sweat. I figured our negotiators would be back by now. What could be taking them so long? It’s not that far into town. They could just be having trouble hashing out the exact terms of the agreement. Maybe they were taken hostage. Will I have to negotiate their release? My mind is swimming with possibilities. And I’m suddenly realizing that I’m much more concerned about Chase’s well being than I thought I’d be.
11:43 a.m.
Thank God! Gerald and the rest of the group are back safely. I know I already mentioned it, but I was far more concerned about Chase being away than I thought I’d be. I know there are feelings there, but a part of me doesn’t want to get any closer to him in such an unstable world.
I guess the group worked out an agreement with the Chattanooga leadership. We agreed to barter half the vehicles we picked up along our trip, as well as a portion of the lumber we’re carrying. In exchange, the city will provide clean replacements for our portable toilets, help us refill our fresh water supply, and give us a security detail for three nights in a location about a half mile outside town.
Personally, I think it’s kind of a hefty price to pay for what we’re getting, but at this point, what do we really need vehicles and lumber for anyway? We can always find more cars, and we can always cut more trees. I guess the main thing is that we’ve bought ourselves a little time before we are forced to push on again.
6:54 p.m.
We’ve set up camp just outside of town. One of the Chattanooga townspeople guided us to a solitary spot with a small cluster of abandoned homes alongside the tracks. We’ve taken the opportunity to use these homes to spread out and stretch our legs a little. Riding in dark, cramped, smelly boxcars for days on end hasn’t been the most comfortable of situations for our people. At least the kids and I have had the chance to get up front and ride in the engine where we had a little more room to move around.
Chuck, a resident of Chattanooga, is serving as our temporary guide. We asked him if he or anyone else in the city has had any news from the rest of the country, particularly the south. He laughed and told us that he was going to ask us the same thing. He said that Chattanooga had remained isolated since the flu, and news from around the state – let alone the rest of the country – had been spotty at best. About the only thing he’d heard lately was that Atlanta had gotten pretty damn crazy. According to him, violent groups there are vying for control over the city and its resources. He said that supposedly, three of these factions had gained control over most of the city and were now working to organize it under their central authority. But from the last report he’d heard, it was still “the wild west” down there. His only piece of advice to us was that when we continued our journey, if we were forced to pass through Atlanta, that we do it as quickly and as quietly as possible.
I definitely DON’T like the sounds of that. I can only pray that we find a suitable spot to settle down before we reach that point. If not, we’re gonna see just what this engine can do. I have an idea that I’m going to mention to Gerald if it comes to that – a better way for us to defend ourselves when passing through an urban area. It might not work, but it’s worth considering.
For now, I’m going to settle down with the kids (we’ve picked out a nice queen-size bed in one of the empty houses), finish our dinner (ham on biscuits left over from breakfast), read a couple stories, and call it a night. I think we’re all tired more from the mental stress of our situation than anything else.
For the first time since we left, I feel relatively secure. Our security forces have been bolstered by about a dozen men assigned to us from Chattanooga (per our barter agreement).
More than anything, it just feels nice to lie down in a bed again. I’m also glad to see (per Chattanooga’s example) that the world hasn’t lost ALL its humanity.
Tuesday, October 29 th
8:22 a.m.
Breakfast this morning was oatmeal – not very exciting, but warm and filling. It’s a good meal for feeding a lot of people.
Sleeping in the abandoned house beside the tracks was nice – cold, but nice. We woke this morning to several inches of snow on the ground.
Gerald is holding a meeting at nine this morning to dole out our duties for the day. Some people will go to town with Chuck (the Chattanooga representative assigned to us for the duration of our s
tay) to find equipment for offloading our portable toilets. The majority of us will have the job of collecting water and treating it to replenish our fresh water supply.
3:09 p.m.
It’s been a monotonous day of collecting water, boiling it over large fires we’ve built, and refilling containers. Violet and Dylan have been assisting. At least we’ve had something to keep us busy. We should be wrapping up our work here in the next hour or so. Once we’re done, it’s community bath time. No, we’re not all bathing together. Since we have the opportunity, we’re using some of the warm water we have to fill the bathtubs of the abandoned homes in which we’re temporarily staying. It’s been days since we’ve been able to get a proper cleaning, and I think everyone would appreciate the chance to get ‘stink free’ before renewing our journey. Who knows how long it will be before we have another such opportunity.
7:29 p.m.
Tonight’s dinner was macaroni and cheese and sliced ham. Again, not the most exciting of meals, but warm, filling, and flavorful – “comfort food,” my grandmother would have called it.
According to Erika, the supplies are holding out reasonably well, but the group should probably start rationing. She estimated that we have another week to ten days of food remaining before we have to start slaughtering the livestock we brought with us. No one wants to do that since we brought the animals alive for a reason. We need them to procreate so that we have a sustainable food source once we are settled.
Speaking of Erika, we have been on decent terms lately. I think it’s helped that I haven’t had much time to spend with Chase. It seems like the less interaction I have with him, the more interaction (and the more pleasant the interaction) I have with Erika.
Whatever. It’s the least of my concerns right now. Should we find a good spot to relocate, then I can start worrying about matters of the heart again. Right now, I just want to be safely settled…I think everyone does.
We’ll be on the move again soon enough. I prepare to leave Chattanooga with mixed emotions. Part of me wishes we could stay here in the relative safety of this mountainous terrain, but the other part is itching to get going, if for no other reason than to just get it over with.
For now, I’m going to play a game or two of Go Fish with Dylan and Violet before we hit the sack. We had to leave most of their board games behind when we left Spencer, but I did bring a couple decks of cards since they are small and easy to carry.
Wednesday, October 30 th
11:47 a.m.
It’s sunny today but cold. I think it’s only in the upper 20s, maybe low 30s. The kids went outside earlier and made a small snowman. It wasn’t a Chicago snow, but it was a nice way for them to get outside and play a little bit.
It’s been kind of a meandering day. Everyone seems somewhat sluggish. I think we’re all feeling down knowing that we’ll be on the move again soon.
I’ve been helping make sandwiches for lunch, but I’m taking a break right now. Our assigned cooks don’t really need the help. More than anything, I just wanted to stay busy and keep my mind off the journey that lies ahead.
Other than that, I don’t have much more to say.
Thursday, October 31 st
7:51 a.m.
This morning’s breakfast was dry cereal and granola bars.
We are to be on our way out of Chattanooga by nightfall. Gerald has managed to trade another of the vehicles we’re carrying for more half-inch-thick steel plates. We will affix them to the interior walls of the boxcars for further reinforcement. This will hopefully make them impenetrable to all but the heaviest of weapons.
I was able to pull Gerald aside for a minute during breakfast to discuss my thoughts regarding the defense of the train. He said he was open to my ideas but that we only had a couple people trained for the tactic I was contemplating. I already knew this, since I saw them with their weapons back in Spencer – that’s how I first got the idea. Gerald said that he would talk to them…when he had a chance. I don’t know how soon that will be with how busy he’s been, getting us ready to roll, but I hope it’s soon. It could be crucial to our survival.
6:49 p.m.
We ate an early dinner tonight – sandwiches, chips, crackers, and water – so that we could finish our departure preparations. We’re hoping to be on our way around eight. This would have us reaching Atlanta at about two or three in the morning should we not find a livable location before then. Hopefully the majority of the city’s populace will be asleep at that time. By the looks on people’s faces in our camp, they have no illusions about what we might be facing should we have to pass through the city.
I AM glad to see that Gerald has moved forward with the idea I put forth earlier in the day. Along with the rest of our security forces, he’s placed an archer on almost all of our train cars. We have six people who have hunted with or are familiar using crossbows or regular bows and arrows. My theory is that using this form of defense could help us maintain our cover better when passing through populated areas. Rather than rolling in with guns blazing as we did in Nashville, which only drew more people to us, we can hopefully utilize this silent method of defense. We will have our security forces carrying guns as well, but the sentries carrying those weapons have been instructed only to use them if necessary.
Okay, I’d better wrap it up. I should try to get some sleep. Gerald wants everyone up and alert if or when we approach Atlanta. Unless there’s a miracle, it looks like we’re going to have to push through the city.
Friday, November 1 st
1:37 a.m.
From the best I can figure, we’re about ten miles outside downtown Atlanta. I left the kids with Edna in what is now one of our armored boxcars and moved up to the engine with Gerald, Chase, and Hank. We’re increasing our speed until we get to the other side of town. We’re currently up to 25 miles an hour, and we’re going to try to push it to 35…maybe even a little faster. We just don’t want to chance derailing ourselves by going TOO fast. We hope that if we can fly through downtown, we will be past anything that looks like trouble before that trouble is awake enough to attempt something. I pray that it works. I have Chris’ trusty .38 caliber revolver here with me just in case. I hope I don’t need it.
We’re up to 32 miles an hour now and still increasing speed. We should be into downtown in the next couple of minutes, so I need to stop writing. We’re going to kill the engine’s interior lighting to help conceal our presence. God I pray this goes okay.
5:56 p.m.
Well that was a complete pile of shit! This is the first chance I’ve had to write since we entered downtown Atlanta early this morning. We’re far enough outside the city and have gotten a good enough handle on the overall situation that I finally feel comfortable writing again.
Fuck! Fuck is what I have to say regarding what happened.
I guess I should have realized, or SOMEBODY should have realized that yesterday was Halloween. I suppose the holiday isn’t high on anyone’s priority list lately. I partially blame myself, though, since I write in this journal daily. I should have made the connection when I wrote yesterday’s date. I guess that subconsciously I probably did. I just didn’t think it mattered since it’s not like we’re celebrating the occasion.
I’m currently on my dinner break. I’m not that hungry, but I haven’t eaten since yesterday’s dinner, so I’m having a sandwich to at least put something in my stomach. I don’t think that many of our people (those who are left at least) have eaten today. We’ve all been too damn busy. This is also the first chance I’ve had to break away from my work and be with the kids. Edna has been caring for them since early yesterday evening. Thank God for her!
So Atlanta was just as bad as Chattanooga Chuck said it’d be…worse actually. Things started well enough. In fact, I think that as we began our approach into downtown with no indications of trouble, we started to get our hopes up. I think that what hurt us was the fact that since it was Halloween some of the rougher groups in the city were out partying. I g
uess “partying” is too good a word for it, but in this new world, I don’t know what else you would call it…“raging”…“rioting” maybe?
For lack of a better word, downtown Atlanta was a “mess”. As we approached, we could see it glowing from afar. It wasn’t like back in Indianapolis or Chicago where burning buildings lit up the night sky. Instead, there were huge bonfires in the streets. Apparently, anything that was burnable, including vehicles, was being put to the torch. These fires, of which there were literally dozens, didn’t cast the same hue into the night sky as the building fires I’d seen in the Midwest. So it was hard to know they existed until we were almost on top of them. Tending these bonfires, or grouped around them, were throngs of people. At first, I thought they were going to let us pass unmolested. Traveling in the dark helped obscure the train, so our presence was a surprise to them. Actually, I don’t think we would have had a problem at all getting through the city were it not for the blockade. With the speed we were carrying (around 40 miles an hour), and having caught the partying inhabitants unaware, we could have been through the city and on our way in a matter of minutes, and probably without a shot been fired…but there WAS a blockade.
The Pandemic Diaries [Books 1-3] Page 27