The Dead Lands Diary [Vol. III]

by S. David Staggs

  ME: Really? I thought those were all long gone.

  SIMON: Most places I suppose they are…or were. But not in Hankston, no sir! I enjoyed it, too. Mechanic work was just my thing and running the station was just fine for me.

  ME: You owned it?

  SIMON: No. Fellow named Wilson. He was hardly there though. He trusted me to basically run it.

  ME: So you worked by yourself all day?

  SIMON: No, I had a young kid working for me. Teaching him to work on cars and the such. Jared his name was. Nineteen years old, he was.

  ME: He didn’t make it?

  SIMON: Nah. Nah, he didn’t…

  ME: I’m sorry.

  SIMON: Further down the road was a barbershop. Old man Doug. He’d been cutting hair all his life. Hell, he was in his seventies. But still had steady hands, yes’m. I let him give me a shave every once in awhile. Usually only if I managed to get a date.

  ME: Married?

  SIMON: Shit, no. I guess I was just too set in my ways, bud. Most didn’t want to stay in a small town and when they realized I was happy only being a mechanic and station clerk, then they bailed on my poor ass. I was content being single though.

  ME: How old are you?

  SIMON: Forty-two.

  ME: Did you grow up in Hankston?

  SIMON: Sure did. My pops raised me there, never knew my ma. She split couple years after I was born. Hooked up with someone fella and never looked back. Guess she didn’t want to stay in the middle of nowhere either. Pops stayed though. He worked the station and when I was older I started working with him. When I was nineteen he said I was a man and I didn’t need him anymore. He left me the house and said he was going on the road.

  ME: Work?

  SIMON: Yep. Went and became a trucker. Said he wanted to travel some and see things, since he’d been sitting in the same town most of his life. As for me, I never left. Not until the plague, anyway. Even then, I stayed awhile. It was home.

  ME: Understandable. We did the same thing until we couldn’t anymore.

  SIMON: Exactly. We went untouched for the first month nearly. We didn’t get many outsiders, so to speak, so no one brought the disease immediately to us. We just watched the television. Many of us close folks sat at Gordy’s and we watched it all together. Watched everything. Got a call from my pops one day before the outages. Said he was in Colorado and he was staying there. Lots of country and he had already made plenty of friends all over the country. He’s up there in age a bit now but still resourceful and I think he’s just fine somewhere out there, I really do.

  ME: When did the plague find you?

  SIMON: Well, as I said, nearly a month unscathed. Then a few of them slow stumbling bastards wandered into town. Where they came from who knows. One of the cities further out I reckon. Jared, he was outside under a car. We were checking every car in the neighborhood to make sure they were all in decent working order in case we all had to split town. Damn thing grabbed his legs and pulled him out from under there and fell on him. Started biting his face. I heard him screaming from inside the station. I came a running. When I got there, I was taken aback, ya know? I screamed for him to get off of him. It turned its attention to me now and began to stand up and walk toward me. Jared rolled over holding his face. This thing…sent chills down me. Was wearing a green shirt with blood on it and jean shorts. First one I had seen so I remember well. The way it looked at me. Blood was dripping from its chin and he was chewing on something. Part of Jared’s face. I saw old Frank Gordy come outside and then he did a quick u turn. I ran back into the station and grabbed lead pipe. I ran back out and it was picking up speed toward me. I ain’t gonna lie, bud…I was scared shitless! But I ran up and bashed that bastard good. Right on top of the head. It fell down but then started to move. Tried to sit back up! Gruesome as it be, I had to clock his ass a few more times. Horrible thing, it was. Yes’m. I was heading over to Jared and I seen another one walking down the street. He hadn’t saw me yet and I helped Jared to his feet and crossed the street down to Gordy’s. He was by the door and held it open for us. His wife Betty was sitting nearby and she was all kinds of upset as you’d imagine. Many people from nearby started gathering there already before then. No one wanted to be alone or isolated. Cots were set up and room made for people.

  ME: How many people ended up staying there?

  SIMON: Many had already left the area. Looking for family or safe places. I mean, we weren’t stupid. We knew the things would find us eventually. We just hoped it’d be longer. But let’s see. Old man Doug, Frank and Betty, Wilson. We had Cathy and Bill. Middle aged couple, very nice. Anthony, he worked part time at Gordy’s to help out. He was a retired delivery man. Used to deliver food to Gordy’s actually. Vince…a real estate agent. He was trying to sell land in the area and most people were against that. We didn’t wanna turn too big. He was kind of a prick. That was it. All that was left of us. Anyway, we tried to attend to Jared but he was real hurt. Two big ole’ chunks of the right side of his face were taken out. We all knew he was going to die of course. We watched enough on the television to know what a single bite meant. He was in a lot of pain as you can imagine.

  ME: I have no doubt.

  SIMON: So, I was gonna head down to the pharmacy and find some pain killers to make him more comfortable. Vince, he said we were wasting meds on a dead man and we might need them later. I saw red, bud. I turned around and slugged that arrogant prick right in the mouth. Knocked a tooth out, too! I told him if he ever said something that ignorant again that I would throw his ass outside and he’d be on his own. I’m not a mean person, but I meant it. We couldn’t have someone thinking that way with us. We needed compassion, not every man for himself. So after that, I took a gander down the street and saw the other one standing still. I needed to go the opposite direction anyway. I jogged on down the sidewalk and into the pharmacy. The pharmacist, Pat, he took off awhile ago. But I found some low level and high level pain killers. Jared needed high level for sure. On my way back, the other dead guy was still just standing there and hadn’t noticed me. I gave Jared a few pills. Vince had the nerve to ask me if he could have an aspirin. I asked him if it was a good idea to waste resources on an asshole. But, being the nice guy that I am, I tossed him one. He mumbled a thanks. I said we needed to deal with the other guy standing in the street. Couldn’t just leave him there to wander off and maybe surprise us later. Bill came with me and he distracted the thing and I did the same to it as I did the other. I hit harder though this time cause I didn’t wanna have to keep clocking it. We took its body and the other one and dragged them to the back of the station and placed some old tarps over them. What can ya do?

  ME: I know. I’ve been there.

  SIMON: Of that I have no doubt. When we got back to Gordy’s, Vince was causing a damn panic. Getting everyone worked up about Jared’s bite and what happens when he dies? He’ll turn and kill one of us or all of us. Cathy got worked up and scared and naturally it spooked the old timers. But, although Vince was being a dickhead about it, I understood the point and concern. So, I took a cot and walked it over to the station. I opened up the garage door and set the cot up inside. I helped Jared up and over there. He was in a lot of pain and I gave him some more pills. He got some sleep off and on. Wilson said he’d go to the station and stay with me there but I said no…I wanted him at Gordy’s to help Bill if Vince did anything stupid. I could crash in the office, it had a little couch. Jared, he didn’t do much better after that. Just a quick decline. I checked on him about every hour during the night. Gave him more meds but after awhile he started to refuse them and get a little aggressive. I let him be and would still check back. Sometimes he was calm and I could at least give him some water. He’d apologize for lashing out. I checked on him in the morning and he was groggy. I headed over to Gordy’s to see how everyone was doing and make sure Vince wasn’t causing some kind of issue. Everyone was content. Old man Doug asked if I heard that horrible screaming in the distance during
the night. Everyone chimed in. I had, but forgot about it between taking care of Jared. It was the first time we had ever heard those sounds they make. It had them pretty on edge.

  ME: Yeah…I know it.

  SIMON: So, while discussing that, Bill suddenly informed me that Jared didn’t make it. I was thinking, huh? How the hell would you know, ya know? He gestured to the window and I looked out. I could see Jared standing at the garage door. Just kinda, clawing at the glass and looking around. I mean, I knew it was coming. Felt like I took too much time shooting the shit and didn’t have a chance to say bye to the kid. I felt horrible. Then, Vince mumbled something. Something I obviously wasn’t meant to hear but he mumbled too loud. He said that now we wouldn’t be wasting meds. That…that was the last straw, bud. Last straw. Nineteen year old killed and that’s the only concern he had? Bill tried to stop me but I dodged him and this time I didn’t bust a tooth, I broke the fuckers nose. I broke it and then dragged him to the door and shoved him out onto the sidewalk. The others tried to calm me down. With the exception of Wilson. He didn’t want the dick there either. I was decent enough that I tossed a case of water out before I told him to fuck off.

  ME: I think you did the right thing. He was only going to look out for himself anyway.

  SIMON: Yes’m, that’s what I thought too. He got to his car and took off. Last we ever seen of him. I watched out the window for several days at Jared. Sometimes he wasn’t by the garage door but he always ended up back there. I just hadn’t gotten up to dealing with it, ya know? Wilson though, he talked me into letting him handle it. I started to refuse but he talked me down. Said I can’t do all the lifting, it’s a team effort. Said I had already killed 2 of the things and I needed to relax a lil’ bit. I just agreed, cause I knew he was right. I was pretty drained, bud. So, he did that and put the body with the others behind the station.

  ME: What came next?

  SIMON: We needed weapons. During the nights we still heard them screams. Couple times during the day, too. Frank Gordy, he kept a shotgun behind the counter with a box of shells. I had a pistol in a lock box in the station office. I went and got that while Wilson and Bill car pooled to their houses to grab some rifles and whatever else they had. So we ended up with my gun, the shotgun, another pistol, another shotgun and a couple hunting rifles and a little decent amount of ammunition. We at least felt more secure. Next day, Old man Doug went outside and started down toward his shop. Said he wanted to grab a few things, what I don’t know. I told him to hold up. Man was old! Didn’t need to be out there alone. Stubborn old man he was, yes’m. I was merely 10…maybe 20 seconds behind him getting out the door and that’s all it took. Fast…those really fast ones. You know the ones. They are in little groups and such. Two of them. They were on Doug like…I don’t know like what. He was dead within seconds, that I could tell. I reached for my gun and realized it wasn’t even in my damn pocket. I started backing back toward the door and Cathy came out and when she saw she started screaming. Those things looked up and then darted toward us. I pushed her in the store and locked up. Felt pretty dumb…glass door. Glass front window. These ones, they weren’t like the first two. So fast and strong. I later learned that it’s a stage. Like, newly turned ones act this way, fast and all. I often wonder why that didn’t happen to Jared? Maybe it isn’t an always.

  ME: Maybe not. That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Hell, didn’t even realize it until you pointed it out.

  SIMON: Guess it’s just not always. Genetic thing or something or another. As I was saying, it was just dumb. They started beating on the door, glass started cracking. Instant panic, you know. The glass gave way and they got in and first one grabbed Cathy and they stumbled to the floor. Bill grabbed it but it was just too strong. It was biting into her neck. The other one jumped on his back and bit into the back of his neck. Everyone else, we kind just fell backwards into each other and didn’t know what to do. We never saw these things before and we were just…stunned I guess. We froze up. Suddenly Frank, suddenly fast for his age, went forward with his shotgun and yelled at them to get out of his damn store. He fired at the one latched onto Bill and the shot hit them both in the head and they hit the ground. Everyone screamed. I mean, we knew Bill was gonna die but that was beside the point. The other lunged up and tackled Frank to the ground. Biting and clawing. I noticed another one outside, running toward the store. Must have heard the shot. Wilson saw it too and yelled it out. Betty started slapping and hitting the one on her husband. Anthony was trying to pull her away but he was an old timer too. It leaned up and got hold of her hair and dragged her to its face and latched onto the side of her neck. So much blood. There was so…we didn’t know what to do! I snapped out of it and shot the thing pointblank in the head. Wilson shot the one charging in. Didn’t kill it but it fell and was squirming around. I ran up and punted that thing in the skull. It started to thrash around and so I stomped on its head. Then we headed out the back of the store into a back parking lot. Frank and Betty kept a small RV in the back lot. We ducked in there and sat quiet. We were in shock, I know it. But we were also listening to hear anymore of them. We waited in that RV all night in relative silence. The next day, we finally spoke and decided it was time to leave. It wasn’t safe here anymore. We didn’t know if it was safe anywhere! But we knew we couldn’t stay there anymore. Carefully and most importantly, quietly, we gathered packages of water and canned food and the weapons and loaded them in the RV. Everything we could fit. Grabbed antibiotics and some other stuff from the pharmacy. Once we thought we had enough supplies, it was time to head out. We put our friends bodies outback and covered them. I found the RV keys on a hanger in Frank’s office. We split. We thought maybe the military set some stuff up in some of the nearby bigger towns and such, but those were deathtraps. We searched and searched but all we kept finding were empty and abandoned military posts. We ran into a few other people traveling in opposite directions. All anyone had was rumors of places that were safe. No facts about anything. Anyone’s guess was as good as another. Most people were decent…offered to trade goods. Some just stayed a distance or took a road off out of their way just to avoid you. We did the same a few times. Had to shoot at a couple people who kept driving a little too close…trying to get us to pull over. Once I fired a couple rounds in the air, they took off real quick, yes’m. Eventually, the three of us got here and that’s my story. If you want to talk to Wilson or Anthony, they’re around.

  ME: They are very nice, too. I’ve spoken to them. Not about this, just in general.

  SIMON: Yes’m, good guys they are. We went through a lot together. Man, that brought back memories I hadn’t much thought about in a few.

  ME: I’m sorry.

  SIMON: Nah, it’s fine, bud. It was okay to speak of. People should know who they were, ya know? That they were good people and what happened to them. It’s a good thing you’re doing, it really is. So, you keep on doing.

  ME: Thank you.

  SIMON: Any other questions?

  ME: No, that’ll do. Thank you.

  SIMON: Sure, bud. Don’t be a stranger and take care of yourself.

  ME: Likewise and thanks again.

  SIMON: Anytime, bud.

  **

  Lauren Fletcher is a twenty-five year old who’s reserved and slightly withdrawn. She had just arrived a week prior to me interviewing her and I could tell she was on edge but I chose to speak to her a little sooner than most arrivals for the fact she seemed so nervous. I thought some dialogue would help her let down some of her defenses.

  ME: Hi, Lauren. Thanks for sitting with me.

  LAUREN: Yeah, sure. Why did you want to speak to me? Am I still able to stay here?

  ME: What? Yes, of course! I’m sorry if you were thinking that’s what this was about.

  LAUREN: Well, I had questions asked when I got here and thought maybe they weren’t up to someones liking perhaps.

  ME: No, no. Not at all, I promise. This is your home now, for as long as you want it
to be. I just like to sit with everyone and ask them if they are able to tell me their story of how they got here and where they started out, that’s all.

  LAUREN: Oh, alright.

  ME: You’ve seemed kind of distant and I thought maybe a conversation would help you adjust. I can also help with introducing you to anyone that hasn’t spoke to you yet. I hope everyone’s been kind.

  LAUREN: They have, yes. Just trying to get used to being able to relax. When you’ve been on edge for so long, it’s like you have to learn how to let yourself ease up. Always in flight mode.

  ME: I understand. But you’re safe here. Granted, you never know what can happen, so we always have guards up a little and stay alert…but it’s safe enough for you to relax a little. You can feel better just by knowing we have armed guards and patrols day and night here. As I’m sure you’ve already observed. Everyone gets along, we’ve had no conflicts in a good while.

  LAUREN: Yeah, I’ve noticed it all.

  ME: Are you up to speaking about yourself?