LAUREN: I mean, I guess. I don’t want to but maybe it’ll help me, I don’t know.
ME: Others I have spoken to have told me it helped them, so I suppose it will you too.
LAUREN: Okay then…so, I don’t know what to say?
ME: Let’s start with where you’re from?
LAUREN: I’m from Kentucky. Somerset, to be exact.
ME: Did you like it?
LAUREN: I did, yeah. I was raised there and I had just recently finished nursing school before everything happened.
ME: Well, that’s a plus. You’ll be able to help a lot of people here and they’ll be thankful, I can assure you.
LAUREN: I’ve thought about that too. It’s nice knowing I can help out [crying].
ME: Hey…you okay?
LAUREN: Yeah [nods]. I’ve just had to hold it all in for so long. I lost it all. Everything I knew is gone. When I graduated high school, I stayed in Somerset and my closest friends went to colleges further away. Some out of state. We stayed in touch and then drifted, as usually tends to happen, sadly. So, I worked and eventually went to school and stayed so busy with that, that I didn’t have many close friends. Didn’t have time to hangout or date or anything like that.
ME: Workaholic?
LAUREN: I guess so. During college I had a roommate and we stayed roommates afterwards. Her name was Katy. She moved to Somerset from Louisville. She wanted out of the huge city life and sought something smaller and simpler. She was so bubbly. I had people I talked to, but she was who I was close to. Her parents remained in Louisville and mine retired and headed to Georgia. Why Georgia I have no clue, but they said they wanted to go to Georgia. I try not to think about what may have happened to them. I really just block it out. I know what’s likely and therefore I just don’t think about it. My brother Laurence lived on the other side of town. Lauren and Laurence…you like that? [shakes head].
ME: It’s kinda cool.
LAUREN: If you say so. He came and shacked up with us when shit started to get real. By the way, we were in a little two bedroom house just a few minutes outside of downtown. I loved that little house. It got bad because it was summer and we get a lot of visitors in town in those months, so it became chaos. So many people away from home and not knowing what to do. Most fled but some didn’t know if they should and those ones got quarantined in and trapped with the rest of us. It was total martial law after awhile and looters were being shot dead by soldiers. We kept our asses inside. We had enough to get by on for a bit. We took watches in case anyone tried messing with us. I had a small pistol that my old man got me when I moved out and got the little house. We took turns on watch with the gun.
ME: Anyone mess with you guys?
LAUREN: Thankfully, no. But the riots and looting didn’t last long. It calmed down when soldiers had to shoot them and then the infected animals working themselves into town, along with infected people too. It went down hill pretty fast. Soon, the military deemed Somerset a lost cause, which it was, and moved on. I didn’t blame them. The majority of the population was dead or infected. Was only a matter of time before we would have to pack up and get out, too. That day came in early August. We were running low on supplies. We took some risks and went to empty houses next to us and found stuff. We weren’t gonna go venturing into town though. Night time was the worst.
ME: I concur.
LAUREN: I hated peeking outside and seeing them wandering around. Especially the runners. We had to be quiet and careful during the day too, but night was always more scary. Especially with no lights and we had to keep any candles hidden in rooms with no windows.
ME: You ain’t gotta tell me, been there.
LAUREN: And the screams those things let off? Those make your skin crawl. Katy would sit and cover her ears when they would start going off. Made us jump out of our skin every time. But anyways, our supplies were starting to dwindle and it was time to go. We didn’t have a plan or clue where. We assumed, correctly, that many roads were clogged or blocked so we just figured we’d navigate through it all and see where we ended up. Pretty stupid ass plan obviously, but it was all we had at the moment and we just went with it. We waited another night and then that morning we got into my brothers car and headed out. We headed into town slowly, hoping not to alert anything and just to see if there might be other survivors looking for a way out. But, no…no one. Just dead. The fountain in Town Square was red with blood and a few bodies were in it. Bodies were everywhere. Some were soldiers that didn’t get out…or stayed behind voluntarily, I don’t know. They should have left…was nothing left to save there, that became obvious as we drove by it all. If there were other survivors like us, then they were still shut in somewhere and staying low. We seen some of them things wandering down some of the streets. No runners though. Got out into the country and we kept it that way and avoided residential and city areas. Later we crossed the Ohio state line and we were really by then in unfamiliar territory. We were totally lost and no clue what to do and we started feeling really really damn stupid. We stopped at some hole in the wall out of the way gas station and looked around. We found an Ohio map, so that was good. There were some bottles of water and snacks. We gathered what hadn’t already been looted. We got back to the car and looked at the map. In an age that was used to GPS, this was Greek to us. Sad, I know! Katy knew how to read them easily though, so we lucked out there. She said her mom would take them on trips sometimes over the weekends and make them learn maps on the way. So, that worked out wonderfully.
ME: I’d say!
LAUREN: We headed north but soon started going a little east as well, cause we didn’t wanna go anywhere near Columbus. Felt like we were going in circles and constantly backtracking cause of closed or blocked highways and interstates. We eventually saw a sign pointing west that said Somerset. Didn’t know there was a Somerset in Ohio. That was bitter sweet. It started getting dark and that made us nervous. We should have been looking around a lot sooner for somewhere safe before dark. Around dusk we saw an old barn that sat a ways back from the road and nothing else was around. We turned into the dirt path of a driveway and headed for it. Laurence got out and opened the big sliding door carefully and peeked in. We watched him push it all the way open and he ran back. We pulled inside and he hopped back out and closed the door. The place hadn’t been used in a very long time. It was musty and damp. It was completely empty. We took watches and got some sleep.
ME: Quiet night?
LAUREN: For the most part. We were all awake at one point when we heard that screaming somewhere outside. Wasn’t super close but we learned to sleep lightly. That was it. Then….[shakes her head].
ME: Want to stop and take a break?
LAUREN: No. Just wanna get it out now. Katy ran over and pulled the barn door open and one was right there when she opened it. A slower one but still fast enough. Lunged at her and knocked her over and it bit right into her shoulder. She was screaming and we just hadn’t been fast enough. Laurence ran and kicked it in the head and it slumped over. I pulled Katy away from it and Laurence just kicked it and kicked it in the head until it was finished off. Katy was clenched to me. I walked her outside into the light so I could see the bite. It was bad and gushing a lot. Laurence pulled the car out of the barn and then joined us. He told her it was fine, she was going to be okay. She wasn’t stupid and we all knew that it was a lie but we wanted to believe it.
ME: Of course.
LAUREN: He said ‘let’s go, before there’s more,’ and he ran around toward the driver’s side and I was headed toward front seat and then…just BAM! An explosion and I screamed and Laurence did too. I spun around and at first it wasn’t coming to me what happened but then it did and I fell down. Katy had been the last one on watch and she still had the gun. She shot herself in the head. I was in some kind of shock for a minute. I remember Laurence grabbing me and trying to pull me up. He was yelling about them coming and then I heard the shrill screaming getting closer and that snapped me back and I ran t
o the car. We fled the barn fast and…we had to leave her, you know? We just had to leave her.
ME: Believe me, I know. I’m sorry.
LAUREN: Me too. What made it worse was, I looked in the mirror and I saw like, I don’t know, at least 6 of those runners, maybe more. They were running down the driveway after us but I noticed one stopped and started biting into Katy’s neck. I just started screaming and that made Laurence swerve. I saw him look in the mirror and he just looked at me. We drove in silence for maybe an hour but then he started talking about where we were and what we were doing. He never brought up Katy…I didn’t either. Couldn’t. I reached back and grabbed the map and we tried our best to navigate around. Very poorly. Eventually we ended up near a place called Killbuck and we took a break and tried to read the map a little better. I volunteered to drive for a little bit. He was reluctant at first but then agreed. He was too tired to argue the matter with me. So we continued on. We took another break in Deerfield and parked near some fields and looked over the map. You know…it was July! You don’t think twice about having the windows rolled down when it’s that hot outside. You roll them down without thinking. Stupid…so stupid. We never heard them. The fast ones, you know they can be so quiet…so so so quiet. It was just fast! Within a second and he’s being latched onto by one of them and it’s pulling him out of the window. He started [crying] started screaming and then there was another one. They were hitting him and biting him and he just screamed ‘Go! Go!,’ and I didn’t know what to do and I screamed and then one of them saw me and Laurence screamed go again and then the one that noticed me shrieked and got up and I just drove. I left my best friend behind and now I had to leave my brother behind [sobs].
ME: I’m so sorry, Lauren. We should stop this, we can-
LAUREN: No, no. I’m okay. I won’t wanna talk about it later.
ME: Okay then.
LAUREN: So, I drove and I knew I needed to stop. Stop and collect myself, otherwise I was just going to drive into the wrong place not paying attention and then I’d get killed too. I stopped in the road somewhere. I can’t remember where I was. I sat there for probably two hours just kinda numb or in shock. I made sure though I was parked in an area where I could see all around. I had the windows rolled up by now. Two hours just sitting there and sweating and I don’t recall paying much attention to the heat. I drank some water and then after some time I made my way down the road aimlessly. It started to look less country and I was about to head in a different direction and then I saw a sign with an arrow that said The Retreat and I sat there awhile just kind of looking at it and wondering. Finally, I decided fuck it. What did I have to lose? It was either a safe place or I was walking into a death trap.
ME: Not so long ago, you’d have been right on the latter.
LAUREN: I heard. Glad I missed that. But I was taken in, fed and given water and place to rest and privacy. It was more than I could ask for and then I was shown Haven and what my preference was and I like it here in Haven. I really can’t express how grateful I am for you people taking me in.
ME: That’s what we do. We have to rely on each other and build a strong group and community.
LAUREN: I’m ready to start helping out whenever I’m needed and with whatever else I can do. And to get to know people.
ME: How about tomorrow I arrange for a dinner party? Nothing huge to make you feel uncomfortable, we’ll just start with who I arrived here with and myself. Be just you, me and four others and you can get to know them first. My friends Reggie and Jim, his wife Kelly and a teenage boy named Ben.
LAUREN: Okay…yeah, we can do that. That sounds like a nice time.
ME: Okay, great. I’ll talk with them and I’ll set a time up tomorrow evening?
LAUREN: Okay, that sounds nice. Thanks for wanting to know. To know my story, I mean. And thanks for talking to me.
ME: Of course. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.
**
Dr. Hank Thomas is in his early fifties and has a straight forward attitude with no sugar coating. He is highly professional and a much needed man within our two communities.
ME: It’s nice to sit with you and speak with you finally and I thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I know you stay busy with keeping up with appointments with folks.
HANK: That’s quite alright, Jack. It’s my pleasure, really. We haven’t much had the chance to talk much. How have you been?
ME: I can’t complain. I’ve been good. How about yourself?
HANK: I am well, thank you for asking. So I presume you’re here for my story, am I right?
ME: Only if you have the time right now and if you’re up to it.
HANK: Of course, of course. Please, begin.
ME: Where are you from? Where were you when all this began?
HANK: I was in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
ME: Was it hectic?
HANK: I have no doubt that it was, yes.
ME:…you were there you said? Did I miss hear something?
HANK: No, I was there. I just didn’t stay. You see, I could see pretty early on that things were not going well at all. Everything was so haphazard. Very hard for things to be organized, you see. Things escalated quickly. I packed some essentials and got out. It was plain to see that it was coming undone. The last place I preferred to be was in a city. I had an old dear friend that lived outside of Fort Wayne. A place named Zulu.
ME: Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it.
HANK: Do you know how Zulu got the name? It was chosen randomly out of an encyclopedia! Can you believe it? Fun little fact. Nice people. Sadly, when I arrived at my friends home, he wasn’t answering. I took the liberty of letting myself in once I discovered the door was unlocked. I wasn’t enjoying standing outside waiting. Never knew where those unfortunate infected people were. I found my friend in his bed. I thought him sleeping, but alas he was not. He had overdosed on some medications. I sat by his bed for a spell and I did cry some. I had known him for many years. Harold his name was. Harold Welsh. He was a social studies teacher. I never took him the type to do what he did. I miss him.
ME: I’m sorry.
HANK: We’ve all lost people in this plague.
ME: Were you married ever?
HANK: Yes, for eleven years. I was also married to my job and I guess worked too much and things just didn’t work in the end. She remarried some time later and moved to Colorado.
ME: So you obviously loved your work. Which is good, because having a psychologist here has been very wonderful and you’ve helped many of us out. Many people needed it. They’ve kept you busy.
HANK: They have and I welcome them with open arms. I worked hard because I just loved being able to help people. I’m glad I can still be of that service.
ME: How long did you stay in Zulu?
HANK: Quite awhile honestly. I thought it best to shelter in place than run out into the chaos of it all. It was all a panic out there. I knew I was safe, generally, where I was at and I had some food and water to last a bit. I buried Harold in the back yard. It was fenced in so I felt a little secure in doing so, otherwise I would have figured something else out. I kept the shades closed and kept myself quiet. I felt connected a little bit with the television and such. I could keep up on what was going on. When the power went off, that’s when it got rough. After a few days you get stir crazy. Cabin fever starts to set in later on. That eases up though once you get used to it but I missed human contact. I was used to speaking with many people on a daily basis. So it was certainly an adjustment.
ME: I’d imagine so.
HANK: So, I found a pantry that was full of packages of bottled water and canned goods. Hundreds of bottles and tons of food to choose from. I wish he had just waited a little longer. Perhaps when I arrived he would have calmed himself down some before he did what he did. Sad thing.
ME: It is. At least you had some stuff to hold you over for awhile.
HANK: Yes, quite some time indeed. I also, carefully, went through his neighbors
homes. They were abandoned mind you. From there I was able to gather even more water and nonperishable items. In those early days, the infected weren’t everywhere in that area. I knew eventually more would come from the city. While the option was there, I carefully drove from home to home and gathered what I could find. Many people had simply left and didn’t seem to bother taking much. Or they left a lot behind. Surely they were going to a quarantine zone but I just didn’t like the idea of trying for one of those. Didn’t sit well with me and I’m glad I didn’t. So tragic. Alas, I found a lot of goods to last me a good long while. I had no place to go and no ideas at that time so I decided since I had so much to just stay put where I was. My supplies would dwindle eventually but I had plenty of time to think about what my next steps would be. I had enough to stay through winter.
ME: You stayed there through winter?
HANK: I did, yes.
ME: So you got to ride out the early chaos and had a place to hunker for winter. You were fortunate.
The Dead Lands Diary [Vol. III] Page 6