Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  See ya later.

  10:00 PM...

  Mick brought home two more buildings and they're larger than the ones they got earlier. Soo said they got them from a different display lot and there are six more there. I suppose we should get them all, just in case anyone else wants to “add on” to their homes. Getting those buildings is easier than building log cabins from scratch.

  Dane still plans to take apart the Peterson house, but it may be next winter before he gets to it.

  Supper was delicious and there was nothing left.

  I checked on the piglets and noticed milk on the ground. Those boys have been giving milk to the pigs. No wonder they’re growing like weeds. I threw a fit.

  I hope we can keep the pigs alive until butchering time in late fall. I'm gonna send Mick back to the milling company to see if the pig feed is still there because we aren't getting enough table scraps for them anymore. Please, lord, let it be there.

  Mick’s taking the gasoline tanker to the truck stop tomorrow to refill the tank. We have about 20% left and that makes him nervous. We really need to keep the refrigerator and freezer running.

  Dane and Kevin plan to head to the lumber yard for another load of logs. Kevin has a thirty-foot-long trench waiting for the log fence. Shawna wants to go along and they told her she was welcome.

  We've had to fill the generator a lot less often since we hooked up the big one we got from Mr. Wilson. It's a relief, not running out to fill our smaller one twice a day.

  Pop and Mr. Hobbs intend to start another garden spot between the pools and the trailer fence. Pop says it won't hurt him a bit to sit on the Kubota and plow a garden spot. We need it to feed the extra mouths we've acquired. We still have seeds from Lowe's.

  We also need more canning jars.

  Ian knows how to build a solar dehydrator and said he will get it done before the first harvest. That will help immensely, but we need more baggies. Actually, we need more everything.

  It's time to start pulling out summer clothes and most of the folks here don't have any. We'll either have to loot clothing stores and pray they have summer clothes left from last year, or loot a fabric store for patterns and fabric to make our own.

  The problem is that all the fabric and clothing stores are in town with all the HDI's. I still have the tub of fabric Josie left the first time she was here, but we're gonna need a lot more than that.

  I believe I recall Mick saying they left a lot of clothing at TSC. I guess we'll all be wearing cut-off jean shorts this summer. I'm worried about our bare skin being exposed to flies.

  I'm headed to bed. I hope tomorrow brings some sort of good news.

  Bye for now.

  Thursday, March 20

  I made oatmeal for breakfast. We have a lot of oatmeal and it's really good for filling bellies.

  I'm here to gear myself up for truck stop lootin' with Rick and Ian. Jeremy's going as well.

  Dane said that Elaine can go if she wants, and he's “not her boss.” I think she wanted him to say she couldn't go. Women folk like to test men folk sometimes. Anyway, she offered to take my place cleaning the kitchen after breakfast and she's going after every little speck like a crazed lunatic.

  I'm ready to go. Wish me luck.

  1:30 PM...

  I truly hate HDI's.

  Nope... I'm going to start this entry on a good note.

  We headed to the restaurant in the Jeep with the flatbed trailer from the tractor shed attached. We were at the pull-off and just about to turn left when Jeremy started pointing.

  In the large field behind the pull-off were three deer. I wanted to scream “SHOOT 'EM!” but kept my mouth shut.

  Rick lowered the windows on the Jeep and took aim. Ian took aim out the rear window. Rick whispered “you ready?” and Ian said “mmm hmmm.”

  The deer were still grazing and either knew we were there but didn't care, or didn't know we were there at all.

  Rick counted down a three count and both men shot at almost the exact same time. Two deer hit the ground and the third took off like a jet plane. Rick aimed and shot that beautiful hunk of roast. It turned a flip and rolled several yards before its body ran out of forward motion.

  We were all hootin’ and hollerin’ inside that Jeep.

  Rick blew on his knuckles and rubbed them on his shoulder while he laughed. Ian pounded him on the back and called him a “lucky s o b.”

  Rick drove the Jeep into the pull-off and began driving into the field. Several yards in, we almost got stuck. Rick said “nope,“ and backed up to the pull-off. We went after the deer on foot.

  There were four men and one weakling woman, but we only made one trip into that field.

  We headed toward the two deer that had fallen together. Rick and Ian picked up two thick, long tree branches near the tree-line at the edge of the field. They pulled out para-cord from their backpacks and began tying the deer’s legs together over the branches. They tied two does to the heaviest branch and a 10 point buck to the other.

  Jeremy and I had to haul the buck, and it was rough. I have no idea how Ian and Rick walked back looking so casual while totin' a branch with two large does hanging from it. Jeremy would've had a better time of it if he didn't have me for a partner.

  Rick said he could help Jeremy and carry the buck branch on one shoulder and the doe branch on the other if we needed him to. There was no way in H, E, double-toothpicks, I was gonna let that happen. I made it but, man oh man, it was rough.

  All three deer were tied to the trailer and we went back to the compound to drop them off. When Ian got out to open the gate, we saw Kevin coming down the hill on the backhoe.

  He was headed around front to leave the backhoe in the area we want the little wooden buildings placed when he saw us arrive. He headed down to find out why we were back so fast.

  He almost fell out of the backhoe cab when he saw what was tied to the trailer, and started hootin' and hollerin'. He honked the horn on the backhoe a couple of times.

  Pretty soon, Mick, Jason, and Dane were there, hootin' and hollerin' with Kevin. Pop drove down on the Kubota and said he'd “never seen anything like it in his whole life.” The four mighty hunters were grinning from ear to ear (that includes me, ya know).

  Pop drove back up the hill and told the women on the porch what was going on. We knew the instant he told them 'cause they all started jumping up and down, hootin' and hollerin' themselves.

  I turned to Mick and told him to go to the trucking company for one of the refrigeration trucks because we don't have enough jars to can all that meat. He nodded and said he and Jason would head over there right away. Rick said to make sure the tank on the trailer was filled with diesel and switched on as soon as they got it in place.

  Anyway, the men loaded the deer into the bed of the Silverado and took them up the hill while we pulled out to head for the restaurant again. I was prayin' for the same kind of luck the entire way there, but it didn't happen.

  We pulled into the truck stop parking lot and had no choice but to drive around to the rear. There were HDI bodies everywhere. I don't know if there were more, or less, from the time Dane and I had our HDI experience, but it looked like there were more. Of course, it could be my imagination. Suspicious mind... Remember?

  Rick stopped the Jeep a few feet from the back door and we all hopped out. Rick, Ian, and Jeremy scoped out every direction around us while I was pacing, anxious to get in there and get started. Ian and Jeremy went in to make sure the coast was clear, and it was.

  The rotting food on the buffet table had almost lost its smell. I suppose bacteria and bugs have done their jobs.

  The restaurant looked the same as the day we left it. I headed toward the kitchen and storage areas to start gathering supplies. The men waited for orders from me. They had no idea what to grab. I told them to find boxes and start loading every dish, glass, cup, and piece of silverware they could find. They nodded and went at it.

  I looked for paper goods and anything
else useful. I pulled a wheeled, two tiered cart along as I loaded it. I got several boxes of napkins, straws, and individually packaged sets of plastic eating utensils. I found two giant, industrial sized rolls of plastic wrap and three industrial sized rolls of aluminum foil.

  I grabbed a huge box of big garbage bags and several empty five gallon buckets. I took every plastic tub I could find that didn't have food inside. I also found one of those big meat slicers and three huge frying pans. My rolling cart was full and I pushed it out to the restaurant and left it beside the back door.

  Rick and Ian took apart a large table-like gas appliance. It holds two humongous pots and I'm guessing they’re for large quantities of soup. Ian said we could put it back together and hook it to a propane tank at the compound. I loved that idea because we eat a lot of soup and oatmeal and those pots will be perfect to hold enough servings for our bunch. They also disassembled the big, flat grill that the 100 lb propane tanks had been hooked up to

  I pulled a garbage can over to the buffet table and started dumping rotten food into it. I wanted all the large serving dishes from the buffet. I'll pour water from the creek in them and let them sit for a few hours. Then, I'll scrape them out, wash them, and soak them in bleach water before putting them away.

  I tied up the garbage bag and pulled it out of the garbage can. I added the garbage can to the pile near the back door.

  I turned to look for more and saw movement at the windows out of the corner of my eye. I turned toward the windows and almost passed out. I yelled “help!” two or three times while running to close the back door because we had it propped open.

  I can't believe that no HDI's came through the door. I will never prop open a door in any building I'm looting from now on.

  We all had weapons on our bodies, but the extra ammo was in the emergency backpacks inside the Jeep. I couldn't keep my attention off the windows. I knew HDI's were bound to bust through sooner rather than later.

  I was a terrible participant in the “what to do” discussion. I noticed black goo was running down the windows in large streams, and pieces of flesh were sticking to the windows or splattering any HDI they happened to land on. I felt sick at my stomach.

  I was almost in a daze and decided to follow instructions from the men.

  Jeremy said that just about every business around here has heating and cooling units on the roof, and restaurants have huge vents up there as well. There is usually roof access inside every building. Ladders are kept in the building storage room or locked storage sheds out back.

  They decided to look for roof access, and all four of us would go to the roof to take out as many HDI's between the back door and the Jeep as we could. We had no idea how many were out there because the line of HDI’s at the windows was blocking our view.

  The roof access was in the hallway above the defunct Pac-man machine. Ian climbed up on the machine to throw open the door and discovered a padlock. The men searched the restaurant for something strong enough to beat that padlock to death. They were banging it and smacking it with long metal posts and chair legs.

  Rick and Ian were cursing up a storm when Jeremy came out the restaurant with a Philips head screwdriver. It took about two minutes for Rick to get the screws off the hinges. “To hell with the lock” he yelled, and threw open the roof hatch. We all used the Pac-man machine to climb up on the roof.

  We walked to the edge of the roof and saw what we were facing. There were at least 40 HDI's between the Jeep and the back door, and several more were headed in from the field. We began shooting the ones between the Jeep and the back door.

  Ian didn't go back inside the restaurant. He hung from the edge of the roof, dropped to the ground, and ran to the Jeep. He threw three boxes of bullets up to Rick, and rifle practice began.

  Ian was shooting any HDI's that made it within a few yards of the Jeep, and Rick was taking out those coming from the field.

  It took about 20 minutes before all the walking HDI's were lying on the ground. Several were still moving around and Ian was methodically taking them out, one by one.

  I laid myself down on the hot roof and thanked everyone in heaven that I could think of.

  Rick said we needed to get loaded up and out of there fast, so we scrambled down the access door and back to the restaurant.

  We loaded the trailer and Jeep as fast as we could and got outa there.

  I don't wanna be on “fuel getting duty” unless I have no choice. Actually, I would prefer to never see that truck stop again. I'm pretty sure that restaurant is cursed.

  We headed home, and when we got to the top of the driveway I saw three deer hanging from a large tree out back. The sight of that made me feel a little better.

  Mick said the refrigeration trailer is fueled up and running. It’s parked beside Pop and Nan's motorhome. There's two metal barrels full of diesel fuel sitting beside it. I didn't ask how they got that trailer positioned in there, but I'm guessing that Dane did it.

  Marisa and Merry had macaroni and cheese with ground beef mixed in ready for us when we got back. We gobbled it down. I guess winning a battle makes ravenous victors.

  See ya later.

  10:00 PM...

  Mick and Jason went back to the milling company and found the pig feed still there. They loaded the entire pallet into the goat trailer and bed of the truck and headed home.

  After they dropped off the goat trailer, they went to the truck-stop and filled the gasoline tanker. It took three hours and six water hoses to get it filled. They saw no HDI's while they were there and thanked us for it. Lucky dogs.

  Kevin, Dane, Luke, Larson, and Deuce got 16 feet of wooden fence up today. Its 12 feet tall and concreted in. They'll fill around it after the entire length of fence is finished across the back.

  Dane said it's going a lot faster than he anticipated because of the logs, the drill bit, and the large amount of bolts they got from the electric company. There's barbed wire woven between and around the logs.

  Deuce told Mick we need more logs, so I guess Dane will head to the lumber yard tomorrow. Ian and Rick offered to go along but they asked if they could get two of the wooden buildings unloaded before they go. Dane agreed.

  Nana, Rona, Valerie, and Marisa got all the laundry done. Bless them!

  Rebecca spent the entire afternoon in bed. She's not feeling well.

  Hisa said that Josie’s doing better and able to move around a little today. She ate most of her meals and actually wanted more but Hisa said she could try a regular breakfast in the morning and see how it goes.

  Josie is mortified that someone other than herself has to dump her potty bucket. She tried to talk Hisa into letting her try. Hisa told her she wasn't ready yet and there was “no way.”

  Hisa asked Mick to build an outhouse near Clinic Diane and he said he would, after the fence is up. Geez!

  Mick was practically snoring before he fell in bed tonight. He's had a long, tiring day.

  I'm headed there myself.

  Bye for now.

  Friday, March 21

  Good Lord! When I looked at the calendar a few minutes ago I realized that I'd forgotten to mention our three month anniversary. Three months. Is that all? It feels like it's been a lot longer.

  We stopped processing meat long enough to eat breakfast this morning. Nana made biscuits in the motorhome stove. The men slathered theirs with butter and jam and headed out the door.

  The women ate breakfast on the back porch, then went back to processing meat.

  The refrigeration trailer is working well and we're putting a lot of venison inside. We may finish processing all three deer by late tonight. I'm gonna love the refrigeration trailer. It has switches on the outside and you can set it at the temperature you want.

  Dane, Mick, Ian, Rick, Soo, and Kevin are unloading the buildings and getting them in place. They started before breakfast and have one in place, and they’re close to finishing the second.

  Dane wants to get to the lumberyard for a l
oad of logs and Mick wants to get the other two buildings unloaded. He plans to put them together and put in doors leading from one to the other so that the occupants won't have to go outside to visit one another. He wants to get it done for Shawna and Lisa, then go back for more.

  Soo is at the Stang house, putting down tile and boarding up windows. He took a clue from Rick and Ian and went to get wood from the cdk's shed to finish the windows.

  He's tired of sleeping in Clinic Diane with patients who need care through the night. We need to find someone who is interested in medicine and train them to be an assistant. If anything happened to Hisa, we'd be in trouble in the medical category.

  I better get back out there and help with the meat.

  See ya later.

  2:30 PM...

  I don't have long.

  There's venison roast in the crockpot, so supper will be easy.

  Lunch was “eat what you can find.” Most people ate spaghetti noodles with butter and pesto sauce that Nana made on the motorhome stove. She threw in some Italian seasoning, butter, parsley flakes, ground pepper, and salt.

  We're still processing meat and it's hot in the kitchen. The temperature gauge on the back porch says eighty-four degrees. Here comes the dreaded summer heat. It's gonna get a lot worse.

  We're down to our last 50 canning jars, so the rest of the meat will go in the refrigeration trailer. We must find canning jars before the garden starts producing.

  I better get going before they get mad at me for slacking off. See ya later.

  11:50 PM...

  I'm dead on my feet, but all the meat has been processed and put away. Forgive me if this is a very short entry. I don't know if I can even remember what everyone did today.

  The pile of meat looks tiny in that huge refrigeration trailer.

  Ian and Rick have their own little buildings and they're sleeping in them.

  Lisa and Shawna also have their own little buildings and Mick cut two doors and built a little “hallway/enclosure” between them so the girls can go back and forth without going outside.