Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  There was a lot of clothes in plastic bags along with old handmade quilts, blankets, and comforters. We took them all.

  There were two beds with trundles and I thought they would be good for our little wooden buildings. Again, they'll have to wait.

  I was almost ready to leave the attic when I noticed a trunk against the wall behind a rack of clothes. I pushed the clothes aside and opened the trunk.

  Silver and gold was in that trunk. A LOT of silver and gold. There were gold and silver bars, coins, jewelry, and flatware. The trunk was so heavy that Mick couldn't lift it.

  I grabbed suitcases and tried to divide up that precious metal into manageable weights, I stood at the top of the carpeted stairs and slid them down to Mick who was waiting at the bottom to catch them. He spent quite a bit of time hauling them to the game room.

  I went downstairs and waited with Mick in the game room for Shawna and Lisa to finish up.

  Mick and I discussed the value of what we'd just found. It's very possible that precious metals will be used as currency in the post-apocalyptic world. Many things can be made from silver and gold. Mr. Wilson had just blessed us again. The first blessing we received from him was Shawna and Lisa.

  The girls entered the room with bags full of their personal belongings hanging on both shoulders, as well as several suitcases in their hands. The last things they grabbed were old, worn out, photo albums from a book shelf in the fancy end of the living room.

  We knew we wouldn't have enough room in the Jeep to carry what we'd found and fit the four of us inside as well.

  Shawna suggested that we lay down the back seats and load everything into the rear. She and Lisa would make a run for the gold BMW still sitting in the driveway. She said there should be plenty of gas to get it back to the compound. We all agreed to her plan and began loading the Jeep.

  Shawna and Lisa stood at the house entrance and took a lingering look at the house they'd grown up in. “Goodbye house” Shawna said. “We're taking grandfather with us” Lisa added. They closed the door and never looked back

  We were ready to head out and Mick quickly opened the garage door. The girls ducked and ran to the BMW. They shot HDI's who were close to the car and jumped inside. Shawna turned key and the engine came to life. Mick was backing out of the garage when I noticed Lisa frantically trying to get our attention. Mick pulled up beside the passenger window and lowed his window a tiny bit to find out what was wrong.

  The fuel gauge was on “E.” Someone had looted the gasoline from the BMW. We had two trusty five-gallon gas cans full and sitting in the front passenger floorboard at my feet. I sent a thank you up to Jesus that Mick had the forethought to move them from the rear floorboard.

  Through cracked windows we decided that Mick, Shawna, and Lisa would shoot HDI's while I dumped gas in the tank of the BMW. It worked incredibly well and we were on our way within 10 minutes. No one was hurt and the only problem we had was our nerves. We headed home and I breathed a sigh of relief when we left the little subdivision of Blanket Cove. I pray that we're able to get back there and retrieve the precious items we left in the attic.

  I'm headed out to see if I can help Shawna make supper. Ian enlisted Pop's help to clean the fish. They got an assortment of trout, bass, and big fat brim. Supper's gonna be good.

  I can't wait to give Lisa her birthday bug-out-bag. I covered it in turquoise, pink, and purple ribbons. Rick gave me a list of all the things in the bag. I had no idea what a few of them were and made him explain each one so I don't look like a fool if I have to explain them to Lisa. She probably already knows what everything is because of the survival and camping classes she took in school.

  I doubt that I'll be back to write tonight. Lisa wants to plug in the DVD player and watch movies until everyone falls asleep. It's her birthday and we're gonna do exactly what she wants.

  Bye for now.

  Friday, March 28

  Home base is now home for good to Isaac and Samuel's grandson, Nicholas.

  Soo spotted them walking down the road toward the gate at sunrise this morning. He sounded the danger alarm and Mick took off down the hill with Ian and Rick.

  A gang is camped about five miles from here and they have the girls and the bus. Greg and Chastity, were thrown in a pit full of HDI's. Nicholas and Isaac were lucky and smart.

  Greg was driving when they came to a normal looking roadblock. Usually, any roadblocks they come across are manned by members of a survivor group they trade with. Greg figured this was no different. He stopped the bus and opened the door.

  Isaac was asleep in the recliner at the rear of the bus and woke when the bus stopped. Nicholas was back there, filling a water bottle from their water barrel. The women and girls were spread out all over the front of the bus in bunks and seats.

  Isaac saw Greg come backwards up the steps with his hands in the air. “We're just traders!” he loudly said. “We don't wanna fight, we just wanna pass through.”

  Greg was almost to the top step when Isaac cracked open the rear door of the bus and tried to pull Nicholas out with him.

  Nicholas was trying to get loose from Isaac's grip so he could go up front and drag his sister, Sabrina, to the rear of the bus.

  Suddenly, a shot rang out and Greg fell backwards.

  Nicholas scrambled out the door and took off to the woods on the edge of the road with Isaac. They crouched in the tree-line and watched what happened from there. Neither of them was able to grab their weapons before they got off the bus.

  They saw a skinny, red headed man dressed in black leather step onto the bus and drag Greg out. Greg landed on the ground. The man stepped over his body and headed up the bus stairs.

  Greg wasn't dead. Not by a long shot... and he wasn't undead either. Isaac can only assume that the bullet hit a very large cross pendant Greg always wears around his neck.

  Greg came to life and grabbed the tall redhead around the leg. The man fell forward and to the side, slamming his face into the bus door. He screamed “Get him!” toward a large covered military truck. Three men emerged from the front of truck and grabbed Greg by the leg, dragging him away from the bus.

  The tall redhead stood up and spit in Greg's face as he lay on the ground with pistols aimed directly at him. “Whaddya want us ta do with 'im, Red?” one of the armed men said. “Red” told them to keep him there and keep a gun on him while he checked out the bus.

  Red disappeared up the bus steps.

  Only a few moments later Sabrina, Isabella, Chastity, and Anna came down the bus stairs with their hands in the air. The three men guarding Greg began shouting obscenities and whistling. They were joined by four additional men from the rear of the truck. Isaac said his brain told him “that makes eight bad guys including Red.”

  Greg was allowed to stand and walk with the girls as long as he kept his hands in the air. They were taken behind the truck.

  Isaac thought they were all loaded onto the truck until Nicholas grabbed his arm and pointed through the woods several feet to the right. Isaac could barely see Greg and the girls being forced at gunpoint deeper into the woods. He and Nicholas crouched and crawled towards them.

  Nicholas almost stepped right out into a clearing about 50 yards inside the tree-line. Isaac had to grab him and pull him back.

  There were five more gang members lounging around the clearing. They had several tents, a small Jeep, a fire pit, and a lot of weapons. Isaac's brain said “that makes thirteen.”

  A wild boar was roasting on a long metal rod over the fire. It was being turned by a young girl whom Isaac says couldn't be older than 13 or 14. She was wearing a t-shirt, short skirt, and flip-flops. The gang members touched her and whispered in her ear whenever they walked past. She paid absolutely no attention to them and continued to slowly turn the roasting boar.

  Red stood to the side and told his men to lead the girls to a large rock and force them to sit on the ground. As Chastity walked past Red, she lifted a small knife and took a swipe at him
. Red grabbed his face. Isaac saw blood coming through his fingers and knew that Chastity would probably pay dearly for what she'd done.

  One of Red's cohorts grabbed her wrist and twisted until she dropped the knife. He swung her around in a circle by the arms before slamming her small body into the trunk of a large tree. The impact was loud, and Isaac was terrified that every rib she had was now broken into pieces.

  Chastity curled up into a little ball and was silent. Red bent down to taunt her and she spat in his face. The look on Red's face told Isaac that Chastity was going to die.

  He suddenly heard howling. He grabbed Nicholas and sank further down into the brush and leaves as they frantically looked in every direction for HDI's.

  Red's cohorts were laughing and smacking one another on the back. Two of them climbed inside the Jeep and backed it up about 20 feet until it reached the edge of the clearing. They climbed out and joined the remaining members around a large pit. It was covered with a heavy metal screen that had been made by welding together long pieces of re-bar. It was laying over the pit, and the Jeep had been parked on top of it.

  Isaac saw HDI arms reaching up through the holes of the screen and he knew what was going to happen.

  Nicholas whispered to Isaac that he was gonna go in shooting and get Sabrina out of there. Isaac had to physically hold him back by pushing him to the ground, wrapping both his arms around him, and laying on top while whispering to him and encouraging him to wait until they had a plan.

  Isaac said he heard the screen being lifted off the hole with chains. Neither Isaac nor Nicholas saw Greg get thrown into the pit, but they heard him screaming and begging as the gang members dragged him toward it. Chastity was forced to watch, and Greg screamed until he was either dead or devoured by hungry HDI's.

  Chastity turned her head and spat in the face of another gang member. She shouted that she's rather be eaten by HDI's than touched by any man there.

  The men looked at Red and he nodded his head.

  Chastity was taken inside a small tent only a few yards from Isaac and Nicholas' hiding spot. She laughed and made jokes about the genitals of every man who entered the tent. More than one man came out looking disappointed. Red stood at the tent door, watching, but he didn't go in.

  Isaac thought Chastity had gone mad.

  Sabrina, Isabella, and Anna whimpered and clung to one another as Chastity was tortured.

  The young girl turning the boar kept on working, turning the boar slowly in her own imagined rhythm. She didn't even look away.

  Red whispered something to one of the gang members standing beside him. The gang member went inside the tent and carried Chastity out by her neck and head while the rest of her body dangled beneath her.

  She began taking advantage of her free limbs by kicking and swinging punches. The man threw her on the ground and two others tied her feet and hands. Her mouth was taped shut so she'd stop screaming insults and threats at the gang members.

  Isaac heard a loud gunshot and thought someone had killed Chastity until he looked over at one of the guards near the pit and saw him throwing an HDI body back inside. He guessed that the HDI had climbed on top of others and crawled out of the pit.

  Red dragged Chastity across the ground to the edge of the pit. He whispered something to her, then stood and kicked her into the hole. The HDI's went into a feeding frenzy as the gang members lowered the screen and drove the Jeep on top of it to hold it down.

  Isaac almost vomited. He knew he needed to get himself and Nicholas away from there as fast as possible, so he motioned to Nicholas and they quietly headed back to the road.

  The bus was gone and Isaac didn't know what to do.

  The military truck was still there and no gang members were around. Isaac looked in the window and saw that the keys were missing. He and Nicholas used knives from their pockets to remove the valve stems from all four tires. A half mile from the military truck, Isaac vomited. Nicholas vomited right along with him.

  They went into the tree-line and began walking back to Kapper Hill Compound.

  Mick, Dane, Kevin, Ian, Rick, and Isaac are going to get the girls back. There is no talking them out of it.

  Jason, Jeremy, Jesse, Soo, and Pop wanted to go along so bad they could taste it, but Dane very strongly said that the women at Kapper Hill needed them to stay home in case all of them were killed. We need strong men to protect the Compound.

  Actually, I don't want to talk them out of it. I want the girls back alive from those filthy beasts. I'm scared to death that my family and friends are heading out to put themselves in danger but we can't leave those girls... We just can't.

  The men will head out on foot after dark tonight.

  Isaac says the camp has been there for a while and none of the men expect the gang to leave. They've lived there long enough to dig a pit and probably believe that they're in no danger unless they found the punctured truck tires. They probably ate roast boar last night and celebrated the fact that they had three new girls in camp. Oh my God, the thought of it makes me sick at my stomach.

  I am seething. If I actually believed that I had the strength and ability to help fight the gang I would go along. Nicholas is only seventeen years old and has only a small amount of experience with weapons. It took an hour for Mick and Dane to convince him that his sister would have a better chance of staying alive if he stayed here.

  Work on the fence is delayed yet again. Mick told me to send the boys out hunting and send Jesse and Jeremy out for hay, but tell them to avoid the direction of the gang’s camp.

  It's gonna be a long, worry filled day. See ya later.

  4:00 PM...

  Isaac is determined to get the girls back. He shaved his gorgeous afro and is now, bald. He asked us for dark clothing and when we gave it to him, he threw his gypsy clothes in the garbage can. I had to force him to eat lunch and I'll force him to eat supper if I have to. He will need the strength.

  They're in the basement, trying to decide which firearms and other weapons to take.

  Dane is taking the bow and arrows and a few small explosive devices he put together along with his firearms.

  Jeremy handed Isaac his machete and told him to clean it before he gives it back. Every man will have at least four weapons and extra ammo on his body. They're taking emergency backpacks as well. They've been in the basement since lunch, studying the map Nicholas and Isaac drew and forming their plan.

  Shawna and Lisa are cooking venison steaks on the propane grill for the men who are going after the girls. They'll have mashed potatoes and a salad of lettuce, spinach, and green onions covered in Caesar dressing and parmesan cheese.

  I pulled a homemade pecan pie from the freezer. I wanna pack slices in their backpacks so they can eat them as they walk. I think it'll be good to have a meal straight from Mother Nature for their strong hearts as they head to a battle that may be their last.

  The women are having pasta and salad. Carisa and Valerie are toasting bread to cut up into croutons to go on top. I think we deserve that salad. We're also having chocolate pudding made with goat milk.

  I'm going out to see what I can do to get everything ready. It'll be dark in about two hours. Good Lord, please give me the strength to watch them walk down that driveway.

  11:30 PM...

  I have a better understanding for women who watch their men go to war. I know it isn't the same thing, but my heart hurts and I imagine its close.

  Mick and Kevin said goodbye to the kids before walking out the door. It was horrible and I started crying, watching Marisa, Carisa, Amber and little Michael say goodbye to Mick. Rona was crying watching Luke and Larson say goodbye to Kevin.

  The women walked out on the porch to say their goodbyes.

  Every man got hugs and well wishes from every woman and man that stayed on the compound.

  I didn't wanna let go of Mick. He held me in his arms and whispered in my ear. He told me for the ten-thousandth time how much he loves me and how much his family mean
s to him. He promised to do everything within his power to come home safely and bring everyone with him, including the girls. He held me until we had no choice but to let go. I felt like half of my physical and emotional self was walking down the driveway into the dark. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

  We weren't the only two with long, lingering goodbyes. Kevin held Rona. Dane held Elaine. Ian held Shawna. Nicholas clung to Isaac like he couldn't bear to let go. He begged him to bring Sabrina back because she's the only family he has left.

  They’re out of sight now. We are all praying. I'm absolutely positive that God is on our side.

  I need to get my mind off of this long enough to write, for the record, what Jeremy and Jesse brought home today.

  Jesse and Jeremy brought home six more round bales of hay. There are 9 round bales left to get at that particular farm. They looted the house and found several cases of empty canning jars but not one speck of food. I found several jars with chips on the rims which we can’t use, so I'll have to examine every one of them closely. They brought several CD's including artists from my time like Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, America, The Doors, AC/DC, Back Sabbath, CCR, Led Zeppelin, Lynard Skynard, and more.

  The house is quiet. Jason and Marisa are on watch and the little kids are sleeping on the couch in Nana and Pop's motorhome.

  I'm not a bit sleepy. I'm headed out to the porch to have my last cigarette and talk with Jason and Marisa.

  Bye for now.

  Saturday, March 29

  I thought they'd be back by now. It's 5:00 AM. I’m worried.

  Everyone is up and roaming around the house. Nana is teaching Valerie and Rebecca how to make potato cakes from instant potatoes for breakfast. I'm a nervous wreck.

  The sun will be up in a few minutes and Jesse and Jeremy have already left. They went to get the remaining hay from the farm they found. I can't remember how many trips they have left I think they took a big rig and the huge flatbed trailer. Maybe they can get it all in one trip.