Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (103 page)

He's been in the military since he was
seventeen years old when his Mom signed for him to join. He was a troublemaker and she couldn't handle him, so she gave him to Uncle Sam. He was married for eight years and had a son and daughter.

He and his wife divorced and she moved back to her old hometown.

He paid his child support every month and saw his children several times a year. When they were grown, they wanted nothing to do with him. He has no idea where they are, but his ex-wife was remarried and living in Washington, D.C.

He's originally from Paducah, Kentucky. He looooves the ladies (his words, not mine) and had lots of “lady friends.”

Jack Sullivan is
forty-six years old. He was a member of the Naval JAG (Judge Advocate General) team and joined when he was twenty-eight years old. He was planning to retire in two years and open his own law practice, part time.

When the world collapsed
, he was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. He was happily married and had two teenage daughters. His wife and daughters died with the HDI virus when he was on his way home from investigating an incident involving prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. He's also “sick of it.”

Anyway, that's our new folks. I'm sure we'll learn more about them with time. We're happy to have them, and very happy to have three more sets of eyes and hands.

Well, laundry is waiting for me
, and it's a lot of laundry. At least I'll have help from good lookin' soldiers.

I'll write after the meeting.

See ya later.

3:00 PM...

Military Intelligence reports that the dictator and head of the fake military is operating somewhere out of the Colorado/Nevada region.

He plans to use aircraft to deliver chemical weapons over the Southeast within the next ten days.

This weapon will, supposedly, take out all the HDI's and his live enemies including NK's, Chinese, real military, and people in groups with no alliance. It also
kills animals but it does NOT kill plants or trees. This chemical is akin to nerve gas.

We will probably receive warning via click codes within
twenty-four hours of the expected “delivery.”

New England and several states nearby were hit three days ago. They had three days warning and gas masks. The number of survivors will not be known for several weeks.

North Korean troops and Chinese troops are headed west as fast as possible to get the heck outa dodge.

The real military expects 20,000 foreign troops to be left behind and taken out by the chemical weapon. They also expect HDI's to be 85% eliminated. Those still in buildings or houses may survive. They have no estimate on the number of animals that will be destroyed.

We've been allotted gas masks for the number of members we have according to the records from Chris' last report. We have extras because they sent twenty-six for the soldiers listed as missing.

We have been advised to wear our gas masks and go underground when the warning signal comes. If we have to leave our underground shelter, every inch of our skin must be covered and we'll need our gas masks. We are advised to stay underground for two days.

The last thing Chris did was relieve the entire unit of duty if they so desire. They can't fight an invisible enemy. They can head back to home base and hope there's enough shelter and bunkers to house them. There isn't enough underground shelter here at the compound. Chris will remain here with Josie.

The crowd stood in place for two or three minutes and the hillside was silent. Finally, several people turned and headed off to somewhere else.

My skin started to crawl and I had tunnel vision. I fainted, and I wasn't the only one.

Okay, that's what happened at the meeting, and now I need to try and think clearly. We'll move everything to the tunnel room including the goats and chickens. We've survived there before, we can do it again.

I want the ventilation ducts blocked off and I want some sort of super filter to pump in air. I pray that the air in those tunnel rooms will last two days but I want the filter just in case it doesn't.

I want some kind of oven or grill inside the tunnel room.

We'll move the horses and pigs to Beggar Cave and put them in the back room. We'll pray they don't fall in the sinkholes. Since most of the sinkholes are near the wall, we may be able to fence them off. We can at least throw plywood over them.

Jeremy and Deuce offered to stay there and keep them fed. There's no way I'll allow Deuce to do that. It's up to Jeremy whether or not he wants to do it on his own.

Everyone will go to the tunnel rooms. The tornado shelter could probably support four or five people, but I don't know about filtering the air

I don't give a damn if the chemical weapon doesn't kill plants. Our garden will be covered with rolls of clear plastic.

I want Mick to board up the well.

I want Ian and Rick back now!

Oh, my God. I'm not smart enough to figure all of this out.

If Chris had told us this yesterday
, we would have had an additional day to prepare! I don't have time to be mad at him now. If we make it out alive, I'm gonna get a piece of him.

Chris and Mick are at the kitchen table with several others. I'm headed out there to find out... anything.

See ya later.

11:00 PM...

Most of the unit hopped into vehicles that survived the battle and headed back to home base. The rest of them simply walked away.

The vehicles were packed with people. They left the reefer trailer and the dry goods trailer.

The men are unloading the dry goods into the tunnel room now.

Dane, Jason, and Mick are working on the wall supports in the second room.

We've decided to live in the second room because there are no ventilation ducts. We'll leave the main room for the animals. It'll be easier to get rid of their waste from there. It'll also be easier to prevent unfiltered air from getting to us.

Chris has a chart that lists locations of the ventilation ducts.

W
e plan to plug them tomorrow. It's either that or wear our gas masks and clothing to cover every inch of our bodies for two days.

I told Chris we should plan to stay inside for three days
, just to make sure the contaminant has dissipated. He actually agreed with me. He said most nerve agents dissipate quickly, sometimes within minutes, depending on the wind but he doesn't know the specs on this one. Lord. Please bring wind!

Dane came up with a plan to move one of the propane ovens into the room. The propane tank will reside in the main tunnel room with the animals, and the tube to feed it will be put through the wall and sealed.

Our new men, Monty and Jack, have figured out a way to filter air from the main tunnel into the second tunnel room using an activated charcoal filtering system with multilevel filters and fans. There will be a second duct with a fan to blow the bad air out.

I tried to understand, but it boggles my female brain so I left it up to them. Monty said I was making it sound more difficult than it is.

Neither Monty nor Jack seem a bit worried. They said they'll improve and expand on the air filtering system when this crap is over (they didn't use the word “crap”).

Anyway, a looting crew will go out tomorrow morning to try and find whatever they need that we don't already have.

I heard them talking about “aluminum flexible duct” and I know they can get it from out basement 'cause Mick told me. He also said that the water filters have activated charcoal. Okay, whatever. Just get it done!

I told Mick to spend a little time looking for Times Nine Farm in case they don't know about this.

If he can't find them, he'll leave notes on the walls in town and I'll pray they see them and get to someplace safe.

The large generator will be outside the main tunnel entrance in the open air. Gas cans full of fuel will be nearby. The generator will be filled if someone is brave enough to go outside, otherwise, we're gonna need a lot of batteries for flashlights and lanterns.

We'll have to use potty buckets because there isn't enough time to rig up a sanitation system. Mick suggests that we dump them into a metal barrel near the main entrance. Thirty nine people make a lot of pee pee and poo poo. The barrel can be rolled out using a hand truck and a new one can be brought inside by the people brave enough to suit up and go out.

Dane says we should leave the generator running because the nerve agent won't penetrate the refrigerator and freezer. The reefer trailers should be
fine as well. We'll take meat inside with us. There's coolers of water making big blocks of ice in the reefer trailer right now.

My biggest fear is that we don't get the warning signal. I'm tempted to make everyone go inside the tunnel room and stay there.

Chris says there's an antenna trunk the unit left that can be driven up the hill and parked outside the tunnel room. The radio should work inside the room, but he'll check and make sure.

I'm wide awake and I don't know if I'll sleep a wink until this is over. Why, oh why didn't I add books on nerve agents and other weapons to my survival
library? This is another time that I wish the internet had magically survived.

I can't stop worrying about our animals and Jeremy because he's decided to stay in Beggar Cave with the horses. I wanna use duct tape and tape a raincoat and his gas mask to his body.

Maybe we can duct tape a plastic door to the entrance of the cave's back room as well as the exit. Will there be enough air in there to keep him, the horses, and the pigs alive for two or three days? I pray there is.

I think I just heard Ian's voice in the kitchen. I hope it's not wishful thinking.

Bye for now.

Saturday
, May 17

Rick and Ian are home. They brought 17 soldiers home with them
, and they were filthy.

The only reason they came home is because they were hungry. They wanted to eat, fill their packs, and head back out. Then, Chris told them about the weapon coming our way. Yep, they decided to stick around.

Rick says the NK's must not have reliable radio contacts because the group they were following is still marching southwest. He estimates that approximately 500 NK’s were left on the mountainside to attack the compound.

How did they know we were here? How did they know that Chis' unit would be here? I guess we'll never know 'cause they're about to get a big surprise and I doubt any of them will be left alive to explain. I don't know whether I should take comfort in that, or pity them.

Ian says there's a lot of HDI's stuck in a swampy area of a low valley on the other side of the mountain. They're either tangled in tree roots, stuck in the mud, or can't find their way out. He watched as several stepped up on the slippery bank and slid right back in, over and over. The group decided to leave them alone. They didn't want the sounds of their gunfire to raise a ruckus in the large North Korean unit.

They've been picking off NK's a few at a time. The group used bird calls to communicate.

Ian estimates that they took out at least 75 more NK's who either escaped from the compound battle, or slipped away into the woods to take care of private business.

Chris explained the situation from the radio building doorway. They were shocked. Their faces revealed what we looked like when we got the news. Several of them asked for food to go, and headed down the road together. I suppose they'll pick up a vehicle at some point and head back to home base.

We're left with nine of them if you don't count Rick and Ian.

I don't know what to do. I mean, we probably have enough food, but, oh hell... they have nowhere else to go and I'm not about to deny them shelter and stand at the pearly gates with some ridiculous reason why I let nine soldiers die. I'd be sent straight down the elevator shaft.

Anyway, Mick's in town with Jack and Monty, looking for the parts they need to make the air filter come to life. Jeremy and Jesse went along.

Somehow, Dane is using one of the fire engines to wash out the guard tower. He tried to explain to me how that thing works
, but I really didn't care to listen and told him to just get it done. Hey, I'm just being honest here.

Every man still on the compound, including the nine soldiers, is working on the tunnel wall supports while the women
plan out meals and gather the things we'll need for a few nights inside the tunnel room.

I suppose I should get out there and help. I
believe Monty and Jack have caused me to relax and not take this as seriously as I should with their nonchalant attitude. That may have been their plan all along. They may be quietly freaking out inside.

I need to stay alert and focused.

See ya later.

2:00 PM...

Chris was prepared to argue when I told him the nine soldiers were staying. I put my hand up in that man's face and told him to shut up and listen. I explained that we had enough food and enough room. I asked that he make sure two of them stay with Jeremy in Beggar Cave and then I turned on my heel, walked into the kitchen, and announced that they were staying over the lunch table.