Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (26 page)

They got out of the truck and started shooting. There were only a couple of HDI's still on their feet, but there were several who were missing legs or the bottom parts of their bodies, dragging themselves toward Mick and Soo. They were quickly put out of their misery. Mick and Soo jumped in the S10 and headed back to the Silverado where myself, the older man, the boy, and a woman were standing and watching the show. They pulled the S10 up beside the group and got out.

"My name's Luther Hobbs," said the man as he stuck his hand out for Mick to shake, "and this is my daughter, Elaine Halston, and my grandson, Jesse Halston. It's great to see you folks."

We looked toward the newly dead man lying on the ground behind the trailer. "That was my son-in-law, Neil Halston," Luther Hobbs said, and dropped his head to stare at the ground. Elaine started crying. She went inside the camper and shut the door. Jesse followed right behind her.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Hobbs," Mick said, "you got any concrete for sale?" Both men laughed, then Mr. Hobbs led us in the back door of Lowe's.

We got lots of concrete. We filled up the flatbed with concrete bags, and had to throw a few into the back of the S10 to keep the weight on the flatbed down. Mick found about thirty pieces of re-bar and he tied it to the flatbed on top of concrete bags.

We left a lot of concrete there, and we can go back for it when we need it.

We headed back inside to see if there was any lumber we could grab, and there wasn't. There were a few pieces of broken boards, but nothing we could use for boarding up the windows at the Stang house. We decided to go through the store and see what else was there.

There was plenty of washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and other large appliances. We took none of them but decided we'd send Jason back for a refrigerator to put in Caleb's house in case we find another generator.

There were no generators there.

There are two boxes of solar panels that we intend to get. I think there's four panels in each box.

There was plenty of lamps, ceiling fans, light fixtures, mirrors, and home decor. We took none of it.

The Paint section was
full and we left it that way.

I asked Mick and Soo to load the goat trailer with potting soil, top soil, and fertilizer.

Mick grabbed any nails, screws, bolts, and nuts he could lay his hands on, which wasn't much. He also took a bunch of handyman and do-it-yourself books from the racks beside the service counter.

The plant nursery has a good number of dead plants and a good amount of flower bulbs. We took none of them. We took shovels, hoes, rakes, water hoses, empty
seed trays, and other garden tools. We took several handfuls of garden gloves and all the insect repellant we could find.

I took as many cleaning supplies as I could fit in the back of the S10 and around the bags of soil in the goat trailer. I got a good bit of industrial toilet paper and paper towels.

There's a lot of stuff left in that Lowe's, but the bulk of its convenience items and decorative items and we don't need it. Mick says there's plenty of stuff he’ll go back for. I'll leave that up to him.

After we got everything loaded, we told Mr. Hobbs and his crew they could follow us back home if they'd like. They all nodded their heads, so Mick took one of the full gas cans and poured it into their tank.
We pulled out of the parking lot and pointed ourselves toward home.

Whenever we're driving in the countryside, I look for old farm houses, produce stands, barns, and things like that. I love things from "the old days." and I always have. I love little farms where I can buy homegrown berries, honey, tomatoes, or fresh eggs. There's nothing like 'em in any grocery store, and meeting the families is always fun and informative.

The day of the Lowe's run was no different. I knew I wasn't gonna find any home grown goodies, but the countryside is beautiful and I enjoy looking at it.

I was in the S10 behind Mick. I was
trying to keep my eyes on the road when I caught a glimpse of something white near a driveway on my left, and the white thing was walking. It didn't take but a second for me to realize that it was a chicken, and I wanted it.

I honked the horn, put on my brakes, and stopped the S10 right in front of the driveway. Everyone behind me had no choice but to stop as well.

Mick heard the horn and stopped a couple of car lengths ahead of me.

I sat in the truck and waited for
him to come back and ask why I'd stopped. I pointed toward the chicken and thought I was seeing double. There were two chickens, and I wanted them both.

Mick nodded his head, so I got out of the truck and stood beside him. We watched the chickens for a minute or two while everyone except Elaine joined us.

Everyone wanted those chickens. I believe Mr. Hobbs would've pulled out a few feathers and taken a bite right there on the road if he had the chance.

The driveway goes back into the woods. There are bushes, brush, and trees all along the sides. Those little chickens were hopping in and out of the lower branches on the trees and bushes, pecking at bugs and grass, strutting around, and doin' their chicken thing.
I told everyone to throw any chicken they could catch into the Jeep or the cab of the S10. We all began stalking those chickens.

We went over and under bushes, scratched ourselves on brambles,
leapt left and right and up and down, trying to catch those little stinkers. Finally, Jesse came up with one. I gave him a high five and he tossed the chicken in the cab of the S10.

It was another 10 minutes before Soo dove underneath a bush and brought out the second chicken by its leg. We were patting each other on the back when Mick spied a third chicken standing in th
e driveway about 20 yards down in front of a fork in the driveway. Mick looked at me and said "three's a charm." We spread out and began stalking our newest quest.

I was in the tree-line
about five feet from the driveway when I spotted an old barn off to my left. I knew I'd be going in that barn to look for more chickens. About that time, Soo came out of the trees cuddling the third chicken in his arms like a new girlfriend.

We gathered in a group at the fork in the driveway. I pointed out the old barn and told everyone there might be more chickens as I started toward it. Mick came up beside me and we headed straight for the barn.

There was a clearing in front, and there was a lot of junk cars and garbage all over the place. A fire pit was in the middle of the clearing and the coals were still hot. There were skeletons of squirrels, rabbits, and other critters in a pile a few feet from the fire pit.

There was a five-g
allon bucket turned upside down, like someone had been using it as a stool. I walked over to the bucket, looked around, and was turning to head in another direction when I kicked a red Solo cup. The contents poured out over the top of my boot. When I looked closely, I saw that it was chewing tobacco spit. I gagged and almost called Ralph.

"Someone's been living here," said Mr. Hobbs. We
looked around and slowly headed toward the barn with our pistols drawn.

The door opened with a creak and it was pretty dark inside. I saw something moving on the ground beside one of the foundation posts in the center of the barn. It looked too big to be a chicken, and I was afraid it was an HDI.

Mick pulled the door completely open and sunlight flooded the interior. I almost fainted right then and there.

There was a young girl tied
to the post with a rope about eight feet long. She was completely naked and as filthy as she could be. She was skin and bones, and I was surprised she was still alive. I could barely tell she was female because there was almost nothing left of her. She was lying on the ground in a fetal position with her toothpick legs pulled up to her flat chest and wrapped in her toothpick arms.

There was an indentation in the dirt around her body which told me she'd been there for a week or more.

She had long brown hair, big brown eyes, and was shaking like a leaf. There were chunks of hair missing from her scalp and oozing sores on the bald parts of her head. Every rib she has was showing, and her shoulder blades and hip bones jutted out so badly that I thought they might come through the skin at any moment. Her knees and ankles looked huge in comparison to her legs. Every square inch I could see was covered in red dirt. Her skin looked chapped and flaky.

There was a worn out baby blanket underneath her, and she was sucking her thumb while holding one corner of the blanket. That's all she had in this forty degree weather.

There is no way on earth I can accurately describe the horror of how she looked and smelled. I felt like I was going into shock.

There was a rotting squirrel car
cass laying up against the post and a dog dish full of dirty water beside it. There were maggots on the anus and mouth of the squirrel, and there were places on the body that looked like the meat had been removed by a set of teeth.

The girl
let out a little whimpering sound every four or five seconds and kept glancing sideways at us.

I looked at Mick and I could tell that his heart was breaking along with mine. "What's your name, sweetheart?' Mick said, as he walked closer to her. She rolled over on her back and spread her legs open. I knew exactly what that meant. I felt more sorrow in those thirty seconds than I think I've ever felt.

A figure appeared at the barn door. Sunlight was streaming in behind it and I could make out the fact that it was a man holding a long gun.

"Kin I hep you fellers?" he said through his rotten, tobacco stained teeth. "I kin do some tradin' if ye want time wit da gurl" he said to Mick. The stupid oaf didn't even realize that I was a woman because I was wearing a big coat and a
toboggan pulled down over my ears. He thought there was a group of men in his barn and he was offering up "time with the girl" for trade.

The next thing I knew, the man was laying on the ground and Mick was straddling him and punching him in the face over, and over. The man was unconscious but Mick was still punching. There was pure rage in his eyes and I truly believed he was about to take that piece of garbage out of this world. I almost wanted him to. Soo and Mr. Hobbs pulled Mick off the sorry excuse for a human being.

It took several minutes for Mick to come back to his senses. We began discussing what we were going to do about the situation.

After a couple minutes
, Mr. Hobbs pulled his pistol, aimed at the now conscious man, and blew his brains out.

The rifle that piece of crap was pointing fell beside his body and he was no longer a member of
the "human's with heartbeats" club. Mr. Hobbs had just saved Mick's life and performed a service to humanity at the same time.

The girl
began whimpering loudly and pulling at the rope, trying to get it off her wrists. Mick walked over to her and knelt down on one knee. "What's your name?" he asked her again. She looked at him like she didn't know if she should trust him.

"Valerie" she
finally said in a timid voice.

"We're taking you someplace safe, Valerie" Mick told her, "and you won't be hurt anymore." She stared at him for a minute, then held out her toothpick arms so Mick could cut the rope from her tiny wrists. He took his coat off, put it around her, and carried her to the passenger seat o
f the S10. She rode back with me and the chickens and didn't say a word the entire way.

When we got home, Mick took her straight to Clinic Diane.

Hisa has her now. She's very ill, probably from eating raw squirrel and being exposed to the cold. She's able to wear some of Carisa's old clothes. I thought Hisa was going to faint when she first laid eyes on her, but she started clucking like a mother hen as she led Valerie into Clinic Diane.

I never want to see anything like that again
.

I've spent too much time on this computer today. I'm gonna rest for a bit and try to shake the memories of finding Valerie out of my head. I'll write out the Hobbs family story when I get back in this chair tomorrow.

Nana's been feedin' us really well and the guys have quite a bit of fencing up along the front of the property.

Mr. Hobbs has a couple of those black shower bags that you use when you go camping. We have to heat water in the horse troughs because we can't use up the propane in Pop's motorhome for making shower water. Its winter, and the clouds hide the sun more often than not. Everyone has been pouring hot water in that thing and taking showers.

Bye for now.

Saturday, February 1

Everyone is up and walking except Valerie.

Jeremy's getting around with the use of crutches. Hisa says his leg looks great. He says he has an awesome scar that'll really turn the ladies on. He should be off the crutches in a couple of days.

Jason is back to splitting wood, working on the fence, and doing all the things he's used to doing. He says he feels fine and he still wants to get a deer for the pantry. Maybe Mr. Hobbs can help with that. He knows a lot about wildlife habits.