Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (30 page)

They're using giant staples to nail the fencing to the trees and cutting the tops of the “post trees” off to use for firewood. Mick had a box full of staples in the basement. I have no idea where he got them and he can't remember either. He thinks he got them at one of the many yard sales we used to visit. I guess those staples have been down there for 15 years or more.

I'm surprised that more of the men haven't gotten nasty cuts. They all have a black fingernail or two, from missing the staple and hitting their thumbs or finger. Mick says they'll run out of staples before they finish the fence, so they'll have to
use big nails and hammer them half-way in, then hammer the rest of the nail over the wire.

Everyone loved the beef stew and I got a lot of compliments. It was good for my ego.

Jesse told ghost stories to Amber and Michael in front of the fire after supper. Thankfully, the stories were in the "very mild" category and the kids spent more time screaming and laughing than they did scared and shivering.

Well, I better hit the sack and get some rest before I attempt lootin' the
neighbor’s house tomorrow.

Bye for now.

Friday
, February 14

We got two more eggs today! Now we can bake a cake. I love those little chickens. They're so easy to take care of and they reward
us with yummy goodness.

Nana says she'll make the cake after lunch while Mr. Hobbs, Marisa, and I are lootin' the neighbor's house. I have nervous energy about going there. I'll need a glass of milk and a big s
lice of cake when we get back.

Elaine plans to make
lasagna tonight, but she'll substitute the ricotta we don't have with the soft goat milk cheese she made yesterday.. We still have a lot of pasta from the truck stop haul and I have lots of canned ground beef and tomato sauce in the basement.

I better get outa here and help get lunch ready. I also need to make sure we have everythi
ng we need for the lootin' run.

3:30 PM...

We're back from the lootin' run. I ate a huge piece of cake with chocolate frosting along with a big glass of milk. I needed it.

We drove straight up the driveway to the chicken-killer-dog's house. Mr. Hobbs jumped out to keep watch while Marisa and I went to knock on the door. We knocked twice and nobody answered.
I noticed Mick’s note regarding the location of their dogs was still stuck between the screen and the front door.

We walked over to Mr. Hobbs and the three of us made the decision to push the garage door up, hoping the entrance from the garag
e into the house was unlocked.

As soon as we got the garage door up
, we heard hissing and scratching. We went on full alert and pulled our pistols, ready to eliminate any HDI that was inside.

There was a blue PT cruiser in the garage and, although we could still hear the hissing, we couldn't see anything moving about. I told Mr. Hobbs that there might be an HDI in the PT Cruiser so he stuck his face up to the window to look inside. He saw
nothing out of the ordinary.

We were listening intently, trying to determine which direction the hissing was coming from. Marisa jumped and pointe
d to the corner of the garage.

Looking out at us was a pair of beady eyes and a long gray snout. The mouth was open slightly and the creature was hissing.

The beady-eyed critter reached out with its front foot and scratched a box that was sitting nearby. There were two more sets of beady eyes behind it.

Mr. Hobbs just about busted a gut laughing when we he saw that critter. He wanted to shoot it and have possum stew. Marisa threw a fit and said there was no way she was going to let him kill that momma possum because she had two little babies to raise.

I was still feeling anxious and thought to myself that, if I was the possum, I'd run out and attack those humans so they wouldn't get my babies. I don't trust hissing possums. Never have, never will.

Marisa tried the doorknob to the house entrance and it was locked. We were disappointed and looked to Mr. Hobbs to kick the door in. He stepped up and ran his hand along the top of the door frame
, and that hand came down with a key. I can't believe people hide keys where any ol' bad guy and anyone who has watched crime shows would know to look.

We stepped into a
pretty good sized laundry room. There was plenty of daylight coming in because none of the windows were boarded up. We raised our pistols and cleared one room at a time before looking for loot. The place looked like the occupants had simply gone out one day and never came back.

We looted the kitchen and found enough food to last a family of four about a week. It'll feed our bunch for two or three days. There was two cases of bottled water on the laundry room floor. We placed all the food we found beside them because we wanted to take e
verything out the garage door.

There's a door in the kitchen that leads to a basement. We already had a full load
, so we decided to come back later and search the basement.

There's a large sectional sofa in
the living room. It has a pull-out bed on one side and reclining seats on the other. There's a matching black leather chaise beside it. Mick will go back for that set because it'll add a good bit of sitting space to our living room. We'll give our old sofa bed to Soo and Hisa.

Marisa plans to send Jason back to pull out the kitchen cabinets and install them at their house
. I think that's a great idea!

We quickly finished looting the rest of the house and were heading out the door when we heard so
unds coming from the basement.

Mr. Hobbs opened the door and the three of us peered down into a black abyss. The only light came from the
open door where we were standing.

Within five seconds
, there appeared a man and woman HDI at the bottom of the stairs. I was mortified. They started snarling, howling, and trying to crawl up the staircase. They both looked like they'd been there for a while.

The woman's right eyeball was laying on her cheek and her left eye was moving around in a random pattern, trying to focus on us. I could see that she was missing several teeth when she snarled and clenched her jaws together. Most of her clothing had been ripped off and she had only her bra and skirt left. She had a piece of silver garland wrapped around her neck like a scarf. She was barefoot and had oozing wounds all over her feet, f
ace, stomach, arms, and legs.

The man was sportin' a Santa hat and he was missing the sleeve of his shirt from one arm. The arm was swollen from a huge bite wound. He had an empty alcohol bottle stuc
k in the waistband of his pants and I was surprised that it was still intact. One side of his mouth had been split from the corner of his lips to the curve of his chin. The wound was gaping open and I could see rotting flesh inside. His fingers looked bloody and worn, like he'd been trying to dig, or claw, his way out for so long that they were filthy, pus-covered nubs.

I tried to grab Marisa and get out of there. I didn't want to shoot into the tiny staircase and I didn't want to stand there while they crawled closer. I wanted to close the door, lock
them in, and run home to Mick.

Mr. Hobbs freaked out and
began shooting. Marisa started screaming.

I pulled Mr. Hobbs back from the door, slammed it shut, and pushed the lock into place. I sent a thank you up to Jesus that the
owners of the house was smart enough to put a sliding lock near the top of the door.

Momma possum didn't say a word as we ran to the Jeep with what we had in our hands. We threw everything in the back-seat and went to close the door to the house in case they actually escaped from the basement.

We could hear those two HDI's slamming themselves against the basement door. I don't know why we didn't hear them 'til we were ready to leave, but we were talking and moving stuff around while we were looking for useful things.

Mr. Hobbs thinks the HDI's didn't even know where the staircase was until we opened the door
and let the light shine down.

We headed straight home and told Mick about the HDI's. He took Jason, Jeremy, and Soo, and went straight to that house and eliminated the two HDI's. I don't wanna loot the basement at this time and I want those two dead bodies out of there and burned before Mick and Jason spend any time there, moving furni
ture and pulling out cabinets.

10:20 PM...

The lasagna was wonderful! I think the soft goat cheese was even better than ricotta. Both huge casserole dishes emptied fast, so I'm not the only one who liked it.

Mick says he'll get the sectional
for me, after the fence is done.

Jason and Soo brought home a big load of fencing this morning. They decided to try stacking the rolls sideways instead of lengthwise and it worked great. We have a lot of fencing now, but Mick doesn't think we have enough. Jason says he and Soo have several rolls waiting to
be picked up near the Interstate.

Pop finished another greenhouse today
, and will be planting seeds all day tomorrow. I can't wait for fresh salad.

I'm gonna try re-hydrating banana chip's tomorrow. I wanna mash them up and use them for banana nut bread. Our family loves it and it'll be nice to have something we often had before the world fe
ll apart.

We have
a 20 lb canister and one 100 lb canister of propane left. When those run out, we'll have lots of folks sleeping in front of the fireplace, and Marisa and Jason will have lots of folks sleeping in front of their fireplaces. I dread it. I really want Mick to take the time to get that sectional and chaise before it happens. He'll have to take time away from the fence, but it’s important that we have warm places for people to sleep, especially Nana, Pop and the kids. I can't think of anything else to write about, so I’m headed to bed.

B
ye for now.

Saturday
, February 15

We added four more to our "network" today. The newest four live in the big house with the pond. They won't be living with us, or eating here, but they'll still be part of our network.

I was freezing when I woke up this morning. I ran out of the bedroom in my pajamas and jumped in front of the fire to get warm.

Carisa and Merry were sleeping on the sofa bed, and they were nice and toasty. Mick had fallen asleep in the recliner and kept the fire going all night. He had the
cook stove lit before I came out.

I heard a soft knock at the front door. Whoever it was would knock for a few seconds, pause for a few, and then knock again. I knew it couldn't be any of our people because we all use the kitchen door in back.
I poked Mick in the ribs and told him to get up right now because someone or something was knocking at the door.

He jumped out of the recliner like it was on fire. I woke Carisa and Merry and sent them stumbling, half asleep, to Carisa's room.

Mick told me to get my Glock and stand behind the door while he opened it. He had Sam Colt as his door opening partner.

He cracked the door and peeked out. Satisfied with what he saw, he pulled the door open wide and motioned for me to come around.

On the front porch stood a short woman with a covered basket in her hand and wearing an apron that had started its life fancy and frilly. Behind her was a skinny man. He was dressed in a fine suit and carrying a very expensive looking cane, but he stayed behind the woman and let her do the talking. Both of them looked to be about the same age as Mick and I.

Behind the man was a girl
who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties and a red-headed boy who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen.

There was
baked goods in that basket, and I knew it was still warm because I could smell it.

The woman said they were from the "house across the way" and we knew she meant the big house with the pond. She asked if they could come in to talk. Mick
nodded, and the whole bunch of them marched into the living room like they owned the place.

They are the Masterson family. The man is David Masterson and his wife is Toni. The girl is nineteen years old and her name is Rebecca. The boy is twelve years old and his name is David Jr. but they call him "Deuce." He's pretty big for his age and I wondered where he got his genes since his parents were both rather short.

They have enough food and water to last the four of them for a while but they used the last of their wood this morning. They have several canisters of propane, but can't get their propane grill to work.

David had
an elbow replacement and Toni has a heart condition. None of them have any idea how to fall trees, cut logs, or split firewood. They've always had their wood delivered and they don't have the tools to attempt trying it on their own.

Mick told them he would send a couple of our guys over to see if they could get the propane grill to work and spl
it some wood for them. Mick told David that, if they can't get the grill to work, he would trade them the wood chopping labor for the propane canisters and permission to hunt and fish on their property. If they do get the grill to work, we'll still trade for permission to hunt on their property.