Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (95 page)

Kenny climbed out of the truck, grabbed his bag, said thanks to Rona and Kevin, and headed toward the roadblock. Rona saw him
raise his arm, wave, and yell “Yo, Bennett. It's me, Kenny Armstrong. Can you gimme a ride?”

Bennett stood perfectly still and didn't say a word. As Kenny got closer, he noticed the barrel of a long gun sticking out from behind the van
, and it was pointed directly at Bennett.

Kenny stopped in his tracks, turned, and began running back toward Rona and Kevin in the delivery truck. He was waving
his arms in a way that Kevin interpreted as “get the hell outa here.” Kevin quickly backed into the driveway and slammed it in drive as Kenny jumped in the door and landed on Rona's lap.

Several men dressed in military uniforms came from the back of the van and began shooting as they ran toward Kenny, Kevin, and Rona.

A bullet flew through the window and hit Kevin in the upper chest near his collar bone. He pulled the truck out of the driveway and headed away from the roadblock, gritting his teeth and trying to get away from there. Kenny was sitting between Rona and Kevin when the white van pulled up beside them.

Kevin jerked hard to the left
, causing Kenny's head to hit Rona's head and slamming it into the passenger side window, hard.

She must have hit a weak spot because the glass shattered and blood was pouring down her face from a cut on her head. The white van came back around and took the same turn Kevin had taken. He floored the gas pedal as Rona vomited in the floorboard. She sat back up, pulled her pistol, and stuck her hand out the door to shoot at the white
van.

Kevin was driving 60 miles an hour down a winding residential street when he started getting dizzy. He slammed on the brakes and Kenny hit the windshield because he had no seat belt. He was knocked out cold and Kevin was slumped in the
driver’s seat, saying he was just about to pass out himself.

Rona jumped out and pulled Kenny's unconscious body into the passenger seat. She screamed at Kevin to come aro
und and climb on top of Kenny.

As Kevin was about to climb inside, the white van caught up and Kevin was shot in the lower back. He managed to crawl inside the truck and slam the door as Rona was running around the front to
get to the driver’s side. She turned her ankle and fell just in time for a bullet to miss her head. The white van was almost upon them.

Rona got up and ran. The adrenaline kept her from feeling any pain. She climbed in the
driver’s side, slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, and the chase was on.

Kenny woke while she was swerving, and turning, and taking random shots out the
driver’s side window whenever the white van pulled up alongside. As soon as she shot, the van would slow and pull back in behind the delivery truck.

She l
ooked ahead and saw her chance.

Just ahead was a big rig parked a little ways into th
e street. She waited 'til the white van was on her rear and drove the truck down the left side of the road toward the parked big rig. She jerked the wheel just in time to avoid hitting the big rig smack in the rear, but she wasn't in time to keep from catching the delivery truck's trailer on the rear corner of the big rig's trailer.

She heard and felt the slice of metal being ripped from the side of the delivery truck. Then, she saw the white van slam head on into the rear of the truck and she screamed “Go to Hell” back to
wards the smoking van.

She didn't stop to breathe a sigh of relief. She didn't stop when Kevin began screaming. She didn't stop when Kenny begged her to stop. She kept right on going. She was heading back to Kapper Hill as fast as she could. When she came near the pull-off, the truck blew a tire and she had to sl
ow down, but she didn't stop.

She never breathed her sigh of relief. She didn't even realize that she'd landed on her rifle and bruised her ribs when she
fell and fractured her ankle.

Kevin and Rona are und
er the care of Velma tonight.

Luke and Larson are sleeping near the clinic in a tent so t
hey can be near their parents.

I'm headed to bed with
Benadryl on board. I pray that no one followed Rona home.

Goodnight Mick, Lots of crap happened to Rona this afternoon. I wish you were here so I could tell you all about it and you could pull me into your arms for comfort. I love you and miss you more than anything.

Bye for now.

Monday
, May 5

Oh, sweet nectar of the fake gods. That wily young man, Kenny, was smoking a menthol cigarette outside the clinic when I went to check on Rona and Kevin this morning.

Darling Kenny just happened to have a few extra sticks of delicious death and offered one. I took it and he lit it. It was indescribable, and I was sad when I pulled the last draw and was left with only the filter in my hand.

Laughter, hollerin', and cussin' began coming from the Clinic. I rushed in
and saw more of Kevin than I needed to see. Rona burst out in a fit of laughter because of the look on my face.

Velma was “bathing” Kevin and he wasn't enjoying it at all.

I turned to go back out the door but Rona asked me to come in and stay. I went to her bunk and stood with my back to Kevin as he was scrubbed 'til his skin was pink.

From the action Kevin was getting, I assumed he was gonna live. I asked Velma, just to make sure, and she said he would be fine unless he kept running his mouth. I told her she should've given him the divine concoction before his bath. She growled and continued doin' what she was doin'. Kevin toned down his hissy fit, probably because I was there.

The first thing Rona said when I stepped up beside her bunk was “you've been smokin.” Well, duh, I already knew that, and the look on my face told her I didn't wanna discuss it. She left the subject and went on to another.

She believes that Moulton has been overtaken and being used as a base for the fake military.

She saw no HDI activity on the numerous streets she drove through and thinks the “fakers” have cleared the area. She saw no living person other than the fakers and Bennett, and she doubts that Bennett's still alive.

I stuck my head out the door and sent Luke to “run get Josie because she's needed here as soon as possible.”

Kevin was clean as a whistle and dressed in appropriate attire when Josie knocked at the door. Velma went to the door, opened it, and walked away. Josie took that as “come on in.”

She walked inside with a hand-held radio and closed the door behind her.

Rona told her everything she'd told me and Josie listened, said thanks, and headed out the door toward the house and the radio building. I left Rona and Kevin to be tortured by Velma as I headed home.

I wonder what'll happen next. My spidey sense is tingling.

Anyway, I have a ton of laundry waiting in the living room to be folded and placed in designated baskets for each person here. I need to get out there and get started.

See ya later.

1:00 PM...

Just popping in to say hi while I grab my gear to head out and check the quarry with Dane, Jeremy, Rebecca, and Jason.

It's raining, so we plan to try out the new rain gear.

See ya later.

11:40 PM...

I may never leave this compound. I will never forget this day and the horror it brought. My heart is falling apart piece by piece and I've almost given up on putting it back together.

There's nothing I can do to bring her back. I would give both arms just to bring her back.

My adopted son is in unspeakable pain and I can't comfort him. He won't see me. He won't see anyone. He's locked himself inside his little home and I can hear the
occasional wail of pain coming from inside.

I didn't want to leave the little wooden house, but it was still pouring rain
, and the thunder and lightning arrived. Marisa and Carisa both begged me to head inside, so I did.

I feel helpless, and hopeless.

This afternoon, Dane, Jason, Jeremy, Rebecca and I hopped in the Jeep and headed to the quarry to find out how full it was and decide if it's time to call Chris' cluster bombs down on the horde.

We drove through town on our way there and saw only a few HDI's on the streets. There were actually more HDI's roaming the neighborhoods and subdivisions. Most of them were headed toward the rock quarry
, but there was a few ornery monsters who decided to grab at the jeep as we drove past.

We lost ourselves for a few minutes, laughing as we watched them grasp thin air and fall to the ground behind us. I wanted to scream “eat my dust!” but it was raining and my atypical
, somewhat literal, brain said “there is no dust.”

The mood was jovial as we pulled into a small parking lot on the west side of the quarry.

Several HDI's walked to the edge of the quarry and kept going, disappearing into the depths. It reminded me of Wiley Coyote when he runs off the edge of a cliff and lingers in midair for moment before plunging to the bottom.

I'm not even sure the HDI's identified us as delicious living flesh. They had their sites on the quarry.

We all got out of the jeep and struggled to rearrange our rain gear before walking to the edge. We decided to stay close together in case ornery HDI's were near.

When we stood about 10 feet from the edge and looked down into the man-made bowl, we were amazed. We were all ent
ertained watching the HDI's try to melt into the rock walls.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and then saw Jason trying to stay on his feet and push back as a “wild person” pushed him closer to the edge of the quarry.

My brain immediately assumed that this was one of the “very rare” mutations Chris had told us about. To me, he looked like a “wild person.”

It was a young man and he was covered from head to toe with stripes of brown and black mud. His bright blue eyes shone from his face like beacons. The contrast was startling.

He was wearing green and gray clothing which had been purposely ripped into long fringe, and the pockets of his pants bulged with, what I assume, was rocks. There were twigs and leaves in his thick, curly hair. Sounds were coming from his mouth but only a few were actual words that sounded human. I caught the words “how” and “you” in the midst of his gibberish. Hearing that language convinced me that we were dealing with the mutation.

He used his legs and feet to push against the ground as he leaned and walked forward with his straight arms locked in place and his hands flat against Jason's back

I was screaming at Jason to fall on the ground so the wild person would lose his forward momentum and, hopefully, fall into the quarry. No one heard me. My voice was drowned out by the rain and the strange animal-like calls coming from the trees.

Dane raised his pistol to shoot as the rest of us were being pelted with gravel and small rocks thrown toward us by the beings in the trees.

A large piece of gravel hit above my eyebrow, and I watched Jason go over the edge before blood filled my eye. I wiped the blood away with my shirt tail and began running toward the edge of the quarry where I'd seen Jason go over.

I heard Dane shoot
, and figured the wild person was now dead.

Dane and Jeremy were shooting into the trees when I steeled myself and looked over the edge.

I sighed with relief.

Jason had caught himself by the tips of his fingers on a small ledge about two feet below. He was hanging there, and the sharp rock sliced into his fingers causing blood to run down his wrist. I screamed for him to hold on while I went to get Dane and Jeremy who were still shooting into the trees.

Jason screamed that he couldn't hold on any longer. My blood ran cold and I felt the color drain from my face. My brain went into overdrive.

I knew I wasn't strong enough to reach down and pull him up
, so I sent a thank you up to Jesus for the raincoat and then yanked it over my head. I turned it upside down and put my legs through the arm holes

I tossed the remaining “skirt” over the edge of the quarry toward Jason. Then, I sat on the ground and wrapped both arms and legs around a small tree about a foot from the edge. I hollered at Jason to climb the rain coat until he could get hold of the ground and pull himself up.

As soon as I felt his full weight on the raincoat, my back began screaming. My idiot brain began counting “one Mississippi, two Mississippi” and made it to the count of nine before I felt the raincoat go slack and heard Jason breathing close to my neck.

I untangled myself from the tree and the raincoat. I stood up the best I could. My back was still screaming out in pain but I ignored it as Jason ran and I walked back to toward the others.

We were almost there, and I could see Dane and Jeremy shooting into the trees.

Suddenly, we heard a woman scream and I instinctively jerked my head to the right.

About 20 feet away, a wild person had Rebecca by the feet and another had her arms. They were swinging her back and forth near the edge of the quarry and she was screaming to high heaven.

In a matter of only a couple of seconds
, I could see the terror in her beautiful, brown eyes. She knew we wouldn’t make it in time to save her.

I saw her body go limp and accept her fate. She lost her instinct to fight in those few seconds. I reached my hand out and screamed that I loved her. She looked toward me, and her eyes were calm and unafraid.

Jason pulled his pistol to shoot but couldn't take aim because Jeremy had abandoned shooting into the trees and was running toward Rebecca. He was between Jason's pistol and the wild people holding her.

Jeremy was within five feet when the wild people swung Rebecca over the pit and let go. She fell and, I swear, I heard her body hit the ground. It felt like my lungs collapsed.

Jeremy screamed from the deepest pit of his soul and picked up one of the wild people. He launched the creature over the edge to its death. He turned to grab the second one and it was no longer there. It had disappeared into the trees.

He turned back to the pit and clawed at the edge. He was fighting himself not to jump in that pit with her and die alongside.

I could no longer stand. I fell to the ground.

Rocks and pebbles continued to come from the trees and h
it me all over my face and body. I didn’t care. I began sobbing and Jason knelt beside me and wrapped his arms around me. I looked for Jeremy over the top of Jason’s arm.

Jeremy looked up
, and I heard a low, deep growl come from inside him before it turned into a pain-filled scream. He purposely slammed his head into a tree trunk, and screamed again. He held his arms up to the sky and asked God “Why?” over, and over.

Jason finally let go of me and
I ran to the edge of the quarry in hopes that Jeremy had missed something and Rebecca had been able to catch herself on a ledge or vine. I lay on my stomach and crawled to the edge. I saw her body on the ground at the bottom. I knew it was her because I recognized her pink pants and yellow raincoat.

Two HDI's rose from her body
, and I thought I could see chunks of flesh missing from her neck. Rain washed the blood away as her HDI body rose from the ground and walked toward the horde to try and melt itself into the walls. I gave up when agony rocked me to the very core.

I couldn't stand and I couldn't move. Dane had to carry me back to the Jeep.

He put me inside and went back for Jason and Jeremy. It wasn't long before Jason joined me. He said that Jeremy was standing near the edge of the quarry, watching Rebecca as she disappeared into the crowd. Dane was standing nearby, guarding him, as gravel and small rocks continued come from the trees.

Thirty minutes went by before Dane and Jeremy climbed in the Jeep. We drove home in silence.

Here I am.

Deuce is lying on my bed. I don't know if he's sleeping. He and Rebecca were somewhat close
, but there was an eight year age gap between them and that makes a difference. Still, his heart is broken and he's suffering.

I am furious at Chris. He told us not to worry about the wild people. He told us we probably would never see o
ne. Now, they’ve taken someone precious from us.

I haven't left the room since we got back. I can't go out there. I can't leave Deuce. I simply can't, and...

O M G. Ian just sounded the danger alarm!

This may be the last time you hear from me. I don't know if I can take anymore.

T
uesday, May 6

1:15 AM...

Yep, it's the middle of the night. I need to write this out before I sleep.

A couple of hours ago, Ian was sitting on the front porch and he saw and heard vehicle movement on the road. He knew that Dane and Pop were in the guard towers
, but he hadn't heard a word from them and decided to sound the alarm to the house.

Kenny and Ian headed down the sides of the hill to find out what was happening.

We all went to our designated hiding spots to wait for word.

I was standing in front of the living room window, looking through the peepholes, when the door opened. I almost jumped outa my skin before I heard Ian whispering “shhhh” in my direction. I felt my way through the furniture to stand beside him. He was looking at me through night vision goggles.

He leaned in close and whispered that Rona, Kenny, and Kevin had probably been followed home because there was a line of eight vehicles on the road. They were driving slow and pulling into the field to park in a straight row facing the hillside.

Then, he told me that Pop and Dane have hand-held radios and were making use of “click codes.” They were waiting on the top floors of the guard towers with the badazz guns for every vehicle to get situated. They both had night vision goggles.

I opened my mouth to say something at the same time those badazz guns began firing. Ian had to pull me off the ceiling (not really, but you know what I mean). He was holding back laughter as the guns continued to roar. He told me to go to the basement and wait.

I really didn't like that. In fact, I didn't like it so much that I completely ignored him and took my spot back at the peepholes to watch the badazz guns take care of business.

Pop and Dane blew those suckers outa the water. Those “Ma Deuce” guns are monster killers, but they eat .50 caliber bullets like jellybeans at Easter. I don't know if anyone escaped the deluge of bullets Pop and Dane sent their way but I do know that a lot of them didn't.

There are bodies all over the place and they're partially dressed in military uniforms as well as civilian clothes. Ian says they are probably a small branch of the fake military who are considered “expendable.” Body cleanup will begin when the sun comes out.

I'm gonna lie down for a while and worry about the ones who got away.

See ya later.

2:00 PM...

Approximately one hour and seventeen minutes ago, a little red corvette went flying down the road so fast that you could almost blink and miss it. Two minutes later, a gold Ford truck flew down the road behind it. Pao saw the corvette but missed the truck when he bent down to grab his water bottle. Ian saw them both and I heard them both.

I was in the clinic
, visiting with Kevin and Rona when the vehicles passed. I hope and pray they keep going in the same direction they were headed at the same rate of speed.

Rona is much better
, and when I asked Kevin how he was feeling he said he was “bleh.” Velma has him in bed on strong pain medication. He has the handy dandy milk jug beside him and an IV still in his arm. Rona has a walking boot over her plaster bandages but Velma warns her not to walk on it. She said the boot was there simply to stabilize the foot and ankle.

Rona's getting around on crutches like she's been doing it all her life, and basically, she has. I can't tell you how many nights I spent as a kid
, sleeping on hospital chairs while Rona was getting “checked out.” She was a rough and rowdy kid. When the boys pulled her pigtails, or called her four-eyes, she'd fill her knee socks with gravel and lay it on 'em.

Men in beekeeper suits are cleaning up dead bodies across the road. We'll need to clean up all the trashed vehicles as well. Pop doesn't wanna drive the tractor over any of it. We don't have spare tractor tires.

Pop and Emma are in the garden, harvesting tomatoes, while Nana teaches Valerie and Marisa how to can them. We also have cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, cabbage and a whole list of herbs for drying. Next month, the garden will explode and we'll spend hours every day canning and preserving.

I haven't seen Jeremy today. He's locked in his little wooden house even though the temperature is almost eighty-seven degrees. I wanna take him to the dark tunnel room and show him the calmness there. Maybe he can let go and let loose with his grief.

Deuce has been in the meadow with the horses all day. He's having a harder time dealing with the loss of his sister than he did the loss of his parents. He's withdrawn, indifferent, and apathetic to everything going on around him. I don't know what to say to him that I haven't already said. Time will ease his pain and maybe I should just leave it alone and let it do its work.

I miss Rebecca. I miss her soft smile and quiet giggle. I miss seeing her chase Amber and Michael around the yard. I miss seeing her eat like a little bird at meals. I can't imagine what Jeremy's feeling. I suppose the only thing I can do is be here if he needs me.

Josie said she was able to get word to Chris about the fake military in Moulton but she hasn't heard back from him yet. She's been spending a lot of time in the radio building and says radio traffic and the frequency of “click codes” is increasing. The ones she's able to interpret mostly contain information on troop movement and basic surveillance of HDI activity

Everyone here has their guard up and we're doubling guards at night. We fear that the small group last night was sent ahead to clear and scout for a larger group. We have no reason to believe that's true, but we fear it.

Pao and Tim are trying to get shelves up in the tunnel room so we can organize all the supplies and food we've taken inside. We haven't told Kenny about the tunnel yet. Ian's fears that Kenny may be some sort of spy or have some affiliation with the fake military. He says we should wait until Josie hears back from Chris before we say anything about our supplies and plans to Kenny. Rona assured him that we can trust Kenny, but Ian is ex-military and he trusts no one. I like that about him.

Marisa looks wonderful. She has the glow.

I don't want her stepping a foot off this compound until the baby comes. Actually, I don't want her or Carisa stepping foot off this compound ever.

I'm still pondering the wild people who killed Rebecca.
I can’t imagine what other mutations may be lurking out there, waiting to be discovered.

I can’t believe we haven’t seen these “wild people” before now. Jesse and Jeremy have been all over the countryside, looking for hay. I wonder if the group near the rock quarry are the only ones in the area.

I wondered aloud where they lived. Dane says they probably live in the trees. Jason thinks they live underground. I suppose we'll never know unless we go looking, and we don't plan to do that. Jeremy would tear each and every one of them from apart from limb to limb and I can't say I'd blame him.

Anyway, Josie notified home base about them. I have no idea what they plan to do.

Well, I should get up and help with the tomato harvest. I think I’ve have a tomato sandwich while I’m out there

See ya later.

10:15 PM...

I want you to come back and carry me home. Away from these long, lonely nights. I'm reaching for you. Are you feeling it too? Does the feeling feel oh, so right? ~ Air Supply

I'm so lost without Mick. I can't comfort myself, much less anyone else. I'm aching for him and want to hear him whisper “I love you” right up close to my ear. Sigh...