Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (104 page)

Chris was still standing with his mouth open on the back porch. I loved every second of it.

The kitchen window was open and the radio squawked and clicked. Chris ran inside.

Silence filled the room and I almost hyperventilated, waiting for Chris to come out and tell us what the squawking and clicking meant.

It was only two or three minutes later when he came out to say that is was NOT the weapon alert.

That's all he said, and I almost fell to the ground with relief.

The mood changed and everyone headed off to do what they needed to do.

Our prior experience underground taught us a few things.

I noticed folks packing more books, puzzles, and batteries.

The teens took an armload of board games to the tunnels.

Everyone' packing extra water and two pillows. The tunnel room floor is hard enough on the body. It's even harder when there's not enough “cushion” under your head.

We have three air mattresses. One is big enough for Pop and Nana and the others will be for Isaac and Kevin, since they're injured and sick.

We could drag all our mattresses in there
, but they'd be filthy when we dragged them out. If we had plastic mattress covers, we'd do it.

Plastic mattress covers were hard to find before the world collapsed. I doubt we'd find them now. I don't know if anyone's heading back to town anytime soon because Monty and Jack say they have everything they need. I'll mention it to Mick, just in case.

Pop and Emma are busy in the garden. They're harvesting everything that's ready and laying out plastic sheeting beside the rows.

I thought about using the plastic for mattresses
, but I would sleep better knowing the garden is covered than I would lying on a mattress, wondering if it was destroyed. Chris thinks we're silly for covering the garden, but I don't care what he thinks. Maybe he'll be happy when he's able to eat vegetable soup this winter. Yo, Chris. Ever heard of Agent Orange? What if some of that's mixed in with the bomb soup? Hmm?

Unfortunately, some things never change. There's load
s of laundry waiting for the next victim, and I that's me. I'm not sure if I want to touch the clothes Rick and Ian's crew wore home, but I suppose I'll have to. I dread it.

See ya later.

10:45 PM...

Monty and Jack say they'll have the air filter system up and running by tomorrow morning.

They're out there with some sort of spotlight hooked into the generator, working like crazy. The younger soldiers are at their beck and call. I wonder how long that'll last.

I was watching Jack as he worked. I asked how a military lawyer knew how to make air filtration systems. “Some of us had to work our way through college” he replied, and kept right on working.

Hey, I'm happy that Jack had to work his way through college and I'll bet he's grateful for the lessons he learned.

Everything else is ready. The wall supports are finished and the room is stocked with food and water.

When
the alert comes in, we'll load the horses and pigs, take them to the cave, and come back to the tunnel room.

I'm banging my head against the wall
, trying to figure out if I've forgotten anything. I'm sure everyone else is doing the same.

We had a little trouble with a group of three HDI's this afternoon. They came off the mountainside, through the creek and into the onion field.

Pop was standing watch and Larson was in the tower with him.

Larson saw them first and pointed them out. Pop said he watched as they made their way in a random pattern across the field and near the road.

They were bending and picking up objects from the ground.

Pop was shocked. He knew that wasn't normal HDI behavior and wondered aloud about it at supper. Chris said it may be the result of a mutation.

HDI hunters and gatherers? That's a scary thought. Could they form communities? Shudder! I will not miss the HDI's if that weapon hits.

I wonder about the wild people. If they live underground, will they survive? I guess that's a question for later.

Anyway, Pop and Larson took out the three HDI's and their bodies were loaded up and taken to the power lines.

Chris says the quarry is full and ready to be bombed
, but he's not calling for planes unless he gets word that the threat of nerve gas has been eliminated. Wouldn't Uncle Sam be proud? Chris will save him a bundle if the HDI's in the quarry are killed on the enemy's dime.

Chris and the crew didn't see any wild people. They were either hiding, or have moved on. For some reason, I feel sorry for them. I could still see humanity in their eyes. It was unsettling then and it's unsettling now. I need to push it out of my mind. There's nothing I can do about it.

Josie wants to raise one of the Wilkerson kids as her own. She wants the youngest girl, Tricia. That sounds good to me. I wonder if she's spoken to Chris about it.

Marisa and Jason will take Vicki and Dale. I knew they would. Marisa was a little hesitant to get close to them because of
what happened to Caleb, but Jason was eager to claim them both. It didn't take long for Marisa to come around.

I've got Deuce and Merry. Marisa has the new kids. Josie has a new kid. If more kids come along, someone needs to step up to the plate and help this village raise them.

The kitchen window needs to stay closed when I'm in there. Every time that radio beeps, clicks, or squawks, I jump outa my skin. Carisa says she does the same thing and plans to avoid the kitchen if at all possible.

The teens are handling this pretty well. They're staying busy planning, checking stock, and counting bullets. Jesse handed Dane a list of every weapon we have along with an accurate count of ammo to match. I think Chris was a little pertu
rbed that Dane got the list, but Dane is our head of security. He needs the list. Of course, we'll look to our military folks and pass ideas by them anytime we get a chance.

My mind has wandered all day long. What happens next?

I'm know there's a big civil war coming, but I don't know what to expect. Perhaps I should wait and find out if we make it through this latest threat before I ponder the situation. My gut tells me that we will make it. I don't know why, but it does.

My biggest worry is the rest of the country.

Will we find another community to make friends and trade with? What if they're on the side of the dictator?

I just can't imagine it. I have no idea what kind of person would follow such a tyrant. Surely they're aware that he's not only killing HDI's but he's killing normal, everyday people along with them. That includes children.

A couple of the old modern day prophets may have been right. The human race will destroy itself. No need for divine intervention or space alien moderators. We're on the path to destruction. We have been all along.

I just don't understand why everyone can't see what's right in front of their face. Why can't we all just eat, drink, and be merry? It infuriates me.

We plan to have a fire drill tomorrow morning. We need to know exactly how long it will take to get the horses and pigs to the cave, get back to the compound, get the goats and chickens in the tunnel room, and make sure everyone on the compound is there. We'll have breakfast there and test out the oven as well as the air filtration system. I'm not looking forward to it, but I think it's a good idea.

I'm climbing in bed to be near my husband. I may be sending him off to war any day now. I have no idea how much time we have left.
Bye for now.

Sunday
, May 18

2:00 PM...

The fire drill is over, thank goodness! The horses played their parts by being ornery when we tried to load them onto the cattle trailer.

The pigs couldn't have cared less, and the goats followed the rattling feed bag inside the cave.

We had trouble catching the chickens, but only for a few minutes. They were very happy to be back in their runs and pastures when it was all over. We accomplished what we needed to do and it took six hours.

We baked 80 biscuits
, and that took a lot of time. We'll have to eat in shifts because we can't fit that many biscuits in the oven at once. Nana and Elaine want to get the biscuit dough made, cut, and frozen in packages of 18 while they're able to work in the clean kitchen. They also plan to get muffin batter mixed and inside empty milk jugs so they can just pour it in the tins and bake them when the time comes.

The radio works fine inside
the tunnel room. Chris says he'll be monitoring it every moment we're there. I guess we'll sleep to the sounds of clicking, squawking, and blips. I don't care. I wanna keep up with everything that's going on, day and night.

Jeremy and two
soldiers headed out after lunch to take the supplies they'll need to the cave.

They're also rigging up plastic “doors” for the entrance and exit to the large room in the rear
, and laying sheets of plywood over the sinkholes. They actually plan to make their beds on the plywood because the horses won't step on them and will probably ignore all the gear they have.

The pigs are a different story. They're using pallet fences for the pigs. Posts will be driven into the ground and the pallets will be slid over them. It's a perfect temporary fence. If I'd known about it sooner, I would have used the idea for something like a rustic fence around an herb garden.

There's no way to seal off the first room of the cave. The entrance is huge, and we're using the last of our plastic to take care of the doors and cover the garden rows.

They plan to live in their gas masks and clothing including hats and gloves. Mick said the temperature in the cave is cool. Maybe Jeremy and the soldiers won't sweat to death.

I need to learn the names of the nine soldiers. I don't have extra space in my brain to try and remember them right now. I'll do it after this is over. I know that each of them will have a story to tell. I wonder if they'd mind wearing name tags.

We've decided to go into action as soon as the alert comes in. Chris says it'll be a 24 hour warning, but no one wants to take a chance on waiting 'til the last moment. If it were up to me, I'd already have everyone living there.

I guess Chris said “yes” to adopting little Tricia. Josie's been carrying her around the compound all morning. She was responsible for her during the fire drill.

Josie looks frightened and that scares me. She knows a lot more about this type of weapon than I do. If she's worried about it, I'm worried about it.

Since the tunnel room is ready to go, the men have turned their attention back to cleaning up the damage from the battle and placing little wooden buildings on the hillside. Tim almost has the framing ready for Lisa's new house. He's working on the roof now.

While they were looking for air filtration supplies
, they came across a hardware and building supply store. Mick says the inside is trashed and looks like someone has been living in the back offices. The supply yard is full of brick, rock, tile, marble, granite, and more.

Tim pointed out several pieces of granite he wants to use in Lisa's house. He also wants rock to build a rock fireplace. Mick told him he'd help get the supplies if we're still alive after the threat passes. I told Mick that I wouldn't mind a few pieces of marble on top of a couple of wooden rolling carts to hold condiments and such.

If we survive, we'll need to build a larger place for a dining hall with a concrete floor where forty people can sit and eat at the same time.

We rescued several metal
, folding picnic tables from the battlefield. We can also loot houses for more tables and chairs. We can store dishes on shelves along the wall and use the wooden carts to move condiments around the area.

I'd like to have the hall hooked up to
the little kitchen building.

Mick
thought that was a great idea and said he'd draw up plans while he's busy sitting in the tunnel room, waiting for death to leave the area. Those words put me in a somber mood.

Crap! I just realized that we didn't factor in moving Kevin and Isaac from the clinic. We should add 20 minutes to the time, I'm sure it won't take that long
, but I like to leave room for error. Maybe Chris left that part out of the drill intentionally. It wouldn't make sense to move two injured men for a fire drill. For Pete's sake, we could have just pretended! I'm gonna need to know where in the order of things that fits in.

I'm going to the tunnel room to check it out for the umpteenth time. I just wanna make sure.

See ya later.

10:30 PM...

We had a visit this afternoon from Tommy and Bill of Times Nine Farm. They pulled up to the gate, got out of their truck, and waited for someone to come down the hill.

There were two soldiers standing watch in the left guard tower since the right tower still needs flooring.

The soldiers aimed those nasty looking M16's toward Tommy and Bill to make them talk. Several words were exchanged and one of the guards whistled toward the house.