Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (40 page)

We approached the east side first. I felt like I was standing out in the open, waiting to get shot by a stranger or eaten by HDI's. Dane was flipping through keys until he found one he wanted to try.

He lifted the manhole sized cover off the tank with a crow bar and knelt down to try the key on the inner hatch. It was the wrong key
, so he went to the next one. Nope, not that one either.

The third key fit and Dane exhaled before he turned it. Bingo! It was the right one! He unlocked the hatch and lifted it off. The tank was open and I could smell gasoline fumes. It was the best smell in the world.

He said could tell by looking that the tank wasn't full. Hey, if it has only six inches in it, that's six more inches than we had before, right?

We moved
on to the next tank. It took three or four minutes to find the right key, but he found it and I could smell gas fumes again. I was jumping up and down and he was just about to join me when something over my shoulder caught his attention. I instantly ducked and turned while pulling my Glock.

There were five HDI's coming across the parking lot toward us. Two of them were children, and they were so decayed and dirty that I couldn't tell if they were male or female. While I was staring at them
, Dane was shooting their companions.

Both children had only splotches of hair left. One
child was a few inches taller than the other. The taller one had large chunks of flesh missing from both sides of the face and one side of its neck. It was missing the tips of its nose and ears. Black goo was sitting on top of the wounds, jigging like Jell-O. I swore I would never eat Jell-O again.

One of
its arms was completely "skinned" and I could see muscle, tendon, and bone from its shoulder to its wrist. There was no hand at the end of that arm, and strings of rotting flesh and skin were hanging almost to the ground.

There was a gaping hole in the center of
its torso and I could see the rotted organs inside. Those organs looked as though they were moving around in the large cavity. Its intestines were hanging to its knees and dripping goo from the ends. They had snapped apart in several places and created a sort of "fringe" covering the HDI's lower abdomen and the front of its thighs.

There was a large piece of meat missing from the side of
its left upper thigh. There were maggots, and they were wiggling around in the black goo, going in and out of a smaller hole. Every step the HDI took caused maggots to fall to the ground. My brain took me to the "why are there maggots in winter?" question again.

Dane was panicked. He was yelling at me to shoot while he was trying to take out HDI's.

I just stared. I was hypnotized by the maggots. I finally looked away and saw three more adult HDI's emerging from the grassy field.

I heard Dane scream my name and I turned to see him being dragged backwards by two adult HDI's who had a hold of his coat. They'd come from behind us.

Dane was cursing and kicking, trying to get enough room between himself and the HDI's so that he could aim his pistol behind him and blow their brains out.

I felt something grab
at the bottom of my coat and when I looked down, I saw the child HDI I'd been watching. I was pulled down to my knees and was scrambling to get away and back on my feet. The HDI was hissing like the possum in the ckd's garage.

I heard a gunshot and saw that Dane had been able to eliminate one of his attackers. The other was still pulling him backwards and had him almost to the gas pumps. Dane was stumbling backwards, trying to keep his feet underneath him.

I was finally on my feet and running as fast as I could toward Dane and the Silverado. I aimed my Glock and took out his second attacker. Dane gave me a grateful look as he raised his rifle to shoot the three additional HDI's that had come out of the grass.

The child HDI was almost upon me again. I aimed the Glock and shot
, without hesitation, through its left eye. It fell forward, and when it landed, I could see that its entire left buttock was missing. The remaining rotten flesh was covered with a colony of goo covered maggots. I almost called Ralph, but adrenaline took over.

Right then and there I decided that I was never again going to look at any HDI long enough to be able to
describe every wound it has. I raised the Glock and helped Dane take out the remaining monsters like a serious HDI killing expert.

The only choice we had was to kill, or be eaten. Between the two of us
, we took out nineteen HDI's. Four of them were children.

When
every HDI was dead on the ground, I called Ralph and lost what little coffee I'd swallowed on the trip over.

Dane was leaning against the
Silverado, trying to catch his breath and calm down. I went over to him and put my hand on his arm. We gave each other a quick hug and decided we were not leaving until we found the correct keys for the other two tanks.

We drove the Silverado around
and parked beside the tank covers. It took about fifteen minutes before we found the keys for both tanks. The fuel inside is diesel and the tanks are not full.

The HDI battle had taken our joy away. We climbed in the
Silverado and headed back home.

On a side road between the truck stop and home
, we saw a hippy bus from the sixties. It was moving away from us. We looked at one another but didn't say a word. We kept heading home.

When we got here
, I ran inside as fast as I could.

Mick was lying on the chaise lounge and I fell on top of him. I forced him to put his arms around me and buried my face in his chest. I was crying while Dane explained to everyone there what happened. Mick held me tighter and tighter as the story progressed.

I couldn't eat anything for lunch.

11:00 PM...

Sometimes
, pain is a good thing. My knees are sore from hitting the pavement at the truck stop, but I don't care. Pain lets me know that I survived, and I'm relishing in it. I'm not taking a pain pill for sore knees. Hisa had me put ice on them.

Dane came out of it unscathed. Ah, youth! He even had the guts to go back with Jason and Soo so they could try to measure how much fuel is in the tanks. The
y used our laundry lines and long ropes with a concrete block tied to the end. Soo said that Dane had to do some tricky math to figure everything out. We'll have to soak all our laundry lines to get the gasoline smell out. That ought to be pleasant, not!

The diesel tanks are both about half full and so is one of the gasoline tanks. The other gasoline tank is close to a third full. Dane isn't exactly sure what size the tanks are
, but he's guessing they hold about 8,000 gallons which would be a normal size for a large truck stop just off an Interstate. They could be larger, but he's going with the 8,000 gallons estimate.

He says there's plenty of die
sel fuel to build our log fence and plenty of gasoline to get us through quite a bit of time depending on our usage. He plans to head out tomorrow and look for a backhoe.

Pop and Mr. Hobbs
began spreading goat poop on the garden today. Pop says they'll finish up tomorrow and begin tilling it in the day after.

Soo and Jason cut down several large trees behind the Hobbs place. They'll try to use Buttercup and some of the chain Jason found at TSC to drag them here. If Buttercup won't do it we'll have to use the Kubota or one of the pickup trucks.

Jesse, Jeremy, and Deuce are going on a barn lootin' run tomorrow. They found a small barn today and were able to get 46 square bales. It took one trip with the flatbed trailer to get it all.

Deuce says there's a large horse stable behind the Masterson house and we can
use it to store hay if we need to. Jason asked if he knew anything about Buttercup, and he doesn't.

Rebecca and Mrs. Masterson are coming here tomorrow morning to make breakfast for everyone. It'll be nice to get to know them better. It'll be interesting to see what two former rich chicks can cook up for this large crew.

I feel better tonight. I was able to eat a bean burger for supper and everyone was nice to me for the rest of the day. I just hope I can sleep without dreaming. Hisa told me take one of my Xanax of the blue variety before I go to bed and I'm not gonna argue about it.

Hisa, Valerie, and Marisa finished all the laundry today. It's hanging all over the house because
we can’t hang it on the gasoline soaked laundry lines. I'll need to get up early and pick up laundry before the Masterson women arrive.

I n
eed to ask Dane about the hippy bus we saw. I wanna make sure I didn't imagine it.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do tomorrow. I'll figure it out when I get up. Right now, I just want to lie down with Mick.

Bye for now.

T
uesday, March 4

Rebecca and Toni Masterson made oatmeal for breakfast. They added peppermint tea
to the pot while it was cooking. It wasn't good, but I'm not sayin’ a word.

Amber and Michael took one bite each and refused to eat any more. Marisa said "Kids! They can be so finicky," and she laughed. Rebecca and Toni laughed with her. I ate mine
, but I didn't want to. I should be grateful to have something to eat.

Toni's really
nice. She told us she'd like us to call her by her first name instead of "Mrs. Masterson." She says David was the love of her life. He had some kind of problem with his immune system. I feel bad for her. She's having a rough time with his death.

She said that Rebecca didn't inherit Davi
d's health problems.

They had Deuce with help from a fertility doctor. His looks came from his "genetic donor" according to Toni. She calls a sperm bank a "Biological Fertility Shop." Geez!

They cleaned the dishes and then spent an hour or so chatting with Nana, Elaine, Hisa, and me before heading home.

Everyone’s working on
various projects and I plan to do some serious housecleaning. See ya later.

3:45 PM...

The crews that went out this morning were due to return for lunch. Nana and I were ready for them.

I saw Jesse, Jeremy, and Deuce heading up the hill with the cattle trailer attached to the Silverado. They had the trailer packed to the gills with a huge round bale of hay and a lot of square bales. They found something interesting behind the barn.

It was the hippy
bus and it almost looks authentic. I'd swear it was from the sixties if I didn't know it was a newer model.

There’s
eight people living in the bus. The leader is Samuel. I'm guessing he's in his sixties. He looks clean, healthy, and happy. He doesn't seem to be crazy and is actually aware of what year it is.

There are two younger men. I'd guess they're in their mid-twenties. There are two younger women in the same age range. There's also two teenage girls and one teenage boy.

They must have raided a specialty boutique 'cause they're all dressed in hippy gear complete with peace-sign jewelry. If I remember correctly, their names are Isaac, Greg, Nicholas, Sabrina, Isabella, Chastity, and Anna. Samuel is grandfather to Nicholas and Sabrina.

They call themselves "Gypsy Traders," and they travel within a 50 mile radius of town
, trading what they find for food, water, and supplies to keep themselves alive. They told us there are HDI's all over the area and we need to really be careful about going into barns and farm houses. In the city, they have to fight HDI's for anything they find unclaimed.

They all seem like smart people. They're kind
, and polite, and seem to genuinely care for one another. I didn't see any weapons but Jesse says they have several.

I didn't go inside the bus and couldn't see through the windows because the bus has curtains. Jesse says there are two sets of double bunks on each side and an actual recliner in the back. Every space is filled with things they trade. They have a large blue barrel in the back that holds drinking water. Jeremy said they also have a fold-up charcoal grill

They wouldn't have lunch with us. They ate their own food and came inside to visit after they’d finished.

They left a few minutes ago to continue along t
heir trade route. We traded half a barrel of water for something great.

We finally have a rooster! They have two more roosters but one is enough for us. They had two bunnies and several piglets as well.

They said they could visit every 10-12 days, if we wish. We told them we'd like that.

Nana put in an order for elementary school b
ooks and they said they may be able to get them, but town is crawling with HDI's and she shouldn't get her hopes up.

Our little white chickens are currently getting acquainted with their new red boyfriend whom I've named "Rusty." Yay! I'm hoping for baby chicks soon.

Pop told us to continue taking the eggs until the hens start looking broody. He said to use one of Amber's crayons to mark the end of any egg we leave. We intend to leave six eggs for each hen and take the rest for cooking. My fingers are crossed.