Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (65 page)

She made any promise she could think of
, if only they would free Cleve and let him live. She tried to get them to let her take his place. She tried over and over until Top screamed at her to shut her mouth or he would kill them both. She knew he was going to do it anyway, so she continued to cry and beg.

She looked directly into Cleve's face and he looked into hers. They silently said everything they needed to say to one another w
ith their gentle, loving eyes.

An old metal barrel was pushed up beside the
Volkswagen and a fire was lit inside.

Top stuck out his arm, rolle
d his wrist, and said “Begin.”

Two drunk men stepped up beside the car. They pulled out large knives and cut the buttons from Cleve's modest plaid shirt. They pushed the shirt open, exposing h
is chest, and began to carve.

Cleve's body lifted several inches from the hood and roof of the car while the two men slowly removed strips of flesh from his torso, limbs, and face. They threw the strips into the fire. Cleve's flesh sizzled and crackled in the flames. He didn't scream. Emma didn't scream either
. She had nothing more to say.

She stood as tall as she could in defiance and watched those devils from hell skin alive her husband of 45 years. She knew she would
see him whole again very soon.

His body rose and jerked
, and pulled at his restraints unconsciously. Blood ran from his wounds and down the sides of the car, salting the earth. Forty-five minutes later, his body gave one last pull at the restraints.

His body made a loud thud as it hit the car
for the final time. He was unrecognizable, but he had the strength to lift his remaining first finger for a few seconds and point toward Top. His finger and hand fell limp, and he was gone. He never screamed.

Emma sighed, slumped in her restraints, and tried to will herself into going with him. Aft
er a few seconds, she fainted.

When she regained consciousness
, she found herself on the basement floor. Her left arm was tied to the leg of a storage shelf. There was no light. She called for Loki but he didn't come. She laid her head on the concrete floor and tried to recall every moment of her life with Cleve. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Emma doesn't know how many hours went by before she was awakened with the beam from a flashlight on her face and a kick to her hip. She pushed herse
lf up on her side and waited.

The rope was cut from her wrist and she was ordered to stand. She didn't move. She was kicked and hit several times and still wouldn't stand.
Top bent down to speak to her.

He
grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look him in the eye. He told her that she was their cook and caretaker. If she refused the job, he would skin one innocent soul per day and force her to watch until she agreed to comply.

The wheels in Emma's mind began turning and she readily agreed to do as he wished. He stepped to the side
, and she busied herself gathering ingredients for breakfast. Top seemed pleased and he turned and headed out the basement door. Emma picked up a lantern that was left on the floor and went about her task. Loki ran in and sat at her feet. She picked him up, gave him a quick squeeze, and placed him back on the floor. Her “wheels” continued to turn.

Several days went by before one of the men completely ble
w apart the toilet, literally.

They had been drinkin
g, and one of them had to visit the bathroom. When he finished his business and pushed the lever to flush, nothing happened. In a drunken stupor, he pulled his pistol and blew the toilet to smithereens. The camp went into a panic for several minutes before Top was able to regain control. He ordered the “toilet shooter” to be killed by firing squad. It took 10 minutes for the remaining squad members to carry out his request.

At Emma's suggestion, a wooded area behind the barn became the new toilet area.
Her wheels continued to turn.

She cooked, cleaned, and washed clothing for the unit for several weeks before one of the men came into the kitchen with a dead animal in a plastic bag for her to clean and roast for supper, per Top's orders, of course.

She held out her hand, took the bag, and set it on the table. The man snickered as he went back out the door. That snicker told Emma she'd better be careful opening the bag.

She used two wooden spoons to part the opening and when she realized what she was looking at
, she felt her face go white and sweat break out on her neck and forehead.

The bag contained Loki. He was dead and his
eyes were open and staring out at her.

The man who brought in the bag stuck his head in the door and threw an apple toward Emma. She didn't even reach
to catch it. It hit the ground and rolled underneath the table.

The man told Emma that Top “wanted his treat well done and served on a platter with the apple in
its mouth.” Emma slowly nodded at him and turned to prepare Top's meal. Her wheels turned even faster.

She went outside and told the guard that she needed to go to the bathroom. He stood aside and let her pass. She headed toward the wooded area they wer
e all using as their bathroom.

When she was sure no one was looking
, she stepped off the path, gathered four large handfuls of leaves, and stuck them in her apron pocket. She pretended to take care of nature's call and headed back to the kitchen. Her wheels were running at “Top” speed.

Emma took special care to make sure that Top had a delicious and satisfying supper. She cleaned and gutted Loki's bo
dy and stuffed it with cornmeal stuffing. She roasted it in the oven with the apple in its mouth and served it with scalloped potatoes, seasoned peas, and very tasty cornbread muffins which she made plenty of so that any man who wanted seconds could have it.

The men ate until their waistbands were tight and nothing was left on the table. Emma stood several feet from the table with a pitcher full of water
, ready to top off anyone's glass that needed it. Top watched her as he ate. He made a strong effort to tell Emma how delicious the meat tasted, and that the cornbread muffins were “delightful.” Emma told him she was happy he enjoyed the meal.

She gathered
the dishes after supper and went to the well to wash them. She dried them and put them away, swept the kitchen, and went to bed on blankets in the basement. She prayed and ask for forgiveness of all her sins. She didn't go to sleep.

Two hours later
, the house was in and uproar. Men were losing their supper from both top and bottom. Many were lying on the floor, holding their stomachs and screaming in pain. None of them could stand up long enough to walk. Emma assumed the guards outside were in the same condition.

She went to her old bedroom where Top had been sleeping. He was vomiting all over himself and the bed. His hands were holding his stomach and his knees were pulled toward his chest. Emma looked at him and shook her head. “Sometimes, a little dog's bite is MUCH worse t
han his bark” she said to Top.

While he died she told him exactly what she'd done. She said it was too bad he couldn't say hello to Cleve because he'd gone to a place far away from
the one where Top was headed.

She had made one more trip to the bathroom area before supper. She fed th
e men hemlock by the handfuls.

She left every man there dead and rotting, but she took all of their we
apons with her.

The next morning
, Emma loaded what was left into her old pickup truck. There wasn't much. The men had devoured almost everything she had stored. They never fed the cow or the hunting dogs, and they were dead inside the barn. Several chickens were left and Emma was able to get three of them into the cab of the truck.

She headed down the road to get as far away from there as the gas tan
k would allow before she pulled over to the side of the road and made camp in the woods.

She spent two or three weeks in her camp. She didn't count the days and has no idea how long she was there. She was running low on
food and had eaten her chickens, so she walked to a small town where she met the six stagecoach men. They told her they would watch out for her and give her shelter if she'd cook and wash their clothes. She agreed to the arrangement.

They drove her back to her camp in the tan
Toyota with the stagecoach attached. They loaded everything into the stagecoach and headed down the road.

Emma said they were constantly attacked and threatened by HDI's and survivors. Two of the men were killed by HDI's and the remain
ing four came up with a plan.

They figured that having HDI's with them would confuse other HDI's and throw them off the scent of
live flesh

They found the long rods with bowling balls already attached in front of a bowling alley. They were stuck in the ground
and being used for decoration.

They found the handcuffs when they followed directions on a billboard to an “adult novelty” store. They were specif
ically looking for handcuffs.

They hammered three holes into the rear of the stagecoach and stuck the rods through them. They used three large wing nuts on the ends. Emma stood back while the remaining men tackled HDI's and handcuf
f them to the metal rods.

Their plan worked and they we
re attacked a lot less often.

She has no idea how long they traveled. They ate every bit of food she had left and killed any animal they came ac
ross for food. Emma cooked dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrels, and possums.

It wasn't long before the men be
gan attacking survivors for supplies. Emma stayed put, stayed quiet, and cooked. The men had already threatened to hunt her down and kill her if she tried to run.

She ripped and tore every piece of clothing she had and finally ended up wearing Cleve's
old sweatpants and sweatshirt.

The men would smack her around sometimes
, and kick her in the chins out of meanness. They called her “itty bitty.” Most of the time, they let her be.

They were traveling along a county road when they saw Mick and Kevin loading
the little wooden buildings.

They decided to follow the trucks and find out where they were being taken. They followed a little too close and noticed that our fella's started picking up speed. One of the men in the truck bed stood and fired toward Kev
in from the rear of the truck.

The chase was on.

Kevin and Mick were able to travel a good bit faster than the Toyota with the stagecoach and HDI's attached. They were close enough to see Mick and Dane turn onto our street and they made the turn and continued to follow them.

The HDI’s were
released when the rear board cracked.

Y
ou know the rest of the story.

I've decided
that you don't mess with Emma.

Typing that out took a lot longer than I
thought it would. I'm headed to bed.

I can't wait to find out w
hat Josie has in that trailer.

Bye for now.

Wednesday, April 2

Nana and Elaine made breakfast while the rest of us stood around the rear of the goat trailer
, waiting for Josie, Ian, and Rick to come along and show us the bounty.

We stood there for at least 10 minutes before Ian came out of his little house and headed to the outhouse. We waved at him and he waved back. He walked over to Rick's house and knocked on the
door. Rick came to the door and Ian said something to him. We saw Rick throw his hands in the air before closing the door.

Soon after that
, Josie came out the front door and headed down the steps. She arrived at the rear of the trailer a couple of minutes before Ian and Rick. All three of them looked like they could use more sleep.

Rick opened the
trailer doors and began pulling things out.

They looted a farm store and got six various sized animal traps. The boys started
hooting' and hollering' and were very happy to see those traps. The farm store also yielded several large bags of rat poison, ant poison, seven-dust, and a lot of wasp spray. They brought every fly strip they could find along with 20 or so mouse traps. They also got several water containers and feed bowls made especially for chickens. There was no animal feed left in the place.

In the trailer b
ehind the farm store haul was a food haul. Part of it came from a little BBQ restaurant off the beaten path. There were twelve #10 cans of BBQ sauce, sixteen #10 cans of baked beans, and a huge bag of special cornmeal mix for making hush puppies. There were two boxes full of individual packets of salt, sugar, creamer, and pepper along with several jars of various spices and pepper flakes. The remaining food was either rotten or bug infested, so they left it.