Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie (70 page)

Nana seemed perfectly calm. Actually she seemed like her brain had “stepped out for a minute
,” but she was clinging to Pop and he was clinging to her. I cried all over Mick while I waited for our world to be blown apart.

Rick, Ian, and Josie continued to talk to all of us in soft voices and tried to keep us calm. I barely heard a word they said.

I couldn't get Carisa out of my head and I prayed hard that she was far enough away to survive whatever was about to happen.

My brain kept throwing images of an older Carisa, scarred from battle and carrying multiple weapons while walking through what remained of Kapper Hill Compound. Her brow was furrowed and her formerly soft eyes were hardened from
a rough life and bad experiences. There was a faded bandana tied around her forehead and her long hair was tangled and blowing in the wind as she searched through the rubble.

I shook those images out of my head and tried to go to “the beach.” I got there, but had trouble staying.

Even in the farthest, darkest, corner of our large basement, I could still hear the massive siren. I wanted a Xanax of the blue variety but I'd left them in bedroom so I was out of luck and had to handle it on my own.

Per
Josie's suggestion, we decided to stay where we were until someone came to get us out or 24 hours had passed, whichever came first. Jason set the alarm on his watch for 24 hours.

I buried my face in Mick's chest. I looked up and turned on the flashlight every five or ten minutes to make sure everyone was still there. I couldn't stop touching my family.

Thirty minutes later, I began to calm down and started silently cursing the dentist who had scared the dickens out of me. I began to think it had all been a big mistake. Then, we heard numerous loud “thunks” and numerous large explosions. Jose, Ian, and Rick all agreed that the military unit was firing mortars and they were landing approximately a mile away.

We sat there in the dark and kept asking each other if we were okay. Several minutes went by before we heard someone banging on the basement door. Mick
hollered that the door was barricaded and they needed to come in through the house.

Twenty minutes later
, we were sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for Josie, Rick, and Ian to return with an explanation. It seemed like hours before they came in the front door and sat down at the table to tell us what they'd learned.

The large number of HDI's the unit had been taking out concerned Major Knellson and he was about to contact his rear guards for information.

Before he got the chance, a report came in that there was a large horde of approximately 600 HDI's within a mile of the compound. HDI's were coming from the residential areas and down the mountainside to join the growing horde on the road.

The rear guards fell back 300 yards and asked for “code red” help from the unit. Major Knellson was happy to oblige.

His men sent several mortars into the horde when it was approximately three-quarters of a mile away. The clean-up crew is there now, making sure every HDI is dead for good.

Major Knellson told us to expect more
hordes of this size in the future because HDI's are leaving the cities en masse and picking up stragglers along the entire way. They are headed west and northwest. No one has determined the reason why.

Two hours later
, the camp was back to normal and none of the military personnel seemed distressed or any worse for wear from the experience. I came in here to gather myself, grab that Xanax, and type on this stupid computer.

My dental appointment has been rescheduled until tonight. I'll be receiving two fillings and my very own dental hygien
e kit. Then, I have to pee for Battle-axe.

My psychology appointment has been rescheduled for 9:00 tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'll pass with flying colors after the experience I went through today. Yeah, right.

11:00 PM...

Well, the best part of the day came when we were informed that we no longer needed to worry about tearing up the pavement between the two mountain access roads. The mortars took care of it for us. Mick says there are large holes in the ground.

Major Knellson has a group of 60 soldiers cleaning up the HDI bodies and burning them. They'll be working through the night and will be well guarded by an additional 20 soldiers who will walk the perimeter with night vision goggles and take out any HDI's that are still coming in. That's a job that I wouldn't want.

My cavities are filled and my mouth is still a little numb. I really do need to make sure everyone pays attention to their dental hygiene because we have no idea if we'll ever see another dentist.

The Battle-axe d
idn't want my pee. Oh noooo... She sent me to the second white tent where a young, tanned, handsome male doctor with the whitest teeth I've ever seen took my donation. I flirted a little and asked him why he couldn't have been the one to do my physical.

Doctor “white teeth” was a plastic surgeon in South Beach. I guess he was more qualified to handle the urine samples and
give advice on tummy tucks, fake boobs, and butt lifts. I really shouldn't look at it that way. There is truly a lot of need for plastic surgeons. Still, it was a pleasure to pee in front of him, not!

I am physically and emotionally exhausted. Since the bombing incident
, I have felt completely drained of energy and was happy that Mick agreed to bring my supper plate up the hill so I didn't have to deal with eating in the mess tent. I had a fat, juicy hamburger, french fries, baked beans and a piece of carrot cake. I couldn't finish the cake but Opie had no trouble getting rid of it in two bites. I almost fell asleep on my plate.

Mick is snoring but I don't think it'll keep me from falling asleep at all.

I'll end this entry by letting you know that the fence is only 20% from being finished. We still have lots of concrete and there are still lots of logs at the lumberyard. Hallelujah!

Bye for now.

Tuesday, April 8

Regardless of what we have to endure today, I expect it to be a happy day because the Major's unit will head out to their next destination this afternoon.

Mick and I slept like logs. I heard several gunshots during the night but I was so out of it that I felt like I was dreaming.

Breakfast was much the same as yesterday except we didn't get to sit with Major Knellson. Josie, Ian, and Rick sat with him and they talked quietly among themselves. I wished I could get a table
near them so I could eavesdrop.

After breakfast, Mick headed for his dental appointment and I headed for my psychology appointment.

When I stepped inside the “psychology tent” I was shocked. Sitting at the desk was Glenda Sharpton. She was my psychology professor in college. That made me very happy.

We spoke for several minutes before she truly recognized me. She asked me questions, filled in bubbles on her form, and spent the rest of the time talking with me about what we were doing to prepare for survival.

We spoke briefly about her career and how she came to be with the unit.

Two months ago the unit came through her area of town. She was alone but had a cat and a dog to keep her company. When the Battle-axe performed Glenda's physical, she found out Glenda's profession. Three hours later Glenda was invited to join the unit. They allowed her to bring her animals along.

I suppose I passed my psychology test because I'm still here and no one has thrown a strait-jacket over my head and dragged me to a dark place to contemplate the true meaning of life.

Mick got in trouble. He had four cavities that had to be filled and a molar that was so bad that it had to be extracted. They “don't do root canals and crowns” the dentist told him. Anyway, they yanked that puppy out of his mouth and sent him back up the hill with six pain pills and a seven-day antibiotic regimen.

He stayed awake long enough to tell me that he walked to the pool to check on the water and caught Josie sneaking out the rear of Major Knellson's tent. She saw Mick, and she blushed and headed to the breakfast/brunch buffet. Me thinks Josie was a bad girl. I bet she'll miss the Major's unit once they leave (snort).

Laundry needs to be done and I'm headed out to look at the laundry chart, find out who has laundry duty with me, and get started. See ya later.

2:50 PM...

Let me give you the best news about having the solders here. The fence is finished! Oh yeah, baby! I never thought this day would come. I asked each man who'd worked on it to choose his own post and carve his name and where he's from deep enough to stay there for a long time.

We
have a large, sturdy fence around the compound. I was tempted to give a big ol' kiss to every one of those soldiers but I'm sure they would have rather had kisses from Marisa and Rebecca.

The Sergeant in charge told Mick that he recommends we build a guard tower on the inside of the fence at each corner and in the middle of each section with supported, railed catwalks between them
, three feet lower than the top of the fence.

He also recommended looting for sheets of heavy metal to place on the
upper halves of the guard towers starting with the sides facing outward. Mick says we will definitely do that.

We have a washing machine! One of the
soldiers noticed the way we were doing laundry and he went to work, gathering up a few things from camp and from the house.

Two hours later
, we had my old washing machine sitting on the back porch and hooked up somehow to the riding lawnmower from Marisa's tractor shed. It even goes through the spin cycle! No more wringing out clothes. Hoorah!

I grabbed that young man and gave him a big ol' kiss right on the mouth. He nodded, blushed, and quickly headed back to camp.

Several minutes later he returned driving a forklift carrying a wooden pallet with two full barrels of gasoline. He set the pallet near the back porch and went back down the hill before I could give him another big ol' kiss.

We also have a huge pile of wood already split and stacked. The unit has a strange machine.

It picks up logs which fall into a trench on top. The log is pushed forward a couple of feet and a huge chainsaw comes over the top and cuts it into a manageable length. Then, the log is pushed through a “magical” cutting wheel of sharp spokes, and out comes six pieces of split wood. It looks like a flower blooming. Every man here watched in amazement.

The unit is busy packing up and getting ready to leave.

We have our final meeting with either Colonel Thompson, or Major Knellson, in ten minutes. I better sign off and get ready.

See ya later.

10:45 PM...

They're gone and the night is eerily quiet. There’s no twinkling lights or sounds of muted laughter coming from the field. We're on our own again.

Mick and Jason are on watch out front
, and Jeremy joined Rona on watch out back. Even though the fence is finished, old habits are hard to break and we still need to keep our guard up.

We had our final meeting with Major Knellson. I guess Colonel Thompson still wasn't “feeling well.”

We were handed a large map outlining the property of Kapper Hill Compound fully owned by Mick and Robin Kapper. Our social security numbers were written beneath our names.

The property lines include Marisa and Jason's house, the meadow, and the eight acres of woods to our right. It also included all of the old Peterson property and
the large field across the road. The word “PENDING” was written in big red letters on a clear piece of tape across the sketch of the field.

We were asked to come up with a “call sign” for the compound. I asked Major Knellson what his unit call sign was and he said “Ground Control.” He suggested that we use “KHC” or something like it.

Of course, Mick and I decided to use “Major Tom” as our call sign. Yep, I'll have to explain it to the young 'uns, but Major Knellson got it and we got a chuckle out of him.

We were then presented
with an additional document we hadn't seen before and allowed to read over it as many times as we wished. Every member on the compound was afforded the same opportunity.

Major Knellson waited on the front porch until we finished reading and discussing the terms. When our decision was made, we asked him to return to the table.

Do you remember those old rumors about the government hoarding food and ammunition? Well, those rumors were true. Surprised? I bet you're not
really
surprised.

When the unit pulls out
, they will leave a supply allotment determined by the number of members we have and the status of animals and perishable supplies. This is a “one time” occurrence unless we agree to the terms and conditions of the new document.

The document states that we’
re eligible to receive an allotment of food and other survival supplies quarterly, if we agree to use the big field across the road to grow onions and edible herbs for the military. The onion bulbs and herb seeds would be provided to us at the appropriate planting time.