Notes from the Edge 04-25-2024

EARTH’S SURVIVOR’S AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

Based on the series by W. G. Sweet

Episode 4

PUBLISHED BY

Writerz.net Publishing

AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

Copyright © 2013 by W. G. Sweet All Rights Reserved

Writers: W.W. Watson, Geo Dell, W.G. Sweet, G.D. Smitty

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work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places or
incidents depicted are products of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to
actual living persons places, situations or events is purely coincidental.

This novel is Copyright © 2013 Writerz.net. No part
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EARTH’S SURVIVOR’S – AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

*******

CHAPTER THREE

March 12th

Conner closed his notebook and
stuffed it down into his pack. Looking around the factory floor he was
surprised how different a few more warm bodies could make it. It didn’t seem as
cold, so oppressively quiet, so echo filled with any kind of sharp noise, so…
so different. And it was different still. But different in a good way.

Katie had been watching from across
the room where she had made a little area for herself. She hadn’t wanted to
interrupt while Conner was writing, but now that he seemed finished she walked
over to him.

“This was really nice of you,” she
said as she walked up. “We were staying in that old school building. None to
stable. Last night was the best sleep I’ve had in awhile.”

“Funny,” Conner replied, “I was
thinking the same thing. For me it was just having others around. People.”

Katie smiled. She’s beautiful,
Conner thought. He wasn’t normally a fan of tattoos, but she had some sort of
tribal stuff that snaked up under her shirt sleeve. Just a hint of ink where
her shirt didn’t quite meet the top of her Levies made him wonder just exactly
where the ink ended. She caught his eyes and smiled again.

“Mind,” She asked, gesturing at the
ground beside him.

“No. Sit down,” Conner smiled. “I
have no manners at all. How

long does it take to devolve? I
guess a little over a week.” He smiled again.

She laughed as she sat down. The
silence stretched out for a few seconds, each of them looking around the factory
floor as the others talked or settled in for the night. They both spoke at
once.

“So…”

“Sorry,” Katie said and laughed.

“No, really. It’s that devolved
thing again. Go ahead.”

She fixed her eyes on him. “I was
just wondering what you were planning on doing. I mean, have you thought about
leaving? I know you spoke a little bit about it yesterday when you were talking
to Jake. But I could see you weren’t quite ready to fall in with the Jakeites
yet.” She lowered her voice for the last.

Conner looked at her levelly.
“Yeah… I guess it does show. I don’t dislike him. I don’t even disagree with
what he said… I just… I just don’t know. We don’t click… Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do.” Katie answered. “It’s
the same with me. I can think. I don’t need someone to do it for me.”

“Exactly,” Conner agreed. “But it’s
a little more as well. Like Alpha male shit… This is my tribe… Me chief.”
Conner finished in a near whisper.

Katie giggled but quickly clamped a
hand over her mouth while nodding her head in agreement.

Conner continued. “I’m not really
an Alpha male type of guy, but I’m not a dumb sheep either.”

“Me either,” Katie agreed, her
giggles under control. She fixed him with her serious eyes once more. “So what
will you do?”

“Probably like I said, like
everyone else said, leave. But I don’t see why the south or the west wouldn’t
be a good direction to go in. We’ll all see, I guess, as spring comes on, or
as…”

“What,” Katie asked?

“Well. As this goes on. It might
not be over yet. There might be more changes ahead. The days have slowed down,
almost seemed to stop for awhile last week when the sun just hung in the sky.
Maybe what was supposed to happen happened? Now the sun’s rising in the wrong
place in the sky. Did the Earth’s spin reverse? That fast? Weren’t some people
claiming we’d fall off the Earth? Something like that?” He took a deep breath.

“I guess I’m just waiting to see
how this goes. What happens next… But in a few months, not far into spring,
I’ll probably leave. Whatever has happened, is happening, should be over
by then…” He smiled. “I guess that was a long drawn out answer.”

“No. Not really,” Katie answered.
“I’m in the same place. I’m not sure what happened either, or if it’s all over.
But I don’t think I want to live in a old factory forever either…” She looked
around, “But who knows, maybe it’s come to that?”

Conner shrugged his shoulders.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I… I just
wanted you to know I’m seeing it the same way as you. I mean… I mean I want to
be on your side of it….” She locked her eyes on his and gave a firm nod, then
flipped her short, black hair out of her eyes. She firmed her mouth, set her
jaw, and spoke once more. “I’d like to go get my things… Move over here with
you..” Her dark eyes settled on his own. “Be with you… I mean be together.”

“Quick,” Conner said.

She nodded and smiled, “Maybe it’s
a quick world now. I’m taking you at face value, I guess. You don’t have a
little harem locked away farther back in this old building do you?” She smiled.

Conner laughed. ‘Not hardly.”

“Well then,” she asked quietly, her
eyes serious.

Conner nodded, which caused a huge
smile to spread across her face. His own smile answered it. But, he thought,
did she really mean…? He didn’t complete the thought as she stood and walked
across the floor to where she had put her things and spent her first night. She
turned and looked back at him. Conner stood and walked over to help her move
her things over to his side of the factory.

Several pairs of eyes watched the
move.

~

“Guess that settles that,“ James Adams
said to his wife Jana.

His wife nodded, a slight smile on
her face. For the last few days Jake had been pushing Katie. Jana had
disapproved. Let the girl make up her own mind, she had thought.

“Maybe it’s for the best,” she said
now. “That young man is much more likable, James.”

James nodded in agreement. The fly
in the ointment might be Lana who had been making eyes at Jake since they’d
first met, but who, for the last few days had only had eyes for Conner. James
looked over just as a look passed between Jake and Lana. Oh oh, he thought.

Jana shook her head. She had
noticed the look pass between them as well. “Maybe if those two get together it
will level everything out,” she said softly. Jake had made it clear he was
interested in Katie, not Lana, but the girl had made her choice. Jake would
have to accept it. Jana felt Katie had made the better choice of the two. She
turned her attention back to the conversation she had been having with James.

Jake watched as Katie moved her
sleeping bags and back pack over to Conner’s side of the large room. He didn’t
see what she saw in Conner, but it was her choice and she wouldn’t get a second
chance with him. He frowned at his own thoughts. Don’t be an ass, he told
himself. It’s not that serious. He looked over and caught Lana’s eyes, the
question was right there. He nodded and she sprang to her feet like a rabbit. A
mean look on her young face as she looked towards Katie. The look went
unanswered by Katie. She turned her back to the girl as she walked back over to
Conner’s side of the room.

~

Lana quickly gathered her things
and moved them over to Jake’s area. Stupid, Bitch, she told herself. She can
have the other dude. She’d only wanted Jake all along. Even the last few days,
chasing after Conner had only been an attempt on her part to make Jake jealous.
Jake would take her out of here. She hated this place and everything to do with
it. Always had. Jake was tough. Tougher than the other guy. She didn’t think of
it in terms of Alpha Male and territory, but it came down to the same thing.
Jake was the top dog. Her top dog.

The fire burned lower as everyone
settled in for the night. Some happy, some worried, some undecided, but
everyone along for the ride.

March 13th

James leaned around the hood and
looked through the windshield of the old truck. He nodded. “Try it, Jake.”

The motor turned over a half dozen
times then suddenly fired and rumbled to life. Jake gave it a little more gas,
pulled out the old fashioned choke. The motor smoothed out and began to run a
little better.

James backed away from the engine
compartment, a large smile on his face. “Know what this means,” he asked,
raising his voice to be heard above the noisy truck.

Jake grinned and nodded back. “As
long as they’re not electronically controlled they’ll run. We should find a few
more.”

James nodded in agreement.

They had found the old truck in a
lot out in back of one of the car dealerships out on the strip. The lot itself
was wrecked; the buildings not much better, but hundreds of new cars and trucks
sat on the cracked pavement, or pointed their noses or tails at the sky where
they were half buried. The truck had been set up with a plow and they all
agreed it was probably just used to plow the lot.

Before they had even gone looking
for a vehicle Jake and James had gone hunting for a small gasoline powered
engine. Lawn mower, Leaf blower. It didn’t matter, just something small without
an electronic ignition or brain. They’d come up with a heavy duty chain saw.
Several tugs and a little choke had got it running. That had convinced them
that it would be worth finding an older, full size truck.

“We could convert one of these
newer trucks. It would take some work but if we can find the right parts we
could do it,” Jake said.

“Maybe,” James agreed. “Trouble is
finding a block that’s still the same. Heads. Intake. It’s a lot to hope for.
It would be easier to just fix the old stuff up. New tires, battery. We could
even do the axles if we absolutely had to.”

Jake nodded his head. “Hmm,” he
grumbled. “Guess so.”

James turned away. It was obvious
to him that Jake didn’t like being disagreed with or second guessed. Yes, parts
were parts, and if they were just parts, no problem. There were even kits to
convert non-electronic ignition motors over to electronic ignition, but not the
other way around. There were motors built mostly for racing applications that
were designed to use carburetors and simple distributors. There were things
they could do, but it wasn’t simple black and white.

He had been seeing more and more of
this close minded attitude from Jake since they had moved into the . Jake had
lost his place as leader. It didn’t matter that he had been nearly the only one
who had seen himself that way. He had seen the situation that way, and now the
situation had changed. He didn’t see himself as leader any longer and he didn’t
like it. Oh well, James thought. He’d get over it or he wouldn’t. There was
nothing for it except to watch it happen whatever way it happened.

Jake let the truck idle high for a
few minutes then reset the choke dropping the idle down to normal.

“We got wheels,” Lana said happily.
She, Conner, Katie and Jana had come walking back from further down the lot.
Pulled by the sound of the truck starting from where they had been searching
for other vehicle that would be good candidates for starting.

“We found three others that seem as
though they might work out,” Conner said. “One’s an old crew cab state truck
the other two are old pickups. All three are four wheel drives.” He grinned at
James.

James laughed. “Well, let’s go get
them,” he said. He turned and started away.

“Hey,” Jake said, leaning against
the door of the truck, “Wouldn’t you rather drive?”

James laughed again. “Yeah,” he
agreed. “Much rather.” Everybody piled into the Suburban. Jake pulled out of
the back of the lot and headed back in the direction the others had come from.

Conner March 13th

Man, it’s been a long day. We
walked out the strip to the car dealerships. Everything is torn up out there,
but there are tons of cars and trucks. We found three trucks that we got
running and we drove them back. So we have a pickup truck: A Suburban; and a
big four door state work truck. One of those ones you always used to see along
the highway when they were doing road repair. There were a few others we found
that also ran, but they were in such bad shape that we left them.

Jake wanted to build one. I mean
take one of the new trucks and put old parts on it. I got the idea from James
that it probably wouldn’t work out the way Jake thought that it would. The
right parts would be hard to find. I could see the idea. The appeal of a newer
vehicle so we wouldn’t have to be concerned about break downs. But I could see
James’s point of view too. I think it pissed Jake off though. But it seems that
almost everything pisses Jake off.

I didn’t write this in here yet,
but Katie and I are together. It just happened that fast. I was surprised in a
way, but in another way I wasn’t all that surprised. Who knows how long this
world will last? What it was that really happened? Maybe there is no time for
slow anymore.

Katie said that and once I thought
about it I agreed. Things are so different. And she’s right for me. Maybe it
wouldn’t have happened this fast in the old world. Maybe it wouldn’t have
happened at all. But everything’s changed. It’s all different and this seems
right. It seems like the way it should have happened with her and me. The right
way for it all to work.

It also seemed to work out for the
others. By that I mean Jake ended up with Lana. She’s a lot younger than he is,
but like I said it is a different world now. They seem to be happy together. I
thought I felt some animosity from both of them at first. But either I imagined
it or they’ve moved past it, got over it, something like that.

We haven’t discussed leaving again.
It’ll come up. Katie and I want to go. I think James and Jana want to go. Jake
and Lana seem to be against it. Lana keeps talking about how none of us know
what it might be like anywhere else. Like she wants to throw that out before we
even discuss leaving at all. Here we have food, shelter what’s so bad? I guess
we have been talking about it without really talking about it at all.

Jake backs up everything she says
with a nod of his head. He pointed out we have this old factory and we may not
find that anywhere else. At least not easily. Maybe they’re right. Hell, they
make sense, but it’s the attitude. The rest of us bend. They refuse to.

We decided to go out toward the
mall tomorrow to the sporting goods stores, and also look at some of the
markets out there. Something else I didn’t check out while I was out there.

Lastly: I’m glad Katie and I have
each other. It makes all of this easier to deal with.

She asked me why I’m writing this
journal. I felt kind of stupid. I told her why I started it though, and that
I’m continuing it for someone in the future. Maybe a child? Someone to come
later on?

I expected her to laugh that off,
or look at me like I was crazy, but she only nodded as if that made perfectly
good sense. She told me she has a journal as well. A diary, she said. Of course
Lana jumped on that too. At first arguing against it, then saying she thought
it might be okay. Jake said he wouldn’t do it. He said he’s not leaving to go
anywhere and if someone shows up here he’ll be here, not some journal…. Okay.

It’s stuff like that that makes me
wonder. And, anyway, I only mentioned it, it wasn’t like I wanted anyone else
to do it or was trying to encourage someone else to do it. It’s that kind of a
Jump on it attitude I don’t like. Like they think I’m looking to screw them
over some how.

But it’s all good. I’m alive. I
looked back at some of what I wrote in here. I had no one just a short time
ago. I didn’t even know whether there was anyone else. Now I have Katie. We
have some plans. Things we’ve begun to talk about. Agree about. A little ego
trouble with Jake is really just bullshit in the scheme of things. I have to
try harder to look past that. Maybe I’m too damn sensitive. And anyway things
are good. This could be a lot worse…

A thing that bugs me and I can not
figure out, where are all the bodies? I mean there don’t seem to be enough
bodies to match all of those that were killed. It bothers me. Maybe they
weren’t killed? But that makes no sense. Where would they be? I don’t have an
answer, I only know it bugs me.

Lana March 13th

Hi! My name is Lana. I’ve never
written a journal or kept a diary before. We’re all here in this. And, yes,
we’re living in a dirty old, abandoned factory. I can’t believe it! There are no
showers. No toilets. No kitchen. Ha! We’re eating out of cans. It’s about as
hard as it could be. I don’t know how it could be any worse than it is.

We’re all writing these journals to
leave them behind in case someone comes after we, or some of us, leave. I might
not ‘Cause I’m sort of with Jake right now and he doesn’t want to go. There are
six of us; Conner, Jake, James, Jana, Me and a girl named Katie. We’re all
stuck here until spring, I guess.

I guess that you know all about the
world ending, or whatever it did. We don’t know. I don’t know. Not really
anyway, but hopefully we’ll get everything fixed up pretty soon. I mean, a lot
of stuff is F’d up, you know? But, like, it could get fixed up eventually.

I had a boyfriend in the old world.
His name was Paul, but I don’t know where he went. His apartment was gone. The
whole street he lived on was gone. So, I don’t know. It made me feel really bad.
Hopefully this will be over really soon.

We have, like, some old trucks now
to drive around. We used to have to walk everywhere. That sucked. The trucks
are really old. Like Shit boxes as Paul would’ve said, but at least
we’re not walking, right? Paul had an old shit box truck too. These trucks are
even older. If we break down, we can’t call Triple A. Ha Ha!

There are six of us and Jake thinks
more will come to us; probably know we’re here and are just waiting. I guess
that’s cool.

I don’t really know what else to
write in here. I’ll write other stuff down as well though. … Oh, I’m almost
nineteen…

Katie March 13th

I did it. I don’t know
how I worked it out or where I found the courage to do it, but Conner and I are
together. It’s like I wasn’t breathing; like I was waiting to breath. Something
like that. All I know with absolute certainty is that tomorrow looks better.
Isn’t that all that’s important?

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