10:47PM
Dear Diary
I feel much safer in this Baptist church than I ever did in that motel. I have two large candles going from the church. I am lying in my very comfy sleeping bag, eating Vienna sausage and doing the only thing that for me can qualify as entertainment; writing in this diary. I don’t have that feeling of being “watched” in this church. There’s a message there if you look hard enough. I don’t know what to make of everything I have seen in Lagrange today. It doesn’t make sense that police would try to stop people from leaving the city unless it was an epidemic. But there was nothing on the news about this. What was even more disturbing to me, I found spent cartridge shells on the sides of these police cruisers. They were determined to stop people from leaving…at all costs. Of course, there is no trace, no evidence of any bodies. This is far above my intellectual capacity. Someone else needs to take over for me now, but no one is answering the call except me. I have to find out what has happened and try to digest it in such a way that I can comprehend it. I honestly don’t know where to begin. I guess Atlanta is a start. I am very fearful of going there for some reason.
If anyone ever finds this diary and is able to make sense of it, do me a favor. Go to Axis, Alabama, about 25 miles north of Mobile, and look for a little beagle. He answers to Ralph. He is my little buddy. And I know in my heart that as I write this, he is still alive. That’s all I ask. It is time for sleep. It is time for me to enter Atlanta. Like a former resident of Atlanta once said, “I’ll worry about it tomorrow…after all…tomorrow is another day.”
Alone on Earth – Entry #9
November 24, 2016
3:27AM
Dear Diary
I have woken up sick to my stomach cramping like crazy. I have thrown up twice in the past fifteen minutes. I found a package of wieners at the Lagrange Super Deli and decided to try my luck. I puked both hot dogs up. It’s hard to give up things like meat, but I am going to have to do that. It seems I will become a vegetarian in this new world. I am so sick, hopefully I get to be feeling better. I want to leave for Atlanta by 7AM this morning, but I've been running at both ends. As soon as it is daylight, I am going to the drugstore a couple of blocks from here and look for some Pepto-Bismol or something to ease my stomach. I’m sure the druggist won’t mind. I’m going to try and get some sleep. Hopefully, my stomach cramps and diarrhea will end soon.
7:42AM
Dear Diary
I have taken two big swigs from this Pepto-Bismol bottle, downed an Alka-Seltzer, and am feeling somewhat better. However, I am very weak. I may have food poisoning. If I do, I can only blame myself. Well, that’s obvious, I suppose. The Drugstore door was not locked. As with Target, the malls in Mobile, the automatic doors were shut tight, but I was able to gain access in each by using the manual door. It smelled like sawdust in the drugstore, only there was none to be found anywhere. It is a bright sunny day here in Lagrange. It seems just like any other day here in November, I guess, except there are no Lagrange residents to be found anywhere. I’m still having a tough time dealing with this. I plan on going into Atlanta if I get to be feeling better. Right now, I’m so weak. I don’t think I could push off that big Honda Gold Wing bike. If only I could find a car with a battery that would work. I bet I have tried starting 25-30 cars in this town. None work, of course. I think I am going to pay a visit to the Lagrange Police Department, just down from the drugstore. Maybe I can find some answers there. That is, if I can make it.
11:12AM
Dear Diary
I am sitting behind the front desk in the main lobby of the police department. Some curious things here. At least 12 shotguns are on the floor in front of the front desk. It is as if they were all dropped at once. Police WVPs are all over the floor as well. Again, it is as if they were dropped right there. That is their primary source of communication. Why would a policeman drop his WVP on the floor? All the jail cells are locked, but no inmates to be found. I found one note scribbled on the Desk Sergeant’s notepad…”Code Blue the entire city. Mayor and councilmen out only at this time. Stop all others with signal 1 force if necessary. Check in with Precinct every 15 minutes. No exceptions.” This only reinforces what I saw yesterday. Police cruisers were lined up abreast the exits from the city to stop cars from leaving. Was Martial Law enacted? This gives the government broad powers, I think the U.S. Bill of Rights is suspended if Martial Law is enacted. But why? I saw nothing like this back in Mobile or Montgomery. The only difference is that cars on I-85 in Montgomery were packed tight as if they were trying to get out and drive toward Atlanta. I’m even more confused now. Time to go back to the church and rest. I’m not going to make it to Atlanta today.
4:45PM
Dear Diary
I was too sick to eat, but I have to eat something. I am going to heat up some Campbell’s Chicken Soup. I have found some crackers at the drugstore. I wish I could find one of those disposable grills. I looked in the drugstore, but there were none. I’m just too sick to go look at the Wal-Mart right now. I will start up a fire with some sticks I found, light it with a Zippo lighter, and heat this soup up. I hope I can hold this soup down. This is a nice little town, but I am ready to leave. I need to end this entry. I have to go take care of business in another toilet in this church.
7:12PM
Dear Diary
I heard someone or something call my name. At first, I thought I was hearing things. But I heard “David…David” distinctly. I was so shocked, so startled that I dropped my candle. I was shaking so terribly that I could not relight it. I am shaking uncontrollably as I write this…did I really hear someone call my name? Am I losing my mind now? I was afraid to even relight the candle, but I feel safer with two candles lit now. I feel faint; that may be due to both stomach sickness and this “voice” that called out my name. I have known fear in my life, but this is a fear like I have never known before. I have to believe that I am hearing things. It is not something supernatural that has caused this cataclysmic event. I refuse to believe that. I also refuse to believe that a “ghost” called my name. This is all in my head. I must fight this. I have to maintain my sanity. I must continue to fight against the paralyzing fear that is trying to take hold of my life. I must persevere. I will NOT go gently into that good night! Ok, enough melodrama. I pray to God I don’t “hear” anything else tonight.
10:20PM
Dear Diary
No more “voices” at this time. That really shook me up. I’m getting out of here in the morning. I did not expect to be scared in this church, but I am. I shouldn’t be that way. I sleep every night with my Bible in my sleeping bag. I feel secure with it. My mother gave it to me on Christmas Day in 1990. It is starting to fall apart, but I feel safe with it. I don’t expect people to understand that, but I do not believe God has forsaken me. What is all this about? Why has every human being, animal and insect disappeared, at least between Mobile and Lagrange, GA? I don’t know. I believe I will start to find some answers in Atlanta. I have no reason to think that. It may be that there are no answers to my questions in Atlanta. But I have hope. I have faith. I believe there is a reason I am still on this earth. What that reason is I do not yet know. But there is a reason. It would have been very easy for me to just stay home and wait things out, but I could not do that. That is not me.
All