Journal Entry#2

May 18, 2011

It didn’t take as long as I expected for the first of the refugees to reach us. They were content to sit along the I-10 corridor, at first. A few trickled down I-95 to hunker down with family or friends. Most are simply just wandering aimlessly and a great many of them lack the basic mental function to handle it.

I’ve lost contact with a few out of state friends I had before all this mess started. More than likely they are bunkering in themselves, or heading towards their “bug out” locations. I do sincerely wish them the best. The interstates have become parking lots; an exodus of thousands all trying to beat the rush. They all just ran out of gas! Drivers abandoned their vehicles, taking their families on foot. Many tried to take everything they could carry. It only took them a few miles to convince themselves to let it go; there’s only so much use for grandmas old lamp from England when you have no house, or electricity.

With seemingly no use, the National Guard of many states has simply shut most high ways down. I suspect different reasons. Non military and non essential aircraft have been grounded. They attempted to use rail transports at first, but the train stations became overrun with refugees. With no thought or attention to where it was the trains were even going, the masses began to claw each other into submission, vying for a spot aboard the cars. The riot police and military had little affect. Mostly they abandoned their post and headed home, without notice and without a second thought.

The greatest aspiration a refugee has is simply to be a refugee no longer. The greatest aspiration to those facing refugees is simply to no longer face them. Somewhere in the shades of grey in-between the two a conspicuously un-easy peace is formed. Behind the endless droves of the displaced is an even longer, endless pile of bodies. The hospitals simply cannot take in anymore of the sick and dying.

The emergency agencies have been telling everyone to wear medical mask when they leave their homes and not to come into contact with refugees for prolonged periods of times. They have set up service stations around most cities handing out gloves and those little bottles of hand sanitizers. Useless crap meant to keep the sheep from stampeding. After the economic collapse in 2008, few trust the government anyways. Unfortunately, those few are all related to me.

We are making preparations to leave. We are too exposed, as our community backs up to I-95. I don’t know if they’ll make it this far south, but I’m not taking my chances. We are going to stay at my brother’s house out west. He has a couple acres if you add in the empty lots next to his property. Its not much, but it is better than this. Were planning on leaving in a few days. Still trying to get the last of our stuff in order. Without being able to take the highway very far, its going to take us a good hour or two to get there, so we have to make sure we have everything we need, as return trips are unlikely.