Entry #19

April 8, 2011

Luck may still be with us yet. Ill start by saying that I am still pretty damned pissed off at Kevin for going out beyond the perimeter fence without telling anyone. John is even more pissed at him for taking his son, Michael along. The luck part is that he managed to salvage some useful parts for a HAM radio project he had been working on prior to the outbreak. We also managed to pick up a little more on the AM radio instead of the same tired old FEMA and CDC transmission. I don’t know how many times that incessant and redundant loop has played, but after a while you don’t want to hear about “washing your hands” and “wearing masks in public”. They’ve since changed it, realizing that washing your hands will do nothing if you are already infected, though they are sticking with the mask wearing in public. I can just see it now, people out at the shopping malls and department stores: “Excuse me Mr. Infected-Guy, can you please cover your mouth when you cough?”

Evacuations are being conducted in the hardest hit areas. If the bedlam following the bombings was any indication of efficacy, I don’t put much hope in them. We were given a small list of evacuation sites with the promise that more will be set up in time. None of them are near us, so they do us little good. The closest two are Jacksonville, some five hours north of us and the port in Tampa, four hours west. Maybe if your grand parents are still holding out, they can make it out from there. Some of the others are already talking about trying to make it to Tampa or Jacksonville. Might as well hand them a gun and a single bullet now, it would probably be quicker.

Last we heard, the western coast of Florida had been completely overrun so maybe the evacuation there means the infection is being stemmed back. From chaos comes order or something like that. Though the “order’ around here has been built on shaky foundations from the beginning. I would say it has been a delicate balance, but I don’t think balance is what it is. At this point, I chock it up to inaction caused by fear of the unknown. Once more of these suburbanites begin to fully processes all the information they have been shutting out and ignoring, they are going to try to claw their way back to normalcy any way they can.

We’ve put off our scout mission yet again. I am very hesitant to go. It is an overly risky endeavor to say the least. The others are itching for it. Maybe it’s the lure of adventure, which even I find myself being drawn to. Adventure can be a merciless Siren and I do not want to risk being parted from you and your mother to follow her song. I can’t say that if it wasn’t for you two that I wouldn’t have already gone, though.

This will have to be a short entry, just wanted to get some of the last thoughts of the day down. I’m on watch right now and should probably actually be watching something. I should be getting back just as you wake up in the morning. Maybe I’ll make some snacks for you and the other kids. Granola bars sound pretty good right. Damn, a blue cheese and Chipolte cheese burger with some onion rings would be just down right awesome. Wash it back with a cold Barq’s Root Beer or Ginger Beer. I should stop myself now. I love you.