Chapter 8

[Janice writes from Mexico]

We cleaned up from breakfast

We had decided that we would read nightly from Ralston's manuscript. It was time to start our day in earnest.

We put everything away packing for our next leg. Our maps suggested that we should stop at Guatemala City rather than along the coast. We would swing over the Pacific but didn't have any real hope of finding a useable landing field. We took off and saw no signs of people along the coast. We flew the slight distance inland and found the airport. We had a quick debate and decided to skip landing since no one seemed to be around. We returned to the coast and followed it into Mexico. We still saw no people. Acapulco was beyond our safe limit so we landed inland at Tuxtla Gutierrez. It was about half way to Acapulco. We found fuel but no people or any sign of any people having been there in a long, long time. After fueling, we took off for Acapulco.

Pam was flying with Bennie as her copilot. They flew straight to Acapulco. We located the airport and landed. We made our usual sweep of the area before radioing Tom and Vic to bring the Connie in. All was quiet and they joined us less than an hour later. As usual, the first order of business after making our sweep had been to find fuel for the planes. We found enough but there was little extra. There had been a fire in the general area a few years ago. I could see that some airport trucks had caught fire and destroyed themselves.

We planned to stay for a full day here so set up our sleeping arrangements carefully with sentry posts and some modicum of security for our planes. By then, it was late afternoon and we slowed our activities for the day.

We continued to search for people or signs of recent habitation. If anyone was in the area, they had nothing to do with the airport. We cooked supper and got ready for more reading of the manuscript.

Tonight, Jane would start reading. She said, "I will start where Judith left off. We picked up with Arnold looking out the window of his room.

"I saw three people in the distance coming toward me. As they became closer, I realized it was two men and a woman and that she was being forced to at least some extent. They were a hundred feet before reaching my building when shots were fired. One man and the woman took cover. The other man was dragging his body for cover with an injured leg when more shots were fired. He went flat and then his body jerked as bullets struck it repeatedly. I realized the shots came from across the street. I saw two men leave from that building and move carefully toward the two survivors. They began to close on the place where they had taken cover and more shots were fired. One of the new men went down. After more shooting, the man with the woman fell out into the street and didn't move. The other new man called out to the woman and she slowly stepped out into the street. He waited a moment and then stood up. He went to her and pulled her by the arm along to the building across from me and took her inside. I wanted to do something but was unsure what.

"I waited for more activity. I opened another window enough to hear better and was sorry I did. I heard her scream horribly and then a shot cut off her screaming. The two men left were smart enough to set an ambush but didn't realize that human beings were in finite supply, not to mention that they were mistreating their captives. I decided that this was probably not a good place to live any more. It was also obvious that leaving by the front door wouldn't be a good idea.

"I left quietly by the back entrance and stayed under cover. I wanted a rifle and ammunition for it badly now. Of course, I hadn't even shot my pistol though I had loaded it and learned how to set and release the safety. I was not a shooter and needed to practice to hope to hit a target.

"I walked about a mile and found my truck. The thief had been shot and robbed of what possessions he had. I debated taking back my truck but decided that it made an easy target. I left it after turning off the ignition, leaving it with the body outside, and put the key in the truck.

"I continued to be careful knowing that there were people who were killing others in the area and recognizing keenly my inability to protect myself even using the pistol I had or a rifle if I found it.

"During the day, I heard an occasional gun shot. I didn't understand why people were shooting. With very few people, I didn't understand why people were killing others. There should be plenty of resources for everyone.

"I walked through most of the day and was now looking for shelter for the night. I picked a house and went inside. I backed out even faster. The smell was terrible.

"I walked a block further and picked another house. It had no smell and seemed to have been left clean. I went in and sat down to rest my feet. I considered myself to be in good shape but didn't spend my days walking all day. I checked my feet to be sure I had no blisters. While tender, they were fine. I thought that I might stay here for tomorrow if all things continued as they were at the moment.

"After resting, I left my shoes and socks off and wandered around the house. Everything was neat and clean. I looked in the kitchen and found food in the freezer and that most of the food in the refrigerator was still good. I vowed to work through that first before it went bad. I tossed the bread because it was moldy.

"I was just starting to wonder when the garbage would be collected when I realized that there would be no garbage collections among other things. I decided that I would have to work on my list and think this through much more thoroughly. Making the trip to California might be a Herculean undertaking.

"As the afternoon shadows lengthened toward dusk, I thought about turning on the lights. Just then, I heard a gun shot. I went around drawing the curtains closed tightly. I decided to keep the number of lights to a minimum and check later for any light showing through. I went into the kitchen and prepared a simple meal for my supper. I finished cooking and sat down. At that moment, I realized how alone I was and that I hoped I could find someone to join me in my eventual quest or in theirs.

"After eating and cleaning up, I went outside and looked at the house trying to see if any light was leaking through the windows. It was dark all the way around the house. I stopped and listened for a while trying to hear if anyone was out wandering on the streets. I heard and saw no one. It was now quiet and hadn't been noisy at any time during the day.

"I found paper and pen and began a new list. I made the list thinking about going it alone and what changes would be needed to the list if I had a partner. I worked for a while and then decided to go to bed. I had chosen a bedroom and made sure I locked the doors before entering the bedroom and lying down. Sleep came slowly but it did come.

"I woke to the sound of rain and thought that it was good that I planned to stay here today. I never liked being out in the rain. I figured that the rain would keep others under cover also. I decided to explore this house some more. It appeared the house had been the home of a young couple with no children. There was no indication suggesting why they left though it looked to have been sudden though planned. I decided to guess that the parents of one or the other had called them for help. The garage was empty. I searched the house but found no guns or anything else to use.

"It was a comfortable house. I decided to make it my base of operations for the foreseeable future. I gave some thought to how I should have it look. I decided that it would have to look deserted from the outside or I might have unwanted visitors.

"The man's clothes would not fit me. However, the house was equipped with a washer and dryer and I washed everything going around the house naked until my clothes were clean and dry. Over supper, I got out my laptop and brought this narrative up to date. I decided to make it my diary of events and my feelings about what might happen. I would try to add something to it daily or as often as possible.