Chapter 2

June 1st, 2018

Dear Journal,

Eve has suggested we all start writing a journal to keep our thoughts and feelings down in, for future generations. This is the first week since she took over, and just over a month since the pandemic hit. The young ones seem to be the worst off, though the older of us try to set an example. Eve suggested we all get together and take account of who is in our neighborhoods and what methods of communication we have at our disposal. Phone lines seem to be back up for ground phones, but not cell phones. Moreover, the internet seems to be down for everyone, but not cable TV, though the cable is snowy. I’ve found, that being in a more of a family-based neighborhood, we seem to have more at our disposal. There are 35 of us in about a four-block radius. I’ve had the youngest pair off with some of the older kids to scavenge what we could from houses. Thankfully electricity is on and there are enough refrigeration units to keep food cold and good. My wife took a group of the local kids, because apparently we’re the both the oldest on our block area, and sort of became the local leaders, to the nearby Walmart, and looted it for what she could. She came back with Cars of clothing, food, and other supplies. Apparently, cars were easily obtainable, though I worry about gas supplies. We should be saving it for something more worth wild down the road, like starting fires and such. Sure, we live in Vegas, but we don’t know how long heat and electricity will last yet.

We wait for tonight’s broadcast in earnest, to find out what to do next.

Joshua

I looked up from my journal writings to see Gabriela Santos, and her brother Jorge writing like I was. Gabriela was barely 18, and Jorge was 15. They had lived across the street, with the extended family that had lived there. Everyone in their lives had died. Their parents, their siblings, it was just the two of them now.

“Are you two alright?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Jorge sniffed. “I miss my mom and my aunt.”

“Me too,” Gabriela said.

Gabriela was a bit of a husky girl. Standing about 5’3” with plenty of weight on her, and a DD cup set of tits. She had black hair which reached the middle of her upper back and brown eyes. Her brother seemed the opposite, skinny as a rail, standing nearly as tall as me, and having short black hair and dark eyes. I had lived next to these two for 5 years, and now, I was the closest thing to a parent they had in their lives.

“Wanna talk about it?” I asked.

“What about your family, Joshua?” Gabriela said. “Who did you lose?”

“Annie is my family,” I said. “I broke off ties with my birth parents and siblings back when I moved out here, over 5 years ago. I suppose my 3 little sisters survived up in New York, but their kids are all dead ... since only a few of my nephews were old enough to survive.” I added. “The people I considered Mom and Dad are dead too if we believe Eve,” I said.

“So what’s next then?” Jorge asked.

“Not sure. Eve will give us directions tonight. She suggested the journals and gathering today.” I stated. “I hope she gives us a method of contact ... I mean there’s about 190 thousand of us left in this city, give or take a few hundred ... At least that’s what I’ve calculated ... with her sectioning us off in this weird neighborhood lines. It was odd, well, to say the least. I thought there would be more people in our area.” I added.

“Yeah, I don’t get that either.” Gabriela points out. “I mean, I’m glad my friends survived, but there are some from school that I know live in the area, that I haven’t seen in weeks.”

“Really?” I said a bit curious about this.

Gabriela was a bright young lady, I had no doubt that she was worried about her friends. But if she was right, and they were missing, it would mean something bigger was at play here. This made me worry, but I tried not to show it.

“I’m sure they’re fine. Your friends that aren’t in the area probably trekked to find other members of their family.” I said.

It wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities, and she gave me a forced smile. I know she was worried. And there was nothing I could actually say or do to alleviate her fears except finding her friend. Unfortunately, I had been one of the few clearing the dead bodies, getting them into the garbage trucks we had commandeered and we had accounted for everyone alive and dead in the rough four-block radius ... unless her friend was under 15, there was no way I missed her. 35 of us total. It didn’t quite add up either. The surrounding areas had no other people in the age range? Sure we were by a mall, and we were by a Walmart but, still nothing. I thought on this for a while before Gabriela broke me out of my train of thought by snapping her fingers in my face.

“So how’s this all gonna work, Joshua?” She asked.