Day of Destruction
Chapter 5

Copyright© 2010 by Frank Speaks

I finished Mary's grave putting some flowers over and along it and went inside. Joan and Doris hugged me and we all cried for a bit. They went back to their husbands who were weaker than before. They were fine men and I was rapidly losing hope for them and my little granddaughter, Ann.

I decided that my office was not that important any more. Preparations for the future needed to be considered and this was my place to plan and work. I went to my study, opened a pad, and started making a list of things to do assuming my fears were correct and a complete breakdown was coming. We would need a source of food, power, and water that was sustainable. We would need a place of relative safety. At the time, I was thinking more of animals than people. That thought came later in the day.

Joan came in and told me my granddaughter had just died and that her husband was not doing well. She asked me to bury Ann next to her grandmother. I agreed thinking there would be two more graves soon.

I went outside, retrieved my shovel and started digging another grave. Fortunately, the ground was soft or my sixty year old body would not have been able to handle the work. When I had it ready, I went inside for my granddaughter. Joan had wrapped her in her favorite blanket. We laid her next to Mary. Joan went inside and I covered her. I cried some more for both my losses and then went inside and back to my study.

My cell phone was ringing when I came in and I answered it. It was Jill Lewis, my boss, wanting to know where I was. I told her of Mary's death and she told me that many people had died but that we had to go on and try to help. I told her, "I quit," and hung up. That chapter was closed.

It started ringing again. It was Roger so I answered it. He was home, also, and very sick. He told me he was sorry about Mary and he didn't know if he or his wife were going to make either. After Ralph called, Dora called. She said that, since Sam, her husband, had died from cancer, she didn't care. I told her I understood but also had to go. She understood and we said our good byes. As I put the phone down, I realized that she may be gone before long.

I continued working on my list. As much as I loved this house, it wasn't practical for long run survival. We would need a farm of some kind. I started up my laptop and started googling and downloading articles on farming, livestock raising, guns, fishing and anything else that came to mind. A few hours passed as I worked diligently.

Joan and Doris came in even more red-eyed. Their husbands had both died. I thought to myself, "Two more graves." They wanted to know what I thought we should do. I thought for a moment, "We have plenty of food here. Right now, we need to stay put and rest and give our emotions time to ease. Then, we can take a look at the world and make plans."

They both nodded and left to prepare their husbands. I went to the backyard to prepare two more graves. When they were ready, my daughters and I carried each of their husbands outside and laid them in the ground. They went back in and I shoveled dirt over the sites.

It had been a long, sorrowful day. I had a bad feeling that there would be many more to come.

I checked my phone for texts the next morning and found none. My wife said, "Bob, do we need to check more houses than the ones close to us?"

"I don't know. I started with these but really didn't have a plan beyond them."

"Let's not for now anyway. I can think of one thing to do and that is to bury the bodies. Otherwise, the stench will be bad. I think that we will need to go to those houses to care for the livestock and crops. When we were shopping, I picked up a box of surgical masks. We could use them with something in them if smell becomes a problem. I think the sooner, we start, the better. Also, everybody goes and helps."

I agreed. So, after breakfast, we started out with shovels, masks and gloves. We started at the Stover house like yesterday. Charlie came back from the barn yelling, "Dad, Dad, you have got to see this! Stover had a larger tractor with a digging attachment on it! We can use it and save a lot of time and labor!" Doris motioned me off and I went to see. He was right. It would save us hours. I cranked it up and drove it out of the barn. I stopped it and jumped down. I told Charlie to dig a grave for two in the front yard away from trees. When he asked for dimensions, I guessed and told him. I went back into the barn as he left on his task and made two wooden crosses. Then, I went inside to help Doris and the girls. We wrapped the bodies in blankets and carried them out the front. Charlie was there on the tractor with a mound of dirt. He was a little deep but, it wouldn't hurt. We buried them together and then Charlie covered the graves. I erected the two crosses.

We went back inside and checked the house for things that would smell if left alone. We carried out the garbage. I recognized that we would have to burn it as there would be no pickup anytime soon! The Stovers had a garbage pit where they had burned garbage and trash. We put what we had gathered in there. I looked at it and the pit. I decided that we could fire it up and leave it unattended. We fired it up and left for the next house with Charlie following us on the tractor.

We repeated the process over and over until we finished all the houses on our road. Only one other had a trash pit but we put garbage in the front of the tractor and took it back to the Stover house and refilled the pit. It burned all the rest of the day and night. Charlie rode the tractor home. I decided that some other type of conveyance would be a good idea. Our cars would not last forever and it wasted gas to make short trips in a big vehicle. I put that in the back of mind for later. We would venture out but not for another couple of weeks.

That night, Doris suggested that we put together lists of items we needed or would need. She told the kids that nothing was too crazy and that we would have to plan for forever. She said, "I don't think we will be returning to our old lives. Too many people have died and what we knew as civilization is gone with them. We will have to form a new order with the other survivors. We will have to become farmers and herders, butchers and mechanics, hunters and fishers. We have to doctor ourselves until and if we find a real doctor."

"Bob, how many people do you think will survive?"

"Doris, that's an open question and the answer is tough but, here's my guess. We lived in a subdivision of one hundred plus homes and we five survived out of it. No one from the eleven houses in addition to ours on the road survived. That suggests a ninety-nine percent or higher fatality rate. The U.S. had about three hundred million population before and that leaves three million in the entire country. That's not many. Unfortunately, I think it's probably correct. The good news is that most of those left will be families like us. Angela, you are now part of the family."

 
There is more of this chapter...
The source of this story is Storiesonline

To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account (Why register?)

Get No-Registration Temporary Access*

* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.

Close
 

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...

Storiesonline is for adult entertainment only. By accessing this site you declare that you are of legal age and that you agree with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.