Alone on Earth – Entry #56

January 10, 2017


12:21AM
Dear Diary

I am back in the service station after sitting in an old run down 2011 Toyota truck for about 2 hours. I was freezing so much until I could not take it any longer. About 2 and ½ hours ago, rats were swarming the floor of this service station. So, I made a mad dash to the door, only to have rats attack my legs, and two jumped on my head. I ran screaming into the bitter cold night, hitting at my head, legs and stomach where another rat had jumped onto me. I just knew I had gashes and blood streaming from my head, stomach and legs. But, after examining myself in the pale moonlight, I could find no bites, no blood and no sign of the rats. I cautiously made my way back inside the service station and saw no sign of the rats. I was not sleeping. So, I know it was not a dream. It was another attack by the Blackness. It was so real. I just knew I had flesh and muscle ripped away. The rats were as big as some of the tomcats that lived near my home back in Axis. I will try to sleep. But, I know this is a lost cause now. And I have to push on to Del Rio in the morning.....if I make it to morning.

06:40AM
Dear Diary

I made it through the rest of the night without incident.....except for the snickering laugh that I'm so familiar with coming from the Blackness. That eliminated any doubt I had about the possibility of the rat attack being my own imagination. Gerasene said the Blackness would not give up trying to stop me. He was right. There is a light snow outside. The sign out in front of the service station said Del Rio is 52 miles. I might make that in two hours if Hwy 90 is not too terribly packed with snow, ice and abandoned vehicles. Most likely, it is a three hour drive. I don't feel like eating breakfast. I just am not really hungry. I am taking multivitamins to try and keep my strength up. It is getting increasingly difficult for me to try and jumpstart that big Honda Gold Wing motorcycle. I don't know how much longer I can do this. Walking simply is not an option at this point. If only I could find a car with a battery that worked. But, I could not navigate around the numerous vehicles with a car. I don't know why I even thought about doing that. Time to go.

08:36AM
Dear Diary

I have stopped on Hwy 90 to rest. I'm about 30 miles West of Cline now. Again, there are not as many vehicles as I imagined it to be. There are virtually none on Hwy 90 East. Everyone was going West.....as if they knew safety that way. But, why were so many going East from Montgomery, AL to Atlanta, GA? I don't see how I missed so much of the news on November 16th of last year. People knew something was wrong. I figured Mr. Or Mrs Anderson would have at least stopped by to let me know something. I didn't associate with my neighbors all that much. But, I know they would have let me know if something was wrong. But, nobody told me anything and there was nothing I noted on CNN or MSNBC that day to think anything catastrophic was about to happen. The one thing that I can never adjust to in this new world is the total silence. There is a slight wind from the north. But, other than that.....nothing. No birds, no insects, just tumble weed, grass and the wind. And, of course, there is always the snow. I never knew I could hate snow so much. On to Del Rio.

10:11AM
Dear Diary

I am in downtown Del Rio. This border city is bigger than I thought it would be. Del Rio is much like the other cities I have been to, diary. Everyone was preparing for Christmas of last year. There is a huge Christmas tree in front of the 4-lane entrance to Laughlin Air Force Base. Odd.....two jet fighters of some type are parked in front of this huge warehouse parking lot. Another mystery that I simply don't have time to investigate. Other than that, not much to write about here. Everything is the same in every city. But, everthing is different at the same time. That doesn't make sense to me either, diary. But, it is what I sense in every city......a sense that things are not real. It's almost like this is all fake and people are going to come out from all the stores at any minute. It's that sense of impending......surprise. I feel this way in every town. Well, I need to visit some of the stores. I have to force myself to eat. I have been dizzy just writing this down. I'm worried about myself.

12:15PM
Dear Diary

I have ate a light lunch of sardines, stale crackers and I heated up some pork and beans on a fire I made at this house I am eating my lunch. I went into the drug store to get a few things, including more vitamins. But, one again, I found a familiar scene.....the semi-circle of crucifixes in front of the checkout counter. I'm sure this means people knew something. But, how can people from as far east as Atlanta and, at least, as far west as Del Rio know to do this? This obviously was for protection against a certain evil. The Blackness and even Gerasene comes to mind. But, I think it's more than that. There is something here which is missing in this equation. These people were scared about just more than an evil duo from hell. There's more to this than meets the eye. But, what this could be, I don't know......yet. I am going to push on. I could stay here in Del Rio. But, there is not much to check out other than the Air Force base. It is so massive, I could spend at least a day investigating it. But, like the Naval base in Pensacola, I doubt I will find any answers. Mostly, I would just find even more questions. I don't have the strength to do that now. I've got to move on in my journey west. According to a sign I saw coming into Del Rio, Marathon is 175 miles. There is no way I will make it before darkness falls. It is now starting to get increasingly darker at around 2PM. Has the Earth's rotation changed?

2:22PM
Dear Diary

I made fairly decent good time. The snow and ice was still bad. But, not as many cars now the further I go into Texas. No idea why. I am going to stay in a little town of Pumpville. Mostly just a stop in the road. It even advertises itself as a “ghost town.” Yes, diary, just what I needed at this point in my quest to reach Van Horn. There is a gas station here. A Baptist Church of which I plan to stay the night. There are a bunch of railroads from which it appears they have not been used in decades. No idea as to why it is called Pumpville. But, I don't care. I plan on spending the night here. The suffocating quiet of this place seems worse than at any other town. The wind was blowing rather briskly before I came into this little town......or stop in the road. But, even the wind isn't blowing here. I'm going to look around this church, and then prepare to eat dinner. Again, I am feeling dizzy, a bit light headed at times, diary. My health is continuing to deteriorate. All I can do is pray I make it to Van Horn.

6:57PM
Dear Diary

I have ate a pretty good dinner of canned yams, navy beans, corned beef and hash and some crackers I found in Del Rio. But, again, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I ate about half of what I heated up for dinner. It started snowing heavily while I had that fire going outside. I finished just in time to get my food inside the church. I decided to push the motorcycle inside the church because there was no way I could protect it from the snow. This may be sacrilegious. But, I can't think like that right now. I have to do what I have to do. I have one bottle of wine left. I guess I might as well go all the way to being sacrilegious. The wind is now starting to pick up with the snow outside the church here. I'm going to rest a bit, drink some of this wine and read from this Sports Illustrated magazine that someone smuggled inside the church during services, I suppose. Funny.....this magazine is dated March 11, 2008. But, the magazine itself seems almost brand new. I give up trying to figure things out in this world, diary.

10:39PM
Dear Diary

One of the things I have not been able to figure out from this church is there are no bibles. I was looking to replace the one I lost. But, there are none to be found anywhere. In fact, like in several other churches I have visited, there were no crucifixes here. Astounding as that seems, it is all true. The crucifixes were always in drug stores, private residences and even in hospitals. But, none in any church I have been inside. Once again, a mystery wrapped in an enigma. The pews look brand new, or at least it seems that way with this light from the candle. Saw something strange just outside one of the windows......a willowy wisp of something just went by very quickly. Is this ghost town living up to its name? I'm too tired to investigate and too sick to even care. It seems.....once again the increasingly loud “caw, caw, caw” of crows. This time it sounded like it came from inside the church itself. In fact, I know it did. I am going to check around the church as best I can.

11:51PM
Dear Diary

After a very careful check, I could find nothing inside the church itself. I didn't really expect to find crows, diary. But, at this point, I can't be too careful either. The snow is not letting up outside. If it snows too much, it is not.....I heard my name called outside the church door, diary. And I heard it again, and again.....David......David......David.....it is continuing. I am going to have to open this door. I don't have to......but I am going to do it. I'm scared.....no, I'm going to open the door.......David......David. I can't stand this any longer. I have to open the door. I am preparing to open the door now, diary.....