Journal Entry #4 (Original Dystopian Story)

July 25, 2023 8:01pm

Well I’m starting to get settled here in central Oregon. I found a beautiful abandoned farm that seems to be untouched. I’m hoping it’s just rural enough that I won’t have to worry much about them. I spent today barring and boarding windows, I’m getting settled nicely in the basement and I’m really looking forward to sleeping on a mattress tonight! I boarded up the basement and then filled in the windows with dirt and rock. That should keep any unwanted visitors out and hopefully will let me get some sleep tonight. There’s still a lot to be done before I feel as secure indoors here, as I did back home. Maybe tomorrow I will work on some of the creature comforts but today I really was mainly working toward the goal of not sleeping in my trunk again.

The rakes are relentless but they seem to gravitate toward populated regions. I don’t want to even think about what they do with the people they take. I do know that once you’ve been taken by a rake you never come back. Most houses the evidence of what happened is pretty clear, blood and gore spattered through the sleeping areas. Don’t get me wrong, I know they don’t exclusively prey on the sleeping. There is plenty of evidence of death and horror everywhere, seemingly anything with a pulse was taken. Dogs in yards, cats, chickens, horses, cattle - you get the idea. I’ve never had a chance to get a good look at a dead one. The bodies of the ones I have managed to put down are gone by morning. I assume they take those too.

I will have to do some serious scavenging to get my stores built back up again. I have my bug out supplies and gear, but that really is only enough to get me through about a month or so hunkered down. I really need to find some coffee… I haven’t had a cup in several days, so go ahead and add headaches to the list of bullshit I’m dealing with right now. Tomorrow while I’m exploring the area I am also going to try to start mapping the nearby nests. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and there won’t be any within a couple miles of here.

I didn’t have any luck reaching anyone by radio again tonight. I’m guessing that it’s mostly because I’m in a basement now. Maybe tomorrow I will try to find some parts for putting up an antenna, until then I probably won’t waste the battery power again. Hopefully I get a break from some of this summer heat, I think I probably miss air conditioning at night even more than I miss Netflix. That is one perk of this spooky basement though, it is seemingly colder than everywhere else.

Journal Entry #1: https://steemit.com/fiction/@akuda/journal-entry-1-mountain-money-original-work-2017719t121847784z

Journal Entry #2: https://steemit.com/fiction/@akuda/journal-entry-2-original-dystopian-story

Journal Entry #3: https://steemit.com/fiction/@akuda/journal-entry-3-original-dystopian-story