The Dystopian Diaries Read online

  K.W. CALLAHAN

  THE DYSTOPIAN DIARIES

  THE 5 BOOK SET

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Text and image copyright © 2020 K.W. Callahan

  All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Callahan, K.W.

  The Dystopian Diaries – The 5 Book Set/ K.W. Callahan

  ISBN: 9781652809364

  BOOKS BY K.W. CALLAHAN

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: DOWNFALL

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: QUEST

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: DESCENT

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: FORSAKEN

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: ASCENSION

  AFTERMATH: PARTS I-III

  THE M.O.D. FILES: THE CASE OF THE GUEST WHO STAYED OVER

  THE M.O.D. FILES: THE CASE OF THE LINEN PRESSED GUEST

  PALOS HEIGHTS

  PANDEMIC DIARY: SHELTER IN PLACE

  PANDEMIC DIARY: FLEE ON FOOT

  PANDEMIC DIARY: PANDEMIC PIONEERS

  THE FIFTH PHASE: BOOKS 1-5

  THE LAST BASTION: BOOKS 1-5

  THE DYSTOPIAN DIARIES: BOOKS 1-5

  THE DYSTOPIAN DIARIES

  THE 5 BOOK SET

  K.W. CALLAHAN

  THE DYSTOPIAN DIARIES

  BOOK 1: A HOLDOUT FOR HOPE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Text and image copyright © 2018 K.W. Callahan

  All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Callahan, K.W.

  The Dystopian Diaries – Book 1: A Holdout for Hope / K.W. Callahan

  ISBN: 9781099118678

  BOOKS BY K.W. CALLAHAN

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: DOWNFALL

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: QUEST

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: DESCENT

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: FORSAKEN

  THE SYSTEMIC SERIES: ASCENSION

  AFTERMATH: PARTS I-III

  THE M.O.D. FILES: THE CASE OF THE GUEST WHO STAYED OVER

  THE M.O.D. FILES: THE CASE OF THE LINEN PRESSED GUEST

  PALOS HEIGHTS

  PANDEMIC DIARY: SHELTER IN PLACE

  PANDEMIC DIARY: FLEE ON FOOT

  PANDEMIC DIARY: PANDEMIC PIONEERS

  THE FIFTH PHASE: BOOKS 1-5

  THE LAST BASTION: BOOKS 1-5

  THE DYSTOPIAN DIARIES: BOOKS 1-5

  THE DYSTOPIAN DIARIES

  BOOK 1: A HOLDOUT FOR HOPE

  September 6th

  5:05 p.m.

  Today I saw someone die. That might sound weird coming from a 37-year-old. You’d think I’d somehow have seen someone die before. I mean, some people see people die all the time – doctors, nurses, emergency personnel. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen dead people before, people in coffins, at funerals, stuff like that, always prepped and looking as good as I suppose a dead person can. But I’ve never seen someone actually die, like in person, in real life, in real time. And I can tell you, it’s nothing like you see on television.

  You’d think that after all the movies, all the television shows, all the murder mysteries I’d be kind of desensitized to stuff like death and dying. But that’s not the case. I felt like I was going to throw up. Then again, I didn’t see someone just slowly slip away, the life fading from them like a candle gently being extinguished. I literally saw someone get their head blown off right in front of me.

  The whole thing jolted me into a sort of violent realization I guess. What I realized was that this, what’s going on around me, isn’t normal. It’s anything but.

  I don’t have time to go into it all right now. There’s a lot of stuff to catch up on. I have a dog to feed, a stiff drink to pour, and then I have to try to get some sleep if sleep is possible after the day I’ve had. Plus, I’ve never really been a “journal” kind of guy. So this is something new to me. I don’t think I’ve written this much since high school. My hand already hurts. Definitely not like typing or texting.

  Okay, write more later.

  September 9th

  6:13 p.m.

  I know it has been a few days, but I have a good excuse – the world is FALLLING APART!

  I kid you not! I’m not just exaggerating here. This world is going completely WACKY! I thought it’d calm down once I got outside Chicago, but it doesn’t seem to be much better here. At this point, I’m just happy to be alive and away from the nut-jobs out there.

  For a minute, I thought I was done for. It’s hard to describe what it’s like to have your life on the line. It’s something I’ve never experienced before, and I can say that it definitely SUCKS! It’s not like in the movies AT ALL. You don’t come out feeling like some sort of badass like Bruce Willis or something. It’s scary as shit, and you feel terrible afterwards! You just replay certain things over and over again in your head after they happen.

  Anyway, since Labor Day, I’ve been trying to get things organized as best I can. And now that I have a little time on my hands, let me try to at least put to paper a general recounting of what happened to me, where I am, and how I came to be here. It might take me a while, so bear with me. But at this point, what else do I really have to do other than just wait things out?

  So, first things first; I should probably introduce myself. I don’t know exactly why. Nobody will probably ever read this. But who knows, maybe one day I’ll have a kid or something. Although why in the hell he or she would ever want to read their old man’s ramblings is beyond me. And with the way the world’s heading right now, I’m not sure I’d ever want to bring another soul into this mess.

  But anyway, my name is Doug Williams. There! It’s down for posterity whether it matters or not. My sole companion now is my ever-faithful yellow lab (although he’s more white than yellow), Miles. He’s a bit of a doofus, slightly spoiled, and a touch overweight (well maybe more than a “touch”), but I won’t hold that against him since he takes after his owner.

  Ahhh! Hand cramp! This writing stuff BLOWS! Have to get used to it. For now, I need a break.

  7:15 p.m.

  Okay, better now. My hand has recovered for the moment and I got a hot dog and some baked beans in me. All is right with the world…well, maybe not with the “world”. But at least I’m alive, relatively safe, and my belly’s full (along with Miles’ belly – he had a hot dog and beans too. I’ll pay for those beans later tonight in the tent I’m sure!)

  So with the remaining daylight I have left, and in the light from my campfire (since I’m doing my best to save batteries), I’ll try to get through the rest of my story. No guarantees, though.

  First off, I never thought that losing my job would save my life. But here I am…at least for the moment. I may not be long for this world, but I’m in a hell of a lot better shape than millions of other schlubs who stuck around because they were tethered to their desks. Either they got sick and died or, by the sounds of things on the radio, by the time they realized it was time to get the hell outta Dodge, it was already too late. They either didn’t have the supplies, couldn’t escape the city, or they were already sick or dead.

  This virus thing, the “Su flu” they’re calling it, came out of nowhere. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say ‘nowhere’. Supposedly it came out of China. Wherever it came from, it spread fast – and I’m talking FAST! I mean, the first I heard about it was a couple of weeks ago. I suppose there was prob
ably talk about it on the news earlier than that, but I don’t pay much attention to the news; too depressing. Judging by the numbers of dead and dying out there, apparently a LOT of people weren’t paying attention to the news. But they’re sure as hell paying attention now if they’re not dead.

  I got the first real taste of what was to come when I was working at the store one day. See, I worked at this little family-owned grocery store. I was the manager there. It had been owned by the same family for almost 50 years. I don’t think it made much money, at least not toward the end. But it kept the family’s kids, and then the grandkids employed until they went off to college. And the big money was in the building itself, which the family owned too.

  Anyway, the couple that owned it was in their late-70s and ready to retire at the end of August, thus my lack of employment when the flu started coming on strong. They’d sold the building for some crazy money – I think it was almost $3 million! They were going to move to Florida once the store closed and the sale of the property was finalized. Wonder how that worked out? Poor bastards. Work your whole life and then retire into the apocalypse. But I got a nice severance check out of the whole deal, so I guess I should be thankful. And losing that job gave me the time and the money I needed to get out here.

  Woo! Man am I pooped! Between collecting wood all day and continuing to get camp set up, I’m exhausted. I was up at around five this morning, and I’d rather just stare at my campfire than at this page. So until tomorrow…

  September 10th

  7:20 a.m.

  Man, there is just something about camp cooking! Bacon, eggs, and black coffee fresh from the camp stove. Can’t beat it! Tastes so much better than the stuff I make at home. Probably the appetite I work up from all the physical activity during the previous day. Just have to be careful that the scent of bacon doesn’t draw outsiders – animal or otherwise! Miles sure wasn’t complaining about my breakfast either.

  Gosh, it’s so darn peaceful here, especially now, early in the morning. Kind of awesome in a way…kind of scary in another.

  So back to how I got here. As I was saying yesterday before the Sandman came calling with his magical sleep dust, I was working full-time at the grocery store. We had one week to go before going out of business, and I hadn’t even started looking for another job. To be honest, I was kind of burned out on the whole management scene. It’s hard enough just managing myself and Miles, let alone other people.

  So one day, this guy comes in, and he’s buying up all this stuff, like crazy stuff. Not crazy in the types of foods he’s buying so much as the quantities. So I ask him what’s up, and he starts telling me about this Su flu thing he’s heard about over in Asia. He’s going on about how it’s spreading like crazy and it’s only a matter of time before it gets to America. This guy is buying up a ton of crap and says he’s going to take his wife and kid, down to some out-of-the-way spot in Southern Illinois. Supposedly he’s going to meet invite a bunch of other family members to meet him down there since this secluded area is owned by a family friend or some nonsense, well, at least it seemed like nonsense at the time. Anyway, according to the dude, this was all hush-hush, which made him seem even crazier. He didn’t want a bunch of people getting the same idea and clogging up the roadways before he got out. God only knows why he bothered telling ME. But something about what he was saying must have stuck in my brain as a good idea.

  Wait, I think I hear something.

  7:43 a.m.

  Sorry, I guess whatever I heard was nothing. Thought I heard something moving in the woods, but it was probably just a squirrel or chipmunk or something.

  So back to my story. Anyway, this guy is telling me about his crazy plans, and I’m just trying to be polite and hear the guy out since he’s a customer and so I can get back to work. But in the days after he told me all this, I started paying more attention to anything I heard about this Su flu thing. And you know what? I started thinking that the guy wasn’t as crazy as I first thought. And then, right after the grocery store closed for business, I started seeing more stuff on the news since I had more time for paying attention to such things. So with some cash in my pocket from my last paycheck and the severance check, and plenty of time on my hands, I decided to pair a little vacation for myself with a precautionary measure. What I didn’t count on was just how fast this Su flu thing was going to take off and how crazy people would get.

  6:48 p.m.

  You wouldn’t think there would be so much to do when you’re out in the middle of nowhere. But I feel like I was busy all day. Between cooking food, walking Miles, collecting firewood, scavenging the woods for potential additional food sources, and other general housekeeping (or I guess I should say ‘camp’keeping) duties, there really didn’t feel like there was much down time until after dinner.

  Speaking of which, dinner tonight was a pre-formed hamburger patty (one of eight I bought before coming out here), chips, and the rest of the baked beans I made yesterday. I treated myself with two cookies for dessert.

  I figured I’d better eat the hamburgers since the ice in my coolers has pretty much melted. I’ll cook the rest tomorrow and finish them over the next couple days. Miles had a can of dog food since I figured I’d better start conserving my human food. I’d rather have him have to eat human food than vice versa.

  So I suppose I should probably provide a general idea of where I am. Before the flu outbreak, I lived in a western suburb of Chicago called Indian Head Park. It was a nice spot, nothing special, but good enough and close to work…at least until the flu hit.

  Starting about four days ago, I guess I can call Woodcrest Recreation Club my home. The club is about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. My parents used to bring me out here as a kid, and they remained members until they passed away several years ago. I’m the sole remaining member of the club in my family, and by the looks of things around here since I arrived, I might be the sole remaining member PERIOD!

  The club is about five miles outside the small town of Woodcrest, Illinois. It was built sometime in the 1920s, if my Woodcrest history serves me right, formed around old coal strip mines. The land was reclaimed after the mines closed, the mines themselves forming beautiful ponds and lakes sprinkled through rolling hills (formed from old mine tailing dumps), forests, and a smattering of grassy fields. There are a number of campsites, sprinkled throughout the vast club that is several hundred acres in size.

  But even though the club is large, there isn’t much here in the way of structures. There are several basketball and volleyball courts near the club entrance. There are several small outhouse style toilets, and a snack stand with attached changing rooms near the main lake that is open for swimming each summer season. There is also a sprinkling of playgrounds throughout the club grounds. Other than that, there isn’t much here, which is the way people liked it. It was a place to come and escape the city, for swimming, fishing, and playing.

  So how did I end up here? Good question.

  Like I said, after talking to the dude at the grocery store, I started thinking about what he said. After the store went out of business, I began working on a little plan of my own. And this was it.

  Since I wasn’t working, and I had plenty of time on my hands while this Su flu thing began to take hold, I decided to bulk up my own supplies – both in the way of food and camping gear. That way I was ready to roll if or when necessary.

  And tomorrow, I’ll relate what prompted me to make the move out here. But for now, I have to feed the campfire. I’m going to roast a few marshmallows for me and Miles, and then I’m going to stare at the stars and hit they hay. Man, camping takes a lot out of you! I’m POOPED!

  September 11th

  12:44 p.m.

  Lunchtime! I’m eating while I write. Sorry if I slob mustard from my burger or get potato chip grease on the paper.

  It’s absolutely beautiful out here. Earlier this morning, I took my chair and sat it atop the bank overlooking the lake below my camp. It’s amazing just
how serene this place is. I watched the dragonflies zigzagging across the lake. I saw several turtles and an array of fish swimming among the algae-covered logs at the lake’s edge in the amazingly clear emerald-green waters. I watched the wind coming down the lake through the treetops, rippling the leaves like people in the stands at sporting events doing “the wave”. The tranquility here is unlike anything you get in the city or suburbs. I feel very at peace.

  But I have to admit, last night was the first night I felt a little creeped out being here alone. Old memories I guess. And I kept hearing things moving in the woods. The noises didn’t bother me so much when I used to camp here with Mom and Dad when I was a kid. Now, well, I guess I’m more of a fraidy-cat.

  So as I was saying – or writing – yesterday, a couple days before I came out here, I was gathering supplies for my trip to Woodcrest. I had gone to a sporting goods store to work on my list of stuff I wanted to get before I left. One of these items was ammo for Dad’s old .38 caliber pistol. So I was waiting in line at the sporting goods store to get my box of ammo and there were a couple people in line with me. It just so happened that the guy behind me was buying ammo too – a LOT of ammo. Well, turns out, I guess he bought the last of a certain type of rounds the guy behind him wanted.