Hope
There are only seven of us left here in Saluda, but I'm beginning to have hope again. Since Juanita died 24 hours ago, none of us that remain are showing any signs of the plague. Besides myself and my little Jamie, there are five others.
Miguel Rodriguez, originally from Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. He came here five years ago, finding work on the poultry farms. Between his broken English and my broken Spanish, we can understand each other well enough.
Specialist Jake Menkel, a National Guardsman from Newberry, and a bit of a computer geek. He's been spending his spare time trying to find others still out there trying to communicate, though there aren't many.
Rodney Peebles, an elderly gent who used to be the custodian at the elementary school until he retired a few years back. I still remember when he discovered that I had decided to test one of the school's fire extinguishers to see if it really worked. Not only that, I remember him spraying me with the last of it. Certainly taught me not to mess with stuff that wasn't mine better than a spanking or a tongue lashing would have done. Haven't asked if he remembers that, as I'm too embarrassed to bring it up.
Cathy McDonnell and her young daughter Mary, they're Irish Travellers from Murphy's Village. Don't know why she and her husband came here three weeks ago instead of Edgefield, but he may have hoped to not be stigmatized as a thief and layabout as the Travellers often are. If so, he didn't help his cause when he was found entering empty houses looking for interesting belongings of the absent or dead owners. I can't remember if that was before or after martial law was declared, but in any case, he was shot for looting. We didn't blame his wife or child of course, and by then she couldn't have gone someplace else anyway. Still, she hasn't been the most sociable of people.
Seven survivors. It's not much, but with those who've managed to make it elsewhere, we might just be able to make it through. I hope others survive. A gelding, two fillies, three young stallions and one skittish mare does not make for a stable herd.