Well we made Lemmon today. I had high hopes when I saw smoke coming from the high school. They were dashed when a few stragglers walked out to greet us. The only person I recognized was the owner of the bowling alley in town. He didnt seem to know me until I told him my name. I asked about my family and he said he knew nothing. His body language said otherwise but I couldnt get anyhting out of him. We rode over to their house. It was a basic ruin. Part of the roof had caved in and it was obviosly uninhabited. I searched where I could and found nothing. There wer the remains of paper notes on the fridge but thyere unreadable. All the weapons I had stored were gone (not surprising) but the gun cases were intact and not broken in. I had hopes they had been taken by my family when they left. We checked the grandparents houses and found the same. Neglect and decay of a year with no repairs. I did find several guns in grandpa freds house and cased them to take back with me. They were nothing special but I wanted them anyway. We stopped back at the high school but none seemed interested in us. We had been there less than an hour and decided to pull out for my parents farm in lodgepole.

we went cross country to avoid any posible problem crossing into ND. It took a little longer and some complicated navigation but we got there. the farm looked just like it always did. Everything was kept up and in good shape. We rode up to the house not expecting much. I was totally dumbfounded when Dad walked out. We kind of stood there for am awkward moment and then hugged hard. Matt walked over and I introduced him. Dad invited us in. I was blown away when I walked in the house. There was both of the parents in law, my uncle Vaughn, aunt and uncle Bill and June and my brother in law Mike. The absences were quite conspicuous. Mom, my wife and daughter, aunt Gene and sister were all missing from the equation. Dad motioned for me to come outside. In the backyard where the apple trees were were their graves. Dad said that the first sumer after the infection, some kind of sickness tore through the area. No one knew what it was or how to stop it. If you got sick, you died within hours. It was random who it took and who it didnt. You simply feel into a feverish coma and never awoke. It was a crushing blow for me. Dad held me for a while, and I needed it. We walked back into the house and the other had some food ready. Potatoes, meat and some greens. I didnt feel much like eating but mechanically fed myself. Dad had built a fireplace on the south side of the house and it had a merry fire burning away. Matt asked me if I was OK and I shook my head. I needed a littel time.