Wanderer (Book 1): Wanderer

water left. Nothing like this better happen again because I used the last of the gas, not that there was much to begin with.
The glue didn’t dry as quickly as it did back in eighth grade, I think it was because of the water, but so far it was holding.
I decided to sit out on the roof, as I sometimes do after a long day, and watch the sun set. I don’t view sitting up there as dangerous because of the way the roof is set up. Whoever designed it gave it two peaks and the middle creates a kind of barrier from the outside world. My sister used to come up here to clear her head after her fights with whatever boyfriend she had at the time.
Even in the roofs alcove of safety I could see the plume of smoke getting ever closer. I would have to lay low again for the next few days and hope they pass on.
The clouds are rolling in behind me. They were almost black, even against the coming night sky. Lightning exploded from the clouds in regular intervals. It was going to be a big one.
I opened the hot tub and set my buckets before I went inside.

Entry 14
Seven cans of beans, twelve cans of corn, one can of cream of chicken soup, four cans of stew, and one can of yams are all that’s left after the blaze gutted the garage.
Really, it’s less than that because I won’t eat the yams, no matter how dire the situation is. At least three year’s worth of food all burnt to a crisp except these 25 cans of, well, side items really.
All of that food destroyed in an instant by Mother Nature’s fury. There were a few other bits of food left too, like a couple of bags of beef jerky, but nothing that will sustain us.
It was the worst sound I had ever heard, a high-pitched buzzing of all the plugged-in electronics turning on then being blown out.
It was followed by the most blinding light ever as all the lights in the house turned on then exploded when they were overloaded. From the outside the house must have looked like a mad scientist’s lair for a moment.
A chunk of glass from the light that hung underneath my ceiling fan fell and cut my cheek.
The lightning had hit the satellite dish and sent a surge of electricity through the whole house. I guess I had never really seen the need to unplug all the electronics. Everything that was plugged in was now ruined. The microwave, the fridge, the TVs, my iPod that my mom got for me, gift number three from that fateful birthday. I used to watch movies on it some nights before bed. Not anymore.
The house looked like a disaster area. There was glass everywhere. I had to lock Mandy in the bathroom so she wouldn’t cut her feet on it. Little burn marks snaked their way up the walls from the sockets. The fridge, oven, dishwasher and microwave doors had all been blown open.
I discovered all of this after I put out the fire of course. The lightning had hit the satellite dish in such a way that sparks ignited the roof of the garage and it went up like wild fire. My overgrown foliage had come back to bite me in the ass.
The house filled with smoke fairly quickly. When I got to the living room the fire had already breached the door leading to the garage. I grabbed one of my fire extinguishers from under the sink and tried my hardest to put out the fire. Tears fell down my face as I tried in vain to extinguish the flames.
The cans of food would heat up and explode, they sounded like the mini bombs we used to make out of Piccolo Petes on the Fourth of July. Each pop was a pop closer to starvation.
I went through five extinguishers trying to subdue the blaze. Thank God it was raining, otherwise it would’ve taken the whole house. Not that that mattered now.
If the fire had burned slower or the lightning had hit closer to the front side of the house, I might have been able to seal off the garage and continue on, but the fire had gutted the living room. I was now standing in an open air living room staring into the garage.
Yesterday, the scavengers were about a mile away from the house at sundown. And with the fire turning the house into a giant beacon, similar to the ones of middle earth, they would surely be on their way at first light. I didn’t have much time.
It had stopped raining and water was falling in from the edges of the burnt roof as the sun rose. The garage was a smoldering mess. It takes all I have not to lose it. Writing is usually therapeutic, but somehow I don’t think writing in the journal will help me at the moment.
I found a piece of melted metal twisted like a piece of modern art. It was the bow. Why didn’t I put it away the second I got back? Probably the same reason I didn’t take the deer down to the dump. I tossed the hunk of useless metal back into the ashes. The embers were still glowing when they were disturbed by the bow.


Entry 15
Mandy was happy to be out of the confinement of the bathroom. She didn’t know it yet, but we were leaving. She’s not normally allowed to, but I let her lie on my bed while I got things ready.
It took a little digging, but I found my backpack at the bottom of my closet.  I stuffed it full of anything and everything I thought I might need; band aids, iodine, gauze pads, alcohol wipes, antibiotic ointment, a manually charged flashlight, a Leatherman tool. I put extra bullets in the front pouch before wrapping the revolver in a towel and placing