January 11th

Jimmy Varn reporting from the cadaverous city of Atlanta and I am still alive.

I am in a great mood because the fireplace works. I mean, all fireplaces work but this one didn’t choke me with smoke. It got damn cold by the middle of the afternoon yesterday and I got desperate. I started small with some furniture catalogs and got a fire going. It felt so good to have some heat that wasn’t coming off a toaster oven.

I should get some wood to put in the fireplace but where the hell am I going to get that? Do I start chopping down trees? And with what exactly, a butcher knife? I need a good old fashioned ax. What kind of zombie apocalypse am I having if I don’t have a blood-stained ax already?

What I did find is that a lot of people recycle. The amount of junk mail alone is astronomical. I raided my neighbor’s bins and got a bunch of paper. It burns fast but it will do for now. I am tempted to start looking for furniture I can break down and burn. Heck, I might start pulling up bushes and anything else I can find.

I got fire, mother-fuckers, and now I am hooked on it.

I started the fire last night thinking that the darkness would obscure the smoke. I brought the sleeping back down to the living room and slept in front of the fire. It was dead by the time I woke up in and the morning. Originally I wasn’t going to start the fire till dark again but fuck that. It was cold this morning. I restarted the fire and had a wonderful morning of having hot toes.

I held a pot over the fire and warmed up some green beans for breakfast. It was just green beans but it was a hot meal that didn’t need the generator and its mystery power level. It was green beans that I made. I felt like a god damn frontiersman. It was awesome.

I’ve also been waiting for zombies. So far none of the dumb fucktards seem to notice it. If they did show up, I might put up with a zombie siege just to have regular heat.

Heck, I’ve been waiting for live people too. The smoke should be a signal. I got fire people, come say hello and maybe rescue my ass.

This could be the last day I am blogging. I am really fucking excited.

I have been pretty fortunate so far. I have heat, I have food, and I have a place to sleep. I even have guns but I am too afraid to use them.

I have water for now but I need some sort of filter. I keep eyeing the faucet water but hell that could kill me for all I know. I started filling up some of the empty water bottles in case I do come up with a filter.

I wish there were more books. Three houses and all I find are fucking autobiographies. Why can’t I find a survival nut loaded with how-to books? Maybe it is because I am in Midtown. I might need to go to Cobb County. Ha, that would be a hell of a trip.

I am also down to eight cans of coca-cola which is killing me but man, do I enjoy that one can a day when I do have it. I miss sweetness. I want a candy bar, or a cookie or even butterscotch candy.

Today’s meal is mahi in a frying pan over the fire. I took a metal shelf that was being used in the bathroom and I made a little grill over the fire. I used more of my butter and some black pepper. I am having lima beans with it, which are not my favorite in the world but I am trying to cycle through the canned food. Armageddon would be only having lima beans to eat.

Okay, after lunch I am going to go scout some more and look for wood and hopefully an ax. I’m feeling good. I feel like I can survive just fine until this stupid zombie shit is over.