Soil

3/15/2028

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve tried writing these letters. Last time I stuck them to the toll booth on the state line. No response ever came. Maybe I’m alone or maybe no one is walking those old highways anymore. We used to migrate on mass down abandoned highways, going from state to state looking for other survivors. We never found anyone. Eventually, we stopped moving and stayed in Nevada. We were happy here, no soil in the desert. The dirt here didn’t seem infected, not at first anyway. We stayed at the Bellagio, but if you arrive here now go to the Mirage. There are still supplies there. I will go there once a month on this day to see if anyone shows up.

4/15/2028

Another month has passed, and I’m still alive and alone. I found a supply room on last month’s trip to The Mirage. They had stacks of printer paper, so now I can post multiple letters all over the city, and the road heading into Las Vegas. If you are passing through please consider staying. We have packaged foods, enough for years to come. The hotels and casinos are well-stocked! The hotels are large enough to live comfortably without having to go outside and risk the elements, I doubt there’s anywhere better this side of the Pacific.

Everyone left Vegas pretty quickly after it all started, you know in those early days no one knew any better, we still thought it was a virus passing from person to person. We tried to distance ourselves. I went to stay with my sister in rural Wyoming, she had passed by the time I arrived. My husband came with me and died 2 weeks after my sister. It was a month after that we found out it was the soil poisoning us all. It was my idea to go to Wyoming from Arizona, taking away our air filters and putting us straight into the belly of the beast. I don’t feel the same guilt I used to, I just did the best with the information I had, and we all did.

I’ll be back at The Mirage again next month, if you find yourself there please make yourself at home.

5/15/2028

I hope no one is reading these and getting hopeful that have some special trick to survival. Of course, I followed the guidelines they set out, “do not eat anything that grows out of the soil or eat any animals that feed on what grows out of the soil. If you have a garden pour cement over any soil, grass, or muddy areas. Any plants must be destroyed with cement poured over their beds. Stay out of the countryside and congregate in urban or desert areas.” Not that any of it worked, the very oxygen we breathe is processed through the plants coming out of the soil. 

I did eventually find other groups of survivors, we thought if we were strict, if we were just careful enough we’d be fine. But they all got infected eventually. Except for me of course, it’s been at least two and half years years since I was left alone in Vegas. The best I can tell I’m just naturally immune. Unfortunately, I was adopted so I have no way of knowing if it’s a genetic trait, I did try and track down my biological parents but by that time two-thirds of the population were gone and most government agencies had shut down. Sorry I’m rambling, it’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone to talk to. 

I’ll be back at The Mirage next month, hope to see you there.

6/15/2028

I saw a cat today! A few years ago that would not have been interesting enough to commit to a letter, but in these barren times seeing a cat is the only happy moment I’ve had in months! Tomorrow I’m going to try and find the poor love, maybe I will finally have a companion. Such a beautiful animal, they have grey and brown fur with a fluffy white patch on the end of their tail. I wonder if it’s a girl or a boy?

I also discovered honey buns in the basement of the Aria! So all in all a great week! This is the place to be in an apocalypse! I have hope that if a simple cat can find their way to this paradise then humans can too! I’ll make two trips to the Mirage this month! Hope to see you there.

7/17/2028

I never found the cat, maybe it was just my imagination. It’s hard to tell these days what’s real and what’s not. 

My pen ran out halfway through writing this month’s letters and it took me two days to find another one, all the ink was drying up, and this is the only one I found that still works. When we first arrived here we lived in such great abundance, all 52 of us eating and drinking to our heart’s content. We kept journals and wrote letters to family in the hope that someone might have survived. So much hope and joy, for 3 months we thought we’d make it. We thought we had found a way to live. Mary was the first to die, we never found out what was contaminated but one by one everyone started falling. A few people decided to try their luck in another town, they left on 3/15/2025. I hoped they would come back but about three months after they left I found their bodies decomposing on Craig Road. By that time I was already alone. It’s funny, the only name I remember now is Mary, she was an odd woman, obsessed with old romance novels. She would search all the hotel lost and found for Daniel Steel’s books. In the end, she decided to take her own life rather than wait for the virus to slowly claim her. I wonder if her stash is still tucked away somewhere?

It’s a shame about the cat, it was so beautiful. 

10/20/2028

Hello, I’m sorry I don’t know your name but I’ve been finding your letters all over Vegas! I came here with my son and we were so excited to read your story! We came to The Mirage but there was no sign of anyone, we’ll find a room here to stay in so hopefully we’ll meet on your next visit. 

I believe you’re right about genetic immunity, my son and I haven’t had any symptoms, no blisters or rash, no bleeding eyes or vomiting. Unfortunately, my parents died in a car accident when I was 24 so I have no way of knowing which side of the family it comes from or if we just got lucky with some genetic mutation. My wife and in-laws died pretty early on, thankfully they went quickly and didn’t suffer too long. Now it’s just me and Paul, making our way across America trying to find other survivors. We’ve been taking local side roads and making detours throw small towns.

We did find a small group of survivors in Utah, they had created a robust little bubble for themselves. We stayed with them for a couple of months before the virus took hold of them. We haven’t found anyone else since then, that was about 6 months ago.

We will make ourselves at home and hope to meet you soon!

Mark and Paul.

12/22/2028

My name is Mark, my son and I are the only known survivors in Vegas. We have plenty of supplies and room to welcome any other traveler. We’ll be staying at The Mirage until the summer heat gets too strong then we plan to cross over into California. 

I hope to see you soon, and if you happen to spot a grey and brown cat please bring it with you.

Mark.