Outbreak Chronicles: New Valley
By: Trish Tatman
Tags: Short Story, Fiction, Interview

Outbreak Chronicles: New Valley

Interview with G.P. James (and friends)

Mr. Gunther Percival James is the leader and founder of New Valley, a ‘protected compound’ located in north Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. He brought two friends to the interview, Mr. Samuel Hillcrest and Ms. Jeanine Sanderson. Both live in the New Valley compound.

All interviews are video recorded and transcribed for accuracy.

Outbreak Chronicles Interviewer: Hello all, thank you for allowing me to come visit your… New Valley.

G.P. James: Oh, we’re always up for visitors, as long as you go through the proper channels in advance.

Jeanine Sanderson: Yes, plus it’s a good opportunity to really speak about the things we’re doing up at the estate.

OCI: What exactly do you consider New Valley? Is this just an estate? Or…?

GPJ: It’s a hybrid farm community, really.

Samuel Hillcrest: With a unique emphasis on protection and self-sufficiency.

GPJ: Correct. After what happened down in Los Angeles last fall, I thought “never again!” There’s just so many people down there, it’s a wonder we didn’t have a pandemic of that size before.

JS: Sammy and I were neighbors down in Mar Vista during the outbreak. So many died, but we just boarded up Sam’s apartment and waited it out. I’d already been stockpiling supplies in case of a massive earthquake, so we just transferred those to his place on the second floor and made a go of it.

SH: Not everyone was as lucky or prepared as us, though.

JS: G.P. can tell you what he went through…

GPJ: I was trapped on a roof for the better part of a week during the worst of the outbreak. You can still see a bit of sun damage on my neck here. I was damn lucky I had a hat… I never leave the house without one now.

OCI: How did you get trapped on a roof?

GPJ: Some damn idiot got bitten I’d imagine, I don’t really know how it all came to be. I was tending my front patio garden one day, then BANG BANG BANG. I hear some people beating on the wooden door we have that keeps the inner courtyard separate from the outside street area, right?

BANG BANG BANG. I knew it was infected. I could hear the yelling. I grabbed my go bag and me and Scout headed up to the roof —

JS: Scout is G.P.’s dog. Great dog. Part lab, part… what is his other part?

SH: Pitbull.

JS: That’s right. [Nodding.] Great dog.

GPJ: So we’re up on the roof, and I’m right as rain. Seven infected bust through the door. Two look pretty far gone, but the rest are newly… I don’t know what the term for it is. Turned?

OCI: That works.

GPJ: I figured they’d leave once they realized nobody was around to maim or eat or whatever the hell those monsters do. Or maybe I’d get lucky and some poor soul on the street would make enough noise to draw them out, but no! They were there for 5 damn days!

By the second day, two of them had just gone out. Like, you could tell they were on their last legs and just poof, died right there. It took a few more days for the others to wear down enough that Scout and me could sneak past.

Once all the government hoopla was over and done with, I sold my condo and bought a few acres up here. [Gestures widely.]

OCI: There’s at least ten of you that live up here, correct? How did you meet others with your same… passion. Err, goals?

SH: Craigslist, if you can believe it!

JS: There’s also a prepper forum I check on the regular, and G.P. had a posting there, as well. It seemed like kismet!

GPJ: I got a lot of bites, no pun intended there, but I was really interested in serious people who weren’t only looking for a place to hide, but a place to really make into a home. Jeanine was already advanced in disaster preparedness, so she was a no-brainer. Sammy here has a ton of survival skills, and we’ve also been teaching ourselves farming.

SH: We sure have, and it’s been pretty fun, despite the water setbacks.

GPJ: I can’t tell you how rewarding it’s been up here, learning how to live on our own. We still have internet and things, but it’s pretty spotty. Not super reliable. You have to go into town to get the good stuff.

OCI: How often do you guys leave the estate?

JS: Usually we make a trip out once a week. Saturdays are most common. We pick up some things we’re just not able to grow out here —

SH: Yet!

JS: Right, yet. Like coffee.

OCI: I noticed the fence when we drove in.

GPJ: Right, right. That’s part of our perimeter defenses. The infected can’t climb very well, not without assistance from like, the spaces in chain link fences and such. Eventually we want to reinforce the wood planks you see with metal crossbars, so they wouldn’t be able to topple the fence either.

OCI: So you are expecting another outbreak?

GPJ: Absolutely.

SH: It’s practically guaranteed at this point.

JS: We wouldn’t bother doing this otherwise.

SH: Though it is very fun learning how to do all this… stuff.

GPJ: Now that you’ve heard our sob stories, would you want to go on a tour of the grounds?

OCI: That would be lovely. Could we film it as well?

GPJ: Absolutely. We don’t have anything to hide. Besides, it’d be good to have the public at large see what we’re trying to build up here.

JS: It’s our goal to have everyone look into more self-sufficient ways of living.

SH: And protecting themselves come the next outbreak.

JS: Yes, that too. Definitely.

GPJ: Where to first, you think?

JS: The farms!

SH: The big house?

JS: The Cabin!

SH: We could visit the animals.

GPJ: Hmm, the Cabin is closest, we’ll start there.

The estate is four acres, but easily walkable. The sleeping quarters are housed in a large building the New Valley pioneers call the Cabin. There are bunks stacked two up along the walls, with plenty of room for more. Many of the bunks are decorated with photos or have personal trinkets on the nightstand. A few have pet beds or clothes trunks at the foot of them. There’s a washing station for clothing, and another that serves as a miniature bathroom.

GPJ: An outhouse is attached outside, but there’s indoor plumbing in the big house. That’s the big three story farmhouse looking thing you see when you come up the drive there.

OCI: Who lives in the big house?

GPJ: We did, before others moved here. Then we thought it better if we all bunked in the Cabin, so we converted the bedrooms to workrooms.

SH: We didn’t want to create an Us and Them dynamic on the grounds. So we all just sleep here. The bunks are actually really comfortable. We got these premium cushions for the mattresses in bulk. Pretty cheaply, too.

JS: We also bring a bunch of our fruits, veggies, and these homemade candles Annie makes from the beewax we collect to this farmer’s market every Thursday in NoHo.

GPJ: That helps offset some of the costs of the upkeep.

OCI: You have honey combs?

SH: Oh yeah. Bees, two horses, a few goats… oh, and Jeanine has two alpacas…

JS: I’m learning how to spin wool!

SH: …Six pigs, and god, too many chickens if you ask me.

GPJ: Sammy thinks they’re very loud. The chickens.

SH: And one bit me!

JS: But their eggs are the best breakfast.

SH: Your omelettes are the only reason I tolerate those little feathered monsters, Jeanine.

GPJ: Despite his dislike of the chickens, Sam built their coop with Bruce’s help. Bruce is another one of our Valley people. We really ought to come up with a name for us, shouldn’t we?

SH: I like Valleyers.

JS: Hm, that feels awkward in my mouth. What about Hill People?

SH: That makes us sound like mutants.

GPJ: What?

SH: Like, you know, The Hills Have Eyes?

OCI: Maybe just residents? Like the New Valley residents?

GPJ: I like that. It’s simple.

SH: But Hill People —

GPJ: We can take a vote later, Jeanine. Anyway, Bruce has been instrumental in helping us whip the old farmhouse into a proper lodging for the animals. Bruce is a carpenter.

SH: He used to work on the cabinetry for houses. He helped us improve the fence, too.

OCI: It seems like you all have a lovely place coming along out here.

GPJ: Thank you, that means quite a lot. We’re just ordinary folks making a go of it. We’re not some doomsday cult.

OCI: Have there been —

JS: We’ve been… visited —

SH: I’d call it harassed.

JS: Visited a few times by religious folks.

SH: The Mormons are fine, they’re at least polite. But its these militant Christian groups…

OCI: What are they after?

SH: Us to [air quotes] “accept Jesus and the end times” or some nonsense Look, me and God got a good, private, understanding…

JS: I’m just none too fond of any religion.

GPJ: We let people practice whatever they like here, we’re not some wacky cult. People just want to hate what they don’t understand.

JS: Like the Amish.

SH: Exactly.

JS: No, I mean, we’re kind of like the Amish.

OCI: I’m not sure they’re called Amish, technically —

SH: Oh yeah, I guess. But we wear jeans.

GPJ: I wouldn’t give up my denim for anything. Not even Jesus.

OCI: Right. So this building…

GPJ: This is the main house. [Indicates the three story farmhouse coming up on our right.] There’s a big kitchen where we make most of our meals. The chicken coop is just around here. This back door goes right out to the goats and chickens so we have easy access to them.

Jeanine and Maryann make breakfast most mornings, since they’re the best at it. Sam and I make lunch around noon, sometimes Annie or Bruce help. It’s not easy making food for ten people. [Laughs.] Then Sean, Ben and Dana make dinner. Jeremy doesn’t cook any of the meals, mainly because he would burn it all or set the house on fire, but he does collect all the ingredients for every meal —

SH: Which is quite the work just in and of itself, especially when we made that pumpkin pie.

JS: That pie was so good, though.

SH: Really good. The pumpkins were friggin’ heavy.

JS: Which is why Annie had Jeremy carry them for her.

GPJ: There’s also workrooms upstairs. A woodworking bench in the third bedroom… you can usually find Bruce there. We have an extremely rudimentary metal working area in the garage. It’s not actually… super safe in there unless you wear a lot of protective clothing.

We also have a craft room, where people can go to learn or make things like weavings or baskets or…

SH: Basket weaving. There is no underwater component, unfortunately. Yet.

JS: [Snorts.] It’s also a small library and game room. It’s mostly for just like, hanging out. There’s lots to do all over the grounds, but it’s also important to take time to just enjoy yourself. Otherwise you’ll go crazy.

GPJ: [Nodding.] Very true. Right, so, do you want to pet the alpacas?

OCI: I think I love this place. Sorry, I shouldn’t say that on the record. [Pause.] Nevermind, I’m not sorry. This place is awesome.

* * *

Overall our interview with the New Valley residents was a productive one. We toured the grounds for another two hours. It’s important to note that both interviewers are planning on moving onto the grounds by the end of the year.

Outbreak Chronicles is a daily series interviewing survivors from the 2017 rabies epidemic in Los Angeles County. A new report will be posted each day in November in the Outbreak Chronicles publication on Medium.