It was a long day but it went better than I expected. She is a pretty good shot and today she proved it by going back to the school and practicing on undead moving targets. I thought she might have a problem with shooting them because she knew them and went to school with them before the pandemic started. But, she did not have any trouble shooting at the "Bod Squad" as she calls the popular girls clique. It was only when the priest came around the corner of the building after she had taken about 10 shots that she showed any emotions. After we left and came back to the church, she told me about Father Jameson and it made me wish I had a chance to meet home before all this happened. I grew up in a small town too and the priest at our local Catholic church was not as good at not judging his flock. I saw him snub families just because they were poor and could not contribute as much as he thought they should. The one time we had a member of the congregations sister and daughter at church. I remember him finding out that she was an unwed mother and he threw her out of the church social after the services. I think he might have thrown them out of the church itself, if he had found out before or during the services. At least Jenna and her grandparents did not have to deal with shallow priests like that.
When I went to take care of the priest, Jenna freaked out and started yelling at me to stop. I had to explain where I was coming from. If I became undead, I hoped that someone would care enough to take me out. I asked her if she thought her family or Father Jameson would want to be undead, or if I had done the right thing for her grandparents and mother. I also asked her, if she became one of those creatures, if she would want someone to take care of her? She thought about it while I drove around the block and by the time we were back around to Father Jameson, she had decided that putting him out of his undead misery was the right thing to do. She ended up taking the shot herself and took out his brain in one shot. Damn, I was so proud of her. She didn't cry about it until we got back here, to the church.
We were able to stay around the school long enough for her to get about 50 shots in. I had to explain to her the difference in aiming at moving targets, how you have to move with the target. The first moaner she shot at, it took her 5 shots to take it down. The next one only took 3 shots. Most of the moaners after that she took out, she did it in 2 shots or less. Father Jameson was the first one she took out in a single shot. After that, she took aim and fired without thinking about it and it made her aim better. I am really glad that she was so open to learning how to safely operate firearms. I drove a few blocks away from the school and got out a couple of the rifles I have. I had her practice with a 12 gauge shotgun and a .22 rifle that I have had since childhood. It took her only a moment to become a great shot with the .22 rifle. She told me she loved shooting it because it was so accurate and had hardly any recoil. The shotgun, on the other hand, she did not enjoy as much. She said she was nervous about the spread and didn't want to carry one if case she had to shot something near me.
When we got back to the church yesterday, there was moaner on the street in front. This is the first one I have seen in this town except for the ones at the school. Jenna said that most everyone was taken to the school, so there shouldn't be too many on this side of the train tracks. Then, this afternoon when we got back, there were two more on the street. We have been really careful about sound around here because I know that it draws them through personal experience. I wonder if they can smell us on the breeze and if they can, how do they know where to follow to find the live morsel they can smell? Is it the sound of my truck, coming and going the last few days, that has drawn them here? Do they have any reasoning skills left? Could they figure out which direction the smell was coming from? I am going to have to ask Jenna what she thinks. After all, she was able to see the group that ran her up the play structure for days. I wonder if she saw anything to help her answer some of these questions. I am also going to have to think about finding somewhere to observe the creatures to see if we can get answers to these questions.
Jenna is already asleep because tomorrow will be another full day. I want to look around town to see if there is anything else worth taking with us. This is the country, so some of these house have got to have firearms in them. And if not, maybe some ammunition. I better get some sleep. We will be leaving the day after tomorrow to continue on the way to the Dallas International Airport.
As a writer and artist, I appreciate
any readers and their comments. Thank you for taking the time to read
this blog. Please, come read the other blog I write for our artisan
collective, Raven's Castle Creations, on our website at
www.ravencastlecreations.com. It includes posts on art, the mythology
of symbols we use in our art, history and more! Also, come see the
art we produce in our Etsy store at
etsy.com/shop/RavenCastleCreations. Follow us on Twitter at
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