From the journal of Jenna Bless,March 10

March 10, 2017

     After I stopped writing yesterday, I heard a truck coming down the street. I waved and screamed and finally got his attention. Turns out that he used to be a correctional officer in a detention center, not a jail. I don't know the difference, but it seems to matter to him what  I call it. So detention center it is.
     He drew the moaners away with some loud music and honking. When I was finally able to get down, he had me run down the block the opposite way he drew the moaners and picked me up down the block. Williams, he said to call him by his last name because that is what he is used to, then drove me home. I don't even know if I can write about what I saw.
     Mom must have come over the day I went to the school for food. She must have been infected before she went home because it looked like Gran had been in the middle of making Mom some food.
     Oh my God. It looked like she went after Pops first. He had bites all over his arms and face and neck. His favorite plaid shirt, the one I got him a few years ago for Christmas, was covered in blood and looked almost black. He was facing the fireplace in the corner when I walked in. I called his name and he  turned around. I almost didn't recognize him, his eye lids and cheeks were gone. Oh God, I screamed and screamed! Pops didn't even recognize me. He started coming for me and his teeth kept clicking together. Williams ran in and shot him in the head with a pistol. I kept screaming!
     The sound must have got Gran and Mom's attention. They shuffled in from the kitchen. Gran reminded me of Sue, her stomach was just gone ad I could see her spine. Oh God, she had bite marks all over her body! It looked like a dog had been at her leg. Skin and stuff was just hanging from her knee. I kept screaming and started gagging when I saw them. Mom didn't look like a Halloween prop like Gran did, she was just covered in blood and little meaty bits. Her face was blank, no recognition.
     I threw up everything in my stomach and Williams had to take care of both of them. I just gagged and screamed and cried. I couldn't stop even though I had snot running down my face and stomach acid coming out of my mouth. Williams slapped me at one point trying to calm me down, but it felt like hours before I could get my body and mind under control.
     Once I could focus on him, Williams said we had to leave because noise draws them from all around. I changed my clothes quickly and packed the big, old suitcase we always took to see my Gran's sisters. I've never had much, so it didn't take me long to pack up everything that meant anything to me. I felt like I was in a nightmare. The kind where no matter how fast you try to move, you just can't. Like you are moving through thick molasses. I left my room with the suitcase and when I walked into the living room, I almost passed out.
     I have never seen the house so gross. Ever. The living room looked the scene from a cheep zombie movie. Pops was laying in a puddle of black ooze with grey bits floating in it. The back of his head was gone. The kitchen looked like what it was. A murder scene, but no one was going to be punished for it. Blood, bits of skin and Gran's insides were everywhere. The floor looked like someone had painted it red and black. The eggs were broken on the floor by the center island and the stove burner was still on. Bread was soaking up some of the blood on the floor. I thought about how Gran would be having a fit if she were still alive and couldn't stop the sobs that pushed out of my body. I dropped the suitcase and gagged. I saw black spots start at the edges of my vision and Williams sat me down on the suitcase. I had to put my head between my knees so I didn't pass out and he told me to take deep breaths. But the smell of blood and puke made me feel like throwing up again. There wasn't nothing left in my stomach so I just had dry heaves.
     I know it wasn't as long as it felt to me, but Williams got me into the garage while he packed up any food left under the floor in my room and in the kitchen. It wasn't much and made me sad to think about how little there was worth taking. Once he had searched the house and was ready to leave, he brought the truck up to the garage and packed me, the suitcase and the one bag of food into the cab. I told him what Pops had said about the food bank and he decided we would head there before leaving town.
     I turned around in the truck and looked out the back window. I watched as the only home I have ever known disappeared around the corner. I still have not stopped crying and could not eat more than a bite of what Williams gave me to eat. He seems nice, but I will have to see. He rolled out a sleeping bag for me in the cab of the truck and he took the bed to sleep in. I feel like I will never sleep again.

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 @ravencastleart and on Facebook at @ravencastlecreations.