From the journal of John Archer, the Archivist, March 6

March 6, 2017

     Yesterday we put as much distance between us and the FEMA Camp in Grant as we could. After it was out of sight behind the first hill, we could still see the smoke from the fires.  For the early part of the day, we could still hear barrages of gun fire. Of course, we didn't know if this was from people still being alive and fighting the undead or fire finding small stores of ammunition.
     We drove for what felt like hours and when our survival experts, Linda and Aaron Dale, said it was safe to stop and eat, everyone was grateful and hungry. We found a field beside the road and we circled the cars, set up sentries on the tallest vehicles and set up a fire ring. Several of the former button pushers gathered fire wood from the trees next to the field and the former housewives watched the children and organized our food supplies. Amanda, the chef, and her two sous chefs, Anthony and Jesus, set up an area to prepare and cook food for everyone.

     A few of the others were checking mileage on the vehicles and looking our map of Colorado to try to figure out where we were. We had not made it as far as we wanted, only about nine miles, but we had to fight the roamers to get that far.
     We spent several hours eating and making a plan. We took a vote and it was decided that we would head for the Denver International Airport, Aaron's suggestion. It seemed like a good place to go to, from what he said. There were known supplies placed there early in the outbreak, but it had not been designated as an emergency shelter when communications went down. Also, the underground tunnel system could be a good place to stay safe and regroup. Hopefully, we would find other survivors there and we could help each other fight and survive.
     As we were packing up our supplies, a large group of roamers came out of the trees and we had to break out the guns to take them out. We loaded up and rolled out as fast as we could, we knew other roamers would be attracted to the sound of our weapons discharging.
     We decided to drive the last mile or so to the outskirts of Bailey to make camp for the rest of the day so we could get some rest and discuss our route to the Denver International Airport.

     Linda and Aaron found us a deserted gas station to circle our vehicles in for the nigh. We decided to sleep in the cars so we didn't have to worry about roamers as much and we wouldn't leave any supplies behind if we had to run during the night.
     It was only afternoon, but we ate again, put the children down for naps and set up our sentries. It was pretty uneventful for the rest of the night and we all got some rest, if not actual sleep.

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.