From the journal of Nathan Sanchez, April 5

April 5, 2017
   

     We have spent the last few days building up our defenses. Diego told us we should tear down the nearest houses and out buildings so no one could use them to sneak up on us. We took everything from them that might be useful and then we took whatever building materials we could use from the demolished buildings. We made a new perimeter at the far end of the driveway and used that distance to make a new perimeter line around the ranch. There were a couple of old country back roads that went through our new perimeter area, so we took out a couple of old bridges and cut down trees to block the roads. This territory was now ours and no one was going to use these roads if we could help it.
     Everyone felt free to make suggestions about ways to make us safer and we would use any of them that might help. New lookouts were built in concealed areas where all obvious points of entry might be. All the schedules were reworked to include these new posts and everyone had at least two shifts of four hours every day on watch. Anyone who felt they needed more practice with the firearms was given the training they wanted, even the older kids. If things went to shit, they might have to keep the younger kids alive.
     Yesterday, we sent out the first scavenging group since the bikers attacked us. The houses around us had already been picked over for supplies before we tore them down, so they had nothing good left in them. We needed ammo more than anything else, but medicine was also important to find. Alonso and Emilio chose a small group, took two cars and headed out this morning. The rest of us spent the day reinforcing the ranch buildings and building other defenses around the perimeter. A group of the women spent the day preserving all any fruit we had been able to find and preparing food for the meals.
     Right around dusk, we could hear a horn honking on the main road and the radios came alive from the look outs. Emilio was driving like a bat outta hell and honking the horn. His car was being closely followed by the our cousin Javier. They flew through the gates and down the driveway. When Emilio screeched to a stop, I could see Alonso laying on the backseat with his wife, Lorena holding his head in her lap. They were both covered with blood and she was crying.
     Apparently, they had gone to a house on the other side of town because the guy was a known gun nut. Well, he hadn't died when the pandemic hit and had kept himself alive since. He took exception to our cousins coming to his house and opened fire before they had all gotten out of the cars. Alonso didn't have a chance. He had been hit in his chest and blood was bubbling out with every breath.
     The cousins in the other car had fared a little better, but Lupe had been hit in the left leg through the door and Rosita had a shoulder graze. Javier was bleeding from a cut on his left cheek, but it was from the glass shattering in the drivers side window. A couple of others in both cars, Luis, Martín, and Manuel also had cuts from flying glass.

     Everyone rushed to help anyone who had been hurt and Uncle Ramon went to talk to Lorena. She didn't want to let anyone touch Alonso, but we all knew that someone was going to have to make sure he didn't turn, and soon. It took some coaxing and Consuela had to talk to her a while , with Uncle Ramon. Eventually, she let the men pull him from the backseat. Consuela and Maria took Lorena inside while Rico used his machete to take care of Alonso. Then some of the cousins went to dig him a grave. We held a short service with Uncle Ramon saying the eulogy and leading the family in prayers. Lorena had to be carried back to the house where she was put her bed with her sisters, Lupe and Rosita, crawling in with her to try to comfort her.
     Tomorrow, we are going to have a family meeting about scavenging and set some rules. No one was going to go barreling in unprepared again. We are going to have to change how we do things when out searching and make sure we have more information about any suggested targets.

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.