From the journal of John Archer, the Archivist, April 27

April 27, 2017

     This morning we finally saw the end of the horde. It will probably take until this afternoon or evening before the main body of the horde passes us. Living inside the Lowe's wasn't too bad. We gathered anything that would make us more comfortable, mostly patio furniture, and set up a camp by the command center. A schedule was set so there was always at least two people in all our lookout locations:  the front entrance, the back receiving area, and the roof. Everyone worked at keeping themselves and the kids as quiet as possible while we all waited for the horde to pass.
     Once the end was sited, we had a group meeting and decided to wait until morning to pack up to leave. That way any stragglers will hopefully be gone already and it will be safer getting the supplies to the cars and everyone situated to continue. There still aren't too many zombies that got through our car barricade, only a dozen or so. We would have to take them out before we could even get to the cars, but at least it wasn't a hundred.

      Linda and Aaron have got everyone not assigned to one of the doors looking for a list of supplies that will come in handy. They also gave us orders to bring back anything else that we thought might be handy. The kids have added all the boxes of junk food that were left in the back to the pile in the hope that we will take it because it is food, or a sort. There are flashlights, batteries, sledgehammers, saws, and multi-tools. I made sure to get all the water and drinks. I wish we had found a sporting goods store instead, then we could have gotten sleeping bags and camping gear.
     We are going to have quite a pile of stuff to go through and parcel into the vehicles. We might even have to decide to leave some behind if it won't all fit. The kids should be happy, though. The adults all agreed that any kind of food is worth taking because in a pinch, it will keep us alive, just like the sugary drinks. Luckily, there was also five cases of bottle water. Those are like gold now, even though they all taste like plastic. Maybe we can find some powdered drink mix, lemonade or Kool-aid. Something to make the water taste better. It might help us get the kids to drink more, once the sugary drinks run out.

     Most of us are going to relax this afternoon and evening to be well rested for tomorrow. Gary ad Steve are making a plan for taking out the undead between us and the cars. They have chosen people who are used to taking on the zombies when we run into them and pairing them with people who are less used to doing the dirty work. That way, there will be at least two people assigned to each undead. The idea is to not use the guns because the noise could bring the end of the horde back our way. But there would be a backup group armed and ready in case of an emergency.

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.