From the journal of Marie Costa, May 1

May 1, 2017

We have come up with a plan to get the doors close, in a way. Frank, who worked in the back receiving the loads of food, suggested that we make stacks of pallets and push them to the doors with the pallet jacks. Then, we can put stacks of food, mostly canned goods and drinks, behind the stacks of pallets to add weight behind the barricades. But, while this is going on, the rest of us are going to have to either distract or take out the ones here in the store. It is going to have to be synchronized with four people using the pallet jacks to block all the doors at the same time. Frank and Will have given a couple of the others we found, Andrew, who was a butcher and Alex from produce, how to use the pallet jacks really well. We are going to put the plan into action tomorrow.
Tonight, we are finding and refining our weapons. We took a few brooms and sharpened the wooden handles into a point to us like spears. We also collected all the large knives from the Produce Cut and Meat departments. We ended up with seven really big ones and around ten fillet knives. The smaller ones are just for a last defense but we have almost fifteen of them. We should have enough for everyone to have a spear and at least one large knife. Hopefully, it will be enough.

I have never been so happy to see canned meats as I have been the last few days. It is protein and I love it. Spam, Vienna sausages, smeat, sardines, and ravioli with meat filling in meat sauce. They all taste like heaven after week of mostly vegetables and cheese. Especially with the veggies going bad and us having to pick through them. The last few days were slim pickings and everyone in the cooler really only a bite or two of cheese and a bite or two of mostly spoiled veggies and fruit. So, even cold, canned meats and pasta were glorious!
Since we survived in our cooler, I keep wondering if it is possible for other to have survived in other parts of the store. Once we get into the main part of the store, who's to say we don't find others. At this point, the more the merrier. Time to sleep and be rested for the adventure tomorrow.

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.