From the journal of James Cohen, Somewhere around May 7

May 7, 2017

We ran into a little problem this afternoon while moving some cars out of the way. Rebecca had just steered a Toyota off the road and had gotten in the backseat to check for anything useful when she yelped. I got out of the rig and ran to the open door. Her right hand was bloody and a piece of glass was sticking out of the palm. I know basic first aid and it looked really bad. It is way out of my league and I didn't know if I should remove the glass or not. I decided that it would be better to remove it so the glass would not wiggle deeper or cut more of her palm. Then, I tore up my last clean shirt and used strips to bandage the gash as best as I could.

We were out of real bandages since I had used them all on Dorris before she died and hadn't replaced them. I should have listened to Dorris months ago and put together a more comprehensive first aid kit, but there always seemed to be more time.  Now, time had run out and so had the medical supplies. Hospitals were really hard hit with the undead since the bit were taken to there, at least at first. They turned and then attacked people who were too hurt or sick to fight back. The hospitals were one of the first breeding grounds for large number of undead, then they spread out from there. Once the undead went in search of more food, live people hit the hospitals for supplies and took whatever they could find.
I pulled out the map and looked to see what town was coming up next and see how big it was. We should be able to find someplace to get supplies. We pulled into Belle and I looked for somewhere that would have a yellow pages book to look for medical places but not hospitals. That's where I found the Frank T. Weathers Senior Care Center. It was even close to where we were and should still have some medical supplies, hopefully.
When we pulled up to the place, I could see at least five undead pounding on the front of the building. It seemed really wierd, since there were no other buildings we had passed had any undead doing the same. I thought I saw something move in one of the windows on the second floor, so I stared at the front of the building. It took a couple of minutes, but sure enough a curtain moved in another window on the second floor. There were people in there, live people!
We needed to get inside and I told Rebecca that if we showed the bandaged hand, maybe they would help. I had her stick it out the window and the middle curtain moved aside to show a woman in scrubs. She motioned towards the back of the building and I took the rig down the alley between the Care Home and the store next door. It was a tight squeeze, but we made it to the other side and pulled up next to a sturdy, six foot fence made of stone with an iron gate. There, the woman from the window was waiting, impatiently dancing from foot to foot. When she saw us, she motioned us to hurry and used a large key to unlock the gate. We ran from the now quiet rig to the gate and the lady locked the gate behind us before taking the lead up the path to the back door of the building.
The inside of the building was dark because all the windows were boarded up and covered. The lady whispered at us to follow her up the stair and be really quiet. Once up the stairs, we moved down a long hallway with rooms on either side. Most of them were empty, but I was really surprised to see at least five elderly people, a couple with wheelchairs, and at least the same number of younger people.
She took us into the last room on the left and it was set up like a medical examination room. We learned that her name is Jackie and that she was a Medical Assistant here at the home before the pandemic hit. She examined and cleaned Rebecca's wound, then she used steri-strips to close the gash before bandaging the hand in clean gauze. Then, she took us to a kitchen area where they made us the first hot meal we had eaten in days. By then, both Rebecca and I were exhausted, so Jackie assigned us rooms and told us we would talk more in the morning.
Man, what a day. I can't wait to find out how all these people, especially the elderly people, have survived this long. I am really amazed to see this place and see that the people here have kept their humanity and helped us when we needed it. Thank you to whatever is out there, whether God, or the Universe, or whatever!

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.