From the journal of John Archer, the Archivist, May 5

May 5, 2017

We are still near the same place we have been for almost a week now, someplace called Basalt. Henry got really sick, really fast. He has been sick since the 29th, and I mean really sick. He had a fever, chills, nausea, throwing up, but he hasn't died yet. He just keeps suffering but he refuses to kill himself or have anyone else do it. Doctor Ben and Henry talked about it on our first day here. That night, Ben told us that in all epidemics and pandemics, around 2-5% of people are naturally immune. After Henry heard this, he decided to take his chances because he says he has always either not gotten a virus going around or it takes him half as long to get over it as everyone else.

The rest of us just scavenge the area directly around us. We found a small housing complex and have taken over one of the houses for our people. Henry and Ben took the den area and the bedrooms have been given to the women with children. The rest of us are bunking in whatever space we can find. There was some talk about taking more houses, but the best safety is in numbers, so we are staying together.
The houses look like they weren't lived in long, but we have found some non-parishables in the cabinets to help supliment what we have one hand. Two of the houses had small gardens that had been started in the backyards. We found a few scraggly vegitables that had been growing mostly wild and we served them to the children with their dinner. They are the ones who really need more veggies. The rest of us will just deal with canned corn and green beans.
It has been really hard to keep everyone from going crazy being this close to our destination, Aspen, but being stuck here. But Doctor Ben says we've got to stay and keep Henry resting. Doctor Ben says that after observing Henry for the last six days, he is starting to believe that Henry might be one of the 2-5% immune to the virus. He says that if we move him too soon, it might set him back or help to kill him, if not from the virus, then from the symptoms.

So, we stay here and Linda and Aaron send people out in teams to scavenge stuff we don't really need. It keeps us busy and helps the rest of us feel useful. Yesterday, Williams and Jenna found a really stocked medicine cabinet. It had aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, cough medicine, anti nausea and anti diarrhea medicine, and much, much more. It took a huge hiking back pack to pack it into. The rest of the house was a bust, but whoever lived there must have been a hypochondriac. Doctor Ben was happy, because the stuff they found can make Henry more comfortable and will help others who might get sick with the symptoms, if not whatever ails them.
Aaron is going to hold a meeting tonight to discuss taking a scouting party to Aspen in the next couple of days. That way, we won't be walking in blind. If it is too overrun, or if there are bad people already there, then we can go somewhere else. But we will know what we are getting into and I think it is a great idea. They can scout locations, check on the amount of stores and see if they have been cleaned out already. They can even hopefully find a place for us to secure into a compound for us to survive in. I am all for it and will say so at the meeting.
For now, I am going to rest, maybe even take a nap.

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.