From the journal of Marie Costa, May 6

May 6, 2017

We had a really bad argument this morning after breakfast. I brought up the need for us to leave and find somewhere else to survive, but about half of the people here didn't want to hear it at all. I pointed out how lucky we have been that no one has tried to break in here to get food, but they just said that no one has come so far, so it should be good. I told them that made no sense because the longer the world was in the toilet, the bigger the chance that someone WILL show up looking for food. No one wants to think about it, though. There will come a time, if we stay here, that it will become an issue when someone shows up, armed and dangerous.
I talked to Will, Jorge and Frank after the meeting and they both are on the same page as I am. Jorge told us that he had spent some time in his 20's as a truck driver and could probably remember how to drive the truck with a little practice. Now, we have to figure out where we want to head when we leave here. We decided to have a meeting with all the people here that think leaving is the better idea.
This afternoon, when we had the meeting, we found out the entire group is split almost in half. We have myself, Linda, Frank, Will, Jorge, Isabella and Alex. The group that wants to stay has Sarah, Jake, Alice, Andrew, Lisa and Jackie. The people who want to stay came to the meeting too, just to listen in. I think we may be able to convince a couple of them that leaving is a better idea, if we have the time. But, I really think we will not have time and that we need to get out of here as soon as possible.

I opened the meeting by saying we need to get out of the store and does anyone have any ideas or place to go. Alex said his family has a house right on the outskirts of town but he didn't know if anyone was alive there or not. Will and I both said that being on the edge of town was not going to be good enough. Lisa said that she knew someone who owned a piece of property about a half mile outside of town, but that there is nothing built on it. I told her we needed a place to go that had a building on it already. Then, Isabella told us that her grandfather had a cabin about 10 miles outside town and her cousin was living there until about six months ago. He had installed solar, built a greenhouse and added a hand pump to the well. Then, he got a job in the big city and ditched the cabin. I asked if anyone else had any ideas. No one came up with anything else. So, we all agreed that this was the best option anyone could come up with.
Next, Will brought up that we would need to gather supplies from the store and find a way to get the truck backed up to the receiving doors. We needed to figure out if the keys were still in the truck, or if we had to go through the bodies of the zombies we took out in the store. I volunteered to make the dash to the truck and see if it was unlocked or if the keys were visible. Will and Frank agreed to go with me and watch my back. We grabbed our stakes and headed for the door closest to the truck. I took a look and saw that there were only a couple of undead on the ramp and we went for it.

I took out one of the undead on my way to the truck and heard one of the guys take out the other one. I made it to the truck and found the door unlocked. I jumped into the truck and slammed the door when I felt a hand trying to grab my calf. When I looked out the window and down, I saw the truck driver was half under  the truck. He was missing most of the flesh from his arms and legs and it looked like he had tried to hide from the zombies by crawling under the truck. At least I knew where to find the driver if I had to search him for the keys.
I turned my attention to looking in the cab for the keys. I checked the ignition, the dashboard, the glove box and under the seat. Then, I remembered that in the movies, the keys are sometimes between the visor and the roof, so I looked there next. Bingo! We were in luck! I put them in my pocket and got ready to stake the driver when I opened the door, but saw that Frank had already taken him out and was waiting with his back to me, at attention, in case any other undead were attracted by the sound we were making.
I opened the door, jumped down from the cab and we dashed back to the door. Linda opened it and we slipped inside. I did look back right before the door closed and saw that a group of five teenage zombies came around the corner right as the door closed behind me. We would have to take them out to get back to the truck when we had the supplies ready to load.
We had done what we needed to do, so we ate something and then rested for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, we will start collecting what we wanted to take with us and hopefully be ready to go within the next two to three days. I don't know why I feel this almost overwhelming need to get out of this place really fast, but I have learned to listen to my instincts. Those of us that are leaving will ready and out of here soon. Those who are staying, well, hopefully nothing will happen.

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.