Diary of a Zombie Apocalypse: March 2018

Saturday, March 31, 2018

From the journal of Nathan Sanchez, May 20

May 20, 2017

It's been a couple of days since we met the student band members. Our group went back to the ranch and then called a group meeting for that evening after dinner. Fernando took the lead and explained everything that Sheila had told us. He told our family about the trip they were on, the attack at the emergency center and losing a large part of their band then. He explained how they had been surviving and how they had seen us and thought to watch us.

When the floor was opened for everyone to express their opinions, of course Consuela had to bring up any possible bad things that could happen. She talked about how if we brought them in, they could bide their time and then kill us and take over. Never mind that we had more people and weapons then they did. She talked about how we would have to make room and find jobs for them and if someone doesn't like what they are assigned, they could cause trouble. Maria jumped in and said they could cause trouble for no reason at all. We didn't know those people and they could be dangerous. We had only met a small part of their group and didn't know who else was with them.
Fernando said we weren't just going to bring them right to the ranch and give them a key to the place. We would have to meet with them on neutral ground to work out all the particulars, but we needed people who weren't related to us to join our community, that is, if we wanted it to grow and survive. Only a couple of the cousins were young enough to have kids and married. Otherwise, we were all single and had no one that wasn't related to us all. This group was needed to bring in new blood and they were sounding like college kids and would be a good option. Anyone else we find could be out of the optimum age range or not interested in pairing up, of couse, we didn't know if these kids would be willing. We needed to meet with them and talk it all out.
The discussion went on for a couple of hours, with no one really changing their opinions. Finally, it came down to us meeting with the band kids again and asking them about some of the stuff brought up. We decided that when we did meet with them, we would set up a meeting to bring more of our people to meet the kids.
The next day, we went back to the farm house to run out drill through. After we were done, Shiela came with a few more people from her group and they took us back to the others. We sat down and talked about some of the things that were brought up at the meeting and then we set up a meeting for us to bring more people from our group, including Consuela, so they could meet these kids and we can arrange for bringing them in, if that is what is decide.

The time we spent with them was nice, they played music and we ate food and just talked. It has been a while since I had even had a chance to talk up a girl not related to me, so it was fun to flirt and tell jokes. Darren, having been in jail for while before the pandemic hit, was really out of his depth and just stood around at first. But, a couple of the girls didn't let him keep to himself for long and then they were busy talking and laughing.
I have a good feeling about these kids and hope that Consuela and the others can see that too. They need someplace to be safer and learn how to survive in this new world. We needed the new blood and more people to get our community off the ground. It could be a win/win situation, if we let it. Here's to hoping!

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.

From the journal of Sarah Richards, May 7

May 7, 2017

Mandy and I finally made it back to Buckner last night and boy are we in trouble. We were gone for five days and Mom was going crazy. Her and Mandy's parents were setting the final steps to a plan to come find us in the port, but they didn't need to come get us.
We had gone to the port on the 2nd to try to get some water and see if we could find any other food stuffs and we got stuck in a wharehouse. When we pushed open the door, a metal garbage can rattled across the floor inside the building and with no other sounds in the entire port, the sound of the metal can was louder than a gun shot. The streets filled up with all the undead in the port, drawn by the sound we had made. The zombies had no idea what made the noise or even if it was edible, but they came anyway. Then, they just milled around in front of the building, waiting for something else to get their attention.
We had been in the building for a day and a half and had just figured out that we could get to the roof of the next building on the left. We used a ladder from the warehouse and put it over the gap to the lower building next door, then I went first and made it across. Mandy followed and we cleared out this warehouse and started going through the place.
We brought some buckets tied to ropes to get the stuff we collected back up to the roof of what we now considered our warehouse and had just finished putting stuff in them when we heard loud music approaching us.

A sports car screeched around the corner, flipping around and really getting the attention of all the undead in front of our building. Then it slowly pulled back the way it had come, drawing all the undead after it. Once the street was mostly clear, a pick up truck came from the opposite way the car had gone and pulled to a stop below us. When the windows rolled down, I saw that it was three guys Mandy and I had gone to school with, Mark Green, Jeff House and Allen Farrow.
They got out of the truck, took out the remaining undead and called out to us. We met at the door to our warehouse and they came inside. Turns out, their parents had shoved them into the tunnel as the undead broke into the Towers and poured through the broken windows. The guys, with Matt Rockwell, ran down the tunnel to the port, in case the undead broke into the Towers. They had been moving around in the port, from building to building, ever since. They had seen us looking around from the roof yesterday and realized that we were stuck.

We had been talking for about ten minutes when there was a knock at the door and Matt walked in. Mandy and I took turns telling them about what had been happening for us and we all decided that all of us would go back to Buckner together. The guys were alone, since their parents were more than likely dead.
When we had all the supplies packed and ready to go, Matt went on the roof and shot off a couple of bottle rockets away from where we were. Then, we all made our way to the tunnel and back to Buckner. We met Mom and Mandy's parents about halfway down the tunnel and the yelling started. But, I was so happy to see Mom that I didn't care about the yelling. We all went back to our place and settled everyone in. We had to take one of the rooms next to the ones we had already secured, but today, we made it more secure and plugged up most of the holes.
Well, we are pretty set for food and water now. We also have more people to keep watch and more people to go out searching for supplies, when we need to do it again. There really isn't much to take away for grounding, but Mandy and I have to stay close for a while. It was totally worth it, though.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

From the journal of Jenna Bless, May 31

May 31, 2017

Well, today the kids officially opened their area for all of the adults to see. Sean, Margaret, Elisabeth, Eric and I have been helping the kids take apart and put together their play structures. We found seven of them and we used four of them as they were at the corners and used the materials from the others to make bridges between them and walls around them. The whole thing kinda looks like a castle with towers or platforms at the corners. The area inside has maze like passages that lead to small open areas and in the center is a real tower that we are building with materials we found on patrol. The walls between the play structures will not keep the zombies out, but when we are done, this tower could be a safe place for the kids to shelter if the undead get inside the compound. And it might make a good lookout point in this part of the compound.

Life has been good for the last couple of weeks. We are all settling in and have found rooms to share. Carol started a school for the kids in the library. None of us older kids go right now, but we are old enough to work with the adults towards survival and read about subjects we want to learn about. The adults were getting taught things like gun safety, knife fighting and hand to hand combat, all from Williams who used to be a correctional officer. These subjects are way more important than math or science for us right now.
Dr Ben has been really busy lately. He spends most of his time in the lab we helped him put together working on analyzing Henry's blood to see if he can figure out why Henry survived while no one else has. If he's not in the lab, he's in the trailer that has become his medical suite with Mike. Dr Ben has taken lots of samples from Henry and is separating plasma from the rest of the blood he took from Henry and once it's done, he is going to give it to Mike, who is still sick but hanging on with all the antibiotics and other medicines to control his symptoms. I would not want to be in his condition, but I guess alive and suffering is better than dead and being a zombie.
Some of the others from our group have started working on making our walls and fences more secure with the construction supplies we brought with us. Gary, Steve and Daniel have scouted out all the construction sites in a five mile radius around our compound. There are sever al sites where huge new homes were in the process of being built as well as two commercial construction sites at local strip malls. These should all give us enough materials to do any improvements we feel might be needed.

The garden has been started and we are going to have a good variety of vegetables and even some fruit. Garden vegetables are all well and good, but we need more sustainable crops to keep us going. So next, we are going to have to plow up enough ground to plant some corn, oats, rice and wheat, if possible. We are all going to have to learn how to be farmers and we are so lucky that we have a trained chef who knows what to do with the grains once they are ready.
Amanda is really awesome when it comes to preparing food. She knows how to make all kinds of preserves, salsas, jams, jellies, pickled veggies and even smoked meats and cheeses. Of course, we would need to keep livestock if we wanted to have dairy and would have to hunt or slaughter our livestock for meat. But, with her knowledge, it opens up possibilities.
I am so happy now and wouldn't have believed it if someone had told me how it would be here right after I lost my family. Williams is staying. We have a good group that has people my age. We are in as safe a place as we can get now and the compound is getting better and better every day with all the improvements we are making.
Sean is cute, sweet and says he likes me, too. We get to spend lots of time around each other and are getting to know each other. Helping the kids build their fantasy play area threw us together every day for eight days. I know his favorite color, food, movie, band, and car. He knows the same for me and we both like the same actors and music groups. I am so lucky how this has all turned out and I am thankful for all the good stuff.

From the journal of Charlie Fast Fingers Pearson, May 31

May 31, 2017

I haven't written for a couple of weeks because life just fell into a pattern. We decided as a group to not eat fish, unless it's that or starvation, especially after reading the journal from that girl whose dad was the doctor here. Jessie, Shane, Frank and Sally have spent the time learning how to catch some of the island birds. Another group takes care of the garden and orchard and is made up of both Dave's, Shelly, Travis, Med and Martin. We have a group that keeps a patrol around the areas we are in which has Tracey, Marty, Terry and Amy. The last group is made up of the ones of us who were injured and we stay in camp, keep the fire going and cooking. This group is the one I am in and also has Will, Mick, Melanie and Buck.

Our days are all blurring together and nothing much exciting happens. Then today, this canoe comes out of the ocean and two men pull it up on shore. They looked around and saw us in the village and no natives in sight. Both men pulled long spears out of the canoe and approached us.
Will stepped forward to be our speaker and Buck headed for the garden to get everyone's attention that he could get. I was sure we were going to be attacked for killing the natives, but when the man spoke, he said that they were all that had survived in the other village on the island. Apparently, the virus hit over there after it had started in this village. Both villages had had contact and so the village these men came from didn't make the same mistakes that had happened here. They took out the brains on all their people who died and burned the bodies. In this way, the infection didn't spread like it did here. But it still spread.

Buck came back with the gardeners and the patrol group and we all sat down to a meal and talked. By the time the last group got back, we had learned that some of the other villagers had gotten sick without being bitten or scratched and it was always after a fish dinner. The two men who had found us, John and Mark oddly white names for natives but whatever), avoided fish once they thought there might be a connection and watched the others to see who got sick and when. The two of them eventually volunteered to keep a patrol around their village for any undead that were on the loose. The reason they volunteered was to keep themselves out of the village proper and away from those already showing flu like symptoms. Both of them said they believe that this is one of the reasons they survived, besides avoiding any kind of fish.
John told us that they had stayed in a hut in the trees outside the village. When they were kids, there was an old lady who lived there and never would live in the village. This little cabin became their base for patrolling and the villagers would leave food for them at the edge of the trees in a wooden box. That is, they left food for a time, until too many of them were sick or dead and the could no longer make the trip, let alone make the food. Then they fended for themselves and started patrolling in the village too. They knew they would need to take out their neighbors as they died and before they could start attacking the others still barely alive in the village.
Two days ago, the last villager, besides the two guys here, died and they took out the brains and burned the bodies. Then, they decided to try to make it around the island in their canoe to see if anyone was still alive in this village.
Talk then turned to how we ended up in the village and Mark said that the missionary living in their village had heard a loud sound and then saw the smoke from our crash. But, the missionary was on the other side of the island and the mountain on that side is even more craggy and has more cliffs. Marty asked them if they could fix one of the boats on our shore and get us all off the island. Mark told him that they were all too far gone or missing too many parts that we wouldn't be able to get on the island.
The guys decided to stay with us since there wasn't anywhere else to go or anyone else to survive with. They had a lot of knowledge about things we were still trying to learn. They knew how to get birds for food and how to find their eggs. They knew about the island and about the ocean. They are going to be a good addition to our group. Maybe, some day, we will be able to get off the island and back to some main land. Although, with the dead walking around, it might just be safer and better for us to be on this island, at least for now.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

From the journal of Marie Costa, May 22

May 22, 2017

Sarah, Alice and Jake have just gotten back. Sarah's best friend was not alive when they got to their apartment. Jake put what was left of her friend out of her undead misery and then they headed over to Alice's home.
Alice's sister, Terry, was alive and there were three other ladies there from the neighborhood: Cindy Garcia, Brenda Moon and Sally Wilson. They piled into Terry's little car and followed the truck to Jake's home.
When they got there, they were met with the business end of a couple of shotguns, until Jake called out to his father and grandfather. There was a very happy reunion that included three male cousins , two female cousins, an aunt, an uncle and two spouses of family members. It was quite a group and they decided to stay there for the night.
I had mentioned the need for more living space and they sat down to make a plan for picking up a couple of RV's or trailers before heading back to the cabin. They were asked to stop at one of the nursery's to look for seed for crops and vegetables and anything we might need to get them started. We have to start thinking ahead about fresh food. I had also asked them to swing by the store and see if they could confirm that Jackie and Andrew really are dead, or undead, and if so, how they died, but only if it is clear.

Sarah told me that the next morning, Jake and her went on a scouting mission, looking for the RV's or trailers. They took a couple of Jake's cousins, Josh and Sean,with them and headed to the store first. When they got there, it was pretty quiet, with only a couple of zombies milling about.
They pulled up to the front of the store and honked the horn to get the attention of any undead in the store. It only took a couple of minutes before five undead stumbled out the breach in the window where the truck stuck out of the building. Sarah said she started crying when Jackie and Andrew were right behind the first group of undead. They both had been shot in the midriff more than once each and both had a bunch of bite marks and bits of skin hanging from their limbs.
Jake used a pistol his father had given to him to put them out of their ravenous misery, then they left the parking lot and went in search of movable living space. They were more successful than they had hoped and brought back four RV's, three trailers and one fifth wheel. They had to appropriate a few trucks to get the trailers back, but we are in a lot better shape living space-wise now.

When we left the store, there were 11 of us. It felt like a lot of people, especially when we first crammed into the cabin. Then, the guys brought Miguel and Danny back and we were 13. This last trip, they brought 15 people back with them and we now have 28 people here at the cabin. With the movable living spaces set up, we are not as crowded as we could've been.
We still need to find a few more RV's or trailers so we have room to expand and we need to have a meeting with everyone to talk about the future and set up our little community. With this many people, we are going to have to agree on a set of rules and give everyone a job to get us set up and working together to survive.

From the journal of Jackie Carter, May 14

May 14, 2017

We are officially screwed. It is just past four in the morning and the group outside has placed high power lights all around the store and are taking pot shots at the undead with their rifles. I don't think that they are considering this a serious effort to remove the last of the undead. I think it is just a game or distraction for them in the middle of the night during the apocalypse. But it has trapped us inside this death trap all the same.

Andrew and I were just gearing up to attempt leaving by one of the receiving doors and had packed a couple of bags of supplies. I had just started to open the door when they turned the lights on and the crack I had opened it was illuminated. Andrew pushed the door closed before I could even react and it was a really good thing. We heard a couple of that group saying they thought the door had been opened a crack. We both heard them arguing about it as they walked up to the door and tried to open it. Thank God for Andrew's quick thinking.
We moved away from the door, back to our little nest in the back, far enough away they shouldn't be able to hear us talking. Then we spent the rest of the night talking over any ideas that came up. Sadly, we didn't come up with anything that will work. I don't know what we are going to do.

It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, I was worried about having enough money to pay my bills and still eat , too. My apartment was tiny, my car old and my clothes worn, but clean. My greatest annoyance was having to talk to my sister and mother every couple of weeks and hear about Abby' kids and husband and life. Or listen to Mom complaining that I was failing in my duty to give her more grandkids.
Guess I was failing at a lot, considering I had been single for a couple of years and had no prospects in sight. I didn't own my car, my apartment or, better still, a house. I was barely making ends meet just on my lonesome, but I was failing my family duty of getting married and having kids.
Then the pandemic happened and none of that mattered anymore. My Mom and sister were more than likely dead, as well as Abby's kids and husband. Heck, everyone was more than likely dead. At least Mom won't have to worry about her sister having more grandkids than her or her brother's kids owning huge homes in the suburbs. That competition is done, thank God!
But now, Andrew and I are really in trouble. Come day break, I think they are planning on coming through the windows in the front with one of their vehicles and then they will find us. Andrew might be ok, but they might just kill him on sight. I, on the other hand, am looking forward to being held against my will and raped for as long as I am alive.
I hear something out front. I am going to wake Andrew up and we can go see what they are doing. If I can, I will write more later. If not, God, please protect us and keep us safe and alive.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

From the journal entry of Manny Stone, May 13

This journal entry was brought out of the Rocky Mountains by the writer, Manny Stone. He had been a hermit and was rarely seen in town. He survived with a couple who he rescued near his cabin.

May 13, 2017

I hadn't seen anyone, alive, dead or undead, in months. I had been living off the land and raiding the hunting cabins for what food they could provide. I hunted, I scavenged and I survived.
Then, two days ago, I was out hunting, a couple of miles down from my cabin and higher on a neighboring mountain, and heard something stumbling through the trees. I positioned myself and waited. A couple of minutes later, a man and a sobbing woman crashed into my clearing. They were moving as fast as their out of breath state would allow and both kept urging the other to keep moving faster. But they were always moving forward and glancing behind.
I let them pass and waited for whatever was chasing them. I didn't have long to wait. Three men in leather jackets, huffing and puffing, appeared. They were doing their best to follow their tracks and had followed them this far.

They paused in the middle of the clearing, fell to the ground and declared a ten minute rest. Then they started talking about what they were going to do with the man and woman when the caught them. The man was going to be tortured with knives, a torch, pliers, and anything else they could think of to use in creative ways. The woman would be made to watch for a bit, then the man would be made to watch as they enjoyed his girlfriends company, them and the other twenty or so men in their group. Then the man would be worked on some more and if they were strong enough, he would live long enough to watch another round of enjoyment of the woman.
I decided at that point that these sick men needed to be taken out and the two on the run needed my help. I put the first man in my sights and pulled the trigger. Three times in quick succession. The two only had moments to feel anxiety about being shot at, not long enough to form any defense, though.
I quickly searched their bodies and took any supplies or anything useful they carried. I also took something visually obvious from each of them as proof that I really did kill them. The runners might need the reassurance that their current pursuers are dead.
I know I should have felt something having to shoot those men, but their evil intentions made me not regret taking them out. I thought about this as I followed the very obvious trail the two had left, cleaning it up as much as I could while following them. If that group sends anyone else to follow the trail, it needs to be as hard as possible to follow from this point on. When I catch up to them, I will help them to lessen their trail from that point on.
It took me about 45 minutes to start to hear them bumbling through the foliage ahead. I circled around them and got ahead of them, then positioned myself in their paths, choosing another clearing for our meeting place.

When they stumbled out of the trees and saw me, they both almost fainted from fright and exhaustion. I held my hands out in front of me to show they were empty and jumped into my explanation of living in the mountains, watching them run by and the whole debacle. I showed them the stuff I had taken from the leather clad men and told them that they shoud follow me and I would help them to leave a fainter trail. I could get them through the mountains and near the closest town, which is probably overrun with zombies by this point but first we could stay the night in my cabin. They accepted and we moved off together.
I asked them how they had met the group of men following them and if they thought the group was likely to send more men after them. They said they litteraly ran into them on the road through the mountain when the two of them we with a bigger group. They were able to sneak out a back side window of the RV their group was locked up in and they were able to make it into the trees and a short distance away before anyone discovered they were missing. That was yesterday late in the afternoon and they had been running ever since.
We made it to the cabin, taking a slightly longer route than I would normally take so I could circle back and rub out as much of our trail as I could. I made them some food and set up some booby traps to draw attention to anything moving near the cabin.
Alex and Marny are really nice people that found themselves in a bad situation. Who hasn't in this new world, post pandemic. We have been talking for the last couple of days and I have been going on patrol to see if anyone followed them. They want to try to find somewhere closer to a town so they can find more supplies and have asked me to go with them. I explained that I really don't like people and they replied that most people are dead or undead now, so we wouldn't really see anyone. I thought about it and have decided that it is nice to have someone to talk to, so I think I will go with them.
Now we just have to decide where we want to head.

From the letter from Jackie Carter, May 13

This letter was found in the grocery store where Marie Costa and her group were trapped when the undead reached their town. It was written by Jackie Carter, who along with Andrew MacFarlane, stayed behind when the rest of the survivors there went to a cabin owned by one of thier family members.

May 13, 2017

My name is Jackie Carter and I used to work in the pharmacy in this store. I survived here with a group of employees who went to a cabin owned by Isabella's family. A guy who used to work in the meat department stayed with me when the others left. I thought they were crazy, but since they left, we learned they were right.

Marie and the others left on May 11th and all was quiet that night and most of the next day. But yesterday afternoon, we heard a bunch of engine noise and ran to look out the front windows. There was a large group of people pulling into the store parking lot and forming a circle. Every kind of vehicle was represented from little coups to trucks, even a Humvee.
People started piling out of the cars and I knew we were in a lot of trouble. Andrew and I moved into the shadows, so we could still see them, but unless they got right up to the windows, they couldn't see us. We watched them as they started taking out all the undead around the store. I thought they would come and try to get in that night, but they set up a camp in the middle of their circle of cars and posted sentries to keep themselves safe.
Andrew and I withdrew to the back and started discussing what we should do. We could let them in, try to make friends with them that way. We could take some supplies and leave by the receiving doors and sneak away, somewhere. We could try to keep them out, but with only the two of us, I doubt we could do anything. All in all, we are screwed.
Neither of us slept that night. I ended up staying mostly in the front of the store, watching the group outside. They had lit a fire and were having a good old time while their sentries picked off the occasional undead who wandered their way. Looks like they had found some alcohol and were passing it around and then they brought the women out of the two RV's in the circle of cars. They didn't look like they were having as good a time as the men were as they were passed around like the bottles of liqueur. That nixed the idea of letting them in to make friends. I didn't want to end up stuck in one of their RV's.
Andrew had joined me around three in the morning and I whispered what I had seen going on out there. We decided to leave first thing in the morning. But the group surrounded the store before dawn and took out the rest of the zombies. We are stuck.

They are looking for ways to get in. Apparently, we pushed the pallets up really tight to the doors and they can't move them. They are talking about plans and we are hiding out of sight down one of the isles. The favorite idea so far is running one of the older cars or trucks through the windows to the side of the pallets.
We need to find a place to hide or a way to get out of the store, and soon.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

From the journal of Rowdy Randy, May 18

This journal entry was found in a saddlebag on a motorcycle by James Cohen and his people. There were three motorcycles with saddlebags and three men crucified on poorly constructed log crosses. James searched the bikes to see if there was anything useful or with information on who did this to the men. They found a small spiral notebook written by one of the bikers, who used to go by the name of Rowdy Randy. It had a few entries, usually about enjoying the females their group found. The last entry is included below to show the mentality of the men in the motorcycle gang looking for James Cohen and Rebecca Martin.

May 18, 2017

I thought he had gone too far and that Jackson needed to be taken out as our leader. He and Mather grabbed some middle school age girls and their mother and passed them around to their favorite men. Don't get me wrong, I love a good piece of ass. But it needs to be old enough to have pubes!
I am not the only one who thought so and we tried to take him out. We waited and planned for two weeks before striking. We had at least a third of the group, some really high up in the ranks. But we were still not able to take him down. The three "leaders", which I am one of, are going to be made an example of in front of everyone else.

We didn't start out this way. We were just some guys who used to ride together sometimes and when the shit hit the fan, we packed up and hit the road together. We were all outsiders before the pandemic and that didn't change after. We were never angels. We stole and killed when necessary to save ourselves, but we didn't rape at first. If fact, we rescued women and at least a dozen of them are still with our group. Jackson's wife, Rhonda, is one of them.
Something changed though. We took in another group of 10 bikers and one of them became Jackson's new best friend. Mitch convinced him that all the old rules don't apply anymore and why shouldn't we do what we wanted, all that we wanted. After that, women became prey and any men became dead. The woman's lives were short and hellish. Although, some of us men refused to take part in these activities.
As the days turned to months, the group got more and more into their own desires and fuck everyone else. Shit, the two people Jackson is after only defended themselves from him and a small group of bikers. The woman was under attack and some guy in a big rig drove right over most of them, but not Jackson and Rhonda.

I can hear them hammering the nails into my crucifix. Never thought I would die like Jesus. My Grandpap would be cackling with glee. He told me I would suffer like Christ, just don't think he was really speaking literally.
Well, I am not sorry that we tried. Better dead than still going around with these assholes. Maybe it will give someone else the same idea. It might be smarter, though, to just go after Mitch and try to bring Jackson back to the person he was before. Of course, he might not be able to go back.
I have been trying to come up with some really awesome final words, like in a movie. But I can't think of anything profound. So, fuck this world. Fuck the undead. Fuck Jackson and fuck Mitch. Peace out.

From the journal of Nathan Sanchez, May 17

May 17, 2017

Well, we figured out who the people are that we were finding evidence and catching glimpses of. They are a band of students who were on a field trip from their college headed to some kind of music festival down south of here. There were 50 of them in the beginning, along with two drivers and two teachers. They got attacked when they were sent to one of the emergency shelters that had already been overrun.
My group was doing a training exercise at a ranch house ten miles from home. We had just set up a perimeter and were getting all our teams into place when Fernando heard someone call out from behind a fence. It was a woman named Sheila who was the clarinet player in the band.

It was a really tense situation for about ten minutes, then we gathered everyone and spent time talking to Sheila and the four others with her. She explained to us that they had been funneled to one of the near small cities that had an emergency shelter. When they got there, they got off the buses and started walking to the welcome tent. That's when the undead started streaming from the buildings, tents and surrounding dirt roads. There were at least a hundred of them and their teacher, Chester Smith, yelled at everyone to get back to the buses. They ran to the buses and the one Sheila was on was able to get the door closed and the bus moving. The people on the other bus were no so lucky.The undead were able to push the door open and swarm onto the bus.
Sandy, a flute player, said that 31 people had made it onto their bus, including Chester and the other teacher, Miranda. They watched the people on the other bus being eaten and torn apart. The sound of their screams still make some of the survivors start awake at night.
Of the 31 people who survived, only 17 are still alive. Some of them died getting to Elwood. They hadn't planned on stopping here, but two weeks ago, the bus broke down on the main street and they have been stuck here ever since. They have been sending out scouting parties to look for supplies and one of those parties stumbled onto us at the building supply company. Since then, they have been keeping watch for people from our group to watch us and see if we are good people or have given in to the evil, like some people they ran into.
One of those groups stopped them on the road and tried to take the women and kill the men. They had blocked the road with a semi and trailer, then surrounded the bus and made them all get off. Then the bad group made them all get to their knees. One of the guys in the band noticed that most of those holding them only had knives and whispered this to others. Everyone decided to resist and they were able to over power the group and get the bus around the semi. Turned out, the guns were more than likely empty, since they never fired, just tried to climb through the windows to get in the bus.
We talked to band members for a couple hours, then talked among ourselves about what we should do. We couldn't just take them back to the ranch. We needed to prepare our people before we did that. We left it that Shiela would tell her group about us while they stayed where they already were. We would go back to the ranch and tell our people about them and then we would come back and set up a meeting between us. Some of our people are really timid, so it might have to be somewhere other than the ranch. Hopefully, it will all work out and we can get them to be part of our group. They would add the fresh blood we need and we can supply the place to survive and restart civilization.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

From the journal of Sarah Richards, May 3

May 3, 2017

Mandy and I are in so much trouble. We came to the port yesterday and we haven't been able to leave. When we got here, the street was clear. We walked out of the blocked tunnel entrace very slowly and made sure to look around. Clear.
We already knew where we were going and headed for the building closest to the tunnel entrance. It happens to be a warehouse with offices on the second floor. They would have to have a restroom for their employees and we were keeping our fingers crossed that the water was still on since the warehouse had solar panels on the roof.

Everything went smoothly until we pushed the door open to the warehouse. There was a metal barrel sitting against it and when the door pushed in, the barrel went spinning across the floor, making a loud sound as the metal moved across the cement floor. From a block over, we both heard the moaning start and rushed inside, closing the door. We cleared the first floor and then the second before checking the water faucet. It worked.
Mandy started filling the containers we brought for water while I searched the offices drawer by drawer. I was getting quite a pile of snack foods on the top of one of the desks when I looked out the window and saw that the street had at least 20 zombies. We were screwed!
I immediately went and got Mandy and we watched the street for a half hour or more. At first, we quietly talked about out options. None. Then we talked about how much trouble we are going to be in when we get back to Buckner. My Mom is going to kill me. Well, not literally, but I am so grounded. I wonder what it will be like, being grounded in the apocalypse. What could she take away? There was no TV, no radio, no computer, and no phone. Grounding might not be such a threat now. Hmmm...

We decided to keep searching the desks and filling the water containers. That way, if there is a break in the zombies, we are ready to go. By last night, we had ten containers of water, one back pack of chips, one of other snacks and some canned goods I found in the bottom drawer of a desk. Pretty good for one building and one that isn't a home with a kitchen.
We chose an upstairs office and pushed a second couch into it from the office next door. Then we booby trapped the stairs and the hall to make us safer. Then we settled down for the night. I had brought a small battery powered lantern and we used it to read one of the books I had found out loud.
I didn't sleep very well, even though the couch is comfortable. I woke up with every little sound, worried that the undead had made it inside. But it was just the building settling and the undead moaning outside, looking for whatever had made that noise.
This morning, we had some instant oatmeal made with hot tap water. Then we checked the street. Still overrun. I brought my journal, so while I am writing this, Mandy is reading one of the trashy romance novels I found.
We need to check the roof of the building to see if we can get to the ones next to us. If we can, we might as well spend our time searching them for supplies. We need to find some kind of cart or wagon to put the water jugs in to get them back to the tunnel. If we put the jugs by the door downstairs, then make it to the other buildings, we can bring a cart right to our supplies and then to the tunnel. Well, once the road outside is clear. Maybe we can find something to make a diversion with. That's what they always do in the movies.

From the journal of Charlie Fast Fingers Pearson, May 13

May 13, 2017

Dave and Terry found the cemetary today but it looks more like a plowed field, probably from the undead digging themselves out from the graves. The natives on this island have been here a long time. Some of the earliest markers they found were dated to the 1700's and there are some older markers, but they don't have names or dates. Some of the oldest ones were just stone slabs carved with ancient markings, but no readable names or dates. They told us it is just over the hill outside the village on the other side from the garden. I guess you would want to keep your garden away from your dead.
Will, Marty and Dave checked out the boats. Most of them are just dug out trees that the natives use for fishing. There are four that most of us thought might be promising, but three of them turned out to be only the hulls and cabin with no engines and holes in the wood. One was more but who knew if the engine worked or if it would keep working once on the ocean. Looks like we are stuck here for now. Probably a good thing since none of us have any experience sailing anything but a bottle of Captain Morgan's.
The group had a meeting yesterday to come up with ideas to make us safer. We haven't seen any undead since the day we got here, but we didn't know if there were still some on this island. Better to be fucking safe than fucking sorry.
We decided to take some of the huts we weren't using apart and make a barrier around the ones we are staying in. I wasn't as much help as I wanted to be. It was hard work and we were filthy by the time we were done. On the plus side, going through the huts again, we found machetes in the rafters of most of them. Now, more than half of us are armed with weapons better then our make shift spears.
We are also posting sentries to keep watch in shifts. We need to watch for undead and also for boats passing by. I think that last is wishful thinking on someones part (Amy), but who am I to take someones hope away.

Today, we went through the garden and picked a bunch of vegetables. We threw out the dried fish but kept the dried meat. There is this huge pot over the fire pit in the center of out group of huts. We pilled it with water, cut up the vegetables, added the dried meat and made a slow cooked stew, of sorts. It was really good and we've all eaten several servings. There is no refrigeration here, so we have to eat it soon. It is still wonderful to eat anything besides fruit.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

From the journal of Carol Evans, May 17

May 17, 2017

We went out to look for medical supplies for Dr Ben today. Mike is hanging on with the little that Dr Ben has been able to do without a lab. He used Henry's blood and did some kind of filtering of it. He has been giving this to Mike and it has kept him alive, but no one knew if it would help him to get better. For all we knew, we were just prolonging his suffering. He hasn't been able to eat or keep anything down for days, he has a high fever and just shakes. Where he got bit is swollen, red, purple and black, and oozes a yellowish, greenish liquid. Dr Ben gave us a list of supplies he needed, both for a lab and medications and such.

Sean, Williams, Gary, Jenna and I all went together to the Aspen Medical Care Center. We spent hours going through the building, suite by suite. It had been looted a bit, right at the beginning, but the stuff taken from the pharmacy was found in the cafeteria next to a stain on the floor, so I'm guessing they didn't make it out of the building. We got all the medications we could find that Dr Ben requested, from pain meds to antibiotics. We got bandages, sutures, every kind of scissor, tweezers, and small instrument we could find. We hit the lab and got everything that he had asked for, then we went to the cafeteria and got loads of industrial sized cans of food. We used gurneys as carts and pushed them back to our truck. It was a tight squeeze to get everything in and all of us too, but we managed and made it back to the compound.

We made one stop and brought home a large trailer, we had to have somewhere to put all the stuff we had brought back. We pulled it up to the back of the house since there was a large wash room/work room behind the kitchen. We gave the room to Dr Ben for his lab and the trailer for his medical suite and helped him get the supplies where they were needed and set up his lab. When I left him, he had already started Mike on a stronger antibiotic and had taken more samples from Henry to analyze in his lab. We had even managed a small fridge and an incubator for him and he was humming to himself while getting them ready. I doubt we will be seeing much of him aside from meals and probably for while.
While we were gone, Linda, Aaron, Elisabeth and Eric set up two sentry stations and they are going to be manned all the time now. We had worked out a schedule already and had also set up a schedule for patrols around the compound and the immediate neighborhood.
Margaret, Donna, Charles and Larry went out and searched the nearest neighborhoods, looking for supplies and keeping their eyes open for play structures for the kids. They showed me a bunch of drawings and plans they have been working on for their area. They have great imaginations and if we can get them anything close to what they want, it will be awesome!

Amanda and her crew have taken over the kitchen and food supplies, and I don't mind a bit. It's been really nice to have meals prepared by trained cooks and not made by these humble hands. They can work magic with all the supplies we have and have put some items on the watch list for scavenging to make some special items. I heard mention of a cake in our possible future and almost died on the spot. Hopefully, we can find whatever they need.
I think we made the right decision to combine with their group. Now we have a lot more people to keep the compound safe. Everyone has their abilities and knowledge and it makes us stronger and more apt to survive with everyone working together. If anything happens, we will be more prepared to deal with it.

From the recovered journal of the Battle of the New Alamo, May 6

May 6, 2017

Yesterday, a large group of zombies went over the wall. This group of them was the largest I have seen. I remember being told about lemmings as a kid, how they would follow one of their own over a cliff, one right after the other. That is what the undead reminded me of, following each other over the wall. I don't know if it was the noise they were making that was bringing more behind them over the wall, but there had to be more than a hundred that went over the walls in about two hours. More have gone over since in a steady trickle. Of the thousand or so that came over the walls, at least half, maybe a little more, have gone back over the walls. If this keeps up, we'll be able to wait them out a few more days and then have just a few to avoid getting across the courtyard.

Michelle is still uncertain about going, but the more undead that go back over the walls, the better she is feeling about our chances. We found a couple of stupid western novels in a bag in the room and have taken to reading it out loud, very quietly while huddled together. The story is not very good, but it is something to take out minds off what we are dealing with.
I mean, if someone would have told me even six months ago about everything that has happened, I would have laughed and had that person committed for insanity. Really, who'd have thought the dead would start walking around, and I mean for real! One thing that never came across in the movies is the smell. Like dead animals and rotting shit. And the sound they make, this moaning, growling, hungry noise. Although, the ones just milling about in the fort have stopped making that sound. I bet if they thought something was still alive in here, then they would all start making that noise again. It took them a little over a week for all of them to stop making it last time. It slowly trickled to a stop and even the ones going over the walls don't moan.
We have about a week left of food, longer if we start rationing the remaining soups. We ate the very last can of corn yesterday at dinner, it was wonderful. We had saved it for a few days after the last can of green beans. Now, all we have is soup and mostly the creamy ones, nothing chunky. I never thought I'd miss chewing.

There are a lot of things I miss. Music, movies, TV, my cell phone and texting. I miss dairy, cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream, yeah, I really miss ice cream. Going out to eat and take out anything. I miss my school kids. I used to teach sixth grade and I loved the kids and watching them learn something new. Sad to realize that they are more than likely all dead, or undead. Every kid I ever taught, their parents, siblings, everyone I ever knew. Is it worth it to keep going? I think so. I hope so.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

From the journal of James Cohen, May 17

May 17, 2017

We lost one of our elderly men today. Fred MacTavish was 91, a former postal worker, and he had a bad ticker. We had just started to eat lunch when Fred grabbed his chest and pitched over. He stopped breathing shortly after that. Jackie thinks he had a heart attack, but he had a DNR, so she didn't try CPR. We all watched it happen and there was nothing we could do. Most of us cried and we comforted each other. Then we buried him in the empty lot next to the park we had stopped at for breakfast.
All the other former patients spent the rest of today talking about Fred and telling stories about him. Apparently, he knew how to tap dance like Gene Kelly and would break into dance for no reason at all. He was known as the dancing mailman and would dance down the sidewalk to deliver the mail on a regular basis. Once he was in the Frank T. Weathers Care Center, he continued breaking into dance, frequently. He even taught some of the ladies how to be his partner and would create dance numbers for fun.
Fred also was an avid reader and would tell everyone weird facts, like bananas aren't a fruit but an herb. He would hold a trivia night and would gather questions from a bunch of sources, from Trivial Pursuit to books he had read. It would drive his wife crazy that he spouted facts to everyone.

Walter was the one who was hit the hardest with Fred's death. They had been best friends for over 85 years, ever since they met in Kindergarten. They went through school, sports, girlfriends and jobs. Walter looked ten years older in just under 24 hours. We were all worried about him since he was 90 and also not in the best of health. But in this new world, there are no hospitals and no ways to extend people's life, like pacemakers or medicine.
We decided to stay here for the rest of the day, unless a herde of undead come our way. Walter wanted some time to say goodbye and the rest of our group could use some time, too. We got a couple of the mattresses out of the trailer and set up a camp right outside the trailer.
Everyone has taken turns going to sit by Fred's grave and talking to him, saying their goodbyes. Walter has spent the most time and has gone back a couple of time. Hopefully, he gets what he needs today, because tomorrow we have to more on. We need to get back on the road to the Greenbrier Hotel.

From the journal of Marie Costa, May 17

May 17, 2017

Sarah, Alice and Jake have decided to go see if any of their roommates or family are still alive. Finding Danny and Miguel alive has given them hope that someone might still be alive. Sarah is going to see if her best friend and roommate is alive. Alice is going to check on her mother and sister, while Jake is checking on his father and grandfather. If any of them are alive, they are going to bring them back to our cabin. We might have to figure out how to get more room for people to sleep. Maybe trailers or RV's?

Miguel still hasn't said a word. He just follows his father around and gets upset if he can't see him. He hasn't smiled either. Jorge has taken to holding him on his lap every chance he can and has been reading to Miguel for hours from a couple books of fairy tales he brought from home. I made him special pancakes this morning for breakfast, making his shaped like Mickey Mouse. Jorge told him to say thank you, but he just looked up at me with his large eyes.
Danny, on the other hand, is doing much better. Being 16 and used to being on his own while Frank worked. He spent his time watching movies, since they had solar power, and playing video games. He only had one other person drive down the driveway before we did, and he threatened the person with the shotgun. The guy backed his car back down the driveway. He had plenty of food, running water and entertainment.

The rest of them are considering if it is worth going to check on someone. I know for sure that Will and I have no one to check on. But Isabella has a lot of family in his area. Her parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. Although, for her family, this was the meeting place, so there is the chance that some of them might show up here.
Linda and Lisa had significant others they lived with, but neither of them have anyone else in this town to check on. Linda's children live with her ex-husband, but they are all the way in California. Lisa has two grown children, one in Ney York and one in Miami. Since there are no phones and no way to make it all the way to either place, they just have to not dwell on it and concentrate on surviving.
We are already getting tight in the cabin, so I am going to ask anyone who leaves to keep their eyes open for trailers or RV's. We are going to have to start making this place work for us and not us trying to fit our lives into what is here. We can change whatever we need to. This morning, we brought a set of bunk beds into the living room that weren't being used in one of the rooms. Jake has agreed to sleep in the living room with Will, Frank and Danny so Miguel can have his own bed in the room with Jorge. There is no more room in this place and anyone else brought back, without bringing a trailer or RV, will have to sleep on the floor. Will is already sleeping on the lumpy couch since there isn't another bed for him.
I am just glad we brought so much food, water and drinks with us. We have enough food to feed all of us for over a year, so we have enough to have more people. But we need to start thinking about where and how we are going to grow some fresh food. Then we need to get some seeds and probably a greenhouse. There is a lot of stuff we are going to have to do so we have a future. We are going to have to have another meeting.

Saturday, March 3, 2018

From the journal of Marie Costa, May 16

May 16, 2017

Jorge and Frank came back this afternoon. They had left on the 14th to check on their families, Jorge his wife and kids, Frank his younger brother. When they pulled in, I was hoping, for their sake, that the truck was going to be packed or another car would be following the truck. But, they only came back with Danny, Frank's brother, and one of Jorge's kids, Miguel who is 10. Poor little one hasn't said a word since Jorge found him, locked in the attic while what was his mom and brother kept trying to get to him.
Jorge said that the plan was for Miguel to take food and supplies into the attic and if they needed a place to retreat to, then Miguel, his mother and brother would climb up there and hide until Jorge came home.
When Frank and Jorge entered his house, it was all quiet, but there were several broken windows in the front and the front door was open. They went around back and went in through the kitchen. Frank threw an empty soda can into the next room to make noise and draw any undead in the house. It took about a minute for them to be able to hear the moaning and Jorge almost broke down. Frank told him to keep it together, his family could still be in the attic, away from those things. But another minute, his wife and youngest son came, shambling and moaning, down the stairs and Frank had to take over while Jorge just started sobbing and sat down. Luckily, for Frank, it didn't take much to take them out and then he turned to Jorge.
Frank said he told Jorge something like "Dude, you have two sons right? Where is the other one?" and that got Jorge up and almost running. Frank stopped him and made him help to clear all the rooms on the first floor before they went upstairs to check the attic. Once they made it upstairs, Jorge fell apart again when he saw the trap door in the ceiling was closed and started yelling for Miguel. The door opened and a little face appeared. They got him down and packed up all the supplies in the house, then they headed over to Frank's.

Frank was shaking when they pulled into his driveway and he started crying when he saw all the doors and windows intact. They pulled the truck to a stop and immediately were told to turn their asses around and head back the way they had come, or be shot. Danny was still alive and had loaded his brothers shotgun. They had a brief reunion and then packed up what they wanted from the house.
By then, it was early evening and they decided to stay there for the night. The driveway goes to the house which is a little over half a mile from the main road. The neighbors were spaced out pretty far, at least five acres between them all, and so it should be relatively safe for a night. It was and they decided to drive by the store before returning to the cabin.
Frank said they were shocked to see a big rig truck crashed through one set of the doors and there was a group of undead around the truck. They pulled through the parking lot to take a closer look and saw, through what remained of the windows, Jackie and Andrew were on the inside, undead and pounding on the window. Jorge had to pull over down the street for Frank to be sick and they both were shaken.
After recovering, they went to the tactical gun shop and found it was empty or anyone, alive or undead. They packed up everything they could and by then it was getting to be evening again. They headed back to Frank's house for the night and then came back here. Their experience has not given anyone else any hope for their families to be alive. It was a miracle that Miguel and Danny are alive.
We are now more prepared to protect ourselves with the guns and ammo that the guys brought back. We are a group and will protect each other and our supplies. Hopefully, we won't have to use them, but I know I will shoot anyone or anything to stay alive and to keep my people alive.