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.

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.