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.

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.