From the journal of Manny Stone, May 20

May 20, 2017

We have been traveling slowly for three days. I guess we have to be that we are in the mountains and not near a major city. The cars blocking the roads are a problem here and I can't imagine how bad they are in and around the cities.
We moved fairly quickly, at first, since there weren't many people living in the area near my cabin. The first day we made a good thirty miles and found an old farm house to stay the night in.

When we pulled up in the yard, I honked the horn and we waited to see if anything moved. It didn't take long. A zombie shambled around the corner of the house from the direction of the barn. It had been an older man dressed in overalls and a short sleeved plaid work shirt. He was short and round and had a pitchfork sticking out of his chest, presumably from someone trying to protect themselves from him once he turned.
A short distance behind him came a small female zombie in a torn and dirty housecoat. Her abdomin was a dark, bloody hole with bits of her intestines and other organs sticking out and dragging on the ground behind her with every step. Her left arm was hanging on by strips of flesh, muscle and tendons, but the bones were broken and useless. Marny gasped when she came into sight and Alex and I told her to stay while we took out the undead farmers.
Once we had them taken care of, I moved the truck behind the house, so it wasn't visible from the road, and then we went into the house. My first thought was that it smelled a little musty, but not as bad as it would have if the couple had played out their little dying and turning drama inside. You've got to be thankful for the little things.
The rest of that night and the next day were mostly uneventful. There was the occasional zombie to kill and the occasional block on the road from cars or trees to remove. But other than that, we made a respectable twenty two miles. We found an old gas station and general store at a cross roads to sleep in the second night. From the way it looked and the amount of deterioration, it was abandoned long before the pandemic hit. We had to pry one of the back windows open and there was nothing useful inside except a concealed place to sleep.
This morning, we ate some instant oatmeal and piled back into the truck, hoping to make at least another twenty miles. That was wishful thinking, though. We had only been on the road for a mile and a half when we hit the first road block created by a four car crash where one of the cars knocked a tree down onto the road as well. There was no way to go around the blockage because the sides of the road were solid forest down to the edge of the asphalt. It took us three hours to clear enough space to get the truck through and we still managed to scrape paint off the sides as we squeezed by.
A little over two miles later we found ourselves stopped on one side of a downed bridge with no way to keep going forward. We back tracked to where the crash had happened and searched the cars for any maps we could find. Alex had to kill a zombie that was smashed behind the steering wheel but found a local map that showed us a round about way to keep heading west. We had to drive back to the gas station and take a different direction, but it would eventually get us back to the road we wanted on the other side of the downed bridge.

Three traffic blockages, four downed trees, one flooded creek and at least fifteen undead later, we had only made it fourteen miles and it was already late afternoon going on evening. I made the command decision that we needed to stop for the night and we started looking for somewhere to sleep. Who knows what we would run into in the dark if we kept going, it just wasn't worth the risk.
This time, we found an abandoned hotel, again abandoned long before the shit hit the fan, and we parked around back. By searching the rooms, we found one with two beds that wasn't completely open to the stars or torn to pieces. We going to use sleeping bags on the old mattresses and hopefully, we won't end up with any small visitors looking for warmth in the middle of the night.
Today just sucked the big one, no other way about it. Tomorrow better be a better day.

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 record kept by the twins Jenny and Barbie Crow, May 19

May 19, 2017

We finally took them out this morning and were able to retrieve the cart and wagon. We won't have any problems moving between the apartments on this floor. Now, we only have to worry about the the ones that might be in the apartments and we should be able to take them out a lot easier than the group that was in the hall.
Barbie and I had to use most of the sparse furniture in this apartment to make our barricades and hiding places. It took us almost all day yesterday and by the time we were set, we were exhausted. We had moved the bed into the living room as part of the whole shebang, so we just ate some food and lay down to get some rest.
This morning, we ate breakfast, took one last look at our work and then put our plan into action. It took us about twenty minutes of hacking, stabbing, hiding and attacking to take out the eleven undead. It was dangerous and scary but we were getting pretty good at building what we need with what's on hand to get the job done. It worked at the security office and it worked here just as well.
Again, once we were done we were exhausted and filthy from all the undead blood that was flying. We used some of out water to wash up and found some really cool clothes in the bedroom. They were tight on both of us, since neither of us are a size two, but we were able to squeeze ourselves into some of the knit clothes. Tight clothes were way better than the gross ones we were wearing and we could always check the other apartments for clothes that fit better or that can be belted or altered to fit better.
Once we were cleaner, and had eaten again since killing zombies really does work up an appetite, we gathered our stuff and went to the next apartment down the hall. This time, Barbie had the keys ready, just in case we somehow didn't attract one of the undead and it was lurking in the hallway, but we must have gotten them all.

The apartment we walked into was amazing. Not as sparse as the one we had been stuck in, but still, wow! My entire place could fit in the living room alone! From the personal pictures on the walls, it looks like some young CEO owned this place and he traveled all over the world. There was artwork from Europe, a Katana sword from Japan in a case, textiles from South American and statues from several countries.
I had to stop myself from getting absorbed in looking at the cool stuff around us and reminded Barbie, and myself, that we needed to clear the apartment first. We closed the front door to the hall, so nothing could wander in behind us, and then went room by room. Barbie was on point and when she went into the hallway bathroom, she cried out. There, on the floor, was the torn up, desiccated remains of a little hairy dog. Looked like we might have company in one of the un-searched rooms.
We went back into the hall and there was still four doors left to open. I whispered to Barbie that we should make a loud noise to see if anything started banging on the other side of one of them and she used the butt of her machete to pound on the wall three times. We didn't have long to wait before the door at the very end of the hall started to vibrate from the impact of a undead fists on the other side of it. We waited a couple more minutes to make sure nothing was slowly making it's way to one of the other doors, then held another conference.
It was decided that we would still clear the quiet rooms first, just to be safe and then tackle the one we knew had something in it last. It took us about ten minutes to clear the other rooms and then we were standing at the shaking door.

I had my sword that I have had since the beginning and Barbie had taken the Kitana from the living room and we decided that Barbie would throw the door open with both of us standing to the sides of the door in this super wide hallway. Hopefully, the undead would rush out and we could take him out quickly and with no trouble.
Of course, this world doesn't seem to work like that anymore. She threw the door open and the thing in the bedroom rushed out and lunged right for her, following her arm back out of the doorway. He grabbed her arms and started to pull her  towards his snapping mouth and I jumped forward, putting my sword through the left side of his head. He dropped to the floor and took my sword right out of my hands. I just stood there breathing hard and that' when I felt the clawed hands grab my left arm and pull.
I screamed and tried to pull away, but the undead female was stronger than any human would've been. She was making that moaning and growling noise as she snapped her teeth together while pulling me closer still. Her face had no skin on the right side and that eye was hanging out of the socket on the cheek. Her neck and shoulder was just one raw, chewed up mess and her right arm was mostly bone and strips of cloth and skin.
I saw a flash from the corner of my right eye and then her head was rolling back away from us towards the bed. Her body fell over but she still had a hold of my arm and I fell on top of her remains, still screaming.
Barbie pulled me from the now dead zombies grasp and pulled me back to the living room, patting my shoulder and saying things I couldn't understand. It took several minutes before I could calm down and then I started grumbling about how stupid I was for not making sure nothing else was in that room. Instead, I had just frozen when I should've turned to look. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Barbie agreed that we had both been dumb and we made the choice to stay in the living room while we were in the apartment, except to search the closets and bathrooms one time for useful items. We did that fast and then pushed the male zombies remains back into the bedroom and closed the door. That room looked like a crime scene, with black, old blood smeared all over the bed, walls and carpet. He must have turned first and from the looks of it, she was sleeping in the bed when he started eating her alive. She must have run around and tried to put up a fight from the overturned furniture and blood spray. Poor woman.
I'm getting even better at compartmentalizing than I was in medical school, so I put the two undead out of my mind and started looking through the interesting stuff from around the world. Barbie went through the movies and then we moved on to the kitchen and ransacked it for supplies.
The amount of supplies we have found so far, in a couple of apartments, made me realize we will probably have to go floor by floor and go back to our place to drop off supplies between each floor. Unless we find a place we want to move into permanently. So far, I didn't want to live in any of the apartments we had been in. We'll have to wait and see.

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 Nikki Feather, June 6

June 6, 2017

Well, I made it to town and back without much trouble. I left yesterday, right after sunrise, and only found a couple of undead milling about the bottom of my tower. I think they might be able to smell that something live is around here somewhere, but can't figure out the whole ladder and climbing thing. Thank God.
It only took me a few minutes to take out the few undead quickly and quietly, then I got into my trusty old 4x4 truck and headed into town. I hadn't made the trip in almost 45 days, since I had just been resupplied by Mrs. Abbey Milner's crew two days before the undead horde rolled through. I was glad I grabbed the chainsaw, two trees had fallen across the road and I had to take the time to clear my path.

I made it to town with no other problems and it only too me about a hour. My first stop was the grocery store. There was a group of five undead in the parking lot, so I took them out then headed into the store. I grabbed a cart and started filling it up while keeping watch around me for any zombies that might be around. I found one in the cereal isle, a woman with a zombie baby on her back standing in the middle of the isle. When my cart rounded the end of the isle, she turned towards and and I could see she was missing half her face and her right arm. She opened her mouth and started that weird growling sound they all make and stumbled down the isle with her left arm stretched out, reaching for me.
I waited until she was about four feet away, then used the cart to knock her down and hacked the back of her head with my machete twice, just to be safe. She stopped moving on her own, but her body kept twitching due to the undead toddler still strapped to her back and underneath the now completely dead body. I looked around and listened to make sure her growlind hadn't drawn anymore in the store to us. Then I used the toe of my boot to push her body over and reveal the little undead ankle biter.
It used to be a boy, I think, since it was in a little blue onesy. He head was mishappen, like she had backed into something hard and his head had made contact. There was an odd crease and flat spot on the right side of his head and his right eye had popped out of the socket, just hanging out on his cheek. It's right shoulder had obviously been broken before death and its arm just twitched, but didn't reach out like the right one was doing. It was making that weird growling sound mixed with these weird mewling sounds and smacking it's lips. I couldn't leave it that way and with one slash, smashed what was left of its skull, making it go still.
I stood up and stayed really still again, listening for any other sounds of movement. I didn't hear any, so I continued gathering what I wanted or needed. Mrs Milner was in charge of supplying the lookouts and since she had always been a health nut, out supplies were so good for us, it was sickening. No chips, no cookies, no sodas. So that is what I loaded up, as well as some stuff better for me. Afterall, a balanced diet is the key. And really, how long is some of this junk food going to last and then its gone. No more Hostess, no more Doritos. Oh the humanity!
Next, I headed for the library. I spent a joyful hour or so purusing the shelves and ended up with a sellection of how to books, interesting history, and a few novels from some of my favorite authors, like Stephen King and Terry Goodkind. I didn't want to leave the peace of the library, but my plan was to stay at Michael's tonight and head back tomorrow morning.
So, I left the library and headed to Michael's house. It is on the opposite side of town  from my tower and took me a good ten minutes to get within a couple of blocks. There, I ran into a group of almost twenty undead blocking the road. I sped up and drove through them. Most of them were flattened or left behind, but five of them managed to hang onto the outside of my truck and start pounding on the windows. I drove a couple block further, to put room between us and the ones I drove through, then pulled over and dove out my quickly opened door. It took me almost ten minutes to take out the ones I brought with me on the outside of my truck and I finished not a moment too soon.

The rest of their group was almost on top of me. I quickly turned and took out the seven left with a lot of slashing, running, rolling, jumping and pure luck. I got back in my truck and continued on my way. When, I pulled up into his driveway, I was relieved to see his Volvo wasn't there. I hoped that meant he had made it out before the horde rolled in.
I used the key under the Welcome mat, the one I had used a bunch of times before to water his plants when he was out of town on a dig. The house was dark and was already starting to smell musty and abandoned. I went to the sliding door and pulled back the curtains to let in some light and almost died of a heart attack when the undead man in the backyard started pounding on the glass. I laughed at myself and started to turn back to the office, not noticing the zombie had a rock in it's hand. The glass shattered on the third strike and I turned back just fast enough to grab the thing by its throat as it came for me, both of us falling to the floor and rolling around.
It kept trying to bite me and I kept trying to push it back to get at my knife. I just couldn't quite reach it, if I could only get another three inches between us, it wouldn't have been a problem. Then I heard a footstep and though "Oh, shit, I'm dead!"! I thought it was another zombie, but lucky for me, it turned out to be a guy from our neighboring town, Jackson Flynn. I realized I was saved when I saw the hatchet come out of the shadows into the light from the open door and bury itself in the head of the undead on top of me.
I pushed the stinking body off of me and Jackson helped me up. I remembered him from when we were in high school. He was their quarterback and I always thought he was really good looking. I know I blushed and then we exchanged pleasantries. He told me that he was listening to our radio chatter for a few days and was relaying any information to people in his town. He was listening in the day the horde came through and our warning helped his town evacuate in time, too. But his father refused to leave their land and he couldn't leave without his father. They stayed and his father was still at their cabin while he came to check on me. He had been hearing my occassional attempts to reach others and thought it would be better if we teamed up.
I agreed and we spent the rest of the night securing the house and telling each other what had been happening since the pandemic hit in our respective towns. It was a really nice night and this morning, we headed for my tower to gather the rest of my supplies and possessions. I thought we would stay in the tower, but he pointed out that if the undead figured out I was up there, I would be stuck and would eventually starve while they clambered for my flesh.
I am going to go with Jackson and his father, Richard. I don't know if it is smarter than staying in the tower, but it's better than being alone. Here's to hoping it all goes well.

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 John Archer, the Archivist, June 6

June 6 , 2017

Well, it has been a really interesting time since we made it to Aspen. I know that Jenna wrote about the kids and their play area, she told me she did. I still have to say I was really impressed with their imagination and innovation in putting those structure together and not necessarily in the same way they were originally put together. I was also impressed with the way that Jenna and Sean and the way they stepped up and helped the younger children get what they wanted and needed. They helped the children design, plan and build their ideal play area and it's one that might come in handy if we are ever attacked by the living or overrun by the undead.

Jenna and Sean

Those two have been providing us a lot of entertainment since we combined groups. First, they both mooned over each other. Taking turns staring at each other when they thought no one was looking. Then they started flirting and "hanging out" as they like to call it. It was like watching a Lifetime TV movie happening right before out eyes. Now, they are at the hand holding stage. It's adorable.
Others are starting to have goo goo eyes at each other too. Kim, who used to be an LVN was one of the people assisting Dr Ben and had been spending a lot of time with Mike, the man who was bit. They had started having feelings for each other, but haven't been able to act on them because Mike has been so sick and on the brink of death a couple of times. The other person helping Dr Ben, Carol S. who was our secretary while we were at the camp, and the doctor himself had started dating, when he wasn't hidden in his lab. They have been spending hours since she was in school to be a pathologist and was only a year and a half from graduation before the pandemic hit.

Ashley and Gary

Then there's Ashley, one of our teachers, and Gary were looking at each other with stars in their eyes. And two of our mothers Donna (who's son is Kevin) and Michelle (who' son is Eric) have started spending time with Richard, a former button pusher, an Steve, one of our leadership committee members and a former fire fighter.
I guess for a community to grow, this has to happen, and we want out community to grow. For all we know, we are the last piece of civilization left and if the human race is to survive, we have to keep having children.
Dr Ben and Carol S. seem to be making some progress on figuring out what alllowed Henry to survive while everyone else has died who has been bit. The little bit they have accomplished just seperating out the plasma from Henry's blood and then giving it to Mike is why Dr Ben thinks Mike is still alive. He hopes that if they can do more tests and figure out exactly what is different in Henry's blood, then they can cure Mike or the sickness that is lingering still. I hope they are right.
Well, our lives are moving forward. We are making our compound more secure, teaching everyone to defend themselves and the rest of the group. People are filtering into the best positions for them and the children are getting settled in. Civilization is still in the world as long as we keep surviving.

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 13

May 13, 2017

Yesterday morning, we convinced Mom to go with us to the Port to search for a place to stay. We packed up what gear we think we'll need and left this morning with the guys. The plan is to take a car and drive through the port from the tunnel to the outskirts of town. There, we'll look around at the places we find, both house and other type of buildings, and choose the best one of the ones we find.

We left just after the sun came up this morning. It was chilly in the tunnel and we moved as quickly and quietly as we could to the Port end of the tunnel. I motioned everyone down and quiet, then Matt and I crept up to the end of the tunnel. When we looked out the our end of the tunnel, there was a small group of undead just a few feet from the entrance we needed to go through.
We moved back to the others where there was a quiet discussion about how to handle the small group. It was decided that we would go as a group and take them out with out knives. I called out to them quietly and they turned and moved towards us to find what had made the sound. Matt, Jeff, Alan and I took them down, making as little noise as possible and then we moved towards the closest vehicle, a delivery van with the sliding driver door open, keys in the ignition. We piled in, started the truck and pulled away.
It took us a good twenty minutes to get through town without drawing too many undead in our wake. Before we made it to the streets we were going to look at, we stopped and took out the undead that were close enough to follow us down any further. Then we parked the truck and walked down the last couple of blocks before turning onto the last street.
We searched through houses and buildings for hours. The first place was a beautiful old Victorian that was way too open with too many doors and window to defend and without a fence around it to help make it secure.  Next, there was an old brick carriage house but it was too small and again didn't have a fence.
After that, some of them started to blur together. We stopped for lunch in this cute little adobe house and then gathered what little was there that we might use. While searching the master bedroom, I found a journal from the lady who lived there. I took it with me and might read it. We didn't find any undead in the house, so maybe she was still alive, somewhere.
After hours of searching, we found this nice old brick house that had a fairly strong iron fence and gate. The fence was made of iron posts and rails, but we can make it stronger with other fences in the area. Mark and Alan both know how to weld and there is a place they can get the equipment a couple of blocks from here.

The house had been turned into a museum at some point and they had installed shutters to cover the windows in the off season. This makes it perfect, we can leave the shutters on the windows on the first floor to keep us out of sight of any undead who come down this way. But we can open some of them on the second floor and in the attic, but we still have to be careful not to be seen.
The inside was beautiful. Period furniture and kitchen. They had put a cast iron oven and stove in it and even an old style ice box, perfect for the current circumstances. The house was large and perfect for what we need. We settled in for the night and had a quiet celebration for finding a good place to live.
Tomorrow, we go back to Buckner and start getting ready to move over here. The guys are going to get a big truck and we are going to  take the old road out to the building. It will have to be a four wheel drive and we are going to stop to get a couple of chain saws on our way out of town. The road hasn't been used in years and we know it will take extra work to make it passable. If we're lucky, we will get all the way back to the building. But even if we can just get close, we can walk through the trees to Buckner and back to the truck with the supplies. Just in case this happens, we're going to get a bunch of metal carts with big tires made for working outdoors and left them in their boxes in the back of the truck.
At least, that's the plan. Hopefully, everything will go well. Time for bed.

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 Nikki Feather, June 3

This journal comes from a young lady who survived in an Rangers tower in Northern Washington. Nikki Feather had been staying up the tower while being the local communities lookout and had an ample suppy of food and water, supplied by all the people she was watching over. When the horde came, she was unable to leave. That was at the beginning of May.

June 3, 2017

Well, I have now been up here a full month and let me tell you, it sucks. Everyone left ahead of the horde so my walkies are no use anymore. I think the only thing keeping me sane up here for the three months before the horde came was being able to reach out and talk to everyone in my town whenever I felt the need. Everyone kept their walkies on and would talk to any of the three of us lookouts whenever we needed to the company.

I spent hours talking to my best friend Amanda. She would tell me jokes, usually bad ones, and tell me stories about what was happening in town. I heard all about old Mr Dumphrey side swiping the mayors truck parked downtown. He did it when the Harvey's little dog ran out into the road. The dog wasn't hit, but the mayor's truck was not so lucky.
Amanda told me about the kids at the high school pulling their senior prank by putting all the desks, chairs and tables on the roofs of the building. It looked like the classrooms had jumped throught the ceiling and set themselves up on the roof. I laughed for at least ten minutes as she told me how all the teachers and parents  were reacting when they saw it.
I talked to Michael, the town historian, for hours about the natives who lived here long before the white man had made it to this part of the world. I learned how not 100 feet from where I was perched, there used to be a hunting camp used yearly when it was time to hunt in this area. I learned what plants in the forest they collected and ate and what plants were used a medicine. Michael came out here and spent a week teaching me their hunting techniques, fighting techniques and gathering practices. It was a great time and I would talk to him almost every day about something or other.
Jason, he was my neighbor, spent hours with his radio on next to the TV while he watched old stand up comedies he had downloaded to his computer. It was really cool, being up in the forest, up in the trees, listening to old George Carlin, Eddy Murphy or Jeff Dunham. I spent many nights laying on the roof of the Tower, looking at the stars, listening or talking on the radio.

Then the horde came and everyone left. I had to stay to get in touch with everyone, even the guys in the other towers. I found out that they were clear and made sure they got out of the area. By the time I got in touch with the last people, Clara and Marcus Clark, the horde had already reached the bottom of my tower. I wasn't able to leave and the horde rolled by for a week. Once they were gone, I decided to wait here to see if anyone came back. I kept the radio on, and transmitted every four hours for two weeks. No one came back.
Since then, I haven't left because I don't know where to go. Here, I have food, water, safety and a warm place to sleep. I'm gonna have to to go into town for supplies in the next couple of weeks, maybe I'll go sooner, just to have something to do. I need to go by the library for some newer and better reading material. I should go by Michael's place too. I can grab to bow and some other hunting and surviving supplies. Tomorrow, I'll plan out where I need to go and what I need to find. If I'm lucky, someone I know will be in town an maybe the just lost their walkie along the way. I sure hope so.

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 10

May 10, 2017

It's weird having the guys here, especially after it being only my Mom, Mandy and her family and me, for so long. The guys, Mark Green, Jeff House and Allen Farrow, Matt Rockwell, all went to school with us, although Matt was a year ahead of us in school. They've been making  a larger part of the floor we live on into livable space. We now have a living room and kitchen area, five bedroom areas and a semi working sanitary facility where the old laundry shoot was. It works with gravity, but they built a secure seat over the shoot so we can sit and do out business. It's better than the bucket we used to use and then dump down the shoot. This way, no one has to carry the honey bucket and risk getting splashed.
Even though they've been making this area more livable, they said we should move to one of the houses or buildings on the outskirts of the port. They said this building is falling apart so badly and that it might not be safe. I kinda agree with them. This floor is the best one in the building, the one that has the most actual floor left to walk on, and not all of it is really solid. We've marked the places to avoid on the floor with spray paint and have reinforced some places that we can't avoid. There are holes in the roof in several places where water drips through when it rains. The outside of the building is almost completely gone, so even with us patching all the holes we can in our living space, the wind still whistles through sometimes. And while we don't have to worry about zombies making it up here, since we set up booby traps and simple can/string alarms, we do have to worry about rats. They know we have food and I think they know the undead will try to eat them, so they have started to make paths through what is left of the walls, to get to our supplies.
Mandy's father is more than halfway convinced that we should move and I know his wife is already pressuring him to get us out of Buckner. Michelle wants to go since she considers this place "yucky and dirty". Mom is really not sure what we should do, but doesn't want to make a decision with little to no information about what we might find on the outskirts of the Port. Mandy and I want to go scouting with the guys and see if we can find a place that is secure enough for us to survive, or at least a place we can make secure.
Now, we just have to convince Mom to let us go back to the Port. This time though, we'll have the guys with us. They've been surviving there since the Towers got overrun with the undead and their parents pushed them into the tunnel before closing the door for the last time, well, unless the undead learn to pull on handles and pull doors open. They say the Port doesn't have too many undead and that we could thin them out, make a system to clean them out street by street if we have to. I know we could do it if we put our mind to it.
It will suck to have to move all our stuff and supplies. We have quite a bit and it would either take a truck or several trips, even with all of us helping. We have all the water left from our trip to the Port, canned food, clothes, blankets, cooking utensils, pots and pans, and personal possessions. Like I said, it will suck to move them. But it might be worth it.
If we can find a house with a yard and a fence or wall around it, that would be perfect. I've always wanted to live in a house with a yard, not in an apartment in the Towers. I know we'll have to deal with the zombies more than here. Although, we've been having to clear them out daily on the ground floor or around the bottom of the building. But I really think it will be worth it to be closer to the buildings in the Port where we can get supplies when we need them. If we can find a place near the Port, we can bring more water back to for us to use and also find more food. Our supply won't last too long with even more mouths to feed now.
Now, I've got to work on Mom and get her to let us go or even go with us. I would love to have her there when we look for a place.  She will have to approve any place we find anyway. It would save time to have her look at the places with us. Maybe that will make her happier, if she goes with us. I'm going to have to think about this and figure out just how to bring it up tomorrow.

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 Manny Stone, May 16

May 16, 2017

On my patrol this morning I found food prints about a mile from the cabin and two valleys over. I followed them as they headed away from the cabin, thankfully, for about a mile, where they ended in tire tracks. The tracks were no wide enough to be a car or truck, but could be from an ATV or 4 wheeler. There were only two sets of foot prints but four sets of tire tracks. I walked beside the tire tracks until I got to the tree line and stopped even though the tracks kept going. I pulled out my binoculars and continued to follow the path of the tracks.

Once the trees stop on the base of the mountains, the hills take over and roll out for a huge distance. I followed the tracks with my eyes for at least five miles and then saw a circle of ATVs and a group of people in a camp. There had to be at least 30 of them with around 20 ATV's set up in a perimeter, forming a sort of barrier around their camp. They had a fire going in the  center, tents, tables, chairs and all the things that people call necessities, even when camping. There were women cooking and men in a group looking at a map and having a discussion. They had sentries set up at four points in the perimeter with rifles and binoculars, keeping an attentive eye on their quadrants. Good thing I stayed hidden in the trees.
I know they are looking for Alex and Marny, and by extension, me. Of course, they don't know who killed their men, if they have already found them, and so have no idea who they are really up against. I'm an ex-marine with loads of combat experience. Yeah, I live on a mountain in an old mining cabin and have kept to myself for the last few years but that doesn't take away from what I know I can do, when push comes to shove.
I slowly eased back, farther into the trees, to keep my shadow from shifting in an obvious way, in case the sentry for this quadrant was looking at the area I was in. Then I made my way back to the cabin, taking a circuitous route and concealing my tracks. It took almost twice as long, but the precaution was needed now.

Once back, I explained what I had observed to Alex and Marny, then told them it was time to go. We packed up all the supplies we could carry in our back packs and I packed up all the gear I didn't want to leave behind, and put it all by the back door to the cabin. I made a big lunch and we ate in silence, all of us thinking about what we are getting ready to do.
We are leaving the relative safety of my cabin. For them it was only for a couple of days, but for me, it has been my sanctuary for years now. We are heading out into this new world, created by the pandemic and the collapse of the government. We don't know where we are going, but we can't stay here.
We are going to go to sleep early and I've set an alarms for, as Marny puts it, the butt crack of dawn. We are leaving before the sun comes up and will hopefully be able to slip down the part of the mountain where I live. We are about seven miles away from their camp and are planning to head in the opposite direction from them when we leave. I'm going to take us to where old man Rawley lived. He was 96 when all of this sci fi shit started happening. I did my usual weekly check on him and found him undead in his bathtub. He was the first zombie I saw and the first one I put out of their misery. His truck is still there and should work and we are going to take it and get out of here.
and Marny thought, at first, that we should go to the nearest town and settle on the outskirts of it, for awhile. But with those men so close, we're going to have to leave this area of the Rockies and find somewhere else to settle. We really don't want to be too close to those men.
For now, we are going to head West and will stop when we need supplies or rest. Eventually, we will find a place to stay and will make a secure home then.

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 record kept by the twins Jenny and Barbie Crow, May 17

May 17,  2017

We got stuck in one of the apartments without our supplies for a few days. We made it to the base of the other tower and up to the first floor of apartments. The stairwell was clear and when we opened the door, I didn't see anyone or anything, so we pulled our wagon and cart into the hall and closed the door behind us. It made this slight screech as it closed and a clomp and click as the door secured behind us. That's when it happened.

From around the corner of the hallway, we heard first one and then a bunch of undead start to make that weird moaning and growling noise. I tried to open the door to the stairs, but it was locked and the keys were in one of the bags in Barbie's cart. We were so screwed.
I dove for the cart while Barbie ran to the first apartments door. I had barely opened the zipper when the first zombie shambled around the corner and Barbie called my name while holding the door to the apartment open. There was no time to pull the cart and wagon, just enough time for me to get to the door and pull it closed before the hands of the nearest undead started pounding on the door. It was close, a couple of seconds more and it would have grabbed my instead of hitting the door behind me.
We had only the supplies in the backpacks we were wearing and the weapons we had one our bodies. I had my sword and a pistol while Barbie had a machete and a pistol. We both had back up hunting knives  and food in out back packs. It had to do.

We cleared the apartment room by room and were thankful to find it empty. Then I took the kitchen and Barbie took the bathroom while we started our search of the apartment for supplies. We put what we found by the door and then settled in to wait out the undead in the hall.
That was three days ago. The pounding has continued and we are going to have to do something about it if we want to get out of this apartment and into the other ones. We are going to have to set up the living room like we did outside the security office and make barricades to be behind while we stay safe and take out the undead from the hall. I was able to sneak out to the wagon and grab the bags that have the keys and my journal.
I came back and was able to write down what has been happening since I left my journal in the wagon in the hall. Tomorrow we are going to have to make this place ready to distract and fight the undead from the hall so we can get into the other apartments. Better get some sleep.

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 recovered journal of the Battle of the New Alamo, May 13

May 13, 2017

I've spent the last couple of days exploring the chapel and the rooms attached. Besides the chapel, there is the office we are living in, two smaller offices, five former classrooms, the kitchen and dining room, pantry, walk in fridge, two restrooms, one full bathroom, storage room and several large closets. One of those old classrooms is now the morgue, since we out all the bodies of the suicide squad in there. That still left plenty of room to move around in.

Michelle hasn't been as mobile as I have been. She just stays in the office most of the day with her nose stuck in one of the books we found here. I know the westerns weren't very entertaining for either of us, but there was a pretty big library in one of the smaller offices. It has some classics, a few books on mythologies from around the world, bunch of religious books, a couple of poetry books and a few other random titles. I think she's made it through a least two of them in the last couple of days. I also think it is her way of not being in reality right now. The people here really freaked her out. She hasn't really been talking much or eating much either. Hopefully, she'll get over it soon.
We still haven't talked about what we are going to do next. The zombies have continued to thin in the fort. They keep slowly going over the wall. Last night I swear that I heard a dog barking close by, but could  I really have heard it? Could a dog survive out there with the city overrun by the undead? How could it avoid all the zombies that must be trying to grab it? Where would it find food? Sleep?

Could that be what is drawing the zombies over the wall? Are there others out there that they can see or hear up on the walls that we can't see or hear in here? Is is some of the people in the Emily Morgan Hotel? How did they survive the whole building being overrun? Did they hide in a room and stay really quiet? Are there people somewhere else, like one of the other buildings? If so, who are they and how have they survived? Can we get to them and join their  group? Do we want to?
I mean, look at what happened in here when Samuel lost it! People became cattle and others became murderers and cannibals. We were pinned up and forced to stay where they wanted us to be while they fed us the worst foods they had left and then kill us and butcher the body to eat as a group. Sick!
I know it is safer with numbers, but how can the two of us make it out of here and find others? If we do, how do we make sure they aren't bad people? We could end up in a worse situation with people who are even more evil than Samuel. We could end up raped, farmed out as sex slaves, or back in another situation where we are going to be eaten by canibals. What are we supposed to do?
I am going to have to make Michelle stop reading and then we can talk this all over. Maybe she will have an idea that is better than any I have thought of. We have to at least talk about what options we have because who knows when something might happen that makes it so we have to leave the chapel and fort. I'm going to let her read for the rest of today, but tomorrow, we are going to have to talk.

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 Rebecca Martin, June 5

June 5, 2017

We lost Esther last night and Jackie took it really hard. Esther has been slowly slipping away from us for over a week now. I knew it was coming, after all, she was 94. She had been on medication for her heart before the pandemic hit and had been doing OK without it, as long as she was just in the Care Home and not really active. But traveling around was just too much for her, especially after losing Fred.
We had just gotten back on the road after the rig broke down and had only been traveling for a couple of days. After searching the area around where we broke down and found a really new Adventurer RV. It's like a luxury hotel suite on wheels and I love it! All of us fit nicely, there's lots of sitting space and a bed if anyone has to lay down. It was full of gas and propane, so we just got in and took off.
Esther was really having a hard time breathing and had been put in the bed when we first got in the RV. She was propped up with pillows and had even managed to eat dinner the night before and a little food at both breakfast and lunch. Then, in the late afternoon, we all thought she went to sleep, but she had really slipped into a coma. She didn't wake up again, just had a harder and harder time breathing before she stopped breathing all together.
Jackie was sitting by her side the entire time and refused to leave for more than a couple of minutes to eat and use the restroom. She took care of Esther, feeding her cleaning her up and wiping her forehead with a cool cloth. When Esther wouldn't wake up, she about lost it but managed to pull it together when I mentioned her other former patients were watching her every move. She gathered her scraps of dignity and kept tending to Esther until her breathing became so labored it was painful to watch. Jackie held her hand and spoke to Esther about how she shouldn't be afraid, she would be joining her deceased husband soon. She smoother Esthers brow and cradled her frail body in her arms at the end, making sure that Esther knew she wasn't alone at the very end.
Once Esther was gone, Jackie went outside and completely broke down. She cried for hours and it was all any of us could do to comfort her. We all took turns hugging her and talking to her. Her former patients kept gently reminding her that this was always going to be the end result, even if they had stayed at the Care Home. Eventually, she got herself back under control and started talking about Esther with the others.

It was a really subdued night. We stayed right where Esther had died and wrapped her in a sheet, placing her in a grave James, Rick, Jake and Jim dug while Jackie was finishing her break down. Marvin read a few passages from the Bible, Ginger said some words about Esther since she had known her the longest and Jackie closed our little service with a couple of stories about Esther's time at the Care Home. Then the guys filled in the grave, fashioned a cross from boards they found and we all went back to the RV to get dinner ready and settle in for the night.
Today, we got up later than usual and slowly had breakfast before having a meeting to decide if we were continuing today or staying here for a day to mourn Esther. We decided to stay for the day so everyone to pay their last respects. The guys decided to search the general area and found a little Honda that started so the RV could stay right here. Today will be one more day of lost travel, but it's the right thing to do.
RIP Esther. We'll all miss you and your cute little giggle.

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 Sean Glover, June 1

June 1, 2017


Yesterday was really fun. The kids that came in with that group, the one that joined us in our compound, revealed their play area that Jenna and me have been helping them build. We've been working on it with the kids for a week or more and it was cool to see how blown away the  adults were. The only ones who even had a clue were Williams, Gary and Steve, and only because they helped us haul back the play structures and other pieces we used to make their little castle like play area.
It's really cool and I even like spending time there, especially with Jenna. She's cool, fun and I love spending time with her. We like the same kind of movies and music. We enjoy the same sports and teams. We both want to drive a older Mustang and have taken to looking for one when we were out looking for pieces for the kids. So far, the only one we've found is not old enough and a horrible butter yellow color.
The rest of the grou is pretty cool, too. Williams is like Jenna's older brother, even though he rescued her and had taken care  of her since. She's really lucky she got hooked up with a cool guy like Williams, she could have ended up dead or as someone's toy. He knows some cool shit, like guns, hand to hand fighting and how to patrol better than we were doing before they came and he's willing to teach anyone who wants to learn. I can't wait to learn about knife fighting and hand to hand techniques.
Aaron and Linda have some cool information to teach, too. They taught us how to find water in any situation, how to figure out if something is edible or poisoness, and how to built a survival shelter with whatever is on hand.
Ashley, who used to be a kindergarten teacher, has started helping Carol with the kids schooling and they have some cool books they have found in houses around the area. The kids are going to learn more interesting stuff then we got to learn, like the same history stuff but more interesting history, too. Like the history of guns and survival stuff. They are going to learn about cool stuff, too. Like gun safety and knives and stuff.
Amanda and the guys are going to start giving cooking lessons to everyone in turns. They think that we should all be able to cook the basics, especially Jenna, me and Elizabeth, Eric and Margaret. They said because we are "young adults", whatever that is, we should know how to cook stuff like pasta, burgers and biscuits with gravy. I guess they're right. It would have been nice to be able to cook edible food when I was on my own.
The rest are nice and helpful. We all hang out in the movie room and have fun. Game night gets a little crazy sometimes, with all the different types of people, but it's nice to have a group of people around. Especially since they are actually nice, not like the foster kids and families I've had to deal with. I'm really happy we've joined forces and are going to be one group from now on. If anything happens, I feel like we can take care of it, now.
Before, when it was just Carol, Eric, Elizabeth, Margaret and me, we were even more vulnerable to attack then I knew at the time. Between Williams, Gary and Steve, this place is now a lot more secure. The construction on the walls, setting up sentries and more patrols, we are way safer. I am picking up as much information as I can and know it will all come in handy.

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 Marie Costa, May 25

May 25, 2017

Well, the last few days has been really good. We had a meeting and agreed on a set of rules that have been written down on a board and posted. All offenses have set repercussions or punishments and everyone knows what they are. The rules are mostly basic rules for any society:  no killing live people (unless they are attacking or hurting one of our group), no stealing, no rape, and such like that. We can't imprison anyone, so that was out as a punishment. Instead, there are chores that everyone hates that can be used as punishments and banishment, if the offense is really bad. But some of us argued that banishment is not a good way to go because that person can come back with others and try to attack or take us over. We are going to have another meeting to discuss whether death is the better option if the offense is bad enough. Besides, sending someone out there alone, with a knife and three days of food is almost the same as killing them, heck, death might be more humane.

We finally have the RV's and trailers we have where we want them. They have been placed in a semi-circle around the front of the cabin, so if anyone comes, they form a barrier and the cabin becomes the fall back position. Next, we are setting up sentry routes and some viewing platforms in the trees around us, where we can see but not be seen by anyone approaching.
Charlie, Jake's father, used to work in security and has made some suggestions for how to make this place more secure. The barrier of movable living space, sentry routes and viewing platforms are just the beginning. He wants us to make ditches and booby traps in circles around the cabin, starting at  feet from the cabin outward, every 10-15 feet or so. Also, he wants us to have set places that we conceal stashes of weapons, food and water. These all sound like good ideas to me and I'm willing to do anything to make us safer.
This afternoon, Orville, Jake's grandfather, is gong to help us set the boundaries of our plot for gardening. He used to be a farmer and only stopped when he got too old to do it anymore. But, he still has all the years of knowledge and know how, and we really need that. No one else here has much experience beyond backyard gardening. We need more than just tomatoes or squash, we need something sustainable and something that's a grain, like oats, wheat or corn. And we need to have a large enough patch to feed us all and see to our grain needs.

Then, we are going to set up the vegetable garden, too. This is where the tomatoes, beans, squash, lettuces, herbs and such will be grown. He knows that some plants work better with others and can even provide natural insect control in pairs. Again, this is information that we need to know but don't have without Orville.
Cindy and Brenda, Alice's neighbors, were medical assistants at one of the local clinics and have taken over our medical supplies. Cindy said that there are some serious deficiencies in the types of supplies we have one hand and has made a list for whoever goes into town next. She even included places to check that might not be as obvious as the hospital, like agricultural supply businesses. It's nice to know we have someone here to has at least basic first aid training, and they both seem to be more knowledgable than just that.
So far, Charlie, Orville, Cindy and Brenda have found what their jobs will be. I have become the leader, somehow, and have been chairing all our meetings and making hard decisions. Jake, Alex and Alice have volunteered to be our scavengers when we need supplies. Frank, Will and Jorge have become our builders and heavy lifters. Mildred, Ginger, Linda and Lisa are taking the kitchen over and will be preparing all our food while Andrea, Rose, Danny and Dean have been assigned kitchen help and clean up duties.
This leaves several people who can help in the garden or can be sentries and man the viewing platforms, for now. Eventually, everyone will be taking turns on sentry or viewing duties, but we need to get our place set up and moving towards the future before we pull people from their jobs for other duties. It is coming together though. We are falling into positions and taking over duties that we are good at. We have rules, supplies and plans for the future. As long as we are still alive and fighting, civilization is not dead. Yet.

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 recovered journal of the Battle of the New Alamo, May 11

May 11, 2017

Well, we did it. We snuck across the courtyard last night. The original plan was to go during the day, but I thought it might be better to go across when it was dark. They don't seem to be able to see even as well as the average live person in the dark. They just stumble around in the dark and trip over every little pebble or crack in the sidewalk. I figured we could run across and as long as we didn't make too much noise, we should be OK.
We watched the undead to see who was moving about and who was in that weird waiting state and when we saw a gap in the ones walking around, we took advantage and went for it. We had packed what was left of the supplies and the books into a couple of backpacks we found in Samuels room. It wasn't much, so we had no problem carrying it.
It was easier than I thought it would be.We slipped into the gap and made it from shadow to shadow and across the courtyard into the chapel with not a single zombie making  that weird moaning sound. This was really important because when they make they make that sound, it draws more of them to it. It's like some kind of alarm and they all are attracted to the sound.

Once we got across the courtyard and into the vestibule of the chapel, we put our bags on the floor and took up our quiet weapons, not the pistol since it makes too much noise. I had found a machete and a bat in Samuel's room and we had decided to use these to clear the chapel to make sure no undead had made it inside. It only took us a little more than five minutes to clear the main room, then we moved together to check out the office and other rooms off the main chapel.
The kitchen and dining hall were clear, no undead or dead or anyone. The library had four bodies in it with bullet holes in their heads, the school room had six bodies, also with holes in their head.  But it was in the office that we found something even more odd. There were three people sitting on the sofa, all dead in the same way as all the other bodies. The desk had two chairs in front of it and they both held the bodies of small children while behind the desk sat a large man with a pistol still in his hand with his head, or what was left of it, resting on a sealed envelope marked "To whom it may concern".
I opened the envelope and read the note inside. This is what it says:


To whom it may concern,
If you have found this note, you have found our bodies. We made it here when the fort fell, and knew we had food, water and were safe, for the moment. But we talked after a few days or being stuck in here with nothing to do and just don't see what there is to live for any longer. No matter how long we survive in here, there are still going to be too many undead outside this building for us to get out of the fort. Eventually, the food will run out and then we will starve. And even if we made it out into the fort, where would we go from there? The whole city is overrun, the people in the hotel have been killed and the men who went for supplies for us here all must have died, since they never returned. 
We have decided that we are going to die by our own hands and by our own decision. If anyone finds us, the supplies will keep you alive, if that is what you want. Although I can't think  of any reason why you would want to stay alive in this day and age. May God keep you safe and may you survive however long you want to live for. 


Then, it listed the names of all the people who were in this chapel and who had died together by their own choice. How could the kids have chosen to end it like the adults? Could they really have known what they were agreeing to? How could a parent just decide to kill their kid? Isn't the point to survive as long as you can in the hopes that it will end and you will still be there? I just don't understand.
We moved all the bodies into the farthest school room and closed the door. The office has been cleaned and we are setting ourselves up in it as our bedroom. It's nice to have access to a kitchen, even if we still have to cook on the little camp stove Samuel had in his supplies or over the fire in the fire place. It's also nice to have more room to spread out in. Now, we have to decide what our next step is going to be. Do we stay here for awhile? Do we try to leave the fort? That is the million dollar question, 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.

From the journal of James Cohen, May 31

May 31, 2017

Well, the rig broke down yesterday. It had started to sound rougher a couple of days earlier and there was nothing I could do about it. Before the world went to shit, I would have called the main office and they would have arranged for a place to stop on our route to have the truck looked at. Now, the phones don't work, all the shops are closed, the mechanics are probably zombies, and the rig is done. We limped into a little road side town and spent today finding a secure location off the main street. Tomorrow, we are going to have to search for another vehicles, like another rig, or a bus. Hopefully, we can find one in this little one block town.
The trailer is not as comfortable as anyone here would like, but unless we find an RV or tour bus, nothing else will be really comfortable either. A bus, unless you take the time to remove some of the seats, will not be really comfortable. If we get another rig, then the trailer is still the mode of transport for the majority of our group. It would be better if we can find an RV or a trailer and truck to pull it.

I don't know exactly where we are, but we didn't make it as far as I would have liked in the amount of time we have been on the road. Traveling in this new world is driving in short bursts and then stop to move vehicles out of the way, then another short burst of driving, etc. On the road, we've had to stop often to let the elderly people to walk around and go to the bathroom. Between stopping for them and having to move vehicles blocking the roads, we've only made it about half as far as we should have. But, you always have to roll with the punches, especially now, with the undead. We've had to stop for groups of them that were blocking the road. Sometimes, we stop far enough away to just wait it out, other times there are few enough of them that we drive up and take them out.
All of us are already tired of the drive and we aren't even a third of the way there. We have had to deal with zombies, traffic jams, deserted towns, losing someone in our group and mutant bikers trying to find us. And that's besides all of us having to deal with everyone else's stuff. They are crammed in the back, sitting or laying down on mattresses, for hours on end, with nothing to do but get on each others nerves. The only break they get is when we stop or they get their turn being my navagater up front. It would be better for everyone if we can get an RV. At least then, people will be able to sit at a table or on a couch. Also, other people should be able to drive it, so I can have a break from driving, which would be nice.
Walter is still not his old self after loosing his oldest friend, Fred. He was really broken up for about a week and would look around, like he forgot Fred was dead, sometimes. Walter told a bunch of stories from all the years he and Fred had been friends. After the first week, he got quieter and is still not as vocal as he usually is.
Esther is not doing well. She is having a hard time breathing, especially is she lays down. Her ankles are getting bigger since she is having fluid issues and sitting on the floor on mattresses isn't helping. She lost most of her appetite and Jackie is having to really keep after her to keep her hydrated. If I had to guess who we will probably lose next, it would be her.
Jackie's having a hard time with how this is going. Losing Fred was really hard on her. They have been together at the Care Home for over 10 years and she even took some dancing lessons from him. But it just happened, he didn't have symptoms for a while before dying. Watching Esther is harder for her. There is no medication left to help her with. Jackie thinks it might be congestive heart failure, but isn't able to confirm this. There is no place to get tests done and even if there was, there is no medicine left to give her. It is like life used to be 150 years ago or more. People just got sick and died. No hospitals, no medicines, no surgeries to fix faulty valves, no stints, just death.
This pandemic is like the Earths population control. I know when the black death came through Europe, the people who survived got to live better than they had before. People whose families were farmers for generations got a chance to go to the now half empty cities and learn a trade. This was not something that had been possible before. Well, if the human race survives this, maybe things can get better for us too.

But for that to happen, civilization has to come back. From what we have seen so far, that might not be possible this time. People still alive are either crazy, mutant bikers, or they are like us and it seems like the majority have chosen mutant biker. If there are people at the Greenbrier, I hope the are still decent people who want to survive and help people. If they are like those bikers, we are going to be so screwed.

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.