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.