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.