From the journal of Nikki Feather, June 11

June 11, 2017

Well, we made it out this morning. When we checked the side towards Jackson's cabin, the trail of undead had thinned considerably. We moved back to our spot and talked it out. We decided that, yes, tomorrow there might be even less zombies, we were still going to get out today.
We ate breakfast and made sure everything in the truck was tied down tight. We both knew that the undead would try to hang on and we didn't want to lose anything we might need. I pulled out a tarp and once everything was secure, we covered it all with the tarp and made sure that it was also tied down tight.
Once we were as ready as we could be, we headed back down the dirt road and headed right for the undead, picking up speed as we went. The trick it to go fast enough to make it through all the little impacts, but not so fast that you lose control of the car skidding on a corpse. We both braced ourselves and watched the line of undead get closer by the second.

The first zombie we hit burst like an overripe tomato and covered the windshield in gore. I had to use the wipers and fluid to be able to see again and our view cleared right before we hit the next zombie. Each body hitting the truck caused the whole vehicle to shudder and shake. The wheel kept trying to jump in my hands and it was all I could do to keep us going relatively straight. It felt like it took an hour to get through, but it was really only a couple of minutes.
When we came out on the other side, the road was clear but the truck wasn't. We had picked up at least 10 undead passengers and had to stop to take care of them as soon as we felt far enough away from the remains of the horde. We had to figure out how to distract them enough for us to get out of the cab and get enough distance to turn and take them down. Jackson opened the glovebox and took out a flare before telling me he had done this once before.
He lit it,cracked his window and threw it towards the front of the truck and away from the door. Several undead on his side followed the heat and movement, shuffling after the flare like it was something alive. He opened the door and we both slid out and moved to make room to fight. We didn't want to use the guns, except as a last resort, because the sound would surely draw some from the horde our way. So instead, we used out machetes and knives.

The next 10 minutes were a blur of hacking, slashing and stabbing. I couldn't tell you how many I took out, how many men or women, young or old. I just went on auto pilot and did what needed to be done. We were both covered in black blood and bits of zombie by the time we had taken out the passenger zombies. I turned to look the way we had come and saw that a small group had broken from the horde and were coming our way. We both looked at each other and shook our heads, we were not waiting around to take them out. We got back in the truck and continued on.
We still didn't make it to the cabin today, though we are a lot closer. Jackson says it's another five miles or so, but it got so dark, we both agreed it was better to stop for the night. Tomorrow we should get to the cabin and hopefully, his dad is still ok and we can survive together. I feel like I should keep my fingers crossed all night.

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.