Diary of a Zombie Apocalypse: June 2018

Saturday, June 30, 2018

From a letter written by Martin Burke, April 3

This letter was found by Jake, Alice, Alex and Brian when they were searching houses for weapons and ammo.

April 3, 2017

To whomever finds this,

I've been sure for years that the end was coming, the apocalypse, and have been preparing for it. Everyone else thought I was crazy, even my own family thought I was nuts. For years, I've quietly set myself up to survive, no matter what was going to happen. I have enough dehydrated and preserved foods to stay alive for years, enough guns and ammo to defend myself from anything that could come my way, and have been living off grid since before it was popular. I also have a freezer full of meat and vegetables, and as long as my power holds out, it will stay good.

When I built this place, everyone at the shop I was working at told me I was insane for not wanting municipal power and municipal water. No one was living off grid except the crazy hippies that occasionally moved to this area, and I was obviously not one of them. My power is collected by solar, wind and man power, all hooked up to a bank of batteries. I have a big water tank and a solar heated gravity fed shower.

I have planned and prepared and saved and built. And now I'm going to die and turn because a fucking child zombie snuck up on me while I was taking out her parents and bit my ankle. Fucking ankle biter! Makes me even more glad that I never had any. I was never comfortable around them, even my own brothers children gave me the creeps. Short, dirty, noisy, staring little creepy people who don't know anything yet, sometimes, not even how to wipe their asses.

I am going to kill myself before I turn, take out my fucking brain and keep myself from coming back as one of those asshole zombies. But first, I'm going to cook the thickest steak, open a whole shit load of beers and have myself a feast. I'm gonna get drunk and enjoy my last good day before making sure I stay who I have always been, even once I'm dead. I do not want to come back as one of those things and become a mindless freak!

Well, my advice to you is to have at least two people. I've been a loner for years and had no one to watch my back. If I'd had someone to watch my back, I wouldn't have been bit by that fucking kid. Take the food, ammo and anything else you might need, I won't need any of it anymore. Fuck, have a bar-b-que with all the meat if you don't have a way to take it with you and keep it. Better that someone enjoys it.

Good luck and may God have mercy on you and your souls,

Martin Burke

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, June 20

June 20, 2017

The last couple days have been really busy. Brian said he knew someone who lived near town that was a gun fanatic. He even stayed in that house when he was trying to make his way home and there was no one, alive or undead,in the house. We decided to go back and get whatever he had. A couple of others said they knew where there were houses that had multiple weapons and lots of ammo, too. I got a map of our area out and we started marking approximate locations for stashes of what we needed to take care of the town group.

We ended up with five locations and sent out a fairly large group to make the rounds and collect all the weapons and ammo. From there, we would see if we needed to look for more. The hope was that they would find enough for us to put the plan into action and soon, too.

While they were off collection the weapons, the three of us went back to interrogate our prisoner again. We went over and over everything again and added in a couple of questions the others had brought up. We were making sure his story didn't change so we knew he was telling the truth about the details. I'm not proud of what we did to Marco, but we did what had to be done to keep our people safe. Richard had studied torture techniques and he had learned well. It started with fingernails, a needle in the quick and then removal of the nail with pliers. Other things I saw done to Marco, a ton of small cuts in really sensitive places, pincers used to apply pressure and even hammers to break bones. There were a lot more horrible things done to him, but I want to try to forget most of them. At the end, there wasn't much left of Marco to question and once we were all satisfied that he had told us everything he knew, we put him out of his misery.

It took all day and into evening before our people were back from their search and there had hit the payload at a couple of the houses. At least 50 rifles and twice that many handguns. Thousands of rounds of ammo for each caliber and holsters, too.

Jake, Alex, Alice and Brian left this morning to relieve the group that has been watching the town group. They will be there for two day before we would usually send another group to replace them, but the plan is that they will head back and most of our group will meet them in a house we agreed on at the edge of town. They'll let us know where the town group is set up and we'll set ourselves up around them so we can take them out all at once. I'm sorry that we have to kill all of them, even the women and any children that might be with them. From what Marco said, we can't trust any of them and after what they've been through, we won't be able to help them with the trauma anyway. We argued and argued about it at the meeting where we made our plan, but we have to be practical. Marco said some of the women had turned to the men and would report on the other women. They would act like they were on our side, but could never be trusted. We can't afford to feed and harbor people who might turn on us.

It's a sad fact of life in the apocalypse. Just as we couldn't keep anyone with bad health issues alive, we can't keep people who we know we can't trust. We also can't afford to imprison people for long periods of time or let them go if someone does something really bad. We have to have the death penalty for our safety. And I never thought I would say that. I was always against the death penalty, but now, it is the only practical thing to do.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

From the journal of Kelly Vargas, June 10

June 10, 2017

The group of men left town this morning. If they hadn't left I think I would've gone insane. I couldn't go through another night like this last one. I know Manny thought everyone but him was asleep, but how was I supposed to sleep through that poor girl being gang raped. She's got to be around 11 or 12, no older though. How sick are they that they laughed and joked and enjoyed what they did to her? They would do the same to Alicia, Marny and me if they had found us. That would've been our life until death came for us. I know the others were awake, too, but none of us are talking about what we heard. It's too traumatic and we just had to listen to it, not experience it.

I feel bad for all the women in the RV's. To be kept as slaves and given to whoever has “earned it”. When they first pulled into town, we all whispered about the kids in the RV's and hoped they weren't getting raped like the women, but we were wrong. I wouldn't put it past them to rape the younger kids too. If I was one of those women, I would find a way to kill my kids and myself, no matter how long it took. Death is better than daily rape and torture.

It hasn't been more than six months since this all started and some people have completely gone to the dark side already. How do you let yourself lose your humanity that fast? Did you have it to begin with or were you just faking it? The men in that group had been brothers, sons, fathers and husbands. They would've been businessmen, teachers, salesmen, shit, they could've been your neighbor. Now, they were psychopaths and madmen, doing whatever they want and damn whoever gets hurt or dead in the process.

They took the almost unconscious girl back to her RV about 6 am this morning and then had the women start making an early breakfast. By the time their group had eaten, loaded up and was heading out, it was close to noon and we were all sweating in the building heat of the post office attic. Once they were gone, we stayed in the attic for another hour and were rewarded by watching their rear scouts, as Manny calls them, head down the road in the same direction as their group. We slowly made our way back across the attic and through the ceiling access to the office below.

The place was trashed. Mail, garbage, torn clothing, empty alcohol bottles and used condoms were everywhere. The place smelled and our shoes stuck to the floor when we carried our stuff through the rooms and out the back door. Our RV was still sitting behind the post office, but all the tires were flat and the windows were broken. Our supplies were gone and we were going to have to find a new vehicle to leave in as well as find supplies to take with us. From what we saw in the glimpses we took from the attic, they had pretty much wiped out all the supplies in down town proper and the closest houses, too. We are going to have to go farther out and search the houses.

After we got settled in the kitchen of the diner, Manny went to find another RV. He was back in a couple of hours with the RV and some supplies he collected on the way back. He parked the RV behind the diner and we spent the rest of the day stretching our cramped legs and resting. Tomorrow, we'll head West, since the group headed East. We have plans to search the houses and buildings on our way out of town and along our way. Hopefully, we won't run into any more evil men like that group. Manny says we are going to be extra careful from now on and he's going to train all of us on how to use all the guns he has, as well as any we find.

I want to learn anything I can that can keep us all safer. If Manny is the only one who can fight, we're screwed. He's going to teach us all hand to hand combat, knife fighting skills, guns and anything else he can think of that might be helpful, like how to start a fire without matches or a lighter. If we can find a library, I want to find books on edible plants and how to find water in the wilderness. I plan on surviving and will do my best to keep everyone else in our group alive as well. God willing.

From the journal of Marie Costa, June 17

June 17, 2017

Well, the decision made at the meeting to “think about it some more” regarding the group in town has been taken out of our hands, in a way. We have been patrolling a perimeter around the cabin and the land we've been slowly clearing. On the mid morning patrol yesterday, one of our patrols came across an unknown man sneaking through the woods trying to move without being see or heard. Too bad for him that our people had heard the sounds of the animals stop ahead of them and had stopped and taken refuge on one of our platforms, above the man.

Brian, the ex-fireman, was one of the scouts and waited until the man was underneath him, then dropped down on him. This knocked the man to the ground and the other scouts, Josh, Jake and Sally, climbed down quickly and they were able to subdue the man with no problems. They gagged him with duct tape so he couldn't call out to anyone else that might be near and blind folded him, just in case. They brought him back right away before returning to their patrol to make sure no one else was around.

We had already decided that we could hold someone in the back of the food truck, like a cell, so that's where they put him before telling us what had happened. I called a meeting of anyone available and we discussed what to do. We decided we needed to interrogate him and find out for sure where he'd come from. There were too many unanswered questions. Is he a loner? Is he from the group in town? Is there another group we don't know about?

We talked and argued about who would do the questioning. Everyone else agreed that we should have Charlie, who was in the Marines and worked security, Richard, who was a retired police officer and I, as the groups' leader, do the questioning. We took him some water and then tied him to a chair. Chairs and a table for the rest of us were also brought in and set up. Richard brought a black case that sort of resembled an old doctors bag and placed it at his feet.

Picture of Marco from his wallet

We started out being nice and just trying to have a conversation with him, but he just laughed at us and called us names. The only thing he'd tell us was his name, Marco. Charlie got up and continued asking him questions, but added in some good punches when he didn't get answers. After about fifteen minutes of questions and roughing Marco up, Richard called a halt and brought us back together for a quiet conversation. His case held all kinds of instruments used for torture. He'd used it as a teaching tool when he gave lectures. He knew how to use them, since he'd studied all about it and he was willing to use his knowledge to help us.

It didn't take long from there. I'll probably have nightmares about what Richard did to Marco, but we had to get the information and we needed it now. He was as student at the local college when the dead rose. He had joined the group in town right away and seemed proud that they had lost so few people since the beginning. He detailed the murders, torture, rapes and other atrocities like it was normal to act like psychopaths and do whatever sick thing came into their sick minds. He told us everything. He was alone in the forest, an advance scout, out looking for places to move on to after town.

Marco told us how many of them there were, men and slave women. He told us what weapons they have, how much ammo, fuel, food and water. He told their routines, who does what, what their leader was like. Anything and everything Richard asked him about his group, he told us. When we ran out of questions, we gave him a meal and some water, then locked him up for the night and placed a guard on the roll up door of the truck.

We went inside, cleaned up and ate something before telling the group what we had learned. That other group is evil. They don't care who you are, they'll kill the men and keep the women for their pleasure, but not for her's, obviously. We are going to have to get enough weapons and ammo together to make a plan and take them out. There is no other option.

Tomorrow we're taking inventory of our weapons and ammo, then sending out our scouts to find more of everything. We're also going to question our captive again before making a plan. We're going to be really busy.

Saturday, June 23, 2018

From the journal of Manny Stone, June 9

June 9, 2017

Thank God, they're getting ready to leave tomorrow. I don't know how much longer we could make it up here without going insane. This morning, instead of the regular after breakfast rape-fest that has been happening so far, the only sound we heard was me going through the rooms downstairs, making sure nothing useful was going to be left behind.

I made my way to one of the small windows and looked down on the group outside. The men were coming and going, bringing whatever they found in town to take with them and then going back out to look some more. This went on all morning. After watching for a while, I could tell that different groups had been assigned to finding different things. Some were bring back food, others alcohol, others brought back blankets and clothes. A couple of the groups brought back a variety of items and I couldn't tell what their assignment was.

The women were mostly kept in the RV's while all of this was going on. Occasionally, one woman would be brought out and made to do something. Once, I saw a young teenage girl dragged from an RV and taken to the tent where the senior men were holding a meeting. An hour later, she was carried back, naked and unconscious, to the RV and another girl was brought back to the tent. They did this four times before the last girl was dropped off and no one returned with the guard. Sick fuckers.

Around noon, all the teams started to come back and none of them left again. Then the one who looks like he's their leader, a giant, dirty man in greasy leather duds, gave a little speech, which we couldn't hear, and then all the men cheered. That's when the booze was broken out and the women were herded out of the RV's and made to prepare food before they could “rest” on their backs the rest of the day and night.

Lunch was a rowdy meal, there were several fights that broke out and no one tried to stop them. The men would form a circle around the ones throwing punches and then start making bets on who would win. The fight would go on until someone was down and not able to get back up, then the audience would pay up their bets and everyone would go back to eating again. The women would melt into the back ground when the fights began, and on the third one, I saw why. When the bigger guy won, a woman was within his reach. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder before taking her back to his tent. Everyone just laughed and no one even tried to stop him. The rest of the woman stayed out of the way, hoping to remain invisible, or as close as they could manage.

Our building became a brother from the early afternoon and all night long. We huddled together, having whispered conversations and trying to keep each other from going crazy, knowing what was going on below us. I can't even imagine what it's like for the women in our group. To listen to the sounds from below and know that if they find us, you'll be going through the same thing, until you die. They've got to leave and we've got to get out of this attic!

It's now the middle of the night, probably close to 2 am. I think everyone else is asleep, and I'm thankful for that. About an hour ago, one of the younger, preteen girls was brought into the room directly below us. There had been a steady parade of upper level men from the group coming and going. She hasn't learned yet to stay quiet, so she cries out and they laugh and slap her around. There's more than three men in the room all the time and I really hope our women stay asleep through it all.

It's really hard to think about how most of these men would have been normal, working professionals before the pandemic hit. They could've been the guy in the cubicle next door or the guy serving you a meal at the local diner. They would've had families and homes and lives before the dead started to rise. Now, they've let themselves go to the evil side and have let the way the world is give them permission to act as sick and twisted as they want to. Nothing is off limits to them, not even child rape. They are sick and should be put down, but there are too many of them and not enough of us to do anything but get ourselves killed and the women enslaved and raped.

God, I hope someone takes them out. I wish it could be me.

From the journal of Nikki Feather, June 16

June 16, 2017

We left the cabin this morning and headed West. Trying to make a plan just wasn't working so we decided to wing it and chose a direction. I think most of the people from my town were planning on heading West and if we're lucky, we might run into them, or at least some of them, before too long. Wouldn't that be funny, running into old Mr Dumphrey or Mrs. Abbey Milner or any of the other people who got out ahead of the horde.

The little bit of plan we have right now is to start out on the 90 to the 15 to the 70, headed into Colorado. We'll have to detour around the larger towns and cities, but we know the direction we're heading in. Jackson says we should try to make it to Cheyenne Mountain Complex and that if there is anything left of our government or military, it would more than likely be there. I don't know about trying to get all the way there, but we can keep our eyes open along the way and we might find somewhere to stay along the way.

While he was talking about the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, I realized that I don't know much about the place. I know it's built into a mountain and it used to house NORAD, I remembered seeing that in a movie. I know it has blast doors and a bunch of space for people to stay, if need be. But besides that, I don't know anything else. Could it be a good place to find survivors? If one person was infected inside, though, would it become a holding tank for zombies? What would happen if you opened the door then? I just don't know.

Jackson is doing a little better today. Leaving the cabin seems to have eased a little of his pain. I bet he had memories everywhere he looked and especially the spot where we found his father. He's looking forward now and not back. I'm glad we decided to go somewhere else, it will be better for him.

Yesterday, he was wavering on leaving until around noon. That's when we heard some of our primitive traps start making sound. The noises were coming from multiple places around the cabin and we had to go see what was going on. It could be the undead or the living, either way, it sounded like there was more than one. We decided to stay together so we could watch each others backs and headed for the nearest sound. We snuck up quietly on the ditch we had dug and the cans on strings we used as an alarm. Once we were in sight, I sighed in relief. It was a group of undead, four of them, tangled in our alarm and stuck in the ditch on the stakes we had put in the bottom. Jackson and I took them out, quietly, and headed for the next place we could hear more.

We made our way to the place we had set up some rope traps and found five more undead stuck in our net. They were easy to take out, since they were stuck, and then we stopped to listen carefully. From the opposite side of the cabin, I could hear more sounds of struggling in one of our traps and there were other sounds of movement in the trees past our perimeter. We were in the middle of another horde, not as big as the one that stopped us in the truck, but not a small group either.

Jackson and I spent the entire afternoon and evening moving from place to place around our safety perimeter, taking out the undead in our traps and resetting them. We had to stop to eat and we sat in the yard of the cabin, listening to the sound of movement all around us. We had a whispered conversation about not being able to stay there and then went back to work. The sounds started tapering off around 8 pm and by 11 pm, no more alarms or traps were set off. We made our way back to the cabin, ate another meal and went to bed.

This morning, we got up, packed up all our supplies and anything that might be useful and then I sat on the porch to wait for Jackson. He spent a few minutes talking to his fathers grave before coming to get me. We don't know where we're going to sleep tonight. We don't know who we'll run into on the way. We don't know much at this point but that we can't stay here. Hopefully, we'll have good luck on the road and make it somewhere safe, with other people to survive with. Hopefully.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

From the journal of Sarah Richards, May 17

May 17, 2017

We spent the last two days clomping around the forest looking for logging roads or some cleared space that could get us closer to Buckner. Mostly we found trees, trees and more trees. Yesterday, we found this old clearing that had this old stone well in the center. The sun was shining and there were wild flowers blooming in the patches of grass. It was so beautiful, for a minute, I was able to forget about all the terrible stuff that's happened. Then I heard that unmistakable moaning sound and we saw there were three undead, still zipped in their sleeping bags, unable to work the zipper to get themselves free. The guys took them out and we kept walking, the magic gone and even I didn't feel like staying.

Today, we did find an old, overgrown logging road early this afternoon, but there are so many trees between our trucks and here that we'd had to create a whole new road to where we left our trucks. I think this is a lost cause and we might as well go back to clearing the road our trucks are already on. At lunch today, everyone agreed and we set up our camp for the night in the clear space of the old logging road. Tomorrow, we head back to our trucks.

I am so tired and dirty. I didn't think this trip would turn out like this. I thought we would find a place to stay, get back to Buckner with no trouble and bring everyone back to our new place and it would be all happily ever after. How stupid is that? I should know better by now that real life sucks and nothing is that easy. You'd think I would've learned this when the dead started rising or when the Towers were surrounded, or when we had to leave there and live in an old, falling down building, while everyone else died or was turned into one of the undead.

The forest here is still alive with little creatures. We can hear birds and see squirrels. I;ve missed the sounds of life that are normal in the woods around here. Plus, if it goes quiet, we'll know we have company. Matt shot a dear with the crossbow he found in port. We cut some up and cooked it for dinner today. It tasted like heaven, all juicy and tender. Matt butchered the rest of it and we'll take it back to Buckner and cook it up for everyone else. They'll love it as much as we did. I've missed meat that doesn't come from a can. Come to think of it, I miss anything that doesn't come from a can. Canned tuna, canned chicken, canned vegetables, canned broth, canned soup, canned dehydrated milk, dehydrated butter. Ughhh...

We need to build a greenhouse and grow some fresh food. We'll have to look for seeds to start. I don't know what we might find, but we have to try. We'll have to keep the greenhouses warm in the winter and learn to grow our own food. Hopefully, we'll get to stay in one place long enough to get something to grow.

We also need to hunt for fresh meat. There's no law what we can kill to eat and what is protected anymore. That means, anything is up for grab for food. We'll have to talk about this as a group. See who has the most experience and who's the best shot. We need to be able to do it without using guns, learn to use a bow and arrow and a crossbow, whatever we can find.

Looks like we'll all be learning lots of new skills.

From the journal of Correctional Officer Steven Williams, June 18

June 18, 2017

We haven't had a bad day like we just had in a while. I was out on a special supply mission with Aaron, Linda, Daniel, Jan, Alice, Gary and Steve, as well four of the former button pushers, Larry, Ed, Mark and Richard. We'd been sent to get some construction supplies and solar panels from a house site on the other side of Aspen from our compound. We were in the big trucks and had just finished loading the supplies up with a forklift when a group of over 20 undead stumbled into the site we were in. Shit, we were cut off and I yelled for everyone to get in the trucks, either in the cab or up on the supplies, anywhere out of the zombies reach.

Most of the people in our group had spent time on missions outside the compound, but Jan, Ed, Larry and Richard hadn't and they panicked. They pulled out their guns and started shooting away, missing more zombies than they hit. I kept yelling at them to stop shooting and get in or on one of the trucks. By then, everyone else was already safe, but the four on the ground were surrounded and drawing more undead to them with the noise they were making. I tried to drive closer to them, but in his panic, Richard aimed his pistol at my windshield and I turned the truck away from them and drove through the back of the fenced construction area, the other truck following close behind.

No one spoke as we drove several blocks away before stopping to let the people on top of the supplies get into the cab of the trucks. I climbed down from the cab and turned back toward where we had just come from, but we were too far away to see anything. There were still shots being fired, fewer and farther between, then we heard screaming for several seconds that cut off suddenly, then nothing.

I turned and took out the three undead that had gotten close to me while I was listening, then climbed back into the cab and put the truck in gear, heading for home. Everyone was really quiet on the way back, I could hear some whispering in the back, but I was lost in my own thoughts. I hadn't lost anyone since the prison and I didn't like it. I shouldn't have taken anyone who wasn't experienced in being out on missions. I will not make this mistake again.

Was there something else I could have done? Could I have gone to them on foot and brought them back to the group? This mission will haunt me for the rest of my days. I will always regret taking unprepared people on a mission. Jan has a son, Owen. I think he's around 10 and now, he's an orphan. Who is going to take care of him? Maybe, Pam can take him with her and Crystal. Pam lost her daughter and Crystal lost her mom, so they've been together and comforting each other. Maybe, they can help Owen through this horrible time, since they've both been through it.

We turned onto the main road through town and had to stop immediately. There had to be 50 undead coming down the street right at us. They had to have been drawn by the noise from the gunfire and we were in their way. But the live things in front of you are better than whatever they'd heard so now, we were their prey. I used the walkie talkie to contact the other truck and we backed away from the group. There were too many of them for us to drive through or over. We needed to find somewhere far enough from this group to be quiet before they got close. Hopefully, they would pass us by and we could go home after.

We turned the trucks around and made our way several miles before turning off the road and finding a secure house to settle in for the night. We quickly made our way inside the brink house behind the iron fence, after parking our trucks in a barn on the lot next door. We always bring more food than we will need for any mission and we took all the food and water inside with us. I took Steve and Gary upstairs to clear it while the rest of the team cleared this floor. It only took us a couple minutes to know this place was empty.

We spent the night in that house, quiet, and hopeful that we wouldn't end up like the others we lost. We ate some food and pulled the three mattresses from the beds upstairs into the living room to rest as a group. We set up a schedule for keeping watch on the undead outside and spent our time reading, playing cards and whispering to each other.

This morning, we packed up early and headed home. We took a circuitous route and it took us a little longer than it would have otherwise, but we made it home and brought our supplies back to the compound, as well as the bad news of the people we lost. Owen was, of course, the most heart broken. He screamed and cried and Pam came right out with Crystal and picked him up and took him back to their RV. We can still hear him crying out there, especially the ones that are also in RV's or trailers. Poor kid.

I told everyone that no one who hasn't been trained on being outside the compound will be going on any special missions from now on. I suggested we hold training for people who want to learn and make sure they go on routine supply missions until they get some experience. We'll see what is decided. All I know is I won't take anyone out again unless I know they can handle it. Period.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

From the journal of Marie Costa, June 13

June 13, 2017

It's been a while since I a last wrote and a lot has been happening. We expanded our search of the building and houses near us. We're up to a circle of a mile out from our cabin and have mostly found undead residents. But, we did add 7 more people to our group that we found in our search. Our team, Jake, Frank and Danny, found Jessie King and her two children, Max and Madison, stuck in their house while 15 zombies pounded on the outside. If we hadn't found them when we did, the racket the zombies were making would keep drawing any other undead that got close and they would have eventually been overrun.

The next time out, they found an elderly couple, Evangeline and Richard Crusher, and their son Jason. Jason had gone to his parents house when the world went crazy and they had been hiding out and living off their survival supplies since then. They kept quiet, stayed out of sight, and had been ok so far. Jason had to take out around 10 undead since he got there, but they'd come into their yard solo or in pairs. Later that same day, Frank stumbled onto a guy, Brian Masterson, while the team was searching a trio of houses.

Brian had been a fireman in town and told the guys about how he almost didn't make it out of the fire house, let alone back to his house. He had been working his way towards his place, still another 17 miles from where he was found, for a month. The several other fireman had survived until around May 12^th. That's when a group of 50 undead heard one of the guys knock over a group of oxygen tanks in the back yard of the firehouse. They started moaning and pounding on the bay doors and eventually, they were able to break through. Brian was upstairs when it happened and was able to jump and climb onto the roof from the window ledge. The rest of the firemen were not so lucky.

He broke down while he told the team and those with them about listening to the screams and then the sounds of the undead eating his friends and co-workers. It took him a few minutes to pull himself together before he could tell them what had happened between then and when he was found. Basically, he moved from house to house and in some cases, tree to tree, to avoid as many undead as possible. Brian was hoping to run into other people, but the only ones he'd seen before our people was the group we were avoiding.

Frank, Jake and Danny have a list of questions that we came up with as a group. Each time they find someone, or a group of someones, they ask all of them the questions, and according on their answers, bring them back. There were a few others that we stumbled onto that didn't make it. One man shot at our people and told them to leave, which they did. One man tried to come back to our group, but the answers he gave made the guys suspicious. Then he did some things that made them decide he had to be taken care of. That was one of the harder things they've had to do, but we all decided once we find someone, either it works out and they become part of our group, or they die. We can't risk leaving someone alive to follow our group back and we can't risk the possibility they could bring others to our cabin, people like the ones in town.

Yeah, the group in town. They are getting closer to us, close enough that we have a small group watching them all the time now and reporting back their actions. We're having a meeting tonight to decide what we're going to do. Personally, I think the only thing we can do is find a way to take them out. They won't leave us alone once they know about us. They will kill the men and enslave us women. That's their way. We can't allow that and so we'll talk out our options. The only ones I can think of are leave or kill them. And I'm not leaving.

From the journal of Earl Thompson, June 3

June 3, 2017

I think we're in North Eastern Pennsylvania near the Allegheny National Forest. We're going to try to find a cabin to rest in for a few days. The more remote it is, the better. I know there should at least be cabins for the Rangers that used to be assigned to the park. If there's a visitors center, they should have information about any buildings in the forest. This would severely cut the amount of search time we'd have to spend before finding our rest.

Annie, Lisa, Phil and I have been driving on back roads for two days now with little to no rest. Even a night, we drive slowly, with the lights out, and hope that nothing jumps in front of us. We haven't seen a lot of undead on the roads, especially since we've made it a point to avoid all cities and towns. We need to take a few days to sleep and look at some maps to chose a route and a destination.

That's not to say we haven't had our share of problems. We've had a couple of run in's with groups of 10-15 undead, but nothing like the numbers that were roaming Boston. Twice, we were able to just drive over and through them, then pick off the hangers-on. But the third time, we had to change our course and take the time to take out at least half of the ones in our way before we could make it through. The debris made it a bottleneck but we made it through.

There were several places that had road blocks we had to clear. About half the time, it was a naturally fallen tree or a car crash blocking the way. But the other half of the time, the road blocks were made by people and we had to be extra careful and watchful. The three times we found man made road blocks, we didn't see anyone still alive. We even found a small cabin one time but the only person there looked like they'd been bit and had taken their own life. We searched the place and found several rifles, a handful of hand guns and a bunch of ammo. We also found MRE's, which are filling and nutritional, but not my favorite, and lots of canned goods. This find more than doubled our supplies and I felt better about our situation.

We even ran into a man who acted like a zombie when we tried to talk to him. We could tell he was alive since he didn't have any wounds, blood or missing bits and he still had color in his face. But when we spoke to him, he started imitating the groaning and moaning sound the undead make. Then he lunged at us and tried to bite all of us. I kept trying to talk to him, kept looking in his eyes to see if there was a spark of intelligence, but never saw any. We ended up having to kill him to shut him up, the noise he was making drew five undead that we had to take out.

I never thought I'd see someone acting like the undead. I remember reading about them in zombie novels I'd read before all this began, but I didn't think it would reallly happen. Seeing it was disturbing and I will remember that guy for the rest of my life. And I won't make the same mistake again. While he looked alive, he was really dirty. He had bits of whatever he'd been eating down his front, his pants and shoes were covered in mud and leaves and sticks. His hair was filthy and had the same debris as his pants and hadn't been combed in way too long. He walked like one of the undead, just stumbling along until he heard us, then he came “alive” and attacked. We'd keep our eyes open and if we ran across anyone else like this, we'd treat them like we did the undead. Besides, they were already undead in their minds.

The others are starting to wake up. Once they eat we'll head for the main entrance to the Allegheny National Forest and hope for a visitor's center. From there, we'll know if we have to search for a cabin, or if we know where to go. I'm looking forward to being in one place for more than enough time to sleep. I also want to figure out where we're going and plan a route to get there. I'll feel better once a decision has been made and since I'm not alone anymore, we need to decide together.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

From the journal of Manny Stone, June 8

June 8, 2017

We're stuck and it sucks. We'd all been hoping that the men would move on this morning, but they aren't showing any signs of leaving soon. They raided a liqueur store and have been partying all night. Our little post office has become rooms for the men to rape their captive woman. I can't even imagine what having to listen to it is doing to Marny, Kelly and Alicia. They're huddled together behind us, just in case the men found the hatch. I don't think they're going to find it though, they're too busy to look around.

Apparently, these men found the town on a map and since it was a good thing for their group, they get rewarded with turns with the women. Poor women. The men took turns with them all night. At first, I thought it would a one time thing for the office below us to be used as a bedroom, but once the man was done, I could hear him get up and leave. But the woman stayed on the mattress downstairs. From what we can hear they do is lay there. Every now and then, one of them will cry out in pain, but that usually gets them more pain, so they keep as quiet as possible.

We're doing the same. We don't move or talk, not even in a whisper. We stay still, huddle together and keep praying they leave soon. It's hard to time our bathroom breaks to the breaks the men take downstairs and this place isn't going to keep smelling fresh for long. The women don't seem to care about anything, so as long as we're quiet, they don't even blink. We need to get out of here and to do that, they need to leave. But, there's nothing we can do to hurry them along. All we can do is stay here, doing what we're doing. I know that I'm bored out of my mind and scared for the women in my care if they find out about us.

I've been passing the time thinking about where we should go once they leave. Hopefully, they'll head someway other than West and we can continue on our way to the coast. But if they head West, we'll have to take a different route. South would be better than North and we can't head back East. We still don't know if those guys from near the cabin are trying to follow us. I would think they would give up after this long and just look for someone else to entertain themselves with, but you never know what people will do now.

I would rather not head to Southern California. It had larger centers of population and it's drier. I want to head to somewhere North of the Bay Area, maybe somewhere in Sonoma County. It looks like there's a bay there that might have some fishing boats and the marina doesn't look too big, so there shouldn't be too many undead. If not Sonoma County, then North from there.

Our original plan was to head to Alaska. Again, less people, lots of good land, cold winters to help stop the undead for part of the year. Plus, there's animals to hunt for food and lots of wild plants to eat. I had spent time reading about Alaska when I was recovering from getting out of the military. I thought about moving there but finally decided I wanted to stay on the main land. Now, that information might just come in handy for our survival.

I'm going to have to talk to our new recruits and see if they're up for Alaska. If not, we'll have to about our options. Maybe we can find a cabin in the hills in way Northern California or maybe even Oregon or Washington.

Sounds like there might be a break in the activity below us, time to get everyone up for a bathroom break and maybe something to eat.

From the journal of Nathan Sanchez, June 5

June 5, 2017

It's been a hard few days. There's just no way to get everyone here comfortably settled in the space we've got. Fernando led our group on a run to the closest RV and trailer sales lot and we took all six trucks. We cleared the lot and sales building, set up sentries and set about choosing the six trailers to tow back. Then, we went through the RV's. Some of them were already showing their lack of care, so we ended up with 12 working RV's to take back with us. That gives us 21 more rooms, but ones with no power, no water and only a little propane for heating but cooking is still done by Consuela and her crew. Each one sleeps several people, so we'll be looking at getting a couple of the families into them that have been stuck in a small bedroom or enclosed back porch. At least with one of the RV's or trailers, there is a little more space and more beds.

We took in the 17 surviving members of the school band and we were already cramped when we did, so the added space is needed. With all the family members and now the band kids, we've got close to 80 people here now. Plus, we've been talking about getting some space for a school room for the kids. We've got to think about the future for the children and for us. We need to get things like the school going, get the kids back onto a schedule and get them learning the basics. We'll have to teach them some non traditional stuff too, like how to defend themselves and how to use a gun. But basic subjects like math, reading and writing are still important.

We have several family members that are elderly and have health problems, and then there are also injuries that happen. With us always working on our defenses and repairing the buildings and building new stuff like the corral to hold the livestock we've found so far, people get hurt and Rosita, our cousin who studied to be a Nurse Practitioner, needs a place to see patients. She was two days away from walking in her graduation ceremony and had already been given the job she wanted at the local medical center, when the dead started rising. Guess she got really lucky, if it had been a couple of days later, she would have been in the middle of the biggest outbreak in our area and might not have made it to the Ranch.

Luckily, with all the old farmers, we've gotten a good crop of corn going and are going to try sowing oats next. Our vegetable garden looks like Martha Stewart had a hand in it and we're really lucky to have the room to grow as much as we have. We've got four types of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces (several kinds), radishes, carrots, beets, bell peppers, jalapeno's, squash, zucchini, herbs, strawberries, blue berries, raspberries, blackberries, watermelons, cantaloupe and honeydew. We have large patches of each, enough to supplement the food we find that's still good. We'd been lucky enough to find a couple of freezers that had been attached to solar power and had been able to bring the meat and the solar systems back to the Ranch.

Some of the cousins had been out looking for livestock to bring back. We had a small herd of milk cows, sheep, goats, and five horses. We'd had to make a couple of trips to feed stores to stock up on feed, hopefully, next year our crop will supply this for us. So far, we've just been milking the cows and feeding the rest, but they would be food when we needed them to be. Again, having a large family can come in handy, since Victor and Mario had both been butchers before the pandemic.

We're in a really good place right now and I really hope it continues. We have people that aren't related to us in our group now. Shiela and Darren have been spending a lot of time together and I've been spending time with Marianne, she plays the clarinet. Life is good, or as good as it can be in this time.

Saturday, June 9, 2018

From the journal of Kelly Vargas, June 7

June 7, 2017

Conner, Alicia and I are so lucky that Manny and his people pulled in yesterday. This morning, we were packing up all the stuff in the post office that was going with us when we all heard a bunch of vehicles pulling through town. Manny and I climbed up on the platform in the front window and froze. There had to be 50 vehicles of every type parking along the Main Street and men were pouring out of most of them.

In the middle of the vehicles, there were 10 RV's. They had all the windows tightly covered by black cloth no one peeked out any of the windows that I could see. The doors I saw all had chains on the outside, securing the people inside, or keeping them prisoner. As soon as the RV's were stopped, a circle was formed around them with trucks and men stood in the beds with rifles facing out, guarding whoever was in the RV's.

Manny started cussing under his breath and then pulled me back off the platform. He said they had people watching the windows and he didn't want them to see out shadows against the glass. Once we were back on the floor, he motioned us all closer to tell us he didn't know if these were the same men that had been following his group, but the way they were keeping the women didn't bode well for us, if they found us.

It's a good thing we all came back here before leaving town. Conner, Alicia and I had covered all the windows with wood, so they couldn't see in. We hadn't done any other obvious changes to the outside of the post office and now, I'm really glad we didn't. Several other buildings and businesses on this street had had the same thing done to them, so we fit in with the rest of town.

Manny said we have to be quiet and stay away from the windows. He said there was no way to get to the RV safely. If he was part of their group, he would send out scouts to check the side streets and alleys around town, so he was going to assume they had done the same. We were stuck and if we were really quiet and really lucky, we would make it through this.

That's when the doors started rattling. He moved really quietly and got close to the door to listen to what was being said. Then he motioned us back and followed really quickly. He grilled the three of us who had been in the post office the longest. Did we know of any other areas in the building? An attic? A basement? Had we seen any access panels anywhere in the building? In the floor? In the ceiling? In the walls?

Conner remembered that we had seen one in the office at the back of the building. Manny had us grab all the stuff we'd packed up and hustled us into the office. He grabbed a chair and a broom and used them to open the access panel as quietly as possible. He pulled himself up into the space and was gone a full minute, although it felt like an hour. Then he slid back out and motioned for Alicia to go first. Within a couple minutes, all our stuff and all of us were in the small crawl space above the office and Manny sweeping up the floor below the panel.

He motioned for us to stay quiet and then slipped back down the hall to the front room. I don't know what he was doing while he was gone, but it felt like forever before he came back, moving fast but silently. Manny put the chair back where it had been and jumped to grab the edge of the access point, then pulled himself up. He whispered that they were almost through the door. He'd scattered some of the bags of mail around on the floor and made it look like no one had been there for a while. While he was telling us this, he put the cover back, closing us in the crawl space and closing out the light.

Conner pulled out a flashlight and turned it on, aiming it at the ceiling. Manny whispered that we needed to get away from the panel, just in case they noticed it. If possible, we needed to get to the opposite side of the building and we needed to it quickly and quietly. We formed a crawling line, all of us balancing as much of our supplies on our backs and moving across the space together. We made it to the other side and had just settled ourselves as closely together and as comfortably as possible when we heard the door give below us.

From the voices we could hear downstairs, several more men had come inside with the two who had first been at our door. They were talking about what they hoped to find, mostly “young girls, ripe for the picking.” My stomach turned at the thought of what would have happened to the three of us if Manny and his friends hadn't come yesterday. We wouldn't have had a chance. From what they were saying, they would have killed Conner immediately, unless one of the men wanted him for whatever. Then Alicia and I would have been gang raped by the leaders of this group before being given to the one who found us for his enjoyment. Lastly, we would be put in one of the RV's with the other “birds” and would be available to those who earned the honor of our use.

Alicia and I huddled together and cried together while we stayed still and just hoped they would leave and we would be ok. It was probably only took an hour for the men to go through all the rooms below us. We could hear them walking around and the sounds of them going through the bags of mail and pile of packages. They laughed, joked, fought, and opened packages to see if anything cool was inside. They talked about the girls in the RV's that they'd already enjoyed and how they hoped to find something cool to earn another go round. I looked up and Marny caught my eyes with hers. She was crying, too. Alex was holding her tightly and was whispering in her ear, but I could see that she was just as sick and scared as Alicia and I. The men would die, dying is easy compared to what would happen to us.

We heard the group below get called back to the street. None of us drew a deep breath until we heard the door close downstairs. Manny whispered for us to get comfortable and take a nap. He'd keep watch and would let us know if anything happened. He promised that once they were gone, we'd leave too, but not in the same direction they went in. I piled some of the blankets and clothes into a mat and Alicia, Conner and I huddled together to sleep. Alex and Marny did the same and Manny sat against the wall, settling in to listen to everything happening outside in the street. We slept for hours, but the men were still there when we woke up. Manny told us we were in for the night and we ate cold snack food before getting comfortable again.

Hopefully, they'll leave in the morning and we can get out of this cramped, dusty space. But if they don't leave, we'll just have to deal with it for as long as have to. But no matter how long they're here, we'll have to stay silent, just to be safe. Please, let them leave!

From the journal of Earl Thompson, June 1

This journal was brought to me by Earl Thompson while they were headed West. This was the first word we'd gotten on any battles that had happened, even if it wasn't good news from the Battle of Boston.

June 1, 2017

I used to live in Boston. I loved that city, all the history, all the architecture. I loved seeing the houses that had seen so much history. I used to frequent the oldest pub in the city, the Green Dragon Tavern, established in 1714. The Boston Party was planned there.

Then the dead rose and the police and military fought them, and lost. The Battle of Boston was more of a skirmish than an actual battle. There were only about 5,000 on the side of the living, police, National Guard, Army Reserve, a small group of regular Army. But there had to be at least 250,000 zombies. I watched from a hill, not far away, with my binoculars. I watched as those brave men and women held their line, even though they knew there was no way they could win. They gave everyone trying to get out of Boston those few hours. They saved thousands that day.

I watched until the end. I knew I was still too close, but if they could sacrifice themselves, I could watch their sacrifice. I saw them start to run out of ammo, one by one. Each one took out a knife and formed up behind the ones that still had a few shots left. Once the last bullet was fired, they took out as many undead as they could with their knives, but it was only a couple of minutes before they were overwhelmed and disappeared under the sheer numbers of zombies.

I put my head down for a moment of silence for their bravery, then jumped into my four wheel drive truck and headed away from my city. It's a shame, what was once a living, breathing city, full of history, is now a city of the dead. Maybe, some day we'll take it back. If we do, and I'm still alive, I'll be there.

I realized really quickly that I needed to get off the interstate and highways. I took one of the first exits, once the city was gone, and then found an abandoned gas station to find a map. I planned out my route on the back roads and headed West. I went around all the major cities I came across, stayed away from other survivors and didn't stop for any hitchhikers I passed. That first day, made it 40 miles from Boston and had to sleep in my cab, hidden behind an old building, so covered in vines, I couldn't tell what it had been.

The next morning, I ate a granola bar and headed West, staying off the main highways and interstates. By mid morning, I was making good time and had just decided to pull over for an early lunch when I saw the cars ahead, three of them, blocking the road. The one in the middle, a small foreign deal, was smoking and there were people on their knees with people behind them with guns to their heads. I made a snap decision. I was going to save the people on their knees. I slid my truck to a stop, already aiming and shooting before they knew what was happening. The five men with the guns were dead and on the ground before the truck was completely stopped. The three on their knees just stayed where they were, obviously in shock.

I yelled out my window for them to tell me if there were more of the bad guys, one of the woman, a red head, started pushing her friends to their feet and yelled back that they didn't know. I motioned them to the truck, keeping a sharp eye out for any movement on the sides of the road. The three of them ran to the car, grabbed their bags and ran to my truck, throwing their stuff in the bed and getting in the cab. I got us around the jam of cars and out of the area as fast and safely as I could.

Then, I started asking questions. I learned that the three of them, Annie, Lisa and Phil, were driving along when the two cars of thugs came out from behind a barn about a mile back and started tailing them. They tried to get away, but their little car had no chance to out run the thugs car. They were over taken where I found them and had just been pulled out of their car and thrown to their knees when everyone noticed my truck barreling up to them.

I told them about the Battle of Boston and about everything I had seen. We drove for hours and finally found a farm that was obviously deserted, at least, by the living.

We cleared the barn yard and barn first, hid the truck in the barn, then headed for the house. We didn't find any undead we went into the basement. The farmer had shot his wife and two children, but he'd been bit before and had turned instead of shooting himself. He'd eaten part of all his family members and was still undead when we got there. I took him out and we left him in the basement and closed the door.

We stayed in the living room that night, all together. We've been together ever since. We travel as far each day as we can, find a good place to hide at night, and keep going together. Maybe we'll get lucky and find some people to join up with.