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.

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.