June 25, 2017
We've spent the last few days learning
how to fight and defend ourselves. We started with hand to hand
combat techniques. Manny taught us things like how to do the eye
gouge, the throat punch and the axe kick. It was fun at first, but I
was quickly covered in sweat and barely able to breath. It's hard
work learning the moves and I was so sore the next day and still am
today. But that hasn't stopped me for doing the lessons every day. I
need to learn how to protect myself and not only from zombies.
After that, Manny started showing us
all how to us knives and blunt objects to take out undead. It's hard
work and not anything like in the movies. They always show the knife
going through the skull like its a melon, but the skull is hard and
it takes a lot of pressure to get a blade through it. We worked on
the techniques for a day and a half, then Manny brought us to a place
with a few undead and secured them so we could learn without getting
bit. It took a few tried to get the blade in in one try. Manny just
kept bringing us a few undead at a time until we'd all gotten it.
Firearms are interesting. I like the
lower caliber guns better, like the .22 and the .9 mm pistols. They
fit better in my hand and I'm able to control the recoil better than
on the hunting rifle, like the .30-06. Turns out, I'm a pretty good
shot! We have to go pretty far from where we're staying, since the
noise draws the undead, but we have a pretty good place to practice.
We made some paper targets, got some stuff to shoot, like bowling
pens and dolls and stuff. I like the time we spend shooting at the
targets, but when we moved on to zombies, it wasn't as easy.
Targets don't have faces and I don't
wonder who they'd been before all this started. Were they a mother?
Father? Husband? Wife? Teacher? Banker? Did they have a family or
live alone? What did they do for fun? Did they like to read or watch
movies? Did they have pets? Play an instrument?
Alicia says I have too much of an
imagination and need to not think about the undead like they're
people. She says they might've used to be people, but now, their just
mindless undead people eaters. I know she's right, but I still find
myself wondering sometimes. Not with every zombies I take out, but
some of them.
I took out this female zombie
yesterday and she was dressed in what probably was a beautiful dress
when she first put it on. It was purple and had little flowers and it
had a high waist-line. Now, it was a dirty mess with thick, chunky,
black bloody bits down the front of it and several tears and part of
the attached slip torn and hanging at the back of her legs. She was
wearing a wedding ring and had bleached blonde hair. I started to
wonder if she had been a housewife or if she was dressed up for a
job? Then I wondered if her husband was still alive or if he was part
of the wandering undead?
That's where I stopped myself and made
myself think about something else, anything else, as I took her and
several others with her out. I think of it as putting them out of
their misery. I know I would want someone to do the same for me if I
had turned. And now that I know how to use the firearms and knives, I
feel better able to keep our group safe. I feel like I'm better
prepared to be in this new world, where people are just as dangerous,
if not more so, than the undead.
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.
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