From the journal of Marie Costa, June 22

June 22, 2017

     We met Jake, Alex, Alice and Brian at the edge of town today and the plan changed slightly. They overheard a couple of the men from the town group saying they were moving to the old adobe church across from the courthouse on the 24^th. This gives us advance notice of where they are going to be so we can be set up before they get there and take them out with a minimum of risk to our people. The courthouse has a second floor balcony we can us to shoot from, plus the bell tower of the church and the rooftops of neighboring buildings. We can have an ambush all ready when they pull up to the church.

     Richard, Brian Jake, Alice, Alex and Charlie have gone over to look over what other options we have for setting ourselves up and will be coming back with recommendations for us to work into the new plan. We'll be going over and over it for hours this afternoon and evening, but we have to make it as tight as we can. We have to get them all, if anyone gets away, there is a chance they'll survive and come back for revenge. Even alone, one person, set up in the right tree, could act as a sniper and take out several people before we could take them out. We can't risk that happening.

     Our people have spread out to one of the other neighboring houses since we're going to be here a little longer than we planned on. There are just too many of us to be stuck in a small, two bedroom bungalow. Being in two houses, those assigned to night duty can sleep in the bedrooms while everyone else is awake in the rest of the rooms. We still have a lights out and no sound policy, since we are close to town, we need to stay a unobtrusive as possible. We need to not be seen by anyone until it's time to spring our trap.

     Are we evil for planning the cold blooded destruction of an entire group of people? Even if they are the ones who are doing the evil things and that's why we have to stop them? If we don't go through with it, would we still be evil for even thinking about it and planning it? Will our people be able to pull the trigger? Will enough of us be able to go through with the plan?

     I walked around and talked to everyone during the morning, while we waited for our scouts to return from the church. Most of our group was with us, only the oldest (Mildred, Fred, Evangeline and Orville) and the youngest (Miguel, Max and Madison) stayed back at the cabin. The rest of the group were either on patrol around our temporary abode or hanging out in groups in one of the houses we're staying in. Card games were happening with gambling being done with bottle caps or rocks or anything that can be used like a chip. Some books were found in one of the houses so a few of our people were reading. The bedrooms were full of the people assigned to night patrol or watch tonight. Everyone was talking about anything and everything other than the ambush, at least for now. That all changed in the afternoon.

     The scouts came back and brought us good news. There was access to the rooftops, balconies and towers we already thought of. Plus, there was a building on the church grounds at the left of the church, made of adobe and with large windows that push out to open. This is another good place to ambush from. The adobe will protect our people and provide cover while they fire. We “cussed and discussed” the plan, as Richard says, for a couple of hours, before stopping to eat a meal. Then the planning continued into the evening. By the time we were satisfied with all the arrangements, the planning group was down to Richard, Brian Jake, Alice, Alex, Charlie and myself.

     Tomorrow, we move in smaller groups to our positions around the church. We set up our perches and settle in to stay out of sight all night. We don't know if they will send someone to scout it out before they move over, so we have to keep our heads down and stay quiet. It will be a cold dinner and a cold night, but we will be ready when they show up. We have to be.

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.