From the journal of John Archer, the Archivist, August 16

August 16, 2017

     Well, we've taken in another 10 more people. They sailed through the vetting process with no issues. The group includes two married couples, a pair of teenage siblings, and four single people. The siblings, Sonya and Zach Parker, lost their father when it all started and their mother two weeks ago, both to hordes of zombies. One of the couples, Veronica and Sylvia Wilson, lost their 11 year old daughter on the way. Since then, the four of them have been comforting each other.

     Their group also includes a woman who was almost through getting a degree in Anthropology. Her name is Ruth Powell and she has been collecting all the notes, letters and journals they found on the way and since they came from Virginia, they found a lot of them. She is going to help me to organize all of the ones we now have and she is going to help me set up the archive and keep it going. It's really wonderful, since I have lots of other duties and have known I need a hand with the archive for a few weeks now. Her help is going to be invaluable.

     The archive she had collected has doubled what I had here. Just glancing through everything, I saw writings by housewives, students, teachers, doctors, lawyers, really, every profession and every kind of person. I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading all of them. Like Ruth, I'm fascinated by what everyone went through, before the pandemic, when the undead got to their area's, anything that was experienced. Some day, this information is going to be really important to any descendants that we have. Researchers will need to know what happened to people in different areas, and like me, Ruth made sure where each item was found, the date and time, were all noted.

     I finally chose a letter and two journals to read through and found very familiar stories. The details were different, of course. Where it happened, the names of the people it happened to, how long after the first reported outbreak did the pandemic reach the writer. But the general story is pretty much the same. They knew what was being reported, they all knew it would eventually get to where they were, but most of them didn't get themselves prepared for anything. Then, it got to them. Either a family member or a neighbor came in contact with one of the undead, whether through work in the medical field or out in their area.

     That's when the true fun began. Undead everywhere, people running out of food, looting, murder, rape, kidnapping. Basically, every bad thing anyone has every dreamed about doing but was stopped because of society or the fear of incarceration. Lots of people went to the dark side and those that didn't became prey. People's homes became armed encampments and anyone not inside their home became the enemy.

     The three writings I chose all ended badly for the people involved. One of the families were surrounded and out of food and water when the last entry was written. Ruth said they found the whole family in the attic with bullet holes in their skulls and torn apart by the undead that got to their bodies in time for them to still eat them. 
      
The letter was written by a woman who was a nurse and got bit by her neighbor. She wrote about what she went through, all her symptoms, everything right up until she wasn't able to write anymore. They didn't find anyone in the apartment where the letter was found, so we will never know if she killed herself before she turned or if she turned and wandered away.

     The last journal was written by the mayor of a small town and showed the transition his family and community went through with the coming of the pandemic and how they continued to thrive. Ruth told me that they found the journal in City Hall and the whole town was deserted. The last entry said a horde was on the way and they were going to try to evacuate as a group and find somewhere else to settle. I really hope they made it.

     Reading the three writings really made me want to spend hours sitting and reading about everyone else included in the archive. I just don't have the time and will have to read them slowly over time. Ruth is going to read the archive items I had already here and then start cataloging them. She hasn't read all the writings she brought with her, but we're going to organize in the trailer I was given for them and once the new wall is done and people spread out, we're getting a couple of rooms on the same floor as the library. I can't wait!

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.