From the journal of John Archer, the Archivist, May 11

May 11, 2017

Dr. Ben says that Henry will be ready to travel tomorrow. His fever broke day before yesterday and he is starting to be able to eat and keep down soup and other liquids. His survival has made Dr Ben really want to get to Aspen to try to set up a lab and see if he can figure out why Henry survived while no one else has. According to the doctor, there probably have been a few who have survived,  but not so anyone has heard about.

We are spending the day packing up our camp, except for our beds for tonight. Anything that is not essential for us to have our today is being packed away. Only the food and items we need to prepare and cook for today are staying unpacked. All the extras we have gotten used to having out this last week or so have to be packed up. This means putting all the children's books and toys away.
The children were not that happy about moving on. They don't want to leave their play structures and give up their new games. But, we made them a promise that we will build them a really cool play area when we have a secured compound in Aspen. I even told them that with all those rich peoples houses, there should be some awesome structures to take and make their own. They started planning out the way they want their area to look as soon as I walked away, arguing as only children can about what hypothetical structure will go where. They are making a list of the types of play structures they want the scouts to keep their eyes open for. Now, they are excited about moving on.
I think that Jenna is the next more excited about getting to Aspen. Everyone keeps talking about the young adults that Gary and Williams but for Jenna, they represent the chance to have people near her own age around. I imagine that is priceless for her. To be able to talk to someone who understands all the slang and jargon she grew up using. I know she has been really good with the smaller children and also with the adults, but it will be good for her to have people her own age around.

I am looking forward to being in one place for longer than a week or so. I want to find some books about how to do useful stuff and sit in one place while I read to my hearts content. I know I will have to take my turn on scouting duty and patrol, but in between, reading and heaven. I want to learn to do something that will contribute to the group in a positive way. I feel really useless most of the time and I want that to stop. Whether it is electrical work or wood work or whatever, I need to make myself more useful to these people who have gotten me through thick and thin since this pandemic started.
We will be ready to go tomorrow morning. Williams and Gary are going to lead us to the place they left their truck last time and then go to the group already in Aspen. They are going to talk to them about working together and surviving together. I hope they will see the wisdom in combining our groups together. It will give them more people to do the things that have to be done to survive in this world and give one of our people others her own age. Hopefully, they will be willing to become one group. We will all be in a better position if we do.

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 Rebecca Martin, May 11

May 11, 2017

We listened this morning to the sound of the bikers rumbling out of town. Last night, no one got much sleep because we were all worried they might send people out to check out the entire town, but they didn't. They had parked their bikes in front of a liqueur store and they stayed there the rest of the day and all night, drinking and hooting and shooting their guns into the air. At least, I hope they were shooting into the air and not at each other or other survivors in this town. The sounds died down around daybreak and then four hours later, they were riding out of town in the direction we want to head in, as well.

We stayed really quiet and didn't have any lights in any rooms near the front, just in case a crack of light gave us away. I know we were being paranoid, but better paranoid than dead or taken captive. Those bikers don't seem like the nice sort, so the women here know what would happen to them. They might not even spare the elderly women from their intentions, so we couldn't take any chances.
We got together as a group when we heard the bikes leaving to decide what our next  steps were going to be. We knew where the trailer was waiting and had piles of supplies ready to go by the back door. But did we really want to go in the same direction that the bikers were going in? They could set themselves up in a traffic jam and ambush anyone who comes along, including us. They would be thrilled to get their hands on James and I.
We decided that we would still get the trailer, put the mattresses down and get out of town. But, we looked at a map and found a route that headed in the right direction, eventually, but was not the way the bikers took.
James, Jim and Rick left right after the meeting and went to warm up the truck and get the trailer hooked up and back here. The rest of us were getting the last of the stuff downstairs and ready to go when they got back. Jackie and I even took the time to search the downstairs rooms one last time for anything useful. We would not be coming back to the Frank T. Weathers Senior Care Center. We were headed for the Greenbriar Hotel and were determined to get there.
The guys got back about an hour later and we loaded up all the mattresses, food, the few medical supplies left and whatever else people felt they needed to bring. It took us until past midday to get the trailer ready for passengers. We stopped, ate a meal, and then loaded up. Jackie and Brad rode up front in the cab with James since they were both born and raised in this area. Brad said he knew the way we were going and that they turn we needed to take was on a blind corner, so people used to miss it all the time. Better to have them up navigating and I was fine with being in the back with the others.

We had brought some of those battery powered touch lights and had stuck them to the inside of the trailer at regular intervals. We didn't use them all at once to save the batteries for as long as possible, but they did give off enough light for us to not be in pitch black. The mattresses made us more comfortable, but there wasn't much back here, except the couple of pallets of snack foods secured in the front of the trailer. At least we wouldn't starve on our way to the Greenbriar.
We drove for the rest of the day, made the turn thanks to Brad and Jackie, and James found an old gas station to park or rig out of sight in the truck wash bay. We decided to post guards and sleep in the trailer.
We are on our way, again, headed to the Greenbriar. Here's to hoping there are survivors there that are still human enough to take in more survivors. Also, here's to hoping we avoid those bikers and they turn to another destination.

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 Charlie Fast Fingers Pearson, May 7

May 7, 2017

We made it at least a quarter of the way down the mountain today.  Yesterday, the guys made a really awesome sled/sling. It takes at least two people, and it's better with four, but Melanie is not being dragged across the ground, hitting every bump. They tried it out, with her in it, last evening and it was so much better for her and we will be able to move down the mountain faster. Now, it looks like Buck and I will be setting the pace. The day and a half of rest really made my leg stop hurting as bad. But Buck is still having trouble breathing and he moves slower than any of us want to go. If he could sit back and be pulled, or carried, then it would be better for the rest of us, but he has a worse time breathing when he lays down. Hopefully, he can pick up his pace a little bit.
Terry and Martin spent yesterday collecting as much to eat as possible. We don't know if the natives planted fruit or vegetables between us and their village. We've had to plan for there not being anything for us to eat until we make it all the way down the mountain. And then, we don't know if there is any food that hasn't spoiled in the village. For all we know, they might have killed and eaten all their livestock and birds when the entire village turned into zombies. That would be our luck.
So far, we have seen the trees change from the high mountain fruit trees and large ferns to smaller trees that have nothing to eat and more small bushes and moss like plants. I wonder how much more the plants and trees are going to change when we get all the way to shore. We are all assuming that is where the village is going to be and fish was probably one of the main foods the natives ate. We might get lucky and find a boat that's able to be sailed on the ocean. Maybe we can sail to somewhere else, maybe even back to the fucking States, and escape this island.

Most islands have a limited supply of food on them and then people have to either bring in more food or fish or something. This place, wherever it is, probably hasn't had any food brought in since the pandemic started, and the people turned a while ago, so no one has been fishing. I just hope they have dry goods, like grains or flour, and then we can make something to eat. It might be the simplist bread and might not even taste good, but it will be filling and it won't be fruit.
Looks like almost everyone is ready to go. Some of the guys are getting Melanie in her rig and it looks like Marty cleaned up a walking stick for Buck. Maybe leaning on a stick will take some of the pressure off his ribs.
Here we go. We'll be coming down the mountain when we come. Here's hoping there aren't a bunch of undead natives waiting for us farther down the mountain.

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 Sarah Richards, April 27

April 27, 2017

Not much has happened since the last time I wrote. We've just been surviving. There hasn't been any sound that wasn't made by the undead or by us. There have been a few shots heard from the Towers. Most of the time, we'd hear a bunch of shots really fast and then nothing. Like the zombies got into one of the apartments where someone was still surviving and then the live person got overwhelmed by the undead and then silence. Every time it happens, we huddle together in a group and comfort each other. There's nothing else we can do.
Even if we made it back through the tunnel and back to the Towers, there's only a few of us and hundreds of zombies. There's no way we could rescue anyone and we would just die trying. At least, that's what we keep telling ourselves and each other. It still hurts though. The gunfire could be coming from someone we know, our friends or neighbors, and we are helpless to help them.

I miss the Towers and our apartment. It was warm and I miss being that warm. We've used wood, cloth, and any pieces of furniture we could find, to try to close in the space we are in. It's hard enough to heat one room without lots of holes for the heat to go out. We have to be careful to not fill our space with carbon monoxide, but we have a 55 gallon drum and have kept a fire burning in it since we got here. We got a grate to put on the top to heat food on and we use foil to keep the food from burning. There's a lot of wood around, since the building is falling apart, and we should be good for a while. We got most of the food, from both of our apartments, to our hideout, so we were good on food too. Water is the main issue. We put out container we cleaned in a bunch of the upper apartments to collect as much rain water as we can. It's not enough, but it has rained a couple of days and the water helped us save some of the bottles of water.

I was feeling so useless, I convinced Mandy to go with me to the port end of the tunnel. We made it all the way to the end and crept up, really quietly, to see what was out there. We could see some buildings, but neither of us spent a lot of time in the port, so we had no idea what buildings we were looking at. I was surprised to see that the streets in view were mostly empty. We only saw, like, fifteen or so in the two hours we watched the street. We tried to push the metal gate open and go search the buildings we could see, but the grate was padlocked and we didn't have the key. We'll have to come back another day with bolt cutters. Then we headed back to Buckner and told our parents we were searching apartments on other floors.
Mandy and I need to go back to the port and look for water. Mom will never agree to us going, especially without her, so we are going to have to sneak away. I talked to Mandy and we are going to have to smuggle things out slowly, over a couple of days. Tomorrow, we are going to try to get our backpacks out and hide them in the tunnel. The next day, we will get the bolt cutters out and then the day after, some food and a couple bottles of water. That way, if something happens while we're there, we can find somewhere to hide. The food and water would give us a chance to come up with a way to get back to Buckner. Mom'll be freaking out by then, but we need the water.

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 Jenna Bless, May 9

May 9, 2017

I am so excited! Williams and Gary found a group of young people, closer to my age! I have been wishing for some people around my age. All the people here are a lot younger or a lot older and I miss talking to people who understand where I am coming from. Movies, books, shows. No one understands my references and I miss that. I am really hoping they are cool.
Henry is starting to get better. He turned a corner and he is going to live, which is weird because no one has ever heard of someone surviving a bite. Doctor Ben says if we can find a compound to make secure, then he can try to set up a lab and study Henry's blood. Maybe even find a cure, or at least something that can save someone who is bit. Like a flu shot or something. But Henry is still not quite ready to move, so we have to stick around here for another day or so.

The kids don't mind. They have built themselves a playhouse like no other from the play sets in all the back yards. We had cleared some houses and then took our their fences between the back yards and it gave them lots of room. I even played games with them where the play structures were castles and we were friends sometimes and enemies at others.
We have plenty of books. That's one thing about rich peoples houses, they have books and toys and stuff like that. I had to borrow books from the library and I didn't get to keep them, not even my favorite ones. These kids don't know how lucky they are to get to have them. We even made space in the back of the truck to bring all of them with us when we head to Aspen.

I think we have enough stuff to fit out a place for us in Aspen. We found a construction site and it has a flat bed trailer of wall sections. Daniel was a commercial truck driver and would have no problem taking them with us. We can totally make a kick ass wall around any place, or make a wall already there even better. There are other materials that we can take too. Plus, this really large truck that can pull a trailer with those supplies. I am really feeling hopeful about finding a place in Aspen that is safe and secure for us. Somewhere we can settle and figure out what's next.
Is there someplace we should be trying to get to. Somewhere we could work together with people to bring the world back to the way it was? Could Dr. Ben come up with a cure or vaccine or whatever, especially if he had the help of other doctors? Or was getting stuff back the way it was only a dream, and not even a smart one at that? I'm just a teenager, but even I think about stuff like that, so the adults must be wondering about stuff, too.
For now, I guess we should all really focus on Aspen and getting a safe place to figure stuff out. And people around my own age, well it's a bonus.

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 record kept by the twins Jenny and Barbie Crow, May 3

May 3, 2017

We did it! We made it into the security office after taking out the last 10 undead, including the monster.
When we went back down to there, I counted to three and we pushed through the door. It looked like a tornado had gone through the room with out barricades mostly knocked over and stuff thrown around. I am betting that when we got out the door last time, the monster was hungry and angry he lost his meal and threw a fit. I saw this in about five seconds and knew we were not going to be able to use the same idea of staying safe behind our barricades to take the rest of the zombies out. We both jumped back through the door and secured it. Then, we had to decide if we were still going to try to take the last of them out.
We grabbed our quiet weapons and checked our pistols before going back through the door ready for action. The monster was nowhere in sight, but five regular size zombies started shuffling towards us. They were easy to take out and only took a few minutes. Then, we heard the sound of a rhino coming down the hallway and knew the monster was on his way. I hid behind a knocked over metal filing cabinet and Barbie crouched behind a heavy oak bookshelf on it's side, hoping to catch him by surprise when he walked by us. That way, we would both be behind him.

He came barreling into the room and roared like some crazed thing. He started throwing furniture out of his way and stomped right by both of us. Barbie used her make shift spear and stabbed him in the back of his head, but all he did was shake his head like a bee had stung him. The monster turned, saw her and growled like a rabid animal before stepping towards he. I jumped up and used my spear to stab him through the eye closest to me, but again he just shook his head and kept going. I decided that enough was enough and pulled my gun. I lined up the shot, fired and kept firing until he fell to his knees before slamming his face into the floor. His arms were still moving and he tried to get back up. Barbie pulled her gun and put her full clip into the back of his skull. The monster was finally still.
Then I heard the last few zombies entering the room and we had to take them out with no rest. When we were done, we both collapsed onto the floor against the wall and looked around at what we had just done. I was exhausted and I knew that Barbie had to feel the same, but we got up and headed for the door to the security area. We hadn't made it  10 steps when pounding started on the main door we came through to take out the undead. We were going to have to fight our way out of here when we were done, but with a look, we kept going into the security area.

Inside, we found a lot of office space with nothing truely useful inside. The last office before security did have a water cooler with five unopened bottles and one on the cooler that was half gone. We would have to bring the cart down here to take them back to our apartment. We found a little bit of snack food in a couple of the desks and a carton of cigarettes in the bottom drawer of a desk. Barbie was excited about those although she has never smoked before. But hey, it's the end of the world. Having an occasional smoke might be nice.
Then we went into the security office. Monitors with blank screens formed a wall on the right. There were five desks around the office with filing cabinets and a sofa along the wall on the left. Next to the sofa on the wall was a locked gun rack with four rifles and seven pistols still on their pegs behind the glass. Jackpot! We moved to it and broke the glass, putting the guns in our nap sack. I opened the drawers below the rack and found boxes of ammo for all of the guns, which went into the bag, too.
Barbie grabbed my arm and pointed at a closed door on the back wall. We could see a shadow moving back and forth through the blinds of the windows andk knew our zombie killing job was not done yet. We used hand signals to make a quick plan and I stood in front of the door, ready to open the door. Barbie stood off to the left ready with her spear to stab the undead in the head of securities office. I turned the knob and tried to pull the door open, but realized it would have to be pushed in. I used a pantomine motion to explain to her what I was going to have to do and she nodded she was ready.
I turned the knob and pushed with all my might while jumping back to a safer distance from the now open door. The final undead security guard came barreling out with a loud snarl and Barbie slammed her spear through the side of his head. He fell to the floor and didn't more again.
We searched his office and found a couple of hand guns and some ammo, snack food galore and a couple of sets of handcuffs. We piled our supplies in the office closest to the main exit door and prepared to fight our way back to our place for our cart. We should have thought to bring it, but we were so worried about the monster that we didn't bring it along.
When we opened the door, there were like eight undead office workers mingling in the hallway and we drew them into the room we were in so we could use the furniture to our advantage. It took us around ten minutes to take them out and then we trudged up the stairs to our place. I knew we needed to go back to get the stuff we had gathered,  but exhaustion won out for an hour of napping. Then we carried the cart down the stairs and to the office. We piled our supplies into it and pulled it back up the stairs to our place. We had done it and I knew we would feel like we had accomplished something later, after we slept the rest of our exhaustion off. Mission accomplished.

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 James Cohen, May 10

May 10, 2017

Rebecca and I are still at the care home. We haven't moved on yet because this place has been so good to us. I have been helping with the immobile patients while Rebecca has been helping to cook make meals for everyone. Over the last couple of days, we have started to fit into this little community and feel like we are part of something larger.

Then, this morning, we heard the sound of bikes rumbling down a street near us. I immediately thought of the bikers that I took out the day I met Rebecca and I got scared for the people in the Care Home.  I immediately went to Jackie and explained my fears and she agreed that we needed to know who the people on the bikes were and if they were bad people like the ones Rebecca and I had dealt with. We called an meeting right away and Jim volunteered to go with me once the situation was understood.
We snuck out the back and Jackie let us through the gate. I made sure that my rig was not able to be seen from the street in front of the Care Home, just in case the bikers came this way. I had this horrible feeling that Rebecca and I might have been followed to this place and I really didn't want it to be true.
We went alley to alley, getting closer to the sound of the bikes with every step. It sounded like there were quite a few of them, all rumbling but the sound was not getting any farther away. Were they moving? Or were they stopping in this town?
We got to a point that there was only a line of buildings between us and the bikers, and I motioned for Jim to go into the remains of a clothing store. We ducked into the dressing rooms to make sure we couldn't be seen if anyone walked by the front or even stepped into the store. In there, I whispered that we needed a way to see them without being seen by them. Jim motioned that he wanted to show me something in the store. He took me to the back room and there was a staircase to the roof. We walked up it carefully, praying that none of the stairs would make too much noise. The door at the top of the stairs was, thankfully, unlocked and didn't squeal as we opened it.
I glanced around the rooftops to make sure that they hadn't put a lookout up there yet but didn't see anyone. We quietly walked to the edge closest to the bikers and cautiously looked onto the side they were idleing in. Wow, there had to be at least twenty of them. Then, I felt a chill go down my spine. At the front of the group was the Mr and Mrs Hairy in the middle of a group of seven men and he was obviously giving orders to them. Shit, we had been followed.

I gestured for Jim to go back to the door and we made our way off the rooftop. Back in the dressing room, I told him that it was the man who was trying to get his people into the building where Rebecca had been living when I found her. We needed to get back to the Care Home, quickly and quietly. And without being spotted by anyone from the biker group. We were really careful to check the street in front of the store and then beat a hasty retreat back the way we had come.
When we were back with the others, I pulled Jackie and Rebecca aside with Jim and we told them what we had found out. Rebecca started to shake and Jackie almost started to panic. I quickly explained that we needed to figure out how to either be unseen and not heard while the bikers were in town, or we needed to make a plan to get everyone out of here, and now.
We called another meeting and made sure right at the begining that all the windows were covered. I explained to the entire group what was going on and everyone agreed that leaving was probably the better option. We didn't know if the bikers had followed Rebecca and I looking for revenge, or if they were just headed in the same direction. But could we take a chance? Would they think to look for medical places besides hospitals looking for supplies? Jackie told everyone that she knew the time would come when they would have to leave the home, she was just hoping that it wouldn't come anytime soon. As the meeting was breaking up, the sound from the bikes died suddenly, which means the bikers were stopping for sure. We just didn't know for how long.
I pointed out that my rig was probably the safest way to get out of here, because it is large and we could just run over anyone in our way. But there was not way to fit all fourteen of us inside the cab, even with the sleeping area. One of the elderly men, Fred, suggested that Jim and I go look in the wherehouses to see if we could find a trailer that would hook up to my rig. Then, everyone else could ride in the trailer. I pointed out that it would not be very comfortable to rid around in an empty trailer, but if we could get some mattresses or something in the trailer, it would make it a lot better for those inside. Talk turned to what would be taken from inside the home and everyone split up to gather the supplies we were going to take.
Jim and I left right after the meeting to search the local businesses and it only took us about an hour to find a trailer that would work for us. It was already mostly empty but had a couple pallets of chips, crackers and soda next to the front of the trailer. Perfect. Now all we needed to do was get the rig here, only four buildings away from the home, get them hooked together and then get everyone and everything we needed inside.
We made our way back to the home to report what we had found. A debate started about whether we should leave right away or should we wait to see if they left in the morning. The group decided that we needed to wait at least over night because the rig is really loud and they would hear it start and come to investigate. Now, if they didn't rumble out in the morning, we would have to decide if we would take a chance on starting the rig and hope we made it out before they found us. But for tonight, we are going to be really quiet, not use any lights, stay away from the windows and pray they didn't come to this part of  town.
Here's hoping we aren't discovered tonight and make it out tomorrow, safely.

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.