June 30th, 2015 ~Kathryn
Dear Journal,
It’s been a couple of days since my last entry. And for that, I'm sorry........ And I'm sorry for that encrypted entry that Patrick refuses to unlock. I tried to get him to fix it but he shuts me down every time I ask. So I gave up on trying.
The day after Sarah performed her shield spell, she suffered the same sickness that had befallen me after I had helped plant the entire orchard (and used too much magic). Of course, she did not have the transformation side-effect but, she did have trouble controlling her levitation... small things would go flying randomly from the life guard building: bottles, pulleys, pieces of rope slipped along the floor like snakes, pieces of clothing, the door would open & slam shut of its own volition, and anything else smaller than my journal tablet.
She too was all feverish and sweaty... kept crying out for the ocean. But due to the volatility of her magic, we could not risk taking her to the ocean just yet. The experience we got with my illness Patrick, Griz & Jazz knew exactly what to do; I helped as best as I could but mostly got in the way. Dr Jamie merely watched, taking notes on a small tablet of his own and using a stylus on a purple land yard. {Something told me that Sarah had given that stylus to him at some point prior to her getting sick. I've seen Jazz wearing a yellow one and Griz wore a brown one.}
We had finally obliged and took Sarah down to her boat in BC after a salt-heavy dinner of tomato soup and crackers.
Patrick & I were the only ones who could watch over her down there so we took turns. Dr Jamie promised to stay in the life guard tower that night, just in case he was needed.
Sarah got better a few hours after we got her into the ocean; she was weak but normal by morning. She was brought to the marina for land breakfast & dinner but an ocean salad for lunch so she could get more sleep. It’s weird though... Sarah remembered performing the spell and being brought to the marina but no memories of anything until she was brought back to the ocean. Yesterday, she came to us and told us she now remembers what happened on land.” It’s like any land memories during the ‘sickness’ are repressed until the patient has recovered,” Dr Jamie observed, hurrying to fetch his personal medical tablet to mark it down. She also said that her magic was working completely normally, as if the sickness never happened.
Something tells me that this sickness has more to do with us expending too much of our magic all at once. Today, Sarah was back to her normal chores of helping Dr Jamie and Griz with the farm animals, totally back to her peppy old self.
Patrick & I went out scavenging today. We took one of the Coast Guard boats out to the hotels to the south along the beaches. Patrick brought his wheels and insisted that he come along with me, carrying one of my old crossbows on his back, quiver of bolts tucked into a wing.
Scavenging is not just looking for supplies; it’s also to search for returnees and any threats to CC and BC. Any time we found hotel rooms or areas that clearly had humans in it pre-Event; we’d leave a specially made waterproof note typed up by Sarah.
If you’re reading this then you have just returned to Earth from something that happened to the entire planet; a contamination of some kind. Do not be freaked out by your new form. Learn it and then come to us! Find a city map and locate “Biscayne Bay Campus”. We are in the University Center.
(That’s a scan of one of Sarah’s notes. She said it was ok for me to add it here before I left it on the bed of a hotel room.)
I honestly don’t expect to find more ponies on these scavenging trips. I just think finding Dr Jamie was a lucky break. We would have gone to that hospital at some point anyway... timing at the time was sheer luck.
We did find a few unopened bags of flour, bottles of vanilla and boxes of baking soda inside a few of the hotel pantries.
We had also found some electric coffee grinders. “When we start growing wheat, we can use these to grind our own flour,” I had said at the time. We took two for now and put the others in a safe place.
Any room that did not have evidence of human-habitation got the strip-treatment: every towel, blanket, pillow, and curtain got ripped from the suite and loaded.
Getting in? Oh, it’s easy for an Earth pony (or any pony, for that matter) to buck the doors. The door lock things had lost power ages ago and the emergency batteries were long since dead.
The towels, blankets, and curtains were all neatly folded before going into one bin; pillows went into those vacuum packed giant Ziploc bags for easier transport (about six per bag & we had eighteen bags).
July 16th, 2015 ~Kathryn
Dear Journal,
It has been 21 days since any of our last entries. Nothing has really happened in that time; status quo, and all that. Sarah keeps helping Griz with the animals; I help Dr Jamie with the farm fields & orchards, Raea often at my heels (do hooves even HAVE heels??); Jazz & Patrick would often go scavenging together, taking crossbows for protection.
So far, we’ve all been lucky; a few marauders within our fields but Raea has been taking to hiding each night next to the old obstacle course fence, chasing away any squirrels, raccoon and any other animals that might try to raid our field.
One day, a family of deer from a local zoo had somehow found their way onto the campus. Sadly, they were not content to just grazing on grass or nearby trees. The moment one crossed the road to the farm field, Raea had taken off like a shot, snarling and barking to chase it away. But it was not afraid; it was a buck and had huge antlers; he tried fending Raea off with said antlers, scratching her in the side. That’s when I was forced to finally use the crossbow I carried. I killed him. The others, four females, one smaller buck & three fauns, got scared and ran off.
After I had killed him, I dropped the crossbow, vomited at the smell of blood and hurried over to Raea. The cut was not nearly as deep as it looked but it had to be stitched closed. Sarah & Griz had come running when they heard Raea’s snarling; Griz offered to take care of the buck, dragging it into the forest on the other side of the orchard.
Dr Jamie instructed me to stay at Raea’s head and keep her calm while he instructed Sarah how to use the special stitching kit from the hospital bag. I kept staring into Raea’s eyes to keep from looking at what they were doing; afraid I might vomit again. But thankfully it was brief and soon enough, they wrapped a bandage around Raea’s belly and Sarah levitated Raea back to my RV.
It was nearly a week before the cut had healed. I had refused to leave Raea’s side and the others decided that it was prudent to find a few more dogs to help protect the campus.
By that time, Griz had butchered the buck, salting out the skin and turning the meat into jerky. She said she had plans for a few of the bones but the rest of the animal had been given a proper burial. She did give Raea a big meat-filled, fully cooked t-bone steak the second night of her recovery. “Dogs need real protein to help them heal. Dog food with fillers would only go so far,” Griz had explained.
The day after the steak, Griz, Patrick and Dr Jamie, being the biggest of us, went out to see if they could convince a few dogs to join us. I did offer my experience with the dogs back in Brantford... God, it feels like years ago, not months! They took a bunch of the cooked venison in a red food cooler and the school bus.
They came back at sunset with a pair of beautiful German Sheppard’s; brother and sister who clearly had been pets before the Event but now served themselves. They both also still had their collars on; the boy was Max and the girl was Millie. We saw no reason to change the names and so Max & Millie were introduced to Raea. (1)
I swear, Millie saw Raea’s injury and whimpered and started licking her face. Max gave a single gruff as in, “what happened?” Raea gave a series of barks back, “Buck got me. Pony killed it. Bird-lion cooked it.” She nudged a plate of venison at her head to show them the fresh meat. Millie & Max shared a single piece before turning to me, waiting instructions.
Max & Millie has been with us a couple of weeks and although they are bigger, they defer to Raea’s authority. She took them around the perimeter of the campus, laying down their scent markers on the first day we allowed her out of bed but I walked with them, going slowly for Raea’s sake.
When a squirrel appeared from the forest, Raea barked at it and it bolted. “Most animals know to stay clear of here. You guys are here to help us with the bigger stuff... deer, other dogs, bad ponies.” I spoke to them like they were ponies but somehow, I knew that they understood. “We only kill as a last resort,” I added. “Raea getting hurt was the final straw for that buck.” Both Max & Millie barked in understanding and fell in line with us as we kept walking.
The two German Sheppard’s had been introduced to the farm animals and had been welcomed. The cows had seen what had happened to Raea with the buck and they had been angry at the intrusion. They now saw Max & Millie as protectors; as did the chickens. Millie had made quick friends with the chickens, playing gently with the chicks that had hatched from the nests we had scavenged.
It had not even been two days after their arrival that Max & Millie showed their worth. A large pack of dogs had ignored their scent markers and were stalking the calves; Wally & Clover had been galloping the length of the paddock, racing each other, but Wally would let Clover win more often than not. The leader of the dogs, a very tall Greyhound, had dropped a branch over the mesh construction fence, bending it down enough so the others could jump it.
Max had been watching from the fence pathway to the building and bolted into action, barking and snarling, tearing up the grass to get to the calves faster than the pack. Millie had been with the chickens inside but she came careening out at top speed. I was in the paddock, checking a sore on Lily's back leg when it all went down.
Max & Millie stood together, with a dog-sized space between them and neither said a whimper. The leader started barking, probably ordering the two to back off. Max was the first (and I might be a little florid in my interpretation of their conversation but it’s what I felt at the time) “Not gonna happen! These belong here! They belong to the ponies! Ponies carry weapons that kill! Leave now!” Millie stayed quiet, letting Max do the ‘talking’.
“No! We are hungry! You have food. There are more of us than you! Pony means nothing to us!” The Greyhound bolted from his spot and went at Max. None of the pack moved an inch, and neither did Millie. They, and I, recognized that they had to fight for dominance before they would get anywhere.
The Greyhound was taller but he was also leaner and weak from hunger. Max had been with us for a few days and his new diet of dog food and venison was doing both of them well. Max overpowered the leader easily, but did not leave a scratch on him. “Take your pack and leave now. This is your last warning.” Max gave a low growl as I had approached them. “Down Max. I think they get the message,” I said gently. Max backed off the Greyhound.
I knelt down to the Greyhound’s level. “I am a pony. My friends are ponies. We were humans, masters. We are now pony but still masters,” I said. I pulled out an arrow from my quiver but my crossbow still lay on the ground back next to Lily, who was now soothing Clover. “An arrow like this killed a buck twice your size. You mess with us, you get arrow too. Do we understand?” The Greyhound looked to me, to the arrow, to Max and back to me. He whimpered, lowering his gaze.
I stood up and ordered Max to back off. “Go out the road, go right [I tapped his right paw gently] and go four blocks. Big red building, dog food inside.” I had just directed them to an old mom-and-pop pet shop but I knew that the place was there because that was the shop that Raea had gotten her favorite chew toy our first night here and the door had been bucked open. With any luck, a few bags would still be there.
When I backed off a few body-lengths, the Greyhound got up, barked once and leaped the fence, running off in the direction of the main road. The rest of the pack went with him and I slumped to my haunches in relief. Millie had come over and licked my face; Max went over and checked out the calves, making sure they were ok.
Dr Jamie & Griz had come running just then; Griz flew the fence while Dr Jamie went around removing the branch, which the dogs had forgotten. “Are you ok, Kathryn?” Griz asked, worry on her face. “Yeah, Max & Millie protected the herd. Held off a dog pack and I sent them to the pet store. They were hungry,” I added. Griz started stroking Millie’s head, giving her praise; Max came over and accepted the same treatment. “Both puppies are getting canned food tonight; yes you are!” Griz said in a babying voice, still hugging both dogs; both dogs still clearly enjoying the attention.
Later that night, true to her promise, Griz gave Max & Millie the canned dog food for dinner.
Millie had taken to sleeping in the chicken’s office at the door while Max would curl up in the straw in a front corner; that night, Clover and Lily invited Max to curl with them and even the rooster welcomed Millie to the room that night.
When Raea got all better, she would leave Millie to watch the animals while she and Max would patrol the orchard and farm fields accordingly.
Three days from the dog pack, a cat came up to Sarah while she was checking the orchard. The cat, more like kitten, was barely a few months old; two at most. He was hungry and lonely; rubbing his face on Sarah’s foreleg. Sarah told me later that she somehow knew he didn’t have a name or a family and so she adopted him right there. She named him Little Macintosh because she was checking the Macintosh apples when she had found him, Lil’ Mac for short. Funny because he’s all white with a small patch of bright tabby orange on his side that kinda does look like an apple! (2)
The freaky animal understanding seems to be stronger in us merponies and Griz than the others. Dr Jamie had started seeing a pattern and wanted to run experiments but found that he and Jazz failed spectacularly, Griz barely passed and me, Sarah & Patrick were all on par. I never understood the experiments but all of the animals agreed to it so I let it happen.
Dr Jamie had also taken me, Griz, Sarah and Jazz back to the hospital so he could get full x-rays of each of us. It was interesting to see those. (Patrick had gone down to BC for a while to check on the water crops; we left the three dogs on guard at CC.) It was weird to see how Sarah’s horn was sprouting directly from her skull and they all watched live and recorded it as I transformed from land to mer and back; my magic ribbon swirls could not hide the x-ray. Sarah looked like she wanted to vomit while the others were merely grossed out. Dr Jamie had been hesitant to let me see it; I was fascinated by it. I asked him to copy it to my tablet so I could watch it again.
He had also made copies for his own medical tablet and instructed me on how to run the x-ray so he could have a turn. He wanted to return with Patrick and the dogs to get all of their x-rays as well. “But not Lil’ Mac yet... he’s too little,” Dr Jamie joked, and everyone laughed.
That’s all I can think of for this entry. Hopefully we don’t go this long again for the next entry. ~Kathryn