A/N: This is the last entry. Like I mentioned in the first chapter, I tried to make this pretty realistic. Please tell me your thoughts on that.
Disclaimer: The members of Avenged Sevenfold and their families are the complete proud owners of themselves.
May 22, 1847
There are eleven travelers left, and we are finally in Sacramento. Apparently, rescue teams had already been planned, but a war against the Mexicans delayed their progress. Some had been sent out fairly early, too, but were casualties in the war called winter. Sometime in the middle of March, we heard the sounds of people. Immediately our strength returned and we rushed out to meet them. The ones who stayed behind quickly tidied up the camp. In our desperation, we ate savagely. We weren't selfish or greedy, but what we got we ate quickly. When the rescue party arrived at our camp, the bones of the dead were neatly piled up together. Though we were ashamed of our actions, we weren't going to hide them.
The leader of the party, Brian Haner, told us Sutter's Fort was somewhat nearby. They would take us there to recover. This was after we told him of the cannibalism. We saw a few men in the party grimace in distaste, but even they couldn't deny it was out of hopelessness; a way of survival. As fast as we could, we grabbed our valuables and climbed in with the rescue team. I met Brian Haner, Junior. His father, Brian Haner, Senior, had taken them to Sutter's Fort a few years ago. They decided to stay there and help the stranded.
We took a break halfway to the fort. Eating humans wasn't the cleanest of things, and several times, someone would vomit off the side of a wagon; there were four in all. After the respite, all of the younger men were grouped together in a wagon. That left me, Matthew, Zachary, Zina, who was Zachary's sister, Brian, and another Donner Party traveler, Jonathan. We chatted lightly, trying to figure out what was going on in the country. Brian told us of the Mexican war and of petty laws passed to prevent another one.
We were hurrying to Sutter's Fort. Valary DiBenedetto acquired a nasty cough a few weeks back that soon turned into dry, wheezing heaves. Michelle seemed to be suffering from paranoia, dementia maybe, but neither of the Italian immigrants were well. We knew we needed a doctor with supplies as soon as possible.
When we reached the fort, a group of men marched out. They asked for the wounded and sickly, so we gave them Valary and Michelle. Surprisingly, they were the only two ill enough to need immediate treatment. Then we went inside. We were met by curious stares and raised eyebrows. I'm sure we looked quite bedraggled. The mountains weren't kind to us, especially after five months.
After unloading everyone, we were ushered into a building and sat at a dining table. Food was thrust in front of us and no one hesitated to eat. We tried to be civilized, but that proved difficult. We were starving, literally.
For about a month, we stayed at Sutter's Fort for recuperation. Then we decided to head on to Sacramento with the Bakers. Zachary had grown close to me by then. We would often walk together on the trail and talk about the times before. Before this mess happened, and before half of my family died. As I grew closer to Zachary, I started telling him more about my family. I had shut that part of me away after Ma passed. It was too painful to bring back the memories. Zachary actually helped me, though. With every painful word that passed my lips, he helped me come back to the present. I haven't forgotten, nor will I ever, and I haven't gotten over it, but it isn't as unbearable as before.
Ma's intuition seemed to have been wrong after all. When we reached Sacramento, we found a gracious plenty of gold. In honor of our lost loved ones, we bought a piece of land and made them graves. I'm not going to say I don't regret coming to California, for if we hadn't, Kelly, Katie, and Ma might be here now. But Pa and I got through it. We are the Sullivans; survivors of the Donner Party disaster.
~James Sullivan
