Jack's Diary - Day 33, October 19th 2013

     We've gone farther northwest than I ever imagined we would and in a very short time. The hunters are still tracking us and on top of that, I've spotted several strange and vicious looking soulless that I've never seen before. They reminded me of the one I fought in the fields before Duke joined me, but they are far slower and they still look like soulless, only bigger with slight modifications. There aren't a lot of them right now and I hope it stays at that low number because they're a lot more aware of their surroundings then the others.

     If Jane had any doubts about my abilities before then she shouldn't now. It's been four days since we left the safe house and we're all alive with the only wounds we've received are from the hunters. Neither Jane nor Tim have voiced any negative words about the current situation so it seems like they understand. We've even begun having small conversations with Tim telling us hunting stories and Jane about her former job as an architect. It was nice to talk with people for a while even for as short as the conversations lasted.

     We came upon a very large city, which I suggested that we hide there and maybe the hunters would think we passed through it and leave. It seemed like a good idea at the time and everyone agreed, including Duke. Just in case we were found though, we split into two groups and hid in two different buildings with shooting vantage points. I would've had Jane as my partner, but Tim insisted that he be her partner so Duke ended up with me.

     As the day dragged on, we watched out the window and after the sun had nearly set, the hunters marched down the street. They split into two groups, one headed towards me and Duke and the other towards Jane and Tim. At this point I knew something was off and I rushed out of the room and out the backdoor of the building without alerting Duke. He followed for a while, but he didn't catch up. I couldn't worry about him then; I needed to get to Jane and Tim before they did. How they knew where we were is still a mystery to me. I thought that Tim or Jane might have been in contact with them and had led them to us, but I found out later that wasn't the case. It wasn't easy sneaking passed all the hunters on watch, but I managed to reach the back of the building Jane and Tim were in. I was just about to enter the alley to way to get to the backdoor when I felt a gun pressed against my back, "Don't move," I heard.

     I was pushed against the wall and my guns and weapons were taken away. I was then turned around and faced three men. The one in the middle pushed me to the ground and said, "Walk forward with your hands behind your head. You do anything else and we shoot."

     Having no other choices available, I did as I was told. They told me to turn at the corner and marched me into the street. They didn't do a very good job of taking all my weapons. I still had a few knives, and other trinkets I could use as weapons, but being deprived of my guns meant that I couldn't just squeeze a trigger to kill these guys, which would be all the time I would have before they'd kill me. There were men at a distance killing any soulless that got near the area. There must have been about 15 or 16 men. After a few minutes or so, Tim and Jane were marched out of the building and lined up beside me. The man who had voiced the group who came to the last safe house I was at now faced us.

     "Where's the other one?" he asked.

     "Who?" I responded.

     The man nodded to one of the guard and I was punched in the stomach, "Where is the last member of your group?" he asked again.

     "Dead," I answered.

     The man nodded again and I received another blow, "We know he's not dead."

     "How would you know that?" I said and I was immediately punched again. This pattern of questions and abuse were repeated until I was on the ground, where the punches turned into kicks. Jane and Tim were telling them to stop and that I was telling the truth, but it did no good. Finally, a man yelled, "Found him!" from far away. I was stood up and saw Duke being marched toward us.

     "Well, lucky you! Your suffering will soon be at an end," said the man.

     Duke was lined up beside us. The man looked us over with an angry yet amusing look.

     "Greetings," said the man, "Allow me to introduce myself to those of you who don't know me. My name is Alexander the Great. I'd tell you why you are currently at gunpoint, but I believe you already know that. Are there any questions before we begin?"

     "Begin what?" I asked.

     "The trial, of course!" answered Alexander, "You all have committed crimes and, although we live in barbaric times, we believe in the law established by the government that all people must be given a trial before any punishment is given."

     "So what, you're going to hold a trial here?" asked Tim.

     "Yes. For the world to view and judge for themselves," answered Alexander.

     "And who's going to be the judge?"

     "Yours truly. Who else, but someone with a degree in law is more qualified in this situation."

     "And what stops you from letting your own involvement influence the trial?" I asked.

     "No trial is perfect."

     Tim snorted in anger.

     "How were you able to find us?" I asked.

     "Oh, very good question! As much as I would love to reveal this to you, I'm afraid I can't due to a certain party's involvement."

     "Can you tell me why you were so persistent in trying to capture us? We're at least 30 miles from Saint Angeles," I asked.

     "Because justice must be carried out. We must go to great length to stop evil doing-ers as yourselves from corrupting our already fragile society.

     I knew how the trial would go. It would only be a mock trial to vindicate their reason for killing us. I had to do something.

     "Wait! Let the other three go. I'm the one who killed your men, not them. They are innocent."

     "Well, thank you for admitting that. It will make it much easier to prove our case. However, they have committed crimes, such as aiding a known criminal and a few attempted murders when you fired upon us. And let us not forget how many my men and innocent people were lost at that safe house when we tried to arrest you. Their death is on your hands. Besides, your associates will most likely receive a lesser charge, but we won't know until the trial has taken place." He turns around and walked away a little and turns around again. "Let the trial commence!"

     The trial went like the ones I had seen on TV or at least it did at the beginning. We swore an oath with our hand on a Bible to tell the truth, but after that, the unfairness began with us being given no chance to speak as "witnesses" came forward that I had never seen in my life, telling everyone the crimes that I committed (and a few that I didn't commit) against them. The trial went on, night fell upon us with in the distance shooting and clubbing soulless. I knew I had to think of something to escape so I waited until it got a little darker and then attempted to light the flash grenade (one of the many small things they left with me). There were still guns pointed at us, but the rule of my hands needing to be behind my head didn't come up when I put them down. The flash grenade was in my back pocket so I slowly moved my hand back into my pocket and attempted to stick it partially out into the open and lit it. I couldn't look back to see what color the flint was without the guards getting suspicious of what I was doing (if they weren't already suspicious) so I wasn't sure how long to wait. I figured that if it blew while I was holding it, it would still project a bright light to blind the guards, allowing Duke, Jane, and Tim to get away and I might even be able to escape even with only one hand. However, it wasn't long before the copper wiring I'd wrapped around the lighter to keep the flint in place began to heat up and burn my hand. I couldn't hold it much longer without making any groans and I tried to gently toss it away, but it had fused itself onto my hand. Suddenly, in a desperate attempt to remove it, I tossed it forward onto the ground near directly in front of me and a great flash of light blinded me and everyone else nearby. I probably should've warned the other three. One by one, I vaguely saw them running away with the sound of inept gunfire filling the air. I, on the other hand, was able to make out a figure far in front of me that was probably Alexander so I pulled a knife out of my shoe, rushed forward, and stabbed the figure multiple times and up close, I saw the shocked and petrified face of Alexander. Someone came up and grabbed me, but I threw down Alexander's body, stabbed the person, and stole their gun. It was then that I made my escape with my vision still distorted and the flash grenade still burning brightly behind me.

     I took refuge in the building where I hid in a closet, hoping that my sight would return to what it once was with time because I could barely see the paper in front of me right now. I hope my writing is readable.

- Jack's Diary