Jack's Diary - Light and Darkness - Day 68

            The morning woke me with annoying piercing rays. For a moment, I thought yesterday had been a dream. The wagon and cuts on my body reassured me it wasn’t. Nothing seemed out of place yet nothing went right after waking up. I climbed down the tree, heard a noise behind me so I instinctly turned around and was greeted by a literal blinding light. No sooner had I seen it, darkness was all I could see soon after as I screamed in pain. It felt like needles were stabbing my eyes over and over again. Even in the agony of pain, I realized what I’d just done; by screaming, I alerted any soulless nearby to me and without my sight, I would’ve certainly been bitten. I moved away from my current spot, hoping to go deeper into the gathering of trees. The only indications of the correct direction were the trees I constantly bumped against. Climbing a tree would’ve been the smart thing to do if every branch was strong enough to hold me. I tried climbing blind twice and fell back to the ground due to the branch I was standing on breaking under my weight, which in turn, probably brought more attention to me. In the confusion, I felt myself trip and fall without hitting the ground for a few moment. The fall came to an abrupt end as I crashed into high grass with my momentum carrying me forward. It happened again and again until I crashed limply onto solid ground, sliding forward a great distance before coming to a stop. 

            There was marching. The stamping of feet at uneven paces and the faint sound of chains rattling. As I opened my eyes, it was all still blurry. It all became clear, slowly and certainly. I was laying flat on my stomach in a large open field and procession of people in brown clothing moved from right to left. Their numbers seemed endless. A weak mist obscured my already limited vision so I crawled toward the marchers as I found myself to injured to walk. With every wriggle, the shapes became more defined and the numbers were far greater than what I had previously noticed. The beginning and end of the lines were not in sight, however; they ended at thick, glowing mist on each side. They never changed their course; they didn't act like solders, only like people who believed themselves to be soldiers. When I was within range to touch one of them, I grabbed a leg, any leg. The person stopped in their tracks and looked down at me. The others walked around him without even stopping or looking back. I couldn't make out a face. I could only hear the words, "Haven't you done enough already?" It was a male voice that had conviction, annoyance, and intrigue behind those few words. I had no answer. I didn't know what he was talking about. It sounded like he knew me and it wasn't out of the question either. The man shook his foot loose and continued walking soon after he spoke. I grabbed another leg, now more desperate for help and answers. It was skinny and soft. I again did not answer at the question asked; I only panicked and tried to escape when there was none. "What are you doing?" asked a child's voice, a voice I recognized and as my vision returned, I believed that I was being tricked or that my vision betrayed me. Before me was Lexi, just as she was the last time I saw her alive. She looked at me inquisitive and annoyed. I instantly released my grab as though I had just touched fire and she casually turned away and continued her march without ever looking back. I called out her name, but she didn't answer. She was lost among the great numbers. "Son? Son?" I heard. Suddenly, a man with a large mustache and business suit stood beside me, looking me in the eyes. "Son, your disrupting the marching. I'm asking you to please leave."

            "But... I can't..." were the only words I could muster.

            "Then you will be taken out by force."

            The man signaled in the direction behind me. I couldn't turn around in time to look before I felt my body being dragged backwards violently. It felt like I was moving faster than when I was falling. The sensation was terrify yet interesting. It almost felt like I was flying over the grass. The sensation along with my consciousness went dormant when I was dragged over a rock and my head crashed into the side of it, knocking me out. 

            I woke up and found myself near the dream I had stayed in the night before. I know what you are thinking, but this was not a dream. My body was sore and scraped up and behind me were footprint and a trail of crushed leaves and flattened grass, indicating something had been dragged over them. On the other hand, my vision was fine and I could stand so not everything could be explained away. On top of the wagon, I found a letter addressed to me. It read

"I know it's been a while since we've seen each other or even spoken each other's names. I just wanted to tell you I don't blame you for what happened. Life throws us unexpected twists and turns. I'm fine now and have regained what I lost. Neither of us are at fault and there's no one to blame, but you can't let it happen again. If you care at all, you won't let it happen again. I know you and I know there's so much more to you than anyone else thinks or could ever believe. I'll always remember you; our time, your success, and your failure."

There were no names on the letter though it looked like a few had been erased. I instantly thought this all was one of Ann's tricks and that she wrote this to taunt me. That was, until I realized it wasn't Ann's handwriting. I had seen it before when she showed me her story and I saw her changed words in front of me so it was certainly her handwriting. Even more mysterious were those people. All those people marching passed me, hundreds, maybe even thousand and Lexi. She's dead. It had to have been a hallucination brought on by the intense pain and my impaired vision.

            The entire day was wasted. I couldn't believe it when I looked at the sun and realized it was late evening and the sun was about to set. I wasn't going back to sleep when I'd been sleeping on the ground for probably 12 hours. I grabbed the wagon handle and walked off. When the wheels started to squeak, I took some of the oil from the container I looted and poured it on them. Only an occasional squeak resulted from then on.

            By the time night was upon me, I heard groans and footsteps from the soulless 50 to 200 feet away. They had the same disadvantage that I had. We both couldn't see so I didn't see why traveling at night was dangerous, at least for one person alone. Groups would make too much noise and attract soulless, just from the cluttering sound of their footsteps. We walk so different, man and soulless. As I was going passed the town I lost Jane and Matt in, I saw a flare go off, lighting up the sky. The only times they are set off by people is to draw their attention, either because they are in trouble or to signal someone. Mike has used one in the past so I thought perhaps it was him. I saw no harm in checking it out anyway so I headed in that direction. The flare had lit up the top of a few buildings in particular so I knew it in that area. The soulless were, as they usually were, docile as I passed them to enter the city. Even in the darkness, the memories lit up the street brighter than any flare. Ghosts walked before me, dissipating as reality stepped in, in the form of a soulless. Everything was fine until I was a few blocks away and I heard a rush of footsteps heading toward me. I had no need for a flashlight until now because of the dim moonlight, but I brought one out and saw a horde barreling toward me. The wagon probably shed a tear as I left it and ran for my life. It was one of the biggest groups of soulless I'd ever seen. Again, my running skills did me good at staying a head of them though this time there were enough of them for their to be a few track stars mixed into the group. About three soulless were catching up. They howled and snarled like angry, hungry dogs as they got closer. I only managed to avoid the faster ones because they dove when they got close enough, meaning I only had to evade their dive.

            The exhaustion was setting in, but I made it to the gathering of buildings I suspected to be the place where the flare was fired. I phased to choose which one to enter when the answer came to me. Shots rang out from the top of a large building (not at me) and I could see people leaning over the side to shoot so I headed for the door. It was stuck, forcing me to force it down with three kicks (I was ready to leave if that third one didn't work). The horde was less than a body's length away as I rushed around, trying to find the stairs. I found them as did the horde. I made it up first with them on my tail so I turned around and kicked the front soulless down the stairs, knocking over and blocking the others. I knew they'd continue to follow me so I decide to get destructive. I took out two of my grenades and placed them each on different parts of the staircase landing, got some distance, and shot them, destroying the first floor landing. They wouldn't be able to climb up and I could still get down from there easily.

            The trip to the top floor was nothing compared to the run from the horde. At the top, I came to a locked door. I knocked and was asked, "Who's there?"

            "Jack."

            Some shuffling of objects could be heard as the door swung open. Mike stood in the door way.

            "I see you got my message."

            I think I'll end it here this time. Until tomorrow when we leave.

- Jack's Diary