It was
probably before dawn when I woke up. I don’t look to the sky too much anymore
so I wouldn’t know. I didn’t finish the design. It’s going to be a pole with a
sledgehammer on each end. Since the head of each hammer is going to be heavy, I
knew I needed to make the pole strong and near unbreakable. I couldn’t do that
without a power drill and some lighting so I decided to wait until morning. The
good news is the base does a have a few power drills, but the parts are
scattered around all the storage areas like a Find It picture book. Only found
two drill bits and the body of the drill itself before I stopped looking; no
battery pack (ironic). I’ll look for it later.
After the
search was over, I managed to make two more silencers and tested them; they
work just as well as the others. I was working on attaching a newly made
silencer to a rifle when Mike snuck up on me. I turned and pointed the barrel
of the rifle at his cheek (I’m glad the habit of identifying my target’s face
before shooting has prevailed after all this time). He told me he was impressed
with my work, but that I should take a break. Like that’s going to happen. Relaxing
just isn’t relaxing to me. There’s too much to do and not enough time in our
lives left to finish it.
*Around Noon*
Found a
stupid battery pack. An uncharged one! You’d think they’d keep this place a
little more orderly, especially equipment like batteries and chemicals. The
only good thing to come out of my search was the assortment of knives, screws,
nails, wires, and the bow saw I found (mine now). Screws won’t do much good
without a drill and although the nail could work, I don’t want to chance the
weapon breaking mid-swing. I should give it a name as to be more specific. Double
Sledge, perhaps?
Mike is
building something with a few other guys. I didn’t bother to ask in case I’d
get stuck with helping (I’m not lazy; I just prefer my own projects). It
appears to be the foundation for a house or building of some sort. Not a bad
idea since the more buildings we have, the better. A storage shed, a place for
sleeping, a bigger watchtower. There are definitely some possibilities with it.
*Afternoon*
I don’t
think it’s going to be a storage shed. They’re not adding a roof at all so
it’ll probably go up at least another floor. Victor and two guys (who I think I
saw on the roof in the city) have been working on it for a while now. I finished
another three silencer and again searched for a battery pack. No luck and there
aren’t too many places left to look. I’m tempted just to drown the Double
Sledge in cement glue despite knowing it’d break apart easily. Also, I would
need glue.
*Evening*
It’s been
an “interesting” day. Definitely not one of my worst. Mike asked me to join him
and Victor in a search party to look for Julie. Apparently, she went missing a
while back and wasn’t anywhere on base. We drove into the city to look for her.
I hadn’t noticed just how horrid the outside world smells, like decay and car
fumes. I say outside world because I take comfort inside the walls of the base
and it seems so different than the bleak landscape around us.
We searched
the grocery stores and other loot-able places where she may have gone. No sign
of her there and not much to loot either. It seemed like hours had passed
before we found her. Of all the places you’d expect; in an old arcade. She said
she wished the games still worked. I guess I can relate and I can’t blame her
for yearning for a lost time, a time where nightmares were only in our dreams.
I looked around at the games. A lot of the screens were busted out and the
wiring and token collectors ripped away (there was more glass on the floor than
tokens). I started thinking back to one of the few times I went to an arcade;
the lights, the sounds, the smiles. All lost.
Mike took
Julie to get some new stuff or as he put it “shopping”. Not surprisingly, most
of the toys in the toy store were untouched. No demand for toys when food and
water was scarce. I took a few things for myself, including some water guns, a
few little (batteries included), some small fluffy animals (just in case I need
padding in the future), and a Star Wars lightsabor just because I wanted one.
Victor rolled his eyes when he saw me take it. We visited a few other places
after, but I don’t remember what they were called as not too much interested me
at those places.
I remember
during our trip that Julie said she wouldn’t go alone again if Mike wouldn’t do
it either. Mike looked to Victor and I for help, but neither of us said a
thing. As fun as it is to go alone, it dangerous. Mike seemed to agree with
Julie though I don’t specifically remember him making a promise. That was one
conversation. It was the ride home that the feeling came over me again. Mike
asked about Ann and all I did was look out the window. What was I suppose to
him? That she left randomly at night? The horrible truth? I planned on lying or
just giving a vague answer, but I just couldn’t do it. To make it worse, as I
was staring out the window, my vision began to get blurry. I thought the window
was getting cloudy. It was my eyesight. In less than a minute, all I could see
was white, much like that blinding light from before. Luckily, I wasn’t the one
driving at the time. I didn’t want to alert the others to it or to show any
fear so I took to writing in my journal and I continue to do so. My sight has
returned partially though I dread looking up from my writing.
*Night*
My vision
is almost completely restored. It was still a little blurry when I went back to
working on the silencers (I’m probably going to have to remake the new ones).
Mike told me to “take a major break”. For once, I complied with this command. I
sat against the wall of the base far away from the others as night overcame the
sky. I began remembering or for lack of a better word, reliving the nightmare I
had about Ann and the proof I woke to. The Ann I thought I knew was kind, shy,
and perhaps a little naïve. The Ann I met in my dream was confident, prideful,
and had a malicious toyful nature about her. They were opposites and yet how
could I have dreamed up that other personality of Ann when I don’t recall ever
meeting someone that could even come close to fitting that description? I also
thought of the blinding light I saw and the sights that came afterward. Am I to
believe that I saw Lexi alive and well or that I dreamed it? What dragged my
body back up the hill and did I even fall down it in the first place. That
letter I found was the most confusing. It sounded like it was from Ann or Jane
and even then, it just doesn’t make sense. What the point of it all? As I was
going over the details in my head again, I felt a small cold breeze on my neck,
as if someone had breathed on it. In a low feminine whisper came the words, “Come
to me…” and I instantly drew a knife and stabbed at the space behind me. All I
hit was the base wall. There was no one around me.
Right now,
I’m sitting in the corner of my room with a shotgun next to me, watching the
door and window, both locked, occasionally writing in this journal. I’m not
afraid. It’s not fear; it’s paranoia. Paranoia of what may come to be.
- Jack’s Diary
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