Jack's Diary - Operation Inferno - Day 137

     It's finally done! Operation Inferno is ready to go. Katy and I have been working overtime on this and it's finally ready. Let me explain the set up. On the tallest building near the center of the city, we placed three Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD), facing in different directions. They were originally used to signal people from far away and to deter wildlife and pirate without violence, as the device can make a sound powerful enough to cause headaches. You'd think equipment like this would be hard to find, but it really wasn't. The LRADs were probably brought in early on to try and bring the outbreak situation under control, only to have it backfire on them since the sound attract soulless (I say this all from observance, not from first hand account. We found these mounted on police vans and the area surrounding it was still sticky and disgusting from the previous accumulation of soulless). These things were not light (I almost killed myself carrying one up the stairs with Katy). The sound from it can reach about a mile or less, but we didn't stop there. We also ripped a bunch of sirens out of ambulances and police vehicles. Since my ability to focus well was slowly slipping away, Katy volunteered to scatter the sirens to lure more soulless when the time came. I didn't want soulless to just hang around outside the city so I attached the power cords that were attached to the sirens to a crank so we could reel them back in and draw the soulless into the trap. Katy managed to spread the sirens out to about 8 to 10 miles in each direction (with the amount of glue and duck tape I coated the plugs with, they better not come undone). I wished we could have gotten more LRADs to put on the very borders of where we ran out of sirens to attract even more soulless, but we only had so many to use.
     Now for my favorite idea yet. We commandeered several generators to power the local Water Plant (also used them to power the sirens). We also ripped a great deal of sprinkler systems from the more expensive buildings that could afford them. From here, we attached and welded the pipes together, attaching them to the tops of buildings across the city, to create a system of sprinklers that could drench every non-existent resident. I filled the Water Plant with the gasoline we accumulated to pump through the pipes when the time was right. Lastly, since we didn't want to burn alive and needed to be in the city to activate all this, we create a zip line to go from one of buildings to a small rock plateau in the distance, high enough of the ground to keep us safe from soulless and so we could watch the show.
     I decided to make some thermite bombs with charges connected to them so we could detonate them from a distance to start the fire. Katy and I shooting flaming arrows into the masses of soulless. Everything was set up. Before we began, I reminded Katy of my will in case anything happened. I then contacted Mike, after what feels like years, to tell him to pick up something I left for him (it was nice to hear him again). We're about to begin and I want him to have a front row seat to see Operation Inferno in action. Hopefully, everything works out and my goal will have been met.
     Katy, I'm sorry. It's time.

- Jack's Diary


Katy's Entry
     I felt like he'd want this. For me to complete this. The plan worked just as he said it would. We switched on the LRADs. They almost blew my eardrums out. He yelled at me to put in the earplug before we preceded. The sirens were switched on next. Soulless, as Jack called them, charged into the city, surrounding the building the LRADs were on. There had to be a 1000 of them within only two minutes of the LRADs being turned on. It was only the beginning. Mobs of soulless entered the city from all sides. You could hear their screams and moans as clear as day a top of a seven story building. It sent shivers down my spine. Jack waited another 5-10 minutes before we started reeling in the sirens, all the time hundreds of more soulless entered the city limits. The streets were becoming as tightly packed than when the ball is dropped on New Years. Two of the wires put up a fight. Part of them must have snapped off in the distance, but we still brought in the majority of them. It was such an amazing sight. A frightening sight. The sirens were followed by slow soulless, fast soulless that leaped each time the sirens moved, soulless with swords, soulless with long slender bodies, and horribly deformed soulless, ugly enough to make me gag. The smell of rotting flesh of near unbearable. I occasional looked over at Jack and he was happy, happy his plan was working as we'd hoped. The city was completely filled to capacity. There were a large amount of soulless outside of the city's entrance, unable to get any closer with the streets jam packed. Soulless were piling up on top of one another to reach the LRADs. The piles were three stories tall. There must have been 10,000 or 100,000 of them. Jack activated the sprinkler system. The moans were slightly drowned out by the rush of gasoline. The sunlight went through the gasoline, creating small temporary randoms in the air. It was so beautiful. We ran out of gasoline after three minutes. Jack then took out the charge and pushed it. The explosion rattled me and hurt my ears worse than the LRADs. The fire spread quickly where the bombs had gone off and we helped by launching flaming arrows into the soulless crowds. Soon, the LRADs and moaning was overtaken by the roaring fire that was engulfing the city. They were so stupid, still going after the LRADs while their bodies burned to a crisp.
     Jack told me it was time to go. I hooked a pulley on and went. The ride filled me with an adrenaline. I was so happy everything worked out. I landed on the pile of cushion we set and looked back. I kept expecting him to use the zip-line next. He just stood there on the edge of the building. I yelled for him to hurry. I kept yelling, but he did nothing, nothing except cut the zip-line rope. I could only watch as the fire slowly consumed the building and the black smoke blocked my view to him. The fire burned for what felt like forever. The soulless on the outskirts went into the city with the soulless there previously burning dead on the ground. Even more soulless came from all around and burned in what I now see as a mass grave. I didn't watch the whole time. Most of the time, I cried.
     Once the fire stopped and everything had calmed down, I went it to search for his body. The streets were covered in a foot of cremated corpses. His body was no where on or in the building. I was angry at him. He left me alone. He didn't have to die yet. There was still time. We still had time. The question of why bothered me until I found a letter he left for me.

"Katy,

     I hope you find this and if I'm not around, Operation Inferno must have been a success. You and I both knew what was going to happen to me eventually so I took matters into my own hands. At the end, I didn't want to end up like my friend, who went insane. It would've been dangerous and just a plain waste of time for you to look after me any longer. I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd try and stop me. It's not that I don't care about you Katy. If I could have, I'd have stayed with you forever, continued doing this, and take back this planet. I wish my other friends would've come with me and that I could bring back yours, but life doesn't conform to what we want, sadly. I hope you'll continue on this work and know that if there is life after death, that I'll be watching over you and giving you all the prayers and help I can.

Your friend,

Jack"

     I decided to continue though it will be more difficult without help. Jack had more than just Operation Inferno in mind. While he was still alive, he spoke of others, like luring soulless into a large hole and either burning or just filling it back in with dirt. He called it Operation Re-burial. He only went with Operation Inferno because it was much easier and according to him, would make for a much better show. I may go with one of these plans. I stopped by the river where Jack had left his gifts for his friends. They had already come and gone.

     The night was quiet as I'd ever known it. There were no soulless, no danger, no paranoia. This is the kind of world I want and it's the kind of world I intend to bring back. I don't think I'll ever write again; it's just not my thing. I just felt it was the right thing to do; to write about Jack's last day on Earth so no one would forget. So I wouldn't forget. I'll miss you, Jack.

- Katy's Entry

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Jack's Diary - Too Long - Day 123

     It's been too long since I last wrote, mostly because I've been too busy with the present and didn't think I'd be alive too much longer so I couldn't risk wasting time with writing. I'm not dead yet, but it's clear I'm living on borrowed time. I now sometimes forget where I am momentarily, have intense migraines, and I feel a lot more tired (fortunately, these don't happen too often and very rarely during "interactions" with other people). It's terrifying, yet sobering to be at death's door. You see what's important and I'm still strong enough to do something.
     Mike and the others didn't come along with me. I expected as much, but still wish they were here. I just want to make a difference before I die. I don't want to leave this world with a whimper, I want to go out fighting. Grant had the right emotions, but devoted them to the wrong thing. He gave up on doing what's right and chose to do only what gave him pleasure. I intend to succeed, even if I end up alone. I'm not angry with them. I could never be. Julie spoke to me just before I left. Even with a foggy memory, our exchange of words comes through clear.
     "You sure you want to do this?" she asked, her face still beat up from Grant. I was hobbling myself.
     "Yes."
     "I'm sorry," she said, almost unable to look me in the eye.
     "About what?" I asked.
     "That guy said you only have a few months to live. No one else knows except me and Mike."
     "Yah, that reminds me. I have you to thank for being alive right now. Had you not shot Grant, I'd be dead already. I owe you my life."
     She smiled and said, "If that's true, can I have your sword?"
     "As much as I'd like to give it to you, I need every edge that I can get now that I'll be on my own again. I've only got a short time left to accomplish my goal."
     "You're goal? What's that?"
     "Let's leave that as a surprise," I said turning away, "C'ya, Julie."
     As I walked away, although I didn't look back, I could somehow picture the scene behind me; a group of frowning faces, some waving, some looking away. I didn't talk much during my time with them. There really wasn't much to talk about, but even leaving a home you never liked brings a subtle feeling of sorrow to a time and season that's passed. It's all just memories and words upon paper and soon, the memories will be gone.
     I suppose the reason I'm writing is for good news. I've gathered about three-fourths of the supplies needed to begin Operation Inferno (it tickles me a little with excitement each time I say). Bases and groups of survivors so generously "gave" me plenty of supplies. For all the enemies I already killed off from my previous time before meeting Mike, I think I made five times the amount of enemies. I tried to "accept" these supplies as discreetly and sneakily as possibly, but I often got too greedy. Not happy with having to kill and injure so many people. In my defense though, I did give most of them fair warning (I'd recently been doubting my skill, but having detained/killed 30 people attempting sneak attacks where I slept and having taken on a base of 20 guys alone, I feel awesome). I've also gotten pretty good with the katana; I've already decapitated two soulless and one guy's arm (I warmed him) though I'm definitely not samurai level yet. I also found an ideal city to set up the operation; it's a good size, not too many soulless and almost no survivors living in it and it's only 15 miles away from where Mike is (thought I'd let him see the results). Whenever I find supplies, I bring them back here.
     I've got to be honest. I can't take all the credit for everything I've written her. Twelve days ago, I was searching houses and cars for tools, wood, sprinklers, and gasoline having just visited a small base about two miles away. I came upon a little tin shack. It looked like a tool shed so I went over to it, expecting to find some lumber or oil or something. It was locked. I lightly knocked to see if anyone was living there. That's when I saw a shadow approaching from the left, slowly growing in size. In a flash, I drew my handgun with my left hand, fired right into a guy's chest, then I quickly drew my katana with my right and whipped it to my right (suspecting there to be more) and the blade cut a woman's lip, throwing her off balance and I shot her. It didn't look like there was anyone else, that is, until someone landed on top of me, having jumped from tool shed's roof. She nearly had me pinned except for my right arm, which I quickly took advantage of and blindly elbowed her twice, the second   time hitting her throat. I shoved her off, stood up, and proceeded to land one powerful forward kick to her chin, sending her flying back. This knocked her unconscious. The gun fire brought more soulless than I expected, which created a problem. Usually I would stay, kill them, and continue gathering supplies, or if there really were too many, I'd shove anyone still barely alive who was too weak or too stupid to run in a car, house, or base. There was nothing near by to stuff her into and I couldn't just leave her there (in defending myself, I hadn't even looked at her in the face; in her twenties, very pretty, and just had a look of peace about her. It was one of the few times I felt guilty about defending myself). I picked her up, carrying her like the firemen do, and made the sprint to the closest building in sight, holding the katana in my free hand. When I got there, I rushed up to the second floor and barricaded the door. Eventually, I knew they'd lose interest.
     Later, when she woke up, upon recognizing me, she backed up into a corner, pulled out a knife along and picked up a chair with the other hand. I won't go into the long details, but I'll give you the summary. I eventually talked her down to putting her weapons away, explaining myself and why I was at that tool shed. The people I killed were her friends so she held resentment toward me. I told her about my plan and although she thought it was crazy and only something a moron would do, she chose to help (I think this was because she hoped to kill me or I'd die in the process). Her name is Katy. The first few days were pretty rough with her getting a hold of a gun or something and trying to kill me. I always got the upper hand and stopped her. It reached the point where I went back on my desire not to have hurt her in the first place. Had she did this a few more times, I'd have killed her until on one attempt, she broke down and starting sobbing on my shoulder. Afraid the noise would draw soulless, I tried to calm her. She was angry with me, but she was also alone for the first time in a long time and I was the only person left. I'm sure she could have left and found others, but it's human nature to stick with the familiar, especially when you're scared. I knew the feeling. I told her about my imminent death, thinking at the time it would make her happy. It just made her cry more. From then on, we grew closer and so far, she hasn't tried to kill me again. At night, we talk about our pasts and the stuff we like. There are times where she'll stop for a few moment before quietly continuing the conversation, probably remembering I'm the guy who killed her friends. I taught her survival, combat, weapon, scavenging, and hunting skills. She really didn't have much to teach me, but she did take care of me when the problems resulting from the drugs began becoming worse. Funny. Just when things seem so good in my life is when it's coming to an end. Fate is strange. You'd think with all this time we're spending talking and training that the operation would be moving slower, but it's moving just as fast.
     One more good thing. Now that I have a traveling companion, I have someone to fulfill my wishes after death. I've given her instructions on what to do with my body. I'm leaving everything in her hands, including the plans for Operation Inferno. I told her I hope she'll continue it after I'm gone because one go isn't going to be enough.
     She fell asleep an hour ago. I feel the urge to do many things. To get up and kiss her on the forehead, to radio Mike and let him know I'm alright, but it's not the right time yet. I think I'll go to bed. Hopefully, I'll live to see tomorrow.

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Bound to Death - Day 93

*Early Morning*
     I kept dreaming about it. The gathering of soulless, burning in one large fire. One by one, the fire would spread and engulf each one individually. The sky would fill with black smoke and the audible moans of the soulless would all come together in one torturous harmony. After a while, they would stop moving and simply lie down, the fire finally laying their wandering bodies to rest. For some reason, I found this so beautiful. I must be a sociopath or something. Still, dreams will remain dreams unless I make them a reality.
     Today was different than all the ones that came before it and I'll tell you why. It was barely morning when I felt someone kicking me.
     "Hey, get up you lazy bum," said the person. I didn't recognize the voice so once I was awake enough to be aware of the situation, I quickly drew my handgun only to have it kicked out of my hand and another gun put to my head.
     "Jack, seriously. Relax. It's me, Grant. Remember?"
     When you have a gun pointed to your head, you don't have much else to do, but think. That's when I remembered. He then took the gun away, seeing my look of realization I suppose. Grant was an associate (I guess you could call us friends even though I hadn't known him long) that I knew when I was still at the Hill. When I arrived, he was already well trained and a few months later, he left.
     No sooner he did this, he pointed it at where Mike was sleeping.
     "Ah, don't even try it," he said to Mike. His eyes were closed, but I could see that his hand was very close to his gun. The others woke up quite concerned when seeing Grant.
     "Guys, relax. He's a friend," I told them.
     "Why are you sleeping out here? You could be staying at Patrick's Mine."
     It turned out there was a base in town, or rather, near the town. It was established in a system of abandoned mine shafts. It got it's name from the sign the first guys to start it found on the boarded up tunnel. Grant led us there. I don't know if it was nostalgia or the anticipation in seeing what this mine looked like, but for once, I was happy. The others didn't look too pleased with Grant and were pretty wary of his presence, but not me. Any person from the Hill is a brother to me. It turns out Grant wasn't a member of this group of survivors, but he was hired to find more and to lessen the soulless population in the area or as he calls them, freaks. He made his living as a mercenary, traveling from town to town, being hired to either kill freaks or troublesome survivors, to guard location, or to gather hard to come by supplies. One benefit from this is that he had gotten a lot of cool equipment, including a SWAT helmet and what looks like a katana. He laughed when he noticed my Double Sledge. As I remember, he wasn't much for building his own weapons.
     The other's attitudes lighted up after entering the mine. All the entrances had been boarded up except for one that was on a large hill (a good strategy) and another secret entrance that was used for bringing in large supplies. Apparently, this town was a big place for mining back in the day so there are abandoned mine shafts everywhere though this seems to be the largest. The people there were very welcoming and they had everything you could imagine; food, water, weapons, couches, a generator, medical tools and supplies, decorations on the walls, a garden right outside the entrance, and some pretty attractive women (they also had some young children, which is good; we can't let the human race die out). For a system of tunnels, they really made it look good and went the extra mile to make it as stable as possible, putting extra support to the ceiling among other things.
      I'm going to cut this short. The others are checking out the base while Grant and I are going to catch up on old times.

*Late at Night*
     Let me start from the beginning. Grant told me he had something important to discuss, something that couldn't be mentioned in front of anyone else. I found this to be odd, but decided to trust him. We left the base and went into town and found an old wooden two story building. We went into one of the rooms on the second floor and closed the door.
     "Was coming out this far really necessary?" I asked.
     "Perhaps not, but better safe than sorry."
     "So what's this important thing you wanted to discuss with me?"
     He sort of smiled, "Did you ever wonder how we became so knowledgable and skilled in using weapons and surviving?"
     "Not really. I just figured the Hill offered some kind of ideal environment for the training. There were also a lot of knowledgable people there to share knowledge with."
     "Did you ever meet the man who started the Hill?"
     "Of course. Ted Jackson; one of the smartest guys I'd ever met! It was sad when he left to start a new base."
     "Did you know he's died?"
     I paused for a moment, I stood across from him. I hated hearing bad news about my old comrades.
     "I can definitely believe that," I told him. "It's very easy to die nowadays."
     Any happiness on his face disappeared as he continued to speak. "He didn't die by normal means. After he left the Hill, he began to experience serious mental problems: seizures, depression, paranoia, schizophrenia, and signs of alzheimer's. He eventually went insane and was put down by his friends out of mercy."
     This sounded very uncharacteristic of Ted. He was awesome. I looked up to him since the day I met him. He was always calm and serious whenever I spoke with him so pictured him paranoid was just impossible.
     "You brought me here to talk about him? As much as I cared about my comrades, this doesn't seem like something that needed to be kept secret from my friends or anyone else."
     "It's not Ted's death that is important, it's why he died and what he did to us. We didn't gain our skill by natural means."
     "What other means are there?"
     He looked me stern in the eye, "Ted mixed medications into our food supply that made us what we are."
     I really didn't know what to say.
     "I couldn't believe it either when I found out." There was a sadness in his voice that came through more and more as he explained to me what he knew. "Ted was never a soldier or an experienced expert as we thought he was. Back before this world went to hell, Ted worked at a test patient at a medical testing facility. They'd were giving him a drug and never told him what it was for, but he soon figured it out. He was a man who believed that the end of the world was coming so he was constantly stocking up on food, supplies, and training and educating himself on combat and survival though his training took on a whole new level when he began taking that drug. He went from forgetting where he put his keys to memorizing books word for word. As for how the drug works, I'm sure you've heard that it's much easier to learn a language at a younger age. That's because kids have a large amount of neural pathways open which allows for much easier learning, memorization, and comprehension and keeps this information around for a long time to come; that's how they go from a blob of flesh to intelligent beings. This drug restimulates the neural pathways in the brain, giving existing ones a boost, prompting the brain to create new ones, and rewiring older, unused ones to make learning and analyzing much easier. It was developed with the intention of being used in military training so it would take less time to train soldiers. When the outbreak happen, Ted broke into the facility and took the remaining drugs so he could continue taking them. After a few weeks, he started the gathering place of survivors known as the Hill."
     "How do you know all this?" I asked.
     "Well, unlike you, I knew there was something weird about all this. No one goes into training for a few months and comes out experts. A few weeks after Ted left, I finally decided follow after and confront him. That's when he started showing the signs. I stayed with him until he died; I just couldn't confront him about it seeing him like that. I found out later he kept a journal documenting everything from his first dosage at the facility. Through it, I tracked down the facility and looked through their files. The fact that they were testing that drug on humans was insane. It was never approved for testing and what's worse, they tested it on rats and while the rats showed an increase in intelligence, they all died from neurological deterioration."
     "This means that we're bound to suffer the same fate. Why would he do this to us?"
     "Because he didn't know about the life-threating side-effects though he was aware of some side-effects like possible depression and mood swings, but if your trying to train men to look after themselves, you look for every advantage possible. no doubt you've experienced some of the side-effects; Ted lasted about two years on the drug, meaning I'd say we both only have a few months to live before we end up just like he did in his final days."
     This explained everything. It explained why my mood changed after leaving the Hill because I was no longer taking the drug (withdraw symptoms), why I was suffering from depression and why I was so paranoid a lot of the time and that seizure I recently had.
     "But why did you feel it was necessary to talk about this in private?"
     "Well, one, I didn't know if you wanted your friends to hear you'd be dying soon and two, that you have an enhanced human mind through drugs. Anyways, part of the reason I've been traveling around, looking for people from the Hill to let them know. I think you're the last one so you can have this," he handed me the Ted's journal. "At this point, I don't think I'll find anyone else anyways. He wrote things about all of us in there, including you."
     I thanked Grant. I sat down on a chair near a desk and tried to find what Ted wrote about me. I was so lost in confusion and grief that I didn't notice Grant had drawn his gun. There was a shot. I turned around to see Grant fall over. The door opened and I saw that it was Julie holding a gun. She'd been listening in on the conversation.
     "He was going to shoot you!" she yelled to me.
     Grant went to point his gun at her and I shot it out of his hand.
     "Grant, what the hell is wrong with you?!"
     Grant slowly stood up facing me with a smirk on his face. "I believe you remember our combat practices. We'd fight to see who was better. Neither of us have long to live so I intend to prove myself to be the greatest. And I'll do this by killing you."
     A grenade fell to the floor from behind Grant and he made a dive for the door, landing onto of Julie. I dashed to the door myself, just making it out as it blew, but the force of the explosion threw me into the wall. I looked up to find Grant punching Julie over and over. I dove at him, knocking him off her. He wasted no time in retaliating and kick me off. Before I knew it, he had disappeared, but I knew he hadn't left. I checked see if Julie was alright; she was bruised and unconscious, but breathing. I then began peaking into room, being cautious of every corner he could be hiding.
     "Come on, Grant. Don't do this! We're friends! Comrades!" I yelled.
     He spoke, but his voice seemed to echo throughout the entire building. I couldn't make out his position at all.
     "To a dying man, friends mean nothing since last I checked, you can't take friends with you. Nothing you do can help me now or yourself."
     "What will killing me do?"
     "Nothing! Nothing at all and that's the point. There's no time to leave a legacy any longer. Isn't that the meaning of life, to leave some impact upon the world? To change it? We think we have all the time in the world, but we don't. We know it yet we never really live it until we've reached the point of no return. We're bound to death, not life."
     "There is still time. If we work together, we can do something to make a real difference."
     At this point in our shouting match, soulless began entering the building, attracted by the explosion and our screams. I rushed to Julie to lock her inside one of the rooms so they wouldn't get her. I proceeded to shoot and kill the soulless approaching me. Down the hall, I heard the sound of the air being sliced; the kind of sound a sword makes. I turned the corner to find decapitated soulless and a door closing. I followed in after. I didn't see him inside the room.
     "It doesn't matter, even if we did manage to make a small change, no one would remember or acknowledge it." It sounded like he was in the room, but I couldn't find him. "If the human race ever rises above this bleak period, they won't remember our struggles, they'll only know that there were struggles, but not ours. Not what we went through to survive, to keep the human race alive."
     "It shouldn't matter if they remember us or not. We'll know what we did."
     "Why should I care about a tomorrow that doesn't care about me? Besides, I have my own wish to fulfill before it all ends. We were the best of any men on this Earth. Together, we could have taken this world back from the freaks, but there just wasn't enough time. There's only one thing I wish to prove now and that's who's the best."
     "Being the better killer means nothing!"
     "To me, it means everything. It's all I have left. I intend to die in battle and not suffer the same fate  Ted did. I saved the others from this tragic end, just as one of us will be saved from that suffering."
     That's when I realized what he had done.
     "You killed them. All of them?!" I yelled.
     "Nearly all of them. All of our teachers are dead. If I missed away, hopefully I'll find them in time, but now..."
     I shot at the mirror believing it to be him, only for him to shoot me in the side.
     "The skill of throwing your voice was something they didn't teach us."
     He walked up to me, probably to put a bullet in my head. As soon as I was shot (I think the bullet broke a rib), I already lit a flash grenade when I fell to my knee (the one made out of a lighter yesterday). Just as I heard his footsteps cease, I fell to the floor, slamming it to the floorboard, emitting a bright flash of light. I took advantage of this and quickly ran for the door (this time I was smart enough to keep my eyes closed). Just as I closed the door, Grant blasted off a piece of the door with his scattergun. I turn the corner, killed the soulless opposing me and stood in the doorway of one of the rooms. I expected him to come around the corner to get me, but it became very obvious he knew this place well. Luckily, I heard the sound of a creek in the floor and caught him sneaking into the room through a sliding wall. I unloaded my gun on him, shooting him eight time in the chest. He stumbled, but only looked up at me with an intense glare.
     "Bullet proof vest," he said. Saying nothing myself, I drew my shotgun, only for him to go through the sliding wall again. I followed, narrowly ducking out of the way of his katana. He knocked the shotgun out of my hand and pushed me across the room. He still had his shotgun, which he wasted no time in raising to me, just as I wasted no time in reloading my handgun. I jumped off to the right as he pulled the trigger; I got him twice in the left leg and he got me in the left arm with the scattergun. Upon landing, I shot the scattergun out of his hand and he dove into the next room, but not before tossing a grenade in. It was a miracle I managed to reach it in time and throw it out the window. I proceeded to pick up both the scattergun and my shotgun and went after him again. This time, he wasn't too hard to find, seeing as he was leaving a small trail of blood behind. Sadly, that didn't stop him from taking me by surprise. He snuck up behind me, punched me directly at the base of my spine, causing me to drop the two gun and then pushed me down the hall.
     "Let's end this little chase like men. No guns."
     I didn't care what he wanted. I went for my handgun only to find him holding it. He tossed it behind him. He drew his katana, wiping off the blade with a rag he took from his pocket.
     "Whenever you're ready," he said casually. At this point, I needed to get out of here. Julie and I both needed medical attention. I decided to face him man to man, if you want to call it that. I drew my homemade sword and walked forward. It was an interesting fight to say the least. In five seconds flat, he sliced through my own sword, cutting it into pieces so I took out my the Double Sledge. One strike from the katana did a number on the wooden handle of the Double Sledge so I tried to parry his attacks with the metal sledge heads. Whenever I saw an opening, I swung my weapon, but I always ended up hitting the walls. Not long into the fight, he brought one end of my weapon, leaving me with a Single Sledge. He then grabbed my weapon, slammed the metal sledge into my face and was just about to run his katana through me when I spin around and used the momentum to deal hit to his spine. He fell to the floor stiff as a board, his face expressing agonizing pain. At his collision with the floor, his helmet came off. I would've finished him off then, but soulless were approaching again and being so weak, I just picked up my handgun and shot them. A rule in fighting is never take your eyes off your opponent. When our eyes met again, he was holding the scattergun and unloaded a round on me, directly into my abdomen. He might as well hit me with a train. I was barely conscious now, but could see him reaching for the shotgun, as his scattergun must have run out of ammo. It was then, the best timing possible that Mike and Moses showed up. They shot a few rounds Grant's way, hitting his right elbow and arm. Grant just threw another grenade their way, and they ducked for cover. Luckily, it didn't make it to close to them, but it was enough to distract them. Grant continued reaching for the shotgun and only having two round left in my handgun, I fired at him, but I only hit him in the outer region of the neck, very close to the shoulder. All I had left were knives so I threw them. By luck, one hit him square in the neck, stopping him in his tracks.
     "You always did like playing with knives, didn't you?"
     Through what looked to be sheer determination, Grant stood up, grabbed his sword, and limped to me, intending to finish me off.
     "I will live long enough to see you dead," he said. Mike and Moses were there to stop him though.
     "What the hell is going on between you too?!" screamed Moses.
     "No one will stop this fight! No one!" Grant yelled, knocking Mike's gun away just as he pulled the trigger, sliced Moses right across the chest with his katana, and then leaped toward me.
     He ran his sword through, but not through me, the floor. Much like my former comrade, I saw the potential of a shotgun with ammunition in it. Too weak to lift it, I fired it at ground level, striking his left ankle. He fell to the floor for the last time. Mike and Moses picked their guns and stood over him, probably deciding who was going to finish the job. Moses did the honors, putting a bullet through Grant's head. No sooner had Grant been killed, Mike and Moses stared down the hall, Mike saying, "Oh, shit," as they fired their guns. Soulless, no doubt. Before I passed out, I tried to point to where Julie was. Don't know if I succeeded.
     You'd think I was a dead man, but thanks to the people at Patrick's Mine, I lived. Seven hours of surgery. I'm told a number of people who had blood type O donated their blood to me, including Mike. To think, all that work to save a dying man. Moses and Julie are fine. Mike wanted to know what happened, but I told him to go talk to Julie. She heard what we were saying and had saved my life. Not only that, mike and Moses would've never showed up had they not been out searching for Julie. I owe her a lot. I asked Mike if he or someone could go get my stuff and Grant's weapons as well, including his bullet proof vest (we can probably give some of his stuff to the people here at Patrick's Mine. It's the least we can do.) Not the sword though. Grant broke my sword and Sledge Hammer weapon. The sword is mine!!!
     I only have so long left and now I have to waste a good deal of it recovering. Life really isn't fair. As much as I don't want to leave, I have to do. I have to do something more now that survival isn't an option for me. I have to leave.

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Some Thinking - Day 90

*Morning*

            We’re on a dirt road headed toward a town or something. Something that has buildings. I’m not really paying that much attention to the where so much as how we’re getting there. I’m looking forward to walking on solid asphalt and cement again.

*Noon*

            That stupid fog just had to roll in again. We can’t see more than 10 feet in front of us, but Mike’s pretty sure we’re still headed toward our destination (I was more concerned with what will come out of the fog than us going into it). It’s like we’re in a Silent Hill game. Every so often, soulless would wander into our path and we’d beat them to death, or back to death, instead of shooting as to not attract more. At least there weren't a whole swarm of them. What’s worse though, there’s something very eerie about the silence that came with the fog. There are no animals making noises, not even birds chirping or the sound of crickets. I don’t get scared too often anymore, but this sure is bringing me close to that point.

*Afternoon*

            The fog cleared up enough to where it was only like smoke hanging on the air. Near the end, I could’ve sworn I saw someone in the distance. I even asked the others to verify, but they didn’t see it. Am I hallucinating? I hope so.

            We’re getting closer. By tomorrow, we will have reached the town or city.

*Evening*

            Mike’s looking for a spot for us to stop for the night. I must say, other than the creepy fog, I feel more peaceful though I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t anything bothering me. I don’t feel like writing it all down again.

            I do remember considering a while back splitting from the group. I can’t let that slip my mind, not after the horror I brought along with me. I guess when you think about it, when I joined up with Mike, I brought along my baggage and made them help carry it. That’s not right. As much as I’d like to stay, perhaps they’d be better off without a murderer. It appears I’ll have some thinking to do before we reach the town tomorrow.

- Jack’s Diary

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Jack's Diary - Death to Illusion - Day 84

*Morning*

            Death shouldn’t be celebrated, not even the death of an enemy. Smiled upon, perhaps, as death’s just another form of leaving, but what lies beyond is uncertain so we can’t be too sure what we’re celebrating. Someone leaving is the saddest and the most enduring part of life. Friends, family, acquaintances, and lovers, they all leave or you do and when it’s them, you either live alone or find new ones, but the memories of them are a constant haunt and forever foreshadow and remind you of what is to come.

            I could’ve sworn I was somewhere else after the fight. Somewhere dark, in a prison cell or a hotel room; the kind of staleness you’d expect in a place where it is kept clean, yet to only a minimal degree to create sterile smell of fumes and cigarette smoke. Anyways, yesterday I experienced what I can only assume was a seizure or a stroke. The outside view of the world disappeared and turned to white. I then saw a large open grassy field on top of a landscape of gentle, rolling hills, with it all surrounded by mountains. Nearby a small cabin, plain in sight yet rural and made well, whose property was fenced in by a long small fence that extended three times the cabin’s length. Ann was standing off a ways in a white dress. Without a second thought to my weakened state, I stood up and walked toward her without any trouble. I stopped five feet away. She looked at me indifferently, as if she didn’t know what to say. For once, I knew I was dreaming; no one could make me forget that she was dead.

            “Seems you won,” she said solemnly.

            “I thought once I killed you, you wouldn’t haunt my dreams anymore,” I told her.

            “Not unless you want to see me.”

            “I don’t!”

            Ann came forward quickly, as if floating across the ground, and put her hand to my chest. I could feel my rib cage being pulled forward, my heartbeat becoming weaker, and my attempts to pull in more air all being in vain. Her dress turned dark red.

            “You listen to me! I could’ve killed you 100 times over, 1000 times at any time: while you walked, while you ate, and while you slept. I could’ve killed you in our fight had I’d been using all my abilities, but I decided I’d fight on your terms, at your level because I wanted to test myself, show that I didn’t need any tricks to deal with you, but I was wrong! Even now, I could still kill you in your dreams and the shock would stop your heart, but I won’t!”

            She took her hand away and I fell, trying to regain my breath. She turned her back to me and walked a ways away, her dress returning to white.

            “Of course, I’m not so petty as to kill someone out of revenge, especially in this case where I no longer walk the Earth. I should leave a legacy. You and I are, after all, the same.”

            “I’m nothing like you.”

            “Then why do you kill? Despite your reasons for killing, you still kill, even when there are other options available. You care only for survival, for security, even if that means death just as I sought entertainment even if it was at the expense of others. Tell me, just how many would you be willing to kill to live here?” I’m ashamed to say that my first thought was disturbing. I was going to answer that question with a number as if it were nothing, slightly lowering it in my mind as if I were considering how much money to spend at a store. I noticed that her appearance became slightly transparent as she was speaking. “Soon, my psyche will fade from your consciousness, but it seems my influence will remain.”

             She turned to face me and stared at me, saying nothing else as she faded into nothing. She was smiling the whole time. Soon after, everything turned to black and I woke up (or rather the problem I’d been having ceased enough for me to regain consciousness). I couldn’t shake it. She was right about me. I thought that her death would be the end of the nightmares I was plagued with. I was wrong; her death woke me up to the fact that my life is a nightmare. I don’t know what to do from here now. Until I find what I should do, I’ll just go through the motions and do what I’ve always have.

            This morning I could at least walked, but not much else. I looked around for my equipment, it was scattered throughout the area from the fight. I found most of the knives, my gun (which I loaded and kept with me in case soulless were to show up), and machete. I piled my stuff next to Ann’s head. The eyes were still open on it. None of us were really talking to each other.

*Afternoon*

           

            We were all well enough to go back to where we had that “showdown” with the large number of people. Problem is, we couldn’t tell who was who. The fire had spread from the trees to the ground below and scorched the bodies, making identifying them near impossible. Mike wasn’t happy with this aspect and wanted to know, looking at each and every face to find some sign, some indication of who they were. Julie only looked at a few faces before walking off and puking, probably from the disgusting sight of burnt bodies. Looking over it all, the body count was unbelievable. Despite Ann’s manipulation, we killed all those people, not her. We killed her followers and looking back, I never saw her kill anyone, not even when she traveled with us. She could’ve killed hundreds of thousands of people and yet in the time I knew her, I did all the killing. She taunted, teased, and pushed me into a conflict with her and this was the result: nearly 100 innocent lives lost to kill one person (or thing). Maybe if I’d never gone after her, this wouldn’t have happened.

            We gathered up our supplies and headed back to where Julie had built a fire. Oh, before that, I went off by myself to look for the bodies of Jane and Duke (at least, I think it was them). I did find two bodies, but like the others, they were burnt and were beyond identifying. I’m glad that the fire didn’t burn down the whole forest or we would be dead. It makes me wonder why it stopped though. Backfire, maybe?

*Night*

            Ann. Just who or what she was, I’ll never know, but I know I don’t want to write about her again. There’s no need to take her head with me as a reminder; I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to. I picked her head by the hair, closed the eyes, and dropped it into the fire. Mike and Julie asked me why? I told them I wanted to watch it burn and I did. I watched the skin turn red, then dark red, and then black. I watched until there was nothing left, but the skull. They both watched for a while, but looked away after a while. I think they were asking me something, trying to talk with me while I watched, but I didn’t listen or answer. The fire was just too good to do anything else. Tomorrow, we’re headed back. To what, I don’t know.

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Ann - Day 82

*Morning*

            I’m getting closer. Soon I’ll have her by the throat and strangle the hellish life out of her. I had another dream. A few in fact, but this one in particular drives me to find her. I found myself standing on level ground. The area around me was clear for about 15 to 20 feet in all directions, perfect for setting up camp, then tall trees from that point on in all directions. It was getting dark out. The sky was cloudy. It looked like a storm was to occur. It was then I saw her standing by the tree.

            “This is it. This is where it all ends. Find your way here.”

            She walked slowly to me. I wanted to draw my gun on her, but although I didn’t know it was a dream, I felt it would do no good.

            “Your death will be the highlight of my life. I don’t believe I’ll find another like you.”

            “I won’t die without taking you with me,” I said. I meant it. Even if I die in the process, I won’t allow her to go on.

            She stopped in front of me and smiled.

            “Children have such dreams for themselves, wild fantasies they have no way of reaching. I hope you won’t be disappointed.”

            She put her hand to my right cheek and I pushed it away. Just then, I felt something strange where she touched me. I put my hand to the spot and first thought my cheek was wet, perhaps sweat or blood, I thought. I pressed in a little and my fingers went through it as if it were soft clay. The skin of my cheek began falling off my face, splattering on the ground like wax from a candle. I tried to hold it on my face, but it was futile. A great fear took hold of me as I felt like a child, trapped in a situation I had no power to control. My entire body felt odd. I felt all over and even more of my body left me as my hair fell out in clumps. The skin of my arms, legs, and chest was all sliding off me like over ripened cheese. The sensation was odd. It wasn’t painful at all though I did feel weak. It felt like I was soaked in water and I was drip-drying and each time a drop fell, it was as if a part of me disappeared. Pain was not necessary to induce to terror when your very body falls apart before your eyes. Before long, the bare muscles of my hands and arms were visible. Then the muscles turned into thread and “unraveled”, becoming a pile of red wet string. Without my muscles, I was unable to hold myself up and fell face first to the ground. Even my teeth fell out, all the while Ann giggled in demented delight. Her touch. Her very touch tainted my body, turned it sour. My very life separated from me piece by piece until it was no more than a bare skeleton lying in a pool of ghastly goop. The last things to go were my eyes. The irises deteriorated and, with nothing to keep the light out anymore, a blazing sunray pierced through the clouds above and overwhelmed my pupils and purged my eyes of sight. Even writing this makes my flesh crawl.

            We’re heading out soon. I don’t know how, but I can feel it. I can feel us getting closer to that spot. It’s like there’s a compass in me. I want to end this, whether it be my end or her. At least I won’t have to suffer by her hand any longer, no matter which ends comes.

*Noon*

            Her “followers” have been getting more vicious. Some will fire from a distance while others choose to rather sneak around and jump out from behind trees with knives and clubs (and worst, they’re actual starting to do more damage than just a few scratches). One bullet almost got me in the chest. Luckily, it hit one of my knives (the knife’s ruined, but I’m alive). One bullet made its way inside the barrel of Mike’s uzi and clogged it (he replaced it with one of the men’s MP5s). The bullets had been grazing our skin yesterday, now their tearing it away, but they’re still not hitting us in vital spots. The only good thing to report is that the number of men is decreasing. At first, it was groups of 5 or 6 that attack. Yesterday, 4 or 5. Today, it’s down to 2 or 3. We must be slowly swindling their numbers. The ammo and weapons they keeping leaving behind allow us to constantly replace ours. I’ve been gathering a large amount of ammo and guns (more than I’d usually carry) from the corpses. We’re going to need it.

*Afternoon*

            We’re here. The exact spot I saw in my dreams. I couldn’t believe it when I found it. Mike and Julie were giving me strange looks for getting excited over a plot of land. I told them to get prepared because Ann’s going to show up. It didn’t matter if they thought I was insane. It’s time to lay this matter to rest.

            The night I told Mike the truth about Ann, I didn’t sleep at all. I spent all that time training. I sat Indian style in an open area (smaller in size than this one) with my eyes closed, attempting to meditate or “sense” what was around me through whatever the other senses could pick up. My dreams and day to day life have taught me that I can’t see Ann unless she wants to be seen and even then, I still doubt if all that’s been presented in the dreams were her or only nightmares that I manifested in fear of her or she created to torment me. I sat there for what must had been hours, listening to the various creatures of the night: a bug bounce from one leaf to another, the sound of crickets echoing off the trees, a small animal trotting passed me, and gentle breezes pushing the trees, shrubs, and grass. I wasn’t making a documentary; I was trying to distinguish sounds created by life verses sounds created by nature alone. She may have been there watching me, but could she really have known what I was doing? After that, I finished the blade I’d been making with the flat piece of metal. Then, I practiced with my knives, drawing my guns (didn’t fire them. Didn’t want to wake the neighbors). In a few minutes when I’m done writing this, I plan to meditate again. Mike asked me what our plan was. I told him to keep his eyes and ears open. There’s no doubt she’ll have the upper hand in the environment since she picked it out, but we have no choice. Either we play by her rules or we’ll probably keep getting “invitations” for eternity (or until she kills us in our sleep). Besides, I can’t take another dream. If I don’t continue writing this after this post, then it probably means we failed.

*Night*

            I don’t know where I am right now. It’s really dark and quiet (inside a building maybe). I don’t remember how I got here. I do however remember the battle.

            By the time I’d open my eyes, the sky had turned darker due to the approaching evening, but no clouds. From then on, I took the watch while Mike and Julie relaxed. Some time passed. It was peaceful, yet who could really relax knowing what I know? Then, in the distance, I heard something moving. The sound grew closer and louder until I could see what appeared to be shadows marching toward us. From all directions, they came. There was no need to alert Mike and Julie. They saw them soon after I did. We readied our weapons to shoot and stab when the enemy showed its face. I wasn’t expecting soulless. I certainly never expected to see soulless calmly walking toward us.

            “Climb a tree. Hurry!” I told them.

            We didn’t climb up the same tree (sticking together might have saved us some injuries). Mike and Julie were together in the tree across the open area from me. The branches we stood upon were about 20 feet off the ground. The soulless marched passed our perches yet all stopped before reaching the very center of the open area where our small fire and equipment stood. We didn’t want to alert them to our presence (if they hadn’t seen us before) so we didn’t move and neither did they. It was the most uncomfortable silence I’d ever experienced. Then, in one unified motion, all the soulless raised their heads, turned their necks, turned around, all the motions needed to have every single dead eye locked on me. If you’ve never looked one in the eye before, I’ll tell you the eyes are never the same: some are red, some are bleeding, some are gone, some are completely white or grey, and others still contain some form of iris and pupil, but very hard to see. They wouldn’t look away. Along with my shotgun and handguns, I brought with me two additional guns into the tree: an AK-47 and a MP5 of my own. Opening fire and killing five of the soulless didn’t faze them at all. Mike and Julie couldn’t believe their eyes either. This wasn’t a dream because the very question of it being one never crosses my mind when I’m dreaming. This is unnatural. It’s Ann.

            “Ann! Show yourself,” I yelled. It had to be her doing.

            The very moment after I’d spoken, I felt hot breathe on the back of my neck with the words accompanying it, “Hey.”

            It was her. I drew a knife and twisted around to try and stab her. She ducked and kicked me in the stomach, knocking me off the branch, but I managed to grab hold of it before getting out of reach and good thing, because the soulless below were reaching for me. As I was pulling myself up, Mike fired on Ann with his MP5, but she’d moved behind the tree we were in for cover.

            “Surprised to see me?” she asked kiddingly.

            She didn’t come out from her cover, not even when I regained my footing. I readied my handgun.

            “Before we go too far into this, you mind if I ask some questions? After all, I won’t be alive to tell anyone, now will I?” I said in a sarcastic manner. I hoped to distract her to get the upper hand (and I was curious).

            I checked behind the tree only to find she was gone. There was no noise to indicate that she’d moved. Mike and Julie were already making their way to me by climbing from tree to tree. A voice echoed through the woods.

            “Ask away,” said the voice.

            “You have the ability to mess with my dreams and control soulless, correct? How?”

            “I was born with them.”

            “I’m pretty sure there weren’t soulless when you were a baby.”

            She laughed. What’s more disturbing is the soulless laughed as well. Every single one of them. It was a disturbing laugh, sounded like that was a blender stuck inside their throats.. Even with her talking, I couldn’t determine where she was. The echo alone should’ve given her position away. I decided to make my way to Mike and Julie to cut the time in half. No telling what she’ll do next.

            “Your view of birth is very narrow. Before there was Ann, there was Carol Holinder.”

            “So your real name is Ann?”

            “My name is whatever you believe it is.”

            “This makes no sense,” I yelled. The soulless began pushing the trees we were in, making it harder for us to move without falling.

            “Then I’ll explain. Carol came from a rich family. Tired of living under her strict and neglective parents, she moved out when she reached the legal age, refusing to accept the inheritance from her parents. When life turned out to be harder than she expected and a job harder to hold when you have no experience, only two options were left. Since she was too proud to be a prostitute, she chose to be a lab rat. The company that hired her told her that they were working on DNA recoding. More specifically, they were accentually trying to reassign the jobs of the white blood cells of the body from eliminating alien bodies to engineers. They hoped they would not only rebuild damaged tissue as well as clean it, but they’d be able to make it construct more muscle, repair diseased organs, and even regulate mental problems like depression and seizures,” she explained as Mike, Julie, and I continued to make our way to each other.

            “They’d inject Carol with stuff and study her reaction. The results were promising, but not always as what the research had predicted. Then came the outbreak. Carol was bitten. Instead of turning into a mindless walking flesh pile, she became me.”

            We were only a few branches from each other when Ann jumped down, landed behind me, and put a bowie knife to my throat. Mike and Julie pointed their guns, but didn’t shoot.

            “Mike, shoot!” I yelled. “Your bullets will pass through both of us. End this now!”

            “Yes. Go ahead. Kill your friend,” she said mockingly. “Finish him for me.” She slowly began pulling the knife across my throat, but without pressing too hard as to only draw a light trickle of blood. With the MP5 aimed at me, he looked ready to fire.

            “Mike, don’t!” yelled Julie.

            “Too late,” exclaimed Ann casually. She moved the knife across my throat in one swift motion, and somehow managed to push me so hard, I flew toward Mike and Julie. Julie ducked and Mike was knocked off the branch, but was able to not only grab hold of a branch, he grabbed the back of my shirt to prevent me from falling. Julie put her gun away and tried to pull us up when Ann kicked her off and stepped on Mike’s hand, making him fall. From there, I thought it was over. The soulless below would rip us to shreds. However, instead of chewing our flesh off, they handed us off or in other words, made us participate in soulless crowd surfing. They threw us into the open circle where our equipment was (I know this sounds impossible, but I’m not making this up).

            Although Ann really did try and slice my throat open. However, at the last moment, I bended my neck back, stretching the muscles and thereby making it tougher to cut through. My neck was injured, but it wasn’t fatal. The soulless stood facing us, not moving or blinking for that matter.

            “Are there any more questions before we begin?” asked Ann, no longer in sight.

            “What is this suppose to be?” asked Mike.

            “Your end. More specifically Jack’s end, but since you insisted on coming along, you’ll share in this dramatic conclusion.”

            “Why not do this before instead of leading us here or sending your followers after us?” I asked. Mike and I started unpacking all our weapons.

            “You mean the men. They were only experiments to me. Target practice for you to sharpen your senses.”

            “You’re fucking insane!” yelled Julie.

            In the instant after Julie’s yell, the soulless began charging. Mike and I unloaded our MP5’s on them, each of us taking half the circle. This not only killed the first and second ones in line, they’re bodies temporarily blocked the rest from reaching us. This gave us an opening. I opened my bag and took out the grenades I made a long time ago (I’ve yet to make any more) while at the same time, Mike took out five molotov cocktails he brought with him from the tree base.

            “Julie, light them!” he said while he shot any soulless that managed to jump over the wall of dead bodies. I picked up a burning stick from the fire and lit the fuses on my grenades. Mike shot a few coming at me, but with Mike busy with his own half of the circle and both my hands preoccupied, I maneuvered, kicked, and elbowed to avoid the ones getting through. I chucked four of the grenades far into the back and the last three about 10 feet out to get rid of the ones trying to break through. Mike threw three of his cocktails close up much like I did with the last grenades when I yelled to him to throw the last two in the back in hopes the fire would spread and catch more of the soulless on fire. The idea was partially right. More caught on fire yet so did the nearby trees and as the battle raged on, more trees caught fire and so did more soulless. I didn’t notice this until much later though when I saw the last of the soulless were either burnt badly or still on fire partially. We were too busy with the soulless up front.

            Julie reloaded and threw us guns while Mike and I shot, stabbed, and clubbed with whatever was at hand. I have to admit; this was all so invigorating despite the danger. I felt so alive with every kick, punch, stab, and shot. A small victory after every kill. I’d kick one back, stab one in the eye, push it back into another, shotgun blast a group, shoot two with the handgun: one in the head and the other in the chest, whip out the Double Sledge and knocked a few heads. It went on and on and the adrenaline fueling it never ceased. That is, until my arm was bitten. There was a momentary pause in realizing that this was the end for me (there was no time to amputate the arm unless I wanted to get bit somewhere else or worse, have every last piece of flesh ripped from me). I made the mission to myself to kill Ann even if it resulted in my own death so I continued in the hope that I could hold onto my humanity long enough take her with me. It got a little easier when I found my machete lying on the ground with other stuff from my bag (I suspect that Julie dumped out my bag looking for ammo and guns). I’d forgotten to take it out before this started. Stabbing soulless straight through the chest, spine, and head was easier (and fun).

            We would’ve no doubt been overtaken if it weren’t for the MP5s cutting through the masses, giving us the time to take out the overwhelming numbers that were already too close for comfort. There was a large pile of bodies (victims of the MP5) surrounding us that the soulless now had to climb over (the pile was like a sandbags cover). It also became harder for ourselves to navigate and dodge with the dead bodies lying around us, but we continued to fight on. Mike seemed to be fairing well. It was hard to look back and check on him in all this chaos, but from what I saw, he forced the soulless back at times with pure strength alone, lifting and throwing them with one arm (it was awesome). After what seemed like an hour, their numbers began to dwindle. The trees around us were on fire and were dropping burning branches upon dead bodies and dry grass. It was a great shock, after a constant barrage of savage soulless charging at you for who knows how long, to find yourself looking into an open space, expecting to stab or shoot something (I was glad Mike and Julie didn’t step in front of me). The soulless were all dead. I’d been bitten and scratch at least five times, and I was breathing heavy. I turned around to Mike and Julie to find Julie crying into Mike’s chest. They too were bitten and scratched. The sad and desolate look on their faces told me they thought the same: it was all over for us.

            “I’m sorry,” was all I could say.

            “Bravo! The best show ever!” came Ann’s voice, “You killed every last one of them. Tell me, how does it feel to kill your own kind?” she asked mockingly.

            “What the hell is that suppose to mean?” asked Mike.

            “Look closer and see for yourself,” she said.

            Mike and I did and do you know what we found? All the people we just killed weren’t soulless: they were humans covered in mud, clay, and blood to make them look the part. What’s worse, I recognized a few of them though I couldn’t put my finger on who they were. Mike realizing their identities, jumped up in rage, “These are our friends! Our comrades from back at base!”

            Ann laughed. “Only a few. After you left, I snuck in and “borrowed” some. It only takes one drop of my blood to make them my puppets and I can make them do or act however I please.”

            “But why?!” asked Mike, almost hysterically.

            “Oh, for fun. I guess you could say it’s a lesson for you: you’ll kill anything and anyone to protect yourselves, no matter who they are to you.”

            To me, the fact that she would do this wasn’t a shocker, but us not noticing was what bothered me. I know I deceived you by calling them soulless, but from their actions, they might as well been soulless. Besides, I don’t know if I could bare acknowledging the horrible fact myself.

            “But the red eyes,” I asked, “None of them had red irises.”

            “The others only had red irises because I wanted them to. It’s only proper for a puppet master to have complete control over his or her puppets.”

            Mike went back to the supplies to reload the MP5.

            “I don’t know why you’re so upset. After all, you killed them. Speaking of your actions, it seems all that commotion brought the real monsters to play.”

            It was nearly night out, but the blazing fire that engulfed the woods around us allowed us to see clear as day. There were soulless coming toward us, some big, some small. The numbers certainly not of the magnitude that we just faced, but the battle had left us weak and our ammunition low. She didn’t say whether her “control” of the people could be spread by bites. At any moment, I feared I’d fall under her control. That meant I had to end this soon.

            “Ann! Your army’s gone. You’ve had others do the work for you and they failed. If you want to end this, get down here!” I yelled.

            “I intend to. I always knew I’d have to do this myself,” said Ann.

            She was nowhere in sight. I closed my eyes and tried to listen. Then came the bending of a branch behind me. I turned around to find her flying toward me, having jumped off the branch and making a strange screeching noise. I fired the three shots left in my handgun, but it wasn’t enough. She tackled me to the ground and instantly wrapped her hands around my throat and squeezed (ironic that I wrote down wanting to do the same to her). Her nails dug into the back of my neck like needles. Mike was about to shoot her when soulless on fire charged out of the woods at him and Julie (I surmise that the noise she made calls them or allows her to communicate with them). Mike dealt with the soulless attacking him and shot her with the MP5, knocking her away (and almost hitting me). She ran off into the woods and I gave chase. She was extremely fast, but I couldn’t let her out of my sights.

            “Jack! Wait!” I heard Mike and Julie calling out. We ran passed the burning section of the woods, jumping over flaming branches and fallen trees. The clothes she was wearing were the exact same ones I last saw her in. It was like she hadn’t changed at all yet to me, she was a completely different person. As much as I tried, she had gotten to far ahead and I could no longer see her. I ran into part of the woods the fire had not yet reached. It was dark. The only visible sights were great fire in the distance and the weak dancing lights it through toward me that were only strong enough to point out the trees. It was quiet. The crackling noise of the fire was far off and mattered not. There were no animals moving except the birds that flew off their birches with my approach, whistling for a mate or friend. I walked for some time and reloaded my handgun (last of two clips I had with me). It was the only gun I’d brought other than the shotgun (I did have a number of knives with me, the machete, the Double Sledge, and the long blade I made). I also had a flash grenade. I wished I’d brought more weapons and supplies, especially a flashlight.

            It wasn’t long before I heard footsteps in the darkness. The machete in my left hand, the handgun in my right, I prepared for the worst.

            “You promised you’d get me home safely…” said a voice in the dark. It was soft and scratchy sometimes. It sounded familiar.

            “Do you know how it feels to have your skin burned? At first, it’s incredibly painful, but then… nothing. You feel nothing where it started. But fire spreads and so does the pain.”

            I thought the voice to be Jane’s, but dismissed it. It could be trickery, I thought. It had to be. Jane’s dead. Besides, if Ann can mess with my dreams, then she could imitate someone.

            Not being able to see was putting me at a great disadvantage so I decided to remove the piece of flint from the flash grenade so I could use the lighter. Now, with a lighter in my left and a machete in my right, I listened for the disturbance. The footstep drew closer behind me; I waited then spun around, stabbed and lit the lighter to see. I couldn’t what I saw. The face was Jane’s. It was dirty, rotted, and smelled of flesh, but it was hers. I had just stabbed her through the chest.

            “It’s a shame you weren’t this aware before… when I was alive,” she said.

            It had to be trick, I thought. It had to be. Pulling the machete out, I ran away. Not more than 10 seconds into my run, I fell.

            “Need a hand… buddy…” said a voice. I lit the lighter and out of the darkness stepped a rotten and deformed Duke. “You were right. You should’ve left me in the backroom of that store. I’d probably be alive right now.”

            Their bodies looked like soulless, but it couldn’t be. Soulless can’t talk. I can’t describe the horror it was in seeing them once again. The memories seem so long ago, but in truth, they were no farther gone than a passing season, along with all the people who’ve died by my hand.

            “How does it feel to abandon friends? Were we even friends to you?” asked Jane voice. She came out behind a tree.

            “I go by the philosophy that those that fight together should die together, don’t you agree? Asked Duke, looking to Jane.

            “As do I. Come… Rest with us…” she said. Suddenly, both of them began snarling and opened their mouths wide. Jane lounged at me. I dodged and rammed my machete right through the back of her spine. Duke, the coward he was, went second. I threw the lighter toward him so I could see and quickly drew and shot twice. And just like that, I’d killed my friends for a second time. I sat down next to a tree, waiting to see if the bodies would move. They didn’t. The fire was catching up quick, making everything much easier to see (even the things I didn’t want to see). I went over and bent down to grab my lighter only to look up and see Ann. She punched me square in the face, knocking me on my back. I drew my gun, but she only kicked it any, causing it to fire off a round, and fell on me, pinning down all four of my limbs (good thing for her because I was reaching for the shotgun next).

            “So, did it feel nice meeting your old friends again? A little reunion?”

            “What did you do?”

            “I did you a favor. I gave them back their humanity. Well, part of it anyways. Why did you kill them?”

            “They were trying to kill me!”

            “Excuses, excuses. Like I said before, you’ll kill just about anyone who threatens you.”

            This whole time I was trying to wriggle my right arm free.

            “But how?”

            “You’ve seen what my blood can do to humans. Does this really surprise you? Now, shall I end this?” she said tauntingly. She took out the bowie knife from before and tried to stab me in the face, but I moved my head and she stabbed the ground. She pulled it out and this time aimed for my neck just when I got my arm out and caught her arm mid swing. She pressed and pressed with all her might while trying to loosen my grip on her arm with her other hand.
            “You’ve yet to see the full extent of my abilities.”

            Although I’m not quite certain, I could have sworn I saw her skin become paler and her eyes darken, just like in my first dream. The knife slowly got closer and closer to my neck. All this time, I tried to get my left arm free and just barely did so before the bowie knife cut my neck. I stabbed her in the arm, which made her stop for a moment, but she didn’t flinch and continued to push down. Just then, I heard four shots fired and a foot kicked Ann off me. It was Mike. I stood up.

            “Glad you showed up!” I said.

            We didn’t have time to talk as Ann had gotten back up and pushed us apart in different directions. Like a wild animal, she lunged at me. I moved to the side and stabbed her in the hip and she stabbed me in the leg with the bowie knife. I then twisted the knife and rammed her back before pulling the bowie knife out and throwing it to the side. Mike went in for a punch. Ann blocked it, punched him in the stomach and threw him away. I threw a knife at her head only to have her dodge it and Mike emptied his clip into her. She still didn’t fall and all the damage to her seemed to do nothing. I pulled out the shotgun and blasted her. She fell to the ground and ceased movement.

            “Is she finally dead?” asked Mike.

            “I don’t know, but I’m going to make sure.”

            I took out the Double Sledge and intended to pulverize her head. I swung, but she rolled, kicked me in the shin, causing me to fall to my knee and grabbed the other side of the Double Sledge and smacked it against my head. She ripped it from my grasps, stood up, swung, but I caught it and Mike hit her in the back with his hatchet. We all stood in silence for a few moments.

            “Your friend here is making this much more difficult than I anticipated,” Ann muttered, “All more the challenge.”

            She let go of the Double Sledge and kicked me in the chin, launching me partially into the air and making me hit my head against a tree, leaving me dazed. She grabbed Mike by the throat and slammed him to the ground with the ax still in her back and pressed her foot to his throat to choke him. It’s in these time, you need a miracle and she came just when you needed her. Julie jumped on top of Ann and put her arm around her throat to choke her. It wasn’t enough, but it was enough to distract her. Next to the tree I was laying against was my handgun. I shot at the leg pinning Mike, making her stumbled back. While I reloaded, she grabbed Julie’s arm, pulled her in front of her and yelled, “You one armed insect!” and threw her away. I unloaded the last clip into her left leg (I thought that if she had some sort of healing ability, that it would at least take a major amount of time to heal. Also, the bullets in her leg would make it hard to move). Drawing two knives and clutching them in my fists, I walked to her. Even with all the damaged she sustained, she walked (limps a better word) to me. I kicked her in the shin, grabbed her neck and stabbed her three times in the stomach before she grabbed my arm, and bent it back while pushing on my back with her leg, trying to rip off my arm. Mike ripped the hatchet out of her back and tried to split her head open, but like I did, she bent her head to the right and the hatchet struck the base of her neck. Mike’s attack made her loosen her grip and I swung my head back and head-butted her (or backwards head-butted). She didn't rip my arm off, but she did dislocate it (I couldn't move it without it hurting horribly). I spun around and tried to punch her, but she ducked. She grabbed the hatchet and started swinging it at us.

            The area around us was now on fire, just as it was in the open area where we’d set up camp. Mike looked like he’d pass out at any moment and that’s exactly how I felt. Ann’s clothes were dripping with blood yet she stood tall and even smiled at us. She kept an eye on what was going on, but mainly directly her swings at me. I tried throwing the last few of my knives, but she blocked the ones thrown to her face and let the others hit her. I was left with only my machete.

            “When will you understand? I’m beyond all of you. I decide your fates!”

            She went back and forth swinging between Mike and I. I had to pin her, like she pinned me so many times. She may have had more strength and power, but I had friends to save me. Seems strange looking back that without Mike and Julie there, I would have died. And yet, I didn’t want anyone to come along originally. On one of her downward swings, I stepped forward and to the side, caught the handle of the hatchet, and then elbowed her in the face. She left go of the hatchet and stumbled backwards. Mike punched her, sending her back my way. Looked like the fight was going our way, until I swung at her left leg and she jump, punched me twice in the face and twice in the stomach and once more to the side of my head. She grabbed the hatchet I dropped. She went to swing for the last time when I drew the blade I made and blocked the swing, kicked her in the stomach, causing her to bend over and then I stabbed her through the back with the blade. Mike came running up, ready to continue the fight when I stopped him.

            “Go check on Julie. I’ll handle it from here,” I told him. He was hesitant to leave, but I guess he believed I could handle it. I picked up the hatchet and threw it into the woods and pulled out the blade and threw it down as well.

            “You want a fight, Ann? You want me dead? Come on! Here’s your chance!”

            She came at me like the injuries before were nothing, but unlike before, I was doing good. I blocked her barrage of punches and kicks, caught one of her particularly high kicks and swung her into a tree like a baseball bat (which I think pushed one of the knives from before deeper into her body), kicked her in the head, she jumped at me, punched me a few times before I kicked her off and then I pinned her against a tree. With my last machete, I lined up her arms and rammed it through the opening of the radius and ulna bones, keeping her bound. From here on out, I took out my rage on her. All the rage, fear, frustration, and paranoia I’d felt since she came into my life. Punch after kick after punch after kick after punch I landed on her. I even pulled out the knives still stuck in her and stabbed her over and over and over again. She wasn’t superior; she was a bully who used her power only for self-gain and enjoyment at the expense of others. She wasn’t a soulless; she was worse. Those who feel delight in other’s torment have no place in this world. They should be dead!

            After my rage ran its course, I began to feel a little sorry for her. Not for her specifically, but Carol. I even began regretting laying one finger on Ann in the first place and even considered letting her live out of pity. It was a trick. Another one of her tricks. She was covered in blood, bruises, and was bleeding profusely. I pulled out the machete and grabbed her by the top of the neck. She smiled, spit up some blood and tried to say something, “You’re just like me…” was all she could say before I forced the machete through her throat and spine. I then proceeded to decapitate her. I didn’t want to take any chances of her surviving (a trophy would also be nice).

            I stumbled back to Mike and Julie, carrying Ann’s head by her hair. They were shocked to see I had decapitated her.

            “The beast is dead…” I said. Then I collapsed.

            I’m starting to get worried. All this time writing and no ones come to get me. Am I dead? I’m too weak to stand up and check the place out. Maybe this is the afterlife. Life did begin in darkness so why shouldn’t it end in it? It does not matter. I can rest for eternity in peace now. My dreams are free of torment and the world is now a little safer. Maybe even safer if I’m dead too.

- Jack’s Diary

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