Jack's Diary - The Titan Falls - Day 75

*Noon*

            The chains seem to be holding the thing in place, but I could swear I heard creaking and bending each time it pulled at them. Mike and Moses were in shock and didn’t seem to hear me when I told them to follow me so I pulled them away into a storage room near the base entrance.

            “What the hell is that thing?!” yelled Moses.

            “A monster,” responded Mike. Moses grabbed a rifle off the table and was about to march out of the room when Mike and I got in his way.

            “We can’t just rush into this without thinking it through,” said Mike.

            “That thing can get loose at any second. I’ll put it out of its misery.”

            “Shooting it won’t do anything,” I said. “I came across this thing, or another one like it when I went into the city to get you, Mike. It took 7 shotgun blasts to the face at point blank range and it fell off a building and it still didn’t die. I’m not even sure if I hurt it so that gun won’t do you any good.”

            “Then what are we suppose to do? Crap our pants and cry for mercy?!” yelled Moses.

            “It’s big enough to break through our walls,” stated Mike. “We’ve got three options: we leave here, find a way to kill it, or…”

            “Or hand over Julie,” I said.

            “We’re not doing that!” yelled Mike.

            “I’m just stating our options.”

            It was then I saw Moses look back toward the door. There was Julie in the doorway. She ran out before we could say anything. Mike was about to do the same when Moses grabbed his arm.

            “Hold it!” stated Moses, “Look, I’m sorry, but this decision has to be discussed with everyone. We stand by our people, but if what Jack’s saying is true, then our whole base could be in danger and we can’t risk everything just for one girl.”

            “This isn’t right. There’s got to be another way,” said Mike.

            “I doubt they’d go through all this just to get Julie back. They’ll probably just let it loose once we hand her over anyways,” I said.

            We all stood in silence for a few moments in thought. As much as I’d like to stay here, the decision falls to everyone else. Are they willing to continue to fight or would they rather run?

            “Let’s talk with the others,” said Mike. He and Moses walked out. I told them I’d monitor the monster. Nearly everyone was already near the entrance staring at it (I think I’ll call it Titan) so it didn’t take long to gather the rest together. I didn’t attend the meeting; I climbed up to the watchtower and kept an eye on Titan. Some man called out from time to time, “You’d better hurry!” and “Give her up or else!”. Whatever they decide, I’ll go along with it. I’m sure they’ll have good reason for whatever they do.

*Evening*

            They decided they want to stay. Seems they came to the conclusion if they were willing to hand over Julie, they’d be obligated to hand over themselves if such a situation every came up again and no one wants to do that. Mike and Moses put the attack plan in my hands, which makes sense since I knew the most about it I guess, but didn’t really change the outcome.

            I directed a few men to sneak out over the wall and find the men responsible for bringing it here since they might have a way of neutralizing it had it escaped when they were bringing it here. The rest of us got all of the guns, explosives, and blunt weapons we could find and stationed ourselves against the entrance of the base. I didn’t see any men hiding nearby so there wasn’t any apparent danger from enemy fire. The attack went like this: a portion of the men marched out and attacked Titan’s legs with melee weapons (I even gave my Double Sledge to Victor to use). If it can’t walk, then it can’t very well break through the wall. They really wailed on its legs with hammers, shovels, bats, axes, pipes and others of the sorts, but after a few minutes, the men were already tired. The legs were heavily damaged yet Titan continued to stand and struggle against its bindings.

            We were about to start the second phase (multiple shotguns to the face) when a strange noise came from behind us. It was a subtle, siren like sound, like something you’d expect from a dog whistle. That’s when Titan went berserk. Its muscles bulged as it ripped off the supports connecting the chains to the cart like they were yarn and charged forward, slashing through or knocking away many of the men in its path and breaking through the entrance doors (Victor along with a few of the other blunt weapon wielders survived). The men instinctively fired on it randomly with no results as it ran toward the back of the base. That’s when the siren stopped for three seconds and started back up, this time coming from all around the base. It was like the noise was driving Titan mad. It broke through our supply sheds and damaged the buildings as it headed wherever the sirens were coming from.

            “Jack, I think we should skip to phase three!” yelled Mike.

            Phase three was to surround Titan with explosive and ignite them, hopefully blowing it to pieces. I wanted to save this for last while it was still bound because if it failed, the explosives would’ve blown away the chains and cart holding him, but that doesn’t matter now. Titan charged through the back wall, and stabbed something with its sword (most likely the thing making the noise). The sound lessened. Titan then proceeded to head for the other sources of the sound, again damaging our base and breaking through the medical building, more than likely killing the injured inside. The chains were still connected to its arms by shackles so I told half the men to grab hold of them while the others carried the explosives. We ran to get in Titan’s path and just when he took a swing at us, we ducked and grabbed the chains, keeping it from reaching the next siren. Even with 15 people on each chain with Mike, Moses, Julie, Jess, and myself, it still managed to move around. It certainly wasn’t stupid as it turned around and attacked us, cutting three men in half and crushing another person’s windpipe with its bare hand before we could react. It was then I took out my rope and lassoed its neck to give us more leverage. To make matters worse, soulless were coming in through the openings in the wall so many of our men were busy killing them. It was a lot like my dream in a way.

            Those carrying the explosives finally made it over and threw them around Titan. The problem was that by the time the entirety of the explosive were laid down, Titan had gone back to moving to the next siren and already moved slightly out of the circle of them. We all pulled as hard as we could, but Titan was just too strong. Mike and I even fired at its legs with our hands with little to no effect. That’s when suddenly, the sirens stopped (apparently they had been going off one by one for a while, but we were all too busy to notice. The men on the outside found them and destroyed them, thinking they were bringing the soulless to us, which is a good assumption). With the sirens off, Titan stopped struggling as much and we managed to pull it over and drag it back. It was less aggressive, but now not being driven made by the sirens, it was fighting smarter and slashed at the legs of the men and the rope around its neck. It had just stood up when we let go of the chains, backed away, and all of us fired at the explosives, setting them off. What a gust of wind that whipped up.

            You’d think that the battle was over, that would be dead, but we were wrong. As magnificent as that explosion was, the noise brought soulless from all around the area though that came a few minutes later. What’s worse, out of the fire came Titan, now with only one arm (the one with the sword), limping, his skin scorched and on still fire. Everyone was shocked, even me though I wasn’t as surprised as everyone else. I noticed that Victor had my Double Sledge on his back. I took it and said to Mike, “Let’s just finish this…”. Mike grabbed two axes off someone.

            All of us walked in front of Titan, with everyone still wielding a gun opening fire on it. Titan recoiled background from all the hits, but after everything went silent, still stood. Everyone holding something to swing stepped forward and proceeded to beat the snot out of it. It only managed to get in one good slash before we knocked it off its feet. Mike hacked away at its sword arm as others pulverized its legs. I, along with other hammer-wielding survivors, pounded in its face. Everyone took shifts in cutting down the soulless wandering around so we wouldn’t get swarmed, as we were “finishing”. I think everyone wanted it dead after all the damage it did. In the end, its sword arm was cut off, its legs were a bloody mess, and all that was left of its face was a large crater. It didn’t move anymore. If Titan was still alive, it wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone anymore. Titan had finally fallen. You'd thinking finally killing it that we'd be happy, but in reality, we lost.

            Moses decided that we had to leave. Its not that we couldn’t fix the wall, but with the threat of being attacked again by the Valors and us having lost a good deal of our men and supplies fighting Titan, we would be easy targets so we packed up what we could and left before more soulless arrived.

            I get the feeling that I am responsible for this. Had we just blown up Titan when it was still bounded, it would’ve saved us a lot of trouble, but how could I have known? The thing seemed invincible when I last fought it. Still, I don’t picture things going any better had we did it differently. What’s next? I don’t know. Everyone’s already gathered their stuff and left while I’m still at base, getting the last of my supplies and writing this. I’ll be joining them shortly.

            With all the bad stuff that just happened, I think I’ll tell Mike about Ann another day…

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Bare Arms and Covered Darkness - Day 74

*morning*

            I already told Mike we’re going back to base. I characterized Ann by using the word “maniac” when stating why we needed to go. I think it fits her. For some reason, it never occurred to me until this morning that obtaining a car would get us back faster and safer (plus, if by chance I saw Ann, I could run her over). I plan to go out as soon as I’m done writing this.

*evening*

            We made it back to base. Two soulless almost got to Mike, but I took care of them. The truck was surprisingly easy to find. He thanked me, but at the time (like most of the time), I wasn’t in the mood for talking. Mike’s seeing a doctor right now. As soon as I parked the truck, I ran to my room to grab the journal pages documenting my dream, but I couldn’t find them. If Ann could sabotage those rifle silencers without me knowing, she could have snuck in and out of here with the pages, especially while we were gone. The only real evidence to defend myself, to show that my explanation isn’t crazy and she took it. I wasn’t even that good of evidence since a mad man can write in blood, but I wanted to show it to Mike. Now I have nothing except my word (there’s the hand and footprints I painted over, but that would take some scraping on my part and with my luck, they probably disappeared. She’s one step ahead of me.

            You’d think after being out in the open for so long that I’d bask in the safety behind these walls for a while. I didn’t. Not when what I truly fear can scale them. I took a walk outside, avoided the soulless and just looked around. Again, I kept hoping to see her. In some way, I wouldn’t mind dying by her hand since that’s what I’m expecting to happen anyways. There was nothing save for a few stray soulless.

            I went back to the armory and looked over the rifle silencers. Nearly all of them had something metal blocking the opening. I removed the potential dangers and stored the silencers away except for the few I wasn’t done with yet. I’m going to finish them now.

*late evening*

            Mike came to see me and he asked what I thought happened out there. I was really ready to tell me even if he didn’t believe me when there was the sound of gunshots from outside. We went out and found Moses and Victor outside the door of the base talking with two guys (Valors) who wanted Julie. When Mike refused to hand her over, they proclaimed they’d return tomorrow with a present. This definitely didn’t sound good to me. There’s less of them now since our prior incident with them, but we don’t know just how many there were to begin with or just how great their influence is. I’ll stand by Mike, but I’m not looking forward to more death.

*night*

            I practiced with the sniper rifle by “hunting” soulless from the watchtower. Impossible to hunt at night, you say? No, just really, really difficult especially without night vision. I was glad to have the moon out. The swift motion of their bodies hitting the ground alerted me that my proficiency with the weapon hadn’t changed. No one heard or saw the shots thanks to the silencer (at least, I don’t think anyone saw the shots). As much as I’d prefer to be part of the action, I feel like I have more control over battles in a sniper position. I can see everything; I can see who needs help, and who is the real danger to us.

            I must say, I really admire the people of this base. They all want to remain and protect it. Then again, values and objectives change when the time comes to make true on words. I hope they are serious. I don’t want to lose another home.

            Mike asked me what I was going to say before, but I told him I forgot. I remember how first realizing that things like Ann could exist in this world shook me up and Mike doesn’t need that now. This battle coming up is more urgent. I think I’ll finish off my double sledge before tomorrow. Super glue and nails will have to do.

- Jack’s Diary

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Jack's Diary - It is Ann - Day 73

*Early Morning*

            I went out and found some clothes to use as bandages and canned food (nearly expired, but still good). Mike refused to go back to base last night due to be almost unable to move so we had to stay put. It was probably for the best though. Also, a thought occurred to me: was Ann only teasing me about just how much control so had over our lives or was this something more sinister. Perhaps, she left Mike in such a state so that if I wanted to save him, I’d have to carry him back with him, giving her the chance to kill both of us. I’m not even sure that it was Ann anymore although Mike’s story is making me doubt this. He told me the last thing he remembered was being hung up in a room and that he saw a woman about Ann’s height and she had blood on her face (to hide her appearance, maybe). I then told him my side of the story of how I found him and what I found on him though I couldn’t tell him how I thought it was or at least not yet. Not until I was sure or at least until we got back to base where I could show him the dream written in blood.

*Noon*

            I’m keeping watch while Mike rests. No doubt whatever drug he was injected with is still in his bloodstream so he probably wouldn’t have been able to hold a gun if he needed to. From the rooftop to patrolling around city hall, I kept hoping I’d see something; a shadowy figure lurking or Ann, anyone I could blame this on so I could kill them. There wasn’t a soul or soulless around except for two that were licking up Mike’s blood from around the flagpole.

*Afternoon*

            Still nothing happening. Mike told me he remember one smaller detail, that the woman said, “Do not watch.” The words themselves weren’t as shocking as the realization behind them (not to mention, I never told Mike the exact words that were carved into his back so he couldn’t have been hallucinating). The message on Mike’s back was only meant for me and Mike was only the means to get it across in the cruelest way possible. Just as Ann said in the dream, she was interested in my adventures.

*Night*

            As selfish as it is, I am no longer worried about Mike as I am for myself. All this time, I’ve been looking for an excuse to put that nightmare to rest. Every time I had one of my panic attacks, although I’d never admit it before, I tried to convince myself it wasn’t real. It was all real. It is Ann. It is Ann. It is ANN! There’s no doubting it anymore. No theories and explanations. It’s her. Ann wants to watch a show and she’s willing to get involved to make it as entertaining as possible for her. And worst of all, I know that if I’d meet face to face with her again, I wouldn’t be able to defeat her. She could have easily snuck up on me last night and ended it there. Whatever she is, I know she’s too clever to be killed. This is all I know. I don’t know what powers she has and what intentions she has for everyone else at the base. I don’t care if Mike says no, we are leaving for base tomorrow even if I have to forcibly drag him. As soon as we get back, I’ll tell him, seeing as it is no longer just my problem anymore.

- Jack’s Diary

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Mike's Diary - Day 62 Long Story Short.

          I had a little argument with Jack yesterday, it didn't turn out that good. He probably hates me that I keep delaying our departure back home. Last night, he passed out, so I told the kids to escort him into his tent and told Ann to keep an eye on him.
          This morning I woke up, no one was awaken just yet, as always. I went by myself, to gather more gasoline, alone (bad habbit never goes away I guess.) I brought a pipe with me so I can extract the gasoline from cars into my gas tank. I saw craze pondered around, but I didn't want to attack it. There's just simply no point in doing so. I did this so that we have fuel for our non-stop trip back. I didn't want to delay anything anymore, especially after Jack. After a while, I had 6 tanks filled with gasoline, but I had to figure out how to bring them back to the group. Some crazy things revolved around my head.
            I took put a rope from my bag and tied all the gasoline tanks together, next the rope still had about 3 metres left to it which I decided to tied it to the craze. I lured the craze, ran around it and made a knot around its body and looked at it from 4 metres away. It tried to run towards me, but held back by the tanks, so all it did was slowly pulling all six tanks. Wow, never I felt accomplished some crazy, yet smart thing like this before. I slowly walked back to the group, and at the distance I could see everyone was packing their stuff, but Julie and Jack were yelling "Find Mike". Oh wow, I walked towards them
             "Going all alone again?!" Jack shouted
             "I just thought your sorry ass need some gasoline for a non-stop trip back." I said while laughing. His face was expressionless, almost mad, but when they saw what I did to the craze, they (including Jack) started giggling.
              "You crazy little shit." Jack said, I killed the craze and told others to load the tanks into the pickup trucks. Julie swore at me and asked why I keep going alone like this, and when I was about to respond, Jack walked pass us and said
              "That's Mike for you."
              "he said it." I added.
We packed up, but before we went, I talked to Jack about yesterday. He told me what happened and all, tough stuff to deal with. I asked how his arm was, but it was stil the same, numb. I told him that Moses has a doctor back at base, in hope that he'll be cheered up a little. I also added that he'll be the farmer he has always wanted  (for shit and giggles). After the talk, we went off our way.

********Fast Forward************

             Here we are, it took us 29 hours of non-stop driving to get back. I honked and they opened the gates, people were waiting for us cheering as if we were soldiers who survived hell. My brother though, looked very confuse, we went with only 6 people and came back a village. I parked the car, hugged my brother in cheers, doctors surrounded the wounds (including Jack), and the kids were offered food and goods. I walked into my so called "office" and my brother and I had a talk.
               "I'm sorry but we just started war with a group called valors." I said
               "Tell me what happened"
               **story** I cried when I got to depart where Lexi dies. My brother understood.
               "I'll be here, we'll be here ready to fight." My brother said.
               "Thanks." I responded.
                "We'll have a meeting, tomorrow, you're in charge."
I know this sounds very weird, but I thought I won't put Jack in this one due to his condition. He's just unable to do it. After the conversation was done, my brother left, and now it's just me and my diary in my office. I am writting this is actually for people who might find this diary when I died. Hey, 62 days, I'm still alive, a good sign? I wouldn't think too much about it.

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Jack's Diary - Unreachable Peace - Day 55

     Evie is leaving us. When Mike and her got back, I expected to get yelled at for slamming Evie's head against a tree, but Mike didn't say anything. Either he's fine with it (I doubt he would be) or Evie didn't say anything (as strange as it is, it is more likely). Evie didn't frown or smile when she stood before me; she seemed passive and null to my presence, as if she no longer cared about me. It all could've been an act for all I know. As she left, her eyes never connected with mine. I would've liked her to stay despite the uneasiness. I feel we could've gotten so much closer and now I suppose I'll never know if we could or just what relationship we'd had have. We're similar in nature though different at heart. It is for the best though; she doesn't need a group. I joined a group because I needed people to watch over and she already has Sam.

     In the morning, I spoke with Mike. He said that we should be at the Valors base within a day or so.  We packed up and headed out and strangely, nothing bad happened to us: no attacks, no shortages, no detours, and no emotional drama or fights. I pitched myself just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. We also run into some kind of trouble or something unexpected happens. We stopped a few times to rest, giving me the chance to read farther into the explosives-making book I picked up previously. I also started sharpening one of the ends of the iron bar against a large rock and I sharpened my knives. These are small things, but they're nice to do. 

     Along the way, everyone except for Mike and me were talking about Evie and how cool it would've been if she stayed. I hadn't noticed this until today, but when we travel, Ann is always a few steps behind me. The only reason I noticed was due to the circumstances; there was no detectable danger around to distract me and Ann was talking with others and I could hear here behind me. Perhaps she feels safe with me leading her or perhaps she has an obsession with me. I have seen her watching me, but it's possible she watches everyone (a stalker by nature perhaps). She could have been staring at the back of my head the whole walk and I would never know. Whenever I look back, her eyes are always elsewhere. Strange.

     When we stopped again, I decided to talk to her. I led her under a tree far enough away from the group so they couldn't hear. 

     "Ann, have any of your memories returned?"

     She shyly shook her head no. I had hoped to start out on a positive note before bringing up my concern.

     "I've noticed you staring at me quite often," she jumped a little at this admission. "Would you mind telling me why?"

     "I'm... interested in you," she answered quietly.

     "Interested?"

     "You're strong, smart, and brave. You're unlike anyone I've ever met." she answer, speaking as if she was ashamed and embarrassed of admitting this.

     This was a suspicion of mine. I have no interest in bonding with anyone too much right now so I accepted her words as merely an explanation for her actions.

     "Alright. Just don't stare at me so much," I said as kindly as I could muster. 

     One thing I like is a balanced woman or at least one brave enough to go after what she wants. If she likes me bad enough the way I think and she approaches me on the subject again, I may be inclined to take her up on the offer. Her attraction to me would explain her staring so much and the reason why I saw her smiling after I argued with Evie (Ann may have saw her as an opponent). Still, my suspicions are not over. I'm still uncertain; I'm always uncertain. I must be partially insane. I always think someone's out to get me. This thinking has kept me alive, but for what purpose if I'm always so untrusting? Bonds can't be kept and eace can't be found. If you can't trust your friends then should you really have friends? Is the doubt I'm feeling have any truth to it or is it just paranoia? I really don't know. I feel fine being this way for now. I heard soldiers develop this type of mindset in combat and it sticks with them. I don't want to keep this forever. There's no point in living out my life if I can't live it as I want. 

     And to think, this all came up because someone may care about me. I should be happy that someone would think of me so kindly. Whether or not she really meant what she said doesn't matter as much as what's keeping me thinking about it. I just tired of this mindset of distrust. I want to believe Ann, but something is just not right: with her or me.

- Jack's Diary

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