Jack's Diary - Live Losing Or Die Brutally - Day 75 Season 2 Finale

*Early Morning*

            Barely slept. Didn’t feel like it. I finally perfected the Double Sledge (getting it stable wasn’t the hard part; it was filing down and taping over the nails so they didn’t pierce my hands in combat). Too bad I’m not using it today. I’m going to be a sniper with Julie as my spotter (don’t really need one, but I’m not complaining. She didn’t seem too happy). Other than my knowledge of constructing weapons, I’d say my sniping accuracy is one of the greatest skills I gained while at The Hill. I would’ve never gotten this good had the men there not taken the time to instruct me. Maybe I should be teaching here as well.

            I should give the people at this base some credit. A few men followed the two Valors after they left and now we know exactly where they are. From what I heard, they have themselves stationed in a building at the top of a hill. It is heavily armored, secured, and wider, but not as tall as the one that burned down though for them to have established a base in this area so quickly is saying something (might explain why we hadn’t received any word from them for so long. I still don’t know how they found our base in the first place).

            Everyone’s either grinning with excitement or shaking a little in quiet fear. Everyone except for me, I guess. I just want this all to be over. I bet Ann’s going to get a kick out of all this.

*Late Morning*

            I found an apartment complex off in the distance that had a good view of the base from the south end. The twins were somewhere in the area, Mike told me they’d be covering the south wing as well, but he didn’t tell me what weapons they’ll be using. Much like our own base, they have lookouts, one positioned on each corner of the roof and what appeared to be a short-range sniper in a roughly built crows nest. Mike’s team was waiting quietly in the woods and I watched for his signal. That’s when I saw 40 men marching up the back, 4 by 10 rows. Those who weren’t carrying guns were lugging a tall crate, nearly 10 feet tall, chained to the cart it was on. More and more men kept coming into sight as the minutes passed and I knew we were outnumbered. I put down my rifle and told Julie to stay put while I went to signal Mike to call off the attack. I managed to reach him before he gave the signal. Instead of retreating, Mike came up with a different plan though it didn’t really make much sense to me. As I understood it, whenever an enemy would spot them, I’d take them out (I guess he wanted more time so he could strike at the right moment). I went back up on the building and did what he said. I should’ve told him no and got everyone out. I don’t think he knew just how many there were. I sniped three men, but when they were spotted, that’s when the bullets started flying. I quickly took out the sniper and the four men on top of the building, seeing as they had an advantage in their field of vision. Death came to both sides of this war with bodies hitting the ground like the beat of a drum. Any men that came onto the roof, I killed though a few Valors were firing back at me with their own rifles (luckily, their aim stinks). Our groups were retreating and once they were at a safe distance, Julie and I did as well. With out troops gone, I’d only be a matter of time before they’d come after Julie and me. We ran back to base with our tails between our legs. Now, I’m waiting for our next “battle strategy” while sitting up in my lookout point with my gun to the horizon.

*Noon*

            I saw it. I would’ve sniped the guys bringing it, but they were pushing the crate from the back. It smelled rotten and putrid and the box swayed back and forth. I couldn’t shoot out the wheels because they were just metal cylinders. Once they wheeled it in front of the base door, the sides of the box fell and the men dived behind a tree. It was the giant soulless I’d seen from when I went to rescue Mike. It looked even taller and larger than before. The wounds that were previously inflicted on it were gone, but I could see the gore laying on top of the pinkish, brown flesh. It’s facial features, the skin covered eye sockets and the handsome human like shapings of the head and face were the most disturbing of all its traits. The blade on its arm had been sharpened and pulled and yanked at the chains that bounded him to the cart. There came a shout from the tree the men hid behind "Give the girl, or we'll destroy you."

            Normally, I would’ve fired, but it didn’t do much the last time except draw its attention and I didn’t want to risk prompting the men to free it. As I came down from the lookout, so many questions ran through my mind: how did they get it, why is Julie so important, and what in the world is it?! Had they formed a legion with those men who captured Mike or was this just a similar monster? It could no doubt destroy the walls of the base and I didn’t want to see what this thing could do at full strength. Mike opened the door and Mike, Moses, and I stared at it. I don’t back down from challenges and I am tired of losing my home and friends. Then again, I don't see how I came save both and live to tell about it. 

To be continued…

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Right isn't Always Right - Day 50

     Julie was attacked later that night, long after I had finished writing so I didn't feel like including it in the last entry. A soulless snuck into her tent, but Mike took care of it (for now on, we're going to have keep our tents tied or zippered shut). Her and Mike still get into small arguments now and then though I know this is only because he cares. When we ran out of gas for the car in the city (perhaps I shouldn't have been in such a rush to get out of the city before), Julie went to loot in a nearby store alone. Mike started yelling at her again, only to end with her calling him an old man. I thought it was funny, but Mike didn't (he just doesn't have my rich sense of humor, I suppose). Though he was right; no one should go anywhere alone, or at least not far, especially her. If she dies, not only would it be sad, we'd have the Valors after us since I don't think they'd appreciate a "dead" package. Even I tell members of the group where I go.
     Anyway, right after the argument, Jess and Victor motioned for me to come to them. We were all gathered in a circle (excluding Mike and Julie). Jess was the first to speak, "We're not really going to hand Julie over to the Valors, are we?"
     "Do you want a war with them?" I asked.
     "She can't be that important to them," responded Victor.
     "She was valuable enough for them to give us a large amount of supplies as a down-payment. What does that tell you?"
     "They handed her to us like she was property, like a slave. It isn't right," said Jess.
     "Whether it's right or not doesn't matter. We're too far from home to start a battle against a group as big as this."
     "You took out the red and blues no problem though," responded Ann.
     "That's because they were small, savage, and unorganized. We know that the Valors have at least three bases. That's at least three times the manpower."
     "Sounds like you're scared," said Victor.
     "I'm not scared for myself; I'm scared for you. If we make enemies with an army out here, we have no shelter to take."
     "Then what if we could trick them or make a trade for her?" suggested Jess.
     "And it's not just about what's right. You've seen Mike," Victor spoke. "I thought he'd never talk again until we picked up Julie. He's already starting to like her. We can't just give her away. Especially not now."
     Julie pushed her way through the huddle. "Are you guys talking about me?"
     Everyone was silent for a moment. Then I sighed. "Let's cross that bridge once we get to it," I said to the others, "There's much more at stake here then just happiness."
     I walked away while the Jess spoke to Julie, probably explaining away or telling her what we were discussing. I lost three people due to a war I brought upon myself. What's worse, the situation is beginning to look similar to it; we're extremely far from where we're returning to, we lost one member and have two new ones with us as well from the trip.
     On to happier things, Victor and I began syphoning cars for gas. Apparently, someone beat us to it, because we had to go through 10 cars before we found two that weren't empty. We have enough to fill up the tank, but I'm going to try and get some more tomorrow morning. Afterward, Victor accompanied me to a couple of building for exploring. We came across a few soulless, but they were nothing a good hit to the head couldn't resolve. In a sense, I was window shopping; not looking for anything in particular, but I was hoping for something useful. I found some pretty good rope, an inflatable raft (it was sitting on the top shelf of a insurance office for some reason), some surgical tools in the local hospital, and two books from the local library: "The Art of War" by Sun Tzo and "Improvised Explosives: How to Make Your Own" by Seymour Lecker. I wish the library back near the Hill had been more extensive. I would have liked to have these before. Victor gathered a few of his own supplies, mainly medical related, back to camp. There was something strange, though. I could have sworn there was someone watching me the whole time from a distance. I didn't see anyone else except for Victor.
     It was pretty dark by the time we got back. Julie approached me when I arrived.
     "Is it true?" she asked, "Am I staying with you guys?"
     "Jess told you that?"
     "Yah, but I want to know for sure. Is it true?"
     "I don't know yet."
     "How can you not know?"
     "Because I haven't decided. There's a lot of risk and why do you care anyways?" I asked.
     "Because I don't want leave."
     "Nothing's for certain yet."
     Julie turned away and went to talk with Jess. She came back a minute later.
     "If you don't help, Victor and Jess will. Either way, I'm staying."
     "I'm pretty sure it's up to Mike and I'm going to have a say in the situation as well."
     "Why the hell can't I stay with you?"
     "I'm done talking."
     I walked away from her, but tried not to alert Mike. I don't think he knows about this, but I'm sure he'll hear about it sooner or later. This isn't something to be decided in secret; this is a group decision. I really don't know which one Mike will side with and either one presents its own downside. I'm done thinking about this for now.

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Day 42

            Ah, a dilemma, just when good news rolls in. Let me start from the beginning.

            Mike came into my room and told me his brother gave the okay for farming and he put Mike in charge, but he told me to do what I wanted. He didn’t say anything about the rain catchers or some of the other small things I mentioned so I decided not to press my luck (for now). Besides, growing food was the main goal I had hoped to achieve at the base so it seems I will be staying and if the farming works out, I’m sure that there won’t be any objections to the next project I work on. I decided to begin small with planting next to our building to see if I could get plants to grow (different soil presents different problems). I managed to get a few seeds early on in the day while Mike went out to get some more supplies (alone again. I can’t say he isn’t consistent). The hardest part of farming, at least in this situation, is preparing the ground. The soil was dense and had many rocks throughout it so I needed to loosen the soil with a plough, but since I am at a base and not a farming convention, I spent most of the day searching for/creating the tools necessary. With some scrap metal, some left over branches, and an old wheel, I put together an ugly looking till. I also found a shovel and hoe (though I had to trade some of my newly made weapons for them since the survivors were using them as clubs). For as much as I planned on doing, I was considering not ploughing and just digging holes and planting the seeds since the plough would probably not hold up for as much as I planned to do.

            Thirty minutes in, after I had broken and replaced the plough’s tip three times, I changed my mind and started digging holes and planting seeds. I planted spinach since it grows fast and I’ll be able to tell if I can grow in this soil. Since I knew the other survivors would not want me using up their drinking water on crops, I went in search of a stream and a few minutes in, I found one outside the base a few minutes away. After carrying buckets of water back from the stream to the base, I was tired and before going in, I set up six large barrel in the back of the building to catch rain water because I really didn’t want to make the trip to the stream next time.

            I went back to my room and work on the weapons again, recreating the ones I traded away (They weren’t really that creative anyway. A large hunk of metal stuck onto a thick wooden stick is a practical weapon, but it looks like junk). Mike came in later and told me that he and a few of his friends were going to deliver a package to a group of people named “Valors” in exchange for weapons and food. I had never heard that name before and I knew the entire thing was a bad idea, especially when he told me just how far he’d be going. Neither of us knew anything about the Valors. Why did they want a group of strangers to deliver a package? How do we know they’re not sending us into a trap or if they’ll even pay up once the package has been delivered? There could be a bomb in the package and maybe they want us to deliver it to a rival base. There was too much uncertainty and I’ve learned to be cautious of everything and everyone, even friends. Worst of all, Mike just got back not too long ago from being capture and the same thing may just happen again. I didn’t give him a definitive answer, but he told me if I still want to join to meet him at the gates at 6 o’clock sharp.

            I spent hours thinking about it after he left. I feel like I’ve been thinking about this for a week now. As much as I’d like for Mike and his friends to stay safe, I can’t keep looking after them like they are children (well, Mike at least. The others are actually children). If a man throws himself into the ocean and almost dies and you save him, what would have been the use if he does it again and again after each time you save him? It’s just delaying the end result. Still, that’s kind of over-exaggerating the situation. Mike has the right intention and for all I know, the situation could work out fine. I’d let Mike go on this mission by himself to see if my expectations of his abilities are right or wrong, but he’s bringing Lexi, Jessie, and the others and death can come so swiftly for anyone. And really, it’s going to take some time away for the spinach to grow and that dull feeling of adventure and meaning are nagging at me; they’re the only things that keep the nightmares away. I’m going. However, I’m going to go talk with Mike about Victor coming along. He’s a little too young and we may need someone with more experience.

- Jack's Diary

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