Jack's Diary - Day 27, October 13th 2013

     We finally got onto the highway going in to Saint Angeles since we were less than 10 miles outside of it. We could've got on sooner, but I figured there was a greater chance of running into soulless or bandits on the road and I really didn't feel like risking my life in another city. The highway was relatively clear save for a few soulless. Surprisingly, Duke has kept his mouth shut for nearly two days straight. That explains why I don't have the urge to kill him now.
     Finally, the city was within sight. We found a safe spot and I scouted the city with the binoculars while Duke watched for approaching soulless. This city was much more lively then the previous ones; the day was approaching nighttime and I could still see a large number of soulless wandering around still looking eagerly for "food". Although I couldn't identify a human clearly, it appeared from the fortified buildings and makeshift structures attached to them on the outside that these places are or were safe houses for survivors. It was too dark and the windows were too fortified to see anything through them from far away. I knew if all these places were still occupied with people that it would be difficult to find Jane among them, let alone if they would even let her leave. One less person means one less hunter, or one less person to assist in survival. It is a numbers game where the humans are greatly outnumbered. Before we began moving into the city, on the opposite road heading into the city, I saw about five or six soulless walking down the road toward it. It is as if they know where we are at times.
     I could tell that Duke didn't want to go in by the way he purposely followed slowly behind me, making me wait for him to catch up. I whispered to him, "if you're going to lag behind then stay behind. I don't need you getting me killed." I moved on and he stood there for a few second before quickly, but quietly catching up to me. I figured we should check out the closest safe house first. I really hoped that if there were people in there that they wouldn't kill us on sight and take our stuff. In a building as well armed as the one we were approaching, the odds were that there were at least four times more of them than us. I knocked on the door with my knuckle and waited. A voice from behind the door spoke, "What do you want?"
     "Can we enter?"I asked.
     "No..." was the response.
     "Why not?" I asked.
     There was no response so I knocked again and then knocked harder when a machete pierced the door and would have pierced me had I been an inch closer.
     "That's your only warning. Go away," said the tense, but calm voice.
     I wasted no time to asking another question, "Alright, but can you answer one question: is there a woman named Jane in there?"
     There was silence. An uncomfortable silence.
     "Hello?" I asked.
     One of the windows opened up and a man with an uzi leaned out. He had just cocked it and had it aimed at us when I drew both my nail guns and shot in his direction multiple times. I must of hit him a few times since he fell out the window. I quickly grabbed the uzi and ran off with Duke trailing. I heard gun shots behind me as I ran away. We made it around a corner and kept moving, trying to keep our presence hidden from soulless to human alike. That group of survivors now has a reason to kill us so it was best to stay away from them. We went to a smaller hideout about five blocks over and knocked on the door. The same route (a voice behind the door asking what I wanted), but this time when I asked to come in, we were let in. However, there were a few people inside who had their hands on their guns. Jane wasn't there, but we were offered the chance to stay with them. I told them that we may take them up on that offer at some point, but we needed to find someone. The man who let us in, who seemed to be the leader of the group of survivors, gave us directions to each safe house in the city (or at least all of the ones he knew of). I decided to give him the uzi I "found" in exchange for helping us, just to show them we were good guys.
     We visited three more, with one of the visits ending like the first one did with two people shot. The last of the three was the most unique among the hideouts; it was the largest of all of them and the building itself looked like it had been built just for the purpose of being a fortress: no windows of the ground floor and tall stones walls around the perimeter. After we jumped the wall and knocked on the door, we were invited in without question and offered food and drink (which made me suspicious). When I asked about Jane, they said that they knew who I was talking about, but she wasn't there at the moment (she was out looting with others). She'd return in the morning, according to the doorkeeper, and he graciously allowed us to spend the night. We were shown to a room with two old spring beds. Duke went right to sleep, I closed the door, placed the pillowed provided under my bunk sheets, and waited in the corner. I wasn't that tired away. It must have been at least three hours after I closed that door that it was opened again and two men walked in. One went to each of the beds they thought were occupied. I snuck up behind the one that went to mine and stabbed my knife through his spine while covering his mouth. The other guy still heard and turned to me before he could do anything to Duke. I let the stabbed guy drop on the bed and threw my bloody knife at the other one, hitting him directing in the chest as he backed up into the wall and slid down limply. I looted them, took my knife back, woke Duke up, and we put them in our bunks. I think Duke thought they were sleeping because he really didn't look that shocked. I broke out the barricaded upstairs windows in the room as quietly as I could, tied off the rope I had to the nearby radiator, and we descended and escaped. We hid in the next door building. Duke went off to sleep again, but I just couldn't. I had killed at least three people today. Now, I just can't stop writing and the sun is coming up.

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Day 3, September 18th 2013

     Even when it's completely quiet, there's no peace to be found when you're out in the open. At any moment, that silence can change and with that sudden ripple of sound, you're life is now at an even greater risk for being lost, whether you made the noise or something else did. I watched from a distance as these situations transpired, usually involving stupid and panicked survivors. Now, I know better than to mindlessly daydream on the unsuspecting field of battle.
     I expected to see a lot more abandoned cars and objects on the highway than I had. Most of them were wrecked, dirty, and looted for parts. There was hardly any movement at all: no animals of any kind and no lost souls. At least, that's what it started out as. In the distance, I saw a few on a highway bridge. I couldn't resist. I lured them close to the side and knocked them off the bridge, one by one. I could only watch the last one fall since the rest began to make their way to me after hearing their "brother" get hit with my club. I didn't find any enjoyment in it, as much as I had hoped to. I kill for the sake of killing, merely to pass the time.
     Passed the bridge near an exit off the highway, I spotted signs of a camp: a long since burnt out fire pit and a few logs and lawn chairs to sit on. Nothing too significant. Suddenly, my ear caught a sinister and weak groaning. I decided to cautiously check it out and was met with a most unexpected sight: a pit filled with lost souls. There were at least 14 of them, with many more on the ground, unresponsive. The pit was about 8 feet deep, completely flat with the corners dug out. In the center of the pit was a tall, thick wooden rectangular pole with a rope hanging from it and from that rope hung a body. From the looks of it, the body had no signs of change other than rot so it died as a human. There were also many cuts and lacerations on the body. I determined, although, this is just a guess, that this pit was dug for the purpose of collecting or trapping lost souls and that the body (whether it was alive when it was first hung is debatable) was meant to be used as bait to draw them in. As long as you didn't fall in, these things couldn't touch you so I could've walked away, but I didn't. I went back to the highway, found a small gas tank in the back of a pick up truck, siphoned as much gas from the vehicles as was left, went back to the pit, yelled out to the monsters to gather them into one spot, and doused them with gas. I lit a match and set them a blaze and watched as they walked about, some being more aware of the flames than others. I stayed until each of them burned to the ground. The "green" people always talked about the fact that humans leave a carbon footprint or a record of all the waste they've attributed to the Earth. I think of my actions as one in the same: I'm ridding the world of these things before the time that I become one myself.
     To the pass the time, I looked around a little more and to my surprise, saw a small wooden fort in a near-by tree. This surprised me because of how well it was hidden. Had I not been actively looking, I would have never seen it. It looked like something used in hunting a long while back. I climbed up it and found a few useful object like binoculars, a slingshot, and a machete. I already had one machete, but you know what they say: better safe than dead!
     As the fires burnt down to smoldering ash, I left without a single taste of satisfaction. I followed the exit ramp off the highway until I came upon a town. I decided to search the town, but I had no idea what I was looking for; I had sufficient food and water and the equipment I needed. I suppose I was just wandering around. In the distance, I thought I saw some movement. After three seconds, it gained in size and right then I knew that my life was at stake: it was a charging group of lost souls. I broke out the nearest window of a house and jumped through, toppling a tall cabinet over to barricade the now exposed window. I locked the door and rushed up the steps and opened the second door on the left and locked it behind me, barricading myself in there as well. There wasn't any time to check whether or not the backdoor was locked or to see if there was a backdoor. I could hear the pounding on the walls, the shaking of the house, and them rushing around on the ground floor looking for me. I don't know why they all did that. It was the same thing with the Hill. It's not normal behavior or at least what I am used to. Well, I figured that this gave me time to write. They might get to me soon so I should probably write fast. I'm not afraid to die.

- Jack's Diary

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