Jack's Diary - Light and Darkness - Day 68

            The morning woke me with annoying piercing rays. For a moment, I thought yesterday had been a dream. The wagon and cuts on my body reassured me it wasn’t. Nothing seemed out of place yet nothing went right after waking up. I climbed down the tree, heard a noise behind me so I instinctly turned around and was greeted by a literal blinding light. No sooner had I seen it, darkness was all I could see soon after as I screamed in pain. It felt like needles were stabbing my eyes over and over again. Even in the agony of pain, I realized what I’d just done; by screaming, I alerted any soulless nearby to me and without my sight, I would’ve certainly been bitten. I moved away from my current spot, hoping to go deeper into the gathering of trees. The only indications of the correct direction were the trees I constantly bumped against. Climbing a tree would’ve been the smart thing to do if every branch was strong enough to hold me. I tried climbing blind twice and fell back to the ground due to the branch I was standing on breaking under my weight, which in turn, probably brought more attention to me. In the confusion, I felt myself trip and fall without hitting the ground for a few moment. The fall came to an abrupt end as I crashed into high grass with my momentum carrying me forward. It happened again and again until I crashed limply onto solid ground, sliding forward a great distance before coming to a stop. 

            There was marching. The stamping of feet at uneven paces and the faint sound of chains rattling. As I opened my eyes, it was all still blurry. It all became clear, slowly and certainly. I was laying flat on my stomach in a large open field and procession of people in brown clothing moved from right to left. Their numbers seemed endless. A weak mist obscured my already limited vision so I crawled toward the marchers as I found myself to injured to walk. With every wriggle, the shapes became more defined and the numbers were far greater than what I had previously noticed. The beginning and end of the lines were not in sight, however; they ended at thick, glowing mist on each side. They never changed their course; they didn't act like solders, only like people who believed themselves to be soldiers. When I was within range to touch one of them, I grabbed a leg, any leg. The person stopped in their tracks and looked down at me. The others walked around him without even stopping or looking back. I couldn't make out a face. I could only hear the words, "Haven't you done enough already?" It was a male voice that had conviction, annoyance, and intrigue behind those few words. I had no answer. I didn't know what he was talking about. It sounded like he knew me and it wasn't out of the question either. The man shook his foot loose and continued walking soon after he spoke. I grabbed another leg, now more desperate for help and answers. It was skinny and soft. I again did not answer at the question asked; I only panicked and tried to escape when there was none. "What are you doing?" asked a child's voice, a voice I recognized and as my vision returned, I believed that I was being tricked or that my vision betrayed me. Before me was Lexi, just as she was the last time I saw her alive. She looked at me inquisitive and annoyed. I instantly released my grab as though I had just touched fire and she casually turned away and continued her march without ever looking back. I called out her name, but she didn't answer. She was lost among the great numbers. "Son? Son?" I heard. Suddenly, a man with a large mustache and business suit stood beside me, looking me in the eyes. "Son, your disrupting the marching. I'm asking you to please leave."

            "But... I can't..." were the only words I could muster.

            "Then you will be taken out by force."

            The man signaled in the direction behind me. I couldn't turn around in time to look before I felt my body being dragged backwards violently. It felt like I was moving faster than when I was falling. The sensation was terrify yet interesting. It almost felt like I was flying over the grass. The sensation along with my consciousness went dormant when I was dragged over a rock and my head crashed into the side of it, knocking me out. 

            I woke up and found myself near the dream I had stayed in the night before. I know what you are thinking, but this was not a dream. My body was sore and scraped up and behind me were footprint and a trail of crushed leaves and flattened grass, indicating something had been dragged over them. On the other hand, my vision was fine and I could stand so not everything could be explained away. On top of the wagon, I found a letter addressed to me. It read

"I know it's been a while since we've seen each other or even spoken each other's names. I just wanted to tell you I don't blame you for what happened. Life throws us unexpected twists and turns. I'm fine now and have regained what I lost. Neither of us are at fault and there's no one to blame, but you can't let it happen again. If you care at all, you won't let it happen again. I know you and I know there's so much more to you than anyone else thinks or could ever believe. I'll always remember you; our time, your success, and your failure."

There were no names on the letter though it looked like a few had been erased. I instantly thought this all was one of Ann's tricks and that she wrote this to taunt me. That was, until I realized it wasn't Ann's handwriting. I had seen it before when she showed me her story and I saw her changed words in front of me so it was certainly her handwriting. Even more mysterious were those people. All those people marching passed me, hundreds, maybe even thousand and Lexi. She's dead. It had to have been a hallucination brought on by the intense pain and my impaired vision.

            The entire day was wasted. I couldn't believe it when I looked at the sun and realized it was late evening and the sun was about to set. I wasn't going back to sleep when I'd been sleeping on the ground for probably 12 hours. I grabbed the wagon handle and walked off. When the wheels started to squeak, I took some of the oil from the container I looted and poured it on them. Only an occasional squeak resulted from then on.

            By the time night was upon me, I heard groans and footsteps from the soulless 50 to 200 feet away. They had the same disadvantage that I had. We both couldn't see so I didn't see why traveling at night was dangerous, at least for one person alone. Groups would make too much noise and attract soulless, just from the cluttering sound of their footsteps. We walk so different, man and soulless. As I was going passed the town I lost Jane and Matt in, I saw a flare go off, lighting up the sky. The only times they are set off by people is to draw their attention, either because they are in trouble or to signal someone. Mike has used one in the past so I thought perhaps it was him. I saw no harm in checking it out anyway so I headed in that direction. The flare had lit up the top of a few buildings in particular so I knew it in that area. The soulless were, as they usually were, docile as I passed them to enter the city. Even in the darkness, the memories lit up the street brighter than any flare. Ghosts walked before me, dissipating as reality stepped in, in the form of a soulless. Everything was fine until I was a few blocks away and I heard a rush of footsteps heading toward me. I had no need for a flashlight until now because of the dim moonlight, but I brought one out and saw a horde barreling toward me. The wagon probably shed a tear as I left it and ran for my life. It was one of the biggest groups of soulless I'd ever seen. Again, my running skills did me good at staying a head of them though this time there were enough of them for their to be a few track stars mixed into the group. About three soulless were catching up. They howled and snarled like angry, hungry dogs as they got closer. I only managed to avoid the faster ones because they dove when they got close enough, meaning I only had to evade their dive.

            The exhaustion was setting in, but I made it to the gathering of buildings I suspected to be the place where the flare was fired. I phased to choose which one to enter when the answer came to me. Shots rang out from the top of a large building (not at me) and I could see people leaning over the side to shoot so I headed for the door. It was stuck, forcing me to force it down with three kicks (I was ready to leave if that third one didn't work). The horde was less than a body's length away as I rushed around, trying to find the stairs. I found them as did the horde. I made it up first with them on my tail so I turned around and kicked the front soulless down the stairs, knocking over and blocking the others. I knew they'd continue to follow me so I decide to get destructive. I took out two of my grenades and placed them each on different parts of the staircase landing, got some distance, and shot them, destroying the first floor landing. They wouldn't be able to climb up and I could still get down from there easily.

            The trip to the top floor was nothing compared to the run from the horde. At the top, I came to a locked door. I knocked and was asked, "Who's there?"

            "Jack."

            Some shuffling of objects could be heard as the door swung open. Mike stood in the door way.

            "I see you got my message."

            I think I'll end it here this time. Until tomorrow when we leave.

- Jack's Diary

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Mike's Diary Day 66 - Oopps, WRONG WAY!

                  I couldn't sleep, so was Julie. I woke up 2 hours earlier and she. It was quite, and I was pretty sure the craze had given up trying to break the door open. I walked over and sat on the edge of the building, trying to get a clear view of possible escape routes, and there were many. The problem is that I don't know how to get down there, with Julie. I don't want to risk anything because our chances of surviving is low. I kept thinking, and I came up with a brilliant idea (50% chance of success). I woke Julie up and told her the plan, and she seemed like she had no trouble with it. "Better than being stuck here." She said. I took out a rope, not more than half a metre long, and I took my uzi out. I switched the magazine with my one and only extended mag, which loaded with 45 bullets (I didn't want to use it). I tied the rope from the trigger to the handle, turned the safety off, and threw it pretty far down to our left. Bullets start flying through the air, making such a magnificent noise pollution, and in the matter of seconds, all craze were running towards it.
                  "This is it" I said to Julie
                  "Let's do it." She responded.
I unblocked the door, opened it, and with only an axe in one hand, and a machete in the other, I rushed downstairs, while Julie followed. There were only several craze left in the building, which Julie and I took care of no problem. After we got out, Julie and I just kept on running towards the forest, we didn't stop one bit. I had a feeling that it will not only attract hordes, but only other survivors. I didn't want to encounter any, so Julie and I forced ourselves to run, even when our legs almost couldn't take it anymore. After we made sure that we were safe, we sat down for a minute or two. Julie was exhausted, and so was I. After we had enough resting time, we decided to continue our way back to base, but I didn't know in which part of the forest we were, so I decided to climb the tree and try to get an advantage point; however, we were getting nowhere. The view was blocked by other trees, which made it really hard for me to even see what's near our position.This is just great.
                    "Ha, we're lost" I said
                    "Good fucking job." She said
                    "Hey, I'm sorry that I had to make sure that we were safe, and get as far away from the city as possible." I said.
                    "Could do it without the sarcasm." She responded
Great, now what? I asked myself. I think our only way is to find our way back to the city and go back home from there. There's nothing to worry about now at least because the place is quite, so that we can listen to any movements or noise made by animals, craze, or people. However; I only have my handgun and a molotov left, so I don't know how we're going to fight back in a firefight. I hoped down from the tree, and checked our loots.
                     "Hey, we made a good run in only 2 days " I said
                     "What do we got?"
                     "Medicine, med-kits, canned food, water, matches, ropes, sweaters, t-shirts, books, and toys."
                     "Yeah, ain't we make a good team?" She said
                     "Sure. I guess."
                     "Awhhh C'moonnn. You should stop being so serious." She said
I opened 2 canned food and handed one to her, best one we had in a while, considering we didn't eat yesterday. I finished the canned food in less than 5 minutes, and so did she. We wanted another one, but I told Julie and myself that we should reserve that for later, and that we should start budgeting what we gather, and what we use. The evening approaches softly, Julie and I decided to get to the top of the tree to sleep in one of the branches, and tied ourselves to the trunk. Julie climbed up to the branch above me, and is staring right now at things, while I'm doing this. Yeah, we will try to find a way back to the city from here tomorrow, and hope that we will have a ride that we can use to get back to base. Our backpacks are getting heavy with loots, and a carrier wouldn't hurt.

                   

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Mike's diary Day 65 - Two Fuckers, We're Being Watched.

          I woke up beside Julie this morning, I saw her yawned
          "Good morning." She said. I smiled and looked at her 'hand'.
          "Do you wanna anything on that?" I asked.
          "Yes, anything would be good."
          "Knife?"
          "Sure"
          "Okay, we will get you patched up once we get back to base." I said to her.

I got up and checked the surroundings, while Julie was looting for some supplies. That morning was very sunny, breezy, all I could see UT the window was a torn flag waving in mid air, unfinished construction buildings, and some craze. Once Julie was done, I told her that we are going to a hospital near by to loot some medicine and other important stuff that we might be able to take.

            I walked outside with my iron sight aimed down, I checked if the coast is clear, and I signaled Julie to follow right behind me. We turned left back to the ally way, proceeded our way through, and turned left on the second house. The road was empty so I decided to me a run across. We did, I could see the hospital building clear from where we were at, and I couldn't wait to see what's inside. For another 35 minutes walk, we arrived on our destination. We went inside, not too many craze so far, so Julie and I handled it though sweat. We started looting the stuff, first aid kit, alcohol, bandage, painkillers, and many more. I then proceeded my way to the emergency room, and I opened the door, I was greeted by two guys. Yup, they're all dead now. I talked my way out.
             "Remember us?" One of them said
             "Nope, not a bit."
             "You destroyed our base."
             "Oh, the Valors?" I asked while taking few glances behind them.
             "Where is the girl?" The other asked
             "Or we'll kill you."
             "Oh you mean that one?" I gestured with my head to look back when Julie stabbed the guy repeatedly in the neck. I took my gun and fired at the other before he could slash Julie's other hand off. Once the gun fire went off, all I could hear was craze's scream and footsteps.
              "C'mon we gotta run." I said.
We ran away from the kitchen, trying to get out of the hospital, but we were blocked by a horde. We decided to find another way, but with no luck, we found dead ends. Our last hope was upstairs. I led the way, I pushed our way up and slashed some heads off along the way. We were terrified, I almost peed in my pants. We found a  door, I breached it open, waited for Julie to come, and closed it. I held the door with all my strength from the craze who were trying to get a piece of us. I quickly told Julie to find a metal to use the door. After a struggle, she found it, but it wasn't strong enough, so I decided to jam the door with anything we could find. We found chairs, sofas, and tables. Great, we're stuck now. Julie was breathing heavily, but was still able to throw out a smile or two. The sky is turning orange, it's getting dark, and we're stuck on the roof. Julie and I have to think of something tomorrow if we still wanna live for another day. In the other hand, I am worry that the other back at base are looking for us (well obviously). I hope everyone is still in one piece by the time we got back, especially Jack. One more thing, I hope the valors don't find their way to our base before we got back. They probably did, if they didn't, how the fuck did they know we were going to the hospital? Even more odd when they said
                  "Remember us?"

As if they were expecting our presence in the building. I am pretty sure, everyone (even the ones in our base) is being watched. Is it possible that they have an inside men, or women? I'm going to stop writing right here because Julie is telling me to eat.

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Day 13, July 9th 2013 - Possible Survivors

11:35 PM

We found a treehouse and we are in it now. This morning, I woke up early and serve Lexi some breakfast, "smells so fucking good." Said she in sleepy tone. She just woke up. "You talked in your sleep, I hate bad dreams too." I said. "Hey you did good yesterday, saved my ass couple of times." I said, "yeah teamwork !" She put her hand up as if wishing for a high five. So I gave her that. We got up and planning on going deep into the suburbs. We encounter some more craze, I took some of them out, choked it. We went into a gun shop and guess what? We found a katana, not bad I guess. But it's fucking bad that people already took the guns and ammunitions. Lexi looted some gear that we could probably use for aid kit or some sort, she also found stuff that I could use to modify my baseball bat a little bit. Today was a success but our food source is thinning out. We need some more food so we decided to check out the supermarket, candy, chocolate, chips, and some bottle water. We made a deal, she brings all the food, I'll bring the gears. She's pretty damn tough, I'm telling you that much. She asked me what I wanted to be, I said dance. I'm a pretty good dancer I must say, not mean to be brag but yeah. She told me to teach her some moves but I couldn't. "C'mon man, dance for me." Said she, "yeah. Haha. You wish." I said. We walked outside and we heard some noise. Not craze, it's someone speaking through a walkie talkie. We scattered around the street and found the walkie talkie. We decided to respond, and ask where the person with the other talkie might be at. She said that she's with her little brother in a house with a tree house. We wondered for hours and then "Mike look !" Lexi spotted the tree house.", "Hood job kiddo." We walked towards it but the house is over run. Maybe that's why these guys want us to come. To help them clear the path. I didn't trust them at first but Lexi convinced me. She peeked through the fence and said the girl has a little brother. So we decided to go and get them. On the way there, there was a horde of these fuckers coming from behind us. So without any hesitation I boosted Lexi up the fence, I climbed it and I told Lexi that we should get on that treehouse, and that's how we ended up here. We just keep talking, and I'm trying really hard to keep them calm. It's midnight and I told them to find somewhere to hide and sleep until Lexi and I managed to get to them. Tomorrow is going to be tough for me and Lexi. But I trust her, she seems like she can handle herself better now that she took out a guy with a single bullet the other day.

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