Jack's Diary - No Time For Pleasure - Day 77

*Morning*

            Well, it wasn’t that urgent of a meeting. Hannah, a leader in this tree village, wanted to see everyone in charge of our group. In meeting her, all I did was say hello. I don’t say this too often, but she was a fine looking lady, worthy of praise in beauty alone (concerning other areas of expertise, perhaps I’ll find out). I sat back and let Mike do the talking. Long story short; we get to stay on their land if we behave and are useful.

            Afterward, everyone went to sleep except for those on patrol and guard duty. I read chapter 7 of The Art of War by the dim light of tiny campfire. I couldn’t very well continue sharpening and wake everyone up. I must have fallen asleep at some point.

            I had a bizarre dream. I dreamed I had woken up on the side of a hill whose top overlooked the tree houses. When I had opened my eyes, I noticed a bright light coming from over the top of the hill, along with a looming figure that stood at the top, projecting a shadow over me. I joined them and saw the tree house forest aflame. There were no screams of terror or people trying to do something about it. Only the roaring crackling of fire. The figure turned to me, saying, “Isn’t it just beautiful? The fire performs for us while disposing of unwanted nuisances. Nothing has really changed in that regard. In a world of ruin, opportunity like this awaits the powerful, don’t you agree?”

            It was, of course, Ann though she looked different. Parts of her face had rotted or were ripped away, leaving holes of exposed flesh and bone surrounded by normal human flesh. I was woken up by Mike before I could react. Though the dream lasted only a few moments, my waking was much later than usual.

            For today’s tasks, I am to lead a hunting party. Mike made it clear he doesn’t want us to make a lot of noise and for us to play it safe. He even handed out walkie-talkies to the group leaders. This should be interesting.

*Afternoon*

            I suppose you could say this was a successful “hunting” trip. When it comes to hunting, I believe there are only three ways of doing it: wait for the animals to come to you, set traps, or go out and find them. The trouble is the “going out and finding them” has some drawbacks to those unskilled in proper hunting; you’ll probably find animals, but unless you know how to step, where to stand, and how to go about getting closer, the animals will detect your presence and run, sometimes before you even notice them yourselves. Sure, at times you’ll get lucky and shoot an animal when it goes to run if the area’s clear enough and if you’re a good enough shot, but this leaves too much up to chance and I don’t like gambling when it comes to survival.

            This situation happened to be the case with my group; as we were going out, none of them could go 10 seconds without stepping on a twig or whispering to each other. I told them to be more careful, but the warning didn’t completely stop the noises so I came up with a plan to compensate for this. I told half of the group to go back the way we came, follow the outline of the forest from where we started and then find their way back here (I gave each group of two their own direction and amount of steps to walk along the outline before coming back in). I told the others to spread out and climb the trees. My plan was this: those on the ground would scare the animals inward toward us and while sitting still in the tree, we would take them out once they wandered into our area. A few of the men had rifles with my silencers on them and I made sure that they joined me in the trees to ensure we wouldn’t immediately undo the herding the others did with a loud shot. It would’ve been easier to just gather plants to eat, but it would’ve taken too long to instruct them what was edible and what wasn’t, not to mention we had no bags to carry the plants so we wouldn’t be able to take many back with us. It was best to stick with the large game for now.

            Oh, you should’ve been there. It was like a carnival game, but with live targets! All together, both herders and the ones sitting in trees, we ended up getting 4 deer (one a large buck), 6 rabbits, 2 groundhogs, 2 wild boars, a hawk, and a rattlesnake of some kind (the last two were definitively mine. They were in my sight and I was bored) before I got the call from Mike to head back.

*Night*

            Seems the leaders of this forest outpost were impressed with our work. Later, when I asked Hannah if I could speak with whomever was in charge of food gathering and/or food management, she pointed me to a guy who was leaning against a tree with his arms around two others, giggling like an idiot. I’ll wait until tomorrow to talk with him. With all the supplies I brought with me, I still had the seeds so I’d figure I’d talk to someone about planting them here, perhaps underneath the tree houses. With this, those who lived in those tree houses would take care of the crops under their own trees. Of course, I wouldn’t “give” them the seeds completely for free as I’d like some supplies in exchange. Looks like I’ll have to wait until he sobers up.

            Right now, everyone’s celebrating. I’ve just made several copies of a list of edible plants, descriptions and what is edible on them like fireweed and clover and I’ll continue to make a few more. Afterward, I’m going to try and develop a trap. Sadly, it was one of the few things I didn’t learn a whole lot about at The Hill. I am vaguely familiar with a simple snare trap, but that’s about it. If someone will let me borrow a large deep barrel or pot, I could bury it deep enough to where the lid was equal with the ground and could trap small animals in it. After I’m done with these copies, I’ll start working on more designs.

            I’m just not the partying kind, not when there is so much work to do and enemies, some that you never met, preparing to take from you what they wish. Pleasure is the last thing on my mind.

- Jack’s Diary

One of the tree houses.

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Jack's Diary - Day 15, September 30th 2013

     Nightfall came upon me like a suffocating blanket. I've grown used to it by now, but it's usually never good for darkness to visit when there's danger so close. After I'd finished writing and preparing medical herbs, I watched the moon become brighter and as it floated across the sky. It was pretty apparent to me after enough time waiting up there that none of them were going to find their way to the roof so why not enjoy the view.
     Once the noise inside the hardware store died down, I jumped off the roof onto a nearby dumpster and headed for the exit in a relatively calm manner. If I ran, they'd probably chase me. Into the gaping abyss that is darkness, I walked, knowing what direction to place put my next step only by the yellow stripes painted on the streets. My younger self would've had his nerves exposed, letting any bump or breeze daze and throw his mind into a silent panic. Now, however, I don't fear what I cannot see. I hate what alludes my eyes and will gladly stab anything that attempts to use this treacherous shroud to kill. As I followed the road, I could tell I was at least on the outskirts of the central part of the town by the amount of moonlight I could see. Sometimes, the taller buildings would block it.
     Do you think I'm writing better now? I read back over what I wrote before and it sounds so much better. In my mind is this peaceful feeling, loitering longer than previous fleeting moments of appeal. Perhaps it is because I am safely five stories above the ground floor on another roof. Perhaps I'm going crazy. Or perhaps it is the afterglow of a successful battle.
     As I continued to walk along, I realized I was on a back roadway. There were a few houses every so often on the side of the road with trees on both sides creating more darkness. There were a few soulless walking and standing about, but they didn't bother me. Out of the corner of my eyes, I kept seeing something move. When I'd turn to get a look at it, it was gone. I could hear careful, but quick movements close by. It was at that moment I knew I was being hunted. I then realized my stupidity of not bringing a flashlight. I kept my hand on the trigger of the sawed-off shotgun I had and the other hand on my other machete. I constantly heard and saw the same sights and sounds over and over again. I felt my age slipping away from me as I noticed the palms of my hands were sweaty.  This cycle continued as I walked along, but slowly dissipated to silence as the dawn threw its rays into my eyes. I survived the night, but it was still pretty dark out. The pattern of trees on both sides eventually stopped and left me with a large rolling field on both sides showing the way to the next town. The fields were covered with some type of flower or wheat, much like the field of poppies from the Wizard of Oz. I made sure to stay on the road in case anything was hiding among the tall plants and I would be proven correct. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the plants on the left side swaying back and forth, as if something was moving through them. It weaved its way slowly to my location while staying hidden in the brush. I took out my sawed-off in one hand and my machete in another, just like I had expected to do before. As it was only two steps away from stepping into the road, it stopped. It slowly moved over to the left then suddenly, jumped to the right and jumped straight at me. I managed to shoot it in the chest with the sawed-off, but I had to dive out of the because its body was still coming at me. From the brief glimpse I saw of it, it was thin, but very large in height, skeletal, and had broad, almost flat arms. It was a disgusting brown and wore no clothes at all. The eyes, as for what I could tell, were completely black. The wound I inflicted wasn't enough to stop it, since when I looked back, it was gone. No sooner, did I standup, the thing burst through the brush on the right side, forcing me to duck. It slid on the road upon landing, and was just about ready to charge again when I shot it with another round from the sawed-off, knocking it back into the brush. It began moving through the brush again, making a semicircle before coming back. There wasn't enough time to reload the sawed-off so I readied my spear (at the time, this was my only idea so I'm glad it worked). As it jumped out of the brush, I stabbed it with the spear as I slid forward, causing it to go through and for it to completely miss me. It landed with the spear still in it. Luckily, the spear prevented it from moving correctly, giving me enough time to load up the sawed-off. It charged again and I shot it, ducking as I did before. After every attack, it got slower, probably due to injury and fatigue. After the fourth round from the sawed off, it stumbled out into the street with the spear still in it. I reloaded the sawed-off since it was far off. It charged at me out in the open. At this point, I figured this was its last ditch effort. I dual wielded my nail guns and shot it as it jogged toward me. As it was about to come within point blank range, I dropped the nail guns and readied the sawed-off, shooting it in the head and making it fall backwards. It didn't get up this time. One more point blank shot to the head cleared all questions as to whether it was still alive. Now that it was lifeless, I took a closer look at it. To me, it looked too perfect. Don't get me wrong, it was completely hideous, but the body design was beyond what a normal human would look like, as if this thing was crafted to look like this.
     After the fight, I left for the town with the morning clearly upon me. The image of that thing's blown in skull stay in my mind a while after. I left the spear in the beast. It was covered it blood and I don't have the time to properly clean the entire thing. I left that fight without a scratch on me, which I found so hard to comprehend. Maybe that's why I'm so happy.

- Jack's Diary

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Day 21, July 18th 2013 - We're Strong in Numbers

We heard a cough, he's woken up from his sleep. He didn't recognize me at first so he was panicked. I held him down and looked them in the eyes, then he calmed down "Mike? Holy shit man." He said, "ye. Where's Victor?" I said, "Hunting, let's go to the main base." He responded. We walked and I introduced Lexi, Greg and Jess. When we arrived, their base was blessed with all kind goods, weapons, food, clothes, and other stuff. I saw Victor and ran directly at him, "holy shit you're alive, not in the best shape but you're alive." He said to me. I said where my brother is and he said that he joined the rebels. I was shocked, I asked him where the rebel's base is and he said that he doesn't know what the area or city called but he knows where it is. I told Jess, Greg, and Lexi to stay at my cousin's base because it is the safest place to be at right now. But of course "I am not fucking staying here Mike, I'm going with you." Lexi said "Whoa who's this kid Mike?" My cousin said, "Just some kid I found" I said, "some kid?" Lexi said, she looked upset now but she still insisted to go with me. So there are only going to be 3 people who are going after my brother, my cousin, Lexi, and I. My cousin said we should take what we need for the journey and he said we're going to be on foot because cars or horses ain't gonna cut it. We decided to go the next day so in the meanwhile, we had to clear the roads. They're full of craze stuck in the sharpened bamboos so we had to kill them and threw them. We also went to some store to loot, there were shitload of craze but we managed we were strong in numbers. We were too exhausted that day so we decided to gather the scavenged items and sorted them out. We got food, weapons, and meds. It was awesome, such an easy day, I wish everyone would go after my brother with me because we're unbreakable together. We were to tired so we decided to take a rest at my cousin's base for another night. 

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