Jack's Speech

"Everyone. I'm not sure if Mike's told to all of you where you're headed next, but where that is, I won't be joining you. These last few months, we've met many people that wanted us dead, some I once called friends and some strangers. Through it all, I thank you for sticking together and standing by one another. In life, you don't often find friends who would be willing to die for you and I couldn't ask anything more of you. Mike, you've saved my life on a number of occasions and you've always sought to do good by your friends and even by those you meet. Through my eyes, I believe you could accomplish anything. Julie, even being the youngest here, you've done amazing things. You're certainly braver than I was at your age. All of you have done great things and you'll no doubt continue to do so. I don't want to ramble on much longer. Time is of the essence. It's very possible humanity might die out, but even in its bleakest moment, our courage shines through and as long as we keep this, no matter what we do, there'll always be hope. Still, I can't live for the sake of living and I don't want to die knowing I did nothing to help this world. That's why I'm heading out to destroy as many as those monsters as I can. I wish to fulfill this hope even if it means leaving the good of my life behind."

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Jack's Diary - Bound to Death - Day 93

*Early Morning*
     I kept dreaming about it. The gathering of soulless, burning in one large fire. One by one, the fire would spread and engulf each one individually. The sky would fill with black smoke and the audible moans of the soulless would all come together in one torturous harmony. After a while, they would stop moving and simply lie down, the fire finally laying their wandering bodies to rest. For some reason, I found this so beautiful. I must be a sociopath or something. Still, dreams will remain dreams unless I make them a reality.
     Today was different than all the ones that came before it and I'll tell you why. It was barely morning when I felt someone kicking me.
     "Hey, get up you lazy bum," said the person. I didn't recognize the voice so once I was awake enough to be aware of the situation, I quickly drew my handgun only to have it kicked out of my hand and another gun put to my head.
     "Jack, seriously. Relax. It's me, Grant. Remember?"
     When you have a gun pointed to your head, you don't have much else to do, but think. That's when I remembered. He then took the gun away, seeing my look of realization I suppose. Grant was an associate (I guess you could call us friends even though I hadn't known him long) that I knew when I was still at the Hill. When I arrived, he was already well trained and a few months later, he left.
     No sooner he did this, he pointed it at where Mike was sleeping.
     "Ah, don't even try it," he said to Mike. His eyes were closed, but I could see that his hand was very close to his gun. The others woke up quite concerned when seeing Grant.
     "Guys, relax. He's a friend," I told them.
     "Why are you sleeping out here? You could be staying at Patrick's Mine."
     It turned out there was a base in town, or rather, near the town. It was established in a system of abandoned mine shafts. It got it's name from the sign the first guys to start it found on the boarded up tunnel. Grant led us there. I don't know if it was nostalgia or the anticipation in seeing what this mine looked like, but for once, I was happy. The others didn't look too pleased with Grant and were pretty wary of his presence, but not me. Any person from the Hill is a brother to me. It turns out Grant wasn't a member of this group of survivors, but he was hired to find more and to lessen the soulless population in the area or as he calls them, freaks. He made his living as a mercenary, traveling from town to town, being hired to either kill freaks or troublesome survivors, to guard location, or to gather hard to come by supplies. One benefit from this is that he had gotten a lot of cool equipment, including a SWAT helmet and what looks like a katana. He laughed when he noticed my Double Sledge. As I remember, he wasn't much for building his own weapons.
     The other's attitudes lighted up after entering the mine. All the entrances had been boarded up except for one that was on a large hill (a good strategy) and another secret entrance that was used for bringing in large supplies. Apparently, this town was a big place for mining back in the day so there are abandoned mine shafts everywhere though this seems to be the largest. The people there were very welcoming and they had everything you could imagine; food, water, weapons, couches, a generator, medical tools and supplies, decorations on the walls, a garden right outside the entrance, and some pretty attractive women (they also had some young children, which is good; we can't let the human race die out). For a system of tunnels, they really made it look good and went the extra mile to make it as stable as possible, putting extra support to the ceiling among other things.
      I'm going to cut this short. The others are checking out the base while Grant and I are going to catch up on old times.

*Late at Night*
     Let me start from the beginning. Grant told me he had something important to discuss, something that couldn't be mentioned in front of anyone else. I found this to be odd, but decided to trust him. We left the base and went into town and found an old wooden two story building. We went into one of the rooms on the second floor and closed the door.
     "Was coming out this far really necessary?" I asked.
     "Perhaps not, but better safe than sorry."
     "So what's this important thing you wanted to discuss with me?"
     He sort of smiled, "Did you ever wonder how we became so knowledgable and skilled in using weapons and surviving?"
     "Not really. I just figured the Hill offered some kind of ideal environment for the training. There were also a lot of knowledgable people there to share knowledge with."
     "Did you ever meet the man who started the Hill?"
     "Of course. Ted Jackson; one of the smartest guys I'd ever met! It was sad when he left to start a new base."
     "Did you know he's died?"
     I paused for a moment, I stood across from him. I hated hearing bad news about my old comrades.
     "I can definitely believe that," I told him. "It's very easy to die nowadays."
     Any happiness on his face disappeared as he continued to speak. "He didn't die by normal means. After he left the Hill, he began to experience serious mental problems: seizures, depression, paranoia, schizophrenia, and signs of alzheimer's. He eventually went insane and was put down by his friends out of mercy."
     This sounded very uncharacteristic of Ted. He was awesome. I looked up to him since the day I met him. He was always calm and serious whenever I spoke with him so pictured him paranoid was just impossible.
     "You brought me here to talk about him? As much as I cared about my comrades, this doesn't seem like something that needed to be kept secret from my friends or anyone else."
     "It's not Ted's death that is important, it's why he died and what he did to us. We didn't gain our skill by natural means."
     "What other means are there?"
     He looked me stern in the eye, "Ted mixed medications into our food supply that made us what we are."
     I really didn't know what to say.
     "I couldn't believe it either when I found out." There was a sadness in his voice that came through more and more as he explained to me what he knew. "Ted was never a soldier or an experienced expert as we thought he was. Back before this world went to hell, Ted worked at a test patient at a medical testing facility. They'd were giving him a drug and never told him what it was for, but he soon figured it out. He was a man who believed that the end of the world was coming so he was constantly stocking up on food, supplies, and training and educating himself on combat and survival though his training took on a whole new level when he began taking that drug. He went from forgetting where he put his keys to memorizing books word for word. As for how the drug works, I'm sure you've heard that it's much easier to learn a language at a younger age. That's because kids have a large amount of neural pathways open which allows for much easier learning, memorization, and comprehension and keeps this information around for a long time to come; that's how they go from a blob of flesh to intelligent beings. This drug restimulates the neural pathways in the brain, giving existing ones a boost, prompting the brain to create new ones, and rewiring older, unused ones to make learning and analyzing much easier. It was developed with the intention of being used in military training so it would take less time to train soldiers. When the outbreak happen, Ted broke into the facility and took the remaining drugs so he could continue taking them. After a few weeks, he started the gathering place of survivors known as the Hill."
     "How do you know all this?" I asked.
     "Well, unlike you, I knew there was something weird about all this. No one goes into training for a few months and comes out experts. A few weeks after Ted left, I finally decided follow after and confront him. That's when he started showing the signs. I stayed with him until he died; I just couldn't confront him about it seeing him like that. I found out later he kept a journal documenting everything from his first dosage at the facility. Through it, I tracked down the facility and looked through their files. The fact that they were testing that drug on humans was insane. It was never approved for testing and what's worse, they tested it on rats and while the rats showed an increase in intelligence, they all died from neurological deterioration."
     "This means that we're bound to suffer the same fate. Why would he do this to us?"
     "Because he didn't know about the life-threating side-effects though he was aware of some side-effects like possible depression and mood swings, but if your trying to train men to look after themselves, you look for every advantage possible. no doubt you've experienced some of the side-effects; Ted lasted about two years on the drug, meaning I'd say we both only have a few months to live before we end up just like he did in his final days."
     This explained everything. It explained why my mood changed after leaving the Hill because I was no longer taking the drug (withdraw symptoms), why I was suffering from depression and why I was so paranoid a lot of the time and that seizure I recently had.
     "But why did you feel it was necessary to talk about this in private?"
     "Well, one, I didn't know if you wanted your friends to hear you'd be dying soon and two, that you have an enhanced human mind through drugs. Anyways, part of the reason I've been traveling around, looking for people from the Hill to let them know. I think you're the last one so you can have this," he handed me the Ted's journal. "At this point, I don't think I'll find anyone else anyways. He wrote things about all of us in there, including you."
     I thanked Grant. I sat down on a chair near a desk and tried to find what Ted wrote about me. I was so lost in confusion and grief that I didn't notice Grant had drawn his gun. There was a shot. I turned around to see Grant fall over. The door opened and I saw that it was Julie holding a gun. She'd been listening in on the conversation.
     "He was going to shoot you!" she yelled to me.
     Grant went to point his gun at her and I shot it out of his hand.
     "Grant, what the hell is wrong with you?!"
     Grant slowly stood up facing me with a smirk on his face. "I believe you remember our combat practices. We'd fight to see who was better. Neither of us have long to live so I intend to prove myself to be the greatest. And I'll do this by killing you."
     A grenade fell to the floor from behind Grant and he made a dive for the door, landing onto of Julie. I dashed to the door myself, just making it out as it blew, but the force of the explosion threw me into the wall. I looked up to find Grant punching Julie over and over. I dove at him, knocking him off her. He wasted no time in retaliating and kick me off. Before I knew it, he had disappeared, but I knew he hadn't left. I checked see if Julie was alright; she was bruised and unconscious, but breathing. I then began peaking into room, being cautious of every corner he could be hiding.
     "Come on, Grant. Don't do this! We're friends! Comrades!" I yelled.
     He spoke, but his voice seemed to echo throughout the entire building. I couldn't make out his position at all.
     "To a dying man, friends mean nothing since last I checked, you can't take friends with you. Nothing you do can help me now or yourself."
     "What will killing me do?"
     "Nothing! Nothing at all and that's the point. There's no time to leave a legacy any longer. Isn't that the meaning of life, to leave some impact upon the world? To change it? We think we have all the time in the world, but we don't. We know it yet we never really live it until we've reached the point of no return. We're bound to death, not life."
     "There is still time. If we work together, we can do something to make a real difference."
     At this point in our shouting match, soulless began entering the building, attracted by the explosion and our screams. I rushed to Julie to lock her inside one of the rooms so they wouldn't get her. I proceeded to shoot and kill the soulless approaching me. Down the hall, I heard the sound of the air being sliced; the kind of sound a sword makes. I turned the corner to find decapitated soulless and a door closing. I followed in after. I didn't see him inside the room.
     "It doesn't matter, even if we did manage to make a small change, no one would remember or acknowledge it." It sounded like he was in the room, but I couldn't find him. "If the human race ever rises above this bleak period, they won't remember our struggles, they'll only know that there were struggles, but not ours. Not what we went through to survive, to keep the human race alive."
     "It shouldn't matter if they remember us or not. We'll know what we did."
     "Why should I care about a tomorrow that doesn't care about me? Besides, I have my own wish to fulfill before it all ends. We were the best of any men on this Earth. Together, we could have taken this world back from the freaks, but there just wasn't enough time. There's only one thing I wish to prove now and that's who's the best."
     "Being the better killer means nothing!"
     "To me, it means everything. It's all I have left. I intend to die in battle and not suffer the same fate  Ted did. I saved the others from this tragic end, just as one of us will be saved from that suffering."
     That's when I realized what he had done.
     "You killed them. All of them?!" I yelled.
     "Nearly all of them. All of our teachers are dead. If I missed away, hopefully I'll find them in time, but now..."
     I shot at the mirror believing it to be him, only for him to shoot me in the side.
     "The skill of throwing your voice was something they didn't teach us."
     He walked up to me, probably to put a bullet in my head. As soon as I was shot (I think the bullet broke a rib), I already lit a flash grenade when I fell to my knee (the one made out of a lighter yesterday). Just as I heard his footsteps cease, I fell to the floor, slamming it to the floorboard, emitting a bright flash of light. I took advantage of this and quickly ran for the door (this time I was smart enough to keep my eyes closed). Just as I closed the door, Grant blasted off a piece of the door with his scattergun. I turn the corner, killed the soulless opposing me and stood in the doorway of one of the rooms. I expected him to come around the corner to get me, but it became very obvious he knew this place well. Luckily, I heard the sound of a creek in the floor and caught him sneaking into the room through a sliding wall. I unloaded my gun on him, shooting him eight time in the chest. He stumbled, but only looked up at me with an intense glare.
     "Bullet proof vest," he said. Saying nothing myself, I drew my shotgun, only for him to go through the sliding wall again. I followed, narrowly ducking out of the way of his katana. He knocked the shotgun out of my hand and pushed me across the room. He still had his shotgun, which he wasted no time in raising to me, just as I wasted no time in reloading my handgun. I jumped off to the right as he pulled the trigger; I got him twice in the left leg and he got me in the left arm with the scattergun. Upon landing, I shot the scattergun out of his hand and he dove into the next room, but not before tossing a grenade in. It was a miracle I managed to reach it in time and throw it out the window. I proceeded to pick up both the scattergun and my shotgun and went after him again. This time, he wasn't too hard to find, seeing as he was leaving a small trail of blood behind. Sadly, that didn't stop him from taking me by surprise. He snuck up behind me, punched me directly at the base of my spine, causing me to drop the two gun and then pushed me down the hall.
     "Let's end this little chase like men. No guns."
     I didn't care what he wanted. I went for my handgun only to find him holding it. He tossed it behind him. He drew his katana, wiping off the blade with a rag he took from his pocket.
     "Whenever you're ready," he said casually. At this point, I needed to get out of here. Julie and I both needed medical attention. I decided to face him man to man, if you want to call it that. I drew my homemade sword and walked forward. It was an interesting fight to say the least. In five seconds flat, he sliced through my own sword, cutting it into pieces so I took out my the Double Sledge. One strike from the katana did a number on the wooden handle of the Double Sledge so I tried to parry his attacks with the metal sledge heads. Whenever I saw an opening, I swung my weapon, but I always ended up hitting the walls. Not long into the fight, he brought one end of my weapon, leaving me with a Single Sledge. He then grabbed my weapon, slammed the metal sledge into my face and was just about to run his katana through me when I spin around and used the momentum to deal hit to his spine. He fell to the floor stiff as a board, his face expressing agonizing pain. At his collision with the floor, his helmet came off. I would've finished him off then, but soulless were approaching again and being so weak, I just picked up my handgun and shot them. A rule in fighting is never take your eyes off your opponent. When our eyes met again, he was holding the scattergun and unloaded a round on me, directly into my abdomen. He might as well hit me with a train. I was barely conscious now, but could see him reaching for the shotgun, as his scattergun must have run out of ammo. It was then, the best timing possible that Mike and Moses showed up. They shot a few rounds Grant's way, hitting his right elbow and arm. Grant just threw another grenade their way, and they ducked for cover. Luckily, it didn't make it to close to them, but it was enough to distract them. Grant continued reaching for the shotgun and only having two round left in my handgun, I fired at him, but I only hit him in the outer region of the neck, very close to the shoulder. All I had left were knives so I threw them. By luck, one hit him square in the neck, stopping him in his tracks.
     "You always did like playing with knives, didn't you?"
     Through what looked to be sheer determination, Grant stood up, grabbed his sword, and limped to me, intending to finish me off.
     "I will live long enough to see you dead," he said. Mike and Moses were there to stop him though.
     "What the hell is going on between you too?!" screamed Moses.
     "No one will stop this fight! No one!" Grant yelled, knocking Mike's gun away just as he pulled the trigger, sliced Moses right across the chest with his katana, and then leaped toward me.
     He ran his sword through, but not through me, the floor. Much like my former comrade, I saw the potential of a shotgun with ammunition in it. Too weak to lift it, I fired it at ground level, striking his left ankle. He fell to the floor for the last time. Mike and Moses picked their guns and stood over him, probably deciding who was going to finish the job. Moses did the honors, putting a bullet through Grant's head. No sooner had Grant been killed, Mike and Moses stared down the hall, Mike saying, "Oh, shit," as they fired their guns. Soulless, no doubt. Before I passed out, I tried to point to where Julie was. Don't know if I succeeded.
     You'd think I was a dead man, but thanks to the people at Patrick's Mine, I lived. Seven hours of surgery. I'm told a number of people who had blood type O donated their blood to me, including Mike. To think, all that work to save a dying man. Moses and Julie are fine. Mike wanted to know what happened, but I told him to go talk to Julie. She heard what we were saying and had saved my life. Not only that, mike and Moses would've never showed up had they not been out searching for Julie. I owe her a lot. I asked Mike if he or someone could go get my stuff and Grant's weapons as well, including his bullet proof vest (we can probably give some of his stuff to the people here at Patrick's Mine. It's the least we can do.) Not the sword though. Grant broke my sword and Sledge Hammer weapon. The sword is mine!!!
     I only have so long left and now I have to waste a good deal of it recovering. Life really isn't fair. As much as I don't want to leave, I have to do. I have to do something more now that survival isn't an option for me. I have to leave.

- Jack's Diary

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Mike's Diary Day 60 - Ah. I'm Back in Business Bitch!

           I woke up on a very comfortable, cozy, small bed. In a small room full with all surgery equipment. My vision was still blurry, but I could see what so called the 'surgeon'. I looked down to my wound, it was already patched up, thanks to him. He turned around and looked at me smiling. 

           "Where am I?" I asked

           "Valors. You were shot when you were off chasing those guys who ran with the Valors' 'package'." 

           "But, I..." Then I realized that somehow they must've confused me for one of the Valors. I started to think what happened to the others. I'm worry about them, but now it comes down to me. What should I do? I wondered.

           "That note that your friend gave you." The surgeon said, "The one that says 'Do not ruin the plan Mike. Make your way out of the base safely, or else kill everyone.'" I looked at him confused, and I became very nervous at that time. After seconds of silence, he told me that he volunteered as the 'doctor' so the Valors wouldn't do anything bad to him. He also told me that he wanted to join me if the plan was successful. I nodded to him, but I didn't promise. I told him later to tell me where the Valors keep the kids, and I asked for the key to that room. He said he didn't have it. After minutes thinking of what we should do to get out of this base, I head gun shots. Right at that second I thought Jack. I fucking knew it. I told the surgeon to follow me. I was limping, weak, and my stitches hurt like crazy, but I managed to ignore it and move on. I saw a guy running towards us and yelled "We're under attack. Here!" while handing me a shotgun (bad idea). I stopped him and said that I need to get all the kids. When he was about to hand me the key, he asked my name in suspicion. I didn't say a thing, cocked the shotgun, and blast his guts out. I grabbed the keys and rushed to the room. I opened the door and everyone was panicking. When I was busy making sure that they're fine, the room beside us exploded (kitchen plus fire. Not a good idea). The surgeon was blown up to pieces, I fell down. I managed to get up to evacuate everyone out of the building when I saw Jack. He was a bloody mess. In this situation, there's no room for anything but humour.

           "You look like shit." I said to him

           "You don't look so good either!"

We proceed our ways, I followed Jack, and the kids followed me. It was a very cruel sighting for kids to see, but we continued outside. I heard gunshots, few, and slowly faded out to one or two shots. The base was a mess. Victor and the other older kids off chasing the remaining of the Valors (Which I don't like). They could be in much deeper shit than we were. Everything went smoothly, though Victor came back with some minor bruises. Oh great. Now we have an army of kids from age 12-17. Which is good and bad at the same time. We have 32 kids on board excluding the 6 of us, and we had a convoy of cars. Me, in a mustang, the lead car, a pick-up truck, and Rv, and SUVs. On the way back, all I could see in the rear-view mirror was Jack passing out. I wouldn't so worry about him, the guy is a tough son of a bitch. Thanks to him I was saved, but thanks to him also that we all almost died. We drove for hours until we can reach the eastern part of the country, which is our original base. Few more days, man knowing this, we should've taken the high way instead of the forest. 

           We decided to take a break here, in the middle of nowhere. Craze everywhere, so I had to get the people from age 16+ to patrol in shifts. I know, kind of cruel, but hey, we're a team now. I took all of their guns away and gave each of them machetes, axes, bats, and crowbars. I just couldn't risk attracting more craze with gun shots. I set up my usual tent right beside my car. Julie is staying in my car, she wanted to sleep there. The RVs surrounded my tent, Jack's tent is on top of a pick-up truck, the others were preparing fire. Julie's head stuck out from the car and thanked me. I said no problem. I went out from my tent to approach Jack to thanked him. I said that without him, all the six of us would've been dead. When I was talking to Jack, Julie approached me and hugged me. 

            "No seriously. Thank you Mike." She said. I looked at Jack in hesitation whether I should hug her back or not, and Jack looked at me as if he was saying "C'mon, give the kid a break you fucker.", and so I hugged her back. I almost teared up, and Jack left us both (I don't know what he's thinking about Julie and me now. Who cares, Julie gives my life a whole new meaning.) Julie stopped and looked at me and said

            "C'mon old man, don't be such a pussy." Then she punched me on my stomach. Ouch... I held my stomach, and all I could see was everyone giggling at me. I went back to my tent to rest, to get all recovered for our next journey back home. Hopefully it'll be a safe and not bumpy ride for all of us. I'm done writing, I'm sleeping.

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Jack's Diary - The Morning Will Answer You - Day 56

     Life never works out how you plan. If someone told me it did, I'd know they were lying and probably led a miserable life. If things stayed as I wanted, I'd still be back at The Hill or left with some of the others to build my own base in the woods. No matter how well you plan, you can't escape what you don't know is coming. Our lives intersect with so many other lives and things who all have their dreams and purposes to live out. Life is a battle to deny others their dreams in order to achieve your own and in this world, no one is ever truly a winner.
     We were attacked by a horde of soulless. We almost got out without a single loss, that is until Julie  showed us her right arm. She'd been bitten. I automatically drew my gun (I saw no reason for her to keep living if she was going to turn on us. Besides, I can imagine the worry and suffering she'd go through waiting for her to change or for us to put her out of her misery). Mike stopped me though. Julie claims she's immune and Mike believes her. I've yet to meet anyone who was bitten or scratched by a soulless and didn't turn, but Mike decided to tie her to a tree and said that if she turned, he would kill her. To me, it just seemed like Mike was grasping at straws; he didn't want to lose another and he's taking any excuse to keep her alive. I concluded that if he wanted to waste our time, that's up to him. I'm wasn't happy this was happening to Julie, but prolonging what seemed to me to be an inevitable situation wouldn't help anyone.
     Everyone seemed to go on with their regular activities. Ann sat down beside me and asked me how I was doing. It wasn't long before I started expressing my viewpoint of our current situation. Ann listened patiently. She didn't say whether or not I was wrong and didn't say what she thought about it. I decided to take Ann for what she appears to be: a woman who's interested in me. I'm trying my best to ignore my suspicions. If it ends up getting me killed, so be it. I'll die happy at least.
     Mike spent some time talking with Julie, evening giving her a cup of hot chocolate and covering her up with a blanket when she fell asleep. It wasn't long before everyone went to sleep. No one could bear looking at Julie, knowing what she would become I suppose. It was horrible. Of all the people to get bitten why did it have to be her, the youngest one? Then again, misfortune befell the young long before this all began so I shouldn't be surprised. It did make me think of what I'd want done if I got bitten. My first thought was to find a large group of soulless and kill as many as I could. If by the approach of night, I'm still alive and not a soulless, I would kill myself (in a sense, taking one more soulless out of this world). It was appealing, but just like everyone else, I didn't want to die, even if it meant living a soulless life. Instead, I'd like to be locked in a room somewhere with a pen and paper and write until the transformation was complete, just so people could see what happens to the mind before changing. I also wonder what would happen to a soulless that doesn't eat for a few years. I'd want someone to check on me, to see what my condition was. In a way, my request is selfish and self-serving, but how could someone turn down a man in his final hours?
     I stared at Julie, thinking about how much her death would impact our world. Mike would sink into a depression again (or worse), the Valors may become angry that we let their package get turned, and the time it takes us to bury Julie would cut into the time it takes to get to the Valor base, possibly placing more danger in our path (or less). Just then, I heard footsteps. I looked around and approaching the tree where Julie slept was a soulless. It had just came around the tree when I bashed it's head. Julie woke in shock and fear and began backing away from the tree.
     "It's okay. It's okay. Calm down," I said. She leaned over to see what I had hit. "We had a visitor. It won't bother you now."
     I tried kicking the soulless away when Julie spoke. "You should've just let it eat me." I turned around to face her. "I'm going to turn away."
     I could've said some comforting words and told her everything was going to be alright, but what good would that do? I just took in a long breath. That's when I saw her wrist. It looked discolored now.
     "Can I see your wrist?" I asked her.
     I took out my flashlight to get a better look. The area around where she was bitten had changed to a pale color and was spreading (I could literally see it slowly spreading out across the skin).
     "Which do you value more: your hand or your life?" I quickly asked her.
     "What?"
     "We might be able to stop you from turning, but it would mean losing your right hand. Can you live with that?" I asked quicker and more urgent.
     She looked upset, but she answered, "Yah. I could live without it."
     "I'll be right back," I said as I ran to Mike's tent.
     I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. One of the men who visited the Hill had a prosthetic leg and when I asked him what happened to it, he told me his friends cut, saying "it was either lose the leg or turn into one of those monster". I assumed that his leg was trapped in something and it needed to be cut off for him to escape an attack. I never even considered that they cut it off because he was bitten. I've never seen a person turn before so I didn't know what or how a bite could turn someone. After seeing her wrist however, it looks like whatever causes the transformation stays near the entrance point to the body for a time before (perhaps preparing or mutating) before attacking the rest of the body.
     I opened Mike's tent, jumped on him, and started shaking him saying, "Get up! Get up! Get up!" I yelled.
     "What the hell is your problem!" Mike yelled.
     "We might be able to save Julie, but we need to hurry. Find a shot of morphine and inject it in Julie's arm above the spot where she got bitten."
     "Wait. What are you..."
     "Mike. Get the hell up and go, now!"
     I ran out of the tent and went over to my supply bag. Mike jumped out of the tent and ran into Jess' tent and like a cheetah, was in and out of the tent before Jess knew what happened. Frantically looking through my bag, I found the throwing hatchet I brought with me and I also pulled out a cloth (one good thing about over packing, I suppose). I ran over to Julie where Mike was already beside her. The pale color had already covered her wrist and was working its way up.
     "Did you inject her?" I asked.
     "Yah. What now?" asked Mike.
     "Untie Julie and lay her down."
     While Mike did that, I ripped off a long piece of my shirt and tied it tightly around Julie's arm, just below where I planned on cutting. Julie was crying quietly since she knew what was going to happen.
     "Okay. Sit on top of her and hold her arm down. Make sure she doesn't move."
     I grabbed the hatchet beside me and was lining myself up Mike flipped out, "What're you doing!"
     "Mike! Let him!" yelled Julie tearfully. That reminded me.
     "Here Julie! Bite down on this towel and close your eyes!" I shoved it into her mouth and quickly lined myself up again.On the first swing, I cut through her flesh, but didn't cut through the bone. The blood splashed onto Mike and me with each swing. Even with the towel, Julie's scream was terrifying and loud. I didn't hesitate between swings; I wanted to make this quick. Four swings altogether and her wrist was cut off.
     "Alright. Get a first aid kit and wrap up her arm. Quickly!"
     Mike ran off into Jess' tent again, who was now up and cowering inside, wondering what we were doing to Julie. He was back in a flash. I checked Julie's arm and I didn't see any discoloration or paleness so I guess it worked. Mike took out the bandages and wrapped it around her wound. Julie sobbed the entire time from the pain and probably from realizing she would only have one hand for now on. With the trial done, I kicked her hand over to the dead soulless (it looked like the hand continued to turn paler). I suspected that our yelling and Julie's screams might have draw a few unwanted guests so I told Victor to grab some weapons and we readied ourselves. Jess also joined in. We did get a few soulless, but nothing we couldn't handle. Mike finished wrapping Julie's wound long before we finished, but he stayed by her side. Understandable.
     Although the operation (if you want to call it that) was seemingly successful, I still wasn't sure.
     "Mike, we're going to have to keep her tied up again."
     They both looked at me like I was stupid. "Why?" he asked, "We just cut off her hand! That's the part that was bitten!"
     "This is just to make sure. For all I know, we may have just delayed the infection. By morning, if she hasn't turned, she should be alright."
     "Fine."
     Mike retied Julie to the tree. He went back into his tent for a blanket and sat next to Julie while I explained to the others what we did and why. Afterwards, Mike and I both stayed outside to watch over her. Mike never left her side. After an experience like that, Julie needs someone by her side though I really hoped that the operation was a success because if it wasn't, this would've all been in vane and Mike would join Julie's fate. At least he'd die happy.
     I stayed up until morning. It felt like someone was watching me. I looked at the tent where Ann was sleeping and I never saw her looking out so it couldn't have been her. I've learned that sleep is a state of weakness and the enemy should never catch you weak. Paranoia? Maybe, but I've been stalked before. Besides, I want to watch out for everyone; make sure everyone stays safe.
     The morning came and I could see nothing in the light or shadow that watched me. Julie had eaten Mike so that was a good sign. I lightly kicked Mike awake who preceded to shake Julie.
     "Julie... Wake up," Mike said softly. Julie yawned and for a split second, I thought she'd turned.
     "What?" she answered.
     Mike went nuts saying, "Julie! You're alright!"
     It wasn't long before everyone was woken up and joined in Mike and Julie's happiness. And it all happened on such a bright morning, where nothing dark could linger, not even sadness.
     It is true that life doesn't work out as you planned. Julie never imagined you lose her hand, but I'm sure she was grateful she didn't lose her life. You should be thankful for what life gives you and don't squander it, for everything could be yours tomorrow and everything could be gone the next.

- Jack's Diary


   

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Jack's Diary - Day 36, October 23th 2013

     I haven't been able to sleep in over a day now. The images and sounds keep repeating like a record in my head. At least when the Hill was overtaken, I wasn't nearby to see and hear everything and a number of people got away. Now, I hear the screams and taunting words and even when I can dismiss them, the crackling of fire burns in the back of my mind. I was supposed to meet everyone hours ago, but I just couldn't. I found a shed they use for storing supplies and sat in one of the back corners. You might find it strange that I haven't just run off by now. It probably would've been easier to just jump the gate and keep running until I fell to my knees from exhaustion. There's nothing that binds me to stay here, but I do so anyway. Mike saved my life and even if I feel like dying, I will pay him back. There's also the reason that I have nowhere else to go. I'm not going back to John to tell him his only daughter is dead; it's better that he should remain in the dark and only believe me to be dead. This base also has a lot that The Hill didn't and I may be able to help this place become near completely self-sufficient.

     The sun was pouring in through the small window and I knew I couldn't stay still any longer so I went to find Mike. I was pretty sure he thought I'd run off by now. Before leaving, I happen to glance at some of the medicines they had in stock. There were sleeping pills, Advil, pills for constipation, and some type of pills to reduce fatigue called Provigil. I'm not a drug user, but I was very tempted to take a hand full of them before walking out the door, but I didn't.

     I took a good long walk around the base. It helped to quiet my memories a little. I decide to examine what the base had to offer to distract myself. The fortified walls were decent (much better than what we had at The Hill). There were several large houses and buildings to be used as homes and plenty of storage spaces for food, medicine, guns, and other things. The people who walked by me had a complex look on their face, possibly questioning who I was since they'd never seen me before. I was expecting someone to pin me against the wall or stab me. I suppose a cautious community is a safe community. After walking around for so long, I thought I'd see a water purification system or cropland, but I didn't see any of that. It's possible I could have passed them by, but if they were lacking these things, it would be important to have them for the future.

     Mike eventually saw me, questioning what happened to me.

     "Just needed to clear my head," I told him.

     He took me to his house on the base and it was there I met his friends or perhaps "family" is a better word for them. His brother and his cousin Victor were out doing something else at the time, but I did meet Greg, Danny, and Lexi (the girl seemed to be really attached to Mike). It'd been a while since I'd seen young kids since they're usually the first to get picked off. They were all welcoming and friendly to me. Then, I heard the front door open and I turned around. Mike introduced me to Jess, the older brother of Greg. It was at that moment that I frozen. Even for how young she was, her face looked so much like Jane that I felt the images and sounds flooding back into my mind, like someone had just cut open a freshly sealed scar.

     "Uhhh, are you alright?" Jess asked.

     I probably had a weird look on my face, twisted with pain and fright. At that point, I just left saying, "I have to go."

     I stormed out the door with the sound of someone else following. I was at least 20 feet away from the house when Mike caught up and turned me around, "What the hell is your problem?!" he asked.

     "None of your concern," I said. I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my arm.

     "No way. You tell me what the hell that was all about. Jess was trying to be nice to you and you blew her off!"

     "You weren't the one who lost everything! I lost three of my friends yesterday so I think I'm entitled to act a little strange, don't you think?!" I pulled my arm loose and turned away.

     "Where're you going?" he asked.

     "Don't worry. I'm not leaving... I'm just going for a walk."

     I walked around the rest of day aimlessly, fighting off the past. When night came, I went back to the storage room and sat in the corner again. I haven't eaten in a while and I still can't sleep. I wished I had explored more. Perhaps I could've found something to play some music to calm me. I suppose humming some will have to suffice.

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Day 17, October 2nd 2013

     City or town? Sometimes, I just don't know what to call these places. They always look so different from one another. Tall buildings don't make a city. I've come across old cities with a multitude of businesses that barely went above the ground level. Houses with yards don't make a town though it is rare to see yards in places with large towering structures. I'd say where I am now is more of a city than town. There's a decent number of tall buildings, but not too tall. I spent part of the morning resting on the roof on an apartment complex, looking over the ledge to the smog of life below. Perhaps it is just the view, but it seems like there is more diverse life here than in other places; a few soulless and a raccoon picking berries from the bush that grew between the cracks of a sidewalk (it'd been awhile since I'd seen a raccoon or any uninfected animal for that matter). There were always birds perched on old telephone lines or standing on distant rooftops. Birds and soulless were probably the most plentiful of creatures left on Earth since most of the birds predators had decreased in numbers do to a number of unfortunate reasons. I suppose a world of birds wouldn't be too bad. It's humanity leaving behind the soulless that I am concerned with though. If we could do one last thing with our fleeting lives, it should be to cleanse this planet.
     After sleeping for a good 8 hours and taking a few more hours for bird watching and scouting the area, I had planned out a looting route to take. I was mainly looking for two items in particular: a flashlight and a map of the area. I didn't want to get caught in the dark again and although John gave me some directions, they were vague which is understandable, seeing as he has never actually visited Saint Angeles. I don't want to end up getting lost  and wasting time.
     I walked through the streets undisturbed by anything and made my way to what looked like a small novelty shop. Lots of toys, trinkets, and other assorted things. I was just entering the shop when I felt something press against the back of my head (my first thought was a gun). Turned out I was right.
"Alright, hands up and down on your knees" said someone behind me in a tough voice.
     I put my hands up, but took my time doing it. As soon as they were up and I started bending my knees, he kicked me down. He started taking a few of my weapons and putting them on the store counter, giving a few comments now and then, such as "decent" or "nice". My back was to him so I couldn't even see his face and he kept the gun pressed against the back of my head. It was during his examination of my stuff that I noticed that the circular mirror that shop owners install near the front desk to catch shoplifters was turned just enough in my direction for me to see the outline of the man. I kept an eye on it and waited for an opportunity. After a minute of going through my stuff, he spoke to me.
"You got a lot of nice stuff. I hope you don't mind if I hang onto it for safe keeping." he said a smugly triumphant way.
     He took the gun away from my head, but still had it aimed at me. He took a step forward and twisted his body and arm to the right to backhand me with his left arm. At this point, the gun had moved out of line with my body and just when he was about to make contact, I ducked, he missed, I kicked him in the shin, which caused him to stumble and lean over in pain and before he could turn the gun on me, I jumped up and struggled to get the gun from his hand. A shot fired from it, as I repeatedly slammed his hand against the store counter until the gun came loose. He reached for one of my weapons on the counter, but he was just out of reach of them before I slammed his head against the counter, knocking him out. I then preceded to snap his neck to prevent future conflicts. I don't know where this guy came from, but he must have been pretty good at hunting to have snuck up on me without making a sound, especially with all the broken glass on the ground. This is an example of how far humanity has fallen although I expected such behavior. Death is the consequence of trying to take what is mine and no one can argue when there is nothing keeping humans on peaceful terms with each other except for our own beliefs and morals. That, in its self, can never be enough.
     No sooner did I kill that man and began collecting my weapons, a guy runs up outside saying, "Ron. What the hell are you doing? You're going to get us killed..."
     He quickly shut his mouth upon seeing me and his partner dead on the ground. He already had a handgun out to his side and I saw him move his hand up to aim the gun, but I prevailed; I shot him 7 times with a nail gun, but he did manage to fire off one round that barely missed me while I fired. It didn't take me long to realize what he was so upset about: loud noises bring death. I could see a few soulless walking toward me, while others ran. I quickly reloaded the nail gun I'd used and went outside into the corridor of the store and began picking all of the approaching targets until none remained.
     Wasn't too bad of a day. I got a few new weapons and supplies from the two guys: two handguns with a few clips, a hunting rifle, a long hunting knife and case, rations, beef jerky, a bible (ironically), a pocket knife, a lighter, duct tape, and flashlights. With all this, i didn't need to go shopping for a while. There were a few other things that may have been useful, but I chose not to take them (I would've if I had an infinite amount of inventory space, but this isn't a video game).
     As I was looting from the two dead men, I heard crying in the back room. I found a man who was extremely scared and begged me not to kill him. After a long talk, I decide to let him join me on the condition that he carry and do what I tell him to do. He accepted. For the next day, we search the city for a map and found one, now we're off to a town by the name of Haleton. The guy's name is Duke. I'll  describe him more in future logs if I don't kill him by the time I write the next one (he's already starting to bug me).

- Jack's Diary

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Jack's Diary - Day 11, September 26th 2013

     I'm already well on my way to Saint Angeles. I didn't go into detail in my last entry so I'll explain now. John, the man who saved me, talked about his past on request. I asked because most of the people I met in the past either wanted me dead or wanted something from me and they especially didn't help me out of pure kindness. He'd lived almost his entire life in this small cabin. Once he became a young man, he moved away from society and built this cabin with his bare hands. He loved people, but preferred a life of solitude surrounded by nature's wild life. He was by no means a hippy or nutcase so don't get the wrong idea. I've known people in my life that loved animals and plants and the rare beauty that in his words "has gone unchanged or destroyed by time". Surprisingly enough, he met a woman. She lived in a cabin as well about 2 miles from John's. They came upon each other in their gathering and hunting. He eventually moved into her cabin and together had a daughter named Jane. The daughter left to start her own travels when she was of age. She's been gone for six years, but she did send a few messages to John by way of a friend visiting the cabin. John's wife passed away in her sleep about three years ago for unknown reasons. As John said, she "entered this world peacefully and left in a peaceful silence." Soon after, he locked up his wife's cabin and moved back into his old cabin (he suggested that I could live there if I wanted, but I declined). He continued to live as he previously did and knew nothing of the horrors happening in the world until the messager stopped coming and he saw a lost soul for the first time.

     I asked how he could go on living his life without a purpose. He was shocked and offended by this question. He gave his answer. "Isn't living good enough? Isn't there purpose in happiness and in breathing a breath? So many people spend their lives in misery and will continue to do so no matter what you tell them. I'm merely balancing the scale by being satisfied with taking care of my life and smiling. And who are you to judge my life to have no purpose, a man who fell at my doorsteps, pleading for help? Without me, you probably would have died. If that is what you mean by purpose then yes, I have a purpose. When I came out here, I never expected to meet a woman, make her happy, make a child with her, raise her up right, but I did. You do not always find purpose, purpose finds you and let it find you prepared and willing!"

     I apologized to John and he accepted it. I suppose I could have summed up his speech, but I consider it something that should be remember and not just to die with the two of us. We talked more and I revealed my past. The talking made the time pass by very fast. I nearly ready to leave when I brought up the question as to why he didn't leave to find his daughter. I already had a few ideas as to why and it turned out I was right.

     "What happens if I leave here and Jane comes back to an empty cabin? I am long passed my prime and as much as I would like to find her, getting killed in the process won't save her and will only sadden her if she found out that happened to me. She'd have no one left in the world or at least from this world. Still, I often find myself wondering whether I should try."

     And that is why I am now off to Saint Angeles. The last message he received from her was that she was living there. He didn't ask me or intend to suggest that I go, but he knew I was going to try and bring her back. I couldn't agree with everything in his philosophy, but he was right: purpose does find you.

- Jack's Diary

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