For a little bit of backstory, I am part of a military group that sweeps through cities and towns, clearing them of infected. The job gets pretty messy, and there is a high chance that we could get swarmed by the infected, but we get as many rations as we want. Anyways, I was clearing out this camp and I found a bed with a dead guy in it. There was a side table next to the bed and it had a journal on it. The first page was ripped out, but the rest went as follows:
“Day 14: This thing should blow over any time. The radio says the military has already reclaimed New York City from those things. I can’t wait to go back to my normal life. Side note, we’re running low on food so we’ll probably have to make a trip. Last time we went there was barely anything in the store, so we may have to make a larger trip.
Day 15: Good news! Found some food in an abandoned house. The people who lived there must have been really paranoid about the end of the world. I mean, their basement was filled with canned food and toiletries. Also heard on the radio that things were going well in Cleveland, so that’s good.
Day 16: One of the people in our small group started showing signs of being infected. She begged to stay, that she was just coming down with a cold. You never can be too careful though, so she had to go. Her husband went with her, saying that he couldn’t bear to be apart from her. It’s so sad that just like that, you can go from being normal, to being pretty much guaranteed to die.
Day 18: Sorry for not writing yesterday, we had to move camp because a horde was moving in. We took out about a dozen of them, but they just kept coming. We decided that it wasn’t worth the risk, so we just decided to move. Will update you tomorrow since we are still setting up.
Day 19: I left some of my books back at the old camp. I would go back to get them, but there is the possibility of being found by the infected and bitten. Pretty sad though, don’t have many more books to read.
Day 20: The radio updated us for the first time in days! We heard that the infected had reclaimed Cleveland, but the broadcaster said not to worry, because the military would have it under control shortly.
Day 24: The radio hasn’t updated us in a while. I’m getting kind of worried about what is going on out there. But on the bright side, my birthday is in two weeks!
Day 29: The radio updated us on the state of things, which was pretty bleak. They said that the infected could reportedly be seen moving faster, sometimes sprinting. It also stated that the infected could solve simple puzzles and open door knobs, although with some difficulty. We will start reinforcing camp tomorrow.
Day 30: We have completed most of the reinforcements. Most of the doors had locks on them already, but we put some rudimentary ones on the ones that didn’t. Nothing too fancy, but good enough to withstand a few infected at the door. Usually, if they can’t find an immediate source of food, they just give up, so that should hold for a while. We are running low on food again, but we shouldn’t have to make a trip for at least 10 days.
Day 38: Sorry for not updating the journal in so long, there really wasn’t anything eventful happening. We got an update today about the state of things. Not looking too good. The infected have reportedly reclaimed New York City, but they said that it was under control. It’s a good thing that Portland isn’t overrun, because we’ve been planning to go there sometime soon. P.S. Happy Birthday to me!
Day 40: We’ve completely run out of food. We went back to the house with the basement full of food, but it was completely ransacked. On the way, a horde spotted us and followed us back to camp. There haven’t been very many updates on the radio so far, but one big one was that the military was able to win back New York and was coming up with a plan to regain control of the country. We’ll update when we can find some more food.
Day 42: Still no food, but an infected made it into the building. It was quickly dealt with though, so no biggie. Still don’t know how it got in though.
Day 43. We found a small hole in the fence. It was just big enough for a person to get through. We quickly fixed it, and deemed it the cause of the infected getting in yesterday. The brunt of the horde has made itself comfortable on the south side of the building. There are a couple of doors with shoddy locks on them, so we will probably have to make sturdier ones.
Day 44: The horde broke down one of the doors and we had to move up a floor. The barricades on the stairs aren’t very strong, but they’ll hold for now. I just wonder when we’ll get more food.
Day 50: The hunger is starting to set in. I can’t go much longer without food. My body feels weak and I feel sleepy all of the time. We need food soon.
Day 55: So hungry. The infected have overrun Portland. Don’t know how much longer we have until starvation gets us.
Day 56: I feel nauseous and I can’t muster the strength to get out of my bed. Don’t think I have much longer. If you are reading this, then this is my final update. Goodbye.”
In addition to this, we found more bodies, some of them children. They don’t look long dead, though. Just makes me wonder if we could have got here sooner, would they have died? I don’t really want to think about that right now though.