THE DEAD TIMES
DEAD ARE COMING...
Episode 1 - The Last Day
© Screenshot from PC game "Survivalist"
My name is Joe Wheeler and today, after 364 days of living - cowering - in a partially underground shelter, I ventured out. The world I once knew was sick - it was dying, infected by a terrible plague that turned almost everyone into Zombies. Yes, that's right, I'm not making this up - the Zombie Apocalypse actually happened! When I went into hiding, the military had all but disappeared and, if there ever was a war against... them, we had lost. I had hoped that maybe, just maybe, humanity got lucky, caught the cosmic curveball and managed to eliminate the undead menace, rebuilding civilisation and basically restarting the modern world during my time in this hidey-hole, ready to welcome me back with open arms after my emergence. Yeah, right.
The world was even more barren than when I left it - as soon as I set foot on this alien world (and I really do mean alien, both hostile and unknown) all hope that civilisation could still exist evaporated into darkness. Plants were growing up through the street, cars lay rusted and abandoned, some on their sides, wildlife was virtually non-existent and everything seemed eerily still. I did meet one person on my travels, a middle-aged woman called Alice. She was locked up in a fenced off car park when I arrived in the nearby town of who-cares. Yeah, I know, right - How the hell did she manage to get locked in a metal cage, the lock on the outside, dooming her to rot inside for all eternity… Well, turns out that her sister locked her in to protect her from the ravenous infected, ran off with the key and ended up getting infected herself. Jeez - talk about bad luck.
Anyway, Alice is in my "group" now - figure's if I saved her life, she'll stick by me through thick and thin. I didn't ask for this and hell knows I am no leader, but I guess I should be thankful for someone to watch my back. Got bit in the process too - I'm okay, the pain is going down now (I'm sure it should hurt more) and it stopped bleeding surprisingly quickly. I managed to treat it later so I'm not going to turn. Alice said there are different strains of the infection; most can be cured, like the one that I got, the most basic kind, but others act so quickly, any treatment is futile. This was news to me - when I went into hiding there was only one strain. Guess I didn't get the memo.
© Screenshot from PC game "Survivalist"
On the way to get the medicine I needed to stop turning into one of those running undead freaks, we found another dude. He was just guarding the pharmacy, telling whoever came by to keep on walking, shoving his gun in their face like an asshole. Eventually Alice managed to talk him down - a woman looking sad can get a guy to pretty much do anything. Oh yeah, it was only at this point that Alice mentioned she had diabetes and would die at any point if she didn't get her medicine. What the hell, man?! If I knew she could die at any minute, I wouldn't have allowed her to tag along with me in my growing, but unwanted, band of warriors. Grr.
Anyway, this new guy, never got his name (or just did not care at the time), promised to lead us to a gun store. I didn't see why the risk of going into a town was worth it as there were so many guns and ammo around to scavenge - welcome to the USA! Still, we managed to loot a shotgun and an assault rifle from the store, loads of ammo for both as well - an improvement on our current pistols. I suggested that we set up a base there - the gun shop walls looked pretty sturdy and there were plenty of places to store supplies - but gun-in-your-face man poo-poos that idea saying that any established settlement was going to be crawling with dead come sundown. Figures. So we all ended up going back to my secluded little bunker - my home for the last 364 long, long days. Tomorrow, we'll get some defenses up so this place looks a bit more beefy. Gunman has volunteered to get some construction supplies. Probably not safe to go on his own but screw it - his idea, his funeral. I'm too tired to care at this point.
Someone up there doesn't like me. Just when Gunman was about to tootle off on his self-appointed errand (he insisted on starting tonight despite the dwindling light and his earlier warning) and I was shuffling off to hit the hay, two guys came running over the sand dune that had formed near our location. They had their guns up and were barrelling straight toward us, not trying to communicate with us and with no obvious chasing ghouls. Without any warning, Alice - the proud owner of the shotgun we stole from the gun store - and Gunman immediately drew their guns and started shooting at the unknown figures. What the hell guys - you could have at least asked what they were doing before trying to kill them? I was a bit taken aback (and a tinsy bit scared) at my comrades' sudden blood-lust, standing in stunned silence for the seconds it takes my macho friends to deal with the first of our supposed attackers. Naturally, the sight of his brother in arms ragdoll forward, seeping blood, rounds still ringing by as Alice and Gunman unloaded into the air, caused the second man to panic and run. I thought this would be the end of the very one-sided battle but, to my bewilderment, Gunman and Alice gave chase, still firing madly. There are Zombies out there that could jump you at any minute - one guy running away is not exactly a threat worth risking your life to eliminate! I didn't agree with this senseless violence and still don't so took no part in the dreadful act. I looted the corpse of the fleeing man as soon as the others had finished venting their anger. He did not have anything useful.
DIARY:
Survivalist
DIARY WRITTEN BY:
ENTRY DESCRIPTION:
In this first episode, Joe Wheeler steps out into the world for the first time, almost a year after the apocalypse began. The world that confronts him is not a friendly place but he does find one companion (begrudgingly gaining another towards the end). Guns and ammo are hoarded - the essentials - and Joe gets his first glimpse of how brutal civilisation has become.
DATE ENTRY UPLOADED:
19/04/2015