Prologue The smell of rotting carrion permeated the air. It was all we could do to quiet our stomachs to hold on to what little bit of its contents might remain. The sun was beating down upon us; the heat was oppressive and everywhere we looked was desolate. All the view offered was dead bodies. And dear God…the bodies stretched on endlessly, an ocean of them more vast than anything I could ever fathom. Where were we? Who were we? How did we get here? Who were these corpses? No one knew. No one had the answers. It truly is an imposing sight to behold… looking out at a field of bodies, and beyond that nothing but mountains and desert. What do you do? Where do you start? How do you LIVE? We had nothing… absolutely nothing. Not even a glimmer of hope or knowledge or anything. Log One Normally at some point I’d feel compelled to introduce myself, but I’m afraid I haven’t the slightest idea as to who I am. None of us know really. We don’t know anything about ourselves or each other. All we have are tattoos of numbers in various places. These tattoos are how we identify each other . I am Twelve…so.. I guess that’s who I am? The others look to me as a leader. I wonder if I had some authority amongst the group prior to our memory loss. It just seems to fit. We don’t really know how many survivors there are, but it seems at least one new person trickles out of the scene of carnage stumbling and barely alive each today. So far our ranks have reached 11 people in total. From what we’ve seen of those tattoos, there had to have been at least two thousand six hundred forty-four people. We’ve made it past the desert now. We’ve found a woodlands on the foothills of the surrounding mountains. We’ll set up camp and begin trying to gather our wits. As it stands, we’ve had to do some terrible things just to come this far. It makes me sick just to think about it, but we did as we had to. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten human flesh before now, and I don’t plan to ever do it again… Second Log It bothers me at this stage I can not fully articulate the hardships we face just to survive. As it turns out, past the desert among the foothills of the mountains there is natural life here. Plants, animals…a normal wilderness I suppose. But all of us can’t help but feel a sense of hostility in the air. The feeling is faint…subtle… but every one of us survivors feel it. It’s as if nature itself is against us. It feels as though we are forsaken by all. Three have died. Killed in the night by the denizens of the forest, and we feel their presence ever ready to strike if we show the least bit of weakness. None of us have slept in days. I fear we’ll soon lose our minds to the exhaustion if we don’t end up passing out and being killed in our sleep. It’s terrible.. We hunt and forage what we need, but even any of that left unprotected for even a second disappears to one of the animals of the night. It also seems as though the nights are growing longer, and the creatures of the dark more bold. We’re running out of strength and hope. We need to do something, and soon or we’ll be wiped out completely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued
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Third Log As our hope finally gave out, luck smiled upon us. There were only four of us left.. so few of the original group of eleven. And then one day a flood of people arrived. Things don’t look quite as bleak as they did before, but our situation is still dire. Since the others have joined we have enough to have a watch, and finally we are able to sleep. I’d forgotten just how wonderful it was to sleep. Still, we must remain ever vigilant as the creatures still stalk our camp, and wait to strike. More daily join our ranks, coming now in groups of two or threes mostly. We’ve set up a perimeter, and keep torches lit constantly. It’s as if a rudimentary society is forming, and the daily tasks we now subject ourselves to helps to wash away the memories of the atrocities we’ve faced such a short time ago. Everyone looks to me for guidance still. I’m okay with that I suppose. The woman numbered Six has become my closest confidante as well. A moment doesn’t pass that she’s not around me. Without her I would have lost myself long ago. Fourth Log None of this really makes any sense. We’ve been here a while now, and we are still yet to find any answer as to how all this happened, or anything before the awakening. The forest around us seems less and less natural as the days go buy. Its presence is becoming more oppressive and ominous. We’re starting to worry once again. No new people are making it to our encampment. It’s as if the creatures are now preventing it. We find more and more bodies each day littering the trails that lead to our shelter. We’re isolated once again. It worries me that the animals are so sentient. It’s just so utterly unnatural. Their numbers seem to be growing, and their actions are becoming bolder. They’ve begun to raid with far more capability than before. We need better defences or they’ll slowly take us all out. Fifth Log They slaughtered us. They came into camp amidst a distraction, and slaughtered so many of us. There was a fire just outside the perimeter. When a few people went to investigate and put the fire out to protect our camp, they killed them. Tore them to shreds right in front of our very eyes…they were still alive. Their screams will remain with us forever. I’ll never forget the looks in their eyes as they were dismembered and gutted. We watched them die, and could do nothing to save them. None of us could think, and that’s when they really struck. They emerged from the other side of the camp, and we lost most of the others. We had nearly sixty people in camp, and now there’s about twenty. No one blames me, but I still feel responsible. It’s my fault we weren’t ready. It’s my fault they’re all gone…I feel so useless…I’m sorry everyone, I really am. Sixth Log Twelve has fallen into a stupor. The stress and guilt was too much for him. He blames himself for everyone’s death. It wasn’t though. He tried to get us ready. Tried to prepare for this. I’m running the camp now in his absence. I hope he gathers himself soon though, I really don’t think we can make it without him. I don’t think I’m right for this at all, but he says I’m the only one he trusts. There’s still eighteen of us alive. We’re following in the plans he set for us before listlessness overtook him. We all just hope he wakes him his ennui. We’re lost without him. Six the leader…it just doesn’t feel right. I really do feel as if I am half the leader he was. It’s sort of awkward for me that the sixth log is Six’s log… everything about this place is eery at the best of times.
Seventh Log Twelve has lost it completely. He had sunken into a coma. He hasn’t moved, or blinked, or anything. He just lies there. But then today, he woke from it briefly. It was terrible. He started to speak in tongues. Some were languages we never heard before, others were familiar. He said they’re coming. The war is upon us and we must prepare. He was thrashing wildly, delusional with fever. After that, he slipped back into the coma and all has returned to normal. Recently, the beasts of the forest have started to leave us alone. We’re prospering.. If you can really call it that. All is well. Eighth Log Oh God. Twelve was right. I don’t know how he knew, or what happened, but he was right, they raided us. We grew soft. It was chaos. We don’t know what happened. We don’t know how they got in. None of it makes sense. It was so premeditated. They’re animals, yet they struck with such precision. They killed a few. Destroyed a lot, and targeted Twelve specifically it seems. He’s gone. His hut was burned to the ground, his stuff was in it, and his cot was soaked in blood. There are charred corpses amid the ruins. Several. None appear human. A trail of blood leads out of the camp and into the forest. It was bad enough Twelve was sick, but he’s dead and gone. What are we supposed to do now? Ninth Log We spent the day examining the camp. There’s still no way in that we can see. We don’t know how they breached the fortifications we made. It’s strange though the more we look into it. It seems like they intended to go after Twelve. All the chaos occurred around his hut, and the only place any of them died was there. Aside from the one trail of blood, there’s no sign of them exiting either. None of it adds up. How did Twelve know? Why did he speak in tongues? Why did they focus on him? What happened to him? We sent a scouting party to follow the trail of blood, but it just disappears. Last night, the watch also saw a strange figure moving amidst the darkness. Normally, the beasts at least make an appearance, just outside the edge of camp, but they didn’t last night. The sounds of the woods were even more disturbing than usual. We’re all really starting to be afraid.
Tenth Log One of the normal patrols returned today. They were shaken terribly. While out in the forest foraging and patrolling the paths we use, they heard a noise to the west. When they went to check it out, they came upon a clearing. They weren’t ready for what they found though. The clearing was the scene of a massacre. Animals and beasts lay scattered about, throats ripped out, limbs missing…all of them maimed and butchered. They got out of there as fast as they could. Since their return, they just seem changed. I wish I could help them, but I just don’t know what to do. Eleventh Log The attacks on the camp have stopped again. More and more sightings of mutilated beasts are showing up. Sometimes we find them littered around the camp just outside the wooden walls we have around the camp. The bodies were clearly dragged there, blood trails lead back into the woods. Mutated wolves and bears, strange hybrid beasts are shown up hung from trees by their intestines. Sometimes their bodies are even speared on the walls. It’s like nature is purging the grotesque mockeries that have been living in the forest. We haven’t the slightest idea what’s happening but we’re grateful for the momentary peace. Twelfth Log We’re doing okay finally. Ever since Twelve disappeared the attacks have slowed to a halt. It’s been two weeks since the last sighting of anything except normal wildlife. Food is abundant, and everything is relatively safe. We miss him, but things finally seem normal. We keep looking for him, hoping to atleast find his body to give it a proper burial, but he’s just vanished and so have the beasts. Thirteenth Log There was a really weird sighting today by the stream that runs just west of the camp. The stream is close to the first place we found all those mutilated bodies of animals. A group claims to have seen some strange creature that moves on all fours drinking from the stream, but before they could get close enough to see what it was, it just disappeared into the woods. It looked like it was wearing other animals. It’s strange. It seemed to be wearing the pets of all the different mutated wildlife. When they tried to follow and head where they saw it last, they couldn’t find any tracks at all, like it had never been there to begin with.