The World Ended

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Nickswitz
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The World Ended

Post by Nickswitz »

This is a story I'm writing just because, it's apocalyptic, but slightly different from most. And one thing I would like to note is that this is all written as journal entries, so the grammer is somewhat meant to be incorrect, and a lot of it is sometimes random, as well as some inaccuracies. It's part of the writing style, there will be no narration, and there will be no dialogue. This first part is very very long, it's about 8 pages on word, so here goes.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
Nickswitz
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Re: The World Ended

Post by Nickswitz »

The world ended today, not just my own, but theirs too, they just don't know it yet. I wonder what their reaction will be when they find that nothing they have will ever matter anymore. I wonder why Im still holding onto this journal, but it's all I have. I hope that for someone else it is all they have left. Hopefully it's something that can make them continue moving forward to try and fix what went wrong.

Today I walked, probably 20 miles, found a town, it was empty, just like the last one was. I wonder if I'll ever see another person. I certainly hope so, but for some reason I can't imagine that anyone could have survived what happened, although, I survived, not unscathed, and nowhere near happy, but I am alive, so I'm sure someone else Could have survived. I've always thought what it would feel like to be the last man on earth, turns out, it's not nearly as interesting as I thought it would be. However, it's made a detective of me, if only I could say that it was my own strength and my own intelligence, but, yeah, it was actually closer to my stupidity that got me here, locking myself in a bunker to get away from the mob. God, there was so much blood, everywhere, I don't think I've ever seen that much horror in so many people's eyes, they all knew they were going to die. How? What was it that came down on them, why did the bunker protect me. So many questions. I don't even know where to start, thankfully computers are working, the Internet is even working. I had an idea, checked to see if there were any article published within the last 2 days, nothing. That was a crapshoot, anytime I catch another computer I'll make sure to check. Power still works as well. The people knew they were goners, but it couldn't have been a nuclear blast, I would have died coming out only a few hours later. It's something that has to be biological, I think, or at least somewhat biological. And it doesn't affect the computers. I'll continue to look for things tomorrow, I found a nice hotel, I feel strange sleeping in someone else's house, even if they aren't around anymore, so I'll be finding hotels a lot for a while, at least until I get over this feeling. I feel like I'm writing a blog, except there's no one put there to read it, but regardless. Signing off, Joseph.

I woke up today to a dog licking my face, I don't know where the dog is from, but it seems that whatever killed the people didn't kill the dog. Although, I have yet to see anyone who is dead in this town, maybe they all survived; maybe they are all in an underground bunker. Or maybe they all ran and found somewhere safe, maybe they all ran and died. I'll walk along the main roads and see if I find anyone. I'd love to use a car, it would make it so much quicker, but I can't seem to find anyone's car keys, so I guess I'll be walking my way to somewhere, although I don't have any idea where I'll be walking. I found a compass while I was searching through a house, as well as a lot of camping supplies, just in case, although it's pretty crowded around here so I don't think I'll need it too much. But you can never be sure about these things. The dog has followed me all day, he eats like a pig, but he's company, so I'm not going to complain about him too much. I wonder if he does tricks.

Well, I guess I under-thought that crowded idea, walked straight for a day and a half, I think, then slept for 12 hours, best sleep I've had in a while, that dog actually makes me a little less scared of this place. He makes me feel like I belong a little bit. He's also an excellent attack dog, killed two rabbits on the way here, they were good eating, thank goodness that there was enough firewood that I could make a fire and cook the thing. It hasn't rained in 3 days. It's terrible, I have no idea when it'll even rain next, it could rain tonight and I would have no idea. It's surprising how much weathermen know, well, knew. I've been setting up radio broadcasts when I have found stations that worked and I could use, just like in the movies all the time. I wonder if anyone will even ever get that, if they do, will they even know where I am, I mean telling them I went west was ok, but I didn't really let them know where I was going. Movies make living in a dead world look so much easier. Although, one advantage, losing weight like crazy, thank goodness I walked a lot before this, otherwise there's no way I would be able to do this, however, I found a car that works and is in good condition, nothing fancy, but it's got high gas mileage and I filled it up at the gas station. It's funny, even though no one exists, I'm still paying for things, granted I take the money right back out, but still, it's strange. Found another hotel, I'll be staying here for a few days, just to get comfy, it's not like I'll get to know anyone here. Its scary, but everywhere I go starts to feel like home. Well, at least I'll never feel lost. Signing off once again. Joseph.

Woke up late today. Well, not late, it's not like I has plans or anything, but he clock said 10:00 AM when I woke up. I grabbed a nice laptop that I'm going to use to check into any wifi spots that show up. I'm going to walk around the town even though I have the car. It's a big town. Has lots of stuff in it. I would have been tempted to swipe things, except that no one is here, so there isn't any reason for me to. I keep thinking that I'm going to turn a corner and see some shape, and every time I think that, I see nothing. Just like every other time. Bruno, oh yeah, I named the dog Bruno, he always goes ahead of me, like he's watching out for me. There have been less and less animals that I've seen, maybe they've moved elsewhere, maybe the other animals are getting them, but they seem to be going away. I'll have to eat food from the market now, I can do that, feels nice to do something normally, although before this I would never consider making my own food, but now this is my everyday life. I guess I adapt quickly, it's only been 2 or 3 weeks and I'm already accustomed to doing all of this. I don't even remember how long it's been. The days kind of meld together now, I think it's been 4 days since I found Bruno, and he's been my best friend since then. He seems like he's pretty young, and seems to be able to take the distance, I'm sure he'll enjoy the car ride when we move to the next town. To be honest, I don't even know what I'm looking for, I wonder if I know when I find it. At first I was looking for what happened, then I was looking for people, now I'm just going places, I guess I'm now looking to find myself. Soul searching is what I've gone down too. I feel like a loser now. Well, I guess I'll continue on my 'soul-searching' and find something about myself in this god-forsaken world.

The morning feels good, although it's been close to a month since I've seen any other humans. Alive that is. I have a feeling that I will never see a living human in my life. At least I have Bruno here. Yesterday I went to the local gun shop. I have no idea how to use a gun, so I grabbed a small one, and I never thought that it would have so much of a kick, I nearly took my arm off shooting it. So for now I'm gonna start trying to learn to use a gun better, but I'm not even going to carry it with me until I can actually shoot it without killing myself. Currently I have a 9mm, I think, sitting in the cabinet. I doubt that I'll actually ever use it, but it's better to have it. Tomorrow Bruno and I are going to start moving on to the next town. I've kind of gotten attached to the place, but I don't know how well off I'll be, amazingly enough, grass grows really tall in a month, I mean I'm sure that the grass wasn't cut right before the world ended, but it had to have been cut pretty recently, however, even in the last week I've seen it grow a few inches. Bruno found himself a pet he likes to chase, it's a stupid frog, I think it was someone's pet, but it was going down the road cleaning up all the bugs and Bruno just ran after it, didn't attack it, just barked at it. It was like they had a sacred code between them. It's so clichéd, but it really does, Bruno won't get any closer to the frog, and the frog doesn't move towards Bruno. I've packed everything into the car, which is actually a lot roomier than I thought, but I guess that could be that I'm used to four siblings trying to cram into a five-seat car. It's a nice little hatchback, it doesn't have any name on it, but its a Chevy. I took out the backseat, which was such a hassle, I almost gave up, but Bruno really wanted to have that backseat for a bed, so we won't have to worry about having somewhere to stay, we will have that car as long as it lasts. I wonder how long gasoline will last, I'll have to grab a hose somewhere so I can siphon gas off the other cars I find, also some bandages and first aid stuff. Glass really hurts when you try to break it. I've decided I am no longer trusting anything movies claim, none of them are true, and I am definitely not going to try to eat bugs, I'm good on real food for now, so I should be just fine for at least until we get to the next city. They aren't even cities anymore, they are ghost-towns, lifeless and deserted. I really would like to know where this entire city went, I haven't seen any bodies at all here. Maybe that's why I'm staying here so long.

Well that was abrupt. Bruno got chased by a leopard, I think it was a leopard, it was a big cat, turns out that 9mm was useful. Although it caught Bruno's tail, a lot of blood loss, but I got it bandaged up, he liked that tail of his, poor thing. At least he's ok. The cat will be good eating for our last night in this city.

Driving down to this town we found a few cars on the road, the real surprise was the town, people everywhere, just lying on the ground, they were all decaying in the heat so I couldn't get any real clues from their bodies. It reeks here, I've decided that I would start creating mass graves, so they can have some sort of dignity, I don't know if I'm an idiot, or if I'm being respectful. But I just feel it's the right thing to do. I wonder if they died quietly. Or if they were all tortured in their last minutes or even hours of life. I sure hope that they didn't, I never thought I would care so much about people, or death. If it was the same thing that got the people who were trying to get me they suffered, but, it may have been something else, won't ever really know. Bruno's tail is getting better, it's amazingly enough, actually healing, he may get his favorite toy back.

I buried about 30 people, I don't know any of them, but I buried them close to each-other and marked each grave, nothing special, but it's something, something I would have appreciated for myself if I died randomly and a complete unknown. I don't know if I'll be able to bury anymore though, the stench is too much, and the ideas that end up coming around are too heart-wrenching. What about my parents, my dad was sick already, I wonder if he's still alive, and I wonder if mom is too. I haven't talked to them for years now. What about Kyle, John and Zoey. They all stuck with mom and dad. Hopefully they're all right, I never actually cared this much, but they're family. Sadly, I have a feeling that I'll never see them again. I guess it's true what dad always said, death is the biggest part of life. Signing off again. Joseph.

I've decided that I'm no longer going to leave radio trails, as much as they work in the movies, they take too much time to set up, and don't seem to get any results. I found another dog, sadly he was mangled, Bruno tried to lick his wounds up but he was long gone, it looked like he got attacked by a big cat, which means I'll have to keep my eyes out for more of them. Just in case. This city had a huge population based on the amount of people lying around, it's like they all just stopped dead whatever they were doing, in grocery stores, on computers, in the shower, they all just dropped dead. Bruno likes to search for things, he's been digging in the ground for the past 12 hours since we got to this city, not sure what he's looking for, but I hope he finds it soon, he's stopped sleeping since he started digging, which is weird for Bruno. I siphoned off some gas, the car seems to be getting worse and worse gas mileage, trees seem to be unable to hold themselves together anymore. It's kind of outrageous, there were three trees down on one of the main streets, it meant I wasted half a gallon finding my way around it. I still can't seem to ignore the rules now that no one is around. I think that it's my fear of hurting myself, because no one would be able to help me if I did crash the car. So it may be better than joyriding. I'm thinking about grabbing a bigger car, I'm not even carrying the big things, just the amount of food I want to bring along to be safe is a little too much, probably wouldn't be too bad to bring less just in case I need to walk somewhere because the car breaks down or something blocks me. I think I'll just keep the Chevy for now. It's the safe way to go.

I have decided that I'm only going to use the car to go between cities. The walking has been keeping me sane. In the distance there's a fire blazing, there was a thunderstorm and we haven't gotten rain, for close to 2 weeks I think, so that probably sparked the fire, I hope that it doesn't get here. Turns out brownouts are starting to happen, I'm going to grab a lot of batteries and a lot of flashlights, just in case. I've found some new clothes that I actually like, and the water is getting gross, so I'm going to have to start looking for streams to clean in and make sure that I grab enough bottles of water, they’ll get warm, but they’ll stay clean for a long time. Bruno has a good eye for those things, so I'll just chase after him when he runs off in the random directions. The car is starting to rust around the tires, so I'll probably have to grab a new car soon. It's not that bad off right now, they have a car dealership that’s indoors so I'm going to head over there later today before it gets dark.

Headed over to the dealership, they had a car that was small and got great gas mileage, had to search for the keys for 2 hours though. The night is coming now and I'm going to head to sleep in this hotel, it's the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in, and I didn't have to pay for it. Awesome, tomorrow I'll drive in the way of the next city, it looks huge, I can see the buildings from here, so it has to be huge, I have no idea which city it is because I've been traveling so much, but I'll find out tomorrow. Oh, turns out I'm on the sixth floor and the elevator doesn't have enough power to go up, so I had to walk up the stairs, should have been less vain, next time I will, tomorrow I'll siphon out a lot of gas and store it in the car so that I'll make sure that I don't run out. Joseph Marcus signing off.

Woke up this morning to the building next door on fire, never got around to siphoning out that gasoline I wanted. However I headed towards the other city, haven't reached it yet. Bruno and I decided that we would stop off and enjoy the sunrise together. He feels like he actually understands what's going on. He looks out for me, I look out for him. He acts like he understand all of this death, he acts like the death matters to him, I've heard so many people tell me animals don't understand death, they just recognize it, but Bruno, he's different. He seems to know that everyone is gone, he's sad, he always bows his head around them, he's an interesting creature. I'm glad that he hung around and decided to wake me that morning. The sun is coming up over the edge of the horizon. We'll get moving in a few minutes, after the sun is up. The sky isn't as red as it usually is. It's still beautiful. I haven't really noticed the beauty in the world since everything died, but it's really gorgeous, even without people, it's still beautiful.

In the city I was met with some unsightly folks, which, seeing as I haven't seen people in over a month I'm surprised I didn't just run up to them and kiss them. However, they shot at me, I don't know why they would shoot me, all they kept saying was that I was infected. I don't think that a virus could possibly spread this fast and kill this many people if it was spread human to human. But I don't think they cared. I ended up pulling out a rifle from back, it hurt shooting a human, it felt like I was betraying everything I believed in. But I needed to get in, and the people weren't going to let me in. So I had to do it, or that's what I'll tell myself. With every shot, Bruno whimpered, he knew what it meant. It hurt both of us. We buried each one, five of them, with everything they had. They deserved everything they had. I apologized for each one I killed, I had killed them, I wish I hadn't, I would have rathered they killed me now that it's happened. I wonder if they would have felt the same way having watched me die. Were they right, am I infected, did they know more about what had happened than I do, it's probably not hard for them to, I know almost nothing about what's going on. I hope what I did was the right thing to do. Although right and wrong is almost never determined now, and especially not now. I'll have to wait until the future to know if what I did was right. If there is a god, which after this I've started to believe there must be something more powerful than us, I hope that he will forgive me for what I have done.

I hope that there are more humans who are alive, since there were five of them here, maybe more have survived elsewhere. I should get a white flag, just in case. Hopefully the rest won’t think that I’m diseased as well. I hope I never have to take aim at another human again. Although for some reason I feel like this won’t be the last time that I have to do it. Bruno is still upset; I think he’s mad at me. I mean, I hate me for doing it, but it’s what had to be done. I hope he can forgive me for doing it. I stayed in bed for the remainder of the day, didn’t have the energy to expend any effort to do anything today. Last night was the first night I’ve felt anything in a long while, and it touched me deeply, I guess this really has become a journey of discovery, although I don’t know how much more I want to discover if it is going to continue to hurt me like this. The car is shot badly, too bad, I really liked that thing. Oh well, it’s just a car, I’ll find another. Hopefully it will be just as good as the last one. Bruno is still lying on the ground; his tail is healing remarkably well still, better than I thought a dog’s tail would ever heal. He gets up every once in a while and decides to chase it, still can’t catch it, but it entertains him for a little bit. Too bad I’m not that distractible, I haven’t been entertained in over a month. I have a feeling I won’t ever be entertained, I feel too guilty after yesterday.

I woke up and got ready to find another car. I wonder if I can find one that actually looks good. I feel like that might make me feel good, I can see highway in the distance, hopefully that will let me find somewhere I can settle down for a few weeks, because I’m tired of finding new places to go, and I’m tired of getting used to somewhere else. So I think I’ll settle down in another city, hopefully I’ll get to retire this gun and never use it again. There’s also a gun shop that I saw, I may grab some pistols and get better at using them, that way I can do damage without killing them if I have to. If I hit a shoulder rather than center of mass four or five times, then it’ll incapacitate them rather than killing them. Although incapacitating someone in this situation could just be a prolonged death sentence. I would stick around to make sure they healed up and were able to survive without my assistance. Off to look for that car, hope that there are a couple decent ones, although as long as it can drive and has decent gas mileage so I don’t have to constantly get out and fill it up it will be more than acceptable. Let’s hope Bruno feels better by the end of the day.

Bruno seems to like me a little more now. I got a car, it's another small one, looks a little nicer than the last one. I wonder how much longer cars will survive without much repair, it will probably work for the next few years, if it doesn't get shot up again. I pulled out the back seat of this one as well, now Bruno can have his home back. I walked down to the highway, it's a straight shot from the hotel down the main routes. From there, I have no idea where it goes. I guess I'll drive it until I see somewhere that looks familiar. I wonder how far that'll mean I have to go. At least it'll be somewhere I know. I think I'll move west along the highway and see how far i get, then try and get out west. If I can get to Wisconsin I can see if mom and dad and Kyle, and John and Zoey are all ok. I hope they are. They have no real way of fighting off anything, although, a month ago I had no way of defending myself, I learned, Kyle's a good kid, he should be able to learn to shoot, John is pretty useless, but he can cook, which helps, I guess, and Zoey, well, Zoey already knows how to shoot a gun, she's gotten good for being only 12. But she could decapitate a rabbit with a single shot last time I was over there. She's 12 now, well, may be, birthday was sometime this month, if it's still July, it feels like July, still a little cool, I wonder if the last town survived the fire. Probably not; It’s only been two days here, I already feel like I've been too long, should probably head out along the highway. Two of my fuel canisters have holes in them, so I only have three left over. I can make do with that, just have to watch for cars on the road, which there are amazingly few of. It had to be something local since they only seem to die outside of a car. So that means that whatever it is takes effect quickly, doesn't leave much damage either, since even though they are decaying, the organs are still intact and don't look to have burst, or anything too gross. They all look the same, I mean I've never dissected a well person, so they may all be sickly looking, but they all look the same, so it either doesn't physically affect them or it does in the same way throughout, and I think that the former is more likely for a widespread infection of something. Most diseases don't affect everyone else the same way, so I assume this one doesn't either. So it probably doesn't physically harm the person. I'm making the assumption that most of the people who I have found dead are from the same thing, since they all have the same symptoms, which mean it's very painful when it kills them from all the screaming I heard when I was in the bunker. I wonder if anyone else knows what kills them. I wonder if there are any scientists that are researching it. Well, I will be signing off again, then heading to bed one more time in this town and then head out onto the highway, which I hope to find some living civilization out there, which will hopefully accept me without shooting at me. Joseph Marcus signing off.

I've driven for almost a day I think, turns out my compass is broken, when it's supposed to be facing north its actually facing west, so I've been moving south for almost 3 weeks. Going back and forth between towns probably hasn’t gotten me very far, I should have noticed the sun being in the wrong place, I should keep track of these things better, never know when going the right way will actually save my life. Now I'm actually going west, or so say the road signs, I doubt that someone is trying to fool me with them, at least I hope no one was cruel enough to do that. Now I have no clue where I am, I haven't seen any distinguishable landmarks in the past month, so I'll just have to wait until I get to somewhere major before I know where I am. Bruno and I have decided we'll sleep in the car for the night. Tomorrow we may sleep outside, one of us keeping watch at all times, hope he doesn't stay up too late. I wonder what animals are around these areas, I'm guessing a leopard is not a regular occurrence. I hope nothing big lives in these areas. Before I left I decided that I would check the Internet, no change, still no people saying anything about what happened. There were a few news stories about worldwide bug infestation, but I don't know anything about what's going on, I don't know any kind of bug that will kill a person almost instantly. I wonder if the bugs disappeared. I hope they did, although all the decaying people have led to quite a bit of a bug problem, thankfully they have enough food to go around so I shouldn't have to worry about the flies coming after me. We'll settle in for the night and then continue the journey to find something, or someone. Joseph Marcus signing off

I woke up to find that the car’s battery died, completely. So the engine won’t turn over and I don’t have any way to start it up. I guess fuel shouldn’t have been my only concern. I guess overstuffing the car with food stuffs and water wasn’t a bad idea after all. Today I packed everything I could possibly carry, walked for a few hours and then settled down again, the heat and sun is brutal. I’m thinking it may not be a bad idea to move at night and find coverage during the night, means that it will take a lot longer to get anywhere, but it means that Bruno and I won’t get heatstroke out here, that would be the worst possible thing in this situation. For now we’ve decided the best place to hide out is under the highway. It’s much cooler under here than it is in the sun, Bruno seems to be enjoying it thoroughly. He caught some rabbits which we decided to cook rather than eating the packed meals, means an extra meal on the go. I’m so glad I decided to grab a lot of matches, they will come in handy when we have to eat. I’m just now realizing how easy life was with electricity. Microwaves meant food was fast and very accessible, without it, I feel like such a caveman, at least I don’t have to bang rocks together to make sparks, although I may end up having to come to that if I keep going through these matches so quickly. The next habitable area we come to, Bruno and I have decided we will hole up for as long as we can. He’s tired of walking, we’ll probably only stay a month or two, but it’s much too difficult to walk at this pace. The first month of walking wasn’t so bad, but after driving the long distances, it’s much harder to walk. Oh, we’ve also decided that it will be much easier to walk, we’re no longer going to use a car. Although a car can be useful, it makes it much more difficult to walk long distances after it’s been used for even a week. So we have decided that we will walk wherever we’re going. It also means not worrying as much about crashing the car, Bruno doesn’t worry about it, but I worry a lot about it, one can never be too cautious.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
Vic
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Re: The World Ended

Post by Vic »

Nickswitz wrote:This is a story I'm writing just because, it's apocalyptic, but slightly different from most. And one thing I would like to note is that this is all written as journal entries, so the grammer is somewhat meant to be incorrect, and a lot of it is sometimes random, as well as some inaccuracies. It's part of the writing style, there will be no narration, and there will be no dialogue. This first part is very very long, it's about 8 pages on word, so here goes.
I'm kind of liking it so far, it took a little to get into but I would like to see more.
God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.
.................................................Billy Currington
Nickswitz
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Re: The World Ended

Post by Nickswitz »

I'm glad the style only takes a little getting used to. I plan on putting more up next week, probably will be working on it over the weekend.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
mwhittington
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Re: The World Ended

Post by mwhittington »

Not bad. I kinda like the more realistic approach you're using, as well as his journey of self discovery.
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Nickswitz
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Re: The World Ended

Post by Nickswitz »

Thanks, he gets a lot more self discovery, and the more realistic approach will continue, and it does not get any prettier.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
Nickswitz
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Re: The World Ended

Post by Nickswitz »

The next part of the story, usually they won't be as short, but this is just a lot of thinking on his part. A lot of thinking that helps him realize himself a little better, and also scares him.


I woke up to Bruno licking my face, he hasn’t done that since the first time we met. It was a great feeling. The weather is nicer now that we got a little bit of rain, although it’s still much too muggy to move at a high speed. We’ve been traveling under the highway for about a week, stopping every so often so that we wouldn’t get too tired. However, we have stopped much more than I would have liked. For the last two days Bruno and I haven’t moved from our spot other than going out for an hour or two to try and find kindling and animals. Bruno is much better at catching food than I am, never have been much of a hunter, even for being from Wisconsin. Dad never liked guns, I guess he’s really the reason I liked to talk so much. Reason I’m out here. He made sure I got a great education, and made sure that I refined my speech skills. From that, I got this job in New York, once I got the call to be a news caster my dad told me to go for it, paid for the flight over, paid for the hotel for the first week as well. I miss dad, he always pushed me so hard, I hated it when I was younger, he never pushed the rest of the kids as hard, they all got decent grades, but I had to get A’s, every year, they were lucky if they got B’s. If he hadn’t pushed me like he did, I may not be alive today. And he may be dead. I may never know, I may only ever have Bruno to spend my time with. I guess I could live with that. He’s been the most faithful friend I’ve ever had. He wouldn’t ever hurt me, and he’d put his life ahead of his own, and has on a few occasions, and we’ve only known each other 2 months, I doubt any human could be that loyal after that short of time. I love him, he has protected me from a big cat, and from some small rats a few weeks ago. I’m pretty sure that if it weren’t for him coming along I would be dead right now. The sky is getting cloudy and dark. It’ll more than likely rain again tonight. Hopefully if it does rain it’ll be enough to clear up some of this humidity. I’m tired of the humidity. I haven’t been able to sleep even in the tent, and these mosquitos are getting worse and worse every day. There’s a hoard of them I have to fight off every morning. Thankfully I still have the camping equipment, mosquito proof netting, which makes sleeping slightly easier, but it’s still been too hot to sleep every night, so I’ve only gotten 2 hours of sleep at a time. I think I would have rather gotten no sleep than this little sleep. I can’t think of anything that would make the night any more bearable. I guess I’ll spend the night on watch duty, Bruno seems to have no problem sleeping in this heat and humidity. Dogs can sleep in anything I guess. I can feel the storm coming; I can hear the thunder rolling. Soon the rain will start falling. I may sit in the rain when it starts to fall; I always loved that feeling as a kid. The rain has begun. I’ll go out there now.

When the sun rose this morning it felt like a godsend. The humidity had cleared up, and the ground was saturated with dew as well as quite a bit of rain water. Sitting in the rain was something I hadn’t done in a long time. It felt quite relieving; it even made me forget that I am one in the small group of remaining humans that remain on the planet for a very short period of time. I wonder just how many people are still alive. Something else that I realized is that I no longer would like to find more people, he group I was greeted with previously may not be a minority in their thoughts. I would rather never meet with another human, than be forced to protect myself from another human. I would rather die myself than kill another person. For this reason I will avoid any human I happen to come along. It may make me lonely for the rest of my journey, and lacking in conversational companionship, but it will keep the rest of humanity safe, or if not keeping them safe it will keep my conscience clean, and my hands free of blood. Bruno and I have decided we will again walk. The weather is dry enough and the heat is not overly oppressive enough that I will be able to walk a few miles at a time without having to stop to hunt or rest. Bruno found a sizeable rabbit before I woke up, he brought it to me as a wakeup gift. I started a fire with the kindling that we collected before the rain, cooked the rabbit, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was the first real meal I’ve had in 3 days; I’ve been surviving on trail mix and granola bars. The rabbit was quite filling. I’ve seen a few deer lately; sooner or later I’ll start shooting them. Then I’ll actually get real meals, maybe I’ll actually learn to cook it well. Too bad the computers are no longer working, means I’ll have to find a “living in the wilderness” book. I’m sure the next city I hit will have a big enough library that I’ll be able to find something useful in. Too bad so many book stores have closed down, means it’ll be even harder to find something useful. I will be getting on my way down the highway now. Joseph Marcus signing off.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
Nickswitz
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Re: The World Ended

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Today Bruno and I saw a large fire in the distance, probably from the storm, without infrastructure around to protect us I feel like there will be a lot more fires happening that we will have to just find a way to keep safe. Bruno and I decided to venture from the highway and tried to find somewhere safer. We happened upon a cave that we figured was safe, Bruno knew it wasn't safe, I should have listened to him. I ventured in and found a bear and her cubs in the cave. The mother turned toward me and bolted towards me rising up and ready to bat me across the cave, and then Bruno barked, and jumped almost 2 yards from where he was to the momma bear. He grabbed her throat with his teeth, tearing into her powerfully. By the time that she could shake him off of her she was bleeding profusely and I had the rifle out and ready for a clear shot, thankfully I took it the second that she threw Bruno, otherwise I'm sure I would have been dead. I also killed the two cubs. It was better for them to die peacefully in their sleep than slowly without their mother. After we stripped the mother of her meat we buried the remaining carcass and the two cubs, it felt wrong to let them rot, especially the cubs, they hadn't had a chance and I ended that chance for them when I killed their mother, the least I can do is give them some respect. Bruno and I started a small campfire in the cave, he's very good at carrying small rocks for surrounding the fire, also great at finding dry kindling. The fire was stubborn at first but thankfully we carried one of the containers of gasoline, once we poured a little over the wood it lit like paper. After cooking some of the meat we shared it, thankfully there was more than enough to share, Bruno likes thick meat it seems, I don't prefer, but if it gets me through the week, I'll gladly take it over nothing. Bruno and I then put a few rocks around the entrance and cleared out whatever brush was around the entrance of the cave. I plan on eating some more of the bear tomorrow morning. I wonder how close the fire is to us. I plan on staying here until I can see the fire has either burned through the area or it rains again. Bruno and I may be waiting here for quite a while. Joseph Marcus signing off.

I woke up to an eviscerated rabbit at the doorstop of the cave, I assume that Bruno got bored last night, although I told him not to leave the cave unless he woke me up first, but when do dogs ever listen to the warnings their given. The bear meat had spoiled already. It looks like we'll be looking for meal after meal rather than using large stores, I should have expected that, nothing lasts when power used to go out, so I don't see any reason it would last in this heat. Thankfully I do have some fruits and veggies from the last town. I feel like not knowing the towns has helped, I get too attached too fast anyway, so not knowing anything about makes it easier to move to the next one. I guess that's why I haven't been looking for anything to identify with, I don't want to anymore, I want to be separate from these places I go. I especially don't want to miss the people there, since they all seem to have died. Not having seen a living person for such a long time, and having to murder the last group I met, makes it much harder to live with myself. But I feel obligated to continue moving, maybe to find another group so I may redeem myself, although I'm not sure what I would be redeeming, they wouldn't know, if they didn't shoot at me as well. This is why I feel distance is best. I can't wait to find whatever town is next, so that I can move in. Find a nice hotel room, get settled, and get comfortable until Bruno starts getting antsy about being there, he seems to know when it's best to move along. Today I'll walk a little, the cave isn't big enough to explore, so I might as well explore outdoors as long as the fire hasn't gotten here yet. Maybe there will be campers out here or something.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
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