* * *
May 29th
10:24am
They’re still out there. We’re still in here.
* * *
May 30th
7:43am
Horde is pretty much gone. We’re not leaving til tomorrow morning though, just to be safe.
Shya won’t be traveling with us anymore. She’s taking over the group here. I went back to my “room” and did a happy dance. I’m terrible, I know. Fuck off.
* * *
May 31st
12:12 pm
I think the universe is trying to make up for the swamp bullshit. We found a gas station/visitor station thing that has NOT been looted yet. We’ve completely stuffed one of the wagons.
Most of it is chips and snack type food, but that’s pretty much what we’re used to at this point. We really need to figure out these damn crossbows, and learn how to hunt. I want a big ol’ steak. I want a burger. I WANT FOOD. REAL food, not this bullshit packaged crap. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to NOT be starving, but still. There’s only so much ramen and chips and canned soup a person can handle.
We’re taking a break for now. The power is still on (not sure how), and Josh apparently used to work at a gas station, so he knows how to operate the oven. We’re cracking open sodas and replenishing our water bottles. Yay for pizza bites and ice cream. There’s a Wendy’s across the parking lot from us, but we’re not risking it. We’re eating, then cutting out of here.
I grabbed me a couple new notebooks, just in case this one gets full.
I talked to Melly about renaming Sweetie, and she just about cried all over me. Then she said she didn’t want Sweetie named after Micah. She suggested naming her after the women who found her and took care of her. So Sweetie’s new name is….drumroll please:
Bridgette Michelle!
I tried arguing for Bridgette Shyan (like “Cheyenne”), but Melly took a vote, and I was the only one who liked it.
Food’s done. Write later.
* * *
9:36 pm
Didn’t make it very far, and things didn’t go quite as planned, but we’re in a house. There’s a pharmacy near us. Roger went with Scott and Ben to see if he could find anything useful.
We ran into trolls a couple times, but our new scout system is working well for us. We were all able to make it to a hiding place in time, and SweBridgette was mostly quiet. I had a bottle ready, though, just in case.
The gouge on Mike’s ankle is almost gone. We’ve kept it cleaned, and had him on the antibiotics. Kinda doubt that’s what helped, since otherwise the cure to this shit would be easy, but whatever. At least now we know that scratches alone aren’t enough to infect a person.
The guys haven’t returned yet. It’s been about an hour, but the power is out, so they’re probably having to move slow. Haven’t seen any trolls since we got here, but that doesn’t mean anything. I’ll give them another hour before we go searching for them.
* * *
11:19pm
They’re back. White as fucking ghosts. Took a while to get them to talk, then another long ass time for them to stop talking all at once.
They found a woman at the pharmacy. She was behind one of those glass/plastic partition things. Scared the hell out of them. They were swinging the flashlight around, making sure it was all clear, you know? Swing left, swing right, whoop, there she was (you younger generations probably have no idea what that is referring to, but whatever). They freaked out at first, thinking she was a troll, and then they see that she’s, like, laughing at them. So then they start laughing, cause, oh, it’s a normie, okay.
Scott heads over to her, still laughing. Tells her, you know, sorry for scaring you. We don’t want to hurt anyone, we’re just looking for medicine. We have a friend who’s sick and needs some amox or penicillin or something, y’know? Just let us grab a few zpacks maybe, and we’ll get out of your hair.
He said she kinda frowned, and motioned for him to come closer. She was pretty, so he leans forward like “hey baby”, and she fucking lunges at him. Growling and scratching at the glass like an animal.
Keep in mind, this woman fucking smiled at them. She laughed at them. Scott said, she brought her hand up to her mouth when she laughed. Her eyes got all crinkly and everything. They heard her. There was nothing to suggest she was anything other than human.
So now, not only are these bastards learning how to open doors and shit, now they’re learning how to...what’s the word? Emote? Is that what it’s called when you express emotions? Or fake emotions, in this case. Ugh, I don’t know, but this is fucked up. I mean, what are we supposed to do now? What happens if we see a person, and we think “oh, they might need help”, but instead it’s a fucking troll? What happens if it’s a child? How are we supposed to turn a blind eye on them, and risk them being in actual danger?
Up is down, folks. And left is fucking right. I don’t even fucking know anymore.
Abby and I were the only ones awake when they got here, and she wanted to wake up everyone to get the hell outta here, but I told her no. It’s too dangerous, for one thing. For another, it’d take at least an hour to get everyone up and ready to go. It would take us at least an hour to get to the next area, and we’re traveling with a 4 year old...and an infant.
She argued that staying here is just as dangerous. What if the trolls have managed to find a way to communicate? Scott said he killed the troll woman, so unless they have telepathy, we should be okay. If we find out they have telepathy, I’m just fucking done. I’m already done enough as it is, throw in shit like that, and I am fucking done.
The guys aren’t planning on sleeping anytime soon, so they’re taking watch, along with Abby. I told them to wake up someone if they decide they might be able to fall asleep.
They’re all under strict warnings not to say anything to the rest until we are out of town. I don’t want to risk any freakouts.
Scott asked about the scouts. Since they’re the ones keeping an eye out, they should know what to look for. I told him just to warn them not to talk to anyone. It doesn’t matter how human or friendly they look, we are avoiding everyone.
Which reminds me: we kinda split up again? Not like, split up completely, but, we have teams. Like Mike is the maintenance guy, making sure stuff stays working. Abby takes care of the supplies, Jason takes care of the kids, Scott kills stuff and now Dave is in charge of the scouts. He’s their boss, I guess you could say.
Well, him and Ben both. Like, one of them stays with the group (us), while the other scouts with everyone else. Whoever stays with us is the one that decides who goes out next, and makes sure that everyone checks in like they’re supposed to.
I told Dave to go ahead and let Ben know about the new development, but Ben is the only one.
I think that’s everything. Time to sleep. It’s already on its way to one am. SwBridgette woke up a little bit ago, but she’s fed, changed, and on her way to la-la land again.
Goodnight folks.
* * *
June 1st
11:30 pm
Fuck me. Not literally. Just. Fuck.
Let’s just say: if the road to hell really is paved with good intentions, then I’ve got a pretty fucking good idea of where I’m headed.
The day started out fine. Ben woke up early, so we took him aside and explained the situation. He wasn’t happy about having to keep quiet, but he agreed with the reasoning. He said if we’re going to be staying off the grid, so to speak, we would need more supplies. He pulled up google maps (we charged the phones at that gas station yesterday) and showed me a couple stores he had found nearby. There were two in one direction, and two more in another.
I gave him permission to take a small team with him, and raid the stores that weren’t on our way. I figured that would give everyone else a chance to wake up, and get everything packed and ready to go.
He took Josh and Melly with him. I heard him telling them as they left about the whole avoiding people thing.
Before they left, I had dug out the guns and made sure they were all armed. I did the same with everyone else as they woke up. By the time Ben and the rest got back with the goods, everyone was awake, fed, and ready to go.
We ended up not leaving for another half hour though. They came back with a lot. Like, seriously. We should be good for at least a week, just from that stop. One wagon is completely full. It’s taking two people to pull it, and one person pushing. They had bags on top of bags of food.
Anyway.
We got that stuff packed up, and got on the road. We got into the woods as quick as we could, and circled around the town, which turned out to be a colossal pain in the ass. Huge fucking field we couldn’t go around, so we ran across it. Keep in mind what I said about the fucking wagon being heavy.
Got to where the other stores were, and fuck off. Google had it listed wrong. It wasn’t two stores, it was one. So okay, whatever. Ben and Scott did some more raiding while we ran across another empty field with this heavy ass wagon, and why the fuck we didn’t spread out the weight better while we waited, I have no fucking idea, but we didn’t.
Got on the road some more.
Annnnnd, found more swamp. We finally ended up sticking to an actual road. Which was fine, and I was just about to call for a break so we could tell everyone what was going on with the trolls, and then..
Fuck.
Okay. So. I don’t think I mentioned this before, but maybe I did, it’s late, it’s been hell, and I just. Whatever.
If the scouts come across a house, they’re supposed to signal the others, and they send a couple people to check it out together. Especially if it looks like someone might be still living there. That way, we don’t have to risk the entire group blundering into a fuckmess.
Well, on the plus side, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about anyone forgetting this shit again. On the downside....fuck.
Okay, I’m just gonna say it.
Becca probably won’t make it through the night.
Part of it is my fault. I should’ve told them all sooner, but I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. Part of it is Gabby’s fault, and part of it is no one’s fault but Becca’s. Ben and Dave both told them not to talk to anyone, or try to help a person. I heard Gabby complaining about how they kept reminding the scouts, like they were “fucking children.”
And yet you didn’t fucking listen, now did you? Sorry, I’m trying not to be mad, but it’s hard not to when...just….UGH.
Okay, so. From what I understand, Gabby went out to give Becca a water bottle. She had forgot to grab one before she went out to take her place in the scout circle thing, so Gabby was gonna run one out to her real quick.
Well, I remember Gabby grabbing two bottles of water, and heading out. I remember her being gone for a while, and thinking, “oh, she’s spending time with her girlfriend. As long as they don’t get too distracted, that’s fine.”
Then we heard the gunshots. We figured, you know, “troll horde, oh shit!” so we all took off for the trees off the side of the road. We all managed to find a tree, and settled in to wait. Couple minutes later, Dave jumps down out of the tree and tells us to hurry up. It’s not a troll horde, but we need to get outta there now. So we get about another mile down the road, and I see the houses.
John is carrying Becca, and there’s blood everywhere. Roger took off ahead of us, took a closer look at Becca, then came running back and started digging through our supplies. I don’t know what he was looking for, but he ended up dumping out a couple of the plastic bags Ben got from the dollar store and ran off with them.
I guess he was looking for rope, cause I know he used the bags to tie a tourniquet (sp?) around her arm. We got to the nearest house, and I finally found out what happened.
Apparently, when Gabby reached Becca, Becca had shushed her, and pointed out a house ahead of them. There was a woman pounding on the window, looking behind her frantically, like something was inside the house with her.
Becca had already signaled the others, and was just waiting for them to reach her before continuing. You know. Like she was supposed to do. Gabby talked her into going alone. “What if they’re too late? You go on ahead, and I’ll stay here and wait for the others.”
So Becca’s dumbass went. She ignored everyone’s orders and went.
She said she got inside the house, looked around, found the room the woman was in. The woman she had seen was curled up in a corner, face buried in her hands. She was rocking, and making this sound like she was crying.
Becca is a sweetheart, guys. A complete and total sweetheart. What’s the word, cinnamon bun? Cinnamon roll? Something like that, anyway. So of course she went over to her. Sat down in front of her, and pulled her hands away from her face, probably saying shit like “it’s okay, you’re safe.” She wasn’t paying any attention, really, she said. She was too busy keeping an eye on the doorway for whatever had scared the woman, so she didn’t even know something wasn’t right until the woman tore a chunk out of her arm with her fucking teeth.
She managed to get away from her and took off running, but the troll chased her out of the house. Ben and the others were already on their way, and when they saw what was going on, they started shooting. Becca hit the ground to avoid getting shot, and the guys finally managed to get a headshot in, though they all say it was probably more luck than skill. Something we’re gonna have to work on.
Anyway, Josh ran and grabbed Becca and started hauling her ass back to the treeline. Becca fell, so he picked her up, and carried her.
We couldn’t stop where we were, and thank someone Roger realized that. He got her arm tied up so she wouldn’t lose anymore blood, and to hopefully stop the virus from getting to her brain.
We finally managed to get to a house, which is where we are now. Becca was still...what’s the word? In her right mind?
Kinda?
I mean, she was in a lot of pain, the troll took a good sized chunk out of her arm, and it was right on the inside...like, okay. Put your arm out, palm up. The area right between your wrist and your elbow, she’s missing about a fist sized spot. And there’s a major artery there, so the blood loss was...ugh.
But she was able to talk. She told us what happened inside the house, and she begged us to shoot her before she turned into a troll. I talked it over with Roger and Scott, and we thought of trying an amputation. Only problem is, we didn’t have any knives that would cut through bone, and we don’t know how fast the virus travels through the body. We also have no way of knocking her out for the “surgery.”
I ended up suggesting...well, I dunno if it has an actual name, but I’m calling it a gunshot amputation. Basically, shooting her arm at really close range to blow it off of her body. High risk, very unlikely she would survive, especially with all the blood she’s already lost, but it was a thought.
We talked it over with Becca and Gabby. Gabby freaked the fuck out (understandably). I told her though: if we didn’t do something, Becca would turn into a troll and die anyway. There is a tiny chance she might survive this, and if she does, there’s still a chance of her turning into a troll, but it was the biggest shot at survival we could give her.
Becca said to go ahead and do it, but she made us promise that if she doesn’t make it, or if she shows signs of turning into a troll, that we’ll shoot her. Immediately.
I made everyone leave. I didn’t want them to be in the house during the “operation.” Josh and Gabby stayed to support each other. Roger and I stayed to help Scott. Roger and I held Becca down, and Scott pulled the trigger. He just put it right against her skin, bang bang, real quick.
Roger tied another tourniquet, and we dribbled water in her mouth (she passed out) while he stitched her up the best he could.
Now we wait. We’ve been taking turns checking on her, trying to get a few sips of water in her at a time.
The shots took out about half of her upper arm, I guess? She has part of a bicep left, anyway. We doused it in alcohol, before a
nd after Roger stitched it up, and wrapped a sheet around it as tight as we (safely) could. It’s been a couple hours. Last time we checked, the bleeding had finally slowed.
Gabby and Josh are sitting with her. It’s going to be a rough night. If we can get the bleeding to stop completely, I’d like to get out of this house and meet up with the others. I’m worried that the gunshots might’ve been heard.
Right now though, I’d be happy if she would just wake up. We need to get some antibiotics in her. We need to get more water in her. We need to know she’ll be okay.
But she just lays there.
I kinda want to punch Gabby. I kinda want to shoot her ass and leave her here. She knew the rules. She talked Becca into going anyway. The only reason I haven’t beat the everliving fuck out of her yet is because I know. Whether Becca makes it or not, Gabby is going to have to live with the consequences of her stupid ass mistake for the rest of her fucking life.
And I have zero - zero - amount of sympathy for her right now. As far as I’m concerned, she did this to Becca, and if Becca dies, so does she.
* * *
June 2nd
4:04am
Becca woke up a couple hours ago. I heard Gabby shout, then Josh came running out to get us. Becca had something important she wanted me to do, since I’m the “leader.” We’re not sure how laws work right now, but gay marriage was legal in Virginia before all this shit started, and Becca wanted to say her vows, “just in case”.
I couldn’t argue with her. I wanted to tell her no, I was too pissed off still at Gabby, but I just couldn’t. So I said what I could remember of the vows. Josh was best man, Roger and Scott were the witnesses.
They didn’t have any rings, but Becca had a necklace she always wore. Josh helped her remove it so she could give it to Gabby. Then we all left the room to give them some time alone.
The Survivor Chronicles | Book 1 | Say No! To Zombies Page 12