Hello citizens of earth, living ones at least. My names Jim, I'm 25 years old. I currently live in the outskirts of The New York City Quarantine Zone. The current date is somewhere in the summer of 2021. I think its May, I could be wrong. I was raised in Burkeville Virginia. It took me about 4 months to get where I am today, and I have been here ever since. You see, when I was travelling I use to find letters. I would pillage houses, and do things I regret. I would always find letters though. Some of them were directed to a certain person, and others to the public. Like this letter. I always thought to myself that these letters were a waste of these people time, and they should worry about surviving. Mind you I was young, only 17. I'm still young today by our old standards, but we live in a different time. 25 is old. Anyways, I learned that these letters helped me. Not only did they help, but they were a way of expression. These letter's were stories. I keep them all, and share their stories when I can.

I'm infected. Yeah I know shocker, but I feel someone should know my story. Someone should know what it's like to turn. I will continue to write until my body stops me. Maybe you, the reader will be able to determine the point one loses there humanity. If they ever do. Maybe the soul is trapped forever. The last 8 years of my life have been adventure that I hope no one else has to ever endure. Unfortunately, many people have already.

Yesterday, I was in New Jersey. There's a factory right across the Hudson river. In a town named Hoboken. These factories printed something called "Ration Cards." The quarantine zone in New York, has a system for the people who reside in there. The officials hand out a fair amount of these ration cards. The people then hand in the cards for some food. Of course there isn't a lot of cards to go around, because food is limited. The people there use them as a sort of currency. If someone did you a favor you'd give him some ration cards for food. I arrived at New York very late, so I was never allowed into the quarantine zone. I can sneak in, but I can't live there for very long. They would ask for my papers at almost all checkpoints, and when I try to get food. I can't live in the quarantine zone. However, I could live "off" the quarantine zone.

This guy named Alex lived in the quarantine zone, and we made a deal. I discovered the factory that prints these ration cards. I told him that I would be willing to hijack a box of cards for him. If I was given weapons, food, and supplies. Alex agreed, and I was on my way. The operation was perfect, and I've been scavenging ever since. I've been living off the land too. I have a garden, it's beautiful. Anyways, two days ago I ran out of supplies. I looked all around the area, and I couldn't find anything. A girl I found and traded with was gone. I was hungry and desperate. I went to Alex, and told him that I'd bring him more ration cards. Alex said "I'd love to do business Jim, but those cards aren't of worth anymore." He explained to me that the value was lost after a firefly attack. The fireflies gave them ration cards trying to help. The value of the cards was lost though, and they changed the look of the card. The old ones are worthless. I told him that they probably still print them at the same factory in Hoboken. He agreed to help if I can find the new cards.

So last night I went to New Jersey. Hoboken was a shit hole. Just like it was before the outbreak. I went to the factory. The lights were off and it was abandoned. I thought to myself that there has to be a box of the new cards there. I saw a room labeled "New shipment." I thought that the new cards had to be in there. I broke into the room, and there they were. A gold mine of the cards. I knew to not make the mistake of giving too many, because they would lose their value again. I grabbed as much as I could carry. On the way out though I saw a body. I looked at the deformed corpse. It was a disgusting monstrosity, but that's when I saw it. What I saw was a thick opening for spores. I went straight for my gas mask, and put it on. I observed the room, and saw them everywhere. How could I be so fucking stupid? How could I not notice? I went straight home, I left the boxes for anyone who reads this. If you have a gas mask, those boxes are there for you. I'm such a fuck up. I was like this in high school. I was really just a walking waste of space.

You know, I used to secretly want a zombie apocalypse. Silly me huh, I guess I got what I wanted. I always thought that if I was going to die, I would have gotten shot. I always thought that I would get infected by a bite. I always thought I would die saving the life of a girl. Nope, I took a breath of some damn spores. Little insignificant spores. Small, worthless, fucking spores. I don't know how much time I have. Maybe a day or two. I'm too much of a pussy to put a bullet in my brain. I'm going to turn, and I'm going to document every minute of it. At first I thought I didn't breath enough of the spores, and that maybe I'll be fine. I'm experiencing the symptoms. Nausea, fever, headaches. I'll be done for in about a day. I'll be back to write though in maybe an hour. At the end of every entry in this letter, I won't be able to guarantee that I'll be back. However I feel that I'll be ok to write another entry in an hour or so. Until then, ugh. Pray for me. If you still believe that is.