March 29th, 2017- I had just found another journal in a corner store. I lost my old one when a symbiote ripped off my backpack and it fell off my back, which spilled most of the contents down a storm drain. I shot it in the face 3 times with buckshot for that. Tough luck, I guess. That was 3 days ago. I couldn't waste time to grab it. I had to keep moving. My gunshots would attract more. I'll try to explain the past in a little bit. I have to go.

From Within

Chapter one: Back For More

The first weeks of the outbreak was rough. I lost everything I had, all in one day. My parents, my sister, and my grandparents. Just like that. We had been on a ranch while the world was thrown into a fiery chaos. When we were ambushed by a pack of symbiotes, I had to flee. From Texas, I moved north to Oklahoma, where I heard a radio signal all the way from New York. They said there was a safe haven. It was my best shot, considering that I wasn't going to last long by myself. I'm 16 years old, what do I do? I didn't know where else to go. I didn't have anyone helping me, so why not? As of now, I am currently in Kentucky, in a small town called Salyersville. I had to stop to scavenge for some gasoline and water. Hopefully there was not much action going on there.

When I approached the first house, I noticed that a car in its driveway was riddled with bullet holes. The car doors were open, and blood ran from the seat onto the cement below. It was an ambush, but why would people fight each other? Maybe the driver was somehow infected? I'll never know. But now I knew this town was busy during the start of the apocalypse. I would keep my eyes peeled for hostiles- Human or symbiote. I drove into what looked like the town square. A few cars were in the street, silent and still. They looked mostly intact, so I stopped the truck and siphoned the gasoline out of a few of them and put them either into the truck or into one of my few gas cans. I kind of liked being alone- No one supervised you, no one told you what to do, and no one told you what was right and what was wrong. I also managed to find a few cans of food in a box in one of the car seats, but no water. I was sure I would find some here in this small town.

I started the truck and drove onwards to more buildings. I was surprised I hadn't found any symbiotes yet. They must have moved onto more populated areas. A new set of buildings came into view, I saw a few restaurants, a bank, and a small fabric shop. I set my interests on the restaurants for water, so I grabbed my shotgun, parked the truck, and walked towards one called, "Isaac's brew". I looked into the partially shattered window and saw what looked to be a stereotypical bar. A few regular tables, and of course, a bar table. I opened the door slowly and raised my shotgun. Something could be in here, waiting to scare the s**t out of me. I stepped on some broken glass, and winced; that was very loud. I crept further into the room and looked around. The chairs were stacked on the tables, save a few thrown about the floor. I moved forward into the back of the bar, where the actual bar table was, and saw a door, labeled, "Employees only". I kept my eyes on that door, thinking if I should go in silently or guns blazing. I made my mind for the guns blazing strategy.

I flicked on the duct-taped flashlight on the end of my shotgun, took a deep breath, and… Something behind me, I heard a foot scrape or scratch of some kind. I froze and turned my head and gun, but nothing was there. I clearly hear something… Was it just the wind blowing glass around? I was spooked out. It was nothing, right? I decided to just stick my head slightly into the room and see what was inside. I slowly crept my head in. Light slightly poured in and some distinct objects became visible. A chrome cooking table, a grill, and… a few blood stains on the floor. This sight made me uneasy. I can't go in there. It creeped me out. I kept my eyes on the door until it completely closed, and then I turned my head. This only revealed a pack of symbiotes inspecting my truck parked outside. I cursed under my breath, ducked behind the bar, and flipped off my flashlight. There was 5 of them. No way I could take them all on in this position. I moved my eyes slightly above the table. They were still there, only now looking around the truck.

They knew someone was here. I had to hide. I waited until they weren't looking and I went quickly but quietly into the back room. I closed the door I flipped on the flashlight and looked around. I saw what seemed to be… Oh, God. I had to turn and cover my nose simultaneously because the smell hit me as soon as I saw it. I knew why there was blood on the floor now. I tried to look away from it while also moving away from the door. The… Body was across the chrome cooking table from me. I heard some glass breaking outside the door. Crap. They were coming inside. I had to hide, now. I looked around the room for a hiding spot, and quickly settled for under a small sink that I could wedge in. I steadied my breathing and prepared for them to enter. The door creaked open, and light poured in once more. I couldn't see anything, but I heard one growl. It still smelled awful, from the… person. I heard some more footsteps, but it was not getting any closer. Moments later, the door shut and the light disappeared. Now only the small window shed light into the room. More quiet footsteps, but not any closer. What was it doing? Something hit the floor with a suppressed thud. The door flew back open, and it left.

I stayed where I was for five minutes before I began moving out of the hiding spot. I stood back up, still looking at the doctor or. I flipped on my flashlight once again and moved to the other side of the table, where the body was still laying. I almost got sick again. I realized what killed that person… and ate half of them. I thought of a sickening conclusion. They had to feed the host... somehow. I shook at the thought, but refocused and glanced out the door window. The symbiotes were gone. I turned back to look for that water I had originally came for. It took a few cabinets before I found a few gallon jugs of water. I got what I came for, and now I needed to move. I opened the door once more and proceeded quickly to my truck, the jugs of water sloshing around in my backpack. I kept my shotgun up and pointed for anything that moved. I stepped out into the street and looked out both ways. Empty. My truck sit idle and motionless. The slight breeze ran through my hair as I made it to the truck. It's funny, really. There could be peace amidst the chaos in this world, but you had to really notice it to get the effect.

Once I started the truck, I would have to move fast, cause those symbiotes would hear me immediately. I hopped in and threw my backpack and shotgun into the passenger seat. I quickly started the truck and drove off. I began to finally leave the small collection of buildings when I looked in the back mirror and saw a freaking symbiote running towards the truck in an animal like fashion- On all fours. I couldn't really speed up cause there were cars scattered, so I thought of the next best thing. I slammed on the brakes when it got close enough, and a thump hit the back of the truck. I switched to reverse and sped up. It felt like a small speed bump. I went back to drive and peeled out. I didn't want to look back. It was dead alright, I just didn't want to see a smeared body on pavement. I left that town with one less symbiote to deal with. Back on the road, but there wasn't much left to travel. New York was a only 8 hours away now.

I just kept thinking about my past life. Just a typical urban kid from Texas, and now turned to this? How was I even still alive? Luck? Probably. Skill? No way, I had little knowledge of surviving something like this. I had everything handed to me, I didn't have to work for anything. I looked at one of my hands. It looked back, blisters and blood stained. Have I just become a simple killing machine now? I didn't feel emotion when I killed symbiotes. I just did it from sheer hatred. It was my family. That's why. They killed my family. Those stupid f***ing symbiotes. I stopped the truck. I needed to think for a minute. I shouldn't have a mental breakdown when going down a double lane road at 60 mph. I laid my head on the steering wheel. Why me? Why now? Before the outbreak, I was at one of the lowest points in my life. School sucked, and my life seemed pointless to myself.

I stopped thinking. I looked in the back mirror. Nothing was there. I could have sworn… I hopped out of the truck, but with my AR-15 this time. What the hell was that? It wasn't black, nor human. A deer? I looked down the tree line that it escaped through. Yep, a deer. And I just managed to see it disappear behind the brush. I stood there for one more moment before turning back to the truck. I had a few more steps to go to the truck before I saw a symbiote. On the hood. Of my truck. Crouching there. Looking at me. I raised my rifle, but didn't fire. The bullet would pass through it and shatter the window. It hopped down and snarled at me. I walked slowly around to the right, trying to get an angle so I didn't hit the truck. It just stood there. Looking. Almost… smiling. Why wasn't it charging me? I lined up a good shot, but still waited. I just decided to throw something out there. "Is someone alive in there? Behind the stuff?". No response at all. "Fine." I refocused and aimed at its head, but something snapped behind me. A twig. I looked quickly over my shoulder, and another one was sneaking up on me. Those suckers tried to distract me and kill me from behind. I turned my rifle and shot it immediately, twice in the chest with dead accuracy, and turned back to see the other one already in the air pouncing towards me. Too late to fire. I held my rifle up for it to grab, and we both fell to the ground, it on top of me. The black tendrils, reaching out to infect me, inches from my chest. It screeched as I fought with my life. I acted quickly, pushing it and the rifle off to the right, grabbing my knife out of its holster, and shoving it into its neck shortly after. It lay motionless with only a few muscle twitches. I got back up and slowed my breathing. The other symbiote lay also on the shoulder of the road, but it was still breathing. I walked up to it and looked down at it. Another gunshot cracked across the area, and the body was still. I would have kept it suffering, but I knew there was a person suffering under there too. I took a deep breath, got into the truck, and drove off. I thought to myself again as I continued driving. Is killing necessary now? Yes. Yes it is.