"Well," he answers, "We're out of morphine since you used the last bit on me. We're out of bandages and gauze because you got your leg cut up. We're out of Ibuprofen and Advil because we downed a bottle of each on a dare. We're out of-"

"I get it." Cutting him off felt good, like the kind of relief you feel when things actually go quiet...well...as quiet as it could go with our Cadillac purring like the beautiful ride she is. Just as we pull up to the damned place, I realized it looked like a left over piece of crap. It's only been like, what, half a year since we got fully quarantined and walled in? Boards covering half the windows, brinks in the wall kicked out and missing, and moss covering a lot of the building.

I park the car, and pop open the trunk to reveal our portable armory. You know what? I feel like packing a couple of 9mm pistols today. I picked them up, and checked them over to make sure they worked as intended. Always a good think to make sure your chosen weapons work. I placed a flashlight underneath both, to give off a softer red glow, and fix them both to a belt holster, and checked to make sure Virgil wasn't shooting himself in the foot. Yeah, that happened before. To my minor amazement, he's picking up an automatic shotgun with safety and ease. SPAS-12 to be exact, beauty of a thing. Satisfied with our armaments, we walk up the steps to the horrible place, and kick down the doors to try and scare any hostiles. Instead of such, we found the entrance way in the same state as the rest of the building, with a healthy amount of blood around tossed in for kicks. We've gotten used to it by now, of course. Seeing it often does that to ya. Seeing the lights were turned off, surprise surprise, I turned on both of my guns' flashlights, and Virgil pulls one out as well, with the same soft glow. We moved on in, scanning each room for both materials and creepies before moving farther down the hall. I wasn't creeped out by the blood, nor was I disturbed by it, (both I was used to, remember?) but I was put on a real edge because it was so damned quiet. I could barely hear my own footsteps. Not that I'd want to, but still. How the hell am I supposed to know when something's coming up behind me if he doesn't make a sound?

And I get that really creepy, eerie feeling somebody's watching us as we went in deeper. And that's when we found the really big find. Not only did we find a veritable supply chest with everything we need and more, but there was a working computer terminal. Why the Infected haven't torn it to shreds is beyond me. The faint light it gave off, with a blue login screen welcomed me. That and the fact that beside one of the login names there was a little message saying "1 program running" made me click it.

And when it logged me in, there was a text editor up. Lucky, lucky. But wait, it gets better. I begin reading, as Virgil begins to secure our treasure trove of medical supplies.

Day 42 : 17:42

The infected seem to be increasing their numbers...however, what I have come to see more of is nothing even close to resembling a human. These new horrors are more gruesome, bigger, and more terrifying than even I could've imagined. Can the infected evolve into these things? Or are they the result of mutation of some other poor animal?

It has been two weeks now, since I've seen another uninfected human being. Mind you, I've only been able to travel several blocks through the city since then. Never before had I realized how huge this place was...is this happening outside the city? There was no way to know...before the infection was even really known about, all of the power was cut out throughout the city--no radio, television...nothing.

I made my way to what was once a highly-guarded government building. The security took a long time to breach, but I managed. Down in the basement, I made an extremely unsettling find: the whole pandemic (or epidemic, for all I know) was planned. I hacked into what seemed to be the central computer and also found that they had made predictions that some of us, such as myself, would display alternative mutations. They included a wide variety of supernatural powers...they were labeled as such:

"BLUE: the ability mimic others' physical strength, agility, etc.
RED: the ability to summon the entities"
"YELLOW: the ability to change physical shape
GREEN: the ability to send out a variety of mental signals"
"PURPLE: the ability to produce non-elemental explosions
BLACK: the ability to control the elements
WHITE: the ability to heal
GREY: the ability to modify the amount and type of light in an area"

As disturbed and betrayed as this all makes me feel, it gives me hope...is there anyone else out there who survived?"

D'ara Iden

This D'ara...I wonder if she's around anywhere. I pulled out a USB drive, and copied the info down onto it. This is just as Virgil taps me on the shoulder. I turn around, and I see he's got no less than five fanny packs, all quite stuffed, onto his belt. I look at him with one of those funny looks you give people when you're like, 'WTF Mate?' And you look like that emoticon people use...what was it? Oh yeah, σ.σ

"What the hell is that look for? I just saw you playing solitaire for god's sake!" He asks. Loudly too. Taking two of the packs from him, I look outside. Dipshit here probably woke up a beast. Or two. Or four. Shining the flashlight down the hall, I see a bit of movement right outside my vision. And it comes full in, along with a few pals. A few looked pretty roughed up, as if they were fighting. I nodded to Virgil, and motioned for him to get out. Which he does, sprinting out as if that'd make him get out faster. Only caused more noise of course. Seeing no other solution myself, I emptied both clips of the gun into all of the infected coming into the hall. I'm a pretty good shot going akimbo, and I got most in the legs. Happy that they'd all be slowed down enough, I followed Virgil, taking off immediately, not even caring that my guns were now completely empty of ammo. I saw him up ahead at the entrance, shooting one of the infected in the face with his shotgun. Funny how they were chancing actually being in sunlight.

Then I realized how low the sun was getting. Not good. "Virgil! We gotta get the hell back home!" I yelled to him as I ran past him. Not needing me to tell him again, he rushed out behind me. Climbing into the car, I put in gear, again, and floor the pedal. We speeded out of the death trap, and I went straight back home. So you know what home is, I'll explain as we're getting there. It's a small mall, one floor high, one city block big. It's a got a few shops in it, and more importantly, it's got a surplus store of the army variety, with a small food court too! We've brought in a crapload of rubble from around, barricading all of the ways in and out of the mall except one. That one, we barricade only at night from the inside. I'll show you how later.

Anyways, we pulled up to the mall about seven or eight and...I wish I could have said to the cabbie "Yo homes smell ya later!", but this ain't Bel-Air. Virgil got out of the car, and opened the double doors wide so that I could drive the car through, and closed it up on his way in. Figuring we weren't going outside after that, he put down the metal grate on the other side of the door, and brought the half-foot thick walls of steel that we installed across the doors. I put the car right up to the door, and we figured that the thing was safe enough for now.