A/N: This has been specially written for my lovely sister because she keeps moaning at my lack of updates! So here you go! Especially for you dear sister: Tempremental'Bones
Disclaimer: The names are randomly formed and do not portray any known individual.
Name: Magdalen Lolek
Age: 26
Location: Outskirts of Warsaw, Poland
It's been really cold... Cold to the point I'm numb, even by the small indoor fire I have going thanks to the previous occupants who seemed to have a thing for literature. It's been much colder than we're used to but Marcin prepared me for this on our honeymoon/his research project. The weather's been changing since the cold snap seasons began three years ago. He would always tell me; 'Put an extra layer on' in the -20 degree Celsius blizzard even if I was already four layers up and sweating like I was on a beach in the Caribbean. The snow season would never usually last this long but as he explained, the weather patterns will continue to get worse as the world ages. You'd think that with the world no longer operating the way it used to, it would recover. I haven't seen much of the sun in the last three years, although it sometimes appears behind the thinner clouds in the sky at the break of dawn. I guess I could have gotten away with fewer layers ten months ago because I was warm all the time thanks to our little miracle, Kaisia. I'm so glad she manages to sleep so soundly even with the amount of moving around we do in this weather.
It's been a while since I've had the time, energy and feeling in my fingers to write. Let's just say it's not been the easiest five months. Kaisia and I have lost almost everything but each other. Marcin and I had found a group of survivors just before Kaisia was born, living approximately five miles west of Warsaw in a small village that had been desiccated by the shells of the dead. We were lucking enough to be a part of this group, Marcin was good at tracking and keeping us all alive. His skills were what saved us many times from dying due to weather elements. He had managed to salvage a soil patch under one of the shack homes to grow something. We managed to evade it all for almost five months until they found us. By they, I mean the dead. For over three years I have learnt what I can even though I'm no scientist. We did have a scientist in our group who made her daily observations of the shells. She told me what she had seen, some of it horrific and some of it for the good of science. I just wanted to survive.
In my last entry I couldn't bring myself to write it. We were overwhelmed by the largest horde we had ever seen. Marcin and Lidia tracked a small group days before hand so the shells must have banded together with another horde, one larger from the city. They ripped through what had been our home in minutes, people screaming, pleading for a non-existent God to save them. That night I lost my best friend, my lover, the father of my child. The last thing I remember is driving away in a smashed up truck, away from half of my world. His blood splattered on the windows from shells ripping into him. The sounds of his screams and Kaisia's crying rung through my ears, I had to get out of here and I did. I drove until the truck's fuel dried up. It took me around the city and east of Warsaw. We got four miles out before I was forced to continue on foot. I took what the truck had to offer and wrapped Kaisia up as close to me as possible. Her little face was red from crying so much. She was probably worn out and hungry. I had the clothes on our backs, a baseball bat and a gun with ten bullets. I wasn't going to stop until I found a shack or shelter, cleared it out and barricaded it for a night. I walked for what felt like a thousand miles before I found a dilapidated petrol station. The fuel pumps were rusted over from years of weathering and disintegrated at the slightest of touch. The shutters were down on the store but it was covered in mountains of untouched snow. I managed to kick off the rusted locks and waited. There was no movement except for the swishing of draughty shutters. I guess I could say I hit the jackpot, but I had done it. I found shelter for the cold night to come. The thermometer on the door read -24 degrees Celsius that night. There wasn't much around but I salvaged what I could.
This was five months ago. I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going. Since then, we've clocked up more miles than I can count on foot and by vehicle; going from shack, shelter and store, living on what I can find. I'm grateful Kaisia's a quiet baby and I hope it stays this way until she understands the world we live in. I've had a few close calls but I've had time to observe the shells myself. I've pushed away all the thoughts that I may be a shell one day, but no time soon. I haven't seen another soul since. It's as if the world has been wiped of 95% of life. I guess you can say I have hope that there's 5% life left elsewhere in this world.
What I know from my observations as well as information gathered:
- We're all infected. Well, those of us that were already living but there's no evidence to support Lidia's theory.
- They'll eat anything that has a heartbeat: Rats, mice, bears.
- Damage to the head is the only way to kill them. I've seen decapitated heads still crunching their teeth as I pass and torso's ripped of most limbs crawl towards me.
- They may look human, but they're not. They have no soul.
- The cold slows them down and the blizzard is a great mask to move.
- The scent of the dead is also a good way to hide the living smell until it dries for the short spring.
I have to keep going for Kaisia. She needs me to be ready and prepared for anything that happens. I guess I can kind of compare myself to the woman in the Terminator film I watched with Marcin when we first met, trying to keep her child alive to fight the imminent threat of the world ending.
We're alive now and that is all that matters.