Chapter Seven: The Journal

Walking along the sidewalk, we eventually made it to the end of the city limits. It was just roads. Maybe the country side perhaps. With no idea what were doing, we set off. After killing those men within the city, we found more supplies, and made new duffle bags of necessities.

Sammy's duffle bag was, without a doubt, heavier than mine. She carried it around her shoulder, while holding to it with her arm, unlike last time.

Though I don't remember my past, I feel as though the amount of trees out here don't seem right, or at least the size. Random patches would be empty, but not as if someone cut them down. Compared to the rest, where trees as tall as the skyscrapers stood, like if it were god or some external being. The road ahead seemed to be coming to an abrupt end. Laid to waste ot seemed, not by nature but man means. Destroyed, now a river ran through it.

Sammy had walked down the short slope and freed her feet. Raising her jumpsuits legs, she dipped her feet in the water. 'Come join me! Water's nice and cool!'

'I dunno Sammy, monsters are real.'

'And?'

'What if there is a mutated piranha or something!' I pressed my hands to my head, as if I was keeping my stress and panic from bursting out.

Sammy pouted. 'Fine then,' she had swiftly moved her hands underneath the water, and with all her might, raised them, beating the waters deadly gravekeeper.

My face was soaked. Putting down my duffle bag beside where she left hers, I to took off my shoes and rolled up my pants. Standing in the shallow part of the river, I paraded Sammy with water.

'Hey I only splashed you once,' she raised her hands to her face, as if she was guarding her face from a deadly blow. All at the same time, she giggled, like she's never had fun like this before in her life.

Maybe I shouldn't be a prude all the time. In saying that, I felt a sharp pain, something digging into my heel. Raising my foot out the water, many leeches were stuck to me, or are they leeches? Taking one off my foot, it had several rows of sharp teeth, like that of a piranha. 'WHAT DID I TELL YOU!' I pulled put my other foot and stood away from the river. they were slowly eating at my flesh, not quickly though. Pulling them off, I tossed them into the river, and Sammy walked over to me.

'Look at the lil baby,' she poked my cheek.

I put my shoes back on, and picked back up my duffle bag.

Sammy to had copied me as well.

Seeing as the river wasn't to wide, we jumped from rock to rock to cross the river without wetting ourselves. Afterwards we continued our trek, but not long, we heard an awful noise.

Sammy, curious, ran to where it came from.

'We're suppose to stick together!' I ran after her. I watched as she ran through a small grouping of bushes, and then she had disappeared into thin air. Slowly walking up to the bushes, I moved my hand cautiously to where she gone, and my hand was also, gone. Pulling it back, I realized it was the same thing as the wall from before. Completely walking through it, It was a small secluded part of the forest. In the middle, their was also a dome like building. Not to large, but still great in size. The material of what it was made of, reminded me of the bunker I first awoke in. Looking over, I saw Sammy at the door, I joined her.

She tried and tried and tried and she kept on trying to turn the handle of the door, but it seemed locked. She then saw a scanner, pressing the red button below it, it scanned her eye.

A voice spoke, ' RETINAL UNRECOGNIZABLE '

Going up to it, I pressed the button and put my eye to it.

The voice spoke once more, 'RETINAL SCAN COMPLETE.'

I looked at Sammy who stared back at me.

'It worked?' She moved closer.

'Guess so.'

As the door opened, the voice said a name, 'Welcome back Mr.Heartlocke'

Sammy grabbed my hand and pulled me in, and the door closed behind us. 'So we now know your last name.'

'We do?'

'Heartlocke dummy,' she hit the back of my head.

'We can't be to sure Sammy,' I walked on into the darkness.

'Sure thing....Mr.Heartlocke.' She laughed, muffling it in her palms.

Walking around, I could barely see anything at all. It was horribly dark, to the point where I couldn't see past my finger tips. With a few more steps, a red light just beeped. A sensor? Looking up and around, I saw the lights coming on.

'I can see clearly now!' Sammy spun in a little victory circle.

Infront of us, we saw a bunch of computers. 'What do you think powers this all?'

She looked around and shrugged to me.

Going to the first monitor, I watched Sammy go to a desk, and start searching the drawers. Pressing ctrl+alt+del, the password showed up. It read [ENTER PASSWORD] but I have not the slightest clue. Looking around, I saw a sticky note posted on the instruments. It read [POJREVIAL]. Entering it, the computer unlocked, and a bunch of folders. Each folder I selected though was corrupted, but one remained. [EVENTS]. Opening it, it was a diary log for what happened that day. Reading it, I couldn't believe it. An attack from Russia had set off a prototype bomb that America was making. Combined with the bombs Russia attacked with, the explosion was catastrophic. Wiping out nearly all the human population on Earth. 'But animals who lived where mutated, and we took groups of people and had them under, surviving the nuclear winter.'

'What now?'

'Sammy, a nuclear bomb had basically brought the end of the world!'

'That doesn't explain everything though. I was born in this madness, your story doesn't make sense.

Going to read more, I was booted out. Frantically pressing every key, doing what I could to get back in, the system sparked up, and started a fire.

'Shit we gotta go,' Sammy grabbed a journal and ran for it.

Looking at the computer, I hesitated for a moment, 'One day, I'll know the answers I'm deserved.' I ran behind Sammy. Leaving the domed building, Sammy jabbed my stomach with a journal.

'Hey, you should write down what happens to us.'

'Like a diary?'

'I guess you can say that.' She looked around. 'We camp here tonight, rest and what not, and you can write down what's happened to you up until now.'

As night fell, Sammy was cooking some canned goods, and I was writing. I recalled everything that's happened to me from when I awoke, to meeting Dale, Sammy up to now. Now that I look at it, A lot has happened to me in just five days. I closed the Journal, and joined Sammy in sleeping.