A note left behind

[ajb1978]

Log of Cpl. J. Harker.  It's been a few months since the world went to hell.  Up until this point I had bigger things to worry about than committing my personal thoughts to paper.  I was with the rest of my squad on a winter survival training exercise when the flash of light washed over us at zero-dark-thirty.  Some kind of EMP, fried our emergency sat phone, sent a tingle through all of us too.  Wildlife went berserk almost instantly, and within a few minutes a huge pack of wolves descended on us from all angles. We didn't have service weapons since it was supposed to be a survival exercise, so we didn't stand a chance.  The wolves got Morris and Seward, but Sarge, Murray, Holmwood, and I managed to get out of there.  Doesn't matter much now, they're all gone and somehow I'm still here.  It was like a horror movie.  We traveled together, but every now and then we'd realize one of us had gone missing.  No warning, no sound.  Eventually it was just me left.  I made it to the old Mystery Lake camp office, hoping to use the phone there, but the power was out just like everywhere else.  Summarizing the last 3 months of my life, I've been scouting the region, having accepted that whatever the problem is, it's not going away any time soon.  At first I was looking for help, but after encountering a few desperate and near-dead survivors, I realized that I AM the help.  I can't contact the chain of command, so I tasked myself with securing the island. I guess the training paid off.  I'm still not sure how I managed it, but I've made pretty good progress.  I commandeered whatever I could find, establishing several safe houses in various areas, stocked with weapons and provisions scavenged from the nearby area.  Every survivor I found, I escorted back to that area, with the hopes that strength of numbers will allow them to survive.  Seems to have worked.  We're up to 60 now, but I can't shake the thought that somehow there's still a lot more out there.  These Great Bear folks are as stubborn and determined as they come.  Although I do find them a bit belligerent in the way they keep referring to me as "Mainlander" as if it's some sort of insult.

It was about a month ago that I realized I'd gotten as far as I can.  I'd diligently mapped everywhere I went with scraps of paper and charcoal, and realized that the earthquakes had effectively cornered us to one small region near the coast.  Impassable mountains, weak ice, and collapsed tunnels.  We're stuck here until spring, at least.  Then maybe I can take a rowboat to get around some of these tunnel collapses.  The survivors I've found have been able to fend for themselves once they had the means to do so.  Once I made sure they were set, I headed back out to continue the search.

Which is how I find myself here, now, at Desaulnier Point...or "Desolation" Point as the locals call it, grilling up a bear in an old coal mine.  This is not how I thought my tour of duty was going to end up.  But I've got to stay fed somehow, and trading one round for a week's worth of food seems like a good deal to me.   I need to wait for the next aurora, so that the old computer at the broken down whale processing plant can be powered on.  Hopefully I can find some more clues as to where any potential survivors may have gone.  Or maybe I'll get lucky and the old manager has some video games on there.  Probably just solitaire with my luck.  I play enough of that with real cards as it is.

This old pen is running out of ink.  Don't know when or if I will write more.  Leaving this note behind in the mine.  To whoever finds this note, there's things to build a fire and melt snow in the locker in the corner.  Take whatever you need, then make your way westward.  You'll find a group of survivors taking shelter in an old townsite right on the coast.  Hope you like fish.

[odizzido]

Cool, I liked this One part made me laugh as it's so TLD.

Quote

trading one round for a week's worth of food seems like a good deal to me.

Eating an entire bear in a week. haha. But yes I liked this

[ajb1978]

9 minutes ago, odizzido said:

Cool, I liked this One part made me laugh as it's so TLD.

Eating an entire bear in a week. haha. But yes I liked this

Well I mean this guy basically is Wolverine, recovering from a bear mauling overnight.  That's gotta be hell on caloric intake lol

[odizzido]

hahaha so true

[ThePancakeLady]

you need to post your screenshot of your guy in all Military gear. Loved the story, my friend. 

[odizzido]

I think it would be cool if the devs would accept fan written material and place them around the world as journals or notes or other things. I think it could add something to the game. You could even burn them as fire starter to give a bit more of a personal feeling and importance to starting a fire.

[ajb1978]

13 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

you need to post your screenshot of your guy in all Military gear. Loved the story, my friend. 

Here he is!  Corporal John Harker, Primary Reserve of the CAF!

[ajb1978]

5 minutes ago, odizzido said:

I think it would be cool if the devs would accept fan written material and place them around the world as journals or notes or other things. I think it could add something to the game. You could even burn them as fire starter to give a bit more of a personal feeling and importance to starting a fire.

I think everyone that writes something would love that, but I can see why HL would shy away from that.  It could lead to an impression of favoritism, plus stuff like what I wrote can't be in the game, or it becomes canon.  Unless you as a player in Survivor mode travel to the coastal townsite and discover a thriving community of survivors...which goes against everything Survivor mode stands for...my fanfic can't be incorporated.

[Jolan]

I love what you've written. 

And well.... this explains why one of my surviors kept writing "found another dead military guy, wtf? Was there  a war no one told me about?" 

[ajb1978]

2 hours ago, Jolan said:

I love what you've written. 

And well.... this explains why one of my surviors kept writing "found another dead military guy, wtf? Was there  a war no one told me about?" 

Glad I was able to entertain!  And I don't know if you or anyone else has noticed, but the names of the characters in that little fic were all sourced from Bram Stoker's original Dracula.

[Jolan]

2 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Glad I was able to entertain!  And I don't know if you or anyone else has noticed, but the names of the characters in that little fic were all sourced from Bram Stoker's original Dracula.

All of them! That's too cool.  No, I hadn't noticed.  I noticed Harker of course but its been mrppfll years since I read the book.

 

[ajb1978]

1 minute ago, Jolan said:

All of them! That's too cool.  No, I hadn't noticed.  I noticed Harker of course but its been mrppfll years since I read the book.

 

Well except "Sarge" of course.  "Sarge" being short for the sergeant in charge of this squad.