One with Wisdom's Journal

Search for Enlightenment

Samuel wiped his blades on the rags wrapped around the poor soul he had just decapitated, forcing his stomach to hold down the meager amount of mixed nuts he had downed as a pitiful excuse for breakfast. He was close now, almost at the end of his journey. He had left the supermarket he had begun to call home well over a week before, not quite sure what he was searching for, but he knew he didn’t find it.

His search went beyond the limits of Fairview, into the remains of the fields and farmlands surrounding the city, all left deserted, with not a soul or sound anywhere. For the first time, he thought he had gotten away from the madness, away from the stench of death and decay, free from the fear of waking up as another poor bastard’s breakfast in bed. He believed this, until he saw the horde.

Survivors all wondered where the new dead continued to come from, and how their never ending onslaught continued. Even more, people wonder at the mutations that have taken hold in some of the more dangerous parts of the city, some places it is to the point where there isn’t a single beast in sight that any longer resembles a human.

Samuel now saw. It was now that he understood why this nightmare would never end, but it wasn’t what he had been searching for.

Samuel then turned to the brains at Fort Pastor. He conversed, and learned all he could. In return, he went and got them the items that the Sergeant had determined were unneeded or too much of a risk to get. So he went, into the dark depths of long forgotten places, and to areas deemed too hazardous for anyone, to get the items the science team desired.

And so the Scientist worked with him, and helped him search for what it was that he was searching for. The did find answers on some of the questions that had plagued the four outposts, such as why the earlier mutations had died out, and why there were no more birds.

Samuel did not tell them what he had seen outside the city limits, for he knew that all the knowledge would bring was trouble. He left the Fort, still searching aimlessly for the truth he desired.

His last stop was the place where it all began, the Secronom building. It had been over four years since he had been there, seeing no reason to return after the outbreak. But he had a reason now, he was searching for a truth. About what he was unsure, but he was certain it would be found in the origin of this man made apocalypse.

He slowly moved up the front steps, flinching at the sound of loud crashing a few blocks away. He continued his slow advance to the shattered glass entryway, keeping himself aware of his entire surroundings. After reaching the entrance, he flashed his light into the gloomy darkness, and made his way inside.

Every crunch of the glass beneath his boots put him on edge, and his breath was coming out in haggard, rough gasps. He held his rifle tightly in his hands, hoping that the 12.7mm round would be enough to slow whatever may come at him. The room was large, dust filled the air, as if no one had touched it since the outbreak. After a quick look around, he determined there was only one hallway, and it had a heavy steel barrier blocking it off. Samuel kicked the door in frustration, certain now that the answer he was searching for was here, just out of his reach.

His frustration grew when he realized this was put in place here in case of an event like the outbreak. They had countermeasures, and failed to implement them. That this whole crisis could have been averted, or at least held off, and someone made a mistake, and the entire world payed for it.

And so Samuel was left, headed to the old supermarket he and his fellow survivors called home, wandering the city streets alone, now with more questions than answers, and with the new knowledge of horrifying truths. Yet he was no closer to the truth he sought, a simple answer to a simple question. Why?