ʟ ᴇ ɢ ᴀ ᴄ ʏ

Prologue

' The date is August 4th, 2025. Exactly 4 years after this whole pandemic started. So far I've been lucky to not run into any real trouble. Keeping my head down and staying in the shadows has helped with that. I've run into a few survivors here and there, luckily they were nice. We traded supplies and went our own separate ways, never seeing each other again. As the days go by I do begin feeling lonely, but what can I do? Being in a group with other survivors scare me due to the fact at any time they could contract the virus and infect the rest of us. Being a lone wolf is the best option at the moment. I've learned to read the sky's to know when it's about to rain, finding shelter whenever I see the signs. Oh, I almost forgot, I write these weekly journals for anyone that finds them to know my story. But if this is the first piece you find. Hi, my name is Jayden. I'm a 17-year-old girl from California. Exactly 4 years ago a new kind of virus was introduced to us. We called it Hemplocid. We don't know how it came to be, but it originated somewhere in Russia. It took less than a month for it to reach America and everywhere else in the world. They tried to come up with a cure but it started infecting everyone almost as fast as it was brought to our attention. Businesses were shut down, Governments collapsed, and soon after that, the world's economy in whole came to a halt. Everyone went crazy, became paranoid. Sadly my parents were one of the unlucky ones. My mother caught it. We didn't realize at first due to the fact that the first stage of the virus acted as a common cold. Then stage 2 came, her cells were in a war with the virus. Trying its best to fight it off and keep my mother alive. But sadly the virus won. When stage 3 came her vital organs began to fail. The vomiting got worse, her eyesight and her hearing faded. And last her brain just shut off. Her heart stopped and her entire body as a whole just gave out. My dad was so heartbroken he couldn't live without her. He committed suicide. My little sister found his body. I did everything I could to protect my sister after that, but the world is just so cruel to a girl her age. She too passed away, and I was left completely alone. I plan on living out my family legacy. I refuse to give up and die. I won't allow it. Today is just another day of me fighting for my life. If you're reading this and I'm dead I hope I inspired you to live on as well. That will be all for this week's entry. I'll talk to you next week.

- Jayden Byers'