My name is Dr. Thomas. Me and my team are at ruins to the west of Danvers, Massachusetts, a small town from the looks of it. While wandering the church, I see one of the bodies holding a diary. The body is decrepit and rotten with yellow mold growing on it. The mold is slightly luminescent, leading me to believe that it is dormant. I grab hold of the diary and open it to the first page.
June 17, 1854 – My name is Caleb, and I live in a small town named Longway. My wife, Furia, told me to write about this and keep a log just in case anything could happen. There has been a disease going around in different towns that we have called “the rot”. None of us had any contact with it yet, which was good, at least I think so. Earl, an aggressive person within the settlement, recently found someone on the edge of the town.
“Hey! You a sicken? Just know if you are I’ll shoot you where you stand.” Earl said, eager to shoot. Earl was with Jones, Davis, and Conrad. “You boys go get the head of defense, there’s gonna be a fight.”
The person started convulsing, Earl shot the human and then made sure there were no other people to attack him. The body on the ground was rotting with a small amount of yellow fungus growing, and yellow goo leaking from the missing chunk of stomach and organs, with the head bloated by blotches and bubbles of yellow ooze, waiting to burst at any moment. The three other men as well as some reinforcements all happened upon Earl. Earl moved toward the body and Jones, Davis, and Conrad followed suit.
“Is there anyone else?” The head of defense, Paul, riding in on his horse called.
“No sir, it was just him.” Earl chimed. “What should we do with the body?”
“Throw it out of here, be careful not to pop any of the boils on it.”
“Yes sir,” Earl said and signaled the guys to help him. The flesh was falling off the body and its teeth were pointy and jagged. It was almost like the body had been decomposing for the past few months. They dragged the body to a small man-made fire pit, burned the corpse, and covered their noses while the wretched thing was set ablaze. Earl and them were spreading stories about their tale and were exiled from the bar. A few people were murmuring about how those men could be infected now, I hope it’s not true. I pray to God with all my heart it’s not true.
June 20th, 1854 – While working on some houses people stopped by to talk about Earl, looking for his help on a few projects. I couldn’t say where he was, as I hadn’t seen him all afternoon. I decided that I was gonna go check on Earl once I got done with what I had planned for the day. He had been by that body, and that scared me to no end. I hope to God almighty that it isn’t what I think it is.
I went to Earl’s house and knocked on the door, and when it opened his wife greeted me with a smile. She was usually this cheery, but I could tell that it was forced. I asked her how her husband was, but her eyes turned grim. She said he’s been better but that he started coughing up blood earlier and can’t keep either food or drink down. He wouldn’t let her see or take care of him. My smile faded and I asked her if she remembered the man on the outskirts that Earl shot, and she said yes. I told her that it wasn’t an Indian scout and that it turned out to be one of the infected. Earl and a few others took hold of it, dragged it, and burned it. Her face went completely white, as if a spirit went through her. She started yellin and screamin to not lie to her and to tell her the truth, but that’s exactly what I did. She got so mad she slammed the door in my face. I should’ve expected that, I just hope that she gets herself and the little one out of there soon. Their son is a good one, and she has a heart made of gold. She doesn’t deserve something like this and neither does the kid. I went to see the town doctor though and told him about Earl. The doctor lost all expression and just said “Understood.”
June 21st, 1854 – The next morning Furia told me that Earl and his family were getting kicked out. I shot up with guilt, realizing I had told the doctor that he was sick, and he had most likely told the mayor. I ran the dirt trail to where Earl’s house was, and I saw all the townspeople burning his house; zero remorse on their faces. When I ran up, I heard them talking about the body and they mentioned the other men’s names that had burned the body. Jones, Davis, Conrad. It was said that they were going to be forced out, not shot, so that they didn’t catch the rot from the bodies.
June 27th, 1854 – The town has gone into a frenzy. The mayor declared martial law that if you were infected you were to leave forever. He also said that not a soul is to enter Longway. If you left, you’re welcome to, but you weren’t coming back. If you left, everyone would assume you were sick with the illness, and they’d burn your home just like Earl’s. This has happened to several people in the past few days. The mayor ain’t playin games. Sometimes you’ll hear the priests say that it’s “God’s way to start fresh”. Sometimes at night, you’ll hear people on patrol shoot their guns and create a loud crack, because for some reason the infected ones keep coming back.
June 29th, 1854 – Last night some of the infected took cattle, and horses, and tried to break into a few buildings. The people on patrol took some out when they got to the tree line, but they got away with the animals. The men on patrol have orders to not kill on the inside of town, lest some poor man or woman get taken out due to contact with the corpse. The mayor didn’t wanna have to pick a poor soul to take the body away, be persecuted by the townspeople, and have that man and family get sent away.
July 3rd, 1854- A man named Jack ran into town yelling and screaming. The mayor welcomed him, as he said he had something to say. The man croaked about water, and one of the men gave him a canteen. He finally caught his breath and said the infected had an incredible number to their force. Just like us they put barricades up and sent the infected people away. They attacked Jamestown at night and killed everyone except for him. He escaped just to tell us what happened and that the hoard was close behind, a few days away at most. There were murmurs of leaving for Boston to get away, but there were also talks of the man being a liar just for some food and water. The people calling him a liar think we can take the hoard, seeing as we’re triple the size of Jamestown with more firepower and more ammo.
July 4th, 1854 – Early in the morning the mayor announced that those wanting to leave were free too, but that he and anyone willing would stay and fight, just like great America did for its independence. All but a few of the men set out to build barricades, towers, and other defenses. From the information that we were given by the outsider, we believe that the hoard should reach the town by nightfall tomorrow. He said there were hundreds of them, all bloodthirsty and hungry for flesh. We had around 300 men with 250 muskets for them, as well as cannons and other assortments of tools. I’d dare say that we should be safe no matter what they throw at us. The people are still afraid though, I don’t know who wouldn’t be. I spent the night Furia, trying to keep our heads occupied. To know when the infected come, the mayor set up a plan so that if the church bell rang once, the infected were spotted and we were to assume battle stations, and that if it rang twice; to fall back to the inner line of defense. I told Furia that if the bell rang twice to leave for Boston, don’t look back, and get to her brother Mansel’s house.
July 5th, 1854 – I went for a walk in town and saw men bunkering down and making more and more defensive positions such as trenches. The head of defense sent out a few men on horses. One to Boston to ask for help, the other two to patrol the perimeter and report their findings by three in the afternoon.
We gathered all our weapons for the invasion that had happened. The Head of Defense started getting anxious and sent two more people on horseback to look for the hoard but were not allowed to go more than a mile out. Sometime later one of the two riders came back full speed and informed the Head of Defense that the hoard had an abundance of forces as well as a Calvery. Their horses have the same orangish eyes just like those infected, and they’re making ground, and a lot of it.
Not more than thirty seconds later the bell sounded its toll, telling us that the infected had arrived. The boy that rang the bell pointed east and all the men lined up to take aim. At the same time, the cannons are aimed, and BOOM! They went off, killing and knocking down some of the infected. Through the smoke though more and more infected flooded the battlefield. The people in the towers shot over the smoke but the infected got ever so closer. They went into musket range, and they fired volleys of 3 lines, as more and more piles of bodies stacked up, but they just climbed over the piles or went around them. After a little bit, the infected did something I never thought they could do. They fell back behind the trees. I always thought the rot made you a mindless, wandering beast, but this clearly showed me otherwise. This told me the infected think.
We can see their orangish eyes from behind the trees, and it scares me. I can see them even when I close my eyes, those hate-filled golden voids, seared into my eyelids. Maybe they’re waiting for us to drop our guard. Terry, one of the men, has a good ear and said he could hear them infected grunting to each other. Maybe they’re scared. The Head of Defense said they were waiting for nightfall so that they could get in unbeknownst to all of us. He sent a few people from each side of Longway to make lamps in the fields so that we could see at night. They put some in the back line as well so that we can see without sending anyone out into the chaos.
The men who went out to ask for reinforcements never came back, but we ain’t holding our breath on their return. The people on the inside of the barriers worked on reinforcing them, making sure everything was prepared for the next attack.
Nightfall came around and a few gunshots were heard. The head of defense sent me and two others to go out and see if they needed help. One of the people in the tower said that the infected were crawling in the tall grass to try and sneak up on the town. They ended up getting within 50 yards of the town before we spotted them. Me and the other men told the head of defense, and he looked worried. He gave a speech to everyone saying that the infected were much smarter than he had originally thought and that no weapons of any kind were to fall into their hands, or else it meant certain doom.
Two or so hours later we were almost caught by surprise. Shots rang out into the night at the first sight of the infected pushing again. The bell rang, Cannons fired and black powder from men hurrying to reload showered the ground forces from above while they tried to get into position. We made three lines again and started mowing those things down, and they kept falling, bit by bit. They never stopped coming though, wave after wave of infected until they were 50 yards away from the barricades. To stop us they started throwing rocks at us to take a few of us out of the fight. The Head of defense came on his horse and told us to use bayonets or knives to take out whatever infected got too close. I’d have had my arm bit and torn off if it wasn’t for the man right next to me. Maybe twenty minutes later the infected retreated back to the tree line.
We had successfully fended them off, but we had a new problem, a decent chuck of our manpower was bit, and several died. While they were people, you have to do what you have to do. The head of defense rallies up all the infected men and sends a few out to the lanterns to light them all. The look on one of those boys’ faces almost broke us. Once they lit the lanterns, the people in the towers shot them all dead. The rest of those that were in contact with the infected were beggin and pleadin to let them back in, but we pushed them out with our muskets, and they walked to the tree line, hoping to find a path not blocked by the infected but knew death was right around those trees. The infected dragged the men in and the screaming startled us all.
Eventually, the screaming and rustling in the woods stopped, letting us know they were no longer with us. The only way I knew to cope was to write it all down. God, I pray that you keep me and Furia safe.
July 6th, 1854 – Throughout the day those creatures wailed, waiting to get the jump on us again. I’d be surprised if any man was able to get sleep with those things constantly making those noises. The amount of ammo we have is also weighing on everyone’s minds. We had maybe ten shots each before we were out. The cannons had around twenty-four cannonballs to share between the four we have. If they come at us again, I’m sure we won’t survive what is to come. I took today to spend with Furia. All the men were allowed to spend most of the day with their families. Something told me that we all knew there was no longer a way out of this hell. We can only pray to God now.
When the sunset was upon us, all the men went to their stations for the next attack that was soon to come. By the time nightfall came a few men were crying and some more left to the tree line due to the insurmountable pressure put upon us all. That was a major hit on our morale. Our numbers have dwindled to about one hundred if I had to guess. The reality of our situation must’ve finally hit those poor souls, so they chose to go out the way they wanted.
We final few have been lying in wait for the past 2 hours and one of those darn things came close to biting me again. I shot it dead and that’s when the screeching of the infected started up, almost like a signal. When I looked outwards, I saw all of them hurdling themselves towards us with a newfound vigor. The bell rang its last toll, and the fighting commenced. We’ve been pushed to our last line of defense, so I write this as a record for whoever finds this next, and to my loving wife Furia. Darling, I love you more than I could ever show you, and more than you’ll ever know. I hope I get to see you again.
My name is Furia. I’m currently in the church with the other wives and little ones. I hear all the children crying and the men shooting. Their screams and the children’s wailing. Why is it we have to be the strong ones? We know what’s at stake, so why can the little ones cry, but not us? Why must we brave the inevitable? I doubt I’ll ever know the answer. The men have stopped shooting and all the screams from outside have stopped. God bless Caleb, he never deserved this. None of us do. I love you, Caleb, please-
This journal was in the arms of a rotted corpse who suffered blunt force trauma and masses in the spine as the cause of death. The body was found in the half-dilapidated church near the center of town. Multiple other bodies suffered the same fate, except the children it seems. They died of starvation, most likely days after what had occurred. I as well as other partners from my university are picking apart the entire town clean, or at least what’s left. I fear merchants or others might find and sell what valuables they can just for a quick buck. As for this document, I am the only soul that knows of this journal, and I intend to keep it that way. I’ll keep adding to this document later, apparently one of the interns collapsed and started convulsing. I’m sure he’s just dehydrated.
