The journal of Mikial

The Journal of Mikial by Michael Smith orginally done as a short
story in early 2000 by myself I have written this revised edition
for the community to love or hate. I can't believe I've made it
this long...every minute and every hour is borrowed time as far as
I'm concerned. Either by the will of god or by my own will to
survive...I have survived for a total of 4950 days so far...this is
4951...its friday the 13th the most unlucky day for anyone. As I
write these words my cigarette burns to the filter between my
fingers. Though the doors are reinforced and I am armed...I haven't
looked outside in awhile...there is no telling how many are out
their...I am not totally alone inside either. I have a small group
of people I met...saved or joined up with along the way...nine of
us altogether. Held up in this goddamn dark and gloomy office
building someplace in Alaska. I write this now because I fear that
our survival is at its end...we came to this place with over
two hundred others...the elements...food shortages and betrayal
have dwindled us down to the sad skeletal force that remains on
this ghostly watch. Marked men and women waiting for their turns to
die...none of us are giving up...but none of us seem to agree on
either suicide or a last stand. I vote last stand... The others
aren't so convinced that going out with a blaze of glory is the
best way to go...but when we are trapped almost ten stories up and
with winds rocking the windows and the blizzard increasing in
strength to me it seems like our only alternative...because sooner
or later they are gonna break into the lobby...and break the
barricaded doors in the stairwells down. We've thrown as much
office furniture and desks and what not on the stairs to make it
nearly impossible for them to get up...but as we have seen...they
have become more intelligent and more "gifted" The mutations have
gotten worse...some have even begun climbing. We were twenty in
strength last week...the building across from us much lower to the
ground only about four stories was well secured...none of them
could get in on the ground floor. We even had a cable going from
our roof to theirs in case our barricades failed. In reality we
were safer than the other team across from us. Early Saturday
morning around 4:30 am our sniper on the roof reported strange
activity occuring on the building across the street, dark figures
were slowly climbing up ledges and walls. We shouted...we tried to
reach the other team on radio to warn them but no one
replied...they became too lax and it cost them their lives. One of
our own team volunteered to go across to the secondary strong
point. He kept in close radio contact, I had everyone on the roof
covering him as he went across the cable slowly shimming across to
the other side. When he reached the roof he reported that all
seemed normal until he turned his flash light on, thats when we saw
the station door on the roof wide open...and the roof top guards
eaten alive. We begged and pleaded our man to return...alas he
didn't listen he went inside and after an hour came running back
out carrying a wounded female. They were halfway across when one of
the undead came to the ledge and saw them, he stood on the ledge
after hoping up ontop of it and stared at them. Like he was trying
to work out what he was seeing...the next thing that happend was
horrific! The beast grabbed the steal cable and started to shake
it. Our man had his harness connected to the line and the female
was connected as well. The beast shook and shook until finally the
steel cable snapped from the tension and weight of two people...I
watched horror as two of our own fell to their deaths. The beast
dove off the side of the building to join in the feeding frenzy
that was about to take place on the ground...we figured the rules
of the game must have changed over night. We never got a fucking
memo...we never had a warning...it just happened. After that we
kept close eyes on the windows and had our sniper team up on the
roof as often as possible. Our only advantage is...we have lots of
ammunition...our food and fresh water have dwindle down to small
daily rations of a cup of water and a small piece of bread per
person...we've made that stretch now for about...two days...and the
water tank is almost bone dry...and only a quarter of a loaf of
bread remains...it would seem we are in dire straights. day 4952
dusk We lost another member today...one of our scouts was on the
roof and he had been acting strangely all day...the normally
talkative and caring person had been considered raw and angry...and
anti-social...we had thought he just needed some air so I had him
on guard duty. I went up to the roof to visit him and we talked. He
seemed fine and I assured him live or die we did the best we could
here. The man in question had lost his entire family...the entire
line..cut and quartered by the beasts...he head to kill his
pregnant wife and children because they turned...yes...Nicholas was
a very strong man to be able to deal with that on his thoughts for
as long as he did...He was fine until he radioed in a strange
situation on the over run building across the street from
us...where the other team had gone down. He said he saw someone
standing on the roof signaling using morse code with a flashing
light... We all scrambled to the roof to see if a survivor from the
other side was still their. When we turned on the thermal...they
were as cold as ice...we thought it was unusual but being in Alaska
in the middle of winter we didn't really think the worst until we
turned on the night vision and got a clear view...it was a
zombie...and the morse code was starving...send food. All of us
were shaken to say the least. Nicholas said he wanted to stay on
watch I stationed two others with him...before I left the roof I
borrowed a rifle from one of them and trained my sights on the zed
with the flash light...on the first shot I put the bullet square
through its forehead and I watched it stumble around a bit then
fall over the side of the building. I handed the rifle back to its
owner and I and the others went back downstairs to regroup our
thoughts and discuss how to handle this new looming
threat...intelligent zombies...if we could even call them that
now...We we're downstairs for approximately two hours when the men
on the roof reported Nicholas had gone missing...another tense hour
later our explosives were raided and Nicholas was still missing. To
boost morale I personally went on sniper duty...it was almost noon
and still Nicholas was missing. As the sun went down and the
temperature dropped I was getting ready to leave my sniper post and
let the replacements come up when I felt a pistol press against the
back of neck "Drop the weapon sir and stand back" Is all I heard
and the voice was Nicholas's "What are you doing I replied" "FUCK
YOU MIKIAL YOU LEAD US ON THIS SUICIDE MISSION AND YOU ASK WHAT IM
DOING!!?". "YOU FUCKING CHOSE TO COME WITH US MAN! I DIDN'T FORCE
YOU TO LEAVE YOU LEFT FOR THE SAME REASONS WE ALL DID!!! THEIRS
NOTHING LEFT FOR US MAN! NOTHING BUT EACHOTHER! I tried to reason
with him...He whipped me in the back of the head with the pistol
and I fell to the ground...I regained consciousness a few minutes
later to see him standing on the ledge strapped with
explosives...c4 mainly with alot of tubes which held unknown
contents. "What are you doing?!" I screamed to him...He smiled and
said "What I want to do...." With that...he cast himself over the
edge I leaped from the ground trying to save him...however I was
too late...as he hurtled towards the ground I saw the deadman
switch in his hand. "CRAZY SON OF A BITCH!!! DON'T DO IT!!!" I
screamed in vain...as he was just above the undead...litterally ten
feet from the ground...he flipped the fucking switch and the
tremendous explosion engulfed a large number of the undead. I
couldn't understand his actions...maybe the nightmares of the past
finally got to him...maybe the sight of an intelligent zombie
triggered him... We have no clue at this time. I was treated by the
last medic in the group...minor concussion from the handle of the
pistol and a few stitches is all I needed and I was ready to go
again... day 4955 dusk The snow has finally ceased...its pilled up
heavily on the ground...we can't even see all of the zombies...they
are covered by the shit...damn near all the way up to the third
floor of the building is covered with snow...this has given us all
some serious cause for alarm...we can't see them...and the snow is
really high...were just hoping its new thick enough or packed down
enough by ice to support their weight...cause if they figure that
out...then they can get inside easy...as a precaution I've got the
fourth floor windows being barricaded as we speak... the last few
days have been spent doing this...I slept for the first time
earlier today since the Nicholas incident...I only got six hours of
sleep...but I needed it I've been barricading and coming up with
back up plans...and back ups for the back ups should we be over
run...I've tried to cover almost every angle but its nearly
impossible to get everyone ready for all of these... I guess the
whole Nicholas incident has put my leadership in question. Since
everyone seems to look at me with some disdain...do they all think
I'm mad? Presently the medic, and my two buddies from the army are
the only ones still talking to me. Some of the others seem to think
I strapped him with explosives and threw him off the fucking
building. When this isn't the case at all...paranoia is setting
in...this bad when we have eight people armed to the teeth with
fully automatic weapons and explosives. I've been trying to help
the situation but the whole Nicholas event has put us all on our
last nerves their are alot of itchy trigger fingers up here...I use
to think that was good thing up until I wasn't sure if they are
itchy to shoot our undead brothers and sisters or each other. Day
4956 high noon The snow has started again and increasing pressure
on the glass has started leaving cracks...the scarier thing is we
haven't seen any zeds in days now...they are still either under the
snow or already inside on the lower levels this has yet to be
determined. We are all joking saying they froze to a second
death...this seems to lighten the mood a bit around the place...our
food is completely gone...were currently collecting and boiling
snow for water. We have plans to go on a supply retrieval mission
tomorrow in the early morning. It will be myself and my two friends
from the army Erik and Carl we were in the middle east together and
survived alot of situations out gunned...this was no
different...except the enemy was wanting to devour us instead of
just killing us and moving on. Again dire straights...I pray to god
that the mission to collect supplies ends well with the three of us
returning with food of some kind...things might get really nasty if
we don't... day 4958 night My god the fucking mission was a
success, we found various canned goods at a small store and brought
them back to base...we were in high spirits until we learned that
one of our snipers commited suicide the night before...fearing we
were dead and no food was coming...he blew his brains out while he
was on duty at his sniper post on the roof. Now we are seven...our
numbers dwindle more and more and with each members passing...our
hope seems to die with them. The loss of Nicholas and now Tyler
weigh heavily upon my heart...I am urging everyone to not give up
hope...now that we have food things seem to have gotten
better...after a nice hot meal everyone seemed to return to there
normal selves...well what we considered normal what with the
circumstances and all. The three empty places at our table were
ominous reminders of what we had been through...and a testament to
the limits of the human mind. day 4960 dawn Well i'm wounded...shot
by one of my own...another soldier we brought with us, Patrick...I
had to execute him...he finally couldn't take it anymore...only he
was about to make the Nicholas incident look like a rain drop in a
puddle...Since the day after the Nicholas incident he had been
hording away weapons and ammo as well as explosives...He told us
all that if he wasn't let out of this god forsaken building he was
going to bring it down ontop of us, he planted explosives all over
the place. A fire fight broke out...he killed Erik and Carl and
shot another man in the stomach...I took a round in the shoulder. I
managed to do that by surprising him around a corner and struggling
with him, I got his rifle out of his hands by breaking his arm, I
tried to restrain him but his adrenaline overpowered mine and he
kneed me in the balls and fired a round into my general area...I
hit the deck but still caught the bullet in my shoulder, I pulled
my pistol and shot him six times in the back as he walked away from
me, the bullets only stunned him as he was wearing body armor
underneath his clothes he turned to shoot me again but when his
face was in clear view I shot him through the neck and he fell to
the ground convulsing and spitting blood, I stood over him debating
whether or not to kill him...then he died of his injuries... I
kicked his helmet off and put a round in his forehead to make sure
he wasn't gonna get back up...We built funeral pyres on the roof
out of office desks and burned our dead...even though Tyler should
have been fed to the undead I didn't have it in me...I gave him a
soldiers send off... So now we are weaker...only five of us
left...two males three females...I am the oldest one in the group
now...the others with me are barely out of their teens. They are
scared...the second oldest is Shaneia our medic, she is just as
reasonable as I am if not more. Though they are young and scared
they are still willing to fight...whatever the cost. Day 4962
Things have gotten bad...the windows have finally broken from the
pressure of the snow against them...the undead have suddenly
reappeared and as we speak have flooded the stairwell doors beating
on them and howling with hunger for our flesh. I and Shawn the only
other male in the building have bobby trapped all six stairwells
leading up to the immediate floors below us. We have also
hesitantly gone to the extreme of wiring them all for
demolition...to hell with structural integrity I reasoned with the
others...those things get past those stairwells we are all as good
as dead. I'm watching the main stair well currently as it is the
biggest...we are hoping that the steel doors hold out. If not we
are basically gonna be trapped up here once we blow the stairs
leading to us. Also to make matters worse our climbing friends have
been making appearances...we have used the last of the furniture to
construct crude window barricades in case they should find a way to
remain stable enough while climbing to smash the windows in...I
pray to god they don't.... Day 4965 dusk There all dead! Those
things over ran the stairs last night and now I am the only one
left...The cold effected the detonators or the explosives we...I
can't figure out which cause this...I am so shaken by all this...I
could do nothing to save them...I managed to save Shaneia but she
had been bitten, Shawn went down fighting with a knife and his
fists when his weapon ran dry...the two other girls panicked and
shot the windows out and jumped to their deaths....This whole plan
has fallen apart...I'm out on the roof with the little food I have
left The double steel doors to the roof have been locked and barred
from the outside by myself to prolong those bastards from getting
up here...I have killed ten of those climbing fuckers... I will not
give up hope...even if it seems hope has abandon me...its still
snowing...I've had to shovel the roof now six times in the past
twelve hours. I am also on my last cigarette...the last injection
of morphine is in my hand at the moment and I am currently getting
ready to inject. It is truly by the will of god that I have
survived in these elements this long... I have just injected my
last shot of morphine and am sticking close to the fire, my weapons
are ready and loaded. I am alone...tired...and heartbroken...I lead
these people here in search of salvation...and I only brought them
into the arms of death...if I were a weaker man I would have killed
myself already...but I didn't come all this way just to die in this
frozen hell hole! I hear strange noises coming from the side of the
building...moaning and clawing...more climbers must be coming...If
no entries occur after this...then the undead have finally over
taken my postion..and Mikial Aretecca having survived 4965 days has
perished....good night journal...I hope this isn't the last time
I'll be writ... (The words end their)