051.0 Hours Since Quartz's Disappearance

I didn't shower that time, but I had to at least change my pants because it had a bait stain on it. Lyla turned away again to give me some privacy. I ducked my head under the shower to get my hair wet once I was dressed. This has gotta be believable for Mico. My amulet is safely back into my secret pocket. I've been wearing the same undergarments for who-knows-how-long.

Mico and the male twin are shuffling around outside the stalls. I look at Lyla and put a finger to my lip before turning off the water. I don't know how she got in here without anyone seeing her, but I'm sure that someone will notice if they review the camera footage closely enough. Lyla moves as far back into the stall as she can. I only open the door enough to barely squeeze through when I come out. Neither of the two guys comment on it. They're more concerned with getting to breakfast. I dump my armful of clothes into the bin before following them.

The rest of the day- erm, night goes exactly how it went yesterday. Mico and I actually sat with the others today. He introduced me to the others, Eli and Ella, who are nonidentical twins. They talk a lot amongst themselves too quietly for the rest of us to jump in. Lyla and Mico discuss what kind of movie they're going to watch later. I treat her like a stranger.

Mico took me with him again to fill up bait pits. It's easier to handle now that I know the monsters aren't going to rip me apart. They like to bang on the truck until we start to fill the pit. The smell is still horrible. The entire time, I'm debating whether I should just make a break for it. The guards can't get out and chase after me with the monsters. I could hide out until dawn, and sneak back in when the farmers go out to their fields. The problem is that I'm sure the public doesn't know about these daily feedings. One of these Jeeps could run me over with those plows to keep the secret. It's not a good plan, but I can save it for later if I have to.

I can't die. I'm not particularly scared of death, at least I don't think so, but I'm starting to remember who I was before. A lot of people will suffer if I fail to get out of here. I'm too important to stay here. People deserve to know that the monsters stay so close to the city, too. I wanna see Chichi again.

Recreation time is also eerily similar to yesterday. Eli and Ella read books on their beanbag, and the other two watched another movie. I should do something more productive today then sulk. I doubt that there's anything in here that I could possibly be used as a weapon, but I start with the bookshelves. A thick hardcover book can knock out a few teeth in an emergency. The cameras would definitely see if I tried to take one out of this room. A stack of books is also cumbersome to carry around. They're only useful if you can throw them, and even then, it'd be hard to pick one up in a fight.

I hadn't actually planned to read anything. My hand was skimming along the spines of the books, looking for where the thicker ones tended to be, when a title caught my eye. "The Extinction Event". I pull it halfway off the shelf, and almost drop it when I see a realistic drawing of a monster's eye on the cover. The book is labeled as nonfiction. Since I have the time, I might as well skim it.

"The Extinction Event" is an old book written by some famous professor who's now six feet under. Apparently, it was written right after the monsters first appeared. This book must be ancient! I've never heard of a time without monsters, but that could just be my lagging memory. I become more and more uncomfortable as I read on through the chapter summaries. There's many diagrams of colored eyes like mine and blank ones like the monsters'. The book claims that roughly a third of the world's population had these 'Delta' eyes as they're called. That doesn't make sense considering the city can only find five of us in their entire population.

The first chapter just explains genetically how an error in human genes mutated and changed a bunch of our sequences around. Our eyes aren't the only thing that's different, they're just the indicator that the anomaly is complete. I'm not a biologist. Most of it flies over my head.

Other things in the book confuse me, as well. It talks of countries made of many cities working together without walls. It's written like it's all common sense, but nothing like it exists anymore. The countries didn't get along very well. They competed for resources and territory. That, I can understand. It's not so different from the East and the West. All the countries in the world got into a big fight. A war. This is what started the 'Extinction Event'. All this information feels new to me. The general population must not know about this. I keep reading. I'm so absorbed that I don't keep track of the time.

The war between the countries used a lot of different weapons. Strangely, swords and bows aren't mentioned. It's mostly guns and bombs. Eventually, a few resorted to biological weapons like diseases and illnesses. One of these was nicknamed the 'X' serum. It apparently 'deleted' a very large amount of people in all the counties. Many died. Only a small amount of people turned out to be immune.

The X serum treated people with Delta eyes a little differently. At first, it also seemed like they were immune. It was later discovered in blood tests that the virus wasn't actually being flushed out of their systems. It went dormant for a time and slept in a Delta's blood. The anomaly in our genes changes the virus. It mutates and comes back to life after a few months of hibernation. The first sign is when the color of a Delta's eyes started to fade. Their skin would then start to blacken, rot, and harden to a shell. This causes the body to deform itself.

I feel sick. Bile rises in my throat, and I can't read any more. I squeeze my eyes, my Delta eyes, shut and force myself to take deep breaths. This had to have happened forever ago. The book has no date. Considering Mico has been running around outside with the monsters for years, this X serum isn't effecting anyone these days. There's still a sick feeling in my gut. The monsters were once human. They were once like me. Chichi doesn't know I'm a step away from one of them.

I have to get out of here. If returning to my own life wasn't a good enough reason, then sharing this information and stopping those 'feedings' sure must be worth it.