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After walking away from the prison, I made my way towards a nearby town. My feet pounding the ground as I trekked toward my destination. I've had about enough of this place. There has to be an escape route somewhere. Let's see, well since I'm heading toward a nearby town, maybe I can look around for a route to take. Yeah, I'll take a look around; see what I can find. My pace begins to quicken. Desperation begins to seep into my veins. I've got to get out of here. I can't stay in this place any longer. Soon, my pace erupts into an all out run. In no time, I reach a door and open it. When I do, the sight of a village greets my eyes. Okay good, now to start my search. Quietly, I descend upon the village. My eyes scan meticulously through the environment. As I descend down the dirt path before me, my ears pick up the sound of voices. Voices? Gotta hide! Immediately, my feet step back several feet. My eyes lock on to where the voices originated. When they do, I begin to see where the voices came from. Two men were walking through the village. In their hands was a big bag.

"Come on! We got to dispose of this! Pick up the pace will you?" said the first man. The other man began to groan.

"Man, all this work and for what? I understand we're morticians and this is our job but..." The other man's voice was cut off.

"No complaining. Besides, we're lucky to have such a booming job" the first man said. Morticians? Oh, I understand. That bag in their hands must be a body. I guess someone must have died recently.

"Yeah, our job's booming because our leader is a nutjob." Immediately, the first man silenced him.

"That's enough. We do not speak of our leader that way. You kids have no respect for your elders." The other man sighs.

"Look, I'm just telling it like it is. The guy's a nutjob. He's crazy. It's because of him that this woman is dead." Immediately, my interest started to peak. A woman?

"No, it's because of a monster. You're getting your facts wrong" The first man replies. A woman killed by a monster. And she was killed recently. Could it be that that's mom they're carrying? Maybe, it's certainly a possibility. But let me hear more about this.

"Yeah, it was a monster. However, whose fault is it that monsters are prowling around here unbothered? Man, if Kollyn Summers were still around, this wouldn't be happening. He would have had these monsters killed by now..." Again, the man was cut off.

"Hold your tongue! And pick up the pace!" The first man said as he went into a door.

"Roger that" the other man said, his voice painted by sarcasm. Both men went into a door. Quietly, I followed them inside. When I entered, my eyes immediately locked onto the trapdoor in front of me. They must have gone in there. I'll follow them and see where they take that body. Carefully, I slip my body through trapdoor and proceed to follow them. With extreme caution and quiet, I kept my distance. After all, what's the point of following if you get caught? I need to follow them. I need to see if it's really her. It didn't take long for us to finally reach the exit. My pace quickened as I saw where they were heading. The men took the body to a bridge on the cliff side. With a soft heave, they threw the body down into the lake. With their job done, the men walked back towards the village. Oh no! They're coming this way! I've got to hide! Urgently, my eyes began to look around. Man, is there anywhere to hide out here? Oh wait! My eyes find the remnants of a large wall facing toward the men. I'll get behind that! My feet sprang into action. Quickly, I darted behind the wall and held my breath as the men passed by. Please don't spot me! Please don't spot me! Please. I held my breath, just hoping beyond hope that they wouldn't see me. Thankfully, they managed to pass by without seeing me. Thank goodness! Now, I need to go check that body. Immediately, my body darted from the wall and towards the bridge. My mind racing with possibilities and scenarios. When I go there, my eyes spotted the floating bag. Carefully, my eyes checked the face that popped out the bag. There's no denying it. That face... that's mom's. So she really did die. And that version of her that I saw, it really was a hallucination. A sigh began to emerge from my being. Mom... I'm sorry I couldn't get help. And I'm sorry for leaving you behind. Please, if you're watching over me, please forgive me. I promise I'll make it out of here. I promise I'll do whatever I can to escape from this terrible place. I promise. Suddenly, my vision began to go blurry. A single tear began to fall from my eye. I wish I were there to save you. I wish I could have. But I guess I wasn't fast enough. My hand reaches toward my eye and wipes away the tear. Even though I wasn't able to save you, I can still make it. I will make it. And I will morn you when I do. But for now, I'll have to save my tears. Crying won't help me escape. Thank you mom. Thank you for taking care of me. And thank you for all you've done. It's time to go. I turn to leave, my goodbyes all said and done. However, when I turned to leave, I saw something out of the corner of eye. On instinct, I turn around and find a huge monster coming towards mom's body. What the?! What's that?! The monster, in one fell swoop, grabs mom's body and disappears beneath the water. What the heck was that? Was that some kind of monster? What's with this place? Goodness you can't go anywhere without a monster trying to get you. Good grief. Suddenly, a rumble begins to shake my body. Immediately, I look and find the bridge beginning to collapse. Gotta go! My body springs into action. My feet begin to pound the wood beneath me. My heart races as I try to outrun the destruction behind me. Dang it! It's one thing after another! I swear! With all the speed I had, I quickly ran towards the door and opened it just as the entire bridge sank beneath the waves. Quickly, I ran into the door and continued to run. Adrenaline continues to seep my body as I ran away from the scene. It wasn't until I ran into another door that the adrenaline finally began to go away. When it did, my whole body became sore. I wanted to sit down; I wanted to take a break. But taking a break isn't a priority now. I have to keep going. At least until I find an escape route. Slowly, I continued to walk down the path before me. My eyes looking for any signs of an escape route. As they continued to look around, I began to notice a strange smell. What is that? It smells like if stagnant water and battery acid had an ugly baby. Man, eww, seriously what is that? My eyes looked around for anything that could make such a nasty smell. Fortunately, I didn't have to look long. In front of me, a pool of green water bubbled underneath a wooden bridge. It's rotten smell beginning to burn my nostril hairs. Man, this is one nasty bowl of soup. Do I really have to cross it? Are there other ways around? I searched the environment, but didn't find another way. Great. I guess I'll have to cross. Quickly, I take a deep breath and plug my nose. Here we go. As quickly as I could, I crossed the little bridge in front of me. I did my best not to look at the water as I crossed. But occasionally, I found myself staring at it. Curiosity began to swell up in me. I wonder what it is. Hmm, well it looks similar to that water in the bathroom of that house. Could this be the same thing? Possibly. To be honest, I wouldn't put it past the crazy guy to take water from here and put it in a tub. Now that I think about, it's just gross. Let's move on before I throw up. I continued to cross the bridge. After a minute, I made it back on land and proceed forward. However, before I could take a step, my eyes locked onto something. Lying beside the soup was a muddy suitcase. Sandwiched between its latches was a corner of a paper. Carefully, my hand extends toward the suitcase. Eagerness and curiosity begin to swell inside me. I wonder what that paper is. Eagerly, my hand grasps the paper and pulls it out. When it does, my eyes immediately go to work reading it.

Journal Entry #12

Dear journal today is an extraordinary day. I've finally done it. After many exhausting hours, I've finally managed to create the ultimate weapon. No longer will nations be shooting missiles at one another. Instead, they'll shoot my newly developed virus. This virus is the ultimate next generation weapon. A weapon that will make me millions! That is once I get it on the black market. Once they see the devastation and havoc this virus creates, they'll be lined up from here to Timbuktu! To be honest, I couldn't have done it without the aid of that idealistic CEO. If it weren't for him digging around in Antarctic ice, I wouldn't have had the chance to make millions. I'll be rich! Rich beyond my wildest imagination! And it was all thanks to Region Incorporated. Anyway, I've got to go. The journey to getting rich can't start if I'm writing in my journal! Next time I write, I'll be rich!

Immediately, I put the paper I found down. A virus? Region Incorporated? What is this? Something's not right here. Immediately, I open the suitcase and find a broken vial and a stack of papers. Eagerly, my hands grasp the stack of papers and read over it. So, this paper... it's a research report on a new type of virus that was discovered twenty years ago. Region Incorporated, as part of their Unknown Virus study program, conducted this research. According to this, they were trying to develop a cure. But yet what I read from that journal doesn't say that. This research report, it was an official Region Incorporated document. Not to mention is even had a WHO seal of approval. Wait a minute... I see what's going on now. It wasn't Region Incorporated that did this. Whoever wrote this journal must have stole the virus from the company to sell on the black market. And this broken vial... the virus must have spilled out into the area! That means that the Gift these people are talking about... it's actually a virus... A virus... I have inside my body, a virus? This doesn't make any sense. A virus can't cause hallucinations. And it most certainly can't reanimate the dead or turn people into monsters. But yet, what else can do this? Nothing else around here can do this. The only real explanation is a virus. No technology or no anything can cause something like this. But wait, let me check the research report again. Again, I read over the report. Okay, so according to this report, the symptoms I've been experiencing were not symptoms of the virus. However, a separate note in the back had details of an enhanced version of the virus that could do this. So the virus that leaked was an enhanced version of the virus. This version could reanimate the dead and create monsters. Now I understand. So the researcher that stole the virus must have enhanced it to try to turn it into a weapon. That's... suddenly, an inhuman growl sounded. Immediately, I got up. On instinct, I ran towards a nearby boat and got on it. Without thinking, I turned it on and sped off through the lake.