The Journal of Jackson Meriwether, Final Entry, Three Days Ago

He's not like the others. They all range from six to seven feet in height. Some bulkier, while others a lot skinnier. Long hair over their bodies, shorter around the face. Their faces seem so human. But he's different.

He's their leader, they don't come close to the barricades around the house without him. He's not as tall, much leaner. Through the telescopic lens I can see scar tissue on his face, an old burn it appears. His feet have long, clawed toes, same with his hands, long fingers ending in curved knives. The Leader, I've been calling him. His face almost has a snout.

These are apes. Animals. Nothing supernatural about them. Just apes. But Leader seems different, like something else entirely.

I've been cohabitating with them for years. I have hours, no, days of recordings. My retirement has gone into feeding them. But I've never been within 20 yards of any one of them. Until yesterday.

At one time they wouldn't approach without ducking behind the small barricades and deadfalls I placed around the front and back yards. Now they walk up in broad daylight.

But Leader. Jesus. They all make sounds, whoops and screams. But he laughs. Honest to God, the laughs. The worst part? It's not his laugh. He mimics, it sounds like a worn tape recording. Yesterday, I twisted my ankle while adding wood to the deadfalls. I fell to the ground with a yell. Then I heard that yell echoing back to me. He was sitting there on his haunches. Leader. Just a few feet away. I never heard him approach. I didn't even smell him and Christ, you can always smell them.

He kept making the sound and laughing. He smiled. You could see it in his eyes! His teeth were jagged and clustered together, like a shark's mouth. Being closer, I could see his features had been deformed, maybe at birth, maybe from the burns, so he looked more like a wolf.

I couldn't avoid his eyes. They glowed, even in the daylight.

These are animals. Wood apes! But Leader, he's more human than any of them and honestly? He scares the hell out of me.