An Entry in the Wastes

Date: {some ink stains and dots and the little whispies that happen when one is falling asleep with a pen in their hand follow}

It isn't important what day it is. It's just another day another day of being hungry, of wondering what monstrosities will leap out from around the next corner, of using supplies that I won't be able to replace - at least not any time soon. Fuel is running dangerously low and if I don't come across a station, abandoned vehicle, or someone foolish enough to set up a trading post out here soon I will be walking my happy ass out of the Wastes. If it comes to that I'm likely dead. I don't intend on just laying down and letting those... things end me, but I don't have a chance to make it some place safe, if there is such a place anymore.

Lately I've been talking to myself out loud to make sure I haven't forgotten how to speak. There have been stories of some that came out of the Wastes having forgotten all but how to eat, shit, defend themselves. If I don't end up coming across a caravan or trader I want to be able to actually speak plainly to them. It's the easiest way not to get shot or bitten by some sort of mutant. Again.

There was a sign for a hospital a mile or two back. Perhaps I should head that way and see if there are any supplies there. When the mutants and the other things started showing up everyone sort of evacuated the region, if rumors can be trusted at all. So far they've been pretty accurate. But I need to sleep a couple of hours and midday is the only time those things won't be roaming around looking for something to shred.

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Date: 2 Days after my last entry. I'm really going to need to get my head on strait after I get out of these blasted Wastes!

There have been a couple of days since I last wrote in here. I had to lay low and make sure those... well I had to make sure they didn't follow me; but I've got to get this down. I mean... even if I die someone will find this and this information needs to get passed on. Let's start with right after my nap now that the little surge of adrenaline has worn off. I don't know if I'll ever be right again after all of this.

When I woke up I was half covered in sand. The wind collapsed half of my tent and almost completely buried my bike! FUCKING WASTES! Anyway, I found the hospital and for once was pleasantly surprised. I loaded up on penicillin, anti-bio's, morphine, bandages, gauss and a shit ton of other stuff! If I actually make it to a Set I might be able to trade for... well... anything! The entire place was like a treasure trove from one of them old pirate stories. Shit, I found batteries in boxes still in their plastic! I might have to see if one of the vehicles outside are still serviceable to make it worth my while. Maybe if there's a truck or an ambulance... yeah thought if I could get one of those going I could put my bike in the back, have room for storage and a safer place to sleep! Gas consumption aside, it's worth a thought. Then I sat down to eat before checking out the offices and the sub levels. Never know what might be in the basement. At the time I had no idea how right I was!

It was all too good to be true. Should have known as soon as I saw penicillin still on the shelves. Everything was excellent, found cigars in some of the offices and even a 38 special in one of the desks! It didn't dawn on me until later but why would a doctor need a gun like that in a hospital? But after that I dropped off the extras, tucked the gun into my waistband, checked my shotty before swingin on down to the lower levels.

When I got down there I found the doors to one of the wards was buttoned up tighter than cherry's lips! There was bound to be some exceptionally good finds in there. Probably some sort of storage site preparing for the world to end. Well we, ol'shotty and me, took care of that lock and gods I wish I hadn't.

This was where they MADE them!!! Those fucking idiots! This is where the experimented on people and MADE the creatures that people always said were lurking in the wastes! Screamers, Rooks, Wastehouds, Brutes... all of em made right here. I read the files. I saw the pictures. Those doctors were something else... more monsters than what they made. They just kept giving the injections no matter how much those folks were suffering. All the while writing it down and snapping pictures like some sort of monstrous family photo album.

The first one I looked through had some sort of serial number on it. I opened it up and saw a paper clip holding a picture of a woman full body shot. Wavy blond hair, grey eyes, well built... all in all pretty darn hot! Said she was some sort of military volunteer. A few pages later there was another picture a couple of weeks later from the markings. She was pale. Not that porcelain pale you find in the Need Houses. But that look of sickness. Her hair was wet, or oily, who knows if they even let them shower during these tests. There were some scratches on her face and her eyes with that wide, half mad look to them. Her eyes... and her mouth stretched in a wide thin lipped smile. Too wide now that I think about it. It still gives me the chills. I might have to burn those pictures later.

The third picture was more disturbing yet. The scratches had multiplied and gotten deeper and her eyes were shut. She probably scratched them too. But that was too good to be true. The file said her eye lids had healed closed after she tore out her own eyes! What the hell?! What would make a person do that? Now her grin was wider yet and had the beginnings of the fabled Screamer's grin. Her teeth looked jagged and it appeared her mouth and jaw had become deformed to accommodate the extra teeth. Her hair was much longer as were her arms and legs. Her hair was thinner, stringier, and her limbs more spidery. It's hard to believe that this woman had started out the way she did.

The final series of pictures... well... she was a screamer now. Her clothes and been shredded and likely no one was going to get any new ones on her. But at the time they didn't know that. Her body was long and thin. Everything was thin. Hell even her tits were small and nearly gone. She wasn't a person any more for sure. Even thinking about those pictures now made me shudder. Anyway, after the first time she shredded her clothes they sent an orderly in to dress her again and she leaped on him and he got bit at the base of the neck. They tranked her and got him out. He was still alive at the time so they treated the wound. They didn't know it but he would have been better off if they had just let him die, or better yet killed him right there in that room. A Screamer's bite will always win out. He did hang in long enough to tell them what was going on. Then before they knew it they had two screamers. The orderly hadn't changed completely yet but that didn't mean he still had control. The Screamer Queen had her first drone. The orderly ended up letting her out and well they lost a bunch of patients and staff. The first screamer hive was made!

There were three other files serial coded. One for each of them, Rook, Brute, and Wastehound. I scooped them all up and too them upstairs. I was refitting an ambulance that I had found in the garage mostly intact. Some wires had been nibbled on by little critters but it didn't require much else. I finished the repairs. Loaded up my bike and as many of the supplies as I could jam in there and did a final look around for anything that I absolutely needed. When I came back out that's when my luck ran out. Out at the fence line there it was! A fucking Rook. Staring at me with those wide open, sightless eyes!! I took a breath and looked around. Ok, so there's a Rook watching me, that was creepy enough, but where are her Brutes? There are always at least one, normally two. No matter. Back to the task on hand. I told myself. As long as they're out there beyond the fence that that's just fine with me. Were they scared of this place? I wouldn't blame them based on what I read so far. If so I might be able to manage one more trip out here with someone. But who? It was so hard to find someone you could trust enough normally, but with dealing with a haul like this? No chance. Oh well, more important things to worry about. Like the fucking Rook staring right at me! No, I need to finish up. So I finished tying down as many fuel canisters as I could find and hopped in.

As I started up the engine, it took a couple of tries, I looked in the rear view mirror and nearly jumped through the roof. There was the rook again. Facing me! I made a little wave. Flipped her off, yeah now I know it was stupid. I had enough daylight left to get past the mountains, if I kept moving.

I didn't have much time to consider anything else because as I was heading toward the gate something huge flew right in front of the ambulance. I looked in the direction it flew and see a small car bouncing end over end as it finally came to a stop leaving huge ruts and divots in the ground where it had hit. I was almost too afraid to look in the other direction, but I did anyway. That was when I saw my first Brute! He was monstrous! I don't think he'd even fit in the back of this thing emptied out! As that thought crossed my mind the ambulance shook violently. As I scanned the area and saw the dust settling and then two lumbering shapes running in amazing strides toward me. One of them was still holding the large fence post with the cement filling still stuck to the end of it like a mace. He dropped it to quicken his pace and keep up with the first. I was almost to the fence that was when I glanced out my window and saw the third Brute, likely the one that had thrown the car, hauling ass after me. Shit they were fast!!

Looking forward again just int time to see a huge pothole that wasn't likely to be avoided, but I tried anyway and nearly flipped the ambulance. Once I straitened things out I scolded myself and swore loudly and floored it. Oddly it didn't seem like I was moving that fast and then that awful screech of metal stretching and tearing. There was a jolt and I was moving again. Glance in the rear view I caught a glimpse through the new hole in the back. The sight of the Brute that was tossing aside the ambulance door like a child discarding a broken toy. The three Brutes were after me with a vigor, the largest of the three in the lead.

Now I was swearing so much I didn't even realize what I was saying. I don't know why I looked again but I did. Only a few dozen paces behind the marauding Brutes was the Rook. The petite woman, the size of a child of twelve, keeping up with the massive strides of creatures that made her look like an infant in comparison. The more I glance back the more I notice something off. The Brutes I bobbed back and forth as they ran, but the Rook seemed to move more smoothly. It made chills run up and down my spine. Then I saw why as the dust began to clear. The Rook wasn't touching the ground! She was levitating and following her Brutes.

Snapping myself out of it, I realize that the Brutes would be close enough to hold onto my vehicle. So I reach back with ol'shotty and take a couple of shots. I don't even think it made them stutter a step. I can't even be sure I hit any of them but that close a few of the pellets had to have hit their mark. I didn't have any urge to get a closer look, go figure right? Now I was wondering what they were going to toss at me next, literally! Looking back yet another time I noticed they had stood still an were now a number of car lengths behind me.

The Rook floated up to the three Brutes and they looked down at her. It truly was a drastic difference. Why did they stop? Did it matter? I was safe! Someone tell my heart that, it was beating like a frantic drum. I really should head out, if I ever hope to see actual human beings again that is. I have this odd feeling though... I'm being watched and maybe even hunted. It's been some time since I've felt that. I never had the urge to feel it again but that's enough. Hopefully there will be another entry.