Day 10c

Trying to get back to bed... Drrrifting in and out, here...

Don't remember leaving Armstrong's place. Something's wrong. Each step feeling like my leg weighs a ton. 

Hot... Sweating... Light's too bright...

(*Silence, distant voices, heavy thump*)

Oookayyy, kinda fell, here. Dirt, rocks... Hey, sis. Long time, no see. Can you give me hand up here, and back to bed? I'm not feeling too well. Where've you been, what've you been up to?

(*Female voice*)

 “Jacob? What are you talking about? It's me, Jennifer. Get up, what's wrong?”

Eh, I'm just not feeling well. I think I just need some rest, sis. Are mom and dad with you? I've missed you guys, haven't seen you since... Since...

(*Heavy thump. Same female voice.*) 

“Jacob? Wake up, come on! HELP! SOMEONE GET OVER HERE!”

(*Approaching footsteps, clanking sounds*)

Oh, wow. You are huge. Help me up, would you? I've got to get to bed. Got an Autodoc there somewhere, need to plug it in. Don't carry me, please, just...help me walk...

Day 10b

Mmm, the best part of today: I finished that last recording, got halfway dressed, and then Jennifer walked in without a word or a knock. I'd left her a little gift, too. And oh, she appreciated it.

After I got dressed again, I went out to see the blacksmith. I noticed that I was developing a bit of a limp, and it wasn't helped any by the fact that the place was built in a bit of a valley. Down one hill, up another. The limp wasn't too bad, nothing that would definitely slow me, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on it. From the feel of it, I think I bruised my knee, somewhere on the inside.

Armstrong is an interesting guy. He's shorter than me, but his shoulders are about three or four times as wide as mine. He's also utterly bald, even his eyelashes and arms, not a single hair on him. He's got a pair of goggles, says he wears them constantly to keep things out of his eyes since he doesn't have eyelashes. When I met, he grinned like a fool, shook my hand in a grip that made the tendons in my hand pop. Seems he's always in that kind of exuberant, jolly mood.

I'm actually rather glad that I left him a fair share of the pans. Honestly, from what I've heard, he is by far the more talented smith. The town's other smith, Smithson, is good for little more than repairs or just making the same things over and over. Armstrong, on the other hand, has a reputation for learning and improving his craft. He had left the noted because he wanted to speak to me personally. And I'm glad I came by.

Smithson was there for the beginning of the meeting. It made me apprehensive at first, but he just wanted to admit that he wasn't so good at innovation. He was damned good at just repairing, or copying something he's done or seen. But he knew wasn't good at trying something new. It actually made me respect him a lot; in a world like this, it's good to know your strengths, and your weaknesses. If I need a simple repair done, I will happily go to him. If he's still in business whenever you hear this, he's good at what he does.

Smithson left after that, having said his piece. Armstrong, however, made me an offer He wanted to add some armor plating to my usual, simple leather outfit. He also offered to improve Disc a little, making it stronger and sharper as long as I brought him the materials he'd need.. I, of course, accepted. I mean, he could improve my armor by the end of the day, and improve my most reliable weapon whenever I bring him materials. Despite the arguments made by the pink gerbil that walked into the room, I had to accept. We shook hands, and I let myself float into the clouds, where I could look out over all of the lands as they turned vibrant with multicolored fruit and cotton candy...

Oookay, I think something's wrong and my other head seems to agree with me...

Day 10

Well, it hasn't been a whole day. Once I had gotten back to Fest Town, it was almost dawn. And I was near collapse from exhaustion. However, I had a job to finish, and I wanted to complete it before I rested. No sense putting it off. So as soon as I got back to town, the first thing I did was to go find Max, give him the report. I made sure that the bodies would be treated with respect; both the Fallen and their victims. None of them had asked for what had happened to them. The Fallen had once been people, with hopes, dreams, friends. They had succumbed only to fate. They'd be buried decently.

I made sure that Max knew what kinds of supplies I had left behind, so he'd know what he and the townsfolk could go and scavenge. I made arrangements with him before I listed it all off, to make sure I'd be getting a portion of any ammo or other useful loot from the place. He sat and listened, occasionally negotiated, all while he was still dressed in a robe and nothing else. Turns out that I had woken him. And honestly... I didn't care. I was tired, battered, scratched, and sliced. Interrupting his night's sleep didn't bother me in the least.

I made a few other stops, but didn't bother to wake people. Dropped all the dried and canned foods in the town square, with a small note for people to only take a few. This way, people'd have some advance notice of what was available, and it'd hopefully be easier for Max to get volunteers to help carry it out. Also dropped off a pair of cooking pans with the blacksmiths. No rust, no scratches, no dents; should be good for everyone.

And then I slept. I slept a lot. A good rest after a battle is almost a necessity. And that job was, what, three or four battles in a row, mixed with some scouting and recon. I'm feeling more rested now, and that makes it a new day. Still covered in bruises and scratches. I may have cracked a rib at some point, probably when my own grenade knocked me into the wall. And the back of my neck really itches. I'm pretty sure I've got a wound of some sort back there, because I went to scratch it and ended up with blood under my nails. Going to try to leave it alone, let it scab back over and heal. Also going to have to try REALLY hard to ignore the itch.

Only other notable thing is that there was a note on my door when I woke. One of the town's smith's, Armstrong, apparently wants to see me about something. All he said in the note was wondering about the coating on the pans, and something about my weapons.

The doorway lead through a small closet and into another corridor. It was beginning to seem more and more like some sort of shelter designed to protect and hide all of the inhabitants from the houses above. There's no telling whether these Fallen are part of those inhabitants, or wandered in from elsewhere. I still couldn't hear anything, so I randomly decided to go to the right. This was the good direction. Found a storeroom and a kitchen. Ammo, a few more grenades. Some food, and some cookware I'll probably just give to the townsfolk. Best part is, though, I found two Autodocs. Great little robotic devices. They read a BioComp, and they act to help drastically speed wound recovery. They'll administer anesthetics, antiseptics, even do minor surgery to help set a broken bone or remove a bullet. They're only meant for one quick use, but hey: I got two.

Kept exploring for a while. Good part is, only found three more Fallen. Bad part is, they'd apparently dragged some travelers down there. An adult, the body too mangled and chewed to tell even the gender...and a kid. Both fairly recent, the blood not fully dried around their remains. I only saw two of the Fallen at first, eating. I'll admit that I was in a bit of shock at the sight. Managed to fire the shotgun and kill one, but then the third one hit me from the side, messed up my aim so that I only wounded the second eater. And then that third one was on me, and it was all I could see as I was knocked to the floor. We scuffled, and I have a couple nasty scratches across my ribs to show for it, but I finally managed to kick him off of me enough to reach Disc and bury in his chest. As he fell, I looked around for the last one, and saw him slowly crawling toward me with one leg barely still attached. I could also see the kid's remains at the same time. So I took the time to stand, I pulled my rifle around, and I took the time and enjoyment to bash it's skull into the floor with the stock.

I explored a little more after that. No more Fallen, but I did find another exit, partly blocked with a cave-in. I went back to the kitchen after that, and I got some oil and some matches. I burned the bodies of those two poor victims. Figured it was the least I could do, not leaving them out in a place like that. I also made sure that I closed the place up pretty good behind me, so the only other potential predators that'll be able to get in there will have to be the intelligent kind. At the very least, it won't be something quite so likely to do that to a small child, something helpless.

Day 9d

Well, crap. I'm damn near back to town, now. Did NOT realize that this thing had cut off at some point. And I was all kinds of heroic back there. I'm really going to have to see about tweaking this thing, or fixing it, or something. Dammit...! Okay. I guess that, for now at least, I'll just have to recap what happened. Gotta admit, the temptation is there to exaggerate, but I'm going to try to be truthful. This is for posterity.

So, the last thing that recorded was me trying to kick open that door. It was barricaded shut, and locked up pretty solid. So, when I kicked it, I damned near broke my foot on the door, and knocked myself onto my ass. Literally, I hit the door with a good, strong kick, and I only succeeded in pushing myself backwards, losing my balance, falling onto my ass. I made quite a bit of noise in the process. Once I was able to focus again, that's when I heard the other Fallen getting closer, all hissing and snarling and hungry. I quickly scrambled to my feet, picking my shotgun back up and turning to face the other door, behind me.

They reached that door just as I began to set myself, scratching and scrabbling at it. Being mostly mindless, Fallen don't exactly coordinate very well. The door remained closed, the knob rattling and wiggling, but never turning quite enough to actually unlatch and open the door. Sounded like several of them were trying to get through at once. I think I even heard them shoving and hitting each other.

Before they could get through, I set my back against the opposite wall, pistol loose at my hip, shotgun in my hands. And then I had a thought. Pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin but held the trigger thingy. I then used the shotgun to blast a hole near the middle of the door, also knocking a couple of them back...and then I tossed in the grenade and ran like hell back up the hall. It exploded just as I started to round the corner, the concussion making me stumble into the wall, and it made a small cloud of dust fall from the ceiling so everything in the hall turned hazy and indistinct.

I got back up as quickly as I could, turning and aiming back where I'd come from. Couple of strained snarls, but they grew quiet as I walked closer. Peering in, I saw that the grenade had pretty much taken them all out, though one needed a quick dispatch with Disc. A doorway on the other side of the room beckoned, silently. At the time, I hoped it was silent, my ears were ringing too much to hear anything. I paused at the doorway to check myself for any wounds, and to reload.