Entry 5 - Sight

Entry 5 - "Sight"

Find yourself in this hell.

The lasting impression of his final words would remain in my thoughts for as long as I would come to remember.

...

About a day after my brother’s death, I did my absolute best to not dwell and brood over it. After all, Aki and Mai helped me get back on my own two feet, and I was going to do my utmost in respect to my brother’s dying wish; to move forward and survive. Unfortunately, as much as I would have liked to get back into the fray and work towards a way out of the looming threat that was the Turned, my injuries essentially prevented me from doing anything close to strenuous.

After the people organized, the Turned had been cleared out of the immediate surrounding area within an hour or so. Mai and the others arrived at the scene amidst the fighting and saw Aki in his death throes. He relayed his last words to them and while most of them stayed back to fight, Mai and Lukas managed to get me medical attention from a nurse who was in the auditorium at the time. They gathered up most of the medical supplies available and patched me up to the best of their abilities. My sight was gone for good in my left eye and there wasn’t anything that could be done about it, even if I was hypothetically able to receive high-profile medical care. After the situation settled down, people started fortifying the auditorium to work as a safehouse for the townsfolk to avoid any possible swarming the best they could.

After around two weeks, I healed my injuries to a manageable extent, considering the worst of it (aside from my eye) was a sprained ankle and a few deep cuts from the glass. Mai had stayed by my side the entire time, watching over me while I slept. However, she’d have passed out by the time I would wake up. The times we did chat, I mentioned that despite the safety in numbers, I still had my reservations about staying in a large camp. I also planned that after I was capable of exerting myself physically again, that we should set out to find somewhere to settle down and plan out our next moves.

The other members of the club would drop in and out, mostly gathering supplies and fighting stragglers of Turned still dotting the areas close to the square. Eventually I regained my strength, and we all would convene again to say our lasting goodbyes to our remaining neighbors, friends, and family for the near future, and after 15 days of resting, we would set out once more to find leads to lead us out of this hell.

Our initial plans first took us to the school–our club room in particular.

When I walked back into the club room, I spotted the eyepatch I had kept for the day we were going to roleplay and put it on the second I saw it. After all, I had always imagined the character that I played during our role-playing sessions having an eyepatch. I felt another part of my childish fantasies resurface when I put it on.

...I was honestly not the least bit concerned over the fact I had lost my left eye. The latent side of me was reveling in it, really. Maybe I’m a bit delusional overall.

We then all sat down at the center table to finally have a real discussion to reflect on the situation and our plans.

Sixteen days had passed since the event known as the “Eclipse” turned every human directly exposed to moonlight into the Turned.

The world had plunged straight into the apocalypse, in which one could hardly have imagined was plausible until seeing it firsthand.

The following hours would leave almost every human remaining in a panic. It was impossible to know how many people were outside during the Eclipse, and therefore, how Turned were out in the wild. Many people would quickly fall victim to the vile creatures and in turn, morph into Turned as well, adding to the immeasurable count of Turned dotting the world.

Despite precognition surrounding the apocalypse, widespread communication and the internet was still accessible immediately following the Eclipse, but would quickly go down after 20 hours.

During the window the internet was still accessible, it was clear to see the changes to the world–plenty of reports worldwide detailing the current hellscape of death plaguing the Earth. With barely anyone willing to lead, and contemporary weapons failing to kill the Turned and control the outbreak, society would collapse in a flash.

People had attempted to piece together information online or start concentrated movements, but the swift fall of widespread communication would soon leave everyone in the dark from the following events. Most electrical power was intact, but that likely wasn’t going to last longer than a month at best unless someone did something about it.

Our first idea was to make contact with people outside the city, possibly to set up a network connecting the nearby areas and to survey the surrounding land as well.

We decided to venture to the city limits and set up a temporary base in a house on the edge of the town. First, we would raid supplies and craft better weapons and makeshift armor. After a night’s rest, we would designate formation positions to move effectively, and make our way to the next city over.

The seven of us split up, Izz staying put to hold down the fort (he insisted he was tired), Mathieu and Lukas going to find sustainable food and drink, and Lila and Lena looking for clothes and making contact with anyone on the streets.

Me and Mai went together to look for weapon parts and camping gear, and we agreed to hit up a hardware store and a sports store. The moon was still out–same as it had been for the last two weeks. The population of Turned in our city had dropped somewhat drastically after the concentrated attack made on day one. It was peaceful for the most part, and Mai led us in silence through the mostly abandoned urban alleyways. She just told me to leave the navigation to her, and so I followed her lead, giving me more time to sort out my thoughts.

Thinking about it, Mai has been there for me in every moment of strife I can remember since the beginning of our friendship. I came to trust her more than anyone else, even more so now, considering my brother is no longer with us. She always gave me her full trust right from the start, when she opened up to me all those years ago in school.

…

I vividly remember meeting Mai in my second year. She was sitting alone outside in a spot that was mostly out of sight, in the shade cast by the building. I noted her closely reading a light novel I was into at the time. I felt compelled to chat with her, but she was… distant, to say the least. She initially tried fervently to push me away, but I insisted on talking to her, and she soon gave in.

We then mostly talked about anime and novels, and only a short while into our conversation she began to let her guard down. I noticed that fact, inquiring about her reasons for choosing to isolate herself–I could tell, knowing the same sort of pain she was in.

Her parents had died before Mai turned eleven. Murdered, in fact. While she didn’t know much at all surrounding the circumstances of their death, she was left in a lifeless state due to her close relationship with them. Her aunt had taken custody of her, but gave up on her soon after realizing how broken she was following the incident. The same had applied to the kids in school who avoided her from then on, her doing the same. She said someone once almost approached her but was scared off–citing the darkness in her eyes scared her, as she would find out. She confessed she wanted people to talk to her again, but by the time the scars of her parents’ deaths started to fade, she couldn't bring herself to try to overcome the wall she had put up between herself and the rest of the world. On entering high school, her aunt was sick of her gloomy aura and sent her to this school, where her aunt had an apartment nearby her friend let Mai use. She had given up for the most part.

I felt it was cruel how her loving parents were killed without explanation, while my father was allowed to pull all his crap until I took it into my own hands. I had resonated with her story, the fact we both were left isolated by our own families.

She said more about her sorrows about her family leaving her behind, me listening intently. All the while, I recalled how Mathieu and I became brothers in almost every sense, him making me feel once again like I had people looking out for me. As she stopped, I would say, “There isn’t any one way to define family, some of us simply see the ones we trust and care for deeply as family. You can always find a family, because the people who fill that role for you are decided by you.” She looked me in the eyes, piecing together the meaning of my words.

“I’ll look after you, if you want.”

…

Mai had signaled we were close to our destination, breaking my train of thought. 

The hardware store was filled with a countless amount of tools I imagined could be of use, despite some likely needing modification.

First to get my attention, I found a small selection of electroshock weapons. I wondered if they were out of place in a hardware store, seeing as I didn’t exactly visit these places often, nor did I expect it. I picked up a stun gun.

“I wonder if I can…” I mumbled to myself as I pondered what to do with a stun gun.

“We found through usage of the elements that they are notably susceptible to being paralyzed from electric shocks-”

The info given to us by Burns would come in handy after all.

I duct taped the stun gun to my sword. I recalled my very basic knowledge on electronics, and found a makeshift solution to make a volt-enhanced sword. I smirked as I found some copper wires to wrap around the electrodes of the stun gun, and the base of my sword. I powered it on and touched the blade of the sword.

I heard an audible shock as I felt a short pulse of electricity flow through my body.

“Well… This is a success.”

While electrified swords were pointless in practice previously, the Turned should be stunned from any amount of voltage due to the nature of their exposed nerves. This means that theoretically, the sword would shock and paralyze on any initial contact for a few moments, setting up for a more accurate opportune follow-up stab or cut. The finishing cut would send continued currents into it, hopefully preventing the same thing that happened to Aki from occurring–a desperate final counterattack.

I felt like laughing gleefully at my discovery. Perhaps fooling around can be good in moderation–if I wasn’t a total geek after all, I wouldn’t have thought to do anything like this. I shoved most of the electric weapons into my bag, along with a long thread of copper wire and a wire cutter.

…

I watched Shin play with tools, his childlike smile filling me with unbridled hope. I really was irrationally concerned that his brother’s death would break him completely, and I would lose the Shin I admired so much.

Seeing him act completely in tune with the Shin I fell for made me… warm to say the least. I remained watching him from afar. I ultimately wanted to see more of Shin in his element, as I always have. That world he’s in… I want to be in the center of it, no matter how selfish it is to want that.

I know Shin told me way back then to meet more people and find a place in the world, but… he alone filled that void my parents left. I only needed him, he was the one that made me stable. I don’t want to burden him, but I can’t bring myself to really take interest or care about anyone else.

If it could protect Shin and I’s life together, I’d abandon them all in a heartbeat.

I felt a light darkness tinge my heart.

It’s bad to think about these things. It’s bad to think about these things, Mai.

I pinched myself. Shin would reel if he knew I thought of him and everyone else like this. It’s my own personal feelings, and I don’t even want to entertain them.

Can these dark fantasies please just stay locked up?

Though this was asking a lot, with everything as it is.

…

I got a bit lost in brainstorming weapons and tools I could develop with the materials laying around and lost track of time.

Why wasn’t Mai trying to come get me? I walked back to the front of the store after shoving about a dozen assorted things in my pack, and I spotted Mai leaning up against a shelf.

“Hey, Shin. Were you having another daydream, Class Insomniac?”

“Don’t bring up old nicknames, it’s embarrassing even if no one else is around. Stop unearthing painful memories……. Not to mention, it’s been night for the last two freaking weeks.”

“I know that, dummy.”

Mai playfully knocked on my head lightly and winked. She seemed to be in a good mood, all things considered.

The sporting store didn’t have anything unexpected or exciting, but camping gear was still a must. We dragged out various things from the store. Among them were tents and lamps, even a freaking portable stove.

“Don’t you think this stuff is gonna be hard to carry when we’re fighting off Turned in the wild, Mai?”

“Stop whining, I’ve already got it figured out. Trust me.”

It was a brutal task with just the two of us trying to stay relatively inconspicuous while carrying backpacks and sashes full of heavy gear, but we eventually made it back to the school.

I was drowning in my own sweat when I got back, and it wasn’t even close to warm outside.

All the blinds were shut, and I could see only traces of light seeping out from the windows

I opened the door to the club room. While I was expecting to see everyone there by the time I had returned, I was instead greeted by the sight of the supplies gathered and Izz alone, audibly snoring while dozing off on the table. On the center of the table was a hastily written note.

Lena’s handwriting was recognizable, and the note matched her somewhat neat writing the others didn’t have from my experiences looking over everyone’s character notes in the past.

Shin, Mai, Izz:

Lila, and I picked up on something requiring somewhat urgent attention. None of us are entirely sure what it is, but we met back at the club room at the same time with Mathieu and Lukas and went to check on the supposed “Turned encampment” located in the subway. None of us will do anything rash or decisive, we just want to scout out the area the best we can to prepare for a possible raid. We left Izz asleep to wait for you other two, you all can decide to meet us by the southern gate into the subway or stay behind. Don’t enter and risk getting lost or mixed up with us, we’ll be fine. Izz, if you wake up before Shin and Mai return and leave I will beat your ass

Oh boy.