u/FallenAnomaly

They found me, I ran as fast as I could and I still wasn’t fast enough.
So many bullets flew by me, the whistles they made when going past my head.
Thankfully nothing hit me, but does that matter now?
I was able to make it inside an old building, not sure what it once was.
I went into the first room I could and found a hiding spot.
I can hear them inside the building.

*distance yelling can be heard*
(Stranger 1.)
“Where the fuck did that blue bastard go?”

(Stranger 2.)
“I don’t know, maybe if you kept up with him or shit, I don’t know. Actually shot him. Then we wouldn’t have to be looking for him.”

(S1.)
“You were shooting at him too and you didn’t get ‘em. So shut up and head up the stairs and see what you can find. I’ll look down here.”

They searched the whole building. They shot at every shut door they came across.
I could hear when they were far away. I felt it when they shot into the room I’m in.
I waited until sunrise to finally crawl out of the floor boards.
I was as quiet as a mouse walking through out towards the front door.
Looking out of the front window, I could see them. waiting.

*the men were arguing. One of them is pacing back and forth, while the other is sitting on a bucket*
(S2.)
“Can we just go? He isn’t coming out or he’s already gone and we didn’t notice.
I’m tired and ready to go back to camp.”

(S1.)
“We’re not leaving until we have that. Not until that bright sum’bitch is dead on the ground.
He’s got to be an alien or something, we shot him and he bled, yet he didn’t die.”

(S2.)
“Have you maybe thought of the fact he’s bled out and died? Why do we need him?
Ain’t nobody gonna care about a glowing blue guy, when the whole damn world’s gone to shit.
If it’s so god damn important to you, why don’t you go back in there and look for him again?”

(S1.)
“Okay fine, give me your shotgun and wait out here with my rifle.
I’ll get that freak out of there”

(Date, the 8th of March 1945. Subject, “horrors beyond my comprehension”)
“When I got to the lab this morning, many ambulances were outside the apartment building above.
Several dozens were being evacuated for some kind of sickness.
A woman looked scarily like the two men we had left near The Core back in September.
Word from the top is they are concentrating to move operations from my current lab, to out in the country, perhaps it would be for the best.
I also was told that the other Cores will arrive in a few months for further testing.
I will begin to work precautions for everyone’s safety, five Cores in the same room, it’ll be for all of our sakes.” - Dr, R.J. Heimer

(Date, the 18th of January, 1945.)
(Subject, “Exposure”.)
“Several test subjects have been left in the same room as The Core, all at different times to see what exposure from The Core will do. After Amos. We needed answers.

Mice, Cats and Dogs. And two homeless men.
The two mice died within minutes, burned, not to the bone, just burned skin and boils with pus and blood oozing out. It was sickening.

The two cats and two dogs lasted several days. The results of their time around The Core proved, interesting.
The first day they acted perfectly normal, the cats would run around and chase each other. And the dogs would fight over a rope I left them. After 3 days they began to throw up the contents of their stomach, until they were throwing up blood…then the lining of their stomach’s. It took everything in them to just stand up.
At day 5 they were all dead. Unlike the mice, they were melted and pooling up in puddles of bodily fluid. My assistants could not keep their stomach and began to throw up. It was one of the worst things I have ever witnessed.

The two men were the most surprising results.
They managed to survive 23 days without food or water. But….they changed.
For 4 days they acted normal. They talked often about the life they had lived, what they were doing in life now. And all sort of different topics.
Slept normally and were completely friendly to one another….at day 8, they began to throw up in a similar manner to the animals.
One of the men somehow managed to throw up part of his intestines. Yet it did not seem to phase him.
On the 14th day, they no longer looked human. They had morphed into a hellish ghoul and illuminated a soft blue glow.
They could not speak. They would only make loud moans and grows. On the morning of the 23rd day, they had both melted into the floor just like the cats and dogs……what on Gods earth have I created”. - Dr R. J. Heimer.

(Date, the 14th of July, 1944. Subject, “a breakthrough”
“The Core has produced enough energy to power 20 light bulbs. We sat them on the ground around The Core and opened it slightly, all the bulbs were burning as bright as the sun.
It was a brilliant discovery, but onto a slightly less desirable discovery.
After the bulb test, a mouse had ran by The Core and shortly after, I found it dead in one of the corners of the room. Its fur and skin were burned, yet I never saw it on fire, yet it was still smoking. How could The Core do such a thing? More time and research is needed. - Dr R. J. Heimer.”

(Date, the 25th of November, 1944)
(Subject, “The Core”)
“all of our test so far have proven futile. After watching poor Amos, I haven’t slept in days. The burning small has yet to leave my nostrils.
I’m beginning to feel sick myself, I will have to start limiting my time spent around the core. I will set the same time limits to everyone else on the team.
I’ll ask James tomorrow to setup a schedule for everyone to take turns observing and testing the core. A different crew each day to avoid anyone else becoming sick, or ending up like poor Amos.
I now sit and wonder, is this right? Am I doing the right thing here?
I truly fear for what I have created. - Dr R. J. Heimer.”

I’m right outside of Harrisburg WV, still absolutely nothing out here. Not a sign of life and no sign of a city. Did the blast really cause this much damage? How did it make it this far from New York?
Heimer’s notes said The Core was powerful, but he clearly didn’t know it would be this powerful.
Since I came out of the basement I have been on fire warm. I can’t figure out why, I’m just super warm. I also haven’t needed to sleep yet, I’ve tried to sleep but I can’t.
Charleston WV isn’t terribly far away, I may try to head that way and see if I can find anything, or anyone there.
I’ve been ignoring it but I can’t now. I was digging for my map in my back pack and remembered that teddy bear I found.
The little hands, what was left of them, still holding on to him tight. Hoping the teddy would protect against the blast. How the teddy survived is beyond me. Heimer what have you done.

I think I see something in the distance, looks like a tall building. Finally, after months and months of walking, with no real sign of other people. Maybe Ive have actually found what is left of civilization.

I draw closer to the building, now a city is in my view.

A large city with many tall buildings, not as tall as the ones Heimer has described back in New York. With many roads going in and out of it, cars stand still along the sides of the road. Decaying and rotting away. The bodies laying around are no longer human, most of the bones have sunk into the earth, other parts have been clearly chewed on by animals, some even have what look like human teeth marks.

I entered the outskirts of the city, what were once lovely neighborhoods, now stand as the graves of lives lost and homes slowly returning to nature.

I found a mail box with some mail still inside, an address that finally tells me where I am at (Redstone Ln, Atlanta Georgia, US.) what an awfully long way from New York I am.

Wait, I think I might actually see someone.

New York must have been beautiful before the explosion, Heimer’s notes lead me to believe it was.

He speaks of the city like a different planet almost, building’s so tall they could reach the stars.

I hate I wasn’t able to experience the city like he did.

I’ve been on the road for so long, and been so many places. Yet it feels like I haven’t even left the street out front of the basement. There being absolutely nothing left of the earth, it’s truly hard to tell where I am.

I had a map that marked where the basement was, and I managed to make it all the way down to Kentucky, but after a stopping to rest, a group saw me and I had to run. I left my map behind that day. Damn them!

I have no clue where I’m going, I’m just looking for anything of what was the real earth. Before Heimer’s work failed.

I’m not completely sure where I’m at, I think I’m around northern Georgia.

It’s gotten so hard to tell, with everything being leveled, no trees or buildings, not even a street sign to tell me. There’s nothing but just a barren wasteland. And not having my map hasn’t helped either.

I can not believe I lost that damn thing, it’s been months without it.

I’m just thankful I was able to find this notepad. After not seeing anyone worth speaking to, i must be the only one left to write down what’s happened, it needs to be shared somehow, even if it’s for the last few people left alive.

The explosion was truly something made up of nightmares, when word was able to get around, people on the West Coast could hear the blast and see the mushroom cloud above the city.

The burns have been the only thing keeping me warm, how I managed to stay alive is beyond me. I woke up from the brightest light shining in my eyes, I was so hot, but I couldn’t feel anything. Roasted from the outside, killed everything within me.

My name doesn’t matter if you’re wondering, all the matters is Heimer’s work was far more dangerous than he lead on. Clearly it was, most of the country doesn’t exist because of it. He knew what he was doing would be the reason for all of life to cease. The destruction of all living things.

Im surprised his notes didn’t burn in flames.

They’ll explain what lead to my existence and the demise of everything else.

I’m sitting at the edge of the road, I can barely see from all the blood covering my eyes. The faint moans and cries are the only noises out here. I ignore them and let them go silent.

I can feel my breathing getting short, the overwhelming heat I have felt run through my body for years is leaving, this is what being cold is like, what an awful feeling. Now the pain is starting to creep in. My heart is beginning to beat slower. I think I’m clearly coming to my end.

With the last of my energy, I wipe my eyes clean as best I could. I see the four men lay about the road. All but one have gone silent and still as the air around us. He still clangs to whatever life he has left. Screaming and throwing up blood.

As I sit I think of what all I have been through to get here. I start to cry. Actually cry.

It’s the first time I’ve cried genuinely before, it made me remembered a poem I read a year or more back.

“From the beginning of life. Man was made to walk the earth. Explore and discover all of its wonders, and be at peace and harmony with all of creation.

But from the blow of the first stone to strike another man, killing him. Sin was born.

Since then. Man has only walked to his own destruction upon the earth. To bring death and hell upon all things.

Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? If not. How far into the fire are you willing to go?” -Unknown.

Breathing is almost impossible now, I never thought that this, this is how I would spend my last few minutes on earth.

I thought that things would be different, a happier and safer life.

Unbothered by fighting and death. But death doesn’t care what you have had planned, it’ll never be fair to anyone. As I write my life down, I want it to be a reminder to everyone. You’re nothing special, you’re nothing amazing. Death doesn’t care what you did in life, all it cares about, is when you finally fall.