Prologue: The Run Down

This is telling what exactly happened to make the situation what it is.

Prologue: The Run Down

Alright, this is going to be my journal. I will write down every experience in this journal in hopes that my legend lives on. I mean it probably isn't really a legendary quest to save the princess or any s**t like that, but I still want people to have something to remember me by. But first, I have to fill you in on the situation. My name is Jeremy Johnston. This new world we're living in is the result of a virus called: plagam extremam infligere, which means violent murder in Latin. The name is usually shortened to Plagam and it affects parts of the immune system that have weakened in adults over 18. It starts with very bad coughing, followed by sharp pains in the stomach, then if said victim urinates before death, the urine is a crimson red color. When the person is just about to die, the virus gives the victim sharp migraines and then heart attack like symptoms kill them. The origin of the virus is unknown but rumors are that it is biological warfare created from top scientists in the Middle Eastern region, parts of Asia, or Secret Communist Scientists in Russia. Some rumors even hypothesize that a branch of the Nazi party has survived and called on top genetic scientists to create the virus. Whatever it is, it left the nation in ruins and the epidemic quickly spread to a pandemic. Now the country has split into four "Mini-Countries" called Territories. The four American territories are: The Southern States of America, The Northern Cities, West Coast, and Middle America. Nobody in the Americas knows what happened to the other countries.

OK, now imagine an apocalypse and what it looks like. This is not what most people would be thinking. The grass is still green, the trees still grow, buildings are not destroyed, and animals haven't died out. The roads aren't in the best condition but that is because most people our age don't know how to pave the roads. The only damage to the buildings is something that has been happening for the longest time: Graffiti. It is used for communication by many small time gangs. I personally don't like it but whatever floats their boat I guess. Money has become scarce because the banks where most of the money was kept are now locked down and nobody can get in, meaning that there is a major deflation of the cost of money. Luckily for me I have stored a bunch of money in a safe that me and my family kept before this happened.

Now for some background on me. Fifteen at the time, I was asleep when I heard a news flash on the T.V. All of the adults in the county where infected by some disease. I switched to national news. All in America where infected by the looks of it. I checked on Mama and found the worst: It struck her too. She was in the beginning stages of the virus. She told me and my brother to bring her to the doctor’s office while violently coughing. It took about 30 minutes to reach the doctor. The doctor took blood tests and found the virus. Then HE started having sharp stomach pains and VERY bad coughing. That means that it's VERY contagious. Mama started having migraines and me and Justin sensing it was time, started to try to reassure her that it was going to be all good. She then left us, just like that. I had tears running down my eyes. I silently promised that me and my brother would live our new lives to the fullest, not taking anything for granted. Because that's what she'd want. We found a shed to call home because it is easily protected. We drove back home and Justin parked the truck. We packed valuables. We also took our neighbor's pet Sugar gliders because we liked them and the owner was dead. We called our dog PeeWee to the truck and we drove back to the shed. We had lived there a few days in solitude with Justin going out to check the town and me going to find food in the wild.Then one day the door was kicked down and Justin was stabbed. The leader said they were after the money we had. I slashed one with my cavalry sword. I then proceeded to cut the legs off of the second closest one. I finally decapitated the one that stabbed my brother. I then apologized to Mama for letting Justin die. I had a few tears run down my cheek so I wiped them off. I then walked over to the leader and saw a tattoo of a rattlesnake and under it was written: Southern Rattlers. I remembered that. I walked out and there was a guy with a machete. He told me to be careful around town before the Cottonmouths caught me. After asking about the Cottonmouths, I found that the Cottonmouths banned guns because they were bad shots. That's why those guys didn't use guns to kill us. Also that they're part of a gang in the Southern States called the Serpents and there are many branches which control the Teritorial Areas. The main branches in the Southern States are the Cottonmouths, the Rattlers, the Copperheads, and the Corals. All of them are bad shots so they agreed to the no guns rule. Then I asked about the Rattlers. He said that they are one of the worst branches, known to hiss as they kill you. They even made some milk jug shaker rattles to simulate the rattlesnake's trademark rattle.I went back to the shed and went to prepare for the worst.

Author's Note

Don't hold back