Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile by J.L. Bourne Read Free Book Online Page A

are cleared topside by high command.
    I have received official communications involving the situation in Asia. It is above the classification of this log and will not be included.
    I know we will be secure down here no matter what and that is what is important to U.S. strategic deterrence.
    The only other thing on this page was a freehand doodle of a missile flying through the air over what appears to be the United States.

    23 Jun
    2150
    I have a splitting headache. Normally I force myself to drink enough water to remain hydrated, but today I just didn’t get around to it. I have a dehydration headache and no matter how much water I drink at this point, it won’t matter. It will just have to run its course. On the morning of the twenty-first, John, Will and I went out scouting. Instead of heading in the direction of the crucifixes, we went westerly, toward the small town of Hallettsville. We didn’t take the Land Rover, as we wanted to remain quiet and avoid detection. For all we knew there were still bandits in the area.
    We walked through fields and undeveloped farmland. It had been over six months since anyone was alive to maintain the land, so it wasn’t a surprise when we stumbled upon them. We had jumped yet another fence into derelict farmland when we observed the sentinel symbols of United States greed and power. There was a large refinery field and the skeletal hulks of the large ground pumps were just sitting there, unmoving. Grass was overgrown all around them and it was obvious that they had been dead for months.
    I suppose the bright side to the living population being annihilated isthe fact that our oil reserves should last thousands of years longer. Of course, the downside is the fact that no one is alive who knows the art of refining the crude oil, hence making it as useless as a Hadron collider. John and I have long since discussed the need for technical manuals on everything from farming to medicine to things like refining crude. The information we require would be in countless abandoned libraries throughout the United States. However, getting to the information and getting it back to Hotel 23 could prove most fatal.
    Passing the second large oil pump, I made yet another macabre discovery. I suppose when the world ended back in January the pumps were still running for a while. It looks like one of those bastards was crushed by the pendulum arm of the pump and its lower torso was caught in the machinery. I couldn’t tell if it was still reanimated. I gave it no mind as I walked past. Obviously, birds had done their thing to this rotting monstrosity.
    William had to force himself to look away from the creature as we passed. We kept on, seeing no signs of life. Our tactic was avoidance, as we had no suppressors or silent weapons to use. We would open fire only if our lives were in danger. We dodged three walking dead in the field before returning home. They were quite mobile, but still too slow to keep up. They would follow. However, I doubt they could ever make it over the many fences that separate our compound from this oil field. John and I have had further discussions about the need to gather some reference books, so we will be planning and executing this operation in the days to come.

Semper Fi
    26 Jun
    1853
    During our normal monitoring of the parking lot area of the compound, we noticed movement on the road beyond it. It looked much like an eight-wheeled USMC light armor reconnaissance vehicle. There was only one. It was moving at a high rate of speed, headed northeast relative to the compound. I wish I could have recorded the image so that I could maybe enhance it and catch a better glimpse of the gunner. My only conclusion would be that this is a scout and he/she was sent as a forward observer only to return and report the situation to the person in charge. I could be totally wrong and this could just be a rogue unit, running and gunning in the LAV across the country. I don’t know much about