The War Journal of Private Johnson

        Day 1: My name is Johnson, Johnson Everson. Today, I finally graduated college and enlisted in the U.S. army! At last! I’ll get to show all those jocks and bullies how tough I can really be!! It’ll be just like when I was a kid; I used to pretend that I was a soldier fighting Nazis.

But now, it’s the Vietnamese I hear we’re at war with. Either way I’ll be the world’s greatest soldier! The enemy will run in terror when they hear my name! I’ll get to jump out of planes, use all types of different guns, it’ll be awesome!! No more bullies, no more people to mess with me! I can finally get out of the house and away from my overbearing mother!
    
          Day 6: … Well it’s been five days since I enlisted and right away was I drop out of a plane, barely knowing how to work a parachute with several other people . Finally when I landed I was introduced by someone screaming in my face about how horribly I landed. I later found out that the man screaming in my face was the drill sergeant telling us how horribly we landed and didn’t deserve to live, the food isn’t exactly first class either, most of its just bread, mashed things, and god knows what else the “baroness” put in there (people call the cook the baroness because of her ugly features and disciplined attitude).
The days were long, hard, and full of training, obstacle courses, learning how to make a gun, and how to drive tanks, helicopters, and all other manner of war related machines. Well, it’s about time to go to sleep, I got a long day ahead of me… make that several more years.

      Day 12: It’s been awhile since I wrote in this journal, and I almost forgot where I left it, until I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head under my pillow in my cot. The six days that have passed have been yet again nothing but work and training, marching out into small bogs, looking for “Charlies.”  Apparently Charlie is a code name for Chinese in the army not to be racist. I would really hate to be them right about now… every day we hear planes flying over us and above the jungles, spraying what the drill sergeant called “Agent orange” (we all knew it was napalm to clear the poor suckers out). We all knew what it did, burning and melting everything in its path like some sort of chemical riot mob. The sergent was un-relentless with his training, saying that we were going to thank him if we even last three seconds out on the battle field. I don’t really think I’m ready for battle, from what I’ve seen in the infirmary I wouldn’t want to go nor ever see it. But battle is inevitable; I and a small battalion of soldiers I’m going in with are all doomed. The people in my battalion are almost all like me, shy, scared, and in-experienced in battle, we practice with targets, but how is it going to be when we actually shoot someone? By a small battalion of people, what I really mean is about six of us, Me, Joey, Daniel, Sam, Roy, and Grant. We’ve become good friends during these past few days, but sooner or later were going to have to plunge into battle. I think it’s about time to pack up, head out for another “bog march” I’ll write later.

      Day 17: We’re finally going out, going out to fight “Charlie” and “Commies”, Joey’s hyperventilating from pure nervousness, and Grant is trying to do what he does best… Store ammo in his pockets along with as many guns as possible; Grant if you haven’t guessed by now is the gun nut, just waiting to shoot something, anything that moves, the sort of cliché psycho that’s just waiting to kill anything innocent or not. Sam, he’s like a twin to me, only we’re not related in any way I and he are very much alike. Roy and Daniel are brothers till the end, although they’ve known each other for a small while, they’ve become best of friends. Roy is the brainy type, trying to find any folder, file, or piece of paper on the enemy as possible, saying that he’s “trying to find their weak spot.” I’m not sure if they have a weak spot. Daniel is the sort of silent type, with extremely good aim, but his one weak spot is since he and Roy are such good friends, if you hold Roy captive, then you can ask Daniel to do what you want him to. Sam is like me, the average guy who really doesn’t know what’s going to happen. Neither do I, I’m just hoping I don’t get shot or take a grenade to the face or something else. Well, were getting on the plane now, guess it’s time to pack up; I’ll continue this later on.

       Day 22: We’ve made it to base camp, and if you ask me, it’s a regular battle field; the moment we landed we were inspected in case any of us were spies, next we had to go out and scout for anything across the base, armed only with some rifles, pistols, grenades, and knives. We kept scouting for about two minutes, and then suddenly, RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!! We ducked for cover and looked around and then got barraged by another storm of bullets, we had definitely found “Charlie”. Roy and Daniel were double teaming  and then were replaced by Grant, shooting at random killing everything in sight, Joey just hid behind cover and did his best to stay there while looking brave, he occasionally moved from rock to rock, tree to tree, and Sam was doing  the same, afraid of being shot, I blacked out and woke up in the infirmary, only to be praised when I woke up, turns out I had driven them away when everyone was behind cover, and then I was taken to the infirmary where I woke up. I don’t know what I did or how I did it, but I somehow got a promotion by the General for outstanding bravery under dire circumstances to the rank of sergent, and now I could lead the unit. My left hand is actually shaking as I write this for some reason, I don’t know why, I guess it’s because I’m tired. I guess I’ll hit the hey for tonight, get some rest.

      Day 28: I don’t know why I keep forgetting to write in this Journal, but I guess it’s just to build up some things to write when I do. I plan to get this published when this is over, when I can go home to my Girlfriend, Emily. Sweetest girl you’ll ever meet, with long blonde hair, sweet laugh, and the greatest personality, I write to her as much as I can, just so she knows that I’m still O.K. and I haven’t been shot yet (I repeat: yet). Apparently being a sergent has its perks, I was invited to the lounge, which is really just a tent over a hole, but I never thought that the hole was the lounge; the place is filled with huge barrels of beer and lamps to light up the place, along with what the baroness was hiding from the rest of the base. It’s actually very delicious, she told me that before she signed up for the army she used to work as a high class chef, how she ended up here I’ll never know, her food being so scrumptious. My new rank doesn’t really mean anything to me actually, I don’t even remember doing anything to earn it, much less shoot several people, forcing them to run away… oh well. Well, my girlfriend, Emily, I swear she’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, I keep a picture of her in the front of this journal, she’s really the love of my life. I think it’s time to get some rest, got another long day ahead of me, being a sergent means I got to be strict, disciplined with my battalion, I’ll write in this later on.

     Day 35: I think it’s time to introduce whoever is reading this to a not-so-friendly comrade of mine… General Spark, full of it at that. He’s the meanest, toughest, most intimidating man you’ll ever see in your life. He’s mean, persistent, and highly skilled at planning battle tactics such as the one that got us another five months worth of food and supplies. The main reason that no one messes with him is that he keeps an extremely sharp knife in his belt at all times, he’s not only been stabbed by it, but he’s also a skilled knife thrower, he also has a pistol he claims he killed ten commies in one shot with, but I just think he used a grenade. Second thing you should know… is that it’s Christmas! Finally! I’ll get to see my girlfriend again, and all my friends… until the general went nuts at the first sound of a Champaign bottle pop, him thinking it was a gun. The moment he heard it he took out his pistol, along with a machine gun, and the snow turned crimson, he was yelling and screaming and shooting everyone in sight! Till Grant knocked him down with a club unconscious, the base was a wreck, in ruin, completely destroyed, and it took us several days to repair our antenna for the radio station, which (like most of the camp) had been turned into Swiss cheese. That my friends, is how the General stole Christmas… a supposedly happy time of year, turned into a battlefield of slaughter. I think that’s it for what’s happened here at base camp. I guess I’ll go to bed; after all I might as well try even though the rest of my tent-mates are snoring like bears.

       Day 41: … that no good, dirty, double crossing, joy killing, heart ripper!! I went to Washington to see my girl Emily and guess what I saw instead at her place?! I see her screwing my college rival, Ben Rackson!! I can’t believe she’d fall for such a creep!! I swear, I had the gun in my hand, temptation just forcing me to pull that trigger out of pure revenge and hatred, instead… I shot his leg. Of course he pressed charges but I won and went back to Vietnam. I still regret not shooting that creep Ben, but if I ever get the chance I swear to god I will! I thought me and Emily had something, turns out she’s just another girl out of the thousands to reject me…  Oh well, like my Grandpa used to say, “There’s plenty of other fish in the sea.” I totally get what he meant know, because when he first told me that I was only six years old. I completely agree with him! Come on, how many of you people out there have a girlfriend like my ex, it’s not like they grow on trees I know but they could be anywhere, I could find someone better then Emily! Maybe if I’m lucky I could find the girl of my dreams (or at least my wet dream…)! This was Emily... but maybe I could find another girl of my dreams! … Oh what’s the use?! I can’t stop thinking about Emily! I just can’t get that girl out of my head! Maybe I should listen to the radio to get her out of my mind; little music always cheers me up… I gotta go; I’ll write some more later tomorrow.

      Day 48: That was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen… bullets flying past me, grenades exploding, eviscerating people, wounding them, scaring them for life… I know now that war isn’t all it’s cut out to be… Uncle Sam wanted us for one reason… because they were running out of people to fight with… sending people to their doom against odds they knew they couldn’t win against. Thousands of men dying, falling… the glory of battle hides its true nature behind a mask of excitement and reward. A tempting offer for young people such as me… I came to this stunning realization when half an army was lost to those commies… the other half was severely injured, it wasn’t worth it. I knew it well. So did everyone else, the general was the only one with any spirit left after the battle, telling us to get up off our lazy butts and work, next thing we know they launched a counter attack, nearly wiping everyone out of camp except for a lucky few… or extremely UN-lucky. I was one of the survivors, including Grant, Roy, Joey, Daniel, Sam, and a few others, ether lucky to be alive or damned to still be here. Its night fall and these mosquitoes and starting to annoy me, guess it’s time I hit the hay, maybe if I ignore the mosquitoes they’ll go away. 

      Day 54: Nothing much has happened today, we’re just trying to hold our own, rebuild the camp, after the commie counter attack and the general’s psychotic Christmas massacre, I’ll be damned if this camp couldn’t survive one of those new bombs the army made. Most of the soldiers call them A-bombs; say that they could destroy anything from here to Florida. I actually made a new friend today, a small Opossum, I named him Larry, apparently he has a little pouch that he stores a bunch of things in, if I didn’t know any better he could probably store a clip of ammo or a grenade in there. He just rests on my shoulder most of the time or sleeps in my shirt pocket, usually he’s smart enough to actually get what you want on command, and bring it back to you fresh from where ever. He’s just messing around with my ear, playfully, biting it, and goes around camp causing the usual mischief; I even gave him a small outfit, modeled for better camouflage in the forest to blend with the bamboo. He’s actually quite cute when you think about it, and my only friend to talk to besides this journal. I have to go. I’ll continue writing later on… that is if I can survive for the next several days…

       Day 59: So far things have been looking up for us. We’ve had a supply drop for some food, medical supplies, weapons, and ammo. We’ve also been managing to hold out against the pouring rain, thunder storms and dry heat now a days under the blazing summer sun. The radio’s been helping as well, the station got a new announcer, and from what I’ve heard, he’s a rebel amongst soldiers. The thing that makes people laugh about him is that he always says “Good morning Vietnam!” whenever he comes on. I’ve also heard that the major over there sort of likes his constant comedic act, and when the major’s happy, everyone’s happy. I and my unit have been doing some scouting along the river sides on boats, which dropped in along with the supplies. They’re quite useful I must say that is, if you’re trying to make a quick getaway. The strange thing is really that most of our newly recruited men, most of them completely clueless as to what this place has gone through, have been disappearing… strange really. Then again, most people have been saying that they ran away at the first site of the baroness, which, believe it or not, wasn’t all that ugly until she enlisted in the army. She used to look like one of those women on the posters that replaced Uncle Sam.  Guess I’d better pack up; I’ll try and find those runaways later on today in the mean time.    

       Day… I’m losing track of how long I’ve been here. I think its day 64 but that’s just a rough estimate. I guess I’ll tell you about what happened to the runaways. Well as we all know the general is a complete nut case. What we didn’t know until recently, Is that he’s set up traps to catch enemy scouting parties, the only down side is that most of the people he catches, are the so called “runaways” that didn’t really run away at all. They got caught by the general’s traps, most of them found, literally, hanging around suspended from bamboo branches, or sitting in pits.  He’s also been going towards his primal instinct that whenever he hears something go BANG, then he’ll first black out and then get back up shooting everything in sight. It is good for driving off commies, but when we celebrate with a Champaign bottle, and the cap shoots off the bottle, then we’re screwed… also I think that Larry and the general are developing a hatred for each other. I don’t know why, but they just don’t like each other and fight whenever they get the chance. Larry usually just runs into one of his emergency burrows whenever the general gets out his gun. I don’t think that I can hold out much longer, and if anything I think I myself might go on the lamb. I just feel as if it’s not worth it anymore, no matter how much praise I get when I get back home, I still killed people… and for what? Just to lead to the slaughter of more? Then again I might get caught in one of the general’s traps… I’m just going to have to take the risk. 

       Day 70: … we all remember Grant right? Well… believe it or not, he’s actually in a cage right now as we speak. I don’t know how but miraculously he survived a fight with the general, not only that but he won! The camp after wards was in ruins and both the general and Grant were lying on the ground, only Grant had two puncture marks on his neck… and now for some reason he craves clemintines… or at least their juice, and his canines are unusually sharp… none the less I can’t stand to see the pore guy locked up in a cage. I’ve stocked up on clemintines and plan to head for a small abandoned warehouse I found while scouting. I’m also taking Larry with me; I’ll sneak out in the dead of night hauling Grant in his cage, for his own sake… along with my own. Larry’s stocked up as much food as possible in his little pouch, most of it being small bits of gram crackers and cheese. I guess that will do for him, I’m also going to take my journal with me so I can keep a log of what’s happened during the next few days... I guess I’ll wait for night fall now… just wait…

        Day 75: I’ve been hiding out for five days now, and already the entire camp is looking for me. My unit is the only ones that cared to join me, since they felt the same way I did about them locking Grant up in a cage, prodding and pocking him with poles… I just couldn’t stand seeing the poor guy like that, it’s not like I treat him like an animal, as long as he keeps to his clemintine habit, then I’m perfectly fine to let him out. He’s also been developing massive strength and speed, along with heighten senses, man it must be so cool being him… the only down side is that he’s developing a craving for blood for some reason… I’ll see what he can do with his new abilities. So far he can nearly punch through brick walls, and with a little practice I’m sure he can, also I don’t notice him ageing much at all… The general is completely furious that we left and disappeared, he’s already set up traps all around base camp to try and catch us if we ever come back. Then again look at the bright side, they might give us medals of bravery for running off against impossible odds, that or a reward for saving Grant, how’d by now would probably be worth thousands of dollars in the scientific community. Then again, make that millions, billions even, since after all, no one’s been able to figure out what’s going on with him; it’s like a natural drug... He’s also been trying to bite people from the inside of his cage; then again I wouldn’t be surprised that one day he’d succeed in sucking the life out of us… literally. I’m getting a bit tired now… Guess I’ll hit the hey.

      Day 81: It’s been awhile since I’ve left base camp with Grant and the others, but since then, Grant’s lost his clemintine habit and is now starting to develop a massive hunger for blood… Ever since then my unit has been going under cover, stealing blood packs, hiding them, and saying they’re going out scouting. It’s been working, but Grants ravenous appetite has been growing and growing, and pretty soon his going to have to be in his cage for days at a time since he’s been snapping at most of us. I’ve already tested him with his newly grown senses, now, he’s about strong enough to lift that rusted up forklift and barricade the entrance, and I also timed his new speed, eight seconds! Eight *bleeping* seconds to get from here to the base! Us, we’ve been doing our best to hold out here…  We’ve learned how to start pick pocketing some people at base, dang loyalists…  We’ve also got some disguises to hide us in plain view when going into town. Keeping Grant on a ten-a-day clementine habit with his growing appetite for blood has been no easy task… I’ve also been hearing weird moaning in the middle of the night… seeing things has become sort of a hobby now a days but I always see some sort of weird man on top of a hill moaning and walking around aimlessly… just going along, letting his arms swing back and forth ragged… I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll check it out tomorrow night, I’m gonna hit the hay.

        Day 86: … I don’t believe what I saw myself…  I went to check what was going on with the mystery man, and it look like he had escaped from the nearest morgue! He was snarling, pale and had several flaps of skin missing from his body. The awful stench of it all! Then when I finally managed to kill the sucker I looked over the hill… a graveyard full of them! Men, women, dogs, children, and all sorts of other things like that! They seemed to be infinite, and from what it took to kill just one, I think it’s going to be a massive effort to kill all of them… this actually reminds me of that old horror movie, “Night of the living dead.” They also seem to have a taste for meat… like Grant only, their slow… really slow. I actually saw one that could just bolt on all fours, like a maniac, just crawling. I hope the base is okay… I’ve also developed a nasty habit of sleeping with my gun… it just gives me a sense of security. Me and the gang have been able to hold out for a good long while now, most likely stealing everything we posses, including food, water, and ammo. I’ll try to rally up some survivors later on in the month. Right now we’ve been labeled “Ground zero”. If you don’t know what that means, then you must have flunked high school. We basically don’t exist anymore, and only military personnel are allowed, and most of them have been ordered to shoot if it moves… I don’t know if they want any human specimens… god knows what would happen then…  But most of the people have some of those new gas masks, and new weapons. Doubt that’s going to do much good though, I had to rip the guys head off to kill him. Might as well turn in for the night? I’ll write later on, good bye for now faithful friend… (I just called a book a friend… wow I’m losing it.)

      Day 94: I’m glad to see that there’re some survivors of the zombie attack, one of those survivors would be the general… some luck I have. Most of the base was colored crimson from all the bloodshed. Those things ate everyone alive, and I saw most of the dead rise back up from the ground, all decayed and rotting. Some had green flash, a sign that they were recently turned, and others had grey skin, they were the top dogs of the pack, the older they were the more authority they seemed to have. Grant’s been practicing his athletic abilities lately, running faster and lifting things I’m sure the incredible hulk wouldn’t be able to lift. The good news is that the city has set up a small perimeter around to keep those things out. Luckily that’s been working so far, but I wonder how long that plan will last. The general seems to have called off his feud with me for the time being, placing basic survival first. At least I can look on the bright side. Well it’s my turn for guard duty, I’ll write later on in the week.

      Day 105: This day officially marks the one hundred and fifth day I’ve been in Vietnam, and I can say with all my regret I don’t think I should have come here in the first place. All this murder and bloodshed, and for what?  Why did some many people have to die? Just to satisfy the killing urge of humanity. Why did it come to this? The base camp is destroyed and millions of these undead flesh eaters are roaming around. I’ve salvaged what I could from abandoned shops and houses. I also noticed that there are less of these things in the day time. Mostly because at night it’s a bit cooler, and apparently they don’t like flies buzzing around them 24/7. I just think it’s cooler at night, that’s why the roam around mainly at dusk. Grant’s been doing well in controlling his hunger for blood, and has reached his physical peak in terms of his newly improved senses. He’s strong enough to break through walls now. My little Possum friend Larry is getting extremely skilled at hiding in hard to reach places, no doubt that will come in handy sometime or other. I and my little abandoned warehouse will eventually have to move, its walls can’t stand another nightly assault by those flesh eating freaks. All we can do now is just pray, gather up as many supplies as possible and make a run for it in the day time.

       Day 111: The past few days have been somewhat beneficial if anything. We’ve found some more survivors and established a small foot hold in town, clearing out houses for supplies looking for anyone else that could be still alive. I guess that eventually the government isn’t going to be able to contain this within Vietnam’s borders. The citizens here actually aren’t all that bad; I really don’t why we’re at war with them. I’ve also heard that the military is going to launch a nuclear bomb on Vietnam, because they threatened to drop one on the U.S. I’m trying to get everyone out of here as fast as possible, but they’ve set up a ton of road blocks around streets. Also there are constant patrols around the place shooting, burning, and bombing any evidence that could be leaked out. We’ve managed to avoid the patrols; it’s the road blocks we need to get through. There are innocent people here some of them just tourists on vacation. I and Grant have become good friends, and the small battalion that I gathered up didn’t last ten minutes against those flesh eating freaks. Most of the people here dubbed them zombies. Since it’s just like that movie “Night of the living dead”.  Thus I can only go with what most survivors are saying. The General’s also gone, trying to lure those bloodsuckers away from us… for all I know he’s dead, and one of them by now. Joey, Sam, Daniel, Roy, and Grant are all that are left of any actual military personnel, the rest are just citizens or tourists, barely able to work a gun. They’ll learn, I’ll try to find a way around those road blocks eventually, in the mean time I’ll hit the sack, and it’s Daniel’s turn for guard duty anyway.

       Day 116: … Well, they’ve finally done it. The U.S. drops the bomb on Vietnam. This is the third time the U.S. used that weapon of mass destruction, and all that’s left are tons of burned down buildings, ruins of what use to be homes. Soon there’ll be some specially trained secret branch of the government will come to clean up the mess… next thing I know I see these weird huge mole rats, the size of pigs, and scorpions the size of cats! The few people that did survive are now either taking shelter in the abandoned ruins of cities and buildings. Others have just gone towards they’re primal instincts, taking up arms and raiding anything they can get their greedy bloodthirsty hands on. At least I know that there are some signs of civilization in the radioactive waste land. There are also several people trying to salvage anything they can find to try and build some secure safe heavens, such as the newly risen “City of steel”. Everything’s gone to the dogs here, quite literally. From what I hear the U.S. is dealing with the same problem. The government is completely wiped out and the world has fallen apart. At least it can’t get any worse.

PS: I probably shouldn’t have said that.

       Day 123: Well, I’ve made it to one of those so called safe heavens. People here call it the stone town. Since most of its made of either hard stones, wreckages of machine no longer working. Either way it at least is trying to remake the town. There’s a small market, a leader, housing (by housing I mean tanks and hollow planes, and houses made of stone), and agriculture is actually become quite useful. The vegetables though due to the fallout of the radiation are now starting to mutate. Clean water is also hard to find now a days, but the people here take what they can find. There’s also a wall around it with ‘round the clock watch, and still working tanks acting as turrets, to prevent any thing unwanted out. It’s a good thing I didn’t jinx myself with my last entry, saying what I did last time. There are also some boats still working, but the fish aren’t exactly… normal. I plan to hijack one of those boats eventually, and sail away back to the U.S. with my unit. We’ve all been through some serious events but now all that matters is getting back home. Grant, Roy, Daniel, Sam, and the general are all that’s left of the survivors I’ve picked up trying to run away from the now desolate quarantine area. The rest either tried to go out on their own, and got eaten alive, or stayed behind. The general and Larry my pet possum are actually starting to get along now… I think. Well… I guess I’d better go to sleep…

       Day 129: … Well, I’ve just hijacked a boat, sailed away and now I’m out a sea with my “crew”. Grant is actually learning how to use some store blood in his system for extra strength and speed. His depth of perception has also increased; he’s also developing some telepathy. I didn’t know that anyone could just learn telepathy like that… but then again I suppose anything is possible at this point, seeing as how we’ve gotten this far without dying… god I hope I didn’t jinx myself. Roy and Daniel are still as tight as ever, but then again they’re practically brothers by now. Sam and I have gotten to be friends after awhile… and the generals just standing on the deck. Day after day and he hasn’t moved since he got to that spot. I hope that the U.S. is alright… seeing as how they got bombed too. But I doubt it, seeing the damage that was done to Vietnam I don’t think much would be left in Washington… or New York… or anywhere. I just hope that at least some people made it. I’m going to hit the hay, besides my watch shift is over.

       Day… I’ve lost track of how long it’s been I think day 135? Let’s just go with that. We’ve finally got to DC, and what do we find? Nothing but ruined buildings and destroyed docks… millions of roads blocked off, and almost no one to find… It’s been so long since I’ve been in DC and all we find is a radioactive waste land… I’ve run out of room in this journal… and I’ll have to find another one… I, Grant, Sam, Roy, Daniel, and the General have split up… Grant wanted to stay with me and Larry and follow us. This is the end of this Journal… and like the Mayan calendar I’ve run out room to write. This is Private Johnson and this, is my story.