There's a few people that still live around here. Mostly scavengers, really. Didn't even know they existed until I met one in a bar in what everyone called "Old Town". Which was weird, because it wasn't very old, nor was it an actual town. It was really just the few buildings in the city that weren't abandoned when the camps were settled.
You know, now that I think about it, I've only seen a couple dozen people actually leave the camps over the last three days. I'd look into that more, but duty calls. Headed to Washington here in a day or so. I guess the Zone isn't the only place where weird shit happens.
I digress. So, I decided to check out this "Old Town" and see what I could dredge up. There was really only one place I knew I could get decent info, and that was the nearest dive bar. Say what you will, but liquor has a way of loosening people's lips.
Bar itself was alright, even if it seemed to have more than the whole town's population in it at once. Drinks were kind of meh.
Hit it off with this older guy. Probably in his fifties or so. Said he used to work for the government, as a scientist or something. One hand, if you can believe it. Thought I was talking to a fucking pirate the way he slurred his words, but I got the gist.
He said that the Zone was going to keep expanding, forever, and that we were all doomed. Typical fatalistic drunk stuff. It was something he said at the end, though, that really got my attention. He said that "you can't just close Pandora's box." That, that was weird. Not like, foot fetish weird. More like, weirdly specific kind of weird.
I was just starting to ask him some real questions, about what he meant, his name and such, when the old fucker passed out into my lap.
Gonna be honest, I kind of liked those jeans before they had old drunk vomit on them.
Of course the hotel doesn't have a working washer. Of. fucking. course.
I wanted to see more of the town, though, so I started checking out some of the abandoned buildings. Kind wished I hadn't, in retrospect. I checked out a few; an old school, a mall, and a few apartments before I found this old, victorian looking house out on the edge of town. It was surprisingly well intact, considering it looked it the owners had skipped town years ago.
I was kinda just meandering through the house when, I swear to god, I heard someone walking around upstairs. I don't scare easily, but that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It wasn't a real light pitter-patter either. These were loud, hard, deliberate steps. Not boots either. I think that was what unsettled me the most. It sounded like bare-feet slapping on wood. There was so much broken glass and trash on the floor that I can't even imagine who, or what, could have been walking without fucking up their feet.
I bolted for the door, if I'm honest.
While I was running, though, I tripped over one of the floorboards. Caught myself before I fell into a pile of broken glass, but I found something where I'd tripped up the board. A book. Old, black leather. Bound up with a string. Way too new to have been there that whole time. The footsteps got really loud, headed for the stairs, so I snagged the book and ran for my fucking life.
I don't know for sure, but when I looked back, I think I saw someone in the front doorway. I'm not sure, all I can remember thinking was "antlers". I don't know either.
So, before you ask, no, I don't know what's up with the glitching on that second picture. The first was just an interior shot of the house. The second should have been of the book. I tried that same shot at least a dozen times, and each one came back artifacted as fuck. Book itself is totally incoherent too. Just a bunch of symbols and scratchy looking handwriting. Looks like it might be some kind of language(?). I'll hold on to it and see if I find anything else.
I'm headed out for Washington now. One of my associates is saying that he wants me to check out a town out that way. Clearwood Falls or some shit. I'll get another update when I get here.
