Doomsday’s Diary

Doomsday’s Diary

By Sloan Sabbath

Prologue:

Entry #1

11/3/2006

My name is Shotu’ro Shinigami, one of the remaining 10,000 people on Earth-7. I’m searching for my fiancé Michelé Wajaeya… all I have left is this golden heart shaped locket guarding the first picture I took of her.

What a magical day that was, the overcast sky above Boston’s Pier 8 cracked open, the atmosphere overflowed with warm sounds and sweet smells.. then I saw her. More than an Angel, this was a 5’7 Goddess in true form descending from the Heavens. Before I knew it, I was looking through the lens of my camera. Like a sniper I held my breath while taking aim, but it was Cupid who struck first. Whatever I had mistaken love for in the past, wasn’t this. One shot was all it took. Smooth Caramel skin curved around the peaks and valleys of Mother Nature herself, topped with a full head of curly warm reddish brown hair, highlighted by bright hazel eyes and an infectious smile.

But that was a long, long time ago in a world I wish wasn’t so far away.

Chapter 1: “Wolves”

Entry #192

5/11/2009

June 6th, 2006 to most, the worst day in

history, to me; best day of my life. It was Tuesday… 3:30pm when I finally built up the courage to propose. I’d met Michelé 6 years prior, I should have married her that day.

The most beautiful memory I own bleeds into the ugliest, my mind’s fractured.. memories… tainted… radiated. It was all the same day. So unfair: She looks amazing… I ask her to marry me.. she says.. yes. The first bomb drops. She says she loves me. We kiss… the second bomb drops.

Entry #193

5/12/2009

The sweet taste of her voluptuous lips… my beautiful dream… I wish I could stay. I’m jolted awake by the foul stench of a mutant-wolf rummaging through my things in the dead of night. If the beast had any sense of smell I’d be dead. It’s been three relatively peaceful nights sleeping under the San Jose State University sign. The warmth of the radiation already had me in a cold sweat before I woke. The first thing I did after realizing how close I was to death was reach for my locket and kiss it as I snuck away, inch by inch, forced to leave my stuff behind again. I’ve lost my canteen, compass, MP3 player, lantern, radio, and the almost 200 bottlecaps I’d scrounged together. Now I’m broke, with no music and I’ll be completely in darkness come nightfall.

Entry #206

7/7/2009

Can’t remember how long it’s been since the war. I can’t remember how long we were engaged… before… I can’t. I hate that I can’t remember. It’s worse than the pain, coughing… smells. I reek of Death.

Entry #207

7/8/2009

Radiation from the war is causing mutations, memory loss, bouts of rage and overgrowth across the planet.

Mutations heighten the lethal instincts of those irradiated. Nocturnal hunters thrive in the shadows, deep sea creatures have grown titanic and the skyterrors have become more territorial than ever. Nothing is free from radiation. Nothing is safe. Nothing is sacred. There’s a single radio broadcast. Electricity is scarce as clean air and water.

Chapter 2: “The Woods”

Entry #235

9/11/2009

It’s midday, Death Valley. Sun is blazing… Heatwave caused by Solar Flares. Feels like it’s 113 degrees in the day and 96 at night. I’m gonna head back west, towards Bakersfield.

Entry #236

9/12/2009

It’s a 431 mile journey from Frisco to the City of Angels, and the trip hasn’t been what it used to be. Once a 6 hour traffic packed commute is now a desolate and deadly clusterfuck of Radiated Dust Storms, Heatwaves, Nuclear Blizzards, Demon Fog, Acid Rain, Atomic Whirlwinds, Mutants…

Entry #247

9/16/2009

The sunset was beautiful tonight. I’m living in a cabin. I got a job chopping wood for a Lumberjack I saved from a falling tree. I’ve already made enough caps for 3 days worth of food. He’s old, I offer to continue helping as long as I can.

Entry #277

10/11/2009

The pain is excruciating, but I’m able to fight through it… most days… sometimes it’s far too much. I’ve asked him his name multiple times now.. I’m honestly ashamed to ask again… I’ll write it down next time I remember…

Entry #280

12/2/2009

There’s Ultraviolet lights around the cabin to keep mutants away and there’s deadly booby traps for the daycrawlers. Jack owns a shotgun but only has 5 shells left and it took 6 to kill the last mutant that broke through!

Entry #296

1/13/2010

I wake up to sunlight burning my eyes while Devil Crows scream outside the dusty cabin’s broken window.

It’s time to continue on my journey, Jack wishes me luck. He’s been nothing but hospitable. He says he’s a veteran, he’s fought in wars before but didn’t fight in THE WAR, he didn’t do THIS. This wasn’t his fault. He often reassured me of this.

Entry #297

1/16/2010

It’s been two days since I was robbed. If my hands hadn’t been stepped on, or my eyes swelled shut I would’ve written sooner.

I started this journal weeks after the war began, Didn’t even think about.. Michelé’s been telling me to start for years.

I almost died for it! Why didn’t I just give up the locket.. damned locket… I can’t remember.. Whose picture is this?

She’s… beautiful.

Chapter 3: “HUNGER”

Entry #350

1/1/2011

It’s New Year’s night. No fireworks, not since the fallout. There’s been nothing to celebrate. I’m heading to the bazaar… hopefully there’s food. I’ve never been this hungry in my life.

Entry #351

1/1/2011

It’s been an hour, I’ve made my decision. I might have fainted.. I’ll die hungry before I give up my locket or try to steal... Last time I stole something I got my pinky chopped off over an apple, wasn’t worth it.

Entry #352

1/7/2011

Can’t remember when last ate. Can’t remember what’s in the locket… it’s important, but can’t open. Have to know… something inside.. think.

Chapter 4: “Golden Heart”

Entry #447

6/24/2011

I’m in constant tremendous pain… but I’m getting better at managing. I met a woman selling Aloe, she was kind enough to tell me where to find more after I bought out her stock. This morning I woke up before the sun. Usually I hunt Wild-Boar Mutates because the fat on them makes it easier to cut a clean piece. If the meat is too far mutated there won’t be enough nutrients in it to make stomaching it worthwhile.

Entry #449

6/27/2011

Getting sicker. Forgetting faster. All I have is this locket, when I’m in pain I clutch it so tight the metal gets hot. The warmth soothes the pain until it doesn’t. The physical is nothing compared to the psychological torment….

What am I holding out for?

Why am I alive?

Most die from TRS within a year. IT’S BEEN FIVE!

Entry #450

6/30/2011

Where’d this locket come from?

Entry #507

2/22/2012

Early 2006, in the Winter. Before I proposed, we made love. I couldn’t wait, she couldn’t blame me. I remember this moment as vividly as I can… but can’t see the woman’s face. Just her caramel skin reflecting the moonlight, hints of her reddish hair gleaming through the shadows.

Entry #508

2/22/2012

Married before.. engaged. Never married. Never got the chance… the war.. I… can’t remember.

Entry #509

6/2/2012

Walking… always... Might be the middle of the winter, might be the radiation. Day’s freezing, night’s colder.

Chapter 5: “The City of Angels”

Entry #510

10/10/2012

I did it!

Made it through Pasadena Pass

Midday

Acid Rain

Decent sized community, one of the largest

“City of Angels population: 111” or so the sign reads

The first person I see… an Angel. Caramel skin, a full head of warm reddish brown hair, bright hazel eyes, an infectious smile. I could never forget her.

Entry #511

12/24/2012

I wake up in a candlelit bedroom, to a woman putting a warm compress on my head as she massages my hands.

Her name is Michelé, she’s been taking care of me for the last two months… I have no recollection of this. She looks at me with such kind eyes, her softness softens me. Apparently I collapsed from exhaustion upon meeting my Angel.

Smooth Caramel skin, curved around the peaks and valleys of Mother Nature herself, topped with a full head of warm brown hair, highlighted by golden hazel eyes and an incredible smile. How could I have ever forgotten her?

Entry #512

1/17/2013

Michelé tells me I fall for her.. hard… every day and every night. No matter what happens, I forget. No matter how I meet her, I always fall back in love with her. The way she looks when she tells me… is sad… terrifying. For both of us. What if I forget for good? What if we meet on a bad day?

Entry #514

3/5/2015

I live two lives. Half the time I know who Michelé is the other half I have no idea who this gorgeous creature is or why she takes care of me. At my worst, when I know nothing but pain I can still feel that she knows exactly who I am…

Chapter 6: “Sunset”

2016

Entry #515

3/6/2016

Been a year since I’ve written..

There’s a beautiful woman taking care...

She tends to wounds

She hunts

She cooks

There’s very little I do for myself. Easier to write than speak.. Hard to remember… it’s just hard

Chapter 7: “Omega, Alpha”

Entry #01

1/13/2017

“It was you…” Shotu’ro said after coughing himself out of his sleep.

“What was me baby?”

“Who’s me?”

“What?”

“What?” Shotu’ro asked in confusion as he started to cough up blood.

I haven’t been this scared since the war… doesn’t feel real. Helpless… for hours. The love of my life, glowing with radiation, convulsing and crying from seizures. His eyes begging me to kill him. I couldn’t…

He died on the anniversary of his birth. Everything about my Sho’sho was hauntingly beautiful.

Entry #02

1/14/2017

I found my picture in Shotu’ro’s locket and broke down in sorrow.

I remember his black hair and brown eyes, that beautifully awkward smile. The way he said my name. “Me-Sha-Laaaaaay.” The way he smelled, not when he was sick. But when he was ALIVE. When the world was…

It had been so long since I saw my fiancé I honestly wasn’t sure it was even him, and since he didn’t remember me it was easier to assume he was someone new. I’ve been reading his journals, most of which are horribly spelled nonsense covered in psychotic doodles, and the journals themselves are all torn and covered with dirt and blood. But beneath all that is the story of a man who lost and found the love of his life all over again. The story of a fighter, a survivor, of Shotu’ro.

Entry #03

1/15/2017

It’s difficult reading through Sho’s journals. It’s so clear that he never had a moment’s rest, never had it easy. Mercy should have taken him long before we ever reunited..

Fuck…

As I dug his grave I remembered Shotu’ro’s dying request, one he made long before his deathbed. He wanted to see the sunset as the last thing he ever did. So here I am planning to carry my fiancé’s corpse for miles to Laguna Beach.

Entry #04

1/16/2017

I’m sitting on the beach crying, gripping the locket and Shotu’ro’s hands in mine.

Together we wait for the sunset.