Hill Valley Falls: Episode 3

Savanna’s Diary:

Entry #1: What happened that day?
It was so strange, the air felt hot and smelt like burnt toast. It had started out so bitter cold when I’d left for a run before the sun rose I could see my breath rising. I could feel the chill in my lungs. I smelt nothing and I barely sweat in spite of my best efforts.

I don’t know what else to say about it. Maybe it wouldn’t matter if I said anymore because the chances of me running into anyone I might share this notebook with are growing slimmer by the day.

I ran into a militant group, each ones uniform varied in color and type. It was clearly a little unorganized so I’d kept to the shadows. They’d said something I couldn’t forget easily. Talked about needing more priests because the last batch had disappeared overnight. It was as if they’d up and run away, leaving the troupe to their own devices.

Why would they be involving priests? I thought it had been something to do with the outbreak of mosquitoes in the area. That’s what the last broadcast I’d seen before the television turned to fuzz had suggested anyway. Before my phone died a few days back the signal had still been cut off.

Yesterday I ran into a single stranger who was a lot like me. Didn’t want to travel with anybody. I could see a hundred reasons haunting behind his flighty eyes. He didn’t want to get attached to anyone who wouldn’t be around long. I understood because I felt the same. He told me they had put up a wall about ten feet tall around the entire county. The phones still picking up signal were connected to 6G and basically acting as tracking devices to tag and take down the remaining residents before the word got out, that was his theory anyway.

I don’t know how much of what he said was true, but I’d seen and heard stranger things that made less sense. It had made enough sense that I’d ditched my phone after breaking and burying it. If only the county was blocked in that made the playing field that much smaller. I’d lived here for my entire childhood and even though I left for a decade, nothing has really changed. I can survive a plague of mosquitos, for now. I can for at least today, then who knows what will happen tomorrow. Today I can survive. I can live, I still have three cans of beans, two cans of beets, and enough dried fruit in my backpack to last a week.

I also have some rope, which is a new addition. Farmer Klantstein was kind enough to leave his barn unlocked before disposing of himself. I assume that’s what happened behind the only locked door of the house. I didn’t push my luck on it. Something told me I didn’t want to see what stood behind it. I’d picked up some tin cups and a coffee thermos but I hadn’t built up the courage to start a fire. I’m still not sure what I’m up against.

Entry #3: Okay, so I tore out the last page and buried it, I don’t need to be labelled a total psycho in the first three pages so… It’s gone, get over it. I am taking it to my grave and whoever finds this can think about the worst thing they’ve done and put my face on it… I did something I never imagined I might… Feels monstrous… Makes me wonder if I am going to fall asleep and wake up, one of the turned.

Entry #4: Beans, beans, and sweet corn
Good find today! Just when I didn’t think I could take another can of cold beans and bacon I strike gold. I found a can of cream of corn at the Greens acreage. I was so excited I could taste it as I worked my fingers around it and slid it off the shelve upside down. I had been pretty proud of myself until the bag of corn flakes next to it had turned sideways and spilled all over the floor as I’d pulled away. I’d heard a noise somewhere upstairs moving so fast my heart had felt like it was beating in my throat. It had surprised me so much I’d let the can slip away from my fingers to pulled them into my chest. I made myself small in the crawl space between the top of the cupboard and the kitchen ceiling.

Somehow I got my breathing under control before the rotting body of Malory Green had thundered in through the arched entryway. She gurgled grossly and coughed on the dark foam bubbling at the corners of her mouth. I had to peak for the sake of scientific observation.

The blue veins were bulging at her temples like snakes, they were so thick it was nauseating it looked like they were swimming and swiveling endlessly beneath a thin layer of gray-green skin. If only my butterfingers hadn’t betrayed and almost gotten me killed. I noticed her interest in searching decreased with my shallow breathes. I think that might be significant. I need to think about that one. I was able to snag the canned corn before I left, after all, that I couldn’t leave empty-handed.

Malory had sprayed my locker in baby powder she’d found in my gym locker. She called it powder-puffing, it had become a trend until graduation day where she’d waited for me at the end of the runway and squeezed a huge cloud into my face while I was descending. That was my mainframe and spotlighted moment in the final yearbook. I think she owed me, a can of corn was forgiving…

Entry #5: Should have known…
I’m getting tired of life-threatening situations. Or maybe bored is the better word. I’ve almost died about ten times today and it was a light traffic day. I also noticed a new group of uniformed officers. These ones seemed organized, and their equipment was better. They seemed to have headpieces that connected them to each other. Anytime they would move their lips silently, the piece at their ear would light up blue. When their mouths stopped moving the light turned off. Interesting. But they didn’t look friendly, my gut didn’t trust it so I stayed in the canopy above. I didn’t move even though I had to pee until I was sure the last one had left the small clearing.

Entry #10: How does any of this make any sense?
My hope has been blistering and festering a little, pulling away from me like fatty gristle pulling from the best bites of steak. I feel a little dim lately, my inside voice seems to be separating itself from me. I’m not totally sold on the idea but I have to question, does that make me the best bits or the gristle. Am I bound to go down like the others I’ve seen? Am I just… pushing the deadline? No pun intended…

I know if I let that spark of hope go so easily I won’t last long out here. The moment I invite hope to fail me, there goes my will to live… I’ve seen it happen too many times not to see a trend. The fear, the hopelessness, then the noises and the paranoia, then the deer in the headlights while the enemy makes it’s final descent to accept its motionless prize.

I’d rather starve, or take a bullet than face what’s left of Hill Valley, the unholy dead or whatever they are, I will never let them find me, or take me frozen. They seem to be able to smell out weakened mentalities.

It’s like, they’re almost like, zombies, but instead of being hungry for brains and fresh flesh like the movies suggest, this is going to sound nuts, but maybe it’s true so I have to at least consider it… These are no Hollywood Zombies, these leftover humans seem to be ravenous over despair and fear. It’s like… they can smell it from a mile away. I’ve seen it enough times to see it as a mere coincidence. There is no such thing, to begin with…

The progression goes something like this. The forest gets quiet, a little too quiet and someone starts to freak out, talking about how they can’t do it anymore, how this is crazy and we need to get out of here. But each corner we made it to, we found barriers so far so even though the parameter is large it is easy to draw the parallel between us and the rats I witnessed in various experiments. Stuck in a maze, full of obstacles and potentially lethal traps in order to gauge their ability to adapt.

… After the adrenaline wore off, usually when things got the quietest, there was always one… One person who’d start spouting off, and then like wildfire the chatter would grow in the group. One person trying to quiet the others, all of them growing excited and more afraid for one reason or another. Until the entire group was chaos. Then, the ear-shattering screech sounds from somewhere in the distance, without fail, I’ve caught it every time. It’s almost like a final warning or reminder to keep a cool head.

Like the light that flicks on when an engine or something is getting overheated. The screech always happens before blood is drawn and the change occurs. I keep track in my pocketbook. I had to, it happened so many times it weirded me out.

Next, it’s like clockwork, the one freaking out most freezes up and can’t move their bodies. This freaks everyone else around them even more because no one seems to know what’s happening until it’s too late.

After about thirty seconds the ring leader’s eyes start to dart around like they hear something no one else can. And then, the convulsions rack their entire bodies until they are writhing on the ground. This doesn’t stop until their pupils have filled most of their eyes. There is usually only a small ring of bloodshot verging yellow ring around the outer rim of their bulging eyeballs.

One time, my heart started racing because I wasn’t used to the sick howls and the shaking and everything. I did what I always do and climbed a tree, it always worked, hardly anyone looks up. It’s a whole thing but in the heat of all that, I swear, I heard something too. Like a growling picking up speed toward me and when I snapped out of it I realized, it had been me, I came to my senses still growling. The scariest thing that’s happened to me yet because I was that close to turning into one of them.

That’s when I started plugging my ears with my hands, and then little wads of cotton I made out of some swabs I’d found. Thought I was real slick dipping them in Vaseline until it literally plugged my ear. I thought that was the end I’d never hear the adversary sneaking up on me. But like every other time before that, I started losing ground, feeling tendrils of anxiety working themselves into sharpened points, scratching away from the inside, and eating at me when some tweezers magically found me and I was able to pull the swab free. Thank you Miss Canapes for your medicine cabinet. I promise I only took what I needed, or might need in the future.

She wasn’t going to mind, I’d found her decomposing on the sidewalk in front of the house before I ever stepped foot toward looting it. I used to deliver papers to her cul de sac. I guess I only knew it was her by the silver ankle bracelet she never took off, everything else was badly disfigured. She’d worn that old thing in since I’d been in middle school, as long back as I can remember. Now it’s all I see when I think of her. A beat-up Skeletor ankle with that dead giveaway item acting as her dog tags.

She hadn’t always been a pleasant woman but it made me sad to see her name with a line through it on paper. It had been a sad week, this week has been sad… Too many familiar names with lines through them… Maybe I can hibernate for a while… Climb a tree and tie myself to a limb… or maybe a chimney, on top of a tall house, preferably one surrounded by willows and tall oaks and pines. Sleep until time stops.

That sounds nice…

Entry #11: This isn’t a rescue mission…

I found something out last night. I followed the transmission, with the rest of the group I was with there were five of us in all. They were so excited to find the extraction point and get the hell out, As soon as Bobbie and picked up the transmission they’d basically pooled their resources and eventually opted for me to climb a tree and look for the red flag they’d lift for any survivors to come to and find refuge.

Something smelt fishy to me… A fence line erected as far as the eye can see, three weeks without offering any assistance. How did we know these aren’t the same semi-uniformed militia I’d seen ransacking the Ogdon’s place and shooting Billy in the back of the head after kicking the back of his knees out from under him. He’d seemed perfectly healthy to me. Even bagged for his life just before. And the man had pulled the trigger laughing as easily as I breathe…

We didn’t know anything about what we were walking into. All this was based on highly suspicious radio transmissions, and yet, they set off at a dead run as soon as I’d pointed them in the direction of the flag. They didn’t even wait for me to get down from the tree, they’d bolted and left me behind. I hadn’t been with this crew long, but it doesn’t take long to feel dependent on the company you keep. I’d run track with two of them. The couple.

Natalie had enough decency to tell me to catch up. Maybe they all just knew I was faster at long distance than they were, and if anyone could follow that command it would be me. Still, felt like a blessing in disguise. I didn’t feel expected to be anyplace all at once. If they got there first they would hold up the caravan and be sure I was on board.

I didn’t run. To catch up at first, I walked. I walked and imagined how many ways the scenario might play out. I didn’t like the outcomes. If everything I’d gathered information-wise was correct, someone was determined to keep us all in. The soldiers I’d seen appeared to have equipment that helped them communicate telepathically, allowing them to walk in complete silence. And my gut had held me back from jumping into their camp and seeking asylum. I noticed it was getting dark and I could have sworn I heard something that sounded like raised voices on a rogue breeze. I picked up speed and moved through the underbrush in the direction of the red flag I’d seen and just as I was coming to the top of a knoll I stopped. My feet wouldn’t move another step until I’d climbed another tree to see where I was.

When I got to the top I realized too late that I’d somehow made it past the red flag. This was strange because from this second vantage point the clearing we’d been aimed toward was bigger than I had first thought. And based on where I thought I’d come from, it would have been impossible for me to reach the point I was at from where we’d started without crossing over the vast open arena that now had multiple military grade trucks parked along one side of the the ridgeline.

I watched two squads of uniformed individuals melt into the bushes at the opposite side. A final squad remained posted up around four figures on their knees with their hands folded behind their necks. One of the guards said something that the furthest figure to the right responded too. Whatever the person kneeling had said must have irked the guard because he launched a kick against the torsos upper body. the body fell over and didn’t move. The other guards laughed while the prisoners protested, leaning in toward the motionless body. The tossed figure started to wrestle itself from the ground, the guard barked once, then lifted a pistol and unloaded until the movement stopped.

This wasn’t an extraction, it was an extermination… But why?

Entry #12: They finally left…

Those monsters killed everything that ran from the tree line. It was like watching moths drawn to the flame. I wanted to warn them but no one came from the side of the trees I was on. They all seemed to be funneling in from one direction. Did that mean that they’d already picked through these parts? Was it by some miracle that I ended up over here?

I tied myself to the top of the tree, I’m going to try to sleep a little and I think I am hidden. I found what appears to be an abandoned eagles nest. It’s huge. This rope hasn’t failed me yet so I hope tonight isn’t the night. There is only one truck left in the clearing. It needs to leave soon. I’m getting hungry and I’ve had to use the bathroom for two days but I’m afraid to open anything or leave the spot I’m in, I wouldn’t be surprised if their fancy gadgets picked up the smell of things or human emictions. They are serious business. Nothing to sniff at, so to speak…

Entry #13: Resolutions and more Questions.

It’s been about four days since my last entry. The last of the trucks picked up and left today. They tore down their radio tower. I got down from the tree for the first time in days. I finally ended up peeing over the edge and taking my chances on them noticing, it was miserable. No one seemed to notice anything so I suffered for no reason. I won’t make that mistake again.

Entry #25: Deep breathe for survival…

No fear, no fear, no fear… That’s become my running mantra and I don’t know why it started but it seems to be the only thing that keeps my heart rate down these days. I am never traveling with anyone ever again. This is getting to be too much. Every time I get with one that seems stable, it’s like I get there just in time to see the last bit of strength and willpower to endure fizzling out, Another one bites the dust, they are gone even little Vicky. I can’t see another kid like that. I can’t. And I’m left alone with these notes.

No fear, No Fear, NO FEAR… Sometimes it just feels good to write it out and see it with my eyes, then say it out loud… It’s like the combination dissolves the thick knot in my throat. It makes me feel better to spew the words outside of me like waste I’m tossing away.

Each time I think it, write it and say it, It almost felt like the practice loosens the chokehold waged against me from something beyond me. Helps me sleep and keeps me grounded so as far as I can say I’ll keep using the method until it fails me. This crazy version became my reality I think it’s been three months, I haven’t seen the soldiers since the fiasco in the clearing. Now that it’s become more like a ghost town I almost miss the business that had consumed me in the beginning. It kept me from seeing faces from my past.

I don’t even check to see if anyone is home these days. Maybe I’m getting complacent but part of me is just, tired of being on hard alert all the time. It’s exhausting. If I go, I go. That’s where I’m at… I can hear the birds and the crickets again.

Okay, I think I’ve lowered my heart rate enough to move on. It’s been ten hours since I’ve heard that screeching. The frequency is less these days. I found myself wondering what happens once they’ve run out of easy targets. Do they die? Or do they evolve and adapt to hunt better for the fittest? If so… Where is my upgrade?

Thoughts like that keep me awake at night. I used to feel safe in trees but something in the air is shifting. I can feel it.

Entry #32: Help… Me…
So, it’s safe to say, if you are reading this, I didn’t make it. And if you want to be better than me, last longer… Hold on to hope, I keep hearing things in the bushes but when I watch them they don’t move. I had a nightmare last night and woke up in a bad dream. I was growling like a dog and had the slightest hint of sweating in my palms, my temples were throbbing and pulsing. I keep telling myself it was just a bad day but after enough of them in a row without finding anyone sane to bounce things off of I am starting to feel a little mad myself. Maybe I need to start looking for books to read instead of just food to stuff myself with. These fevered dreams are starting to make me question if I’m already turned and fighting the inevitable or if I just really, really, really need to find a way to blow off some steam.

Entry 35: I ran into the wall again…
This time I might just follow along the boarder, search for weak points that I might slip through. I’ve lost weight since this whole thing started. Too bad I look my best when no one can see me. Sometimes I pretend the trees are people and they are checking me out, I had to use my rope as a makeshift belt so… My fashion is on point.

Don’t let yourself become me… Remember the taste of sweet things; like a push pop ice cream from the Shwans truck in the middle of summer. Don’t forget the savor of salted things, Like saltines crumbled into a brothy bland soup, the crunch if you ate them at just the right time between dry and saturated.

Entry #38: I just don’t care what’s out there anymore… I went Swimming in the Dark
I thought of two more things that have helped keep me going. Well, opportunities to explore them found me when I stumpled over the town reservior… I was so thirsty and for the first time in my life I didn’t think twice about sucking straight from the unfiltered source. I played in it, skipped around in it’s shallows and finally, after realizing I haven’t seen another human in days I stripped down to nothing and dove in deeper. I swam until I reached the small island me and my friends had always talked about camping on.

I walked right past the No Trespassing sign posted along it’s small smooth pebbled beach and plopped my bare buns into the warm sand. I ground my toes down into the little rocks and enjoyed the small waves as they fell and licked around my toes. It was refreshing. I barely worried about my backpack being left on the far shoreline. I fell asleep until the stars were out. A shrill shriek from somewhere in the distance echoed over the water face. I woke up with a start but for the first time in a long time, not because of a bad dream. I don’t remember what I’d dreamt of but, it was pleasant enough for me to forget.

I wasn’t even scared as I swam through the darkness. It was complete peace, there was no wind to break the surface surrounding me, almost the whole way across I pretended to be an alegator, trolling along with just my nose and eyes above the surface.

This experience illuminated something for me… If you want to survive through hazardous conditions, find ways to engage with the tartness of everyday routines more fondly. Also don’t take the company you keep for granted, even if it’s just you given the right situation you might just become the best companion you’ve ever had. That cold water opened something up in me. I was starting to feel like, I didn’t care what happened and now. I want to be alive. I can make it… I can get through this because I’ve already come this far. I’m going to follow this fence until I find an exit. A tree branch reaching over at just the right point. They can’t get rid of me like they did everyone else. I didn’t fall for it…

And finally to all you surviving out there, don’t let colorful moments turn to gray in your hands. Whatever that means, it’s making me feel better. If I ever lost this book and pen I would die… Thank you for always being there for me. My Wilson on this island of the dead.

….

Entry #45: The day it happened…

The day everything went up in flames started like any other day. It was hot, hot. Like, so hot that Paster Fitsiminz had left the church doors open and offered free refreshments in the basement to anyone whose air conditioners had stopped working. It was like the ground had a fever, I was wearing sandals and I remember feeling the heat through the rubber bottoms.

My mom called from the church bickering on about Mrs. Clives always buggering up the dynamic. She and Jane were supposed to pick up the cookies and juice and all Mrs. Clives had to do was bring the paperware, but she’d brought over donuts instead. Mom was always upset about something someone could have done better, she was half the reason every person who came to church on Sunday had ironed and pressed their outfits. She would make a fuss with the other purple hat committee members.

I remember Henry Gavins mumbling under his breath that they were like vultures, circling in for the kill.

After all that explanation mom had asked me to head to the store and pick up paper plates and napkins, then maybe just napkins and Styrofoam cups before saying maybe paper cups would be better if they were available. I agreed and hung up, I remember our air conditioner had been one of the first to go so I was glad for an excuse to leave the house.

I was only supposed to be back for a week. How funny… How crazy was it that I ended up coming back because of the concert event that now that I think of it, I never got to go to… None of us did… It was like the celebration of 200 years in existence had turned into a massacre. I’d gotten so many messages from old friends and family asking if they were going to see me there I had no choice but to come back and celebrate with them…

Now that I think of it, maybe it hadn’t been an accident at all. Maybe, it was kind of like the radio transmission inviting all the survivors to come, find protection and safety only to offer a firing squad before any of the surviving realized it had been a trap…

Maybe the outbreak had been staged because… no one outside of this county would miss us. Most people that grew up here stuck around, and for any that didn’t, it would be easy enough to stage a reason for them to come back and show off how far they’d gone without the town… The opportunity was hard to resist speaking from experience because… here I am. Writing conspiracy theories into a diary no one will ever read unless I’m dead… and if that’s the case, it wouldn’t matter much anyway what I write because… whatever. I can’t believe I fell for the honeypot…
>>>——>

“Hey Johnson, wait a second will you. You speed through these areas and miss all the important details.”

“Stop treating this like a school field trip Phoenix. Other better researchers have died over less. Do you even know how to use that rifle?”

“Less reckless maybe, but better? I highly doubt it.”

“Hurry up!” The hazard suited figure struggled to his feet with a small book in his hand. The edges were burnt and razzled, but each page through to the halfway mark were filled, some with pictures and sketches others with piles and piles of words.

“It appears to be a journal of sorts. I’m taking it with.”

“Fine, fine, whatever, it’s not like we’ve found much of anything else today.”

“I should think you’d find that a good thing. Means we are almost done here. Soon there will be no trace of this place of the map. Not even a wayward road sign. Wiped from the map like it was nothing.”

“Have they already accounted for the members of the community who weren’t around or opted not to come to the event?”

“I don’t know Phoenix, they don’t tell me those things, that’s above my paygrade. Last Doctor Alphonzo had mentioned anything he’d said a bundle had been put into witness protection programs.”

“What was their reasoning.”

“Standard, someone in their family had gotten into gambling debt and the people who were after them were part of a bigger operation. New identities, new lives, no looking back kind of deals. And a ton of money for reparation’s as a “life insurance pay out from their deceased loved one.”

“Is it really that easy?”

“You’d be surprised what desperate people are willing to believe.”

“But, without so much as a question?”

“Show up with the right badge of authority and anyone will believe anything you say. Especially if a ton of money is on the line.”

The two hazard suited figures laughed together, shaking their heads while clearing away the last evidence of Hill Valley’s existence. Two summers after the event and the last of the debris was finally being deconstructed, the fences configured to buffalo barbed wire along side the road ways. A single gas station had been erected in a small outposting.

Life moved on… And somewhere in an unmarked bunker dug underground by a doom prepper everyone had laughed at, a band of misfits waited, biding their time and outlasting the swarm of wasps and locus’ picking the last of their histories off of the map. One by one they watched their old information dwindling and disappearing until it was as if they’d never existed…

What a strange thing life is…

To be continued…