WEDNESDAY JULY 13TH, 2011
("Operation: RIse Against Fear")

12:32 AM
We’ve hit the Kentucky border. Great.
Like I care.

12:40 AM
Donnie’s trying to grab my hand.
I’m trying to drive! >_>
Gah. One-track mind.

12:44 AM
..sorry. .____.;; I didn’t mean to get like that.
I.. I don’t know.
I just don’t know.

12:56 AM
I hate.. I hate something.
Myself, probably.
It’s who I always hate, after all.
I am the sickness, and I’m down.
..ooh-wah-ah-ah-ah?
God, that was cheesy.
…heh. Like, wow. That was insanely cheesy. Even for me.
Hahahahahahaha.
Ha.
What was I even mad about earlier?
Ah, who cares.

1:49 AM
Hitchhikers!

1:50 AM
They kicked us out of the car and drove off.

2:29 AM
I did not miss the slowness of walking.
"It definitely sucks."
We can’t even listen to music. And I've got an Alice in Chains craving!
"We didn't have any Alice in Chains."
Yeah, it was kind of burning in the back of my mind even still. It's "The Man in the Box," I want that song. It was in Rock Band 2.
"That's a good song. That was in Rock Band?"
I'm telling you, the best setlists in either the games or music industry were in those games.
"I liked Guitar Hero 3."
Yeah, see, you're missing out. There's a whole thing, I can prove algebraically that Rock Band was leagues above Guitar Hero. I mean, RB3 was seen as a weirder setlist, but I think it just needed more time to grow on people. The fact of the matter is, the RB trilogy is unrivaled. You'd be hard-pressed to find a single mediocre song.
Case in point: “Pull Me Under” is Dream Theater’s only hit single in their, what, 26-year career, yet when Harmonix decided to give them a song in Rock Band 2, they instead chose “Panic Attack.” Neversoft played it safe in Guitar Hero 4 and chose the hit single, while Harmonix made sure to choose a song that would be downright impossible to play on all instruments.
Harmonix knows what they’re doing. They don’t just choose the popular songs; they choose the songs that will be fun to play. Because every member of Harmonix is a musician in some way. Who better to craft a music game?
And, y'know, Harmonix were the creators of Guitar Hero. They made the first two, then went off and made Rock Band as just.. a Bigger and Better kind of thing. Meanwhile, Guitar Hero gets Neversoft assigned to them, and look, I love Neversoft! I grew up with the Tony Hawk games! THUG and THAW were my childhood! But Neversoft are good at making skateboarding games. They're not musicians; they can't compete with Harmonix, and they'd never beat them at their own game. ...literally!
...I mean. Am I going on?
"I like it." :)
Ah, Harmonix! You and Valve were my all-time favourite video game developers.

2:38 AM
I remember reading an article, an interview with a couple Valve employees. They talked about the way Valve works. And it was like first fuckin’ contact with an alien species! They said that there are essentially no higher-ups in that company, no set agendas, no status quo, no conventional business structure at all. The way they decide what game they’re gonna make next? Someone experiments and makes a little demo— entirely by themselves or with whoever else wants to help— and tries to get more and more people to help him make it. That is it. Can you believe it? o_o
"o_o"
So the only reason Half-Life 2: Episode Three never came out was because nobody actually got around to finishing it.
..I’m sure there were more complicated reasons than that; I respect Valve more than that.

5:35 AM
Decided to stop at the nearest hotel.
We’ve been walking for so goddamn long, though we’ve been trying to make it easier by talking about just about anything we could think of. Video games, movies, even resorted to talking about porn at one point. (There were opinions to be had...)
Map says we’re about halfway through Kentucky now.
We’re making great progress! But then again, we just lost our car, so.. this next leg might be a lot slower than before.
And plus we’ve still got to pass through Missouri before we reach Nebraska, let alone even California... ugh.
Anyway, Donnie and I are talking about our plans for this journey. We know, maybe even more than trying to get to any physical destination, we’re gonna have to figure out how to find the Cipher.
Me, I’m kinda hoping we’ll run into EAT again.
She has her suspicions about that thing. “It’s a Fear. It’s no different from the Harlequin. It’s planning something. When we get past a Fear unscathed, we're not safe, our backs are turned. And that one knows a lot about us.”
I.. don’t know what to say to that! She could very easily be right. But in the end, I told her the fact that EAT knows so much about us is also what makes it our best bet at the moment. It’s a being of knowledge; we’re X factors. It’s not gonna attack us unless we prove ourselves to be a threat.
Besides. The Ciphers seem to be the answer. We scared Archie and the Musicians last time, didn’t we?
..right?

1:11 PM
Awake now. Nice sleep. Dreamed of sweet foods.
..wow, Donnie looks great today. .w.;
Well. Time to resume our long walk. ^^;;

1:13 PM
Wait a minute.
We just entered a rabbit hole, didn’t we?
I mean, we’re kinda now in Rachael Land.

1:20 PM
Oh, now all the Rachaels are crowding around me.
I’m making sure Donnie stays close.
..oh, now they.. left. o_o

1:24 PM
Donnie says they’re all glaring at her.
..I don’t see them doing that.

1:30 PM
I asked a Rachael where I might find the exit to this rabbit hole.
She asked which exit I wanted.
I said I wanted to go to Nebraska, specifically, but anywhere close is good.
Then she looked at Donnie and said she’s not helping us. So now we’re on our own.
Now, I admit, I can see them glaring.
Tiger Stripes is at the ready.

1:37 PM
Some Rachaels are coming our way.
Some are cracking their knuckles.
I am so ready fo
oh
Donnie says she’s got this.

1:38 PM
holy shit. o_o
She really does got this.

1:40 PM
She fucking wiped the floor. Owo;;
Oh shit, look out, second wave!
She threw her frying pan on the ground and pulled out the empty rifle. She's swinging it like a baseball bat.

1:44 PM
That one’s got a gun.
Donnie’s got her hands full.
I’m not just gonna stand here.

1:45 PM
HELLO
MEET X-PLORER
Got her hand, dropped the gun. Good.
Now the Rachaels are coming for me too.
Tiger Stripes, we’re gonna have to strike harder than we really want to.

1:48 PM
RACHAELS WITH SHOTGUNS
FUCKING REALLY?
"Hold onto your hat, let's go!"
yes, ma'am!!!

1:49 PM
DOWN THIS ALLEYWAY

1:50 PM
MOVE IT BLUES BROTHERS
…WAIT

1:85 PM
A voice speaks to me: "Do you want to see?"
Repression, obsession, lay your character bare.
You make a good pair.

4:44 PM
Ugh.
Where the hell are we now.
It’s a house.
…OH hello dead person on the floor. I’ve gotten pretty used to this by now.
Where’s Donnie there she is hi.
Okay. Next step is to figure out where we are.

4:48 PM
This seems to be a town. Not sure how big it is yet.
SCREAM
what
What’s happening.

4:49 PM
..a lady ran out of the house and called us monsters. o_o
Now she’s chasing us!

4:58 PM
Crowd of people, hoping they’re people and not zombies!

4:59 PM
Yep, people.
The crowd’s shutting up, the lady stopped chasing us.
A man’s coming up to find out what the hubbub is.

5:00 PM
The lady called us monsters, and we said we weren’t.
The crowd’s pretty sure we’re not monsters.
The lady said we killed the mayor. We said we didn’t; we just arrived via rabbit hole.
The crowd believes us.
Now the dude’s gonna speak to us in private.

5:40 PM
He told us what was going on.
Apparently, we found a sanctuary under armed protection. Apparently, we’re in East Saint Louis, Illinois. Just a little further west is the state of Missouri, actually.
Apparently, the organization protecting this town calls themselves “Operation: Rise Against Fear.” It's a reference to the international organization, but word is flaky on if they're actually related.
And apparently, the organization’s logo is a faceless suited man flipping off the slender man.
Are you starting to get the picture, journal?
Okay, last clue: A good portion of the people in this town keep a Guy Fawkes mask with them.
These guys are Anonymous.
..well, I mean, to be exact, they were formed by various members of Anonymous. That was kind of a big project, after all. But this was one of their branches. They must be at least competent at defending people?

5:45 PM
The guy I’ve been speaking to tells me a black dog’s been spotted.
Well, he said the black dog. Because apparently the Black Dog is a Fear. It’s said to be a deathly omen.

7:21 PM
Donnie and I have decided we’re not gonna leave these guys on their own. We’re spending the night with these guys. We support their cause. Besides, it’s about time we stood up to the Fears.

8:19 PM
Dinner time, hell yes.

8:22 PM
Good god. The whole town has gathered into this hall just to receive some food.
These guys look skinnier than I expected.

8:30 PM
I was just asked why I’ve got so much meat on my bones.
…I don’t. o_o I'm kinda unhealthily thin?

8:41 PM
This man wants Donnie to go with him. I asked if I can go along. Donnie assured me she’ll be fine.
..well, okay. ._.;;

9:05 PM
Donnie’s back.
She says the man told her we look like Fears; people don’t trust us. Apparently, it’s because we look too young, too normal. Everyone around here’s pretty much either starving or dying of some disease, and here we are, two relatively not-bad-looking kids with absurd clothing and strange weapons just waltzing on in via rabbit hole!
So he gave her two Guy Fawkes masks to disguise ourselves.
And then he tried to make some advances on her. She says she took good care of that problem, though; Donnie can really take care of herself.
..she winced a little after saying it. ._.

9:39 PM
The people around here are offering us a place to stay.
Well. I mean. I guess sleeping would be nice!

11:00 PM
Knock knock.
I’ll get it.

11:01 PM
Oh, it’s an Anon. See, Guy Fawkes mask. It’s the mark of the culture. :3
..o____o
SHUTTHEDOOR
WHATTHEFUCK
WHATTHEFUCK
WHATTHEFUCK
THATWASN’TANANON
OHMYGOD
OHMYGOD
WHATTHEFUCK
That guy’s mask wasn’t a mask, it was his face. o__e Its mouth moved, its eyes blunk, it breathed.
whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck

11:05 PM
Donnie took a peek outside. There’s no one out there now.
Ohhhhh, I have a bad feeling about this.

11:08 PM
Guy Fawkes masks? In the trash.

11:11 PM
I WISH SHIT WOULD GO WELL FOR US.
I wish shit would go so well for us.
ohgod

11:13 PM
At the heavy advisement of my cohort, I’m.. I’m going to try to get some sleep.

11:20 PM
We’re talking about methods of relaxation and stopping panic.
Donnie knows a lot about it.
..hugging her.

11:35 PM
..are you sure you’re okay, ma’am? After all the excitement and after that guy..
“I’m fine.”
You’re shaking.
“I don't want to talk about it.”
Well… you don't have to. But I want to say something.
Donnie, you've been an angel to me, placing your trust in me and working to keep me up and going. Ever since we met, you've been an unexpected friend, flawless and selfless. And I need to do the same for you. I need to back you up. I need to listen to you. And I need to make sure you know that we're in this together. I've got your back.
…"Thanks."
We're not in a safe place here, I don't think. We're getting back on the road tomorrow.
"Yeah. That's a good idea."
...I'm going to hug you now, if that's alright.
"Please do."

(Attached: “As an aside: The narrative of the world, as it were, doesn’t quite match the flow of Jordan’s journals. When he and Donnie were trapped in Blackpool, a team of scientists in South America had the idea to sail to Antarctica and hold a global convention with lead scientists from the rest of the world. Contrary to what one might expect, that actually worked. In fact, the plan may have been communicated a little bit too well. When the day of the convention came– I believe the date was June 30th, not that it’s important– the hall was well beyond capacity. One headcount later, and they realized they were trapped on a frozen continent with Camper. Jump forward to this date, that of July 13th, and the narrative of the world had hit a sort of rock bottom. China had completely abandoned its west half, electing to migrate east for reasons I’m actually not all that sure about. I think it was a nasty case of Eldritch Bear. Either that or the abundant fertile soil in the east. Yeah, maybe it was that one. South Africa, however, may have been the only country not totally lost of hope. Their local sect of Rise Against Fear-ites were quite successful in recruiting members, and as much as the Fears like to boast about their ‘eldritch’ this and 'incomprehensible’ that, they don’t really fare well when against literal armies of gunfire and all-terrain vehicles. But yeah, generally people were fucked. See, for another example, Sweden. What’s that? You can’t see it? Not anymore.”)