FRIDAY MAY 20TH, 2011
(Modern Invocation)

11:59 PM
Rapture’s nothing but bullshit. There's a guy in Florida who says the world is gonna end tomorrow, it's nothing but bullshit! That kind of scare tactic may have worked in the Dark Ages, but we’re civilized now. Now, we’OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING

SATURDAY MAY 21ST, 2011
(Title Drop From Red Sky)

12:00 AM
OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING
I'M ON FIRE
I'M ON FIRE
OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD IT BURNS
OH
oh oh..
oh.

12:01 AM
Sorry, I'm not on fire. My eyes were just adapting to the bright light from outside the window. It's a sheer red out there.
What the fuck?

12:02 AM
I’m outside now.
Barefeet, shorts, don’t care. Just wanna know what the fuck’s causing all the ruckus.
I can hear firetrucks. Something's on fire out there.
That's why the sky is red.
That's all this was.
See! What'd I tell you, journal? Rapture. Bah! Just another scare.
…
Loud voices from back inside. That'll be my parents.

12:06 AM
I didn't find them. Actually, I didn't find anyone. I'm standing here in the kitchen, and there's no more voices. The lights were on, though, so someone must have come downstairs.

12:10 AM
I checked. I checked if mum was out back, having a smoke. I thought I heard noises.
She wasn't out there.
But something was. Out in the back garden.
It was bigger than an animal, or any animal I'd expect in England.
For a moment I thought it was Adam, crawling around on the grass. It looked as skinny as him. And the smell…
I shut the door when I saw eyes reflecting light, looking my way.
And then I went back up to my bedroom.
I.. need to calm down.
I need to get back in my headspace. Nothing is happening. It could be pranks, it could be my own anxious mistaken eyesight.
I'm scared of spiders and dogs. Of course I'm going to be scared.
I need.. to put this journal down. I'm fooling myself.
I need. To.
Watch some porn.

2:00 AM
Okay. Fuck.
Now I do need to write.
I’ve been hiding in the bathroom for a really long time now. I can’t just sit here and do nothing while that thing crawls around my house.
My fucking leg's bleeding.
Getting freaked, calm down Jordan. Fooling myself. Jordan Dooling myself.
Retrace my steps.
Porn was lovely. Chatted with Bones on AIM. Heard walking around in the kitchen, figured it was mum or dad or Adam. Someone getting back from having a look at the fires. So I went downstairs, I wanted to clear this all up.
It wasn't my family.
It was the thing from the garden. It's a crawling crawly thing, it's a person with bright eyes. It, he, scratched me.
Wasn't too bad. I was already running, it only grazed me.
Because. This is just some person in our house.
This is ridiculous. This is utterly ridiculous. I’m gonna deal with it.

2:10 AM
I made it back to my room, at least. I was able to sucker the fucker in the back, I hit it with my elbows as hard as I could.
It’s not a person, I think I can say that much, maybe it’s a kind of mothman but without the wings or some shit, okay there’s something uncanny about no just shut the fuck up

2:22 AM
Door’s barricaded. I think. Got chairs and a desk up against it. I don’t hear it trying to break in or anything.
Is this Rapture?
It’s a goddamn animal that I simply do not know, probably the feral animal that inspired that story “The Rake.” I always thought that was a bit of a weird name, but then again I also liked that about it. Its claws definitely resemble rakes. And I seem to recall there being some other, more archaic definition of “Rake.”
So relax.

2:27 AM
It’s just like killing a spider.
Just like killing a I’ve never killed a spider before.
Where are mum and dad?

2:32 AM
It’s gone. o_o
I’ve checked everywhere, the house is silent and the front door is open.
Closing that fucker right away. Barricading it too. And the back door. In fact, I think I’m just gonna make sure everything’s tip-top and then I’ll.. see if the internet will offer any consolati explanation.

3:04 AM
I wonder if anyone will see my Facebook status as just an ironic comment.
“THE FUCKING RAKE JUST ATTACKED ME, THE SKY IS RED AND I AM SCARED.”
Eh, hopefully not.

3:30 AM
MOTHERFUCKING COCKROACH THAT THING’S THE SIZE OF MY HEAD
crawling on the wall in the corner of my FUCKING room
and this is JUST a FUCKING cockroach
I can DEAL WITH THIS
Fuck my fears. Okay? Fuck. My. Fears. It’s just you and me, cockroach. You’re going down.

3:33 AM
God, I’m tired. Starting to fall asleep.
sllee pn.ow

9:42 AM
I woke up feeling something licking my hand. Thought it was Oscar, so I petted it. It ran off, then I remembered I haven’t seen Oscar since I was in America last August.
Can’t see out the window, it’s like a beige curtain on the outside or something.
Well here I am, writing in my little diary again. Journal. Thing. I just saw a spider the size of my foot. I think it had two heads. Might have been sleep paralysis.
The weirdness did not go away overnight. This is the day of Rapture. This is.. coincidence or not. This is something I just want to write through. Writing has helped me through worse feelings than fear.

10:18 AM
I’ve been speaking with my friends over the internet. Spoke to Danny, Fentzy, and Anna. They’re three of the people I speak to the most anymore. I don’t think every country’s getting this thing, because Danny and Anna thought I was joking, and Fentzy mentioned a Rapture but I think she was joking.
I don’t know if this “End Of The World As We Know It” gig is true or not, religious shit or what-have-you, but I do know that something strange is going on in England. And I don’t know what’s gonna happen to me. But I feel oddly okay now. I feel lucid.

10:31 AM
My stomach is aching. I’m so hungry. I’m going to look around the house.

10:35 AM
IN THE KITCHEN

10:37 AM
WHERE IS IT WHERE’D IT GO WHERE IS IT WHERE’D IT GO

10:38 AM
I think it’s gone. I have no idea what that thing was. I remember some bits of orange. It looked like some kind of.. spidercat. Eight cat-legs, six cat-eyes. Big tail. FDIJFIFDFDJ

10:40 AM
MY ROOM MY ROOM ITS MOUTH OPENS THE WRONG WAY

10:45 AM
Okay. I shut the door on it, I’ve barricaded my door again. I hear it chirping its demonic meows, its eight legs kneading against the wall. I can’t keep being unprepared like this. I can't! What if this is all that the thing from last night was? Just a cat. A monster cat. I can protect myself from that.
I need a weapon.

10:48 AM
EAT SHIT AND DIE

10:50 AM
BACK DEVIL BIRDS

10:51 AM
Okay. Okay. I ran into my room, I grabbed the nearest blunt object I could find, and I caved in that fucker’s skull. Its legs were still crawling around without a head, so I smashed them again and again until they stopped. I didn’t mean to be so barbaric. I don’t know what came over me. Maybe this really is Rapture. Maybe it’s affecting my mind.
I can see out my window now.

10:52 AM
MY BLUNT OBJECT WAS A HUMAN ARM
Fuck this shit, fuck this shit, fuck this shit oh my god.
CLUTCHING TIGER STRIPES
That is, the Guitar Hero controller. The.
..who am I talking to.

10:53 AM
Sorry, Tiger Stripes. Looks like you’re gonna be shredding a different type of lick today. Looks like we’re really going Through the Fire and Flames.

11:10 AM
I spent the past twenty minutes on the internet.
I have a thread. On TVTropes. They’ve been giving me so much help throughout the past several months. Today, we discussed my options. A lot of the people on there thought I was joking, so they just suggested praying and aiming for the head. One person even suggested the double-tap. I’ll keep it in mind. There were a couple of people who I could tell knew I was serious. They suggested going to my nearest store, stocking up on food. Staying away from my family. They didn’t need to tell me that last one. I’ve made a habit of it by now.
I told Fentzy, in case I didn’t make it out of this, that I loved her. She thought I was joking.

11:11 AM
I grabbed Tiger Stripes, put on my trilby, my black blazer, my purple scarf, and I began unbarricading the front door. As I stepped out into Rapture, I made my 11:11 wish.
I wished my heart would stop beating. I dunno.

11:12 AM
My neighbourhood is deserted. The cars are all either gone or broken beyond repair. I can hear screaming and sounds I can’t recognize off in the far distance. The sky is a brighter red. The sun is not right.
I’m holding my guitar close to my chest.
This neighbourhood’s got at least seven cats.

11:13 AM
I’m out of the neighbourhood.

11:15 AM
I’ve made it up to the high street. There are no cars. Off in the distance, I think I can see something moving. Something huge.
..it’s humanoid. I’m running to Tesco now.

11:18 AM
What was that roar I heard just now?

11:20 AM
Tesco what ZOMBIES MOTHERFUCKING ZOMBIES EVERYWHERE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME

11:25 AM
They don’t seem too bothered that I’m here. They look undead, might not be zombies, definitely look gross, but they’re kinda just bumbling about.
I think it’s time to stock up on food.

12:23 PM
I’m on my way back now. I’ve got tons of soda, tons of crisps, quite a lot of Pot Noodles, and a LOT of sausage rolls. Bring it on, motherFUCKER

12:27 PM
hiding in an alleyway.
NO

12:33 PM
OH GOD IT GOT A POT NOODLE

12:38 PM
Did I lose it? Where is it?

12:40 PM
Okay, I’ve been hiding out behind this house for a while. I think it’s safe.

12:42 PM
Wait why am I even going back to my house? That’s not exactly a safe place. I’ll knock on this house’s door here.

12:45 PM
It seems deserted. There’s a basement, but I’m not going in there; I locked the door instead. This place has a big-ass computer, fast internet. The kitchen’s full of food, too.

12:50 PM
Looking out the window now. I can’t see the fuckers anymore.
They're big. Like twenty feet tall, and way wider and longer. They’re humanoid.. but they have no legs. It’s just a torso with arms and a head. No face. Their skin is beige. One of the fuckers was chasing me.
I’m pretty sure I recognize them from something on the internet. Like the Rake. Trying not to think about that fact.
Just. Eating. Regaining myself.

12:52 PM
what hang on. why do I hear music.
That's. Mastodon's "The Czar." Absolutely, that's what that is.
Where's it coming from?

12:53 PM
It’s coming from the basement. I’m going to check it out.
Opening the basement door, it's a much longer staircase than I remotely expected.
Down into.. darkness...

12:57 PM
God, am I not at the bottom yet?

1:00 PM
The top of the staircase is right behind me. I’ve been going down for six minutes, though! What the hell?
Fuck it. Okay. Won't follow the music. Will just let it play.

1:01 PM
..this isn’t the house.

1:03 PM
This is a bunker. I’m in a bomb shelter. This doesn’t make any sense. I’m keeping Tiger Stripes close.
There’s a big door here, a steel door. I can’t budge it.

1:05 PM
“The Czar” has ended. I never did like that song all that much.Too much repetition.

1:06 PM
I got fed up and whacked the door with Tiger Stripes, just once, and it just fell apart, burst into a dozen pieces.
Behind it is a huge.. maze? I can see nothing but flat colours marking the walls.
It’s cold here.
The walls extend as high as I can look.

1:11 PM
MOTHERFU
Okay. Hi. Right. Was just walking on, trying dead-ends, and the floor caved in under me. Now I’m.. somewhere.
I don't.. feel hurt, beyond the shock. I don't think I fell that far.
But wow, that's a lot of shock.
I see no walls around me down here. Above me is a hole in.. reality??? Where I fell down??? And there's nothing out there around me. I wouldn't even call it "pure black." It's not even the absence of light. It's the absence of…
Maybe I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm on a patch of grass in an endless void of nothingness.
Is this Rapture, then? Is this where my family went?
Why don't I feel scared? I feel tense with the walking I'm having to do, but right now it all feels like a dream. It feels like, if I keep walking, I'm going to learn something.
There is an artificial light in the floor shining up, lighting the grass.

1:14 PM
I stepped on the light and fell even further. Down the rabbit hole, I guess. I don’t..
I landed on a rug on a hard floor, walls around me again. A big empty building.
That landing did hurt more.

1:18 PM
Oh god, finally, a couch. I’m gonna.. I’m gonna have a lie-down. I’m exhausted.

4:01 PM
Fuck.
I’m still here.
I'm not back in my bed at home, dreaming the whole thing. I'm still on a couch.
..I hear voices.

4:03 PM
After some looking, I traced the faint voices to behind a set of double doors some rooms away. As soon as I opened the doors, the voices stopped. Gave me some deja vu.
This is a cafeteria. It’s completely deserted.
There are vending machines. I could do with a drink.
Some kind of juice.

4:13 PM
Checked out another door, took me to a room filled with file cabinets. Pretty big ones, too. I wonder what’s inRJwedfgfEaI
..body parts. Body parts were in that cabinet. No blood, but they were still squishy and taut.
There are a lot of file cabinets. I could get lost in here.

4:20 PM
THE CEILING IS A GIANT FILE CABINET WHERE THE FUCK AM I

4:27 PM
Okay. I swear, this is the way I came.
I literally just came from this way.
So why is there suddenly a file cabinet blocking the path?

4:40 PM
RAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURE
SMILE, YOU ARE BEING LISTENED TO :)

4:50 PM
I lost my journal. Turns out it was in the first file cabinet I opened.
I’m fucking lost.

4:57 PM
Footsteps ahead. Who’s there?

4:59 PM
FUCK WHAT IS THAT OH MY GOD WHAT WHAT IS THAT THING FUCK FUCK NO LET GOfdffjdsj

5:00 PM 5:00 PM 5:00 PM 5:00 PM 5:00 PM 5:00 PM 5:00 PM 5:00 PM
RAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURE
WORLD ENFLAMED IN FEAR :)

5:01 PM
I got my journal back. That thing’s covered in red hair. That.. that thing. That grabbed my journal. It’s just a mass, a writhing mass of red hair. It’s taller than me, oh my god, it’s tall. It ran away.

5:03 PM
MOTHERFUC
I fell through the floor. Again. I’m
wait, what? Now I’m back in that.. couch room. Fuck it, I’m going back to sleep. Not worth it. No thank you.

5:45 PM
WHAT THE WHO’S THERE huh. No one’s here.
..the TV’s on now. Jesus’ face is on. Goodie, the Jesus Springer Show. Fuck it, I get it, it’s Rapture and shit.
I’m looking around.
I opened the door and through it is exactly the same room. Look, there’s the TV, right there. Behind me is the same room. Ahead is the same room.
The building's layout has changed. Right. Okay.
..back behind me, there’s now a door. In the floor. Dare I open it?

5:47 PM
I fall
down
the streets all around me
stacked vertical
falling horizontal
I see myself reflected everywhere, in every window, in every brick. Faces staring at me, and they’re all me.
Trilbies scattering down paths, scarves dissolving down doors, Guitar Hero controllers being scrutinized by whatever beings hide behind my coloured shadows.

5:48 PM
There’s something solid forming in the air.
Is that Tiger Stripes? Can’t be, it’s black, mine’s white.
I see it, but I’m not the only one. A man without a face, being led down the prison block to his cold cell, fills the room, is reflected everywhere, and is fully aware of everything in here. Does he see me?

5:49 PM
I see seven secret sentences written on the walls. I hear the laughter of seven brothers. I feel seven temples prepare for the end. There's a Tower fit for a newborn, the Knights prepare as Rapture is coming. The Harlot and the Beast begin their game of cat and mouse. It’s all as was arbitrarily transcribed in some predictable prophecy long ago, told again and again (do it again) until it's finally told by someone who can tell it different. But that book closes, and the only memory I have of all of this lies on the page I just wrote.

5:50 PM
A concert of the comatose shudders as Elsie Carr sings.
"The capital messiah behind me
who speaks in atonal chords with no key
looks like a room - a dream - a wordless breath,
follows me home - he's the wight hand of Death."

5:51 PM
I AM AWAKE, I am lucid. I am okay.
I see… trees. But I’m in a car. I’m in the backseat of a hearse. We’re driving through a forest. “The Man Who Wasn't There” is playing on the radio. Sunsetters. The sky is a darker red. Who’s driving?
..it’s a giant cockroach, as big as me, with Jesus Christ’s smiling head.
For fuck’s sake. For fuck's…
..fucking fuck.
He looked at me for a second, looked back to the road, then looked back a second time, his smile faltering.
"Who are you?” He asked it.
I don’t think I know the answer to that question anymore.
He’s turned back to the road.
“Doesn’t matter, not in the grand scheme of things. Rapture is coming, and you’re coming along for the ride.”
Now all is silent.
The doors are locked.

5:56 PM
I’m going to confess: I’m scared. I am, I really am. I have no idea what’s going on. I guess the world really is ending. I guess I’m going to Hell. I guess the Christians were right.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. To dad and to mum and to my brothers and to everyone I’ve ever let down, and to myself. I never seemed to grasp that life doesn’t make sense. I never seemed to get the hang of anything, and it's because there's evidently nothing to get the hang of, except for wastes of time. And now that I know this is it, I can’t help but feel frustrated that in trying to open up all I can feel is self-pity.
For fuck’s sake, Jordan.
Here’s to that sixteen-year-old without a clue.
Take me away, cockroach hearse driver. Before I get second thoughts.

6:00 PM
RAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURE
IS COMING. C:

6:30 PM
Everything.
Everything.
Everything.
In its right place.
In its right place.
In its right place.

(New journal. I won't tell you every time this happens.)

6:34 PM
I found this journal here on the roadside. All the previous pages have been torn out. Works for me! I can’t find my old journal, though. I think I left it in that car. I think Cockroach Jesus has got it.
I got the door open, by the way. Turns out I just wasn’t pushing hard enough. So I just dived out.
Don’t think he noticed.
..wait, I left Tiger Stripes in the hearse didn’t I

6:36 PM
Walking along the road. I can still hear Sunsetters playing.

6:40 PM
Oh god, it's the hearse coming back for me RUN

6:43 PM
I’m hiding behind a tree. I went as deep into the forest as I thought I had to. Branches hurt. I don’t know if I’m still being chased or not.

6:44 PM
RAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERWAJIJFJF

RUN

6:50 PM
MOTHERFUCKER GOT OUT OF THE HEARSE AND IS STILL CHASING ME

6:53 PM
Oh god, I’m getting tired of running. REALLY tired. I’m waiting here, behind this tree. Catching my breath.
Is he still there?

7:00 PM
I’m at the roadside. Made it to the roadside. …oh, hello, empty hearse.

7:01 PM
Uh.. I think we’ve hit a problem. I don’t know how to drive.
…fuck it, that’ll just make it more fun.

7:02 PM
I just hit someone oh my god I’m so sorry oh never mind it was just Cockroach Jesus see ya

7:15 PM
I’m surprised that I haven’t crashed yet. I’m also surprised that this forest is still going. This place is huge. And the road rarely turns; I’ve just been driving straight all this time.

7:19 PM
I turned the radio on, expecting more Sunsetters. I got Genesis. And, of all things, I got Genesis's first album. The one album that sucks. Fucking Christians.

7:29 PM
Hello, light at the end of the forest. Where are we noh my god.
A small town. Filled with naked green people? They’re all staring at me.
..I’m.. I’m gonna get out of the car. Tentatively.

7:38 PM
The townsfolk are really nice. They took me in, took me to a restaurant, and are getting me some food. .w.;;

7:40 PM
The waitress’ fingers were little trees.

7:43 PM
This sausage roll is delicious, but the drink goes right through me. Brb!

7:45 PM
Keep running.

7:46 PM
Okay, I thought about it, and I have no idea why the hell I wrote “brb” on
hang on
who wrote that?

7:47 PM
The townsfolk are all staring at me again.
I’m going to take my own journal’s advice.
I’m going to get out of here.
I’m going to take this sausage roll with me, and then I’m going to get out of here.
Where’s my car?

7:50 PM
All the townspeople are gathered in their little buildings. They’re all standing at the windows, staring at me.

7:51 PM
Seriously, where is my car, this place is giving me the creeps.

7:52 PM
There are some people on the roofs. They’re all staring at me.
The sky is turNING BLACK
FUCK FUCK OW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY FEET JUMP JUMP
SMASHED WINDOW
MOVE
CAR
DRIVE

8:00 PM
Okay. I think I’ve driven far enough. I think I’m safe. That.. is not an easy thing to describe. It felt like the ground was drilling upwards into my feet, so I jumped, I smashed a window open, I fucking found my hearse, and I drove off into the sunset.
..well, it’s not a sunset. It’s just.. dark red.

8:15 PM
I finally hit clear of the forest.
..the open sky is scattered with giant.. bats? Flying around in the red skies. Cawing.
Hasn’t Rapture ended yet? It’s well past six o’ clock! That's when it was said to end!
Wait. The guy who announced the end of the world lives in Florida. It doesn’t get six there until.. another three hours!
Long night...

8:35 PM
I’ve been driving for miles. Not a town nor a soul in sight. Occasionally, I’ll see a crashed car or a dead body, but I don’t stop. Y’know, I don’t think I’ve even seen a road sign in forever.

8:42 PM
Road sign ahead.
“Hell, 20 miles.
Ashford, 40 miles.
Sunbury, 43 miles.”

8:56 PM
Hell’s coming up in a couple minutes. Everything looks fine so far, considering.

9:99 PM
That’s what the car’s clock says. I think I’m in Hell now. ….oh, “999,” “666,” very clever.
Funny. I don’t see any town nearOH DEAR GOD THERE’S A TARANTULA ON THE DASHBOARD RUN GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE CAR THE DOOR’S LOCKED OH GOD Well, it’s just sitting there. On the dashboard. Is it aliOHGOD IT TURNED AROUND OHHHH GOD I CAN SEE ITS EYES IT’S SO CREEPY OH MY GOD GOD GOD GOD GOD FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK TURN AROUND AGAIN PLEASEThank you.
..uh.. what’s your name?
..it said “Ben.”
Well, uh.. hi, Ben. Wanna sit in the passenger seat for me?
Thank you.

The clock still says 9:99 PM.
Ben, you know where we are?
..”Hell.” Gee, thanks for that.

I’m sure a couple of minutes have passed. Still says 9:99 PM.
Say, Ben. Your voice sounds awfully familiar. You sound like a childhood friend.
..he says he is a childhood friend. o___o I asked him how he became a bug, but he didn’t speak.
…how’d you become a bug?
There we go, he responds to my writing it. ..for some reason.
He says it came with the Rapture.
But the Rapture won’t start ‘til 11!
…okay, he corrected himself. It came with the day of Rapture.
Right, that makes sense. ..how the fuck did you get to England?
..you don’t know either? Huh.
Small world.

Clock’s still 9:99 PM.
We’ve hit a town. Is this Ashford? No, this is still Hell. Right. Y’know, besides the whole tarantula thing, Hell ain’t that bEAR BEAR BEAR BEAR BEAR BEAR BEAR BEAR DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE OHHH GOD WE’RE OUT OF GAS MAKE A RUN FOR IT BEN
BEN? BEN?! …Ben’s being torn apart by the bear. Oh god, it’s tearing every limb apart. Ooh, the inside of the car is covered in tarantula blood. Oh god, that’s gruesome. …I should probably run.

The clocks around the town all say 9:99 PM.
I stopped inside a library.
The bear seems to be… transforming into a giant man.
I’m going to call it the Eldritch Bear. Probably not to its face. ..faces?

The clocks are still frozen at 9:99 PM.
The Eldritch Bear is chargING AT THE LIBRARY OH FUCK
GLASS EVERYWHERE OH GOD IT’S IN MY LEG OW
THE ELDRITCH BEAR IS STOMPING I CAN FEEL IT STOMPING OH GOD I CAN’T LOOK

10:02 PM
I was saved.
No, not like “Rapture” saved. I mean some guy came along and saved my ass. Like a deus ex machina.
He was a man in a red jacket. Pale skin. Buzzcut and creepy green eyes. I looked up from where I was lying, and the Eldritch Bear was gone. Instead, the creepy man was there.
The clock says something not stupid now. Rapture is in an hour.
I’d best start walking if I want to make it back home. ..after I get the glass out of my leg.

10:08 PM
Leg still hurts, but I’m out of Hell! Now I’m just walking along the road.
Is it too much to hope for hitchhikers?

10:12 PM
I can’t believe it. A car came along. A car. They let me on and now we’re driving.
Fuck yeah, hope!

10:19 PM
I got to know the other survivors. There’s Chuck Berry, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Maher, and Sandra Bullock. …so, it's a bunch of adults with code names. They said they're with the government.
They don’t know how all this shit started happening, but they know about the Florida guy too-- Harold Camping is his name!-- and so they're also bracing themselves for 11.

10:21 PM
We’re passing through Ashford now. Sunbury’s next. My home is next.
God, there are so many zombies out there.

10:24 PM
OH DEAR FUCK

10:26 PM
IT JUST HIT ME WITH A POT NOODLE

10:31 PM
FUCKING NO SANDRA

10:35 PM
Oh my gidding goddamn god.

10:36 PM
It was a Big One. Colossal head-and-torso, those things. It was a motherfucking.. one of those. It stepped into the road in front of us and stared us right in the eyes with its lack thereof. The others fled the car immediately, so I did too. And it chased me. Sandra.. distracted it for me. >_< So I could get away. Now I’m hiding out in a butcher shop.

10:39 PM
I think it’s gone. Let me check.
Yes, it’s gone.

10:40 PM
THAT BUTCHER SHOP WAS FILLED WITH HUMAN HEADS

10:43 PM
SUNBURY, I made it. I made it. Okay, I’m close to home now.
If this all gonna end, like, actually end, then I want to die at the only place in England I know.

10:48 PM
My time’s running out. Fuck. I’m not nearly close enough. I’m gonna start running.

10:55 PM
Oh god, it hurts to run, my leg.

10:58 PM
And with my dying breath, I heave a sigh of relief that at least I didn’t die without fucking Sandra Bullock.

10:59 PM
…..fuck, okay, that was such a cheap lie.

11:00 PM
RAPTURERAPTURERAPTURERAPTUREOUCH
Fuck, that hurt. ..wait, what?
Tiger Stripes! TIGER STRIPES! YOU CAME BACK TO ME! :D And hit me in the head! Please don’t do that ever again, ohhh my favourite X-Plorer, I missed youuuuuuu, ahahaha!
11:01 PM
..but.. where’d you fall from? The sky?
..the sky is still red. and nice and empty.
I’m getting close to home.

11:09 PM
Okay, I’ve made it to my neighbourhood. We’re pretty much home free, Tiger Stripes.
I think we can take this part slowly.

11:10 PM
Y’know, for a total Rapture, End-Of-The-World scenario, this isn’t half-bad. If I can keep up this luck, and see some more incredible sights, I could get used to this. With time.

11:11 PM
Okay, I know it’s actually 23:11 and all, but I’m gonna make a wish anyway: I wish I had a girlfriend.
Could you imagine that? The world might end with me remainingOh hey, my house is around the corner.
House is close, house is close, soon can sleep and forget for a while oh house is close
Just gotta step around the corner and up to the front door, turn the knob and open the dFUCKING RAKE
DOOR SLAMMED SHUT
SO THAT WAS DEFINITELY NOT A SPIDERCAT AND WAS DEFINITELY A RAKE-Y THING.
HEART REFUSES TO SHUT THE FUCK UP
I can hear it snarling and slashing the furniture in there
Crawling on all fours, pale and hairless and rubbing up on the walls and couches
Face totally stupid
I’m not gonna be kicked out of my own house like this
I am going to get in there and doooooo something
It’s just you and me, Rake.
ohgod Tiger Stripes? Give me strength. >_o

11:17 PM
HAHA
okay fuck gotta board up this window asap

11:48 PM
All the deeds are done.
I’m in bed.
Journal, I don’t know how to say this, but Tiger Stripes must be made of something way tougher than plastic. I sneaked inside, kicked over a flower vase, the Rake turns and sees me, I look into its deadlights or whatever the fuck, the Rake freaking growls up a storm and I get unsteady, and it pounces at me and I just..
I guess it was that kind of primal response? A fast swing of a blunt object, in this case a guitar controller.
Crunch.
That part was unmistakable.
There was a definite crunch.
At first I thought it was the sound of Tiger Stripes breaking in half, but.. well, it didn’t. Instead, I pretty much just blinked and then next thing I know I’m standing over a dead Rake with a mangled spine. And I’m outside my house, I’d ran outside to get closer, I dunno, 'cause see I smacked the Rake so hard that it soared out the living room window!
All I could think to do was laugh.
How in the name of the ever sweet goddess of science did I do that? Riddle me this, journal!
..either way, I’m keeping that freaking guitar.

(Attached to the end of that day’s journal, and in fact to the end of every remaining log here, is a piece of paper with someone else’s handwriting written on it. These were all presumably written much later. This piece of paper reads: "I don't sleep anymore; there's too much work to do. I sit here in my grand library, going over the records of the apocalypse, in search of the patterns and the sense. In such seeking, and much keeping, there is a part of salvation. And this world needs saving, no doubt about that.
This log of Jordan's caught my attention for the words he thinks he dreamt. As he fell through the streets of that other world, he wrote down the rhythm that we all came to know. He never realized, as he never had the chance to read that journal again, but if he had realized, would it have changed anything?
I doubt it.
I similarly doubt we ever figured out exactly why some of the first monsters seemed to have come straight from the internet, but the only time I properly met the Tour Guide– the two of us electing to have coffee and talk about our experiences– I recall her offering an interesting theory on the matter. She said that maybe the apocalypse began with concepts we had created so that it could have a base from which to expand and develop newer monsters and scenarios– many of which, of course, shared significant similarities with manmade ideas– but that either way it needed to start with a base. This theory, of course, assumes that the apocalypse and the figures behind it, or the concepts, or who knows what, basically this assumes that all the bad things have a point to them. Plus the theory sounds an awful lot like the progression of the Camper, but that’s a digression for later.”)