[u]29th September 2014[/u]
“Hey Kyle, did see that thing on the news? Everyone’s talking about it” Ryan asked as I pulled up a chair for the lecture. I got there approximately a minute before it was due to start which, for me, was actually fairly good timing. 

“What thing?” I asked as I whacked out my notepad and pen, “The student protest thing in China? Or the thing about the Ukrainians and the Russians?” 

Ryan looked absolutely blank as he heard my words. It obviously wasn’t the news he was talking about… nor the news he found even a little bit interesting. I gave a little shrug to indicate that I had no idea what he was talking about and he then started to tell me some story about a meteor. I only managed to get a brief explanation before my teacher begun the lecture on investigating scenes of suspected arson. 

[u]15th December 2014[/u]
I heard on the news today that Goldilocks disease had begun spreading like wildfire. It was worrying, but not nearly half as worrying as my coursework deadlines. From what I had heard, the whole thing sounded like it could have been averted through better procedures. Given the recent Ebola crisis, I imagined that they would have developed some strategies that they would quickly start to implement. At the end of the day there’s nothing I can do about it and it probably won’t even affect me; I need to focus on my studies and on getting in better shape. 

[u]7th March 2015[/u]
Shit’s gotten real. When the army drove up our streets handing out masks and other protective equipment I knew there was something seriously wrong. They could have just been playing it safe, acting in advance, making sure that it never became a problem in this country. That wasn’t the case though. People I knew were suddenly flooding social media with ‘RIP’s and talks of conspiracy. There had been a few riots close by too. 

Of the four of us who lived in the house there was only two left, me and Matt. Rob had gone home weeks ago and Will had passed away in his room. We didn’t want to be in the same house as Will when we found out he was ill, and the best compromise we could think of was to simply keep him under room arrest. We never checked on him out of fear of being infected ourselves and we only knew he had passed because of the smell. Neither of us could stand to stay in the house after that and we both wanted to reunite with our families back home. 

[u]10th April 2015[/u]
It was my twenty-first birthday a few days ago. Matt managed to find us a cake to celebrate. He just acted like everything was fine and normal, like the end-of-days wasn’t upon us. He wasn’t being strong, he was just in denial. We had made our way to his hometown… and there were no survivors, he had lost everything. But he wasn’t the only one. We managed to tune into a radio transmission which warned of no-go zones, my home town being one of them. I wanted to tell Matt that I knew how he felt, that we were going through the same thing but we weren’t. Our situations may have been exactly the same, but people deal with things differently and I had no idea what thoughts or emotions he was going through. 

[u]3rd August 2015 – Southern France[/u]
FUCK! WHATS THE FUCKING POINT?! 

Another empty fucking base. No survivors. The radio lied again. Me and Matt have travelled across the channel and all over France chasing these wild stories about safe heavens and survivor camps but they’re just all bullshit. We’re hungry, we’re lost and we’ve got no idea what we’re doing. 

[u]20th September 2015 – Near Rome[/u]
We found people today. They tried to kill us. We ran. I lost Matt. 

I’m not sad though… I’m angry. I don’t know whether I should move on, whether I should try to find him, or if I should try to kill the group that attacked us. Right now the last option seems the most appealing.

[u]30th November 2015 – Just outside Bari[/u]
Today was a quiet day… like most days. I didn’t see a single living thing, no people, no pets, not even a bird. Sometimes on days like this I wonder whether or not I’m simply dreaming, [i]how can this be real?[/i] The days all seem to merge together now, the sky never seems to change and the road just goes on and on. But I [i]know[/i] I’m not dreaming – because I’m lonely, and the pain is very real. 

[u]1st December 2015 – Bari[/u]
After camping just outside the town the previous day, I made my way into Bali as the radio had instructed. For the first time in days I could actually hear signs of life and, rather scarily actually, I could hear more than a few voices echoing through the streets. I like to look for the best in people and like to think I have faith in humanity, and yet I couldn’t help but keep my spear firmly in my grasp as I crept along. I wasn’t sure where I was going nor what I was about to come across so I made my way to the top of the tallest building I could find. It only took me a few moments to spot the hall, just because of the movement; there were cars and horses surrounding it and it just felt impossible. 

After having a quick bite and finding somewhere hidden to store as much as I could, I made my way there. The prospect of seeing other people again was, regardless of the risks, something that made me feel excited and hopeful. For the first time in many many months I started to worry about my looks and attitude, wanting to make sure that if there was any girls about that I wouldn’t come across as some crazy nomadic spear-wielding freak. There was nothing I could do about my clothing really; my jeans, white long sleeved shirt and red/black varsity hoody were all dirty but at least they were in one piece. I stopped by a window and did my best to wipe the dust from my face, and luckily my hair was so short that it just looked neat regardless. [i]‘Well that’s as good as I’m going to get’[/i] I smirked to myself before continuing on.