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say anything about it, just grabbed her and hugged her. We haven't said a word to each other in hours. After I got her calmed down enough that she could drink some water, she explained it to me.

  I can't believe I found this woman. She's doing it for me. She's willing to go back to this nightmare game for me. Out there, I never had anyone like this. I didn't think I could. But I get into this god damn murder fest and there she is, waiting for me with food and love and a warm bed. And now this. I just can't believe it. She cares that much about me?

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 10MANFRED

  ENTRY 007

  DATE: 3/22/2074

   

  I have allowed someone else into my home again. All logic tells me that I should not have done it. Were I a more violent person, I would even say that I should have killed him. But I know that I could never have done such a thing, even if I were in perfect health. There is more here at play than logic, anyway. Before I could give it much thought, I had already offered to let him stay here. It was the loneliness. I couldn't handle the loneliness as well as I thought I could, I suppose, and Craig provided me with an opportunity to break that.

  He's a quiet enough young man. He reminds me quite a bit of David. But he seems to have more drive, at least so far as this game is concerned. He believes that he can work with the medallions and modify them to make them more useful. Whether he can do this or not, I cannot say for certain, but I will allow him the opportunity. It is simply too nice having company. I would not want him to leave me. I have even provided him with my own medallion to tinker with. It allows him to continue his work and gets that danger out of my hands. I was not comfortable with such power, anyway. I still have David's old medallion, if the need arises for me to defend myself.

  I am doing my best to hide my poor condition from Craig. He has been so engrossed in his work, I doubt he would have noticed anyway. Although, perhaps his very presence will help. I feel livelier just having him around. And, although I still attempt to hide from the world outside this trailer, I am interacting again. Perhaps the company will convince me that life is worth living. It may assuage my fears enough to allow me to keep food down. I can only hope. Now, I do not want to die. At least, not from lack of trying to live.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 04JUSTICE

  ENTRY 007

  DATE: 3/24/2074

   

  Locking doors isn't just something I do to get away, now. I've had to put stuff in front of the windows, keep the doors locked. It's the only way I can keep her in this fucking house. She's screaming and banging and begging to get out. And then she'll just fucking stop. For hours, I won't hear a thing. The first few times, I went in to make sure she hadn't passed out or escaped or anything. But I stopped that right fucking off. She threw herself at me when I went in. I didn't want to fucking punch her or anything, but I still hurt her pretty good throwing her back in the bedroom. And then the screaming started again. It just cycles like that. I don’t even know if she fucking sleeps. Maybe that's what the quiet times are all about. I just wish she'd let me nap longer than a couple hours. My vision's starting to get blurry. I'm just thankful that she's not any fucking stronger than she is. Don't know if I could handle her, otherwise.

   

  ENTRY END

  TO: Niels Evenstad

  FROM: Frederick Evenstad

  SUBJECT: Craig

  SENT 3/27/2074 AT 3:13 p.m. EST

   

  Brother,

  I think we need to talk about this. Craig's figured out how to get into the CESUs. This isn't anything that was in our plans. They were not supposed to be able to do anything with them other than use them to fight. I… I think this needs to stop, Niels. At this point, we can't control what happens. The CESUs aren't designed to be modified by anyone, least of all garage mechanics. We need to just end the show. We'll continue the pay to the beneficiaries of the deceased and we can split the prize money between the survivors. There's more than enough in the budget, and we can keep the online game to hold profits steady. But this is far enough. This is now a matter of public safety. We know some of these contestants are unstable. If something goes wrong and they are somehow allowed out into the world, I can't imagine what it would mean. And we would be plainly at fault.

  Please, Brother. This has gone on long enough. You have to see that.

   

  Frederick Evenstad

  Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Technologies

   

  —

   

  TO: Frederick Evenstad

  FROM: Niels Evenstad

  SUBJECT: RE: Craig

  SENT 3/27/2074 AT 3:22 p.m. EST

   

  I'm well aware of this situation, Brother. It's concerning, I admit that, but it's not an issue we can't handle, either. I have full confidence that everything will be fully safe. Craig is not qualified to work with such technology. It will be well beyond his capacity to understand. My people and I have ensured that, and I find it insulting that you would doubt me so. But I do understand your concerns. Grant me some faith. We're monitoring the situation, so it's not something you need to concern yourself with. Don't let this worry you. You have enough stress. Your meeting with the military contractors is fairly early tomorrow morning. Focus on that and leave the issue with the CESUs to me.

   

  Niels Evenstad

  Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Media

  JOURNAL 08DESIREE

  ENTRY 006

  DATE: 3/31/2074

   

  God, I thank You for this. You have granted me another sign, and I will follow it. I know that I must. All I need is a way to get past Justice. I have seen what comes next. I have seen the Devil, and I will find the Beast, even if it means that I must remove the other obstacles in my path. Even if it means I must break through the walls that hold us all here. I will prove my devotion. This I swear. You have spoken to me, told me to find the source of the evil around us. I know You will show me the way.

  Amen

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 05CRAIG

  ENTRY 007

  DATE: 3/31/2074

   

  I've finally managed to do something useful. Really useful. I just hope it turns out better than last time I thought I was doing something good. That ended with Tina dead.

  But that's not like this. This is going to keep me safe for a long time. Maybe even until the end. I took the medallion Manfred gave me and hooked it into some wire and cable I scrounged up from the houses around us. It wasn't easy, and it's not perfect, but we've got a sort of electric fence up. If we see anyone coming, we can hit the button on the CESU and get rid of them. If we see them coming.

  The CESUs themselves are fascinating, though. It's all powered by a tiny battery. I don't know if it's nuclear power or dark energy or something I can't even begin to fathom, but the battery itself is hardly bigger than a standard AAA. But the weird thing is that the little LED gauge is wired separately from the whole thing. I tracked the circuits twice, just to be sure. No direct connection. The gauge connects to a transistor, and the power supply connects to another transistor. I mean, I'm sure they connect together somewhere along the way. But it's two systems completely capable of independent function. If you could sever the right connection… I don't really want to think about it. If you sever the right connection, you could possibly take off the supposed charge delay, which I'm beginning to doubt is even a vital part of the design. Which is scary. I don't trust myself to mess with that kind of stuff. Not where this kind of power is involved. But if someone did, or if the company did, these things would be a hundred times as dangerous as they already are. No recharge time.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 02CHRISTINA

  ENTRY 007

  DATE: 4/3/2074

   

  Tomorrow, we're leaving the house. I know Julia shouldn't. I can see
it whenever we talk about it. But she's insisting, and it's not my place to tell a grown woman what she can and can't do, no matter how much I might worry about her. But I am insisting on going with her. She didn’t want me to, at first, but I have my limits, my conditions. That's one of them. She's been ignoring this whole situation we're in for the past three months. I can't just let her go out there and jump right back in.

  Good lord. As though that didn't happen to me. And to the others, probably. But I can't let myself let her do that. It just doesn't seem right. Not when I'm supposed to be protecting her.

  I won't let us go too far from the house. I want to make sure we can get back if something happens, or if Julia just can't handle it. I don't know if she can go back to ignoring the game, now, but I'll help her, if it comes down to that. I'll even take her medallion so she doesn't have to worry about finding it. I'm committed to this, whatever the outcome might be. I'll keep her safe. Just that simple.

  Right. Because things in this game are so fucking simple.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 06RITA

  ENTRY 006

  DATE: 4/3/2074

   

  Well, I hope you're happy, Evenstad. I think I have to give Blake head today. He's starting to get antsy about things, and I can't afford to let anything like that happen. He might just leave me. And he's too valuable as a source of information. So yeah. I have to do something to keep him around, and flashing my boobs just isn't working as well as it used to. Warn the censors, I guess. And if I make it through this, I expect a bonus for this part. And all the other ratings increases I've probably given you.

  It's not that he isn't cute. You cast him very well, in that regard. But he's so fucking stupid. I've been happy with it so far, don't get me wrong, Evenstad. But stupid is not a turn on. If you do an all-star comeback show and somehow rope me into it again, can you at least make the cute guy moderately intelligent? Just a thought.

  But he gets this game. So I've got to keep him around. Once I got him convinced that none of it was real, he started spilling. The kid knows video games, and apparently this is just like a video game. He's not applying very much of it, so far, but he's got it all in his head. I'll apply it, I just have to get it out of there.

  Which means he has to stay.

  Which means a blow job.

  Do you see what you've brought me to, Evenstad? I hope it's worth it to you.

   

  ENTRY END

  TO: Niels Evenstad

  FROM: Frederick Evenstad

  SUBJECT: CESU Order

  SENT 4/1/2074 AT 11:19 a.m. EST

   

  You were right. We got the contract. US military wants 5000 to begin with. And I am sorry about the last email I sent you. I shouldn't have doubted you. You've proven yourself time and again to be in control of things. I'm much more calm about it now that this meeting is over and went well.

  Take care, Brother.

   

  Frederick Evenstad

  Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Technologies

  JOURNAL 08DESIREE

  ENTRY 007

  DATE: 4/4/2074

   

  I have found her. I have found the woman You sent me for, God, and I have seen what must be done. When I saw her face, You revealed to me the Devil in her soul. She is the ultimate evil, and You have placed me here so that I might remove her from this Earth. I, Your humble servant. It pains me, what I had to do to Justice to get away, but he will awaken soon. I checked his pulse. He was only unconscious. I shall take any punishment You see fit for that.

  I fear that the other woman with her must share her fate. She has been tainted by the Devil's evil touch. They were kissing. Two women. A woman and the Devil. An abomination either way. If You can save her soul, please do. But the Devil woman, she must no longer blight the Earth. This, I shall do for You.

  Amen.

   

  ENTRY END

  08

  JOURNAL 04JUSTICE

  ENTRY 008

  DATE: 4/5/2074

   

  She fucking killed her dead. I don't know what I think. I just know what I feel. I feel like fucking killing that bitch in the business suit. Desiree didn't do a damn thing. We could have lived this all out in innocence. I know I didn’t always fucking plan it that way, but it could have happened. Instead, she killed Desiree. I got there just in time to watch her fall. I couldn't save a fucking bit of her. Whatever that psychotic bitch used against her, it charred all her skin, all the grass. I couldn't even save her medallion. Melted. Once I realized it, I even had to leave her corpse there. I just… the radiation, or whatever makes these fucking medallions work. I couldn't have done a damn thing if that killed me. It still might, as far as I know. Or maybe it was safe. Maybe it doesn't fucking matter. That seems the highest probability. Sure, I'd like to survive it out to the end, but I'm seeing that it ain't fucking likely.

  So I'll just survive long enough to get things done. Desiree was weak. She obviously wasn't in her own fucking head anymore, and that bitch just flat out murdered her. So she'll see just what it's like. If I die in the process, I don't give a fuck. She'll pay, and that's what matters. Desiree deserves that much.

  I'll do it for her. I failed to keep her safe, but that's over. It's too fucking late for her, but not for her memory. Now, I don't believe in any kind of God or nothing, but she did. And I'm swearing to whatever fucking God she thinks might have loved her: I ain't fucking letting this go.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 06RITA

  ENTRY 007

  DATE: 4/10/2074

   

  Well, I guess I've done it, haven't I? Blake's mine. Not yours and your silly little social experiment or whatever you're officially calling this thing. No. He's all mine. Amazing what a little bit of skin can do. It was even worth the blow job, I'd say. I've sucked worse dick.

  Anything I want, I know he'll do for me. Or at least try. I just have to make sure that I ask him for things I know he can provide. Things he knows. Things he can actually find. Or just to go the fuck away. I've already gotten rid of him a few times so I could go out looking. Listen to me, thinking you don't know. Sometimes it's easy to forget that you're right here with me the whole way. You hid your cameras very well. It's a testament to your skill. Or your pocketbook. More like the second one, right? Right. It's okay, I'll take your secrets to the grave.

  Assuming I die here. Who knows, though? I've got a hell of a tool with this kid at my disposal. Pretty much whatever I need. If I squeeze out a few tears, he might even make a good human shield. And a willing one, more importantly. He's not exactly small. I doubt I could muscle him in front of me in time to take a hit. Or get him on the trigger end of one of these medallions. That'll save me a hell of a lot of trouble, and a lot of guilt. And think about the good it'll do you. I can see the teaser now: manipulative cunt leads young boy down wrong path. This week on our fucked up show. Or something like that. Let the editors make it all pretty.

  We'll just have to wait and see about all that, though. If I do get out, I'll be seeing you, Evenstad. If not, I guess I'll save you a seat. Do you want the smoking or the non-smoking section in Hell? Personally, I think we should take smoking. It's not like it'll kill us at that point, right?

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 10MANFRED

  ENTRY 008

  DATE: 4/12/2074

   

  I fear what I must do, now. It is not pleasant, nor is it all that wise, necessarily. But alas, I can think of nothing more to make myself useful. It is the best option. Not for myself, but for Craig. He does not need me around. I simply eat his food and exist. I hold such a young, brilliant lad back from properly surviving. I am a weight to him. Too old and too weak and just generally too useless.

  I have David's medallion. It will be enough to help me, if it comes to that. However I do not see it coming to that. I do not see a reason to fight.
I do not see a reason not to cry. I am eighty-one years old. I should no longer have to worry about what others would think of me, least of all strangers watching television, or strangers trying to kill me, or strangers who locked me in a trailer park for three and a half months.

  It's not important, though. What matters is that I must leave. Craig will do better, and I will leave him my original medallion. I don't want to take it with me, and he has made far better use of it than I ever did. I could not even use it to save David. I could not use it to save that boy, Nathan. But by my abandonment, I will use it to save Craig. At least for today. I will slip off into this trailer park and find myself a grave. Or I will escape and find my grave abroad. Either way, my fate will be the same.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 02CHRISTINA

  ENTRY 008

  DATE: 4/12/2074

   

  Someone found us. I don’t know how. Probably by chance. No other way they could have come across us. I know we've been careful enough about everything. Between her denial and my trying to keep her safe, we've been fine.

  Fate is a bitch. If one person found us, what are the odds it's only one? Against everything logical, Julia and I found each other. There's no reason for me to believe that that woman didn't find someone else to be around. She could easily have been the first one. Someone's out there watching us.

  God damn it, I'm starting to sound like some psycho bitch. I mean, I'm seeing the logic in Julia's plan. I sure as hell want to ignore this whole thing, I can tell you that.

  That's why we're leaving. I don't like it, but I'm doing badly enough as it is, and Julia's showing the strain of this whole event. I know it was her idea, but I wish she hadn't had it. I wish she hadn't come out at all. It hasn’t helped. She's acting strong and all, but I know she's breaking down. She doesn't want to, and it's not the same as she was, but it's close. She's refusing to ignore it, but I can see it. She hardly sleeps. She has horrible bags and dark circles. I'm halfway waiting for a streak of her damn hair to turn white.

  But there's more. There's always more. And I feel like shit because of it. Sometimes, if I'm not asleep, either, my brain starts pointing things out. Well, just one thing. Julia doesn't have a damn reason to be this upset. And I know she does, but I keep thinking she doesn't. That lady didn't come after her. She came after me.

   

  ENTRY END

  BREAKING NEWS: US Military Enters Multi-Million Dollar Deal with Evenstad Technologies

  4/3/2074 at 3:16 p.m. EST

   

  On Tuesday, April 3rd, United States Secretary of Defense, Lena Browne, announced a $300,000,000 dollar deal with Evenstad Technologies for the purchase of 5,000 Controlled Energy Storage Units (CESUs). The announcement was made in accordance with the terms of their agreement, in which Evenstad Technologies' Chief Operating Officer, Frederick Evenstad, insisted on full disclosure of the purchase.

  When asked about the rumors claiming that the militaries of other countries have also been seen using weapons that appear to be of the same or similar design (most famously, the Golden Orb Incident in Norway), Mr. Evenstad had this to say:

  "We are an American company. We will do good for America and not her enemies. Of that, I can assure you. Anyone claiming that we have sold these