aidencaldwellofficial

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'm getting the hang of being a leader. It's confusing, overwhelming sure but... I think I can make a good team. The new kid has been acting.. disengaged. I've been trying to talk to him but he's just... Not there.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

I've started training my first recruit. He's a good kid, strong and quick, too.

If anyone is cut out to be a nightrunner, it's someone as caring as him.

But I can tell something's... Off. He seems like he's fighting something internally.

I hope he knows I'm available to help. I'll let him know I am always here.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Hakon is awake now. Frank, Lawan and I are recruiting new Nightrunners for finding more about this facility and figuring out how a cure might be possible. It's never too late to try.

I'm not sure I'm ready to be a mentor or a trainer. I am better at fighting and running than I am teaching others to do the same.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for this. If I can be a nightrunner. Why am I in charge of recruits? Why am I the one who is the role model? I don't know what I'm doing and I'm worried.

I'm sorry for ranting.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Tonight was.. something else.

I was helping a nightrunner escort with bringing a truck into the city. A woman was in labor and needed immediate safety so we were all protecting the truck. We slaughtered viral after viral, sticking to the UV light coming from the sides of the truck.

Volatiles were creeping around, and staying far enough that all we could see was their glowing eyes.

Then, one of my cadets fell out of line. She fell over, tripped and rolled her ankle. Enshrouded in darkness a volatile pounced within seconds, the others looking behind, watching. Waiting.

I didn't think. I ran out into the darkness, throwing UV bars towards the other volatiles, while shooting. Sure, now that we have guns fending off the volatiles is easier but this... This wasn't that. I kept them away and kicked the pouncing volatile in the side, knocking it off her.

Suddenly, this anger overtook me. She ran back to the truck but I just watched the volatile get back up...

And then I jumped onto it. I rode on its back with a knife lodged in its neck, broke off one of it's mandibles and stabbed it in the eye with it, and pulled my knife down the back of it, and kept stabbing until it was gone.

Then the UV bars shut off.

The other volatiles ran at me faster than I've ever seen them.

Thankfully Lawan managed to pull me back with a grapple hook. I'm surprised she didn't cut me with it or stab me.

I've been calling her cowgirl since, she hates it.

As for the whole AI situation... It's still going on, hakon is still out like a light, and Frank is starting to get worried. The cure is still possible but we need to figure out that system and find the missing data.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Hakon is ok, he's in a coma but he's stable, doc says he'll wake up soon.

As for the AI shit.. that AI was at the final steps of the synthesis of the cure! It might be a bit late, but if we get enough people, enough resources and all work together...

We could rid this world of infection. We could rebuild!

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Nightfall came. Me and five Nightrunners went into the sublevel.

It was a nightmare.

We figured the infected usually clear out at night, so maybe it’d be less dangerous.

I've never been so wrong...

The second we stepped in, we could hear them... Fucking volatiles. I can't forget the sound of them breathing all around us. Our UV lights stayed on the whole time, they luckily didn't notice us as we walked through.

We followed the sound of Hakon’s voice. He was calling out, begging for help.

But then I found him, unconscious..

He was right in front of us, wrapped up in this nest. Tangled in bone and guts and rotting cloth like a fly in a web, and yet his voice still echoed from within that damn room.

Then came the sound I've never been more familiar with...

A Tyrant screamed from deep in the dark and the whole nest shifted. We were marked. I rushed in, trying to pull Hakon free while the others opened fire. Shotguns, rifles, whatever they had.

Just as I started to drag him out, it showed up.

A massive thing. Like a Demolisher stitched together from corpses. Layers of Volatiles fused into one hideous shape.

And it screamed at us in Hakon’s voice.

We didn’t ask questions. We just ran and fired everything we had. I don’t know what that thing was. I don’t want to know.

We got Hakon out. Barely. He’s alive, but unconscious. Broken bones, barely breathing. He might not run again.

If he wakes up.

This place feels cursed. “Witnesses to history,” Veronika would’ve said. Places like this aren't for the living anymore.

Then again, neither are the Volatiles.

I’m tired of all this. The rot, the death, the screaming. But it’s all I know. I never knew the world before the fall. I've never known true peace.

I’ll update when I can. Right now, it's all hands on deck.

Good night, and Good luck.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

We are reaching a head.

I've decided to crawl through the vents myself, I got closer to the lower level before chickening out. I've faced horrors before but never something like this.

But I heard his voice. I heard his pain. He needs help.

I need to go down there.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Aiden here. We managed to secure the upper level, there's a sublevel that is locked off, and the GRE key slots are broken. Someone didn't want those doors to ever open again.

We've been hearing tapping at night, clicking and sounds of metal moving from below. I don't know what to expect, but I know there's probably a few volatiles down there we will have to deal with.

Hakon is missing, he hasn't reported in and last I saw he was going to try and work on the ventilation system with Cillian. Cillian didn't come yet, so I think hakon was searching for the ventilation shafts.

I'm worried... Hakon is strong, really strong but... This flavor of silent treatment isn't him...

I feel we are waking up things we should never have touched. I feel dread at the hum of the AI core. I don't know what to do.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Found another GRE facility out in the wastes, unopened for decades. Walked inside after opening it, still has power somehow.

There's something wrong with this place, the walls aren't just holding up the ground above it, but seems to be holding secrets long lost by humanity.

There's a terminal, a fragmented image of an eye on the screen, and a round, spherical core with wires plugged into it, almost floating in the center of the main room.

It's... An AI. I heard of these things but never interacted with one before. The last prompt was compiling data for something, but everything is redacted. There must be more to this. Lawan and I are designating this place as a primary defense location. We can't risk losing this opportunity.

It's an underground command bunker, like X-13. This isn't X-13 though, judging by "X-17" written on the walls.. obviously.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Yeah.. sorry, your boyfriend is currently out past nightfall trying to challenge a volatile to an arm wrestling match... Yeahh he's not gonna survive the night.. sorry..

[aidencaldwellofficial]

FACTUALLY CORRECT

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Uff, my head.. partied really hard last night.

I'm a nightrunner now though! Frank told me something I can't remember about responsibility... I'm sure I'll remember soon.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Okay so,, lot has happnd over th the last... Today...

IM A NIGHTRUNNER NOW

I'm Soo excited and wee been celerariting allll day.

Immm a bit drunk,, maybe.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

I turned. I don't know why this keeps happening to me but it saved my life this time. My foot is fine now? I talked to a hunters guild mutation specialist and he seems to think I had rapid mutation in my foot that caused a full heal within minutes.

I don't know what's happening to me. I do know that I turned, became a zombie and killed volatiles with ease. My zombie self found a safezone and seemingly waited to turn back before going near.

I'm thankful for that, because everyone in this town under the watch of Nightrunners has access to firearms, thanks to Jai.

All I can clearly remember is waking up with a volatile standing over me, not attacking me, just.. watching. It walked away after a moment and a nightrunner captain grabbed me and pulled me into the safezone.

Nobody else has this experience. You either turn or you die, when you reach full infection. That's how this virus works so why... Why am I the one becoming a monster? Was it the GRE tests? I'm lost.

I'm not used to turning, and this isn't even the first time it's happened. I'm terrified of the idea of becoming a monster, I want to stay human.

But something about the power that flows through me when I turn, something about the rage... And I'm able to control myself mostly now, I can't control when I turn, but I can stop myself from hurting innocents.

I wish I was able to stop myself and save that one GRE scientist from.. me...

Is that monster me? Or is it something else? What have I become?

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Aiden here... You already know that..

Fuck. This couldn't have ended worse. That flare went up the tower is on... My radio is busted. I got chased by volatiles on the way out, and fell down an elevator shaft. My flashlight is gone, it fell of my shoulder and now I can't find it..

My ankle is broken I think.. I can't run, I can barely shuffle. I'm down in what seems to be an apartment complex... There's a window but... It's the middle of the night, and I can't run even if I can get out there. Volatiles are creeping around outside, feels like deja vu. I lost their trail, and they are pissed.

I'm not gonna lie to myself here. I'm fucked.

I'm not getting out of here alive. I figure someone must hear everything I've had on my mind, even if just for closure.

(fair warning, I'm not holding back and I know it may be hard to read. There's talk of very heavy and distressing topics as well as some references to my adventures in life.)

(This Post contains Spoilers for Dying Light 2)

I never should have become a pilgrim. I found Mia sure, but she only survived 4 hours outside the facility waltz had her in.

I regret trying to save her, I regret ever coming here. Is that wrong? If I never came to this damn city Mia would have lived on but everyone I met here... They'd be gone...

I regret never telling Lawan how much I love her. I regret all the things I called Frank back when he was still a drunk. I regret being here, regret being alive.

I regret not bringing antizin, I'm gonna turn down here...

I regret the resentment I felt towards my parents, whoever they were, for giving me to the GRE. I'm sure they had their reasons.

I regret telling hakon that his mustache makes him look like a cop from an 80s movie.. heh..

Nah, I don't regret that one actually.

This is how my story ends. I hope this sacrifice was worth it. That there's people in Elysium that the Nightrunners can help. I hope that people remember me for the good I've done, and not the times I pushed for payment for saving a life...

I feel awful now. I feel regret, I feel sorrow... I feel things I've never looked within to know I felt before.

I've never felt so vulnerable, so strong but as soon as my legs is out I'm... Just done for.

Whoever I was in this life, I hope I helped others live theirs safer and more securely. Even if I'm not gonna be alive to see tomorrow, and the struggles and triumphs it brings.

I regret being alive. I should have died with the other kids in the fires in the lab. I shouldn't be here today, and I won't be here tomorrow.

I'm sorry. I'm coming, Mia.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

Nightfall is here, and I'm the unlucky fucker who's got the job of running across the entire city at midnight to shoot off a signal flare at the edge of Elysium and punch on a radio tower, to try and make contact with any Elysium survivors we can find. Why at night? Well at day, that radio tower is a volatile nest, and during the night is when survivors would be at places they can hear it.

It fuckin sucks, but I gotta get this done. we need more land, and Elysium survived the bombings, just got cut off. If anyone is alive in there we need to know.

[aidencaldwellofficial]

I got plumbing in my loft at the fish eye! It's so damn nice to be able to actually shower. I feel clean for the first time in years. Also managed to get a water heater when I helped save someone's daughter from a darkzone.

If I can take a moment to shower in a full blown zombie nightmare, you can too. Take care of yourselves!