Monday - October 22nd, 2121:

Following the raven's guidance, I explored the remnants of the devastated city. I tried to figure out which city it was, but there were too many cities to know. It was English— the only thing I could make out from the worn-out signs that sporadically poked through the moss lining.

Finally, I reached an area where the moss thinned out. In that clearing, there stood a small, nondescript building that seemed to push against the encroaching environment. Inside, emptiness greeted me. Only a large hatch sat proudly at the center of the room, leading down. The hatch lay covered in rust in its entirety. Only the rotating mechanism seemed to fare better as glints of silvery metal pierced through.

I grabbed the rotating handle and grunted as the metal creaked. Grunt after grunt, I forced the metal to move. Finally, it loosened and began to rotate. I lifted the hatch, staring at a seemingly bottomless void with only a single vertical ladder fastened to the wall. It was a narrow, suffocating descent, but after several minutes of plunging, I touched solid ground.

Below, a long corridor stretched straight from the descent point, dimly illuminated by a series of covered bulbs with mechanisms I did not recognize. Perhaps it was something from after I had gone on the mission to the O.S.S.

I walked through it, curious about what the raven wanted me to see. The walls warped around me as messages etched into the soil appeared almost instantly in the corridor. They were frantic, desperate, pained words from hopeless, lost souls.

They begged for a second chance, a way to do it all over again, to not make the same mistakes. My hand glided across the stone, feeling the raw emotion etched into each word.

What happened on Earth— what caused such madness to descend upon humanity? Yes, things were never perfect, and there was always conflict, but it was never this bad.

Heading further down the tunnel stood an altar at the end, guarding a singular book on a sheltered pedestal. Lifting the protective dome, I picked the book up and flipped through its weathered pages.

February 12th, 2121:

'I write this record as the final hope of humanity's resurgence. If you read this, know that we tried. We fought, and we have failed. But, if you read this, I hope you are one of us, a pureblooded human.

It started three years ago when they came from below. They latched onto anyone they could. Like bottomfeeders, they burrowed into the bodies of those they came into contact with. Slowly but surely, they worked their way up and took control of those at the top. Those people started turning on humanity day after day, month after month. The articles kept coming up, but nobody believed it.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

We have failed humanity. We forsook our responsibility. We turned a blind eye to the oppression. It was our fault that we let them spread. Our negligence cost humanity the war and our home.

Know this, we tried.

When the year 2120 came, they could not hide any longer. Their experimentations became exposed, and the danger of their kind revealed itself for all to see. It was the chance for humanity to rise. We took to the streets armed and ready, but they were waiting for us to turn against them. They controlled the minds of the greatest humanity had to offer and used them against us. Our people turned on us, and their minds became corrupted and unfamiliar.

Armageddon came for us all.'

My hands trembled as I flipped the pages, gut-wrenching agony surged, and I struggled to continue. 'Did they lie to us during all of the calls from the Command Center?' It was impossible to believe it.

I turned through the pages until the last page stared back at me. Half scribbled and bursting with raw despair that seeped out.

October 13th, 2121:

'Parasites, treacherous and malignant! How you've failed to stand the tests of time! You hypocritical beasts. Are you still reading? I hope you're a human, my unknown friend. That would be the sweetest irony I could take to the grave.

They have failed. The most brilliant minds of humanity carried a curse with them that the creatures could not solve. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at their ploy. Those genius bastards influenced the parasites. Pushed them confidently onto the path of no return, leaving the creatures no hope of ever coming back from it.

Project Horizon is set to launch any day now. With it, humanity will be no more. The creatures will be no more. All life will reset.

The end has come for us all.

I write this not for you, not for humanity, but for me! I will die proudly knowing that I passed on the history of our kind. The battles we fought and the determination of a species brought together! To hell with you, if you're human or beast. You can screw yourself. We are the brave. We are the final remnants! Where were you when our people's bodies littered the streets? When the creature's onslaught forced us to burn the bodies in massive mounds as quickly as possible before the next attack began?

Know this— life may carry on still only because of our sacrifices.

I pray for you, kind soul, that hundreds and thousands of years have passed. Else, you are a coward who has forsaken humanity.

Godspeed soldier. May humanity's resurgence prosper proudly someday in the future.'

I closed the book in silence. Sitting down to the side of the tunnel as I lowered my head into my lap. My head shook from side to side uncontrollably. Howls creeped out from the suit's voice box.

"WAS I A COWARD? I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO SURVIVE."

"What the hell do you know? Damned bastard."

"You're brave? You're not the one forced to wander the unknown."

"God dammit."

Am I all that remains...