My name is Alex Dash. I’m not you, but a different Alex Dash, from a different plane of existence. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it’s true. When I wrote this, I didn’t have much time, but I hope the information helps you to avoid the fate I’ve suffered. There are things that need to be done and done quickly. This journal will guide you through those things. In order to facilitate your belief, I have left notes at locations throughout Community’s grounds. You can’t just go on my word – you must see things with your own eyes. Go and find the notes to continue learning. All I know will be revealed in them.

Trust few. Where I came from, everyone but Eva Monroe, Massimo Rossini, Wes Watley and Gray were to be distrusted. Maybe that’s different here, but I doubt it.

To the best of my knowledge, the twins are safe – for the time being. I saw them with Gray (not sure if you know him yet) who took them to yet another plane of existence, somewhere that I’m assuming has not yet been besieged by the organism. But it will be. You must get to them, but only if you are not infected. Deviating from the steps may result in you failing to reunite with Henry and Annabelle.

My Henry and Annabelle were not so lucky. I don’t know if your parents are alive, but mine perished.

Alex stared at the names of his siblings. Henry and Annabelle. He jerked away from the journal and dropped it onto his lap. He glanced at Eva, who was still unconscious, but breathing fine, then out the passenger window, half-expecting to see the man he buried standing there, resurrected. But no, the other Alex Dash still lay twenty yards away, beneath dirt.

Resist the urge to go find the twins! They are safe. You cannot get to them on your own. Besides, you must understand what’s happening and you will need help.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

First, remove Eva’s implant.

Again, Alex checked beyond the windshield, then the driver and passenger windows and saw no one, despite the spine-freezing sensation that someone was watching him. A blast of wind rocked the pickup and bent the nearby crops. Every sway of vegetation suddenly became suspect. Was something hiding out there? Alex envisioned another him, a third one, watching from within the cornstalks and somehow penning the journal telepathically, making it up on the spot.

In his mind that sounded impossible. But so did a duplicate of yourself leaving an instruction booklet on how to navigate to a different…plane of existence?

What the fuck!

And by the way, what about the corn…why hadn’t it been harvested? It was August, wasn’t it? The yield could feed them for weeks, maybe.

It dawned on Alex that the storm had ended. A dozen or so of the mature seed heads had been left scattered across the pickup’s hood and the ground was carpeted with them. Just then a big, fat drop of rain slammed onto the windshield.

He’s right, thought Alex. It does always rain right after the seeds.

Fertilizer…he said it was fertilizer. That’s why it burns if it hits your skin.

Two more drops fell. Then eight or ten. The sky opened and the pickup was peppered, the thrum on the roof thundering like a battalion of marching band drummers.

He read the line again: Step 1: Remove Eva’s implant.

His heart began to pump faster. Christ! How do I do that!

For the first time, Alex noticed a bulge beneath the page. He turned it and found a thin metal object, about four inches long, that resembled a tweezer. There was also what looked to be a tiny, flat scalpel.

Alex’s eyes fell on Eva. He brushed away her blonde hair and felt the slight lump by her right temple. He sighed.

Shit.