I don’t like TV’s anymore. God is scary. I don’t want to see God again.

But y’know what, pardner? That’s life. Sometimes ya gotta just buckle yourself by the bootstraps and get jiggy with it on the express way to highway 184.

So I’m gonna get over this fear of TV’s and turn on the ol’ telly! Luckily, papaw did some fancy radio satellite thingy to it before he turned red so I don’t even need a signal to watch the morning cartoons! Or electricity. I dun know how that works.

I miss papaw. I’m so alone. It hurts. It hurts a lot.

That’s why you’re here… me! Just the two of us (or one of us technically?)

We can make it if we try

Just the two of us~

(Just the two of us)

I see the red teardrops fall

And the beauty of it all

Is when the red comes shining through~

To make those waves of red in my mind

When I think of you sometime

And I wanna spend some time with you!

Cartoons are fun. Shame they stopped making new ones, but you know what? I’m satisfied. There’s like hundreds of cartoons all floating around in that digital landscape of abandoned hardware. I’ll never finish them all even if I were to go on a binge marathon for fifty years straight.

My favorite cartoon is—

Hmmmm? That’s odd. I haven’t seen this one before. Did those stoogy TV execs manage to make a new cartoon? Only the pink people have enough smarts to do something like that nowadays, and all they care about is praying to the Ⓓ̙⌏⌌Ⓡ̙⌏⌌Ⓔ̙⌏⌌Ⓐ̙⌏⌌Ⓜ̙⌏.

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Curiosity killed the cat, mon ami. Unfortunately for the world, I’m not a cat! Heyo, let’s take a looksie at this here newfangled production.

Attention: To anyone out there still unaffected by the ███ , know that you are not alone.

The world has transformed into a hellish place. There can be no bringing back our old life, but you must not despair. We can still find a life worth living here, for that is humanity: we adapt, struggle, and we survive. We will live. We will find our happiness.

We are the Stragglers—humans who have managed to keep their sanity. We are currently hiding in the underground. It is a safe place, and we will welcome anyone who needs a new home.

Please, come find us at the Union Station Metro. Look for the white tags. It will lead you to us.

But whatever you do, you must not look at the sky. Never look at the sky. It will infect you. It will turn you into them.

This message will repeat for as long as our base is safe. If the broadcast ever stops… do not come. We will all be dead.

May we find our way in this broken world.

BOOOOOOOORRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!

Come on! I was expecting something a little more entertaining than that! All this gloomy talk and stuck-up nonsense… blegh.

And what’s all this talk about not looking at the sky? Sure, it’s all red, but I look at it all the time and I’m perfectly fine.

I’m perfectly fine. I’m perfectly fine. I’m perfectly fine.

The sky is the only pretty thing worth looking at anymore. It’s so beautiful. It’s so dazzling. It’s the only thing keeping me from tearing my skin apart and exposing my red blood for all to see and my red veins from splashing out and my red heart from going beeeeeeeeeeep.

The only thing I don’t like about the sky is that thing up there.

I dun really know how to describe it, but it kinda looks like God. Only… more red. I think it ate the sun, but who can blame a silly little guy for being a bit hungry? We all get a little peckish sometimes; I can’t fault it for that.

But hmm… humans, huh? I don’t really mind the red people and the green people and the pink people (I still don’t like the yellow people), but they don’t really make good conversation partners.

And I’m tired of being alone. I’m really tired.

Alright. Fine. Let’s see what these roguish buckaroos are like. If I don’t like them, I don’t like them. S’all well even if I don’t because I have you, friendo! Ain’t no company like your own company.

But man, Union Station is pretty far. I don’t really like walking that much not gonna lie. It’s gonna be such a draaaaag.

Eh. Let’s go find a blue dog. I need a new Rocinante after Ms. Sue Doughnim died from some heartless little girl failing to feed her on time. How cruel of her… this world really is filled with such despicable people.

Next stop: the pet store!