[ENTRY 2 - ERWIN'S JOURNAL]
Date: 26 March 20XX 22:03
I don’t know where to begin. Maybe it’s the exhaustion, or maybe it’s the fact that I still haven’t wrapped my head around what just happened.
I ran out of there.
Not like I had a choice.
I can still smell the smoke. It’s in my clothes, my hair, my skin—like it’s seared into me. The fire alarms never even went off, I can still hear it inside my head. That containment door wasn’t meant to protect us. It was meant to keep us inside, to keep working as their puppet toys.
Hoshino's gone. So are most of the others.
It keeps replaying in my head. The sound of the explosion. The way the glass shattered like ice. The heat, the screams. And the plant—that thing—thriving in the chaos like it had been waiting for it. We weren’t studying it. We were feeding it.
And the council knew.
They KNEW what would happen if we pushed it this far, and they did it anyway. Not for science. Not for progress. Not for the bullshit excuse of "advancement." They did it because they wanted a weapon. A perfect weapon. One that couldn’t be traced, controlled, or stopped. One that could adapt faster than anything we’ve ever seen.
I should’ve walked away the moment they sent that first classified memo. I should’ve fought harder. But I didn’t. And now people are dead because of it. It's all my fault.
So I ran out of the lab. Out of Strangerville. Out of their reach, for now.
I don’t know how long I can keep moving before they find me. I saw the blackout orders before I left—scrub every trace, erase every record, eliminate every liability. That last part? That means me.
But I won’t let them get away with this. Not forever.
Someone out there has to know. Someone out there has to care. The truth, everyone must know!
I don’t know how. I don’t know when.
But one day, I’m going to tell the world the truth.
Even if it means i'm going to die.
I told uncle moore what happened. He listened, like he always does, but I couldn’t stay with him even if i wanted to. I won’t risk losing him too because of my mistakes. So now I’m here, holed up in some nameless, run-down motel off the highway. The kind where no one asks questions as long as you pay in cash. I ran for hours before stopping, but I know this place won’t keep me hidden for long. They’re looking for me. They will find meunless I figure something out first.
One thing is certain, though.
I have to go back to Strangerville.