The Imperfect's Journal: 2

September 10th, 2066

What have we done?

I couldn't have stopped it--that's what I keep telling myself. I just keep saying that there was nothing I could have done. I wasn't strong enough and even if I had been, I wouldn't have known what needed to be done in order to keep this from happening.

Lorraine went mad. Or... I guess that's not the right way of putting it. Everything she did made sense, at least to me. I don't agree with it, but... I think I understand it.

We split into three different teams. Lorraine and I were meant to cut the power from the control room, Trent and Sergio were going to keep guards and workers from reaching Mateo, and Mateo himself was going to introduce Crutch's formula to the Renewer manufacturing process, nullifying it. This isn't what happened, though.

When we reached the control room, Lorraine shot all three of the workers in there. They even had their hands up. They were begging and she put bullets between their eyes. She then rounded her gun on me, but didn't shoot. All she asked was that I let her do what needed to be done. That's what I did. I stood with my back to the wall and watched in horror as she betrayed everyone. She didn't just betray Crutch, she betrayed every single living soul on this planet.

Whatever Lorraine did in that control room caused red lights to start flashing throughout the facility. Alarms and sirens began to resound within its metal halls and hundreds of people began to scramble in an attempt to escape. Then there were explosions, one after another. While all of this was happening, Lorraine told me that we had to flee the facility right then and there. If I wanted to live, I needed to come with her. So... that's what I did. I left with Lorraine.

Upon reaching the exterior of the facility, I saw thick clouds of Renewer fog rising from nearby, intermingled with flames and black smoke. The fog was more densely packed than I'd ever seen it, likely because it was more concentrated here at the facility, shortly after its initial creation.

Lorraine and I made it back to the Crutch vehicle we'd used to get here. I climbed into the passenger seat and she drove us away, eyes filled with tears and sobs racking her body. She kept telling me--or, more likely, telling herself--that it had been necessary. She kept insisting that she'd done the right thing.

But that... I don't know. It doesn't feel right. Maybe the United States deserves this, but there are numerous innocent people in this country, too. Now they're going to face a plight even greater than that of Australia. The sheer concentration of the Renewer fog at this plant means that it will spread more fiercely and rapidly than it has at any of the locations that received one of the Renewer bombs. It won't be long before miles upon miles of the United States have become a breeding ground for those terrifying afflicted humans.

I know Lorraine has a grudge against the United States. I have one, too. I lost my home to the government, here. But... this doesn't sit well, with me. It doesn't sit well that innocent people are going to die, nor does it sit well knowing that one of those innocent lives that will be lost belongs to my friend, Trent, who has been with me since the beginning.

Lorraine isn't sure where we're going. She doesn't know where Sanctum is, doesn't know where to find the nearest Crutch base, and doesn't know if we have a single ally within one thousand miles of us.

So... we're just driving.