Lockdown: The Arcadia Diaries

Dead Arcadia

Arcadia, ME

July 5, 2019

Terra M. Kimbrough

The armored truck turns out to be a doggone mobile armory; the back of the truck is virtually an armory built for a small war. The staggering amount of weaponry in the truck gives us hope, but it also makes Anna nervous.

"That's a lot of weaponry for a mere parasite outbreak," She tells me. "Unless the military's gearing up for a war-Hey, I found a key!"

I run over to the driver's side of the vehicle, where I see Anna holding a set of car keys. She also points to a gun located in the glove compartment, which the original owner happened to leave open. "I think we're all set here."

"Okay, but I think we should take some heavier firepower, just in case..." I'm cut off by a muffled scream coming from behind Anna. "Look out!"

Anna turns around, then screams when a female military soldier with her lips chewed through and her tongue bitten off lunges at her. She is trying to plead for help, but can't because her tongue's gone, having been replaced with the parasite itself. 

"Help me! Help me!" The poor infected woman begins screaming at Anna, who is trying to extricate herself. "Help me! Help me!"

"No! Get off of me! Get off of me!" Anna struggles against the soldier's seemingly vise-like grip, and I immediately run to the passenger side door, put the camera down, grab the gun, and perform an impromptu brass check, something I learned when I first began shooting guns as a 13-year old girl.

"Terra!" Anna screams as the infected woman continues grappling with her. "Get her off! Get her off! Oh, my God! It's trying to bite me!"

When I look at Anna, I gasp as the parasite inside the infected woman's mouth is emerging and trying to bite her!

I take a quick look at how many bullets are in the magazine, then load up the pistol and shoot the woman in the back of the head. The parasite, somehow sensing that its host just died, immediately detaches from the dead woman's tongue stub and begins biting Anna.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Anna squeals. "It's biting me!"

"Stop moving!" I implore. "I don't want to shoot you too!"

"It's on my arm! Get it off!" Anna screeches.

Not wanting to risk shooting Anna, I begin pistol-whipping the parasite repeatedly. It immediately releases Anna, but then begins crawling on my arm instead. 

Gritting my teeth, I fire a shot through the creature's mouth before it can bite me, the force of the bullet literally splitting the creature in symmetrical halves. 

The gunshot alerts the others and I hear footsteps running. The first person to see what has happened is Emma, who whistles through her teeth. I pick up my camera and point it at Emma, who looks rather impressed. "Damn! Those were some pretty ballsy moves, girl!"

The others, however, look surprised to see me holding a gun. 

Kyle immediately goes to take a look at Anna's arm, which now displays a rather nasty ring of teeth-marks. Faith also gets a look at the wound and asks, "Did it break a bone? I saw one of 'em bite someone so hard they broke bones."

"I don't think so," Anna whimpers painfully.

"Looks worse than it is," Emma says, taking out some gauze and wrapping Anna's arm with it. "C'mon. Let's get you out of here."

David is seen entering the truck with John and scavenging the back for guns. 

Emma leads Anna away from the gory mess inside the truck and sits her down, the latter starting to hyperventilate. I join Emma and attempt to calm her down by whispering, "It's okay. Look at me. You're alright. You're not infected."