February 13, 1952

Much of the power plant has become silent. Those who work there report that two main buildings are not in use, no vehicle or personnel goes in or out of the gate. Not surprisingly, they are the buildings that the scientists work in. No one thinks anything of it.

Also, every person I see on the street has become worse. Withering skin, pale features, darkening eyes, it is everywhere. Violence has escalated.

I continue to wear the masks everywhere I go. I must collect supplies.

February 17, 1952

I have not left the house for the past three days, but I have been tuning in to the radio.

I listened to the news for the last three days of Nightingale.

14, 1952

People started dying one by one, all cases happened in their sleep. They will not stay dead for long, they will breathe the air again and return as foul creatures. I locked the gates and shut myself in the house.

15, 1952

Fallout horrors have been appearing, all attacks occurred during the late hours of twilight. More will appear, this town will soon be overrun.

16, 1952

The entire town is in chaos. It has been discovered that the gates that serve as the only entrance and exit are locked. No one can leave, the trap had been sprung long ago, but nobody had noticed. Efforts have been made to try and scale the wall, but it will not matter, soon every person will change, and escape will be forgotten.

February 17, 1952, cont.

Today the entire power plant shut down, people have changed so rapidly there is no one to operate the machines. Which means the radio is silent, our distress call no longer runs. Nothing but static can be heard. I doubt if anyone would have responded anyway, the radio waves cannot travel far enough to reach anyone outside of Nightingale. This is caused by the fact that our town sits in the base of a mountain, surrounded by forest. No one will know what happened here.

Anyone on the outside who even knows of our town knows that the nuclear power plant was a government secret and test project. So therefor it will not be looked as strange that there is no contact from us. No one will grow suspicious, a truly sinister hand we have been dealt.

An important note, these fallout horrors appear only at night, or on rare occasions, dark cloudy days. Their blackened eyes are sensitive to direct sunlight. A symptom that appears later in the stage of infection. During the day time, they must remain indoors, wherever they may get out of the sunlight. Because of this I must stay within my home during the night hours, I do not want to draw attention to the fact I live here.

February 18, 1952

I believe by now the entire town has succumbed to the sickness. It is hard to believe, the whole population now monsters. Horrible creatures are all that walk the streets.

The looped distress call on the radio must be fixed. I drove into the town during the afternoon to collect car batteries. It was chilling to pass the empty buildings, not a soul walked the street. Only grotesque horrors hide within the shadows.

I put as many car batteries I retrieved from the hardware store in my vehicle as I could fit, then drove to the radio station. When I arrived I connected the batteries together and wired them up to the radio that controlled the distress call. I then set the panel to turn on once a month and loop the call five time in a row for ten times that day, then power off again.

I do not know how long it will last, I just hope someone will hear, and reveal what happened to our town.

February 19, 1952

There is something that I have been trying to put out of my mind since the entrance was locked. Afraid that if I acted on it I may try to leave, when I cannot. I must remember that I too am infected and will soon turn. But now I must acquire an item of importance.

The hospital has a key to the gates of the town, required for medical emergencies . It is in the safe of The Director of Health, found in the wall of his office. I know that he keeps the key in his desk, a secret compartment, I’ve seen him retrieve it before.

I went to the hospital, again in the day time hours, and walked in its halls. Many rooms were shut tight, very few doors remained open. There is also blood smeared in many places, where people have presumably been attacked and killed. My office door was open thankfully. I stopped in and placed one of my journals open on my desk, then walked out and headed to The Director’s office to retrieve the gate key.

When I arrived his door was closed. I was terrified to open it, afraid that a fallout horror was encased inside. I reluctantly opened his door and was relieved to see it was empty. After quickly retrieving the safe key, I acquired the town entrance key.

While in his safe I noticed several letters scattered about, when I picked them up to read, I realized they were all from Detrik VanDebin, requesting different chemicals each time. The date of the first letter was three days after the sickness began to spread. He must have been working on a cure, he knew what was happening and what was going to result. Either he wasn’t successful or he was and held it only for himself. I suspect the latter of the two.

Which means he must have the cure somewhere in his lab or office. I would search for it myself, but I fear that the grounds of the power plant are infested with these creatures. I have some doubt as to whether it would work anyway, as I am already deeply infected.

With the key at hand I quickly drove from the hospital and headed to the gates of the town. I do not want to leave it out in the open, instead I walked over to a small door that is off to the side of the gate. The key will fit in either the door or the gates. Once I stood in front of the smaller exit, I tossed the key over the wall, so it would land on the side near the door.

I do all of this in the hope that someone will come here, someone will discover what happened. And I will place the key to enter here so they may walk in and end this nightmare.

February 20, 1952

It has become quite clear that I am severely ill, quickly succumbing to the fallout sickness. Almost a month it has taken for me to finally give in. I do not want to change, I have made a cyanide tablet and will walk outside, walk the streets one last time, before I take it. I will die in the streets of Nightingale.

Anyone who has stumbled upon this town, who has made it this far, I implore you, reveal what has happened here. You must go to the power plant and find the cure, look among VanDebein’s papers and journals, he must have it. Find the cure, discover what treachery Marcus had spawned, and expose what has happened.

Beware though, the longer time passes the stronger the sickness will become as it is seeded deep within the roots of this town. Which means you will become one of the fallout horrors faster than I have. I estimate every ten years, you will have five days less than I had. Do not rely on the accuracy of this estimation though.

I have a few items of use, one is the western revolver I have in my dresser drawer. The other is a large supply of food and water I bought, then later ‘stole’ when the population disappeared. I now say goodbye, I am late and must go for a walk.

With that the journal entries stop. Elliot stares at the words in disbelief, dropping the journal onto the floor as the sudden realization hits. He is stuck here, unable to leave unless he receives a cure. He will have go to the power plant, either that or die. I have to walk into these corpse buildings and risk my life so that I might save it. Whatever it takes, I will leave this horrifying town. I have less than a week to do this. He continues to sit in silence, staring at the floor as the iron grip of fear takes a hold of him.

Shaking it away, Elliot takes out his cell phone and looks at the time. Seven-thirty; it will be very dark very soon. Exiting the room, he goes down the stairs and checks all the windows, making sure they are locked. With that taken care of he makes his way to the kitchen, even if he was dumbstruck with what has been taking place, his body still needed food.

A can of cold beans and another can of cranberry sauce was his meal. Elliot sits at the dinner table and eats by the lantern’s light, lost in his thoughts. The sky rapidly became darker as he ate. By the time he is finished, night had arrived. He didn’t bother cleaning up, simply grabbed the lantern and walked out of the kitchen.

He quickly makes his way to the second story and walks into doctor’s bedroom, it is very clean and welcoming. Elliot turns and shuts the door, then sits down on the bed. He looked around for a few seconds, shining the lantern around, before placing it on the stand next to the bed and laying down. Frightened as he was, sleep came easily. His eyes flicker only for awhile before he passes out completely.