The Copycats: Apocalypse – Part 1

Hello, reader, if there is anyone around to read this old journal in this wasteland. I want to say that no, I’m not the man who previously owned this journal, although I find his story quite interesting. Unfortunately, as you can probably tell, he didn’t last long outside of his apartment.

I originally came here looking for food for me and the rest of my camp. There used to be nearly 30 of us, but then the monsters wiped the camp out, and only us 5 remained.

There aren’t many Copycats in this area anymore. I guess they got bored after a week or so without food and moved on. And I guess this book was all that was left behind. My camp will  try to keep a log of our time out here, in case some other survivor or group finds it, just as this book’s previous owner did.

Day 1:

Randy

The group decided that since I’m the one who found the journal, I should be the one to write in it first. To get the basics out of the way, you already know there are five of us, but our names are Randy, Wendy, Steven, Sam, and Janet.  We’ve been out here since the beginning of their takeover, scavenging, searching, and just surviving. God, I sometimes wonder why we even keep going, but I guess the simple answer is because we need to. We need to find out how to beat these things, and we need to find out how to avoid them.

Otherwise, who else will?

I’ve heard plenty of theories about how the copycats came to be, Steven thinks they were made by the Taliban, or some other terrorist group, Wendy thinks that they’re aliens, and Sam, Janet, and I agree that they were probably some military experiment.

Although I guess where they came from doesn’t matter, what does matter is we find out how to stop them.

Steven

Randy decided that he had written enough for the first day, so I guess it’s my turn. He said to try to keep things simple, so I’ll try to explain how we’ve been doing lately. Here are a few things to note.

We found a radio, although the only channel was just some crazy rambling, it’s nice to know that there are other people still out there, but its much less comforting when their yelling is cut off by screaming and crunching. Its been quiet for a while now, occasionally a couple of songs play, but most of the time, all we hear from the radio is one word on repeat:

”GOLIATH”

Sam

First off, I want to clarify that Steven tends to focus on the darker side of things. I guess that’s why he mentioned the radio. However, I think that I have some information that could probably help if you’ve begun to notice that Copycats are nearby.

First:

We found out why the canned food was going bad: the Copycats, specifically these slug-like things that I call crawlers make these little, almost impossible to see holes on the cans. We found that crawlers can be  stopped just like a normal slug: they shrivel up when they touch salt.

Second:

We found out that it’s very easy to blend in with Copycats during emergency situations. If you have an extra shirt or some extra clothes and some sticks handy, you can use them to mimic their gaunty, deformed appearances quite convincingly.

That’s all from me, hope to write again soon!

Wendy

I’ll try to keep this short. Now that the guys have said their pieces, I think it’s time to write some more important information down. First off: there’s a military research station near here that we plan on visiting to see if we can learn anything,

Second off: I’m not going to write in this that often. I don’t see why everyone’s just okay with writing something that Randy pulled out of a dead guy’s hands.

Janet

I’ve been feeling sick lately, luckily we all agreed not to read each other’s journal entries, so I think I can finally get everything off of my chest now.

My dad used to be a neuroscientist before the monsters got him, it’s part of the reason I convinced everyone to try and visit the research center.

I just hope that he’s somehow still alive there.

Day 2:

Randy

One of them is in the camp.

It’s just standing there, staring at the radio.

it’s not as deformed as the others, but its skin is bleach white.

It’s wearing some kind of robe.

to make things worse, Janet’s sick. She’s been puking for hours.

Steven

It doesn’t make sense, it’s just standing there, turning the knobs on the radio, as if it’s trying to find something.

I tried to sneak up on it to take it out but it just stared at me with those wide, black eyes. Whatever that thing is doing, it can keep it up. Just as long as it never goes near me again.

Sam

(Blank)

Wendy

(blank)

Janet

GOLIATH

GOLIATH

ITS NAME IS GOLIATH

THEIR KING AND SOON TO BE MINE.

Day 3:

Randy

I woke up to hear the radio blaring. That thing was messing with the radio again, although I guess this time it learned how to change the volume. It was chanting along with it, its voice rough yet bubbly, like its throat was filled with mucus, each second just saying “GOLIATH” again and again.

I managed to shoot the creature, but the radio didn’t turn off.

I’m gonna try and take out its batteries before the sound drags more copycats to our location.

Steven

I’m worried about Sam. He seemed really excited about the journal until Janet got sick. She’s a lot worse now. At first I thought she brought the radio into her tent, but no, it was her. Speaking in that cold, monotone voice. I think she’s infected with The Strand, but Sam refuses to believe me.

Sam

If you remember previously, the man who owned this book before us wrote down a couple of Copycat types here. Obviously, he didn’t know all of them, so here’s a bigger guide for you.

The Armored: If you remember Stalkers, they’re a lot similar, only they have random junk covering their bodies. I once saw one covered in cement. They aren’t actually that hostile, they’re more just drones to alert the bigger Copycats, although they will try to kill you first to make feeding easier.

Crawlers: We’ve already talked about these, at least, I have. Essentially, they’re these big slug things that sort of look like fingers. I picked one up once, it was slimy, and it stung. They have these little needles on the bottom of their heads which they use to get access to food, although they do target cans of food and perishable items. I think that they do this to make potential prey for the bigger Copycats weaker.

The Pale: (non hostile?) beings with pale skin and black eyes. They look half starved. The only one we’ve come across seems to only want to hear the word “GOLIATH”

The Strand: this only appeared on day four of the Copycat invasion, essentially, there are two types of copycats: Mimickers and False Copycats.

False copycats used to be human before The Strand affected them, changing them into barely humanoid monsters.

Mimickers on the other hand start off without skin on their dark red frames, they are much bigger than the false copycats, and when they catch a victim, they bite into them like a spider, injecting the victim with fluids that dissolve the victims insides, allowing it to wear the victims skin.

Wendy

I know I wasn’t supposed to read everyone else’s entries, but I couldn’t help it. I had to find some way to help Janet. I know why she really wanted to go to the research facility, and I know that something is wrong with her. Her writing is almost completely illegible. I think she’s going to change soon. I told the others that we should vote to go to the research center tomorrow and try to find some sort of cure for the strand or any information regarding whatever “Goliath” is.

Janet

AND SO THE DEVIL ROSE FROM THE GROUND, AND CLAIMED HIMSELF GOD, AND THE PEOPLE IN THEIR FOOLISHNESS BELIEVED HIM, BREAKING ANY AND ALL NATURAL LAW TO PLEASE HIM.

IN SCIENCE AND IN SIN THEY GAVE HIM FORM, GAVE HIM MASS, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM, PRAISING THE NAME OF THEIR GIANT, PRAISING THE NAME GOLIATH AS HE MADE THEM PERFECT AS HE WAS.

VOTE:

Randy: Yes

Steven: Yes

Sam: No

Wendy: YES

Janet: PRAISE BE GOLIATH, SON OF LOKI, KING OF MIMICRY.

Day 4:

Randy

Everyone was disturbed by what Janet said during the vote. We don’t have much time before she turns. We’re about to head to the lab, the trip should take 1-2 days. I told Sam to stay with Janet and make sure that she doesn’t get worse.

To be honest, I don’t think he’d even be able to go with us, he’s always been a bit of a scaredy-cat. I just hope he doesn’t get himself killed while we’re out.

I think this will be the only entry in the journal today, most of the others are focused on packing. I’m going to go join them. We’ll write our findings down soon.