**Author:** AZNCracka --- ### 1st Entry $\quad$ 17 October 2038, 1:40pm $\quad$My first entry into my journal, and it’s definitely one for the books! $\quad$I graduated from university; it was such a great feeling! After celebrating the occasion, I started looking for work, and not too long afterwards, I began work as an IT Specialist at an Ideyatech² company in Metro Manila in Summer of 2038. Dependency on logistics, current events, economy, and communication using the internet had become more important than ever, so I figured that I could use my ability to help in the best way possible was to help everyone. $\quad$However, not everything was as easy as I’m possibly making it out to be. Before too long, President Stephanie Arroyo had announced dalawang taon³ prior, a mandate to restrict access to certain websites would start, due in part to then recent cyberattacks done to United States Infrastructure. Surely, it couldn’t have been that bad...then again, who am I to challenge my country’s government, and their decisions? --- ² Ideyatech – Tech Company in the Philippines ³ Dalawang taon – Two years <br> ### 2nd Entry $\quad$ 22 August 2039 7:21pm $\quad$Pasensiya na⁴, I haven’t had the time to update this normally, but a lot of crazy things have happened. $\quad$Apart from having this computer job, other problems had arisen. Mga kapatid at pamiliya ko⁵ had prepared for the upcoming Monsoon season with food and lifeline tools, this we had expected, and on time. However, there was something off about the water levels this time. We knew that they rose a lot over the last ten years. But this year, they were almost tsunami-like waters. $\quad$Blackouts and traffic from floods are one thing, but even then, I don’t think the metro and bus lines were designed or prepared for this level of flooding. Arroyo declared a state of emergency, and pleaded people to seek higher shelter, as well as contact anyone they can to do the same. $\quad$Well Madam President Arroyo, how do you expect us to do that when we don’t know if the phones won’t even work properly. Even then, I tried to make a phone call. Afterwards, I sent a text to everyone as well before I completely lost signal. It’s all I could do. $\quad$I was worried for my family’s safety; I was a whole town away from them while was I was working, and the city was on lockdown...I could only hope and pray that they were able to work together and made it through the flooding. --- ⁴ Pasensiya na – Forgive me, I’m Sorry ⁵ Mga kapatid at pamiliya ko – My friends and family <br> ### 3rd Entry $\quad$ 24 August 2039, 8:20am $\quad$Hello again. $\quad$It’s a couple days later, and the monsoon waters seemed to have calmed and receded quite a bit. I had found out from Charise, a tenant watching the news within my office, that an outlying military regiment had decided to step in with monsoon relief. When I asked which military it is, she told me that they were working alongside the AFP⁶, but they didn’t seem to hold a nation, calling themselves the “non-Patriated.” I was skeptical, but clearly the president welcomed their efforts, and anyone willing to come and help out the people in my country resonated with me. To come literally to the ends of the Earth to help people see another day? They’re no heroes, I think, but it makes me wonder how the rest of the world sees them, and what else they’re capable of doing. I chose to keep watching the news with her, to see how the efforts unfolded. <br> <br> <br> $\quad$I wonder how things got this way... --- ⁶ AFP – Armed Forces of the Philippines <br> ### 4th Entry $\quad$ 19 January 2040, 12:46pm $\quad$Haven’t written in a while, but this was on my mind for quite some time. $\quad$I’ve always known the Philippines to be an extremely resilient country, whether it’s opposition from other political parties, or extreme forces of mother nature, we would never allow our country to be taken away from us that easily. $\quad$After the dreadful monsoon season finally ended in November last year, President Arroyo mandated the construction of advanced drainage systems to be built into the various major road networks, as well as artificial mangroves for major towns and cities by the coast. Some were finished, some are still under construction, which is fine, so long as we were somewhat more prepared for another water hazard brought on by mother nature. $\quad$Charise and I started seeing each other, we were able to find comfort in one another, as we literally weathered through the storms. During the first months of our relationship, we learned of the efforts of the non-Patriated soldiers, which I later learned prefer to be referred to as the “NO-PATS,” and that they helped reinstate major travel between cities. Because of this, I began to lose some of my skepticism towards them, but I still don’t know for sure what their end goal is...Even with that, thanks to their efforts, Charise and I were able to leave the city. We chose to keep in touch as we parted ways to our hometowns, and I could get back to the people I love. When I got home, Lola⁷ ‘Nessa and Tito⁸ Jeff were helping clean up the house, at inay⁹ at itay¹⁰ ko were making sure the neighbors were good as well. --- ⁷ Lola - Grandma ⁸ Tito - Uncle ⁹ Inay - Mom ¹⁰ Itay - Dad <br> ### 5th Entry $\quad$ 25 July, 2040 8:49am $\quad$I had to write about this when there was enough light to see what I was writing, but holy shit! Nobody knows what’s happened, but everyone on my block is panicking! My family, my girlfriend Charise, and our friends were all watching Eat Bulaga¹¹ at a party, when all of a sudden, the lights and TV went out! Walang¹² phone signal, internet, and radio! We couldn’t even figure out what just happened, even if we wanted to...we were LITERALLY left in the dark! We realized that President Arroyo and her cabin couldn’t even address the nation in an urgent manner such as this! $\quad$A few hours later, as the sun rose, we realized what the president had chosen to do in wake of these events: Charise looked out the windows, and had seen that it didn’t take long for Martial Law to be put into place in order to quell and subdue any riots or resistance. Several soldiers became stationed at the end of each block, and we were told not to break into, or otherwise, join the hysteria that started to form in the neighborhood. $\quad$We locked the doors and Lola lit some candles. The only way help could come now is if the polis¹³ came to the door. This wasn’t looking good at all. Everyone became pissed at how everything became, and it all had to do with the fact that electronics weren’t working anymore. All the things we relied on the internet for: logistics, communication, economy, and current events... what’s going to happen? My family and I feared what that could possibly mean, as we tried to shelter ourselves from the chaos... --- ¹¹ Eat Bulaga – Popular game show in the Philippines ¹² Wala(ng) – Nothing, no more ¹³ Polis - police <br> ### 6th Entry $\quad$ 1 June 2041, 10:41pm $\quad$Today I made, what I considered, one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. $\quad$Infrastructure to the country was partially rebuilt since my last entry. It may not be at 100%, but at least there was some semblance of modern civilization again. A letter came in the mail today; it stated how me and my family were selected amongst a lottery to be taken to a battleship docked at the Port of Manila to seek refuge, as the economy had weakened dramatically since the blackout. It never got back to how it once was. As it turned out in a news story a few months after the blackout happened, it was said that most of our import/export of goods the country managed was pretty much completely dependent on the internet, and not backed up on internal servers in case of an emergency. That is honestly some terrible planning, but I unfortunately had no idea about it, especially considering my background. Had anyone seen this coming, I guess we wouldn’t be blaming Arroyo for the crisis that’s happening now. <br> $\quad$Me and my wife Charise packed our things and helped our families into the car, and we headed out to the Port of Manila. Upon arrival, we found the vessel pretty easily, it was a large gray ship, designated the MFS-04 Exodus. It turned out it was a No-Pat commandeered vessel, meant to travel the world to help others and gather intel against an upcoming opposing faction. I knew very little about who they are, and what they do, only what I’ve seen in the news. I’m not sure what to believe. But we’ve encountered this group before, and they’ve done good things for the country when they could, as far as we were concerned. We went to the dock and gave our registrations to the dispatch, and they allowed us to embark onto the ship. A soldier liaison escorted us and our belongings to our assigned cabins. On our way there, we walked past the medical wing, as well as the computer servers and saw some specialists working on their detail. After observing what I thought to be the infrastructure and the telecommunications sector, I stopped in my tracks to think. Charise noticed and asked me if something was wrong, and all I could say in that moment was, “Nothing.” <br> $\quad$Yeah, sure...nothing was wrong...our family is now on board a military ship that’s meant for civilian refuge, and conducting missions against an unknown enemy, as our country folds in what’s thought to be a near irrevocable recession, and that, is apparently “nothing” to me... <br> $\quad$What got me to stop in my tracks, was I finally had another chance, I thought...another chance to help people again. So, I told her to not wait up for me, and I looked for someone talk to. And that’s exactly what I did, as I chose to sign up for duty with the No-Pats. <br> ### 7th Entry $\quad$ 7 June 2041, 2:31pm $\quad$Back from the last bits of initiation, and we covered a lot of stuff in order to fulfill a role as part of this military faction. $\quad$To start, my wife, Charise, also chose to join the cause too. I’m happy that she wants to help make a difference however way she can, too. $\quad$After enlisting, a recruiting officer noted to us an option that we had was to declare whether or not to keep our nationality. Charise and I thought about that for quite some time, as we were given about a day to decide. In the end, we chose not to disown our country. We both agreed that the Philippines was our home, but not a home we could go back to right now. Perhaps when, or if, things get better, that’s when we could return. $\quad$After taking the oath, we met the captain of the ship, Captain Graves, though he said merely to refer to him as “Irish.” We wondered why that was his codename, but we didn’t ask. He welcomed us on board the Exodus, and made known that any orders given by him are to be followed, no questions asked. No problem for us, honestly. $\quad$We were later debriefed on what has happened in the world, while also learning of the apparent enemies that the No-Pats are facing, an enigmatic figure named “OZ,” and how it was also theorized they’re responsible for the blackout that happened a couple years ago. $\quad$We were given standard class loadouts that the No-Pats have used in their conflicts throughout the years. Charise and I both felt confident with these weapons and tools at our disposal to do our job. We felt like we were prepared for anything that could come at us. <br> ### 8th Entry $\quad$ 26 March 2042, 6:49pm $\quad$Sorry for the lack of updates, but there’s barely any time for rest. $\quad$It’s been about a year, and a lot has happened since I chose to enlist and write an entry. Not too long after we enlisted, she had given birth to twins, a son and daughter. To help raise them, Charise chose to help out in the medical wing, so she’d be able to help others while not being too far from our kids. After a while, she became a protégé to a German surgeon, and in turn, was given the same equipment to use as her. $\quad$As for me, I got to meet some specialists myself, particularly those within the intel and reconnaissance sector. My main role was to decrypt info from intelligence gathered out in the field, through a means of hacking software, tracing sources, and diagnosing issues within the hardware. The man who taught me how to conduct the research is in charge of all the data, and although I can’t explicitly say his name, all I can tell is he’s from India, and has a similar background as mine. $\quad$Intense training, along with studies and lecture, were part of the routine, as we sailed on this beast of a battleship from country to country. $\quad$Meanwhile, our families are holding up fine, and, while every now and then they think of home, they eventually got used to their new normal. I suppose I did, too. $\quad$Still, in the back of my mind, I just hope we’re doing the right thing, for the right people, and for the right reasons. <br> ### 9th Entry $\quad$ 21 October 2042, 7:43am $\quad$We were in total shock. I’m still shaking while writing this. $\quad$This was one of the worst fights I’ve ever experienced to date. It’s really only been a bunch of reconnaissance and overwatch up until now. $\quad$After gathering more intel in the field around the London, UK area, it turned out the enemy was waiting to seize the data we gathered, and came RIGHT up to our doorstep, and tried to take the ship! The captain decided to make a near suicidal call to head straight into Hurricane Omega in the Atlantic, just to try and even the odds of the assault. $\quad$Charise got many civilians, and our family into the safe holds of the ship, all while tending to the injured as they came in, as I held off the enemy personnel along with the captain and others on the deck. The ship was unstable in the rough seas, and I had to hold on for dear life or risk falling off and drowning. Luckily, the ship righted itself, and the captain and all of us were able to continue the fight. Once I realized he was ok, I headed back into the cabin to check and clear it of anyone that might have been able to get inside. <br> ### 10th Entry $\quad$ 21 October 2042, 9:57am $\quad$Shit seems to be getting real now. $\quad$After the fight ended, and ship was able to leave the storm, we made a count of what was lost and found. Sure, it didn’t become a genocide, but many people were injured and lost to this attack. After it was over, I got to Charise and our families after the attack. Thankfully, they were safe in the holds, but my unfortunately, Lola Nessa and Tito Jeff didn’t make it, they were thrown too many times and hurt themselves too hard. I’m sorry, Tito, Lola, I tried my best to ensure I could protect you...but you’re with God now...may you both rest in peace, we’ll see each other again... $\quad$When we were busy picking up the pieces leftover from the fight, Captain Graves made an announcement to all personnel from the main deck: the ship was now setting course to Doha, Qatar, and that we would be first infantry to resolve another conflict. We’re already halfway there as I write this. <br> ### 11th Entry $\quad$ 11th Entry (Final entry to date) 24 October 2042, 1:38pm $\quad$This could be my last entry, so I’ll make it a short one. $\quad$My first real encounter of what I’d call a “battle.” Before setting off in the Condor, I said goodbye to my wife and kids, and held them tight. I promised them I’d come back. -- $\quad$So, I’m back after a long fight. Thank God I was able to keep my promise to my family, and that it wasn’t my last fight. $\quad$It was tough in the desert. I’ve never really experienced dry heat, only the humid heat of the Philippines. $\quad$I gathered more intel and resources for the Exodus before we were RTB¹⁴. I really wonder what this “Oz” has planned. -- End of Entry -- $\quad$As we flew back, I decided to look through my journal to see what I wrote over the last couple years of my life. It feels like it all happened so quickly, looking back on it...even after reading everything, and experiencing all that’s happened... <br> <br> $\quad$I wonder how things got this way... --- ¹⁴ RTB – Return(ing) to Base <br> ### To Be Continued **SUBJECT:** RAYMOND ALDAY **STATUS:** ALIVE **LOCATION:** EXODUS **LAST SEEN:** BATTLE OF GATUN LAKE, PANAMA AWAITING FURTHER UPDATES...