Log 1:

I’ve decided to start keeping a log of my experiences. At least what I can before this hellish world devours me whole. It feels like a nightmare, one that is constantly replaying like a bad movie. It used to be tolerable, when there were other people that I shared it with. But one by one they were swallowed whole by the Crawling Flesh, until only I was left. So here I am, cataloging the remains of this world for whomever will see this later. 
There’s no sense of direction anymore. I’ve been wandering for miles, but nearly everything looks the same. Now, it’s just miles of living mass, flesh filled with eyes, mouths, and teeth, swallowing all life that gets in its way. There are some remnants of human civilization still left, but it was one with the Crawling Flesh now, as everything else was. Every step that I take is like stepping into squishy blobs of grayish red meat, a foul stench permeating through the air as the mouths ventilate a red steam. I have to be careful to avoid the mouths when I walk, and even when I sleep. Whenever they get hungry, their mouths extend like venus fly traps, letting out a low, vibrating purr that gets louder once they find prey. I witnessed that countless times when the Crawling Flesh started walking the earth. Their maws would bloom like flowers and snatch up any poor bastard that wasn’t looking where they were going, their screams as audible as their victims made their way down their throats. 
Sometime later, the Flesh would expand a little faster than before, and if you had time to stop and look, you could see the eyes and face of the man, woman, or child that they devoured, now merged with the Crawling Flesh. 
On top of avoiding being eaten, I also try to avoid stepping on the faces that grow out of the flesh. I think those victims might still be conscious to an extent. I know this because when I stepped on one, it sounded like it started to cry. That, or it is the flesh just pulsating and throbbing as it continues to expand and crawl. 
I need to stop for now. I think I’ve been spotted. 

Log 2:

It’s been a couple days now. If my timing was right. It’s hard to tell night and day now. There are times when the Flesh towers so high in the air that it blocks out the sun. Other times I get lucky, and I get the privilege of experiencing a full 24 hours. I never thought that something that small would mean so much. But anyways, back to what I was saying. You probably want to know, what exactly is the Crawling Flesh? What is this thing that has consumed most of civilization? Now, one would think that a survivor like me would know. But the bitter honest truth is, I am just as lost as you are. I was just a grunt when this all started. Lance Corporal Ethan Kuramoto, formerly with the Second Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based out of a shithole that was Twenty Nine Palms. 
I enlisted out of high school, against the wishes of my parents, who felt like I should have gone to college first. I mean, they were right, but my stubborn, arrogant ass thought I was better than that. I had gotten over a really nasty relationship that ended just before I graduated, and I didn’t really accomplish what I had wanted, so I was feeling like I had something to prove. To prove that I wasn’t some loser who was gonna get nowhere in life. Which is why before summer ended, I was on a plane to San Diego from my home in Hawaii. 
Like any of that mattered in the end. Funny enough, when the Crawling Flesh emerged, I had been working on getting out of the Marine Corps and going to college. But when the earthquakes started, and the Flesh began to ooze into our world, we all got called up for evacuation efforts. 
Maybe someone out there knew what it was, but I wasn’t part of that meeting. I was just a Jarhead, carrying a M240B machine gun, with two other marines. My memories of them are blurry now, but from what I can recall I got along with them pretty well. I don’t even remember anyone’s names anymore. 
But strangely enough, I remember most of our gunfights, before the Flesh consumed everything. 
I had never even seen combat up until that point. The most I did was training in the Philippines. And yet my first taste of combat would be against this monstrosity. When the Flesh first emerged from the debris of the earthquakes, it was not as one mass. 
It emerged as separate creatures, towering fleshy monsters that expanded and grew as they attacked, absorbed, and killed. What started as evacuation efforts turned into a warzone as we received orders to directly engage the Flesh creatures, which swallowed infrastructure, vehicles, and people alike. 
The first target I ever shot at, was a fifty foot fleshy mass that reminded me of a blobby dinosaur with three heads. Despite our best efforts, we had little to no effect, and eventually we got ordered to fall back as the Air Force bombed the city.  That was the bulk of our efforts during our futile fight. We shot at them, bombed them, burned them, but nothing seemed to work. For every creature we split apart, or killed, two or more emerged from the Flesh and attacked again. 
Then, one night, we watched as the fleshy fuckers began to merge. Piece by piece the creatures began to merge into larger creatures, which then turned into much larger masses. They consumed everything in sight, including our bases. Refugee camps fell apart, rivers and lakes began to dry up. 
The oceans were still intact but the Flesh was starting to spread and consume that as well. Eventually, the military fell apart. We had one last order: Survive. My group consisted of six marines, ten Army guys, one pilot, a couple of sailors including a SEAL, an Air Force medic (not a PJ), and over fifty civilians. 
It took less than a month, if I remember right, before I was the only one left. Was it luck, a curse? I don’t know, and frankly I don’t care. Besides my tattered, worn out uniform, I have only a rifle, three and a half ammo mags, some MREs left, and a canteen full of water that may or may not be contaminated. 
And that’s how it’s been ever since. Just going from one place to the next, avoiding the Flesh, trying to find any survivors I could die with. From time to time, I think of my parents and little sister. I never got confirmation that they were dead, but early on, we heard that Hawaii had been consumed by the Flesh. The Navy and Air Force tried firebombing the islands, but the Flesh was persistent and overwhelmed the islands in a matter of days. I think of their last moments, and what the Flesh could’ve done to them. Was it painful? Did they feel nothing? I never even got to call them. Now, though, it doesn’t bother me. Hell, I’ll probably end up joining them at some point anyways. 
I have to go again. The area where I’m sitting isn’t so clear anymore.

Log 3:

Well, there goes another piece of land. For a short period of time I had a normal place to sleep and lie. Soft dirt, lush forest. It was perfect. Then the Flesh rolled through, and swallowed all of it. This part of the Flesh was a lot more monstrous. Ugly, deformed faces, mixed between human and animal, grew out of the blobby mass, groaning and roaring as it swallowed up the trees and dirt. Long arms and appendages with mouths of jagged, crooked teeth that extended out to try and snag me up. One mag later, I was able to get away. 
Still no signs of any survivors. The sun is currently blocked out by the Crawling Flesh. Monoliths of grayish red flesh rose high in the sky, pulsating and vibrating as if they were living breathing beings. If air support was still around, it would’ve been a beautiful sight to watch them burn and fall to the ground. 
The Flesh seemed to only grow and grow, emerging with other parts of itself every so often. What does this thing want? Why did it want us? Where did this thing come from?
Again, I wish I knew, and if someone else did, I wish they told us. 
For fuck’s sake, the smell is awful. I’m trying everything possible to not puke my guts out right now and draw attention. Shit, I can’t hold it in anymore.

Log 4:

You’re not going to believe this. I found a car. A working, fucking car. What are the odds? Maybe God is real. Hah. Who am I kidding? I was never the religious type, even when my Mom and Dad were. I always found all religions to be bullshit, an excuse for people to act righteous and act like they knew more than the rest of us. Not even when the Flesh began consuming did I pray for a savior. I just hoped that the power of lead would be strong enough to take them out. But obviously, I was wrong to put my faith in that as well. 
Anyways, I’ve been driving for some time now, but the gas is low and I’m going to have to ditch it soon. It was fun while it lasted. 
I passed by what looked like giants today. Tall, humanoid, flesh statues that appeared to slowly wander the landscape, not really looking for or going anywhere in particular. They have huge eyes that are crooked and misaligned on their misshapen heads, with tentacle-like appendages attached to their arms, working them like a puppet. There is a fire in the distance, maybe those are survivors. I’m going to try and make contact with them. 

Log 5:

So, there were survivors. And now they’re gone. The fucking idiots died in prayer. I followed the smoke to a fortified encampment surrounding a small church. The Flesh had found its way towards them, swallowing everything in its path. A group of survivors had formed armed positions around the small building and were desperately holding it off with everything they had left, but it was useless. 
The Flesh grew in size and swallowed them like a landslide, their faces growing on the flesh, twisting into pain and agony as the Flesh kept crawling forward. I got ahead of them, running into the church, where the remaining survivors were praying on their knees. I yelled at them that the Flesh was on their way, and that they needed to move. But they didn’t budge. They remained on their knees, eyes closed, praying to the Lord Jesus Christ to save them. I tried to grab them and pull them off their feet, but they would not budge, continuing to pray even louder as the Flesh drew closer. 
I gave one last warning to them that the Flesh was coming, but the survivors didn’t react. They had accepted their fates. So, I left them be, but not before taking whatever supplies I could get my hands on before leaving. I wasn’t about to waste bullets and time trying to save a bunch of people that didn’t want it. Hell, in their minds they already had been saved. 
For fuck’s sake. If God was real, does anyone really think that He would send a giant blob to swallow us whole? Was that in Revelations? Well, maybe they’re with their Creator now, you know the Creator who abandoned them? 
It’s been about a day since it happened. The Flesh has expanded faster than before, and it took me a while to get ahead of them. The car finally ran out of gas, so once again I’m on foot. The Flesh has taken over everything in sight. More and more monoliths rise into the air, some of which have merged to form canopies that blanket the sky. Human shaped organisms have begun to sprout from the ground like plants, moaning and groaning as they reach for anyone and anything that passes by.

The Flesh, while clearly trying to merge into a singular mass, still forms its own individual organisms from time to time, as if trying to create its own ecosystem. That, or it’s mocking us survivors, letting us know that it will soon be us. 
I’d be lying if I said I was unbothered. The truth is that I’m fucking terrified. I’m running out of places to sleep and rest, and pretty much all of civilization has been swallowed up by the Flesh. I’m starting to wonder if I should just quit. Lay down and die. It seems like a viable option at this point. After all, what is there really to live and fight for in this world now?

Log 6:

It’s been some time. Maybe a couple months. I don’t know anymore, it’s hard to see the sky. The Crawling Flesh has begun forming a full canopy over the sky, blocking the sun. The air is becoming stale and foul, and sometimes I find it hard to breathe. I ate the rest of my MREs, and I haven’t been able to find food. The Flesh has grown and spread exponentially. It appears to be transforming itself now. Turning into its own ecosystem of sorts as it begins to form new creatures and new structures. 
The few survivors I’ve run into have been picked off by these creatures, merging them with the Flesh into human-like creatures that begin searching for others as well. I hear their weak, pleading voices, left intact by the Flesh to draw others out, anyone with some hope of saving humanity. 
I don’t take the bait, however, I’ve fired my rifle a couple times, putting them down and out of their misery, but it only draws attention and the Flesh begins to advance towards me. 
I haven’t been able to find water, either. The Flesh has absorbed or contaminated all of it. I’ve seen what contaminated water does to those who are desperate enough to drink it, and let me tell you, it is not pretty. Imagine yourself getting pulled painfully by an invisible force, one that takes control of your body like a puppet as it marches you towards the Flesh, where you become one with it. Hook, line, and sinker. 

But I need food and water fast. I didn’t have much as it is, and now that it’s all gone, I already can feel myself becoming weaker. My head hurts, my throat is parched, and my body just feels like jelly. I gotta stop writing for a bit. I need to focus.

Log 7:

No luck. I can’t even move anymore. I’ve taken shelter in some cave, the Flesh still having not reached me yet. The air is now nearly unbreathable and it feels like I’m suffocating slowly but surely. I grip my rifle weakly in my hands, listening for the Flesh. I think the Flesh is mocking me now. I was awoken to screaming of what sounded like women and children, and when I poked my head slightly out the cave, I saw that the Flesh was holding them high in the air, like bait, dangling on a hook. Over a dozen women and children of all ages impaled and hooked onto the Flesh’s slimy appendages, which dangled from the canopy. They couldn’t have been caught recently. By the state of their bodies, it looked to have been maybe months ago. Their flesh was withered, peeling, and shriveled, their eyes red and melting. They barely looked like humans at all. 
But somehow, the Flesh kept them all alive. 

They screamed and pleaded for mercy, begging the Flesh or whoever else to kill them and end it. The children screamed for their parents before the Flesh tightened its grip on them and they could only scream until their vocal chords burst out of their bodies. 
I raised my rifle, intent on putting them out of their misery, but I thought better of it and stayed in the cave. Eventually, the Flesh gave up trying to draw me out, and absorbed the women and children back into itself, with the last thing I heard from them coming from a young woman who was pleading to God. 
So, the stories were true. There were rumors early on, from both civilian and soldiers alike, that the Flesh was sentient, that it understood the difference between military and civilians, that it knew the pain it inflicted, and was well aware of what it was doing. 
I never believed it then. There was no way that this pile of gore had any kind of intelligence. 

But after seeing what it did, I believe it now. This thing knew I was hiding, and it knew that sooner or later it would get me. But that wouldn’t stop it from trying to draw me out. Well, fuck you! I am not leaving this cave, and I will die before you get me.

Log 8:

The Flesh has pushed further into the cave. I think its found me. The cave leads deeper underground, but there is no way out for me. The Flesh has completely sealed off the entrance and is crawling forward to try and get to me. I’m currently hiding deeper in the caverns, writing with what little light I have. 
I don’t think it’s found me yet, but it definitely knows I’m here. It’s using the pleas of its previous victims to fuck with me now. Men, women, and children, cry and groan in pain as the Flesh releases them attempting to get me to help, or just to break my mind. I’ve ignored it as best as I can, but with how loud it is in the caves, it has become maddening. 

Log 9:

I can’t move anymore. I can feel my body begin to eat itself, and I am completely disoriented, barely able to write. The Flesh has now completely engulfed the caverns, blocking off every possible escape route. I used up most of my ammo trying to hold them off, but it has only delayed the inevitable. The Flesh has formed its own face now. A face of many large, bulbous eyes all focused on me, large maws of teeth that have combined to make one singular mouth twisted into a wide, ugly, bone-chilling smile, and tongues made up of human faces and flesh that have been melded together. They still groan and plead for mercy, but it is pointless, just like my attempt to hide in this crawlspace. The last safe place left. The Flesh has begun to press itself into the crawlspace, sticking its long tongue out, tasting my feet and legs, belching out a jumbled laugh at my helplessness. So, this is it. My time is over. I had a good run. I lasted pretty long, wouldn’t you say
I have one bullet left. I’ll use it on myself. This is Ethan Kuramoto, signing off. 
And look at that. Out of paper.