X-COM Chronicle – Entry 21: The Day We Celebrate Our Independence

Written by: Adam "ManKorn" Korenman, CC2K Video Games Editor

04 July 2015 / Granite Peak

I shouldn’t be writing in this today. Too drunk. 

We were out on a run last night, hit a bar in Colorado Springs that was under alien attack. Just a few gray assholes, nothing too difficult. Corey and Scott disappeared inside the building for almost twenty minutes while we waited for pickup. When they came out, both were grinning like idiots. 

After we got home and debriefed, they pulled me aside to show me their take: Sixteen bottles of top-shelf scotch (one for my birthday, the rest for the group), twenty bottles of so-so whiskey and bourbon (Wild Turkey 101? Yes please), and another dozen or so bottles of mixed liquors. I don’t know how they got it all, but I’m so happy they did. 

It’s the 4th of July here in America, and that means we’re getting DRUNK. 

I seriously shouldn’t write this down. I think they read my journal. 

Oh well. You hear me, Brandon? You hearing me now? I don’t care. I’m messed up, man. I haven’t been right since X-day 1. And none of your “this is the most important mission of our lives” bullshit is gonna make me feel any better. You think a few trips to the shrink will fix me? After the shit I’ve seen? Fuck you, Brandon. You don’t know the hell I’m living in. 

Every night, I see their faces. Jin Lee and Shannon Long. They were under my watch. They were my responsibility, and I got them killed. 

[Journal log trails into broken fragments]

God, I miss her. No, not Shannon. It’s July 4. I would have been married over a month now. We were gonna go to Greece for our honeymoon (no chance now, that country is a no-fly zone). Is she even alive? Is anyone left in LA that I haven’t found yet?

I’m going to sleep. I don’t think I can drink any more tonight. My birthday bottle is empty and they won’t let me take from another. 

Fucking aliens.