Light No More

''Light No More is a "Hollywood Remake" of the Creepypasta "Electronics." This is a partially rewritten, revised, and expanded version of the tale. All credit for the original story and the plot of Light No More goes to Brandon Flowers.''

ENTRY 1:

My name is Gunnar Black, there isn't much time left for me. Frankly, there isn't much time for anybody, but if you're reading this, then perhaps this isn't the apocalypse it seems. I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm new to this whole "final days" logbook sort of thing. Let me explain how this all started.

Thinking back, I suppose that it was several weeks ago when all this trouble with technology began. It was just a minor inconvenience at first. I’d be watching some TV, or playing some Team Fortress 2, when suddenly my computer would shut down. Other times I’d be cooking something in the oven, and it’d turn off halfway through, leaving me with uncooked meatloaf. It was truly a travesty. I called an electrician who said that the wiring in my dorm was in all in working order.

Oh.... that's right. If you couldn't put two and two together based on where you found this journal, then I'd like to state that I am in the United States Air Force. That's why I live in a (very old) dorm.

Anyways, not really believing him, I called several more electricians, even an on base technician. Everybody said the same thing. I tried to use less electricity to give the wiring a break. Still the problems continued. Occasionally I would purposely leave everything off for hours at a time in some hope that the problem would go away. It didn't. Eventually, I learned to live with it, and just assumed that it was the old building finally giving it's death croak.

Something that struck me as odd though, some of the people in my squadron began to have similar expierences. The Airman who sat next to me in my office told me how her phone would simply die randomly, regardless of the battery, and come back to life minutes later. I learned that this wasn't just affecting me, it was affecting everybody. Several days later, similar stories were appearing on the news. They told us that the problem would be fixed. They told us that everything would be back to normal. They told us that everything would be OK. Even back then I didn't believe them. Many areas across the country, in fact, the world, were suffering from such issues.

Soon, things took a turn for the sour. At this point, everybody was just getting used to the whole ordeal. One or two things not working at a time, it became common place. It would just be a blender here.... or a radio there.... we learned to adapt. Suddenly, nothing would work, and everything would be off. This would go on for hours at a time. Civil unrest began to develop and the paranoia grew. There was no explanation. The media couldn’t tell us why (like they ever explained anything anyways) nor could any electrician. Hell, even the tech experts on base came up empty.

Next the generators started failing. Most schools and office buildings have back up power generators, there are even some private homes have generators for when the electricity goes out. They were working just fine, and became a haven of sorts for those of us without light. Alas, like everything else, they began to stop. There wasn't some grand explosion or shower of sparks, nothing internally was broken either, they just stopped. People were complaining that their children had to go to school in complete darkness on some days, until it was canceled. I even remember having to navigate my way through my office building with nothing but a lighter and some hope. This was a more than a minor issue, since many gates and doors on my military base are electronically locked every time they closed. From what I heard, some people were sealed in rooms for days on end.

When the lights stopped turning back on, people began to lose it. No amount of token solutions or false promises would help anybody anymore. The media blackout is what really started to set civilization over the edge. Nobody knew anything, and not even the government had the ability to try to soothe our fears anymore. Our commanders tried everything to get the base populace under control with no real results. Really, how could they expect to gather us all in once place? All communication was gone

Eventually, the mental breakdowns began. People screaming that they were hearing or seeing things. The Airman who was the desk across from mine must have had it bad. She seemed to have completely lost it and began to attack people at random with a knife. Or so I heard, since by then our building had completely lost power. (Don't even get me started on the human pyramid that we had to form so we could get out over the security gate.)

Society began to collapse. Electronics were a necessity in this day and age. It kept the human race connected and in communication. From what I could tell, it also kept our sanity good and healthy, seeing as how most seemed to have lost that. Without these things, well, we were seeing what was happening. I stopped going to work. (not that I could get past the doors mind you) No one was really going anywhere anyways since no vehicles were functioning. People were staying at home hoarding food and supplies, while taking care of those who suffered from panic attacks. The government shut down, water stopped running, it was as if mankind was thrust five hundred years back.

During the day, the only time where there was light now, I saw an Airman collapse on my lawn (pile of rocks). I rushed out to help him, but as soon as I got near him, he started screaming and thrashing about.

“THE LIGHTS! WE NEED THE LIGHTS!” he yelled. Truly, that will forever haunt my memory, though at least that won't be a problem soon....

I was afraid to approach him. For good reason as well, since his screams only got more frantic and less sane.

“THEY'LL COME! THEY'LL COME!" -- That was the one thing that really stood out to me. What could did mean? I learned soon enough.

His ramblings only got more loud and less intelligent to the point where he simply began screaming for several minutes. For one reason or another, the screaming stopped, and he was dead. I saw no physical damage. Could it have been something internal? Anyways, I didn’t want to leave him on my lawn (rocks), but I couldn’t call security forces, and I’d never seen him on base before. I ended up dragging him to the security force squadron across base, even though I knew nobody would be there. Most abandoned their post and went to their families. Those with a greater sense of duty, or those with no family, were attempting to quell riots with varying success. By the time I made my way back home, the sun was setting. I felt my hair stand on end as I rushed to my room, slamming the door shut behind me.

The fall of mankind was surprisingly interesting to watch. After merely two weeks without power, huge changes had occurred. The government had been all but abolished. They still tried to maintain their pointless laws, but with no way to enforce them, it was wasted effort. The police force had disbanded after only a few days. We in the military didn't fare much better. Barely anybody even tried to do their job anymore. The only reason that we were all still on base was because, for many, it was our home.

Off base, it was utter anarchy. The few times I ventured off, I feared for my life. There were houses with boarded up windows and dogs chained to their front doors. There were thugs armed with knives and bats, looting and raping as they pleased. Corpses were fairly commonplace in the streets; some with heads bashed in, some with stab wounds, and a few mangled beyond all recognition. Those are the ones made me worry. I wondered how a human being could do such a thing, to destroy a person so thoroughly, that no inch was left untouched.

It just became too much for me. The sight of those kills shattered my view of humanity in an instant. After one final supply run, I stopped leaving my room. It was a bleak time for me. There were still people living their lives around me. Some people were insane, some were ruthless, and others were in denial, believing that somehow, things would turn around. I ignored them all. After seeing what I though to be the worst of mankind, I wanted nothing to do with my race anymore

One afternoon, I found another body in front of my room. I merely laughed, and dragged it just far enough away so that flies wouldn't be attracted near my room. I wondered what sins he committed in this time without light. The way I saw things, nobody was innocent, and I could care less. Without power, mankind was reduced to barbarism. Simply put, we were reduced to mere animals in less than a month, no better than the flies that fester around the corpses that we created.

An hour later, I was almost drifting off to sleep. Frankly, I couldn’t do much else those days, but then I heard it. It was a bloodcurdling scream, coming from a few rooms down. While screams were a common thing, that one was different. The screams I was used to were those of the insane. Fear was either abolished or became the norm some time ago for the majority of people. It would take something utterly shocking to stir up true fear again, and I couln't imagine what could cause it.

I shot up in bed, and ran as fast as I could to the dorm. A few others joined me as we waited to see what was wrong. Strangely, no one came to the door, and no one cried for help. One of the Airmen who had come to help decided to check it out. He tried knocking down the door with little to show, and went through the window instead. The darkness of the room seemed to swallow him, and in an instant we could no longer see him. A few seconds later, we heard his scream too. As we were closer this time, we heard something new... We heard the noises of flesh being torn from bone, of inhuman laughter, of blood hitting the walls, and then of silence.... deathly silence.

The moments following that were a panic induced blur. I sprinted as fast as I could back to my room. I took one second to glance out my window, and that was all I needed to forever burn the image of a nightmarish creature into my skull. I remember its bright white eyeballs, I remember its gore covered teeth, and I remember its seemingly formless black body, matching the night in which it dwells.

Now you're all caught up. I'm still in my room now. I've spent the last few hours writing the downfall of mankind for God knows whatever reason, serenaded by the sounds screaming, yelling, and unearthly silence The smart ones are in hiding, waiting in their rooms, praying for the day. The ones in the streets are getting systematically slaughtered. Some fools are even trying to fight them off.

About an hour ago though, I made an interesting discovery, even if it is all for naught at this point. From the safety of my room I watched the combat outside. Physical contact doesn't seem to affect the creatures in the slightest. In fact, the blows just seemed to go right through them. A desperate Airman outside had managed to piece together a makeshift torch, and lit it with a match. Immediately, all the creatures backed away from him.

The Airman, realizing that he was on to something, sprinted as fast as he could towards one of the beings. Unable to flee fast enough, the being bellowed an ungodly scream and vanished into nothingness, leaving nothing but a smoking scorch mark on the ground.

Alas, luck was not on his side this night. A storm had been brewing all day, and it finally unleashed its payload with unrelenting fury. The flame dimmed and died within seconds, leaving the desperate Airman to his grisly fate. I watched no more, I've seen enough death this night.

I’ve had time to think, too. This is why we’re afraid of the dark, isn't it? These beings are the dark, the night, the pitch, the blackness. Have they always been here? There's no way to know now, but it makes sense. Light kills them. That’s why they didn’t attack during the day. Synthetic light must kill them as well, or else we would have seen them before. The ravaged bodies that I saw off base, could they have been the result of these monsters? Perhaps mankind isn't as monstrous as I thought.

On the other hand, If light kills them so easily, then why don't the moon or stars have any affect on them? Is it because the moon and stars are creatures of the night as well? Why didn't they attack in the weeks leading up to tonight? Were they simply biding their time, or is the unexpected failing of technology as surprising to them as it was to us? In fact... where were they all this time? All these questions... I wish that we had time to learn of them; if we did, we may have stood a chance.

If I can hold out for a few more hours, daylight will come. Maybe even help will come. They won’t be able to attack me for a dozen hours, or even more. I’ll be safe. But that probably won’t happen, since I can hear them right outside now. They’re coming for me, and that locked door isn’t going to hold them off. I’m going to suffer the same fate as those people outside.

Bah, what help could anybody give at this point. We have nothing, no light at all. Perhaps the other survivors and I.... bah, who am I kidding. If these creatures can make it onto a military base, then there's little else that they can't reach.

They’re clawing at the door now. I can hear them over the raging storm outside.... are they laughing? Is this merely a game to them? I’ve got a knife in my hand, but what good will it do? My forced documentation of these events is all that is keeping me from going into a full blown panic.

I can see one breaking through now, rain pouring through the fresh hole in my door. It's flashing those teeth at me. Forget the knife. Why bother?

-- ENTRY 2:

Hah, I knew I wouldn't be free of this cursed lifestyle that easily. Truly, I thought it was the end. It would have been too, if it hadn't been for that flash of lightning and the ensuing thunderstorm. One bolt of energy was all it took, and those creatures were destroyed in an instant.

It's dawn now, and the rest of those abominations have crawled off to whatever void they dwell in to hide from the light. I stepped outside to view the results of the night. Limbs and mangled bodies where everywhere. Blood decorated the walls and window of most rooms. Doors were ripped of their hinges, and windows were shattered. The carnage only ended when the storm picked up, and they left their damned scorch marks on the ground. I managed to count seventeen scorch marks... seventeen deaths of beings that stalk the night.

Some would call this a victory. Me? Not so much. For all I know, there could be millions of them, and they'll be back tonight. That, I was sure of. For now though, I supposed I will continue to write in this journal. Why? Probably to just keep me sane at this point. Oddly enough, I probably would have lost it if it wasn't for these night creatures. It's strange how sharp one's mind becomes when threatened with their own extinction.

I'd mark down the dates and times, but we lost track long ago.

I need time, time to figure out what to do. It won't storm forever, and I need a plan. Writing is not a priority this day, and with that I must stop... at least for a time

~Gunnar Black ??/??/2019