Today at dawn I took a shower. Getting naked still feels extremely tense, but I absolutely needed it. I used my watch to time myself, but the hot water wasn't working, so it wasn't really necessary. Even after just 3 minutes of scubbing by body in cold water, I feel significantly more alert and clear-eyed. Maybe not hopeful, but definitely a tiny bit less powerless.
I used this newfound energy and determination to venture back into the lobby. Something I'm trying is using a piece of cardboard to block doors from latching behind me when I enter a compromised area. While it feels a tiny bit less secure, it avoids the fumbling with the key card from last week. If caught off-guard by any dinos when I'm exploring, I should be able to run back and escape out the door I entered as quickly as possible, pulling the cardboard behind me. And if I'm really cornered and cut off from the door I came in, well, then it won't matter if it's locked anymore.
I was able to get back to the vending machine in the lobby and salvage what was left from the vending machine. All of the snacks were covered in dust from the skylight falling in, and a fair amount of bags were clearly ripped into by the compys that have been getting in (or maybe just by good old fashioned rats.) Still, I was able to save enough food to completely fill the box I had brought. My tote from earlier was nowhere to be seen. I was in and out of the lobby in less than 5 minutes, and despite my new precautions, I did not see a single dino. Good.
Looking over all the food I have collected, I have enough for about a week more, if I make it stretch. I probably don't have that long, though. I've been lucky the power has lasted as long as it has. I am on borrowed time.
A calendar here in the command room has today circled and marked as "Greg's Birthday." I opened up a pair of hostess cupcakes in celebration of my success, and I toasted to Greg with it. If Greg was just some security technician who punched in every day to watch these security feeds, I hope he's celebrating his birthday somewhere safe on the mainland, thanking his lucky stars. I hope he gets a good night's sleep tonight. He deserves this birthday and many more. If Greg is one of the company fuckers who helped build this hell on earth, had stock options, etc, I hope they ate his legs first and then left him to die.
The radio continues to be useless. I have decided that I will need to try to figure out if escape is possible on my own, or else make plans to die on this island in a way of my own choosing. I cannot tell using the cameras I have available if there are any boats left on the island. I have learned that the helipad has been taken over as a nesting ground by the pterosaurs. On the pad, there's about 4 or 5 nests made of large branches and dead shrubs, and always at least 2-3 dinos present, each one a little bigger than a person. Even if you scared off the dinos, a helicopter could not land there until the nests were cleared out first.
It doesn't matter, though. No helicopter is coming for me. There's no helicopter here either, and even if there was I couldn't fly it anyway. The only way off this island that I can see is on the ocean. And I have a week or less to figure out how.
Happy Birthday, Greg.