CulpaComics

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 10

              There’s something in the woods. It growls at night and rustles the leaves. It leaves large tracks around the edge of our camp. Worst of all, it attacked and injured Ilene.

           Her ghost white body was quickly being stained by purple blood dripping out of cuts and scrapes onto the ground. When she shuffled out of the brush, I thought she was a goner. Thankfully it looked worse then I guess it was. Bill and I rushed over to her to help her, as she was collapsing under the weight of her injuries. I held my hands over Ilenes major cuts, once I was able to find them, and kept pressure to try and keep more blood from coming out. While I was keeping pressure, I watched as Bill used fire and the slime from his body to patch her up.

           After he finished up his grotesque workmanship on all of her wounds, and getting the bleeding to stop, he and I carried her the rest of the way to the shelter. Ilene didn’t rest for as long as I would’ve expected. Within hours she was up again, although moving considerably slower than before. Honestly, I think she was more shaken by being defeated than she was by the actual wounds. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her defeated before now. I haven’t even really seen her in a full on battle. She’s always the one to finish a fight; not the one to wage the war.

           What exactly attacked her in the woods?

[culpacomics]

The lost journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 9

I need some real medical help. I can walk now with morestrength, but the pain of it can be unbearable. I spend most of my time sittingor lying down because its too much work for my body to move this heavy assmetal leg around more than a little each day. The metal from the new legpinches the part of my thigh that’s still attached so badly that sometimesswitching my sitting position can make me fall over in pain. I need one ofthose movie nurses, who would root for me and who would fight for me to have abetter fitting leg. Ilene doesn’t even use her new leg because it doesn’t evenhit the ground. She wobbles every now and then when she tries to step withprosthetic, but mostly Ilene has adjusted to her amputation much better than Ihave. I don’t know how she moves so quickly evenwhen she wobbles. Maybe if I had five working legs I would move so swiftly thatI could run like her or even hunt like her. Really though I just want to be inless pain then I am in now, just like Ilene seems to be. I am Jealous of her strength

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 8

           The second mission The Carbuncle crew went on; Kuan accompanied Dru and I. We landed on this Planet where we could see a large building in the middle of a stone and moss forest. We had to land quite a ways from the building though, because we couldn’t find a space within the stones to land. Kuan decided to join us when Kristen was in a cell for an infraction I’ll have to get to later. Its interesting, just not part of this story.

           The building ended up being miles away from where we had to land the ship, so we brought camping gear along with us just in case we needed to spend the night in the woods. Can I call it woods if there were no trees? I think Forest is wrong too… Maybe I could make up a word for that kind of phenomenon. The Rocks? The Stone Maze? The Pebble Park? What constitutes a park anyhow?

           Anyway, the three of us set out into the sea of granite and tried to make our way to the building. The stones were mossed over, but the moss wasn’t grown in any particular direction. It was like all of the stones were covered from top to bottom with a purple moss with none looking towards the sun. We had to use a wire to make sure we stayed going in the right direction.

           After hours of heading towards it, we had to take a rest and camp in the woods. While we were camping out, Dru told me and Kuan something reminiscent of a Robin Hood story.

           “This one time, Dad took me on one of his scavenges. He used to go to exotic cemeteries and dig up graves. Lookin’ for ‘spensive stuff. When I say exotic cemeteries, I mean off limits, of course. He was on a time crunch for this one cause they were gonna move the entire cemetery to another, nicer location. So he had to bring me along. I was fuckin’ thrilled. Dad never took me with him before; it’d always been too dangerous.” Dru told the story with an excitement that I hadn’t seen from him before.

“Dad took me to a giant cemetery just outta Baltimore. It was this long cemetery. Way in the back was this big stone wall. We had to climb over it to get to these Crypts. There were so many of them and they were all designed to look special. Dad knew exactly which one he was tryin to break into. He took out picks and we started to break the door down. The Crypt was of this rich family, the Belmonts. Once we got a hole that was big nuf’ for me to fit in, I climbed into the grave and got the jewels dad was lookin for. It was awesome and I was hooked!”

“So that’s why you are on the Carbucle?” I asked

“For drillin’ into graves. Under ruins in New Mexico.” Dru

“Close enough” Kuan

That’s when we saw this light coming from the building.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 7

           There is something that rustles in the trees at night. I don’t know what kind of animal could be making such loud noises but it scares the shit out of me. I only hear it when it is very dark and the others are resting. And yet, I am sure it is there.

           I can feel it watching us/me as it stomps back and forth through the trees. It stalks me as if I am its enemy or its prey. I hear the faint sounds of breath as the leaves rustle without a breeze to push through them. There are no other explanations other than a creature, and yet these sounds seem familiar too.

           When I was small I was sure there was something living in the woods behind my house. I would see and hear things as I lied in bed. A monster stalking a child as it attempted to fall asleep. Waiting for its prey to fall asleep and become an easy target. Older now, I know that there was no monster watching me from the brush. Older now, I cant shake that feeling that there may still be something waiting for me to fall asleep and become an easy target.

           “Goosebumps” really fucked me up as a kid. Or maybe it was “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”?

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 6

           Bill has started to shed and peel. His old skin has populated an area of the camp site. During this skin loss process, I have had the chance to see his tattoo again. New skin is quickly growing over it, but I am getting a good enough look at it to see that it looks more like a branding than a tattoo. Its words and a box around them, and the skin looks more burned then stabbed. Like its painful even now, after months or years of being on his wrist.

           For a creature that looks like he would be aquatic, fire seems to be a huge part of his history. With this branding, and the fact that he burns off his scales, and that he stays closest to the fire. He is hunting for heat, trying to get the coldness of the air, the sting of the scales to leave with as much flame or ember as possible. And this scorched tattoo is to be hidden beneath each layer of new skin. No matter how much he sheds, how much he peels, he will hide the shame of the scorch mark on his wrist.

           Does he really crave fire, or is fire his shame? Am I seeing his shame so clearly with the light of the fire?

           Also Ilene wont stop cracking her bones. It’s not as deep or interesting as the shedding, but just as fucking annoying.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 5

The second camping trip I ever went on was with Annie, my girlfriend at the time Lakeisha, and Annie’s girlfriend at the time Erika. Now the main thing about this trip was that Lakeisha and I hated Erika. We were going on this trip to try and convince Annie of how awful this girl was for her. It was a shame too, because her girlfriend before Erika was great.

We went to the everglades for a camping/canoeing adventure and it was a disaster from beginning to end. Mosquitoes were eating us alive the whole time. I swear that when we sprayed bug spray at them, they just laughed at it and went on through to taste our apparently delicious flesh. It was supposed to be misty that weekend but of course it was sunny the whole time. So the three of us that could, got some pretty bad sunburns, and the one of us that didn’t sunburn had hair that frizzed to 3 times the size of her head. Our canoe flipped over multiple times, so we spent most of the trip soaking wet. The worst though was our cooler was broken, so all of our beer was warm the whole trip.

And you can’t turn back either. You have to just keep going and deal with the shitty choices you made before you started your journey. It’s a pretty good metaphor for life if I do say so.

I take it back, the worst part was Erika. She kept picking fights with Annie the whole trip. She would complain about all of the same things we were going through, and would make Annie console her. She kept talking about how much better all of her other vacations had been; which was annoying before the canoe part even started. And Annie would not see how awful she was being, and that made Annie a little hard to be around too.

That trip should have made those girls break up. Lakeisha and I almost did and we got along great.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 4

I was a camp counselor during high school, but I have only been camping twice before this.

The first time I went camping was with my mom and her, then, husband. I hated him so much, but my mom wanted us to bond. So we all went out camping to this National Park in Wisconsin. It was really boring. They spent most of the time interacting with one another instead of me. Counterproductive thinking back on it.

It was boring, and I spent a good deal of time playing Donkey Kong on my GameBoy, but I do remember one pretty exciting thing about that trip. I was taking a walk with them on this nature trail, when stumbled across a monkey. A monkey at the closest zoo had escaped a few days earlier and had been roaming around this national park. There were hundreds of sightings before she was finally captured.

I remember my stepdad at the time not wanting to follow it, but my mom and I followed it as long as we could. It was so much fun. We laughed so hard at all of the monkey antics, and I laughed hard at my stepdads unwillingness to enjoy the situation.

The best part was the monkey was throwing stuff at campers and stealing their food while they were distracted. We watched her do this a few times before we just couldn’t keep up with her any longer. And mom husband was getting more and more difficult to drag into the adventure with us.

Donkey Kong really was the right game to bring along that weekend.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 3

I buried Teddy today…

It wasn’t as sad as I was expecting. I felt closer to him then every alien sans Bill. It should have broken my heart to bury him, but it didn’t. It was sad but I wasn’t. I just felt…alone.

Still, he deserved to be buried. At least what I could find of him deserved to be put to rest respectfully. He saved us by stopping Bob, by exploding himself. I have no idea how he did that. I have to assume it’s something to do with his species. An innate ability, like how some fish light up deep underwater.

It makes me think, do humans have something innate that aliens would find odd. Is our penchant for singing a strange and disturbing fact to them? Or our ideas about art and fashion? Although I’ve seen some of these aliens wearing clothes so probably not that. Maybe our laughter? I haven’t heard any aliens laughing yet. But, again, we were in a very sad situation. All of us injured, hostile, and alone on an unfamiliar ship where others were trying to harm us.

It must have been scary to die that way. It was certainly scary to live that way. Teddy was probably terrified of all of the large and dangerous aliens. Rampages every so often just to knock us out of our comfort zones. OK now I am sad. And I am sad for Teddy. No one deserves to die terrified and alone.

I don’t want to die scared…

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 2

In my bag I have very few things. I only had a few moments to pack before they took me to the ship. I grabbed this journal and a pencil I could write in it with. I grabbed my iPhone and its charger so that I could listen to music when I was alone. I grabbed my grandpa’s razor, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and some deodorant so that I wouldn’t reek. There was one book that my mother gave me when we were on a camping trip, with three photos I used to bookmark important passages, which I put in the bag. A change of clothes I am saving for something important. A screwdriver, a wrench, and hammer I could use to take apart different thing. And while on my journey I picked up three thing; the photo Theodore gave to me, Apple which I have tied on to the back, and a lighter I got from Kristen on the ship

While setting up camp, there were things in my bag that actually came in handy. I was able to help Ilene and Bill build a shelter with my tools. I made notches to connect pieced of wood and hammered shrapnel into shapes in the shape of a curved roof. I was able to light a fire that we used to keep us warm at night, and when we need to hunt it will come in handy for cooking food. Well the ability to make fire easily not cooking food with my lighter; that would take way to long.

We set up a nice little temporary home. I am hoping that a ship will come by eventually though. I mean, it was a hospital that aliens were dropped off at. You would think at some point a ship would investigate what happened to the ship and all of the patients that were on it. I think it’s only a matter of time before we are back in space and I can start some sort of journey home.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah 2: Entry 1

I’m relieved the Bob died the way he did.

It sounds horrible, but without his enlarged and squishy body; the three of us would have died in the crash. It was a rough landing to say the least. As we started to pick up speed on our decent, the ground beneath us started to crack. The walls and ceiling was breaking apart and crashing down on us. Ilene, our female Han Solo, led us to the floor below.

She used one of her sharp legs to cut open Bobs decomposing flesh and climbed inside. Bill and I squished ourselves in afterwards. It was a disgusting, nauseating smell that made me drift in and out of consciousness as the ship began to rip apart. The mix of explosions and metal crashing against flesh roared until it culminated in the crash against the planet.

Bill was the first one to pull the carcass back open and start pushing the debris away. We all helped in making a path to the outside of the ship. Luckily, the air was breathable for all; which was definitely a surprise. I half expected to suffocate inside a corpse. The air was a nice change from the smells of the dead and the stagnant air of the ship.

We walked around the ship, as I looked in wonder at what it actually looked like. There were so many intricate details on the ship, burning and crumbling into a beautiful disaster. The bodies were thrown about as if carelessly left on a battlefield. The trees we had landed on were cracked and flatted and sticking out of the bottom like a bad witch.  Bob was in pieces. We were lucky that the part of him we were in was somewhat stable and were able to survive the crash. Really lucky.

We made our way out of the forest to a small clearing, right next to a very wide river. Everything here is so different and so similar, it’s uncomfortable. The grass is green, but it smells different, and it feels jagged. The barks on the trees are brown, but they look dull and lifeless. The leaves are layered and brittle; even a small breeze created by passing by destroyed them. The water is flowing and creating ripples, but is orange like the sky above. The air is refreshing, but its heavy and hard to take deep breaths with. It will take time to adjust to.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah: Entry 33

We are slowly descending onto the planet below. I think the weight of Bobs body after expanding was enough to pull us into the gravitational field of the planet. We are going to end up on that planet now, whether we survive the crash will be another story.

Thank God though, cause all of these dead bodies reak.

I have wanted so bad to get out of this hospital either by dying or going home and now I'm scared. I really want us to survive this. I want to see Bill and Ilene in a place where they don't have to fight for their lives. I want to find whoever is in this picture and give it to them for Teddy. I want to find out what happened to the people on this ship and give their families closure. I want to fix Apple and use her to help people. I want to find the crew of the Carbuncle and prove to them that even though I am crippled, I am still capable.

Then I want to see my grandparents, and Annie. Return to my old life with stories about life in space. Pitch my sitcom ideas. Introduce people to these aliens that they may never get to know about. The ones with real emotions who could be great friends to us as a race. I want the three of us to survive this fall so badly.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah: Entry 32

When I first got to this ship, I spent a lot of time looking out my window at the stars. I was just waiting for my crewmates to come back for me. I was crippled and alone and just wanted someone to be there for me.

Weeks passed, and when they still hadn't returned, I knew what had happened. I was no longer an asset for that voyage. Why keep a cripple when you are going on daring adventures in space? I was worthless like this. Maybe I was always worthless.

The more worthless I felt, the less I knew about myself. My thoughts started to get consumed by my worth. What did my life matter? Who would miss me if I died? My friends had left me and I had left my family. Did anyone care that I was alone?

The nursebots weren't taking my razor because it could be a threat; they were taking it cause I turned it into one. On a particularly low moment I was staring at the razor, just wishing for my life to be over. For my pain to be over. I pushed it up to my wrist and starting slicing down my arm. The pain was calming and the blood was warm flowing over my skin. But then I started to get scared. I whimpered out enough for Bill to roll over and see what had happened.

He roared out for the nurses and ran over to me. He put his sticky and slimy hands over the wound and pressed down. I looked up at him before passing out. He saved my life. He thought I mattered. Theodore committed suicide to save me. I wish that I was strong enough that committing suicide would be an act of bravery, but I fear that my death will be for no one elses benefit but my own. This ship is sinking.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah: Entry 31

Bob the Slug, should be Bob the Blob. He started to expand. Slowly at first; just dripping over his bed. His wounds expanding and gushing out over the bed. The Robonurses rushed over to him to try and heal the wounds. Right when they reached him though he grew quickly in a spurt and crushed the robots against the wall.

I grabbed my stuff and rushed out of the room. As I turned around in the doorway I saw Ilene struggling to escape. She slipped on some Bobs entrails as she was exiting and got one of her legs stuck in the door. I helped pull her out of the doorway and she turned around and started making new wounds.

Bill and Theodore came out of a room and saw what was going on. Bill rushed over and handed me a box of food that he was holding Then he grabbed onto Ilene to get her to stop attacking. By this point there were innards from Bob all over the hallway and he was still creeping outwards. It had become apparent that we needed to get out of his way.

I headed towards the door leading upstairs, and called out to the three of them to follow me. Bill and Ilene immediately came towards me but Theodore was nowhere in sight. I set the food down and tried to find Teddy. Bob had filled most of the floor so it was hard to push past and to find him. I saw him in what was his old room, he had picture of him and an even smaller of his kind in his hand. I grabbed him and tried to push past the mass of Bob.

It became clear that I wasn't going to be able to. I was getting smashed against a wall when Theodore handed me the picture. He nuzzled his head against me and then jumped out of my arms and toward the door. He was standing halfway between me and Bill when he set himself on fire. Before I knew what was happening he had Exploded. Bits of Bob and Teddy were all over the floor and a clear path to the staircase was made....

Bill pulled me up and walked with me to the staircase. I was crying and silent. He saved me and risked himself, all for whoever was on this picture

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah: Entry 30

I've always been a fan of sitcoms about groups of friends, so I continuously see these aliens and I as the stereotypical characters  on one.

Bill is heroic and kind, so I see him as the ridiculous best friend. I imagine him as sarcastic and snarky. He'd do anything for his friends, even if it meant going on a disastrous double date or throwing a last minute party.

Ilene is strong and precise, so I see her as the control freak. She would be the type A, everything must be neat and correct, kind of character. She will make sure that everything is perfect including all of our love lives.

Theodore is cute and sweet, so I see him as the stereotypical ditz. He'd make stupid statements and we'd all have to come to his rescue when he gets himself into ponzi schemes. He'd be the main source of comic relief within the group.

I would be the dashing and driven lead character, of course.

And Bob would be...

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah: Entry 29

After my mom died, I had never felt more alone. I was sad and distant. Nothing anyone said made any sense to me. I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to do anything. I was miserable. In my head I wanted to feel better, but I couldn't find a reason to even try.

Until I met my best friend Annie. My grandpa made me start doing community service at our local community center. One of the people there was Annie. She was incredibly sad too. She felt responsible for her younger brother getting hit by a car. She told me the guilt of his death was consuming her. It made me realize that I was doing the same thing: having the same kind of guilt. So we helped each other while we were suppose to be helping the less fortunate.

From then on we did everything together. Played video games, gossiped, went tux

shopping for prom, had our first girlfriends at the same time, moved in together, got high, obsessed over the same actresses. She was my first true friend. I love her and I'm afraid that when I left, I left her lonely too.

[culpacomics]

The lost Journal of Isaiah: Entry 28

The final piece of electronic is still a mystery. Its fried and I need way more tools to be able to fix it then I have. Really though all of this just adds more questions to my long list of them. How did people who speak Nahuatl make it into space? What could they have been drilling for? How did they and the other aliens die on the top floor? Did they build the Nursebots? If this wasn't a hospital why are there Nursebots? What did I do with my gameboy?

I wanted to find out more about this hospital,and after the last attack, one of the doors was now open. It had been the only door I'd never seen open the entire time I'd been here. I walked over to it with Theodore bouncing close behind me. Just past the door, I saw the edge of a curving staircase. It was dark but I had a lighter to somewhat show the way.

It was hard to see as I made my way up the stairs. After a few steps the smell finally hit me. It was horrendous. I had never smelled something so rank before in my life. That scent would only get worse when I reach the top of the stairs and saw what was making the smell. Corpses. The floor was covered with bodies. There were a few strange alien corpses among a slew of human corpses. Humans had been here; and a long time before I had gotten here.

I carefully stepped over and examined all of the bodies as I passed over them. Their clothing was odd to say the least. The first body I saw was holding what looked like a metal spear with either rust or dried blood all over it. I saw one holding holding some sort of electronic device, so I grabbed it from her. I picked up another device near what looked like a large anthropomorphic rabbit and a piece of paper off of a table before the smell became too much to handle.

I went back downstairs and started going through everything I picked up.

First I took a good look at the paper. It ended up being in a writing that looked somewhat like Nahuatl. My Abuela being from Mexico and speaking spanish in the home helped me pick up a few words, but most of them were a mystery to me. I did pick up that it was a letter to a child though. I wish I had paid more attention when we would visit Mexico instead of playing Pokemon on my gameboy. I wish I had brought my gameboy. Although where would I have gotten batteries?

The electronic device I found on the table, were schematics for the facility. The ship has three floors and it seems we are on the bottom one. The whole ship, which I didn't see on arrival, seems to be a pyramid/diamond. Even more interesting was there was a drill coming from the bottom of the ship. So I think it wasn't a hospital originally, but a drilling ship. Not sure but the evidence points that way.

[culpacomics]

The Lost Journal of Isaiah: Entry 27

Kristen and I were carrying the body back to the ship while Dru was complaining about us bringing his attacker back to his home.

"No good spider bitch" Dru

"Shut up already. It was two to one. She will be a great prize. I'm sure Kuan will agree." Kristen

"Also if you didn't kill her, maybe she would have come with us. She could have been the sixth member of our crew. Maybe she was a really good cook. Or an amazing comedian. Or a doctor if we get hit with shovels or something." Me

"Funny, man. Real funny. That bitch was coming for me. I had to do something!" Dru

"I don't know, First alien we meet and you kill it. Doesn't look great for us humans." Me

"I don't care, I will protect myself... Did you guys see that?" Dru

"Not again!" Kristen

"No, I saw it this time too." Isaiah

Behind the mounds I saw a shadow. The light was dim but the shadow was like the opposite of a lighthouse in the night. We started to move faster towards the ship, but we kept seeing it moving beside us. Even though sounds would have been impossible to actually hear, I swear I could hear it clicking on the hard surface of that rock.

Every Time I thought we had gotten away, one of us would catch a glimpse of it and feel the need to get our asses into gear. Once we were in range of the ship, Dru yelled for Kuan to open up so that we can get in. She dropped the hatch and rushed us in. As the hatch went up, I went to look out the window for the creature.

The alien was standing outside of the ship, looking up at me. We made eye contact as the ship took off. Her eyes were piercing into my soul. Her hope and sadness were evident to me. I hadn't noticed it with the dead one, but the eyes of this race were so human and so complex and so thoughtful.

We did something horrible by taking the other alien. We became the villains of that predator's story...