Day four on Arklay Island and conditions are steadily improving. I hold out hope that this will be a growing trend, but I fear as if the situation will go into decline with the steady rush of new survivors. At the moment food, water, and shelter are adequate for those in need. We are living off of perishable goods for the moment and are without a permanent solution to hunger. Fortunately, water and power still flow through the lines.

Deimos is optimizing its stores by rationing what is available out among its employees. What we receive is by no means a luxury, but we have more than enough to sustain ourselves for now. If we can endure high running emotions and stressed tensions within the ranks, I am confident we will pull through.

Currently, we are getting by through trade; mostly with those at a local nearby diner. Our recent exchanges have been less in our favor and more so to these refugees. While I am dissatisfied with our tendency to overbid on traded items, I am relieved the others receive necessary goods for their survival. Dr. Turner has been rather vocal in enforcing the positive aspects in this situation.

I too have taken the initiative to trade in town. With what little I have from the remaining stash, I managed to pull up a few useful items: tools and containers to preserve perishable items. It is a risky venture and not one I take lightly. For my own security, I have adopted the alias of Jaidev: marathon runner turned opportunistic trader. This identity is not a huge leap in truth. Prior to the outbreak I jogged on a regular basis and attended the San Francisco Marathon for the last five years consecutively.

As per Deimos protocol, I conduct these negotiations with the escort of armed Epsilon personnel. It was tricky at first to explain why heavily armed guards provide me with their protection services, but I managed to quickly pull out an explanation when asked. When confronted with questions regarding their company, I simply state they are hired mercenaries. When asked why, I bring up a false necessity that they have been hired to protect myself and my goods. So far, the rouse is working.

In between trips to town, Dr. Turner and I undergo reorganizing the lab. At first, I was hesitant to take her direction in prioritizing a layout. In time however, she showed promising initiative and I became pleased with the results. It is a massive effort to get everything in order, and I tire from doing the heavy lifting, though I feel this work will pay off in the end.

While I am satisfied with the pace of our progress, I grow anxious and eager to actually perform my job. This work however entails approaching medicine from an angle I am unfamiliar with. My medical background entails prognosis, treating minor to moderate injuries, and preventive medicine; not the manner of research required of me. Lab work fortunately is not entirely foreign concept.

I have done my share of testing in labs through school, but never anything in this magnitude. We must not only identify the culprit of this disease, (virus? bacteria? parasite?) but discover a cure as well.

It may be too late to save those that turned, I fear. Many of the dead exhibit grievous injuries no living human being can survive. Even if the intact afflicted can be resuscitated, they would still perish from the advanced stages of necrosis upon the organs and skin. We must accept that there are those beyond rehabilitation.

It may be feasible to develop some sort of immunity for this disease. At best, we could have something that reduces the risk of bitten individuals from turning into the walking dead. I may be jumping ahead of myself, putting the ox before the cart, but this is my best educated guess for a positive outcome.