My assistant and I were sent to the southwest US yesterday, and we have arrived today. About 100 years ago, a nuclear reactor here in this town had exploded, taking out several buildings with it. There were thankfully not many deaths, but the area was rendered uninhabitable since. Another investigator had been sent a week ago to check the area, but had not reported back since. Our job was both to find him and to report on the condition of the area. We arrived, and as we expected, it was a desolate place. According to our equipment, the radiation had by now decayed, so it was safe to remain to explore. It was not hard to tell where the center of the explosion was; rubble and wreckage were all that remained. The nearby buildings had been evacuated and left abandoned for almost a century, and looked as such; they were in horridly bad shape.

    We had no idea where to begin looking for the missing researcher. We decided to start at the rubble of ground zero and work our way outwards in a spiral. As we did, we examined some of the buildings in the process. For three days, we found nothing. But on the third day, in some of the buildings about a half mile from the center of our search, we found strange animals. They looked like cockroaches, but were considerably bigger and had two extra pairs of legs. We realized the radiation must have mutated some of the animals in the area, and we prepared ourselves with weapons in case of a bad situation -- both of us took fully loaded handguns and walkie-talkies to keep in touch should anything occur.

    By our fifth day, we found several more types of animals neither of us had ever seen before. Most of them, however, were friendly enough. Such as the three-eared rabbits with six legs, or the birds with wings that looked more like airplanes than birds. We hadn't come across anything particularly dangerous yet, and we were glad for that. That afternoon, however, we made a huge discovery. This part of the town was unharmed by the blast, so the buildings were still intact. Of course, we knew the radioactive material was sent flying from the explosion for miles, which was why the buildings were abandoned. In a small alleyway leading to two buildings, we found some equipment. It was from the same department we were from, and we realized it must have belonged to the inspector who was there before us. We decided to check the two buildings the alleyway led to. I went a back door into a toy factory on one side; my assistant went into the back door of a tire factory across from me.

    Weapon drawn, I began searching the area. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, however. I didn't see any trace of anyone being here for a long time; the machines were rusted and everything was covered in dust. I was about to walk further into the factory when I was suddenly startled by my walkie-talkie. It let out a loud burst of static, but I didn't need it on to know my assistant was in trouble; I could hear her scream from the door. I quickly spun around, running out the door and into the tire factory where she entered moments ago, but found no trace of her...

    My weapon was at the ready as I began to look around. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary here, but I knew something was definitely wrong. I called out, but nobody answered. I stayed alert, looking cautiously around me every step to make sure nothing would get the jump on me. Then, suddenly, I caught movement in a dark corner. I pointed my weapon, but couldn't see anything. I switched on the light attached to my gun, finally seeing the source of the movement in the corner. It looked like a giant glob of the liquid rubber used to make tires, but it was moving on its own. I had no idea how it was possible, but considering all the other strange creatures I had seen earlier, I wasn't too surprised.

    Suddenly, it began to slowly move towards me. I began to back up, watching the glob of rubber move. It was almost like watching an amoeba under the microscope; it would extend part of it's "body" forward, then the rest would ooze towards it, "pulling" it forward in a sense. I was utterly intrigued by the creature, and held my ground now, watching it move closer towards me. As it began to get close, however, I held my gun up, yelling at the amoeba-like creature to stay where it was or I would shoot. It was from force of habit, but I was surprised to find the creature stopped where it was. It began to quiver slightly every so often, but other than that, remained perfectly still.

    I couldn't believe my eyes. Was this thing sentient? I realized there was no way it could possibly be, and just to satisfy my curiosity, I asked the creature if it could understand me. I was shocked as it quivered, almost moving back and forth, towards me and away from me. This was just my imagination, I told myself. This thing couldn't possibly understand me... could it? I asked if that was its way of giving me an affirmative response, and again, it repeated the "yes" motion. I asked if it would give me a negative response, and it began to quiver from side to side this time.

    This amoeba-like creature could understand me. It obviously couldn't talk, so it was time for a game of twenty questions. After almost an hour of asking yes/no questions, I found that it was actually a relatively young creature -- only about twenty years old -- and as far as it knew, was simply born one day from a vat of liquid rubber used in making tires. It couldn't see or speak, but could "hear" by feeling vibrations. It didn't need to breathe or eat, either. It was about half as tall as I was -- three feet or so -- and about as wide and thick as it was tall. It also expressed no desire to hurt me. I was absolutely fascinated by the creature, and asked if I could touch it. It expressed an affirmative response, so I carefully extended my hand, touching it. Its body rippled where my finger touched it, and when I removed my hand a bit of its body remained on the tip of my finger. It quickly dried, and as I felt it, it was almost like my finger was coated in rubber. I peeled it off, asking the creature if that hurt it; it responded no. I was curious, and this time stuck my hand into the creature. Upon pulling it out again, my entire hand was covered by the rubber-like material of the creature's body. It again quickly dried, leaving a rubber-like glove covering my hand to the wrist. It felt strange, but I asked the creature if I could step into it. It said yes, and I quickly stripped down to my underwear, slowly and carefully placing a foot into the creature. This time, I continued moving my body into the creature, letting my entire body from the neck down be coated by the creature. When I stepped out, it quickly dried again, and I found myself perfectly covered by the rubber-like substance from the neck down.

    It was a strange feeling, and I couldn't help but try one more thing. I cupped my hands together, taking a "handful" of the creature, covering my head except for my face. When it dried, I was completely covered from head to toe in a rubber suit made from the creature's body. It was certainly a strange feeling, but I didn't mind it very much. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my ear, asking me if I liked being covered by its body. It almost sounded like a computer-generated voice. I looked around, but the voice explained it was the creature, able to talk to me by using controlled vibrations from its body near my ear to mimic a voice. Normally it would be too soft to hear, but since it was right next to my ear, I could hear it fine. I told it I did enjoy being covered by it, but was surprised as it suddenly moved forward, engulfing my feet in its body. This time, however, as I tried to pull my feet out, I found they were quite stuck, and I fell to the ground. I began to shout for help, but the creature extended part of its body to my face, covering my face in a layer of its body, sealing my mouth shut, leaving only my eyes not covered by its rubber-like body. It continued to move up my body, engulfing me as it did -- again, reminiscent of an amoeba -- and was soon up to my waist. I struggled with all of my might, but was unable to escape its grasp. I would have continued screaming if my mouth were not sealed shut, but it continued its relentless envelopment of my body, and soon it was up to my shoulders. An outside observer would have seen a pair of eyes looking out from a rubber head attached to the creature's body if anyone was around. I tried moving something, any part of my body, but I couldn't even so much as twitch a finger or wiggle a toe. The creature finally enveloped my head as well; however, it didn't cover my face.

    I heard the creature's voice in my ear again; it explained it was lonely, and wished only for companionship, assuring it would not hurt or kill me. It covered my mouth again, but as it pulled away, it took the rubber sealing my mouth shut with it, allowing me to speak again. I told it that I would be more than happy to stay here with it, and I quickly found myself able to move within the creature's body again as it quivered happily.

    And that is where I have stayed for the last five years. My assistant, nor anybody else, never came back to look for me or the researcher before us. I suppose they thought we were dead and a lost cause, but that's just as well to me. I write this journal in the hopes that someday when I pass on, somebody else will come across it and read it, offering my new friend companionship as well...