Date: 8/3
Type of media/location if applicable: Newspaper/Locke City
Link/Content: The ensuing piece might have gotten a bit more interest as a submission for publication from the same factor that's coloring any post-publication talk about it - the name attached to it is one of a missing Locke City teen. Since the text in itself doesn't prove itself, there's obligatory doubt here and there on everything from whether it's actually from who the writer says they are to whether all of it's a hoax - but it is true, a zombie was brought into one of Locke's hospitals in early June, and Anthony Janvier did see his parents once over the past year...

"My name is Anthony Paul Janvier. I am a zombie--I was seen at [low-end hospital] early in June, where the staff confirmed and admitted that I have no heartbeat and am in a state resembling normal human decomposition.

I have been what I am for more than one full year now. It has meant dropping out of school and going without seeing my parents, first because showing myself as a mutant would mean death for myself and possibly my family and friends, due to Tiny.

Now, it's only because too much has changed. I don't look the way anyone who knew me would remember me. I have also lost both of my eyes and gone blind.

I am not dangerous to anyone. Among other things, I don't eat, brains or otherwise. If I was infectious, the people around me would know by now.

I know that I'm only "alive" still because I have been able to rely on the kindness of my fellow numbered. I turned sixteen in one of their houses. He encouraged me to learn how to cook, although I have not done it ever since the second time I lost an eye. One disguised my appearance when it was still possible so that I could go see my parents. Another one gave me medical treatment when my healing first started to slow down, and another one offered to give me a job. I am currently at my third new home, and I am doing well.

I have been accepting as much help as I have although there is not much that I can contribute in return. I'm weak, and I'm no longer receiving a formal education. There are times that I completely forget where I am when I'm alone -- that is how afraid I am that I am really only worth abandoning. My current guardian is the first person to have reassured me that it doesn't even matter.

From the fire at the Ben family's house in April last year to the attack of the monster snake this March, we were not able to turn to anyone but each other, and we needed people to turn to. We weren't prepared for anything, and we still don't understand why we are the way that we are. Changes often came on us with no warning. If we couldn't get any assistance we needed in hiding ourselves or hiding them, then it's possible that we and our loved ones would be in danger.

We have been able to trust in each other's kindness and generosity, regardless of whether we have been useful or liabilities. We have had to care for each other as people who have become close by a hand of fate's movement, and not due to any interest in a common goal besides living as people.

Being a part of that shared fate is an honor that I haven't deserved, yet I would never choose to lose the changes that I've experienced. (Some of us have lost skills and even memories of being numbered without a cause. I have friends who may not remember me now at all.) Many of them have been painful and traumatic, but others are ones that I am lucky to have received. For instance, I can speak Old Franconian and medieval Latin fluently, thanks to changes.

Far more importantly, however, if I were to lose my link to the numbered, then I would consider it being forced to "give up" at a task that I am humbled to be given. I want to learn to deserve the help that these people have shown they will give to a person who is alone or in need, and to begin to help them as much as they have helped me.

Hopefully, making my statements is a start.

Thank you."