I woke up this morning, still unable to adjust to all of this. When I wandered out with my small backpack looking for things to scavenge in garbage bins or piles of rubble, I stumbled onto a conversation between a priest and a young woman right outside The Eights. They were talking about some woman, who was pregnant. Pregnant? In this world? They had to be joking. I ducked behind an SUV and just listened for a moment until they spotted me. They waved me over…they seemed nice enough. I mean, he was a priest for crying out loud..and her…well she spoke with a slight southern drawl and looked like she was so sweet she would probably give me diabetes just by looking at her. Her name was Jaise.

Soon after I got there and interrupted their conversation, Jaise ended up leaving…something about baby clothes. I ended up speaking to the priest for a few minutes, Father…something. He told me that he and the sister ran the church down the hill and that I was welcomed there any time. He also mentioned in a nonchalant manner that he happened to have taken down a walker earlier that morning.

My heart sank.

This is an island…they can still get here? He said there was only the one so…maybe he was just left over from what was here before the flood? Maybe that’s all there is…

All that listening to shit that made me lose a little hope made me tired and I ended up going back to the apartment and going back to sleep for a while, I was in no mood to scavenge for whatever at that point.

I awoke to Therion telling me he was heading out to the garage he saw down the street to try and get work. As he was rushing out the door Jaise walked in, the refugee apartment that we were staying in was not just for us. It was for anyone who didn’t have a place to sleep. There were several cotts in there so I guess she was occupying one of them.

After Serena had stopped by the apartment to see how I was settling in, Jaise continued to talk to me and spoke mostly of her husband who had given his life in order to save hers.

I’m not sure if this was a planned attack or what but the door busted open during my conversation with Jaise, and two huge armed men walked in. One of them yelling that this was a raid and telling us to get on the ground and pointing his gun in our faces. My heart was beating out my chest and I was freaking the fuck out on the inside, where the hell was Therion??? I got on my knees and that fucking Jaise was doing nothing but whimpering. Not at all helpful! I didn’t lie flat right away, I was hoping I’d be able to see their faces, but they were both wearing masks. I studied them both, and debating for a few minutes whether or not I should pull out my crossbow, but what good would it do for me to aim a crossbow at a couple of men without any arrows? They’d shoot me dead, that is, if they have bullets, and if they didn’t they’d beat me within an inch of my life if not take my life from me. Though, if they didn’t notice my lack of arrows right away they might have retreated.

The smaller man kept yelling for us to get on the ground, Jaise is begging him not to hurt us and I’m constantly watching the other man. He was upturning the cotts and throwing clothes around looking for weapons. The two of them seemed on edge, like they hadn’t done this that much. They kept yelling at each other like they were arguing about how to go about all this from the moment they came up with the idea to hit this particular spot. I finally did lie flat on the floor, I wasn’t going to go for my crossbow right now..these men don’t want to kill us, they would have done that by now, we’re cooperative and all they want is whatever they can find.

The taller man, Frank..he decides he’s done looking for weapons and starts demanding whiskey. Really? You go from weapons to whiskey at the drop of a hat? These men are nuts.

Therion walks through the opened door at that moment with a wrench in his hand…a fucking wrench!? The shorter guy had the gun…was it loaded I don’t know, ammo isn’t exactly plentiful but who’s going to challenge him on this right now..and with a wrench? I feared for Therion’s life the minute he noticed there wasn’t just one man, but two men and Frank for one, towered over Therion. Frank was laughing at him at this point and getting completely high on the adrenaline. I’m thinking this is it..Therion was trying to protect me but instead we’ll all be killed, or best case scenario they’ll beat the living shit out of all of us.

I wanted to run to him, I wanted to leap across the room and stand in front of him. If that gun isn’t loaded it doesn’t matter, the shorter man has a machete in the other hand and Frank has a baseball bat that looks like it’s seen the back of many heads and it may see the back of Therion’s. The more I thought of the possibility that they could take his life, the more my soul was shattered. Is this normal to feel this way towards someone who just essentially travels with you everywhere he goes…someone who always has to protect you because he feels that because his sister took you in when you were living on the streets that he has some kind of responsibility towards you?

That is of course…if that’s the only reason he keeps me with him.

I didn’t move though, I thought about it hard. If I get up they may just attack him since I’m attached to him and wanting to protect him, it was best if I stayed down.

That crazy Australian is so ballsy. He stood up to both of them…not only that but he told them he never wanted to see their faces again. And…they just left…they spat a couple of snarky comments his way but they didn’t even touch him. I guess that gun wasn’t loaded.

I was a little shaken but otherwise fine, but Jaise, she was hysterical. They took some of the baby clothes she had made, and she was ready to run after them for it. Who cares about the fucking baby clothes lady!! Let them keep them if they need them that much.

That was it for Therion, we had stayed here too long as far as he was concerned. He told me to grab my shit and we were leaving. He wouldn’t have us staying one more night in that apartment.

The city is safe my ass, why did no one warn us since we’ve been here that there are men on this island who want to cause harm? I thought this whole place was some sort of community..then these bandits show up and stick a gun in my face on our second night here? Are these people fucking with us? Did they know this was going to happen? Is this why they’re so accepting of people just showing up?

We’re in the damn woods again tonight. The only time we really slept anywhere with walls and a door and we get attacked and raided. I’ll take the woods over a false sense of security any day of the week though. The streets, the buildings, they’re almost worse than being in the woods with nothing to hide in. These bandits roam the streets terrorising people, will they go as far as the woods tonight? Will we see them again or can we rest for a while? And if we do see them again…will they let us go as easily as they did tonight?

Tomorrow we’ll go out again, and try to find better shelter. The woods are all good and everything, but we’re exposed.

Sleep must happen now..even if the questions are plaguing my mind…will we be safe here? Is it wise to stay?

What’s REALLY going on in the city of Arklay?