5/10/16.

Outbreak + 520?

I had it all. The camo clothes.. The leg-holstered Kimber Custom II. The Go-bag, medkits, rations… I even had a list of what was in the bag.. Why did I have a list? Four days out of my house and I’d lost it all, shoved out of a truck while I was sleeping. Shoved by the people I’d trusted and helped.

“Never again.” I told myself over and over again like it would keep me warm in the icy water that was up to my nose.. It’s one thing to just be nearly submerged and trying to breathe but when it’s raining and the water’s splashing all up into your nose, it’s like a form of torture. I used to hide in the water on the beach.. they didn’t seem to like the water anyways so they didn’t just wander in. They would sure as fuck chase you, but they didn’t swim too well. Sounds like a great plan until the water is forty degrees.

Never again.

I would never help people again. I wasn’t a cop, or a firefighter or a doctor or a god-damn soldier… I’m Tah. I play video games. I go hiking. I get drunk and say stupid shit to the few friends I have. I build mini-malls and fast-food joints. I drive nails and keep my mouth shut for a living, unless something’s about to fall over.

But the whole fucking world had fallen over.

So I had opened my fucking mouth.. “I’ve got plenty. I can spare some. Safety in numbers.”

Right up until my face hit the pavement. At least they’d been nice enough to slow down.

That was five hundred and some-odd days ago, and here I am again… helping people.
Now, I’m a very flawed individual, I admit, accept, and try to improve upon that fact, so when I say “never again” or something equally as final and serious I mean it. It wasn’t as if this choice was one that came lightly or quickly.
When I got to Arklay I laid low, kept my head down, and offered what bit of service I could in exchange for fair wage. It seemed like any other holdout, a few dozen or maybe a hundred people spread across and island that just happened to have a bridge for a decent choke-point. Half the island was just zombie-fied, with the town’s heart the only remotely ‘safe’ place I could spot, and it had walkers in on a daily basis, still eating folks while they were trying to do mundane shit like grill a steak, all because -nobody- was defending the place.

I joined with the ATC, a group who had it right. Stay neutral, above all the petty shit..  Keep each other safe and try for as much profit as possible. It wasn’t about politics back in those days, just survival. We knew we’d be dead tomorrow, we didn’t worry about it, just KNEW it and did our best. ATC seemed like folks I could get on board with, so I signed up with Lara and she gave me a gun.

That was my start here. I got a rifle in exchange for work, and was expected to either sell it, or keep my ass alive with it while I earned my keep. I survived.

Lara didn’t turn out to be who I thought. Disloyalty isn’t something I look kindly on, and when it came time the ATC betrayed her I was an Officer, and I was held at gunpoint right along with her. For some reason, to this day I still don’t know why, she yelled at me.. like I was part of the mutiny.. That pissed me off.
Amy shot her in the back.

Granted, Lara was talking about going to town to fuck shit up, and at the time the Town had done something or other to piss her off, but Amy shot her while she was walking away.. It just wasn’t right.

For whatever reason they thought it’d be a sick joke to put me in charge as Captain. Amy just didn’t want it and she was the only other Officer. She’s not the leading type I guess, or maybe she knew how much shit was coming. I’ll never know.

So there it was. No more keeping my mouth shut and laying low. No more earning my weekly wage and drinking it away. I had People now. I was responsible for them… How the fuck had that happened? Then came the others.. Kali, from town.. Asking about booze shipments and guns for her security and when could we get better pot in town.. The Hospital needed medicine. We didn’t have generators back then, so everybody needed candles. EVERYBODY.

I had gone from shooting zombies and picking their pockets to coordinating the supply logistics of a town full of people.

So I adapted, survived, and ATC thrived.

Then the Raiders hit.

I sent everyone away with the supplies, not about to risk our lives or livelihood.

Conrad and I stood at the ATC and watched the town burn.

Then they came for us. I was beaten, shot, and left for dead.

Never again, right?

I survived.

By then the Sheriffs were gone, so I followed suit.  A few groups popped up to try and keep the peace, but the Mercs put an end to that. I’d taken to fishing.. I stayed on the boat and did as little direct managing as I could, using the Radio to relay orders and making sure the town had a healthy supply of incoming protein. The ATC survived, but Mercenaries took over the entire island. I still don’t have all the details there, but I’ve heard horror stories.

By the time I sailed back, whoever had devastated the town was gone, driven off by the residents it seemed. The town had balls, and this many attacks in it was no surprise the little community had survived. But it wasn’t pretty. People had been raped and murdered and nobody had been around to prevent it. By the time the Mercs were gone, Arklay was scarred beyond the point of healing.

Laws went up.. No masks in town.. No more murders.. Rapists would be killed. But it was all just words without somebody to enforce it.

The VPA was around, and Tish did her best. Her people were volunteers just like anyone else, but they didn’t seem to know what to do in most situations, and they were always too late. It was always reaction instead of action.

The Tsume came, a gang of anarchist what-the-fuck-ever who took hostages, sold slaves, blew peoples heads off, and worse.

This was when I started saying “Never again” in a whole other fucking way.

Never again would this island fall.

Never again would these people be enslaved.

But it’s easy to say something, so instead I did something. I gathered what ATC security I had, got the VPA together, and rallied whoever would follow me to the water plant and I was the first man through that door, rifle in hand.

Only one Tsume lived to tell about that day, and she’s long gone.

Every hostage lived.

So what is the Keepers?

What are we, these black-clad human armories perched on rooftops and standing silently on street corners?

We are you.

We are your neighbors and your friends.

We work right beside you every day.

We are mechanics and chefs and carpenters and doctors.

And when the inevitable assholes come to our island again, and again, and again…

We will be right the fuck here.. Armed to the teeth and pissed off.

We are the vanguard and the preemptive strike against those who seek to destroy our futures and jeopardize our safety.

So throw your slanderous shit and whisper your anti-authority noise, and keep lighting fires and telling us all the reasons we’re tyrants and villains. Because to say the Keepers want power is to say the bee wants honey. This island is our hive and we will protect it. We fight to survive. We do not take your money. We do not steal your shit. We do not rape your women. We do not kill you.

We stand here, a visible message stating; “We will not go quietly.”

We enforce the laws YOU all decided on, and we’re sorry if you showed up too late to know WHY things are this way, but stick around a while and you’ll find out..