20th of March,
2017.

Hey dad,

I know I haven’t written very much here since — …Yeah. It’s been a fucking year and I still can’t bring myself to even put it in writing that you, Sophie and Cass are all dead. I was an idiot. I thought you’d be safe. We all thought you’d be safe behind the walls and the gated little community that we had. Fucking idiots. I know I’ve told you in the past that I tracked two of the bastards down. They had another one with them, Alice. It’s still hard on her, the things they did while they held her. Still, if I can protect her I’ll be happy.

Anyway, the reason I’m writing you today is because we found another little community much like home. It’s quiet. There’s a hospital here, which makes Alice ridiculously happy. There’s a brothel, too, and a mercenary group. I haven’t managed to speak to them, to figure out what they’re like. They look well enough off, though. Might be interesting. I don’t want to stay. I’ve had my share of ‘community’, had my share of a pretense of a normal life. It didn’t end well for you, for Sophie.. For Cass. I’ve carried that baggage a bit too long to simply relax into this.

Alice wants to stay, though. I haven’t promised her anything; hell, I haven’t even told her anything. Small bits, sure. Here and there. She doesn’t know what happened, though. She doesn’t even know why I was after those two. Still, I don’t think I could leave her. If she wants to stay, to try and pretend things are still some semblance of civilized.. Yeah. I guess I could use the rest. Besides, the river provides a natural choke point. It might not end so badly here. I’ll work on improving myself, too. I’ll look at employment, maybe guarantee that my training stays sharp. It’s been years since I had to use it.

Might be nice to get back in the saddle and fight for other people’s survival for once.

Maybe.

We’ll see how things go. For the moment being, I’m… Content. I have a rather close friend by my side, a warm bed, a warm meal. Clean water. Shelter. Not that I need the brothel, but having it close by is always a nice thing I guess.

I’ll let you know how it all goes, Dad.

-Chenek.