You know, no matter how many times I end up running from this place, I always find myself back. You’d think after everything I’d witnessed and went through here, I’d be done, but.. Compared to the rest of the world, Arklay will always appear the most safe.

I find myself missing Garin. No matter how much I try to forget him, he still sticks out in my mind. Maybe it was everything we had together. Erik, Gen, Adriana, the trading company.. It was tough, but we had a good life. I wish we had never gone on that scavenging mission and got separated. And my brother.. I can’t help but pray he’s alive somewhere. Maybe him and Sunshine made it out together. That’s all I can hope for. They’re still out there fighting. Ezra’s a hardass; I’m sure he’s still kicking it through and through.

The time after I lost Garin was a nightmare. Those people that took me took me far from Arklay, and I had no idea how to get back. The world had gone to shit. It’s not like you can really ask directions anymore. Raiders were as just as much of an issue as the undead, if not more. I went through my fair share of scrapes and brushes with them, especially trying to get away from the fucks that took me. But I managed, and being relatively alone in the world made it easier to get around. Of course, I had Zelda. She definitely kept me alive. That dog’s smart as a fucking tack; she learned the ways of the world quickly and has become an asset to me that I could never replace. I stayed with a couple groups here and there, but it was never for long. Just did what I needed to do to survive. Eventually ended up back in Arklay after a year to find out everything I’d established was absolutely destroyed.

Being back here reminds me of all the things that happened the first time I came back. I’d already lost everything, and I tried to establish myself again. Thank god I ran into a familiar face, Voltaire. Kid used to work for me back when I ran the trading company. He was great to be around, even if he was.. More than a little unstable. I think it rubbed off on me, too.. I know I went a little dark there for a while. But now I’m just reminded that he’s gone, our home is not our home anymore. It never would be after what happened there.. I can’t even stomach the thought of trying to get back and get any of our stuff. And Slade, the poor guy.. Tried his hardest to save me and I just bailed on him without returning the favour somehow. It was rough going there for a while. Most of what happened during the first couple weeks after I left Arklay are still a haze. I don’t even remember getting to where I was from the island. I only know what they’d told me. Scavengers found me, brought me back. Almost got mauled by Zelda in the process. Demi patched me up again and got me stabilized, made sure I was going to make it. I owe her everything.

I spent almost a year there. We found out I was pregnant about a month in, thanks to V. It.. It didn’t survive. Not like that’s any surprise or I could have raised a child in this fucking hellhole without him. I mean, there’s obviously some idyllic wishes that it could have worked and we could have been a happy fucking family. I thought that every time I looked at Demi and her boo. And Amara.. Sweet little Amara. I think the peanut’s what got me through all of that. I was in absolutely no condition to help where I was good at, with scavenging and security. So I filled in where I could, spent a lot of time looking after Amara for Demi while she did her doctor/leader thing. A sweet little house wife to an entire group of people. But I had to repay them, so I did everything that I could.

It took a lot of time to recover from the emotional and physical trauma, but everyone there helped. I was starting to feel as whole as I could again. Then we got overran. I assumed everyone died, that’s what it seemed like when me and Zelda ran. I couldn’t save anyone- there was too much chaos. But that ended up being a least a little wrong. I made my way back to Arklay only to find that my savior was still kicking it. Demi’s here, thank god, and she’s running the Eights. This place is insanely secure compared to when I used to live here, and the last time I was here, I couldn’t even get in because of whoever was running the place being paranoid. It’s nice to be back, though, all and all. I’ll be safe here, and I’ve got friends. Hopefully I can help out here and life can return relatively to normal. As much as it can in this bullshit world we live in, at least.

You know what they say, third time’s a charm.