It’s been awhile since I last wrote anything.. I had started losing faith. I have lost track of time, and can only guess it has been about three years since the outbreak occurred, based on the weather changes.. but even those are not the same.. nothing is. Everything seems empty, dead, and hostile. Like the infected.

I had not seen any survivors for awhile on my travels, and had started to wonder if I would meet my end out in the middle of nowhere. The last group I had traveled with for awhile had mentioned that there were survivor camps scattered around, but at this point I was starting to wonder if I will ever find one.. if there was some sort of Sanctuary out there.

Then I found it. Not Sanctuary, but close enough for what it appeared to be.. It was a town or city.. I wandered around for a few hours, trying to search through piles and dumpsters for something to eat and drink. Even just something small would suffice. I had given my last can of fruit to a wandering survivor who looked to need it more than I, before they went on their way after declining to travel with me. That was the last face I had seen before I found this place.

Phil was his name. He was wearing fatigues and standing outside of a scrap metal covered wall, knocking on it. I thought for a moment I was hallucinating from dehydration, but when he answered to my calling out to him, I began to feel hopeful for the first time in awhile. I had thought his appearance reminded me of the 75th Division, but when asked about it he revealed he had bought his gear from a Surplus store, and had never served in the military.

Still, he seems nice enough, and helpful. I was told that I was on Arklay Island, and that there were many survivors that lived here. Beyond the gate I met some of the other survivors, who were socializing and trading goods. Market Day, they called it.

Phil, Dylan, Ashes, Karma, Rosie, Stella, Augi, Nell..

Writing the names of those I meet will help me remember them.. and give me something to put on the grave marker if something happens and I have to bury them.. Anyways, I was given a lot of good information about the place while talking to the group, such as different Factions and Jobs that their community had. The Faction known as the Watchmen definitely has me intrigued. I will have to see about getting in with them. As for a job.. Strange as it may seem, I had always wanted to be a bartender when I got out of the military, so I think that is what I will do in the mean time, to keep my mind off of the horrors I have seen..