Day 29

If you find this, please share my story.

They found us. The raiders found us. We saw bodies in the streets a few days ago. I hoped they had all killed each other.

The girl went into town for supplies. She didn’t come back. I was so afraid that I almost didn’t know what to do. The child and I didn’t sleep. He kept asking about here and I didn’t know what to say. In the morning, I left him in the bunker and went to town. I said to him that he should only open the door if I give a special knock. That made him feel good and he went to amuse himself with some toys.

Meanwhile, I armed myself with my knife and a woodcutting axe. The girl said she was going to the grocery store, so I went there first. I hid myself as best as I could, sneaking quietly. Must have worked. The four raiders never saw me. They sat around a burning garbage can, laughing and joking, all toting guns.

I listened and waited. Finally, one mentioned the girl they caught yesterday. My girl. I was sure of it. They laughed. They thought it was funny! One even said she was “useful.” So I killed them. I killed them all. I made some noise and they came to see what it was. Stupid. They came one at a time, and it made it easy to cut their throats and took their guns. The last one, though. I left him alive. I asked him where they took the girl. He pointed and begged, but I wasn’t having any of it.

I found my girl, strangely enough, in my old apartment complex. She was tied again, same as before. But unlike last time, she was thrilled to see me. On our way out, I did something bad. Bad, but not regrettable. I burned it all down. They were using it as their home base or camp of operations. It wasn’t a loss, though. I didn’t need for a cigarette lighter anyway.

The apartment complex burned down. There goes my home. My old home, really. The bunker is my home now, and the girl is my family. She and the child both are. I learned today that I would kill for them.

We came back to the bunker, but there were more raiders. Two of them. A man and a woman. They were snooping around. I aimed the gun, but the girl told me no. We instead threw some rocks and drew them into the woods away from our home. I was going to kill them, too. The girl said they were probably just looking for game, like a deer or something.

I just saw red. They took my girl, my family, from me. I wanted to kill them all.

The girl and the child calmed me down, which is completely stupid because I should be the one calming her down after what they did to her again. We’re strong together, she told me. We figured it out, and we’re going to be okay. And now, I think I’ll cry myself to sleep.