12 October XXXX

If you ever find this.. good luck? I don't know what to say, really. I'd hope you're maybe a child or a grandchild of ours, but with the way things are going, you might find this on my dead body. How fun!

We are Abilene Finch, Simon Elizabeth, Cassandra Olyen and Juno Jane. We escaped the XXXX Camp a little over three weeks ago. The weather is getting worse, and I won't lie, things are looking bleak.

I, Abilene, am in search of my childhood home. Well, my pre-apocalypse home. The address is XXXX, in the village XXXX.

Cassandra is looking for her brother. They were separated three years ago, and we have some vague leads on finding him.

Simon is bringing Juno to her parents in XXXX. She isn't sure if they're there or not, but there's nothing else to do but try. Simon doesn't know what she'll do afterwards.

I found this notebook in a house we searched earlier today, and we decided it would be cool to document our journey in here. We'll have something to leave behind when we die, or have some pretty epic stories for the grandkids.

It's late and Simon's on first watch, so I should probably sleep now so I have the energy to get on with my shift.

Sincerely, Abilene Finch

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15 October XXXX

We found a map! It's not incredibly useful right now, since we're not in the area it shows, but we're hanging onto it for future use. It's good to have a backup.

Earlier today, Juno absolutely ate dirt. It was hilarious- thankfully she wasn't hurt, just shocked.

Cass decided it would be a wonderful idea to race the little gremlin to the edge of the field we were in... unfortunately for Juno, it rained last night and the mud was slippier than anticipated.

It's sweet how much Simon cares about Juno. Like, really sweet. The moment she flopped into the mud, Simon was by her side and making sure she was okay. She was okay, luckily, but Simon refused to let go of her hand until we'd moved onto the roads. Cass feels bad about it, and I'm not surprised, considering Simon chided her as soon as we were clear of the mud.

It's funny how Simon takes on the motherly role. It's annoying though, because she refuses to let anyone take care of her back. But we manage- we just have to be sneaky about letting her know we're helping.

At the moment we're on XXXX road, in house number 4. It seems safe enough, so we've rigged a funky noise trap using some cans that will hopefully wake us up if anyone comes in. I'm thankful tonight that we have a dry place where we can all rest after a full day of walking.

I'll pray tonight, I think. It's getting hard to keep faith in any God at the moment. But it's what keeps me going, so I guess I can pretend to myself.

Cass says she thinks it's a bad idea to write specific addresses in here, in case we lose this and someone tries to find us. I think that's a silly worry, but I've scribbled them all out anyway, for her sake.

Sincerely, Abilene Finch