Survivor mode on

301 days

July 13. Dear diary,

Its been 301 days. That's a long time. I'm Trikova now. They don't use the language that name their town anymore. It was called Nowana. There are only a few words left. Those are: Trikova (shadow), Xhumbra (leader), Naiske (hello and bye) and Nowin (the f word). They use Nowin every day. Xylen's really good. I became her second by this weird ritual. After 6 months of training I became the best of her class so she named me her second. In Trikova, everybody has a different hairstyle but most of them consist in long hair, maybe with one or 3 sides shaves, a braid that they call main braid on the top of the head and small braids all over the head. They all mean something to them. Well, I had to cut the braid that he made when he became Xylen's second and throw it into the fire, then cut a piece of my hair and burn it too.

After becoming her second everything became easier. After the ceremony, she told me that if she dies, I'll have to be a xhumbra. I hope she doesn't die. However if she doesn't die by the age of 50 I'll become a xhumbra so if she doesn't die I have 14 years of freedom. I'm already 14, so I'll be 28 by that time. However most of the xumbras die young so nowin.

I missed her every single day. There wasn't a day when I couldn't think about her. I just love her and that's the only explanation, at least that's what Xylen said.

Xylen made me 3 french braids on a side of my head and then made more braids that mean that I'm her second, that I hunted my first animal, that I won a duel and I'm Trikova. My hair is really long now, it's like 5 inches. Oh, I forgot, as I'm blonde, she dyed my hair with some berries the nape of my head in a beautiful red color so you can see the red if you look from the front, but not from the back.

The first days she taught me how to fight and then took me to a class where kids learn how to fight too. First, I sucked at it, but I became better at practice and won a duel, so seh braided the duel braid.

Once I learned how to fight, Xylen took me on a hunting with a few more kids and 3 guards. I couldn't believe when I hunted a bird with a bow and then cooked it. It was really big so it fed us all.

Yesterday, they made a tattoo, at my nape. It's an arrow. It was sooo painful. I couldn't cry cause it's forbidden in Trikova, cause it's a sing of "weakness". The tattoo was made with a needle and black ink. It's supposed to mean that I'm part of them now.

My dad doesn't look at me the same, he says I changed. I missed him so much and he looked at me so weird. I knocked on the principal door of the bunker and Khendra opened. She hugged me and then Noah, Grandma, Lucas but dad just waved his hand at me. He changed too. Noah is 14 too. He's strong now. He has muscles and everything. I gotta teach him how to fight so we'll have a good game to play. He came a few times, like once every 2 months. He was there like 5 times but the last, let's say 4 months didn't come.

I brought my sword with me. I made it with a stone that I polished with a machine a man made when he was young. I had to pay him with a dead rat cause they don't have money, they trade stuff. They have this big market in the middle of the town and it's surrounded by houses and the Xumbra's house. It's not that big. It's like a big house, not a mansion. However, it's really big if you compare the other houses. I got one about a month after I got there. They are building houses constantly cause people arrives everyday. I had to move to Xylen's house when I became her second.

We ate at the streets cause the xhumbra pays some people with anything they ask if they cook for the whole town, but some of them just volunteered to cook for everybody. There were many things to eat but I usually ate cows. They are the most look a like thing to what we ate before the apocalypse. I don't know how a few explosions destroyed society. I mean, how? I guess they couldn't control it and can't fix cause there's no technology.

Now, dad lives with grandma, Lucas and Noah in a small house ner the walls. Noah lives with them cause he doesn't have relatives to take care of him, as same as Alicia, who's staying at Khendra's house. Khendra's not doing anymore expeditions. She hasn't got out for more than a few hours since they turned 100. There are a lot of people and it's full of houses, I counted 43.

In the bunker we have a trade market too. It's literally called "Trade market" people sit behind tables showing their stuff and putting them a price that most of the times is water, clothes or food. For example, 2 bottles of water for a belt. That's pretty expensive but it is what it is. I bought a can of coca cola. I missed it's taste soo much. I can't buy clothes cause I have my Trikova ones, which are dark tight leather pants, a grey shirt and a black leather jacket with a lot of zippers. I like them, I chose them at the market.

One of the best things of Trikova is that once a week I could shower, thing that I can't do here. Here I gotta shower like once a month in secret, at night in the underground. I can't believe nobody told or figured out about the underground full of supplies.

Lucas and Alicia are still together. I can't believe that such an inestable relationship is still together. They fight a lot but then make out for hours.

This place changed a lot. Now, besides the houses and markets people eat in like tables for 10 people. We have like 15 of them near the front. Nobody lives in the main house. It's more like a place to storage things. I wish I could sleep there cause I have to sleep in my old sleeping bag in dad's living. It's just uncomfortable. I used to had a queen size bed only for me.

Now I gotta go to have dinner at those tables. I'll probably meet everybody. I'll write tomorrow again. Bye.

I'm thinking about going back to Trikva soon.