Chapter 1: Dad, my head hurts

Airianna Alinsky

Estimated, April 2025

About 35 months after outbreak

California

Season 1

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"Dad?"

"Go back to sleep, Airi."

"Where are we going?"

"We're leaving."

I don't remember how I got in that car but I know I wanted to leave. My head was dizzy, I couldn't keep my eyes open and the motion of the car drifted me back to sleep. I wish I could have stayed awake, maybe I could have convinced my dad to turn around. We didn't have to leave, I understand why he wanted to, but we didn't have to.

I was still recovering, I was in no state to travel but I went along with it, what else could I really do? Though Juna was still very young I could tell that she too didn't want to be here, we wanted to go home.

We drove through the city but watching the world go by throughout that window made my head hurt even worse. I couldn't stay awake for more than 30 minutes and each time before I did I felt like throwing up. I probably would have too but I hadn't put anything in my stomach to throw up.

Doing stuff on my own was no longer second nature, it still really isn't. Doing two things at once is practically impossible and my short term memory is sometimes slower than it was. Evelyn used to tell me how this is normal but none of this feels normal at all.

I wanted Dad to turn the car around so I could finish letting my body heal on it's own. I wanted Dad to not need to worry about protecting Juna and I as much as he was. We could be safe inside the walls. If only we had gone back sooner, before The Circus burned to the ground.