Before the Outbreak

I was born in the rural areas of Russia outside many known settlements. My father was a farmer and worked everyday. Even with this work ethic my family was very poor. Life for me at a young age was a struggle. THese struggles really lead me down a troubled youth. I tend to get myself in trouble alot. Most of the time it was with my brother Dimitorou. As a kid I followed Dimi around wherever he’d go.  As a kid I would try to fit in with his older friends and him. Normally would lead to lots of injuries because they would peer pressure me into doing certain things. This didn’t bother me alot though at least I got to spend time with my brother and it toughened me up a little. Although I had this tendency to cry a lot, they gave me the name “Plaksa” or in english cry-baby. 

The “Plaksa”

The nickname stuck with me through most of my adolescence even with how hard I'd try to show them, especially my brother, that I wasn't a cry-baby anymore, they just didn’t care. Being the youngest I guess they just felt like the name fit. School was another problem in my life. I loved to learn new things but I had a hard time focusing in class. I wanted to be out doing stuff in the world not sitting in a classroom. It was hard to make my own friends at school when we moved so much as well. At first we never really moved far but then one day that changed. My father, Ivan, decided that we should move towards the north where he could sell more of his produce.

моя семья

Moving away left me and my brother on our own in a town with no friends. I think this is where my brother finally saw me as a friend and not just a little brother. We started doing more things together, me and Dimi. I was about 14 when this move happened. Still very poor, me and Dimi rarely had any money to spend on things. We started stealing around this time. Mainly just from convenience stores stealing alcohol or cigarettes. Most of the time I was the distraction and Dimi would steal the things. Dimi finally was my brother and saw I wasn't just a cry baby. 

Independence

The bond would forever be there but DImitorou was growing up and becoming an adult. I think in his eyes he probably thought he was being a bad influence on me so he rarely spent time with me. He got a job at a local mechanic shop and he would work almost everyday. I started to become more independent at this time. I found my own group of friends started doing things on my own. I quickly got more addicted to cigarettes and alcohol at this point in my life. I also got in a lot of fights sometimes for fun and sometimes out of anger. 

The Outbreak 

I was 17 when the world started to change. It seemed like this sickness spread to every corner of the world. People on the streets started to wear masks and the little news I watched all had stories of people dying of the sickness in the thousands. Slowly places started to shutdown and we were forced to stay inside for times. Dimi had built a car, I say car but it was more of a shitbox with wheels. We would take joyrides around the empty streets late at night. Smoking and drinking we would enjoy this empty world. The world was already a shit show but things somehow got worse and one of our cousins who lived in a city called Nyheim got sick. Located in Norway my father was not able to leave the house and my mother wasn’t going to go. So that left me a Dimitorou to take the trip to norway. 

The Walled City

This had to be the coolest thing I had ever seen. Huge walls towering almost a hundred feet in the air. We finally got the city of Nyheim. As tradition in our family we were expected to bring gifts. Now me and Dimi had forgotten the gift at home and had only enough money to get here. So broke and empty handed we resulted to the only thing we knew STEALING. That didn’t really go as planned though because now that I was older I wasn’t a very good distraction and to Norwegian prison we went. 

The Great Escape

There we were two Russian kids stuck in a Norwegian prison. Most the people couldn’t speak Russian or English. Not long after being placed in there things started to turn bad. The news reports came in claiming that Oslo had been bombed. Claims that people were turning into monsters eating people. Panic broke out in the prison and luckily in the panic Dimitorou had found someone who could help us escape. We followed his lead and soon we were out of prison into a new world.

 

A New World

Out of the prison me and Dimitorou made our way back to the main city to find our Cousin. Worried that he would be vulnerable being sick and all. As we were arriving people were being tested at the gates and filtered through some being escorted away. We decided to sneak in Dimi boosted me over the wall and I pulled him up. At the apartment I knocked on the door. The door swung open… then out of nowhere blood covering his face my cousin ran out at me frightened I backed away quickly. Dimi stepped in front grabbing a bat that laid next to the door and bashed his head in. Dimitorou saved me. From there the world slowly fell into more chaos and all me and Dimitorou had was each other to rely on. 

 

Personality

Social: I like to make new friends.

Unpredictable: One moment I maybe chill the next I may be bouncing off walls.

Kindhearted: At the end of the day I want the best for people.

Joker: No matter what I will always try to make light of a situation.

Determined: I will work hard for the approval of others.

Airhead: May lose sight of what I’m doing in the moment or not understand fully what someone may be saying.

(The following are snippets from Nikolai’s journal)

RELATIONSHIPS:

(His relationships are judged with 's and 's up to 5 hearts or skulls)

Dimitorou “Dimi” Kalenski

Brother you’ve always been there for me since we were kids… You’ve saved my life countless times I’m lucky to have a Brother like you. I will follow you tell death. I hope you can forgive me for not being there when you needed me most. I hope I can save you from this dark path you’ve chosen… I love you brother.

“Z”

Z’s a very good person from what I’ve seen so far. I’m happy to have another brother and I’m excited to get to know more about him. He’s taken me in like it was nothing and watched over me making sure I was ok. I couldn’t have asked for a better brother that and he just fell into my hands. 
 

MILO

Milo I haven’t gotten to talk to him to much yet but he seems like a fun person to be around. I hope I can talk to him more soon.

I’ve meet many more people but names escape me. I hope I can make more new friends.