[ WP ] A man is banished to the wilderness for 20 years . Write his diary entries for his first and last days of exile .

Day 1: 
 
 I ’ m staring into a fire. Surprisingly. When the escort first dropped me off, ditching me along a cracked, overgrown highway, it was probably noon. They didn ’ t leave me with much, but I managed to get some flint and magnesium smuggled into my cell last night. It took me a while to find a place that didn ’ t seem ripe and open, calling for unwanted attention. It was almost dark by the time I gathered the firewood. I was sure I would end up spending the night in the dark forest, a shuddering, stupid-cold, scared old man. Somehow I got a flame going. I have food tonight. A few cans, along with the canteen of water. Nothing else. 
 
 Day 11: 
 
 I find myself thinking about the Tenby Guard more and more. Ironically, the skills I learned as a young soldier keep me alive now. When I was in the Tenby Guard, we would go out ranging for weeks – even months, on rare occasions. We always lived off the land where we could. I no longer have the strength I once did, but my muscles remember. 
 
 I rarely thought about those days as I grew older, but I was not surprised when they arrested and banished me, not after all the people had heard. I accepted it from the beginning. Even during the trials, I never really thought about it. All those horrible things that happened – it feels like they happened to someone else. I didn ’ t do those things. I ’ m just an old man. I know I did, but that ’ s how it feels. 
 
 
 Day 23: 
 
 I remembered something today. Something I haven ’ t thought about in a long time. 
 
 Gulfcrest. Of all the crimes the people raved about, Gulfcrest was cried the loudest and most often. Those days are all a haze to me, but today I recalled one of the incidents that happened during the battle. 
 
 We had been raiding Gulfcrest ’ s lands for weeks. We found their defenses lacking, but they always burned their own crops and supplies before we could get them. We were all suffering ourselves then, many of us sick with fever and hunger. 
 We finally assaulted their main settlement, taking many casualties ourselves. We spared few when we finally overcame them and we took everything. 
 I remember blood and screaming. Drunkenness. The actions of men who have endured the extreme. Gulfcrest had surprisingly little in the way of supplies and food. They had been picked apart by raiders for decades, with few stores built up. In our anger, many of us took it out on the survivors. 
 
 Now people condemn us, the people of Tenby. We suffered for them. Even after the battle of Gulfcrest, we sent what little we took back to the city and its starving people. We took almost nothing for ourselves. Now the city flourishes, preserved through desperate times by men like us. They survive because of us, and now that they have wealth and food and luxury they discard us for what we did. 
 It was a long time ago, but I can see it more clearly now. I have little else to do out here other than contemplate the past and the future. 
 
 Day 597: 
 
 Tenby lays before me now. I have spoken to General Mills and we have decided we'll move on the city tomorrow. I first met Mills in the Tenby Guard. He and I were some of the first to reunite and find each other in the wilderness, and it was he and I who first began to spread our influence in the lands surrounding the city. 
 
 I wonder if they realize who lies at their door. They threw us out, many of us in our fifties and sixties, the hundreds who had served this city, for what we did. We have come back to them. They should have killed us. Now we lead other men into battle, men we have turned into soldiers. We have not forgotten how to sack a city. I will fight here myself. Mills gifted me with an M1 carbine he discovered. I will put it to good use. 
 
 Day 599: 
 
 Tenby weeps. I have come home. 

