I've been writing this story for a while, and although I took a long break from updating it, I've begun to get my interest in writing it back, and so I'm now posting it here on ff.net so I can get more opinions from people. This story is a continuation from my last Tribe story, "Innocence", although it is not necessary for you to have read that to understand this story. The main characters [Joelle, Ice, Lewis and Zak] belong to me, and so do any other characters that don't feature in "The Tribe" unless I have specifically stated otherwise. However, this story also has some of the tribe characters in, and obviously they don't belong to me… OK?

Just a quick note: The chapter titles will indicate who's point of view that chapter is in, whether it is a main character, minor character, or one of the tribe characters.

Prologue – Dear Diary – Joelle

I never thought it would be this hard to leave. I used to sit here when I was younger, wishing and longing for the day that I could get away, drawn to the bright lights of the big city. It was only a couple of years ago when I realised something. Nothing the city could offer came close to the close community life I led here. It was a place where you couldn't walk down the road without bumping into someone you knew. I liked that. It made me feel wanted, special. Like I was part of something good. That image was distorted when the virus came: whereas before the estate was alive with activity, now it was lonely and desolate. I seriously considered leaving, running away from all the memories of a place that was no longer the same, but I realised that if I left the memories here then I would regret it, and once I had gone there would be no way to return. So I remained, and persuaded a large majority of the kids to stay with me. We weren't a 'tribe'; I didn't like that phrase. We had no leader for fear of them getting too much power, it was just like before, only we were the adults now. Jamie's house was forever buzzing, the smaller children ran in and out as if they owned it, and Jamie allowed them to do so, feeding them even when he was struggling to feed himself, and giving them a home when they so badly needed one. I can see his house from here. It looks eerie, like it's been that way all the time. It's hard to remember that just a few days ago the house had an owner. Now he's gone, just like the adults did when they wiped themselves out. I should have known. I can remember the first time we met, my family and me had just moved into the estate and him and his parents came to welcome us. That smile he gave me when he first set eyes on me, I should have realised that he liked me, loved me even. I don't think it would have worked though; maybe when we first met, but not now, we knew each other too well for that. I will miss him though. Of all the memories I have of this place, he is the one that stands out. But I fear something. If I leave what will my memories be? Will I see his smile, the one that brightened up his face when I opened the door and saw him standing there, or will I see his pale lifeless body lying on the bed in his sisters' room? It is with hope of the first memory, that I carry this with me, a photograph of the guy I loved as a friend, like he was when I first met him, full of life and filled with happiness. Now I leave my house, in the hope of starting afresh, a new life, and I go in the hope that Jamie too is beginning again, wherever he may be.