Background

1987-1998 Samantha was born to the Aberly family. A family of ranchers though she never really took to the family business. This was due to the fact that she tended to bond with whatever animal she took care of which was not exactly something one was ought to do when the animal in question was going to be butchered. As a result after school while her brother helped in the ranch while she did menial work which mostly took the form of cleaning equipment though she was occasionally expected to haul things around the ranch. Though one thing both her and her twin brother did was to go hunting with their dad. While it was never outwardly stated by her parents (at least not while she was in hearing range) they were under the assumption that she would eventually get over her tendency to bond with livestock, this assumption was further reinforced by the fact that she was willing to go hunting. Her extended family, particularly her uncle was under the same assumption as well though in their case they stated it outwardly, often making ‘jokes’ about whether she was okay with killing tweety yet. Suffice to say that extended family visits were often unpleasant experiences for her. Her desire to be educated received a similar treatment. She was sent to a public school and when she was working on a school project and going the extra mile her parents treated it as her getting it out of her system, making subtle comments such as ‘It is great that you are investing so much into a hobby.’ which was a constant source of frustration for her though she feared that if she were to say something and ask for more respect she would lose the tolerance her parents had. This fear grew exponentially when she heard that her cousins were not allowed to go to high school. 1999-2002 Over time there were signs that things were getting worse, refugees from the south started showing up, hoping to find anywhere that was safe and some chose to stay in New Heaven, growing the community and helping address some issues that the initial members of the community simply weren't equipped to address. She didn't know it then but refugees showing up and some of them settling alongside them was the beginning of the end. The community growing and times getting worse across the continent made New Heaven a prime target for bandits. Things gradually got more tense as New Heavens militia started running out of ammo while the numbers of bandits increased with every passing day. 2002 - 2006 Eventually the militia failed to fight off an attack and that was enough to scatter the community with several groups of survivors being headed in different locations. She stuck to the group her brother joined and did her best to follow William around though it was around this time that she was expected to do things different from her brother due to being a woman. While William was taught how to hunt during the apocalypse and became an expert hunter Samantha joined gatherer and scavenger groups alongside other woman. Initially she was just expected to carry things but as the group lost members she was given more and more responsibilities until eventually she was treated as a full fledged adult and expected to pull her weight. 2006 - 2011 The twins eventually reached adulthood though Samantha still stuck to her brother. Their route was primarily dependent on the movement of animals as animals were their primary food source. While the two joined sedentary groups during winter, the groups always felt too unsafe or volatile to be a permanent member of so they opted to return to their travels when spring arrived. 2011 - 2012 While her brother felt that their lives worked as they were, Samantha saw how things kept getting more dangerous and how groups got more xenophobic so for the first time in a long while she put her foot down and insisted that they find somewhere where they could settle permanently. After they reached an agreement the two sought out a group to travel to Kentucky, following the rumours of a remaining safezone in Knox and found one at a settlement and joined a trading caravan headed in that direction.