"What?" Lizzy says quickly, before I even have a chance to think. "Where are you from?" she yells at him. The man holds his palms up in defense.
"Hey now, there's no need for the yelling. All I want is the shit that you guys took. I was bringing it back for my people. You give it to me, and I'll... I'll give you guys a tour."
What a stupid remark. "Yeah?" I respond. "And how are we supposed to believe you? Do you expect us to just give you our bargaining chip, and trust you?" The man looked at me and smirked. "You're smart," he replied. "Call it a leap of faith." The last time I did that, I was drunk off my ass and trying to impress girls while on spring break at Lake Powell. I don't really enjoy the term as much as I did back then, but if we're going to make any progress in this weird new world, I suppose we're just going to have to jump off some cliffs while being drunk off our asses.
"Okay, but we'd like to meet the leader of your group and go from there. Here." I pull the food out of my bag and stow it away into his. He has a small backpack, so I'm assuming he only makes these runs periodically. Not the smartest decision to make, but then again I'm not the one running the group. At least if this thing goes over poorly, I know we're coming back here to get supplies.
The guy starts walking out the door and we follow in suit. Christy almost jumps out of her seat when she sees the man walking out of the store with us, but I shoot her a look telling her all is well. She slowly climbs out of the truck to meet him. "Christy, this is..." I blank, and then I realize that I haven't even asked this gentleman his name.
Noticing my embarrassment, he stops me and says, "The name's Justin, and you have nothing to worry about. Your husband and I have already worked things out, and he knows..." I begin to not focus on his words as I notice Christy's cheeks turning red at the mention of me being her husband.
"He's actually..." she begins. "We were... used to be... not anymore..." Justin turns around and looks between both of us, then understands the tension. "I get it. You don't have to explain any further." He nervously laughs, and then to distract us he asks, "Can you guys just leave your vehicles here to come with me? It's only a fifteen minute walk from here. We don't really let people take their vehicles to the community since it's kind of off the road."
Christy walks over and grabs Mark out of the back of the truck. It pained me to see the look on her face when I was even remotely referred to as her husband, but I'm the one who didn't listen when she needed me to. I shake the thoughts from my mind and follow Justin into the woods, hopefully into a better world and a happier life.
☠
We reach the gates a lot sooner than I anticipated, and I realize those fifteen minutes may have been a little less than fifteen minutes. Even with Mark's hobbling, we made really good time.
Justin walks up to the gates and loudly taps his fist against it. The loud banging noise startles me a bit, and I begin looking around to make sure there are no unwelcome visitors around us. My nerves settle as I scan the area for the fifth time, and the gate finally opens letting us inside.
As the gate slowly parts, I try to contain my amazement at the size of the community. Full homes are past this barrier, with electricity shining through the windows towards us. Water? The possibilities are endless, but I need to contain myself in order to meet the leader and formally introduce ourselves. People stare out of their windows as we walk down what I assume is the main road, and we come to a stop in front of a big house.
"This is the place. You wanna talk to the leader? His name's Rich, and he's stubborn, but I think you guys might be able to get through to him. If anything, he'll probably let you guys stay here for the night. A token of our hospitality." Justin waves his arm towards the giant wooden doors, and I quietly make my way up the extravagant steps.
The front door flies open, and a man with a immense beard and a beaming smile shakes my hand. I'm assuming this is Rich, but he's not who I expected. "The place isn't mine," he says to introduce himself, obviously noticing my doubts. "We all lived in here in this privately gated community, which helped us with the wall and gate surrounding us." Rich walks into the home, and after a second of hesitation, we follow behind him. "We were only about twenty strong at that point, but as the days have gone by, more people have stumbled in and found their place. We might have to start expanding soon, but right now we're just going one day at a time."
After a long discussion about where we're from, and what we could bring to the group, Rich takes us outside and to the gates. "John, you can work shifts on the gates. It's real easy, you just have to shoot at any dead heading our way. If you do good there, we'll move you somewhere else." Rich then leads us over to a building with two guards in front of the door. We enter and I'm taken aback when I'm looking at a warehouse full of food. "Justin told me you guys found one of our scavenging spots. This is where we store all our food. We send out about two scavengers a day, to find food and bring it back here. We ration our food, of course, but we're making it work. We also have a farm hidden about 4 miles to the north. If you do good on the wall, this is where you will work. Elizabeth and Christy can stock supplies during the day if they so wish."
Mark grumbles, and from behind me I hear a quiet, "So what am I supposed to do?"
Rich laughs. "From what I've heard, you don't do well with people, or really anybody at all. So right now, I don't have a job for you. You can stay in one of the homes, but I don't think John would be comfortable having you in theirs, would you?" Before I can respond, Mark chuckles and says, "Actually, I was hoping Christy could stay with me instead and I could use this rope for someth-"
I step towards Mark, ready to pound his face in. He cowers at my wrath. I'm stopped by Christy, who stares into my eyes and gives me an empty look. "Please, no more." She pushes me slowly back, and my mind is reeling at the thought of Mark being such a smart ass. I push my anger aside, and head out of the warehouse door into the bright and very hot sun.