The Other Side of the Dome

Chapter 6

I woke the next morning feeling flustered. Ben was already awake packing his things. I followed his lead and began packing my stuff without saying a word. He slid me a bag of stale cereal while I rolled up my sleeping bag.

"You should eat before we head out," He urged.

I took it without looking at him, sitting on the far side of the room to eat. He carried on, busying himself with packing and sorting. The silence was deafening but I didn't know what to say. Or if I wanted to say anything at all for that matter.

"Look about last night."

Before he could finish there was loud banging at the door.

"Open up!" A man's voice called from the other side.

Ben motioned for me to stay silent as he grabbed the shotgun.

"Come on we know you're in there! We saw the smoke!"

Still, we stayed silent.

"We have your friends," the man said, sounding impatient.

Ben and I looked at each other. I went to open the door, Ben held his hand out as if to tell me to wait.

"How do you know you've got the right people?" He stalled.

A woman's voice then spoke up, "They said they were traveling with two others around this area. The girl's name was..."

"Hanna," the man offered.

I looked at Ben and he gave me a knowing look. I handed him his bag and he slung it over his shoulder. I was carrying two bags, mine on my back and Hanna's on my front. Ben slowly opened the door, gun at the ready.

Outside there stood three men and a woman. All dressed in worn-looking clothing. They looked weathered themselves, with fine lines and scars.

"Woah there son," a man with a beard said. From his voice, I could tell he had been who spoke to us through the door. He laughed, "Ever shot one of them, city boy?"

"How–" he started.

The woman cut him off, "You're friends told us about what happened to you and the rest of your friends. You are very lucky to be alive."

"Who are you all?" Ben asked stoically.

"I'm Mary," She said, then pointed to the bearded man. "That's Jason. We have a settlement not far from here. We can get you clean clothes, food, and a hot shower."

Ben wasn't convinced, "how do we know you're not keeping our friends captive?"

"Now why in the world would we do that?" Jason mused with a grin on his face.

"I don't know," Ben stammered. "Ransom, information, it could be anything."

If I thought Ben was a large guy, Jason was huge. He slung one of his trunk-like arms around Ben's shoulders, "Let's chat with, son." He pulled him to the side where they whispered back and forth.

"I'm Carson," one of the younger guys said. "Jason's younger brother." Carson was just as large as Jason. That's where the similarities ended, though. Where Jason had graying dark brown hair, Carson was a dirty blonde. His eyes were a deep brown and Jason's were green. Carson had a large scar across his nose and freckles covering every inch of visible skin.

He was about to introduce the other guy from the group when Ben said, "All right, we're going with them."

We traveled for about an hour, Ben stayed close to me as we walked. We didn't speak but he stood like a barrier between me and the group. He kept turning to check on me but I didn't meet his gaze. We came across, what I could only describe as a compound. It was huge, surrounded by tall palisades, fortified with sheet metal along the bottoms.