Beyond

(Chapter 9) Colony

I found myself in awe starring at clothes that she kept of mine. I got dressed in my usual work clothes that she carried along that made me look way to professional for what I'm sure wasn't a black tie event. I couldn't help but notice that she had guns on top of some shelves which surprised me. She never liked the idea of shooting because of the dangerous nature it creates and yet she has a shotgun and two pistols on top of a shelf. I could hear people walking by her RV talking rather loudly. Some were discussing the new people that arrived and others were talking about this person they referred as the "widow". They discussed how ruthless she was having innocent people beaten down and disagreeing on whether she was the best decision when it came to their safety. That's when I heard one of them discuss something about the jury. They said "The jury will make their final decision about what we will do with them." Were they talking about us?

She walked out putting her hair into a ponytail and smiling at me. She grabbed a jacket from a table and walked over to me. She wrapped her arms around my chest and suffocated her head into me holding me as tight as she could. I felt like she still had a hard time believing it was me. "Come on." She said and took my wrist and led me out the door. She changed into these jean shorts and low cut tank top which made no sense because she never wore any clothing like that before. Then she had on what appeared to be military boots but I couldn't really tell if they were authentic or not. We continued past trailer after trailer until we were met by a huge bon fire. There were people everywhere standing and laughing and just acting like everything was normal. I saw a group of children even playing with an old soccer ball. It seemed like it was all normal. Mia brought me to an empty area and we both sat down in a distance facing everyone.
"This is the gathering." She said. "We come here every night to enjoy our new lives and discuss whatever we have to do on our agenda. Somehow everyone ended up here." She added.

"How did you end up here?" I asked and was then answered by someone else.

"I convinced her to stay." A new older looking guy said. "She was driving north and found herself in trouble when her car's tire went out. She spent a day with us and then decided to stay for a while." He sat down next to her and chuckled. He took a drink of something and looked over at me. "Oh, sorry my apologizes. Jesse." He said to me and put out his hand indicating he would like to shake my hand. I hesitated and then saw Mia give me a look very frightening and then I shook his hand. "So you must be the fiancé that Mia was always talking about. We are very sorry about the mix up by the way. I hope you understand we need to make sure we protect our own."

"Where are my companions?" I asked looking at both of them seeing an entirely new side of Mia I haven't seen in the past 4 years.

"I assure you they are safe, we are getting them cleaned up and sending them on their way first thing tomorrow." He said without a look of discomfort at all. He thought I would just be okay with them and accept where I am.

"So you beat us and then allow me to stay but not them?" His face then took a turn towards more serious than that fake smile he has had since he sat down. Jesse must have been in his late years of thirty. He had a very well groomed beard and found himself wearing nice clean clothing which amazed me considering how much dirt was around here. He finally took another sip of of his drink and looked at Mia and smiled then looked back at me.

"We had to do what we had to do in order to assure our community you folk were not going to be any trouble. It's the cost of surviving in this new world we have now." He said very firmly. I never felt in the past like someone would actually have my own fiancé believe him more than me. I felt as if I was a marble in their community of fine pearls. I was an outcast in Mia's eyes at this point and not someone who allows things to just move on. She used to be the same way and to see her act like this surprised me. "Besides all that welcome to our community young Lucas. Have a nice evening Mia I expect to see you speak when the jury arrives." He got up smiled and walked away to another group of people.