Beyond

(Chapter 13) Travel

We drove for a long while making are way around the outer part of phoenix and then noticed the night starting to come down. Mia drove on these outskirt roads where there wasn't a lot of signs of even prior civilization. The vehicle was silent during the drive except for Brooke who was humming a song in her head. At this point I could feel the pain in my right hand from punching Jesse over and over again. That's when I saw a small building off in the distance.

"Mia do you see that?" I asked while pointed to it.

"That small building?" She asked.

"Yeah. Do you think that would be ideal to stay at for the night? We could hide the truck in the back and have a good view from whatever is coming our way." I said.

"Lucas, I would honestly say find a suburb. That's how Brooke and I lost members of the group before you two. The best spots became traps. The places people thought were the least safe became the most." Mikal said from the back. Mia and I agreed with him and that opening up the communication in the truck.

"So what's your name?" I heard Brooke in the back speaking up.

"My name is Joann Conner. What is yours?" she asked in return.

"Well I'm Brooke and this is Mikal. What made you want to come with us so badly?" Brooke asked and she paused for a while before answering.

"Mia brought me in from the beginning I was able to survive because she found that my car was stolen from me and I was left on the side of the road. Without her care I wouldn't be alive today. I need to be with someone that looks out for me." Joann Conner said sounding very re-assuring.

"That's not all though." Mia said. "You can tell them Ms. Conner it's okay."

"Jesse was well aware that I was a nurse for many years but would blame things on me if one of his people died even though they were past saving. Mia found out and tried to free him of the harassment he continued to give me." Ms. Conner began to speak faintly.

"She was trying to keep one of these men that Jesse brought in from bleeding to death. She kept putting pressure on the wound and wrapping his arm off to try and stop the bleeding and unfortunately she couldn't save him. Jesse flipped out and well hurt her." Mia said very slowly.

"Well we are glad to have you with us Ms. Conner." I said and Mia then grabbed my hand softly. She smiled and then we found ourselves at the entrance of a community that was being built but not yet completed. There was many houses being built with a lot done.

"That one." I pointed to a house that wasn't fully completed but had a wall that covered the back yard.

"That'll do." Mikal responded. Me and Mikal got out and grabbed our guns and we walked towards the entrance. There was no door in place but windows were at least installed. "Whistle on each room you clear." He said and we slowly made are way inside. Dark came down so we both pulled out a flash light. The rooms were pitch black when you got further in the house. Each room was covered with more dirt on the floor than concrete. Every so often I would hear a whistle from Mikal and then whistle back when I cleared what was downstairs. We met up and went upstairs slowly and found ourselves before 4 more rooms. We walked in one room a piece and walked out about the same time and whistle we came across the last two rooms and he took the master. I walked into this bedroom and found nothing once again just less dust and dirt on the floor. I whistled and walked out and as I'm walking into the master bedroom and Mikal was standing in front of the bathroom with a distorted look on his face.

"What is it?" I asked.

He looked at me and slowly shook his head and put his fingers to his head like a gun and moved his thumb up and down. At that point I just turned around and we walked downstairs and to the truck. Mikal grabbed a few bags out of the back and so did I. We motioned for everyone else to come out and we all grabbed as many bags as possible and walked inside. We put the bags in one of the smaller upstairs bedrooms and they got settled and me and Mikal went and got the other bags. Mikal picked up the bags and I got the truck and drove it into the back of the house.
I walked in and Mia was standing there waiting for me. "How's your hands?" She asked and then picked them up and wiped them off with a cloth.