Beyond

(Chapter 14) Living

We continued to drive down the empty roads to a further area past the city. We didn't see anything more than broken down cars on the side of the road or boxes that fell and drop random items all over the road. I never thought I would see the day where a whole city could be as quiet as this one is. I could hear Brooke and Mia talking amongst themselves chatting about where they are from and what they did before everything went down. It felt very peaceful. Mia always seemed to be very quiet around new people because she tended to come off a bit mean because she always spoke her mind. I was glad to see that Brooke at least didn't hold a grudge against her for holding all of us captive for a few nights.

"So why did you and Lucas wait so long to actually get married?" Brooke asked and I finally took notice of what they were talking about. Mia looked over to me shrugged at me like is it okay if I tell them kind of thing. I nodded and she continued.

"Lucas really only has his two brothers when it comes to his side of the family. So when it came down to planning everything he didn't know who else to invite. So we got engaged about 2 years ago and decided to hold off until we were both ready. My family is rather large so most of them would have taken up the wedding and with him and his two brothers it would have made it look like family is not something Lucas has been around." Mia looked at me then held my hand on the center console.

"Wait you have to brothers?" Brooke asked. "Why didn't we see any pictures of you and them at your home?"

"Well my brothers and I weren't really close as most families were. My oldest brother was very distant and kept to himself. Then my other brother who is only a few years older than me we were pretty close. Something happened and now he and I don't speak as much as we use to. We only contact each other on certain things throughout the year."

Brooke looked at me with a very sad face and it made the group of us feel a little uneasy. "At least I have Mia in my life and that's all I need." Brooke smiled after I said that and sat back in her seat and Mia looked at me gave a half smile and shrugged.

"So where do you think they are? Mikal asked. I didn't really have a response. When I thought more into it. I knew that they would most likely still be alive. We all grew up not liking to get anything done at the doctors because we fought through the pain. Our father made sure that if we got hurt that we can continue to hold our own and not always feel dependent on others.

"Knowing them they are out there doing something. I couldn't see them walking into a hospital getting that cure." I said and the truck remained very quiet.

We got closer to where we all started and I continued to think to myself how Mia is going to take it when Mikal finds a car and leaves. I know he wants to make it to the coast and I know Mia doesn't want to be far from home just in case she can find her family. Her family always meant the world to her and to lose the chance to possibly see them again doesn't sound like her at all. I drove past one area and Ms. Conner began to laugh and we all looked kind of confused. "What's so funny?" Brooke asked. "I just remembered back at the camp I forgot to unclog the toilet in my RV." Mia and Brooke both said "Ew" at the same time and we all started laughing.

After we got back into the area where Mia and I lived something felt different. A lot of doors were open which wasn't like the first time I came back through here. We drove past one house after another seeing broken windows and stuff thrown out on the lawn. It was a disaster of what this neighborhood once was. I use to think this place had a lot of merit. It looks as if someone finally came through these homes and took everything out of them. We got further into the neighborhood and stopped. There were a bunch of pieces of furniture thrown out and destroyed on the road.

"What happened here?" Brooke asked. Me and Mikal both shrugged and shook our heads in confusion because neither one of us have any idea. We stepped outside and walked around the mess and looked down the road where my house was and saw no indication of damage to anything in that direction. We walked on the opposite of the side of the house towards it just in case there was people around here. Looking for a sign of any people hanging around we didn't hear anything so Mikal and I went over towards the house and saw nothing inside from my windows on the side. I looked towards the backyard and Mikal headed in that direction. We walked through the gate and once again saw no one in the back or through the windows. We signaled for the girls to come through this way and they did.