Home Is Your Heartbeat ('Home Is' Book Two - Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 23 - Life On Mars (David Bowie)

NATE

Sunset was gone by the time we pulled up outside a huge walled compound.

Double gates slide back enough to let us in, then close just as quickly behind. The guy who manned them looked vaguely familiar? After all....a mullet isn't something you can easily forget.

Try as one might  😉

"Was he from Terminus?"  I whispered into Daryl's ear.

He nodded back.

"Before that even. But....yeah....we're gonna need to talk about that. Picked up a few more people...."

"You have got to be freaking kidding me, Dixon!"  I interrupt in astonishment as we enter the compound proper.

Blink my lids into oblivion because I simply can't believe my eyes.

The darkness is punctuated by street lighting here and there. From what I can see in the dim light? We're now riding through the middle of a high-end, luxury housing estate. Complete with double story cookie-cutter houses, numerous grassy open areas and....

Is that an ornamental lake for crying out loud? It's so bloody huge, that you could almost hold a regatta in it!

Daryl slowed his bike right down, almost to a crawl.

Only forty percent of the houses we pass have lights on and people in them. I can hear some cats meowing in the distance, the soundtrack of a movie starting up....and a few bursts of chatter.

Despite the slight chill, it's a lovely evening. Yet no one is out on the streets, simply....enjoying it?

This place is mega-weirding me out.

"Is this all for real, Babe?"  He nodded back again.

"But....where are the lookouts? I didn't see any sentry towers. Are they fucking rose gardens? Why aren't they growing veggies instead? Is that lake stocked with fish....?"

My voice trails off in total disbelief.

It's as if the events of the last couple of years have never even touched this place.

*

Daryl stopped in front of a massive, three-story....mansion. He quickly hopped off the bike and leaned down to whisper in a rush, before Aaron's vehicle pulled up behind us.

"Try to hold it in, Baby Girl....until I can tell yer everythin. They're nice enough folk for the most part but living in their own fantasy world. Ain't got no clue what it means to survive. Gonna get themselves and a whole lot more killed."

"We gotta try and teach them."

"This Deanna is Ok....I guess. But a typical politician and dreamer. Some of the things she wants to do? Let's just say that her priorities ain't quite matching ours. Their work ethics sure as fuck don't either."

The door to the house opened and two silhouettes filled the space. A very tall older man and a much shorter woman.

Aaron relieved Morgan and I of our rifles, my pistol. Then hopped up the porch stairs, with Daryl and I slowly following. Our lack of speed was mostly due to a sudden reluctance on my part.

And frustration.

Surely the big meet and greet can wait until tomorrow? My family are so close now, and I just wanna hold them all again.

"Deanna, Reg....this is...."  The woman brusquely cut him off.

"Thank you, Aaron. But we'll introduce ourselves. Won't you all please come inside? Welcome....welcome. Ahhhh  hello, Mr Dixon! You've had a very productive first trip together by the looks of it?"