Breaking but not broken.

Chapter 4

[ The Greenplace changed everything. The Woman slowly and cautiously asked more and more questions as she inched out of her corner. By morning it had seemed that the girls had know her since the beginning of time. The new girl seemed cold at first glance, but once you got past her tough exeter, she was still hard as stone. She quickly took on the protective roll; that was just her nature, which is why she didn't like to be around people. No matter how much loss she endured, it was still to easy for her to care for others.

Whilst talking with the women she had learned their names and started to see how the functioned individually. Earning their trust took all day, and earning her trust was still a work in progress, but they eventually began to revel parts of their plan.]

Another 24 hours had past. The sun was setting now and a chilly blue filter settled on the room.

"Do you have," I started to ask as I jiggled the muzzle around, "Something to get this off?"

"Sorry." Capable frowned. "We aren't aloud weapons."

"He's afraid we'll hurt ourselves." The Dag rolled her eyes as she sprawled across the couch awkwardly again.

I wanted this damned thing off. My insides were eating away it themselves and seeing the food they had made it worse. I luckily could drink water still.

"When do we leave?" I asked changing the subject.

"A few days. On the next supply run. Furiosa will come to get us." They assured me.

Toast piped up, "We should stop talking about it. We've already mentioned it to much." She grumbled.

The Greenplace was a place of peace and unity. A place that would be perfect for them. A place that was far away from this hell hole and it's leader. I snapped out of my thoughts when the girls told me it was time to sleep. Capable uncovered a bunch of roll out mats -no thicker than a yoga mat- and passed them out. Cheedo handed me one and I grunted and nodded saying "thank you". We all spread out on the bottom level of the room and started to get comfortable. They all tended to there mats with such care it made me actually giggle. They turned to me in shock.

"You think these are comfortable? I used to sleep on nothing but memory foam."

The five of them laid on their stomachs and faced me. I had lost a lot of my ability to share things with other people. A side affect of being alone for months at a time is you realize how pointless stories are sometimes. Yet, I had been sharing stories about my life before the war with the group a little bit at a time. Their reactions - how bright their eyes litting up with wonder - kept me telling them more and more stories. Not important stories, but stories that made me reminisce about my old life. That was a very dangerous game I liked to play. Remember what I had before the world ended. It was like a painful gift. Knowing I had been so happy before, and had a wonderful life. Now all I got from being so happy is the ever lasting pain of when it was all taken away.

I smiled a bit as Cheedo tilted her head up at me. "What's memory foam?"

"Does it hold your dreams while you sleep?" Capable asked turning her head as well.

"It's a very soft material, sort of like your mats, but even softer," I grabbed my own mat and explained. It forms to your body making it extra comfortable."

Their eyes held stars as they imagined the golden mattress. I smiled and laid down when her accented voice spoke to me.

"How old are you?" Angharad asked.

I sighed and lazily stared up at the ceiling. How old was I? It was hard to keep track of days let alone years. My best guess? 30 something.

"32..." I shrugged. "...Maybe."

I knew they were all around there early 20's. Angharad being the exception. She was a bit older, which most likely lead to her being "in charge". I started to doze off when another whisper broke the silence. My eyes rolled open and Cheedo sheepishly looked up at me.

"Can I lay with you?" She asked.

I whispered she could, so she snuggled up next to me, placing her head on my thigh. Her hair tickled my skin. It was so strange to have physical contact with someone so gentle after being alone all this time. Cheedo was the youngest of the group, and from what I had put together she was the most recent arrival before I came. She had long, straight brown hair and carmel eyes. She was pretty quite and shy for the most part, and she spent most of the time noodling around with "The Dag" who was the scrawny blonde.

[The girls all slept quietly together. The Woman had found a new reason to live. She was going to protect these girls no matter the cost.
But The Woman still didn't know her real purpose. The true reason she was locked away in the vault. The girls would have to tell her soon. Tell her that she was destined to carry the future leader of this god forsaken place.
No matter how comfortable The Woman was, nightmares always seemed it find her...]

"Where are you?" My nephew called.

My nephew and I were both in the vault. Why were we here? He had never been here. I turned around, preparing to run, but he appeared in front of me. Him, my mother, my sister, my father, my niece. Everyone. Multiples of my family covered the vault floors and the walls started to close in, suffocating me. Everything was moving so fast. Like a movie being fast forwarded.

My nephews voice grew louder, it was laced with angrier and hatred. "WHERE ARE YOU!"

"AUNTIE!" My niece cried, her high pitched voice cracking. "PLEASE HELP US!"

"WHERE ARE YOU!"

"AUNTIE."

"HELP US."

"HELP US."

I gasped and my eyes flew open. The girls hid away from me in fear. A ping of guilt struck me like a rubber band being snapped against my heart. I felt horrible that I had disturbed them.

I wiped the beads of sweat off my forehead and tried to catch my breath. "I'm sorry." I breathed. "I'm sorry."

I longed for my necklace. To see my loves faces again in a peaceful picture and not in a distorted nightmare. The girls gave me sympathetic looks. They understood what I had endured. Once I had caught my breath, we all resumed sleeping.