Our Broken World

Chapter 14

Rick and his family greet us kindly, but eerily, and invite us to sit down around the table.

''Welcome to dinner. I hope the rooms are to your liking,'' Rick says, smiling.

''Yeah, they're ... they're great,'' I respond.

''They're something else,'' Adds Benson.

''I haven't slept in a room like that ... well never actually. I didn't even have such a big room before the wars,'' I say.

''Well, I'm glad you like them. We like to keep them all tidy and stocked in case anyone comes by and becomes our guest,'' He says, like having guests is a perfectly normal thing for them. Like it happens every day.

''Where are my manners, let me introduce my family. This is my wife, Deborah. And our children, Ruby and Oliver,'' He says and points to the teens on his left.

The girl has long dark brown hair, tied together at the back of her head in an almost-too-neat ponytail. Her eyes are almost unnaturally big and dark. She's smiling so widely that I think her skin might rip. She looks younger than me, around 17 I'd say.

The boy looks even younger, around 14 or 15 years old. His hair is also quite dark and he's staring at us with his brooding, dim eyes wide open, like he's looking at the eighth wonder. He's smiling unnaturally too.

The woman, who is Rick's age, has short, wavy hair and kind, but tired eyes. You can see that she's older, but her skin is holding on pretty well. She almost has no wrinkles whatsoever, like she's on some kind of rejuvenating treatment. She, unlike the kids who are quiet, welcomes us with a few simple words.

In the world before the apocalypse, they would've been a perfect white rich family, living in a mansion like this. Now, in this defective world after the wars, they're just extremely creepy and weird.

I am pulled out of my uncomfortable thoughts by Deborah, who says: ''Welcome, welcome to our home. Please go ahead, serve yourselves. Dig in.''

Before anyone can add anything, Benson, TJ and Blast are stuffing themselves with food.

I try to be a bit politer and slowly serve myself some food from the table. It all looks delicious. There's baked and mashed potatoes there, grilled vegetables, that look extremely big, some syrups and different kinds of meat. I wonder where and how they got it all. But honestly, right now I don't care. My stomach growls in hunger and I really just want to dig in already.

''This all looks amazing. Where did you get all these vegetables?'' I ask and maintain my table manners by keeping myself from devouring all the food at once.

''We grow them,'' Deborah says and I almost choke on a piece of meat.

''You grow them? Where?'' I ask, stunned. Nobody grows vegetables these days. But this family seems to do and have a lot of things that are not usual for this broken world.

''In our garden in the back yard. It's well protected so that nothing can get in. Neither humans, nor animals. Or the Mixed for that matter. Those abominations don't scare us. We're well protected from them,'' She says and smiles.

I nod. ''And you have enough water to water them?''

''Of course. We get water from a nearby river. We set up a system that delivers water to the garden and the whole house. We also get our electricity from there. We have a small power plant that runs on water. But we also have a spare generator in the basement, so no worries. We've got everything we need,'' She says happily.

Wow. These people really do have everything figured out.

''And where are those men ... your guards?'' I ask.

''They eat and sleep in different rooms on the other side of the house. Like I said, they protect me, my family and our garden; in return I make sure they have a place to live and I put food on their table. But we do not live together.''

I nod. Yeah, there's no doubt in my mind anymore, this really is a perfect white rich family.

''You know, if you wish, you could join them. Join me. I would take care of you and all you'd have to do was keep my family safe. You obviously have the necessary skills,'' Rick adds, completely serious.

''And I'm sure they could teach you those skills as well. I would love a woman on my team. As my guard,'' He's still serious.

I look at him, surprised by the offer. He really wants us to stay as his guards? Even me? I don't know if I'm honoured or just weirded out.

''Sorry, but we can't,'' I say.

''Oh, very well then. You've got other obligations?'' He asks and looks at me.

''You could say that. We're going to New York. My brother was kidnapped and taken there by a gang some time ago. We're going to save him,'' I explain.

''Oh, I see. Well good luck on your journey then,'' He responds and smiles at me.

''Have you heard anything about New York? Anything that happens there? A show maybe?'' I'm curious. Any information I could get, would be useful.

''Only the rumours I've heard from people passing through here. But you know how it is these days ... people cannot really be trusted or believed,'' He says like that doesn't apply to them. Like they're an exception.

''What have you heard?'' I keep digging. Come on, please, give me something.

''Well, apparently they hold fights between humans and the Mixed. I think they are called The Gladiators or The Monster Slayers,'' He says.

''Both,'' I respond and he looks at me in surprise. He probably thought I didn't know anything about it.

I show him the flyer and he nods. ''Ah, yes. I've seen that. The best entertainment in the world just for us. I don't know why they would take your brother though. Are you sure it was them who took him?''

I never doubted that. I saw the flyer on the floor and saw the inscription on the car and just assumed they were the ones who took him. It was the only lead I had.

''Yes. I'm sure,'' I say confidently. ''They also took a man, a woman and another girl. Have you ever considered that maybe they ... kidnap people and force them to fight the Mixed?''

It is a perfectly understandable and believable explanation. I mean they clearly kidnapped those people against their will and took them to New York. Why else would they need them, but to make them fight the Mixed?

''I don't know. I haven't been there; I don't know what they're doing. I'm sorry I can't be of much help,'' He says kindly.

''It's okay. Thank you anyway. You've been kind enough,'' I respond and give him a wide smile.

''How did you find this place and set it all up?'' asks Dylan. Unlike my voice, there is no politeness and kindness in his. He's blunt and straight forward. And his poker face is on again.

Still, Rick smiles and explains: ''We've been here for a few years actually. We'd been wandering around for quite some time when we found it. We spent the night in it and we liked it. It was a good place to be in, in a good location, well hidden, so we decided we would fix it up and make a home. We knew what the dangers were and I'll be honest, we had quite some trouble keeping the Mixed and the humans out, the first few weeks. We had to be really quiet and sneaky. But we slowly managed to turn this place from a dump into a home. The boys came round soon after and I offered them the same proposal as I just did you. They accepted, became my guards and we've been living in peace since.'' 

It sounds like a fairy tale; very hard to believe it's true. But I see it with my own eyes. It is true.

We're all quiet for a moment, letting Rick's words settle in, trying to digest what we just heard.

Then Blast, who's stuffing himself with food and crunching it despite the awkward silence, says: ''The food's delicious. The meat especially. Do you hunt animals?''

''You could say that. We hunt the Mixed,'' Rick says and Blast drops a big chunk of meat out of his mouth.