Georgette slowly stepped from the car, her hands up above her head. The man prodded her with the barrel of the gun and said
"Walk to the building." Georgette looked up to see a long trailer set back a couple feet from the road. Ahead of her was Candice, also with a gunman behind her and one in front of her. She frantically looked around for a way to escape. Before she knew it she was being shoved through the door of the trailer. They were in a kitchen which was lit by candles set up on the table. They were being patted down for weapons when Georgette found the courage to speak up.
"Who are you?" The man who had been prodding the gun into her back looked at one of the other men before saying
"What do you want?" Candice spoke next
"We were just passing through, we mean no harm."
The man still held his gun up at them, his serious expression seemed to be set in stone. "Where do you come from?"
"Just up the road," said Georgette, "Maybe two hours from here, we are just trying to get out of Wyoming. Please don't hurt us, if there's a problem we'll be on our way." The man lowered his gun.
"Do you have supplies with you?" Georgette wasn't sure she should tell them. What if they took everything and left them for dead? Either way they would probably search the car and find it all.
"We do," said Georgette. Trying to help their chances of survival she said "We can share some of it with you if you're short, we have a lot to spare. I'm not even sure we need the majority of it." She started nervously babbling. "All I need is some antibiotics for this." She slowly unwrapped the bullet wound. The man looked over at the the other two again, in some kind of silent communication. He turned back to her.
"Have you ever traveled through Cheyenne?" Georgette shoke her head
"Like I said, we're just passing through, trying to get to the East coast."
"We've got a colony of over a thousand people here, we're extremely secure. We've got high walls, fresh food, everything. We guard the city, make sure nobody tries to overtake it."
"What other group has over a thousand people?" asked Georgette. That many people together had to be a rare occurrence.
"You'd be surprised," said the guard, "Ever since the end people have found each other, banded together in bigger groups. People aren't scattered like they used to be." Georgette felt excited
"Can you take us to the city!" The man looked apprehensive. "Please!" she said, "I just need to get patched up, then we'll be on our way. We can even work out a trade. You fix up my arm and I'll give you a whole bag of medicine, food, you can have your pick."
"Alright," said the man, "We'll take you back with us, go get your bags." The girls ran back out the door.
"I knew it!" said Georgette, "I knew there had to be people here!"
"You were right, said Candice, grabbing bags from the backseat. Georgette tried to turn the car on but it was dead.
"Don't worry about that," she turned around to see the three men. One of them held the reins of three horses in his hands. He turned to the other two and told them to stay behind to continue keeping watch. She was impressed.
"How'd you tame them?" she asked, petting one of the horses on the nose.
"We've got people in our colony from all different backgrounds," said the man. "Horse trainers, veterinarians, it wasn't hard to catch a few of them and break them in." He handed a horse to each of them. Georgette had never ridden a horse before. It'd couldn't be that difficult. She put one foot in the stirrup and tried to hoist herself up. She failed miserably. She tried to swing her leg over the other side, lost her balance and fell back onto the ground. She heard the man let out a laugh and shot him a dirty look.
"Never ridden a horse before," she said, standing up and dusting herself off. She tried it again and managed to get herself in the saddle. The man took the lead, after him was Candice. Her horse seemed to want to follow the others so it turned and followed close behind Candice's. It was only sprinkling out now but it was getting colder. She couldn't wait to get inside again.
It was about a five minute ride to reach the gates. Georgette was amazed. The gates were tall wooden slabs with thick walls made of old vehicles, tires, and other junk surrounding it. The man saw Georgette's amazed expression.
"It took years to build, I was part of the first thirty people who came here. We stayed in the top floor of one of the bigger buildings while we worked on it. New people kept arriving, looking for a place to settle. We accepted them, knowing there was strength in numbers." Georgette looked up to see people walking around the top of the wall, scrambling to get the gate open for them. It started to creak open. The town looked beautiful to Georgette. It was clean. There were no bodies or guts anywhere. The buildings didn't look broken down or out of shape. It looked like what she would imagine a city used to look like before the end.
"No one's out right now cause it's nearly night and it's raining," he said, "But tomorrow you'll see what it's really like." Tomorrow? Surprised, she said
"You're letting us stay?"
"We can get your arm fixed tonight and then see you off tomorrow," he said, "You seem like good people and I would invite you to stay but you said you're headed somewhere."
"To the east coast," said Georgette, "Georgia specifically."
"That's really far off," said the man, "What for?"
"We have family there," said Georgette, "Gotta see if we can find them." The man nodded and said
"Well I hope you get there," He stopped in front of a large brick building. "I'll introduce you to our president, she's a nice lady, she can work something out with you about the trade." They dismounted the horses and tied them to a post outside before going in. The room was big and well lit by candles. They followed the man to a door on the right. He knocked and a voice from inside told him to come in. He opened the door. Sitting at a desk was a woman. She was middle-aged had curly blonde hair and brown eyes behind a pair of glasses. She smiled and said
"What is it Tom?"
"Found these two at the border, they are just passing through." Georgette spoke up
"We're headed east but I've been hurt pretty bad," she revealed her arm, "And I was wondering if you could help me out in exchange for some of our supplies."
"We can do that," she said, "What do you have with you?" Georgette opened one of the bags and dumped out the medication on the woman's desk. She looked through them and sorted them out. "This will do," she said. "Our hospital is run twenty four hours a day so you can head over there right now, I'll have rooms arranged for you." Feeling grateful she said
"Thank you so much."
Beth walked into the village's store. Well it wasn't exactly a store, it was a place people could go if they needed anything. It was all free stuff. It was constantly kept in stock by the everyday runs people went on. They had clothes, medicine, food, and one specific thing Beth had come for. She searched the shelves, and found what she was looking for on the bottom shelf. She slipped the little blue box into her pocket and headed back outside.
She pulled her coat tighter around her in the cold winter air. She knew she had time to figure everything out. Daryl was out on a run and she had asked Angela to watch the girls for an hour. She got back to the cabin and went inside. Without even taking her coat off she went into the bathroom. She broke open the box and pulled out the small stick inside.
Three minutes later she was sitting on the couch waiting, anxiously biting at her lip. She heard a knock at the door that made her jump in her seat. She hurried to the door. Angela was standing there with the girls.
"Hey Beth," said Angela, "We had a great time, brought them down to the park for a bit but it was too cold to stay out so we went back to my cabin and played some board games." Georgette pushed past her mom's legs and ran into the living room. Beth took Candice from Angela.
"Thanks for taking them," she said, "Had some things I had to get done." She said goodbye and then shut the door.
"Mommy when's daddy coming back?"
"Soon," she said. As if on cue Daryl came through the door, putting his crossbow down and unzipping his heavy winter coat.
"Daddy!" Georgette ran to him.
"Hey sweetheart," he said, picking her up and kissing her. "Did you have a fun day with Angela?"
"I did," she said, she squirmed out of his arms and ran over to her little wooden dollhouse in the living room. He came over to her and pulled her into a hug, pressing his lips onto hers.
"How was your day darlin'?" he asked, not letting her go.
"Good," she said. As much as she loved getting attention from her husband she was itching to get back into the bathroom. Georgette interrupted them and said "Will you play dolls with me daddy?" She saw Daryl wince a little bit. She laughed and said
"Go on tough guy, go play dolls." He gave her one last peck on the lips before he turned and went to sit with Georgette over in the corner. She usually liked to watch them. Georgette would make up these wild stories and have she and Daryl act it out with the dolls.
Candice started crying hungrily in her arms. Before she sat down on the couch to feed her she went into the bathroom and grabbed the stick which had been lying on the counter. She stuffed it into her pocket, not wanting to look at the results just yet. She cradled Candice in her arms, and brought down the sleeve on her right shoulder to let her breastfeed. When she was finished and Beth had burped her she brought her into the bedroom and placed her in her crib. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the pregnancy test. On it was a pink plus sign. A rush of excitement came over her. She had not planned for another baby so soon after Candice but it was exciting. It would be challenging with two babies to look after and Georgette but she had Daryl to help her. In a couple weeks the village would be celebrating Christmas. Although know one knew the exact date anymore, they always celebrated it after the snow started coming. She'd tell Daryl then, it would make an awesome gift.
Georgette left the hospital feeling much better. The doctor had given her medication, cleaned out the wound and properly bandaged it for her. Candice saw her coming and said
"Feel better?"
"Much better," said Georgette, "So where do we go next?"
"Tom said there'd be someone outside waiting to show us to our rooms. The girls went back out into the cold air. There was a woman waiting for them under the awning. She saw them coming and asked
"Are you Georgette and Candice?" They nodded and she said "I'll show you to your rooms." They followed her into a four story brick building next door. The place had clearly been an apartment building or hotel. They took two flights of stairs up and then followed the woman down a long hallway. She came to a door, unlocked it for them and handed Candice the key. "If you need anything just go down to the lobby, there's always someone on duty."
"Thanks," said Georgette. The two girls then went inside. The room was lit with candles. There were two beds, a bathroom and a small living area with a couch and desk.
"This is perfect," said Georgette, "They're so nice to take us in."
"You don't think they're gonna come and slaughter us in the middle of the night?" asked Candice. Georgette laughed and said
"No, they had the chance to kill us back on the road." Candice shrugged and Georgette said "It's gonna be fine." She paused for a moment and then said "I just wish we'd known about this place before Angela was killed."
"She was happy living in the country," said Candice, "She wouldn't of liked it here." A sad silence fell over the room. Without talking anymore they settled in, blowing out the candles and getting into bed.
Thanks everyone for reviewing :) Big thanks to BetweenTwoPoints for giving me great feedback! It's great to have other writers and readers help you improve your writing. If anyone else wants to post constructive criticism don't be afraid too. :) I'll be going away early Friday morning and I might be able to get one more chapter out tomorrow but if not I'll post next Friday or Saturday when I get back. Thanks again and Bethyl on!