Chapter 4
Forty-five minutes later
Heather shook hands with the North Tribe leader, Jerry Lee. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Heather, a pleasure as always. How did the meeting with the dome leaders go?”
“Good. They’re looking into the infrastructure ideas we have. That’s why we’re here, to look at the apartments that have been built so far.”
Jerry turned to Devlon, surprised to see him. “Commander, I wasn’t told you’d be visiting. Lily and your son Jared are here, giving more treatments.”
Lily was a wonderful woman who had lived in the tunnels with Maggie in Jerry’s tribe. His eldest son Jared had mated her. Devlon was thrilled about the match, and even more thrilled that he got an instant grandson, Lily’s small son Thomas.
Devlon looked around. “Yes, I knew that Jared would be here this week.”
He didn’t sound happy about it to Heather. Devlon was quite protective of his family. It was one of the qualities she admired most about him.
Heather had grown up in a small farming town, where girls were expected to live with their parents before they got married. Then they would leave to be with their husbands, who would help farm the land and produce more babies. She was the third of five children, who all helped their parents on their vegetable farm.
She’d met her husband, Mark, when he came through town. He was changing colleges so that he could move several states away. Mark was so full of energy and excited about his future in the big city. She was only seventeen, very naive about men, and pretty much everything really. He convinced her to run off with him, and they stopped in a state that allowed her to get married without her parent’s consent. Of course, her parents didn’t come after her to try to stop her. They just...let her go.
Heather thought that she would be able to go to school too, but Mark had other plans. He expected her to work to help put him through college first, always promising that once he graduated and got a job he would work to pay for her to go to college. It was all lies. He never planned for her to get an education at all. She at least got her GED, by taking computer courses at night.
Slowly over the years she discovered more and more lies about Mark. The more she discovered, the more she realized what a mistake she’d made. He was unfaithful to her through their entire marriage. Whenever she tried to confront him, he would deny it and then accuseherof cheating. The cheating wasn’t the worst of his sins, either — Mark was abusive both verbally and physically. She tried to call her mother, wanting someone to talk to. A part of her hoped that her daddy would get in the pickup truck and drive out to the city to get her and bring her home. Her mother just told her that she’d made her bed and now she had to lie in it.
At first she believed that she deserved what she got. She’d disobeyed her parents and run off with a stranger, so she didn’t deserve a happily ever after. It took a long time for her to realize that wasn’t true.
She had a miscarriage early on in the marriage, and he blamed her for it. She made sure to use protection from then on, to prevent getting pregnant. Heather was grateful that they’d never had children. No child should ever have to suffer in a loveless and abusive environment like that.
After years of hell, Heather couldn’t take it anymore. She saved up some money and moved out. But before she could file separation papers, he came around promising her that he’d changed and that he would do anything to get another chance.
She left him multiple times, and each time he would make some grand gesture, telling her that he’d changed. And stupid her, she took him back each time. After his last outburst put her in the hospital her, he was arrested, and she had time to really think about what she was willing to put up with. She’d almost died that last time. Going through something like that really opened a person’s eyes—her eyes were opened and she would never close them again.
The day her divorce was to be finalized she was on her way to court. Mark ambushed her at the subway station, begging for her to take him back. She knew it was just about the money; he didn’t want to pay her alimony. Nothing he could say would sway her. She was finally ready to move on with her life.
When the nukes hit, it was chaos. She was already in the subway when it happened but there had been others who’d warning from the news stations telling everyone to seek shelter at their nearest government domes, subways, or wherever they could. The military attempted to deflect the nukes to give people more time, but there was only so much that they could do.
The need to survive became more important than their differences. Mark’s controlling nature helped him acquire tribe leader status, but unfortunately, some things never changed. He was less physically abusive but started back with his cheating ways. It didn’t really matter, because she hadn’t had a sexual relationship with him in years. Technically they were still married; since the nuclear disaster happened they had no way to officially end their marriage. The best she could do was leave—and that’s what she did.
For the tribes, being thrown out of a tribe was almost a death sentence. A tribe offered shelter and protection, and everyone in the tribe helped gather food. To be kicked out was the worst punishment, and there was no guarantee that a person would find a way to survive without the aid of a tribe.
Heather felt like she was left with no other choice but to leave. She packed the few things she had and left Mark’s tribe. She kept expecting Mark to come after her, but he didn’t. He just...let her go. Everyone in her life had either walked away or allowed her to leave. No one cared enough to fight for her.
“Heather?”
She heard her name and startled. She hadn’t realized her mind had wandered off. She turned to face Devlon. “What?”
“Are you ready to view the apartments?”
“Yes.” She moved to follow him and Jerry.
They headed to a sidewalk on the other side of the tracks. It looked like the normal wall had been pushed back further, creating a type of courtyard. Buildings surrounded the courtyard on three sides. The right side had small structures under construction.
“Those are going to be our shops and markets for trade,” Jerry explained.
Heather was impressed. Talking about it and looking over plans on paper was one thing, but to see it start to take shape was something totally different. It felt real.They could do this.
The other two sides contained stacked apartments, with stairs leading up to the second level. “How many apartments do you have?”
