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Before long, the woods ended, opening out onto what had once been a beautiful area. It looked almost like a park, with large old-growth trees and hilly, grassy fields spotted with wildflowers. Closer inspection showed that the flowers were interspersed with tall weeds and bramble-bushes that made the going difficult.
“There’s a road up ahead,” John explained. “It leads into the community. You can’t really walk through the field—we let it grow wild to discourage people and keep the monsters away.”
Rachael nodded, following silently as they made their way down across the edge of field to the road. Beyond the wall of green forest was a wide space of cleared land and the walls of the town of Happy Valley. Ten feet high and the color of a sunwashed peach, those walls looked solid and reliable, as if to say that, yes, there is safety here. She could see a few guards walking along the top of the wall and standing on either side of a big double-gate that had once been decorative wrought iron but which was now backed by lashed timbers on the inside.
The open space was empty of orcs, which surprised her. No wanderers, no throng of them trying to claw their way in. Either the town was so remote that the dead simply had no reason to come here, or the residents were diligent about clearing them out. In either case, the residents of Happy Valley had managed to create the perfect siege castle, even if by fluke of nature. Rachael took mental notes. If they were going to build their community, they could learn from this.
The sun was low in the sky by the time they arrived, approaching a wide, tall wall covered in peach stucco bisected by a heavy metal gate. Rachael dropped back to have a few quiet words with Alice and Peter.
“We’ll see if they have enough beds for all of us, and tomorrow you two can head back to Brett.”
They nodded, and Rachael jogged ahead to catch up with John, who walked in the lead. “So tell me a little more about Happy Valley.” She kept her tone light, going for casual curiosity.
John smiled at her. “Well, we have a great community, a lot of wonderful residents, and volunteers who make sure that everything runs smoothly. A lot of good people. We all look out for each other, make sure that we can continue the quality of life we once had, even if the world out here has gone to shit. Pardon my language.”
“Do you know how many?”
John shrugged. “No clue. I don’t think we’ve done a count lately, and even if we did, I don’t have the numbers. Not my wheelhouse. Some people find us by accident, some on purpose. Some choose to stay, others leave.”
Rachael nodded, looking up at the gate as they stopped. John called out to someone out of sight, and the gate rolled slowly open.
Heart pounding in her ears, she stepped inside after him, stopping to make sure that all of her team followed, nodding at each of them and smiling at Tommy, who still clung to Alice’s hand like a lifeline. When the last of them entered, the gate rolled shut with a loud, somehow ominous clang.
Heather turned to the newcomers and smiled. “The council won’t be meeting tonight,” she said, “but we can get you some beds and a place to shower, and tomorrow we can show you around, introduce you. In the meantime, let’s get you folks settled.”
As the sun set, solar lights set in the ground glowed to life, giving the town a warm ambient glow and a feeling of home that Rachael hadn’t felt in quite some time. Many of the residents of Happy Valley were out and about; families on porches, sitting at picnic tables or just strolling. Men, women, and children, clean and well-dressed, looking at the newcomers curiously, whispering among themselves.
Rachael suddenly realized just how out of place they appeared, with their tattered superhero garb and armor and swords, covered in dirt and blood and sweat. She shifted the bag on her shoulders uncomfortably, taking care to smile at everyone who looked her way, but she hadn’t felt so self-conscious about how she looked since New York Comic Con, right before the shit hit the fan.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Tommy let go of Alice’s hand and ran past Rachael to a young couple out in front of one of the homes. The worried frowns that had marred their foreheads smoothed out when they saw their son. The couple scooped him up, hugging him close and kissing his head over and over with frantic joy.
Rachael’s heart hurt, watching that. As happy as she was for Tommy and his family, she would never have that reunion with her own parents. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she swallowed hard, looking down at the ground as she tried to compose herself.
A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her unwelcome thoughts. Alice gestured toward Heather, who had stopped in front of a beautiful two-story house. A veranda wrapped around the front and the lawn was well-tended, with purple flowers creating a splash of color against the cream-colored outer walls.
“You can stay here tonight,” said Heather. “There are enough beds for all of you.”
Rachael looked up at the house, her eyes wide.
It was beautiful and perfect. Too beautiful. Too perfect.
It was the sort of home you aspired to move into one day with your family, back in the world before; not the sort of home people could have in the world now.
It felt . . . wrong.
***
There were three bathrooms in the house, all bigger than her college dorm room. Rachael finally chose one, stripped off her armor and clothes, piling them to the side, and turned on the shower.
It had been months since she had a real shower, and she would have settled for a cold one. So when hot water streamed out of the showerhead, Rachael nearly dissolved in bliss. She scrubbed herself down with lilac scented soap, watching months of dirt swirl down the drain.
Drying herself off, she felt like a new person. Giving her clothes the same treatment—at least as best as she could with hand soap—she wrapped hersel
f up in an oversized towel the same cream color as the house, and picked out a bedroom, hanging her wet clothes over a chair.
Absently detangling her hair with her fingers, she leaned against the window, looking down at the street and the houses below.
This was what she wanted, a community like this that could thrive and survive. This is what they needed to build back home.
