3 comments/ 16761 views/ 14 favorites A Broken World By: scotjock1 "Tisha, you need to run. You have to run baby, for me please!" Tisha couldn't make sense of any of this, her mother pleading for her to run from their community, their home to safety from the attackers who had already murdered her father, John. Her mother, Sarah was pleading as she pushed the braided dreadlocks from Tisha's brown cheeks, as Sarah wept. "Mom, come with me please! I don't understand?" Tisha only understood, her community and town was under attack by a force of armed men who had murdered her friends, and their families in cold blood once they breached the town's walls. "I can't honey, someone has to distract them! To give you enough time to get out through the trap door, and as far away from the walls as you can get!" Tisha was weeping, she had only turned eighteen only weeks earlier but she still felt like a child as the thought of her mother leaving her made her heart quake. "Mom, please! I don't-don't understand." Sarah smiled, with tears in her eyes she kissed her daughter on her forehead. "You will in time honey, when you grow older and have your own children. You must find Mark McCreary, do you understand? He was a former Blue Beret, one of the survivalist regiment during the war. He's the only man I have ever trusted other than your father, and enough for you to go to him for shelter. He will protect you, he's a good man .The only man who I trust you to trust, believe me he will protect you." "Mom please, I wouldn't know where to begin to look for him. Come with me, we'll-we'll find him together." No matter how hard she tried, Tisha couldn't stop the stammering as she became more and more upset. "Oh sweetie, you'll find him. Look for him in the town of Red Ridge, it's on the outskirts of the city. Once you get there, ask around for him. If he's still the resourceful man I knew him as, he'll find you very quickly." The city she referred to were the ruins of Chicago, and the town of Red Ridge was a community founded on it's fringe outskirts where a battle during the war was once fought, and it became known as Red Ridge. Tisha knew of the town, her mother had always made sure what direction she had to follow to get there and not it was clear why she had done this all her life. In case something happened, she could find her way there and find Mark. Sarah gently pressed her forehead against her only daughter's, and breathed hard as the biggest, heart wrenching decision she'd ever make in her life was now. "I love you so much, Tisha. You've grown up so much, I know you'll find him and you'll live on and become a mother someday in a better world than this one." Tisha was crying with her mother, when a loud bang on the door of their home was heard. "Someone's inside here, break the door down!" A voice called out, and Sarah knew this was one of the attackers coming to murder her and her daughter. "You need to go now!" Sarah shoved a knapsack into Tisha's hands, it was filled with supplies including food and water as well as a first-aid kit and a survival knife. "Mom please!" But Sarah was thinking of her daughter, as she picked up a pistol from the night stand and pushed it sideways, to reveal an opening in the wall. It was a tunnel hidden away that went straight through the town's security wall, and would land her outside through some bushes into the nearby forest. "Go, baby girl!" Tisha was shoved down and through the hole, where she got one last look of her mother's beautiful auburn hair and dark skin, before the hole was blocked once more by the night stand, and there was darkness in front of her. Tisha was crying, trying to keep her voice down as she heard the sound of crashing wood, from the door of the house being forced open. "There she is!" A voice called, a man's voice. "You won't take me alive, you sons of bitches!" There was a flurry of shots, that rang out as she assumed her mother was shooting at the intruders. "Bitch!" There was sound of automatic gun fire, from a rifle or sub-machine gun. Then there was no sounds of single shots, from her mother. Tisha held back the tears, and cries as she knew her mother was either dead or close to death. She remembered what her mother had told her, and turned in the darkness in the small tunnel to crawl in the other direction towards the exit on the other side of the wall. The journey was short, eventually she came out in the dark night and as she crawled onto her feet she turned to see the tall walls of her community. She was outside of the security fence, and out in the open. She held the knapsack to her chest, before pulling it over her shoulders as she looked out in the darkness and saw what looked like trees in the distance, the same forest she had been in once picking apples with her parents. The same forest she knew, that on the other side of was the direction towards the town of Red Ridge. She began to run into the distance, towards the trees hoping none of her attackers saw her fleeing and followed her. Into the night she ran, unaware of what time it was or how many hours she had been travelling through the forest. Eventually the sunrise came, and within another hour she came out of the forest seeing remnants of a road that led towards Red Ridge. Turning around she looked to see if anyone was following her, before following the road. She finally stopped along a wooden fence that followed the road, to breath and take a mouthful of water from a bottle in her knapsack. It wasn't long before the thoughts of her mother and father came to mind, that brought her to tears once more on the deserted road. "Mark, Mark McCreary! Why mom, why do I seek him out? Can I even trust him?" There was no one to answer her question, she was simply voicing her questions her mother never answered for her before her death. She was wearing the same clothes she had slept in only hours ago. Wearing the simple flannel pyjama bottoms, and a small white t-shirt she wore to bed. She had slipped on her shoes, before her mother had dragged her to the room where the tunnel was hidden. She opened her knapsack, and found that her mother had packed some clothes inside. She pulled out a simple, black jacket that had been stitched together so many times, with patches of different materials and thread. She pulled it on over her t-shirt, not feeling exposed as much now and much warmer than before. It wasn't much, but it was the same jacket she had seen her mother thread together at home for her, and reminded her of her parents. She held it close, as she followed the road to Red Ridge once more, wiping her tears away. A Few Hours Later, The Town of Red Ridge A few more hours had passed, as Tisha had passed places once called towns now deserted or destroyed. She eventually found herself looking up at a gate, that led into Red Ridge. It was man-made with slabs of concrete, barbed wire and even the bodyworks of cars used to strengthen the wall. In a mixture of signs taken from shops, or stores the name 'RED RIDGE' was above the gate. There were two armed men, with rifles standing near the gate. They were wearing green fatigues, with hunting equipment, including body armour and such. One saw Tisha approach, and wolf-whistled at her. Tisha knew she had a woman's body, most of the men in her community looked at her as did boys her own age. She was quite petite, with an impressively, large chest and firm, muscular legs she earned from working in the fields and farms her town had. "Well, look what comes to us." The two men laughed, staring at Tisha. She stood in front of the men eventually, and breathing hard looked at them and spoke. "I'm looking for a man." One of the two men, a blonde man holding what looked to be a hunting rifle laughed. "Well I'm a man, what you got in mind?" Tisha sighed, and spoke once more. "I'm looking for a man named Mark, Mark McCreary here in Red Ridge?" The two men exchanged looks, and then slowly turned back to Tisha. "Why are you looking for him?" The blonde man asked her. "My reasons are my own." The blonde guard sighed, and nodded. "He usually hangs around the local bar, called Fatal Concoction. If he'll be anywhere he'll be there, at about this time." Tisha nodded, and asking for directions was told where to go exactly in the town before they let her through the gate. She noticed the entire town was either man-made or build around a few existing buildings, that survived the war. She was born after the war, after the virus that followed afterwards. So she knew nothing really of the old world personally, but her mother told her stories of what it was like. How buildings once were, how the city of Chicago was once a place she visited every month with her parents and how busy it was. Now it was a wasteland, ruins since the war that ended twenty years ago. Since the end of the world, new towns and such sprang up all over the new world and Red Ridge was one of them. The Battle of Red Ridge, was not really documented but her mother was around when it happened; it was a pitched battle between remnants the US Army, that had returned from the war overseas to fight a home-grown threat of Ultra nationalist Americans, known also as the Rebels who wanted to bring down what was left of the American government in their bunkers. The battle lasted almost twenty four hours, but eventually the Rebels came out on top as the winning side. What was left of the US Army, fled and tried to reach Washington D.C. But no one could ever prove what happened to them. The Ultra nationalist army didn't have long to celebrate their victory, when the EC-10 virus hit what was left of the world, and most of their forces soon died from it. Only a reported 10% of the entire world's population were naturally immune to it. As Tisha walked passed stalls sending wares, and shops selling food and even weapons she soon found the Fatal Concoction bar, nestled between two recently man-made buildings made from scrap, and it was itself located in one of the old buildings from before the war. The door was open, both of them for patrons coming in and out and as she walked inside a groggy, drunk man was checking her out. She ignored him, and went inside. The place was seedy, obviously a dive for drunks and with woman of ill-repute selling their bodies in the corners of the bar to men. She slowly, and cautiously made her way to the bar where a blonde girl looked over at her. "What can I get you, honey?" Tisha nodded. "I'm looking for a man, named Mark McCreary." The blonde woman looked dumbfounded, and was about to walk away along the bar. "Wait, he was a blue beret." At that the blonde woman came over to her, and in angry voice spoke over to Tisha. "Never say that, don't even say their name." Tisha looked around, but no one had overheard her since the bar had got working music playing in the bar. "What, the blue berets?" The blonde woman was grinding her teeth. "Yes, that! Keep your voice down, and sit. I'll send him over, the beer is on the house." The blonde woman said quietly, as she took a glass bottle from under the table and handed her it. It was chilled, obviously from an ice box below the bar. Tisha had never tasted alcohol before, her community frowned upon it, even though some of it's members did brew their own and share it out at special events. She looked at the brown coloured bottle, and brought it to her lips and took a sip. The taste made her wince, it was bitter but seeing as it was her first she continued to drink it as she waited. A few songs had played on whatever system the bar was using, and Tisha wondered if the blonde bar maid had actually gone to get Mark or if she was lying. She put down the empty beer bottle, when she felt a man behind her standing over her. "I hear you've been asking about me?" Tisha shivered at his voice, and slowly turned in her chair to look at the man. The man was tall, about 5'11 and quite built with muscular arms and chest. He was wearing a frayed grey hooded-top that was torn in places and urban combat trousers. He had his hood down, and she saw he had dark brown hair, and brown eyes with a stubble beard across his jaw. "You're-you're Mark McCreary?" Tisha was stammering as she asked her question. "Yes, now why in the hell have you been asking for me girl?" She shuddered, he was angry at being called for by someone he didn't know. "I'm Sarah Conrad's daughter, Tisha." His dark eyes took a moment, but they soon softened hearing her say her mother's name. "You're Sarah's daughter, where is she?" Tisha felt the tears in her eyes again, but she didn't want to cry in front of this man or the bar. "She's dead, she was murdered as was my father." Mark was shocked, looking deep into her eyes as if confirming she was telling the truth. "The community was attacked?" Tisha nodded. Mark sighed, and looking around him cautiously he turned to her. "We need to talk somewhere more quiet, away from prying ears. Come with me." He turned, but now it was Tisha's turn to get answers and she stayed in her seat. "No, not until you tell me how you and my mother knew each other. She sent me here, with your name and the blue berets, telling me I could trust you over anyone else. Why?" Mark wasn't happy, and looked around hoping no one heard the mention of the 'Blue Berets' or any of their conversation. "You're mother and me were close, intimately." Tisha wanted to know more. "But my father--" "This was well before your mother met your father, I promise you. She loved that man, she made that much clear to me." Tisha stood from her seat, with her knapsack in hand. "You and my mother, were together?" Mark nodded solemnly, as if talking about Sarah was a cautious topic for him. "For how long?" Mark gritted his teeth, these questions were getting tedious and personal. "For a few months, I found her after the EC-10 virus hit the East Coast, and we travelled together for a while. We protected one another, and eventually she left me once she found out about your community in it's early months being set up. I told her it was a chance for her to find some place actually safe, to live and survive instead of out here." Tisha nodded, and had one final question for him. "Did she ask you, to come with her?" Mark stared directly into Tisha's eyes, and sighed loudly. "Yes, but I said no. No more questions, not here anyway. Come one." He almost growled the last words at her. Tisha knew not to push the subject any more with Mark, and followed him to a nearby door, he unlocked it with a key and shoved it open. Tisha followed him in slowly, and he closed it behind him. "Come on, up the stairs." Mark growled, nodding at a staircase. Tisha followed Mark up the stairs, to another door marked with graffiti. He unlocked it, but not with a key but a hidden wire sticking out of the wall nearby. Pulling on it, the door opened an inch. He took hold of the door frame and opened it fully. Tisha noticed it had no door handle or knob. Inside, Tisha saw the room was sparsely decorated with a mattress in the corner of the room and a what looked to be an old stereo system hooked up to a car battery, and a bookshelf piled high and messily with many books. There were candles, that looked to have been burning for a while now down to only an inch or two of wax left. In the centre of the room, not far from the bookshelf or the stereo system was a worn, and torn couch. Mark closed the door behind her, and reconfigured the wire system he used to open it in the wall before turning to her. "Go sit." Tisha nodded, and sat down on the sofa at the far right end of it, as Mark sat at the other end. "So the community, what happened?" Tisha put aside her bag, somewhat feeling safe in Mark's room. It had everything to keep him focused, music he could listen to, books he could read and a warm bed. He either owned the bar, or just lived above it. "We were attacked, in the middle of the night. By armed men, they came in trucks and cars. They broke through our walls, and they started killing everyone, even my dad." "Without provocation, I mean did they seem like raiders? Were they stealing anything, while this all happened?" Tisha couldn't remember, other than being woken up by her mother and looking out of her bedroom window into the courtyard she hadn't seen the men stealing from any of the houses. "Not that I saw, no." Mark nodded, and brought his hands to his face. "Anything else, anything particular about what they were wearing? Any specific kind of uniform, or clothing they wore?" Tisha tried to remember, when she looked out of her bedroom window when her mother woke her she saw one of the men walk past her window and remembered he was wearing an insignia on his arm, it was separate from his clothing. More like an armband with the insignia on it. "An insignia, on their armbands they wore. A solid red circle, inside a hollow red triangle on black armbands." Mark brought his face slowly from his hands. "The Circle, I fucking knew they hadn't gone and died off somewhere." Tisha was surprised, John knew of these men who attacked the compound. "Who are the Circle?" Mark turned and looked into Tisha's eyes, and sighed. "Religious fanatics, they've been around since the war ended and through the EC-10 virus outbreak. They're not raiders, or thieves. They believe in end-of-days horse shit, that everyone should have died through the war and by the time the virus had died off, no one should have lived. Seeing as ten percent of the world lived, they believe it's their mission to kill off everyone else who lived to cleanse the world. It's crazy nonsense." Tisha didn't understand the motive behind the Circle's reign of murder and terror, if they themselves had lived and survived the virus then eventually they'd have to die themselves to see their goal come to it's conclusion. "But they themselves live, how can their mission be complete if they live themselves?" "Ah they believe that if they kill themselves in mass suicide, once everyone else is dead they'll join God at his side in heaven, or wherever they fucking think they go to once they die." Mark stood and paced across the floor from the bookshelf back to the couch. "My mother and father died, because of these fucking freaks thinking they have to kill everyone in the world, for God's plan to be realised?" It wasn't a question, it was an angry statement that she shouted out before breaking down in tears on the couch. Mark didn't know what to do in these circumstances, with a crying woman and stood there trying to think of what to say. "Tisha, your parents died to get you out to safety. To them their deaths were worth the cost in saving their only daughter's life." A few moments passed, of silence broken just by Tisha's cries before she finally calmed enough to speak. "Who the hell are the Blue Berets?" Mark knew there was no point in lying to Tisha, since she already knew about him and her mother's relationship with him. "We were chosen from those the government knew would survive, our blood tests proved we were immune to the EC-10 virus. I was fresh from the Russian Campaign, me and our Marine unit returned from the front when we heard of the Ultra nationalist threat that was growing back here at home. But once we docked on the East Coast, I was taken away and given a blood test. It must have shown I was immune to the virus, and so I was detached from my unit and sent to an undisclosed base somewhere, if I can guess right it was near New York. There me and about forty other men and women from the armed forces, were told because we had shown immunity to the virus that we were going to be trained to be part of a new unit, separate from the military and independent should the American government fall." A Broken World Ch. 01 You are Camdra Abott, a 19 year old guy studying Physics and maths at college. You are just shorter than average height, with short curly brown hair and blue eyes. Though you do have a well built body and a charming personality (well you believe you do) you have always found it difficult to make friends and therefore are relatively unknown to most of the people who you spend time with. You have often commented that your only two skills are martial arts and physics, and this is absolutely true: you have trained in ancient martial arts for your entire life and therefore know how to, through intense concentration, effect the world around you, a power which has been sometimes been called magic. You are a very solitary guy, and you prefer to spend most of your time training your martial arts in an unused dojo not far from your home, and as such have only a single friend and no close relationship with any of your family. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* A familiar annoying wakeup call shakes you out of your sleep. A slow turn of your head shows you that there is some glowing thing floating by your bed. Slowly this resolves itself into an alarm clock display showing numbers that suggest that the time is 7:00, wake-up time according to the alarm. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Be* SMACK. With the alarm clock taken care of, you clamber out of bed and jump in the shower. As the hot water runs over your body, you feel the fog of sleep clear from your head. Holding out your hand you focus your mind on the water falling towards your hand and whisper to yourself a few words to help your concentration. "no unda" With this the water above your palm stops its fall and floats suspended above your hand, the spherical balls reminding you of little crystals. Your mind wanders slightly and the water suddenly begins to fall again. Pleased with your abilities you finish washing and climb out the shower and get dressed. Moving downstairs you notice that once again both your parents have disappeared off to work, leaving you alone in the house, a situation that you spend most of your time in. Having spent most of your life without the company of any family you feel unconcerned at the absence of anyone and make yourself some breakfast. Checking the time again shows you the surprising figure of 7:43, and this figure also has the meaning of only 5 minutes before your morning college bus leaves. "Holy Shit!" You shout and dash around the house getting all your stuff. As you approach the bus stop you are relieved to see that, though the bus is already there, the long line of people getting on will hold it up long enough for you to get to it. As you run up to the queue you are greeted by a familiar male voice. "Yo Cam! Sure cutting it fine today aren't ya? I can't wait for the day you miss it entirely, you lazy git." The voice belongs to your only proper friend, a fellow martial artist by the name of William Halfpelt, a childhood companion and your sparring partner. Together with him you originally discovered your abilities to use this 'magic', though your power is greater (as he has often commented, it's over 9000). "So how you feeling this morning mate? Decided to drag your arse into college after all?" With that he playfully punches you on the arm, an action that that starts up one of your mock play-fights. You and he flick punches at each other for a few minutes before moving back to the queue and climbing onto the bus. You wave your pass at the driver before climbing up the stairs to the top deck of the bus. At this early stage in the morning the bus is virtually empty, and so you take a pair of seats at the back of the bus, and Will sits at the front next to his current girlfriend. You sit staring out of the window aimlessly, looking out into the cloudy countryside, coloured a dull grey by the lack of sunlight and the cold. Sighing you turn around to put your back against the window and spot a girl sitting opposite you. She has a great figure, your body instantly realises, and the short miniskirt and tight t-shirt just go to accentuate this fact. Long, silky black hair falls down her back and from looking at her face and legs you can tell she is rather pale-skinned. As you look up her legs you notice with a distinct pleasure that her position of seating has drawn up her already short skirt to nearly expose her arse. Pulling up your knees to your chest to hide any potential embarrassment you continue to observe the girl. She turns her head toward you so you look away, not wanting to be noticed to be staring. The bus journey drags on and on, and you keep glancing at the girl, maybe you could think of something to do to pass the time? Deciding that teasing this girl will be much more enjoyable than staring out the window you turn your head and take another long look at her. The tight t-shirt she is wearing displays her ample breasts nicely, so you decide to start there. Obviously doing anything noticeable will get you in a whole pile of trouble, so you decide to make good use of your 'magic' abilities. A little bit of telekinesis would be perfect in this situation. Focusing your mind on the desired goal, you whisper a few words to yourself: "trucido pectus" Then with another quick flick of your mind, you attach the telekinetic hand's feeling to your real one, and then send it over to the girl. As you position the hand over her breast you squeeze, feeling the softness of her. The girl jumps at the sudden feeling and looks around in slight panic before settling down again. You decide to give another squeeze with your telekinetic hand and the girl jumps again, though slightly less this time. After she settle down you continue to massage her breast, and the girl settles down and takes it, the only indication that you are doing anything is a slight blush spreading across her cheeks, and a slight increase in her breathing rate. You pick up your massaging, beginning to properly knead her big tits, and the girls breathing increases in response, her heavy chest rising and falling with each breath. You are glad you are sitting at the back, out of view of most people, as the girl would probably be noticed otherwise, and that would ruin your fun. Seeing the girl begin to enjoy this so much gives you an idea. The girls shifting has hiked up her short skirt even more, you notice on further inspection. Your curiosity of what lies under that piece of fabric rises, and you decide to take a little look. Again resorting to the magic you have so meticulously trained yourself in, you focus your mind to craft a difficult spell. With the image of your intended result fixed in your mind you whisper a string of words, "patefacio meus visum quod permissum mihi animadverto" With this you close your eyes, and open your magical ones. A front-on vision of the girl greets you, almost as if you were sitting right in front of her. You slowly move your vision down her body until you are nearly beneath her, and are looking up at her crossed legs. Moving your telekinetic hands down her body you grip her legs and gently push them open. The girl doesn't resist even in the slightest, and eagerly spreads her legs for you, obviously your earlier groping has excited her, even though she is unaware of its source. Lifting up her tiny skirt you can see a small pair of lacy black panties, which you promptly grip and pull off. You push the girls legs further apart and lift her skirt up higher, completely exposing her pussy to your probing hands. You slowly move your hands up the inside of her thighs, and by the increase in the breathing of the girl it's obvious she can feel your hands as well. A glistening on the lips of her pussy tell you that she is extremely aroused by your exploration, and perfectly ready for your next move. As your hands touch her slick pussy you begin to massage the outer lips, eliciting a gasp from the girl. You continue to tease her slit, taking pleasure in the fact that the girl keeps pushing her hips forward in an attempt to make your hands finish the work that they started. You decide to finally follow her suggestion and move your right hand to press into the top of her pussy, searching for her hard little nub of flesh that will bring her to an orgasm. A sudden jerk from the girl, accompanied by a loud gasp tells you that you have found her clit, and with this knowledge you start massaging and working the sensitive little bud, making the girl have to cover her mouth to prevent any loud noises betraying her to the surrounding bus. Focusing your mind you modify the shape of your left hand into that of a rounded tube about an inch and a half in diameter, with ridges up its length, and bring it up to the girls pussy lips. Poking her hole with the telekinetic dildo you let the girl prepare herself for the large object. You begin to push the dildo into the girl's soaking slit, making her emit a muffled gasp, a gasp that is repeated as each ridge slides into her slippery core. You begin to slide the dildo in and out of her slit, whilst using the other telekinetic hand to continue rubbing her clit. The dual pleasuring that you are administering to the girl, coupled with the eroticness of the public place, rapidly bring the girl to her climax, and her tight cunt begins to spasm around your dildo, her body shaking and her hand clasped firmly over her mouth, letting only muffled moans sneak out. Her convulsions soon cease, and she collapses down, spent from your attentions, and you dismiss the summoned appendages. Opening your actual eyes you look over at the slightly dishevelled and exhausted looking girl opposite and smile to yourself, this wasn't such a boring bus journey after all. Looking back out the window you notice you are approaching the college grounds, and the bus journey is nearly over. A Broken World Mark paced over to the couch once more, before sitting down on it. "We were told our unit would be trained over the next three to four weeks, in expert training of survivalist subjects and such. Everything from how to repair vital equipment we'd perhaps use in the wasteland, to how to find and forage for food and pretty much basic politics if we found ourselves forming factions, or joining one. Everything we could ever come across in terms of surviving the new world, once the virus died off that is. We were told we'd be referred to as the Blue Berets, first of the Survivalist Regiment. I assume they hoped to train more people up, but by the end of the third week most of the staff who were not immune to the virus had died. We were left, and by that time we all split up, taking our training and skills away with us in different directions." Tisha wanted to know, why even speaking of the Blue Berets seemed to be dangerous when their mission was actually one with good intentions. "Why do people not like to talk about the Blue Berets? I mean your mission, wasn't an evil one." Mark smiled. "While our mission was good in intention, when we all went our separate ways some of those I trained with went onto abuse their training, their skills and became powerful. Some founded brutal factions, and eventually most people assumed all Blue Berets were twisted and evil. It's why I hide that I was ever a Blue Beret to begin with, probably why Whitney behind the bar probably scolded you when you asked about them." "But a few bad apples, doesn't make you all bad. People must know that." Mark smiled again, at how naïve and innocent Tisha sounded to him. Her community had brought her up to never judge everyone by just one person's actions. But the truth of the new world, was to be associated with something like the Blue Berets made everyone cautious and suspicious about you. "That's not how it works out here honey, the sooner you realise that the better it will be for you." Mark stood up, and crossed the room to the stereo system and Tisha saw him pull something out from behind the system. It was a glass bottle, and he picked up two small tumbler glasses, and returned to the couch. She watched him open the bottle, that looked half empty and poured himself a glass of what looked to be brown liquid. "You want one?" Tisha swung her head, she was already light-headed from the beer she was given and knew not to drink anymore. Mark nodded, and put the bottle on the floor next to his feet and drank from his glass. He cringed, but continued to drink. It must have been foul, strong alcohol in Tisha's mind. "Your mother was a good woman, I can see some of her in you. The eyes, the hair. She was a good woman." Tisha nodded, feeling a bit uncomfortable talking about her mother. "Did you love her?" Mark had the glass to his lips, but momentarily stopped to look over the brim of the glass at Tisha. "I did. I loved her a lot." He swallowed what remained in his glass, in one mouthful. Tisha looked around the room once more, and wondered what had become of Mark. Why did he let her mother leave, when she had asked him to come with her to the community? "So what do you do? I mean here in Red Ridge?" Mark filled his glass again, and drank. "Work here and there, I supply the bar with electricity through charging car batteries, and I scavenge for things outside of town and sell them. I also do a bit of intelligence work for the town, make sure the Circle, and bandits never get too close without us knowing about it so we can shore up our defences." Tisha nodded. "If you loved my mother so much, why did you leave her and let her go?" Mark whistled, and drank from the glass heartedly. "There's not a single day that goes by, that I don't regret what I did that day. Since then, I always ask myself why didn't I go with her. I should have, all I wanted in my life was a life with her. I regret what I did." The glass was empty, and Mark filled it again. Tisha could see he enjoyed his drinking. "So now what, I mean she sent me here to you because she trusted you. What I do now, my parents are gone." Mark grunted and looked at her. "I'll find you work in the bar, anyone can pull a drink. Keep your head down, and I'll have another mattress brought up here, and put in the next room. You can call that your home, and maybe start a life here." Tisha was furious, she wanted to scream and shout. "That's it! My mother and father die, and I'm just expected to move on as if they never existed!" Mark laughed standing up, and downing the glass of alcohol with a wince as he looked down at her. "What, you want revenge on the Circle? You think that's what Sarah wanted for you, to go on a senseless vendetta for revenge? She wanted you to live Tisha, not to fucking die out here on some stupid mission of revenge. She'd want you to start living again, and if you can do it anywhere it's here in Red Ridge. You're not a kid anymore, so figure out what you want. I can't stop you going out there, and dying for your revenge. But I'd rather see you start a new life, and make your mother's sacrifice worthwhile." Mark took a moment looking at Tisha once more, and sighed. "I need to go down to the bar, make yourself comfortable. I'll see about that other mattress." Tisha didn't bother looking at Mark as he left, but heard the door shut behind him. She sat there for a few moments, letting the tears of anger and agony out while she had the chance being alone. Finally wiping the tears away, she stood up and walked over to the stereo system and fiddled with some buttons. Eventually a CD that was already in, came on and music played through the one speaker hooked up. She'd never heard music before like this, not electrical. It was always music played with instruments by members of her community, there were almost no electrical devices in the compound other than flash-lights. It was heavy, moody, she saw a faded CD box on top of the stereo system and picked it up. It read Alice In Chains, and showed a very dark cover of a person in dirt laying on the floor. Walking around the room, she looked at the bookshelf and saw that Mark had books of every kind. She remembered her mother kept some books of her own, and they were a mixture of children's books she told Tisha she had collected and read to her when she was a child. But Mark's bookshelf, had books ranging from technical manuals on fuel, electricity, basic repair to books on military history, and even some fictional books. Tisha was angry, but now being alone she felt tired, and aching for the warmth of a bed. She looked over at Mark's mattress in the corner of the room, the blanket pulled back to show it was clean from a distance. She crossed over to it, and thought about Mark telling her to make herself comfortable. She needed to sleep, even for a few hours and lay down pulling the blanket over her for warmth. She didn't want to think about her parents, or she would cry once more so quickly she fell asleep letting the dull darkness take over. In her mind, over and over again in her dreams she heard her mother repeating the same thing she had when she sent Tisha away. 'He's the only man I have ever trusted other than your father.' Eventually, her dreams were void of anything and she slept restfully. * (All comments, and feedback is appreciated so feel free to leave some in the comments section.)