In Between Seasons

Chapter 18

There was one word to describe the army base of Hunter's Tribe—overkill. I never imagined something like this still existed in our world, and I couldn't even begin to fathom how it did. The only thought I could comprehend was it hadn't been obtained fairly, but then again, I was starting to feel nothing in this world was obtained fairly.

"This house is huge," I commented, leaning closer to Hunter when a woman pushed past us as we moved down a hallway. Her face didn't change as she quickly looked over me and continued on her way.

Hunter saw my chin tighten at her observance and slipped his hand into mine as he guided me towards the end of the hall.

"Wait until you see this, it's the kitchen—well, the community one," he said with a reassuring smile as we entered a room the size of one of the housing units at my Tribe. This kitchen put the kitchen in our dining hall to shame. Two six-burner stainless steel ovens sat on opposite sides of the room that was divided by two center islands with sinks in them. As if that wasn't enough, there was another sink on the back wall with two dish washers on either side. I walked through the room, running my fingers over the deep red wooden cabinets before letting my hand drop to the cool black and pink granite countertops. Opulence—it was the only word I could come up with to describe what I saw around me.

I turned to face Hunter and saw two large sets of stainless steel doors behind him. My jaw dropped.

"What are those?" I asked.

Hunter looked over his shoulder before glancing back at me with a smirk.

"One's a fridge, and the other is a freezer," he replied.

I walked past him and pulled open the fridge to step inside.

"Seriously?" I asked, my voice echoing inside the space. "Why is it so big?"

"We've got a lot of people to feed here," Hunter explained as his eyes ran over the same stacks of food I had just been gawking at.

"How many is a lot?"

Hunter shrugged. "Seventy plus."

"Seventy plus?"

Hunter nodded, and I turned to face the rows of fresh produce, eggs, milk and mason jars of condiments.

"I don't think I've ever seen this much food. Where does it come from? I thought you said the women here weren't Gatherers?"

Hunter chuckled as I rambled off the questions, and he led me out and back to the hall.

"This is the soldier base, another one of the bases is a farm base. They do the gardening, gathering, farming and prepare all the food for here from vegetables to canned goods to the meats."

"How many bases are there?" I asked, rubbing my temples as I began to contemplate the enormity of this place.

"Three, here—the soldier base, the farming base, and the home base where my father and his head men are," he replied, averting his eyes as he mentioned his father.

"Aren't you one of your father's head men?"

"Yes, but someone needs to run this place," he replied, his tone flat and eyes facing forward.

We walked into a large open room. To the right there were pool tables and a bar while to the left there was a huge suede couch, and a TV that took up the whole wall. My muscles tightened as I glanced at the expressionless faces of the women watching a movie. I counted ten heads before one of them turned to look at me, and I found myself jumping as my eyes darted away. The idea of having to stay there all day, staring at the screen in a zombie-like state frightened me.