The First ~10K~ (book 2)

3.) New Home

I stared at my surrounds, not able to comprehend everything I was seeing. Houses, people, children, safety.

I felt Jon tug on my hand. I snapped my head over to him and saw him smiling. He nodded his head for me to follow him.

We walked down some steps and got on a paved sidewalk. The grass with dark green and recently cut. It was trimmed but the cracks of the sidewalk so it didn't grow over it. I smelled dirt and a faint scent of manure. It was pleasant. Something I didn't realized I missed, being used to the smell of death and body order from myself and others.

"This place is..." I whispered to Jon, gazing at everything.

"Amazing?" He guessed.

"I was going to say incredible," I corrected.

"You haven't seen it all yet," Jon said. "This is just part of it. We keep expanding. People outside the walls keep coming in, making it cramped."

Jon stopped and let a pair of elderly people pass. They nodded and smiled at both of us, giving me a long stare.

"Sorry about that," Jon said, squeezing my hand. "They're not used to seeing people from the outside."

"How many people live here?" I asked. By the looks of it, hundreds of people lived here.

"About 60 or more. We've been getting a lot of people recently. It's hard to keep count." Jon told me.

"That's...a lot." I said, shocked.

"We used to have more." Jon said. Right after he said it, he closed his eyes and cringed.

"What happened?" I asked, very curious.

"Um...my dad doesn't want me to talk about it." Jon told me.

"Your dad?" I asked. "You mean...The Mayor is your dad?"

Jon nodded. "It's not as fun as you'd think. Everyone treats me like they treat him. Or they think I'm a good kid and I follow the rules."

"Do you?" I asked.

Jon winked at me. "Your house is just up ahead."

For a minute, I didn't understand what he was saying. Then Jon stopped and pointed up at a small, white and blue house.

Memories from my life before the apocalypse flashed across my mind. This house was almost the exact same as my old house.

"This is yours," Jon said. "Your home."

I let go of his hand and walked up closer to the house. I felt tears fill my eyes. I felt Jon place a hand on my back.

"What's wrong?"

I shook my head and wiped my eyes. "Nothing. I guess this is all overwhelming."

"Yeah, it is." Jon agreed.

My eyes caught a glimpse of something shiny on the room. I looked up and saw a few Solar Panels laid out on the roof.

"Are those-"

"Solar Panels? Yep. Every house has some." Jon answered before I could finish.

"So...there's electricity?" I asked, my mouth hanging open.

Jon smirked and nodded. "There's also hot water."

My mouth dropped even more, if that was possible. I hadn't had a hot shower since...well since 4 years ago.

"H-hot water?" I stuttered.

"Yeah. Be careful though, it's hard on the pipes. Since your house in a newer area that we finished a few months ago, the water pipes aren't used to using hot water."