When the gates of Seaside opened for Beth, Corinna stepped out and wrapped her arms around her. The familiar embrace made Beth dizzy, and without the support, she'd have fallen.
When she finally disentangled from Corinna, she moved her mouth in greeting, but no words came.
Her grandpa stepped up to her and embraced her, briefly. "Beth, I feared the worst."
She nodded. "They captured us. But we escaped."
Dan exchanged a glance with Carl. "You both escaped?"
"Yes."
"Where's Burt, then?" Dan asked.
"They caught him again."
Dan made a fist. "He didn't tell us about it."
"Who? Leo?" Beth asked.
"Yes, Leo," Dan said. "You know the bastard?"
Beth nodded, the motion making her dizzy again. "Yes. And I've seen him walking down the road from here. Just out there." She pointed her thumb at the now-closed gate, the movement making her almost lose her balance. "And, I would not call him a bastard. He's quite decent, I think."
Corinna laid an arm over her shoulders. "Let's stop this inquisition. Beth needs care, water, and food." She motioned towards the interior of Seaside.
As they entered the fountain court, Beth stopped. The sight struck her as familiar and foreign at the same time. The green of the grass was so vibrant, and the water in the fountain almost made her knees buckle. Yet it all seemed so much smaller than she remembered.
"What's the matter?" Corinna asked, brows knotted in worry.
"It's..." Beth tried to find the right words. "It's strange to be back."
"Let's get you to the medbay, dear." Corinna took her arm and made her move again. "We need to have you checked and..." She hesitated. "What's this grisly shirt you're wearing?"
"Oh, that?" Beth smiled. "Someone gave it to me."
"Someone?" Dan tilted his head as he studied her. "Did you make any friends out there?"
She shrugged. "No, not really."
No friends. Enemies, maybe.
~~~
Later, when they sat at the table in the common room, Beth felt fuzzy from the medication the medbay had injected into her blood. A comforting numbness had replaced the itching of her skin, the pain in her feet, and the soreness of her muscles.
She had told her tale to the others over dinner. How they had been ambushed. How Theodore had been killed. How they had been taken to the stadium, and how they had escaped. She even had told them about the bikers and how she had killed most of them. And about the tunnel gang.
Her grandpa had laughed when she reported her victory over the Bikers and patted her shoulders with pride—a pride she didn't share.
She hadn't told him about what Burt had done that night in the Bikers' camp.
All of Seaside had listened to her tale, all twenty-four of them.
Her grandpa had probed her for details. He had wanted to know everything about the stadium and how they lived there, and about the bridge.
Now, most of the crowd had dispersed, only Dan, Corinna, and Carl remained, Seaside's leaders. They were discussing plans to retrieve Burt. It didn't touch her, though. It all lacked reality. As if they were actors in an old vid.
Seaside wasn't real. It was a time bubble. A remainder of technology in a world reclaimed by nature, its machines failing one by one.
The only thing real was the mug of warm herbal tea she held.
In her former life, she had thought that Seaside was the world and the barren landscape outside nothing but an abstract obstacle between them and other gated cities.
But now, Seaside had lost its substance, too. It was an intricate house of cards that might collapse any day, hour, or minute.
"Beth?"
Her grandpa's voice tore her from her thoughts. "Yes?"
"We'll get Burt out of there." He smiled and squeezed her hand. "I've radioed Rockburg and promised them to do it. And once we have him back, we'll finish the bastards for good. They'll come to regret what they've done."
Regret. She knew all about that.
"And don't you worry, Beth..." Corinna smiled broadly. "After that, we'll have the finest wedding that Seaside has ever seen."
"Marriage?" Beth tried to focus.
"Yes, of course," Corinna said. "For you and Burt."
"Marry Burt?" It took Beth a moment to come to terms with the concept; then she shook her head. "No, that will not happen."
"Why?" Her ersatz-mother's smile faded. "He has fought for you. He has saved you."
"Yes, but he is not for me." Saying it out loud, she felt sure of it.
As Corinna opened her mouth, Beth raised a hand. "Don't even try to change my mind." Then she looked at Dan—it was time to switch the subject, and there were some things she was more interested in than in marrying Burt. "You said they are going to regret what they've done. What are you planning to do?"
"We'll trade the weapons for Burt. And then, once they've handed him over, we'll see." He grinned.
Beth didn't like the expression on her grandfather's face. "Don't trick them. We must not fight each other. Let's make a... truce. This world is a wilderness, and our technology is failing. Fight cannot be our future. We need to work together."
Dan raised his eyebrows. "All the more important to settle things while our technology still works. But don't worry about that, and leave the politics to us. We'll make peace with them. And if that doesn't work, we still can bomb the shit out of them." He laughed at his joke.
His laughter reminded her of the mutote she had faced in the Wastelands.