Chapter 16
Flora sat beside Ellis, her stomach tightening. “I don’t have any records. I have nothing. Our community didn’t trust outsiders. And honestly, we were told most people were dead, and there was no government to report to.”
“How could you believe that? Didn’t you see other people? What about television or radio?”
“We didn’t have those. At least the women and children didn’t. Maybe the men knew what was going on, but the women and children had no clue about the truth of the word. We didn’t know.”
The woman shook her head, staring at Flora like she didn’t believe her. Living in this world, she understood how unbelievable it was that some community existed that didn’t know about the rest of the world, but it was the truth.
“I don’t see how that is real. How?”
Flora shrugged. “Not following the rules meant you were punished harshly.”
“So they abused you?”
Flora nodded, not even sure if the woman would believe what kind of punishment.
“They buried them in the dirt for punishment,” Ellis said.
“What? How would anyone survive?”
“Some people died, but most survived,” Flora told the woman how they were buried and about the other punishments. She described how they lived and how their community was set up. Every few minutes, the woman shook her head.
“There have been a few other people like you. We need to see if we can find that community. Do you know where it was?”
She shook her head, worry filling her. “No, I have no clue. But do you really have to contact them? If they find me, they’ll kill me. I’ll never be able to go back. I know too much.”
“We need to have some sort of clue where you were.”
“Once Q gets home, he can tell you where he was camping, but I don’t know where we were. Northeast of here is all I know.”
“When will he be home?”
Flora felt pressure building. “I don’t know.”
The woman scoffed. “You sure don’t know much of anything.”
Ellis rolled her eyes. “They are on a mission. The military isn’t going to tell us much.”
“Oh, they’re military?” The woman narrowed her gaze. “Why aren’t you working with the military then?”
“She isn’t military, and they aren’t married. Why would they work with her?”
The woman sighed heavily and shook her head. “Send me the information on where you were, and we’ll get on it. I can’t promise anything, but we can start working on it. It will take a while, months, maybe a year, but we’ll start.”
“Thank you. That’s all I can hope for.”
They left and Ellis stopped by something called an ice cream shop, which smelled so amazing Flora couldn’t believe there was anything this good in the world.
“That smell. How can anything smell so good?”
“Wait until you taste it.”
“What does it taste like?”
“You’ll see. We can get a sample before you make a decision.”
“A sample?”
Ellis nodded. “Not every place gives samples, but some do. They’ll let you have a few. You should try vanilla and chocolate, but there are some other flavors that are interesting, like butter pecan and mint chocolate chip. That might be too much for the first time.”
Flora nodded. “Okay, I’m going to let you guide me.”
They moved to the counter, and the door opened behind them. Remi stepped in with another woman.
“Oh, it’s Remi and Wren. Hey, ladies, this is Flora.”
“Hi, Flora,” Remi said as she waved and came over. “Ice cream. Did you all have a lot of ice cream where you’re from?”
“Actually, I’ve never had it before.”
Wren’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“I grew up in a cult. We had no sweets. Food was for nourishment, not pleasure.”
Wren’s mouth fell open. “Oh, crap. That’s wild.”
Flora nodded. “Yeah, that’s one word for it.”
Remi shook her head. “So you’ve never had ice cream. My favorite is chocolate chip cookie dough, but I also like old-time flavors like rocky road and chocolate ripple. But honestly, any ice cream, unless it’s a weird flavor, is good.”
“Weird, like what?”
Remi chuckled. “The worst I’ve had was black sesame ice cream.”
Ellis’s lips pulled back in a grimace. “That’s weird.”
“So what will you have?” the guy behind the counter asked.
“Our friend has never had ice cream. She’s going to need to sample a few flavors.”
The guy’s eyes went wide. “Never had ice cream?”
“No, sir, I’ve never had ice cream. I ate chocolate for the first time a few days ago.”
“Okay, that’s odd. Let’s see what we can do for you.”
“I’ll set you up with a few flavors while I serve the other ladies.”
“Sounds good.”
The man was very nice and grabbed a paper plate, writing flavor names on the plate before placing six tasting spoons with ice cream on them. Flora took the plate over to one of the tables and sat down while the other women ordered their ice cream.
The flavors were interesting and with it being cold, it was just weird. She liked the chocolate and vanilla, but the mint chocolate chip was too much. The cookie dough was good and so was the rocky road, but the one she liked the most was the strawberry.
The other women had finished ordering when she came up to order. The man smiled at her, his eyes bright.
“So, young lady, what will it be?”
“The strawberry. The others were great, and I’ll probably try them later, but I really liked the strawberry ice cream.”
“Wonderful. It’s one of my favorites, too.”
She got one scoop, and they all sat at a corner table to enjoy their treat. She enjoyed listening to the women talk. It was so different from what she’d known. When women were in the same place in the community they weren’t allowed to talk. But these women chatting and laughing seemed so wholesome.
Wren met her gaze. “So, Flora, what do you think of the ice cream?”
She smiled. “I like it. It’s very sweet. I’ve never had anything like it.”
“Just wait until we take you for pizza,” Ellis said.
“What is that?”
“It’s savory, so not sweet,” Wren said.
Remi nodded. “I like tacos better, but pizza is great.”
Ellis nodded. “It’s dough that is flat and you put tomato sauce and cheese on it. You can also add vegetables and meat. Whatever you add to it makes it taste different.”
“Yes!” Remi declared. “Like tacos. You can have tacos with fish or shrimp, as well as ground beef or chicken. It’s so good. But back to pizza. You can have pizza with red sauce or white sauce, and that makes it different.”
“There’s so much food I’ve never tried. So much I’ve never experienced.”
“We’re here to help you through it,” Ellis said. “Honestly, it’s kind of nice seeing you experience stuff for the first time. It makes me enjoy my ice cream even more.”
Remi nodded. “I know it’s not a game for you but hearing what you didn’t have made me enjoy what I have more.”
Flora chuckled. “Well, I’ve got to tell you the one thing that has given me the most pleasure so far is being allowed to wear shoes.”
“What?” Wren narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“Where I grew up, women weren’t allowed to wear shoes. Our feet were always cold or sore. Walking outside sucked. We were at the mercy of men. If they didn’t want to help you, then you were stuck.”
“I would never have made it there,” Remi said.
Flora shrugged. “You’d be surprised what you can make it through when you have no other options.”
Remi smiled at her. “You’re stronger than I am.”
“When you have no options, you learn.”
Wren nodded. “You are strong. I’m impressed. I would love to hear more.”
“Well, because Flora doesn’t drive, we’re taking turns helping her,” Ellis said.
“I would love to help.”
“Thank you. I’m having to rely on the kindness of you all. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found Q when I did.”
Ellis squeezed her shoulder. “I, for one, am very glad you found him.”
“Same,” Remi said. “I can’t imagine having to live that way.”
Looking back, she wasn’t sure how she’d survived. Living with Q was hard but so much easier than life had been before she escaped. Now, her most pressing concerns were how to spend her time and not worrying about making someone so mad that she ended up in the dirt.
She could survive this life. She could figure out how to live in Q’s world, but going back was impossible.
She could never go back to how she’d been living before.
Q would come home, and they would learn how to live together.
Maybe he wouldn’t want to stay with her.
Maybe he would think she was too much of a problem, but at least she was free.