Mirage

Chapter 4

14 years after the Collapse.

"I'm so excited your dad let you come with him. There's so much stuff to see around here."

Carmina grabbed Mai's hand as she yanked her from one point to another. Her father watched the girls with a smile as he went about his business. Her father Jacob came here at least once a month to deliver animal skins for trade. The locals really seemed to like him, as they greeted him with pats on the back and handshakes.

Prosperity was a marvel in of itself. Mai could not contain her own excitement as her eyes trailed along all the various buildings and areas. It had been ten years since she left the bunker in which she was born and she had never once stepped foot inside the main hub of Hope County. Her mother was completely against ever stepping foot here. She never talked about it, the only brief explanation she gave was that something very bad happened here between her father's brother and herself. Her Uncle John.

Whatever she knew of her aunt Rachel and uncle John were from little tidbits her dad would tell her from time to time, only when she pushed hard enough to hear more. She wanted to soak up all the information that she could, piecing together her parent's history, despite how violent it must have been. The only person they never talked about was her Uncle Joseph. The other father she never quite knew.

"What did you wanna do while you're here?" Carmina asked eagerly.

"I'm not entirely sure." Mai shrugged.

Carmina was her closest friend, despite only being able to see her maybe only a few times a month when Carmina's mom Kym would come to visit Mai's own mother. Yet, there was nothing the two girls wouldn't share with one another.

"Come on, I'll show you inside the main building. Race you in there."

Carmina took off giggling, with Mai calling out behind her, "Hey! Wait up!"

Mai chased after her friend, weaving past passing by various residents. At the last probably second, however, a person stepped right in her path, causing her to collide with them. Mai grunted as she fell on her rear, looking up at the man whom she had accidentally run into.

He appeared to be close to her mother's age. He had uneven brown hair and hazel eyes which looked upon her in disgust. Mai felt her throat tightened as she stood up.

"I'm sorry sir, I should have been more careful."

The man said nothing. He simply stared at her before looking in the direction of her father who had his back turned towards them. The man's expression turned to pure disdain as he recognized Jacob, much to Mai's confusion. Without any word, he shoved passed her and walked towards the main entrance, meeting up with a few other people as they made their exit.

Carmina came trotting back to Mai's side, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Who was the creepy guy?"

Carmina scratched her head, recalling any information she could, "I think my mom said his name is Pratt. He runs the eastern bunker. They only come trade maybe once every few months. People call them isolationists. He's kind of a douche, to be honest."

Mai glanced back to the entryway and then to her father who had been oblivious to the whole incident as he continued bargaining with a merchant. The way he had looked at her father spoke a thousand words; they must have had bad blood of some sort. Given her father's history, after all, there was probably a lot of bad blood to go around.

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Carmina gave Mai the quickest tour of the compound that she possibly could, ensuring that Mai saw everything before her father came to gather her so they could return home. They roamed around the upstairs of the main building, finishing up the last bit of the tour. Mai noticed that Carmina had left one room out of the tour. It was one of the first rooms they had passed by, but Carmina breezed by it like it was not even there.