"Ok ladies, dinner is served in a hour and we have a lot of mouths to feed. So let's get back to it." Vicki ordered and all the ladies return back to their station engaging back into their conversation. However it wasn't as loud and boisterous as before, but at least there was activity. "Natalie, can you fix Celeste a plate and bring into the break room? Celeste, follow me." I dutifully followed Vicki out of the industrial sized kitchen down a hallway to a room that was on the right. The break room consisted of ten round wooden tables that were adorned with beautiful colorful bouquet of fresh flowers as its centerpiece. The room looked out onto the backyard if you could call it that. Out the back was rows and rows of flowers with a huge marble fountain in the center. Beyond the garden I could see a pool and buildings in the distance. I turned a questionable eye to Vicki who came to join me at the bay of windows. "Have you heard anything about Colin? Was Dylan able to get to him." I waited until we were alone before I asked about Colin. "I haven't heard anything, yet. Hopefully we will hear something in a few hours. Thanks to you Dylan knows where Colin is. We had no clue where he had gone." "How long has he been missing?" "Almost a month." hmmm. that's about how long I moved into Vulance. To think that he was being held right underneath me the whole time. I shivered in disgust as an image of Ridley appeared in my mind. "Am I safe here? Will they come here and dragged me back because I know I broke plenty of traffic laws and not to mention evading the police." Vicki squeezed my hands. "You are safe here. They can't come here its not their territ..district. Their laws have no bearings on us." I listened to her explanation skeptically. I hope she was right. "Where exactly am I?" "This is our home. It use to be a luxury resort and we bought them out and now we live here." Vicki answered. "How many is we?" "Oh about two hundred." "Two hundred! Is this one of those religious cults?" i'm not judging, but I want to know where I'm staying. Vicki laughed, "Hell no." "Wacko 'I hate the government.' groups?" maybe I shouldn't have used wacko, just in case I offended her. Again Vicki shook her head, "No Celeste. We are a group of people who have similar values and morals. We are a self-sufficient community who doesn't need to go out into the world where corruption lives." "Hippies?" still not convinced I threw out another possibility. "Celeste, sit and eat. I'll be back in a few and will give you a tour of the place." I appreciated the time alone as I savoured each bite of the delicious meal. So far everyone was nice, a little weird with the eye thing. I just need to give it more time. Plus I need to figure out what I was going to do. Right now I had little option but to stay put. I had no car, no money, and no id. I could call one of my friends back home that was still talking to me. But unfortunately for me I never memorized anyone's phone number because they were programmed in my cell phone. I just needed a couple of days to figure out my next move if they allowed me to stay. I was sipping on my glass of water when Vicki rejoined me. "You ready for a tour?" "Yep." "Since you seem interested on what is outside, I thought we would start with the compound and then finish up with the house." I followed Vicki out of a side door from the break room into the fresh air. The garden was beautiful. "Over to right is the maze, its a favorite pastime for the kids to play in. Also has some shaded areas that is great for reading. So our territory, umm property consists of two pools, outdoor and indoor, gym, theater, school, technology center, shop, bowling alley, tennis and basketball courts, golf course, and a lake. "That sounds like a lot of walking." I looked down to the oversized shoes I was wearing.