Doctor Gabe Miller IV came out of his small examining room with his arms full.  He dropped the knapsack and clothing belonging to his patient on a side table before turning to his waiting visitors.

"Matthew, Rhianna.  Thanks for bringing her in!"

"No problem, Doc!" Matthew replied.  "How is she?"

"Badly bruised; she's going to be hurting for a while, but nothing broken."

"Good," Matthew said.

They were standing in the compound's small hospital, run by its only doctor, Gabe Miller.  It was the only place in the Compound where one could find Twentieth Century technology.

The Compound had been founded by those willing to give up what industrial man had brought to the world, but not everything had been rejected.  Not stupid, the community knew the value of modern medicine, and so despite their chosen way of life, they made an exception when it came to their health.  One of the golden rules of the Compound was that a person's health was more important than any ideology.

"Did she tell you how she came to be all the way up there?" Gabe asked his friend.  Gabe and Matthew were roughly the same age, and had known each other since they were kids.

"She didn't talk much," Matthew said, "we got her name, and she said something about having walked all the way up there.  I asked her how she was hurt, and she said that her boyfriend had beaten her up before she got a chance to get away."

Gabe nodded, but he was also frowning.  "That's pretty much the story she gave me, but it doesn't ring true unless he was hitting her with a baseball bat.  Even then she wouldn't have gotten very far."

"You think she was lying?" Matthew asked him.

"I do!" Rhianna said.  "Who walks uphill when they are lost?  She was practically at the snowline!"

The men turned to see that Rhianna had opened Shawna's knapsack and was going through the contents.

"Hey!" Gabe exclaimed, "Stop that!  You can't just go through her stuff!"

"I just want to see..."  Rhianna found a small bottle and held it up to the light coming in through the skylight in the ceiling.  During the day, skylights provided most of the illumination for the buildings of the Compound.

"No!  Rhianna, put it back!"

"But..."

Matthew moved forward.  "Do as he says, Wife!" he told her.

Rhianna stopped and stared at Matthew.  There was no doubting that the compound was very patriarchal, and while for the most part women were treated as equals, there was a definite shift in power toward the men.  There was a maze of traditions and customs here that placed women in the submissive position, but none of it was abusive or even overwhelming, so Rhianna had not minded.  But there were times, like now when Matthew raised his voice and used his position as her husband and "Head of House" against her, that Rhianna wished women's lib' had found this place.

Early on, when she first came to live for good in the Compound, she had tried to see just what would happen if she bucked tradition and the authority of the men.  It had caused tension between her and Matthew, and a rather steep decline in her own popularity and influence among the other women.  In the end, the community stepped in when it became apparent that Rhianna was not going to abide by the rules that had functioned here for the seventy-year history of the Compound.  Rhianna and Matthew were told that if Rhianna didn't stop making waves and learned her position, then the couple would have to leave.

At the time, Rhianna hadn't understood WHY things were as they were here, but for Matthew's sake she tried her best to fit in, and after a while began to find her own peace with it all.  The rules that seemed stifling and unfair at first now seemed comforting and secure.  There was a definite appeal to not having to be the major decision maker anymore; to placing your life in another's hands.  It had certainly brought her and Matthew closer together, and now that she wasn't bucking the system and actually working within it, she soon earned the respect and friendship of the whole community again.  But there were times when it still bit at her craw, and those times usually occurred when Matthew called her "Wife!"

He didn't do it often, but she had learned to respect the times he did.

"But I..." she tried to say.

"Now," he said quietly, giving her his 'you'd better do it' look.  He knew as well as she did that later in private the two of them would have a 'discussion' about this moment, but for now Rhianna would obey.  She put the bottle back in the bag.

"Doc, didn't you notice anything strange about her?" she asked.

"About who?" said a voice from the doorway, "Our visitor?"  It was Paul Anderson, Matthew's older brother.  Paul was also the community's Guardian, a post that made him a combination Mayor and Sheriff.  Generally speaking, it put him in charge of the day-to-day aspects of the five hundred and some odd souls that made up the community.  It was a position he took seriously and it weighed on him.

"Thanks for coming, Paul," said Gabe, putting things back in the knapsack and handing it to him.

"Who is she, and why is she here?" Paul asked.  Matthew told him about how he and Rhianna found Shawna on the mountain and brought her back, and Gabe finished the tale by telling Paul about her injuries.

Paul was unimpressed.

"When can she leave?" he asked.

"Well, she's resting now, getting some much needed sleep, but tomorrow she can be taken into town," said the doctor.

Paul nodded.  "Okay.  She can have her things back when she goes then.  You're responsible for her."

"Yes, Sir," Gabe said.

Rhianna was beside herself.  "Paul, there's something else..."

"No, there isn't Paul!"  Gabe said, glaring at Rhianna.

Paul Anderson grunted and left the room.

"What's with you guys?"  Rhianna asked.

"Rhianna," said Gabe, taking her hand, "I know what you're thinking, but you keep it to yourself.  Trust me."

Oddly enough, Rhianna did trust him.  Gabe Miller was one of Matthew's closest friends, and because of that, Rhianna had also come to know him very well.  She had many friends here but Gabe was one of the closest.

"Okay, but you owe me an explanation later," she said.

Gabe nodded.  "Now go, the pair of you, before you wake her up!"

Matthew took his wife's arm and led her to the door.  "Come on, Pet.  See you later, Doc!"

As the couple walked down the hallway away from the little clinic, Matthew asked what Rhianna was so excited about.

"Didn't you look at her eyes?" she asked him.  "God, Matthew, her pupils were blown wide open.  I'm sure she's on drugs, something illegal, and I bet whatever it is, it's in that bottle.  Why would Gabe want to cover that up?"

Matthew shrugged, but he trusted his friend.  "I don't know, but whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one.  Now come on, let's go get washed up, and I believe you have kitchen duty tonight."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do, Pet, for making me raise my voice."

Rhianna stopped and looked at him.  She saw he was perfectly serious.

"You're putting me on KP?"

Matthew nodded.

Rhianna grinned and stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.  "You're sweet, you know that?"  And with a laugh, she ran off toward the bathhouse.

Thoroughly confused, Matthew followed more slowly.  "Women," he said to himself, "there's no understanding them."

---***---

Shawna Michaels woke up an hour later, a bad dream ruining her sleep.  She was sore and stiff, but felt a little better for the brief sleep she had gotten.  She lay still on the small bed she had been offered in this strange place, and kept her eyes closed until her mind began to function.  She was scared, but also puzzled about the people she had met so far.  Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to meet such a couple as the ones that had rescued her from the forest.  Like Adam and Eve, they looked very much at ease being outside almost naked.  The man, what was his name?  He was a dish, but the woman didn't like her, Shawna could tell.  Well, she could go fuck herself.

But this place, it was like nothing she'd seen before.  She had been half carried by that gorgeous man to what looked like a fort with a huge wooden wall made of logs twice as high as she was.  Then, when they passed through a gate, she saw huge huts everywhere that seemed to be built half underground.  She didn't get a good look though, partly because she was taken inside right away, and partly because she was staring at the people.  Most of them were naked, and by naked, Shawna really meant naked.  The couple that had rescued her both wore what looked like loincloths, but many of the people she saw didn't even have that much on.  There were kids too: little kids, big kids, all as naked as jaybirds.  Shawna was stunned.

She was brought to see their doctor, a nice man dressed a little more appropriately for his position, although he didn't have a white coat on.  But Shawna felt at ease with him, and allowed him to examine her, because she really was hurting by now.  He gave her something for the pain, and put her in this room to sleep, but now she was awake.  Images of the crash and Dirk's death had jolted her from her sleep.

And she had a craving.

Shawna opened her eyes and looked about the room.  It was very plainly furnished and looked very rustic.  There was the bed she was laying on, a chair, and a small table; that was it.  Light came in through a skylight above her that seemed to pass over the wall into the next room as well.  What she didn't see in the room was her knapsack, which was what she was looking for.  As she shifted to look under the bed, she realized she was still naked.  The doctor had her undress completely for the examination, and apparently she had been put to bed that way.  Her clothes were also missing.  Shawna clutched the blanket that covered her and wondered what to do.  Apparently, nudity wasn't a big deal around here, but she would be dammed if she were going to walk around without any clothes on.  Besides, without the clothes, there was no going back to civilization.  Shawna thought about that for a moment.

The curtain in the doorway moved, and Gabe came in, smiling.

"Hi, I thought I heard you moving," he said.  "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thank you," Shawna replied.  "Where are my things?"

"Safe.  They're being held until you leave.  We have strict rules about outside items being brought into the Compound.

"But my clothes?"

"I've got something for you to wear while you're here.  Don't worry, we won't make you go naked."  Gabe laughed, focusing on Shawna and attempting to ease her tensions.  She looked worried to him.

"But I need something from my bag," she told him.

"What?" Gabe asked, knowing exactly what she wanted.  Like Rhianna, he had spotted the signs that she was a drug user.

"Er...medicine," she said.

"I thought you told me that you didn't have any medical problems."

"I forgot."  That sounded lame even to Shawna, and she winced.

Gabe shook his head and sat down in the chair.  Shawna tucked the blanket in tighter around her.  Even though Gabe had just examined her body an hour before, she felt an instinctive need to cover up.  Shawna felt vulnerable being naked with a man when she had no idea where her clothes were.

"Shawna," Gabe said, "for as long as you're here, I'm your doctor.  I'm a real doctor, certified by the State and fully qualified to treat anything I have the expertise and the equipment to handle.  Just because I live and work in this very special community doesn't mean I am any less of a doctor than one you would meet in...say Denver.  In fact, I may have an edge on a lot of my colleagues, in that living here I also have knowledge of a lot of local remedies that are just as potent as anything you'd find off the mountain.

"I'm telling you this because I want you to know something about me that you can trust to be true.  As a doctor, as YOUR doctor, I am held to standard of Doctor/Patient confidentiality.  I can't talk to anyone about your medical problems if you don't want me to.  Whatever we discuss in this room right now stays between you and me.  Do you understand?"

"Yes," said Shawna, listening intently to the doctor's calm voice.

"Now Shawna, I know you're a user, cocaine, I imagine.  How badly into it are you?"

Shawna shook her head.  "No, no.  I'm not."

"Shawna."  Gabe sat and stared at her, concern all over his face.  It made Shawna feel guilty.

"Yeah, okay.  Sure, I take a dip once in a while, but I'm not a user; I don't need it!" she said with emphasis.

Gabe looked at her for a moment.  "That's good to hear, Shawna.  Then I guess you don't need the...medicine...you wanted, do you?"

Shawna took a breath.  "No.  I guess not," she finally answered.  "But, you're not going to get rid of it, are you?"

"You should be the one to get rid of it, Shawna, if you really don't need it.  I can help you with that if you like."

"No, that's okay."

Gabe shrugged.  He felt like pressing further, he hated recreational drugs and was very happy to have a practice where such things were unknown.  But he sensed that pushing Shawna too hard would be wrong at this point.

"Okay," he said, "let me have another look at your foot."

Hesitantly, Shawna stuck her injured foot out from under the blanket and Gabe checked the bandage and poultice he had placed on it.  The poultice was a mountain recipe that his grandfather had come up with when he was the community doctor.  It was surprisingly effective at treating muscle injuries.

He nodded and got up to leave.

"Doctor?" Shawna asked, "Clothes?"

Gabe smiled.  "I want you resting for a while yet.  I'll bring you something to wear in a little while, at least this way I know you'll stay in bed!"

Shawna gave him an anxious smile, and he left chuckling.  Worried, Shawna lay back down, and thought about her next step.  Dirk was dead; there was no getting around that.

But how did she really feel about that?

Dirk had been there for her when she needed him, her home life under her father had been hell, but Dirk had eventually turned into another hell.  Shawna wondered if she would really mourn his passing.  Not ready to think about that yet, she moved on to the money.  Three million at least was waiting for her somewhere up the mountain.  All she had to do was pick it up and make her way to the nearest town.  But, she had no idea where the town might be or even where she was!  And even if she did know, she was in no shape to go hiking around the Rockies.  Besides, what if the cops were still looking for her and Dirk?  She felt reasonably secure that this strange community didn't know anything about the money or the robbery, so she was safe here for now.  But later?

Too many questions.

Relaxed as she was, she soon closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.

---***---

Shawna walked slowly alongside Gabe, who had come to take her to dinner.  A young woman, Gabe's nurse, had brought her some clothes and had helped Shawna put them on.  Shawna had never worn a loincloth before, and the rope about her waist felt strange, but it felt good to be covered up down there again.  She also wore a simple cloth dress that didn't quite fit, but it was modestly cut, for which she was grateful.

Gabe showed up soon after with a crutch for her to use, and after some practice steps, she felt good enough to leave the clinic and get something to eat.

She still felt her craving, but she figured that with some food and maybe a drink, she might be okay.  She had told Gabe the truth in that she wasn't a heavy user, but it had been a long time since she had gone more than a couple of days without a hit.  Anytime she tried to go without for a while, her boyfriend Dirk usually found out about it and put a stop to it.  It was him that got her started in the first place.

But that was in the past now, she hoped, and she had a future to work out, a three million dollar future.  All she needed to do was avoid the law for a while.

She thought about this as she followed Gabe down a hallway that seemed to pass through at least a couple of the huge huts she had seen coming in.  A number of people passed them by, most heading in the same direction they were, and Shawna kept getting distracted by all the bare skin.

"Where are we going?" she eventually asked Gabe.

"The community usually eats the evening meal together," he said.  "In the winter time we eat in the Great Hall, which we're passing right now, but in the good weather we eat outside.  You'll find that a lot of what we do is done outside at this time of year."

Gabe smiled at her and Shawna nodded back, still uncertain about where she had ended up.  They went up some steps and passed through a large door to the outside.

Shawna gasped.

Spread out between the residential wings of the Compound were several dozen large tables with benches placed along them.  Sitting, standing, and generally milling around them, were all the people.  They were laughing and talking and generally having a good time, the adults mostly sitting while the children ran around.  There was a strong sense of community spirit, reinforced by the fact that the majority of the populace wore very little.  But for a change, no one except the younger children was completely naked.

"It's considered bad manners to sit at table without at least a loincloth on," Gabe said to her, guessing at her thoughts.  Shawna nodded, but noticed also that of the people that were dressed, she seemed to be wearing the most.

Gabe began to guide her down one side of the assembled masses, and Shawna hobbled along as best as she could.  She was aware of people looking at her as she passed by, but for the most part the looks were pleasant and non-threatening.

Shawna found herself smiling back at them.

She saw one of her rescuers sitting at a table across the way with some other people.  It was the man, what WAS his name?  He was talking with a couple of men and some children, and didn't see her.  As Shawna watched, the woman who had been with him turned up carrying two plates.  She set the plates down in front of the men and then headed back to where Shawna saw food and drink was laid out.

THOSE tables were surrounded just by women, and it took a second for Shawna to realize that it was mostly men who sat, while it was only women who fetched the food.

"Here we are!" Gabe announced, and he helped Shawna sit down at a half-filled table.

Gabe introduced her to his family.  His father, Gabe Sr., sat at one end in the place of honor, and his wife sat next to him.  Other family members sat around the table, and they welcomed Shawna warmly as Gabe introduced them all.  A plate of bread, vegetables, and cheeses was placed in front of her, and she looked up to see a young woman smiling down at her.  It was the nurse who had helped her dress.

"I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got you a little of everything," she said.

"Thank you," Shawna replied.

"What would you like to drink?  There's water, milk, several different fruit juices, and a vegetable drink that is very healthy for you."

"Er...I don't suppose you have anything stronger, do you?"  Shawna asked her.

The conversation at the table paused.

"Women don't drink alcohol here," Gabe said to her, smiling softly.

"Oh," said Shawna, inwardly cursing.  "I'm sorry."

"That's fine," said Gabe.  "Vicky, get her the vegetable juice.  Doctor's orders."

"Okay!" said Vicky, and she ran off.

"That's Vicky, my kid sister, but I don't hold it against her, because she's a damn fine nurse as well!" Gabe said, smiling as he dug into his own food.  The company at the table laughed.

"She's nice," Shawna said, picking at her own food.  After tasting a mouthful of cress, she realized that she was indeed hungry, and began to devour what was on her plate.

Vicky came back with her drink and a plate of her own, and settled in beside her.

"I'm glad you're here," Vicky said.  "I like having new people here."

"Do you get many new people?" Shawna asked, wondering about how much contact these people had with the outside world.

"Not often.  Not to stay anyway.  I think Rhianna was our last new person who came to stay.  Oh, and she brought Patch and Ruthy too, so I guess they count.  Are you going to stay?"

"Rhianna?" asked Shawna.

Vicky pointed out the woman who had rescued Shawna, who was now sitting down and eating with the rest of her group.

"No, I'm not planning on it," Shawna replied.

"Too bad, you might like it here!"

Shawna turned to look at Vicky.  She looked about twenty, and perky in that college-age way, with big bright eyes and a youthful glow.  It was easy to see that she was very fit, for she wore the same loincloth the others wore, plus a thin halter tied to one side.  She was just a few years younger than Shawna herself, but Shawna felt a lot older; the last few years had been hard ones.

"Shawna is heading back to town tomorrow," Gabe said, and he found himself suddenly regretting her departure.  She was an attractive young woman and her story about her boyfriend had made him mad.  If it were true, she needed protection and Gabe had a fancy about taking the job.

"Oh, that's too bad," Vicky responded.

Shawna looked at her plate.  She wasn't sure she wanted to go back so soon; she at least had to stay here long enough for her ankle to heal.  She had a mountain to climb and money to collect.

"Doctor, I..." she began but Gabe hushed her.

"Just a minute, Shawna," he said, and gestured to where a man had stood up and was waving to get everyone's attention.

It was Paul Anderson, and he stood on his chair so that everyone could see him.  It was not an unusual thing to see, for Paul liked to use the evening meal as his time to inform the community of things the whole group needed to know.  It was the only time the majority of them were together.  The group quieted down.

"Just one thing before I let you get back to your meals!" he shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

"THANK GOD!" yelled a voice and everyone laughed.

Paul smiled.  "Yes, thank you, Johan.  I know you can't go more than a minute at meal times without something besides your foot in your mouth, so I'll be brief!"

The crowd laughed again, used to the byplay between the two friends.

"We have a visitor with us tonight; her name is Shawna, and she was injured on the mountain last night and left behind by a male companion.  Matthew and Rhianna found her and brought her here to be treated by Gabe, and she'll be taken down to town tomorrow.  But while she is here, be sure to show her the hospitality I know you are all capable of.  All except you, Johan, you always show our pretty female visitors a little TOO much hospitality!"

Even Shawna smiled at that one, while the crowd whooped it up.

"Is she pretty?" Johan called out from the back of the crowd where he always sat.

Paul smiled.  "Shawna, why don't you stand up so that everyone knows who you are!"

Suddenly red with embarrassment, Shawna was helped up by Vicky.  She was pleasantly shocked when those around her suddenly started saying hello and smiling.

One big man near the back also stood and brushed his beard.

"She IS pretty!  My dear, I am Johan, and I am at your service!"

"Shawna," Paul said with a grin, "you stay away from that one!"

The crowd laughed again and blushing, Shawna sat back down.

Paul's expression turned serious and he waited for the laughter to die.  "Normally I don't bring it up when we have someone new here; the grapevine usually does that well enough on its own.  But I do so tonight because of her companion.  It's possible that he is still on the mountain, although I hope not.  Before he left, he beat our visitor and left her to fend for herself.  If he IS still around, I don't want the same thing to happen to any of you.  So until I'm convinced that he is gone, no one goes out of the Compound alone, and no kids leave the immediate area with an adult.  Understood?"

The people nodded, although there were a few minor protests from some of the children.

Paul sat back down, and general conversation rose once more.  As Shawna ate her food, she thought about the lie she had told to cover her injuries, and how that lie had affected all these kind people.  It didn't settle with her too well.
 
 

End of Part 2.