Chapter Text
Tyler and Capri arrive at a small town just past the Canadian border. The place was isolated with nothing but some small fields and a forest surrounding it.
As they get out of the car, Tyler looks around, still unsure if he’ll regret coming here. Capri gets out of the car, “come on, I’ll show you around and introduce you to everyone”. This place didn't even qualified as a town, it was small, with everything in walking distance. It was smaller than Jericho, even smaller than Pilgrim World. Being born and raised in Jericho he really didn’t have anywhere else to compare, not like his dad took him on any vacations except for the occasional hunting trip in local areas.
The brief thought of his dad made his chest tighten with a complex mix of emotions. He didn’t want to think too much about it. He finally got out of that hell hole town where everyone feared or hated him after being revealed as the monster killer of Jericho. No one here knew who he was or what he did, he hoped.
They walked down a dirt road with a few buildings lining it.
"Is this even a town?" Tyler asked
"It's actually a commune, there is a town 10 miles West if anyone needs supplies that we can't make or grow here."
Tyler followed Capri as she gave him a very short tour. There was a temperature-controlled greenhouse where residents grew all the fruits and vegetables for the commune, a chicken coop, a small playground with both wooden and tire swings attached to a play fort made out of solid wood. Four kids were playing on it and all stopped and stared at Tyler as he walked past. They were definitely giving him Children of the Corn vibes.
Capri noticed his unease looking at the kids, "the children who grew up here aren't used to seeing new people very often."
There was a large building which was used for recreational gatherings and two large community houses. They didn’t need many other homes since there were only about 30 people living here, including kids, according to Capri.
The rec building was the largest brick building in the commune. The front was well landscaped with evergreen bushes, decorative rocks and a porch with wooden bench swings and chairs that have handcrafted designs on them.
Inside was a lounge area with several couches, a tv in the corner with an antenna, a pool table, and a Foosball table that a man and woman were having a heated game over. He heard the song Paranoid by Black Sabbath playing on a CD player at least 25 years old.
“Yes!” The woman shouted as she scored the winning point.
“Oh, fuck off.” The man replied to the woman who was laughing.
“Mike, Shauna” Capri called to them, this is Tyler. He'll be staying here as a new member of the pack.
“Hey” Shauna greeted. She had her brown hair in a high ponytail wearing a form fitting shirt and jeans. She was about as generic looking as a woman could get.
“Nice to meet you Tyler” Mike held out his hand for him to shake. Both arms covered in tattoos; he had a black goatee and mustache with some small amount of gray. Tyler thought he looked like he belonged in a biker gang.
Tyler shook his hand.
"So are you going to be staying in our house"?
"No, he's staying with The Bennett's". Capri answered.
Mike nodded, "All right, cool. Well I'm always up for hanging out if you want man."
Tyler gave him a suspicious look. He had learned to stop trusting people who were overly friendly, they usually always wanted something from him in return.
"I'm going to finish showing him around before we head to the house." Capri interjected, ending the building tension that she could sense coming from Tyler.
She led him down a short hallway where there was a gym with a large padded floor mat, a few large punching bags, and weights.
A bit further down the hall was a room filled with musical instruments. There was a piano, drum set, several guitars, violin cases and other instruments he didn't know the names of.
"This is the room that I put together last year before going to teach music at Nevermore." Capri said with a big smile on her face, clearly proud of her contribution to the commune.
"Have you ever played any instruments?"
Tyler shrugs, "I used to play guitar sometimes. I haven't played in a while though."
"Well we have a couple of acoustic guitars here. If you want to get back into practice, you can come in here and play."
He ignored the offer. Lost in thought Tyler had a bad feeling that he couldn't place about Capri, until she mentioned just starting at Nevermore last year. "Seems like great timing that you left a Hyde commune and came to Nevermore right after it was made public that a Hyde was in the next town over." Tyler furrows his brows, "Were you always planning on bringing me here?"
"Yes, I was."
Tyler was a bit taken back by how quickly she admitted it.
Capri continued, "Hydes are such a rare species, so rare that they are about to become the next Outcast breed to face extinction. When a lone or abused Hyde is discovered, one of us will go and bring them here where they can live in safety and get the help they need." She smirks, "you can think of the commune as a Hyde conservation project."
"Or exile. At the Graveyard you said all the Hydes are hidden away where the world can't find them. Sounds like all the Hydes are being sent into exile."
"If you want to think of this as your exile, that's up to you. I want to help you live a new life with your own kind, to help you become your own person without being controlled by a master."
Her words hit him deeper than he expected. That's what he really wants the most. He knows he deserves exile, but he wants his freedom, his autonomy.
"We should head over to the house that you'll be staying in so you can meet everyone before dinner" Capri said after a silence fell between them.
As he follows Capri down the road, she stops in front of one of the large houses and stood there with a look of concentration on her face.
Tyler looked at the house and back at her, confused. “what’s wrong?”
Right after he spoke, a middle-aged woman with shoulder length straight red hair, same shade as Laurel’s he noticed, walked out of the house and greeted Capri with a warm friendly smile. At least it wasn’t the obnoxiously fake one that Laurel always had.
Tyler didn’t know why he was even thinking of his first master. That bitch was dead; he freed himself from her. This was his fresh start and time to finally be free of masters.