She followed him up from the basement again. He walked out in the kitchen with her right behind him.

"Sit down," he said. "You need some food."
"I'm okay," she said.
"No, you're not. Don't lie to me," he said.

He opened the fridge and pulled out some roastbeef leftovers. He quickly made a couple of sandwiches and sat down on the opposite side of the table. They ate in silence. He watched her. She looked happy. He wondered what Randy used to feet her, or if she was even fed everyday.

"How did you end up with Randy?" He asked.
"Ric Flair sold me," she answered.
"That piece of shit!" He growled. "He's an old man and his dick doesn't work, yet he still runs most of this town."
"He gets off on torture. It was a delight finally being sold. Randy isn't any better but it hurts less with him. Ric is very creative when it comes to torturing women. I've seen what he can do. I was one of the lucky ones. Maybe because I actually fought back often. He's old and can't really defend himself. He relies on the collars. I fought through the pain many times just to get my hands on him," she said.

He chuckled at a memory of Ric. He had been so frustrated one evening when they were all at Randy's. He had a long cut starting dangerously close to his eye and running down his cheek. He had kept shouting about a black haired demon that he was ready to either sell or kill.

"So that cut," he pointed at his eye.
"That was me," she grinned proudly. "He told me to make him dinner."
"He let you play with his kitchen knives?" He laughed.
"He regretted that quickly," she said.
"I wish you had taken his eye," he said.
"Me too," she said. "I tried. I aimed for it. He moved too quickly. Who knew an old man could move that fast?"

He finished the last bite of his sandwich. So far she wasn't disappointing him. He had seen it when Randy brought her in. She was trouble, and she was worth the trouble.

"So this guy who told you where to go," he said.
"I met him at Kane's house. Randy took me there once to brag about taming me," she said.
"I don't know Kane that well. He's one of Randy's buddies. I've never been at his house so I don't know who the mysterious man might be but I'd like to meet him," he said. "Anyway, let's move. Although you should be safe with me, I'd like to move while it's still dark."

He grabbed two bottles of water, and they went to his car.

"Where am I going?" He asked.
"Out of town. Follow the road to the pink sign. Then turn right," she said.
"You don't have an address?" He asked.
"Just a bunch of weird directions that I've tried to remember," she said.
"Alright then," he started the car. "Sounds like a treasure hunt to me."

He was beginning to think this nameless stranger had been messing with her. When he found a pink sign and a road turning right behind it, he slowly started believing.

"Follow the field of corn and turn left," she said.
"There's nothing but corn fields here," he said.

It was the same again. Once the corn fields stopped, there was a road on the left. He kept driving for a few hours, following weird instructions like that. They got further and further into the wilderness, and then small houses began to pop up. He stopped the car, and they both sat there and watched as people looked at them.

"They're all free," he said.

He was looking at the many women. All of them wearing clothes and no collars.

"We found it," she said.
"We sure did," he said.
"Oh my god, it's him," she said.

A man walked towards the car. They both stepped out and watched him. Dean had never seen him before. The man kept his eyes on her, and he was smiling widely.

"I remember you," he said. "You were with Randy at Kane's house. I'm glad to see you escaped."
"Dean helped me," she pointed at Dean.
"Dean," the man shook Dean's hand. "I'm Seth."

Seth looked at her again.

"I never got your name," Seth said.
"Annika," Annika said.
"Alright, Annika and Dean. Let's get you inside and meet the others," Seth said.
"Did Renee Young ever come here?" Dean asked.
"Renee was with us in the early stages before we built this place," Seth said. "Wait a minute! Dean? Dean Ambrose? She talked about you. I'm so sorry what happened to her."
"Me too," Dean said. "I wish I had joined back then."
"You're here now," Seth said. "You got two choices. You can get back in your car and leave, or you can come meet the others and help us help others."
"I'd like to meet the others," Dean said.

The sun was slowly rising when Dean and Annika were introduced to everyone else. Someone brought coffee for them. Something that was a treat for her. To Dean it was normal to drink everyday. He was beginning to understand how much women had been forced to give up with how the world had turned.

"You can stay with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to begin with. They got a room in their house. If you want your own, we'll build it. We got a lot of land, a lot of hands and a lot of time," Seth said.
"Thank you," Annika said.
"And you?" Seth looked at Dean. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Dean asked.
"What do you wanna do?" Seth asked.

Dean sipped his coffee while thinking about that. He knew he wanted to help. Seeing Annika's smile had been worth it. He would do it all over again. A million times if he had to.

"I know a lot of the big players in town. I can get a lot of women out," Dean said.
"And those you don't know, I know," Seth said. "We should team up."
"It's not enough to give directions. And I sure as hell can't afford buying every single one of them. We need to start fighting back for real," Dean said.
"I know," Seth sighed. "I've known for a while that I won't get around this without becoming violent."

Dean took another sip of his coffee.

"You can stay in my house," Dean said. "We both get invited weird places. We'll start going together. Those who won't give up the women freely will have to be taken down one way or another."
"It's a sad world we're living in," Seth sighed. "We'll do what must be done."
"Starting with Ric Flair," Dean smiled at Annika. "You want me to take his eye for you?"
"Just send him my regards," Annika said.
"Sure thing," Dean chuckled.

Dean emptied his coffee and looked at Seth again.

"We'll clean the town so that people can start moving back there. We'll do what once was done. We'll take over everything. We'll start society from scratch. Put the bad men in jail and start a new world all over," Dean said.
"It's a lot of work," Seth said.
"Work you've already started by building this place out here," Dean said. "It can be done."

Dean grabbed Annika's hand and caressed it. He failed to save Renee back then but he wouldn't fail again. Annika was proof that it could be done. Her smile was all he needed to keep going.

"It will be done," Dean said.
"It's everywhere. It's the entire world," Annika said. "This is just one town."
"People need someone to look up to. If they see us do it, they'll start breaking out in other places to follow," Seth said.
"We gotta start somewhere," Dean squeezed her hand. "We gotta start somewhere."