As they emerged into the daylight Jon twisted in his seat to see out of the front window. They were driving along behind another identical mini-van and were making their way up a steep incline. As they climbed he could see a large concrete wall that rose up several stories high, and then stopped, becoming nothing but sky. Jon made an educated guess that this was the edge of the dome from the passenger side of the van, and it was lined with shuttered openings. From each one another mini van was emerging, and taking similar side roads that converged at various points. It wasn’t long before they felt their own incline slowing and levelling out.
“Take a good look folks” Boiler-Suit man said “you can see the whole of the valley from here” he added as they reached the crest of the hill. Jon, Mikey, and Karyn all turned in their seats, and Linda, Susan, and Sarah leant forward to all get a look out the front.
Ahead and below them they could see a large, flat floored valley, with lush green trees covering both banks. In the middle of the valley floor was what looked to be a something between a very large town and a very small city, a couple of high rise buildings, what looked to be an industrial district with some smokestacks and pylons jutting upwards, and several tall buildings forming a rough inner circle.
As the circle spread outward and the taller buildings thinned and became lower, it was almost as if a second ring was formed and split into quarters. Even from their vantage point it was clear these four areas were definitely suburban housing, the cookie cutter layout and perfectly segmented green spaces, really hitting the point home.
Finally surrounding all this suburbia was another ring of nature, a mix of grassland, woodland. A large glittering lake lay inset into the rise on one side of the valley, which Jon assumed was the titular West Lake, meaning they were approaching from the southwest. Finally there looked to be a large golf course on what could be the northern side of city.
They continued to take in the view for a few more moments before their convoy began to move downwards to the city, their road cutting through a very green section of woodland before emerging about twenty minutes later on the valley floor, passing by the lake itself, where they could see several large, expensive looking houses dotting the gentle rise on the far shore. Before they knew it turning towards the city and making their way further northwards and into the top section of the suburbs they’d seen from the top of the valley. After several twists and turns their section of the convoy pulled into a picturesque street of near identical detached houses with double wide driveways, well maintained front lawns, picket fences. It truly was the perfect picture of suburbia, with a large wooden sign surrounded by neatly arranged shrubbery and rockeries read in fancy script
IRIS DRIVE
Boiler-Suit man followed the car in front, and Jon turned in time to see and almost synchronised manoeuvre as the carbon front of them moved to the right hand side of the road, and the car in front of them moved to the left hand side along with their own van which pulled up on the curb outside one of the houses. Their driver got out and moved round to open the side door, and they all piled out, looking around in amazement.
The house was large two story building with an attached two car garage, and a small porch area at the front door. The outer walls of ground floor were exposed brick, and the upper floors had a wooden plank facade. Jon looked around and noticed several other groups standing in the front yards of the houses either side to them. On one side he was sure he spotted Zoe and Biff, and his mother pointed out his dad in the group on the other side to them.
Before anyone could do anything else, there was a loud clunk and the front door of the house swung open.
“Please make your way into your new homes” a voice rang out over some hidden tannoy system “all will be explained shortly and your vacation can begin”
“About time!” Susan muttered angrily as she strutted across the lawn, “my back is so stiff from that car ride!” She added as she entered the house, quickly followed by Sarah.
“Come on then you three” Linda sighed, “this is going to be a fun vacation living with those two!” She added as they made their way towards the front door. Jon tried to get one last look at the other groups as they entered their own homes, but was momentarily distracted by at least 8 identical mini-vans pulling away from the curbs and forming another line as the drive away. By the time he looked back he was the only one left standing outside.
“Jon!” Karyn called to him from the hallway inside the house “you need to come see this!”
