July 23, 2004
"Hello? Earth to Bea?" Luke says, waving his hands in front of my face.
I snap forward to pull myself back to consciousness. "Sorry, must've dozed off," I mumble. I've been doing a lot of that lately. As I predicted months ago, we have run out of food. Everyday we send groups out to search for food, but we come up empty most of the time. Wild game in the area has been scarce too. When we do find food, it doesn't go far. We have so many mouths to feed. All of this means that we have to skip meals, sometimes for days at a time.
I've lost all of the baby weight, and then some. Between skipped meals and breastfeeding, I'm running on fumes. I spend most days fighting off fatigue and pretending that I'm perfectly fine.
I lean down to pick up Evie from her play mat on the floor. She was spending 'tummy time' on her mat with her grandma watching over her. One thing I am incredibly grateful for is that I have tons of help raising Evie. She's surrounded by a whole group of people that adore her, whether she's their blood relation or not.
"Hi, sweetie," I greet her, lifting her up to hold against my chest. She's been growing like a weed, although she's still considered small for her age. Carlos says it's of no concern and that she'll catch up eventually. She's already learned how to hold her head up on her own, far more quickly than the average baby.
Sarah sits on the floor, like she usually does. She's playing with a Rubik's Cube that I found in a van a few miles away. It was a week ago when I went on the only run I've gone on since we've been here. We came up empty handed, except for the Rubik's Cube that I brought back for Sarah. She hasn't solved it yet, but I think she's getting close.
Nick, Alvin, and Rebecca, bound through the door drenched in sweat. By the sour looks on their faces, I'll assume that they didn't find anything of use. Luke gets up to go talk to them, but not before Nick storms off into our room, presumably to change. I'll give him time to cool off. He has a right to be upset; I would be too. We've all been going into the blazing Southern heat in intervals for weeks, only to find that we've wasted our time.
Eventually Nick comes out to the main area, with a different outfit but the same mood. He makes himself comfortable beside me. I don't bother to make small talk about the run; it's no use. Instead, I hand Evie to him. She can always put him in a better mood. Like expected, it takes one teeny-tiny baby smile from her to cheer him up. I lean against his shoulder to combat my light-headedness.
Minutes pass in silence, as there isn't much for us to do, and everyone is exhausted. It's boring, but peaceful.
All of a sudden, a faint engine sound is heard nearby. It catches everyone's attention, other than Sarah, who is still engrossed by her Rubik's Cube, and little Evie, who is fast asleep on her dad's chest. We silently look around at each other, though no one makes a move. Perhaps it's just someone driving by on the road. We don't need any unnecessary altercations.
The problem arises when the engine noise ceases and a new sound fills the air: the sound of someone knocking on the door.
There's a moment where everyone freezes, then springs into action. Luke and Carlos are on their feet in an instant, approaching the door, guns ready. I ready my own gun. I go to join the two of them, but Nick grasps my thin wrist to keep me on the couch. The last time we heard a knock at our door, it turned out well. But the likeliness of us getting lucky twice in a row seems thin.
"Hello?" A lady's voice comes from outside the door. "Maybe you could open the door, and we could talk a little better. I mean no harm, in fact, I have a proposition that I think you people might be interested in."
Is this lady trying to sell us car insurance or recruit us for her church?
Luke and Carlos share a glance. Carlos speaks out, "Who are you? Are you alone? Are you armed? How did you find us?"
"Woah, that's quite a few questions," the woman chuckles. "My name is Tavia. I'm with a man named Troy, but I left him in our truck. He's not the best people person. We're a part of a larger group. I am armed, for protection only. I was out scouting a week or so ago and I saw some of your group out in the woods a few miles away. It was a short girl, a tall guy with a hat, and another guy carrying a machete. I couldn't pinpoint where ya'll were from, but today I saw a group with that same guy with the hat and followed you back here. Like I said, if you open the door I can explain better."
Luke hesitates, but opens the door anyway. He does so slowly, so that Carlos can meet Tavia with a weapon at the ready. She enters with her hands raised. Nick tenses beside me.
"Hi there, like I said I'm Tavia. I'm a part of a larger group. We live in a hardware store that has been converted. It's a safe place to live, we have food, medical supplies, and more. Eventually we want to expand our living areas to the other stores connected to us. We're trying to recruit more people. We would be thrilled to have you all come back with us."
"You have food?" Luke asks.
"Yep, lots of it," she answers.
"What's the catch?" Nick asks, handing Evie to me and going to join Luke and Carlos, his arms crossed to match Luke's own. This deal sounds too good to be true, but for our own sake, I hope it is true.
"No catch," says Tavia. "Well you have to work to earn your keep, but we find good jobs for everyone. Jobs that fit everyone's skill sets, personalities, and whatnot. It's really a good deal if you think about it. You're getting fed and housed, just for the small price of working around Howe's."
Tavia must've been a salesperson before the fall, probably why she was chosen for this job.
"How do we know we're not getting screwed?" Rebecca asks sternly.
"Oh, almost forgot! I've got a few pictures here. Not many because Polaroid film is hard to come by, but feel free to look at what I have."
Tavia hands the pictures to Rebecca. It only takes her a few seconds to look through the four photos before she starts passing them throughout the group. They get to me last. I use one hand to hold Evie, while I use the other hand to sift through the pictures. One shows the outside of the facility. It's pretty large. The next two photos show a few people working in both a kitchen and a garden. The last photo shows a group of five people sitting in lawn chairs and smiling. Several of them are older; they don't quite look like fighters, but it seems like a nice place to live. And anywhere with food is a place I want to be.
"Here," I say to Tavia, gesturing for her to come collect the photos, since I can't get up because of Evie.
"Oh, wow," Tavia says, approaching me. "You have a baby!"
I chuckle slightly. "Yeah, this is Evie. She was born this April."
Tavia says, "Oh, Carver will love you."
"Who's Carver," asks Nick.
"And why would he 'love me?'" I ask.
"William Carver is our leader. He takes great care of everyone. And he's very interested in the future generation. He thinks that we need to raise strong children to keep humanity going. We don't have any other children in our group yet, but now it looks like we will!"
Carver's thinking isn't exactly wrong, but it does seem a bit odd that he seems obsessed with the idea. Or maybe I'm just misunderstanding or being judgemental. Afterall, I suppose I shouldn't bite the hand that feeds me.
"This isn't some cult thing, right?" Pete speaks up.
"No… No!" Tavia stutters at first, caught off guard. She composes herself and plays it off with a laugh.
"Sorry… Had to ask," Pete mumbles.
"So it's settled? You're coming!?"
"I think so…" I say cautiously after no one else comments. Everyone nods in agreement with me.
"You said you have a truck? You can fit us all? And our stuff?" Nick says.
"Sure thing! You all can go get your stuff and meet us out in the truck. Actually, if ya'll don't mind, Troy and I might load some of these mattresses into the truck. How lucky that you all were staying in a mattress factory!"
Nick kisses my forehead and assures me that he and the others will get everything, that I can just wait for them all outside. I grab my bag and head outside with Evie and Sarah to wait on the others. Tavia and the man that I assume is Troy make trips back and forth loading in several mattresses into the back of their truck. It's a huge truck, probably previously used to transport goods at the hardware store.
While the others are inside during one of their trips to and from the vehicle, a lone lurker stumbles through the trees. She wears a faded and torn purple cheerleader uniform. She has long box braids, and dark brown skin that has greyed since her demise. From her attire, I assume she was at a game or competition when she died and came back.
"Uh, dad?!" Sarah starts to yell for her father as the lurker staggers toward us. The lurker is slower than most; it looks like she has a broken ankle that she drags as she walks.
"It's okay, Sarah, I got it." I move toward the lurker, shifting Evie so that she's rested against my chest and held up by only one arm. With my free arm, I free my knife from its holster and take the lurker down in one swift stab. Thankfully she was slow, and not much taller than me. It was risky to do that, but I wouldn't have done it if I thought I was putting Evie in harm's way. I need to start using the baby carrier that can be strapped to my body to make situations like this easier, especially if I have to do work at our new home.
"You should've called for one of us, you know," Nick says. He and Pete are carrying Evie's crib to the rear of the truck.
"Oh, I know. But there's a lot of things I probably shouldn't have done." I wink.
He stops in his tracks. "Hey, was that supposed to be a joke about me?"
I laugh, but stop once I realize how dizzy I am. I hadn't meant it like that, not at all. "No."
He sighs in relief and continues packing the truck up. Carlos places the last of our things-a box of medical supplies-into the truck.
"It'll be a tight squeeze, but everyone can ride in the back, except for Nick, Bea, and Evie. You three can ride in the front with Troy while he drives. I'll ride in the back and get to know our new guests better," Tavia says. Someone must've told her my name while they were loading supplies.
Inside the front of the truck, I have a few moments to myself while everyone is still clambering into the back. This factory has been a safe haven for us for months, and for that I am thankful. But we are onto bigger and better things, and hopefully that includes some food.
Troy climbs inside, starting the ignition in a hurry. The ride starts out bumpy, and there's nothing to tell me that it will get any better. Troy keeps taking glances toward me, but I can't figure out why. Nick isn't paying attention, but instead is biting his fingernail. I can't tell if it's a sign of nervousness or awkwardness.
"So, I assume you're Troy," I say, trying to break the awkward feeling in the stuffy cab compartment of the truck.
"Guilty," he mumbles, taking another look in my direction. He takes a sharp turn without so much as tapping on the brakes. Nick holds onto me so that Evie and I don't slam into anything. From the back, I hear a loud thud. I hope that it was just some of our stuff, and not one of our people.
Evie stirs in my arms. She awakes with loud sobs, fat tears rolling down her adorable, plump cheeks. I try to calm her, but she isn't interested in quieting down. She rarely cries much, so this is a special circumstance.
"You know, you can feed her if you want," Troy says. On his face is a nasty smirk. He takes his eyes off of the road to look at me again, and I realize that he's been looking down my shirt this whole time. I wish I would've had Nick sit in the middle.
"She's not hungry, you sicko. She just ate before you found us. She's scared. She's never been in a moving vehicle before, especially not one driven by a horrible driver who's obsessed with staring down her mom's shirt!"
"Wait, what?!" Nicks snaps his head toward Troy, who has paled, his eyes now glued to the road. I have a feeling that he isn't used to being called out for his creepy behaviour often. "Don't fucking look at my girlfriend's boobs, dickhead."
I laugh a little at Nick's outburst. Evie finally calms down and goes to sleep on Nick's chest after Troy's driving improves majorly once he starts paying attention to the road. I trail in and out of sleep against Nick's shoulder throughout the ride, which is quite long.
Upon arrival, Nick shakes me awake. Two men meet us as we pull in. They open the truck up, letting everyone in the back to flow out. They step out and stretch after being cooped up in that sweat box for hours. If I thought it was hot and humid in the front, I can't even imagine what it was like back there.
"Thanks, you guys can take care of the truck and move their stuff in while I get them inducted," Tavia says, gesturing for Troy to toss the keys to the two men who met us.
Inducted? Is this a secret society? I really hope this isn't a cult like Pete feared.
"When do we get something to eat?" Alvin jokes.
"Soon, but we have to answer some questions first and get a tour in. We have to wait until dinner is done, I'm sure it's cooking right now," Tavia answers, leading us through the compound and into a room. I'm in awe of the compound. It's large, and I can definitely still tell that it was formerly a hardware store, but it seems well converted. Inside the room, we are greeted by two women, one elderly, and one middle-aged.
Tavia says, "Dorothea and Lora here will take your heights, weights, and other info. I'll return when you're done to take you on a tour."
"Wait, why do we have to have our heights and weights taken-" Luke tries to ask, but Tavia has already hurried out of the room.
"Hi, I'm Dorothea!" the older woman shouts gleefully. She's probably in her mid-seventies, with short, blindingly white curls atop her head. "I'm so excited to meet all these new people, especially such a sweet, little baby!"
"Hi, there," we all murmur, some more chipper than others. This woman seems incredibly sweet, so I mimic her sweetness back to her.
"And I'm Lora. I'm Dorothea's daughter. We are here to take down all your vital information," says the other woman after she finishes jotting something down. She is probably twenty-five years younger. Her features are nearly identical to her mothers, though she has light brown skin as compared to her mother's ivory skin. Her dark curly hair hangs from her head, where it greys around the temples.
"So why do we need to have all this information taken?" Luke tries again.
Lora nods at Dorothea, who hurriedly scribbles something down on a notepad sitting on the table at her side. "It's just intake information. It lets Carver assign everyone the proper job and whatnot."
It's a bit odd to have a job interview now, but I suppose it makes sense. Lora hands out papers to everyone along with a pen. When she gets to me, she stops.
"Oh, you come over here with me," says Dorothea. "I'll help fill out yours so that you can fill one out for this adorable ray of sunshine!" She waves and makes silly faces at Evie who giggles at her, something that she has only done a handful of times since her first true laugh about a week ago.
"Evie needs to have one filled out? But she won't have a job?" I'm confused as to why Evie needs to have paperwork filed for her if she won't have a job. I also am very much capable of filling out two papers without assistance, but they are persistent.
At my questions, Lora makes note of something on her own paper, again. I'm starting to wonder what's so important that they keep taking note of. Looking about the room at the others, I don't think anyone else has taken notice. Everyone is sitting at chairs scattered in the center of the room, working on their applications. Carlos is micromanaging Sarah, but I know she could easily fill the paper out on her own if he'd let her.
"Oh, you know… it's just standard," Lora mutters, refusing eye contact.
It's odd, but I choose not to fight it. I take the seat across the table from Dorothea, making sure that Evie is resting comfortably against me. Dorothea initially looks downcast, but immediately brightens up when I sit down with Evie.
"Okay, here's a paper for you to fill out for this little darling. Just leave the height and weight blank for now until we can take it later," says Dorothea.
"We actually weighed and measured her this morning, so I can just put it down."
"Great! And as you fill hers out, I will ask you questions so that I can fill yours out!"
I begin filling out Evie's form, finishing in barely two minutes. There's little information for me to fill out, besides her name, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and date of birth.
"I should be ready to fill my own out now," I tell her.
"Oh," Dorothea says, looking down and scribbling something on her notepad as if she's sad to be writing whatever she's writing. I try to take a glance, but she pulls it out of sight. "I'll still help!"
Again, I don't choose to fight it anymore.
"Full name?"
"Bea Porter, spelled B-E-A." I consider telling them my actual full name, but I don't see it as necessary.
"Beautiful name, so happy to meet you dear!" She says, back to being chipper. "Hair color… Brown. Eye color…"
She looks up at me, and it dawns at her that I have two different colored eyes. I just laugh a bit as she turns back to the paper. "Okay… One brown, one blue… Height and weight we skip for now… Former jobs?!"
"Farm hand and full time graduate college student."
"Farm hand? Hmm, I would'a expected that from some of the rest of your group but not from you!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot," I say, with a laugh. Every teacher or professor I've ever had was incredibly shocked to hear that I not only worked on a farm, but I grew up on one.
"So, education… You've already answered that one… That seems to be it…" She mumbles, her eyes flitting across the paper. "Oh! Date of birth?"
"July 5, 1981." My birthday was just a few weeks ago. Luke of course was the only one who realized it right away, since he keeps track of the days just as I do. He informed Nick, but I asked the two of them to keep it on the down-low, considering how low morale was.
Lora collects everyone's papers and lines us up to measure and weigh us. I slide into the very back of the line by Nick, who takes Evie from me. He leans down to my ear and whispers, "This is super weird."
"Oh totally," I whisper back. "I just hope we get some food soon."
Lora measures Sarah first and yells out, "Five-foot-five!" for Dorothea to record. Then Sarah steps on the scale that's right next to Dorothea. They put the scale close so that they don't have to yell out our weights. I hope they know that after everything we've been through, we don't care about other people knowing our weights.
"Carlos… six-foot-two!"
"Alvin… six-foot-four-and-a-half!"
"Rebecca… five-foot-six!"
"Martha… five-foot-ten!"
"Pete… six-foot-two!"
"Luke… six-foot!"
"Nick… six-foot-three-and-a-half!"
Lora measures everyone and yells out their heights until I'm the last one left. I step up to the wall and put my back against it. I feel her pen smoothing down my hair to check the measurement.
"Just right at five-foot!"
I step onto the scale next, holding my breath. When the number pops up, I just want to cry. It's so incredibly low, lower than I've weighed in probably ten years.
"Wow, you sure bounced back fast from the baby!" Lora says rather loudly.
Bounced back fast? I'm constantly dizzy, nauseous, and exhausted because I barely get to eat anything!
I stay silent and provide her with a tight-lipped smile, but Nick notices my uneasiness and comes over to comfort me.
Tavia reenters, her hands on her hips. "Tour time!" She announces.
We fall into line to follow her throughout the compound. Luke falls from the front of the group to the back. He whispers to me, "All of this seems odd, but I don't think it's anything dangerous. What do you think?"
I whisper back, "I've definitely picked up a really weird vibe that I'm hoping goes away once we get settled. I've noticed that they all keep writing stuff down in their notebooks after certain things we say. Tavia's done it a couple times, but Lora and Dorothea were doing it a lot. But I don't think they're going to try to eat us or anything."
He chuckles, then goes back to serious. "I hadn't noticed them writing stuff down. I guess I need to be more observant. I think we're good, but just stay vigilant."
She leads us through the open part of the compound, which makes up the majority of the building. It's filled with various shelving units from when it used to be a functioning hardware store. Most of the shelves no longer contain what they did before the apocalypse. Tavia tells us something about it, but I'm so far back that I barely hear her. As we walk, we pass by several people. Some prowl around with their guns. I assume that they are the guards. Others pass through like they have somewhere to be. I assume they are workers travelling to their next job.
She leads us to a staircase off to the side. She speaks loudly and sternly this time, so I'm able to hear her. "At the top of this staircase is Carver's office. Don't ever go up there and interrupt him unless you have permission or are asked to. He's very busy."
Is this guy a god or something? Being a leader to all these people would be taxing and time consuming, but I can't imagine that he's so busy that no one can even speak to him.
"When do we get to meet Carver?" Martha asks.
"Soon," answers Tavia. "Like I said, he's very busy."
She leads us to another staircase across the main area. As we climb, I have to steady myself on the railing to avoid succumbing to the dizziness that plagues me. At the top of the stairs to the left there is a long hallway with many doors. To the right, there is a guard standing in front of a door. He has a clipboard in one hand, and a gun fiercely gripped in the other, like it's vital that he protects whatever is on the other side of the door. I'm anxious to find out what he's protecting. In between the hallway and the guarded door is another door, but this one is metal, and I assume it leads outside.
Tavia gestures to the hallway. "This area used to be office spaces, conference rooms, and break rooms. We converted it into living spaces for all of our people. We have plenty of rooms left, and it is where you will eventually live!"
Eventually? I have no time to question it before she rapidly moves on to her next spiel. "This room here used to be a bathroom and locker room area. In there, we have some showers, toilets, and sinks for everyone to use. Yes, the plumbing and water works, but we have to use it scarcely. That's why everyone is allowed a ten minute shower once per week. Jerome here is guarding it to make sure that no one sneaks an extra shower in. He uses his clipboard to keep track of it. The guard positions obviously are in shifts, so one day, if any of you become guards, this might be one of your possible jobs!"
Really? This guy is guarding showers? Even as we speak right in front of him, his gaze doesn't budge. You would think he was protecting the damn president from the way he acts.
"Also-don't worry! The showers and toilets all have stalls. This isn't middle school all over again. Oh, forgot to mention! I talked to Carver, and he gives Bea and Evie special permission to use the showers as much as you want! He wants to make sure that Mom and Baby are comfortable."
I open my mouth to give my thanks, but she's already leading us through the metal door. As I suspected, it leads to a fire escape outside. We climb it to the roof, my head pounding at every step. On the roof, we see planter boxes scattered all over, various plants growing out of them. There's also a greenhouse.
"This is where we grow a lot of our food. The planter boxes we use during the spring, summer, and fall, and in the winter we are still able to grow some food in the greenhouse!"
Before she's even done speaking, she's already starting to climb back down the fire escape. We have to hustle to keep up with her quick pace. She leads us to yet another heavy door. The room is just big enough for all of us to fit inside uncomfortably. The room has no windows and is relatively dark, lit only by a small lamp. Probably the most distinguishable feature of the room is the multitude of guns, ammo, and other various weapons that sit behind a locked gate.
"This, as you probably can tell, is the armory. This here is Stacey." Tavia points to the uninterested dark-haired woman sitting in front of the cage of weapons. She flips through an old fashion magazine and gives us nothing but a small wave before focusing back on her task. "If you could just go ahead and hand over any and all weapons more dangerous than a pocket knife-"
"What?!" Luke and Nick exclaim at the same time. Evie starts to stir in my arms at the raised voices.
"Now, I don't know about that," Pete murmurs.
"The hell we will!" Rebecca snaps.
Everyone breaks out into a fit of angry chattering. Tavia looks flustered trying to address everyone's comments and concerns. Stacey stays at her table, completely unfazed as if she isn't listening to a single word. I'm not happy nor comfortable about giving up our weapons, but right now I'm too focused on keeping Evie from wailing to counter Tavia's request.
"I understand you might not feel comfortable without your weapons, but I can assure you that the compound is a very safe place. It's just standard for newcomers to not have free rein to waltz about the compound brandishing high powered weapons! But, if-slash-when you become guards, you can get them back! And they will be kept perfectly safe here; no one else will be allowed to take them or use them!" Tavia rushes her words out during the first moment of silence she can find.
Nick takes a look at me and a very fussy Evie before answering, "Fine… but it doesn't mean we'll be happy about it…"
One by one, we place all of our weapons and holsters on the table in front of Stacey, who finally stops paying attention to her magazine. I feel sorrow as I hand over my gun, as it was originally given to me by my father. I hope to get it back soon.
Tavia points to another door as we leave. It reads DO NOT ENTER in bold letters. "This is what we've been calling the 'catch-all' room. When we first cleaned this place out, there were only a few of us. We didn't have a lot of manpower so we just kind of took all of the supplies from this store and threw them in there. Eventually we'll sort through it all, but for now it's off limits unless you have permission."
We move through the main floor of the store and Tavia points to a small curtained off section. "This is the 'hospital' section. We thankfully don't often have injuries, but we always have someone monitoring the area. If you ever experience any kind of injury-minor or major-come here and the guard will go get someone to help. Thankfully now we have a real doctor to deal with all that."
She leads us a bit further down, where Troy is standing in front of a large walled in area that presumably used to be the garden or outdoor section of the hardware store. It's separated from the main area by a large gate, though the gate is open now.
"Final stop for the tour before dinner: the pen! This is the area where we house all our newcomers for a bit, before moving them into regular housing. So that means you'll be staying here for the time being. During the day you're free to move about the compound for work or food. After dinner the gate to the pen will be closed for the night, but don't worry there's a bathroom off to the side here if you need to go during the night."
"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Nick mumbles at my side.
"Now I have been nice this whole time, but really, what the hell is the point of all this?" Martha asks.
"It's just another standard thing. Everyone must go through it to make sure that we're dealing with good people here. Nothing against you all, but someone could very easily try to cause some trouble, and we don't want that," Tavia says, Troy standing to her side with a devilish grin.
Everyone is grumpy about our situation, but at this point we're too worn out and hungry to argue anymore.
"So the little wooden beds over there are where all of you will sleep. There's some pillows and blankets over there. Carver has graciously provided this tent and the cot inside of it for Bea and Evie for privacy and comfort."
The tent looks quite large and spacious from the outside. However, the wooden beds where everyone else will sleep looks horrid compared to our previous sleeping arrangements. I suppose we traded comfort for full stomachs.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about. This place is five stars," I say sarcastically, pointing to the corner, where there is a pen with five clucking chickens in it.
"Well I'll be back to collect you all for dinner. Five of you can go shower now if you'd like, but the rest will have to wait until tomorrow. For those that are going to the showers: take your clothes and any toiletries with you. Remember you only get ten minutes, so make it worth it. Do y'all remember how to get there?" Tavia asks.
We nod and she exits, but Troy stays right outside the open gate. I guess he's our designated guard for the time being.
Everyone offers for Evie and I to take two of the slots for the showers, but I decline the offer. As much as I want a shower right now, I'm so unbelievably weak and Evie needs to be fed. Besides, Evie has always gotten regular baths. That's the plus side about being a baby: you can take a bath anywhere where there's water and a small tub. I leave the group to go feed Evie in our tent, but as I leave it seems that Sarah, Carlos, Martha, Pete, and Luke are the ones showering tonight.
I enter the light blue tent and am not shocked to see that the inside is indeed spacious, even with all of Nick, Evie, and I's stuff already inside of it. I spend time feeding Evie, who is happy to have a full stomach. I hope that soon I am able to experience the feeling of a full stomach for the first time in quite a while.
The others who showered come back not long after I finish with Evie. Only a moment later, Tavia comes back with an announcement: dinner is ready! For probably the first time today, we follow instructions without any questions or concerns. She leads us to an unfamiliar area on the other side of the compound. It's filled with picnic tables where a couple of people already sit eating, one of which is Stacey from the armory.
At the back of the area is a counter and a large window with a rolled up metal gate attached. It's identical to the ones that I used to encounter at the concession stands at Nick's football games long ago.
"This is Carlo," Tavia says. "He does most of the cooking around here, since he used to own a restaurant."
The man behind the window is bustling around stirring pots and adding bits of seasoning. When he sees us he stops and flashes a bright smile. He has a thick head of dark hair and a thick moustache to match, both of which are greying slightly. "With more mouths to feed, I sure wish I had some help around here, but nothing I can't handle. I hope you all enjoy the food!" He speaks with a strong Italian accent.
Tavia instructs us to get trays, and Carlo begins placing a cup of water and a bowl of soup on each of our trays. We hurry to the tables to scarf down our food. Others trickle into the area and chatter away while they eat, but all of us remain silent and eat in a hurry. I'm so hungry that I barely even process what type of soup I just consumed.
I expect to feel full afterward, but my stomach still rumbles from being so empty for so long. There's a hand painted sign above the window that reads NO SECOND HELPINGS, so I don't bother with getting my hopes up for a full stomach tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
Back in the pen, Troy closes the gate behind us and trades places with another guard. We start to settle in for the night as there's not much else to do, until we hear the gate slide open again. A man enters, and right away I can tell that this is Carver by his aura. He walks in like he owns the place, though I guess technically he does.
When we heard the gate open, we formed a crowd, myself being toward the back. Carver says nothing as he wades through the crowd. The second his eyes spot me, he swaggers right up to me, his eyes unwavering.
"You must be Bea, the woman who was strong enough to have a healthy baby in all this mess," he says. He has a very gruff voice.
"Yep, that's me," I say with a chuckle. It's not like I had much of a choice, but the recognition is nice I suppose.
He sticks his hand out, and I situate Evie so that I can shake it.
"That's a nice grip for such a tiny little thing," he says.
"Hi, I'm Nick. I'm Evie's dad," Nick says from my side, sticking his hand out for Carver to shake.
Carver looks at Nick and sizes him up. He mutters, "That's nice," and turns back to look at me.
"Well, I'm William Carver, but you can just call me Bill if you'd like. Let me tell you, I am very happy to have all of you join our community." He's speaking to everyone, but he's only addressing me.
Author's Note: Carver has finally been introduced! Also, this is the longest chapter that I have published so far! I'm excited to show where the story goes from here :)