"A safe camp?" Carlos questioned, he had never heard of one of those since the apocalypse started. He looked at the woman, Tavia, skeptically. How was he just going to up and go trust a complete stranger; one that he just met two minutes ago if he wanted to be frank. "Like with food, water..."
"People, other survivors." Tavia finished his sentence.
"You're lying." Carlos said, narrowing his eyes at the woman.
"Fine, believe what you want." She started. "But we've got food, shelter, warm beds, other survivors... A school for your daughter." Tavia gestured to Sarah who was still wrapped up in her sleeping bag. He big doe orbs were wide with fear, but they brightened a little bit when she heard Tavia say all the things that the camp have. "I'm the recruiter." Tavia explained. "I come out to look for other survivors who might need help." She shrugged her shoulders as if it was no big deal.
"A camp?" Carlos asked incredulously. It seemed as though his thoughts had just been answered. This was the safe place to take Sarah that he was looking for all along. They could eat, and sleep well, and finally be safe and happy. But, a part of him still didn't trust this Tavia character. "Can you prove it to me?" He asked, crossing his arms. He'd learned his lesson about trusting people all willy nilly like that.
Tavia then pulled out a walkie-talkie, "Bill, you there?" She asked, talking into the small radio device. Carlos watched with his eyebrows knitted together. Who was Bill?
"I'm here Tavia." A gruff voice answered on the talkie.
"I'm recruiting two new people. A man and his daughter." Tavia explained to him, and the walkie-talkie buzzed.
"Good work." Bill responded. "See you when you get back."
"Who's Bill?" Carlos asked, unimpressed.
"He's sort of our leader." Tavia explained. "Look, this is the real deal, and all I'm trying to do is help you people. If you don't want help, fine. Go back to sleeping on the ground and having nothing to eat." She said to them, crossing her arms for emphasis. Carlos listened to her every word though, and he could kind of tell that she wasn't lying about this kind of thing. After all, who would? Who would lie about food, supplies, and survivors? But then Carlos caught himself, this was the apocalypse, and people were losing their minds. "So, are you going to stay or go?" Tavia asked.
Carlos sighted, "Let me speak to my daughter." He turned around to where Sarah was in her sleeping bag. "Sarah?" He questioned. "Would you like to go to the safe camp?" He asked her, because he knew that her decision was the most important. "There's food, other people, you can go to school." He told her, her eyes lighting up just a bit.
"And it will be safe there?" She asked.
Carlos nodded, "Of course sweetie."
"Okay." Sarah said. "Let's go." They packed up all their belongings, and followed Tavia to wherever she was walking. Carlos was surprised when they made it out of the woods only to reveal that she had taken a car to recruit people. "We're driving?" Sarah asked as she climbed into the back seat.
"The camp's about a day away." Tavia answered, and put the keys in the ignition to start the car. They drove in mostly silence, and Carlos slept the majority of the time they were in the car. He was exhausted though, and he used this time to his advantage. He hadn't been sleeping much lately, so this was practically a blessing. He woke up from time to time though to check on Sarah, and she seemed to be doing fine. Carlos was worried about her well being, and the shock from the apocalypse, but she was pulling through quite well.
When they finally arrived, Carlos had no idea where they were at. He watched out the window as Tavia pulled her small car into a place called Howe's Hardware. It looked like a giant retail store, so no wonder they had so much food and supplies. "Wow..." Sarah barely managed to get out as she eyed the place. It had a fence around it, so no walkers could get in, and it seemed safe and secure.
Tavia parked the car in the loading garage and helped Carlos and Sarah out. "Bill will want to speak with you. Follow me." Carlos and Sarah obliged with Sarah holding Carlos' hand of course. They followed Tavia through the big store and you could tell very much so that someone had turned this big place into a camp. There were beds everywhere, people everywhere, and lots of food stocked up on shelves. They followed Tavia up some stairs, and into a small office. "Here they are Bill."
"Thank you Tavia." Bill replied and dismissed her. Carlos was surprised at his appearance. He looked like an older man, early forties at least, with his gray hair and scruffy voice. "Nice to meet you, I'm William Carver, but everyone calls me Bill." He said, extending his hand for Carlos to shake.
"Carlos." He replied, shaking Bill's hand. "And this is my daughter Sarah."
"Nice to meet you too honey." Bill shook Sarah's hand as well. "Welcome to your new home."
"Thank you for taking us in." Carlos said with a small smile. Sarah didn't say much, but that's because Carlos knew that she was very shy around new people.
Bill waved it off, "It's what we do."
"If there's anything I can do, let me know." Carlos explained. "I was a doctor before all this happened."
"A doctor? That could come in handy." Bill replied with a nod. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping. You can get acquainted with the others, and dinner will be in about an hour." He explained and Carlos and Sarah followed him back downstairs to where all the beds were at when they first entered. Bill led them to two twin size beds that were right beside each other. "Let me know if there's anything you need." Bill said, "I'll leave you two to get settled in now." He then left to attend to what ever other duties he had.
"Well?" Carlos asked Sarah. "What do you think?"
"I like it here." She answered, but her cheeks flushed when she saw a group of people walking over to them. No doubt they were other survivors here, Sarah just didn't like meeting new people.