Sarah grabbed onto her dad's shirt as she saw the group of strangers approaching them. The teen girl almost ducked behind her father a bit. She was always apprehensive about meeting new people. Carlos grabbed his daughter's hand and squeezed it tight for reassurance. He was here by her side no matter what happened. Besides, these people looked friendly enough, they probably just wanted to introduce themselves to Sarah and Carlos. There were about six people coming towards them, and Sarah was trying to prepare herself.
A balding man wearing a green shirt approached first, extending his hand. "You all new to the camp?" He asked Carlos. "I haven't seen you anywhere around here."
The hispanic man nodded, "We just got here a little bit ago. Came out of the city when all of this started."
"The name's Pete." The balding man said as he shook Carlos' hand. "It's nice to meet you, we usually don't get too many new people around here too often."
"Carlos." Carlos answered, telling Pete his name. "And this is my daughter Sarah." Sarah gave a small friendly wave as she looked at all the people around her. There were quite a lot, so she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. "She's a little shy." Carlos added with a small smile. "Why don't you say hi, honey?" He asked.
"Hello." Sarah said shyly, her cheeks turning a pink color.
"It's fine." Pete smiled in return. Soon, they heard a woman clear her throat rather loudly, and Pete chuckled, "Oh yeah, and this is my sister Jenny." He said gesturing to a woman standing behind him. She had dark hair and dark eyes, and was quite pretty for an older woman.
"It's nice to meet you Carlos and Sarah." She said with a grin, her voice laced with a thick southern accent. "This is my son Nick." She said and gestured to a young man that was standing beside her. "He can be a bit of an ass sometimes, I think he gets that from me." She laughed while Nick just sort of scowled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He fumbled with his hat and blushed slightly, wishing he would disappear.
"Hi Nick." Sarah said shyly.
"Hi." He replied in return, still embarrassed from what his mother said.
"And I'm Luke." Another man introduced himself, and Sarah was afraid that she wasn't going to be able to remember all these nice people's names. "I'm Nick's best friend." He smiled, like he was taking pride in the fact that he was somebody's best friend. Carlos thought that Luke looked the youngest out of everyone here that was here introducing themselves. He was wearing a brown long sleeved shirt, and had light brown slightly curly hair.
"It's nice to meet you all." Carlos said with a small nod. In his mind, these were very friendly people, he just hoped that befriending and trusting all these people wouldn't come back and bite him in the butt in the future. He and Sarah had been through way too many close calls to take another risk. So Carlos hoped and prayed that these people would be good for them, that this camp would be good for them.
"Look, if there's anything y'all need just let me know, okay?" Luke said. "I'm sort of second in command here next to Bill." He said with a shrug. "I want to make sure everyone is comfortable."
"Thank you." Carlos said with a nod.
"What's your name?" Sarah asked the dark pregnant lady who was standing beside another man who was wearing glasses. Sarah was drawn to her because of her pregnant belly. The woman looked as though she was caught off guard, but she still smiled at Sarah nonetheless.
"I'm Rebecca." She answered and approached Sarah, "And that's my husband Alvin."
"You have a baby right?" Sarah asked, pointing to Rebecca's small but noticeable pregnant stomach.
Rebecca nodded, "Yeah, but he or she won't be here for a while."
"My mom used to have a baby too before she got sick." Sarah eyes shone a flicker of sadness, as did Carlos', but Rebecca just nodded in understanding before patting Sarah on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry to hear that sweetie." She said.
"Looks like we'll all be staying here with each other for a while, huh?" Alvin pointed out.
Carlos nodded, "Looks that way. How long have you guys been here anyway?" He asked.
Pete shrugged, "We've been here for quite some time actually."
"You start to lose track of the days after a while." Jenny pointed out.
Carlos chuckled, "I know that feeling."
"When is dinner?" Sarah asked as innocently as she could muster up. "I'm starving!"
Luke laughed, "Don't worry Sarah, it should be about that time. We're all hungry."
"Be patient sweetie." Carlos gently chided.
"Sorry dad." She said sheepishly. Suddenly, the dinner bell rung, and the big group went and found a big enough table for them all to sit at. Sarah decided that it was okay to be friends with these people. They were nice enough, and she really liked Rebecca and Nick, and she was excited for Rebecca's baby even though the two girls had just met. Dinner was amazing too. It was nice to have finally eaten a hot meal to soothe the ever growing hunger. Carlos was glad too, and he was glad that he and Sarah would have a safe place to stay at least for a little while. And later, when it was time to go to sleep, Sarah was so happy that she and her dad had a nice warm bed to sleep in. She could finally get a night of good rest, and tomorrow when she woke up, she'd be able to go to school, and read books, and color! Sarah actually really liked this place, and if Sarah liked it, then Carlos loved it.