I don’t think the group had ever gotten up this early. Neo woke us all up at the crack of dawn, pounding on our doors and threatening to barge in. Jan, Rosie, Jack, Margaret, Bob, Jerry, Jay, Emery, and I all marched down to the center. Neo brought our group to the room in the basement of what I could only describe as the town hall of this camp. The walls were cold, the floors creaky, and the air felt stale. My glasses were cracked and dirty, but the poor lighting didn’t make it any easier for me to see. Neo opened a door to our right in the middle of the dusty hallway and ushered us all inside. The room had a large oval table with chairs circling it. Bob and Jay sat together towards the head, Margaret and Jerry next to them, Rosie with Jack in her lap, and Emery ended the line. Jan sat across from everyone, she looked so small all by herself. It was like looking at a sixth-grader that had come to the high school to watch his or her little brother play in the football game. I couldn’t help but smirk. I took my place next to Emery, almost completely opposite to where Bob and Jay were. Neo sat across from them, a few chairs away from Jan. The group talked quietly amongst themselves, gossiping about the rooms and Rosie sprouting off on a small rant about how it was the first time Jack had slept through the night, but she couldn’t enjoy any of it. Jack, himself, was quite dapper this morning. While his mother babbled on about her roommates and the loud couple next door, Jack cooed at Emery. She whispered in gibberish right back and let him hold her pinkie finger in his meaty little fists. Jack was looking better, just being out of the weather and having a real place to sleep. He sneezed every so often and Rosie had to bounce him up and down until his little coughing fit went away, but it was so much better than before. My head was starting to dip down, so I crossed my arms and rested on the table. Everything here was so dusty, I was going to start having a sneezing fit.

The door opened with a loud bang, and all of us jumped. A tall, muscular man with sleeve tattoos and a black tank top came into the room, balancing cups of steaming liquid like a waiter. Arthur trailed behind him with another plate of drinks and some biscuits. Two other men and a lady came after. Neo stood up and walked over to the first man, taking one of the plates off of his arms. The man smiled brightly at Neo and they both started laughing about something one of them said. Arthur slid the plate of biscuits towards the center of the table and the others all sat down on the side that Jan was at. She was rigid and upright in her place. I don’t think that lady had ever seen this many people with tattoos and smiles in one room. I looked over at Emery. She had a broken biscuit in her hand and was trying to feed some bits of it to Jack while Rosie laughed. Crumbs were all over his face, and his little blue hat had gotten drool on it. Margaret and Jerry were handing some biscuits to Bob and Jay, in exchange for drinks that were being passed down towards us. Arthur let out a huge guffaw, and I turned to see why. Jan had a cup in her hand, but the coffee had spilled all over her shirt. Arthur was slapping his knee and patted her lightly on the back. Jan’s face was bright red. She was clearly trying to apologize for something that she said, she had that regretful look on her face and that desperate look in her eyes, but Arthur was laughing too hard to notice. The lady walked over and threw some napkins at both of them. She slapped Arthur playfully on the shoulder and he started to calm down. Neo cleared his throat and we all turned to him.

“So, these are the newcomers that I found near the Harris Teeter on Folly Road, two of them are in the med ward, but Maribelle will have told them almost everything they need to know. This is Nestor,” Neo gestured to the tall man in the black tank top. Nestor gave us a wave, his teeth were unsettlingly white, especially compared to his deep skin tone. “and this is Arthur, who you all know.” Arthur waved and tried to keep from laughing. He seemed so much nicer when he wasn’t pointing a shotgun at us. “Sitting next to Arthur, skipping Jan I mean, is Raymond and Gary,” The men nodded at us while staying silent. Gary had a big sweater and jeans on while Raymon had a flimsy tank top and shorts. “and finally, Maribelle’s wife, Darcy.” Darcy half smiled, but her tough facade cracked when Jack let out a big shriek. Part of his biscuit had been set back on the table, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. Jack tried throwing himself out of Rosie’s arms, and he had to let her know just how angry he was that she wouldn’t let him go smacking into the table. Darcy reached over and scooted the biscuit towards Jack. I could tell that he was eternally thankful based on the wide, wonder-filled stare he gave her.

“Yes, so that is our group. I’m Nestor, I am in charge of most of the things going around here, but we need more able bodies. Any hands are helping hands, and I would like to give you all some jobs to do in exchange for food, housing, clothing, use of facilities, and a family that would die to protect you.” I looked over at Nestor, he spoke loud and clear. It felt like listening to an old friend when he was talking, I would buy anything that he was trying to sell me. Neo seemed happy, but it was almost a little too happy to be real. Looking at Neo felt like looking at a happy mask covering up an overwhelming amount of pain and resentment. Nestor gestured for Bob and Jay to introduce themselves. “Tell us your names and a bit about you. Neo and I were talking earlier about where we thought you should be placed, but I want to take your interests into account.” Neo scoffed quietly behind Nestor. I think that Nestor may have heard him, but I knew that this was not the place for that to be addressed, not with so many other people in the room.

“Well, I’m Bob, and this is my husband, Jay. We’ve been with Oliver’s group for about a year now, and I think that we would be more useful if you had a watch or a construction crew. Jay and I used to be the heads of a construction crew, we actually we in charge of the new park that was being put in on Sullivan Island,” Raymond smiled at that.

“I used to take my kids there all the time. We loved the parks there, and the new one looked really good.” Jay blushed a bit and smiled back.

“I’m glad to hear that someone thought it was good, Bob wanted to tear everything down and start from scratch,” Bob rolled his eyes and Nestor laughed at the pretend fight going on.

“Ok, we do have some things that could use expert opinions, but now I want to hear from the gentleman sitting to your left,” Jerry cleared his throat and addressed Nestor.

“Hi, yes. Umm, well, I’m Jerry, and I’m pretty good at keeping watch and protecting people when we go out on raids. My sister and I worked at our father’s boxing shop during the summers, and I led a juniors class.” Jerry looked back down at his hands. He seemed tense. Margaret took notice and put her hand on his forearm.

“I’m his sister, Margaret. I’m also pretty good at the same things, but I know that Jerry also loves to cook. He can help out if you have a kitchen or a canteen. I can go wherever you want to put me. I’m pretty flexible, but I would like to visit the medical ward at some point. Emery, she’s over on the end, had to relocate my shoulder. It feels a lot better than it did before, but it still hurts a bit.” Nestor nodded and Darcy stood up.

“I work in the med ward with my wife, I’m in charge of all of the supplies and do the numbers while she is the head nurse. I can take you to see her now. It’s better to catch her in the morning before the idiots have time to injure themselves. I need to do a supply count anyway so let’s get that looked at.” Margaret stood up and followed Darcy out of the room. Nestor turned back to the table and nodded towards Rosie.

“Well, I’m surprised that you don’t remember me, Nestor. You came to my baby shower with Neo and Connie, after all.” Nestor seemed puzzled at that, while Neo smacked himself on the forehead.

“Nestor, you bonehead, it’s Rosie Abara!” Nestor’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ shape. His face softened when he looked back at Jack.

“So wait, is this Tony’s baby?” Rosie laughed.

“No, I just found this one in a dumpster and started running. Yes, this is Jack. Tony picked out the name.” Rosie was smiling, but her eyes were a little glazed over. She never talked about Tony to us, I didn’t even know if she was married to him or not. Tony didn’t exist to me before today.

“I am so sorry about Tony. He was just doing some group work, but he had a run in with the Liebers and-”

“Stop. I’ve heard it all before, and I don’t want to hear about it again. I’m just grateful for what I have now and for these kids that found me. Oliver and Emery found me first, I gave birth to this little monster next to a dumpster. Oliver held my hand while Emery told me when to push. I think she was still sixteen at the time.” All of the eyes in the room turned towards Emery, her face flushed. I reached under the table and grabbed her hand. She squeezed it tight, forgetting that it was my bad one. I didn’t care.

“Wow, so you two were in charge of everyone? How old are you?” It was my turn to talk. Emery had gotten better at talking to our group, but I think that this many new people was going to be too much.

“We’re both seventeen, at least I think. Emery’s birthday is before mine, and if it’s past October then I am also seventeen.” Nestor raised his eyebrows.

“It’s October 31st.” Emery whipped her head towards me and smiled. She threw her arms around me and screamed in my ear.

“Happy birthday!” Rosie gasped, and Bob stood up.

“Are you telling me that you never told us when your birthday was? I feel lied to.” Jay tugged at Bob’s sleeve to have him sit down, but we all knew that it was useless. Jerry wished me a happy birthday, along with everyone else in the room. Emery had let go of me, and I glared at her with every fiber in my being. I hated my birthday. My parents had showed me the hospital photos, and since everything happened so fast, my father was still in his costume. He was Han Solo and my mother was Chewbacca. She also still had all of the makeup on. Since then, they dressed up for every birthday. I was also forced to wear the furry glove that they had me rest in. I’ve grown since then, so it became something that I just wore on my hand, but they never let me get away with not wearing it.

“Well, Oliver, happy birthday. So, which one of you was the head honcho? Or was it more of a co-partnership?” I paused. I didn’t know how I wanted to phrase it, but Emery decided that she wanted to speak, so I let her have the floor.

“Ollie’s better at getting the room’s attention, but I was better at doing the smaller stuff. I was the group medic, and we coordinated everything together. We made most of the decisions and tried organizing everything to the best of our ability. Ollie’s the strategist and I just try to get stuff done.” Nestor nodded.

“I see, so I want to put you in the med ward under Maribelle’s wing. My little brother was telling me about how you kept your friend Joey from dying, and I was impressed. He also told me that Oliver was really good at getting everyone to focus. You two made quite the team, so I hope that we can push you guys to newer heights here. Is there someone else that I’m forgetting?” Jan stood up, her face was pale and there was still coffee dripping down her leg.

“I’m Jan, and I would like to leave. I think that it would be best for everyone if I could just get out at the gate.” Neo started laughing, Arthur gently grabbed Jan’s arm and led her back down to her seat.

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart, but I can’t let you go back out there. There have been some sightings of the freaks, and you would just get eaten up. I know that you do have some background in medical stuff, so I can up you on the medical rotation. Maribelle would have to evaluate you, but I’m sure that you two would get along just fine.” Jan nodded grimly and went back to rotating her empty cup in her hands. She seemed angrier now, the mention of Maribelle made her nose scrunch up a little, and her jaw was clenched. “Now, I have decided on positions for all of you. I was pretty sure before, but your statement just confirmed it. Raymond, Gary, it’s the same as before, so you guys can take Bob and Jay to the stocks. Neo will take Jerry and Margaret, after Maribelle is done with her, to the canteen to help out with the food. Rosie, this camp is laid out like the plans Tony and Neo were drawing up for the plot of land in Charleston. I know that you’d like to spend some time with Jack, so why don’t you go to the nursery part of the med ward? It’s Maribelle Rossi-Couture. I think you saw her already, but I know that it’s been years. Darcy had missed you.”

“I missed her too.” Rosie stood up and started heading towards the door. Bob, Jay, Jerry, and Margaret were already gone. It was just Nestor, Emery, and I left.

“You two. I already said that I want Emery working with Maribelle, but I want you, Oliver, working with me. I need someone to do numbers, inventory, and to help make plans to keep us up and running for as long as possible. I also need ideas for housing and rotations and stuff like that, what do you say?” I was shocked. I didn’t think that Emery and I would be put into such important places. We have worked hard, but it’s rare that teens like us would actually get recognized for all of the effort that we put in. Emery nudged my arm.

“I accept your offer.” Nestor gave me that smile again, his teeth couldn’t be real.

“Excellent.” Let's get Emery over to Maribelle, then you and I can start doing stocks with Darcy. She’s been my second in command, besides Neo, for this whole thing. It’s crazy how a small group of high school friends can turn into something so big.” Nestor turned around, queuing for us to follow. Emery and I looked at each other. It was clear that the rooms we got were ours to keep. The bedding arrangement was something to be brought up another time. This was big, I didn’t know how things were going to go, but I knew that it couldn’t be all bad.