Tempe Town Camp

Everyone within ear shot of Grant froze and stared at him with their eyes wide.

The leader in the front was the first to recover and react, "Before we continue this conversation, please come with me."

Grant was paying close attention to the reactions of everyone around him while he followed the leader of the squad behind the wall. Their were an assortment of reactions to his statement. He saw greed, confusion, surprise, and one guy who looked suspiciously aroused.

For the first time in a long time, a shiver of fear ran up his spine and he hurried to follow the leader.

Once the reached the other side of the wall, what came into view was a large open courtyard that was dotted with makeshift houses everywhere. They looked like they had been thrown together quickly just to provide shelter to their occupants.

Grant could hear the sounds of hammer on wood unendingly ringing through the air while people were running back and forth moving debris and other materials around.

On the surface, the energy of the settlement seemed to be quite positive. He wouldn't make any snap decision based on an initial reaction but things were looking alright so far.

While Grant was observing the surrounding people and atmosphere, the leader led Grant to a shanty building much like all the others, except this one was slightly larger than the other ones.

After pulling aside the cloth that was hanging in the doorway, the leader gestured for Grant to enter. Once inside, the leader asked Grant to sit at the table that had been set up inside.

The "table" was just one of those giant spools that they wrap really thick cable around and a couple of buckets for chairs. It was enough to tell that although this man seemed to hold some semblance of power, it didn't appear that he was being given preferential treatment because of it.

Once the two sat down, the man finally began speaking.

"I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Jerrod."

Jerrod looked like your average middle aged dad; he was probably no more than 5'10", with black hair, brown eyes, and a thick pair of circular rimmed glasses and he had a dad bod no matter which way you looked at him.

"I used to be a teacher here at the University. Welcome to Tempe Town Settlement, its nothing special but its a place for people to gather and feel safer in large numbers. We started to gather people from within the campus after it was clear that the worlds changes would be permanent. Currently the leader of the camp is an older professor who has worked here for 20 years. He was able to unite the different personalities because of his long experience with the people of the university."

Jerrod reached out to give Grant a handshake while he was introducing himself. Grant returned the handshake before repeating the greeting he had given earlier when they asked who he was.

"I thank you for agreeing to follow me and have this meeting.

Things have been a bit crazy because of the storm and we are in desperate need of supplies. If you really do have as much food as you say you do, would you be willing to donate it to the settlement?

We have sent parties out to search for supplies over the past few days, but it has been harder to find sufficient supplies with all of the buildings having been destroyed."

Grant was surprised by Jerrod's forwardness and honesty but before he donated any amount of food to the shelter, he wanted to know where and to whom his donation would be going.

"I do have a large amount of food. But you must understand that it would be difficult for me to just hand over such a large amount of food, without knowing that it is going to the people who need it. If I just hand it over to you now and you walk back to whoever runs this settlement and hand it to them, they could very well just horde it for their own personal use and I would have changed nothing."

After saying that Grant just stared directly at Jerrod to see if his facial expressions changed even the slightest. If Jerrod showed any signs of deceit or guilt because his plan had been expose then Grant would immediately cut off the conversation and walk away. However, no matter how Grant looked at him, Jerrod kept the same stern expression he had had since the beginning of the conversation.

"I understand your concern Grant. How about this, we will be preparing lunch for the settlement in a couple of hours. If you would like, you are more then welcome to walk around for a little while and then I will come and get you before we prepare the food. At that point, you can donate the food directly to the cooks and watch the food be cooked and distributed immediately."

Grant decided that it was a fairly good compromise and it would allow him to see up close and personally how they handled food distribution. Since food was a consumable resource, some semblance of conservation would have to take place but if they were feeding the settlers just enough to keep them alive, then he would be disappointed and have to reevaluate any relationship he had with the place.

"Fine, I will take you up on that offer.

I have some friends that I need to look for anyways. Speaking of them, have you met a lady in her thirties with two kids? One of them was around 18 and one was no more than 12 years old. The little girl would be in a bright orange track suit carrying a bow around and the boy would be in leather armor with a big ass hammer."

Jerrod was surprised by the descriptions that Grant had given, because he had met the three people about a week ago at this point. They were impossible to forget because of how the two kids were dressed and the weapons they were carrying and by the fact that they were pulling a car behind them as they walked through the storm.

"I know who you are speaking of and I know exactly where to find their Mother. Unfortunately the two kids are not in the camp at this moment because they left to do a supply run, but they should be back by lunch time. I will take you to see their mother now, if you would like."

Grant stood up immediately and right after said, "Lets go." before walking towards the door and out into the open courtyard.

Jerrod had to rush to catch up but Grant had stopped once he had passed through the door because he had no idea where he was supposed to be going so, as impatient as he felt, he still waited for Jerrod.

Once Jerrod took the lead, they ended up walking throw the row after row of shacks before they finally reached a building that hadn't been completed destroyed in the storm. When they reached the entrance, Jerrod explained where they were.

"This is one of the old dormitories. It is one of the few buildings that wasn't completely destroyed during the storm. We have decided to start using it as a reward for those who contribute greatly to the development, or redevelopment for that matter, of the settlement.

The kids you are looking for earned their right to stay here before the storm even ended. They went out in the midst of the storm and gathered food and survivors that had been stranded and brought them back. Allowing them to stay here was the least that we could do with their contributions. It is mostly because of them that we have been able to continue feeding the people as much as we have been able too.

I'm actually quite jealous of their strength. Every time I asked them how I could become strong like them, they just told me to go find someone who looked like a walking carrot with a sword. At first I thought they were joking but now I'm starting to think they actually mean it."

Grant just smiled while listening to the story. It was clear that the kids had thought things through and planned accordingly when they brought Ally here with them. And then they even went out of their way to help people they didn't even know, braving a massive storm in the process.

Even after all of the things they had to suffer through because of Jeff and his thugs, they apparently hadn't given up completely on humanity and were still going the extra mile to help people they didn't even know.

It reminded him of the age old cliché, "With great power, comes great responsibility."

"Enough of my stories though, follow me inside and I'll lead you to their room. Their mother generally helps with meals but she should still be there right now."

After walking through the corridors and leading Grant to the door of one of the door rooms, he knocked a few times and then stepped back.

After a few moments, "Be right there!" came from inside and Grant could hear footsteps walking towards the door before it was opened with a, "Yes, how can I he.. Grant?!"

Grant just stood there in the open doorway smiling, "Hey Ally."