* * *
Four emotionally subdued men walked along the road. No one talked. No one emoted. Eventually they could hear the noise of a camp.
"So much noise," said Dave.
"There's about a hundred people here," said Trevor pointing to a football oval. "That number will always make a fair bit of noise."
As they walked forward, Dave could see that the oval was a simple football field. It was surrounded by an alternating pattern of car-long hand rails and shoulder-wide gaps. The field had a messy collection of tents scattered randomly all over the place. A nasty smell of open latrines made Dave wrinkle his nose. There were small groups of noisy people talking amongst themselves.
It was what was missing that alarmed Dave the most. There were no defensive structures at all - not even a token fence-line that formed a complete barrier. There was no one guarding or patrolling the perimeter. There was no sign or hint of any form of organisation at all.
Josh slowly shook his head from side to side. "What a fucking mess!"
Trevor looked annoyed. "I can't really deny that, but it's really hard to get people to help."
"You mean that they have no interest in helping themselves to survive," suggested Dave.
"There's no good way to put it," said Trevor. "I'd have more luck if you asked me to herd a few dozen cats."
"Shouldn't we all have the same goal?" asked Dave.
"You'd think that," said Trevor, "and to be truthful, one reason that I brought you here was to put a bit of fire into everyone."
Dave frowned. "I'm not really a motivational speaker."
"Sorry. That's not really what I meant. I'm hoping that if you describe what you've seen then maybe people here would agree on what the common enemy is. We really need to unite and fight together."
"It sounds like you have issues with factions and infighting."
Trevor sighed. "I hope that I'm wrong. But keep your expectations down."
"Hey Trev," shouted an Army man who was walking between the tents. "When did you get back?"
"Just now," said Trevor pointing at the camp site. "I was just showing our guests what our camp looks like."
The new Army man casually walked up to the group and looked at them. "It ain't much but it's home."
"Hi," said Dave holding out a hand, "I'm Dave and this is my friend Josh."
The Army man reached out his hand, giving Dave's hand a firm shake before moving on and shaking Josh's hand. "I'm Jordan. Good to see friends. Need more of that."
"Pardon," said Dave. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"A lot of people got separated recently so it's good to see friends who survived through it."
"Ah," said Dave. "Actually we became friends recently."
"Oh," said Jordan becoming gloomy. Jordan was clearly a type who clearly showed their feelings on his face.
Trevor quickly changed the topic. "Did you get my message yesterday?"
"About staying out all night?" asked Jorden.
"In particular I meant about getting a meeting together."
"Yep. I talked to the main influencers. They are probably at the HQ. I'll take you there right now."
Jordan turned and began walking into the camp. The others followed Jordan. The Army men knew where they were going, but Dave and Josh appreciated being guided.
Dave leaned towards Trevor. "A HQ?"
"It's just a name," said Trevor. "It's just a large tent that didn't have a floor. Can't have people sleeping on the bare dirt. So being a meeting place is all that it can hope to be. Plus, by fluke it was built somewhat in the centre of the field. The perfect place for a town hall or HQ or whatever you might want to call it."
Dave stayed near to Trevor as if worried about being overheard from people in the camp. "I wasn't expecting the phrase 'influencers'. Isn't there anyone in charge?"
Trevor sighed. "Like I said before, I'm not anyone important in the Army. I'm just a private. The only reason why the other lads follow me is that I'm a bit older than them. Us Army guys like a good command structure and without anyone of rank we went with age."
Dave looked suspiciously about the camp. "So how is this place organised?"
"By a committee."
Dave looked at Josh who had been listening in. "That can't be good."
"What do you mean?" asked Trevor.
"I worked in an office that had committees for everything and they succeeded in achieving nothing. At a time like this we need a clarity of vision and a way of responding quickly to situations."
Trevor gave a look as if he had been through this discussion before and Dave wondered what side of the debate Trevor had been on. "And who will be our great leader? You?"
Dave winced. "I'm definitely not suited to that sort of task, but surely with this many people you must have someone who could step up. If there are no Army officers then what about a police officer or a fireman? Surely there's someone who was in one of the services and had a knack for organising people during a crisis."
Trevor stopped walking. He face serious. "You're not getting it. There's no one left except us, and we're all bloody useless."
Jordan had stopped for a moment to wonder why everyone had stopped walking. Trevor, clearly frustrated, started walking again and took the lead. Everyone except Dave continued walking again.
Dave looked up at the sky noticing a dark cloud in the distance. "So, I'm not the only one then." He took a deep breath and followed after the others.
* * *
Dave approached a large, floor-less tent, at the entrance of which Dave saw Trevor talking to Holden and Jordan.
"I think you're making too much of nothing," said Jordan.
Trevor looked to Holden. "You were with me. What do you think?"
"I think we've been lucky," said Holden. "I don't think we should keep relying on luck."
"What's going on?" asked Dave as he caught up with the others.
"I'm worried about the hills behind us," said Trevor.
