“You’ve already met Joe.” She stated with a slight smirk and gesture towards her husband. All Joe could do was look around him with an awkward smile. Joe was the only family member that was a bit overweight. He did not strike Shelley as an overly friendly person. His countenance did nothing to contradict this feeling, with distinct jowls pulling the corners of his mouth down into a permanent frown.
That, and the bully behaviour displayed earlier. Shelley mentally added. Here’s hoping that those kids take after their mother.
Rachel went on to explain that Joe was a veterinarian and owned his own clinic in town. Christine also worked at the clinic, while Ethan was a grade eleven student.
Emily Hill didn’t really need an introduction. The English woman had met each one of them as they entered the bus today. Shelley instantly liked her. She didn’t waste much time in the introduction. The short British woman was very much a tomboy. The only new things that the group learned about Emily was that she grew up in London and had been in America for only a few weeks, working as a bus driver of all things.
“Hi everyone.” A handsome middle-aged man spoke up next. Shelley got a good look at him as he stood up from his table. He looked very fit, with bulked up chest and arms.
But not like a body builder – more like a soldier.
He also had chiseled facial features and a short salt and pepper haircut. And he also sported a prosthetic where his lower arm should be. Shelley could make out that the wrist and hand were made from some kind of metal that was painted a dark blue.
Definitely a soldier. Shelley decided, and started imagining how he’d lost his hand.
“My name is John Miller, and this is my wife Melissa.” He motioned to the woman beside him. She gave a small wave and a quick smile. “We’re... kind of retired, I guess. We used to be military.”
Yep. Called it.
The oriental guy went next.
“I’m Keith” the Asian man said with a slight nod. Shelley had already met Keith. She had made a quick assessment of his injuries when he first stepped on to the bus and had applied a temporary bandage to his arm. That had been only an hour or so ago. It seemed like ages.
Keith was now sporting a fresh long bandage on his forearm. The scratch on his chest was nothing serious. It was cleaned and left open to the air.
“Ok. Keith. Nice to meet you.” Craig answered with a quick smile. “Most of us saw your, um, skills with those hammers.”
“Yeah. Well I am a carpenter.” He let that hang for a few seconds. Several people managed to laugh despite the stress of the day.
“I’m also into Aikido. It’s a martial art.”
John turned to him. “Hey, I heard of that. Didn’t one of those movie actors do that as well? ... Anyway ... Cool!” He smiled at Keith.
There were more people in the cafeteria, but it looked like nobody wanted to go next. It was quiet for a couple of seconds. Joe took advantage of the silence and spoke up at this point.
“All due respect to the group.” He said, with a look around him. “But could we continue with the introductions after supper?”
“That’s a good idea, Joe.” Craig agreed.
It was John’s wife; Melissa, who spoke up next.
“I’d like to have a look at that kitchen. Maybe between a few of us we can prepare a meal for the group?”
“Hey that sounds good – count me in for kitchen duty.” Nancy said with a smile.
Craig raised his hand to speak.
“I’ve been thinking and there is one other thing we should do. Maybe while some volunteers prepare supper, we can have a closer look at what we’ve got in the gym?”
He walked over to the stage and picked up the clipboard Matheson had left there.
“We can use this to check against. I’d like to know what they’ve left us with.”
Most people seemed to agree with that.
Joe’s son Ethan raised his hand to speak. He sat with his hand raised until Craig acknowledged him. Shelley liked that. It showed good manners.
“I thought that we should also go explore upstairs?” Ethan supplied when Craig nodded to him.
“Great idea Ethan! Let’s do that as well. Ok, who wants to help in the kitchen?”
“My daughter and I can help!” Rachel Collins called out with a hand on Christine’s shoulder. Christine looked none too happy to be volunteered but went along with it. Sarah completed the volunteer team prepared to take on kitchen duty.
Shelley was curious to see if there were any medical supplies, so she volunteered to come check out the supplies drop, Joe, Ern, John and Craig completed that group.
Keith took Jack, Ethan and the girl wearing the track suit to scout out what was upstairs. It occurred to Shelley that track suit girl had not introduced herself.
Maybe she is just shy.
Everybody agreed that Emily and Bill had already done enough for the day and suggested that they stay put in the cafeteria, along with Maria, who was sporting her ankle injury, and the practically catatonic Claire.
Emily said she was fine and didn’t need to take it easy. She offered to help in the kitchen, promising to try not to ‘Royally cock it up’.
Maria’s ankle was bothering her, but she was uncomfortable sitting around. So, she went exploring. That left Bill and Claire sitting at a table together in awkward silence.
AS SHELLEY WALKED WITH her group to the gym, she noticed a certain familiarity between Craig and John. She could tell just by the way they interacted with each other. She saw John say something to Craig and the other man grinning back at him. She stepped closer to them.
“Hey – do you guys know each other?”
John turned to her and
