Where we come from

“Good job.”

"Thanks." I looked down at my arm. "Thank you for patching it up right."

I nodded slightly, “Anytime.”

I gave a slight smile before standing back up. "So, what now?"

“Dinner.”

I nodded and followed her back, looking around. There was a wall, I noticed, with a lot of pictures, but I didn't get a good view as I kept walking.

I helped the younger kids get food, then made sure everyone else had food before getting my own.

((I'm doing this headcount for the sake of if we ever need to reference to it. There's James, Emily, Trevon, Claire, Aubrey, John, who are the adult adults, right? Then there's Mason, Ali, Caleb, Aspen, who are fresh adults, then there is Terra, Elliot, Autumn, Aiden, Annalise, who are almost adults. Then there's Asher, the kid. That's 16 people, then they added 3 more people, so 19 people, and that's not counting the children Trev and Claire or Audrey and John might have had.))

I stayed close to the wall, kinda watching before sitting down in a corner, a bit further away from people. I was looking for either Sam or Jamie, someone familiar. Aiden really wasn't kidding when he said he had a big family.

Jamie: I saw Tea and waved.

I gave her a nod of acknowledgement and tried to be not noticed by anyone.

I ate my food.

Claire: I slid over to the other side of Em. "So, are you going to fill me in on who those new kids are and why they're here?" I whispered.

“They’re Aiden’s friends.”

"Aiden and Autumn are back? Man, you don't tell me anything. I mean, I just got back from my supply run, but still!" I smiled, to show her I was just joking.

I nodded slightly, “Autumn isn’t speaking.”

I looked around. "Do you know why?"

"I'll explain what I know after dinner, ok?"

I nodded and looked down at my plate before I started eating.
Aiden: I was telling Jamie who was who in my family. It felt good to be surrounded by them all again, even if there was so many of them. "And over there, is my dad's brother, Uncle Kevin."

Jamie: I nodded slightly and tried to match names to faces, but I knew it was going to be a while before I could remember all of these names and figure out who was who.

"Don't worry, you'll learn eventually if you stay long enough." I continued eating. I missed home cooking so much.

I nodded slightly and ate some of my food. I was kinda shocked by how good it was, but I guess that's what happens when the only food you eat is what you can scavenge from grocery stores for over a year.

I smiled a bit. "How long has it been since you've had a home cooked meal? Years, I bet."

"Even before the war my mom wasn't the best cook, so the last home cooked meal I had was the Christmas before the first war."

I nodded slowly. "Dang," I muttered, not sure what else to say before continuing to eat. I finished soon enough and I thanked my mom for the meal before taking my plate to the sink and started to wash it.

I finished my food and thanked his mom who's name I was pretty sure was Em before following him to the kitchen with my plate.