Oh how Collin wished for his tent back home, one of those new instant ones that went up in about two minutes. Obviously it wasn't as large as this one, but the sun beating on his back made him realize he didn't care. The metal poles scattered on the green canvas looked daunting and he sighed, wondering how he'd manage to figure this out. He circled the canvas, trying to figure out how exactly it worked. He felt like there were probably enough poles for two tents, rather than just this one.

On his second circle he noticed that one end seemed to be a bit thicker. He tugged at the dark green canvas, which unfolded even more. "Damn." He muttered under his breath while he stretched out the canvas once more, it growing another third in size. It was bigger than his apartment! Well, ten people were supposed to be living in it, so he supposed it made sense. A booklet of yellow paper had dropped to the sand. Instructions, of course. Why wouldn't the tent have come with them? He felt dumb.

Taking a break in the shade, Collin looked through the booklet, the words and illustrations making it seem like such a simple task. He stood to go ad sort the poles, distracted for a moment when Will called out to him. "Fire?" Oh, it seems Will had managed to get one going and Collin hadn't even noticed. The last thing he wanted was to be near the heat, but it might prove useful for cooking... if they had food, which he didn't think they had much. All he could picture was the large metal trunk, filled with what was to feed ten people for weeks. The protein bars, snacks, canned meats and vegetables, all of it possibly at the bottom of the ocean. His stomach growled at him, apparently just as upset by the loss.

Since Will seemed to be resting, Collin sorted the poles by size, wanting to make sure he used the right ones. It didn't take long after that before he was shoving them into the pockets and forming the roof of the tent. The entire edge was rimmed with poles, and long ones connected to run down the center. Others stemmed out the edge towards the center, holding it up in a tall peak. It seemed all that was left was the side poles and the center two. Then they could stake it into the ground, which would probably be difficult to do in the sand, but if another storm like the one that wrecked them showed up, they would be glad to have it stay in place.

"Hey Will, feelin' up to helping?" He wasn't even sure Will would be able to, he seemed tired, and the bandage on his head probably wasn't a good sign, but he wasn't sure he could get the sides up on his own. They'd need to life the top up and work quickly to put in the supports, one on each side, until it was standing up. Once they got it up, they'd at least be able to hide inside from the sun.