Adrian felt the need to shoot the moron. In fact, his hand twitched a little. But instead he just ran the trigger-itching hand through his hair, moving is out of his eyes so he could glare at Nathan more effectively.<br/><br/>â€œDude, sheâ€™s my sister.â€<br/><br/>There was a creak of a door hinge, and Adrianâ€™s hand fell to his side as he looked over at Rainie emerging from the dark bathroom. He darted another scowl at the apparently brain dead engineer kid, and promptly went about acting like the conversation had never happened.<br/><br/>-----------<br/><br/>Rainieâ€™s gaze had fallen to the floor after Nathan looked away. She mused for a moment what it was she had meant to ask him, but eventually gave up. Decided on trying to get at least a wink or two, she curled up on the beanbag chair with the radio in her hands, blaring white noise. It was about twenty minutes of eye-closed trying-for-sleep while her brain refused to shut down before she finally slipped under into oblivion.<br/><br/>Adrian let his chin drop to his chest and eventually crossed his arms. He noticed Rainie had fallen asleep, and his automatic reaction was to become more alert, more watchful. Nathan glanced up every so often, and he would watch him with narrowed eyes.<br/><br/>When Nathan got up and shut the window, the noise jolted Rainie awake and make Adrianâ€™s adrenaline spike as he too jerked into awareness. He hadnâ€™t realized that heâ€™d been drifting off.<br/><br/>There was no need to worry about nodding off again for Adrian, because the engineer would pick up his shotgun every fifteen minutes â€“ which was plenty to keep him awake for the remainder of the night â€“ and stomp down the stairs. The first time Nathan disappeared downstairs, Rainie had looked at him and told him he should sleep. He had ignored her. The second time Nathan vanished, she turned off the radio. The Infectedâ€™s moans and screeches had been muffled by the closed window. Now she concentrated on the sound of the rain outside.<br/><br/>She remembered how, as a child, she had loved the rain. Her mother had loved it, told her how wonderful it was. It brought life. It was replenishing. Beautiful, relentless, and comforting. Rainie had seen the rain as what she would like to be. Comforting and beautiful and strong and all the other things Momma had described it as.<br/><br/>But somewhere in her life she had come to hate it. The rain was cold, unfeeling, and unforgiving. It flooded towns and drenched cities in misery. She no longer saw the beauty that her mother had taught her to see. And she still didnâ€™t. There was nothing comforting about such a cold thing. Especially now. But nothing was comforting in this world anymore. Especially not her motherâ€™s beloved rain.<br/><br/>And now she listened to the rain against the roof, walls and window. It dulled her senses, cleared her thoughts, and she soon felt herself relaxing into the beanbag. Despite this, every time Nathan would move around noisily; on his routine checks of downstairs, packing his bag, fiddling around with stuff in the kitchen. But so was the nature of the beast. She wasnâ€™t able to sleep soundly in any place other than her apartment, with Adrian right next door and Kai out in the main room. But every time she jerked into awareness, the sound of the rain would lull her back into blackness.<br/><br/>Silly how we can love and hate something at the same time. Rainie despised the rain. It didnâ€™t stop her from listening to it as she went to sleep, or staring out the window for hours during a downpour. But she truly did abhor the rain.<br/><br/>Adrian watched Nathan almost religiously as he went about doing normal activities. Messing with a doodad, tinkering with what looked like the heating coils of a stove in the kitchen, and routinely picking up a gun and going to check on the zombies downstairs....<br/><br/>Yeah. Totally normal.<br/><br/>Every single time Nathan would return to the room, he would intentionally evade the couch. It wasnâ€™t until about the fifth time he did it did Adrian get it. He then promptly rolled his shoulders and settled into the uncomfortable chair. Like hell would he move from this spot. The brain dead engineer could kiss the darkest part of his lily white arse. ((ten points if you get the reference!))<br/><br/>Soon the sun was beginning to rise, right in Adrianâ€™s face. He squinted against the light, the exhaustion from being awake for more than twenty four hours violently hitting him at the realization that he hadnâ€™t slept all night. Seeing the sun made it real.<br/><br/>Nathan had already disappeared downstairs for his next check of the magical world beyond the bookcase (Narnia, the Zombie, the Nerd, and the Bookcase?) so Adrian gave himself the luxury of standing up to get out all the kinks. Just moving into the upright position caused his back to crack in six places. The sound was enough to wake Rainie up.<br/><br/>Ignoring her, Adrian rolled his shoulders and neck, tilting his head right then left swiftly like his dad used to. Funny how children take their parents old habits into adulthood. Rainie took a deep breath through her nose as she roused from her light sleep. She ached to stretch herself, but as she blinked blearily about the brightening room something occurred to her.<br/><br/>It had finally stopped raining.<br/><br/>But it wasnâ€™t silent.<br/><br/>If anything, it was<span style="font-style: italic">louder.</span><br/><br/>Her expression growing more tense and wary, she kept her eyes on the hallway as she got her brotherâ€™s attention. â€œAdrian,â€ she said. His movements halted immediately. She listened harder, and Adrian, catching on, tried to hear what she heard. Her intake of breath through clenched teeth sounded like a hiss.<br/><br/>The Infected were on the second floor.<br/><br/>Nathan burst into the room. â€œRise and shine, kiddos!â€ He called. â€œWe have guests at the door and it wouldn't do to leave them waiting.â€ He said ironically.<br/><br/>The siblingâ€™s eyes clashed for a brief second before the leapt into action. Rainie grabbed her clothes and dashed into the bathroom, not a care toward whether they were dry or not. Adrian slung his bag back over his shoulder and snatched up his MG4, abandoning the trash bag on the floor as he bolted down the stairs.<br/><br/>Rainie changed back into her dark blue uniform in record time, but had to discard the bra because the wire had poked through. She would try to find a department store that hadnâ€™t been thoroughly looted on their way back. She just hoped the department stores in the area carried D sizes.<br/><br/>Adrian was listening to the Infected downstairs. Their screeches were less demanding, and there was definitely more shuffling than moans. Adrian was reminded of when a person would be trying to figure something out and demand everyone around them be silent so they may concentrate. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought.<br/><br/>Adrian jogged up the stairs as Rainie darted out of the bathroom, tying her long red hair into a high ponytail. She made sure everything of hers and Adrianâ€™s was packed up before flitting about the room, scavenging things she noted as useful here and there. Adrian, confident that Rainie had things under control in her area, went to check up on Nathan. He found the young man in the kitchen, cooking what looked like corn mixed with shit.<br/><br/>Adrian looked around, recalling the backpack the engineer had carried when heâ€™d originally dashed out to â€˜rescueâ€™ Rainie. He turned back to the other male and asked gruffly, â€œYou got everything packed?â€<br/><br/>Rainie was now zipping up her windbreaker, stuffing the radio she had yet to put down into one of the pockets, and situating her backpack and machine gun. She was checking the ammo clip and safety on her handgun as she poked her head in the kitchen, curious about the smell of what she assumed was food.