As Rainie finished, Nathan touched the bandage to check for loose ends and swung his arm around experimentally. It didn't hurt nearly as much now, and no blood was seeping through. It looked like it would stay closed, at least until he tried to fire his shotgun. The gouges were very inconveniently right were he rested the butt of it.  He Smiled at her in thanks before chastising her about running to the fire. When she hung her head in shame, he laughed: hard. Not because it was funny, but because it was so refreshing to have a normal human conversation again. Well, if you ignored the parts about flesh-eating dead...<br/><br/>And when she asked, â€œAny chance I can make it up to you?â€ Nathan couldn't hold back a sly grin. How could he let a joke opportunity like that go?<br/><br/>â€œWell....â€ He started, coyly, but didn't get to finish. The boy was dragging her to her feet, unceremoniously. The smile melted off Nathan's face; he could see the boy's features for the first time. He dressed at stark contrast with the girl. Wearing a hoodie and loose black jeans like a punk, and most of his hair was dyed black.<span style="font-style: italic">He bothers to dye his hair during all of this?</span>But most of all, he was furious. Fire burned in his eyes.<br/><br/>â€œWhatâ€™s wrong?â€ Rainie protested, but held her tongue after that. The boy wasn't having any of it.<br/><br/>â€œDonâ€™t even. We donâ€™t need a repeat of last time.â€ Well, that was no surprise. Everyone had at least on bad experience with other survivors these days. Nathan knew very well that the infected weren't the real threat to anyone that had survived this long.<span style="font-style: italic">They</span>were at least predictable. â€œPack up. Weâ€™re leaving as soon as it clears up out there.â€ The boy continued as Nathan watched silently, still kneeling on the floor. The boy had taken charge, despite looking the younger of the two, and now they would be leaving. It made him a little sad, he realized. He'd just started to like the girl. Maybe he could have even trusted her someday. But, like every other good girl in his life, some other guy had gotten there first, and Nathan wasn't about to put up a fight. Not when he was in school, and definitely not now that his life could actually be on the line.<br/><br/>â€œFine,â€ he said, grabbing his shotgun and standing up, all the fun gone from his voice and face. He dropped the soggy remains of his shirt over the dead infected's own face as he went. No point in getting rid of either, this wasn't his home any longer. â€œbut you'll have to leave by the roof.<span style="font-style: italic">They</span>probably know we're in here by now, so they won't go away till they take a bite out of us, dead or alive.â€ Nate had once broken into a house under siege by infected, expecting to find scared survivors inside, but when he got in, all he'd found was a family starved to death weeks prior.<span style="font-style: italic">They</span>are very patient creatures. â€œIt's not fun, though. The CD store next door is two stories shorter and the only way to its roof as an electrical cord that isn't easy to grab when it's dry.â€ He stalked toward the stairs leading up, all business, now. There was no point in pissing the kid off any further. â€œSo you might as well stop upstairs and get rest a bit first. You'll need towels to grip the wire, anyways.â€