Nathan threw the door open and bounded down the first flight of stairs two and three steps at a time until his heel caught only an edge and he ended up sliding down the last ten on his ass. He'd had to take one hand of his shotgun and grab the railing just too keep from pitching forward and rolling. Without a word or even a grunt of anger towards gravity or the hard floor, the young man bounced back to his feet, at the bottom, and rushed into the next room.<br/><br/>His vision was taking too long to adjust. The building had windows, so it wasn't exactly dark, but there was enough difference on the stairs to give him trouble and this room was scattered with random, unsorted odds and ends; it made for treacherous footing.<br/><br/>Nathan kicked a mini fridge out of the way and used one hand to throw an old bmx bike across the room by its handlebars as he groped for a path. As he did so, he heard A.J. drop down the stairs behind him and start running to catch up. Nathan opened the door at the end of the room and they both burst into the next room together.<br/><br/>This one was neater; filled with stacks of boxes probably store relate. The two boys swerved around the pseudo-mess side by side as fast as they could handle the turns, until they saw a body before them. Nathan hesitated, raising his shotgun and slowing to a crawl; A.J. didn't. When the corpse moved, Nathan drew in a quick, nervous breath, because his new companion was nearly on top of it already. But the other boy didn't flinch; just drew his knife and slammed it down in the moment it took him to fall upon his would-be attacker. In another moment, he had his weapon sheathed and was moving once again.<br/><br/>Nathan lowered his gun and followed without complaint. His new companion may look like an emo high school kid, but he was damn fast with that blade.<span style="font-style: italic">Ironic much?</span>Still, that was as dangerous a fact as it was valuable.<br/><br/>Taking the stairs two and three at a time again, Nathan didn't trip. He came into the next room running and took in his surroundings with one glance, now that his eyes were accustomed. A.J. was just ahead and Nathan vaulted a chair to catch up, skidding to a stop as the other boy turned to check on him. He nodded while taking a deep breath of oxygen and they both dashed down the last flight of stairs two or more at a time.<br/><br/>The bottom floor was the brightest, making Nathan squint. The entire wall facing the street was a giant display window, now just a hole. He sprinted past the shelves of discs and hopped through the broken window with a grace you wouldn't expect to find in a science nerd. You didn't survive on one asset anymore.<br/><br/>Caution was another asset that kept Nathan breathing (or, after that run, gasping); he immediately put his back to the building and scanned the area, not allowing himself to blink in the light. But there was no time to let his eyes adjust again. A.J. hadn't slowed down and was running in a half crouch in the direction of the bus. Nathan followed; he could see infected ahead of them, focused on the two burning buildings. Glancing back, he could still see smoke rising down the block where the gas station had been. Between the three fires, Nathan wouldn't have been surprised to find hundreds of infected just on this square block. It was bad, very very bad. And they were right in the God dammed middle of it!<br/><br/>A.J. wasn't exactly setting a stealthy pace, either. Not that Nathan blamed him. He half wanted to just sprint ahead, grab Rainie and run the other way until his legs gave out. A.J. was actually showing restraint by staying near cover.<br/><br/>But Rainie wasn't on the bus when they got to it. Nathan quickly looked at the building, half expecting to see her still on the wall, but no. As A.J. spoke and started looking around, Nathan heard the music he hadn't been listening for, before. It was the same as when they first met. And just as strange to hear.<br/><br/>It stopped then, to Nathan's dismay, just as he'd noticed it. Nate wasn't sure what direction it was coming from yet and was looking around aimlessly for scarlet hair, but seeing none. His eyes fell on a rotten body a few yards away. It wasn't, by far, the only corpse on the street. There were others, but all the rest were smoldering or still on fire; obviously infected that had become confused as they burned and stumbled away down the street till they collapsed. But this one was dripping brain matter on the sidewalk across the street from the CD shop; in front of a building completely undamaged. No signs of falling debris anywhere nearby.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">It was her.</span>he thought as he looked up and watched a hooded head peek out  from around a corner and smile at him. His own smile stretched his cheeks and made him squint. â€œThere,â€ was all he said, but it was filled with enough relief to write a ballad with; then he rushed over in a half crouch and embraced her without thinking. Holding the shotgun in one hand, Nathan wrapped both arms around her, pinning her own upper arms to her sides.<br/><br/>Only after did he realize how inappropriate that was. But he was relieved, dammit! She was safe and sound and in one piece.<span style="font-style: italic">And most of all, I didn't kill her.</span>That would have haunted him for the rest of his short life.