â€œPlease tell me youâ€™re asking how long weâ€™ve been living together for zombie-killing-means.â€ AJ replied with a surprised and disgusted look on his face. Not the reaction Nathan had expected. He wasn't sure how to react to it. Had Nathan known him better, or the other boy hadn't had a high powered weapon and a distrustful disposition, he would have laughed<br/><br/>â€œUm, no, but...um....â€ He turned his head and raised an eyebrow unconsciously. Nathan happened to have one of those over expressive faces where everything was<span style="font-style: italic">way</span>over exaggerated and the thick eyebrows sometimes seemed to move of their own accord like black caterpillars. â€œ...why?.....â€<br/><br/><br/>~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~<br/><br/><br/>When Rainie heard the question and looked up at Nathan, her expression seemed to echo his in a not quite perfect way. That was odd. It made him curious what she had been thinking about.<span style="font-style: italic">She didn't catch my mood, did she?</span>That would make him feel more than a little guilty. But that wasn't it. She'd been so distracted in her own mood she was only just now noticing his. A mood he would have been able to hide from her had he not been distracted by<span style="font-style: italic">her</span>mood. That thought, as congested as it was, could have made Nathan laugh. But the moment wasn't over yet; mutual concern for the other was just starting to creep onto both of their faces now, so when AJ, spoke next, and Rainie looked away to blink at her brother, Nathan had to turn his head the other way and fake a cough to cover his laugh. The moment had been brief, only a second or two, but had been cheesy enough to dedicate an entire paragraph to. The lonely engineer found himself glad again for what he had just learned from Adrain.   ((   -.-;; ))<br/><br/>And then she was smiling at him again and confirmed what her brother had said, a little less dismissively. The tone in her voice was reassuring somehow, though Nathan couldn't pick out what it meant. Maybe she was relieved, or possibly just excited to find someone with Nathan's talents, or even just buoyed by the prospects of a warm meal. It was hard to tell. He wasn't exactly<span style="font-style: italic">good</span>at reading people. At least the banter between AJ and her made more sense now. The quick exchange from the two made Nathan smile again, despite AJ's remark almost sounding like a threat. Maybe everything he said sounded that way. In the least, Nathan didn't think the boy was going to shoot him anymore; that was something. He seemed to be following his sister's lead, now, and she was quickly warming up to her new company. So, maybe that was only out of guilt. It still felt nice to have company again. Strange, but nice.<br/><br/>Like an awkward young boy, Nathan didn't even notice he was just leaning against the dresser, watching and thinking again. He let his face fall into another unconscious smile as the beautiful red-haired girl set herself up to sleep on the beanbag in her ridiculously baggy outfit. The radio confused him for a few moments until the sounds from outside registered in his ear again. The window had been left open so he could listen, completely oblivious to it bothering anybody else. The pain of being a bad host struck him, made all the more obvious when AJ dragged the folding chair into a corner. He was purposely making himself uncomfortable to avoid sleep. He may have been letting his sister lead, but wasn't being any less paranoid for it.  But the boy was obviously exhausted. Nathan hadn't been up long, having formed a habit of ignoring any schedule the sun might strive to set, in college. But his guests looked like they had been up and about for quite a few hours even before the chaos started. He wished AJ would just relax.<br/><br/>â€œSorry about this.â€ brought him back from his worry, and Nathan  looked back at Rainie. Responding didn't seem like the right move, so he just let their eyes explore each other's for a few seconds. Eventually she looked away and busied herself with her hair and Nathan's gaze drifted out the window. He listened to the rain, the moans of rotten throats, the white noise from the radio, the steady clicking of Nathan's own radio scanning still, and the rustling of Rainie on the almost-leather beanbag. Finally he let his gaze explore the room again: across the radio, TV, couch, kitchen, AJ, and finally found Rainie watching at him again. She seemed to pause when he caught her looking and their eyes met again. It was strange how much could change in an hour. Not long ago he had been setting up defenses to keep himself safe while he searched for signs of his sister. Now the streets were burning, the hoard was fighting its way towards him and he was playing host to a pretty girl and her overprotective brother. In the morning he would leave this home behind before he even finished settling in. Life kept moving and so did he.<br/><br/>Giving the girl the warmest smile he could muster, Nathan turned back to his work, breaking their gaze as nicely as he could. Some time later he looked up to find her asleep, though AJ still resisted. Nathan set his device aside and stood so he could walk over and close the window, blocking out some of the moaning. He set the laptop next to where he'd been working and turned on some music; it was much better than the white noise. Every 15 minutes he picked up his shotgun and hiked downstairs to listen at the bookshelf on the second floor. After his second visit he punched a small hole in it to peek through and vowed to come up with a better way to check this sort of thing in his next base. Every time Nathan returned to the room he sat on the same place on the floor, hoping AJ would eventually cave and use the couch to catch a little sleep. The repairs were finished after a few hours and Nathan packed his tools back into his bag. That bag held everything he would need if he ever needed to pick up and leave on a moment's notice. He obsessively put everything back in it after each use. In the kitchen he removed the heating coils of a small hotplate--the casing removed to save weight and space--and connected it to the battery on the counter. He scooped a few handfuls of dried cornâ€”carried with him since passing through the farmlands of Western New York--into a pot from the cupboard, so he wouldn't have to clean the one in his bag, and began boiling them.<br/><br/>The sun was starting to rise when he peeked through the hole in the bookcase and saw shapes stumbling and clawing their way about, trying to find the way up. â€œI guess that's our cue.â€ he muttered to himself and jogged back upstairs. â€œRise and shine, kiddos!â€ he called as he opened the door. â€œWe have guests at the door and it wouldn't do to leave them waiting.â€<br/><br/>As the others got up, Nathan drained the water from the corn and popped open a can of white gravy from his bag. He mixed it in and let it heat up into an unappealing mush. But food was food these days. Anything that needed to be frozen or refrigerated had spoiled long ago and all the non-perishables had been looted even before that. If you were lucky you could still find a hoarderâ€™s secret stash, but they weren't often thoughtful enough to leave a note as to where it was hidden before they died. Still, silo's on farms were often still full of dried goods and things like gravy or salad dressing were sometimes left behind for better things. Luckily, Nathan had passed through a office building while looking for a home in NY, and had thought to raid the place for candy stashes. (Anyone that ever held a desk job knew every desk had a snack drawer.) So he could at least pass out chocolates after everyone finished their mush.<br/><br/>â€œCome and get it.â€ he chimed, digging bowls and spoons out of the cupboard as well.