Nathan heard gunfire through the door and paused. Someone had come after him. They weren't supposed to do that. Still, what was left for him to do now but kill the wretched monsters that plagued his happiness?<br/><br/>Apparently, he was in the kitchen of a restaurant, having come in the back door, so the windows were narrow and high: the kind that swung out from the bottom. Nathan hopped up on the stove and knelt against the wall with his head and one arm hanging out the window; shotgun--braced with his other hand, which rested on the sillâ€”was aimed towards the mob gathered outside the door. As usual, it had gotten larger while he wasn't looking. Also, he could see A.J. down the alley past them, clear as day, opening up on the mob with an automatic rifle. It was super effective.<br/><br/>Nonetheless, Nathan wasn't liking how it was drawing so much attention toward his friend. Most of the mob was already turning to the new flesh. This meal was out in the open where they could actually see it. So what if it was shooting at them? Of course A.J. was much better off with his rifle (and ability to use it) than Nathan had been, but he wasn't about to let that risk be taken. Not when he could catch a mob in a rare crossfire like this.<br/><br/>Nathan fired and the head disappeared from an infected at the door. The face disappeared from another and it stumbled backwards as if unable to handle the sudden epiphany that some very important pieces of brain were missing from the front half of its head. It joined the first on the pavement after taking a moment to cope with this. And Nathan was pleased to discover firing from this position was surprisingly comfortable. He let loose another spray of hot shrapnel and another infected pirouetted away from the door in a shower of flesh and blood. This was kinda fun, and the mob hadn't even noticed him in the window yet. Two more shots and three more fell. This was why he used a shotgun; it was harder to miss then not.<br/><br/>The first to turn towards Nathan didn't make it to the window. It caught a spray in the collarbone that left the top of its skull to bounce off its stomach on the ground. The sixth shell severely disappointed a drooling monster that though it could jump up and grab Nate. The seventh got his friend right behind him. The eighth took the head off one more and left another too brain dead to function even as a mindless eating machine; it stumbled in the other direction with half its head gone.<br/><br/>Nathan slammed the window shut then, to reload, but a hand immediately broke through the glass and another followed. As the zombie lifted itself up, Nathan grabbed a knife from the rack beside him and quickly slid it down the length of the sill. A rotten face disappeared from his vision as its body dropped to the ground fingerless. They were coming too fast for him to reload quite yet, so he stood up and dispensed his last two shells into the crowd below. Luckily, the ones that didn't drop were stumbled enough by the impact to let Nathan slide two more shells from the side of his shotgun stock and into the magazine. He used those to finish off the infected below the window. Now he could reload.<br/><br/>Sliding the rest of his ready shells into place, the adrenaline calmed young man leaned back out the window and sighted again. There were plenty more infected left moving, but they were too far down the alley to fire on safely without risking hitting A.J. too. Not that there was anything to worry about; the other man expertly picked those off as they clambered over the fallen bodies of those that ran ahead of them.<br/><br/>â€œWell, that was kinda bloody...â€ Nathan muttered to himself as he dismounted the stove and reached back to gather more shells from the side pocket of his backpack. Of all the corpses in the alley, Nathan had maybe killed a fifth or a sixth of them, but he was more happy about that then not. A.J. knocked on the door and Nathan opened it as he reloaded.<br/><br/>â€œYouâ€™re a fucking<span style="font-style: italic">morooon</span>.â€ his savior's pose was a classic. It almost seemed practiced.<br/><br/>â€œHaha! And what is someone ho goes off chasing hordes and morons, alone, then?â€ Nathan rebuked with a raised eyebrow and a companionable smile. â€œNext time I do something something stupid and heroic how about a thank you and maybe a back ru--â€he cut off short. â€œWhere is your sister and the kid? Safe?â€