Derek gave a neutral look at Alex as he entered. The look was more or less returned, but both knew to be suspicious, especially given the unusual circumstances of their meeting.<br/><br/>After a few moments, Alex's eyes turned from him to around the room. The place was never actually clean, and there was usually just a trail of floor leading to the various rooms.<br/><br/>"So, I see you don't have any drugs.. Any interest in buying some, or are you 'Sober'?" Were the next words to come from Alex. Derek knew this to be a good choice of words, to see if he had changed any since arriving here.<br/><br/>"Never touched any in my life. Hell, I hate taking ibuprofen." Was Derek's response.<br/>"By the way, my name is Derek. I trust that I am in the presence of another non-user?" Derek slowly outstretched his arm out to Alex.<br/><br/>The hand was reluctantly accepted, followed by a reasonable question. "Decent looking place you have here. How did you manage to find it?"<br/><br/>"I woke up here. The last thing I remember before waking here was falling asleep, hoping of a world that didn't leave me so isolated from everything else. After waking up withing twenty feet of a relatively fresh corpse, which I obviously had to remove. There were drugs and paraphernalia all over the place. Took me a good two days straight without sleep to clean this place of what used to be."<br/><br/>Derek was silent for a moment. A barely noticeable smile touched his face.<br/><br/>"After witnessing everyone here, I found my natural skill of isolation a good thing. But I have questioned if this is a true safe house."<br/><br/>Derek looked at the ground for a few seconds, contemplating a new thought, which he inquired of Alex's opinion.<br/>"The..body. It was still warm when I checked for a pulse.... Could the death of a longtime patron summon someone such as myself? Could he have been a former newcomer, turned against himself by those corrupted before him?"<br/><br/>A new acquaintance. A new perspective. A new fear.