<span style="font-style: italic">Well, there goes my night vision.</span>Nathan Sighed inwardly. It was a cruel thing to do, when everyone in the world was trying to stay hidden, but then again, he couldn't blame anyone for being paranoid either. Your life had to come first or not at all. He'd seen far too much of that in the past year. Even once or twice in himself, though he wasn't proud of it. But at least that wasn't him today. He had tried to save lives by drawing the danger towards himself, and then even went out into that danger when his plan backfired. No, Nathan definitely wasn't putting his own life first today.<br/><br/>When the girl spoke, it wasn't towards him. Apparently, she wasn't alone. That shouldn't have been a surprise; the few times anyone took the time to save another, that other served a purpose, and women always served a purpose. Morals took a hard hit when humanity fell. Yet another sad fact of this world. So, Nathan refrained from turning around and looking. He could picture the big muscled, big gunned, small brained oaf standing just behind him just fine in his mind. It made him regret the sudden heroic infliction he seemed to be suffering from today. At least the woman spoke like she held some authority in the relationship. That could save Nathan a bullet in the back. Then again, depending on her character, maybe not.<span style="font-style: italic">Why did I do this again?</span><br/><br/>Finally, after an hour of tense staring, by rough estimate, she holstered her gun and offered a hand. â€œItâ€™s nice to find someone in the neighborhood with pupils that dilate.â€<span style="font-style: italic">So it was on purpose. Why didn't I think of that?</span>After all, the mind was one of the last things to go after being infected. The pupillary response would go long in advance of higher brain functions. A good sign that someone had reached a critical stage of turning.<br/><br/>Nathan made a mental note of that and took one hand off his shotgun to shake hers. He would have to be satisfied that it was warm, for now. At least until he could get her into the light and get a better look at her.<span style="font-style: italic">And him.</span>he added. Hopefully there was only the two of them. "I can't say I feel the same way. It's not the best neighborhood I live in, and getting worse by the second. We better get inside." he finished with a nod back in the direction he came from before letting go and turning back, both hands on the shotgun again. The guy was nothing like expected. Even in the dim light, Nathan could tell he was rather scrawnier. Probably as tall at Nathan, himself, but Nathan had broad shoulders that made him look just slightly the larger. Still, there was no telling who would actually be stronger. That made things a little more comfortable. A little. He headed back towards the bookstore.