The warmth of Rainie's body was enough to melt the world away, and when Nathan felt her hands brush against his arms, not to pull them off her, but as if to thank him for wrapping her up, he, for just a moment, forgot where he was. She almost sounded shy, more like a naive schoolgirl than a hardened survivor, when she spoke. He almost asked, â€œgo where?â€ before the real world snapped back into place and he abruptly let her go. He was a bit startled to find a gun in his hand. But she was smiling up at him, and that helped.<br/><br/>â€œSorry, I...uh....sorry...â€ Nathan started to say, but trailed off not knowing if he was apologizing for hugging her or for almost killing her. He took a quick step back and grabbed his shotgun with both hands again. Holding it ready in front of him, it felt more like a protective wall between him and her, at the moment, than a zombie killing weapon. â€œYeah, I think. I think we should get as far from here as we can.â€  Too bad A.J.'s face was unreadable. Nathan really wanted to know what was in that kid's head right then.<br/><br/>And then there was gunfire. Nathan's immediate reflex was to assume it was just rounds burning up in one of the buildings, but no, bullets in a barrel sounded different from bullets out in the open. Someone else was around here. â€œ<span style="font-style: italic">God dammit!</span>â€ he cursed, â€œAre all New Yorkers half moth!? This is absurd.â€<br/><br/>There was another shift in the flow of the infected nearby; they had heard it too. And the firing hadn't stopped. So, the three survivors ducked as far back into the alcove as they could, A.J. hopping over to join the other two. For a moment they were all silent: probably all weighing the same things in their separate heads. Nathan reminded himself he had played the hero twice already today and made things worse each time. He told himself he had to break the cycle; he wouldn't survive making it any worse again. He explained to the tempest of his thoughts that anyone who'd already been noticed in this mess was as good as dead, anyways. He thought about the two extra lives he'd now be putting on the line if he went out there.<br/><br/>He felt the warmth of this girl's smiling face beaming up at him. It still swirled around in his chest, stirring up the butterflies and threatening to make him grin. It made him want to be a hero again. Nathan's gut and his brains were at odds again and he turned to the other two with a pleading look.<span style="font-style: italic">Please tell me what to do.</span>