“Willie, I appreciate the offer, I really do,” Caitlin said, “But I think it's better if somebody who is better trained with guns takes it. I really need to practice first before I trust myself with a gun.”<br/><br/>“In the darkness and with my nervousness...” Caitlin let a soft sigh escape from her lips and while she emphatically shook her head, she said, “No, I think it's better if somebody else takes it. I have my crowbar though. It's maybe not as good as a gun, but the chances that I injure, or even kill, one of you by accident are a lot smaller.”<br/><br/>She gave the gun a longing look, while she held it in her hand, not even fully understanding why she rejected the offer. Then, when she looked around at the rest of the group and did the math, she realized that the gun would be much better suited for defending Todd's group.<br/><br/>“Perhaps Todd or Kate can use a spare gun? Or maybe Tony knows how to use one?” Caitlin asked, she hated the idea of not seeing the gun being put to good use.<br/><br/>A few moments later Kate asked Caitlin whether or not it'd be safe for Sam to move around.<br/><br/>“Your leg is in a pretty bad shape Sam, but you can move around as long as you don't push yourself to the limits. Running is probably out of the questions for a few days to come and you should put as little strain on it as possible. Normally I would advice not moving around for at least twenty-four hours, so your wound has some time to stabilize, but considering our current options...” Caitlin shrugged, “It doesn't seem like we have a lot of choice, do we?”<br/><br/>She did her best to give the brave teenager a reassuring smile and softly rubbed the girl's lower leg, to comfort her.<br/><br/>“I'll do my best to find you some strong painkillers, okay? That might help you get around a little bit easier,” Caitlin promised.<br/><br/>Thinking over the situation they were in it seemed that the group had several options. They could hole up in one of the shops tonight after they gathered their supplies and then wait till it was light before they moved out. Daylight would mean better visibility, but it also meant that the zombies were more active. Alternatively they could also move around under the cover at night. Their visibility would be worse, but it would probably be easier to escape from the zombies if the group was spotted.<br/><br/>Both alternatives had some merit to them and she honestly didn't know which one of the two would be best. Holing up in a library, however, seemed like a stupid idea. The building was simply too large to defend and though zombies weren't interested in eating books, they weren't interested in eating normal food either. The chances that they ran into zombies at the mall or at the library were probably about the same.<br/><br/>On top of that, they would need to get to the library first, which would mean a dangerous journey through several blocks with one wounded girl and an older man who didn't have a lot of stamina. If something happened that would require them to run for a longer distance then they would be forced to either leave the slow people behind, or make a stand.<br/><br/>Caitlin was pretty sure that if the latter happened that they'd die, since gunfire would only draw more zombies to them. When it came right down to it she would probably leave the slow people behind, but as a nurse she also had the duty to take care of her patients. Though Carl wasn't a patient, she didn't consider Sam to be one. Caitlin had lost so many friends already in the past week, she couldn't stand to see an innocent teenager, who was in the bloom of her life, to be killed, or worse, turned into one of them.<br/><br/>It would make a lot more sense if they found a building where they could at least secure the exits and give them a good opportunity to escape from in case things did take a turn for the worse. All things considered, perhaps staying the night in the mall wasn't such a bad idea after all.<br/><br/>Having made up her mind, Caitlin said, “I think it's best if we stay in the mall for the night. Sam really shouldn't move around too much and it's simply too dangerous to try and run with such a large group at night. It only takes one of us to trip over something and make a lot of noise to draw unwanted attention. I also don't know about all of you, but I've been up for most of the day already and I'm simply too tired to search for a safer place to stay. I'm worried that my fatigue will cause me to make mistakes that I wouldn't make if I weren't as tired.<br/><br/>“Like Todd suggested, we can pick one of the shops in the mall and make up our camp there. If we pick a smaller shop, that has barred windows and a backdoor exit, then we should be able to defend it pretty well. If something goes wrong and the front exit is blocked for whatever reason, then we can still sneak out through the backdoor and don't get stuck in a deathtrap,” Caitlin concluded, while she looked all the adults in the eye to see what they thought of that idea.