Alison jumped when she heard another voice. She’d known that there were other people in the house, and a part of her had been looking forward to meeting them, but at the same time, she wasn't expecting anyone to come up out of seemingly nowhere. She didn't know what she had been expecting, exactly - after all, it wasn't as though there were many other ways for them to come across each other in such a small place. "Hello," she said hesitantly, and turned around to see the young man.<br/><br/>She didn’t know anyone there, or if she did, she didn’t know that they were there. And as far as she knew they were on their own to protect themselves. She had to hope that these strangers were trustworthy, because if they weren’t, there wasn’t anywhere to go for help. The newcomer didn’t seem threatening, though, and she let herself relax a little bit. “I’m Alison. Sophomore at the state university.”<br/><br/>She thought she heard a door open and her head turned towards the source of the sound. She couldn’t hear anything else at first, then a few footsteps, and another girl entered the kitchen.<em>There are at least three of us, then</em>, thought Alison.<em>That’s a start. And then there have to be more.</em>It was a very good sign; the more that arrived, the less the devastation, right? Rescue crews would have to be arriving as soon as they could. Still no sign of anyone other than the three of them, except the extra car in the front, but for all she knew that may have been left behind long ago.<br/><br/>"No, you're not interrupting. I just got here a few hours ago," Alison told her.