"Anne, huh?" said the stranger, lowering his bat. "I'm Al. I used to go to school here. If you're here to scavenge you're pretty much out of luck. A girl named Kathy's been living here and she damn near cleaned the place out. I just came back to get some personal stuff."<br/><br/>Al opened the bag to reveal it was full of clothing, all piled up into a loose agglomeration.<br/><br/>"If you're hungry, though, I got some food you can share," he said. His face was cool and emotionless, and his voice was level and calm. He was almost impossible to read, his entire presence seemingly designed to not let any facet of his inner self out. But he seemed to realize that this wasn't exactly helping the situation and smiled, just barely, sticking the bat in the bag of clothes so he could extend his hand. "I've got a van full of supplies out front. Some other girl and I heard about a farmhouse where some other survivors are holed up. We're gonna try and make it there, you wanna come along?"