[b]Shan and Ryder - Suburbs - Eric and others[/b]

Ryder still hesitated, staring between the man offering to help, and his group, who were almost camouflaged in the darkness. He frowned, and grasped the man's hand, hoisting himself from the ground. Almost instantly, he turned and reached down to pick up Shan, who quickly slapped his advancing hands away, taking one of them in her own. She hoisted herself from the ground, feeling as if she had run a marathon, just from that one little action. She stumbled, holding his shoulder, as her cheek pressed against his arm, and she closed her eyes.

"If you'll tell me where to go…I'll get the oxygen myself…", Ryder mumbled as they stepped up to the Yukon, and he pushed Shan toward the door, "I'm a fast runner, and unless you have enough to make it worth dragging her to another death trap, like our last camp, I'd rather you just drive us to a hospital…"

"Ryder…", Shan whispered, her hand coming out to tug at his sleeve from her seat, "Let's just see what's there…"

Ryder glanced back at her, before taking a deep and shaky breath. He was more terrified than angry and most of his lashing out came from the sheer panic of finding humans, and of opening Shan up to those humans. He didn't care about himself, but she was dying. She deserved to do it her way, and to not be taken advantage of again. Their last camp had turned out to be an elaborate scheme to lure in women, and 'boys'. The things that those men had managed to do to Shan, while she was separated from him would haunt his dreams for the rest of his short life. Sure, they had tried it with him, and those around him…but there was something about her...