"Lead on," said Mattie, stepping aside to allow Nicholas ahead of her. She figured that he knew the way best and if they ran into any infected from the front, he'd be the first to be attacked. She didn't like the idea of human meat-shields but with everything she'd gone through already, she was [i]not[/i] going to tolerate the idea of being bitten. There was also the chance that he might say something to offend her or creep her out, in which case she could give him a good whack with the crowbar from behind. She doubted the situation would call for that. When he asked what happened to her leg, she grinned a little and launched enthusiastically into story. 

"Okay, so, I kinda holed myself up in an apartment while the world went to shit, right? Turns out that was the worst possible decision to have made! Those stinkers found their way up the freaking stairs, and they were trying to break in. So I barricade myself in, but I mean, these guys are like journalists when a celebrity's cheating, okay? And I'm running out of food, and I'm basically [i]out[/i] of freaking water, and I'm like, 'How the hell am I gonna get out of here?' Bam. I've got a window. So I climb out of there, but the little rope I fashioned isn't long enough that I can get down without it hurting." She paused to take a breath. "Can't just hang on the wall of an apartment building with a bunch of goddamn [i]zombies[/i] after me, so I hopped off. And I suck at landing on my feet, so, bam. I hit the asphalt and rolled a little, but I can't just stay there so I limp off to this house, pick all the rocks out of me and celebrate my [i]flawless[/i] ability to survive by eating every thing in the house." 

She hoped that her apparent pain tolerance would scare Nicholas out of trying anything funny, like going back on his word about not eating people.