"Mattie," she said, her voice taut with anxiety. It loosened a little, but still sounded somewhat far off, when she added, "Pleasure to meet you. But I wish the circumstances weren't so awful." Seeing the way that he treated Nicholas made her feel a little better; someone who wanted them dead wouldn't be so kind, right? But her history made her wary. She shook her head slightly and told herself they had no choice. Nicholas had a better chance of survival in a warm house, perhaps with more medical supplies, and when she thought of it, so did Cole. 

Her mind wandered as they neared the house. She thought of her brothers, mainly the one who'd died. The younger one. The one she'd sworn to keep safe. Considering that the apocalypse had happened, she reflected on the fact that the middle child was almost certainly dead. Mattie had failed them both. Seeing Nicholas covered in blood and dangerously pale made her think of that late evening, when she'd sat in the ICU and held Aaron's hand, and then his vitals had swan dived and a swarm of nurses and doctors shooed her out of the room so that they could try to save him. Needless to say, it hadn't worked. 

[i]But Nicholas won't die. He took the effort of sawing his own arm off, to survive.[/i] 

She wasn't entirely sure. 

When they got close to Jacob's house, she trotted ahead to hold open the door so that he wouldn't have to put Nicholas down; with his blood loss she didn't want him standing if he didn't need to. She decided to stay with Nicholas, to just sit beside him, because it was her opinion that should he die, it was always better to die with someone who cared about you there. Although his entire family was gone, but that just helped her case. She was the closest thing.