"That's all we can do," Jacob said to her, looking at her with a grave expression. "We can't risk it." Hesitating, he readied his revolver, aiming it at Nicholas' head.

"No!" Nicholas yelled, putting his arm up instinctively, as if it would shield the bullet. "Please, no, don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

Jacob lowered the gun against his better judgement, studying Nicholas carefully. With appropriate caution, he again crouched to be eye-level with Nicholas. "Nick," he spoke softly. "What's your full name?"

"Wha-?" he started, then asked, "M-Middle name too?"

"Yeah," Jacob nodded. "Middle name, too."

"N-Nicholas Charles Green."

Looking back at Mattie, Jacob told her, "I need you to do two things for me, okay? Go into the bathroom - it's over there - and get a wash cloth off of the white counter. Those are the clean ones. Then, I need you to go into the kitchen, through that archway there, and get a bottle of water out of the fridge. And no, the fridge doesn't work, I just use it for storage."