In the exact moment the door shut behind Mattie, Nicholas let out another breath with a slight groan. It was a bit odd to be alone now. Last night, he had slept on Mattie's couch, cuddling her. The nights before that, he was at least in the same room as Jacob for quite some time. He almost felt scared or panicked, being by himself, nobody to help if trouble did arise. However, trouble [i]shouldn't[/i] arise. Then again, there [i]had[/i] been a future-predicting super mutant that just tried to kill either him or Mattie or both. Nicholas wasn't quite sure what to think anymore. He now felt like he had upon first escaping the simulation -- confused on his reality.

But he reminded himself that his reality was this: he had super strength, super speed, super wits. He had survived this long without getting himself killed, and the whole time he'd barely known anything about his life other than what he'd experienced in the simulation. He was going to do just fine.

Then, before that thought could barely come into existence, the rock began to vibrate. The sudden sound startled Nicholas, and he looked at it incredulously, as if to say how [i]dare[/i] it just suddenly start vibrating. The blue wisps that had been circling around the rock were now more visible and moving faster. It was a creepy but awing site, and Nicholas couldn't take his eyes off of the weapon. Even as a human figure began to rise out of it, like a spirit. He pushed himself into a painful sitting position, swinging his legs over the bed, preparing to run. "Mat-!" He tried to call out Mattie's name, but just like that, a hand was pressed over his mouth and he vanished.

On the other side of town, Jacob was having no trouble at the local McDonald's. In fact, he ordered his food [i]and[/i] received it in record time, which was amazing considering every other establishment he'd been to had taken five years and three days to get his order correct and to him. As he neared the motel where he and Nicholas were staying, and now seemed to be harboring Mattie, if she decided to stay, he came upon said Mattie who was walking along the side of the road. He slowed his car to a halt beside her, less than half a mile from the motel.

"Hey, where's Nick?" he asked, eyebrow raised behind his sunglasses. "You just left him? You know he can't move, right?"