[b]Tyler - Baton Rouge/Bingo Hall - Katie/George/Jacob/Liam[/b]

He watched as his little girl reached out for him, one of her arms still holding the kitten close to her chest. "Please Daddy, I don't want any more dying," she said, tears in her eyes. Tyler felt as if had taken a blow to the gut. He hadn't wanted Katie to get her hopes up, but it suddenly occurred to him how deeply unfair that was. He scooped Katie into his arms, careful to mind the cat between them. He closed his eyes as he held her, her soft crying and tiny movements causing him to choke up. He thought of Katie's mother, what [i]she[/i] would do in this situation. She... probably would not have advocated keeping the cat either, not in this situation. If Katie had brought home a stray cat in the days before, when she was still alive, then she would have--

No, that didn't matter. She was gone. Their family was gone. Katie had nothing left but Tyler, and all he did was screw things up for her. How could he possibly allow her hopes to be squashed yet again? "You... You can keep the cat, but we need to be careful with it." He let go of Katie to turn to the guy they had just met. He mentioned his name was Jacob. Tyler introduced himself, Katie, and George. He was going to ask about where they could get an oral syringe when another individual crashed the party. He knocked into Tyler, sending Tyler spinning around, a gun appearing in his hands out of instinct. His eyes went wide as he stared down this intruder, who appeared to be a kid frightened out of his mind. Tyler sighed and lowered his weapon as the boy begged them not to shoot him.

Tyler took a step toward Katie and put an arm around her. It was certainly coincidental that they all found themselves here in this moment, but Tyler was used to coincidences within his life. In hindsight, most of them turned out to be [i]bad[/i], unfortunately. "Jacob," he said, keeping one eye on the kid. "Any idea where we could get supplies? Or even a place we can stay that's not here. It's run down and not fit for all of us." He began to address the boy by pointing at the knife in his hands. "Put that down and tell us your name. What are you doing here?"