Jacob leaned against the wall by the fireplace, and put his hands up defensively in front of him. "I'm not going to hurt you. I've already made that clear. "I know you're scared. Hell, I would be too, being randomly approached by someone with the likes of me." He grinned at her, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "If anything, you three are as much of a threat to me as I am to you. Well, two, I guess. Nothing to be afraid about with a baby."

"By the way," Jacob said, "That impromptu amputation your friend performed was most likely to save your and your baby's life." He nodded, never being the type of person who let a good deed by anyone go unnoticed. Especially not one like this. He looked over to where Nicholas lay and asked, "You still awake, Nicky?"

---

Nicholas' eyes had finally comfortably closed, and he was just on the edges of sleep when he heard Jake's voice cut through, "You still awake, Nicky?" He cringed at the nickname. He despised them because anything other than Nicholas just was not his name. He wasn't Nick, Nicky, or anything. That was that.

"I'm awake," he mumbled. The pain had dulled, or at least, he had become used to it. Every few seconds, though, a sharp pain would run through his shoulder, and he would instinctively try to move his arm. But he couldn't anymore. It was so surreal. Just to be sure, Nicholas moved his only arm over to try to grab the other one, but sure enough, it wasn't there. He felt across his own body until he touched the gauze covering the wound, and he cried out in pain at the touch.

"Don't touch it," he heard Jake saying, but his voice was coming into Nicholas' ears like a lost signal, distant and broken.

He felt the footsteps. He didn't hear them, he felt them. Jake came to the couch, and crouched in front of him. He felt his presence in front of him, so he opened his eyes. Jake reached out a hand toward his forehead, and Nicholas found himself shrinking away from his touch.

"Come on now, I ain't gonna hurt you," he said softly, putting his palm against Nicholas' forehead. He nodded and cracked a smile. "You don't seem to have a fever. That's a good sign, man."

"I-I'm not infected," Nicholas said, more to himself than to anyone.

"No, you're not," Jake shook his head, agreeing. "If you were, there'd be a change by now. At least a fever. You'd be coughing."

At the mention of coughing, Nicholas felt a prickling sensation in his throat. He hastily cleared it, and Jake laughed.

Then, there was a banging at the door that shocked both Jake and Nicholas. At the same time, Cole started wailing, spitting out the food that Mattie had been feeding him. Jake hurried into another room, out of sight. Nicholas sat up a bit, straining to see where he'd went. When he returned, he was holding an assault rifle.

"Where'd you get that?!" Nicholas choked out.

"My brother gave it to me for my 20th birthday."

---

Jacob looked over at Mattie, assault rifle in his hands. He held out a free hand and led her off of the couch and into his bedroom. "Stay here. Don't worry about Nicholas, okay? Just protect yourself and that baby." He gestured to his closet, "Plethora of guns in there. Go crazy."

After saying that, he went back out into the living room, up to his front door. The banging had stopped, as if someone had simply knocked on the door for entrance. The doorknob jiggled a bit, and then the knocking continued. Jacob's eyebrows rose in curiosity and he said, "Uh...Who's there?"

There was no reply. Sighing, Jacob unlocked the door and opened it just in time to see someone turning their back to leave. Reaching out, Jacob tried to grab the back of their shirt, but missed by an inch, and the person took off down the street, into the darkness and out of sight.