Olivia sniffled as she hugged Shawn tighter, still pressing her face against his chest. She tried not to think of what just happened. Tried not to think of what [i]could[/i] have happened. Instead she focused on Shawn. His scent, his strong arms wrapped around her, his soothing words, the beating of his heart. He was her rock, strong and steady even when she felt overwhelmed. Shawn's very being was a balm to Olivia's fears. Gradually she stopped shaking. Her eyes closed, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She pulled away just enough to move her arms so she could wipe away the beginning of tears--tears that she refused to let fall. Looking up at Shawn, she suggested a bit mutely, "Let's go have a seat and I'll tell you what happened."

Guiding him over to a chair, Olivia let Shawn sit down before she sat on his lap. She didn't want to be apart from him right now. She wanted to be as close as possible. To have his arms around her and know she was safe. Taking another deep breath, Olivia began to explain. "I went to Central Park to check my traps as planned," she told him as she settled down against him. "The first three were empty. That was alright. I didn't expect to have something in every trap. Then I moved onto the fourth one. That's when things went crazy." Olivia was working hard to keep her tone even, to keep her voice casual. She didn't want to break down crying. She didn't want to let those assholes get to her even after they were dead.

"There were rabbit tracks in the snow and the trap had been sprung," Olivia said, still working to keep her voice even. "There was nothing in the trap though 'cause out rabbit got stolen by three sons of bitches. When I saw that the rabbit was gone I was just gonna call it a day and come home. Didn't wanna be out of range on the radio, not being able to reach you with other people nearby. Before I could even leave though the guys came back. Guess they musta still been nearby hidden out of sight. They tried to jump me. One guy had a gun, another an ax, and the third a knife. That was all they had though. What a piss-poor arsenal if you ask me." Olivia knew that she was swearing a lot--both mentally and aloud--but in a way it made her feel better. Besides, she was actually being rather sparing with her expansive vocabulary of colorful words.

Shaking her head as she recalled the memories of the fight, Olivia continued on. "I took all three of them down. Knocked their clocks out for good. Since they had taken my rabbit but hadn't split it open yet, I took it back and grabbed everything else they had of use. Fair is fair considering I [i]knew[/i] what they intended to do. Just in case they had any more buddies hanging around I decided it'd be best to get on home. So here I am, and there they are dead in Central Park. That's what they get for messin' with the wrong girl." Olivia felt her fear slip away with the end of her tale. She realized now that she had no reason to be scared. It had been a scary situation, yes, but she had easily taken control of it and had come out on top. Three years ago before the start of infection, Olivia would have balked at the thought of killing three men with ease and without remorse, but over the three years she had learned that you had to act with a strong heart and no hesitation if you wanted to survive. There were still kind people in this mad world, but those three men had not been kind.