Mattie couldn't help but smile just a little. He was so awkward and flustered, it was almost cute. It, in fact, almost made her forget what he was saying because she'd gotten a bit too caught up in how he was saying it. Which was incredibly stupid and not very much in her primary interest, which was of course, surviving. (Repopulating the planet was so far out of the question that she almost scooted away from the man.)

Back on target. The suggestion of the houses made her a little cold. They were all so filthy, and they creaked in the night when she was alone but for her thoughts, her memories of her brother swinging from his bedsheets, of Isabella panting her last breaths exhausted from all the vomiting she'd done, of her own fever dreams. 

All she said was, "I have been in a couple of the houses. They're not safe."