He let out an almost cackle at the question, leaning his head against the concrete wall as the laughter subsided.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just..." He sighed gently, looking over at Cameron with a wide smile.
"Dating in the remnants of the apocalypse can be pretty difficult. To be honest, most settlements are concerned about breeding and having a 'good time' rather than actually, you know, have a meaningful relationship." Realizing that Cameron had just shared, in confidence, that she herself had a few "flings", he added:
"And no offense to you at all. I understand where you're coming from based on where you were at, but most people...they just want the physical." He pinched his arm for emphasis. 
"Who can blame people, you know? This place is a hopeless wasteland for the most part. Get what you can when you can. I get it, but I don't condone it." He shifted a bit on the cot. 
"That's what made...no, makes, Omega such a unique place to be. We were never forced to 'mate' with other settlements to boost our numbers, we never had women marching up to Ryken or any other of our male leaders as a harem...you know, just...we had good relationships." He chuckled.
"But I haven't answered your question. There was one that I was very serious about, Mileena. Funny, warm, personable...she got killed in a raid on her settlement. Whole lot of em got slaughtered by raiders. After that, I kinda slept around." He made eye contact with Cameron, a slight sadness evident in his gaze. 
"I dunno, I guess I just felt empty. Mileena gave me so much to live for and then she was just ripped away, so I kinda went off the deep end for a bit. Actually got involved with a pretty unstable gang south of us." He paused, adding: 
"It was a few years ago. I was only twenty when Mileena died and it took me six months of doing really, really stupid stuff for me to wake up. Ryken saw some potential in me, worked with me, alongside me and now I'm here in my underwear at the brink of possibly the biggest discovery for all of humanity...or the total collapse of civilization. I like the pressure." He gave her a half-hearted smile before laying on the cot. A few minutes of silence passed before he spoke again:
"Hey, so...so if we get up there and everything works great, right? Like, we come back and everyone's saved, Omega gets built back up, maybe we're an actual United States again, I dunno...what do you think you're gonna do?" He propped himself up on his elbows to get a better look at her.
"I think I'm going to start a watermelon patch. Just eat those suckers all day. No meat, no vegetables, just watermelon because I can." He snorted a chuckle, noting how the faint light from the lantern posted in the hallways made Cameron's eyes seem to glow with a supernatural hue. It was her hair that he noted first, but now...now her eyes were taking on the same mystical quality. Was it the adrenaline crash or did it seem that Cameron was...so...freaking...attra-

[i]Stop![/i]