Giovanni didn't speak for a moment, staring out the window with a distant expression.

"How bad was Italy?" He finally asked, a bitter smile on his face. "Why do you think I dragged my sick little brother through the alps? That place, I don't think it could even [i]be called[/i] Italy anymore. It'd be more accurate to say… I guess the best name is just Hell. It's Hell."

He got up and walked to the window, looking outside at the surrounding area.

"You're pretty smart for home invaders." He sighed, staring in the direction of the city. Already, he could see the smoke rising. "From the ground, this place looked pretty good, but now I think we might still be too close to the city. But we can't leave today. The sun'll set soon, and we don't wanna be outside in the dark with those dogs around. We'll leave tomorrow. As soon as the suns up. Until then, we should probably prepare. Get the curtains closed, and then collect as much food as we can. When it gets too dark, use candles for light. Hopefully it should make it easier to keep light from getting through the curtains."

And then he squinted for a moment, looking downwards, before sighing again, this time in apparent relief.

"Alright, I can see the dogs. They're heading away from here, so we should be alright for now. Do you two have any backpacks here? And sewing stuff?"

As Giovanni spoke, Al simply sat in place, staring blankly into space.

They were really gone? Like, forever? How? They might have made some dumb decisions from time to time, but surely they would've escaped before… Before…

As he thought, he noticed his vision grow blurry, and quickly stood up.

"Sorry sis, I've gotta do some stuff in my room. Alone. I'll be back a little later, ok?"

And then he abruptly left the room, heading down the corridor to his own, and broke down, sobbing into his pillow.

Meanwhile, back in Catrina's room, Joe watched the boy leave, and quickly turned back to her.

"Hey, I reckon I know what you're thinking, but don't follow him." He said. "He's at that difficult age where boys will spend hours in their rooms doing god knows what, and I'm sure he won't want his sister to barge in on him while he's doing it. So just let him get it out of his system now, while he's still got a room to do it in."