Vincent gave Cody the instruction to stay alert when he saw the outskirts of the town. No lights, no fires. Neither were good or bad signs. They were just things of note. he still made sure they walked the perimeter of the town with his rifle at the ready. It meant staying low, creeping from cover to cover until he got close to the first building. He preferred nice weather to approach a town, or even a building, to make sure he could send Cody out and wait for the dog to come back before approaching. It meant conditions he could control a bit better, could utilize his senses better. He wasn't going to lose his best travel companion at this point.

He figured he'd sweep the buildings to see if there were any survivors holed up here before actually looking for supplies. Survivors were a better commodity right now than anything left behind. The odds of finding goods remaining was slim at this point, but survivors? That wasn't wasn't as much of a long shot as it should have been. Individuals held up in towns like this all the time. Band enough together, and you had a community. Keep that safe and going, you had a chance at cultivating society all over again. None of the others were good for it. Some had the bad taste of cults popping up, others just...weren't meant to survive despite his best efforts. There'd be others. Raptors couldn't kill everyone. He'd avoid the zealots as long as he could, until he'd run out of cities to search and gave up his last ounce of hope.

Cody stopped, ears twitching as they crept closer to the diner. Vincent knelt low, signaling the dog back to him with a quiet command. Someone was in there from what Cody indicated. There were some others near the gas station that he could see, but that was too exposed for his liking. He'd take the ones in a bigger space, some place at least dry for at least Cody's sake, before figuring things out with the men. 

The man and his dog redirected, going around the back of the building to give the gas station a wide berth and tried the back door to the kitchen. Locked, though he wasn't terribly surprised. He just didn't relish the idea passing so many windows right that moment. Always best safe than sorry right now. But the front door was the only option, so he slunk in with Cody and made sure to stick to the shadows and as close to the windows as the deserted establishment could allow given the dining space. Slinging his rifle onto his back and drawing a pistol, he slipped into the kitchen with Cody between his legs. 

He moved in until he could see, just barely anyway, that there were two others in here. When he stopped, Cody did as well. The dog remained shielded from view by the counters, but Vincent was still exposed. He cleared his throat and flipped his grip on his gun so he held the barrel instead of the grip, and made sure to hold up both hands. [i]See, trying to be nonthreatening.[/i] "I am making my presence known, and I'm going to be honest up front and say I am armed beyond this pistol. I'm not here for your stuff or to take over your space. I'm looking to talk, and if that's not something you're interested in, I'll move out. No need to exchange bullets, threaten, or draw unwanted attention. Sound good?" 
[right][sub][@Crab Bane][/sub][/right]