"Oh god.... RUN!"

[Shi-chan]

At his words, she glanced over and saw the pistol in his hand. She then looked to his face, and saw something she hadn't really expected at all. She traced sadness in his eyes, but also some sort of faraway joy. The joy of memories, perhaps? She was familiar with that, as she knew she sometimes looked like that too. Whenever she had looked at the wedding photos or when she had talked to the father of her child over the phone. When she had remembered something about the time they had met in, the wild days she missed so much, and when Lissa had been born. All those memories from back then brought the same kind of look to her face.

"Evangeline?" Christa asked, smiling slightly. "Your girl's got a wonderful name."

She didn't know what to say, and the thought of him turning into one of them kept taking most of her attention, as she imagined it happen over and over again. She didn't want to think of it, for she'd already grown a little fond of Neil. She felt a need to make sure he got out of the country alive, and preferably together with his girl. Just like Christa wanted to leave the godforsaken land only if Lissa was with her.

"Bet she's beautiful too. You got a picture or something?" She then asked, wanting to get the scary thoughts a little away.

[St.Valentine]

Neil's eyes grew a little glossy at the appraisal of his lover's name. She was indeed equally as beautiful as the title she was blessed with, if not even hundredfold more so, and the fact that the only picture he had of her was when she was a child threatened to make the tears fall. He reached into the pocket of his jeans from which he produced the gun and took a tiny, crinkled piece of paper from within. It was smeared over with blots of blood, probably his own, and clearly indistinguishable. He wiped what he could of the grime, but his efforts were practically futile; he managed to unveil one very, very dark brown eye and a mess of inky wild curls.

He sighed, folding the paper and sealing it away into his pocket again, only to retrieve a simple little wedding band instead. He stared at the humble golden trinket that miraculously still managed to sparkle in his fingers for several seconds, his shiny eyes growing considerably even more sparkly. He then showcased it to Christa, offering her a heartbroken and somewhat sarcastic smile, chuckling inwardly through his nostrils before he tucked it away again.

"She is crazy gorgeous, lady," he stated lovingly, not quite willing to speak in past tense. "The most beautiful woman I have and will ever meet in my life. I'm the luckiest sonofabitch to have persuaded that girl to marry me."

A wheezing cough interrupted his amorous musings, placing them on a painful pause until they ceased. His hope of being immune to the infection was surely beginning to wane; but the image of his beloved Evangeline is what kept him present with Christa. He didn't want to leave the woman by herself and he was very much determined not to. He had a feeling in his gut, be it blind, stupid and naive hope, or a foreseeing inkling, that seemed to tell him just to hang on a little longer. But then his stomach growled quite irritatedly, and he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

[Shi-chan]

After the coughs had ceased, the look of worry that had been on her face faded. She didn't want to make him feel like he was going to die before he was actually already dead and gone, so she didn't want to act worried. Although there was a part of her that wanted to act motherly, and be worried, and so. It was probably because she didn't know how Lissa was, and if she even lived, just like he didn't know anything about Evangeline's whereabouts.

"Damn, kiddo!" She said, a slight chuckle in her voice. "I almost want to meet her now, just to see if she's that great."

Her thoughts then strayed from their conversation as she tried to remember which direction they had to drive to get to Chicago. She started mumbling fragments of sentences to herself as she searched for the map she was pretty sure she had. Somewhere. She reached down between her feet, and almost disappeared behind the dashboard, and also limiting her sight to absolutely nothing. She had been almost sure that there hadn't been anything ahead, but there was always that one tree, the only one in the entire friggin' desert you'd crash into. It was a law of nature.

She searched the space by her feet and then found it. The grainy paper that was so big she'd ended up just curling it into a big ball instead of folding it properly. Her fingers closed around it, and then then pulled it up, and held it over towards Neil, wanting him to take it.

She could now see the land before them again, and as soon as she had gotten properly back in her seat, she swerved the car again, this time to the other side. "Who the hell leaves rocks where I'm supposed to be driving?!" She yelled in irritation.

[St.Valentine]

Fatigue was beginning to take its toll on Neil, who had succumbed to a makeshift fetal position on the passenger's seat, still bleeding from wounds he obviously had missed. He took the map from Christa and began to trace paths with his fingers toward Chicago, leaving light little trails of blood in their wake; he would look up and around every so often, trying to determine where they were exactly, but he couldn't tell. Surely they had to be close to Illinois by now.

"Thanks," he said, in reference to Evangeline. He missed her more than ever now. "What about your daughter, lady? I bet she's just as great."

He was uncertain if he wanted to bring up such touchy topics at the moment, but he figured if he were going to die pretty soon (or, be somewhat dead), what the hell? He thumbed his nose and scratched at the stubble that sprouted from his handsome features, then returned his attention to the crumpled map. There were numerous hospitals along the way - but he couldn't quite decide if he wanted to risk Christa's life (not taking his own into consideration)just to steal some gauze and band-aids. He looked up at Christa, his expression confused and helpless.

"You reckon we should stop by one of these here hospitals, lady?" he asked softly. "You think we'll find any survivors?"

[Shi-chan]

Christa looked at him, a strange look on her face. "We're stopping by there. You get to pick which one. I hardly think there'll be any livin' things in there, but there's no point in thinking the worst, right? Expect the best, but prepare for the worst." She told him, feeling a little old as she sat there and talked like she had all the experience in the world when it came to robbing hospitals, and as if she wasn't scared by it all. she wanted to keep Neil alive, not only because she had a feeling that she'd go insane without the company, but she really did care. Especially now that she knew how much he loved his girl. It reminded her what he had just said a little before, asking about Lissa.

"You know, my kid, Lissa... She's wonderful. It's just too bad she looks like her mother." She said, smiling slightly. "I'd say that she has too much of her mother's personality too, but she always objects. She's a little strange, always running around, getting into fights, not giving a damn about nothing but the really important things. Her teachers keep telling me that she won't ever amount to anything, but I know that they're just looking at it from the wrong perspective. 'Cause Lissa don't back down from a fight, and she stands up for what she believes in. She takes good care of her friends, so she'll end up being someone loved. And when that time comes, her ol' teachers won't be able to hammer a nail in a piece of shit without ruining both things." She said, although having paused often between the sentences. As she had talked she had remembered a lot of little fragments of memories she had of the last couple of years, and it had brought a teary smile onto her face.

"Which hospital then, kiddo?" She asked, almost interrupting herself.