He sat back and crossed one of his legs over the other, ignoring the folder and pen on the table in front of him. My eyes went to Gabe who stood next to the door, and then back to Paxton when he spoke to me.

“Your name is Remi?” Paxton asked me.

I nodded. His voice was deep and gravelly. I couldn’t help but notice the sweet smell of cologne. It must have been the first time I had smelled anything like it in three years.

“I’m guessing you don’t know much about Crestwood,” he said.

I shook my head. “I don’t know anything about it, but it looks safe.”

Paxton smiled.

“Is it?” I asked.

“Is it what?”

“Safe?”

“Of course it’s safe,” he said as his eyebrows lowered. It seemed like my question had somehow offended him, that it was preposterous to even ask such a thing. I already didn’t like this guy.

“Why are you alone?” he asked me.

“Just like I told him,” I said, nodding to Gabe, “I’ve been alone for the past year now. The group I was with is gone.”

“And you haven’t been looking to join with anyone else?” he asked.

“I’ve already answered these questions,” I said.

“Well, I’m asking you again.”

“I mean, I’ve come across a few people here and there, but most people are dangerous.”

“How old are you?”

“Your boy didn’t write it down in the file?” I said, again nodding toward Gabe.

“How old are you?” Paxton repeated. I was quickly losing any chance I might have had of getting to stay in the town. Paxton’s cheeks started to turn red, and I could tell he was getting agitated. But I was agitated too. I hadn’t eaten much in the past couple of days and I had just encountered a large group of greyskins only hours before. I was tired.

“Twenty-two,” I answered.

“Where are you originally from?”

I sighed. “Oakridge.”

Paxton shook his head. “But that’s only a two-hour drive north of here. How is it you just now learned about us?”

“A two-hour drive is a lot of space to cover on foot,” I said. “Besides, any town I’ve come across has been overridden with greyskins. And I wasn’t in Oakridge when the outbreak happened. I was at Elkhorn.”

Paxton’s face went from a uneasy look to an almost excited look. “Elkhorn?” he repeated. “The Epicenter.”

I lifted an eyebrow and nodded. I hated the fact that he was so interested. I usually kept that bit of information to myself when I came across someone because it always just brought up unwanted questions.

“That must have been interesting,” Paxton said.

“It was hell,” I said. “Imagine waking up in the morning, ready to go to class only to find that they’ve all been cancelled because people were eating other people.”