How strange. Bella couldn't quite place the powerful sense of recognition that swept through her at the sight of the handsome stranger's face. She gripped the railing as a wave of dizziness hit her, and he took a single step toward her, his eyes fixed on her face with an intensity that was almost frightening.

"Have we met?" Bella's voice was raspy from lack of use, so she swallowed and tried again. "Do I know you?"

The stranger hesitated, licking his lips, and the strange look on his face slowly faded. "Were you bitten?" His gaze swept her entire body, and Bella shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

"Bitten?"

His gaze returned to her face. "Yes, bitten. It's how you become one of them."

It took Bella a minute to work out what he meant, and then her eyes widened. "Is that how the sickness spreads? They hadn't figured it out when I last watched the news. I was worried it was airborne. That's good news then. You have to be bitten to get sick." For the first time in days, Bella found herself smiling. She'd been terrified that it was in the air, in the food, in the water. She'd worried that she was already suffering from the sickness. But since she hadn't been bitten, she couldn't be turning into one of them yet.

"I wouldn't call it good news, exactly. Maybe if it could spread through the air they'd be breathing on people instead of ripping us apart." the man drawled, and she liked the sound of his voice. It managed to be rough and melodious at the same time. His eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you weren't bitten? You'd better sit down." He seemed worried, and Bella wondered if she looked as sick as she felt.

"Maybe I'd better." She walked very slowly down the stairs, gripping the railing and placing each foot carefully, and sat on the bottom step. She tensed a little when he approached her, his large frame blotting out the afternoon sun that streamed in the windows. He wasn't one of the infected, but that didn't mean that he couldn't hurt her. The most terrifying thing about the epidemic was the way that people had responded to it. Panic had set in, many decent people had lost their minds, and bad people had been free to wreak havoc as they wished. There had been atrocities everywhere, people rioting and killing and committing unspeakable crimes.

Bella still couldn't recall where she recognized the man from, and until she did remember all she knew was that he was strong and casually carrying two lethal weapons. She hadn't escaped from the undead so that she could be assaulted and murdered. She flinched when he reached for her with one large arm, and he paused, backing up a pace and holding up his hands as if to show that he was harmless.

"I wanted to see if you had a fever." He told her, speaking slowly and softly, as if she were a skittish animal he was trying to tame.

"I don't. I wasn't bitten. I just need water." Bella told him. "I was trying to break into the vending machine when you startled me. I was going to get water from the bathroom, but-"

"It's locked," the man finished for her. "I know. I've been looking for the keys." Keeping a foot or so between them, he crouched in front of her, balancing easily on the balls of his feet. She could see smooth, perfect skin through the holes in his jeans, and she wondered why he looked so good. She was sunburned, bugbitten, scratched, starving and sore. His hair was a bit messy and he had a slight tan, but otherwise she didn't get the impression that he was suffering.

"Who are you?" She asked him quietly, but he ignored her and reached into his pocket.

"Here," he said, pulling out a flask. "It's only water," he assured her when she hesitated.

Under normal circumstances accepting a drink from a strange man was a big no-no, but Bella wasn't sure what the rules were when you were about to die of dehydration, so she took the flask.

He seemed satisfied as she took a long drink, then another, and then a third. The water wasn't particularly cold, but Bella couldn't have cared less. Her eyelids fluttered shut, and as the liquid slid down her throat Bella felt as close to blissful as one could get after the apocalypse. She heard the man moving around the visitor's center while she drank, and when she opened her eyes there was a chocolate bar and a bag of chips sitting next to her on the step.

"You'd better eat those quickly," the man told her. "And go ahead and finish the water. I'll get us more." He crossed to the vending machine, and before Bella could even blink he had kicked the glass in. The sound of the glass shattering was sharp, but brief.

"No alarm?" Bella couldn't believe it. All that worrying for nothing.

The man turned to regard her, surprise in his eyes. "How long have you been wandering around out there?" He asked her. "There hasn't been any electricity for four days."

"Oh."

"Go ahead and eat," the man told her as he stepped back, his boots crunching over the remains of the vending machine window. "I'm going to find a bag to carry all of this stuff in, and then we'll go."

"Go?" Bella looked up, her mouth suddenly going dry. "Go where?"