"Aaron!" He froze in the doorway, his hand still on the edge of the doorframe, at Eric's harsh whisper. He hadn't heard that tone of voice since they were out on the road together and he knew what it meant. Danger. Aaron looked up, slowly, and froze again. There were roamers staggering down their street, and his movement could attract their attention at any moment.
They had both heard the loud noise almost ten minutes before and knew that something bad had happened. Aaron was about to leave the house to find out what was going on, and to see if help was needed, but leaving the house was no longer an option. He stepped back as carefully as he could, and inched the door shut before locking it.
"I'll get the blinds, if you can check the other doors?" Eric moved past, his voice low and steady, "Slow and quiet, right?"
Aaron nodded, "Yes." He moved quickly to the back of the house, making sure the backdoor was locked and then double checked the garage. The large door was down, and the inner door was locked again after he peeked into the space. By the time he got back to their living room the front windows had all been taken care of; blinds down and curtains pulled across them. "I wonder what happened."
"Part of the wall must have come down, or the gates. Maybe from the weight of all those roamers pushing against it?" Eric paused, sitting on the edge of their sofa, "Unless those people who attacked came back and knocked it down. It looks like it's just roamers in the street though; I looked through the blinds to see if there were any people out there and I didn't see anyone."
"We have to stay in here." Eric nodded, reaching out to take Aaron's hand and draw him closer. Aaron was still trying to put his fears into words but accepted the gesture. "I feel like I should be out there helping."
"I know, but we don't even know if anyone is alive out there right now, or where they might be. It isn't safe to just run out without a plan. It doesn't help anyone to throw ourselves into danger, and I'm not letting you go out there alone." Eric was completely serious, and Aaron glanced down at the brace he was still wearing on his ankle.
"No, you couldn't move quickly enough if we were cornered somewhere out there." Aaron nodded, more to himself than to Eric, "We have to stay until there is a sign that someone is organizing to clear these roamers. We have supplies for several days, right?"
"Right, we have plenty of food and we can continue rationing." Eric squeezed Aaron's hand, "We can set up an outlook from upstairs to watch the streets and see where this herd goes, or if they stop somewhere inside the walls. We can look to see if anyone else is out there clearing them. Do you want to set that up now?" Aaron needed the distraction, and Eric needed him to stay in the house instead of getting more ideas about going out to rescue neighbors.
"Okay." Aaron took a deep breath and helped pull Eric back onto his feet. They embraced briefly and kissed before parting again.
"You'll get our perch set up, and I can finish blocking the rest of the windows down here." Eric hesitated, "We'll be alright. We just have to stick together like we've always done."