They learn more about Greg

Olivia guided him to the couch, her hands gentle as she began cleaning the wound with the supplies they had scavenged earlier. Noah stood nearby, watching Greg like a hawk, his fingers twitching on the knife’s handle.

“You’ve been on your own this whole time?” Olivia asked as she worked, trying to break the tense silence.

Greg nodded. “Yeah. Was out in the woods when it all went down. Didn’t even realize what was happening until I got back to town and saw... them. My family’s gone. My neighbors. Everyone.”

His voice cracked, and he looked away, his jaw tightening. Olivia’s heart ached for him, but Noah remained unmoved, his eyes still cold and wary.

“I’ll pull my weight,” Greg added after a moment. “Whatever you need—gathering supplies, hunting, defending this place. I’ll do it. Just need a couple of days to get back on my feet.”

“We’ll see,” Noah said curtly, crossing his arms.

For the rest of the morning, the tension in the house was palpable. Olivia focused on patching Greg up, her kindhearted nature refusing to let her treat him as anything less than human. Noah, meanwhile, kept his distance, his eyes never leaving the stranger.

After she was done, Olivia went to throw the bloody rags outside, Noah following behind, his voice low. “I don’t trust him. Something's fishy with this guy.”

“I know,” Olivia said softly, but there was a trace of defiance in her tone. “But he’s a person, Noah. And if we lose our humanity... what’s the point of surviving?”

Noah didn’t reply, but the unease in his chest didn’t fade. Something about Greg didn’t sit right with him, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that letting him in might have been a mistake.

He thought about the next two days, wondering how he was going to leave the house to scavenge for supplies while his wife stayed at home with a stranger. He would never doubt her, but trusting a stranger with his wife? That made his blood boil. He tried to shake it off and convince himself it was just the stress of the whole apocalypse.

[-1 Meds], Recruit [Greg, injured]