“Wise idea,” he remarked with a quirk of his lips. “Bailing off of it before the thing could crush you, I mean.” Regan could at least assume this girl had some kind of smarts to her, or at least quick thinking, because not everyone would have gotten off the failing fire escape. From what he could see she also wasn’t greatly injured from her little adventure with the fire escape, so that was another plus – at least the zombie bite seemed to be her only injury.
Regan laughed outright at her helpful critique of his rescue technique. “What can I say, I don’t go around rescuing people all that often,” he replied with an easy smile. “Getting you to stop running and screaming like a mad woman had been my main goal though, yes.” He just nodded his head when she remarked that she didn’t have much control over the whole screaming part. “No, I suppose you didn’t.” Sometimes he had to remind himself that not everyone had nerves of steel or had spent years working in high stress situations.
He wouldn’t allow himself to get irritated with this girl and her apparent stubbornness to stay out in Ossining. “Wasn’t questioning your ability to take care of yourself, actually,” Regan began. “Really I’m more concerned with you getting medical attention, which you can’t get out here.” Even if she was immune, her bite needed to be looked at.
A part of him wouldn’t be surprised if the girl thought he was lying to her. There were very few people that would put themselves in danger for another human being – but it just so happened Regan was one of those people. He wasn’t going to back down from this, if she chose to stay out in Ossining, he’d stay with her – until he could convince her that Sing Sing was a hell of a lot safer.
“Not everyone,” he answered honestly. “And I might be an extreme case, but a large majority of the people at Sing Sing actually do give a damn what happens to other people.” That was one of the things that separated them from the safehouses he thought. Regan let out a visible sigh of relief when the girl finally gave in and said she would come back to Sing Sing with him. “You trust my face, huh?” Regan was smirking now. “Guess I better be thankful God gave me this face, then.” His tone was joking, and he paused for a moment before adding. “And for the record more than just my face is trustworthy.” As he spoke he began to move in the direction of Sing Sing, hoping the girl would keep to her word and come with him.