Putting up with Ms. Gun and Mr. Rifle was going to be a trying experience, Neil just knew it. Mr. Rifle seemed like the chatty sort, and Ms. Gun was apparently one of those passive-aggressive types that thought they were clever by insulting someone in a foreign language; if he were the sort of person to do it, he would've left them to a monster at the first opportunity. But since they were both armed and apparently carrying supplies, he could put up with whatever annoyances they brought with them... for now, at least.
Oh, introductions were probably in order. Names would be useful, since saying "you" would only get one so far. He turned his head in Alex's direction, enough to acknowledge the man while still keeping an eye on the road ahead, and just said, "Neil."
So Alex had seen a few people mutate into monsters. Well, it was an explanation for where they came from, and Neil hadn't had any theories. The appearance of the monsters was probably tied to his new ability, then, since that had shown up shortly after he'd been first attacked--which had been almost two weeks ago. He'd been keeping track of the date as best he could, without ready access to a computer, working cell phone, or calender. (That was an oddity he'd noticed--there didn't seem to be too many calenders lying around, not when they were really needed for keeping a sense of time following the apparent destruction of civilization (well, at least, what accounted for civilization in Detroit).)
"Let's save the personal stories for when we're safe," he said dismissively. "I think there's a hotel somewhere near here. Might be okay for a night, but I'm open to suggestions."