For the first time, Thomas smiled at you. It surprised you at first but you gave him a small smile back. You opened your mouth to say something when you were interrupted by a loud bang upstairs.

Thomas turned and ran upstairs with you following close behind him. He flung open the basement door and snapped his head to face the front doors. Hoyt struggled through the doorway dragging a brunette girl with him. He paused to look up at Thomas with a annoyed sigh.

"Damn it, boy. Get over here and help me with this bitch!"

Thomas quickly crossed over to Hoyt and grabbed her by the hair, dragging her further into the hallway before dropping her.

"Thomas be careful with her, she's still kickin."

Thomas grunted and headed downstairs. He came back up a moment later and went over to Hoyt. He led Hoyt back into the room where you had attacked the blonde. They had disappeared for a while before coming back out. Hoyt turned to you with a surprised look before turning to Thomas.

"I'll tell mama. We can discuss this later when everyone's around."

Thomas nodded and looked to you as Hoyt walked away. He then grunted and waved his hand for you to come closer. You hesitated beforw walking over to him. He stepped out the door and on to the porch.

There he gently grabbed your wrist, leading you to the back of the house where a decent size barn stood.He led you to the barn before stopping. He had an amused look on his face. It was strange. The enitre time you had been there he always looked very solem, as if he didn't feel anything at all.

He slid open the large barn door before pulling you along. As he dragged you something immediately caught your attention. Your truck sat to the right side of the barn, being covered by a tarp.

Thomas drug you to the back of the barn to a few stables. In the low stables pigs laid. Some of them crossed over to the gate, looking up at Thomas and you. Thomas reached down to them, patting them. Thomas glanced over to you and jerked his head towards the pigs.

"No, it's okay. I'm good."

He gave you a sidewards look then waved to you. You sighed and got closer to them. Thomas reached down and patted them again before looking back to you. You gave him an unsure look before reaching over the gate.

One of the pigs gladly raised it's head to your hand. It took a moment to smell you before you ran your hand over it's head and down it's back. You smiled at it, continuing to pet it. You glanced over at Thomas who was leaning on the gate, watching them and you.

He looked at you before standing up straight and heading to a back door. He paused in the doorway to look back at you before grunting and jerking his head for you to follow him.

Behind the barn there was a smaller shed. He opened it to reveal a bunch of chickens. You smiled at the chickens as they approached you. You gently ran your fingers down the chickens heads, trying not to bother them much. Thomas crouched next you and held his hand out to them. They ate the feed he held, clucking happily.

When he had finished, he led you back to the house. Luda met you both on the porch with a smile on her face and her hands on her hips.

"Well now, where have you two been off to?"

You glanced over to Thomas and gave a small laugh.

"He was out showing me the animals."

"That's nice. Glad you're getting along. Oh! Before I forget. I was gonna ask you if you wanted to help me with dinner. Could you?"

"Oh yeah, no problem."

"Thank you. Come with me. Thomas, I believe you have some work to finish up?"

He nodded and turned to go into the house. You and Luda followed behind him. You followed Luda into the kitchen where she had done most of the cooking already.

"So what can I do?"

"Not much. I'm just waiting on the meat to finish up but I wanted to talk to you about something."

You froze up a little inside. Had you done something?

"Uh...sure. What about?"

"About what you did earlier."

"O-oh. Yeah..."

"There's no need to worry. I wanted to thank you."

You raised your eyebrows at this. She was thanking you? For what?

"For what?"

"Protecting Thomas..."

"I didn't really protect him...I just..."

"You stopped her from hurting him."

"He probably could've done it himself to be honest."

"Yes, but that's not the point. It's what you did. You attacked her even though she could've been your way out."

You felt guilty. Even though you hadn't really done anything bad, the way she explained this to you made you feel bad.

"I...I don't know why I did that but I just did. That's all I know."

"You did the right thing."

"I guess so."

Luda nodded. Had you really done the right thing though? You chose his life over your own freedom, sure, but why didn't it feel right?

"Can you set the table for me?"

"Yeah, sure."

"The plates and silverware are all in the hutch."

"Okay."

You walked out and into the dinning room.