To tell the truth, she'd never dealt directly with someone she'd known becoming infected. All of the ones she'd killed so far had been strangers to her, people she'd never met when they were alive and healthy. And so she'd never felt much emotion when taking care of the problems they caused by killing them. This was different, and it wasn't something she was emotionally equipped for [i]at all.[/i]

Every practical part of her, all the logic in her being came together and screamed at her to [i]get rid of the girl.[/i] There was nothing they could do. She spelled trouble and possibly death. Every moment they waited was another moment the disease could be transmitted, and she could become aggressive at any second. 

But she was Nick's sister. She had a name. She was still a [i]person.[/i] 

"I'll be back in a sec," Mattie said. She got up abruptly and headed for the in-store pharmacy. Although she wasn't hopeful she'd find what she was looking for amid all the chaos in the looted section, a few minutes of digging around produced a couple bottles of sleeping pills. They'd do. She came back quietly. Now the dark was truly settling, and her eyes were struggling to keep up and adapt to the decreasing light levels.