“So uncool...” He mumbled as Nate grabbed the jar from Vin’s hand and walked away while taking a swig of the obviously disgusting liquid that had probably been stored in the pantry for well over one hundred years. As much of a dick move as that was, however, Nate had a valid point regarding Vincent’s lack of control and the brief yet vivid image of the bloodied corpse popped into his head. He’d almost forgotten about that night, considering how quickly it happened, and the shock of the aftermath seemed to suppress the memory up until now. Was it his mind’s defensive mechanism numbing the pain to the point where he’d become desensitized to something so horrific? Had it been too many years of horror movies, [i]Slipknot[/i] concerts, and designer drugs in his system to dull the last few vestiges of morality he had?

He snapped back from his momentary reverie when Jennifer started gagging on the jar of [i]whatever[/i] that hell it was, which apparently hadn’t worked out too well for her or Nate, but Eli didn’t seem to have a problem knocking back a large gulp while laughing at the ignorant “city-folk”. The guy didn’t really appear to let much bother him, as though he’d been through stranger things enough in his life that the current situation was just “another day” to him. Or perhaps he just played it off well enough as to not cause unnecessary tension among the group. Vin supposed that was what everyone was trying to do in their own way.

Vincent found whatever MREs had been stored away, opening up a few of the dark grey plastic bags labelled “beef and gravy” and something resembling spaghetti with meatballs, which at this point might as well have been steak and lobster. He poured them into a few ceramic bowls that were stacked in the corner, grabbed some tarnished metal forks from the drawer, and tasted a bit of the spaghetti while simultaneously squeezing his eyelids in preparation for something terrible. However, surprisingly enough, it wasn’t half-bad, albeit cold, but still edible, and he slid a bowl over to Jennifer. 

“Well, it’s better than trying to live off paint thinner in a jar.” He grinned, wrapping an arm around her and planting a quick peck on her cheek before whispering in her ear. “And, by the way, you’re wicked attractive when trying to be impressive...” He said, poking fun at her earlier bold move of drinking some of the moonshine to oblige the natives, regardless of her reservations about it. 

“But I’d stay away from anything you can’t identify.” He said, taking another bite of the pasta and smiling, as a bit of the red sauce ran down his chin.

“Bon apetit!”

He turned to face the open room while shoving another forkful of the spaghetti into his mouth, and focused on Eli as he was headed outside for a smoke. 

“Hey, for what it's worth bro, thanks for the rustic dining experience and chef-quality cuisine. I'd give this place one and a half stars at best. Although It probably would have been an even two if it wasn't for the three dead rats over there.” He motioned his thumb toward the corner near the pantry. “But hey, at least they're dead.” He continued, shrugging before taking another bite of Momma Harlan’s home cooking.

“So...Nate, I suppose the question on everyone’s mind is...how long are we going to be stuck here and when, if ever, do we get to leave?” He eyed Nate in between finishing up his bowl of food. hoping that at least he had a better grasp on what was going on.