Hopefully she can't hear his sigh from under the sound of his boots on so much creaky, well-worn staircase. He hasn't worked with civilians near enough to develop any sort of automatic rapport with anybody who isn't just barking orders at him (outside the rare exception), though, and she seems to be making a special effort to be weirdly exasperating.

Even if she does have a point. Sort of.

"Creepy?" he wonders aloud, wandering around an empty row of shelving, briefly losing track of her. There could be something more that'll be useful, lying around here, and- By the time he remembers he's supposed to be in the lead, she's already at the front door. "Hey, stand back from there!"

Picking up his gun again, Cloud runs over to the storefront to join her, but there's nothing outside. No squashed bodies, no more monsters charging - only a little standing forest of half-smashed and splintered barrels, a short walk of cement, and then the misty, whirling wall of the blizzard.