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“... I would prefer you make the call while I drive you back to your car. I can take a look at it, not that I am a car genius. Or at least I can give you a ride back into a busier part of town."

Quinn raised an eyebrow at his suspicious offer. Even in the past where everything was seemingly normal and there wasn’t a pandemic going on inviting a woman - or anyone - to drive her anywhere would sound suspicious and sketchy. She wasn’t a big fan of his idea, nor was she going to just hop in. Not like she couldn’t defend herself if indeed something sketchy was happening. At the first strange sign she would jump out of the car - even if it was driving.

Her eyes narrowed at the business card he stuck to the window as she took a closer look. “You don’t look like a vet.” A slip of tongue. She didn’t mean to say it outright but it was the first thing that came to her mind as soon as she saw the job title on it. Her eyes wandered from the card to his face and back. Tilting her head she pondered about possible other options but this one was probably the only one without having to walk around for possibly hours or even worse the whole way back to the base. While it wasn’t an impossible task it was not really something she wanted to do. Maybe there was still some faith left in humanity. Even if most of the population was trash there were rare exceptions. Perhaps he was one of them. So she decided to trust him and have him giving her a ride back to the car. It was only down the street anyway.

She opened the door and jumped into the car with no further comments. Buckling her seatbelt she threw a quick glance over her shoulder towards the backseat. Considering he had revealed his identity to her to assure her that he, most likely, wasn’t a threat she figured it would only be right to do the same. Fumbling around in the pocket of her jacket she fished out her identification card which just consisted of a picture of her in uniform, the US army logo, name, rank, pay grade and a golden chip. “Quinn Delaney.” she said, giving him a quick nod as greeting. “Thanks for helping me out here.”

“So, what is a vet doing out here at this hour past curfew?” she asked him, wondering, her hands resting on top of her thighs. “If the authorities catch you-” she cleared her throat, “you might get into trouble. Measures are getting stricter day by day.” Not that she was going to say anything now or could say anything about it considering she was off duty, in a stranger’s car, not sticking to the six feet rule and obviously she wasn’t at home either even if it wasn’t her fault her car broke down. At least she was on her way there. And despite being part of the military with more authority and easier regulations than ordinary civilians, the were too many issues with corrupt soldiers within their own ranks that one could never be careful enough.

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The sound of sirens lingered in the background. It felt like almost every ten minutes a police car or an ambulance drove passed nearby. Sometimes both. Sometimes followed by the fire department. But unfortunately none were in her sight. Even though Quinn was used to the amount of emergency vehicles rushing through the streets in this big city it seemed like emergencies tripled ever since the outbreak. She had watched some Karens calling the cops for trivial matters, matters they wouldn’t even make a fuss about sending a patrol car for. The police had their priorities and those definitely weren’t a bunch of teenagers not sticking to the six feet distance rule especially with the Karen not sticking to it either by walking over to them and trying to pull the group apart by pushing them away from each other. She may or may not have overheard her threatening to call their parents. But Quinn had also seen scenes of the police or the military unit get out of their vans with seven men to interrupt a meeting between three hooded strangers lingering in front of a building. There was that and that.

As she made her way down the dark alley the brunette looked to her left and checked the smaller alley for people - the kind you don’t want to meet at night. She wasn’t scared or afraid but she was cautious and tried keeping her surroundings in check. It was something she had trained for and something that was an automatic response now forever stuck inside her head. A street lamp ahead of her flickered and the misplaced pedestrian light wrapped its surroundings in an eerie red hue. Quinn rolled her eyes at it. That’s why people are getting a wrong idea of the whole situation - because bad maintenance of the city plus an outbreak makes a lot of them think they are in some kind of horror movie.

The sound of a nearby car engine caught her attention. A car! Quinn thought but still she wasn’t going to let her guard down easily. Her hand instantly went for the gun holstered at her side, hidden underneath her jacket. She wasn’t in uniform as the meeting didn’t require her to. With her outfit consisting of black skinny jeans, a simple white tee and a dark olive green colored coat she looked like an ordinary civilist. However, her permission slip and identification card were tucked away inside the inner pocket of her jacket just in case it was needed.

Moving slower to keep an eye on the vehicle before it pulled up beside her she came to a complete halt herself once the driver rolled down a window.

"You okay there ma'am?"

She took a look at the driver after he asked her. He didn’t look like he was in for some trouble but nevertheless in the back of her head she was preparing herself for a possible threat. Quinn put a casual smile on and answered “Yes, everything’s okay. It’s just that my car broke down and my phone died at the same time. Would you mind if I make a quick phone call with yours? I’m not sure if recovery services are operating now but it should be worth a try.”