Ben was a little bit surprised when he saw that she hadn't run away with everything when he got back. He had fully expected her to run off and not care about him. When she offered him the stick, he looked at it for a second and then gently took it from her. "thanks." he said softly and gave her a honest smile. Even if it wasn't a gift or anything, it was nice to know that the nice girl he had known in middle school was somewhere in there.

Looking around a bit, he saw a slope and pointed that way with the stick, "I think that is our best bet on getting down." he said as he turned to her. "it will be a little rough but hopefully we will be able to find a house or a town in a few days." He then started to head down. He didn't want to be a burden to her, he had always been like that. Even in high school he never bothered her with everything that happened to him. Most of the guys in school made fun of him for wanting to be a male nurse and got bullied because of it. She probably didn't even know since he kept it from her. It was also why he never asked her to prom, because the popular kid had made sure he didn't even thought he never asked her out.

As he walked, making sure to keep a fast pace so that she didn't have to slow down for him, He looked at her. "so.... how have you been?" he asked as he looked at her and tried to pick up a conversation. It would be kind of hard after everything that had happened between them but it was better then walking in silence.