Her lips quirked at his sally, but it wasn't a smile. She preferred the truth, at least for herself; but she had to find it first. And believing the best was a remarkably pleasant change from doing the opposite; she wasn't going to give up on the tactic yet.

Even if it led to a rather bleak corollary. "Dead monsters aren't much of a danger, after all." She meant it. "I'll be traveling with people well aware of the necessity.

Although -- and half of her couldn't believe the other half was thinking this -- were zombies alive? Though that wasn't what the one person willing to testify to their experience had described. So it would be enough.