"Let anything," he murmured, too quiet for Eli to hear. His thumb smoothed compulsively over his trousers, again and again, trying to keep the material from wrinkling at the knees. These fatigues were two sizes too big, and while a belt kept them up, he found them difficult to walk in. Simultaneously, there was a part of him that appreciated the shapelessness of them, how they swallowed his figure. It was like wearing a tent, or a blanket: nobody needed to see him. Not that anyone was looking, realistically, but he imagined their eyes, hundreds of eyes, all on him -- on them. The urge to retreat, to make himself small and silent, crawled up his spine. But Miller had dragged him out of the vents just that morning, and he didn't want to know what would happen if he found him in there again. So, Eli's shadow was the safest place to be.