CYOA Page 123
Sep. 13th, 2013 06:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12"You really don't look good, Joel. We're resting until you get better."
"I'm fine. Who knows how long--"
"We're fucking resting. This is a rest stop... shouldn't there be beds here?"
Joel snorts. "People didn't use rest stops to sleep. Except for truckers, but that's a whole 'nother thing. This ain't a trucker stop. An' I don' need to sleep."
You argue about it until you win; Joel agrees to rest for a while and let the serum work its magic. He will rest, he says, but not sleep. He won't let you dab at his sweat with a rag. He rejects, almost violently, the blanket you try to drape over or wrap him in, and you figure you'd best choose your battles wisely. It might be better if he doesn't sleep, actually... because how would you know if he's sleeping or dying?! And it's not like sleep would boost the effects of the drugs... right? You just kind of have it in your head that sleep is a good cure for things. Like bad moods... not snakebites. Derp.
Getting Joel to remove some of his gear also feels like a victory. Only some of it, naturally; you are Outside, after all. Not just Outside, but 'outside Outside.' The only indoor space around you that you can actually get inside of easily is a restroom -- and Joel doesn't want to rest in there (ha ha). You settle for him leaning against it, the snake-bit hand resting beside him on his backpack. You sit on the other side of the backpack, so you can stare at the bandage. Because it might start turning black with poison or something...
...yeah, that's ridiculous, but for some reason, you feel like you need to watch it. And you keep an eye on the rest of him, too.
He tolerates it for about two minutes. "Ellie, if I'm just gonna sit here, you should be keepin' watch."
"I am!"
"No you ain't. You're watchin' me, not the area."
"I'm doing both!" you insist.
"Just... go walk around or somethin'. Be our eyes."
"You might need me."
"I won't. But if I did, I'd holler."
"Maybe you wouldn't be able to holler cuz you'd be passing out." ...You're not sure how you would prevent that from happening, exactly, but...
"I don't like us havin' blind spots, an' I can only see in three directions from here. Besides, you're gonna drive me nuts if you jus' sit there an' stare at me like a--"
"Okay okay, I'm going! Jeez." You stand up and brush yourself off. "You're so grumpy I don't wanna sit with you anyway."
"Good."
You dutifully do a 'perimeter check,' see nothing unusual or even remotely threatening, and circle back to check on him. You weren't gone very long at all... only a few minutes. But you can't just... not check on Joel's grumpy ass.
Still there, still awake, still unpleasant to be around. You don't even try to engage him in conversation. You just meander away, expanding the perimeter a little and taking a bit longer to complete the circle. You'd rather be walking than standing around doing nothing (well, you're watching, but that's still pretty much like doing nothing).
The next time you swing back and check on Joel, your heart stops--
--but only for a second. He's just sleeping! You still have to go and see, of course, but that's most likely what it is. Do NOT think about how much he resembles a corpse from this distance...
You plop down next to him and see that yes, of course he's breathing. His head just lolled over into his shoulder, and he's slumped down a bit more than he was. He's MUCH better company this way, you snicker to yourself. He didn't sleep much last night, and you know old people need their sleep more than people your age do. He looks less sweaty now... and his color seems better. "Sweet dreams, Joel," you say softly -- and then you make yourself leave him, because now your eyes are the only ones keeping you two safe.
...Oh my God, did I really just think that?! I sound like Joel! Aaaahhhhh!
You decide to give the horses a little attention... and you wonder if you should try to hide them somewhere. They might fit in the restroom... but would they stay there? It's not the most pleasant of spaces. Besides, you're not going to see anyone out here.
...but that thought sends a chill down your spine, and you suddenly feel like you are going to. And soon.
The uneasy feeling intensifies -- to the point where you're sure Joel is going to wake up with a start, because... well, because he should be feeling it, too. Way more than you. He's still dozing, though. Snoring softly.
You're certain you saw something moving just beyond the tree line to the south. It's not there now, but... I fucking know what I saw! It was... SOMEthing! So... you don't know what you saw. You just know you saw it. A flash of brown.
Staring at the spot doesn't make anything emerge. It's not even a real tree line, because there are trees all around you as well, but they're definitely thicker over there, past the road that led you to these buildings.
You glance at Joel; he's still asleep, oblivious.
If you go check out the area, turn to page 211.
If you stay with Sleeping Beauty, turn to page 213.
Carlos
Date: 2020-08-31 02:45 am (UTC)Re: Carlos
Date: 2020-08-31 04:50 am (UTC)Wow you read 3 pages in one day, huh? I'm not going to answer the one where you must have been talking about TLOU2. I still don't know what happened, other than hints like yours, and I don't want to know, I don't want to know anything about it for as long as possible. Especially since I'm rolling along on the next story!
RE: Re: Carlos
Date: 2020-09-01 04:36 am (UTC)Re: Re: Carlos
Date: 2020-09-01 01:29 pm (UTC)