CYOA Page 141

[lumy12]

Page One Hundred Forty-One

"I get it, Joel. I do. But I can't just go back home and... tell them-- what, that we got scared? That it was too hard?"

"I don't give two shits what we tell 'em or what they think. You'd be safe."

You smile a little; he cares SO MUCH! But... going home feels wrong. "I can't go back. I'm sorry. I have to see this through. You can go home if you want, but I'm going forward."

Joel rolls his eyes (it's so cute when he does that! Maybe he picked it up from you?). "You know full well that I won't leave you. That... defeats the whole purpose of goin' home. It makes no sense."

"Okay then. Let's go!"

The two of you decide to stick to the highway through this mountainous stretch. You don't feel great, but you've definitely felt worse. Joel asks, more frequently than usual, if you want a break -- no doubt because of your injuries. You keep wanting to push on... afraid that once you stop, you won't want to start up again.

And then Joel decides that he wants to take more frequent breaks. Yep, you see through that one. But you don't fight him. It feels fucking good to rest. (and yes, it is very hard to get moving again after you do!)

The sun is still fairly high in the sky when he decides it's time to stop for the night. You argue that you've already wasted too much time today and at this rate, it'll take you a whole extra day to get to the hospital, but Joel says that doesn't matter. You're close to a house that some scout or another has marked as a 'preferred hotel' due to having a well. You point out to Joel that you have enough water for your trip, even with him making you drink more than usual -- and he just says that maybe if you have even more, you won't worry so much about the trip taking too much extra time with all the resting and whatnot.

Whatever!

You end up wasting another hour or so trying to find the fucking place, but you do find it eventually, and after Joel does his standard walk-through, you immediately become enamored with the plush sofa. "Can we take this thing home?!" you have to ask.

Joel chuckles. "Sure. I'll jus' stuff it in my backpack."

"I'm serious. Sit on it!"

"Maybe later. I'm gonna get a fire goin' -- you just relax there an' enjoy your sofa."

Your neck and shoulder are throbbing, but when you lay perfectly still, you don't feel it so much. You close your eyes...

...and when you open them again, the room is a little darker. Joel is rubbing your arm... did he just wake me up? you wonder groggily.

"Feel any better?" he asks you.

"Uh... I guess... that smells good..." You sniff appreciatively at the bowl on the table in front of you.

"Figured you'd be hungry by now. That well water's nice an' cold, too. Here..."

You enjoy the chicken and rice soup (it's Tommy's specialty; there's lots of carrots and celery in there, too, but 'chicken and rice and carrots and celery' is too long of a name), along with some fresh well water, feeling moderately guilty that Joel's been doing all the work tonight -- though of course, when you say as much, he shrugs it off, saying he's got nothing better to do. He's already rubbed down the horses and gotten them settled in the back yard, too. All while you just laid on your ass.

He won't let you help with the dinner clean-up, either. You just give in to the pampering, knowing it won't last. You move outside to sit by the fire when it gets too dark inside, and Joel joins you once everything's been put away. You wish you guys could have brought the guitar, but that would've been really stupid and impractical... so you coax him into singing to you a cappella instead (he taught you that term -- it means with no instruments, just your voice!). All in all, aside from being in some discomfort, it's a lovely evening. Just me and Joel... like the good old days! Or... BAD old days... but that aspect of it was good.

You decide you have to sleep on the heavenly sofa, which makes Joel not want to sleep upstairs. There's enough room on the sofa for both of you if he faces forward and pulls a chair over to stick his feet on. "That one on the other side's a recliner... maybe I'll jus' sleep there," he says.

"Nooooo don't do that." You re-orient yourself on the sofa so that instead of your feet facing Joel, it's your head -- and you rest it on his stomach. "Be my pillow. Unless you're not comfortable there? Your legs..."

"It's fine. I can stay like this." He starts playing with your hair. "I'll prob'ly fall asleep before you do, seein' as how you took that little nap earlier."

"And you worked harder than me today," you add.

"Nah. It's hard work, travelin' when you're hurt," he says kindly.

"You're being too nice to me," you stage-whisper to him.

"I'm sure it won't last," he jokes... and weren't you just thinking that earlier yourself?

You grin. "Good. Between that and the 'I love you', I might be getting too spoiled."

"Can't have that," he says lightly, through a big yawn that makes you chuckle.

"Good night, Joel. ...I do love you," you add tentatively. ...Why tentatively? Why even be shy about it anymore?

"Good night, baby girl. Love you, too."

There... now it's part of our good night thing! you think happily.

He's right -- he does fall asleep before you do. Like, way before. But you feel very content laying there with his hand still in your hair, hearing (and feeling) him breathe in and out... sweet as any lullaby.

* * * * * * *

The next day, you feel... maybe 80%, but you tell Joel you feel 95%: no going easy on you today! He says you can still make it to the hospital by tonight if you make good time today. Maybe not before dark, but not so long after that you'd need to make camp again.

You haven't run into any more infected since yesterday, and only one pair of humans, which you easily avoided. Presently, you're passing through some little hick town with a few buildings lining the highway, and Joel gets that look on his face... he senses something. "You see anythin' over there?" he asks you.

You swing the binoculars in that direction. "...No..."

"Keep lookin'." You hear him cocking one of his guns.

"There's nothing. ...Wait... do you hear that?"

If you hear it, of course he hears it: someone calling out. A man's voice. But you still don't see anything.

"It's comin' from one of the motel rooms..."

"I think I just heard my name!" you exclaim. "Come on!"

"Wait--"

But you're not afraid of anyone who knows your name (any enemies of yours who knew it are long since dead). And it might even be... "Danny? Are you here?" you call out as you ride into the parking lot.

"Yes! In... 104, I think?"

You see that the window to that room is open, but you can't see inside because all you can see is outside reflection. You barely wait for your horse to come to a full stop before you're jumping off of him and running to the door... which is ajar. Joel is right behind you.

You find Danny on the bed, looking pale and sweaty and dirty. "Shit -- what happened?"

"Got hurt... damn, you guys got here fast!"

"...We did?" What an odd thing to say. He couldn't possibly have known you were looking for him! You perch on the bed.

"Thought it would take... two or three days, at least..."

"You don't look so good," says Joel. "You need water? Food?"

Danny lifts a hand and makes a vague gesture. "Naw, I've got some... from those nice people..."

"What people?" you ask.

"The ones who... didn't you meet them? ...Didn't they send you?"

"Nope," says Joel. "Your wife sent us. She got worried about you takin' so long to get back."

"Oh! Ohhh. Shit. I sent that young couple... they live in this motel..."

You keep questioning Danny until you get the whole story. He got into it with a couple guys up the road a bit -- he was on his way back from the hospital -- and he killed one, but the other one shot his horse, and Danny broke his leg in the fall. A week ago, maybe longer. He dragged himself along the road -- and someone found him, but they just robbed him and left! Things were looking pretty bleak until a young couple saw him and helped get him into this room. He's only been here for one day.

"I think we saw them!" you realize out loud. "Joel, remember those people we hid from yesterday? I didn't think of them as young, though..."

Joel nods. "They were young. Dark-haired? Skinny?"

"Yep," confirms Danny. "I hope they make it to Jackson okay... I warned 'em, there was some infected..."

"I think we took care of those," you tell him. Glad we did that now!

"We ain't gonna wait for your people to come back," Joel declares. "You need to get back to the hospital. Your bones are prob'ly already healin' wrong."

You frown. "So you were dragging yourself on the ground for days? That must've really fucked up your leg..."

"Yeah. Hurt like a mother, too... but I couldn't just give up..."

"You should've just stayed there, knowing we would find you," you tease him.

"You should've sent them to the hospital, is what you should've done," Joel admonishes him. "It's a hell of a lot closer than Jackson."

"Thought of that, but the hospital... they don't make house calls, know what I mean? No ambulances... no transportation at all, actually. And they've got their hands full. I'm sure they wouldn't venture out this far to help me."

"That's shitty," you grumble.

"It is what it is. You can't get your ass in there, there's nothing they can do for you."

"Well, we will get you there," Joel promises. "Ellie, why don't you leave a note for whoever comes while I help him out to the horses."

"If those people do make it to Jackson, Tommy or Maria will tell them about our trip," you point out.

"True, but that don' mean they'll know for sure that we were the ones that found him, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay." You smile at Joel as he starts to help Danny up. "Hey -- now aren't you glad we didn't go home?"

He just grunts at you.

Well, you're glad. Danny's obviously in pain, he's barely eaten in a week, and his leg is probably all fucked up -- maybe the extra days you've saved him can save the leg. Or at least improve the outcome in some way. Hell, you don't even know if those two will make it to Jackson at all. They could get lost, they could get ambushed... it's unlikely they'll encounter any more infected, thanks to the two of you...

You're feeling really good about this. Maybe you and Joel should consider a career in search and rescue!



THE END



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Comments

[owlofnevermore.livejournal.com]

Aw!! What a nice end! They found him.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

First successful mission for you! Well done ;)

[owlofnevermore.livejournal.com]

Yep! :D Two endings where they are alive. I'm going to have to find one of the "and one or both die" endings next.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Ha! Killing them is the easiest way to end a thread so I was tempted to do it more often... except then sometimes I'd feel bad and change my mind :)

Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

Yayyyy... they finally find the guy and this time he is not infected... I think I almost have done with this part of the story. I see that this part is about finding the guy, but the romantic one is the same plot?

Re: Carlos

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Yes cuz the first page is the same for both. Maybe you'll get to the romance part by the time I start posting Singularity :)