CYOA Page 149
Sep. 12th, 2013 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12...except he doesn't scold you. "Are you all right?"
"Me? Yeah. He's not."
"Here. Eat."
Another elk sandwich. You take a huge bite, only just now realizing how hungry you are.
"You... told him to write letters?"
"Yep. He doesn't think he has much time left." ...Too suspicious! "I think it's hitting him, how far away we still are and how little time there is... that he might turn before we get back," you amend. Might be an unnecessary precaution -- Joel's not heartless, after all, and you doubt he would just go blow the guy's brains out in the middle of letter-writing. But no need to worry him about your safety any more than he already is.
"That was... real nice of you. Real nice."
You blush -- and feel grateful the light's no longer in your face. "It was no big deal." ...but you're glad Joel thinks it is... that he thinks you're a nice person.
"It's a huge deal. That's gonna mean a lot to his family. To him. The thought never even occurred to me."
"Yeah, well, guess I'm smarter than you some of the time," you joke (deflecting compliments with humor is something you and Joel both tend to do).
He chuckles. "A lot of the time, I'm sure. You're definitely more sensitive. Towards others, that is. You're... nicer."
You're pleased with the praise but you don't know what to say, so you keep stuffing your face.
You look over at Danny from time to time... he seems all right. Just scribbling away. You don't want to interrupt him; you know he'll signal for you when he's done. Joel persuades you to lay your head down on the table and take what he calls a 'cat nap,' promising to wake you up when Danny's done. You pillow your head on your arms... and drift off surprisingly easily, considering.
You didn't even hear (or feel) Joel leave the table, but he must have, because he's behind you when he wakes you up by petting your hair. "Ellie... time to go."
You feel more groggy than rejuvenated (meaning he let you sleep too long?). You turn and see Danny hovering by your horse. "You didn't wake me up," you complain to Joel.
"I got his letters, don't worry." He helps you up, since apparently you appear to still be half asleep and in need of help with simple things like standing up.
But you mount your horse just fine on your own, and give Danny a hand up behind you. "Do you feel better now?" you ask him. "I mean... you know. Relatively speaking."
"Better, yes. Thanks to you. You and Joel both have been so great about all this. I owe you... so much."
Joel starts heading out to the highway as if he didn't hear that, but you're sure he did. You almost crack a lame joke about how Danny owes you bigtime and better pay up... fast, considering... uhhhh... yeah, not cool -- you're glad you caught yourself in time. "Nah... we just wish it could be more," you assure him instead. You follow Joel, and he lets you take the lead again so he can resume his watchdog staring thing (seriously, you feel like you have to be extra alert since Joel's probably paying more attention to your passenger than your surroundings).
You ride straight through the rest of the night, save for one five-minute pee break. Danny seems to be done with the tears, as you detect nothing from him back there. No sniffling or quaking or anything. He's so quiet that you twist around every so often just to make sure he's okay.
Just as the sky starts to turn pink, Danny asks to stop. Presumably to pee, though he doesn't say. You and Joel stretch your legs while he hobbles off. He doesn't go stand in front of a tree, though. Instead, he wriggles onto a large rock. "Joel!" he calls.
O...kay... what, is he gonna shit on that rock or something and he needs help now?! is the thought that pops in your head, but that's pretty silly (people generally don't take shits on top of rocks!). Joel finds it strange as well; he gives you a puzzled look before jogging over there. They talk for at least a minute. You wish you could hear what they're saying! Why didn't Danny want to talk to you, too?
Joel returns after what feels like ages and you look at him, expecting to be given the scoop. But he says nothing.
"Well?! What was that about?" you have to ask him.
"He just wants to watch the sun rise. It is pretty today, with the clouds like that..."
And it's his last one, you think gravely. "Alone?"
"Yep." Joel puts his arm around you. "You wanna watch it, too?"
"I guess. Might as well." You slip your arm around his waist.
"There's a nice spot over here... a better one than his, actually. Less trees in the way."
The two of you start walking. "Joel... what else did he say?"
"What?"
"You were over there a while. It takes exactly two seconds to say 'I wanna watch the sun rise.' "
"That's... pretty much it, though."
Yeah, right. "Fine, be that way."
You sit on a tree stump, and Joel takes the one right beside you. "This is a nice view," you say.
"Can't deny it," Joel says softly. "Remember the first one we saw together?"
You lean against him, and he side-hugs you. "Yeah... we didn't even know... all the crazy shit that was about to happen..." A big yawn overtakes you.
Which makes Joel yawn, too. "Or that our lives were about to change permanently."
"Well, mine already had. But yeah."
He gives you another squeeze.
You both fall silent for a time, and you're so cozy right now you could probably fall asleep again...
...Yeah... I think I will...
...
... ..."Ellie."
"...Hmm?" You rub your eyes.
"I'm sorry. I need to get up for a minute. Here, lay down..."
You stretch across his vacated tree trunk, but it's not nearly as cozy as his warm body. You're still sleepy, though... you twitch and fidget and try to get more comfortable. It's been longer than a minute and Joel's not back yet... I could fall asleep again...
You're in a doze-y state when you wake the fuck up in a hurry -- a gunshot?!
You spring to your feet, pull out your gun... "Joel!" You look around. You don't see a threat...
Then you remember.
...Oh.
It must have been time. You make your way through the trees over to--
"Ellie! Over here."
You follow Joel's voice. Not to that spot. "Is he..."
" 'fraid so."
"Oh God..."
Joel hugs you, and you expect to wet the front of his shirt with your tears... but for some reason, they don't come (are they asleep?). The hug feels nice, though. "How did you know he was..."
"He knew it. When we stopped. He didn' know exactly when it would be but... he knew it was comin'."
"So he was turning while we were riding?"
"Maybe. Maybe there's a stage right before turnin'."
"Was he... turned, when you..."
"Yes. He didn't feel the bullet. He was already... he didn' know what was goin' on. An' it was quick."
You don't know how Joel can know for sure he didn't feel it, because you know he wasn't going to fuck up the man's face by blowing his head off, given a choice... but you do believe that the soul of the person is gone before they even have that irrepressible urge to attack people, so... maybe that means he was definitely far gone enough?
You're glad that Danny got to say goodbye to his family, even if it wasn't the ideal way to do it. And at least he got to see the sun rise one last time, amidst the peace and quiet of the woods. He was surrounded by beauty when he died.
There are definitely far worse ways to go.
If you'd like to start another adventure, return to page 1.
Carlos
Date: 2020-10-25 01:23 pm (UTC)Re: Carlos
Date: 2020-10-25 01:52 pm (UTC)