CYOA Page 202

[lumy12]

Page Two Hundred Two

You're still not sure of the reason you don't want to do this anymore (you're leaning towards inadvertently forcing Joel to do something he doesn't want to -- despite what he says to the contrary)... you just realize it's wrong.

You watch Joel getting himself into a sniping position, so any second now--

"Joel! Stop!" you scream. There's no other way to stop him!

Naturally, your call alerts the woman, who scrambles to pull her gun and locate the danger to aim it at...

Gunshot!

For one terrifying moment, you don't know if it's him or her that fired. Then you see Joel rise up... and the woman crumple to the ground. You're relieved -- for a second. And then-- "Joel, didn't you hear me? I said--"

"Stop. Yes, I heard you. Everyone in a five-mile radius probably heard you." He turns and scowls at you as you approach him. "If you had a change of heart, you should've called it off back there... quietly... we could've just gone about our business. Instead--"

"You were about to shoot her. I didn't have time to be quiet. And don't you think I would've done it that way if I could? I only just now realized that... we shouldn't do this." Or that Joel shouldn't, at least.

"So then you holler at the top of your lungs? What did you think was gonna happen after that?"

"I dunno... maybe she'd run away?"

"Did you see where she was at?"

You wait for him to continue, then realize he's actually expecting you to answer that. "Uh... no? Not really? I don't see what--"

"She knew if she ran, we could've shot her in the back. She had a gun, so she was fixin' to use it. Who's she gonna spot first -- me hidin' here, behind cover, or you runnin' towards her, out in the open?"

You sigh; you hate when Joel gets in his lecture-by-question mode (particularly when the questions are accompanied by that biting tone). It usually means he's pissed off. ...And this time, there's no doubt that he's upset with you. "Okay, so I wasn't really thinking," you offer, because you know he doesn't want to hear excuses and justifications. "I panicked. I get why you shot her. I don't think she saw me--"

"I think she did. Or she was about to."

"Whatever -- then... see? This is a good thing. You shot her to protect me. That makes it okay."

Joel snorts. "She was an animal we hunted down an' cornered. Defendin' herself."

"It doesn't matter! It's still self defense." Not technically, of course, but you and Joel regard the protection of one another as protection of self.

"Sure. You just keep tellin' yourself that." Joel marches past you, toward the horses (which you're very glad you had the sense to hitch to a tree before following him, because how much more pissed would he be if your disobedience allowed the horses to possibly take off following the gunshot?!).

"I will," you call after him. "Because it's the truth!" ...Isn't he even going to loot the body? ...nope, apparently not. Seems like a waste, to just walk away with nothing... "What about her horse?"

He stops. Turns around after a moment. "We'll return it to her camp. They can... send people out to find her, if they want. Assumin' she told that girl where she was headed."

"Okay, but he took off..."

"If he stopped nearby, we'll find him. If not... then screw it."

"Okay." You jog to catch up with him... and fall in step beside him. He could stride ahead if he wanted to, but he doesn't. "Joel, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you do that."

He's still scowling. "Will you stop sayin' that? You didn't make me do--"

"Yes I did. I didn't mean to, but I did."

He grumbles something unintelligible; you don't ask him to repeat it.

You don't care what he says -- it was self defense. Just because it didn't start out that way doesn't mean it didn't end up that way. Joel may be a little... peeved with you right now, but he'll get over it (...right? ...RIGHT. OF COURSE HE WILL).

And tonight, when you're sleeping comfortably in some abandoned house somewhere, you'll both rest easier knowing that this threat has been eliminated.


THE END



If you'd like to start another adventure, return to page 1.

Comments

Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

that was a sad end, no because something happens to Joel and Ellie in a bad way, but the way Ellie was thinking it seems wrong. Maybe its interesting to see why you chose to write this part after putting that she was mother.

RE: Carlos

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Well that's the fun part, getting to explore different sides of things since I'm not locked into just one path. I did let Ellie wonder why someone is more valuable as a person based on a somewhat arbitrary thing...but Joel has the more traditional view of some people are more expendable than others. Really it's ALL sad, what their world has made of humans in general and the things they have to do to survive.