CYOA Page 52

[lumy12]

Page Fifty-Two

You decide to make a run for it. You scramble up the hill, immediately searching for Joel when you reach the top -- Shit, of course he's already coming this way, on foot--

"Go go go!" you scream as you fly down the other side of the slope. "There's too many of them!"

Joel hesitates, a Molotov cocktail in his hand. Then he apparently decides you're right, because he pockets it and runs back to the horses, who are expressing their displeasure at the commotion, but thankfully, haven't moved too far away from the hill. You practically leap onto your horse and set off at a gallop. You and Joel push the horses hard for like five or ten minutes, until you feel you've made it more than far enough away from that horde to be safe. Then you trot a little farther before slowing to a walk and eventually stopping to give the horses some rest. You stayed off the highway for a good stretch, but have re-joined it now, departing the road only to keep the horses out of sight behind some nearby boulders and trees. Joel is still watching the direction you came from, as if he expects to see the infected right on your tail.

You haven't spoken at all since you took flight, not even when adjusting your pace; you just followed his lead on that. "Well, fuck," you say, trying to sound lighthearted. Actually, you even feel a bit lighthearted, glad to be the fuck away from there.

Joel just grunts.

"I really fucked that up, huh," you offer.

"Nah," Joel says kindly. "How many did you see in the street? 'Cause there was a good dozen or so comin' up that hill behind you."

"Um... maybe twice that. There was a lot."

"So we'd've had a hard time killin' 'em conservatively." Like with stealth. "We prob'ly would've had to retreat anyway."

You still think he's just being nice... but you'll take it! "Why were there so many? Are you sure that's the way we were supposed to go?"

Joel arches an eyebrow. "You wanna check the map? Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay, no need to get pissy -- I believe you." Before Joel can claim that he wasn't being 'pissy,' you continue. "So those infected weren't there before... that's a new development. Can we go a different way?"

Joel pulls the map from his pocket and unfolds it, moving closer to you so you can both look at it. "We're somewhere around here," he says, jabbing his finger at the spot.

"So... what if we went over to this other highway here and go up to the hospital from the other side? From the west? Would that take forever?"

"Not forever." Joel tries again to explain to you how the map works...

...but you groan impatiently. "Just tell me how far, in hours, because you seem to already have it figured out!"

He chuckles. "Not quite. Gimme a minute." But it's only a few seconds before he continues. "If we go at our usual pace, this part here is four or five hours, then I'd say... less than an hour goin' up here. An' this part... goin' back east... that's prob'ly two or three hours. That's goin' by the roads only. If there's no barriers an' we can cut through here, it'd save us time, startin' out. By the time we get halfway through... about here, I reckon. I doubt we'd run into any of those infected by headin' north again. Once they lost track of us, they would've stopped runnin'... they'd either stay still or meander around all slow-like."

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad. We weren't going to make it all the way to the hospital today anyway."

"No, but I was thinkin'..."

"Oh nooooo," you groan theatrically. "Not that!"

Joel musses your hair. "Stop. I was thinkin'... gettin' to the hospital ain't necessarily our goal, here."

"It's not?"

"No. Think about it. What's the point of this trip?"

"...To find Danny?"

"Yes. We know he was headed there... sure, we might find him there, or at least find out where he went from there... or if he ever made it at all..."

You nod, seeing where he's going with this. "Maybe he didn't make it past the infected. Because he wasn't expecting to find them there, either."

"Exactly. Maybe he's joined their ranks."

You shudder. "I hope not."

"Me too, but it is a possibility."

"But those infected might not have been in the street like that, a month ago or whenever he left. Maybe he could ride right through them. Or maybe they weren't even there at all -- maybe they were chasing someone else from... wherever, and just ended up there recently."

"Maybe."

You get the feeling Joel wants to go back and hunt the infected. You're not thrilled at the prospect. "What if he is at the hospital, though? We might get killed for nothing. What's the harm in getting there safely first... and then going back to check out those infected if we need to?"

"No harm. Just lost time. An' this way here, this other route, ain't scouted. Or if it is, we don't have the intel."

"What do you mean? It's marked pretty clearly. It has the same little markers the other road has."

"Yes, Ian copied it pretty close to scale, like the other parts... like up here... that we ain't usin'. But this here is the Jackson-approved route. Clear of obstacles. ...'Least, it was, before this..."

You sigh. "Fine, so you don't want to go that way. You got a taste of killing those infected we ran into earlier and you want some more. You forgot how much you love killing those things."

Joel looks surprised. "Who says I love it?"

"Me. Why else would you want to go kill some more when we don't have to?"

"I just told you why. It might be--"

"Yeah, yeah -- maybe that's just an excuse." You can see that Joel is clearly irritated at this line of thought, but you're not sure if it's because you're right or because you're wrong. You sigh again. "It's fine. Whatever you want to do, Joel. Really."

Now Joel sighs, too. "I can tell you don' mean that."

"No, I do," you say, more sincerely this time. "I know you wouldn't want to do it if you thought it would get us killed. I trust you."

Joel looks at you for a long moment. "I ain't against goin' the other way, if that's what you want to do. Tell you what: let's give the horses a little more grazin' time, an' ourselves a little time to relax. You think about it, then let me know what you decide."

Yes! Maybe it was the 'I trust you' that got him? "So this one's my call?" you ask innocently.

"Yep. All you, kiddo."


If you head toward the other highway, turn to page 98.

If you go hunt down the infected, turn to page 103.

Comments

Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I want to see what happens with the infected first.

RE: Carlos

[luminations.livejournal.com]

I just thought of another part you haven't read that you will like but can't remember where it is exactly. I'll have to go thru and make sure you got everything :)

RE: Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

ok