CYOA Page 60

[lumy12]

Page Sixty

"I guess it's okay," you say warily. "We don't need to kill everyone we run into. Right?"

"Right. The ones who pose a threat, yes. Other than that, no. We can... try to be civilized."

You still think of this woman as a threat, but you don't know for sure. If you go hunting her down, you'll be turning her into one because she'll have to defend herself. "Okay. If she does come after us, we'll kill her. No argument."

"Yes," Joel agrees, then smirks a little. "Why does this feel ass backwards... you wantin' to kill someone, an' me... not wantin' to?"

"I guess cuz I'm supposed to be the nice one. Turns out you're the nice one."

"I did just kill someone," Joel points out. "A woman, at that."

"To protect me. That doesn't count. Okay, if we're gonna go, let's go before Chuckie comes back."

"Chuckie?"

"The horse! That's the name she was calling."

Joel snorts. "An' I thought you were bad at naming horses."

"Can we just go already?!"

You stay off the highway for a little while, with Joel cutting through fences -- literally cutting -- as needed to let the horses through (good thing he had the foresight to bring those wire cutters!). He justifies this by pointing out that none of these 'highway fences' are intact all the way around anymore, plus there's no need to keep animals off the roads when there are no cars to hit them. (You don't really give a shit one way or the other about fencing, and find it kind of cute that Joel feels the need to defend his vandalism.) When a mountain range starts looming ever closer, he decides you'd best get back to the highway to pass through those. You figure you've already seen your quota of people for the day -- both infected and non-infected, so unless that woman finds you, you're all set.

It's kind of funny that shortly after you abandon your woodsy travels, you run into a different kind of danger -- one you would have expected to see more in the woods than on the streets...

It's not time to call it a night or stop for dinner... just a pee-and-stretch-your-legs break. You don't even have to go that bad, but you go anyway. When you're walking back to where you left the horses, you see it: a snake! Coiled up next to the building you just went behind. It blends in with the dirt and junk surrounding it, but its flickering tongue caught your eye. You freeze in your tracks. Fuck! What do I do? If you ever knew the answer to that, it's escaping you now.

"Joel?" you call tentatively, still not daring to move. You and the snake are having a staring contest.

You hear Joel approaching from the other side of the building.

"Stop! Don't come around the corner!" you warn him.

A pause. "Why not?"

"Because there's a fucking snake over here!"

"...A poisonous kind?"

"I don't fucking know!"

"Solid or patterned? An' what color is it?"

"Um... it's brown... with like a splotchy pattern?"

"...That ain't good."

"Shit! What should I do?"

"I'm gonna come on back there an' shoot it."

Oh. Why didn't I think of that? "I can shoot it..."

"No, don't move. Let me do it."

"Okay..." You bite your lip nervously. "It's right behind that flower pot thing you'll see first thing when you... go slow!"

He does step toward you slowly, but then everything seems to happen so fast -- he shoots, but the snake detected his presence just in time to twist around and lunge at him! Joel cries out -- then he's flinging the thing away from him -- you see that his bullet did hit it, but you empty a whole magazine into it anyway, firing rapidly all along its body.

"I think you got it," Joel observes wryly. He's clutching his left hand.

"Shit -- it bit your hand!"

"Just a little."

"Just a little?! Let me see it!"

Joel lowers his hand and lets you see it. A big ugly puncture wound that scares the shit out of you. "Fuck! Now what do we do? I have to suck the poison out, right?"

Joel yanks his hand away. "No, no -- that's Hollywood horseshit. Get the first aid kit from my pack here... should be antivenom in there."

"Thank God! Okay okay -- let me get it, and then... you should sit down. Joel, you don't look good." He's perspiring... breathing shallowly...

"I'll be fine."

"You better be!"

Ten minutes later, when you've fixed him up as best you can, his appearance still scares you; he's sweaty, his skin is clammy, and his breathing sounds labored. And you're not sure how effective it will be because the bottle's expiration date was last year... but that doesn't always mean anything. Hopefully it won't this time!

Joel says he feels better, even though he looks like shit. "We should get goin'."

"No, you need to rest!"

"I can rest when we get to the hospital."

"That won't be 'til tomorrow!"

"Well, I'll rest tonight then, too. The antivenom is doin' its thing. I'm fine."

You sigh. "I don't know, Joel. That's like... the one thing I do remember about snakebites -- you're supposed to keep the person calm and still."

"I'm calm. You're the one freakin' out." He starts to get up.

"I'm not freaking out," you huff as you push him back down. "I'm worried! If you were in my shoes, you'd make me rest. Fuck -- it should be me. I shouldn't have called out to you. I'm so sorry!"

Joel cracks a small smile. "You should always call for me. I'm glad it was me an' not you."

"You're quite the hero for someone who claims not to be one," you grumble. "Okay -- but you're gonna keep sitting here. Stop trying to get up."

"Ellie, I think you're rememberin' to keep a person still until help arrives. Help has arrived -- you patched me up real good an' gave me medicine so there's no sense wastin' any more time here. Besides, the sooner we go, the sooner we get to the hospital an' have a doctor look at it."

"You'll let a doctor look at you?"

"Sure."

"...So, it is bad, then."

"No," Joel says patiently, "but I'll do it to make you feel better -- an' it's the right thing to do. Just in case."

"In case what? -in case it's going to kill you after all?!"

"In case maybe they think it might get infected or somethin'... or if I could use more antibiotics. I honestly don' know."

"We have some of the regular kind... the penicillin... should I give you some now?"

"No -- but see, we've got some for later if we need it. Might as well get back on track now."

You frown. "I don't think you can ride a horse right now."

Joel chuckles. "I can if you'll quit fussin' over me... you know, Tommy got bit by a snake, back when we were kids, an' he was fine. We didn't even have this antivenom shit for it."

You let him stand up this time... and he doesn't keel over. Ugh, I don't know......


If you agree to continue your journey, turn to page 120.

If you insist that Joel rest some more, turn to page 123.

Comments

[owlofnevermore.livejournal.com]

Oh!! Snake bite!! Cool. I wonder what kind of snake it is.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

I think I actually might have looked up snakes indigenous to Wyoming... even though a) with the way their world changed over the "next" 2 decades the species easily could have migrated from somewhere else, b) not like Joel or Ellie would be able to look at it and positively identify it anyway, and c) who cares in a "crack" story? Hehehe

Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

oh this seems interesting, I just hope Joel don die from that. :D