lumy12

Page Sixty-Three

You're not in such a huge hurry that you can't wait a while and keep Jo company. The two of you find a decent patch of earth to sit on while you get acquainted (...while Joel paces restlessly). You love talking to new people... hearing their stories. Jo is curious about your story as well, and you keep steering the conversation toward life in Jackson rather than anything that preceded it. Since that's where she's headed and she's eager to know more about the town, it comes pretty naturally.

You do admit that Joel isn't really your dad, since she'll find out soon enough anyways -- and it's not like you're going to remember to call him Dad for much longer! You managed to address him that way... what, one time?

"If you're wondering why Joel has a Texas accent, it's cuz he's from Texas," you explain.

That, at least, earns a snort from the mostly-silent Joel. "I'm sure she worked that out on her own," he tells you.

You ignore him. "And I have a Boston accent because I grew up in Boston. That's way east of here."

Another snort. "You do not have a Boston accent."

You give Joel a challenging look. "If it's not a Boston accent, what is it?"

Joel has to think about that. "I don' know. But if you had a real Boston accent, you'd pronounce it 'Baw-ston.' ...Come to think of it, I'm not sure anyone I knew in the QZ had a proper one. I reckon people just got so mixed up all over the place after the outbreak that the accents got... marginalized."

Jo looks at each of you in turn. "Texas isn't so far from here, really... it's not close, but compared to-- how in the world did you come to be out here all the way from the east coast?"

Always an awkward question... but one that you're used to by now. "Joel wanted to find his brother in Wyoming, and I wanted to find someone in Colorado... sort of like a relative, but not really? ...so we got matched up through like a friend of a friend and Joel agreed to take me. We found his brother first. My person ended up being dead. Joel was like, 'Well, sucks to be you, have a nice life' and he went back to Wyoming, thinking he was finally rid of me, but I followed him all the way there. And here we are!" You grin at Joel.

Joel shakes his head. "An' there are prob'ly people in Jackson who still believe that version of events."

Yeah, right! Everyone in Jackson can see how close you are. (If they can't, they're idiots!)

Jo chortles. "Then what's your version, Joel?"

Joel strokes his beard thoughtfully. "Same, except for the last bit... as I recall, she wanted to stay with some weird people in Colorado an' I had to drag her back to Jackson by the hair to get her away from them."

You giggle. "See? He is my dad. Had to spoil my fun with those cool people."

"And the truth is... somewhere between those two extremes," Jo surmises.

"Not even," you reply. "The truth is after all the shit we went through crossing the country, almost dying and stuff, being with each other 24/7... I would've gone back to Wyoming with him anyway. In fact, we never should've left in the first place." ...Which is true enough -- it would have spared you both a lot of pain -- except you like to believe that everything that happened after leaving Tommy's is what really forged the unbreakable bond you two share now. You have to believe that, because otherwise, it was a whole lot of suffering and hardship for nothing.

At this point in the conversation, Joel just happens to drift away to do his pacing/patrol thing elsewhere. Far enough away that he doesn't have to participate. Pure coincidence, I'm sure, you snicker to yourself.

"Lucky you found him," Jo says with a little smile. "If it hadn't worked out, would you have gone alllllllll the way back to Boston?"

"No way. There's nothing for me back there anymore. Honestly... I don't know what I would've done. I mean, besides dying, without his help getting here! I couldn't have done it on my own. I was just a kid." Now? You'd have a better chance. You know a lot more and have a lot more experience. But even Joel needed help on that trip; traveling alone is dangerous, no matter who you are.

You and Jo talk for a long time while restless Joel continues to walk around. You learn that she and her companion, Lauren, consider themselves sisters after living together for several years, trying to get into a QZ. Living close to it in the hopes that the soldiers would keep the area clear of infected and "riff raff." But sometimes the soldiers themselves were worse than the riff raff (and you can tell from context that riff raff people are bad, but you make a mental note for later to ask Joel exactly what they are). You get the feeling Jo doesn't want to talk too much about the shit they went through, which is fine with you because a) you don't quite know what to say to people when they share that stuff, and b) she might expect you to reciprocate, and you don't like talking about it either... usually. Maybe with certain people. People who are special to you.

Eventually, you excuse yourself to go pee behind some shrubs a polite distance away, and that's when Joel decides to come over. "Peeing here," you announce irritably, in case he's oblivious.

"I know." He turns and starts walking toward you backwards when he gets close. "Just wanted to talk to you. I'll wait 'til you're done."

He looks so strange, walking like that... it nearly makes you laugh. You don't make him wait, though. "Let me guess -- you wanna leave."

"Bingo."

Which you know means yes. You sigh. "Joel, we can't leave her here by herself!"

"Sure we can. We're goin' in opposite directions anyhow. An' she seems competent enough to be on her own."

You stand up, zip up, and step around the bush. "You can turn around now," you tell him as you rub the hand sanitizer in (it's pretty much just alcohol, but is supposed to be the next best thing to washing your hands). "I guess I can see leaving her if she wanted to just keep waiting here forever... but she seems to want to go look for Lauren now. And what if something happened to her? Maybe we should help--"

"This is exactly why I didn't wanna hang around," Joel interrupts you. "Now you'n'her are best friends... we've already wasted some good daylight out here doin' nothin', an' you wanna waste even more tryin' to find her friend. I don' know about you, but I don't wanna spend the night out here in the open."

"It's not nighttime yet!" You wouldn't even classify it as evening. Late afternoon, more like... maybe not even! How long have we been talking?

"Regardless, we should be much farther down the road by now."

"We're not on a schedule. Who cares?"

"You'll care when we start runnin' out of food."

"Deer meat," you remind him.

"There's no guarantee of that. I say we just give her some ammo an' maybe a little bit of food, an' be on our way."

"Well, I say that seems kind of heartless." You glare at him.

"So be it. Let's go."

The glare didn't faze him at all! ...Maybe he's right. How far should you go to help a stranger... even if she may end up being your neighbor? Where do you draw the line?

If you feel it's time to move on and leave Jo, turn to page 121.

If you'd feel too shitty and want to persuade Joel to help with the search, turn to page 124.