CYOA Page 75
Sep. 14th, 2013 06:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12You've seen and heard enough.
"Well, uh... thanks for the tour and stuff. I'd better get back to Joel. Have a nice life!" you say cheerfully as you scramble to your feet and hurry back to the tunnel-y part of the cave that will take you to the entrance. If David made any protests, you didn't hear them.
You find Joel sitting on a rock, idly shredding blades of grass. He gets to his feet quickly when he sees you... sees the look on your face. "That was quick. What happened?"
"Nothing -- we just need to get out of here, okay?" You clamber up onto your horse and start riding off before Joel has even mounted his. You don't get very far, though, because you're not certain of the exact direction. "Um... we came from over here, right?"
Joel catches up to you. "You gonna tell me what happened, or not?"
"I already told you -- nothing happened!" you snap at him. You start riding in the direction you think is correct.
"Hold on, now... let's go this way. That's the way we came from, yes, but this is the way we're headed."
You turn your horse around and take the lead, setting the pace at a trot. You occasionally glance over your shoulder. Bye bye, creepy little dude... When you start feeling slightly bad about your abrupt departure, you remind yourself that you didn't even like the kid and why should you care about some random boy's feelings anyway? He probably doesn't have feelings. He showed no emotion at all about his dead parents, after all.
Joel doesn't ask you about it again. For some reason, this makes you want to tell him. You wait until he slows the horses to a walk to announce, "He said his name was David."
"It's a common name," Joel says (with a shrug in his voice).
"Kind of a weird coincidence, don't you think?"
"No. I don't. Again, it's not an unusual name." Joel looks at you appraisingly. "Is that what spooked you back there?"
"No... that was just one thing. The main thing, though? I met his parents." You pause for effect.
Joel looks puzzled. "Oh. I thought he was alone out--"
"They're dead," you add.
Joel looks even more puzzled. "You jus' said you met them."
"He lives with them! With their dead bodies!" You shudder. "I thought he was joking but nope, he really is that fucked up. And they've been dead for... I don't know how long, but it's not like it just happened."
"That's... a shame."
"It's creepy, is what it is."
"That, too. But it's sad."
"And he wasn't even like... upset. No crying, or... I dunno..."
"Why would he be cryin'?"
"You know... talking about them? I mean, he just told me about it like it's normal."
"Because it is normal to him, if they've been gone a while."
"But they're not even gone -- they're in there, where he sleeps and stuff! And he just... didn't seem to mind them being dead."
Joel chuckles. "You think because he didn't start bawlin' in front of you that he... he don't mind them bein' dead?"
Joel has a way of making perfectly logical things seem ridiculous sometimes. "Well... not exactly... but if I talk about someone who died -- someone I loved -- I get sad..."
"That's you. People are different."
You're starting to get annoyed. "Why are you defending him? You don't even like him."
"Jus' sayin'... people are different. Have you ever seen me cry about Sarah? Do you think that means I don' miss her every day? That I don't mind her bein' gone?"
And sometimes he is just ridiculous himself! "It was a bad choice of words, okay?" you scowl. "Never mind. You don't get it. You didn't see. I'm sorry I even mentioned it."
You wait for him to apologize. To tell you you're right. You already threw out an "I'm sorry" there yourself, paving the way for his!
But he just drops it. You're okay with that, too, actually.
You don't talk much the rest of the afternoon, aside from 'business' type things. It's not a hostile or even an awkward silence. It's just... being Outside, business as usual, no need for small talk -- and no need to bring up dropped subjects, either.
Now you're keeping an eye out for a suitable place to sleep. Joel made the "let's think about where we want to spend the night" remark about half an hour ago. You're following the highway now, and even over the stretches where there's vast amounts of nothing, you're more likely to find an adequate house or building nearby than when you're not following it. You suggest following one of the side roads behind this gas station and a few other sad-looking buildings lining the highway; this might not be a town, but it's something. Joel, however, wants to keep going. Just to be difficult? you wonder. You don't argue with him, though.
Less than five minutes after that, he changes his mind and says you guys should try that road after all. You turn back.
But as you're approaching the gas station, Joel stops you. "You hear that?"
You strain your ears. "...No?"
He listens some more. Starts nudging the horse to cross the street. He pulls out a gun.
You follow him, dutifully pulling out yours too because you know that whatever he heard-- oh! You hear something now. It sounds like a woman... crying?
The sobbing intensifies as you head behind some little... store or office or something... it doesn't have a sign, and it's all boarded up. When you round the corner, you see a woman on the ground... like, hugging herself... Joel is looking all around, like he expects to see other people around or something. You get off your horse and walk over to her. "Um... are you okay?" She's obviously not, but what else are you supposed to say?
She doesn't answer you. Just keeps crying, but a little softer now... maybe because she has an audience. She doesn't look up until Joel dismounts and comes over. "Please don't hurt me," she squeaks, lip quivering. Her tear-stained face is very...
Pretty, you notice with annoyance. "He's not going to," you tell her before Joel can respond. Pretty, plus older than you. A fuckable age. She still doesn't look at you.
Now, you're fairly used to people being afraid of Joel and not you. You get it. But you do have a gun in your hand and all. You could kill her right now, if you felt like it.
Joel takes another look around, and then you expect him to holster his gun... but he doesn't. Which means he's not certain there's no one else around -- or he's afraid of this chick, but you doubt that, because she's not armed. She's... not even fully dressed?! She sits up a bit, her arms crossed over her chest... she's wearing a button-down shirt, not unlike Joel's, but it doesn't seem to be buttoned in the front. At all. You think the fly on her jeans is undone, too, but you can't see for sure. Joel still hasn't said a word, and now you wonder if he's looking around simply to avoid looking at the woman. (...you could kiss him for that, actually.)
Pretty or not, though... she is a person. Just because she has long red hair... big green eyes... she's like an older, much prettier ME, you think. You try not to think about that as you kneel beside her. You suck at this shit, but it seems like you guys ought to try to talk to her, and you talk better than Joel does, so... "Did someone..."
She looks at you finally. Shakes her head. "Thank God you and your dad came along when you did. Must've scared him off."
...and yep, her pants are unzipped. Shouldn't she be zipping them? Buttoning her shirt? These thoughts delay your annoyance at her assumption, like everyone else's on the planet, that Joel is your dad.
"Which way did he go?" asks Joel. Because of course he'd rather hunt down some asshole than talk to a tearful half-naked woman (...bless him!).
She makes a vague gesture that... could be any direction, really. Not helpful at all. "He took my bag... my gun..."
How did we not see anything before? We JUST came through here, for fuck's sake. But people do seem to come out of nowhere sometimes.
"Can you help me..." The chick is trying to stand up now. You're pretty sure she was speaking to Joel, but Joel is decidedly not looking at her.
You'd rather be the one to help her anyway; Joel doesn't need to get any closer to her! You stand up and take hold of her arm to help her rise. She begins to, but then immediately falls down hard (you almost fall on top of her, but you recover in time).
That brings Joel to her other side. "Easy," he says, crouching to put an arm around her shoulders.
The chick immediately buries her face in Joel's shirt and starts crying again. You can't help wondering if she fell on purpose... to get Joel to come to her. And she wasn't crying a second ago, why would she suddenly--
Stop it, Ellie, you're being a bitch. Obviously she's just been traumatized...
Joel, sitting now, pats her back awkwardly with the hand that's still holding the Shorty. You try to catch his eye, but he seems to be avoiding looking at you now as well.
You scan the area yourself. Hell, you might as well use your binoculars -- that's what they're for, right? You're the scout.
At first you don't see anything. In fact, you're about to drop the binoculars when you think you catch a glimpse of... what?... the guy? But when you stare, you don't see it again. You move over to Joel's other side. "I think I might've seen something," you tell him. "I swear there was a guy behind that big fat tree... the one to the left of those three like... in a triangle there... the big one. It's like he was hiding there and peeking out, watching us... but I kept looking and didn't see his face again. Just watch over there for a minute -- like out of the corner of your eye or something. In case he can tell."
He does as instructed. "I don't see anyone," he says after a few moments.
The crying chick stops crying long enough to look as well. "I don't either," she says... too quickly, in your opinion.
"Well, I'm not making it up," you say irritably. You keep glancing over there, too... and you don't see anything now.
"Not sayin' you are," Joel assures you. "Why would the guy be hangin' around, though?"
"How should I know?" you snap at him.
"I'll go check it out." He starts to rise.
"No!" you and the other woman say in unison.
Her face is way too close to Joel's. Fuck, maybe he SHOULD go look -- it'll get him away from her! "Actually, yeah... let's both go," you suggest.
"No! Don't leave me here -- please!" The woman couldn't possibly cling any tighter to Joel. And... maybe you're reading this wrong, but she doesn't seem too concerned with covering herself up now, either.
...Well, I guess she's scared? You're not trying to be a horrible person here...
"Ellie will stay with you." Joel starts to get up.
"No -- please!" The bitch makes it very hard for Joel to stand.
I shouldn't think of her as a bitch... ugh... You're a little offended that the idea of you staying behind isn't good enough for her, though. "If you're going, I'm going with you!" you tell Joel firmly.
"I think someone oughta stay with her," Joel replies.
"Okay, so I'll go, then. You stay here!" You stride back to your horse with confidence. -Confidence that Joel won't let you go, that is.
You're moving quickly, though, so you actually mount your horse before Joel catches up to you (you hope he pushed that clingy chick down in the dirt to reach you in time!). He grabs your hand. "I don't think so."
Mission accomplished: you got him away from her. You climb back down off your horse, making a good show of being perturbed about being stopped. "Why do you want to go after the guy anyway?" You keep your voice low. "I thought you didn't like that hero stuff."
"I don't. But it's startin' to get dark, which means we're gonna be spendin' the night somewhere 'round here. An' I don't like the thought of some asshole bein' around when we're sleepin'."
That answer has nothing to do with the damsel in distress, so you're satisfied. "We could just keep going for a while on the highway... I know you don't like to, with the horses... but it's just highway, so--"
"That's worse. We'd be sittin' ducks that way. I'd rather be somewhere safer. Dark an' safe. Plus... we should probably..." He seems uncomfortable now.
"What -- help that woman?"
"It don't feel right, leavin' her out here with nothin'."
"Where did she even come from? Don't you think that's a little strange?" you hiss, sneaking a glance at the woman... who is sitting with her back against the wall, hugging her knees. You're pretty sure she can't hear you over here.
"Obviously somethin' happened after we came through here."
"Uh-huh. Obviously."
Joel looks at you a moment, surprised. "What are you suggestin'? That she's fakin' the whole thing?"
"Maybe."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but don't you think it's possible?"
"Anythin's possible. Sure." A slow smile spreads over his face. "But you know what I think? I think you... are jealous."
"What? No I'm not!" It's hard to keep your voice down now... and you feel the heat rushing to your cheeks.
"You are."
"I'm not jealous! Why would I be?" You snort. "What I am is pissed off -- you think she's pretty, don't you."
"I never said that."
"But you do!" Of course he does. Because she is. "Otherwise you wouldn't think I'm jealous!"
Joel smirks. "You're cute when you're jealous."
UGH! Well, someone has to get back to business here. "Okay -- I'm not letting you go after this guy by yourself. If you're not going to let me do that, then... either we both go, or we just forget it and go find somewhere to sleep."
"Up to you, kiddo."
If you and Joel try to find the guy in the woods, turn to page 136.
If you go down the side road like you originally planned (most likely taking the STILL-not-dressed woman with you), turn to page 139.
Carlos
Date: 2021-02-06 12:36 pm (UTC)RE: Carlos
Date: 2021-02-06 01:24 pm (UTC)