CYOA Page 77

[lumy12]

Page Seventy-Seven

"Man... I better not regret this."

Zack's face lights up. "So you'll do it?"

"If I do end up regretting this..."

"So you'll do it!" he confirms.

"...I'm hunting your ass down and killing you myself."

The kid doesn't seem very threatened by that. In fact, he bounces over and hugs you. "Thanks, Ellie! You're the best. I won't forget it."

"You will come back to Jackson someday, though, right?" You step back and muss his shaggy hair (he really needs a hair cut).

He nods. "Yeah, prob'ly. Unless I find somewhere else."

You haven't seen anything that's better than Jackson, but... if you were living with a piece of shit, maybe you'd rather be anywhere else.

"Okay, so... don't go just yet. Joel might not even be asleep. We have to make sure. And it has to be late enough that it's believable that I fell asleep. Like... if he wakes up right now and you're gone and I'm asleep? He won't buy it. And... you should totally 'steal' some stuff from us."

Zack blanches at that. "No way -- maybe Joel won't kill you, but he might kill me!"

You laugh. "For borrowing a few things? No way." Joel thought it was funny when you took that stuff from Bill's -- and at the time, Bill was his friend and you were practically a stranger! Pretty sure he likes me better than Bill now, you snicker to yourself. "Trust me, he's going to be pissed at me, not you. You're just a kid."

"Sorry," he mumbles... and you think he genuinely feels bad about it.

"It's okay -- it's for a good cause. So come on, let's put together a survival kit for you..."

You stuff Zack's backpack to the brim with food and supplies, figuring he needs them more than you do. You and Joel will just have to go hunting, or foraging. You even make him take one of the blankets -- you have Joel to keep you warm, after all! You cram as much rifle ammo in the pockets as you can.

When he's all packed, you make him hide the backpack somewhere that Joel won't notice it, in case he does have to get up to take a leak or something. You rack your brain to think of anything you might have missed. "I think that's everything... hey, do you wanna take a nap first and leave in a couple hours? I could wake you up."

Zack shakes his head. "I can't sleep right now anyway. Totally not tired."

"Excited?"

"...I guess? Nervous."

You study his face. "You don't have to go. You can stay with us. You probably should stay with--"

"No no no, I'm going, I'm definitely going. I guess like... I'm imagining running away, and Joel taking that big rifle and shooting me out the window? Like he'll somehow know."

You snort. "He's not gonna shoot you, dude. He does somehow seem to know things sometimes... I get it... but he's all bark no bite, as they say."

"Maybe not shoot to kill, but... shoot me in the leg or something."

"Nope, not even that." You refrain from making another joke about how Joel will kill you instead; the kid doesn't need a guilt trip. "Okay, so... we know Joel is asleep." Because you were going to raid his backpack for Zack things, then thought better of it before you even took a step in the room. Way to get caught! And Zack doesn't have the balls to steal directly from Joel himself. "If he's heard us at all, his brain is like... thinking we're still awake. That you haven't gone to bed yet."

"You just said he's asleep."

"Yeah, but he still hears things when he's sleeping. Don't ask me how, he just does. So you have to be extremely quiet when you go. Careful on those squeaky stairs, especially. Move very slowly, don't make any noise... even outside, don't run. Not until you're totally out of sight of the house. If he hears running, he'll think someone's trying to rob us and he'll wake up. Got it?"

He nods. "Thanks for helping me, Ellie."

"You already thanked me," you wave him off. "It's fine. Be safe, okay? I'll see you in Jackson someday." Which is more pleasant than saying "we'll probably never see each other again -- nice knowing you!"

And now it's time to start the show.

Flashlight extinguished, the house is completely dark now. And silent. You settle yourself on the floor next to Zack's bed and lean against it -- where it will look quite natural for you to have fallen asleep. In fact, you plan on actually falling asleep, for maximum credibility. You find yourself hoping that in spite of Zack's words to the contrary, he too will fall asleep. That all your planning will have been for nothing -- Joel will come wake you up and take his turn watching him and then if Zack wakes up, it will be too late! You mentally giggle at the thought of poor Zack waking up and thinking it's you down there on the floor still, tiptoeing past you... then shitting his pants when Joel grabs him. Oh, that would be fucking hilarious!

But it's not going to happen. You had told him to wait a while, but you don't even think it's been fifteen minutes when you hear Zack get out of bed (careful to go on the side where you're not) and pad out of the room. No going back now...

...right?

Are you having second thoughts?

You could pretend that you dozed off for a second, go wake up Joel and tell him that Zack took advantage of the moment to escape. Even if Joel doesn't completely buy it, you're sure you'd have time to catch up to Zack if you act soon. You told him not to run, after all. And once you catch him, Joel won't have anything to be mad at you for... and Zack will be safe.

Zack would also hate me forever, though... that would be really uncool of you to betray him at this point, when you could have just said no to begin with. And you decided to help him for a reason -- because you felt he had the right to make the choice himself.



If you go wake up Joel and go after Zack, turn to page 138.

If you carry out the original plan, turn to page 142.

Comments

Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

I like when you put funny thought on Ellie mind... LOL

RE: Carlos

[luminations.livejournal.com]

:)