CYOA Page 79
Sep. 14th, 2013 04:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12"Okay."
"...Okay? Okay what?"
You step away from Joel and look at him somberly. "We should... end this. I was thinking about it... and I think he's prob'ly been infected for longer than he told us. He talked about the horse being gone since yesterday -- I think he's been hiding since then. He probably didn't fight any infected today."
Joel smiles a little. "I'm proud of you, kiddo."
"...You are?"
"I thought for sure you believed every word comin' out of his mouth."
Maybe I would have, if YOU did? you snicker to yourself. But you don't mention that, because you might as well just let Joel be proud of you, right? "Yeah, so... he could start turning at any moment -- it's already spread, more than he wants to admit. We'd never make it back to Jackson anyway."
Joel nods. He starts walking back toward Danny and you grab his arm. "Wait... are you gonna just... go shoot him?"
"Yes."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. You don't gotta watch it."
"No... talking or anything?"
"I'll ask him if he's got any final words, sure. But if he makes any move that looks the slightest bit threatening, that's it."
"Oh... maybe I should come with you as backup..."
"No," Joel says firmly. "Stay over here an' don't turn around."
You bite your lip. "Maybe I should give him a hug first."
"What the hell for?" asks Joel, clearly bemused by the idea.
"Because I feel bad? I dunno!"
"You ain't touchin' him. I'll just let him know you feel bad. It really don' matter 'cause he's gonna be dead in a--"
"Okay okay, just go," you scowl.
He goes.
You cross your arms over your chest, resolutely staring ahead... and not sneaking one last peek at the poor man about to be executed... don't look. You'll just feel worse. And it's too dangerous to travel with an infected person so really it's a now or never thing.
Too dangerous...
You really do need to watch Joel's back here. You turn around... and are relieved to see Joel is a respectable distance away. It appears they're conversing, but you can't hear a thing. Not even indistinctly.
Then Danny starts limping toward Joel. Slowly, but... why is he even moving at all?
Joel isn't blind to it. He has a gun leveled on Danny...
It just looks strange to you. You aim your gun at Danny, too, and start walking quickly--
A gunshot rings out, followed by two more.
All fired by Joel.
You holster your gun and rush over to where Danny is spasming on the ground, blood gurgling out of his mouth.
"I told you not to watch," Joel chides you.
You ignore him; Joel will still be there in a minute. You kneel next to Danny and take his hand. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry this happened to you. I wish..."
Danny doesn't reply. Probably because he's too busy gagging on blood. And dying. His eyes do fixate on you for a moment, though, and you try to smile. You think if you were dying, and you couldn't be with the person you really wanted to be with, you would at least find a small bit of comfort in someone smiling at you... like saying "it's okay now" without being limited to cheap words.
He... passes out, you think. It doesn't look like he's dead quite yet. You decide to keep holding his hand, just in case he can tell.
Joel crouches next to you and puts a hand on your shoulder. "That was a very kind thing you just did."
You swipe at your eyes with the back of your other hand; you were just fine, somehow, until Joel came over. You're both quiet for a few moments, just watching the blood soaking Danny's shirt... pooling around him. "I thought you would shoot him in the head," you say quietly.
"I would have. It's painless, if you do it right. But he asked me to take his body back home... said he didn' mind a little pain at the end, if it meant..."
"Got it. Fuck, that sucks." It's easy enough to hide wounds to the torso with fresh clothing... and sort of impossible to fix a shattered skull and splattered brains; even if it turns out fairly clean, there would have to be some visible grisly evidence of the fatal wound on his head, which wouldn't make for a pretty corpse. You suppose that's why Joel used his little pistol and not one of his hardcore damage-dealers... but then, if he was all about making a pretty corpse, he didn't need to fire three point-blank shots. He didn't want to watch him suffer...
You lean into Joel and he puts his arm around you. "Tough way to end the mission," he says, giving you a squeeze... and Danny's hand slips out of yours.
"Yeah... but there are worse ways." Like if it was YOU...
"Agreed," he says, and you're pretty sure he 'heard' the nonverbal part of that thought. "Let's go home, kiddo."
If you'd like to start another adventure, return to page 1.
Carlos
Date: 2020-10-27 01:08 pm (UTC)Re: Carlos
Date: 2020-10-27 02:12 pm (UTC)