CYOA Page 87
Sep. 13th, 2013 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12It's not like you can leave town for good right this minute, so there's no need to decide anything just yet. You can think about it for the whole rest of the trip, if you want.
What you really want is to not have to leave. For Joel to be cool with letting people know you're a couple, and for people to be more accepting of it than he anticipates.
Right around the time you start thinking about possibly making camp, you reach a small town -- or at least, a town-ish place that has buildings dotting the highway and side streets leading to residential areas. Not unlike many others you've seen along the way, but it's been a while now, so you feel like it's a sign that you're supposed to stop. On the early side, but if you keep going, who knows if you'd find something as good as a house to spend the night in before it gets dark?
You diligently scan the area through your binoculars well before you get there, not expecting to see anything. But... hey, is that a...
"Joel! I see a horse over there!" You point.
He looks, then motions for you to hand him the binoculars. It's more fun if he just leans in close to look, but that's a bit difficult when you're riding separate horses. He looks again and sees what you saw. "Mm. Could be one of ours. And it's saddled."
"Didn't you say Danny took Mr. Ed?" Which you still think is a weird name for a horse, even though Joel explained the reference to you. "He's the same color."
"Lots of chestnut horses, though."
"Well, we have to go check it out, right?"
Joel nods and hands the binoculars back to you. "Cautiously. Assume there's hunters in the area."
"Should we... maybe leave the horses back here and sneak around?" you suggest.
"Thought you were tired of sneakin' around," Joel quips.
"Ha! Joel made a funny!" you exclaim. He's so cute!
"I think that horse is close enough to the end of that strip here... we can at least go see if it's ours first, yeah?"
"Okay." You pull your gun out without him having to tell you; you don't see or sense any danger, but the Joel voice in your head says "Just in case."
Mr. Ed starts neighing before you get there, so perhaps you couldn't have been any sneakier anyway. And you're sure it's Mr. Ed; you recognize him and the saddle and the bags. Joel doesn't seem as sure as you, but he agrees they all appear to be very much like what you guys have seen in Jackson.
"What do you think this means?" you ask him.
Joel frowns. "Not sure, but I don't like it." He takes a long, slow look around. "If it was hunters, I doubt they'd leave the horse out here loose like this. With the bags, too. They could at least stick it in a yard somewhere. Or tether it to somethin'."
"So... infected."
"Except I don't see any, or hear any."
"Maybe... the horse got scared and ran far away from the... attack place?"
"That's possible. I say we look around 'til it gets dark... startin' down this here road" -- he indicates a dirt road off the highway -- "workin' our way in. Sound good?"
"Okay... but I think the storm might catch us before it gets dark," you speculate, based on a) gray skies, b) the wind starting to pick up, and c) the low rumbling of thunder you've just begun to hear. "And it feels like a bad one..."
"It feels like a bad one?"
"Yeah... gut feeling, I guess?"
"Your gut's a barometer now?" Joel teases.
"A what? Oh, that's a weather-telling-thingie, right?"
"Yes. It's all right -- we'll move fast."
The two of you plus the three horses follow the road away from the highway, staying on high alert and moving slowly. The houses are few and far in between. Joel halts everyone where the road branches off in another direction. He closes his eyes, and you get the feeling he's concentrating. ...but on what, you don't know! You don't see or hear anything.
And then -- then you feel it. Something in your (apparently-well-attuned) gut! "Oh," you say out loud.
Joel looks at you curiously. "You know somethin' I don't?"
"I'm... not sure. I feel like... there's something..."
"I got that feelin' too. But it ain't doin' me any good."
You look down one stretch of road... then the other. That eerie sixth-sense feeling seems to be favoring one direction over the other. Yes, it's definitely that way... -and Joel isn't even sure himself -- am I just getting THAT good at this shit?! "I know which way to go," you announce confidently.
If you keep going straight, turn to page 159.
If you turn to the left, turn to page 162.
Carlos
Date: 2021-03-26 05:42 am (UTC)RE: Carlos
Date: 2021-03-26 01:03 pm (UTC)