CYOA Page 99

[lumy12]

Page Ninety-Nine

You can't let Joel run off to his doom like that -- what if that thought popped into your head because your sixth sense is trying to tell you there's a reason to worry?

You haven't even made it halfway there when Joel comes back out of the house, motioning for you to stop running and be quiet.

So I was right! There IS someone there! You start to ask him what he saw, but he shushes you.

He tugs you behind some trees, out of the line of sight of anyone in the house. "I told you to stay there. Why--"

"I couldn't just let you go off and get killed!"

Joel snorts. "I think there's only one guy inside. An' he didn't see me. If you had come bargin' in there--"

"I wasn't going to! Jesus, Joel, don't you think--"

"All right all right, we don't have time for this. I think he was waitin' for us to leave the house... he came inside after we got far enough away." He frowns. "Or maybe that's just what I want to believe."

"I'm sure there was no one in there when we left!" you assure him, even though you're totally not sure.

Joel doesn't dwell on it. "We ain't gonna kill this guy now 'cause he needs to tell us where the horses are. If he's got buddies around... I'd rather keep you close to me."

"We should always stick together. That's why I followed you!" You can't help sounding a bit I-told-you-so here. "So what do you wanna do? You think this guy's gonna just tell us where the horses are if we ask nicely?!"

Joel smirks. "Who said anythin' about askin' nicely? Just don't kill him."

You have to snicker at that. ...Is it wrong of me to think that Joel looked really hot just now? It might be, so you don't tell him. You want to kiss him, just a wee little quick one, but he might pull a "this ain't the time" -- which would be awkward, so you don't do that, either. You follow him back to the house -- stealthily this time, mindful of the view from the windows -- and you crouch beneath the living room window. Joel peeks through it enough to see that the guy's still there; he's busy trying to load himself up with as much of your shit as he possibly can. Joel wants you to follow him inside through the back door but then wait there. Yeah, right! You do follow him in... and you wait a couple beats to give the illusion of obeying him, but then you're right on his ass again.

Joel can't sneak up on the dude from this angle, so he just bursts right in there. "Drop it. All of it. Guns first. Now! Or I start shootin'."

You know that's a lie, but naturally, the thief doesn't -- he curses when Joel startles him, and he starts slowly lowering things to the ground (not exactly dropping them... stalling for time, maybe?).

"If only you hadn't been so greedy," Joel taunts him, and you can tell he's aware of your presence. He's probably annoyed by it, but not surprised. "Now kick those guns over here."

No need to hang back now... so you stand beside Joel and point your gun at the man, too. "What did you do with our horses, huh? Where are your friends?"

"Horses?" Yeah, of course the motherfucker would play dumb. "I-- I don't know what you mean. And I'm alone. Just passing through. I swear."

You estimate that he's in his thirties or forties (you kind of suck with ages... you basically just register him as 'younger than Joel,' but not young). Taller than Joel, with a fuzzier beard. Not as raggedy-looking as most that you see Outside; you surmise that he's pretty good at thieving and it's gotten him far in life.

Joel glances at you, then back at the guy. "Yeah... I don't believe him, either. Tell us the truth if you'd like to keep those kneecaps of yours. -An' don't move! Stay right there."

The man had started backing away, toward the front door, but he freezes now. "I'm telling you the truth! Honest! I was just-- aaaaaggghhhhh!" He cries out in pain -- Joel shot him in the knee!

"Joel, I thought we weren't gonna do that," you mutter to him, but he ignores you.

The guy didn't exactly fall to the ground... more like he lowered himself, like he was lowering the would-be stolen goods a moment before. He lays there on his side... wincing, moaning, clutching his knee. Joel kicks or nudges the rest of your stuff out of the man's reach, and you start rounding it up. Then he kicks the dude squarely in the face. "You wanna try that again?"

...At least he didn't smash his skull into the ground? Still, you cringe at the crack of bones breaking, and decide that you don't really want to watch this; it's not like this guy hurt you or Joel. He was just doing what anyone else would do out here -- yourselves included. You start piling your gear by the front door while the man blubbers... but doesn't say anything useful. He admits to being with a couple other dudes who stole your horses, but claims he doesn't know where they went. He's not sure how long ago it was. Just "not very." You hear more unpleasant, violent sounds, followed by whimpering.

"I'll ask again," you hear Joel growl. "Where did they take them?"

"To the plane..."

"What plain? Be more specific."

"It's... east of here... bit south... mile or so... the house is close to it... you'll see..."

"A house on the plains?"

"They might be... at the plane itself... the wreck..."

You look over at them. "Joel, I think he means an airplane. A plane that crashed around here?"

Joel nods with sudden understanding. "That's right. Tommy's seen it before. Small private plane. He didn't say exactly where it's at, though." He kneels by the man's head, grabs a fistful of hair, and yanks it upward... so he can look him in the eye. "If we don't find our horses there? I'll come back here an' kill you. And it won't be quick'n'easy, either. You understand?"

The man mumbles something that might be an affirmative and Joel lets go of his hair, letting the guy's bloody face fall to the floor with a thud. "Brookdale," the man adds, grimacing. "West part of town..."

"That name was on one of the signs we saw on the highway, remember?" you tell Joel. "Come on, you've beat up this poor guy enough."

"Poor guy?" Joel arches an eyebrow. "He was stealin' from us, Ellie."

"Well, that was our fault. We made it too easy for them. Just... come on, let's go." You tug him by the arm, toward the front door.

He jerks away from you, keeping his eyes on the thief writhing on the floor. "He's still a little too mobile for my likin'. I think one more--"

"No!" You yank on his other arm -- the one with the gun on the end of it. "He's good. Look at him! He's not going anywhere. Besides, I think he's telling the truth. ...and you do, too."

Joel frowns, but holsters the gun and follows you to the door. You both start picking up your stuff, silently. It feels like an awkward silence to you, but maybe it's just your general feeling of discomfort here. You try to take the saddlebag, since Joel's carrying more shit than you are, but he takes it from you and heads out the door. You hesitate, watching the injured man. You're a little surprised Joel didn't take, or even search, the guy's duffel bag. You decide you might as well let the man keep it. You pull something out of your bag, then walk over and stand in front of him. "Hey. I'm going to leave this in the house for you." You waggle his own revolver in front of his face. You almost apologize, but you bite your tongue in time; the guy was stealing from you, after all! He brought this on himself, and he's lucky to still be alive. It's enough that you're not dooming him to certain death by confiscating what may be his only weapon (cuz if he had anything in his bag, he probably would've tried to pull it out, right?).

There's probably no need to hide the gun from the man, but it's possible he's playing up how injured he is. Maybe he can walk well enough to come after you and Joel. ...and then Joel would hear him before he got too close, and that would be that, but still -- so what if you're a little bit paranoid? You settle on placing the gun on a built-in shelf on the shower wall. One that's up high, under a little frosted window.

"Ellie? What the hell are you doin'? Let's go!"

You come out of the hallway and see Joel standing just inside the front door. "I was just making sure we didn't leave anything behind," you lie. You don't know if Joel believes you, but he doesn't question it... and doesn't mention the fact that you were never in that part of the house to have left anything there. You follow him out the door. "We should go back to where we saw those signs on the highway, right?"

"Or we can follow the tracks. They would've cut through the woods here. He was tellin' the truth about what direction they went, at least."

"Okay."

You walk in silence for a few minutes. You're still wondering if the silence is awkward or not, so... you decide to find out. "I forgot how... um..." ...what's the word?... violent? ...merciless? ...cruel? They all sound bad. "Well, that you can... be like that."

Joel glances at you. "Like what?"

You can't answer that. "You know. ...Remind me never to get on your bad side," you add jokingly.

Joel responds with a "tch"... and that's that.

...Okay, yeah, it's awkward. For me, if not for him. "I mean... I know you would never... I know how sweet you really are."

He doesn't say anything. Just keeps walking.

Obviously, he doesn't want to discuss this subject, but for some reason, you keep talking. "It's not like we could just ask him nicely and he'd tell us, right? You had to make him. And you could've just killed him after, but you didn't. You didn't shoot him again, either. He's lucky. Most hunters, we'd just shoot on sight if they tried to--"

"What're you gettin' at?" Joel interrupts. "You feel guilty? It was me, not you. You're in the clear."

"Not really. I knew what you were going to do, sort of." And I thought you looked sexy... that's so WRONG... "I could've stopped you, but I didn't."

Joel snorts. "You could've tried. Then I would've talked sense into you. People -- most people -- will do just about anythin' to spare themselves pain, if it's in their power."

You can't disagree with that. "You had all the power."

"No. He chose to cooperate. If he'd--"

"You didn't give him a choice!"

"I did. If he hadn't've talked, I would've eventually got tired of playin' with him an' ended it."

"Playing with him," you repeat, frowning.

Joel glares at you. "You prefer... torturin'? Hurtin'?"

"Playing is... different," you say lamely. You were enjoying it, Joel. But I don't think I want to make you admit that... "Just... stop a sec, okay?"

He complies. You cup his face in your hands and look in his eyes... you only see darkness there. You tug his face down to yours and kiss him. He probably won't let you do it for long, but he does respond, holding you close... parting his lips...

It lasts about ten seconds. He looks at you questioningly, his hand massaging the back of your head like he does sometimes... you can see the love in his eyes now. You smile a little. "I love you," you say simply.

"Love you, too. I'm sorry you had to see that. I didn' mean to upset you."

"You didn't!"

"Yes I did. Maybe now you'll believe me when I remind you I'm a shitty person."

You roll your eyes. "You're not. What did you tell me the last time I said I was a bad person?"

"I don't recall. I prob'ly said that's bullshit. 'Cause it is."

"Hmm, yeah, I think you did, but I remember you telling me there's light and dark in everyone on this planet."

He smooths your hair back gently. "You've got more light in you than anyone I know. I think it's one o' them 'opposites attract' things."

"What, us? Pfff. I'm darker than you think I am. And you're lighter than you give yourself credit for."

"Mm. More bullshit. But I don't wanna argue with you right now. C'mon." He lets go of you, and the two of you resume your trek. "I got more blood on you. Sorry."

Like you even care. You're happy now. And you rather like the idea of being able to like... tame the wild beast with just a kiss. It's like I have even more power than Joel!

The silence isn't awkward now, just practical. You know Joel prefers not to have... tender moments Outside, where missing a sign of danger could be the difference between life and death. Which is a bit overdramatic, really, but not untrue. And you both know there are hunters in the area -- you're hunting them. You shouldn't indulge in distractions right now.

Joel gives up on trying to follow the trail, since he feels confident about the direction you're headed. You're looking for the wrecked plane, but what you eventually see on the horizon is a town. "Maybe we're not going the right way," you wonder.

"We prob'ly just went too far east. Let's head more this way..." Southwest.

Oh man, that motherfucker better not have lied! For his sake as well as yours. Joel could decide he doesn't feel like going back to finish him off, but you get the feeling he's more likely to make good on that threat. Or maybe to torture the guy some more... to try to get the truth out of him, not because he enjoys it. ...Oh, so what if he enjoys it -- he's still my Joel. Darkness and all.

After walking toward the town for a few more minutes in this more diagonal direction, you do spot what could be a plane on your right, amongst the trees... literally amongst them -- as in, between the branches of a couple. "Joel, look!" You let him look through the binoculars. "He wasn't lying about there being a plane here. I kind of thought it would be on the ground, but that looks like a plane, right?"

"Sure does. Let's check it out. Carefully... I don't see the horses, but we should still assume the guys are in there... that they can see us if we're in the open. In fact, let's backtrack a little first..."

You follow his lead. "I thought when your plane is about to crash, you're supposed to try to find a flat surface to land on. Did this pilot really suck or what?"

Joel chuckles. "Maybe. Who knows. Might be someone who didn't really know how to fly, tryin' to escape from somewhere. Or maybe somethin' went wrong with the engine... the controls... somethin' like that. But look around... there ain't exactly any wide-open landin' strips in this area."

"...Yeah, I guess not." The trees aren't that densely packed here, but there aren't any huge open fields, either. "You said you've never flown a plane, right?"

"Right. Back home, there was this one plane -- a little one, like this one -- that made an emergency landin' on a road. Cars on it an' everythin'. But no cars where he touched down, an' thankfully, no one was hurt too bad. Blocked traffic for hours."

"Whoa." You love hearing Joel talk about things like that. Things from Before. And when he talks about things like 'blocked traffic,' it's like he's from a movie (where there's actually such a thing as traffic, and it gets jammed). Much of his old life sounds like a movie to you.

You're stealthily approaching the plane from another angle when Joel stops you. "You hear that?" he asks quietly.

"No..."

He leans in and pulls your binoculars up to his face. "Over there... that's it. The horses. I see 'em, Ellie."

"Really?! Where?" You look for yourself. "Oh yeah... between those two houses down there!"

"Let's still go slow, all right?" He changes direction.

"Wait... shouldn't we go check out the plane first? That guy said something about how they might be in the plane." Plus, you're really curious now and want to see this thing up close!

"The horses are over there. Stands to reason the hunters are there, too. We don' need to bother with the plane. If we swing out this way--"

"Oh, but Joel, I really wanna see it! Don't you?"

"...No. Not really. But, if you really want to..."

So Joel's willing to humor you, but he'd prefer not to go that way. Maybe you should forget the plane...?


If you check out the plane, turn to page 176.

If you head for the horses, turn to page 180.

Comments

Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

Darker Joel... I like that.

RE: Carlos

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Ooo yeah he is fun! ...and HOT