CYOA Page 100
Sep. 13th, 2013 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12Here goes nothing... you quickly yank your gun out of its holster, cock it, aim, and fire -- you think you hit the cougar, but you didn't see where. It makes a yelping sound, and starts running... away from you! Thank God! So you at least scared it. You really do think you hit it, but you're not about to go over there and check for evidence of that. You turn and run back to Joel as fast as you can!
You're panting and no doubt making a lot of noise as you crash through the place, quite forgetting the protocol this situation dictates; you just want to get to Joel as soon as possible. You remember just before you reach the bedroom, and you switch off the flashlight and pause there, trying to catch your breath and calm down before--
Too late! You hear the click, see a light-- "It's me! Joel, it's me!" you gasp out.
He shines the light in your face, blinding you for a moment. "What happened? Are you all right?"
"Yes-- yes--" You rush forward and practically jump on him. "I'm so sorry!-- I'm an idiot!"
He hugs you back somewhat, though he's shining the light with one hand and holding the gun in the other (it probably wasn't smart to jump at him like that). There's barely space to turn around in that tiny hallway, but Joel turns sideways and shifts you over to his left side. He's shining the light around the main room of the little mobile home, slowly heading out there.
"No-- Joel, it's okay! No one's here. Just us."
He acts like he didn't hear you. He pulls away from you altogether and enters that main area.
"There's no one here!" you repeat, frustrated.
"I heard you." He's checking the sliding door.
Oh... yeah, I didn't lock it...
He doesn't lock it either, though. He turns and looks at you, careful this time not to shine the light in your eyes. "You wanna tell me what's got you all freaked out, then? Was someone chasin' you?"
"No... come back here and I'll tell you."
Now he locks it. "It's prob'ly my turn, or close enough. But I reckon you want me to sit with you a bit first, yeah?"
"Yes-- I don't care about that anymore. Don't take your turn. We should both stay in here." You can just imagine the things that would be racing through your mind if you tried to fall asleep with Joel in danger outside, more prey for the cougar. Granted, not as easy prey as you were, caught unawares like that...
"You sure? It don't look to me like you feel very safe."
You attach yourself to the front of him and walk backwards into the bedroom, tugging him along, tossing your light and gun aside as you lay back on the bed. You pull him on top of you... or try to (he's a little slower to free his hands of their accessories). You try to kiss him, but you don't really succeed -- it seems he needs to fuss with laying his shit down first. You kiss wherever your lips can reach: his cheek, his jaw, his neck--
He chuckles a little and finally kisses your lips. "Shit, do you want the light on? I should've asked--"
"No, it's fine. I don't have a lot to say."
Joel snorts. "That's a first."
"Hey!" You pretend to be annoyed. He starts to roll away from you, but you hold him in place -- right on top of you now. "No-- like this."
"All right." It's totally dark in here, but you know where every part of him is. He's leaning on his elbows, arms looped through yours, his hands caressing each side of your face. He kisses you softly. "What happened out there, hmm?"
"Um... nothing, really." Safe in your 'Joel cage,' suddenly you feel embarrassed. Why did you freak out so much over an animal? You were armed, even!
"Ellie. Come on."
"Seriously! No creepy little kid or anything."
"So... you fell asleep, an' had a nightmare? Is that it?"
"No! No, I wanted to make sure I didn't fall asleep, so I got up and walked around, and... went out farther than I should have..."
"But no one was there?"
"No... person. I did see an animal. A cougar."
"Oh, shit -- that's why you were out of breath? You ran?"
"Yeah but first I shot it. I shot at it and didn't kill it, it just turned and ran the other way. To be honest, I don't even know for sure if I hit it. I think I did."
He kisses you again. "All right, you're safe now... let's calm down..."
"I am calm."
"...Not really. Your heart's beatin' a mile a minute still."
"Maybe that's your fault," you say coyly. You kiss him, a bit harder than before... you start to pull your legs up so you can wrap them around--
"Ohhhhhhh no you don't." Joel does roll off of you this time, despite your protests. "We are gonna go to sleep. That's it."
You snuggle up to his side and sigh dramatically. "Fiiiiiiiine. I'm just glad we're both inside, safe behind a locked door."
"Me, too." He kisses the top of your head... and you actually feel a shudder pass through him.
"Are you okay?"
"Mmhmm." He starts playing with your hair. "Just thinkin' how awful it would've been to wake up, with you not here..." He lets that trail off.
"...and then all that's left of me is whatever he didn't want?" you finish for him.
He makes a noise that you would probably classify as... a grunt. "I don't even wanna think about that."
Okay, so I shouldn't be embarrassed, I guess... "Would you even have been scared? If you saw it?"
"Sure."
"Yeah, right," you mutter.
"Hell yes I'd be scared," he amends.
"Even though it's only an animal?"
"Only an animal that can rip you to shreds in no time. ...Somehow, that might even be scarier than infected."
"Shut up."
"I'm serious. Runners, at least. But even Clickers -- if you shoot'n'miss, you can still stab 'em. A large animal, though... a meat-eatin' animal..."
"It wasn't all that big, really. Maybe it was a girl cougar."
"Still. There's somethin' just... somethin' about bein' eaten by an animal that's scarier than if it was a human. Maybe 'cause it's got a bigger mouth... those razor-sharp teeth--"
"Okay okay -- I don't wanna have nightmares!"
"Sorry." He gives you a squeeze.
"It's okay -- I'm prob'ly gonna have them anyway. I'm sorry I woke you up the way I did. You must've been a little freaked out yourself."
He chuckles. "I sure didn't think it was you, stompin' through here like that. What if I'd shot you?"
"I know, I'm sorry! I'll never do that again, I swear."
"Mm. I believe you've said that before."
"No I haven't! ...Well, that one time, but you were just startled, you didn't actually get up and get your gun and everything. And you've done it to me before!"
"...Have I? When?"
You rack your brain. "Uh... well, I know you have..."
"Wakin' you up from a nightmare don't count 'cause I ain't the one that scared you, in that instance."
Maybe that's all you were thinking of? "You might have to do that tonight. I apologize in advance if you do."
"You seem relaxed now. Maybe you'll sleep real good."
"Maybe... as long as we stay like this. Will you hold me all night?"
"If you want."
"I just said I want."
"Hey, sometimes you're the one that rolls away. It ain't always me."
You like to tease him as if it is always him, though. For all you know, he could be lying about being awake when you do it, on occasion. You wish you could tell him you've seen him roll away from you, but he's never done it while you're awake. And there are plenty of times when you wake up and you at least have a limb or two tangled together, if nothing else. Your favorite way to wake up is to find him spooning you. "I won't do it tonight," you declare.
"You might. Maybe your subconscious will feel safe enough, hmm?"
Huh... is that what it is? You still don't think you'd do it, though. "It won't. It's prob'ly going to make me have a fucking nightmare."
He's tracing circles on your arm now. "Just try an' get some sleep. I'm wide awake now so I'll wake you if you start... lookin' like you're havin' one. All right?"
"I'm sorry. It's my fault you're wide awake! I wasn't even going to wake you up, I just wanted to like... slither in and put your arms around me and go to sleep with you."
"I still woulda woke up."
"Half woke. Cuz I would've let you know it was me and you would've fallen right back to sleep. ...all happy cuz you sleep better with me in the bed, right?"
"That's right. I do, definitely. Good night, baby girl. Love you."
You tilt your face up for a sweet good night kiss. "Love you, too. Good night."
It doesn't take as long to fall asleep as you expected. It is really soothing when Joel pets you. Probably speeds up the process. If you had known how awesome it would feel to sleep with him, you would've started doing it a lot sooner -- although, it might've been a bit awkward when you two barely knew each other (Juuuuust a bit).
The sun is up higher than it usually is when you wake up. You didn't have a nightmare.
You're facing away from Joel, but he's facing you... and he's sleeping pretty good; you figure he was awake for a long time before finally succumbing to sleep. Poor Joel. You scoot backwards and insert yourself in front of him (like a spoon!). You can hear the horses outside, through the window Joel left cracked open; you suppose the cougar was either too injured or too freaked out to want to come back to this area and hunt.
"Mmff," Joel mumbles into your hair.
"Go back to sleep," you stage-whisper. "Everything's good."
Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. This time, he does, if only for a little while.
A bit later, you enjoy a nice, relatively-leisurely breakfast before packing up and returning to the place you saw the cougar. "It was right around... here... yes! Look -- there's blood! I did hit him. Should we follow the blood trail see if it's dead... or maybe kill it?"
"We could. We could also just leave it be an' get goin'. Your choice."
If you hunt the cougar, turn to page 177.
If you continue on your journey, turn to page 182.
carlos
Date: 2021-06-25 12:13 pm (UTC)Re: carlos
Date: 2021-06-25 01:42 pm (UTC)