CYOA Page 112

[lumy12]

Page One Hundred Twelve

"I'll show you where it is," you offer, hoping you don't sound too eager at the prospect.

"I'm sure I can find it," the dude spits back.

Shit! Um... "Well, yeah, I guess, but..." ...Oh! "The horse that carries it? He doesn't like strangers. Or anyone besides me, really. I need to be there to keep him calm."

The dickhead looks at you suspiciously, even though you think that sounds like a pretty plausible story.

You give him a challenging look. "What? If you're afraid of what I might do to you away from your buddies, I get it. Not everyone can be brave," you add with a smirk.

His friends laugh at that. They start giving him shit.

He wipes the smirk off your face with a swift punch in the gut that doubles you over, then grabs you by the arm. "I'm not afraid of you, you little bitch." ...but he must be at least a little afraid of you -- or perhaps just of you escaping, because he roughly yanks your backpack off of you and tosses it aside. "Move it."

You suspect he'd like to punch his buddies, too, cuz they also seem to find his reaction to their shit amusing. Maybe I can use that against them somehow, too? It might at least serve to distract them...

You're more afraid for Joel now than you were before; he didn't even react to the guy hitting you, that you could see. You might have to save him from all of these guys single-handedly! How the fuck am I going to do that without weapons?!

...By isolating them all, of course. One at a time.

You do have your knife. And you might have enough extra supplies in one of the saddlebags to craft a nail bomb or a Molotov cocktail... but that's not going to help you if they're keeping Joel close. First things first... you have to take care of this one -- and he did bring his gun, so that will be at your disposal soon...

You stumble after him through the tunnel, trying to go as slow as possible to buy yourself some time to think and, you hope, Joel enough time to recover enough to fight back.

"Will you hurry the fuck up?" the asshole barks at you.

"You hit me pretty hard," you reply evenly -- although you've been hit harder before, and the pain isn't enough to hinder your stride unless you let it.

"That? That was nothing."

You bite back a sarcastic retort about what a great guy he is, boasting about his strength after hitting big bad you, but he seems to read your mind. "I don't usually hit girls, you know," he tells you for some reason.

"I'm sure," you mutter.

"Only when they deserve it. And never in the face."

...Is this guy for real? "What, is that some kind of asshole hunter moral code or something?" ...Why are you even engaging this guy, Ellie?! You don't need to distract or enrage him -- you just need to get him far enough away that the others don't hear anything go down.

"What did you call me?"

"...An asshole? Surely I'm not the first. You gonna hit me for that, too?" ...It's just kind of hard for you to watch your mouth sometimes, apparently.

"An asshole hunter."

"Well... yeah. You are." You know people in Jackson generally refer to these sorts of douchebags as bandits, so maybe he's more familiar with that term, but Joel has always called them hunters, and he used to be one, so... of course, when you're inside a group, you don't necessarily KNOW what others call you...

You're now approaching the horses... and the bodies of his friends, who the 'running' guy must have told him about because he expresses no surprise or outrage over them. "Get the rope," commands the asshole hunter. "And if you even think about getting on that horse, I'll shoot the both of you."

Your horse, Lucky, doesn't like the man, you can tell. Good. "Um, he's already a little agitated... I'll keep him calm if you wanna grab the rope? See it right there?" You start patting Lucky's nose, cooing to him softly.

But the guy is suspicious again. "No. You get it. You've probably trained it to kick people."

"Ha! That would be a good trick." You try to think of something to say that will make him do what you want; you need him to fuss with the rope so you can attack him from behind. "But if you're really that scared..."

"Just do it!" He pulls you away from the horse's head and pushes you toward the rope, which is coiled neatly beside one of the bags.

"Fine." You start unfastening the rope -- or, rather, you pretend that you're having difficulty doing so because you need to think again. If the guy thinks you're taking too long, he doesn't say so. You feel his creepy eyes on you, though...

"Know what?" he drawls, coming up behind you. "You're gonna pay me your toll first. Yeah. You're gonna pay me first before aaanyone else."

These guys are in on the toll thing, too? They weren't even hanging out by the road... You have to fucking think. Quickly. You can knife him, it's just... he does have a gun, and he's strong, and you have way better success when you're able to sneak-attack from behind. "What about your friend? The rope?"

The guy snorts. "He can wait." You feel his hot breath on the back of your neck, his hand creeping around your waist...

"Um, can you put the gun down, at least?"

"Sure, baby." From what you can hear, it sounds like he put it away. In his pants or something.

Well, that was easy... although you also hear a zipper behind you. "After this, you'll let us go, right?"

"Ain't up to me. But yeah, generally... that's the deal."

You try to push away the hand pawing at your fly. "Let me do it."

"Fine." The hand crawls upward...

Don't think about it. You just need him unsuspecting, lulled by the anticipation of what he thinks is about to happen. He doesn't notice you sliding your hand into your pocket while you pretend to undo your pants.

"Relax. You might even enjoy it. ...Daddy might not like this, though: he's gonna know you've been a bad girl..." You flinch when he bites your neck...

...but you're glad he did, because you can 'see' exactly where you need to strike him without even having the advantage of seeing him.

Your blade is buried in his neck before he has any idea what's happening.

You see his gun -- you reach for it, but he beats you to it. You try to snatch it from him, or at least to keep it pointed away from you. In the struggle, he pulls the trigger--

--but the bullet soars harmlessly into the wall of the tunnel.

You manage to knock the gun out of his hand-- now he's wrenching the knife out of his neck--

You snatch that from him easily as he staggers back, both hands now clutched over the wound... it's spurting so much blood that you have no doubt you hit your target. You kick him and he crumples to the ground.

"Hey Brandon! Why'd you shoot her, man?"

It's only been a few seconds since the gun went off; the guys aren't close enough to see you yet. You grab the gun and drop to the ground, coiling your body the way you think a person who's just been shot in the gut might.

"Help!" you yell. "He shot me -- please help me!"

You see a flashlight... only one of the guys is coming, it seems. That makes it easier for you, you suppose, but that means there's still one with Joel. The beam flashes across you -- but it also lands on the other guy, who is now completely still. "What the fuck..."

"Help me, please!" you plead, wincing and gasping for effect. "It's too late for him."

The guy seems confused. "I only heard one shot."

You decide he's close enough now, and that you don't need to bother coming up with some bullshit about what happened. As soon as he swings the light back over to his buddy...

But he keeps it on you. "All right, honey, let me see."

You squint at the light; you can't see shit. Fuck... well, I know he's right there, so here goes...


Continue to page 192.

Comments

carlos

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, that was very clevers.

Re: carlos

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Smart little Ellie :D