CYOA Page 101
There have been times when Joel is glad that you didn't listen to him, and you feel like this will be one of those times.
Should I take the horses? ...I probably should. Joel can't be anywhere close by, after all this time... unless he's hurt or something--- but don't think about that! And if I take one, I should take--
A shot rings out from the west, interrupting your thoughts! And it doesn't sound very far away, either. Maybe you should still go on horseback... but you just can't. Poor Callus... Horses are very large targets, and you doubt you'd be able to manage both of them anyway if things get hairy. You'd rather they get stolen than end up dead.
You consider hiding your bags and shit, in case someone does come along and steal them... but you don't have time to mess around with that. You've already wasted enough time, fretting about what to do -- and you just heard another shot!
You fire a shot in the direction of the river. A signal to Joel, in case he's somehow lost his bearings, or a come-and-get-me call to some hunters, possibly distracting them or dividing them, making it easier for Joel to kill them or escape from them. Let him scold me for that later... I don't care!
"JOEL!" you yell as loud as you can as you run toward the source of the noise. You can't run at top speed and expect to make it very far, nor can you assess your surroundings for dangers if they're whirring by you in a rapid blur, so you run at like... medium speed. No further shots have been fired. You call for Joel every so often.
You are soon rewarded with a return cry of "Ellie!" that makes your heart leap for joy!
"Joel! Keep yelling, I hear you! Where are you?!" Please let him be okay, please please PLEASE!
"Over here!"
You're encouraged by the fact that he's not telling you to run away or be careful. Maybe he knows that you just can't? That the only thing on your mind is getting to him?
To your horror, you find him laying on the ground on his side, a huge bloody cloth tied around his right leg. "Oh my God... Joel, are you okay?" He's obviously not! You look around wildly and don't see anyone. "What the fuck happened?"
"I'll be all right."
"Are there hunters around here?"
"No. Help me up, will you?"
"What happened?" you ask again as you pull him up.
He leans heavily on you. "I don' know, exactly."
"What do you mean you don't know? How do you not know?!" You serve as Joel's crutch, walking slowly and helping him hobble along. It appears he's wearing all the stuff he was wearing when he disappeared, as far as weapons go, including his backpack.
"This girl, she... tricked me... drugged me, somehow... I don't remember that part, I remember wakin' up on the floor. In this bedroom. Groggy as shit. No one around, door locked."
"Fuck." You resist the urge to tease him about underestimating girls, figuring that can wait 'til later. "Joel, you can't really walk... I hate to leave you, but maybe I should go get the horses and come back?"
"What, they're still by the river?"
"Yeah. Sorry. Here, sit down by this tree... this is a nice enough spot..." You help him sit, then you start to examine his leg more closely. "Maybe I should look at this..."
"I cleaned it. It's fine for now. Except for havin' a bullet lodged in it."
"Holy shit, Joel -- good thing we're going to a hospital, huh?" He's grimacing a bit, clearly in pain, and he's panting... sweat running down his face... like he's been exerting himself really hard. Which you suppose he has been... "Wait, you were in a house? Where?" The only thing around you is trees, trees, and more trees.
"Back there."
"Where were you when you got shot?"
"Back there... but I got out... a closer 'back there' than the house."
"Why were you there in the first place? How were you 'tricked'?"
"She said... somethin' about her daughter gettin' accident'ly locked in a room... needed my help..."
"Her daughter?" When he said 'girl' before, you were imagining a younger girl. "How old was this 'girl' who drugged you?"
"Uh... twenties, I reckon... early thirties, maybe..."
"Okay, so this woman says she needs help, and you just fucking go? Without a word to me?"
"She said it was real close, an' I figured I'd be back before you were even done in the water. ...Not the wisest decision, I know."
"Not the-- Joel! You-- what the fuck," you sputter. I can't believe this! "If I did that, you'd be--"
"I know," he cuts you off. "I know, all right? I'm sorry."
"Don't you know when people are lying? You couldn't tell?" you ask accusingly.
"I... guess not."
Or... maybe he wasn't thinking straight for a REASON? You narrow your eyes. "Wait -- was she pretty?"
Joel chuckles (...a bit nervously, maybe?!). "What's that got to do with--"
"Everything!" Possibly. You've learned some things about the power that attractive people have, versus the ugly ones. "So, was she?"
"I s'pose... she was easy on the eyes, yeah," Joel admits... and he looks so sheepish that you're sure the bitch used that to her advantage.
"Fuck -- how could you be such an idiot?!" You probably shouldn't yell at him right now, but you're really annoyed!
"She didn't even have a gun on her, Ellie. Seemed perfectly harmless."
"Huh. And it didn't occur to you that it's a little strange for someone not to have a gun on them out here?"
"Said she had a huntin' rifle kept hidden from the kid or somethin'. ...Are you sayin' I should've felt... safer... if she was armed?"
...Yeah, that doesn't really make sense, either... "Okay, whatever. Why did she drug you? And why not just kill you? Was there a little girl at all, or did she lie about that, too? How did she get you into-- oh, you made it all the way to her house before she did it, didn't you! And that whole time you couldn't tell she was lying?"
Joel looks at you wearily. "I don't think she was a bad person. Just a bit fucked up. How 'bout we talk about this later?"
"How is she not a bad person?! She lied to you, drugged you, shot you--"
"Later, all right? Go get the horses."
You're in no hurry to leave him, though. "Where is she now?"
"Dead. Over there. She came after me."
"You just left her there when you escaped? -It was just her, right? You couldn't have just killed her and spared yourself the--"
"She wasn't in the house when I busted the door of that room. Guess she thought whatever she gave me would knock me out for longer. No little girl, either. I just found my shit an' walked right out."
"What was she doing with you, though? Seriously... that's weird."
"I really have no idea." He shifts position and winces. "Go get the horses, wouldja?"
He's in pain, and maybe still fucked up from being drugged, but you get the sense that he's lying. Maybe not lying, exactly, but... holding back. Like there are things he doesn't want to tell you, for some reason (... because you've been telling him how stupid he is? Maybe you should give him a break). "I'm gonna go make sure she's dead," you announce.
"I shot her; she's dead."
"Yeah, well, she shot you and you're not dead."
"She wasn't tryin' to kill me, though."
...Which implies that he was trying to kill her. Okay, then, so he wasn't being a total dumbass, at least. "So what was she trying to do -- torture you? When all you did was try and help her?"
"Just... stop me, I think. When I first... she assumed I was a good guy, 'cause of you."
You don't really get that logic, but plenty of people seem to feel that way. Isn't it ridiculous to think that only 'good people' have children? "I'm still gonna go check. This way, you said?"
"Ellie, don't--"
"I'm going, so shut up. Try not to get duped by any more hot chicks while I'm gone, 'kay?" You're teasing, of course, but you don't bother hiding your (ongoing) irritation.
Joel makes a feeble protest, but doesn't do anything to stop you when you scurry off. You try to remember how much time elapsed between the first shot you heard and the second. The first must have been the bitch shooting Joel, and the second, him shooting her in return. It was... more than a few seconds, I think? He didn't shoot her immediately; was he reeling from being shot, or was he thinking of letting her go? Except she was the one in control... if he decided to talk to her, he had to know she might choose to blow his head off at any moment. You think there was at least a minute between shots. Was he trying to talk her down? Telling her if she leaves now, he won't do anything? Or telling her what she wanted to hear, long enough for her to lower her guard, and then bam! You like that version best. He would've known that the shot would draw your attention, and he wouldn't want to risk her shooting you.
You saw a movie back home about this crazy bitch who kept this injured dude hostage, but acted like she really cared about him. Joel did say this chick was fucked up -- but unlike the guy in the movie, Joel isn't famous. Maybe she just likes to torture people. Or... maybe she wanted to fuck him? Like, more than once? Joel is old; you've never seen him as anything other than a father figure, but you've seen the way some of the women back home look at him -- like he's something else entirely. Maybe this cunt didn't have a little girl, but she wanted to, and she decided Joel would be a good-- --oh -- right there! That must be her!
You assume the house a little ways back is where she had him. You rush toward the body, noting that Joel managed to drag himself pretty far away from it in that short time. The woman's crumpled on the ground in a pool of blood which appears to have come from her chest. You nudge her with your foot so that she rolls onto her back, exposing her face.
Wow... she's really pretty, is your first thought. And very dead -- so at least Joel didn't lie about THAT. You squat next to her and try to wipe the dirt off her face, but your hands aren't very clean, so you don't accomplish that. She looks... innocent. Sweet. Like she should never have this much dirt on her face, or twigs in her long brown hair -- or blood spilling from her insides, for that matter. She doesn't look capable of any of the things you were imagining. You trail a finger down her grimy cheek...
Wait, what the fuck am I doing? This bitch hurt Joel! Disgusted with yourself, you stand up abruptly and glare down at her. "You got what you deserved," you tell her coldly. You're not sure you believe it, though. You wonder if you can persuade Joel to tell you what he's withholding from you.
You see that Joel didn't bother to relieve her of her gun; you suppose he had enough to manage with a bum leg. You're quite happy to take it, though, and to search her pockets. She's just another corpse now. Whether or not she 'deserved' to die isn't really for you to say, you suppose... but you can and do judge her by her actions. Pretty or not, she brought it on herself. ...And why should looks have anything to do with it anyway?!
Yet, unfair as that is, it does seem to influence people -- and you're not immune to it yourself. It was probably hard for Joel to shoot her; you decide to be nicer to him about it. Maybe you'll even tell him you're proud of him. For making the right decision in the end (if nowhere else). And you haven't forgotten that you're extremely fucking grateful it's not Joel's corpse you were just kneeling beside. So quit being all philosophical or whatever and get your ass back to the horses, already! Jeez.
You also want to see his wound for yourself, in case he's just trying to not worry you by saying it's fine. It WILL be fine, you decide. Like you have any say in the matter. Well, you do, kind of... you can get him to the hospital. This whole thing wasted a lot of time, but you think you should still be able to make it there by tomorrow. Ugh... SO much time wasted... all because fucking Joel couldn't say no to some cunt with a pretty face! SO FUCKING DUMB--
...Yeah, okay, maybe you're not done giving him shit yet. He deserves it, though! You'll consider the endless shit-giving a payback of sorts for all the lectures you've had to endure over the past two years. And I'll be doing him a favor: he'll never make THIS mistake again!
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