CYOA Page 265
You know Joel has zero faith in the humanity of soldiers, but they're not all bad. Maybe these guys will be reasonable. "We can explain!" you yell at the door. "We just got here and found all these people... like this. I swear. You can't shoot us!"
"What are you doin'?" Joel asks through gritted teeth. "You can't reason with these bastards."
"We have to try, don't we? I'll talk -- you think up a Plan B."
"If you're innocent, why don't you come on out of there... with your hands up... and let's talk."
You don't know if he means just you, or both you and Joel. Maybe you should leave Joel out of it for now... "And let you shoot me? No way!"
"We won't shoot you."
"But you're pointing your guns at the door right now, aren't you?"
"...We won't shoot you."
You notice that Joel has moved over by the sinks. What's he up to...? "Uh... forgive me if I don't believe you," you call back to the soldier. "I saw what you... -I saw how many bullets you fired at my dad just now!" You hope that referring to Joel as your dad will make them see him in a better light, somehow... because bad guys apparently don't have children? For whatever reason, it works sometimes!
"We did that because your dad didn't do what we said. If you follow our orders, you'll be just fine."
"Ellie, do not go out there," Joel warns.
"I won't," you assure him. You've moved closer to the door, but you're not going to leave Joel alone... he might need you as a buffer. You call to the soldier again-- "Can you guys just... um... maybe send one guy in here to talk? No guns?"
"It don't work that way, girl. WE call the shots here. If you won't surrender--"
"Okay okay -- look, you guys are scary. I can talk to you from here. We're from Jackson. You guys have heard of that place, right? Couple days south of here... well, less for you if you get to use trucks ands stuff. We have patients here! We were coming to look for one of them. Actually, her son. He's been gone longer than usual so his wife thought--"
"Listen up, kid -- your father is armed. You might be armed yourself. Until you surrender, we have to treat this as a hostile situation. Now, if you walk out here with your hands up--"
"What about my dad?"
"He... also needs to walk out, hands--"
"But you guys called him an asshole and a motherfucker when he hadn't even done anything to you! You shot a million bullets at him! And we're supposed to trust you?!"
"You have no choice. If you don't come out of there in twenty seconds, we're coming in."
You hear Joel calling you furtively toward the back of the kitchen, his voice low enough that the soldiers can't hear. "Watch your step -- go that way -- " He directs you around the island counters and various carts and shit with exaggerated gestures. You realize he's planted nail bombs at strategic locations; you just caught sight of one on the way back.
"How many did you plant?" you ask when you reach him.
"Three."
"I thought you only had two?"
"I made another one while you were talkin'." He points out exactly where all three of them are. "If I can get one of 'em to approach from this side... you go back to where you-- ... ... on second thought, stay with--"
"No, I can get one of them to come that way."
"Five seconds, kid."
Joel grabs your arm before you can leave. You start to protest, but he's just handing you the Shorty. "Here, take this but stay down. Don't let 'em see you have it. Those other two bombs will be insurance. Maybe it is better if you ain't right next to--"
But before you can move, you hear them (all of them? or maybe just some of them) burst through the door. You notice that Joel hovered for half a second with his head in sight before fully crouching behind the counter, to make sure the guys saw him. I can do that, too... over there...
You hear one soldier point out Joel's location to the others, and you hear some murmurs from the guys wondering where you are, as you crawl to the opposite end of the long counter.
"It's not too late," one of the soldiers says... the one who was talking to you before. "You can still surren--"
Kaboom! One down... maybe two...
You carefully approach one of the 'insurance' bombs (Joel always worries you're going to get yourself blown up -- which is insulting, because he did teach you how to not set them off) while the soldiers yell at each other, at Joel... more bullets are flying! You gingerly pick up the bomb, then stand up and chuck it pretty much in the same motion before diving back down --
Bullets fly over your head now, too! You don't know how many you got but right after your bomb explodes, you hear another explosion -- and you practically run into Joel as you backtrack; you didn't even realize he was following you. "You take left, I'll take right," he whispers before tugging you to your feet. "But drop down an' move after you fire--"
There's a cloud surrounding the remaining soldiers -- he set off a smoke bomb! Very helpful in confusing enemies... but it also makes it harder for you to see them. You do as Joel said -- because of course, once they hear gunshots, the bastards just start firing indiscriminately -- and you think you got one guy but you're not sure... Joel is heading for the back of the room again, staying low. You're afraid to get up beyond counter level because the bullets just do not stop fucking coming! You follow Joel, and your heart freezes in terror when you see him stand up-- because the fucking bullets--
"That's all of 'em, kiddo," Joel says calmly.
--the bullets have stopped! You stand up and see the smoke has mostly dissipated. "Jesus, Joel..."
"Let's get the hell out of here before anyone else shows up. But go around that way."
You see that he's going to retrieve the undetonated bomb, so you go the way he indicated, checking out the new carnage on your way to the door. Five soldiers in total. "Um... should we take those kick-ass guns, do you think?"
"It's harder to get ammo for these... but if you want one, sure. Go ahead."
"Maybe the patrol can use them? I mean... it's a shame to just let them sit here... or get found by some asshole hunters. Right?"
Joel chuckles. "I s'pose you're right. We can tie 'em to the horses. But let's hurry..."
You loot the bodies as quickly as you can. You end up taking two assault rifles while Joel carries three. And you still have to empty all the shit from your bag onto the horses... you start doing that while Joel figures out how to attach all the guns.
Joel glances at you. "Hey. You okay?"
"...Do I not look okay?"
"You look fine, but... that was..."
"Intense?" you supply. "Yeah, but we've faced worse, remember?"
"You were... tryin' to reason with 'em. Talkin' to 'em..."
"Yeah... that was a bad idea. Sorry."
"It's fine. You tried. It's possible they wouldn't've hurt us if we'd surrendered... but my gut tells me they would have. Me, at least. You... I don' know. But I don't see 'em just lettin' you go, either."
You give him a look. "Doesn't matter what they'd do with me. If they hurt you... it's the same thing as hurting me. And they would've killed you. Motherfuckers... I'm glad we killed them, if that's what you're getting at."
"It wasn't always that way, you know. With soldiers. They all used to be considered heroes. They'd go off to war... do bad shit... but they were heroes. It was honorable. Now..."
You've heard this before, and not just from Joel. "There's still good ones, though. You know there are. Micah... Bo..."
"I wouldn't trust them not to turn on us, either, but they're friendly with Tommy an' Maria, so sure -- they ain't so bad. These guys..." Joel sighs. "Truth is, if I was in their shoes, I don' know what I would've done different. Try to extract the kid... but if the kid don't come out? You've still got this crazy bastard that needs to be taken--"
"But you're not-- you didn't do this! They wouldn't even listen to me!"
"I ain't sure I would've listened, either. It's... just a shitty situation to be in."
You study his expression carefully. Does he feel like... "Joel, it kinda sounds like you regret killing them. But--"
"No. I don't. It's what survivors do. It's what we've always done... and I guess that ain't changin' any time soon. ...You ready? Let's head out an' regroup someplace else."
Why would it change? you wonder. Like he said... it's what survivors have always done. You can't let it bother you. You're surprised Joel is so bothered by this. Like... he was expecting things to have changed in the past year-plus since you were Outside like this?
Funny... you used to be the more optimistic of the two of you... and Joel more of a pessimist. That comment about change makes it sound like he has higher expectations of the world now -- of Outside -- whereas you... have definitely lowered yours, over the past couple of years. The only thing that's changed is... our outlooks on life?
And yet they're more alike than you probably realize; with him starting at one extreme and you at the other, you've gradually moved the dial to where you almost meet in the middle now.
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