CYOA Page 81
Your curiosity about the water park wins out.
Joel points it out to you as soon as it comes into view, peeking between the trees, still some distance away. It looks very much like an amusement park or a fair to you; the two of you saw a few of those on your way out from Boston.
As you get closer, though, you do see the difference, at least on some of them. "So the rides are all... through those tubes?"
"They're water slides, not rides, but yes, there's no seat belts or restraints or nothin' so you're closed in. You go down real fast. Feet first. Land in a pool."
You try to imagine it. "Sounds fun. Can you build one in Jackson?"
"Oh sure. Soon as we get back."
"Yay!" It's just a joke, of course, but... sometimes you like to pretend that it's not, when you ask him for the moon and he promises it to you.
"Keep quiet, now... an' look around with those binoculars, would you? Could be hunters anywhere around here."
You do as he says... although you spend as much time looking at the 'slides' (you still say they're tubes) as you do at your immediate surroundings. You notice how colorful they are -- and you know that Joel would laugh at that, telling you they're faded as hell. The elements tend to take their toll after several decades. In movies, everything man-made is more vibrant and colorful than in real life.
Oh! There ARE some that look like regular slides! you're excited to note. Why this excites you, you're not sure. Not like you'll get to try out any of these. ...or CAN I? Hmm...
"See anythin'?" Joel asks you so quietly that you almost don't hear him.
You do a cursory sweep through the trees where you should've been looking. "Nope."
"Me neither. Don't hear nothin', either."
"So should we just... ride on through?"
"No. Let's scout the place first."
You figured he'd say that. Being on horseback is great when you're out in the woods, or any open area... but you don't know the way through this place. All you know is what's drawn on the map, which shows that you basically go in the front and out the back. If you get ambushed -- or cornered -- the horses are large targets. Plus, you get the feeling that Joel wants to kill these guys, if they do exist. They wounded one of your people -- and those other townspeople were planning on killing them -- so they're classified as enemies. Those hunters were gone, though... we wouldn't know if anyone here is part of that same group...
But you can safely assume they are. Like Joel said, this location is strategic for assholes looking to profit off hapless travelers. And aren't all hunters basically the same?
No, a tiny little voice in your head protests. The one that reminds you that Joel used to be a hunter. Your kind, sweet, loving Joel... it's hard to believe! And yet, Joel himself would say that yes, they are all the same. Which... I guess is why he stopped being one?
You stash the horses in the parking garage while you check the place out (and yes, Joel insists that you check out the parking garage before you even do that; the horses end up 'parking' on the third level). The squiggles on the map were apparently referring to the rocky patch on the west side of the park, and extending into the park itself. You don't see a way through on the outside, like you and Joel were speculating about before, but perhaps you'd have to follow the rock wall all the way around the ginormous parking lot (it has to end somewhere, right?). The rock seems to be fashioned into interior walls, too, and you wonder how much is natural versus man-made.
The main (and only?) gates are wide open, and you enter with caution, moving deftly from post to post the way you do when you're trying to avoid detection and kill your enemies stealthily. Joel directs you to go straight back, since your goal is to find the exit on the opposite side, but then he sees something off to your right and wants to go that way. You follow him...
...to a little tower-like thing. You're sure that's what he's interested in. He checks it out on all sides, then climbs up a ladder on the side. You follow him up. What a view! It's not a huge way off the ground, but it does let you see around this half of the park rather well. On the far side is just a huge slab of nothing -- a wave pool, according to Joel. So people can surf and stuff. You're standing in a lifeguard tower.
It's clear that people have been up here, because there's pillows (like the kind couches have), a blanket, a jacket... a lone shoe(?)... empty cans of food... There's no way of knowing how long it's been since any of these things have been used, however.
"Do you think they used this as a look-out? They'd be able to see us, where we were over there..."
"Yeah, maybe. Can I see those?" He wants your binoculars.
"Sure. Here!" You try to hand them to him without removing them from around your neck. Usually that earns you at least a quick kiss when he leans in to look through them. Not this time! Joel just gives you a Look -- no leaning in. You roll your eyes and sigh. "Fine. 'Now ain't the time, kiddo.' Here, take them..."
He doesn't even acknowledge your spot-on imitation of his voice when you pull the cord over your neck and hand them over. But then, once he's busy panning around through the binoculars, he says, "Now ain't the time, kiddo."
You giggle a little and move in front of him, tucking yourself under the binoculars. "But there's no one here," you stage-whisper. You kiss his neck, and he barely seems to notice.
He puts his other arm around you and pivots you with him when he turns... moves you with him as he moves around to check from the other sides. "It appears that way," he agrees once he's checked all angles. "But we can't see the other side from here... an' I just get a bad feeling from this place."
"Well, I don't. I think it's cool." You kiss his lips.
"Ellie--"
"It was just a little one!" you pout. "Maybe you feel that way because you know something bad happened here before?"
"Let's just find the exit an' get out of here." Joel extricates himself from your embrace and climbs down the ladder, keeping the binoculars around his own neck.
You follow, but you're not ready to leave yet. "Shouldn't we go look around the other side?"
"I think we'll be able to pass through all right."
"But I really wanna look around! Please?"
"We only need to look 'til we find the way out the back."
You don't complain further; you've gotten enough of a look at the slides to know that you really want to try one out. "You've slid down these things before?"
"Mmhmm."
"Are they scary?"
"They can be. The ones that are pitch black inside so you can't see what direction you're goin' are kind of scary, yeah. Although some of 'em give you a little patch of light in the middle -- sometimes with water spilling through on top of you there. ...Sarah liked those. She was fearless."
You love it when he's able to share happy memories of his daughter and not get all weird after. The jury's still out on this particular 'after,' but in general, when he's the one who brings up her name, he's good. "Do you see one like that here?"
"There's prob'ly some... an' ones like that one over there -- see it? You go down on rafts -- little inflatable rafts -- and you can go two at a time."
Joel tells you more about the slides, and something called a lazy river. You soak it all in. You do love hearing about stuff from the old world, but what you really love is when Joel gets all... really into telling you about it. Except sometimes he gets a little sad afterward, when it inevitably ends with "I really wish I could show you for real."
"Can you slide down these without water?" you ask him before he reaches that part.
"No." Joel actually stops walking to give you a hard look. "Don't even think about it."
"I wasn't!" you lie. "Jesus, Joel, I was just asking. What about the regular-looking ones? The open ones?"
"Those need water, too."
"But they just go straight down."
"You go down one of these, any kind-- "--he gestures to the whole fucking park-- "--you're gonna land hard on cement."
"Okay. I get it."
"An' besides that, we don' know what kind of shape these things are in. I assume no one's touched 'em in more than twenty years."
"They look pretty solid to me," you say innocently; Joel's just so cute when he gets all worked up.
"Looks don' mean shit -- an' some of 'em look a little precarious, if you ask me."
"Well, you know about maintenance and stuff so couldn't you just look at one and--"
"Did you not hear the part about tumblin' out onto cement?"
"But hypothetically speaking, you--"
"Hypothetical, my ass. Get that idea out of your mind, kiddo."
"I never said I was--"
"An' keep your voice down. I still don't like this."
Whatever. You can see there's no one around.
You do find a way out -- a delivery gate behind some 'employees only' buildings. Joel walks through it and looks around. "I'll be goddamned. Look at this, Ellie -- it's like a regular park back here. Except the play area's on a splash pad instead of sand or somethin'."
...Splash pad? "Plus it's all closed in -- that's why you have to go through the park to get to the bridge, huh!" To your relief, you do see a quite intact-looking bridge on the other side of this 'park.' It looks funny because it's not designed for cars to drive over it... it looks like there's booths lining the sides of it or something. You're not close enough to see. You turn your attention back to the little mini-park you're standing in. "People have to slide to get in here from the water park?"
Joel follows your gaze to a purple chute that starts on the other side and ends on your side. He chuckles. "I'm sure there's a door or somethin' over there. How would they get back to the other side?"
"Oh yeah, huh. Through this gate here, I guess!"
"They've got a harbor over there, too, see it? Damn, this guy was really tryin' to make a one-stop-shoppin' place here."
You don't see where there's any stores to go shopping, but you let that slide. ...slide! Ha ha! "There's even some boats left. Hey, we could go sailing!"
"Sure. If you know how to hotwire one. An' if the motor starts."
"Hotwire? Like start it without keys? Pfff. You know how to do that, don't you?"
"Uh, no."
You're surprised because Joel usually seems to know everything about everything. "Okay so we'll just find some oars and row."
Joel laughs. "How are you even gonna reach the water with your little oars? An' even if you did, you think you could move that thing?"
Some of the boats look kind of low to the water to you, but whatever. "Well, you'd help me, of course!"
He kisses you for that. "You're cute, you know that?"
You grin. "I know you think that."
"All right, let's go back. I reckon we can bring the horses through here... an' then check out the rest of this area. We can split in a hurry if we have to... but it don't look like we're gonna find a whole bunch of 'em, at least. Nothin' we can't handle."
You've noticed him eyeing the boats more than anything else. "You think the hunters might live on the boats?"
"Don' know... I don't see anythin' over there... but it'd be a more comfortable place to sleep than anywhere we saw inside, yeah?"
"Yeah. Okay." You go back through the gate and start heading back toward the front entrance. "So... maybe you can go get the horses an' I'll wait here?"
"You'll wait here?" Joel seems suspicious.
...as well he should be, since your motives are less than pure. "Yep! Right here."
"No. You wanna go look at that big slalom slide over there, don'tcha."
"The what? No, I just..." ...want to rest? Not believable. Hmm... "...want to drink it all in a little more before we go. I can imagine going to it for real... from the stuff you told me. Is that okay?" You try to look very sweet when you ask this.
"Which still means you'll be wanderin' around over there."
"Not if you don't want me to."
"I don't want you to."
"There's no one in here, you know. We looked -- from the tower."
"Humor me."
"Okayyyy," you groan, like he's asking the world of you.
"All right. I'll be back in five minutes. Stay alert."
Five minutes?! "Take your time."
Joel kisses you and jogs off.
So, apparently you only have five minutes to do whatever you were going to do...
If you disobey him and race through the other half of the park and back in five minutes, turn to page 143.
If you don't disobey him like THAT, but go try out a slide -- one that looks pretty safe to you -- turn to page 147.
If you feel guilty for even THINKING about doing either of those things and stay put, turn to page 150.