2. Tell him that you were trying to escape the valley and leave out anything about you or Jesse being infected.
Deciding that you should probably leave out anything about being infected, you give a brief overview of your 'adventure' so far, mostly focusing on meeting Jesse at her cabin, and deciding to travel together.
"But what about the rest of her family?" Kyle asks.
You shake your head. "Uhhhh... Jesse said they were dead."
Kyle frowns. "I don't know. I knew her father. I don't think he'd get himself offed, ya know?"
"Oh, what do you know," Shawna says from the kitchen. "You don't know anything."
Kyle turns to face the doorway. "I know enough to keep us both alive!"
Shawna scoffs and keeps reading.
"Anyway," Kyle says, turning back to you, "I'm glad she thought to come here. I went to their house, you know, on one of my hunts. I didn't remember about the cabin, or I would have checked there."
"Hunts?" you ask.
Kyle chuckles, and cracks his knuckles over the table. "Oh, you know. I like to keep myself busy. I get crazy cooped in here, and I've needed a few things from time to time, so sometimes I go out and pop a few vineheads, grab a few things I might need."
"You're crazy, you know that, going out there alone," Shawna says, coming into the room. You get a closer look at her. She's short, maybe a little over five feet, appears to be in her late twenties. Her round face is unpleasant looking, and judging by what you've seen of her behavior so far, you think she knows it. She is dressed in a brown turtleneck and blue jeans. Most of her weight is distributed to her thighs. She seems to have an almost permanent frown on her face.
"You'll get yourself killed," she says as she sits down at the table. "Don't say I never warned you."
"Killed? Me?" Kyle says, grinning. "Nah. Those vineheads ain't nothing. Shit, I'd be more scared of a normal guy with a knife. Nah, they're slow and dumb. Easy to spot and pick off if you're careful, which I am."
"What about the Cavines?" you ask, watching him.
"The what now?"
"Oh, uh. Sorry. The infected dogs."
Kyle muses. "Cavines, hah. I like that. Clever. Whaddya call the people?"
You shrug. "Uh. Faceless, I guess."
Kyle chuckles. "I like vinehead better."
You smile weakly.
"But yeah, the dogs can give you some trouble. They're smarter and faster. But again, they ain't got guns, so long as you ain't stupid you can beat 'em," Kyle says.
"If that's true, then you're doomed," Shawna say sullenly.
Kyle turns to her, and then winks at you. "Oh my darling little girl. You just can't help but look on the bright side of life, can ya? So grateful for my help and all."
"This is ridiculous," Shawna says, getting into a speech you can tell she has spoken many times before. "This is all gonna blow over. The army is gonna come, and they're gonna save us. We should just stay inside until they come. In fact you never shoulda brought me here. It's so damn boring. I was fine where I was."
Kyle laughs. "The army? You serious? You know what they did to Limestone. Gassed the whole damn city. Killed everybody but the ones they was trying for. The army ain't coming, Shawna. You an' me, we're it. We got to take care of ourselves."
"I still don't believe that," Shawna says.
"Girl, I brought back the canister. I showed it to you. They probably gassed where you were, too. Hell, you probably wouldn't have even survived that long. You'd be worm food if it wasn't for me."
Shawna just shakes her head and sighs.
Kyle turns back to you. "So what happened with Jesse's eye? That's ugly, ugly thing for a pretty girl like her to have to have."
"Uh, I guess she lost it in an accident," you say slowly.
"An accident?"
"She hasn't really said," you say. "You know, we were busy, running and stuff."
"Yeah I saw that. You two were in shit shape when you got to my porch," Kyle says, chuckling. "Good thing I heard all that ruckus, huh?"
"Yeah, good thing," you say.
Kyle regards you, long and steady. You get the sense he's measuring you up. You suspect there's more going on behind his rough speech and cool eyes than he is letting on. You meet his gaze, and he smiles at you.
"Well, you're welcome to stay here long as you want," Kyle says. "Jessica is family, and you're her friend, so that makes you family too."
"Thanks," you say, wondering if you should tell him about your mission to find Nicole. You didn't come to stay here, you only came to stock up. You wonder if there's going to be any trouble if you try to leave.
"Well, I'm beat," Kyle says. "I've been up all night watching over you and Jess. I think I'll take a nap. Help yourself to any food ya want."
You nod. "Thanks. I will."
Kyle stands up and stretches and yawns. "Always knew it'd come to this. I knew it. Everyone used to call me a nutter. Crazy Kyle. Now who's crazy?"
"You are," Shawna says.
"Maybe!" Kyle laughs. "But crazy and alive! All them others, they listen to the authorities. Authorities don't know nothin'. When the chips are down you've only got yourself to rely on. All them people like you Shawna, hoping and hoping for the government to save 'em, they're dead now. And good riddance. I never liked people who couldn't help themselves."
Shawna just shakes her head and her father leaves the room. She looks at you after he's gone.
"So, you're from Greenwood?"
"Yeah," you say.
"You're crazy, coming all the way out here. Who'd want to live up here? What're you doing up here? You should have stayed where you was."
"Well, there's not much left of Greenwood now," you say.
Shawna continues as if you hadn't spoken. You get the impression she does that a lot. "We don't got a lot of food. Now we're gonna have to share it with you and the girl. No offense. I don't mean to be rude, but you should get on your way."
As she finishes, she gets up and leaves, without waiting for your reply.
You shake your head, and call Max over. He perks up and walks to you, putting his head in your lap, looking at you with intelligent eyes.
"What kind of mess have we gotten into now?" you ask him softly. Max grins at you and wags his tail as you scratch his head. "At least you got some food."
Max wags in agreement.
"We gotta get out of here, and find Nicole. We can't stay, can we?"
Max watches you. You have to admit, staying here might not be such a bad idea. It's safe here. You could finally put your feet up.
You shake your head. Hell. You've come this far, right? Then again...
You should check on Jesse, see if she's doing all right. You stand and pat your leg for Max to follow, and begin to explore the bunker. Your leg is a bit stiff, but you hardly limp.
You find Jesse in a small room that looks like a library. Books line the shelves, mostly on engineering and other technical stuff. A cot has been set up, Jesse lays peacefully on it, hair down, eye closed. You're struck by how beautiful she is, even under all the dirt and blood.
You pull over a chair and sit by her cot, holding her hand and stroking it softly. After a minute she stirs, and rolls over, her eye opening slowly to gaze at you.
You smile, and she smiles back. "Hey," she says, softly. "What happened? Where are we?"
"We're inside Kyle's bunker," you say in reply.
"Kyle? But my dad said he was dead," Jesse says.
"Guess he was wrong," you say.
Max sticks his snout up and licks Jesse's face. She laughs and presses him away. "Max, you crazy mutt, cut it out."
Max whines happily and licks her again, wriggling. Jesse smiles and pets his head.
An urge comes over you to kiss her.
********************************
1. Sure. Why not?
2. Nope. Plenty of reasons why not.
********************************
Poll
4 (66.7%)
Author
Topic: The Ends (Read 59164 times)