You're not exactly sure why, but the thought of seeing another human alive and healthy is just too tempting.
"I'm over here!" you shout, and turn on your flashlight. Immediately the flashlight you have been observing turns your way, and begins to move slowly towards you.
"I've got a gun!" The woman's voice shouts back at you, a little uncertain.
"That's okay, I've got one too!" You attempt to inject a bit of humor into the last statement to try putting her at ease.
"Mind putting it away? I've just put mine in my pocket." The voice is a little closer now, and you can make out the outline of a female form vaguely in the shadows behind the flashlight. You have to resist blinding her with your own in order to see what she looks like.
You slide your gun back into your pocket and reply,
"Okay, done." A moment goes by where she doesn't say anything, and you swing your flashlight up to illuminate your face. "If you're going to shoot, now's the time." You smile what you hope is calmly.
The other beam wavers for an instant, before also flashing up to reveal the face of a woman. She is thin, with an elfin look to her face. The beam of her flashlight accentuates the corners of her features giving her a slightly sinister look, but that is to be expected. Red hair, you note distractedly, as you try to figure out what to say next.
"Are you, uh, safe?" she asks softly, an obvious air of fear in her eyes, combined with hope.
"Yeah." You reply, trying to sound comforting. "I'm a heck of a lot safer knowing that you aren't pointing a gun at me anymore too."
She smiles a small smile, before responding.
"Nothing personal, but I lied. " She moves her hand and the sound of something entering a pocket is heard. "I just wanted to make sure I could handle you if you turned out to be like that guy earlier."
"What guy?" you ask a bit confused.
"A couple girls from my little group of people came over here to try and find some supplies. When they were gone for a long time, I came over here with another girl. We looked around for a while before we found them. It wasn't pleasant."
"I'm sorry," you say, feeling the sharp barbs of your concience. You probably could have done something if you'd checked out those screams earlier.
"Me too." She shrugs, moving a little closer to you, enough so that you can make out the shape of her body. It is slender, with pleasant swells of breast and hip. From what you can tell, she's wearing a t-shirt and jeans which draw attention to her assets without effort.
"Anyway," she continues, "We checked the place out and then decided to split up, since we had the guns. About twenty minutes go by, and I hear my friend screaming. I run to the sound, and see this massive guy, uh," She pauses and breathes deeply. It's clear she doesn't like thinking about this part. "Well, he was hurting her. Okay?"
"Okay." You say. You know exactly what a man can do to a woman if he wants to.
"So I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't. Kept making comments about how I was next. That was when I killed him. I just pulled the trigger and shot him. Unfortunately, he'd already hurt Megan, that's, I mean, was, my friends name. She died about two hours ago, and I was too scared to move her." She's on the verge of tears as she finishes the statement.
"What's your name?" you ask, trying to change the subject. The last thing she needs to dwell on this.
"Gwen." she replies with a soft sniffle. "You?"
". ." you say calmly.
"Well, , what now? |