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"Listen closely and you'll hear me," he says, speaking a little louder for a moment before he hangs up and walks up the stairs. He walks right to her and puts a big, warm hand on the back of her head.
"Come on. Time to go."
"Where are we headed?"
"Not your cabin or mine - spa?"
He never goes there and as such, in his head, it's more or less deserted all the time. Perfect to hide out in a little.
She means it to be teasing, but it comes out a little flat anyway.
"By you? Thanks, I'll pass."
He puts his arm around her shoulders as they walk. She could use the support, but he also wants to discourage people from talking to them, and two friends who look like they've got something going on are less likely to be bothered.
"Couple minutes more, then you can let go, alright? Just hold on."
"I seen that guy, and I seen what I look like after I visit a real barber," he points out, easily bantering with her to keep her at least somewhat occupied. "I'm gonna leave it to the professionals."
"I did live in a cave before I got here," he points out. "After we chased out the people-eaters."
"Be honest with you, I mostly just slept right outside when it wasn't raining. They kidnapped people and held 'em in cages, gave me the creeps to stay in there even after we cleaned it out."
He takes out his journal when they get to the spa and opens it up, ushering them inside. It is, indeed, blessedly quiet at this hour.
"Yeah, you won't get me to live just outside a cave, either."
She'd told Jake a week back that she planned to go to Arthur's world after all this, and though she questions the decision for an instant, she decides that she'd be able to handle that just fine. A world with cannibals can still be a world without Infected. It's still a step up.
"Hey," he says, taking a seat on one of the adjustable chairs in front of the hairdresser's mirror. "What happened?"
He nods, fingers tapping on his knees as she explains. "You freaked out? Couldn't think clearly?"
“I wasn’t freaking out. Shooting someone who looks infected is perfectly clear thinking.”
Better safe than sorry.
“And even if he said he wasn’t infected before I shot him, everyone hides bites. He could have been lying.”
"I'm askin', Tess, not judging," he tells her, calmly. "How are you feelin' about it right now?"
“I’m just...” She heaves a sigh, aggravated. Fearful? She can’t remember the last time she admitted to that. “This shit is so fucked up. He’s just going to walk around like that? Two weeks from now he could round another corner and we do this again?”
Somehow it felt easier to be cocky about dealing with infected before she personally got bit.
"So even knowing he's here, and he ain't infected, you still think you're gonna react the same way. I got that right?"
He doesn't judge her for it, but if they're going to solve this somehow, they need to know how bad it is to begin with.
Wouldn’t explain how far along he looks while still being able to control his own body, but nothing about this makes sense anyway.
On Sat, Feb 27, 2021 at 6:43 PM dog_eat_dog - DW Comment < dw_null@dreamwidth.org> wrote:
"They can still talk sense when they look like he does?"
She trails off for a second and then redirects herself:
"Maybe there are more people who have some resistance to it, it's just different from person to person."
"Are you still not completely sure, bein' away from it now, that he's not infected?"
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