I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER

Chapter 213: A question

"North it is," she agreed, and something in how easily she said it made the whole thing feel less like a guess and more like a plan.

We packed up what we’d looted— the rope coiled and slung over my shoulder, the emergency supplies stuffed into the bag Jisoo had apparently scavenged at some point without me noticing, the radio tucked carefully against her chest like she wasn’t ready to let it out of her hands yet even though it hadn’t said anything useful in the last 20 minutes.

I checked the binoculars were secure around my neck and looked over at her.

"Ready?"

She nodded, but she didn’t move right away. Instead she looked back out at the view one more time— the smoke, the moons, the broken bridges, all of it like she was trying to hold onto it a little longer before we went back down into the part of the trial that actually wanted to kill us. "It really is pretty," she said quietly. "Even with everything wrong about it."

"Yeah," I said, looking at the same view. "It is."

Though, after that, I went to the edge and looked at the direction we came from, THE DESTROYED ROAD.

Well, you know... she can stop and watch while I can’t...? This is unfair!

***

We made our way back down through the building the slow way, taking the same stairwell we’d came into before obviously, except this time there wasn’t anything chasing us, which made the whole descent feel almost suspiciously calm.

Floor after floor passed without incident— the same overturned chairs, we stopped at the 7th floor, well, because Jisoo said she missed her handmade fort.

And we continued. Well. It’s weird here since at the 2nd floor there’s that same dead monitors that’s supposed to be at the other building.

I kept glancing at corners anyway. Old habits, formed over the span of about one very long day.

After awhile we hit the ground floor and Jisoo paused at the doorway, peering out at the street before stepping through it.

"No movement," she said.

"For now."

"For now," I repeated, "Are you jinxing us?"

"Jinx, hehe, I don’t believe in jinx."

"I do now, ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ... so shush okay?" I said, pressing a finger in her mouth.

And she nodded, cutely...

We stepped out together, and the street greeted us with the same overgrown quiet as before: tall grass swaying without wind, vines threading up through cracked pavement, the distant layered howling that I was starting to think of as background noise rather than an actual threat, which probably said something concerning about how fast a person could get used to anything.

North meant cutting through several more blocks, weaving around abandoned cars and collapsed storefronts, staying close to the buildings where the shadows gave at least a little cover even in daylight.

Jisoo walked beside me instead of behind, scanning the rooftops and alley mouths as we went, sharp and alert in the way that meant even though she’still the cute-incompetent Jisoo the calculating version of her had fully clocked back in.

I glanced at her.

Cute Jisoo hummed quietly to herself while scanning rooftops like she was doing two completely different jobs at once.

...

Yeah.

This penalty is unfair.

"So when we get to the wall," I said instead, mostly to fill the quiet, "what’s the actual plan. Just walk up and knock?"

"If there’s an exit there, it’ll probably have some kind of marker or mechanism." She didn’t look at me when she answered, still scanning. "Trials like this usually don’t make you guess twice. Once you’re close enough, something should trigger... a prompt, a door, anything. The system likes telling you when you’re right. Did you notice that?"

"It does seem to enjoy talking..." then a whisper. "I miss my systemy... she’s been gone for a while."

"Wah? Did you say something Hon Hon?"

"Nothing."

She nodded.

We kept walking.

Hours later.

A building to our left had a long claw mark raked down its face, deep enough to cut clean through brick in a single stroke, four parallel grooves spaced too far apart to belong to anything I wanted to think too hard about.

Jisoo eyed it as we passed but didn’t comment, and I decided to follow her lead on that one.

"Hey," I said after a while, mostly because the silence had gone on long enough that it felt like it needed breaking. "Can I ask something."

"Depends, what it is."

"The hand thing. Earlier." I kept my eyes forward, mostly so I wouldn’t have to watch whatever face she made in response. "Was that a one-time thing, or—"

"Want it to be forever?."

"ತ⁠_⁠ತ > ರ⁠_⁠ರ"

"I’m kidding Hon Hon." She replied with a giggle.

And when I glanced over she wasn’t glaring, just sort of looking ahead with the corners of her mouth doing something she clearly didn’t want me to notice.

Her ears turned bright red.

She coughed into her fist and looked away so quickly it almost made a sound.

"...A-ask me again," she mumbled.

"Hm?"

"When..." She cleared her throat "...when we’re not in the middle of an apocalypse trial."

Silence.

"...Okay."

I looked away before she noticed my own ears felt suspiciously warm.

We crossed another intersection, careful, checking both directions before going to it.

"We’ve got a long walk ahead," Jisoo said, following my gaze.

"Yeah."

"You sure? If you’re tired we can rest."

"No... My stats are full s.t.r and stamina... I should be asking you."

While looking at her I then thought about the seventy four resets, the cliff jumps, the convenience store, the building jump that almost didn’t land, and.. actually... this is a bit fun. "Don’t worry about me," I said. "I’m good."

She bumped her shoulder lightly against my arm as we kept walking, not quite holding my hand again but close enough to it that I didn’t bother pointing out the difference.

Up ahead the city kept going, broken and wild and strange under its double moons, and I know in my gut that somewhere past all of it sat a wall with maybe-an-exit standing dead center, waiting for two people who’s going mentally insane.

We walked toward it anyway.