The Will To Live✔️

Chapter 14: Pit Stop

"Damn," Greg muttered as they stepped back outside.

"What?" Izzy asked immediately, hand resting on the butt of her pistol, looking around.

"Nothing, it's just colder. A lot colder," he replied. "It's not a good sign. And it's getting windier, too."

"Crap," she muttered, looking at the sky. He joined her in doing so. Was it darker? It was somewhere in mid-afternoon right now, or it should be, however long this planet's days lasted. They seemed approximately Earth-normal, but with weather like this, it might as well not matter. "Should we stay?" she asked uncertainly.

"No," Greg replied, "we should press on. We need that part and it could just be getting colder. I don't really feel like getting in the habit of hesitating every time the wind blows."

"I'm not being cowardly," Izzy said harshly. He looked at her, surprised, and she stared back at him, angry, then suddenly she lost the expression and sighed. "I'm sorry, that was...rude. I just thought you were, you know...insulting me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that-"

"No, I know. Let's just start walking," she said, and abruptly set off.

He followed after her. He'd never quite seen this side of Izzy before. During their interactions that didn't involve shooting bullets at alien assholes, she'd been usually polite, sometimes warm, and at worst a little cold, but not outright hostile. What did that mean? He thought they were doing well: she was at ease around him, they'd been flirting, she'd kissed him. Maybe he was misreading the situation? He wasn't known for his social intelligence.

They walked for about ten minutes before he couldn't keep his silence any longer. "Izzy, did I do something to piss you off?"

"No," she replied immediately, as if she'd been expecting the question. She shook her head. "It has nothing to do with what you've said or did. I'm just...okay, you know how some people get terrible wounds, and instead of healing properly, they never seem to completely heal, and hurt so bad if they get hit the wrong way, even if it's just someone bumping into them on accident?"

He nodded. He'd seen that before. It was a lot less common than he imagined it was hundreds of years ago, with modern medical marvels, but medicine couldn't cure everything, and honestly, some scars stayed painful, no matter how many treatments you gave them. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about," he replied.

"So that's what it's like for me in a way, only with how my perception of people thinking I'm weak or stupid or something. I had to put up with being second guessed, talked down to, or outright insulted for so long that I've built up a good armor against it. Mostly I can ignore it, or throw it right back in their stupid faces, but sometimes..."

"Sometimes you get hit in just the wrong way, and it hurts like hell."

"Yeah. Even if it's an accident. So again, you didn't do anything wrong. I mean really, it only happens anymore with people I..." she hesitated.

"People you what?"

"Trust," she said finally.

"Oh." He paused. "You made that sound like it was hard to admit."

"You can't see why someone like me might hesitate to admit that I trust someone else? People you trust betray you more easily...I mean, not that I think you're going to betray me."

"No, I get it. It's understandable. I trust you, too."

She hesitated, looking like she wanted to say a little more, then just nodded. "Good. I'm glad." She shivered suddenly. "Goddamn it is getting cold," she muttered, looking angrily at the sky. The wind was gusting more powerfully now, and it had teeth, the cold chewing into them despite their newly acquired helmets (although they hadn't changed armor yet, they had at least put the helmets on, and discovered they still mostly worked, and came pre-loaded with a map of the island). The farther on they walked, the more paranoid he became about the cold.