76 Questioning the St. John's

I was walking around aimlessly, until I saw Lee walk up to Danny, wanting to strike up a conversation.

"Hello," Danny said, "I'm glad I got to use her today..."

Lee just looked at him confused.

"My girl here," Danny said as he caressed his rifle.

"You... really like that gun," Lee said.

"What's not to like?" Danny asked.

"Not much, I guess," Lee answered.

"Exactly," Danny said with a small smile on his face.

"So, you guys are pretty out in the sticks, here" Lee said.

"Hard to find..." Danny said.

"You get any visitors?" Lee asked.

"Not anymore. Bandits, of course. Used to be these school kids on tours back before the... dead time" Danny answered with a sombre tone.

"How do you run this place with just one cow?" Lee asked, wanting to change the topic of the conversation.

"Used to have more. They get hungry, too. Or sick. Got your doctor friend here now, though" Danny answered.

"You guys must trade for a LOT of fuel to keep the generators running, right?" Lee asked.

"People get hungry and a few loaves of bread fetch a high price. Y'all are lucky you're on this side of the deal now" Danny answered.

"I'm... gonna go wait for supper, then," Lee said.

"It'll be a good one," Danny said creepily.

Lee then walked back to Brenda to ask a couple of questions, and I walked a bit closer to listen into their conversation since it's best to know if anything suspicious is happening.

"What's on your mind, Lee?" Brenda asked.

"How's Mark doing in there?" Lee asked concerned.

"Best patient I ever had. Oh, my boys get so much as a scratch and start hollerin'. He could definitely teach them a thing or two about being tough" Brenda said with a grin.

"I'd... still like to check on him though," Lee said.

"You're gonna have to trust me on this one, Lee. I've helped stitch my share of wounds. I know what I'm talking about" Brenda said.

"Uh... not to be rude, ma'am, but how come you're out here instead of... you know..." Lee asked, changing the topic of the conversation.

"Hahahohoho, you wanna know why I'm not slaving away in the kitchen, is that it?" Brenda asked.

"Uh... no, no... I didn't mean for it to sound like that" Lee said awkwardly.

"Oh,it's okay, darlin'. Got it slow cookin' in the oven. Should be ready before too long!" Brenda said happily.

"...We ran into some trouble out there" Lee said.

"I was just glad you two weren't hurt. Those bandits just don't know when to quit. But my boys... they can hold their own" Brenda said.

"Why did you make a deal with those people?" Lee asked.

"We got a thread of humanity left, Lee. we can do more good without them in our hair by placatin' 'em, so that's what we do" Brenda answered.

"I think I'll go have a look around," Lee said.

"Kinda peaceful out here, ain't it? Enjoy it while you can. You'll probably start hearing those monsters fryin' against the fence before too long" Brenda said.

Lee nodded and walked away.

I had also walked away, getting pretty bored, until I stumbled upon a toolbox, so I opened it and took the Multi-Tool out of it for later on.

I saw Lee walking over to the gazebo to talk to Lilly and Larry.

"Hey... so, what happened to the camp? Did you guys find any more of those guys who hurt Mark?" Lily asked.

"We found a woman in the woods. She was talking all crazy and had a crossbow... so, Danny killed her" Lee said.

"Holy shit! Was she one of those bandits?" Lily asked, shocked.

"I don't know. I think she was trying to tell us something, but then... he just went off" Lee said.

"I don't like this, Lee. I still say we should go back to the Motor Inn where we at least know what to expect" Lily said.

"What were you and Kenny arguing about within the... thirty seconds of us coming back to camp?" Lee asked.

"He's losing it Lee, he comes over and starts talking about searching the barn and that these people are hiding something-" Lily said before getting cut off.

"But you told him to mind his own god damn business, right? We are guests here, and we don't need to be overstaying our welcome more than we already are" Larry said grumpily.

"The way I see it, we just need to skip dinner and get our food to go. But I'm starting to think your friend over there has another agenda" Lily said.

"Do you get the feeling something's going on here?" Lee asked.

"What makes you say that? What exactly happened at the camp?" Lily asked

"It's... nothing. Don't worry about it. Paranoia's just getting to me a little bit" Lee said.

"...I know what you mean. These backwoods people always give me the creeps" Lily said "If you ask me, we should just get our dinner and leave"

"Come on now, we don't wanna be rude," Larry said to Lily.

"I'm gonna go check things out," Lee said.

"Just don't get too nosy. These kinds of people are usually pretty protective about their privacy" Lily cautioned as Lee walked away to the barn and I followed closely.