to her surprise, it was a woman who stood up.
the stranger didn’t looked harmful, or armed, for that matter, but gabe kept her gun raised anyhow. one could never be too careful these days, a lesson that she’d had to learn the hard way several times. “come out from those bushes,” she said, beckoning the woman to step out with a sideways motion of her gun. “i won’t shoot if you don’t mean any harm.”
the woman seemed guarded, though for good reason — she was being held at gunpoint. a quick glance told gabe that she was in relatively good health, not at her peak, but not starving, either. she had probably been foraging for food or shelter when the deer fell, and had stayed quiet to avoid detection.
“what is your name, and where are you from?” she lowered her gun, finally, and shoved it back in the holster at her hip. “if you’re hungry, we can share this.” she poked the dead deer with her toe. “i can’t finish the entire thing by myself.”
despite the other woman's beckoning, marie stood where she was, face unmoving. even if marie didn't mean any harm, there was no way to tell if this stranger didn't mean any as well. after all, she was the one the gun pointed and marie, while she did have a small gun (with only a few shots left), was largely unarmed.
it surprised her, however, when the stranger lowered her weapon, and it certainly registered on her face. for a moment her guard slipped, but was then hastily put back up. she'd heard so many rumours from groups she'd snuck by that there are a handful of hostile wanders.
she clenched her jaw, and put her hands down slowly. she sighed deeply, and took a gentle step forward. "i'm lily, and uh, i'm from, uh, nowhere," it took her a few attempts to talk: her voice hadn't been used for the longest time.
marie knew there was no point in lying anymore, but being as distrustful as she was, she did it anyways.
