Alexandra is waiting for me on the other side...

You don’t have to make the decision yourself. Alexandra pokes her head out and whistles. “How’d the meeting go?”

You shrug. “I don’t know. I guess I’m having drinks with Amari after dinner tonight. Should I be worried?”

Alexandra signals you over to get you further away from Amari’s room. She swallows, looking at the door like she suspects Amari to step out and yell at her too. When you’re within a few feet of Alexandra, she pulls you out of the hallway. Her hair is wet, and there’s a faint smell of strawberries lingering in the space between you.

“Let’s sneak out and do something,” she says, ignoring your question.

A glance down between you to makes her step away. “My leg is fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Even if we’re caught, nothing terrible will happen to us. We have this entire town around the thumb of the ARS.”

Since you don’t have anything else planned, you decide to join Alexandra. Besides… it might be better to run around with her instead of Flora– Amari might do something otherwise. So, you get dressed up to go back outside with Alexandra hobbling behind you.

The cool air is still as uninviting as the last time you were out here, but it seems to be bugging Alexandra a bit more, who is slightly underdressed for the brisk walk you are taking. Even though you’re just beside her, you can still see the slight limp she has with every step.

“You sure you’re good to run if we need to?”

“Yes,” she says annoyingly. “If I weren’t sure of myself, I wouldn’t have suggested we do something like this.”

She nearly trips over, but you catch her. If this were a month or two earlier, Alexandra would have made fun of you. Now, however, she thanks you. “I’ll be able to walk better when I know I need to, so let's walk further out and see if there’s some random farmer to pick on.”

You smile slightly when you hear this. “Feeling adventurous, huh?”

You can’t see her face, but you figure she’s smiling too. Even if it’s ****, it is a drastic improvement from what it was before having that three-way with her and Scarlet. “Honestly, I just feel like proving to myself my leg isn’t a total wreck.”

“Well, as long as you don’t get re-shot while trying to run away, I’m fine with whatever you got in mind.”

“Trust me, Warren. Nothing heals my body more than pain in a dangerous situation,” that smile you thought she becomes crystal clear when she turned to face you. “And if it doesn’t turn out so good, I have you to carry me back again.”

“I’m expecting payment this time, then.”

You walk for about 20 minutes before finding a compound with about four buildings. Alexandra stops at the treeline and stretches, making sure to apply most of the pressure to her good leg. “You want eggs. A chicken? Maybe some milk?”

“Let us see what we stumble over first,” you try looking beyond the walls of the compound, but you don’t see or hear anything. “I’m happy you’re not planning on anything expensive, by the way.”

Alexandra hums and turns to face you. Her nose was pink like her cheeks. When she exhales, it comes out as thick vapor. “Taking something edible this time of year is like taking life savings– gold even.”

“And you get off on that fact?”

“Makes me feel better to make others feel worse when I’m practically a cripple,” she groans, gripping her upper thigh where Scarlet had shot her. “Fucking bitch really did a number on me, didn’t she?”

“Yeah,” you wonder where Scarlet is now. “She almost killed us both.”

The mood sours, but Alexandra changes the subject relatively quickly. “Alright. Since this bum leg hampers me, you’ll do most of the sneaking and running. I’ll relax outside and wait for you.”

“Ah,” you begin walking leisurely, “another test for me. What’ll it take for you to trust me?”

“Maybe a foot massage and a couple of bowls of chicken soup,” she tells you with a tight smile. “And maybe a date where you serve me wine that isn’t laced this time.”

You decide not to say anything after that last comment; you aren’t sure how much that is and isn’t a joke. “Let’s see what the farmer has in stock for us then.”

Once standing at the foot of the wall, you hear the sounds of human activity and interaction. You think this place looks vaguely familiar. You might have made a contract here before, but with the change of scenery, it’s almost impossible to tell.

“I’m only going to tell you to do this once,” she says as she presses her back against the wall. “Step on me.”

She cups her hands in front of her as she braces. You carefully mount your foot on her hands to mount over the wall. It’s easy to reach the top of the wall from this distance now, but when you start climbing over, you realize you have been here before. This compound belongs to a family.

There are four buildings in total, one of them is the barn, it had horses and a dairy cow. Near the barn is a chicken coup. The second building that you’re near is the warehouse. It held on to supplies, which also happened to be where they kept all of their canned goods like peaches, peas, and other pickled goodies. The third building was a shed. It had tools in it, but also some items that were

Inside, there are four buildings. A barn, with horses and dairy cow. A chicken coup, with at least a dozen chickens and a half as many ducks. There are two warehouses, both of which you have no idea what they contain. The final structure is the house where the family and the family live. You don't see anyone around you, so you have some time to consider where to go.