She’s right - I couldn’t just save her life and then leave her for the carnivores.

You sigh, long and loud, looking up at the sky. She watches you intently, hanging on every sound. Finally, you lower your gaze to her.

“You got a name?” you ask.

“I… what?” she asks, bewildered.

“Your name. What is it?”

“I… Carmen,” she answers. “I’m Carmen.”

“Ok, Carmen,” you say, feeling weird to say another person’s name out loud for the first time in so long. “You can tag along with me.”

The look of relief on her face is something else, and tears form in her eyes. “Thank–” she begins, but you cut her off with a raised hand.

“Hold on. I have some conditions.”

She stops, hugging herself a little tighter. “What… what conditions?”

“Can you fight?” you inquire, ignoring her reaction.

“What? I…”

“No lying, Carmen. That’s a condition, too.”

“I… no,” she says meekly. “Not… not well.”

“And you’ve never been out in the wilds alone?”

She shakes her head.

“Ok,” you start. “If you’re coming with me, you’re gonna listen to what I say. When I say run, or hide, or anything else, you don’t argue with me, got it? You do it then and there.”

She looks at you nervously, gulping. “...Ok,” she mutters.

“What’s that?”

“Ok,” she repeats, a little louder.

You nod. “Alright. Good.” Yeah. Sure. Good. Definitely not a mistake.

The sun is blazing above you, but that won’t be true forever. You needed to decide where to go next.