This is the first unclothed girl you've seen in more than a year of travelling alone. You CAN'T look away.

The thought doesn’t even enter your head as she slowly lifts the edges of her shirt and lifts it up over her head. It stays there for a moment, covering her head, and you see the black bra hanging off her chest, loosened from being manhandled by the bandits.

Your heart is thudding in your ears as she lifts the shirt away and throws it into the pile, shaking her long hair free. It flows down the smooth, unblemished skin of her back and she bends over to pull down her long, thin skirt.

You find yourself shocked by just how _much _her skirt was hiding as she stays bent down, freeing her feet. Dark panties press against her large, perky cheeks, smooth as the rest of her; two dimples at the bottom of her spine. She straightens up, back still to you, reaching up behind herself to feel for the clasp of her bra.

She pauses, and turns her head slightly in your direction.

Immediately you whip your head down to the floor, staring at it long and hard. Your heart is beating louder than ever - almost ridiculously. You’ve fought raptors more calmly than you were now.

Slowly, you risk turning your head up slowly to see her fixing the clasp of her new bra in the dim light and feel a pang of disappointment that you beat away with a wave of annoyance.

What the fuck is wrong with me? you wonder. I see one girl and it fucks me up like this?

You open an eye and look down to see your hard-on bulging underneath your pants and curse quietly, forcing your mind to thoughts of trees and monkeys.

“I’m… done,” comes Carmen’s voice.

You almost jump but manage to keep your dignity as you stand slowly, regarding her new outfit. She wears a plain grey top with a dark denim jacket that’s a little too big, and cargo pants that are a little too tight. She also has new shoes on - green sneakers that actually look like they fit properly.

You nod slowly at her, taking in her outfit as you look her up and down. “Looks good.”

She rubs her shoulder with a tiny smile, the first you’ve ever seen on her. “Thanks,” she says faintly. She frowns at your lack of new garments. “You’re not taking anything new?”

“Nothing’s really my style,” you say with a shrug, smiling under your scarf. Yeah. Yeah, that sounded cool.

Carmen just frowns confusedly. “Does… that matter?”

“What? No, that was another… never mind,” you sigh. Trying not to think about it, you sling the rifle over your shoulder once more. “We should get moving.”

Carmen’s eyes widen. “What? Now? Isn’t it almost dark?”

“We have time if we move quick,” you say, rubbing some dust off your stock with your elbow.

Carmen’s eyes are scrunched into a worried frown. “Are… are you sure we can’t just spend the night here?”

You pause. “...What?” you ask, feeling dumb.

She turns to the shop. “I mean, this place looks ok, right? No freaks in here, and there’s only one entrance… if we block the front door we can spend the night, right? Then we have all day tomorrow to get out of the city.”

She turns back to you and brushes a lock of hair behind her ear. “What do you think?”