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ii. IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO ━━━━━━━━━━━━
From a distance, most ghouls looked half-feral to Sylvia. Up close, she saw that the ghoul aiming his gun at her forehead was anything but that.
He had a coldness in his sunken eyes. She had always found it unnerving in ghouls, but now it chilled her to the bone. How far did that coldness extend? Would he murder her and feel nothing after?
"I'm just passing through," she said, readjusting her grip on her rifle.
"Put it down, girlie," he retorted.
The ghoul kept swaying on his feet. If she hadn't caught a glimpse of it in the corner of her eye, she might never have noticed. But once she had, it didn't take long to form a half-baked escape plan.
He didn't look away from her as he said, "Tell your robot to―"
Sylvia kicked her leg out and swept the ghoul clean off his feet. He hit the ground hard, his tattered cowboy hat blowing clean off. His revolver skittered down the cracked pavement, and she planted her boot square on his chest.
"I really don't want to kill you, old man," she replied, aiming her rifle at his face.
The ghoul raised his hands. "Alright. Alright, you got me."
Quick footsteps on the pavement drew her attention away from him. A gecko darted out from behind a pile of rubble and came to a stop in front of them, rubbing its grubby hands together. Sylvia whirled, aiming her rifle at its head.
"Wait!" The ghoul wheezed out. "Wait. The― the gecko. It's with me."
Sylvia frowned at him. Still, the gecko hadn't jumped her yet. It stayed crouched in front of them, watching on with unblinking red eyes.
She glanced back at the ghoul. "How the hell did you tame one?"
"I don't know," he said. "They just... Like me."
She glared at the gecko again. "Don't make me regret this."
The ghoul didn't move until she had stepped off of him and slung her rifle over her back. Only then did he slowly sit up, scratching behind the gecko's frills. It made a pleased noise, and he smiled, revealing uneven yellow teeth.
