That was easy for her to say. David watched in silent skepticism, after he told her that no one was going to die, but only for a moment. Just as quickly, his eyes darted back in the direction he'd come. They were coming for him. He knew they were. It was just a matter of time.
So why was he standing here when this woman was offering him a way back to the compound? He swallowed thickly and wet his lips. "We have to hurry, if you want to keep that promise," he told her. He spoke 'normal' words, but his tone was far from normal. Still frantic. Frenzied. Like he expected those words to be the very last he spoke.
He heard what she was saying, that people were looking for him, but the words didn't register. Right now, all that mattered was getting off of this street. Getting behind the walls. If he made it that far, they would be lucky to ever get him to leave again. He wanted to ask questions, at least his brain wanted to, but his mouth wouldn't cooperate. It had been trained to silence, these past few months. Getting it to break that silence was going to be a task and a half.
When she stepped forward, he watched her closely, but shook his head when she said they were safe. "As long as we're out here, that's not true." As long as they were completely exposed like this, that was definitely not true.
"I don't know if you're lying to me or not, but I... I'm going to..." he was going to take the chance. Trust her. "So... so let's go," he muttered, allowing himself to take a chance. The paranoid side of his brain that had grown so strong these past few months was suggesting that maybe she was one of them—one of the ones he'd never seen—but he figured... what did he have to lose? He took a somewhat steadier step in the direction of the compound and tried to settle his mind.