“Of course,” she said, adjusting the straps of the pack on her shoulders. “Of course we'll hurry. There's too many infected out here for us to just be standing here talking for so long.” Obviously, that wasn't David's main concern and Jackie knew that. In this instance, in David's mind, zombies were the lesser threat and she utilized it, making it seem like this was just a routine scavenging trip and, thus, nothing to panic over.
Unless a Smasher decided to this was an opportune moment to show up and crash the party. Wakers were making their calls in various parts of town. More Wakers than she'd heard in quite a while. Whatever had drawn in the initial rush of infected to the area, the overly vocal zombies were doing the rest of the work.
With David's next words, in that moment, Jackie knew that not only had the man been held captive, but he'd been abused, as well. Tortured. A surge of anger flooded through her. What kind of sick fucks would torture another human being? Life wasn't a casual walk in the park anymore, no, but torture was still heavily frowned upon. Three months of that would scramble any person's sanity.
He didn't run when she took that single step. Taking that as a positive sign, Jackie nodded and started forward slowly, stepping down the single step from the front porch and crossing over the short sidewalk. “I'm not lying, but I know it must be hard to trust what anyone says right now. It'll be okay.”
She stopped about a yard from where he was standing and used the flashlight to gesture toward the compound. “It's not far.” An obvious statement, but one she felt was necessary. “I can either walk beside you or in front of you. Your choice. Whichever you're more comfortable with.” Because walking behind him while he was in such a paranoid state wasn't a good idea.
Jackie resumed her slow pace down the street, taking a moment to assess the zombies in the area before casting a glance over her shoulder to see if David was following. She'd let him choose if he wanted her to keep the lead, or if he felt more comfortable walking beside her.
“I'm going to take you to the infirmary as soon as we get inside the gates,” she told him. There wasn't much she would force him to do right now, but if he protested, she would insist on getting him to the medics. That part was non-negotiable.