You can't exactly blame David for his cowardice — he'd never even been in a fight his entire life. He spent most of his life indoors, in the comforts of his own home, and away from all things dangerous. It was already uncharacteristic enough of him to try and help the girl. Getting into a fight would have been too drastic of a step-up from what he was used to.
"C'mon," urged David as he was beginning to run away, "Let's move–"
"HONK!"
"...Did you just 'honk'?"
"That wasn't me," whimpered the red-haired girl, "Oh god, it's too late."
David turned back around and could hardly believe his eyes. As if the situation couldn't get any more bizarre, the mystery attacker was simply a very angry goose.
"Let me get this straight, you're being attacked… by a goose?" asked David sporting a look of disbelief.
"No," the red-haired girl replied as she hid behind David. "I'm being attacked… by all the geese."
"What are you talking about? I only see one of them– "
The girl was not lying. Geese angrily formed up behind the sole goose rushing towards the girl. Some flew in from the sides while some rushed out of the river. David swore he even saw one jump right out of a nearby tree.
"How?" muttered David, "just… how?"
The geese formed a circle around the two, inching closer and closer while making quick jabs with their beaks.
"They just attacked me!" chirped the red-haired girl, "I swear!"
"I find that very hard to believe!" responded David.
David took off his backpack and started swinging it around to keep some distance. AThe red-haired girl jumped behind David and clung on for protection.
"I promise! I just wanted to pet the baby geese and well… how was I supposed to know that they'd get so mad?!"
"WHA–? OF COURSE, THEY'D GET MAD!"
One very angry goose caught David's backpack with its beak. He looked around as he tried to wrestle it free. He noticed a small opening in the surrounding geese. If he made a mad run for it, he could probably get away with just a few scrapes and nips.
"Hey," whispered the red-haired girl.
"What?"
"Doesn't this just give you GOOSEbumps?"
The red-haired girl nudged David and stared at him with a huge grin on her face. It was clear that she was anticipating a reaction to her quip.
David, on the other hand, considered sacrificing the girl to the gaggle of angry geese — mainly because of her terrible joke, but he also wondered why he was even doing this. Surely it would be much easier to run away while they were distracted by her, especially now that there was an opening. They are angry at her after all, he has nothing to do with it. Besides, what's the worst harm they could possibly inflict? This could be his chance, just run away and pretend this all never happened. He'll probably never see this girl again and he can go back to his quiet and uneventful life.
But David thought about the life that he so preciously protected. Away from social perception, roaming the earth like a ghost. It didn't matter, he would tell himself, none of it mattered because nothing mattered in life anyway. Who's to say that helping her is even the right thing to do? There are no universal values that govern what should or should not be done. Whether David chose to help the red-haired girl or not would be equally meaningless in the eyes of the universe.
And so David came to his usual tiring conclusion: none of this even mattered. The best thing he could do in this scenario would be to just go home and continue living for himself. The timing is perfect, he won't get another chance like this. Any longer and the small opening would be filled with angry feathers.
"You gotta admit," insisted the red-haired girl, "the joke was pretty good, right?"
David froze up. He knew what the easier, simpler path would be, yet he just couldn't take it. He could not do it simply because he would feel pretty terrible if he had just left the girl to deal with this situation on her own. David is still human after all. To throw away his humanity would be akin to succumbing to the absurdity of this world — something he subconsciously refuses to do.
"You're an idiot," David chuckled, "but I guess... so am I."
He challenged the goose that had caught his backpack, it seemed to be the leader, and if he subdued it, then maybe they could escape together. He let go of the bag and took off his hoodie. He then stretched out his arms and assumed a wide stance.
"CAW CAW!" shouted David while waving his arms at the leader goose.
"CAW CAW!" joined the red-haired girl though she had no clue what David was planning.
"HONK!" replied the leader goose enraged by their antics.
"CAW CAW!"
"CAW CAW!"
"HONK!"
"CAW CAW"
"HONK!"
The leader goose, having had enough of this mockery, flew at David's head to take him down.
"Now!" jumped David.
He opened up the bottom of his hoodie and held it up. The leader goose flew in, neck first, and got caught in the hoodie. It flapped around and panicked as it tried desperately to free himself. The commotion caused the geese to disperse and fly back a few feet. David grabbed the red-haired girl's hand and charged through an opening in the surrounding geese.
"YAHOOOOOOOOO!" cheered the red-haired girl as they ran away.
And so David sprinted as far as he could until his legs gave out, fearing for his life, while the cute red-haired girl held on to him, having the time of her life.
David escaped a gaggle of very angry geese and enjoyed his first victory in a long time.