Hobbes isn't sure he can. He's almost sure he knows he can't. But maybe it's not what he thinks he can do...maybe that was the whole point. You won't go as far as you can without someone pushing, just like there's only so far you'll go in the dark when you're alone.

So Hobbes trusts Mike's possibly misplaced confidence, and took him, still gaggging, but slowly, slowly getting used to it. Adapting. He'd spent most of his life being told what to do by large men, drill sergeants, who'd screamed at him and pushed him and took joy in torturing him, but they'd never looked down at him with a look like the one Mike's giving him now.