Alamort | Troy Otto

1.7

[1.7]

Her butterfly knife was hidden.

Even if it was the only weapon she was willing to risk, she hid it in her boot. She had changed clothes that morning, after taking a long shower where she tried to erase the images of the burning house from her mind. The fabric of her black cargo pants felt familiar on her skin. She found an unworn black turtleneck tank top that moulded it self on her frame and put it on before she covered up her bare arms and shoulders with her jacket. Her dagger, revolver and gun were hidden under a plank of wood underneath her bed in the cabin. She had a bad feeling about the trip, and as much as she wanted to go, she didn't want to risk anything.

She stared at the two cars that were about to leave. Madison was talking to her children and Troy was waiting impatiently for her to get in the car, honking multiple times to alert her that they were leaving.

With a sigh, she strutted to the second car where, Mike and another two men, that Thena recognized as Coop and Jimmy, were. She leaned on Mike's side and waited for him to turn towards her. Coop, who was sitting in the passenger seat, hit his arm, and nodded to her. When the man turned to her, she spoke, "You have room for one more?"

Mike nodded, a confused frown on his face, "Yeah, why—"

Before he could finish his question, Thena tapped the car with a smile and shifted to the backseats. She opened the door and jumped in the car next to Jimmy. "Great then," she stated bluntly, shutting the small door close, "I'm coming with."

Coop started laughing loudly but before anyone could complain, they were already on the road. Thena waved to Nick when they passed him, amused at his annoyed expression. She leaned down in her seat, enjoying the breeze as the car advanced, following the one Troy and Madison were in.

Jimmy, who was sitting next to her, took a small knife in his hand and extended it to her. "Might need it," he spoke, making the woman look at him. She stared at him for a moment, her eyes switching to the small knife before finding his eyes again. With a small giggle, she raised her right leg and placed her boot on the armrest between Coop and Mike. She pulled her knife out of it, showing Jimmy the glistering metal before pushing it back down and hiding it again. The man rolled his eyes and put his knife away with a scoff.

They traveled for some time, no words exchanged between the four, until Troy's truck came to a stop and the radio started buzzing.

"Cooper, are you seeing what I'm seeing? We got a party to attend."

Thena looked her right. Through the bushes, she could see what looked like a big fallen truck, bodies walking all around it. She recognized the bright orange clothes as being prison uniforms.

"It's out of our way Troy," said Coop through the radio, "We need to get to the Huey and back. Over."

"No, no, no. We leave them, they could migrate up the highway towards the ranch. We can't risk that."

"Not on our to-do list. We're on a clock, man."

"We're not making this someone else's problem, Cooper. We'll be in and out in five minutes, that's it."

When Troy's voice died down, Coop sighed. He placed the radio down and turned to Thena, who was still watching the dead bodies wander around. "Do you know how to kill them?" he asked, pointing to the dead.

Thena looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I've been in the wild for weeks," she said, "I'd be dead if I didn't know how to kill them." Cooper nodded with a roll of his eyes and stepped out of the vehicle. Everyone followed and they stepped towards Troy's car.

When Madison saw Thena's frame, she sighed and gave her a questioning look.

"What?" asked the young woman with a shrug, "I got bored at the ranch."

She walked past Coop and Mike, ignoring the small laughs that came out of the driver of her vehicle. She stared at Troy as he rummaged through the truck, taking out weapons. Her eyes saw a tomahawk axe and her interest spiked up.

"Hey," she said when Troy turned to her after giving Madison her weapon, "Can I have the tomahawk?"

The man stared at her for a second before he nodded slowly and reached for the axe. He weights it in his hands for a few seconds before passing it to Thena, saying, "Didn't expect to see you here."

She looked at him blankly but didn't say anything. Troy nodded and turned away. When he started to walk, everyone followed him. Lost in her thoughts, Thena only realized they were supposed to follow the man when Mike pushed her gently in front of him. Her feet followed Madison, who was behind Troy. When they got to the broken vehicle, Thena's eyes wandered to the bodies.

A small whistle flew from her lips, the soft tune resonating all around the group. At the new sound, the dead turned towards her, snarling, and biting in the void. A delicate melody escaped her lips in whispers, a lullaby her father used to sing to her. She advanced towards the dead, her face uninterested, her beloved lullaby resonating in her skull, and when it got too close to her, she swung the axe, almost cutting its head in two.

As hell broke loose, the dead coming from everywhere, the soft tune didn't stop. Thena swung her axe in all directions, hitting the dead convicts in their skulls before letting them drop dead dead on the ground. She heard Madison's pants from somewhere behind her and the sound of metal piercing flesh but ignored it, her concentration unflawed as she advanced towards more walking dead.

When the stubborn body of one of the guards stumbled upon her, she groaned in disgust when the wound her axe inflicted made specks of rotten blood splash her face. The body dropped, even though it wasn't completely dead yet, and Thena raised her axe as high as she could before letting it drop right in the body's eye socket.

When the last whistles and words of her lullaby left her lips, all sounds stopped. Thena looked around at the group, all covered in sweat and blood, panting from either the effort, or the adrenaline. All the walking dead were truly dead now.

"Oh, it's a beautiful thing," started Troy, "It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Did you time that?"

Thena turned to one of the men, Blake, if she remembers it correctly, when Troy pointed at him.

"It was just under a minute."

"Eh, it's good work. Short work."

Cooper took a few steps towards Madison and nodded at her. "Take back what I said," he spoke to her, before turning to look towards Thena. The young woman had one of her feet propped up on the dead guard's body, her axe glistering with blood and swinging by her side. The man looked at it and Thena saw it, making her extend her weapon to him.

"You can keep it, slayer," he said with a smile, glancing at her blood-filled face, "you earned it."

The woman nodded as her arm fell by her side. Her head dropped, her eyes wandering on the dead guard's face. Everyone was looking at each other in silence, even Troy wasn't uttering a word. Thena's mind was misled by the uniform that looked awfully close to the one King County police officers used to wear. The men started to walk back to the cars, Troy being the first and then the others followed. Madison stayed put, staring at Thena, and both Coop and Mike stayed for a few more minutes to wait for the women.

"It's not him," said Madison making the two men share a confused glance, "It's not Rick."

"I know," said Thena, still staring at the uniform, "I know..."

~