Alamort | Troy Otto

1.9

[1.9]

Nick was the first.

He rushed by his mother's side, catching her before she fell, exhausted and almost unconscious. Alicia ran to them too, a canteen of water in her hands that she forced the blonde woman to drink.

Thena didn't sit down, knowing that her legs wouldn't work anymore after, and someone would have to carry her back to the ranch. She didn't want that. She couldn't look at her feet, not daring to see the blood and mud they gathered on their way from the outpost. Her body leaned on the head of her axe that she placed on the ground, her hand shaking as she tried to keep her body up. Alicia raised her head to look at her and rushed by her side too, offering the canteen. Thena took it gladly and drank the cool water.

"What the hell happened?" she heard Jeremiah say. She kept her head down, not looking at the crowd that gathered in front of them.

"Talk private?" started Vernon, Gretchen and Mike's father, from beside his son, "Did I hear you right?"

"Coop, Mike, inside. Let's debrief."

"Like hell, Jeremiah. We all got a right to hear what went down."

"You're out of line, Vern."

"We got a right to know what happened. We need to know how to defend ourselves. We gotta know—"

It was Mike that cut him off this time, and at his words, everyone, including Thena, turned to look at him, "There were Indians. They slaughtered them. They slaughtered all of them."

Troy took a few steps towards the man and muttered a few words, making Thena tense. "We made it home, huh?" he asked, staring at Mike in the eyes, "It's nothing we can't handle."

"They're dead. They're all dead!"

"Mike, lock your shit down," hissed Troy, "lock it down."

"...They're dead... And we're gonna die too if we don't leave! If we stay—if we stay, we die."

And those were the last words Thena heard. In her tired and exhausted state, she let the dizziness of her mind take over her body. At first, she leaned in Alicia's arms and the girl helped her sit. And then, her eyes closed, and she fell unconscious, with the word 'die' as the last thing she could think off.

~

When she woke up, she was all alone.

The sun was setting slowly, and the bright orange light was hitting Thena right in her eyes through the small window of the cabin. She groaned, raising her hand to shield herself from the light, and sat up, trying to ignore the pain in her head.

She looked around and saw the emptiness of the cabin. She turned her body to get out of bed, placing her feet on the ground. She hissed when her feet touched the wooden planks and she looked down. Bandages were covering them, and memories of what happened flooded her brains again.

With a sigh, her head turned to her right where a pair of new boots stood. Inside was a small note, the words resembling Alicia's handwriting. She took it gently, bringing the boot closer to her, and read it quickly. She remembered most of what happened that day (or the day before, Thena couldn't figure it out) and she was grateful for Alicia and Nick who helped her after she fainted.