Alamort | Troy Otto

1.12

[1.12]

The watch on her writs was beautiful. It was a small watch, rectangularly shaped, ticking with every second. It had been in Thena's possession since the start of the end, but she didn't use it many times, due to the fact that the hour wasn't exact anymore. Being a mechanical watch and Thena forgetting many times to wound it, it just lagged.

Even so, it was still good at tracking time. Troy's car left the ranch at exactly a quarter to two as the watch showed it even though it couldn't be possible because it was already night outside, and not even a minute after thirty had passed, she was barging inside the main house of the ranch where she presumed Jeremiah and Jake Otto were.

She was correct. The moment she entered (without knocking) and walked in the wide living room, the two men, who were seated across from each other at a desk and were discussing matters Thena didn't comprehend, became silent and turned to her.

Before any of the men could ask about her presence, she hugged her body, the stares making her uncomfortable, and pointed over her shoulder to the door. "Troy and the Clarks left," she simply put it, and she found herself in some sort of daze.

There was a silence in which Jake gawked at her. She didn't say anything else and turned around to leave, ignoring the now very loud Jake.

"Don't you dare cross that threshold, Miss Grimes," said Jeremiah as he walked towards her, "sit and explain."

And so, she did. She sat on the sofa and explained what Troy had told her. It wasn't much, not very details, but she didn't miss anything that had been told to her. For the next hours, Thena didn't know how many, her watch completely forgotten, she sat on the sofa, her legs prompted on the coffee table. She had nothing to do except listen to Jake's complains. Jeremiah was silent too, and she found herself drifting off to sleep rather rapidly.

But the loud engine that sounded outside shattered her dreams of a good sleep. She sighed and walked after Jake. When her eyes met Troy's, she didn't express any feelings, but the man nodded at her thankfully. After all, he told her to tell his family, and she did.

"Congratulation," said Jake sarcastically as he approached his brother, "you just declared war on Walker's nation. Joe! Call the patrols, watch for perimeter breaches! They could be right behind you!"

"They weren't, and the mission was successful, we got the girl," said Troy. Thena eyes travelled from him to Madison, then to Nick, and to Alicia before she met his stare again.  She let out a small scoff and looked away altogether. She zooned out for a moment, still feeling like her mind wasn't completely present, until Alicia's loud voice perturbed the silence in her brain.

"—started killing people!"

Thena rolled her eyes. Of course, Troy would kill people, that was not new for any of them. Her attention focused back to the two brothers even though she didn't dare look at them.

"How many?"

"Eh, four, five."

His tone was so nonchalant that it amused Thena. She looked back at them, only to see Jake walk away, until Madison decided to speak.

"It wasn't just Troy. I convinced him. I made the call."

"You don't make calls, Madison," said Jake as he turned around rapidly and make his way back to her, "It's not the place to make the call. I made a deal with that guy!"

Thena couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had nothing to do there, her presence wasn't needed as she wasn't one to take Jake's side and she wasn't present at Alicia's "rescue". So, she didn't stay. Knowing everyone was too caught up in the moment, she slipped past them unseen and made her way back to the guard tower, where she found herself most nights, either stargazing or taking small naps.

She stayed there the entire night, not quite sleeping but still not quite awake. There was a small, abandoned radio that she used to listen to the militia. By the time Jake and Ofelia left that day, no one heard from her, saw her, and no one knew where she was. At least, that was until the sun started to lower itself again and she noticed a motorcycle coming towards the ranch.

"Hey boys," she said through the radio, "There's someone coming."

She didn't get a response right away, but she knew the guards at the gate took notice of the vehicle too. She heard a few shouts from below and watched carefully as the motorcycle approached the gate. A person was pushed down before the vehicle stopped and as fast as it came, it was gone.

"Slayer," said a voice through the radio, "you might want to see this."

~

"What do you think will happen to her?" asked Thena in a small whisper.

She was sitting next to Nick, her shoulder pressed against his, as she carved a small piece of wood with her dagger. A few feet away from them were the rest of the militia, talking and chuckling among themselves. Ever since Ofelia's return, that made Thena tense, they were called in to make sure Walker didn't attack. Nick only shrugged at her question before he sighed as Troy made his way to them.

"Okay, great, nobody sleeps for the next forty-eight," he said, paying no attention to Nick and Thena.

"We should take the fight to them man," started Cooper, "not sit and wait for it."

As the man spoke those words, Nick extended a cup to Thena. She looked down at the brown liquid and shook her head. She liked coffee, but a certain sick feeling washed over her, and she believed that everything entering her stomach would be exiting by the same orifice.

"No fire on the ridgeline. Indians are holed up," said Blake, "I'd say offence is the best defence."

"Well, that's not what Otto want right now, or Jake."

There was something in his voice that Thena didn't quite understand, but the way he said the name of his brother and of his father was different than before.

"So, what happens if Walker attacks while we're on the perimeter?" asked Nick from beside her, making her glance at him, "Because it's a long haul back to the ranch."

Thena nodded slowly at his words, agreeing with him, as the other men stared at them. Troy took a few steps forward. "Well, there's only two roads he can use," he started, "and we'll be on both of them with fast trucks."

He raised his hands to catch the bars that kept the tent up and leaned slightly forwards right as Thena looked up from her small carving. His eyes found hers as he said his next words. "We stop them, we leave a suicide note, we fall back, and we defend the camp." His eyes fell on the small untouched plate at her feet, and he frowned.

"What are we, the suicide squad?" asked Thena as she narrowed her eyes at Troy.

"What? One of our guys stays behind to fight till the end?"

"Well yeah," said the youngest Otto as he took his eyes off Thena, "we're all willing too."

There were a few mutters going through the men behind Troy, all agreeing with his words.

"Well, if it does come to that, I'll do it," said Nick, making Thena tense next to him and look at the grass.

"You feeling blue, Nicky?"

"No, I'm just... suicide proof." 

A few laughs echoed through the people, but Thena remained silent. In her eyes, it wasn't at all funny, knowing that she had saved him from an overdose quite a handful of times back when the world was still normal.

"Well, that's a...," started Troy as he walked closer to them, "That's well and good, but I think you're gonna stay within the fence. You can go kamikaze another day."

Nick nodded slowly as Troy walked back to his men. The boy turned to look at Thena, who was still looking at the grass, and smirked.

"I'm not the one you should worry about going all kamikaze, Troy. Thena would gladly do it in my place."

~