Alamort | Troy Otto

1.13

[1.13]

There were screams everywhere.

When Thena first heard them, she was sitting on a chair in one of the tents. The only presence she had was Troy, Nick had gone who knows where and left the two alone. At first it was the buzzing of the radio, with panicked voices echoing but the words were comprehensible. And then, the screams.

Troy had told her to stay in the tent, but she ignored his remarks with a few curses and ran past him outside. People were running around, some dead, some not. The snarls could be heard from everywhere, and Thena couldn't help herself but whistle.

The sound, even if it wasn't as loud as the screams, was acute, and at least three of the dead turned their whitish eyes to her. She took her axe from her waist and swung it as it approached her, and she heard Troy's gun click behind her.

By the time everything went silent again, Thena's hands were covered in blood and the axe was starting to slip from her grip. She was panting heavily, her attention divided as she tried to stay alert in the dead of the night.

"You ok?" she heard a voice behind her and she nodded slowly, bending to press her bloody hands on her knees. One single question danced around in her mind.

What the hell just happened?

~

"Ofelia put something in the coffee last night, a powder," said Madison, as she stepped inside the medical tent.

Thena was checking Nick, who was sleeping in one of the beds. Not long after the agitation started to calm down, Alicia came running to her and grabbed her before she could question it, only to be led to a very sick Nick.

"What kind of powder was it?"

"She didn't know."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah..."

"This is all bullshit," said Thena as she took her eyes off her friend. There was a smile plastered on her lips, but her amusement was fuelled by frustration and anger once again. "Her coming back here, the bruises, all bullshit."

Alicia agreed with her. "It was a hit on the militia," stated Jake.

"He's burning up," said Madison as she kneeled next to her son and touched his forehead.

"We have antibiotics, but without knowing exactly what it is..."

Jake's words trailed off. Thena shook her head in disbelief and got up from her seat, walking out from the medical tent without a word. She stomped on the ground until she got to the line of bodies covered in cloths. Without a sound, she bent down and started dragging it to the truck Troy was on. He looked at her with a frown as she approached him, dragging the corpse behind her.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she tried to get it in the vehicle.

"Trying to help you," she grunted, "now stop staring and help me."

Troy, with a frown still plastered on his face, jumped off the truck and took the body from her hands, throwing it carelessly in the vehicle. He turned back to her, but she was already walking away, ready to drag another body to the car.

She paid no attention to her surroundings as she helped the rest of the people. How much time passed, she didn't know, but it was enough time for Madison to storm off the medical tent and come back. As she returned, she spoke Thena's name in a stern voice, making the girl follow her inside the tent, with Troy behind her.

"It's anthrax," said the blonde woman while looking at Jake.

"Did Ofelia tell you?" asked Jake, making Thena's eyes narrow.

"No," said Madison with a sigh, "I returned her to the Black Hat. Walker told me. Those who don't die will be too weak to hold a gun. They'll attack while we're down."

"Well," shrugged Troy from Thena's side, "at least we know what we're dealing with."

"All right, well," started Jake, "gather what's left of the militia."

Thena frowned. There weren't many people left. After all, they were most hit by the attack due to the great amounts of coffee they drank to keep themselves awake through the night. Troy seemed to think the same.

"Jake, there's not much left besides me and... Thena."

The way he said her name was different as before, as if he didn't want to acknowledge that she was part of the militia too.

"Just do what the hell you can, Troy. Do something."

"Recruited the able-bodied."

"Madison, I'm talking to my brother."

Jake's words made Thena eyes widen slightly. While Madison could be annoying sometimes, trying to get herself where she shouldn't be, the woman only wanted to help. One of the victims of the attack was after all, her own son. She just wanted them to be safe. But Jake didn't see it the same way as Thena did.

"You don't lead this ranch."

"Jake—"

"You don't lead this ranch!"

Without another word, the man left the tent, with Alicia close behind. Thena looked at Madison for a second, an emotion in her eyes that was close to pity, before she too walked out. She heard Troy follow and both went after Jake.

Alicia was standing beside him when the woman stepped next to her. She glanced at her, and the Grimes girl tried to give her a small smile, but it came out more like a grimace. Still, Alicia appreciated and returned the gesture, but her smile was quickly wiped off her face and replaced with a scowl at the sight of Troy.

"Madison's right. Arm up everyone who's not sick."

"We can talk to Walker, we can—" tried Alicia.

"Talk?" asked Troy, "Talk is cheap without something to offer. And we already gave them out water reserves."

"War is the last resort. But we're there. We have no leverage."

Thena stayed silent at first. She kept glancing at Alicia, remembering how she was the only one that spent enough time near Walker to be able to know something useful about them. She turned to the younger girl and watched her closely, crossing her hands in front of her chest and drumming her fingers on the bare skin of her arms.

"Alicia?" she asked, making everyone look at her. Both men were taken aback by her voice, as if they didn't expect her to talk. "You were there, weren't you?"

The girl nodded and waited for Thena to continue. "Didn't you... see something? Something that might give us an advantage."

Alicia thought for a moment before her face cleared.

"There is something."

~