Alamort | Troy Otto

1.22

[1.22]

It was so silent now.

There were no dead in the distance, no explosions, no gunshots. It was finally peaceful. The birds were chirping, people were talking in whispers, nothing that would have you guess the world ended, nothing apart from the way they looked.

Thena was still covered in blood and soot and dirt. Her jacket had been long abandoned; she didn't remember how. Only realized it when the air started to chill, and goosebumps appeared on her skin, her blood-stained skin. Her fingers were covered in it, her arms too, her weapons as well. Everything on her seemed to be stained. Her military cargo pants had big blood stains on them, her dark grey sleeveless turtleneck too as well as her beige scarf. But not all the blood was the one of the dead. Most of the one on her face was hers, from how the few stitches from her bullet gaze snapped again. She had dark circles around her eyes and her lips were chapped and broken.

She tried not to go to him, but she couldn't help herself. She didn't bare look at Ofelia, not knowing what to say. She didn't want to be with Madison or Walker or Crazy Dog either, and Victor and Nick seemed to stay with them, so they weren't options anymore. And then Alicia was sleeping. So, he was the only one she could go to, because she didn't want to be alone.

She approached him soundlessly and sat next to him, bringing her knees to her chest. He held his gun in his hands, looking at it silently, not looking up at her. Her eyes traveled up his hands to his watch and then switched to hers. Still covered in blood. She slowly moved her hand next to his and their watches touched, a small click emitting when the glass came in contact with glass.

The man didn't say anything, only stared at her as she examined his watch, probably comparing the two. He couldn't help but keep staring at her face, the way her lips curled in a pout when something was bothering her, the small bump on her nose.

"Your watch is clean," she whispered with a frown, the same pout Troy seemed to revere overtaking her features, "Mine's always full of blood." She tapped the stained glass of her small, rectangular watch, before her finger glided down to the stained leather strap. The man didn't say anything about the watch. In fact, he wasn't even looking at the watch.

"Do you hate me?"

Thena's hand stopped. Her eyes, that were examination her watch, switched to his, before she slowly looked up to his blue eyes. For a moment, she thought about it, because she did hate him before, or so she thought. But now, she didn't feel that; she didn't feel many things after all. She didn't know why, but she started to feel like even if he killed the whole world, she just couldn't hate him. She tried to so hard, because everyone around her had something against him, but only then she realized that she never really hated him. She thought she did, but she didn't.

"I don't," she whispered, her eyes falling to the gun in his hands, "never really did." There was something about the way he kept himself, but the moment she uttered those words, his body seemed to relax. "But they might." Then again, he tensed. "If they know the truth, they might. So, we'll keep it between us. Ok?" she rose her head again and stared at him, waiting for him to acknowledge her words. He did, with a small nod. And then she relaxed too.

Slowly, she got to her feet and wrapped her hands around herself. She waited for him to get up, but he didn't, because he didn't think she'd want him too. He was wrong. She unwrapped one of her hands from around her waist and placed it gently on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head and looked up at her. "Let's go," she mouthed and took her hand away, but she didn't walk away until he was on his feet.

They both made their way towards Nick and Victor, ignoring Madison's stare. Thena stopped next to Victor and gave him a tight smile as he handed her a jacket. She put it over her shoulders and leaned closer to Victor as Nick walked away, joining his mother and his sister. When they heard Alicia ask the question, Troy tensed, and Thena seemed to step closer to him and further away from Victor.

"How?"

"He got bit." There seemed no remorse in Troy's voice, no emotion at all. He was blunt, straightforward, no caring about what Alicia might have been thinking. "I put him down."

There it was; the expression that Thena started to hate so much. It seemed to animalistic, even for those dead creatures. They were humans once. But as much as she hated the way they called it, Thena didn't mind putting them down. She didn't have any problem with it, with most of it.

"Where'd the horde come from?"

At that question, it was Thena who tensed, because Alicia wasn't asking her, she was asking Nick, and they had no idea what Nick would say. The boy's eyes met Thena's, doubtful versus emotionless.

Nick shrugged, "Troy... saw it coming, came to warn us. But it was too late."

Thena looked away. She heard as they talked, Alicia and Madison, how their voices rose, and she started to walk away. She knew about the dam, about the water and the food and the walls. But she couldn't choose where to go, she only followed the others. Because if she was strong enough to choose, she would have been in Georgia by then. So, she walked to one of the trucks, Troy behind her, and climbed in the backseat.

When Troy shut the door of the driver's seat and turned on the engine, she leaned forward and opened the glove compartment. A few, old cassette tapes were inside. As she rummaged through them, she found numerous tapes of old music, rock and country, some she knew, some she didn't, some she loved, some she despised. She felt Troy's gaze on her, and she took a few cassettes before shutting closed the compartment.

"No heavy metal," she murmured, reading though the few words that were scripted on the tapes. She heard him keep in a laugh and she looked up to him, her elbows resting on her knees. She extended one of the tapes to him and he stared at it. Without a word, he took it from her hands and put it inside the reader, turning the volume down so it would be too loud. After a few seconds, a soft murmur was given by the speakers, and Thena smiled. She leaned back and let her head fall, enjoying the ballade.

"Is your throat stil—"

Before he could finish his sentence or Thena could ask about it, the passenger seat's door opened, and Nick climbed in the car. He shut the door behind him and waited for a few minutes, not saying a word while both Thena and Troy were watching him.

"We're going after Alicia," he whispered after a while.

No words were exchanged as Troy revived the engine and pressed the gas pedal. With a sigh, Thena looked back at Victor before she sat back in her seat. She brought her legs up and placed in next to Nick, and the man took them in his lap before he could feel bothered by it.

Everything was calm again.

~