Alamort | Troy Otto

2.5

[2.5]

The two stood in silence. They were both waiting in the hallway, their bags on their backs, weapons secured in their holsters, jackets hanging loosely from their shoulders. Thena was leaning on the wall next to the bathroom, Troy doing the same on the other side a few feet away from her. Thena would catch him glancing at his wrist watch from time to time, releasing a sigh each time he dropped his arm.

Why he agreed on bringing the little girl with them, Thena did not know. He didn't like children, he had made it clear multiple times. Still, he didn't complain when the young woman started preparing Anita's own bag. When the little girl woke up, Thena gathered Carl's old clothes that she had prepared for her and placed them in the bathroom before letting the girl shower.

The moment the door opened, both Thena and Troy pushed themselves away from the wall and looked at the girl. The clothes were quite large, but comfortable enough. Anita looked up at the two, trying hard to not look at the visible weapons they had. Thena smiled softly at the girl and gave her a nod. She gave Anita the small backpack she was holding, making the girl take it with a large smile. The three made their way out of the house in silence, making sure each time that no dead were close to them. Thena led the two until they got to a small path in the woods.

"This path will lead us to a railway," said the woman when they started walking through the forest, "it's a straight way to Tennessee. Passing through both Chattanooga and Nashville. We can choose where to go when we get there."

Anita let out a small nod and walked next to Thena, raising her hand to place it in the woman's. At the sudden touch, Thena flinched slightly and looked down hurriedly only to see the girl with a small smile on her face. The woman reciprocated the smile, yet it came out quite forced. Still, the girl didn't seem to mind, only turning her head to look at the road ahead.

"How the hell did you find this road?" asked Troy, walking forwards to stand by Thena, his eyebrows furrowed as he read the country's map, "It's not in here."

"There's a small train station a few miles away," said the woman, pointing to her right, "until they leave the county, the trains usually go quite slow, slow enough to jump on, anyways."

Troy froze for a second before he took his eyes off the map to look at Thena. "You used to jump on moving trains?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, not believed any of the words she said.

"Tickets became incredibly expensive during summers," she said with a shrug. Troy still looked at her with a raised eyebrow, making her roll her eyes when she caught his gaze. "My friends weren't the best influences," she mumbled.

"I can see that," he replied, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Like you wouldn't have done the same," she muttered with a small, yet incredibly sarcastic smile.

"You sound like my parents." Both Troy and Thena froze before they simultaneously turned to look at Anita. The girl didn't wait for their reaction to her words before she turned around and started walking down the forest path, dragging Thena behind her.

They continued the rest of their way in silence. When they finally reached the railway, Thena stopped for a second, taking in her surroundings. The trails seemed empty : no people, no dead. While the absence of the dead became quite peculiar, Thena nor Troy pointed it out, not wanting to possibly ruin their trip. They walked on the train tracks, no words from either of the two. Anita occasionally pointed out a change in scenery, but she didn't seem to want to talk much, which didn't bother Thena as long as the girl was alright, and it certainly didn't bother Troy.

"Poppy!" yelled Anita, pointing to a small bush surrounded by the red flowers. Thena's eyes widened at the sudden presence of a voice and involuntarily let go of the girl's hand when she started running towards the bush.

"Be careful," said Thena after the girl, jogging to catch up to her. The little girl giggles as she sat on the ground, picking up the flowers and trying to make a small crown. Thena stopped a few feet away from her, watching with a tender smile as Anita played.

"You look happy," whispered Troy as close as he could to the woman's face after he made his way next to her, his eyes switching from the happy child to the woman.

"Can't I be?" asked Thena, turning her head to look up at him, the ghost of a smile that was stitched into her lips dropping the moment she heard his words.

"I've never known you as the happy kind," replied Troy with a shrug.

"You've seen me smile," she said, her voice drained of any emotion.

"Not this kind of smile."

Thena looked away from him, gazing at the young girl again. Her smile seemed to appear again and at the sight, Troy let out a small chuckle before turning to look at Anita. As Thena was about to open her mouth to yell after Anita, she froze, the words stuck in her throat when she saw the figure approaching the girl.

"Shit," muttered the woman, her hand latching on her tomahawk's handle.

However, before she could step forward, Troy placed his arm in front of her. With a frown on her face, Thena turned to look at him, only to see his fingers tightly wrapped around his combat knife. The man started walking towards Anita, making the girl look up at him. "Go," he mouthed, making the girl look at Thena.

"Come here, Ani," she said, extending a hand to the child.

Anita got to her feet, her poppy crown in her hands, and ran towards Thena. With a smile on her face, Anita grabbed ahold of Thena's elbow and dragged her down, making the woman crouch in front of her. She carefully put the poppy crown on Thena's head, the older woman smiling and looking in Anita's warm brown eyes, trying to ignore the groans of the walking dead. They came to an abrupt end, the sound of blood spilling out of a wound echoing in the forest. Anita suddenly turned around, catching sight of the rotting body on the floor. Troy turned to look at the two women. He quickly wiped the blood off his dagger and walked to the two, standing in front of them, successfully shielding them from the sight.

"They're starting to move away from the cities," said Troy with a glint of worry in his tone.

"Why do you think that?"

"We're in the middle of a forest," he said, sharing a look with Thena, "if the dead are here, it means they moved, probably coming from the cities. My guess... lack of food."

"No more people in the cities," said Thena with a small nod, "no more food."

Troy let out a small scoff followed with a nod. He rose his head to look at the sky, frowning at the yellowish yet darkening colors. "We should get going," he muttered, "wouldn't want to be stuck here at night."

"There's a small town a few miles away," said Thena, "we could get there in an hour or so."

The man nodded again, lowering his gaze to look at the woman. His eyes fell on the small poppy crown on her head. He blinked a few times, lowering his gaze even more to catch her eyes.

"Let's go then."

~