Dead love in my hands (Troy Otto story/ Fear the walking dead/ ftwd)

Walker's camp

"Look," Troy held out binoculars to me, "see, there's a settlement down there. See for yourself what chance the two of us have of taking your sister away from them, if they have her at all."

We stood on a small hill, peering out from behind the boulders. The Indians were far enough away, it was about a ten minute walk to their camp after coming down the hill.

"We won't go alone, they know you. I'll go alone."

"Well go then, I didn't really mean to. But I was just wondering what you were up to..."

Before he could say anything, I had already started down the hill. I needed my sister. I was ready for anything. With each step that brought me closer to my goal, an inexplicable rage grew in me. I didn't realize who I was mad at? My sister? No. At the Indians? Not yet. At the world? Maybe. Why did all this have to happen? I had a wonderful life. I loved my job, I loved my husband. Every Friday we'd go to a new restaurant with him, try a new wine, eat our favorite pasta... And now I don't even remember what he looks like, I don't even have a picture of him...... My inner monologue shortened the travel time, and soon I was practically nose-deep in the gate. Two guards pointed their pistols at me.

"Put your hands up! Who are you?"

I obediently raised my hands and said in a sad voice:

"I'm looking for my sister. Her name is Clara, is she here by any chance?"

After a few seconds of silence, the gate began to open.

"Come in!"

When I entered the settlement, I was surprised by the atmosphere: there was chaos, many people going about their business like in a bazaar, smelling of spices, children running around. The guards asked me to follow them. After about two minutes I was led to a house on wheels, of which, by the way, there were quite a few.

One of my "escorts" knocked, the door opened almost immediately, and a tall man with long dark hair stepped out. He looked at me, squinted, then silently made a hand gesture to the guards to "disperse" and introduced himself:

"Kaletaka Walker, head of this settlement."

"Della Diaz, I'm looking for my sister, her name is Clara."

"We haven't had any visitors lately."

He hesitated:

"Maybe she's in another settlement. There's a ranch nearby..."

I interrupted him:

"Yeah, I've been there before, they don't have her."

"Hmm, I don't know how I can help you, except I can offer to stay with us, on our land, and wait for your relative to show up. I know how important blood ties are. Even to those who are no longer alive, we are bound..."

He headed back to the paddock and gestured for me to follow. Once inside, I recoiled at the human skull that lay directly in front of the door.

"Don't be frightened, these are all my ancestors. They protect my kind."

"You've got a whole crypt on wheels, I'm not used to that."

"Come in, don't be shy."

"You have such an unusual name... Kaletaka... I've never heard it before."

"In the Hopi language, it translates to 'Guardian of the People'."

"Hopi?"

"It's a tribe. Everyone just calls me Taka. You can do the same."

Suddenly there was a knock on the trailer.

"Come in!" yelled Walker.

The door opened and I stood with my back to it. It was only when the man called the name of the person who entered that something in me twitched and I turned around.

"Oh, it's you Ophelia, is something wrong?" - Walker asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, one of Otto's men is here. She's looking for someone."

Suddenly we met her gaze.

"You?!"

"You?!"

We said it at the same time. And then Ophelia wrapped her arms around me.

"I thought I'd never see you after Mexico, Della! How are you here?"

"How are you, Ofelia? I thought you were dead!"

"Almost."

"You two know each other?",  wondered Walker.

"Yeah, we fled to Mexico together with our families when all this started. Della saved me, I owe her my life."

I couldn't believe it. Ofelia's here. After everything. I was glad and surprised. I wanted to tell my sister and the rest of my family sooner. It was unbelievable, we were all sure that our friend had died when she ran away from us. My thoughts were interrupted by Walker's voice:

"Interesting thing about fate, here you two meet again, I guess it's a sign for you to stay, Della, think about it. So what's the deal with Otto?"

I've come to my senses. Surely Troy must have decided to come here and ruin everything. We walked together toward the exit. Surprisingly, Jake was standing outside the gate.

"Della!", shouted Jake.

Ophelia and Walker looked at me reproachfully.

"Oh, so you've already chosen your tribe. Well, I'm sorry..."

"Taka, let them go!", Ophelia interjected into the conversation, "She saved me! If it wasn't for Della, you and I would never have met! Let them go!"

Walker hesitated, but soon shook his head positively. The gate opened. I looked dejectedly at Ophelia, she looked back. We didn't even get to have a proper conversation. The most important thing I'd learned, though, was that she was alive. That's the most pleasant news I've heard in a while. I ran out the gate and Jake and I walked to his car.

"I've been looking for you for a couple hours now! Why did you leave without me!!!", Jake started yelling at me.

"Because you told Troy that you thought Clara was dead and there was no point in looking for her!"

"That wasn't exactly true! I do think something happened to her, but I promised I'd look for her with you, and I would have, you were very foolish to leave alone with Troy, and even with Walker!"

"As you can see, it's not just the two of us!", I smirked.

"Look, and good, you don't need to go anywhere at all with Troy, he's just as dangerous as Walker, I know that better than most."

"And why should Troy be dangerous to me?"

"To everyone. Don't think you're special."