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

Don't go away

When I came to, I found myself lying in Troy's room. I didn't remember when he came back or how I got into his bedroom, but I was here... He himself was lying next to him right in the military uniform that he had put on for hunting yesterday. I took a closer look at his sleeve, there were blood stains on it that had been absorbed a long time ago. He was asleep, snoring slightly.

The memories of last night were suffocating me. I got up and went to the window to open it. It was early morning, the sun hadn't even started to rise yet, the silence was ringing in my ears. After looking at the sparse landscape, I went back to bed and hugged Troy. Apparently, he woke up from my touch, because I felt his warm palm lay on top of my hand. After a couple of seconds, he turned to me.

"How was the hunt?" I asked.

"Hunting is great, but you'd better tell me how you handled it all yesterday?"

"You were right about Ophelia, but I didn't even think she was like that..."

"Viper?!"

"Exactly. Were you at Nick's yesterday when you got back?"

"Yes, we were all in the infirmary together. Madison is just shattered."

"How is he?"

"Bad, we would like to know what poison Ophelia added to the food. Then we can do something."

"Where is she?"

"Madison and Jake interrogated her all night."

"Torture without you, really?"

"Stop making an executioner out of me!" Troy raised his voice.

"It's just a joke," his voice made me uneasy, "Don't yell at me."

"Don't be silly, then I won't shout."

"Well, seriously," I decided to change the subject, "why aren't you with them?"

"I wanted to be with you. We weren't together all day yesterday. And beating up women is not my thing. Madison probably did it well without me."

"Troy", I ran my hand over his cheek, "she only poisoned the militia, they'll attack, right?"

"Most likely, they will not attack, we think that they have another plan: to come and put forward conditions to us that we will be obliged to accept. It's not in their best interest to solve the ranch case. They want to live here."

"And what, will you agree?"

"My father and I? Never," he lay on his back, "Jake can."

"But there's no choice, we'll have to let them in."

"Even if they find themselves side by side with us, most of us will not accept them. I'm sure."

"Tell me, what is the difference between us and them? The main problem is only in resources, but even we won't have enough of them soon, we will find some way out with them."

"You don't understand anything!" Troy snapped.

"So explain it to me! When I talked to Walker, he was ready to accept me into his settlement!"

"So go to him!"

"Great, I'll do it! As soon as they get here and take over the ranch, I'll be the first to vote for Walker!"

Suddenly, Troy grabbed me by the throat and brought his face close to mine. When I looked into his eyes, I was horrified. He was in a kind of rage. His palms were tightly clenched, forming a tight ring, it became painful and difficult for me to breathe.

"Don't you dare say that," he growled, "they'll only take over the ranch over my father's dead bodies."

After these words, Troy abruptly released me and, sitting on the edge of the bed, began to breathe heavily. I grabbed my neck and struggled to speak, so he began to calm down and come to his senses: