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

Hasta la vista!

Together with Madison, I headed into the dining room. My whole family was sitting in the same gazebo, and Alisha was with them, too. Everyone was already aware of it.

As I got closer, I voiced my decision:

"Troy is being kicked out. I'm going with him."

"No! You're crazy!" everyone said pretty much the same thing.

"I'm an adult, and this is an informed decision. I'm not leaving him to die out there alone," I pointed to the fence, "and we've already talked it over with Jake. He'll give us everything we need for the first time."

"We'll all leave together," Dad started.

"Yes, we're going to leave. We're not leaving you with Troy," Danny said.

"No, you'll stay here, I'm not a kid anymore, you don't have to worry about me, and I won't be alone. Troy and I will find a better place than this, and I'll come back for you, I promise."

"But, Della," Mum began, "there's nothing outside, so how are you and Troy going to survive out there!"

"Actually, there is one place. In Mexico, or rather, in Mexicali. El Bazar. I've never been there myself but I've heard from many people, I'll show you on a map," Madison put her arm around my shoulders, "I don't want you to leave, Della, you've become like family to me, but if you think it's right, I can't stop you, neither can we all," she then turned to my parents, "Nick ran away too, many times, but we found each other, fate has been favourable to us," she smiled. After much debate, my decision was accepted and even approved.

We ate dinner together and then went with my parents and brother to pack the things we would need for the trip. Madison along with Jake and Alisha went to get things for Troy and me. Toward morning everything was ready for the trip. The stuff was loaded into the gelike we'd brought from Los Angeles. Almost the whole ranch came out to see us off. Troy was brought in in handcuffs, and as soon as he was released, my family came to say goodbye. Walker came up to me:

"You have a lot of courage in you, that's commendable."

I didn't say anything back. I wanted to send him away, but I restrained myself. He continued:

"I realise that my words mean nothing to you, but still he doesn't deserve what he did. You'll regret choosing him over us a second time. But I respect your brave decision, so if you want to go back without him, be my guest, and here's another thing," he handed me a gun, "this is kind of yours, it only has two bullets in it, just in case. We won't give you any more guns."

"Well, thanks for not throwing me out empty-handed, Taka," I said with irony in my voice. The thought of putting both bullets in his temple haunted me. There was no limit to my outrage. Troy was being kicked off his own ranch, off his own land, off his home that he had done so much for. It made me laugh that Taka was reaching out to me, handing me my own gun. But I said nothing on the subject.

"Why two cartridges? Are you hoping we'll happily shoot ourselves together?"

"I'm not ruling that out, unfortunately."

"Don't get your hopes up."

After hugging everyone for the tenth time, I got behind the wheel. My parents were still talking to Troy, and I could hear bits and pieces of phrases like, "Take care of her," and "We're counting on you," and so on and so forth. Danny came to my window:

"Yeah, sis, you're a piece of work. This is the first time you've found a boyfriend that doesn't piss me off. No offence to Aron, but Troy is awesome! " he laughed, looking at Otto.

'Well he's not a gift either,' I laughed.

"Are you sure I don't need to come with you?"

"No Danny, don't worry, everything will be fine, I promise I'll see you again."

"Take care of yourself, hopefully the separation won't be long. Try to find something better than this ranch. I'll be waiting."

"We'll find one. We will. And you take care of yourself, little brother."

He kissed me on the cheek, and I kissed him back. We hugged again through the rolled-down window. Suddenly Clara came running up to the car:

"I'm coming too! I want to find Michael!"

Now everyone was stunned. The farewell was delayed. But after half an hour we were on our way. I honked several times as we drove a few metres from the gate. There were numerous shouts in response. Clara was sitting in the back. Troy to my right. We were on our way to Mexico.