You understand this world, You understand me. ~Troy Otto~ [Book 1]

Chapter 22

TW- Mentions of self harm.
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"Everyone understand?" I asked once I had explained the plan to the militia.

"Yes Ma'am!" They chanted.

It felt good to have power, to have 20 people following your orders. I just pray that this plan works.

"Ok, lets do this." I muttered, then lead us out of the door.

*

We were crouched down as we made our way over the hill, heading towards the main Nation's building. We mostly had hand held weapons, but me and Coop had bows, since we were the only people who could use them accurately.

We stopped at the top of the hill, still crouched down in the long, dry grass.

"Look." Coop pointed to the right of me.

I looked over and saw about 5 Indians digging a hole, they must have found water there with the dowsing rods.

"It's ok, there harmless." I replied, after I noticed they were unarmed.

Nick stood up from where he was beside me, and he begun walking over to them.

"Nick, you wont find anything." Blake told him.

We then saw the people who were in the house we were about to attack, walk out and go to help them.

"Come on, we have to have hope." I sighed, standing up and heading towards the hole that was being dug, followed by the rest of the militia.

*

The next day,

I was outside the fence, killing the infected with the militia. For some reason, there were far more walkers than usual.

"There's more today." I heard Crazy Dog say from behind me.

"They're drawn by the cattle." I told him.

"The cattle will die soon for the lack of water." Crazy Dog told me.

I walked over to the large animal, sighing before I shot it in the head. Sooner rather than later I guess.

I turned around and saw Jake standing by the fence looking very stressed.

"You ok?" I asked, walking over to him.

"I don't know if putting down the herd is the right decision." He replied, running a hand through his dark hair worriedly.

"It's the right call Jake, don't worry about it." I reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It wasn't my call, it was the Nation's." Jake said.

"I backed it Jake." I told him.

"We'll keep some milking cows." said Jake. "We used to have four hundred head once. This isn't even a ranch anymore."

"Well, you never wanted to be a rancher." I said, trying to get his spirits up.

"I just didn't think it would bother me this much." Jake admitted.

"Look, rain will fall and we'll start over." I told him, placing both my hands on his shoulders.

"And if we live long enough, I'll get you more cows." I chuckled, and so did he.

"You know, if my dad knew what was gonna happen to this place, he would've killed himself." Jake said. I swallowed nervously as I felt a knot of guilt form in my stomach.

"We've survived. That's something." I said to the taller man. "The ranch is liveable, we can't say that about any other place."

"I can." Jake replied, causing me to give him a confused look. "Vernon wasn't wrong. There are other places like this. Otto didn't have the monopoly. Pacific Northwest was Prepper central."