Alamort | Troy Otto

1.21

[1.21]

Thena tried to drive as fast as she could, but the dust and the dead that surrounded the car made her anxious. Nick wasn't helping her, as he kept looking to the back of the truck every minute or so with worried eyes. Looking through the rear-view mirror, Thena seemed to catch Troy's gaze for a moment, but she looked away quickly.

"Keep pressure on it," shouted Nick, "We can treat him back at the ranch."

"There's no ranch to go back to."

The woman shook her head and pressed on the gas pedal harder, but there was no way to get back to the ranch. With a swift move, she turned the wheel and let the car speed off the track until they got to a small white cabin. The place was on a hill, higher than the rest, and the horde wasn't getting there yet. The moment she stopped the car, Nick got out of it and helped Troy with his unconscious brother. It was only after a few minutes that Thena got out of the vehicle, but she made no move towards the three men. She walked past the cabin and only stared down at the horde.

"He wasn't supposed to die," muttered Troy, making Nick look at him. Thena remained where she was, staring down at the wreck he. "Not like this. He was the one that wasn't supposed to die."

The woman crouched down and put her right hand on her mouth, leaning her head on it as her elbow stabbed her thigh. "You need to put him down now," she heard Nick say and her eyes closed.

"I wanted him to see. I wanted him to see what I'd—what I'd done for us, you know?"

Newfound anger shook her body. Her eyes opened and a frown overtook her features just as Nick stopped walking towards her. She turned around, still crouched, and started at him. "You wanted him to see what?" she asked, her voice shaking with anger. With a scoff, she rose to her feet and walked by his side. Grabbing him by the collar, she walked back to the place where she stood. "Here. Look at what you did," she hissed as she gripped his shirt tighter, bringing him lower so her mouth was closer to his ear. "This is what you fucking did for us, Troy. Look at it."

She watched with frantic eyes the horde and the dead that formed it, ignoring Nick's voice calling her name. Troy didn't look down. His eyes found her face. He examined the crease that formed between her eyebrows as she frowned in anger, the way her lips twitched at every word that came out of her mouth, and then the long gash that colored her left cheek when she turned to look at him.

"Don't look at me, look at the fucking horde," she hissed as her free hand met the back of his head in a slap. Still, he didn't look away, making her scoff and push him back. He wasn't expecting it, and so he fell on his back only a few feet away from his brother's body.

Thena dropped to her knees again, her hands pressed on her forehead as she continued to stare at the horde in fright. She heard the statics of Nick radio and his voice as he tried to get ahold of his sister, but she didn't respond to his calls.

"Just kill me, Nick. Do what my brother should have done," she heard from behind her, and she froze slightly, straightening her back to hear everything better.

At first, there were no words from Nick, only the sound of his foot hitting the ground and then metal dropping on the dusty earth. He remained silent, making Thena turned her head to stare at the two. Nick's eyes weren't on Troy nor the gun that he threw at him anymore, but they were looking at her. And so, she said what he had in mind.