TROY'S POV:

The song for this chapter is Justin Timberlake - Say Something

The next day I had a feeling that my Dad was going to either give me the silent treatment or be very direct and short with me, which was really no different than how he usually was. Lucky for me, it was the former.

For breakfast, he held brief conversations with members of the community easily but when it came to me he kept going as if I wasn't there.

Jake saw and asked with his eyes if I was okay.

I pretended like I didn't see it as I went back to eating toast.

Madison, Nick and Alicia chatted in line for food. He had his hair different today, all of it slicked back. It looked really nice on him in his Army gear.

She felt my stare, then turned back to Nick to no doubt say something about me.

I verred my gaze out to the dryland to get lost in thought.

Cooper sat down across from me, he began talking but I didn't catch a word of it. He never usually took offense to it because he knew what to expect me, which was very little.

Madison struck up conversation with my Dad with her kids by her side. He acknowledged the women but said not one word to Nick.

Nick stared after him with a clenched jaw. His fist gathered by his side. He must've really hated him.

My gaze must've been heavy on him because he met my eyes.

We locked eyes for a few moments.

I offered a grin.

He gave a small grin as he looked away.

Before patrol started, I headed back to the house to laid down on in my room for a few minutes. My arm rested over my eyes to block out the light as I tried to relax. I must've drifted off because I was shook awake some time later.

"Troy, we need you out there."

My eyes scrunched together when I came to. "Hmm." I opened them to find Nick crouched down by the bed. I rubbed at my eyes. "How long was I asleep?" I sat up.

He stood. "Probably like an hour."

I got to my feet. "What? Why didn't anyone come get me?" I didn't want my father to have another reason to think I wasn't good enough if I couldn't do the one job he gave me.

"I told them to let you sleep," He defended. "So if you want to blame anyone blame me."

I was yet again at a loss for words because he proved to be the only one to be nice to me without expecting anything in return. I had to wonder what I had done to earn that from him because I had the impression he saw me as a head case.

He took the time to walk around my room to inspect the trinkets that he thought would tell him something else about me.

My hands rubbed on my pants. "Are you guys already out there?"

"It's as quiet as a silent film," He picked up my rock collection.

I walked over to him. "Clearly there was a lot to do here growing up with a paranoid recluse."

He laughed. "I can see that." He inched over to the telescope. "You actually use this thing or did you use it to pick up girls?"

"Uh, no." I paused when he looked at me.

"Guys then?"

I cracked a grin. "I actually used it," I gestured to it. "The piece of metal helped me escape for a bit." I bit into my lip.

Back then I was very quite lonely. Ever since Nick got here I didn't feel so out of place as I once did. Even if we never truly became friends I felt a connection to him that I think he felt to and that was more than I ever expected to have.

My eyes drifted to his to find him already looking at me.

He cleared his throat. "Maybe we should get out there. They're probably drowning without us."

I felt my face get a little hot at the way he softened "Us".

His eyes scrutinized my face.

I started for the stairs. "Let's not give them anything to talk about then."

"Doesn't bother me." He followed behind with his hands in pockets.

To fight my smile, I bit the inside of my cheek. I wasn't sure if that was considered a flirt but I didn't put much stalk in it. No use in getting all in fuse over something I couldn't have.

Once on the way to the patrol field, I asked, "Sorry you're in the line of fire of my Dad's wrath. It can be brutual."

He ran his hand through his slicked back hair. "I won't lose sleep over it." He said in a way that suggested neither should I.

"Are you going out again tonight?"

I looked over at him. "Depends on if someone pisses me off. Are you looking to piss me off, Nick?"

He held his hands up in surrender. "No trouble on my end. Just come get me if you have to go out there."

My gaze lingered on him for an answer.

"If you go out there alone you might not come back. While you're probably okay with that I don't know if these men will follow Coop if it came to it."

My heart warmed a bit. "Are you about to break into song, Nicky?" I cracked a grin.

He rolled his eyes with a light hearted laugh. His chocolate eyes met mine in amusement, they crinkled from the sunlight in his eyes. "These people expect a strong leader. One that knows the land. Does Coop know how to navigate with the stars or how to track with plants are edible for us to eat? Or how to get us back from Taqa's if we need to get out there?" He held a bit of intensity in his voice.

"Point taken." I scanned the field for my men to make sure they hadn't slacked in my absence. "But I think they'd follow you if it came to it."

He stared at me without anything to say.

I kind of liked that I made him speechless a lot.

I laughed at him. "Don't shit your pants. I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."

"Good." He went to his post.

His 'Good' stayed with me while I made my rounds to the others to check on them. My last stop was Cooper because he was a bit sharper than the others.

"Notice anything?"

He gestured out to Nick by the wall, his gaze directed through the hole. "Nothing besides your boyfriend thinking he's in charge."

My brow rose at him.

He gave me a look back.

I blew out a breath. "From now on when I'm not available, you and Nick are in charge."

"He's been here for like five minutes, Troy."

My arms folded across my chest, I squared my hips so I exuded confidence that the others expected from me. "You're by the book and he's on the fly. You'll balance each other out." My word was final.

He nodded in understanding. "Yes, sir." He went back to his job.

I walked the perimeter a few times. The third time I got a bad vibe so I pulled Tony off the line to help me scout. He was disposable, good enough to be a soldier, but not good enough that we'd be at a loss without him. He was basically a red shirt.

As if on cue, an arrow flew into his back.

His eyes widened before he tipped over.

"Fuck." I ran through the trees. "Get down!" I shouted. "Indians are coming!"

The others must've heard me because they sprung into action. One ran toward camp to warn everyone.

An arrow flew past my head while others were aimed at my men.

I checked on Nick.

He held his rifle steady as he calmly walked in the direction I escaped, a look void of emotion on his face. His eyes found mine briefly and softened before his forehead crinkled and everything about him hardened. He aimed behind me.

I turned to see an Indian with a knife in his hand on the ground. Maybe it was out of obligation or out of something I didn't quite yet understand, but I felt the need to protect him as he had protected me.

We quite literally fought back to back until the spray of arrows and bullets ceased. There was a collective sigh of relief but now we had to deal with the No-Brainers that wondered our way from the continued noise.

Madison ran onto the field with Alicia and two others to check the wounded.

Nick and I looked each other over. Somehow we were the only two unwounded.

Alicia ran over to check us out. She went to her brother first. "You okay?"

He nodded, pulled her into a quick hug. "You?"

Jealousy formed in me because I'd never have the closeness they shared as siblings with Jake. We just weren't built that way. Maybe it was me that wasn't built that way.

"Troy?" She asked.

I was a bit shocked that she cared, but I chalked it up to an obligatory ask.

I nodded. "Thanks." I felt obligated to say it. I heard Nick ask her, "What was that?" when I walked away but I didn't hear much after that.

Jake came up to me with my Dad in tow.

"You couldn't have prevented this?" My Dad blamed before Jake could get a word in.

"How is this my fault?" I demanded. "I made the rounds. They're sneaky and they know the land, you know that."

His disapproving grey eyes all but glared at me in his subdued way.

Madison jogged to us.

"How many dead?" He asked of her.

She glanced at me. "Just one. Tony, I believe his name was."

I confirmed it with a nod.

"Looks like your men need to work through the night." Dad instructed.

While I knew it was necessary I knew they wouldn't be excited about it.

I gathered them around to deliver the news. "We're on watch all night. We can stagger shifts. I'll try to get a few volunteers on board. Who wants to be on first watch?"

There were only three hands that flew up. Plus, Nick's.

My eyes settled on him as I said, "They probably won't attack soon after but they might rely on our defenses and resources to be down to strike again."

He gave a slight nod of faith.

I tore my gaze away to thank each other men for their dedication silently. "Off you go."

Nick walked up to me and stopped well within my personal space. "Do we have the ammo to waste if they start a war?"

"I guess, we'll find out." I leaned in close with my stare in the distance. "Hopefully it doesn't come to that." I looked back at him.

His gaze ran over my face, then settled on my lips briefly before they flicked up to my eyes.

A little bit of breath left me, I turned away to catch it. "Good work." I head out to find some recruits to help us out.

NICK'S POV:

The evening dragged on without incident, but we couldn't lower our guard just in case. The entirety of the camp relied on us. When the shift change took place at dinner I was starving.

I sat with my canned green beans, corn, and hamburger patty.

Alicia gave me a worried look. "How are things out there?"

"Uneventful." I dug in.

She gestured with a fork at me. "How have you been with things?"

I swallowed the green beans, then answered, "Fine, I guess."

"I meant since Luciana left."

We locked eyes.

"I haven't had time to think about her really, maybe that's a good thing."

She nodded.

I gave a teasing grin. "What about you and Jake? Any apocolypse babies in the future?"

She chucked a balled up piece of bread at me but the tired smile on her face suggested it hadn't upset her. "It's casual."

"But he likes you. You like him." I grinned. "If he asks you to go steady will you say yes?"

Her face went red. "All you have to do is bag the other brother,"

When I went silent she broke out into a loud laugh.

Instead of giving her a reaction I forked a few beans from her plate.

"Hey," She tried to take some from my plate in good nature. "Looks like your boyfriend's coming this way," She whispered. "Troy," She called loud enough for him to hear and waved him over..

On instinct, my foot kicked her shin.

She laughed heartily.

He neared us with tired yet intrigued blue eyes. "Alicia?"

"Why don't you eat with us?" She gestured to the spot right next to me.

He sat beside me with his apple. "Thanks."

My body automatically grew a bit stiff. Sadly, I knew it was noticeable so I tried to loosen up by swinging my leg over one side and face the both of them.

"Must be hard work out there," Alicia started.

He nodded once. "Needs to be done."

Her eyes glanced to mine before she said, "Must get pretty tense out there. Probably not a lot of ways to release it, you know."

She wasn't being subtle about it.

I couldn't help but laugh at the awkwardness.

He quickly glanced at me with a raised brow, then stared at her. "Are you asking me if I'm having sex with anybody because I'm pretty sure my brother has his hand in your cookie jar."

That shut her up.

She turned bright red.

I bellowed out a laugh and shot Troy an impressed grin for putting her in her place. It was all in good fun, something we all needed after the day we had.

We chatted for a bit longer then it was time to part ways. Only Troy and I both started for the field.

He arched a thick brow at me. "You don't have to stay."

I eyed him. "I know."

He fought a smile, then continued on.

TROY'S POV:

Everyone was on the brink of sleep by the end of the second shift. The long had long since evaded us so we had to be extra alert.

Soon enough Cooper and the others came to relieve us. This time Nick and I accepted defeat, but I found I couldn't allow myself to sleep when the whole camp felt wired.

No part of me wanted to go inside so I perched on a chair on the porch and focused my attention on widdling a piece of wood. It was surprisingly relaxing so I kept at it.

There was a knock on the railing.

I looked up to find Nick on the steps, his Army shirt open and revealed his dingy wifebeater underneath.

"You're still up?" I probed.

He nodded at the few weapons at my feet. "I could ask you the same." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. "You mind?"

My head shook. "Go for it." I tried to focus on what was in my hands but he kept distracting me with little stares. So I placed the stick and knife down and joined him on the opposite side of the stairs. I took the time he took to blow out smoke to the side to assess him.

I wasn't sure if he knew his level of attractiveness or not but it was one of the first things I noticed about him.

His eyes slid to mine. "You did good out there today, even if Jeremiah tells you otherwise."

A honest smile tugged at my lips.

"What?" He gave a smile of his own.

"You just seem content on making sure I know my worth."

He looked a bit startled at my words, then took another puff of his cigarette and blew it out. "What are friends for?"

"Is that what we are?" I offered a curious grin.

"For now," He put his cigarette out on the railing of the stairs. "You might be a dick tomorrow." He joked.

I laughed. "Ah, that's entirely possible,"

We chuckled.

He took a step closer. "Sorry about my sister earlier. She can be intrusive."

I shrugged it off. "I didn't mind," I pushed off the railing. "It was nice talking to someone new for a change. I'm glad she invited me over."

"Maybe she'll invite you over again tomorrow."

I gave a small nod. "Maybe I'll invite myself over." I put on the confidence I felt he admired.

He seemed pleased by that. He licked his bottom lip and said, "I'll see you in a few hours, Troy." He gave me a parting look.

"See ya." I said lamely.

I had to wonder in a few hours time would we still have his light hearted banter or we go back to barely co-existing? I was afriad I was putting stock in something that I couldn't have.