Nick jerked awake, clawing desperately for some kind of purchase on the cloth seats of the car, much like the death grip he just had on Troy's shirt.
Troy.
Relief hit him like a flood. It was just a dream. Nick took a deep breath and sighed. He was alone in the car. So, where was Troy?
Nick slowly opened the car door, trembling slightly. He shook his head to clear his mind of the chain of events that had just unfolded in his dreams. She sun was just past the top of the sky. Nick couldn't tell time by the placement of the sun, but felt it must be sometime after noon.
He scanned the area where the car was parked. Nick was on the ridge, a few miles away, but looking out into the deep glade that was the ranch, towering hills on three sides of it. One road in, one road out. He turned back to the car and his heart quickened with relief when he saw Troy sitting on the trunk, his back to him.
Nick walked over and found Troy cross-legged on the car, whittling at a small stick.
"Thank God you're here," Nick found himself saying.
Troy looked up and raised a brow, the desert wind slowly lifting his curls about his face, making him squint one eye to avoid being poked by his own hair. "Ya thought I'd leave, poet?"
"Not exactly," Nick said and looked down to avoid Troy seeing the tears brimming in his down-turned eyes. "I wish I could have stopped it."
Troy looked at him then. "Stopped what?" He asked, genuinely curious.
Nick blinked and realized that Troy still had no clue. Although Nick had relived it, it was still blocked from Troy's memory. He had a choice to make.
Should he tell Troy? Let his friend know what his mother had done to him? Face the possible wrath that might ensue once Troy found that Nick had witheld it?
Nick cut his eyes up slightly, trying to gauge the other boy and what state of mind he might be in; if he could handle the news or not. But, he didn't fly off the handle completely when Nick had confessed about his father.
He wasn't sure how this would effect Troy. If it hurt him, Nick might not be able to handle that. Nick thought it was his fault anyway.
Troy was no longer looking at Nick; he was back to scraping the wood.
"I wish I could have stopped her," Nick admitted, walking a few steps closer and looking down.
"Who?" Troy asked, setting the knife and stick down and sliding down from the trunk. He crossed his arms and looked at Nick with mild curiosity.
"Madison."
"Your mother?" He asked. Nick fiddled with his hands, finally looking up at Troy and nodding slightly. "Stopped her from what?"
Nick met Troy's eyes finally and step forward. He reached toward the older boy's face and drug his thumb along the day old bandage right under his left eye. Troy froze for a moment, then jerked away.
Nick's face fell and he looked to the ground, taking a few steps back.
"W-what?" Troy asked, eyes and mouth widening a bit. "What do you mean? What happened?"
Nick couldn't look at him. "She, she hit you. With a hammer," He paused. "Twice."
Troy looked at Nick, a million thoughts racing through his mind. The first one he voiced? "I know."
Nick looked up incredulously. Did Troy really just say he knew? "What?"
Troy put his hand on his hips and grinned. "I know, Nick. I remember. I told her about the ranch. Which, now that I'm still here, when I could be dead, I guess I could reason to say that that wasn't too good of an idea." He laughed.
Nick looked on, mouth gaping.
"I was just waiting to see when you would say something. How you would say it," Troy continued.
"Why?" Nick asked, confusion draped over his face.
"I wanted to see how long you would try to protect me."
Nick met his eyes. "I, I had a dream that we were back there again. That I couldn't stop it. Again..." he trailed off.
Troy stepped forward and slung his arm over Nick's shoulders. "Hey, you can't get rid of me that easy." He gave Nick a shake. "Maybe I'm suicide-proof." He laughed and they began walking towards the edge of the ridge to scan the ranch.
It would be a difficult journey in itself, as there were over a hundred walkers milling through the fields.
Troy and Nick sat in the car, windows down, front doors open. Troy was tearing into the dashboard, unfastening snaps and popping open clips. The sun was sweltering and Troy was down to his dusty, stained white tee shirt.
Nick wasn't hot, however. He had become used to the heat near the border; always walking, the lonesome traveler. He laid with his head on the head rest, eyes closed, enjoying the wind gushing through the open doors and listening to Troy get irritated removing the plastic covers.
After a few grunts and several broken plastic clips, Troy dislodged the dash cover and Nick had to lean back even further to avoid being hit with it as Troy pushed it out of the passenger door. Troy started disconnecting wires beneath and soon pulled out a small black box.
"I can rig this with the power block and batteries from one of the flashlights. Make some noise, buy us some time," he told Nick, shaking the small object at him. Nick just quirked his lip. Troy was pulling out new tricks day by day. The star-mapping, and now with the electrical stuff. Nick was glad he was crafty.
Nick watched as Troy pulled the battery holster from one of the flashlights and disconnected the wires from the bulb. He attached them to the leads into the box and popped a few batteries in.
"Now, I'll have to be pretty close to start it off, so one of us needs to climb the tower and plant it while the other does crowd control at the base."
"I'll handle it," Nick replied, pulling himself up to stand outside of the car.
"No," Troy replied immediately, stepping out of the car as well. "Too dangerous. We'll clear a bit together, then you climb up and put this right on the railing, facing the well. It'll draw them from the barn and from around the bunker."
Nick didn't argue, just shook his head. When would Troy start treating him like he was more than just feeble. He was crafty, too.
They left the ridge and made their way across what used to be a cattle field, toward the north watch tower. A few rotters were scattered here and there and they dispatched them quietly, crouching as they got closer to the base of the tower.
There were about fifteen walkers spread around the ladder. Nick and Troy edged closer and took out the four walkers that stood in direct line of the ladder, two each. Troy handed Nick the speaker box and he made his way up the ladder.
"It's all set to go, so just plant it!" Troy called up to him, grabbing a nearby walker and shoving his blade up the nape of its neck.
He downed a few more as they crept closer.
Nick reached the top of the ladder and entered onto the landing, setting the black box on the wide, wooden beam of the railing. He turned back and started coming back down the ladder.
A pile of bodies lay strewn around the base of the ladder, Troy at the center.
Troy moved out of the way so Nick could drop the last few feet to the ground. They quickly jogged to one of the nearby equipment sheds and ducked behind a few empty barrels.
"We should be in range enough," Troy stated and pulled the Camry's key fob from his pocket, extending his arm and pointing it to the top of the nearby tower. He pressed the PANIC button and set the alarm off atop the tower.
An intense, high-pitched beeping began to reverberate in the air, and soon, the roaming dead began milling towards the base of the tower and away from the bunker.
