RIVER FLOWS NORTH — PART 6
Troy removed his feet from the dash where they'd been resting the entirety of the journey, and winced slightly, scolding himself for the ridiculousness of his injury.
He hopped out, opened the back door, removed a knife from the weapons container, and moved toward the small crowd of wasted, forcing his steps to be fluid and determined.
It took concentrated effort to keep them from getting too close to the jeep and the horse standing a short distance away, restless and skittish as if it feared a breach. The crowd was stronger than they usually were, and the minor pain had slowed him down a tad.
What was going on?
Nick wasn't happy with just his knife, so he pulled out a machete. The horse was not going to get calmer.
"Alicia, ride away, let us clear them out," he called to her, waving the machete in the direction they came from. At least they knew the path was clear there. "Ride back, go! He'll throw you off if you stay!"
He hurried to join Troy who was already slicing into the crowd, drawing them off the highway. It was a painful work, and Nick debated covering himself in blood to make it safer and easier, but there was not so much time. Nor was the crowd all that big.
Troy, however, didn't seem so hot, anymore. He might be tired or there was something else Nick didn't know about.
Getting the horse to obey was no longer an easy task. He seemed confused, unsure of which direction would be safest, and even the tall grass on the side of the road startled him when it brushed up against his legs.
Luckily, Alicia managed to turn him around just as Nick and Troy attacked the group, and trotted back the way they had come, putting distance between them and the walking dead. When she stopped, Alicia could still see the infected and the progress the two men were doing in putting them down, but she was no longer close enough for the horse's nerves to flare anew.
It didn't seem like a big crowd once they started slicing through it, but then it felt to be going on forever. Nick lost his breath, his lungs became two burning embers, his ribs whined in throes, rejecting any new breath.
When it was over and they'd taken care of the group, Troy was breathing slightly heavier and scarcely as elated or energized by the fight as he usually would be.
Maybe he was just tired?
He wiped the knife off on the dead, checked himself over to make sure the close encounter he'd had with one of them hadn't left behind any surprises, and then steadily dragged them off the road to make a clear path for the horse.
Alicia stroked the side of the animal's long neck with one hand, continuing to murmur encouragements until every walking corpse had met their true end.
Then she approached again, slowly, testing the waters so to speak, while Troy and Nick tried to clear the way.
Troy checked the dead's pockets for anything useful, coming away with a packet of crumpled cigarettes that had seen better days and some gum.
He tossed Nick the cigarettes once he'd looked up, and peeled the wrapping from the gum, popping a piece into his mouth as a reward, and offered Nick one as they walked toward the jeep.
When the last one dropped and stilled, Nick propped his hands on his knees, trying to get his breathing to norm. It was like attempting to breathe under water. He caught the pack of cigarettes Troy tossed him only due to Otto's good aiming. Nick stuffed it in his back pocket and tried to straighten up. Wincing at another series of twinges, he walked slowly toward the Jeep. Alicia and the horse were fine. That was great.
"You still okay, Alicia?" Troy asked, extending the gum her way.
"All's good," she exaggerated, shaking her head at his offer. It tended to increase her hunger rather than dull it. "Are you two okay?"
Neither looked it. In fact, they both looked as though they would highly benefit from a shower and twelve hours in bed. She guessed the stress of the past few days was catching up with them. It certainly was that way for her.
"We getting close?"
Troy returned the rest of the gum to his pocket and studied the road ahead, seeking signs, anything to tell them again how far they'd come and how far they still had to go.
"I think so. We better. The sun's going to be gone in less than two hours and you're not going to want to be riding that thing when it does. We'd hardly be able to see what's coming."
He glanced at Nick and propped a hand against the bumper.
"You want me to take over driving?"
Nick considered having to drive for another hour or two, and it reflected inside of him in another throe.
He nodded. "Yeah, be my guest, if you feel okay yourself. You ain't as perky anymore, Otto."
"I'm okay," Troy replied, although that unfamiliar pull of weariness made him feel like resisting the idea for the first time in forever. He couldn't recall feeling tired since this whole thing started. Maybe it was the aftereffects of the drugs coming into play?
They could come after a few days, right?
That was the risk.
Or maybe he was beginning to get the onset of the flu?
"Okay, let's get going." Alicia patted the horse's neck and urged him forward. "Last stretch, handsome. Hopefully."
She let him walk for a while to come, allowing Nick and Troy to catch up to her with the car. The day was coming to a rapid end and that worried her a little. She was getting tired, and the horse no longer seemed as eager to run as he had before. This journey was wearing them all down. Alicia just prayed they actually made it to the cabin, and that when they got there, it would be habitable and not under someone else's control.
Troy slipped into the driver's seat, waited on Nick to join, and drove behind Alicia for a while.
Nice and easy. The time rapidly melting away with the sun.
Troy wasn't okay, but Nick didn't want to point it out any more times than he had already done. It would only focus Troy more on his weariness.
Nick shared water with him the next time he wanted a sip. Troy seemed to be concentrating on driving so much he didn't move to get the bottle while Nick knew he was thirsty by now. Nick wasn't happy to be making him strain himself more, but he hoped it would be over soon. If it wasn't, then he'd pick up the wheel and force Otto to rest.
After an hour or so of driving, Nick pulled the map again to reassess.
"It's probably this turn right here," he showed Troy, skimming a finger across the map. "It should be any time now, and then it's real close. At least to that forest. Where the cabin is, Alicia must know. Jake must have said something to make it more specific. Or we're gonna be searching for a needle in the woods."
Troy slowed to a manageable pace so that he could glance at the map and the image Nick was trying to show him and wouldn't rear end the horse if they were to stop. Troy still didn't recognize anything in the surrounding area. And how would he?
Time passed slowly, so very slowly, and Alicia was starting to struggle. Back in her "riding-lessons" days she had gone on several long trips with her fellow students and horses, where they'd ridden for hours from their riding school to another where the horses could safely spend the night while they camped on the grounds. And it had been fine. Alicia had been tired come evening, but nothing like what she felt now.
She was in pain, the kind she had initially hoped would fade once she got used to the sensation, but that instead intensified as time went on. But even the pain and discomfort couldn't deflect how sleepy she was getting, and once or twice she even caught herself having allowed her eyes to fall shut.
She held onto the horse with one hand and rubbed the other across her face in an attempt to perk herself up, blinking rapidly to fight her heavy eyelids from closing once more.
The sun was on its way down and the air was getting cooler. She carefully slid out of her jacket and tied it around her waist, hoping the slight chill would reawaken her sleepy brain.
"Alicia!" Troy called, sticking his head out the window, flipping on the flicker so that she could see what direction they were intending to head in when she turned around. He gestured, too, just in case she missed it.
When she veered off as instructed onto the dirt path, the jeep followed for about two miles before approaching a large stone sign advertising San Bernardino national forest.
They made it.
"Where to now?" Troy asked, raising his voice so that he could be heard by her a bit ahead of them.
Alicia made the horse stop once they reached the San Bernardino National Forest sign, turning slightly to examine her surroundings. There were several paths open to them now, all leading in different directions, but she didn't know which one to choose until she spotted the small wooden building carrying the name of INFORMATION. It was a few hundred feet away, up a small incline which she soon climbed.
"South of the Information cabin," she called back over her shoulder, trying to remember exactly what Jake had said the night he explained his cabin's whereabouts to her. "Close to a lake. Supposed to have 88 nailed to the front porch."
Troy followed her directions to the letter, sticking close behind her, carefully working his way up the incline, glad that the gears didn't stick and that the jeep was still working like a dream.
He didn't see any dead as of yet, or even people, but the denser it got the more concerned he got.
They were announcing themselves. In a big way.
He pulled off to the side and cut the ignition, glancing at Nick beside him. "I'm going to explore on foot. I don't want to waste any more fuel and I want to get a better look at what we're getting into."
Nick opened the door and stepped out, one foot still in the Jeep, surveying the highway and the woods framing it. When Troy emerged from his side, Nick spoke over the roof: "Let's at least roll it into the trees, off the road. There should be a parking area at the lake, but you're right, we've no way to know if it's clear and safe or not. So yeah, we should probably approach on foot, quietly, and scope up the place. But we need to secure the Jeep better. Hide it in case there are raiders around."
Troy agreed with that in all its glory, but they didn't know what lay off the road.
Alicia noticed the jeep had stopped behind her, so she halted the horse to wait, worried there might be trouble until she managed to overhear the conversation between the two men. It made sense. They were pretty much open targets out here, without knowing if anyone could be hiding in the cabins she assumed they were closing in on.
"What do we do about him?" she said, gesturing to the animal beneath her as he dipped his head to get at some grass on the side of the road.
Troy closed the driver's door, opened the back to help himself to a weapon, and started off the side of the road into the dirt, checking for nails and soft spots in which it could possibly get stuck. You couldn't be sure what traps people set. Especially hunters.
"We'll secure him to the jeep."
He walked a few steps, boots scraping the surface of the dirt, and then turned around to gesture for Nick to bring the car down.
When he moved to comply, Troy shifted deeper into the trees, looking for something they could possibly use to shade the lights and back and keep it from being spotted from the road if anyone else was to drive by. They wouldn't be able to save it from people walking through the forest, but that was the risk.
There was nothing out there but trees.
Troy could cut branches, possibly rip them off, but that would take more time than they had before darkness would settle in like a blanket and blindside everything.
Nick steered the Jeep after Troy, veering among the trees, and parked at the bushes that masked most of the vehicle. He pulled the key out as he slipped from the seat, and handed it to Troy.
Alicia was trotting to them, ducking from the branches.
"No, we can't leave him here, he'll draw attention and we'll come back to him dead," Nick reasoned and gave Alicia a sympathetic look. "You look tired as shit, I know you are, but you gotta hang in there a bit longer, if you can. Stick to the road shoulder so the hooves make less noise, and if there's anything, dead or alive, you ride away and let us take care of the problems, okay? We'll go ahead this time, and you stay behind so we get the benefit of stealth."
"It's fine," she said, giving him as much of a reassuring smile as she could muster, lifting her head slightly to nod in the direction where they needed to go. "Go play cowboys."
Troy let them decide between themselves what to do with the horse as his idea had been shot down, and started moving away, heading in the direction they'd intended to drive, scanning the numbers, searching for the dead and any sign that people were living here.
And why not?
The place was secure. It had water and it had shelter.
"Stay close to the trees," he suggested once Nick caught up. "If someone shoots at us at least we'll have a better chance of getting away."
He'd already had it happen once today and only managed to escape out of sheer luck.
"That forest leads to the lake, right?" Nick said to Troy before he started ahead again. "We should stick to it until we reach water. So there are less chances of anyone catching us off-guard."
Alicia followed behind them but kept a decent distance, sticking to the side of the path where the horse's hoofbeats would be muted. It was eerily quiet. Almost like the calm before a storm.
"I don't remember the area well enough to speculate," Troy responded, "but from the looks of it, I guess so. Only one way to find out." Troy slowed his step so that Nick could catch up and they could walk side by side. If anyone rolled up on them, he'd have an easier chance of getting Clark out of the way.
Troy's footsteps were light as they walked, knees bending as they approached the water until he crouched beside a tree, studying the trailers spaced out along the edge for any sign of movement.
He stayed in that position for a good two minutes before signaling for them to move, to stay within the barrier of the trees and to follow it along the water's edge until they were close enough to the residents to be able to make out numbers or allocated areas designated for the trailer homes.
Troy didn't see any movement or people but there were fresh tracks in the sand.
Either they'd left recently, arrived or they'd gone out in search of supplies. He didn't see the car belonging to it – none that didn't look abandoned and as if it fused to the spot.
He approached the first trailer and wiped at the dirt along the bottom of the windows with his sleeve, peering inside to get a look of the interior. There was a bunch of crap, but no people – no number.
He moved down the line and repeated the search with the next, aware of barking from somewhere, the sound of a small dog yapping to alert their owner as they unintentionally trespassed. Troy backtracked to press himself against the previous trailer, gesturing for Nick to do the same and to listen. Thankfully, after he'd joined the militia he'd learned the codes and gestures.
A door swung open unseen and two voices could be heard. Both male.
They didn't sound hostile from what Troy could gather, but they were cautious and searching for what had set off their warning system.
They were armed and wary, straining to see into the dark and probably refraining from shining flashlights for a reason. They stayed for a while, but then decided to return into their trailer, neither willing to walk through the dark woods in search of trouble, guns or no guns.
"We should go along the lake and find that cabin," Nick whispered to Troy before Otto got any crazy ideas of just shooting those two first. "Let's see what's there, and then we can think of what to do."
Alicia slowed down, commanding the horse to stop in his stride completely once Nick and Troy neared a few trailers, making sure she would remain out of immediate view. It wasn't easy to be stealthy on horseback.
She held her breath once someone emerged from one of the trailers, grateful the distant sound of a dog barking hadn't startled the horse into moving or dislodging her from his back. They eventually returned inside, but she still didn't leave her current hiding place. There was no way she'd be able to get past those trailers with the horse without alerting their owners to her presence. She'd have to take a different route.
Troy nodded his agreement and moved only once the trailer door closed again and one of its occupants yelled at the dog to shut the fuck up. He pressed against the side of the cabin, letting Nick lead the way since he'd been an inch behind, gesturing to their hanger-on in the near distance where they were going so she at least knew what to do with the horse and could decide.
Nick surveyed the trailer park, thinking, then turned to Troy again.
"Go to Alicia, stick to the trees and head for the lake, search for that cabin. I'll take a look around here and follow in a few. Wanna see if there are more living here."
Troy hesitated to leave him behind on mere principle but given the state of time and darkness and the fact that they didn't have much leeway to fuck around he didn't have much of a choice.
"Be careful," he said, pushing away from the trailer, darting to where he knew Alicia had been waiting for them in the distance.
"You should get off the horse," he suggested in a whisper and once he'd found her. "If those men happen to fire a weapon, it'll throw you off and it'll be easier to let them think he's alone."
"What's the plan?" she asked, lifting one leg over the horse's back so she could slide down its body. It hurt. It hurt a lot. She sucked in a sudden breath of air, regretting the choice of pressing her aching torso against the animal and the sharp landing that made her head thunder. Her face remained buried against the horse's side as she swallowed a groan of pain, fingers unintentionally fisting in his mane until the worst of it dulled somewhat.
Alicia turned to face Troy finally, but kept a hold of the horse so it wouldn't run into the potential danger ahead.
"What's Nick doing?"
Nick watched Otto sneak away to the shelter of the trees. He waited a bit more, then crept along the side of the trailer and to the next one. There was another one with lights in the windows. As he investigated the park, he found about three more inhabited trailers and the dog was barking again somewhere.
Nick didn't linger and followed his companions in the lake's direction.
They were rather far ahead, he barely caught up, tracking the horse by ear. The steed wasn't trying to be stealthy.
After Troy filled Alicia in on her brother's intentions, he led the way and she followed, one hand locked around the horse's halter. She was too aware of all the noise they were making to hear when Nick finally snuck up on them, startled by Troy suddenly drawing his gun and pointing.
"It's me, it's me!" Nick hissed when Troy trained his gun at him in the dark. "Four trailers have people in them. At first glance. And the lake is that way," Nick pointed a bit sideways. "You're taking too much to the right and gonna miss it. Come on."
Alicia's heart was in her throat until she recognized her brother's familiar voice, and they let him take the lead next after ushering them in the right direction. It was getting too dark among the trees to see much, but she thought after a while she could glean the outline of a cabin.
"Is that it?" she whispered, stalling the horse once more.
"One way to find out," Troy whispered, scavenging ahead of the two, keeping his feet firmly planted to the ground the closer he got in case of bear traps or whatever else hunters tended to use. A gift of the paranoid of having experienced people's depraved means of securing themselves. A lot of which—if he had the ability—he'd gladly do himself. There was no fencing around it, nothing to demarcate whose land was whose, apart from the trees. Troy had no idea where they'd find number eighty-eight, and with no light to help anymore, it was all guesswork.
He gestured for them to stop, to wait, and then moved speedily, ignoring the backdoor to find the front. He climbed the few porch steps slowly, aware of their every groan and squeak despite the blanket of dark. He didn't see any lights in any of the windows or anything to indicate that anyone lived there.
He drove a closed fist onto the wood panel, knocking hard twice, and then dashed off the porch to hide, heading the exact same way he'd come, cursing when he reached the side of the house and dropped to a crouch. He waited a beat, assuming that if anyone living stayed inside, they'd come out armed and ready.
Only it never happened.
That didn't mean it was clear, though.
Troy pressed a hand to the ground, sliding his hand across the dirt in search of something, and grabbed whatever to throw it at the windows.
It cracked once and then fell away somewhere.
"I guess no one's home," he stated in a whisper, slowly starting toward the front of the house again, being careful anyway in case whoever was smarter than he gave them credit for.
Nick stole along the wall toward the porch in the front and searched for any 88. The moon hid behind the clouds again, and it was hard to make out any details without a flashlight. Ahead from the porch, there was the lake, barely seen between the tree trunks. Next to the cabin, there was a garage.
The horse was getting restless, tired of being led around after so many months, possibly even years, of freedom. He stomped his hooves impatiently, threw his head back a couple of times, which made Alicia wince, and snorted.
"Is there any way into the garage?" she asked.
If there was and it was clear of danger and not too cramped, they could at least temporarily stow the horse there and allow themselves a simpler journey to and from the car.
Nick crept for the window and tried to look in, but it was too dark inside. He glanced back at Troy on his heel.
"I don't suppose you got a key?"
He chortled and tried the door, but it appeared to be locked, after all.
"We either use your head to bash it in with too much noise, or you can get a flashlight and something I can pick the lock with."
"Or," Troy retorted, given the options, mulling them over for about half a second, quickly raising a boot and swiftly kicking the door open. It gave like flimsy cardboard.
That was the thing about these houses. No security.
He grabbed Nick's shoulder in the dark, pulling him out of the way of anything that might come stumbling out, an arm secured against his upper body for about half a second so Nick could get the hint before Troy removed his gun.
If there was someone inside, then they'd have definitely heard that.
Troy inched toward the door, pressed his head against the side of the paneling and strained to listen for any activity that might be happening upstairs or elsewhere. There was a thumping from somewhere, but it sounded distinctly clumsy.
"Seems clear of the living," he stated in a conspiring whisper. "I'll check the garage."
Nick winced as Troy bashed in the door. That was the kind of noise he wanted to avoid. Nick wasn't up for standing watch and slicing the dead through the night.
There was no one, living or dead, on the first floor, but something might be on the second. He didn't immediately go there, checking the fireplace first. There was wood for it stocked next to it. Two chairs sat in front of it, a couch stood at the wall.
He followed Troy outside as he went for the garage. It wasn't wise to split up now on the unknown territory.
The horse was being nervous and Alicia had a hard time holding onto the halter. Nick could tell by her silhouette in the dark how exhausted she was.
As Troy kicked in the door like it was a piece of plastic, and Nick followed him inside, Alicia moved to stand in front of the horse, trying to get the horse's focus off their surroundings and onto herself. She rested her forehead against his, murmuring words of reassurance again, stroking the sides of his head. He calmed for all of thirty seconds before his nerves took over again. She narrowly avoided his muzzle slamming into her chin, forced to stand at his side again to avoid other potential collisions as Troy's form stalked away towards the garage.
The horse's uneasiness didn't go unnoticed, and for a time, Troy worried that maybe the animal sensed something they couldn't in the dark. He paused, listened, eyes taking in the unfamiliar silhouettes to try and distinguish what was friendly and what was foe before seeking the garage again.
For a time, it was hard to make out what was part of the house and what wasn't, and then, like some glimmer of magic, the door revealed itself, briefly illuminated by a touch of moonlight before disappearing.
The weather was iffy, and if the clouds were anything to go by, it was going to rain at some point.
He approached it cautiously and knocked. It wasn't long before he received a crash in return, louder, followed by a series of muffled groans that explained why the cabin hadn't been taken over.
Maybe the people in the area didn't know how to take care of the dead, or maybe they didn't care?
Troy regarded Nick as the latter walked up behind him.]
"I don't want to get rid of them until we have some light. I can't tell how many are in there. Do we have a torch back at the jeep?"
"I don't know, we got a lot of shit in your Jeep."
"Our jeep," Troy corrected, wracking his brain for an inventory list. They'd collected a lot of stuff over the last few days. He couldn't remember a torch.
Nick pondered, looking back at Alicia with her horse.
"We'll have to take him in the cabin, and he'll crap all over the place. But at least, he'll live."
"Fine. For tonight we'll let him stay inside." That way Troy didn't have to go to the jeep in the dark. He was still tired.
He slowly walked toward the cabin entrance. "We'll clear the upstairs and then you can bring him in, Alicia."
They were on the homestretch.
They wanted her to bring him into the cabin itself? Seemed strange, but Alicia was too tired to argue. As long as he'd be safe it was fine with her.
"'Kay," she murmured, inclining her head in a nod, shifting her weight from one foot to the other while waiting for their signal. "Be careful," she urged Nick once he was within the range of her voice, eyeing the dark cabin warily.
What they found upstairs was a couple of scared possums. It was unclear how they got there, but there was more logic in it than if it were an infected.
While Troy checked for more surprises around the second floor, Nick went to get Alicia. The horse dashed before her. It made him laugh. The animal really didn't want to stay outside longer than was necessary. His patience was done for this day.
It didn't take too long before Nick returned, and for that Alicia was grateful. The horse rushed for the door the moment they made to move and she was forced to release her hold on him. The doorway was too narrow for the both of them to pass through at the same time, anyway.
Alicia imagined the animal would do some damage during the night, but couldn't find it in her to care very much. She was too exhausted.
Troy captured the possums and shooed them out of the back door, briefly considering killing them so that they'd have some meat to eat, but granted how tired he was he didn't have the energy.
Maybe tomorrow he'd find them again.
Seeing the horse inside amongst the furniture in the dark like a lump was a bit surreal.
"There are two bedrooms upstairs. All clear."
He moved the nearest piece of furniture, pushing it out of the way to make more space for the horse since obviously, the animal would be taking up most of the living room, wincing when something crashed to the floor.
A lamp, maybe? A table? He kicked it aside and pushed the item toward the wall, along with what felt like a wood chair or couch.
When Troy was done, he headed toward the kitchen in search of the taps and water. The horse would need it after the long ride, and their own water they'd left in the bush.
Alicia did briefly consider suggesting they should get back to the jeep and fetch their belongings. There was no guarantee it would still be there in the morning and to lose all that water and what remained of their food would be a shame. But she didn't really think any of them were willing to go for another walk. Troy and Nick might have been better at hiding it at this point, but it was clear they were all tired.
The door wouldn't fully latch after Troy's violent treatment of it, and after a moment's consideration Alicia asked:
"Should we block it from the inside? Just in case?"
"We definitely should," Nick agreed, "unless Troy wants the possums to come back for a visit."
He circled the horse and went to check the kitchen. Troy was busy trying the taps. The results were not inspiring; the taps chortled and choked, and then water started trickling. It didn't look dirty.
"That's lucky," Nick remarked. "Probably due to the lake water. Must be using that."
Water being provided from the lake made a lot of sense to Troy. They were self-sustainable and people statistically stayed at places like these during the summer or a week here and there. The sad thing was that depending on how many people had holed up here and how much it rained – it would eventually run dry.
Like everything.
But from what he'd glimpsed of the lake before the sun stole away, that wouldn't be happening soon. That was just a long-term thought.
He turned off the water and bent to search the cupboards blindly. He found what he guessed was a breakfast dish, and filled it to the best of its capabilities before slowly carrying it over into the living room.
Troy set the bowl down, dipped his fingers into the water and pressed them to them to the horse's muzzle, a hand combing through his mane gently, coaxing him in the dark to find the gift at his feet.
"We could use the couch to block it. I think I knocked over a side table, too."
Not that it would help much.
It probably wouldn't make much of a difference if the living came to call, but at least there was a bigger chance they'd hear someone at the door if they had to push a couch across the floor to enter.
Navigating her way through the dark until she reached said couch, Alicia pushed against it to test its weight. Heavier than she suspected.
"Give me a hand, Nick?"
Nick took a hold of the couch, pushing along with Alicia until it was barricading the door. He would have liked to have the handle secured with wires, too, but there was not much more they could do with what they had. It had to hold until morning.
"We gotta catch some shuteye and deal with the rest in the morning," he said, sitting down on the couch to rest a bit.
Troy combed his fingers through the horse's mane, encouraging the steed to follow him, giving them space to work.
When they were done, he released the horse so it could drink water in peace and acquaint itself with the room that was to be his barn for the night.
He didn't care that it was early or that he hadn't eaten. Food was a secondary thought to exhaustion. Besides, it wasn't the first time Troy'd been without it since this thing started.
He headed to the kitchen, collected what he assumed was plates and felt his way back to the staircase.
"Upstairs," he stated, gesturing despite the fact that he doubted they could see him. "You need a decent bed to heal those ribs of yours, Nick. You too, Alicia."
Alicia's ribs didn't hurt nearly as bad as her head at this point, and she was starting to think Troy's earlier assumption she'd gotten herself a concussion was correct. The ride had probably done more bad than good on that front, considering her brain now felt like scrambled eggs. But she didn't argue. She simply navigated her way over to the stairs and climbed them one by one step, collapsing atop the first bed she came across, all but gone before she could even remove her boots or jacket.
Alicia shuffled upstairs, and Nick was too lazy to force his ass off the couch as if his body suddenly weighed as much as the horse that snorted beside him.
He heard the bowl shift against the floor, then there were suckling sounds as the horse drank.
He tried a sigh, but his ribs didn't share the sentiment. Eventually, he made an effort and got off the couch, then started up the stairs. He went to the first room and found Alicia passed out on the bed. It was a rather wide mattress, so he lay down beside her and closed his eyes. And the world melted away.
Once the both of them had slid past Troy and upstairs, he followed, setting down plates strategically as he went to act as a secondary alarm in case someone was to creep in.
Who'd be expecting that? No one.
He climbed the rest of the way, found the bathroom, relieved himself and headed in search of his own room, dropping onto the mattress face first, allowing himself to give in to the pull of sleep without guilt.
Alicia was back in the cellar, the air heavy and suffocating, a sheen of sweat glistening on her skin as she drove her blade into another skull.
"What did you do?"
She turned to see Mom burst through the doorway, followed by Nick, Strand, Troy, and Walker. They all looked at their surroundings with horror.
Mom's eyes were wide and terrified. "Alicia, what did you do?"
"They were sick," Alicia said, her gaze falling on the man she had just tended to, traveling over the dozens and dozens of corpses splayed out on the concrete floor. They were at rest now.
"No, they weren't," Mom argued, making her frown.
Alicia sighed and moved to lift the man's shirt, to show them all the bite mark on his abdomen. Only it wasn't there. She couldn't find it.
"They were sick," she repeated with a little more urgency, getting to her feet to search the others. "I saw it."
Her search yielded no new results. But she had seen it. They were bitten, they were going to die and turn. She was just putting them out of their misery.
"They weren't infected." It was Nick who spoke now. They were all watching her, disgust visible on their faces.
"What did you do?!" Mom moved so quickly Alicia could barely see her. She grasped her daughter by the shoulders, shaking her, suddenly furious. Her voice was so loud, echoing through the cellar and reverberating in Alicia's skull with such intensity it hurt.
"WHAT DID YOU DO, ALICIA?!"
Alicia burst from her bed the moment her eyes opened, blindly rushed out of the room and down the stairs, unintentionally kicking porcelain dishes across the floor. She narrowly avoided colliding with the horse on her way to the door, where she was met with that damned couch she and Nick had brought over earlier. She pulled at it, yanking hard with all her strength and moved it just enough to create a gap she could slip through after getting the door open.
It felt as though she was going to be sick, but when she got outside and fell to her haunches just beyond the front porch, instead she exploded in loud, unexpected sobs. Her arms on her knees, Alicia put her hands over her face and cried, her heart pounding wildly, struggling to draw breath, overcome with a strong sense of self-loathing and guilt.
Her nightmare had not been real. She knew that. She knew the events that had truly happened were different. But it didn't much matter. It didn't matter that the awful actions she had performed were done for 'the right reasons'. It didn't matter that the people she had put down had volunteered, sacrificed themselves to save the rest. Taking lives, even lives that would fade on their own soon enough, had broken something inside her. Had scratched and clawed at that part of her she had vowed to keep intact. And it hurt to lose it, hurt to see their faces with her mind's eye and hear their pleading voices begging for more time she couldn't give them.
The night sky was slowly brightening, turning the heavens into a beautiful mural of yellows and pinks she failed to appreciate as she tried to stop the endless stream of tears staining her cheeks.
A series of chaotic loud noises yanked Nick from his sleep. He sat up in a jerk and noticed that Alicia wasn't next to him, anymore.
Downstairs, the horse was snorting nervously, his hooves thudding, and something being pushed.
He scrambled off the bed, dashing downstairs so quickly his chest combusted in throes. He paid no mind as his blood grew colder each moment.
The couch was clumsily pushed away from the door that was open a crack.
"Alicia!"
Nick squeezed out and fell on his knees next to his sister that was cowering on the ground, her whole body shaking as he took her by the shoulders to pull her up a bit. He had to make sure she wasn't injured.
"Alicia! What is it? What happened?"
The plate system worked a little too well and had Troy roll off the mattress and onto his knees without so much as a blink of hesitation, gun in hand as he listened to a rush of footsteps charging down the stairs.
He wasn't even sure he'd actually been asleep.
He moved toward the door, gun poised and trained ahead, following the commotion down the stairs until he found one sibling wrapped around another with an equally frantic look on his face.
Troy didn't say anything but automatically looked back and inside for blood or any signs of entry, earning a lazy greeting from their pet steed who tried to nudge him from behind in an attempt to get out. Troy guessed it wanted to graze.
Otto didn't budge, though, didn't touch the horse, and stood guard.
Alicia squeezed her eyes shut as Nick's hands clasped her shoulders, unable to meet his gaze, loathing the fact he was seeing her like this but unable to stop the sobs from launching through her body like little convulsions. She was painfully aware of his attention on her, as well as Troy having come up behind them, and though she had expected to feel some embarrassment for the spectacle she was making, she soon realized those feelings never emerged at all. There was shame, yes, but for different reasons. Not embarrassment.
She could hear her mother's words: "You were always the strong one." Several people had said that to Alicia lately, as if that meant she had more responsibilities than the rest. No one really cared to know whether she truly was strong or if it was just an act. It didn't seem fair that she had to keep pretending to be something she didn't feel in her heart. And yet, as these thoughts flitted around her head, she inwardly chastised herself for not keeping up appearances. Even for Nick who knew her better than anyone. It felt so utterly wrong to make him worry about her.
She opened her eyes eventually, tried to speak, to reassure him she wasn't injured in the way he feared, but the only words she managed to utter as she grasped his arms tightly were: "I keep seeing their faces…"
Nick's mind was still foggy from sleep, and at first, it was a puzzle. Mom and Strand's faces popped in his head, then the proctors. It didn't feel right.
And then, it came to him. In her voice from before.
'They were so scared…'
Sobbing, just like now.
Nick grimaced as if she'd punched him in the ribs, then pulled her to him, kissing the side of her head. He felt as if his heart was literally bleeding for all this pain she had to be in. He had no idea how to make it easier.
Deep down, he didn't believe it could ease up. His never had.
"You couldn't save them, Lisha," he murmured, holding her. "No one could. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I should've saved you. I should've come for you sooner. I'm so sorry."
Troy gazed down at the broken girl, trying to dig for a semblance of responsibility or guilt to choke him as Jake would have liked or tried to instill in him for years but found none.
It's wasn't there.
It's not that Troy even felt victorious seeing the carnage or remembering that Jake had died, not as much as he'd pictured when he'd led the horde and planned to massacre everyone that had laid siege to his home.
No, it was just something that needed to be done and he'd achieved that. Mission accomplished.
He barely even thought about the aftermath, anymore. At least he tried not to.
He lowered his weapon, tucked it into the waistband of his pants and quickly inched his way back into the house, swiping at his eyes to clear them of sleep and to allow himself a chance to properly wake up.
It made things even worse that Nick somehow felt he was responsible for her doings, that her pain should have been his to carry because he wanted so desperately to protect her. But Alicia understood. It was love. Had their situations been reversed, she would have wished for the same thing.
Mom had offered her no such gestures. Not at the ranch, and not back at the hotel when Alicia had killed a man to protect Travis. Madison had just said, "You'll be okay," and they had talked no more about it. And though Alicia didn't directly blame her for that, it stung a little to know Nick seemed to care more than Mom had.
The fact he wasn't berating Alicia for reacting the way she did made her feel safe. Safe to cry until she was no longer able to do so. She clutched her brother for a long, long time, her forehead resting on his shoulder, and eventually, her sobs stilled and were replaced with soft breathing, eyelashes still wet as she fell asleep.
She was crying for a long while, and Nick held her. The dawn was breaking around them, some birds started to chirp.
Eventually, Alicia stilled, her breath hot on his neck. She seemed to be asleep. It wasn't all that amazing after what she had endured through the day. He shifted his right leg from the knee to the foot, propping it steadily, then gingerly lifted her up, not to wake. It was a hell of an agony bursting inside his chest as he held his breath at first, and then breathed in shallow little intakes as he carefully ascended the porch and slipped in.
Troy was wandering around the living room like a zombie. It was a wonder he hadn't returned to bed, but at this particular moment, it was good to have him here.
Troy frowned when Nick came in carrying Alicia, looking like every step was painful and like he might drop her at any moment. He didn't ask Troy to take her, and despite the urge, Otto didn't offer, assuming he wouldn't take it and that this was another one of those big brother things he needed to do solo.
"Secure the door, will ya," Nick asked in a wheezy whisper and started up the stairs. Every step was a scorching disaster in his lungs, but he made it to the bed. He lowered her on it, and then slipped to sit on the floor, doubled over to wait out the pain. It refused to let go. When it was a tad less sharp, he collected the few stamina drops left and climbed up to take his place beside her.
This time, sleep didn't come easy. It hurt too much. The first specks of sunlight brightened on the curtains right before he finally drifted off.
Troy waited until Nick made it to the top of the landing safely, and then grasped the horse's mane, slowly guiding him toward the door and off to porch to a patch of nearby grass that wasn't green anymore.
There was no way in hell Troy'd be able to go to sleep again. Not after that shit show.
Not that he was feeling guilty or anything, the house was just a tad stifling, and they'd probably be grateful for his lack of presence for a while.
He stayed close to the horse, watching the steed move through the trees, nibbling at the ground, searching out the best bit of breakfast and seemingly failing to find one spot that worked just right.
"Pickings are slim for all of us," Troy mused companionably, glancing at the cabin in the distance, finally finding a number on the side above the garage. It wasn't eighty-eight.
They'd broken into someone else's place.
That was okay, too, considering what he'd noticed the horse had gifted them between the living room and the kitchen and would later have to be cleaned up if they intended to stay.
He walked a short distance in search of another house, another number that rung closer to the one they'd been looking for the night before, the horse following at a pace, eating his way.
When Troy returned to the house some twenty minutes later, it was quiet and the two upstairs were dead to the world. The more recovery time they got the better.
He stood staring at them while they slept, considering, and then wandered away in search of the bathroom to try and make use of the shower.
