Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

What Do You Fear? [randomname98766789 and Amaranthine]

Regarding the trauma experienced by Alicia, Bryce was not going to touch it. Judging by the look on Madison’s face, he need not say anything. Considering he was shirtless and Alicia was wearing his old shirt, somewhere along the way her shirt was removed. Just knowing that was unsettling for the woman. Bryce realized that it was Alicia’s trauma and it was something she had to deal with in whatever way worked best for her. He was not going to push the issue. If she wanted to tell someone else what happened, fine. If not, he was still supporting her.

Bryce did not want to upset her by bringing it up. Plus, it was very personal. When he looked around, he managed to spot the other half of the exchange. Ofelia. It had been a while since anyone at the ranch had seen her. It was shocking to see that she had been with Walker. Now, she was the other half of the hostage exchange. However, judging by the way she looked, Ofelia was being treated like royalty here compared to what Bryce and Alicia endured. Before anything else was said or done, Jake finally butted in after the reunion was over. He was not happy.

“Do you two realize what has just happened? You two have effectively declared war on Walker and his group. He will see this as a sign of war. Breaking a parley and an agreement has consequences for us all.” Jake must have been used to things being in black and white. Either something was legal or it was illegal. Simply, Bryce shook his head. “Jake, stop it. You don’t know what happened out there. You weren’t there. I can assure you, it was not our intention to break this parley. If we had any other option, we would have stayed.”

Bryce fired back, stepping up to Jake. So far, he had been kind, but that was changing now. Bryce was not very happy with him. Bryce crossed his arms and there was a little stand off between the two men. “I should head back to his group as soon as I can. I have to try and keep an all out war from breaking out.” Bryce wanted to make another comment. However, he just let it slide for now as he watched Jake walk away.

Madison put a hand gently on his shoulder to speak. “Jake managed to talk to Jeremiah into the deal. We are going to send some water and some supplies. I’m sure Jake will be able to work something out.” Madison explained and Brian nodded his head. That was a good thing. It at least put them in a good spot to move forward with. Brian just turned back to face Alicia. “Maybe we should get you back to the house now, get you a change of clothes to begin with?” Bryce suggested, seeing as they had done all they could possibly do right now.

--


Believe it or not, Nick did not want the chaos that was consuming them. It was not his desire to fight a war. It was not his desire to live in a dangerous place. He might have seemed to love the chaos before, but that was another life. Nick knew that he was never going to have a truly peaceful life. There was too much shit going on in the world for that to happen. Nick used to think chaos and drama was the only way to live. He was so naïve. After getting a taste of normal and happy with Anna, he never wanted to let it go.

Although it made him happy to know that his sister was back safely, he worried what the broken parlay meant. Just as Madison kept quiet, Nick did not push about what exactly happened at the reservation. Nick hoped nothing too serious had happened, as his sister did seem shaken. If she ever wanted to talk about it, they could talk. Nick doubted it, though. He and Alicia never had a close relationship like that. They never had “talks” at all. It was mostly yelling, although they seemed to be a bit better toward one another lately.

Nick did hug his sister upon greeting her. There was a more awkward hug with Bryce, too. Nick felt like he should really take the time to get to know his brother-in-law better. Nick was never around much. But it felt like Bryce had always been around when Nick did show up to his family’s home. He supposed there was nothing to complain about. Alicia was happy. They were clearly in love. If Bryce needed tips about how to treat Alicia, well, he was looking in the wrong spot. Nick always believed he was just one relapse from making her hate him forever.

The way Bryce did stay up for his sister when Jake accused them of breaking the parley was refreshing. When the dust settled, Nick shared a look with his mother. They both knew that a war was coming. Nick sighed, looking back to Ofelia, finding it odd how she happened to be the hostage sent back here at the ranch. He thought it would be wise to take caution around her. They just exchanged a nod and not much else compared to her conversation with Anna.

Nick decided to hang back by Anna once they had some privacy again. “Ofelia, huh? I didn’t know that she was alive.” Nick murmured. “I don’t know what’s about to happen but it can’t be good. What would you say if I told you that I was thinking about taking Troy up on the offer to join the militia?” Nick was prepared for her to respond many different ways. “I just think it might help to learn how to defend myself better, how to defend everyone I care about. We are going to war. It just seemed inevitable at this point.” Nick felt like he should immediately clarify. Obviously, he did not care for their ideals or morals, but he was just trying to survive. This news made it especially unsettling.
 
Part of Alicia was upset that Ofelia had gotten such better treatment in ‘enemy’ hands than she had, but there was no part of her that could be genuinely upset about it. She had known that Ofelia would be safe here, if only because of the fact that people she knew were here. At the end of the day… she was home safe. Her and Bryce had made some amazing memories despite the chaos. Everything was okay, even if she never wanted to see those people or that place again ever in her life.

She didn’t like how upset Jake was but he also hadn’t been there to see why they had broken out and made their way back home on their own. She couldn’t fault him for that, however she wasn’t about to just stand down and let him act like they had done something terrible for no reason. Bryce seemed to be faster with his mouth, though, and before Alicia could get a word out he was jumping to their defence, even putting himself between her and Jake. After Jake went off and Madison let them know that they had in fact been able to make the deal, Alicia hoped that it would be enough. She had her doubts, though.

”Yeah, I like that idea. I should probably give you your shirt back at some point,” Alicia said as they started the journey back to the bunkhouse where all of their belongings were. She gave her husband a small wink and a cheeky smile before eying him up and down one more time. It was hard to not give in to the urge to have her hands all over him now that they were somewhere safe, but they were in a public space during broad daylight… Maybe if it had been darker and quieter out. “… Maybe not, actually. I could really get used to seeing you like this all the time.”

- - - - -

“Yeah, I can’t say I was expecting to see her again,” Anna said as the group of people dispersed and she was left their with Nick. She began to idly walk back towards… well, she wasn’t exactly sure where she was headed, her body was just moving. The bunkhouse? Nah. Home - maybe? Maybe Molly’s - her feet were probably subconsciously guiding her there unless Nick decided that he wanted to take a path somewhere else. “Kind of sucks she’s on the other side of things, we got along pretty decently back when we were all still on the Abigail.” Now Ofelia was part of a threat, even if she herself was not said threat. Everyone here was in danger…

She cocked an eyebrow and looked towards Nick as he said that he was thinking about joining the militia. Even after he explained himself, the change of mind seemed to be rather drastic. It wasn’t too long ago that Nick had thought the militia and the people in it were the devil themselves, Josh included. Things were different now, though. Many of the members of the militia had been lost between the depot burning up and Walker’s attack, and the danger was striking close to home. Maybe, just maybe, Nick was seeing how one could choose being able to protect themselves and the people that they care about despite moral conflictions as a little more viable.

Anna wasn’t about to dig deep in to it, though. After sharing that quick glance she nodded, moved close to his side and hooked her arm around his before dipping her thumb in to her pocket so that she had a very loose but comfortable contact with him. If this was his frame of mind, she imagined that Nick might want to wander off and sort everything out in a bit. “I think if you’re gonna do that then I need a new knife, I lost mine after the border attack.“ It wasn’t her place to talk him in or out of anything, and she could respect his justification. “Just don’t go get killed.”
 
Listening to Alicia put a big smile on Bryce’s face. “Well, if you could get used to seeing me like this, I have no problem doing that for you.” Bryce was serious, too. He figured she might have been teasing him. However, if she wanted him to walk around the ranch shirtless, he had no problem doing that, just as she had been so willing to dress in a way that he wanted her to dress when they could. The offer was always there for Alicia.

“Just say the word and I’ll be shirtless for you all day long, every day that I can.” He stated with a serious tone so she knew that he was completely serious, if that was what she wanted. He would obviously have to wear a shirt if they went anywhere outside of the gates. But, inside? Why not? It wouldn’t be the first time someone on the ranch was seen walking around without a shirt. Nobody would really bat an eye. It was totally up to Alicia. Now, back at the bunkhouse, he walked to the bag with their clothes.

Either way, she would need a change of clothes and he may need one as well, shirt still pending his wife’s decision. “Now, let’s hop in the shower. I can join you, if you want, or I can wait until after if you prefer.” He added, knowing that she would likely want him to join, but he wanted to give her the chance to have some space if she desired space. It would be totally understandable if she did. He would never just assume something or put pressure on her to make a certain decision, so he gave her all of the power to decide what they did next.

--


Just as Alicia had shown flashes of their mother in her actions, Nick was doing the same. Like mother, like daughter. Like mother, like son. It must have ran in the Clark family. Where Madison started hanging around Troy because she thought it would be beneficial to keep her enemies close, Nick was thinking about doing the same thing. Of course, there was an added benefit of receiving a more formalized education and training with weapons from firearms to knives to fighting. Troy was one hell of a fighter. Nick was able to witness that firsthand not that long ago. So, while Nick did not actually want to be with the militia, it felt like the best move to make. It would help keep himself and his family safe. It was a page right out of Madison’s book.

She was not hanging around Jeremiah for fun, either. She was playing a role, playing a position. That’s what Nick would do as well. That’s how they were going to survive. He hoped that Anna was going to feel the same way, that she would not be upset with him for making this choice. Now, he did not need her permission, but it would be nice to receive it. If she felt strongly against him joining, he would reconsider. Her opinion was valuable and important, even more than his own. If something felt right to him but felt wrong to Anna, well, Nick would have to take another look from a different angle.

“I won’t get killed. I just think it could be helpful. I think it would be smart to keep Troy close, too. I don’t like him and I don’t trust him, but that’s why I have to keep my eyes on him. I feel a lot like Madison saying that, but I can see why she was doing this from the start. I don’t agree with anything they do… but I feel like this is our best shot at survival. Plus, now I have a somewhat understanding of what Josh was thinking. I know our situation isn’t the same but the themes still apply. I guess he isn’t so crazy after all.”
 
“Mmm, that’s incredibly tempting my love,” Alicia said as Bryce told her that he would gladly remain shirtless for her at all times if she said the word. Wasn’t that just the loveliest ideas in the world? If it wasn’t for the fact that in that very moment they had no idea whether or not war was about to rain down on them, Alicia would have hopped on the opportunity. For now it was best that they stayed as prepared as possible though.

Once back ‘home’ she pulled his shirt over her head and handed it back to him, though there was a piece of her that didn’t want to. She’d come to wear it in an act of safety and care, and Alicia truly had ended up feeling that way - safe. She was physically smaller than Bryce was, though, so it was pretty baggy… But she definitely wouldn’t say no to being able to still his clothing down the line if he were to ever offer her a shirt again. Going through her bag she pulled out several options and showed them off to Bryce, looking to see which option she liked best.

Once she had a shirt for the rest of the day, Alicia absolutely loved the idea of a shower. Bryce clearly knew that she would want his company but still left the choice in her hands, which she appreciated. It showed that he cared about what she wanted. “Of course I want you to join me,” Alicia said as she grabbed his hand and leaned in to kiss him, only stopping to grab her towel after she had pulled away from her husband.

- - - - -

Trying to tell Nick he couldn’t run off and put his life at risk however he pleased would have been hypocritical given the way that Anna had shut him down more than one time in which he’d been trying to put her safety first in the past. Maybe at this point in their lives she would had been more willing to listen than when she was nineteen, untrusting and unwilling to compromise her own existence, but At worst they could engage in the same ‘compromise’ - one person doesn’t like it then they can keep the other company. Of course that wasn’t super feasible at the moment, but Anna could see that Nick seemed to have the right motivations for this. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?

“You don’t gotta explain it to me man, I get it,” Anna assured as she side-stepped just slightly to brush her linked elbow against Nick’s side. “Do what you need to do. It’s better to be armed and protected, and like you said it means you’ll be able to keep your eyes on Troy. God knows, someone needs to be watching him. Fuck, once I can do a bit more work I’ll even join you.”

It wasn’t just Nick’s family in danger here, after all - hers was as well, and with every person Anna would gladly die for in one place there was no way she was happy to just stand back. Even if Nick wasn’t thinking about that part, which he seemed to be given how he’d brought up Josh, keeping Molly and the kid a bit safer would be a natural extension of having more inside eyes.
 
The answer was given to Bryce after his wife placed the shirt back in his hands. “Offer always stands.” Bryce reminded Alicia that, at any time, she could ask him to be shirtless for her. He would gladly walk around the ranch shirtless whenever she wanted. Maybe, after the war was over, it would be a possibility. Bryce left the conversation there, taking his shirt and preparing to shower with the woman he loved. After helping Alicia settle on a new tank top to wear, the couple was ready to jump into the shower and clean themselves up after their journey.

Soon enough, they were standing in the little shower area. Bryce grabbed a towel along the way, satisfied when Alicia asked him to join her. Even though there was never a moment in his mind when he doubted that she would ask him to join her, it was still nice to know she wanted his presence in the shower. “Great. I was hoping you would say that. I would love to join you.” With a smile playing along his lips, he started the process of undressing, but not before stealing a few glances at her bare chest in front of his eyes.

As soon as they were in the shower together, Bryce was ready to begin. He jumped in after undressing completely turning the water on. It started spraying over his head while he grabbed the shampoo, waiting for his wife to join him. “Let’s get started, babe. I cannot wait to have my hands all over your body if you don’t mind me washing you while we’re here together.”

--


Nick listened to Anna say that she did not need him to explain himself, he shrugged. “I mean, I know I don’t need to, but I just wanted to. I felt like it was the right thing to do, to explain it to you. I know that the militia sucks and I know that we don’t trust them. I just wanted you to know why I was going to do it.” Nick did not feel a sense of being forced to explain himself. It was a genuine desire to let her know what was going on inside his head. Nick thought it was a big step in their relationship, too. It was good communication between the couple, talking about this.

Nick’s eyes went wide after she suggested joining him. Shit. He should have seen it coming, but it would look terrible on him lecturing her about how dangerous it could be. So, he just bit his tongue and nodded his head. If anything happened to Anna because of her involvement with the militia, Nick would never forgive himself. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll feel better knowing you get more training as well. Just make sure you aren’t trying to push yourself to join the militia until your shoulder finishes healing up, okay?”

Nick just felt it necessary to say. At the same time, although he did worry, it made sense for her to join. He would actually feel better with her knowing how to use weapons on a deeper level. He supposed it was not nearly as bad as he first thought it would be. “I feel like we have to be extra vigilant now. Jake seemed pretty shaken up about this. Something tells me that Walker is gonna strike back. Did Ofelia say anything about him when you spoke to her?”
 
“We had the same hot sex and long walk home, Bryce. I can only imagine you need the shower as much as I do, and do i seem like the kind of person who is going to say no to any chance to spend time with you?” Clearly, there was no question. Neither of them had ever questioned whether or not the other would want them around, it was clear as day and they spelled it out because of respect. “Besides… I don’t think anyone would be able to pass up the opportunity to see you naked, me especially.”

At the showers Alicia stripped herself bare and threw her towel aside. Bryce had been quicker than she was but that was fine - only a short moment after did Alicia step in and join him. She sighed as the heat of the water hit her shoulders and then her head as she stepped closer to the path it took, washing away the troubles of the day. She felt instant relief.

“As long as I can wash you down as well,” Alicia said as her hands found Bryce’s sides, and she dragged them up along his torso and over her neck until her forearms could rest atop his shoulders. She stood face to face with him, happiness and a hint of arousal in her eyes as she moved her body in closer to her husband’s. Being so close to his naked body was exhilarating and she found him so incredibly sexy - of course she wanted to her soaped up and washed down by him.

- - - - -

Anna nodded in understanding, accepting Nick‘s explanation that he was telling her about everything because it felt like the right thing to do rather than out of obligation. The maturity of it surprised her - not because she didn’t think that Nick was capable of having a level head, but because she was still getting used to them acting with maturity together. Anna definitely needed to give Nick a lot more credit than she had in the past, but the way fact that she wasn’t deep down feeling like he was an enemy probably helped their mutual situation a lot, too.

He was even smart enough not to tell her she shouldn’t come along with him down the line - and Anna could see from the look in his eyes that at least for a moment he really did not like that idea. It did make sense, though. Being prepared for a petty street fight and having genuine combat skills were two vastly different things and as much as Anna liked to think she was badass and she knew her way around using a knife, she’d also never even so much held a gun before… that was the kind of thing that did need to change at one point or another.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we have trouble coming,” Anna agreed as her feet reached her default destination, Molly’s, and she parked herself in to a chair out front. Pretty soon it definitely would be shower time, but they were in the middle of a conversation… It could wait. “Ofelia didn’t have much to say, just pointed out that I’m still hanging around you. She… knew - what was going on, the love-hate sex was not subtle. But no, she didn’t have anything helpful to say.”
 
Great points were made by Alicia. Everything she said was true. Logic told Bryce that Alicia would want this just as he did. Nonetheless, he would always gain consent from his wife before doing anything intimate with her. Now that they were in the shower, he managed to relax even more once she joined him. Her hands running up his body and resting on his shoulders put a big smile on his face. He loved it when she touched him. Whether it was sexual or not did not matter. It always felt wonderful.

He leaned into her touch and sighed happily, dropping his head down so they could kiss. His lips parted and his tongue peeked into her mouth, a soft moan leaving his lips. Her lips always caused him to moan. “Of course, Princess. I love I when you touch my body. I will never have an issue with you washing me.” Bryce smiled, looking forward to both parts equally. He decided to begin by washing her, taking the shampoo first so he could take a bit in his hands and slowly begin running it through her hair after she was standing underneath the water as it rained down from the showerhead.

“This is a nice way to end the day, as eventful as it was. There’s never a dull moment between us.” Bryce commented, smiling at her while he was kissing her neck, starting down her shoulder as well, finally pulling back after her hair was nice and soaped up so she could rinse it off. “Still beautiful as ever, babe.” He added with a final kiss.

--


Nick did not think anything of it when they landed at Molly’s. Without even discussing their destination, Nick already understood where they were headed. It would be wise for Nick to speak with Josh about the issue as well. Perhaps Josh could mentor him and show him the ropes of being in the militia. Josh ended up being the only friendly face in the militia now. Already, Nick realized he was foolish to think he could not count on Josh, that he could not trust Josh. Time had passed. Now, Nick could understand where he was coming from and why he was doing this as a survival technique. Nick was doing the same thing.

Nick had not exactly anticipated that Ofelia would feed them much intel. However, he was hoping she might have slipped up while speaking to an old friend. Granted, a friend was probably a stretch. Nonetheless, judging from Anna’s conversation just now, it seemed like they were on decent terms. It was unfortunate to not learn something, though. Nick felt like they could use anything to their advantage right now.

“Well, maybe we can find some shit out. I don’t know. Either way, we’ll be fine.” Nick stated, not worrying too much about Ofelia right now. “I just want to speak to Josh about the militia. I’m sure he can help somehow. I wonder what he’ll say about me joining, or what Molly might say about you trying to join.” Nick wondered aloud, thinking about that conversation they might share. “I guess they are out and about today? I’m sure Josh has to get ready for whatever might happen if Jake can’t convince Walker to not retaliate. I’m just not sure what to do right now. There’s a lot of shit going on.” Nick’s head was all over the place. His head was feeling scrambled and he needed to figure out what they were going to do next.
 
Intimacy of both the sexual and non-sexual varieties were important in any relationship, and this pair never seemed to lack in either form. Alicia felt so at home there under the water with Bryce, skin to skin as they held each other close and kissed. When Bryce poured some of the shampoo in to his hand and started to wash her hair she wrapped her arms around his waist for a moment. A soft sigh escaped the brunette’s lips from the simple pleasure, her eyes fluttering closed as her husband’s fingertips worked her scalp and hair.

”This is up there with sex on the best way to spend time with you, and definitely a great way to end a day like this,” Alicia said as she let go her husband’s body to grab the shampoo bottle herself, dropping a dollop on to her palm before she started to work her fingers through his curls before he had even finished washing hers. Luckily she fit well in to his arms and they were able to work along with each other. She didn’t stop to rinse her hair out until she was done with Bryce’s head as well, though the way that he had leaned in to kiss her neck drove her mad - her motions became a little less fluid at that point in time because it became harder to think straight.

”Still the sexiest man I’ve ever laid my eyes on,” Alicia returned after Bryce pulled away from the ’final’ kiss, but she had to steal just one more before she leaned her head back to allow the water to rush through her long locks and clean the soap out. She kept her hands on Bryce’s head even though she had finished up working the shampoo in to his hair until she couldn’t any longer, and she needed to work her hands through her own hair to get all remnants out. “Okay, your turn,” Alicia said after she finished up. She stepped slightly to the side to allow Bryce better access to the water.

- - - - -

“Yeah that’ll be an interesting conversation to have,” Anna said with a laugh as Nick mused about how Molly would feel about her roping herself in to the militia. What else was there to do, though? Was she supposed to just sit around and wait, hoping that a few men would be enough to keep her family safe? Nah, Anna was not about that life. But hey, even if the time never came where she would be able to at the very least they probably wouldn’t turn away Nick, and he could probably teach her to scrap a bit better. Could be a lot more fun learning from him, anyways.

As if she knew what perfect timing was, the front door of the little trailer house opened just moments after. Molly had heard voices outside and come to check them out, and she looked confused until she realized who was hanging out outside of her house. She held on to the baby with both hands as she looked towards the pair, and it seemed that she had become aware of what had happened… “I thought I heard someone, should have known it was you two.”

”Yeah, figured at the very least you were overdo for a pit stop,” Anna said as if they hadn’t been hanging out here just the night before. Her and Nick having their own place was nice, but Anna spent seven years always having Molly around so the change was noticeable - nice in its own way, but noticeable. “You hear about what’s going on?”

”Yeah, Josh just stopped by a minute ago before running off to some kind of meeting with the militia. I’m worried, everyone seems to be on edge. Nothing good is going to come from all this.”
 
While Alicia leaned back and allowed the water to rinse out the shampoo in her hair, the man simply stood still. Alicia took his breath away. Granted, it might not seem like a grand gesture of any kind. All she did was rinse out the shampoo in her hair. However, it made him just stop and stare. It reminded him how lucky they were. It went beyond being lucky enough to share a shower when so many could not. They were lucky because of their love. Bryce wondered how many humans remaining would die without finding that one person, as he had found in Alicia. Everyone deserved someone who would treat them the way Alicia treated him.

Just thinking about how lucky he was made him want to grab Alicia and hold her as if he would never release her. Bryce was not sure why this wave of sentiment hit him. It just did. In these soft, quiet moments, it was easy to get lost in Alicia. When she would look back at him and say that it was time for him to take his turn, she might have caught him staring at her. He was looking at her with pure love. There was emotion in his eyes, there was passion in his stand. Once she stepped aside, he leaned down again. However, he did something on the intimate range by simply holding his forehead against hers for a few seconds, his eyes closing. “I love you.” Bryce whispered, opening his eyes one more time before stealing another kiss.

Only then did he pull back so he could rinse the shampoo from his hair as well. He waited for every last drop of soap to run out of his locks. After it was done, he turned to find one of the cloths. He would find the body wash as well, deciding to move to this next part. “Alright. Whenever you’re ready, I am going to wash your body.” He explained, eagerly anticipating the moment when he could touch her while washing every inch of her body.

--


Nick turned to face the door when he heard rummaging around inside. It was Molly with her child. Still, no matter how many days they spent here at the ranch, it was going to take some getting used to seeing Molly with a baby. It was strange as it was completely different from how life used to be for them. It was a good different, though. Nick saw the way Molly looked at her child. It was truly a mother’s love. It made Nick think about his own relationship with Madison again, how it was damaged, but how she often looked at him the same way, unconditionally loving him no matter how many times he fucked up.

Nick did not know how he felt about kids before the apocalypse. Now? It felt like pure disaster trying to bring a child into the world. He never recalled talking with Anna about this, either. They had become more serious than either of them imagined they would be when they first met. Nick did not see any point in having that conversation right now, though. It was not like there was ever going to be an ideal place or time even if they did want to start a family.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look good. I saw a bunch of the militia gathering together outside of Otto’s house. Do you remember what Josh had to do in order to join? I’m thinking about it and I want to talk to him about it. I’d just feel better being able to know how to defend myself and I think it’ll help keep a close eye on Troy.” Nick spit out the summarized version of his explanation to Anna, wondering if Molly had any recollection about Josh and what he went through to join the militia. He wondered, though, if Josh did not join the militia, if they would have threatened Molly or not. He supposed it was one way to keep militia members in line, threatening loved ones, but he still understood why Josh had to join. It was just shitty luck that he ran into the people he did along the way.
 
There was no way to miss the way that Bryce looked at her like she was the most amazing thing in the world, and catching a glimpse of that look was enough to make Alicia melt. It was impossible to not feel like the most important person on the planet when someone looked at her with so much pure love in their eyes. Bryce was truly an angel of a man, the kind of person that most people could only dream about ever even meeting let alone having the chance to fall in love with, and not a day, not even an hour, went by in which Alicia did not appreciate that for all that it was and all that it would be.

”I love you too,” she said in a soft, sentimental tone as Bryce pressed his forehead gently to hers, leaning in to make the most of the sweet moment. She stepped in just a little bit closer so that their bodies could touch, and though their kiss was gentle there was still nothing but passion and care in the way Alicia let her lips graze along her husband’s. Their love truly felt like a miracle at times, and though she felt it every day the sweet intimacy of moments like this just made their life together feel all the better.

She stayed close as Bryce rinsed the soap out of his hair, keeping her hands in a gentle hold on his hips the entire time. Even for a moment, she could not let go of him. Alicia only dared to take a half-step away from her beloved when he reached for a cloth and then the body wash before saying that he would gladly wash her down now. “I’m more than ready to have your hands all over me,” she told him, and there was no denying that something less than innocent was tainting her sweet voice. What could she say? Wanting Bryce to wash her down didn’t come entirely from innocent intentions - she was incredibly attracted to that amazing specimen of a man and loved having his hands (and other parts) all over every inch of her body…

- - - - -

Nick wasn’t the only one having a hard time rationalizing the reality of Molly with a kid, but Anna had definitely been a bit more prepared - the day her and Josh had decided to start trying Anna had been the first person to be told, and Anna had even been around to hold Mol’s hair out of her face when the morning sickness of the early months began. It was her, not Josh, who had been with Molly the moment she found out. It was still a drastic change from the life that this little group had once had, but Molly had been the first to break the cycle. She’d gotten clean and stuck with it, finished her GED and then started college. Kids had also always been a part of her future from the time that she was a little girl, wanting to follow in the footsteps of who she considered to be the best mother in the world - her own. She just really hadn’t planned to do doing her child raising in an apocalypse, though.

Molly was more perplexed than Anna was at the idea of Nick joining the militia, having seen how avidly against the concept of the militia Nick had been during those early hours at the ranch when Anna had still been unconscious. “Uh, yeah,” she said as the baby in her arms turned his head to the side, looking towards Anna and Nick with a childlike wonder, the innocence of naivety. He was so small and already he would probably never see what a ’normal’ life was supposed to be like… It was a shame. But even though Anna had a hard time holding Noah, something she was slowly getting better about, there was little doubt that she would gladly kill to give that kid as much normalcy as possible.

“Josh… We came here from the base, with an old buddy of his. With his military history he was just kind of chosen for it, but they’ll take on anyone willing and able,” Molly explained, though what she had to say probably wouldn’t be very helpful. At least she could point him in the right direction? Something was better than nothing. “If you’re sure that you want to, your best bet is probably to just go talk to Troy yourself. I can’t see you getting turned away.“
 
Bryce enjoyed the remainder of the shower with Alicia. It was fun touching her body and washing every inch of her. After washing her body, Bryce stepped back and allowed the brunette to take her turn washing his own body. It made him smile, feeling her hands roaming all over his body just as it felt nice to wash her body as well. Everything about this was perfect. He continued to smile brightly the entire night. They returned to the bunkhouse after learning that Jake left the ranch to return Ofelia to Black Hat with the company of Troy and Jeremiah, trying to make sure a war did not break out.

So, for the moment, Bryce and Alicia were able to fall asleep together in one another’s arms without worrying too much about anything. It was a peaceful sleep for Bryce, just as it always was when he had Alicia in his arms. The day they had left him spent and he had no problem falling right asleep. He had a wonderful dream and it involved Alicia, of course. He kept his arms around the woman all night. The husband and wife started the day together just as they always did.

They planned to start the day by kissing, touching each other. It was the same way they started each day. From what Bryce could gather, it was going to be a busy morning. However, when his eyes opened, it was not because the sun was shining. It was not because of some alarm. It was not even time to wake up. His eyes looked out the window and he could see that it was still dark outside. What was going on? There was some yelling, What in the hell was going on? “Babe… babe!” He called out, trying to make sure that Alicia woke up.

Bryce sat up immediately and started to grab his clothes. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it sounds like there’s chaos out there.” He muttered. They needed to see what was happening. Bryce had no idea. “Just stay near me.” Bryce ordered without thinking, although he assumed that the reminder was not even needed.

--


There was no time like the present, right? As soon as Nick talked with Josh and Molly about this militia thing, he left Anna alone with Molly and Josh so he could find Troy before he left. They had a conversation. It was awkward… again. Their dynamic was not something Nick could exactly explain. It was strange, but Troy seemed thrilled about the prospect of Nick joining the militia. It meant they would spend more time together. Troy did not have the chance to spend too much time with Nick. All he did was direct Nick to a few soldiers staying behind so he could get properly introduced.

Part of the introduction involved having dinner with the militia. Nick hoped that Anna would be able to understand why he was not around right now. Nick spent time talking to Anna about his plan before setting off. After all, he did not know whether he would be able to join or if anything would happen that day. As it turned out, he was thrown right into the fire with the soldiers. The militia did welcome Nick, more than he expected. It seemed like Troy spread the word about his fascination with Nick. That was the only logical explanation.

After the night was over, Nick went to find Anna at Molly’s. He figured she would still be there until Nick returned so they could spend the rest of their night at their new place. After he found Anna, they made the short walk back to their new home. Honestly, Nick was feeling a little sick. He thought it might be nerves or something else from what was going on at the ranch. However, early in the morning when the sun had not even risen, it hit Nick around the same time they heard yelling outside. Nick felt like his stomach was being twisted in knots.

He shot up from the bed after hearing gunfire. “Anna.” He muttered, shaking her awake until she opened up her eyes. “Something’s going on outside.” Nick stated the obvious. He looked at her and moved to his feet. They needed to check it out. He felt like pure shit and his vision was blurry, although he thought it was just waking up suddenly causing him to feel so queasy. What the hell was going on here? Did Walker attack?
 
Such a pleasant night had ended a crazy day, and hoping to see a good day once morning came had been wishful thinking. Curling up in the warmth and safety of his arms was an unbelievable comfort to Alicia, who couldn’t imagine falling asleep any other way. Like Bryce, she had planned for their morning to include plentiful moments of sweet intimacy before begrudgingly moving on in to a day that would likely be chaotic given what had just happened with the reservation. At the very least, she had planned to at least have that much to look forward to.

The world had other plans, though. The yelling outside did not wake her up, her rest was much too peaceful for that, but Bryce’s panicked cries for her to wake up sure did the job. At first she was rather disoriented but as she came to she realized that there was a commotion outside as well, and she was sitting up just moments after Bryce was. After taking a quick moment to rub the sleep out of her eyes she too had clambered to her feet and began reaching for the small bit of stray clothing she had stripped given that they shared the bunkhouse with her mother.

”Of course,“ Alicia said as she stole a hurried kiss, something quicker and less deeply invested than the usual. There was chaos ensuing and that left little time for early morning pleasantries but just one little kiss was the very least she could ask of the day. Upon wandering outside of the cabin she did as planned - sticking close to Bryce. There truly was pandemonium ensuing as people ran to their tents and homes as members of the militia barked orders for people to get to safety.

Soldiers fall to the ground, gasping in pain, and then she saw Infected closing in on the camp. “Bryce - Bryce, something’s wrong. Look!” She pointed towards the dead approaching and left his side just long enough to dash back inside and grab a weapon before coming out. If she had to fight, she would fight.

- - - - -

After Nick ran off to do what he needed to do, Anna was mildly concerned but for the most part she trusted him to look after himself. Things couldn’t have gone too badly because she didn’t see him again for a while - as expected she was fine to stick around Molly’s though she did detour to hop in the shower and clean up before coming back. It had been a somewhat strange afternoon, Madison had stopped by (presumably on her way somewhere else) and asked how she was recovering, even claimed that she “hadn’t always disliked“ Anna when the young woman had asked why she even cared. It was… odd.

Once Nick finally returned well after dinner time, Anna had asked how things went on the short walk back to their little home. She’d double checked that this was something he was sure that he wanted to do, not to dissuade but to ensure. Once back home it was pretty easy to fall asleep, Molly’s access to marijuana had ensured she was nice and stoned before Nick even showed up, which meant he had a good little cuddle due for him. She’d noticed that he seemed, off though. Unable to pinpoint any real reason to think that, she hadn’t asked about it.

The yelling and the gunfire woke Anna as quickly as it did Nick, though she’d taken a second longer to really come to. Loud noises in the night and her were not exactly friends, and the way Nick shook her to get her moving was enough to make her stumble to her feet. “What the fuck?” She croaked as she tried to figure out as the noise continued and she scrambled for the clothes she’d tossed aside to head to bed, moving towards the bedroom door. Nick seemed off, though - worse than he’d seemed before they’d passed out.

”Hey - is everything okay?” Anna asked, stopping mid-step with her hand on the door handle. She wasn’t about to head out without him.
 
Yesterday evening, Ofelia was dumped at the front gates of the ranch. Her face was bloodied and bruised. Madison spoke with her, learning that Walker accused her of leaving information behind for Bryce and Alicia to escape, along with feeding sensitive information about Black Hat to the Otto family. Showing sympathy for her, Madison negotiated so Ofelia would be allowed to stay at the ranch. In a show of good faith and so she could pull her weight, Ofelia offered to help in the mess hall last night for dinner.

The militia ate later than everyone else did. At the time of dinner for everyone else in the ranch, the militia were busy preparing for war. When it was time to eat for them, she pitched in. Little did anyone know that this entire ordeal was a ploy. Ofelia managed to access the food and poison it. She knew it was not going to kill every member of the militia. However, the plan was not to kill everyone. The plan was to weaken their forces. Ofelia was sent here as a trojan horse of sort. However, it was not the first thing Bryce thought about.

Bryce looked around to see what was happening. Soldiers screamed in pain. Some vomited, some passed out. The undead were closing in. All of the undead looked to be soldiers from the militia. What happened here? One of the undead closed in on their position, so Bryce stepped up and handled it by driving a knife through its skull. However, the dead practically overran the camp. They had to take down a few of the dead as they were looking to find her mother. She was not in the bunk house when Bryce woke, which did not shock him. He had no clue where her brother was, either. Soon enough, they started seeing infected who were not from the militia. They were under siege, but nobody knew how the soldiers turned in the first place at this time.

--

“I’m good. I’m good.” Nick repeated, although his breathing was labored. There was a splitting pain in his abdomen. It seemed to spread from his stomach, up to his chest, and up to his neck. It made his vision blurry. There was a ringing in his ears. If Anna would have said anything else after that moment, there was no chance he was going to hear her. He stumbled around the room to grab his gun. It only had a few bullets. However, Nick was in no shape to aim the gun at anything. He would be unable to hit a stable target right now because of how blurry his vision was. It felt miserable. Nick would just push through it, though. He stumbled out of the bunkhouse and looked around. He could make out screaming, but it was tough to see why.

As he moved further, he noticed something odd. Ofelia. She was still standing in her bunkhouse. She was standing back in the doorway as if she knew that something was going on, as if she was privy to the happenings. It made sense now. Why would Walker send her here? Why would Walker kick her out? It did not make much sense. How would she have helped the ranch? How would she have played any role like this? He did not understand it at all. She was not here because of that, was she? Something else was happening.


As soon as everything clicked, Nick turned around when he heard grunting and groaning. One of the dead stood about fifteen feet away. Nick raised his gun, but did not have time to think. Standing alone, his world went dark and he collapsed onto the ground, landing with a hard thud. Nick had passed out and lay lifeless like many of the other soldiers who already turned. Nick was in no position to defend himself or protect himself from any threa
 
Alicia would not be surprised when she found out that Ofelia played a role in what was going on - she would be disappointed, but not surprised. This was the same woman who had ditched them at the hotel not that long ago without a second thought. Part of her had been hoping that things genuinely would turn around but she should have known better than to think Walker would actually just toss Ofelia to the side and leave her to the wolves - maybe he did genuinely think that she had fed them the information they would need to escape, but why would he toss her to the side when he could make use of her instead?

”What happened here, Bryce?” Alicia asked as she moved to take down one of the undead moving in as well. The pair worked well together, and she knew damn well that if she’d misstepped and potentially put herself at risk that Bryce would definitely have her back. That did not mean that she was being careless, though - she wasn’t about to put herself in more danger on top of the inherent risk that this situation as a whole. They needed to find her mom, they needed to find Nick. Alicia had put together that the militia seemed to the majority of what started this (or at least their corpses) and it wasn’t a secret that he’d decided to join their forces. Her heart sunk at the idea that one of these shambling bodies was going to be her brother, and she couldn’t hide it. The look on her face in the moment she realized that was a possibility was one of pure terror and dismay.

It was hard to pay attention to anything, though. Alicia caught a glimpse of Ofelia hanging by the bunkhouse but just moments later she’d heard her mother’s name called out and in that instant her head swivelled to look for the source - and that was when she saw Anna crouched down with eyes so wide she looked like a dear in the headlights of a car, trying to rouse a man who had collapsed on to the ground. “No,” came her voice, so soft it was barely a whisper. “Bryce, Nick-“ she could barely speak further and pointed towards what she saw.

She stopped being so careful in that moment, but she knew that Bryce would follow her as she ran towards her brother. At the same time she caught sight of Madison and the entire family had rushed in. Madison didn’t stay long though, mere seconds - and it wasn’t because she didnt’t want to. As Nick laid there on the ground gasping for breath and looking like he was about to die, Madison had caught sight of Ofelia sneaking off on the edges of the scene towards the exit. In that moment, it became clear that she had played a role in what happened.

”Holy fuck, we need a medic. Something.” Alicia said frantically as she became the second person to try to rouse her brother back to life. In this moment, that help clearly wasn’t about to come. There was too much chaos going on. The fear she felt in that moment reminded her of what it was like to wake up every day prepared to hear that her brother had overdosed, and that this time was the last time. When Alicia turned to Bryce just moments later, he would see that fear in her eyes.

As Madison chased down Ofelia - smashed a truck window and pulled the woman straight out of the car to attack the woman, Alicia climbed to her feet as well. Nick had someone to watch him - she would be more useful actually trying to find someone to help And clear up some of the infected along the way.

- - - - -

“I’m good” - yeah, Anna definitely believed that one. Clearly there was something wrong and for the first time neither of them could blame drugs for their bodies acting like garbage so clearly something was wrong. Nick didn’t seem to be having any of it, though. “Hey - stop. Stop,” Anna tried to say to him as he stumbled around, acting like he couldn’t hear her tell him that he needed to chill out. She’d even tried to get in his way, keep him from getting out of the door - even all strange and stumbling he could move pretty quick and part of her imagined that she was to blame for that - she’d never seen that boy move fast until after he’d had to learn how to keep up with her.

“Fuck,” Anna cursed after Nick was moving and out the door, detouring back inside of the house to grab a knife that he’d actually picked up for her during his introduction to the militia. With no idea what was going on outside there was a chance she would need it - and it was a good thing that she had fucked up her left arm rather than her dominant one. There was no hiding the chaos once she was outside, but she’d lost sight of Nick. “Fuck me,” she cursed again as she moved quick closer to the camp, peering every which way to find the familiar face.

It didn’t take long for her to notice that some of the people… Well, they weren’t people. Members of the militia had died and turned and were now invading the camp. What the fuck had happened? That was the moment reality sunk in - whatever had happened, it focused on the militia. Nick had been with them and now he wasn’t feeling well… She moved on instinct after that, slipping through people until there was no mistaking the back of a familiar head, gun pointed towards one of the undead that was moving before falling to the ground.

“Shit.” Being a slippery little thing worked out for her, and Anna got over to where Nick had fallen just moments before the zombie would have got to him - her free hand slipped up under its jaw to grab at its head with all the force she could muster and it still wasn’t enough to still the beast. She fought the way it hurt to use her arm like that, to slide her knife in to the base of the thing’s skull, and when it fell to the ground she only vaguely glanced to see if any more were close before dropping to the ground beside nick.

”Hey!” She called to him, shaking him hard to try to rouse him. Nothing happened, and she swore she saw a blonde mop in the distance - Madison? What else was she supposed to try to do now other than get help? “Madison!” She called, praying it was the right woman in the distance. It wasn’t only Madison’s attention that she caught but Alicia’s too, and both women were over for a moment before running off - Alicia to deal with it the chaos and find help, and Madison chased after Ofelia. Anna did not run away, though - she stayed there hypervigilant to anyone and anything that dared get too close, doing what little she could to try to get Nick to seem even mildly like he was going to make it through.
 
“I don’t know what happened here, babe.” Bryce replied immediately. It was the most frustrating part of all. They did not know what happened. Therefore, they did not know how they could possibly attack a threat they did not know. Sure, they did have to take care of business with the dead. However, they had to figure out why some of the ranch members were dead. What even happened to begin with? As Alicia noted, Bryce kept his eye on her the entire time. Because they stayed so close together, it was not difficult to do. If she needed help, Bryce was going to help her. If he needed assistance, Alicia was there. It made them a dynamic duo.

They did need to find Nick and Madison. It was the first thing that popped into Bryce’s head. He knew about Nick’s plans, too. If something happened to her brother, Bryce could not imagine what Alicia would do. Even though they were having difficulties relating and it dated back many years, Bryce never questioned whether she truly loved her brother or not. At the end of the day, she loved her brother. It was clear how Nick loved her as well. There was no questioning it.

One of Bryce’s pitfalls happened to be that he might have been too nice for this world. He always gave someone the benefit of the doubt. Because of that, he never suspected Ofelia of any ill intent. His thinking was about how nice it felt to have some old friend back. He hated to see what happened to her, though. Walker was not a good man. It was easy to see. If he would do something like this to one of his own people, what would he do to members of the ranch? That was not something Bryce wanted to find out. That’s one of the many reasons why avoiding war was so important. Then, his attention shifted to Madison. Well, there was Alicia’s mother. She appeared to be safe. Good. Nick, however, was not. Around the same time as Alicia called his attention, Bryce saw it as well.

As soon as his wife took off running, Bryce followed her. Only one of the infected managed to get close to her. He dispatched of that creature immediately. He followed behind Alicia as closely as possible to keep her safe. Her attention was occupied with something else and rightly so. Bryce was here to keep her safe. There was no hesitation in doing this. As he watched Madison run off, Bryce noted she was running towards the bunkhouse where Ofelia was staying.

They needed a medic. Madison had run elsewhere. It was just Anna, Alicia, and Bryce. “I got him.” Bryce spoke up. He was really the only one who could transport him that easily. Plus, the two girls around him seemed too shocked to act at first, until Alicia moved to find help. Her running around the ranch wasn’t a good idea, though. Bryce thought he should just carry him to the place where they had medicine. It would be risky. If Nick died, and Bryce hoped that was not the case, Bryce was almost as good as dead if Nick reanimated in his arms. However, Bryce thought it was the only option. As luck would have it, they were not too far away from the medic tent. Whatever they needed would be found here. “Follow me!” He yelled to both of them, lifting the male up into his arms.

With a full head of steam, Bryce powered through the ranch and reached the medic tent where a few people already waited. Bryce set Nick down onto the table before stepping back. It sounded like the chaos was dying down now, finally. However, Bryce decided he would cover the entrance to make sure that they were kept safe. So, that’s what he did, spending the next hour taking down the infected when they would get too close. At some point, it all started dying down and he could hear what was being said inside the tent. It was something about poison.

--

There was a fight between Madison and Ofelia. Clearly, the woman was attempting to flee. Madison figured she was trying to get back to Walker to let him know what had been done. Madison was not letting that happen. Madison managed to grapple with her and keep her from getting into the truck and driving away. There was a long list of members of the ranch who would want to interrogate her and figure out what the hell happened. Madison was one of those people. However, she was trying to figure out how to get back to her son and what was going on. Ofelia was not giving her much of an answer when she asked what her role was here.

Back in the medical tent, the remaining medic staff was scrambling, trying to figure out what was wrong. They were lucky to have experienced, educated staff still remaining. It was not difficult to figure out that this was a poison of some kind. They had something to counteract poison for those who did not die. They would have to figure out what exactly it was, first. However, there was something they could do for each member in the room right now. If they were left out in the open, they probably would have died. They had to get some form of treatment to survive.

Nick would stay unconscious, though. He did not reanimate, either. For the time being, at least, it seemed like he was going to be just fine. However, nobody in the tent was out of the woods just yet. They needed all of the protection from the outside as they possibly could have, so it was good that Bryce helped out. When it was all said and done, they could work on these injured and sick soldiers.

The morning would linger and the sun would rise. Everyone was trying to get rid of the bodies and figure out what the hell happened. They would pack the bodies into trucks and drive them away to be burned. There was mourning and there was a demand to find some answers. By now, it was pinpointed that Ofelia had everything to do with this. The only reason that she wanted to help out in the dining hall kitchen was that she wanted to do this, she wanted to poison as many militia members that she could. It worked out perfectly for her. There was chaos everywhere. The ranch was left as undefended as it had been since the fall. Even though not every soldier was dead, many of them were still sick. There was practically nobody left at 100 percent. If Walker wanted to strike while the iron was hot, he would be able to do so.
 
Alicia was so glad that someone had taken the lead and gotten things moving, and paired with Anna she helped keep the short pathway to the medical unit clear. The idea of losing her brother was terrifying her and though she would have been able to drag Nick along with a helping hand, Bryce was clearly the best fit to do so. She never wandered far from her husband and her brother, and once Nick was in the bed and the doctors and nurses and field medics were able to stabilize him or at least do what they could to keep him alive, she felt a little bit better.

After Anna had briefly thanked Bryce for getting Nick to the bed, Alicia reached out and grabbed her lower arm. It wasn’t something she’d consciously thought about doing, but she could see that she wasn’t the only person here afraid of losing someone here. For the first time pretty much ever the girls had something in common, but Alicia had one thing that Anna didn’t - experience with Nick in a medical bed, looking like death was knocking on his door. “He’s going to live. After how many times I swear he’s tried to die on me, this won’t get him.“ She was trying to convince herself of that, too, and saying it out loud made the thought seem a little more convincing.

Madison found them not long after, coming to check on her son and the rest of the family. “It was Ofelia,” she said to everyone, shaking her head. “We should have known, why else would Walker just drop her off like that? She poisoned the militia’s drinks at dinner.“ It was clear from the tone in her voice that she was incredibly pissed off. The safety of her family was compromised by what had turned in to a slaughter, and her own son was part of the targeted group. Though she tried to keep her composure, she would have gladly killed Ofelia then and there down at the truck. She needed to keep the woman alive long enough to figure out what the poison was, though.

Anna ran off first, only saying her friend’s name as a man was brought in, which reminded Alicia that there was an infant here who had just been put in danger. Madison left not long after, dragging Ofelia in to a truck to head to the reservation to talk to Walker and figure out what the men had been poisoned by. Some powder… that did not narrow the options down a lot. Because the others had run off, Alicia was left alone with her husband and she joined him in guarding the entrance to the tent.

“What if this is just the beginning?” She asked as the chaos slowed to a near halt - yells quieting and gunshots fading in to the past. Now people were focusing on finding those who were still alive to bring them in for medical care. It truly was a prime opportunity for the reservation to lay down an attack, with the militia either dead or downed. Everyone needed to stay on guard, and Alicia did so from her husband’s side. Every moment available she held on to his hand and stuck so close to them that their bodies touched. She knew that Bryce had been focused on guarding the entrance when her mom had showed up, so she explained what Madison had told her about Ofelia poisoning the militia in case he hadn’t heard the entire conversation.

- - - - -

Anna had never been any kind of close to Bryce - seen him hanging out at the Clark house a few times (almost every time she had ever shown up, actually) but that was about it. There was no relationship of any kind between the pair and depending on what Alicia thought of her and had said to him, he probably didn’t like her too much. That didn’t stop her from being incredibly grateful as Bryce pulled Nick up from the ground. Even completely healed up she would not have been able to lug the dead weight of an unconscious man very well, and she stayed alert as the trio made their way to the medic tent. She was the first to lunge for any of the dead that had dared to move in on them, and between her and Alicia the trek had gone as smoothly as possible.

”Thank you,” Anna said to him after he placed Nick carefully in to one of the cots, resting her hand on his shoulder for just a brief second as she did so. After that… Well, she was panicked. Anna had faced death head first more than once in her life and she hadn’t been afraid but in that moment she truly was. It would be a sick kind of karma, the world shitting on her as punishment for her own past sins, if just as she was truly learning how to get along and trust and have a healthy relationship with the only man she’d ever wanted to spend her life with. Was this what he had felt not long ago, when she’d laid injured in one of these beds?

She was too antsy to stay still, nerves shot by the chaos. Her fingers flexed around the handle of the knife that she held as she switched between staying at Nick’s side and joining Bryce to guard the entrance when just sitting around waiting became too much. The world became a little bit worse for her when one of the last people to be brought in was a familiar face - Josh. “Molly,” she gasped, and ran off without a second word. Nick’s family was there, he would be safe with them.

The chaos was dying down by the time that happened, bodies being picked up and soldiers being moved. Anna didn’t even knock on the door before making her way inside, where the other woman was inside trying to quell a very upset infant. “What’s going on?” Molly had asked and Anna filled her in on the details, but they couldn’t venture back out until the last of the chaos was gone. The infant’s crying would be too much of a risk, she’d taken the safe bet staying inside. As soon as possible the women had gone back to the medical unit, where they got up to date on any new information.

Even after the ranch had been declared safe she never stopped feeling on edge, and she never returned home. When morning came what remained of the people of the ranch were dealing with the bodies that had piled up from the assault while the medical staff tended to those who had survived. “You ever gonna wake up?” Anna asked quietly as she swept some stray hairs back behind Nick’s ears. He hadn’t died yet and that was a good sign.
 
As far as Bryce was concerned, Nick ended up being his family, too. After all, being married to Alicia, it meant that Nick became Bryce’s brother-in-law. Even though they never had much of a dynamic in the past, it mattered little. Bryce would do whatever it takes to keep his family safe. Nick included. Besides, even if that was not the case, he would have wanted to prevent Alicia from going through such a painful experience in losing her brother. It was not even something Bryce had to think twice about. Would Nick have risked his life for Bryce? Bryce could not say for certain. He might have done it for Alicia’s sake. Regardless, that did not matter. Bryce was a good man and was not only good if that person would return the favor. Bryce acted selflessly and all he wanted was for Nick to be okay. When Anna thanked him, he just nodded an encouraging smile her way. As he had even less experience interacting with Anna, he had no real opinion of her other than knowing she seemed to make Nick happy, although Alicia had never seemed to be a big fan. Bryce just normally stayed out of the way with that dynamic.

As the night progressed, it might have seemed like Bryce would have been an ideal fit for the militia himself. Many of the ranchers did not have much training with weapons. That was left to the militia. Bryce, however, directed traffic and helped keep everyone safe. When things started slowing down, he noticed that Alicia returned to his side. He listened to her speak about Ofelia and what had happened. Bryce just shook his head at that. She deserved to pay for what she did. Granted, he did not care too much about the milita members dying. They were shitty people. Bryce would never defend them. However, when it almost caused Nick to lose his life, well, that’s what he had a problem with. When the sun had risen and the dust settled, Bryce was coated in blood. None of it was his own. It was simply splatter from the infected he killed. He left a pile of bodes in front of the tent, most of the carcasses from his hand. He did his best to always keep an eye on Alicia as well. He spent the last few hours exerting every effort within him both physically and intellectually to make sure he was covering all angles while still watching Alicia and focusing on the infected in front of him. Bryce needed a shower and a nap, but he figured it would be impossible to sleep with all of this adrenaline.

Bryce was among the group that would pile the bodies onto the trucks to be driven away. Once the trucks were loaded up and everyone tried to pick up the pieces, he returned to the medical tent where Alicia still stood. He figured they could help tending to the sick when needed, but he was not sure how much they could do without knowing the exact type of poison. “Hey, Alicia.” Bryce whispered from behind as he approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder as they stood on the outskirts, looking into the tent. “How’s he holding up? Any news?” Bryce asked softly, able to see the stress and fear in her eyes and on her face at all times ever since this first went down early this morning. He hoped now things would calm down and that Nick might be able to recover quickly.

--


Deadweight felt like an appropriate way to explain what Nick felt like right now. He was completely unconscious. The poison was attacking him from within. Even if he would have been awake, the pain would have been unbearable. Nick never expected something like this to happen. He did not believe that a war would begin so soon. It sucked. Just recently, himself and Anna managed to get this house fixed up. They were beginning their lives together on the ranch, for real this time. Nick finally made peace with some of his demons and he was looking to get past it. It was the first semblance of a real-life Nick had in a long time. His own house with Anna. His own job, with the militia. Nick should have known better than to let his guard down. Life often sucked. It would be rare for things to stay full of sunshine and rainbows for too long. Now, here Nick was once more on a (makeshift hospital) bed. Some things never did change.

While Nick was out, he felt a state of dreaming. He was not aware enough to know what happened, nor was he aware enough to know he was dreaming. Of course, the person he thought about while unconscious was Anna. He imagined them getting their shit together. Nick imagined a life that would never exist. There was no apocalypse. There was no danger. He woke up beside Anna, with her in his arms. She smiled at him immediately, admitting that she was watching her boy sleep and did not want to wake him.

“You’re weird.” Nick teased before kissing her. The sun was shining. Birds were chirping. They had nothing to worry about. Nick asked her about her plans for the day and all Anna did was tell him they were going to stay in bed and see how long they could last before passing out again to sleep. They shared a joint and cuddled before starting to fuck roughly.

Yeah, it was such an ideal dream. Nick should have known it was far too good to be true. Nick felt lost in the moment and lost in her beauty. It felt like life was perfect. There was nothing more he could want from life than this. They had a wonderful morning together and it was time to begin the day. However, neither wanted to leave the bed. They kissed and touched even more. Nick never wanted to let this woman out of his arms and if he had his way, it would never happen. They told each other they loved one another and did not hold anything back for once.

However, something odd happened. They were cuddling and she suddenly asked him.

“You ever gonna wake up?”

“What are you talking about, Anna? We’ve been awake for a few hours…”

He trailed off as the world around him started to fade, almost representing the way his life had faded not too long ago. Then, he held Anna as she started to drift away as well. He tried to grasp her and keep her there, but she soon faded into nothingness. Then, there was a bright, blinding light causing him to rouse, in real life this time.

“Ugh…” Nick muttered, eyes blinking a few times, now back into the reality of the ranch.
 
With Madison off figuring out what Ofelia had poisoned the militia with and Nick downed, all Alicia had to rely on for support in that moment was Bryce. As much as she was being civil with her brother’s girlfriend and in that moment they did have the shared experience of someone they both cared about being at death’s door, Alicia still had absolutely no clue how to talk to that woman on a non-superficial level. That was the girl who’d fucked her brother open in the past and she didn’t think that opinion would change.

Bryce, though? Bryce was once again her saviour. He’d helped Nick to the infirmary, he’d guarded the tent and kept any from the undead from getting in to where Nick and the other remaining militia members were laid in beds. He’d seemed truly devoted to playing his role throughout the entire ordeal. Alicia saw him as one of the best men she had ever met - selfless, willing to fight for anyone and anything he cared about. That was the kind of thing that deserved respect.

She stuck by medical while Bryce helped load the deceased in to trucks, had an awkward conversation with Anna from Nick’s bedside after her friend had ran off with the baby. “You’ve never held a baby in your life, have you?” She’d asked, to which Anna had shook her head and laughed. “Not until this one, no. That obvious?” It was - it was clearer than day. If any minor tasks needed to be done she offered to help out, and she was in the middle of moving a tray of medical supplies to a table when Bryce came back. She’d seem the trucks start pulling out and left the tent. Once they were together again, she wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist and hugged him tight.

”The ones that made it here… most haven‘t died yet. Nick included. I hope mom gets back soon and she can tell us what they were poisoned with, we can’t do much until we know what we’re fighting.“ She snuggled her head right in to his chest. “This won’t kill him, though. Look at how many time’s he’s ran off and overdosed? He’ll live. He has to.” Like when she’d said that before, Alicia was trying to convince herself as much as the people around her.

- - - - -

Tenderness had never been her forte, but in that moment it was all that she had. Anna was ready to kill a bitch but she wasn’t about to run off and have no idea what was happening here - besides, Madison had loaded her in to a truck a little while back. She couldn’t wring that woman’s throat out like a cloth even if she did have it in her to wander away. Madison wasn’t likely to treat her any better at this point, though…

It helped that Molly was around, too. It hadn’t been long after the chaos settled down that Molly had handed the baby off to Anna, citing that this was the kind of situation she could be useful for - and she was. The doctors needed help and ‘first year nursing student’ was still a much better aid than a general civilian would be. It was uncomfortable, being popped down in a chair with a child she had no idea how to handle, but every time the young one had cried Molly had made her way back over as soon as possible to soothe him before going back to what she was helping out with.

Eventually Molly did need to rest, though, and that was when Anna was left alone to keep an eye on two of the men here. She’d gotten the offer to go back to Mol’s but refused, Nick needed her there. She hated having to choose but she really did need to stick around in case anything happened - good or bad. It was a good thing that she did, though, because speaking to him seemed to help bring him back. He sounded pained and groggy but there was no missing that he was at least vocalizing, and a simple smile formed on Anna’s lips when she saw his brown eyes start to flutter.

”So you are invincible, huh? Welcome back to the land of the living,” Anna joked, though she wasn’t expecting much of any kind of response. So far Nick was the only one to wake up and they didn’t even know what was in the mens’ systems. For all she knew he was still in excruciating pain.
 
When Alicia approached him, Bryce immediately opened his arms. She did not even have to say a word or make any gesture before he recognized what was happening. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her head down against his chest. Yeah, after their morning and afternoon, he needed this. Bryce simply needed to feel Alicia’s body against his, allowing his to serve as a reminder that they were okay… for right now, at least. Bryce imagined it was not the end of anything, not by a long shot. Instead, it was only the beginning. They had to prepare for more.

It was nice to hear that everyone brought to the medical tent survived so far. “That’s good. I’m glad to hear that.” Bryce whispered, his arms tightly around her body. “Yeah, it would be great to know what they were poisoned with. I don’t know what it could be. Whatever it is, I’m glad that we got everyone here that we could.” Bryce stated, nodding his head. If Nick was here and recovering, that must be a good sign. Nick was going to make it. Bryce truly believed it. He had no plan on letting any negative thoughts enter.

“You are right, Alicia. He is going to be just fine. He is going to recover. Everything will work out.” Bryce whispered, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. Then, he kissed her cheek before pulling back slightly. “What are you going to do right now, Princess? You can just go to spend some time with Nick. I’ll help out around here if you just want to take some time away from everything.” Bryce whispered softly, looking into her eyes. He was willing to do whatever she wanted, though. If she wanted to join him as he helped take care of the sick, that was fine. If she wanted to just sit with her brother, that was fine, too.

Bryce just wanted her to be safe. He knew it would not be easy to forget about everything right now, so he did not suggest they try. He just thought that she needed to relax and take some time away from the drama. However, right about this time, he looked over to see Nick slowly opening his eyes and waking up for the first time since he was placed here on the table.

--

Just because Nick was awake did not mean he was fully aware. Anna was right to not expect a response. At that moment, Nick was not in any capacity to offer a response. Instead, all he could sense was the blinding light. All he could feel was a splitting pain in his stomach and chest. It felt like he was being suffocated. It felt like it did right before he passed out, just not as intense.

“Anna…” The voice was weak and raspy. It sounded like it hurt to even speak. He reached out with his right hand, shaky as ever, trying to find hers for a moment. He attempted to squeeze her hand, although it was very weak. If she looked into his eyes, she might see something that Nick tried to never show. It was fear. Nick did not remember much about what happened. All he knew was that he felt like death. He would once have said that withdrawal made him feel like he was going to die, but that felt like a walk in the park compared to this.

Right now, Nick thought death was upon him. His throat felt like it was closed. There was so much pain in his body. Nick did not understand what was happening. Until they treated him for exactly what the poison was, he was not going to feel any better. Nick might not die from this, but he did not know that. He could barely speak or breathe. Nick might have overdosed before, but it never felt like this. Nick never felt like he was actually going to die, until now.

Slowly, Nick started waking up more, just slightly. “What… what happened? What happened?” Nick could not remember things very well. He remembered being ill. He remembered something happening outside. What was it? Nick wanted to have some information. He was not able to move much right now, but he really did not need to. Just having Anna here was better, though. He felt safer. He felt like things were going to be okay now.
 
Alicia melted in to her husband’s touch - it wouldn’t make her forget what was going on, but it did help immensely to offer her a bit of comfort and security in the midst of a shitty situation. She held on tight and kept her head pressed to Bryce’s chest, not caring about the fact that he was covered in the blood of the undead he had helped to take down during the attack. She needed him, wholly and completely. “I think I would like to stick around, yeah,” she said. She didn’t need to stay in the medical tent itself, but she would feel better at least being in the area. This wasn’t like one of the hundred times Nick had put himself in to the hospital from his own poor choices, something she had grown jaded to over the years.

Moments after, Anna’s voice in the background was what told Alicia that Nick had started to wake up - with the way that she was holding on to Bryce, her back was to the inside of the tent and she couldn’t see what was going on inside. She relaxed her hold on her husband just enough that she would be able to turn around, and once she saw that Nick actually did have his eyes open, a small smile formed on her lips. She was about to say that she was going to head in and see how he was doing when she saw a truck pull back up to the ranch, the same one that her mother had left in.

Nick was in good hands - there were medics in there ready to take care of him if anything happened. Knowing that Madison had returned took priority to her now, since she may now know what had happened to the militia. “Hey,” she said, trying to draw Bryce’s attention towards the truck by the gates with a nod of her head in the direction. “Maybe there’s news about what happened, want to go check with me?” She asked him.

- - - - -

Weak - clearly incredibly weak - but alive. Anna had a tendency of not revealing emotions herself but in that moment it was hard to hide the relief. No one was out of the woods, being awake did not mean that Nick was safe, but he was at least alive enough to open his eyes and try to speak. They had time to figure out what had infected the men, at least in Nick’s case. He wasn’t the only person that needed to be alright, though - at the bare minimum Josh needed to make it through as well, but ideally everyone who made it to the tent would walk out of it as well. That was going to be too much to ask for, however.

”Hey,” she said and when he reached for her she brought her hand up to his. When he squeezed her hand weakly, she returned the gesture, and leaned in to kiss the top of his forehead. He was clearly still febrile, skin hot beneath her touch, and Anna sighed as she pulled away from him. When he asked about what had happened, she didn’t know what to tell him. Nick was too weak to be worrying about everything that had happened, and Anna knew that he was the type of person who would want to care. She wasn’t about to lie to him, however.

”The militia’s drinks were poisoned… It was Ofelia. They don’t know what it was, but your mom has gone to the reservation with her to figure out what it was. Some of the soldiers turned, so we had a bunch of the infected in camp. Everything is okay now, we just need Madison to come back so we can get an antidote together.” She tried to explain the situation as simply as possible, still holding on to Nick’s hand while she did so. There was no way to miss the fear in his eyes and she didn’t feel right letting go.
 
Relief washed over Bryce when he looked inside to see Alicia’s brother regaining consciousness. That was a good sign, right? When Alicia called his attention to the truck, he nodded his head. “Yeah, for sure. I’ll walk over there with you.” As always, Bryce reached for his wife’s hand. Their fingers laced together as they walked, stopping a few feet away from her mother. The three Otto men have gathered around as well.

“It’s anthrax.” Those words were the first thing Madison said.

“Did Ofelia tell you that?” Jake asked,

“No. I returned her to Black Hat. I talked to Walker. Those who do not die will be too weak to hold a gun. They plan to attack while we are down.”

After learning exactly what they were dealing with, a couple of people took off towards the medical tent. Bryce knew nothing about the treatment of anthrax poisoning. Someone in the camp must have, though. That was promising.

“Well, at least we know what we’re dealing with. Troy, you need to gather what’s left of the militia.” Jake turned to his brother, giving him orders to regroup with the militia. It was time to prepare for an attack.

Troy reminded Jake that most of the militia was dead. The ones who were no dead were in some critical condition, recovering from the anthrax. They had to do something, though. Of course, Madison butted in with her own idea.

“You should recruit the able-bodied.” Jake did not take kindly to that, reminding her that she did not lead the ranch. It was something they would have to discuss. Madison left without saying another word, presumably to check on Nick now that she knew he was awake. Troy and Jake would discuss this and Bryce looked to his wife. If they did recruit all able-bodied people, the two of them would be on the frontlines, he imagined. “Well, what do you think, babe? Want to go back and see Nick or stick around here to see what we’re doing next?”

--


“Ofelia…” Damn. Here Nick thought they had an old friend back in their lives. If Nick had to guess what happened, it would have taken him forever to eventually reach that suspicion. “Are you alright?” Nick might be in pain, and he might have been the one to nearly die from poison. However, all he wanted to do was ensure that Anna was okay. Even though only the militia was impacted by the poison, he knew the dead were roaming around the ranch before he passed out. The infected would not exactly discriminate in their attacks. She looked to be fine through his blurry, weakened vision.

Just a few seconds later, someone approached. Nick was not sure if calling her “nurse” was appropriate, but the woman was taking that nurse role. She did not show much emotion and maintained an urge, professional posture. Nobody could blame her. She was responsible for taking care of multiple patients. There was little time to explain niceties. “Now, we know that you’ve been poisoned with anthrax. The first injection I’m giving you is some antibiotics. They will help fight the infection in your body. There was a low dosage. Considering your age and physical health, there is little risk for you to suffer any fatal consequence. This second needle is for your IV. With the antibiotics and IV, you should be out of here by the end of the day.”

Nick stayed quiet until she finished, thanking her after she left. Nick almost felt better immediately, though he wished they could have spared a few painkillers. He moved to sit upright just a bit more, looking over to Anna. “It’s a real shitshow out there, isn’t it? Lots of people dead?” Nick was curious about the state of the ranch now. “My Mom and sister? Are they okay?”
 
There was no such thing as good news in a world like this, but at least knowing what had poisoned the militia was one step towards being able to save at least some of their lives. Alicia hung close to her husband as Madison explained what she had found out, and observed the conversation that ensued after. Jake did not seem to like her mother’s suggestion about arming the civilians but what else where they supposed to do right now? How were they supposed to stand up against another onslaught with almost all of the soldiers downed? Even Jake himself wasn’t looking too hot, but he seemed to be holding himself together.

Alicia would fight. It would be better to not be in a position where she might have to, but she would - if only because her family was here, and for the sake of the innocents here. For the sake of Gretchen and her family, slaughtered as they tried to run away from the threat. There were so many people who just wanted to live as normal of a life as possible.

”Yeah, I’d like to go check on Nick. Just for a moment,” Alicia said as Bryce asked what she wanted to do now. He’d been waking up around the time Madison pulled back in and she hadn’t had a chance to go see him yet. He was in good hands, at least - the medical team seemed to be pretty damn good, and even for all of her faults Anna at the very least seemed to care about him now.

“What do you think we should do?” She asked Bryce as she started to wander, wanting to know what his thoughts were on everything.

- - - - -

Was she fine? Anna hadn’t even stopped to think about that - there wasn’t much time to think in general over the last little bit. Her lips pursed together as she briefly mulled over her well being. Everything was… fine. There was no denying that she had definitely aggravated her shoulder when she’d needed to take down the dead that was going after Nick when he fell and realizing that made her pull the collar of her shirt down over to check out the healing injury. A couple of the stitches had broken but the skin beneath as healed enough that it hadn’t torn back open - she was due to get the stitches out any time now so she wasn’t too worried, but she imagined Nick would put up a fuss if she didn’t even ask one of the nurses or something about it so… well, that could happen later.

”Yeah, I’m fine,” she said to him, and like Nick she was quiet when the nurse approached and gave him some medication. Anthrax… If Anna ever saw Ofelia again she would wring the bitch’s neck with her own hands. Once everything was all said and done, Anna sighed. “Yeah. It’s a shit show out there, a lot of people died. They were loading up trucks of dead bodies, Nick.” The way she paused after that said you could have been one of them. The militia idea had seemed alright until it was actually in motion, causing trouble and ending even more lives.

“Your mom and sister are okay, though. Madison just got back from Black Hat, and Alicia hasn’t wandered far. She looks like she’s having PTSD flashbacks, you sure put your sister through hell back in the day didn’t you?” She was joking around, mostly. It was no secret that Nick had found himself in ER beds and rehab centers on multiple occasions.
 
At this point, war felt inevitable. Bryce wished he could say otherwise, though. It felt like arming civilians was the only option if they wanted to survive this next battle. “I feel like we have to arm everyone. The militia members are supposed to be the protection for this ranch. With all of the members down right now, I feel that we are very vulnerable. I would feel better if everyone had weapons. I bet most people would, too. I think your mother has a point.” Bryce admitted while they were approaching the medical tent together. As always, their hands were linked as they walked and talked.

“I always prefer finding solutions without violence. I think that’s what we tried already and it did not work. For whatever reason, it feels like Walker and his group are hellbent on attacking. I think that we better heed his warning and prepare for something big. I really do not know what else we could negotiate with him to stop this entire war from happening.” Bryce was candid with Alicia about his feelings, just as he always acted. At the same time, he wondered what Alicia thought. They were usually on the same page about things, but he always liked to ask.

“What do you think about it, babe? Do you feel the same way or are you seeing it differently?” Bryce asked curiously. She would have time to articulate an answer for him. When she finished speaking, they would arrive at the medical tent just in time to finish having their conversation. “Here we are. Let’s head inside and check on Nick. I don’t think anyone really knows what’s going on right now, so we can just check on the status after we finish here.” Bryce suggested.

--

It was likely that “fine” was a relative word. They were going to war with Walker. Under normal circumstances, there was nothing “fine” about that. Nick’s question related more to her health and safety than anything else. From what Nick could tell through her body language and expression, it seemed that she survived the night just fine, other than some bumps and bruises, along with some minor damage to her old shoulder wound. Nick would not fuss about it too much right now. As long as Anna was not bitten or bleeding out, Nick thought he should probably feel thankful. It could have been much worse last night, for him especially.

“Well, I’m sorry that I gave you such a scare and I’m sorry you were left all alone to take care of shit. I should be thankful that I am alive right now. That was some scary shit. I don’t know what else they might have planned for us here at the ranch. I can’t believe that I let my guard down. I’m usually so skeptical about things that don’t make much sense. I did not even blink an eye when I saw Ofelia was back. I thought it would be nice, having her back around. I was so wrong.” Nick sighed, blinded by old friendship to see the truth of what was happening.

Nick felt relief when Anna said that his mother and sister were doing well. That was the next thing on his mind. Now that he knew the three people most important to him were safe, he could relax just a bit. Nick nodded his head at Anna, preparing to say more when he saw his sister and her husband approaching. “Alicia.” He greeted her with a small smile, “It’s good to see you. I was worried about you.”
 
“I don’t want a war, either,” Alicia said to her husband as they made their way over, listening intently to his point of view on things. As typical, she agreed with what he had said - trying to avoid a fight was a futile, losing battle that was costing lives. This was close to home, so close that she very well could have lost a loved one today if the situation had been just a little bit different. So many circumstances had to line up just right for her brother to still be alive in the medical tent, one tiny little mis-step could have brought a whole other reality.

”It’s too close to home, though, and I don’t see Walker stopping. They want their land back, and they’re prepared to kill to get it. Either we convince everyone to leave which… isn’t going to happen… or we prepare to fight back… I don’t know.“ The ranch had never seemed like a true safe haven, the circumstances of their arrival had ensured that it would never completely feel safe, but it had at least felt hopeful. Like there was potential. With every passing day, that feeling faded.

Once inside, Alicia felt relief. Nick was awake and even trying to talk to her. “You were worried? I could slap you for that,” Alicia said to him, shaking her head. There was a hint of playfulness in her tone, a very sibling-esque manner to the way she spoke to Nick. “You’re the one who nearly died here, Nick. I’m just glad to see you awake, I was worried we’d lose you.”

- - - - -

“Hey, shit happens. This isn’t on you,” Anna said to him, shaking off the notion that Nick should feel any kind of responsible for what had happened. Anna was the queen of never trusting anything and she still hadn’t seen this coming, though she had been a little wary about Ofelia’s presence despite (mostly) seeing the woman as someone she had gotten along with once upon a time. Clearly that was never going to be the case again.

“I wasn’t alone, your family’s here. That brother in law of yours is the one who saved your life.” Anna was a buck twenty wet, far from in peak condition from years of drug use followed by a literal apocalypse, and injured - she wasn’t weak for her size, but she sure as hell didn’t have the strength to manhandle any grown man’s unconscious body. On the topic of family, Nick was the first to notice that Alicia was approaching, and Anna turned her head to look towards the visitors.

She passed a brief, somewhat uncomfortable smile towards Alicia and then figured it would be a good time to go see how Josh was handling the poisoning since Molly had gone back home to keep the baby out of the chaos - after a kiss to Nick’s febrile forehead she was off, if only for a moment.
 
It was not a surprise to Bryce when he found out that he and his wife were both on the same page about the war. They wanted to do everything in their power to avoid any fighting. It was not really up to them, though. Their voices were not the main voice. Nobody on the ranch would really listen to them. They just had to hope that the people in charge would figure something out. Believe it or not, he was actually hoping that Madison would be able to work something out.

Lately, he learned that Madison was unpredictable. He understood why Alicia had her concerns about her mother being so close to those in charge. Even though her methods may be unconventional and it may be tough to see, most of what Madison did was for the good of her kids. Bryce could not hate on that. So, he just dropped the topic for now and entered the tent with Alicia. He watched as Anna made her exit, deciding to stand off just a bit as well so Alicia could have her moment. He did address Nick when the man looked to him and thanked him.

Bryce assured him it was not a big deal. Bryce never did anything kind because he expected to be praised or rewarded. His DNA was simply kind and that’s the kind of man he was. He decided to just take his seat nearby as he would wait for Alicia and Nick to finish while also making sure he stayed close enough to his wife in case she needed his hand or anything else from him, for that matter.

--

It felt like there was more to say. From Anna’s near-death experience to Nick’s own near-death experience, it really put into perspective how little time they had on this planet. It would cause him to hold moments with family that much dearer. Speaking of family, Alicia entered the room. He smiled at her softly, just shrugging his shoulders while he decided to return the teasing tone that she had. “Well, you can’t get rid of me that easily. You should know that by now.”

Okay, maybe that was a morbid joke. How many times in the past had Alicia had to worry about him dying from an overdose or something else? She was probably too used to the feeling by now and Nick felt horrible about that. He only shifted his attention away from her long enough to look at Bryce. “I hear that you saved my life. Thank you, Bryce. You’re a good guy.”

For what it was worth, he always approved of Bryce, even as Nick was hardly ever around, but to know that his brother-in-law would put his ass on the line for him spoke volumes. “Do you know where Madison has run off to? I suppose she’s out seeing some solution for whatever happens next?” Nick asked, turning attention back to Alicia. It almost felt like a moment where they should hug, but he did not know if she wanted that. They were never exactly affectionate as a family, so he would leave it up to her to make the first move if she wanted anything closer than this, but he was fine with the conversation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom