You understand this world, You understand me. ~Troy Otto~ [Book 1]

Chapter 11

It was about 9:30 in the morning, and I was awoken by my mom shaking me.

"Grace, Nick and I going out for a bit." she told me.

"Why?" I asked, sleepily.

"One of the Trimbol's horses was found just outside the Ranch, we need to go out and see if we can find them, make sure they are ok." she told me.

"Can I come?" I said.

"I think it's best you stay here. I know you are good friends with Gretchen and I don't want you to see anything that you don't want to see." she answered. So she basically just told me they are probably dead, what a perfect way to start off my morning.

"Ok, be safe." I warned her, as she walked out.

"See you later." she waved.

I got dressed, and walked outside. I wanted to get more information about the people Troy bumped into when they were on the mission, because I never got the chance to ask Troy about it, due to the crazy events that happened on that day. Troy was training his militia in the distance, so I decided to go to Jake's to get information. Jake seems to get told more than Troy anyway.

I walked upstairs to Jake's room, and I saw a map on the bed. I picked it up, and it marked a trail from here, to the 'Black Hat Reservation', where I was told it is the place where the people who shot down the chopper, and ambushed the militia are at.

"Black Hat Reservation?" I asked, accusingly.

"I'm gonna go talk to Walker, work things out." he said, packing things into a bag. I assumed 'Walker' was the leader of the Black Hat Reservation. "I've known Walker for years, I know the Black Hat well-"

"So well that you need a map to get there?" I said, as he tried grabbing the map off me, but failing.

"I'm going off grid, it'll take longer, but it's safer."

"Safer from walker?" I questioned.

"No. Safer from my father in case he sends your little boyfriend to try and stop me." Jake argued, trying to provoke me, but I took no notice of him.

"He should try and stop you, he killed your people. He killed Travis." I raised my voice.

"He wasn't trying to kill Travis."

"No, he was trying to kill you!" I shouted.

"Yeah good people die, it's how the world works now Grace." he said calmly, still packing stuff into a bag.

"What do you even mean?" I yelled in frustration.

"It's what I'm trying to stop. More people will die, and I have to be more than just the voice in my fathers ears-"

"You need to step up inside the camp, not go off on some suicide mission!-"

"I'm the only one who can do this, I have dealt with him, settled with him, I've beaten him!"

"Yeah, when there were courts, when there was a law!" I told him, trying to talk some sense into him.

"Walker's not crazy, he is just fighting for his people."

"Jake, I'm asking you not to go." I begged, because I did care about him as a friend.

All he did was take the map off me, put his bag on his back, and walked out without a word.

I had to do something, but I would think about that later, right now I had to go and see if my mom was back.

I walked out of Jake's house, and walked down the hill. The militia had just finished training, Troy spotted me and walked up to me.