We arrived at the ranch a little later than Jake. When I got out of the car, I saw the older Otto right away. He was smiling at me, but when he realized it was just me and Troy in the car, the smile disappeared from his face and he looked at me sympathetically. Jake walked over to me:
"Look, Della, I'm sorry. This is all because of Troy. Believe me, I didn't just freak out."
"Yeah, okay, let's forget about it," I smiled, trying to make the gesture as sincere as possible.
"Great, then let me introduce you to the people at the ranch, you're staying right?"
"Yeah, Troy and I are going to pick up my family in a couple hours. "
"Hey, you want to apologize and to me?", Troy interjected, turning to Jake.
Jake ignored him. Troy only chuckled.
"Okay, I'm going to go eat and get some sleep, wake me up in two hours, Della."
I nodded and Jake and I walked towards the small group of people. We were already a couple steps away from them when someone called out to me:
"Della?!"
Before I could turn around, I was jumped from behind. A couple seconds later, the embrace broke. I saw Alisha in front of me. Nick and Madison were running after her. I was shocked. The second pleasant encounter of the day.
"I can't believe I just saw Ophelia and now all of you!"
"What, wait, where? Where did you come from? Where's your family? Are they okay?"
"Yes, they're in a safe place. They'll be here soon. Madison, can you imagine how happy they'll be to see you? Where's Travis?"
Silence ensued. A little while later, Nick broke it, but it was unnecessary. I understood without explanation:
"He couldn't ... "
"I'm sorry."
We started talking, completely forgetting about Jake as he suddenly hummed, catching our attention:
"Hmm, I think we can postpone introductions, I can see you two have a lot to talk about." "
We walked over to a small gazebo with a table and benches. Nick and Madison brought us lunch and I started telling them the latest news. I was happy to see them all, but especially Alisha. I hadn't seen her in months. I didn't even believe I'd see her again. And neither did Ophelia. I remembered how the four of us, with them and Clara, were still in Mexico, looking for supplies, and when we found some clothes, we'd start trying them on, laughing and pretending we were just shopping, like normal girlfriends in normal times. I told them that I had come here yesterday, but I didn't say anything about Clara; I didn't know how to explain her leaving to my family yet, and I decided not to go outside Otto's circle yet. And when they asked me where I was with Troy, I told them I was getting my stuff out of my car. Nick decided to warn me:
"Look, stay away from Troy."
"You're the second person to say that to me today. The first was Jake, and you know, so far Troy seems more adequate than him to me."
Madison laughed and looked at Alisha. Nick caught that. My friend looked embarrassed.
"Oh, I didn't realize you two ... No offense Alisha, it's just that he yelled at me today."
"No, Della, all right. He can be less than restrained when it comes to Troy. But Nick is right, Troy is dangerous."
"Yes, Della," Madison interjected, "I don't know if I should tell you this, but to keep you safe, I will. We met him at a military base, and he was killing people and calling it science. It was so horrible. You know, I would..." - Suddenly the hero of the story Madison, came up to us.
"Have you joined the new club yet? Or founded it?", Troy said cheerfully.
"We knew each other before," Alisha replied rather rudely.
"Interesting, anyway, tell me in the car, don't forget, we're picking up your parents in two hours and I'm going to go to bed."
Everyone waited for Troy to leave.
"I'm coming with you," Madison said.
"No way, there's only one car left there, Clara and I were leaving in the second car. We need a place for them. And driving the other car is stupid, why waste the extra gas."
"Della, but what am I going to tell your mom when she finds out who I let you go with?!"
"Well, not everyone knows what you told me about Troy, so she doesn't have to either. By the way, we have two hours for details. And don't worry about me please, he's not going to do anything to me, there's no point."
We ate lunch, Madison said she'd put the dishes away and go to the warehouse to get things, and Nick, Alisha, and I went to the Clarks' cabin.
"Where did they put you up?" - Nick asked.
"Nowhere yet, I slept at Otto's house."
"Wow, what an honor, Alisha disappears there a lot too, guess who she's with?" Nick smiled.
"Shut up Nick!", Alisha threw a pillow at him,t "By the way Della, look Nick is jealous of you and Troy, he rubs up against him all the time."
Nick rolled his eyes and changed the subject. I felt so comfortable with them. We talked for two and a half hours, I happened to look at the time and realized I should have run after Troy a long time ago.