I woke up in the middle of the night. Troy was sitting on the edge of the bed, bandaging his knee. A few days have passed. Of course, he was on the mend, but his leg was still bleeding periodically. He couldn't move without help or a crutch.
"Can I help you?"
Otto turned to me.
"I'll manage on my own," Otto replied rudely.
"You okay?"
"No. I'm hell and gone from okay," Troy said with a sigh, "it looks like I won't be able to go properly for a long time."
"I'm going to get some water. You want drink?"
"Yes," Otto whispered, as if to himself. He was engrossed in bondage the leg and didn't even look at me.
I got up and walked to the dresser. Opening the underwear drawer, I rummaged around a bit and found a pack of cigarettes. Carefully pulling one thing and a lighter out of it, I clenched them into a fist and headed for the door.
"What did you take from the dresser?" Troy addressed this to my back.
"Nothing."
"Unclench your fist," he sighed heavily and held out his open palm to me, "come on, Dell."
I unclenched my fist and showed him the cigarette, already slightly crumpled.
"Do you really want to?"
"Tolerable."
"Then why?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Okay, give it to me, okay?"He was still holding his palm open.
I reluctantly put my "treat" in Otto's hand.
"Are you satisfied?"
"No. I don't understand you. Why are you so eager to commit suicide?"
"God, Troy, it's just a cigarette!"
"Your sister said about the 'powder' about the same thing," he chuckled, but then he saw my reaction and his eyes dropped, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. But I don't understand this urge for self-destruction."
"It's just boredom, not a desire for self-destruction," I rolled my eyes, "but I see that now that you've noticed it, you feel better." Maybe then we can discuss what we're going to do with your potential killers?
"I don't know. I don't want to do anything at all."
"But you have to."
"What do you think? What should I do with them?"
"You better not ask me," I spread my hands.
"Why?"
"If they did this to me," I nodded at his leg, "what would you want to do to them?"
"Oh, believe me, there would be no doubt, they would have been dead a long time ago."
"That's the point.
"That's another matter. You're not like me. And that's why they're still alive."
"Just because I'm not a psychopath doesn't mean I can't want to kill them after what they did to you."
"Fair enough. But still... What are we going to do with them?"
"There are several options. Kill or banish from the ranch. The second option, in fact, means that we forgave them and let them go. And I have no idea how to do it. They can come back and do it again. Or something even worse."
"But I still want to do it."
"What?!"
"I don't want to kill them. Jake is still my brother. And Madison... I don't want to do this to Nick."
"Do you think you can't kill them?"
"Of course I can," he chuckled, "That's not the point, I just don't want to. I'm tired of being a monster."
"It's strange to hear you say that."
"Won't you support me in this?"
"They are not completely strangers to me. But I can't forgive them."
"I know it's not easy for you, Dell. But it seems to me that this is the right way to do it.
"People won't understand. That's not your style at all, Troy."
"It's time to change the style."
Otto got out of bed, leaning on a crutch, and began to dress.
"Do you want to do it right now?"
"No one will notice now," he shrugged.
"So we're just going to come and let them go?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Wake up Alisha and Nick. Let's let them say goodbye."
It was too unlike Troy. In this situation, I could expect anything from him, but not mercy. However, I have never seen a stronger act from him. We were really different. Right now, I wanted to strangle Jake, Madison, and Kevin with my bare hands, and I was sure Troy would have done the same. But he chose a different path.
We went down to the basement of Kevin's house. It was still quite difficult for Troy to walk, but he refused my help. Nick and Alisha were tense.
As soon as our figures appeared, Jake and Madison looked up. Kevin was asleep.
"Troy," Jake nodded at him, "I'm glad you're alive."
"Don't be so hypocritical," Troy made a restraining gesture with his palm.
"I made a mistake. Give me a chance, I'll redeem myself! We are brothers!"
"It's great that you remembered that. It's a pity that this didn't happen at the moment when this asshole was killing me!"
"Troy, everything didn't go according to plan... I didn't want you dead! We didn't want this," Jake corrected himself, looking at the eldest Clarke, "we didn't think it would turn out this way."
"However, you silently watched me bleed out."
"Will you kill us?" Madison interrupted the brothers' dialogue.
Troy looked at her and narrowed his eyes.
"Troy, I was hoping things would turn out differently. But it turned out the way it turned out. I'm sorry."
"If I let you go, how do I know you won't come back to the ranch and try to kill me or someone else again?"
"We promise."
Suddenly Troy laughed.
"Great! A promise from traitors! Someone believes that," Troy looked around significantly, "oh no, I don't think so. Can you suggest something more worthy?"
"Take us to a place where we can't find our way back."
"It will take a lot of gasoline, considering that Jake, who has lived here since birth, is with you."
"Let Nick and Alisha come with us," Madison said.
"Why?" I was surprised.
"They will be a guarantee that we will not commit anything."
"Della," the younger Clarke told me, "it makes sense. We won't let them do anything wrong again. They're not coming back."
"But then you won't come back either," I looked from Alisha to Nick.
"Yes, but everyone will stay alive."
"This option suits me," said Troy, "it's a pity, of course, to break up with you again, Nicky, but I agree to this outcome."
"I can't leave," Clark said, "I've just assembled the militia again, they're counting on me."
"So you're staying here?" Are you sure?" Alisha looked at her brother.
"Yes."
Madison nodded, looking at her son.
"Good. We don't have much time. Hurry up."
"Thanks," Jake said, and started shaking Kevin to wake him up. Nick untied everyone's hands.
"Della," Madison said to me, standing up, "we need to talk."
"I have nothing to talk about with you," I was beginning to feel sick being in this basement next to them, so I hurried out into the air.
Standing a little to the side, I breathed heavily and stared at the sky. As always, it was studded with stars. It was strange to realize that humanity had reached its peak and was slowly but surely declining. Now no one will fly into space. At least in my lifetime, for sure.
Troy came up to me.
"You okay?" he asked.
"No. I want to kill them with my bare hands, and you let them go. Yes, and Alisha goes with them."
"I'm not ready to hurt them."
"Me too. But it was also not in my plans to let them go in peace."
"What do you suggest?"
"Nothing, Troy. Don't know. But I almost lost you because of them! You're still standing in front of my eyes covered in blood as well... The dead Aron. Killed by me! And they're alive. And they're all right. Do you think they feel guilty?! I think not. They only regret that everything did not go according to their plan! And they don't care that I pulled the trigger!"
Troy carefully leaned his crutch against the fence and hugged me.
"Dell, I understand how you feel. But I have to make up for everything I've done in my life somehow. This is my decision."
"What are we going to tell people?! They will not be satisfied with such an ending."
"Let's say Jake is dead. No one will ask about Kevin. And Madison and Alisha left."
"Just like that? Did they just leave?"
"It's better than killing them all."
"You're probably right. I just haven't come to my senses yet after what happened."
"You will come. Everything will get better. You'll see."