Survival: Book One

Chapter Seven: Nick

  Nick could feel his heart pounding his chest from the lack of water, and hear the yells of the group asking him to slow down behind him, but he kept running towards the dam anyways. He was extremely worried about his mother- for a few different reasons. One, she was alone and the Proctors could be there at anytime. Nick couldn't remember when the events had happened, it was a blurr now. Two, he had to worry about his mother trying to kill Troy. Could that be avoided? It has to be avoided, Nick thought. Troy is my only friend.
  As he rushed up to the gates, he could see that there was little to no protection for the dam. Nick saw Strand standing next to a shorter man that he didn't recognize. Strand smiled when he saw Nick, they had a connection, ever since Strand had saved Nick back in Los Angeles, he felt he owed the man. "Nick! We didn't expect you until tomorrow," Strand said, then looking behind Nick at the group, his face went slack, "Hey, new people, your mom doesn't like new people. I'm not sure if she will let them in."
  "Strand open the gate, and let all of us in. Now." The group had caught up behind Nick, they were panting and tired. "Guys, hand your weapons over to Strand, and.. And, wait, I'm sorry, what's your name?" he asked the man standing guard with Strand.
  "Efrain," the man answered, smiling. He seemed kind.
  "And Efrain," Nick said, "I need to get inside and talk to mom, now." Nick's panic was probably worrying the others, but he didn't care. This was serious. He was feeling very strange being here, again, but he had to go on in anyways. "And Troy is staying with me, not out of my sight." Nick finished and realized how irrational he was sounding.
  "Well, aren't you a charmer?" Blake spoke up behind Nick, "Barking orders like you own all of us or something? You and your little boyfriend seem close." Blake was smirking at them with his arms crossed. The other four seemed to be too in-shock by Nick's panic to react. Strand stayed quiet.
  "What the fuck  did you just say to me? You wanna come over here and say that again you freckled face shit ?" Nick was yelling. He rushed into Blake's face, who was a little bigger than him, but Nick was not intimidated, "He isn't my boyfriend, and I don't give two fucks  about the three of you."
  "Struck a nerve, did I asshole?" Blake smiled, he pushed Nick out of his face and Marie yelled for them to stop. Nick had fallen backwards onto his ass.
  "Nick, back off!" Strand was trying to calm the group as he frantically searched for the gate key, roamers were in the distance. They were slow, but the noise of Nick yelling was drawing them.
  Crack. Nick punched Blake in the face as he hopped up onto his feet, which was probably a bad decision, but Nick was filled with too much emotion to care. Blake returned the favor with a good blow to Nick's left eye. The chaos of the girl's screams, and Strand struggling to find the correct keys, brought attention to the gates and you could see people starting to come out of the dam.
  Blake was on top of Nick, about to slug him a second time, when suddenly Troy tackled Blake off of Nick and began hitting him. Should've expected that, Nick thought before he jumped to his feet. "Troy! Troy stop, I think he gets the point! Troy! " He grabbed Troy from behind and pulled him off. Marie rushed to her brother's side and started to help him up. She was crying but looked at Nick with such rage.
  "What the fuck ?" Elyza yelled, "He may have started it, but that was a bit much there bud, fucking testosterone. Good thing Blake is used to taking a punch, Christ." She glared at Troy and shook her head. Strand got the gate open and the others handed over their weapons. Nick was still sitting on the ground next to Troy where they had fallen as the others went inside. Alicia looked back at them, nervously, and followed Elyza's lead into the dam's gates.
  "You're bleeding," Troy touched Nick's eye, Nick flinched.
  "It's fine, really, I'm fine." Nick assured Troy, "You shouldn't of done that, I could've fought him off of me."
  "You were not going to win that fight, Nicky, I've got you." Troy smiled and shook his bandaged hand, "This things never gonna heal."
  "Stop punching people," Nick said, laughing, he didn't want to get up. He didn't want to face the horrors inside of the dam. He was sure that flashbacks of Troy's death would happen again the minute he set foot inside. He also wasn't ready to face his mother, he never was. Then he looked over at Troy, who had his back once again. Why does he make me feel safe?  He was snapped out of it by a familiar voice, Madison.
  "Nick, Troy," she was out of breath, "Come on inside, let's get your eye patched up. What are you doing here? I'm so glad to see Alicia is with you. Her new friends seem nice." Madison frowned, looking at Troy, "Maybe besides that Blake guy."
  Don't even fucking look at him, Nick thought, he shook away the anger he was feeling for his mother. "It wasn't entirely his fault, I was talking nonsense and had the whole group on edge," Nick said. She was hugging him and then it happened, the flashback he knew was coming. He closed his eyes, trying to rush the visions out of his brain, whack, a hammer. The dam shaking, crumbling, the fear. The dead men, shot down by Proctors. He visibly jumped, and his mother looked at him frightened.
  "Hey, what is it? Why are you here so early Nick?" she said, "Is Alicia bit ? Is something wrong?" She was panicking, and Nick didn't know what to say, he felt he had lost his ability to speak.
  "No, no, Madison, everything's fine." Troy spoke up looking at Nick to make sure he was okay, "But I think we need to go inside before we talk about the rest of it."
  They headed into the dam, and got comfortable in the living quarters. Alicia had bunked next to Elyza, they were getting cleaned up and talking about art. Marie was patching her brother up in another bed a few rows down. Nick and Troy chose a couple beds in the corner away from everyone.
  "Wanna tell me what's happening?" Madison asked. She had a small glass of whiskey in her hands, classic Mom, Nick thought.
  Nick looked at Troy, who nodded to him, motioning to go ahead and tell her. Nick spilled the beans, he told her everything. From start to finish, he left nothing out. As he spoke, he could see his mother's face, not believing him. "Look, I know how this sounds... I know, but I promise you, I've never felt something so strongly before, this had to of really happened. I think... I think its a sign..." Madison looked uneasy, but Nick went on. "A sign that we are supposed to be forgiving, that we are supposed to...... not kill the living, if we can avoid it. This is us avoiding it: leaving before Proctor John gets here. Do you remember when dad used to say that forgiveness is the key to happiness?" Madison shook her head yes, and Troy smiled, listening to every word Nick said. "Mom, please," Nick was holding her hand and pleading, "Please don't forget who you are. We can get through this together. We need to tell everyone here at the dam about the Proctor's plans."
  "Are you on something- is he on something?" she looked at Troy.
  "No, ma'am, he's not. He's your son, you need to hear him out and-" Troy was cut off by Madison's disbelief.
  "I'm sorry Nick, I just.. I don't know if I can believe this," she said.
  "Go ask Strand, you'll believe him. This is on him anyways, leave me alone." She glared at him when he said that, but got up and walked away towards the door. Nick turned away from his mother and sighed, I knew she wouldn't believe me, she never does.
  "It's gonna be alright, Nick." Troy said, and Nick felt okay. For a moment.