Hello! And welcome to my version of Fear the Walking Dead. I start with the S2E02 and it will admit that my story follows Canon fairly closely until chapters like 'Head Like a Hole' and beyond where I deviate somewhat. Anyone who is a fan of Jack and Alicia will definitely enjoy what I have done (starts in Head Like a Hole). Nonetheless, I think you'll enjoy my OC Nina – she's sassy and smart – but she's also an angsty teen with an interesting story. You'll discover bits and pieces of her past, focusing on the tragedies that occurred on Catrina Island as it fell, as the story progresses. I always imagined Catrina Island fell early and quicker than mainland; the military isolating it by stopping the ferries. Anyway, sit back, relax, and enjoy reading the story!
P.S. Comments, concerns, and reviews are welcome!
Nina Soto took in a deep breath as the sea mist hit her face that was coming off the rocks. She closed her eyes exhaling slowly embracing the notion she was still alive to enjoy this beautiful sunrise. She dwelled on the idea that, for now, she had the safety to do such a thing. Her moment of serenity was cut off by the gargling noises of a biter making grasping motions desperately trying to reach the young woman.
Nina peered down from the rocks she sat on, kicking a few loose rocks into the woman's face, "Stupid blighter." She mumbled under her breath.
She brought her dark eyes up to see another biter emerging from the swells—more were washing up on shore nearly everyday. Her eyes followed it to the chain link fence that barricaded the cove where it joined a few others lurking about.
"Nina?" A voice came up from behind her, "Come on. Time to go."
She looked back to her friend, Seth Geary, and swallowed dryly, "I'm coming."
She took another look at the dead woman before swivelling around to crawl back up the rocks and join Seth.
"I'm feeling good about today." Seth said as Nina approached him, "Your idea about how we can sneak into the hotel's kitchen is a good one. Let's just hope it works."
"It'll work." Nina pursed her lips, "It's got to."
Seth handed Nina a poncho, as he was already adorning one. He smiled shortly at her before walked down to the fence with Nina in tow.
When the two got to the fence, he turned to her, gesturing his hand out as he spoke, "Alright, you draw their attention over there, put 'em down while I grab a few we put down yesterday over there. In case any wash up on shore, draw them to you, got it?"
"Got it." Nina slid the poncho over her head before taking the pickaxe from Seth. She then stepped up to the side of the fence closest to the cliff, "Hey!" She shouted, banging the pickaxe against the chain link fence.
Immediately, two of the biters dragged themselves over to Nina. They pressed themselves against the fence, masticating their jaws. She continued to shake the fence with her axe, "Hey! Come here!"
It did not take long for the other two biters to join the huddle in front of her.
Seth went to work, using a cable cutter, he snapped open a bottom panel of the fence and slid the two sides wide enough to slide two biter bodies through the opening,
Nina glared at the biters while they struggled, pressing harder against the chains, using their fingers to rock back and forth. She slowly brought the axe up and began to pop them one by one through the fence.
Seth let out a small grunt as he dragged another body through the fence. Three should be enough, he told himself. He quickly began to use zip ties to close the fissure in the fence. He then got to his feet and stepped back, admiring his work, "So far, so good."
Nina came up behind him, not saying anything. She knelt down beside a biters body and withdrew a pocketknife from her back pocket. She swiftly stabbed the biter in the stomach before tearing open the torso to reveal the blackened innards.
Seth followed pursuit with another biter.
Nina wrinkled her nose, "I don't think I'll ever get over this smell."
"Not a fan?" Seth said sarcastically, "Thought about turning it into a perfume—Eau de Biter." He said with a mocking French accent, "I'll have the ladies dying to get to me." He began to rub the innards on his poncho, "Get it?"
Nina dug her hands deep into the corpse before wiping herself down with the dark red goo, "You're so stupid, Seth."
They stood in unison and helped each other with dousing the back of their ponchos with biter blood; they wanted to be extremely thorough.
"I've got the bags and guns in the truck," Seth stated, "I say we drive about half a mile out and then walk from there."
Nina licked her lips, nodding, "Sounds like a plan." She smiled softly at him, "I have a good feeling about today."
Aboard the Abigail, Madison Clark banged her fist on the bathroom door, her frustration growing, "Do you hear me? Are you out of your mind, Nick?"
"Sorry," Nick said nonchalantly through the door.
'I swear if you do that again I will leave you in the god damn ocean!" Maddie chided as Nick stepped out of the bathroom, "I shit you not!"
Nick shrugged, starting to making his way down the hall, "I thought I heard something."
"What? What could you hear?"
Nick shook his head, making his way into the room he shared with Chris and Alicia, "I don't know. Something bumping the hull."
"Yeah, well, you almost got yourself killed. You almost got Travis killed."
Nick started to examine the size of a starch white shirt hanging beside a bed when he turned back to his mother, "We're still trying to help people, aren't we?"
Maddie closed her eyes and exhaled, "Yes. People we can see."
Before Nick could respond, Travis's voice called from the doorway, "Maddie? We
found the logbook to that boat. We've got a problem." He moved his eyes to meet Nick's gaze.
Maddie followed behind Travis as they made their way onto the bridge to find Strand, Salazar, and Ofelia.
"San Diego's dead." Travis said, making his way over to the navigational system and threw down the logbook in front of Strand.
Salazar approached him, "How bad?"
Maddie came up from behind Strand, "It's gone."
"Wait, wait, wait, " Strand sat up, shaking his head in denial.
"What do you mean gone?" Salazar furrowed his brow.
"It's burned, the military burned it down." Maddie said as she opened the logbook to show the entry to Strand, " According to this, the Leanne just came from the south, right there." She stepped back to let Strand get a look at the log.
"Wait a minute, I thought you said San Diego was safe." Ofelia swallowed her panic.
"I wouldn't take this as gospel." Strand reassured everyone, he sat back down and began to flip through the pages of the book, and "Did they even try to dock? Did they go ashore? How do they know?"
"The logs are clear. The last entry was yesterday—what is there to doubt?" Travis said, putting his hands up to reiterate his statement.
"If we're going to San Diego, we're going to need to know what's there." Maddie cut in, trying not to sound worried.
"Right now I'm trying to focus on what's about to be here. And what kind of weapon would you suppose would be big enough to sink that boat?"
"Fifty calibre machine gun,' Salazar answered immediately.
"Military grade." Strand stood, "The kind of weapon that would only be mounted on a larger vessel." He leaned up to point toward a boat bleeping on the radar system.
"You sure it's following us?" Travis asked.
"I have zigged and I have zagged. Its course corrects every time." Strand stroked his chin, trying not to look too worried.
"It could be them." Salazar added.
"Or it could be Alicia's radio crush for all we know," Strand countered, "Which is why we don't talk to strangers." Strand purposefully glared at Maddie before continuing to speak, "Whoever it is, we're not loosing it. And it's faster."
"Fine. Where do we go?" Ofelia spoke up, throwing the logbook down on the dashboard, "What do we do now?"
Strand picked up a map and brought it over to a table, "We hide. We'll loose them on the radar if we stick to the coast." He pointed to an island, "This one has a cove."
"Well, sure, so does this one." Travis nodded, putting his finger down on another, "Just as deep. And this is a wild life refuge, there'll be a ranger station there."
"Which will probably be a bad bet." Strand looked at Travis.
"Sure but a rangers station is going to have short wave radios, supplies…"
Strand began to laugh, shaking his head 'no'.
Travis continued, "We could gather information."
"Then that's where we go." Maddie spoke up, glaring at Strand.
Strand eyed around at the group, knowing he had no choice in the matter by this point, "Catrina Island it is."
Seth wiped the sweat off his brow, feeling nervous, as they got closer to the resort. The stench of the dead carried in the wind, their moans grew louder. He craned his head to look at Nina, "You think as long as we smell like 'em, we'll be able to roll a cart out?"
Nina kept her voice low, keeping her eyes forward, "I don't see why not. Worse case, we fill the bags and go back for a second trip tomorrow. We have plenty of ponchos, and I don't see a lack of bodies."
"Good point," Seth let out a muffled laugh, "I think I might be dead if it wasn't for you."
"No, you would be dead if it wasn't for me."
Seth remained quiet, reminded that he would be biter meal if she had not rescued him. After his father died, he had ventured too close to the resort with little to no protection when she emerged from the approaching herd like an angel in disguise. She had learned to immerse herself in biter blood to remain hidden and had rubbed enough of the scent on him to allow them to escape safely. And it was this very notion that they were able to make this mission to grab as many supplies as they could from the resort's hotel.
Nina shifted her eyes left and right, seeing the alleyway was void of anything besides trash. She used a crowbar to pry open the exit door into the kitchen, "One of them might have heard that so be prepared." She glanced back at Seth before slipping through the door.
Seth followed pursuit and was met with an industrial looking kitchen, it smelled of rotting food and soiled milk. He turned his flashlight on, despite the lights flickering above them; any moment the lights could go out for good. He eyed around the empty kitchen once more, looking for anything useful.
Nina gestured her head at catering cart and then pointed her finger in the direction of a storage area.
Seth nodded, slowly dragging his feet over to the cart, being cautious in case a biter emerged from behind a counter.
Nina made her way over to the dry storage, thankful it was still stocked.
Seth rolled the cart over to her, the two worked diligently to fill the cart with as much as they could with food, water and other kitchen supplies. Nina also found a box of Sterno fuel cans, a few catering cooking trays, and a battery-operated cooker. She also stuffed a package of paper towels on the bottom of the cart.
"I think we got all we could get on this trip." She whispered to her friend.
Seth nodded in agreement, amazed with how much they had managed to squeeze onto the cart.
Nina pushed the cart in the direction of the exit doors they came through, being very careful as to not knock anything over.
As the two rolled the cart down the alleyway, Seth froze when he saw a small heard stepping toward them at a sluggish pace. For a moment he forgot he was in camouflage, he shook his head and pulled the cart again. He tried to keep his eyes forward hoping none of the dead noticed them..
Amongst the heard was a little girl. She moaned, dragging her bare feet against the pavement. If it was not for the blood on her chin and the large bite mark on the top of her shoulder she looked completely innocent. She paid no attention to Seth or Nina as she went past them, she just continued stepping forward aimlessly with the others.
Nina bit her lip, it was hard seeing someone so young become a biter but this was reality now there would be more horrific things to face. She halted in her tracks when she noticed a door that read: POOL STORAGE –EMPLOYEES ONLY.
Seth whirled back curious as to why Nina stopped.
"Hold up, I want to check in there," She said, already making her way over to the door with a crow bar in hand.
"Why? What for?" He whispered out to her, catching up.
Nina did not answer as she pried the door open and slipped in through the crack she made. She brought the flashlight into her mouth and went over to a shelf lined with pool shock.
Seth glowered as he watched Nina stacking the packets under an arm, "You plan on cleaning some pools?"
Nina returned the stare a moment before returning to her task. She moved to rummage through another area of the storage facility. After grabbing a bottle of bleach she then headed back to the cart.
Seth shook his head, finding Nina to be peculiar, "We should head back now or else we'll get caught in the dark."
The sun was beginning to set as Travis made his way out on deck to find his son, "Chris?"
He stopped in his tracks when he caught site of somebody standing on the backend of the boat, "Chris?" He stepped over and sat down on the stairs, "We're going to be landing soon. Get away from what's out there, catch our breath." He gestured out to the sea, waiting for his son to respond, "It looks like a good place. It'll be safer."
Chris took a step forward, putting his hands into the pocket of his hoodie before turning to face his father, "How do you know?" He shook his head and began to walk to the other stairs to leave.
Travis sat there rather hurt by his son's actions. He had tried to let Chris have his space while he dealt with the death of his mother. Travis quickly speculated that it was starting to become an almost lethal combination of raging teenage hormones with the grief of loosing a loved one. He closed his eyes, beginning to feel the sadness of missing Liza. He knew their marriage had been far from perfect which led to their divorce but he still loved her. He hoped that Chris would come around and eventually understand everything.
Night had fallen and the Abigail was approaching closer to the Island. Travis, Maddie and Strand all stood around the navigational board, their eyes glued to see if the other vessel had lost them.
Maddie looked up and noticed a flickering light on shore, "You see that?"
She stepped around Travis and went over to starboard window to get a better look, "Look! Is that … is that a campfire?"
Strand rolled his eyes, "And what do you suppose somebody is doing? Sitting around, making s'mores, and singing Kumbaya?"
"Not funny." Maddie chided, seeing the fire beginning to die out.
Strand docked the Abigail on a large jetty but remained on the bridge watching Salazar tie the boat off.
Chris, Alicia and Nick stood on the deck looking around at each other, second-guessing this decision to go ashore this late at night.
Maddie jumped down onto the dock and looked up, "Are you coming?"
"I'll stay." Strand shouted down at them, "Make sure our radar friends pass us. When he's gone, we're gone."
Salazar turned around, "Then Ofelia and I will keep you company."
"Solitude doesn't bother me." Strand peered down with a disproving look.
"We insist."
Strand threw his hands up and acted as if he was shoving the idea entirely as he whirled around to go back to the bridge.
Travis led the group onto shore until they reached what appeared to be a large farmhouse. He continued to lead the group up some stairs and closer to the house.
Chris took his flashlight and shined it high, "Oh, look, doesn't look like anyone's home. " He stated with a sarcastic tone, "Can we go back to the boat now?"
Travis gyrated back to give his son a hard look before continuing on.
As they stepped out onto a clearing, Alicia swivelled her flashlight around until she spotted a large, dark, pile near the edge of the lawn. She gasped, "Oh god…"
"What? What is it?" Maddie turned around, thinking some infected were emerging from the bushes.
Everyone stopped and shined their flashlights in the direction Alicia was pointing hers. It revealed a mound of chard bodies with smoke still emitting from the pile.
"Explains the fire," Maddie spoke aloud.
Nick was reminding of the bodies he saw on the military compound back in L.A.
"This is a good sign, means people are here." Travis nodded, feeling more confident about his decision to go ashore. He turned around and inched closer to the house, "Hello?"
"Travis!" Maddie chided under her breath, beginning to second-guess the notion of interacting with new people, "What are you doing?"
"Hello?" Travis raised his voice, trying to sound braver than he actually was, "We know you're in there."
"Travis, stop it!" Maddie whispered harshly.
Nick stepped around Travis and started to make his way around to see if anyone was slipping out from the side of the house. He looked back at the group, shaking his head, "I don't think anyone's here."
"Then who burned the bodies?" Alicia raised her eyebrows.
Travis continued to plead with the house, "We just need information. We're not a threat. We're not sick. We're just… we need help!"
"Travis, no ones here. Let's go back to the boat." Maddie sighed, approaching Alicia to turn her around so they could return to the Abigail.
Chris snorted under his breath, "...waste of time..." He pivoted around and began to head back to the stairs.
Travis remained stationary; truly believing someone was in the house.
Maddie looked back at her boyfriend, "Travis, come on, let's go. Nobody is here anymore."
Travis opened his mouth to object but reluctantly began to follow the group. Suddenly the door creaked open causing everyone to look back to witness someone coming out of the house, "Why are you people here? What do you want?"
Nick shone his flashlight up to see a young blond man not too much older than himself. He held his free hand up, seeing the man was holding a shotgun, "We come in peace, man."
Travis stepped forward, "Really, we mean no harm. We're in need of help—"
"Were any of you bit?" The young man narrowed his eyes, making his way further out into view.
"No, no, nothing like that." Travis interjected.
"We saw a fire—we were on the water." Madison pointed back in the direction of the beach.
"Damn," the young man began to lower his gun, mumbling more to himself, "knew we shouldn't have set fire to them at night."
"We?" Travis's eyes followed the man's gun, wondering how many others were hiding in the house.
A long silence swept over them, everybody seemed afraid to make a move. Finally, working up the nerve, Travis stepped forward holding his hand out, "Travis, Travis Manawa."
The young man looked down at Travis's hand before bringing his eyes up to meet Travis's, "Seth Geary." He lowed the gun to his side and reached out to shake hands, "So, what is it that you needed help with?"
"We had to drop anchor," Travis looked back at his family for a moment, "it's no safer at sea than it is on land."
"You can't stay here," Seth eyed around at the group, feeling sympathy because over half the people standing before him were people close to his own age, "But we can give you a nights rest or two."
"Thank you," Travis let out a sigh of relief, "We just need to get our bearings and then we'll be gone. You have nothing to fear from us."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Seth responded.