Southern nights,

Have you ever felt a southern night?

Free as a breeze,

Not to mention the trees,

Whistling tunes that you know and love so...

-Southern Nights; by Glen Campbell

It was supposed to be an easy trip. Go to Hilltop, get Maggie the medical assistance she needed, and in no time at all they'd be back at Alexandria. Once Maggie was in good health, they'd be able to finish their mission with Jesus. That was the plan, right? To Hilltop for medical assistance, back to Alexandria when things evened out, finish the job with Jesus. But that's not what happened. Things weren't always that easy. No. . . .they never were. Not in the world they lived in. So what happened? Why weren't they at Hilltop? Why wasn't Maggie getting the help she needed? It was because of them. When Jesus brought them up, the group that had been terrorizing Hilltop for God knows how long, it seemed like an easy enough task for Rick and company to handle. Take the threat down and bring back the peace. What Jesus didn't mention was just how large they were. Rick and his group were severely outnumbered. Hilariously outmatched.

Rick and his group eliminated one outpost. They thought they won. They didn't. That was why, instead of being at their desired destination, they had ended up in the woods. After taking detour after detour, the group ended up in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, on their knees. Men and women surrounded them, varying weapons in their hands. Two bodies littered the ground, their heads smashed in. Rick had been taken. It wasn't supposed to end the way it did. No one was supposed to die. But that's how everything ended up. It didn't matter how hardened the apocalypse made any of them, no matter how strong they saw themselves, they weren't prepared for what had happened. And no matter how many times she convinced herself she was stronger and no matter how badly she wanted to believe it, Nate realized that after this moment — if she even made it out alive — she probably wasn't as strong as she thought. Tears were streaming down her face. Nate was trying to hold back her whimpers.

What had happened? They were all so confident. Rick had been so confident. What led them all to that moment?

In order to do that, she'd have to go back to where it all began. To remember the moments before and after she met Rick and his people. How could those memories make her stronger? How could what she and the others experienced in the woods on their way to Hilltop add onto that?

~8~

Natalia Montgomery, that's Nate's real name. The only reason she went by the nickname "Nate" was because her older brother, Elijah, called her that to annoy her. Elijah had been the more sociable one out of the Montgomery siblings. He had the most outgoing personality; he brought out the best in people. Nate looked up to him. He was her big brother, after all. Then the world went to shit and Elijah died. That was the first time Nate saw rotters actually devour someone; and she couldn't do a damn thing to stop it.

The rotters had surrounded Elijah, Nate, and the small group they were traveling with. It was still early in the apocalypse, but the number of rotters had increased significantly. Nate and the others had huddled inside an abandoned thrift shop while a herd of rotters banged on the windows. They'd been so distracted by what was happening outside, they didn't even bother to pay attention to what was inside. There had been two rotters in the thrift shop that they didn't notice until it was too late. They took down Elijah first, considering he was closer to them. He went down fighting, but since they caught him by surprise, his defense was sloppy. One of their group members, a girl around Elijah's age named Minnie, tried to kill the rotters, but the combined weight of the herd outside caused the front door to collapse. Despite Nate not wanting to leave her brother — who had long since died at that point — Minnie and the others convinced her to go. Elijah was gone and they weren't about to let anyone else die.

But what about the rest of Natalia's family? Aside from her older brother, Nate had another younger brother named Jude and a younger sister named Helena. Jude and Helena were Nate's half-siblings. Her parents divorced when she was a little over a year old, her and Elijah's father, Lenny, gained sole-custody and then remarried two years later. Becca, the stepmother, was a decent woman. She wasn't exactly what Nate expected, but she wasn't going to complain. Becca wasn't abusive in any way, but she wasn't as engaged in getting to know her stepchildren. Elijah seemed to get along fairly well with her, which was to be expected. Nate, on the other hand, as the years went on, couldn't have cared less if she had any relationship with Becca.

When news of the outbreak started spreading, becoming more of an issue, Lenny was worried about the safety of his eldest children. Once the news of an unknown virus and the dead coming back started becoming increasingly concerning, Elijah and Nate had already moved out of the house. Nate had been living in Louisiana with some friends; Elijah had been living in Mississippi with his girlfriend. Lenny had called them, asking to come back home, back to Virginia. The siblings knew better than to argue, knowing their father's wish to have them home where he knew they'd be safe was important.

Not long after coming back home, news stations started airing safe-zones. Things were getting too bad and people needed to get to designated areas immediately. The military showed up not long after. Then things got worse. People had been nervous going into the safe-zones; there had been moments of brief rioting, moments of panic and chaos. But when rotters started showing up, when the military and the government couldn't keep anything under control, the serious rioting happened. Elijah and Nate got separated from their family. While it would've been nice to stick with the others, they knew it wouldn't have been possible. The rioting had become too intense. Remaining soldiers resorted to violence to try and keep the peace; rioters were causing as much destruction as possible. People were killed, the safety of the safe-zone was breached. One thing led to another, and Nate ended up alone.

Not long after Elijah's death, Nate decided to leave her group. She couldn't bear the thought of being with them. Every time she saw them, she imagined she'd see her brother being there. She imagined being able to talk to him, to tell him the things that were bothering her. It pained her every time she remembered she couldn't. That was why she left.

~8~

Nate had decided, after leaving her first group, she'd do better on her own. She didn't want to be around other living people. Natalia had convinced herself that by being around other living people, it would only lead to death. In some weird way, she preferred the company of rotters over the company of humans. Rotters were easily killed. A simple blow to the head and they were done for. Humans were more complicated — they were able to fight back, they could think. Nate didn't have the time to deal with that.

The progression of the apocalypse had gone on in a manner Nate couldn't even imagine. She saw once vibrant communities rendered to abandoned ghost towns. Buildings and homes that had been broken into for supplies; cars that were upturned, abandoned, destroyed. Garbage littered the streets and plants were overgrown. Every once in a while Nate would come across a rotter, but she wouldn't kill them unless she had to. If they were coming at her, then she'd kill them.

In the time since she'd left her old group — whether it had been weeks or months, she didn't know — Nate hadn't seen another human being. Being alone with her thoughts had become something she grew accustomed to. After a while, Nate stopped paying attention to where she was going and she stopped paying attention to the time. All of America had been effected by whatever the hell the outbreak was. No one had ever found out what caused it. Was it bacterial? Was it fungal? Was it some weird biohazard government toxin no one knew about? No one knew. It was a mystery. But it wasn't like anyone would find out what it was anyway. Not with the condition the world was in. Besides, Nate had no interest in finding out what the rotter virus was anyhow. Survival was more important.

Do whatever you can to live. That had been Elijah's saying.

"You may not like it," he had said, his voice solemn, "but it's necessary. It's. . . .essential."

It was something Nate tried to live by. She couldn't save her brother at the thrift shop, but she could at least survive using the motto he had. It was the closest thing she had to remembering him. His old saying had done her well for the most part. That is until she ended up in an abandoned town.

(A/N):

Sorry for this chapter's delay, but hopefully you guys found some enjoyment in it. If there was anything you found confusing, don't hesitate to let me know. I'll try and clear it up to the best of my abilities. PM me the confusing bits and I'll clarify what I meant and try and make some changes to this chapter.

Do I own TWD? No. No I don't.

I'll try and go further into Nate's background as the story progresses, so don't go thinking I purposely left her as a vague, confusing character or anything. I'm going to have it where it'll be a bit before she meets Rick and Company. It'll be after season 1 where Nate meets them; so after the whole CDC incident.

If you've got ideas for future OCs or potential subplots you'd like to see added to the story [I know, it's weird since it's just the first chapter], leave a review or PM me.

Be kind to one another, don't text and drive, and have a lovely/safe summer.

Thanks plenty.

Scarlet Tchaikovsky