Guess who's back? Back again? Yeah that's right, it's Wendy imouto chan, my freaking favorite reader of all time. Thanks to all who reviewed on the last few chapters. This has some Ricole friendship for all of you, and some Dacole awkwardness for you as well. I wrote this on my phone on a 4 hour bus ride, so forgive the typos.

Enjoy!

Nicole POV

"I won't just survive. Oh you will see me thrive. Can't write my story. I'm beyond the archetype."- Rise, Katy Perry

Night had taken over our camp, shrouding us all in a veil of darkness, the only light emanating from the fire I had built in the center of the clearing. After my song, I had gone off with a few of the others to remove the bodies. We had piled them all in a corner of the yard, electing to leave them there for the night. Tomorrow we were going to dig a mass grave to put them in, but it was too dark for that right now.

I was sitting on a log that we had pulled over, completely stuck between daryl, who was on my left, and RIck, who had sat down on my right. I had my fleece blanket pulled tightly around me, trying to block out the wind. Maggie and Glenn sat directly across the fire from me, hand in hand. Beth and Hershel were next to them, and T and carol were on the other side. Lori and Carl were on the other side of Rick, sitting on a log, sharing a blanket. About 20 minutes ago, Rick and Lori had gone off to talk somewhere, and both of them had come back with an expression you could only describe as exasperated. I had debated whether or not to talk to Rick, but I had decided against it. Right now, I knew he was trying to push all of those personal troubles to the back of his mind.

"Guys?" Rick piped up, breaking the peaceful quiet. Everyone brought their attention to the former deputy. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, hands folded in front of him. "Look, I know we're all exhausted." I rolled my eyes. That was an understatement. "This was a great win. But we gotta push just a little bit more. Most of the Walkers are dressed as guards or prisoners, looks like this place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies may be intact. They have an infirmary, a commissary."

His words soaked in after a few seconds, and then it finally clicked. An armory? Commissary? This could be what we've been waiting for. An infirmary, that means that we could have a somewhat safe place for Lori to have the baby, which was more than any of us could have asked for.

"An armory?" Daryl piped up, stealing the thoughts out of my head.

Rick nodded, looking around at the group. "That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine, this place could be a gold mine!" His eyes were ignited with fire and hope, his voice spilling with confidence. We all knew he was telling the truth. This was our best option.

"We're dangerously low on ammo. We'll run out before we make a dent." Hershel said. The older veterinarian was always the voice of reason in our group, drawing us back to earth after we had floated too far away from reality. My heart sunk a little at his words. He did have a point

"That's why we have to go in there... hand to hand." Rick said slowly, looking around to all of us. "After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it."

The whole fire was silent, except for the quiet crackling of the flames. I looked down at my feet, clicking my heels together quietly. Hand to hand? I knew we were strong, but even the strongest can only go hand to hand for so long. We have no idea what it behind that fence, just how many walkers there are waiting for us. For all we know, there could be over 100 waiting for us in that cell block. Not even 10 of us against all of them? Those odds were slim to none.

But then, when I thought about it more, those odds seemed to matter less and less. The odds don't matter. Hell, if the odds mattered, we'd all be dead. Screw it. Let's go.

"I'm in." I said, my voice hoarse and low, shattering the silence. Everyone turned to stare at me, analyzing my response. I could feel their gazes drilling into my skull. I looked up and saw Daryl's amber gaze watching me intently, his face expressionless. "I'm in." I repeated. "We can do it- hand to hand. It's not like we have many options." I shrugged, pulling the blanket tighter.

"Alright." Rick nodded, patting my knee. "Anyone else?"

"Okay." Daryl nodded beside me. I smiled a little and he smirked at me. A small murmur of agreement rippled through the circle. Soon, everyone was nodding, and I knew that they were all on board.

Rick smiled. "Great. We'll formulate a plan in the morning. Everybody make sure you get some sleep. We need to be on top of our game. Rest easy." He nodded and stood up. He offered his hand to Lori and she took it gratefully, using his body to hoist herself up and off of the log, her stomach jutting out beneath her shirt. She smiled at her husband and he smiled back. Well, at least they were friendly.

Slowly, everyone got up and got ready to sleep. We laid out our sleeping bags in the clearing, everyone fairly close to one another, purely for habit's sake. Rick and Lori were set up in the middle, with Carl on one side of Rick. Carol was at their feet with T next to her. Beth and Hershel were beside Lori, and Glenn and Maggie had laid out their sleeping bags to make a double sized one to share at the very end. I was on the other side of Carl.

While everyone else was getting ready, I walked up to Rick, who was loading his gun.

"I can take first watch." I offered, gesturing to the knives at my waist, which I had not bothered to take off. Someone took watch every night, usually trading off with someone halfway through the night. It shifted around between all of us, except for Lori, Carl, and Beth. I had done it two days ago, but I was okay with doing it tonight. I knew that the others were probably pretty tired.

Rick laughed, the sound a mix of humor and nervousness, although I was confused about why.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just that…" He sighed, "Daryl just volunteered to take it." I sighed, of course he had. Did that man ever sleep? But, I didn't see why that mattered.

"But, why is that funny?" I asked, still confused.

"Nothin'." He chuckled, shaking his head a little. "Just, the two of you, keeping watch together...alone. I don't have to give you a chaperone, right?" He said the last part suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows a little.

I almost choked on the air I was breathing. I fought to control the blush that had crept onto my face, praying to anyone that I was succeeding. "Wh..what?" I sputtered, not sure if I had heard him correctly. "Why do you say that?"

"No reason." He shrugged, his eyebrows raised. "I'm just watching out for my little sis, that's all." He elbowed me a little.

I laughed. He hadn't called me that in forever. He usually only called me that when he was making fun of me. "Watching out for me, eh?" I found it funny that he was thinking like that. It's not like Daryl and I had been doing anything. That kiss was one time, and even so, we had been alone. Nobody had seen it….oh shit. My stomach turned to ice as my tone got serious. "Rick….?" I turned to look at him. "What are you talking about?" My heart picked up a little. Had he seen us? Had he seen our kiss? Had he talked to Daryl?

He simply shrugged, tilting his head a little. "I know what I know. Nothing more, nothing less. I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard. I'm just looking out for you." And with that, he left. Before he got too far though, he turned. "Oh, and T is taking watch anyway." He tossed over his shoulder before he joined his wife.

I just stood there, staring for a few moments in his direction, my jaw clenched. I needed to talk to him again. I needed to talk to Daryl. I was all fired up, ready to go talk about this conversation….whatever it was, but as I turned I saw that everyone was laying down and relaxing, smiles on their faces from today's success. I wasn't going to ruin that, I thought to myself. This could wait.

I shuffled back over to the blanket covered ground, careful not to trip over anything. I saw T load his gun and strap on his knife in front of me.

"Make me up if you need anything, okay?" I said softly, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yes ma'am," He nodded, giving me a soft smile. I rolled my eyes and kept walking, carefully placing my feet around people's stuff. I was on the outsider the group, but that was how I wanted it. I liked to have a little bit of distance. A little out of claustrophobia, a little out of awkwardness. I could sleep anywhere when necessary, but when not necessary, I couldn't sleep surrounded by people.

Carl was already wrapped up in his sleeping bag. The only part of himself that was visible was a small tuft of brown hair that was sticking out of the top. I smiled and grabbed my sleeping bag, untying the make-shift rope I had made of torn curtains. My sleeping bag unrolled quickly, and I laid it on the ground. I leaned backwards until my back popped loudly. I sighed with happiness, feeling like I was two inches taller. I grabbed the holster that has wrapped around my thigh and pulled it off, throwing it unceremoniously on the ground. I placed all of my weapons neatly at the foot of my sleeping bag, still loaded and ready to be used.

I sat down on top of the fabric, sticking my legs out. Slowly, I pulled my shoes off of my feet, rolling my ankles around to loosen them up. My socks were tattered and dirty, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I hated to admit it, but I was exhausted as hell, and I was really looking forward to a good night's sleep.

I pulled the top of my sleeping bag up and I slid inside, cuddling into the fabric a little. I turned, so I was lying on my side, facing towards Carl. It was very quiet now,with everyone having settled down for the night. My eyes fluttered closed quickly, and before I knew it, I was asleep, tightly curled in my sleeping bag.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I woke up slowly the next morning. I opened my eyes, wrenching them apart slowly. I was met by a light yellow haze of the rising sun that was reaching my eyes, the only part of my body outside of the sleeping bag. I could hear a few birds chirping, calling out to one another. The heavy wind from last night had lulled into a soft breeze, rustling the trees. It was a beautiful morning, but I wasn't focused on that. I was focused on the heavy weight that was on top of me, holding my body down.

"What the fuck?" I whispered, lifting my head up weakly, trying to see what was on top of me. As soon as the words left my lips, the weight on top of me shifted.

Wait..what?

I froze, my entire body tensing up as the weight continued to shift back and forth slowly. I held my head up, my blue eyes wide and uncomfortable. If the weight on top of me is moving, then that means that it wasn't something. It was someone.

"Uh, hello?" I said, a little louder, hoping to get their attention. Upon hearing my low voice, the person's head shot up, looking around wildly, before their eyes finally landed on mine. I smirked and rolled my eyes. Of course, "Hey there Daryl. Watcha doin?" I said sarcastically, drawing out my words.

"What the…?" He hissed, staring at me in a very confused manner. "Why are you…?"

"Why am I underneath you?" I raised an eyebrow. "Well, I believe you rolled on top of me in your sleep. My other idea is that you just fell asleep on top of me because you wanted to. That one would be preferred." I winked suggestively at him. "But, I'm going with the first one."

His confused eyes changed from confused to mortified as he realized that he was laying on top of me, wrapped in his sleeping bag, his head on my chest, his legs on top of mine. Immediately, his entire body lurched and he rolled quite unceremoniously off of me, into the ground beside me. There was a slightly smashed pillow next to mine, so that must have been where he had been before this mess had happened. He flailed around in the blanket before finally pulling himself out of it, standing up quickly. "I am so fucking sorry about that."

"It's okay." I laughed as a giant blush crept up his cheeks. I unzipped my sleeping bag and pulled my legs out, quickly slipping on and lacing up my boots. After my shoes were on, I stuck a hand out to him. He leaned over to grab it, to help pull me up, and I smirked at him when his hand grabbed mine. "I tend to have that effect on men."

"In your dreams Walsh." He groaned, pulling me off of the ground.

"Ooh, that was cold." I mocked hurt, landing on my feet. "I am truly hurt Dixon. Truly hurt."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." He smirked.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"We're going hand to hand, so we need to bring the strongest fighters in there." Rick explained, having just finished up his beans. I was still in the middle of mine, as was most everyone else. Luckily, Daryl and I had woken up and sorted out our whole ordeal before everyone else had woken up, which saved us some major awkwardness. Carol had woken up soon after and had heated up some beans for breakfast for the rest of the group. Slowly, everyone had come around, excited and weary about what we knew was coming later this morning. "That means me, T, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, and Nicole. We'll go in together, attack formation. That means we go in back to back, facing away from each other, but in a circle, so nobody's back is blind. We're going to make our way to the nearest cell block." The five of us nodded in agreement. "The others are going to crowd the fence, try and draw them over, like they did earlier. We'll bring you guys in whenever we have it secure. Sound good?"

"Sounds like a good time." T chuckled, putting his fork down. I rolled my eyes and put my down as well, nodding at Rick.

"Then let's get going."

We all spread out immediately, grabbing our various weapons. I tossed my bow over my shoulder, even though it wouldn't be of much use in this situation. I awkward feel better when I have it. I took both of my knifes and tucked them into my belt, ready for use. I tucked a gun in the holster strapped to my thigh, just in case. I pulled my long hair back into a high ponytail to keep it from whipping me in the face and obstructing my view, which had happened on more than one occasion.

I pulled on my cut out gloves, popping my fingers loudly. They helped me get a better grip on the knives. I joined the others by the fence, where they were all decked out in weapons. We looked like the most badass group of action heroes ever, which at this moment, I felt like we were.

"Awesome." Rick smiled. "We have Nikki. Everybody ready?" We all nodded back quickly, our minds beginning to focus in on the task at hand. "Alright. Let's start."

We walked over to the gate that Rick had previously closed, walker's milling about on the other side. The others spread out along the fence and began to scream and hit at it, begging the walkers to come their way. With a small nod from Hershel, the older man pulled the fence open and we went through, already in our defensive position. Rick was in front, with Daryl on his right. I had in the other side of Daryl, so close that our elbows were touching. Glenn was beside me, equally as close to Maggie, who held the position in the other side of him. T was between Maggie and Rick, filling out the strange circle shape. We all had our weapons raised, knives, machetes, iron spokes. Any close range weapon that could kill a walker. Rick killed the first one with ease, slicing with his machete, decapitating it quickly. I lunged at the one in front of me, forcing my knife through its rotting skull.

We slowly pushed deeper into the yard, slashing and stabbing our way through the mess. More and more converged in upon us, surrounding us. Our formation was working well, keeping everybody visible and covered.

All of the sudden, T broke formation, sprinting towards a pile of rubble.

"T!" Rick screamed, slashing another body away. Our entire group stopped moving, not wanting to go forward a man down.

"We're gonna need this!" The man screamed back, picking up a prison riot shield that had been on the ground. He was right. That would come in handy, but he was far outside of rank. I forced the shield against the nearest walker, sending it flying backwards. He sprinted towards our group, almost sliding into formation beside Rick.

We kept moving as soon as he rejoined us. They kept coming at us, and I could hear the others screaming behind us, trying to pull them away, but at this point, it was futile. There were so many of them. Where were they coming from?

My eyes drifted towards where most of the walker's were coming from. Shit. The gate to the other half of the cell block was wide open, with walker's spilling through. That was where they were coming from. The only way for us to get through was if we closed that gate, or else they would keep coming.

Without a second thought, I broke rank and started to sprint towards the gate.

"Cole!" Daryl screamed behind me, attempting to grab my arm. "What are you doing?"

"Nikki, fall back!" Rick hollered.

I just ignored them and kept running towards the gate, determined to close it. I knew exactly when they figured out what I was doing, because they stopped screaming at me. They saw my plan. A walker grabbed at my body and I shoved him back with my arm, slipping out of his grasp.

I threw myself at the crowded fence a slammed it closed with all of my might, forcing them all backwards with the force of the metal. I breathed heavily in relief for a moment, proud of myself for getting it closed.

But my relief was shattered in an instant.

"Nicole!" Daryl screeched, his lowly voice thick with fear. "Behind you!"

I whipped around wildly, my knife raised defensively. I wrapped wildly, but I stepped back when my knife bounced harmlessly off of the walker, clattering to the ground. I stared up in horror at the walker that towered in front of me. He was 6'4 and used to be well muscled, and he was covered head to toe in riot gear. I had seen gear like this, before the outbreak. It was durable and protected, able to withstand a stabbing, and bulletproof. His face had a thick mask covering it, blocking the path to its brain. Well that was going to be a problem.

"Shit." I hissed, dodging its flailing arm. I spastically grabbed for the second knife at my belt. How was I going to kill this thing? I got in defensive stance, circling the monster aggressively. There were no weakness in the armor, from what I could see. I could hear a loud groaning coming from behind me, and I turned. My stomach turned into ice as I saw the massive hoard that was coming straight towards me. The ones in front were just like the one behind me, completely covered in armor. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the others back in their defensive stance, attacking the walker's that were surrounding them. They were just as fucked as I was. They weren't going to be much help. I scrambled to pick up my discarded knife. How was I going to get out of this one? I was caught between a walker and multiple walkers, with a fence on the other side.

I could hear the one behind me and turned just in time to knock him back with my first. He flew to the ground with a thud. From this angle, I finally saw one weakness: the neck. I had to get at the beck. The rotting flesh on its neck was the only part exposed. If I could just get to it, I could slash it's neck, cutting the brain stem. I just had to get close.

I lunged at the downed walker, diving towards its neck. I raised my knife as in landed on its writhing form. He grabbed at me with decaying hands, but I ignored them, shoving the knife into his neck, earning a satisfying geyser of blood. His decayed form went rigid and his hands fell away. I breathed heavily, still straddling his chest. I ripped my knife out and stood up, still eyeing the walker, as if I was expecting him to pop up and grab me. I had to rip my attention away from him, though, when the moans behind me got louder. The hoard was almost on top of me now. I almost tripped over the body as I stumbled backwards, readying my knives.

I attacked the closest one, who was dressed as a prisoner. I easily killed him, as he had no armor. It wasn't until now that I realized that I had moved away from the rest of the group, to the other side of the building. I couldn't even see them now. This wasn't good.

"Fuckin' assholes." I spat as I killed a civilian walker, spilling her guts all over the ground. Suddenly, I felt a cold hand wrap around my arm. I hissed and twisted in its grip. I ripped my arm out and turned to see the other two guards, their eyes staring at me blankly from behind their masks. He grabbed for me again, brushing against my face this time. I hissed in disgust and jabbed my knife futilely at him. It just bounced against the armor, as it had before. I pulled my arm away and kicked him in the stomach, forcing him backwards. I had to get him on the ground.

I instinctively pulled out my preloaded gun and shot him in the knee, sending him falling to the ground. I ran and kicked him over, stomping on his stomach when he finally fell. I stomped again for good measure and dropped down to my knees, so I was practically straddling his chest. I aimed my gun carefully just as the beast looked back and pulled the trigger, watching the bullet cut through his neck, spewing blood once again. I sighed and went to put my gun away when I felt a pull on my foot. I struggled against the force, but only managed to flip myself off of the walker and onto my back on the concrete. I kicked against him, but this third walker was stronger than the others, and still covered in armor. The one good thing was that he was wearing gloves, so he couldn't scratch me. He released my legs, but before I could relax, he grabbed at my arms and stomach, effectively pinning me down. I was vaguely aware of the sounds of yelling and screaming around me. I grunted in pain as I Felt another heavy pressure land on me as a walker fell on my legs, pinning me down even more. I struggled guilty against the walker's grip, but my arms were stuck. If not for the mask in front of his face, he already would have ripped my throat out. Somehow, my biggest challenge had become my saving grace. I turned my head wildly, looking for anything, anything that could help me. I stopped when I saw one of my knives, lying right next to my face. My arms were stuck, so there was no way I could grab it. Unless….

I lurched my head forward and twisted my body at the same time, so my head was turned to the side. Carefully, I grabbed the hilt of my knife with my teeth. I let it fall a little deeper into my mouth and readjusted the grip I held with my teeth. This was the weirdest way I had ever fought a walker, but I was willing to try anything now.

I turned back to the walker, who was high enough above me to be out of the way of my knife. I leaned forward and used all of the force I could muster to jolt the monster, causing him to lose his balance. As he fell towards me, I craved my neck to get close to his neck. I closed my eyes as the sharp metal sunk into the rotting flesh. I felt hot liquid pouring on my face, and I knew that I had gotten its neck. The grip on my arms became loose and the body fell limply on top of me. I had done it. I had killed it.

I had been so focused on the walker that I hadn't even noticed that the yelling had stopped.

"Cole?" A voice screamed, calling out to me. I tried to respond, but ended up choking on the knife that was still in my mouth. I began to writhe underneath the much larger walker, my eyes still closed, was they were covered in blood and guts. "Cole? Oh shit." The voice was louder this time, as if it was right next to me. I felt a release of pressure and I could sense light through my eyelids as someone pulled the monster off of me, freeing me. Without opening my eyes, I sat up and turned, spitting the knife out of my mouth, hearing it hit the concrete. I wanted to open my eyes, but I knew I would just get blood in my eyes.

"Can someone please wipe my eyes off?" I asked quietly, feeling very awkward with my eyes closed. I felt a soft cloth wipe my eyes gently. After about 20 seconds, they pulled away, and I gently opened my eyes.

When I could finally see, I was met with the concerned faces of the rest of the group. Daryl was kneeling in front of me, the tail of his shirt in his hands.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly, his emotions hard to discern.

I nodded weakly. "Yeah. Just got a little stuck."

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Why did you take off? We said not to break formation." His words were laced with anger and his voice was a growl, like he was mad at me.

"I had to close that gate. You know that one of us had to do it." I said sharply, placing a hand on the ground to push myself off of the ground. "I just happened to notice it first." I looked around at everyone else, my eyebrows raised. "Anyone else gonna fight me on that?" They all shook their heads, and Maggie gave me a small smile.

"Well, now that that's over," Rick stepped in. "Let's clear out this cell block. It looks pretty empty." He gestured to the large brick building behind us. Cell block C. He took off towards the door, with the others got on his tail. The only one still standing beside me was Daryl, who just looked at me with dark eyes.

"What?" I hissed, holstering my gun. "Gonna give me a talk about safety? Because I grew up with Rick and Shane. I have heard every single safety talk in the boo-" I was abruptly cut off when Daryl came at me and grabbed my waist, pressing a kiss to my lips. It was fiery, but not soft. No. This kiss was desperate, pleading.

He pulled away slowly, his eyes burning. "You don't got it do you?" He said lowly.

"What?" I tried to say, but it came out as more of a grunt.

"You may be willing to go for the gate." He said slowly. "But one of these days, you're going to go for the gate, and you're not going to come back. You may not care about that, but I sure as hell do, ya' stubborn woman." And he turned on his heels and walked away without another word.

Y'all that was almost 5k words. How do you like it?