NICOLETTE

"They should be back by now" Nicki heard Amy ask anxiously, looking at the road.

Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui, Morales and Merle had left for Atlanta that early morning.

Glenn had already been in the city, he told them that it was full of walkers and it was not easy to move. That was why they had decided to go in so many, to have more chance to defend themselves and to try and take as many things as possible so to not go back in there for a while.

"I'm sure they're fine" said Lori putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder trying to comfort her.

Amy's sister was out there, of course she would have grown worried by the minute.

"Any news, Sarah?" asked Shane suddenly at Nicki's sister who had in her hands the radio.

"I wish, Shane" Sarah answered.

Just few moments before, a man had spoken to them through the radio, catching their frequents. The man said that he was going to Atlanta, Amy tried to warn him not to, but he couldn't hear her respond. At that point Lori and Shane had a little fight. For Shane in was no use in try to search for other survivors, they couldn't afford it in that moment. As they went to talk somewhere else Sarah tried again to set the frequency to talk to the man again. Shane took a long breath once he came back, seeing her working on the radio.

"Let it go then" he said putting his hands on his hips.

"It's not like I have better things to do" Sarah answered looking up at him with a smile.

Nicki chuckled.

"You won't let it go, will you?" asked him.

"Nope" Sarah answered focusing back on the radio.

If Shane thought of making Sarah change her mind on anything, he was wrong.

Two hours passed.

Nicki was sitting on the steps of the RV with one of Dale's old books, it wasn't that bad, but Nicki had never read that much in her life.

Suddenly, an angry groan made her look up from the pages.

"Given up?" She asked as Sarah set on the ground.

"Don't laugh at me please" she said "Not you too"

"Shane wasn't laughing at you" Nicki said closing the book before observing her sister who was looking ahead of her at nothing in particular.

"Do you think I've been stupid?" Sarah asked with soft voice.

"No" said Nicki.

Thinking of a lone man walking directly inside the city was an awful thought. If she was alone, she would want someone to warn her. Or if her parents were walking into a trap, she'd want someone to try to help them. Maybe it wasn't much, but it was something.

"Nicki" Lori's voice made her look up "Can you take a look at Carl while I'm gone" Nicki looked over the woman's shoulder to see Carl observing them with a frown.

"Where are you going?" Asked Sarah.

"Looking for some more mushrooms with Shane" she said showing them the little basket in her hand "I won't be long"

"Alright" Nicki answered with low voice before Lori walked away.

That had become a habit. Adults always asked for her to take a look at the other children, she was becoming some kind of a babysitter. She would usually sit down, looking at them from time to time, playing, running around or studying. Most of the time they kept doing their own things, they had stopped asking her to join their games. But she could tell that Carl didn't like very much to be watched over.

And indeed, as he walked towards her, she was already breaching some comment of his.

"I don't need to be watched over" he said.

"Trust me, I'm not living my best time either" she said coolly "But apparently this is a chore of mine, so resist for some time" Carl took a frustrated breath before going to sit where he was before.

"You two sure speak a lot" said Sarah with a small laugh, making Nicki scroll her shoulder as she observed Carl.

The two of them never really spoke, they only did that when the other children were around.

"I don't think that the both of us want to talk that much" Nicki said. She had come to know that Carl's father had died not so long before so he often got quiet. He usually played with Sophia; they had become friends quickly.

As quick as Sarah and Glenn had become friends. They were always around each other. Nicki had once heard Jacqui talking with Dale, thinking that the two of them could like each other. They were a small group, rumors spread. Rumors that didn't seem to get noticed by neither Sarah, or Glenn.

Nicki wondered if it was possible to find love with everything that was happening. She had never liked anyone in that sense. Sarah had had a boyfriend during her last year of high school, but they broke up when they had to leave for college. Nicki couldn't picture of falling in love in that situation. And suddenly she wondered if she would have ever. She would have to focus on stay alive and keeping her sister alive. That was no time of fairytales.

"So deep in thoughts" said Sarah "What are you thinking about?"

"What normality will mean from now on?" she could feel her sister's eyes on her before she sat down next to Nicki putting a hand around her shoulders.

"No idea".

The more the hours passed the more they grown anxious. Glenn's group had not come back yet. They all were trying their best to get their mind off of the situation. Sarah walked towards Dale and Jim that seemed always busy on fixing the RV. The two of them were always bent down fumbling with every kind of hardware.

"Can I help?" asked Sarah with a smile.

"Don't worry, dear" said Dale sweetly.

"Please" said Sarah "I need to focus on something else than them not coming back and I would like to be useful".

The two men looked at her for a moment before nodding their heads, making Sarah smile widely. Nicki noticed her tying her brown hair in a ponytail before starting to listen to everything Dale was telling her.

Nicki smiled observing her sister getting curious, making questions and listening closer to the answers.

"Nicolette" the girl turned as Shane put a hand on her shoulder "How about I show you how to make a knot?"

"Really?" Shane nodded his head gesturing towards Carl standing not so far from them.

"I was about to show, Carl" he said "It could be useful" Nicki looked up at the man with a little smile before nodding her head and following him.

The three of them were sitting on the ground and she and Carl looked closely at whatever movement Shane was doing with the rope. It was interesting and she was having even fun. Nicki tried to make the knot that didn't hold and got loose as she pulled the rope. She let out a snort looking at the loosen string hanging from her fingers. Carl laughed too looking at her, but soon he got his knot wrong too.

"How is it possible?" he complained laughing.

"He made the right movement" said Nicki trying again.

"You have to put this part around your finger first" Shane explained.

"Like this?" Nicki asked Carl as he looked at her rope.

"I think, maybe higher" Carl suggested.

As they were getting the hang of it when they heard a voice from the radio.

"Hello, can anybody hear me?" they all looked towards the radio as Shane got up putting a hand on Carl's head before going towards the RV, where Dale was already running to get the speaker.

"It's T-Dog, anybody can hear me?" Nicki and Sarah looked at each other as they heard those words from the radio.

Dale answered immediately, but the signal was disturbed. They couldn't really get what T-Dog was saying. The only word they could understand was 'trapped' and 'department store'.

"Trapped?" muttered Nicki.

"He said they're trapped" said Shane ruffling his hair with his hand. After that they couldn't hear anything else. Silence fell inside the camp as the only noise they could hear was thunders above their heads.

Trapped. With those monsters all around.

"He said department store" said Lori looking at Shane.

"Can't we do something?" asked Sarah getting closer to Amy who was pale.

"No way. We do not go after them" said Shane shaking his head as Lori moved closer to him "We do not risk the rest of the group. You all know that"

"So, we just going to leave her there?" Amy exclaimed looking Shane with wide eyes.

"Amy, I know it's not easy" he begun to explain.

"She volunteered to go" Amy answered back "To help the rest of us" Sarah and Nicki looked at each other. They understood Amy completely.

"She knew the risk" Shane said "And if she is trapped, she is gone. We just have to deal with that"

Nicki wondered how he could do it, remain distant, cold. Easly say that there was no hope for them was rushed. Glenn was there. Their group was out there. Was it really the only thing they could do? Cope for their loss.

"She is my sister, you son of a bitch!" Amy exclaimed before running away.

"Shane" said Sarah stepping up "Glenn saved my life and my sister's. I can't leave him out there. This is a group; shouldn't we protect each other?"

"That's what I'm doing, Sarah" Shane said to the girl, who bit her lips.

"I won't be able to cope with that" she said before running in the direction Amy had went to.

Glenn had been so kind to them, could she really just cope with his loss without doing nothing?

But what could she do?

Nicki was fourteen and had never had to learn to defend herself. How could she help the person that saved her life?' How could she help Jacqui that always made sure that she had eaten something? Or Morales who had his family waiting for him? Or Andrea? Or T-Dog?

There was nothing she could do.

She could just pray that Shane was wrong. That they would have come back.

It was going to be sun set too and they were all still in waiting. Sarah and Lori had managed to calm Amy down that now was sitting next to RV fixing a shirt. Dale was on watch as Lori was cutting Carl's hair and talking to Shane.

"You ok?" Asked Nicki walking closer to her sister.

"Not so much" she said looking towards Shane "I can't believe we are going to just keep living, knowing that they are gone" Sarah said as her eyes watered "I can't do that"

"I know" Nicki whispered.

Suddenly they heard a car alarm echoing in the vale. The two sisters looked at each other before running towards the others were gathering.

"Talk to me, Dale" said Shane looking up at the man standing on the top of the RV with his binoculars.

"Can't tell yet" Dale answered.

"It's getting closer" said Nicki. The noise was moving fast towards their direction.

"Is it them?" Asked Amy urgently "Are they back?"

No one could answer that question even if everyone would want to say the same thing.

"What is it?" asked Sarah looking up to Dale.

"Stolen car, that's my guess" the man answered.

After a moment a red sportive car turned the corner and came to a stop. The alarm was still going off, it was so loud but they waited to see who was driving it.

"Oh god" muttered Sarah as Glenn got out from the car.

Nicki's lips moved up in a wide smile, not believing that he was alive.

Sarah ran with the others, but ended up hugging Glenn.

"Turn that damn thing off!" Dale exclaimed as Glenn who was still in Sarah's embrace said:

"I don't know how"

In a moment he was surrounded by question as the alarm was still ringing. Nicki didn't know why, but she couldn't help but laugh at the scene.

Shane finally made the alarm go off, by disconnected the battery wires. Amy was asking no stop if Andrea was alright and Sarah wanted to know if Glen was unharmed.

"She is ok!" he exclaimed to Amy before turning to Sarah "I'm alright. Everybody is"

"That's a miracle" muttered Sarah looking over Amy who was smiling brightly.

"Well..." Glenn said "Maybe Merle not so much"

"Merle?" asked Sarah with a frown.

Was Merle Dixon dead?

"Are you crazy to driving this wailing bastard up here?" exclaimed Shane pissed "Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?"

"I think we're okay" said Dale.
"You call being stupid, okay?" Shane was really pissed, but thankfully Dale was able to maintain a calm discussion.

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills" Walkers seemed to be attracted by noises, but Dale was right, maybe it was not easy to find the source of the noise.

"It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" Dale then said turning to Glenn who was looking down.

"Sorry, got a cool car"

Nicki didn't care about all of that in that moment especially when the others arrived. Amy ran to Andrea hugging her close. Morales went to his family kissing his wife. T-Dog went to Dale as Sarah embraced Jacqui.

Nicki noticed Lori leading Carl away from the scene. The boy had tears in his eyes as his mother was talking to him.

Nicki knew...

She would have liked to see her parents running to her. She missed them a lot.

"How did you get out from there, anyway?" asked Shane.

"New guy" said Glenn "He got us out"

Nicki frowned.

A new person?

So, it was possible to find new people.

Everyone was surprised in hearing those words.

"Hey helicopter boy!" Morales shouted.

A man dressed up as a cop walked down the truck they had just got out from. He seemed exhausted as he moved towards them. But suddenly when he looked up, Nicki noticed his eyes gone wide and slowly filling with tears.

"Dad!" Carl's voice made her turn as the boy ran straight to the new guy's arms that sobbing embraced his son.

It could not be possible.

Nicki observed them as they hugged each other close, before the man walked with his son still in his arms to hug Lori too.

They were together again. It was more than a miracle.

Nicki couldn't help but smile looking at them, feeling for the first time that maybe there was still hope. For all of them.