Nicole was so tired. She was tired of losing people. She was tired of losing the places she thought was safe. She was just tired in general. As the group drove away from the explosion at the CDC, Nicole felt a tear slip from her eye. It was for Jacqui. Her friend. The two may not have been close, but they cared about each other.
Engrossed in her thoughts, Nicole flinched when she heard Daryl's radio click on. She didn't realize how long she had zoned out. The group wasn't even in the city anymore.
"I see something up ahead," Rick's voice clicked through the receiver. Nicole watched as one by one the cars began to slide to a halt.
Daryl put his truck in park. "Let's just hope he don't lead us into a deathtrap," Daryl spoke in a bitter tone. "Again."
"He's doing the best he can," Nicole sighed as she opened the door. Nicole got out and Cheyanne followed. The group walked up to where Rick stood. Nicole saw the gates. She saw the houses. The sign read Wiltshire Estates.
"We can stay hold for the night. Clear it in the morning," Rick declared as he placed his hands on his hips. "We could build a life here."
Nicole nodded and glimpsed down her daughter. Cheyanne's tiny hand held onto hers. The group agreed and wandered back to their vehicles to grab a few of their things. Rick, Shane, and Daryl took point as they led the group into the community. Rick chose a house and the three cleared it.
Everyone piled into the house. They were exhausted after the emotional torture they had gone through. Nicole realized how the night would be coming soon. The group began hunkering down on chairs and couches near the cold fireplace. They got comfortable and began talking.
Nicole needed to speak to Rick about what Jenner said. "Rick," Nicole whispered. The man turned to his name. "C'mere." Nicole walked outside onto the porch and Rick followed, shutting the door behind him.
"Are we going to tell them?" Nicole whispered. "I mean, we don't know if it's true or not."
Rick sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know," he breathed.
Nicole sighed and shifted her weight to her left side. "We don't have to. I mean, that man was crazy. He could've been lying. Trying to scare us into regretting our decision."
"What if he wasn't?" Rick suggested the alternative. "What if he was right? What if we do all turn no matter how we die?"
"We don't know that for sure though." Nicole ran her hands through the loose strands of her braid.
"Should we tell them?" Rick inquired. He didn't know what to do.
"It comes down to these options," Nicole began. "Tell them the truth and scare them to death if it's not true or them find out themselves and it is true then they be mad at us."
"I'd rather not tell them," Rick sighed, "At least until we know for absolute sure."
Nicole nodded. "Okay. We keep it between us until we know," Nicole agreed. "I'll back you up no matter what."
"Thank you," Rick uttered. The two of them turned back and went into the house. Some of the group had managed to find some blankets and were all settling down. Others had moved up to the bedrooms upstairs. Only people down in the living room was Daryl, Cheyanne, T-Dog, Dale, and Andrea.
Rick and Nicole parted ways. Rick went up the stairs to find his family and Nicole moved over to where Cheyanne laid passed out on the floor. She had a blanket encased around her so tight that she looked like a cocoon. Nicole chuckled softly. Andrea took the couch and Dale and T-Dog slept on the recliners. Daryl occupied the window seat, carving small lines into the wood.
Nicole slid down on the floor beside him and lifted Cheyanne's head onto her lap. "What'd you and Rick talk about?" Daryl whispered.
"Oh, um," Nicole searched for a lie, "I was telling him how we need to check the entire fence line. Make sure it was secure."
"Yer lying," Daryl scoffed. Nicole glanced up to him. He met her gaze and smirked softly, "Ain't none of my business."
Nicole sighed. She hated lying to him. To her family. But what Rick said had to go. She wasn't going to doubt his decisions more than she needed to. "Get some sleep, Nik," Daryl's whisper broke her away from her thoughts. He handed her his blanket.
"What about you?" She queried, tilting her head back to look up at him.
"I'll be fine," He whispered as he tucked his knife back into his sheath. He leaned his head back against the wall. "'Night, Nicole."
"'Night, Daryl."
-
Rick didn't wait to start the group up early. He wanted to do a once over of this entire place before they got comfortable. They broke up into groups of three and separated. They were going to search for their essentials. Food, medical supplies. They were also going to search for any of the monsters that they constantly ran from.
Everything was going fine until Nicole heard Cheyanne's terrified scream. Nicole and Daryl made a mad dash back toward the house. They could hear the sounds of gunshots from Cheyanne's .9mm. This only caused them to run impossibly faster.
"Cheyanne!" Nicole called. That's when she saw the monsters coming out of houses and wandering down the street. "Chey!" she cried as she ran back into the house, where the children were.
Nicole ran inside. She heard banging and crying. She ran up the stairs, finding a walker bashing onto the closet door. Nicole grabbed it and threw it to the ground. She took her foot and stomped the ugly thing. Brains gushed into her shoe and sloshed around inside of it. It made her want to throw up.
Nicole scrambled back over to the closet. She found Carl, Sophia, and her daughter huddled inside of it. "C'mon." Nicole clutched her daughter's hand. The three children instantly linked hands as Nicole pulled them down the stairs.
"Carl!"
"Sophia!"
Nicole ran out of the door. Daryl right behind her. "Everyone get back to the cars! Now!" Rick bellowed. The group made a dash to their vehicles. They all jumped in and started their vehicles. The group began to move.
"Daryl, wait!" Nicole cried and pointed to Shane, who was straggling behind. Daryl began honking and he poked his head out the window.
"Shane!" He shouted, honking some more. "Get Shane!" Daryl didn't stop honking until Nicole told him that Shane safely got into the RV. Every car slammed on their gas pedals and sped off.
Nicole panted and glanced over to Daryl. "You good?"
Daryl nodded. "You?"
"I'm fantastic," Nicole gasped. "You good, baby girl?"
Cheyanne looked up to her mother. "There were two walkers in the basement. I heard something banging down and went down there since no one was home," she murmured. "When I saw them, I screamed and ran. I told Carl and Sophia to run. I managed to shoot one, but I used all my bullets." Chey's brown eyes swelled with tears. "We ran up into the bedroom and locked the closet. The other monster tried to get us."
"But it didn't," Nicole soothed.
"Because you saved us, mama," Chey praised, hugging her tightly.
"Always, sweetheart."
"Promise?" Chey asked as she pulled away.
"I promise."
Nicole felt the vehicle slow down and skid to a halt. She recognized where they were. Guillermo's place. "Never thought we'd be coming back here," she said.
"Me either," Daryl responded before springing out of the vehicle. He grabbed his crossbow from the trunk and gave Nicole her baseball bat.
The three of them walked forward toward the rest of the group. "It looks like they're barely hanging on. What makes you think they'll take in strangers?" Nicole heard Andrea ask.
Daryl shot back, "Hell, with all the guns we gave them, they'll probably throw us a party." Nicole walked directly beside him with her bat held high. Chey held onto her shirt. "Good call. For once," Daryl quipped.
The group worked their way through the brick windows of the outside. Nicole stared up to the top and immediately got concerned. "Rick, there are no lookouts."
They rounded the corner and Nicole's heart dropped. Walkers were sitting there devouring people. People from G's group. "Oh my god," she whispered to herself. Cheyanne turned around and buried her face into her mother's legs.
Daryl held his crossbow out and Nicole took it. The walkers noticed them -- fresh meat. "To hell with the noise," Rick said before the men started shooting. Nicole crouched down, shielding her daughter from it.
When it stopped, she stood up. Daryl came over and grabbed his crossbow. "Come on!" Rick yelled. Nicole held her bat high, ready to swing at an undead freak. The men obtained point and navigated their way through the warehouse and out the back to the nursing home.
The group entered and the men checked the rooms. Nicole instantly saw a dead body on the ground. Chey slammed her eyes shut and hid her face in her mother's back.
"Keep your voice down," Shane told everyone.
Sophia glanced into a room and started to cry. Nicole assumed there was a dead body inside. "Put a sock in it!" Daryl whisper-yelled at her.
"Leave her alone," Carol whispered back.
"Shut her up or I will," Daryl responded. Nicole thought he had a point. They weren't safe here. At this point, she didn't think that they were safe anywhere. Sophia was just a child. Nicole knew this, but she thought she would know better by now.
"Daryl, back the hell off, now. And I mean, now." Nicole heard Lori yell from behind her.
"Rick, we staying or going?" Nicole questioned, holding her bat on her shoulder and her daughter's hand in the other hand.
"We don't have the fuel," Rick told the group.
"We'll hunker down for the night," Shane spoke, "Rick, you, me and Daryl are going to sweep the building. Make sure we're alone."
"Barricade those doors," Rick told the group.
Glenn went into a room and started to try to push out a medical bed. Nicole made her way over and helped him push it into place. Andrea grabbed a couple of chairs and threw it on top of the bed.
Everyone shot into a crouch when they heard glass crunch under a walkers foot. It pressed against the door, but it eventually left. Nicole grabbed Chey's hand and they ran off toward the other members.
They piled into the room they found them in. "Rick, is it clear?" Lori asked as they all shuffled in.
"Yeah," Rick began, "but upstairs is our best bet. We've cleared a few rooms. We can barricade those if we have to."
"We'll be all right," Rick tried to calm the group down.
"You mean it this time or are you lying to us like all the times before?" Carol shot at the sheriff. Nicole scoffed. She couldn't fathom why these people could not just be grateful that Rick is keeping them alive. He was only human. He made mistakes. He was not perfect.
"That is not fair and no help at all," Lori retorted back to the meek woman.
Nicole glanced around the room. She saw the number of bodies that laid on the ground. She acknowledged the bullet holes that went clean through their brains'. Nicole knew what happened here.
"What the hell happened?" Glenn questioned.
"What do you think? They got overrun," Andrea declared. Daryl scoffed at her. "Something to say?"
"Yeah, how about observant?" Daryl spat out.
"Observant. Big word coming from a guy like you. Three whole syllables," Andrea bitched.
"Andrea, do us all a favor and shut up," Nicole spat. She was not going to let her talk to Daryl the way she did.
Andrea scoffed and glared at the woman. "Walkers didn't do this. Geeks didn't show up until all this went down," Daryl started explaining. "Somebody attacked this place. Killed all these people and took whatever they wanted. They're all shot in the head execution style. Y'all are worried about walkers? I'd be much more worried about the people who came and did all this."
Daryl shifted his crossbow up on his shoulder. "Get a dictionary. Look it up," he spat and pointed to his head, "observant." Daryl stormed off and went up the stairs after he finished. Nicole couldn't help but smirk at Andrea lack of words.
The group followed after Daryl. They went up the stairs and entered a room. Shane and Rick separated and went into the kitchen. Nicole sat down and Chey sat in her lap. Daryl stood idly beside them until Shane and Rick came back in. "They ransacked the kitchen. All we found was one can," Shane said, tossing the can to Daryl. Daryl set his crossbow behind Nicole.
"They hit the dispensary too. Pulled the door off its hinges. All we found was this," Rick stated before he handed a little packet to Lori. Glenn found some paper plates and began passing them out.
"So we came back for cough drops and," Daryl paused to look at the cans label, "Garbanzo beans." Daryl rolled his eyes before he started opening the can.
"Is there any water?" Sophia chirped out.
Shane dug through his pack and pulled out the only bottle of water they had. "Just the one that I brought," he said as he stood up. He handed it to Carol. "Just a few sips, okay, honey? Make it last. That'll go for everyone, okay?"
"What else you got in there?" Andrea asked. Nicole was getting so annoyed with the sound of her voice. She couldn't understand how she went from disliking Andrea, to semi-caring about her, and then went back to disliking her in fewer than five days.
Shane tugged a bag of chips. "Ha, sneaky man," Nicole chuckled. Shane glanced back at her and gave a playful smirk to her. He then handed the package to Glenn.
"Courtesy of the CDC," Shane added. He pulled out more of them, tossing to each of the members. "Thought I'd be chomping down in my air-conditioned room. I didn't know it would be dinner."
Nicole glanced over as Glenn tried his best to evenly distribute the beans from the can amongst twelve people. Nicole felt weird thinking about that number. Just yesterday, she was double-checking the group to make sure everyone one was accounted for. She wanted to ease her paranoia. When she did her headcount, the number twelve made her nervous. She didn't want to think of Jacqui as gone. She didn't want to think about how her friend gave up. But now, the number thirteen would forever haunt her of the time when her friend was still alive and kicking.
"This is the last thing," Shane remarked as he pulled out a bottle of wine. Nicole watched as Daryl's face lit up.
"That to share?" he asked through a mouthful of beans.
"Seeing as how I owe you and Nicole my life." Shane handed the bottle over to Daryl. "I'mma go ahead and be nice to you from now on."
"Just doing what I gotta do to earn the first swab," Daryl half-joked and began to open the bottle.
"You guys go easy on that stuff," Lori spoke up. "Let's not forget where we are."
"Yes ma'am," Daryl quipped out.
Nicole took a bite of her food and watched Shane for a second. She saw how his black eye had faded a little and how her hand throbbed at the thought of hitting him again. Now, she didn't want to punch him again. Nothing like that. Nicole didn't want to think of that scene again.
With a sigh, Nicole decided that she didn't want to blame Shane forever. Nicole believed that he truly did love Lori and she led him on. It was one of the reasons Nicole hated their secret relationship at the Quarry. Lori didn't feel something toward him. She craved a release -- an escape. Shane fell right into her trap. Nicole couldn't forgive him for what he almost did to her best friend; but, she chose to forgive him for everything else.
"Shane, you don't owe us anything," Nicole uttered out, "You're family."
Shane gave her a gentle smile and muttered a thanks. Nicole took a few bites of her beans and a couple of chips. "Mama," Cheyanne whispered.
"Yeah, baby?" Nicole responded to her daughter.
"I gotta pee," Cheyanne whispered to her mother. Nicole chuckled and stood up, taking her daughter's hand.
"Where you goin'?" Daryl inquired, shoveling his last bite of beans into his mouth.
Nicole looked down to her daughter, who shook her head embarrassed. "None of your business," Nicole quipped and walked out the door. Nicole and Cheyanne passed T-Dog, who also asked where they were going. Nicole responded with the same thing and continued down the stairs.
When Nicole found the bathroom, she drew her gun out. "Wait here," she ordered Cheyanne and entered the room. Nicole's stance was defensive, prepared to shoot if anything popped out. She warily opened each of the stalls.
Nicole reached the final one. Bullet holes spread throughout the door. Nicole slowly opened it and gasped when she saw the dead body that sat there. She knew this old lady -- this kind old lady. Her body was shot up with holes. She noticed the one that was point-blank in the midst of her forehead. It wasn't difficult to recognize her as Felipe's grandmother. Nicole felt tears in her eyes when she saw that the woman's eyes were still open. They still conveyed her mass of fear as they stared idly at the wall in front of her.
Nicole's heart dropped at the sight. This woman didn't deserve this. None of these people did. What kind of monster would do this? Nicole thought. She knew that humanity would one day stoop to this level, especially in this horrid of times. Nicole hoped that God would deliver karma to the sons of bitches who did this.
With a tearful sigh, Nicole shut the stall door. She wiped the tears from her eyes and went back out to her daughter. "It's clear," she sniffed and motioned her little girl in.
"What's wrong, mama?" Cheyanne asked as she entered. Nicole shoved her gun into the back of her jeans.
"Nothing, sweetie. Just use the bathroom." Nicole pointed to the first stall. She didn't want to risk Cheyanne seeing that old woman.
Cheyanne made her way into the stall her mother said to. Nicole waited at the sink, staring into the mirror. She almost couldn't recognize herself. Four months passed since she was in the hellhole that Atlanta was now. Three and a half months since her car broke down and she met Daryl. Nicole couldn't believe how different she looked. Dark, deep bags were under her green orbs and her lips were chapped terribly. She observed the deep cracks that ripped through them like the grand canyon.
Nicole started biting the loose, chapped skin on her lips. She took note of her messy, braided hair. Most of it fell out of its place. Her right hand slid up and tugged the hair tie from the mess. She untwisted the remaining strands as Cheyanne strolled back into view.
"We need this, right?" Chey asked as she held up the half-empty roll of toilet paper. Nicole nodded. She seized Cheyanne's hand and they marched back up the stairs.
As they walked up the stairs, Nicole heard the men in the group talking. She heard Rick talk about going to Fort Benning and how they needed to lose some vehicles. It was so they prioritized gas. Shane said something about getting some sleep and they group dismissed. Everyone but T-Dog left the staircase.
Nicole started to step up the stairs again. T was left alone. "You hear all that?" he asked when he saw Nicole come up the stairs.
"Yeah. We're going to Fort Benning," Nicole responded.
"We're going to Fort Benning."
sorry it's a little late!! i fell asleep / anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this chapter and this half of the story. You're in for a wild ride :) love you all, be safe. Peaceee -erin