To Nikolai's own surprise, the giant found himself staying. It had been exactly one week since his frenzy against the herd of undead, and sure enough, rumors of his deeds had passed through town. Instead of keeping a low profile, his outburst had managed to achieve the complete opposite effect. Everyone in town (except for The Governor) seemed to fear him. He did not find amusement in it either. However, it did seem to make people steer clear of him, and that was at the least partially satisfying. The only people he spoke to regularly were Martinez and The Governor, and even then it was in short, terse statements. They seemed curious as to why he did not talk very much, but he never explained his reasoning. As the days past, The Governor had begun to ask him if he wanted to go on scavenging runs, to which Nikolai accepted a few times, but not many. The runs were rather smooth, as the town seemed to have a small network of outposts with men on guard duty at each one. It was very rare to encounter more than a few undead. The main reasoning for Nikolai's presence was purely for muscle and heavy firepower should the need arise. None of The Governor's men except for Martinez dared to give him orders. Nikolai did not mind this, as the Hispanic man seemed to be a rather competent lieutenant. He treated the people under his leadership well, and never rose his voice unless he needed to.

The Governor had not been lying when he said that Woodbury was well-stocked. The settlement had such a large storage of food that, in Nikolai's mind, there was no doubt that every citizen in town could eat 3 decently portioned square meals a day for the next six months. Due to the number of scavenging missions the town militia performed, that supply only increased. The giant could not even begin to fathom the enormous supply of ammunition they had managed to obtain. According to Martinez they had not specifically scavenged for ammunition or potential weapons for over two months now. It boggled Nikolai's mind that there was actually a community doing so...well. How had they managed to accomplish this? Could there actually be some sort of dim hope for humanity?

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. He had totally forgotten that it was late afternoon, the sun beating down on the town of Woodbury. It had been humid and warm outside all day, making Nikolai's clothes stick to his skin. He was rather indifferent to the feeling. He had gotten into the habit of taking off his body armor when not going on runs, although he still wore clothing that kept the entirety of his body shielded from view. He always wore his metal helmet, except when he bathed, and that was only when nobody else was around. The giant rose from his bed, walking over to the door and cracking it open. The Governor was standing there, a stern expression plastered on his face. He spoke, "Mind if I come in?" Nikolai allowed the patched man entrance, gently shutting the door behind him. The Governor spoke, "We've got another run planned for today. I came by earlier this morning asking if you were feeling up for it. Have you thought about it?" Nikolai stood silently for a minute, before saying, "Yes, sir. I will go with them." The Governor smiled warmly and said, "Good, they could use your help. You've become quite a valuable asset." Nikolai said nothing. The Governor continued, "All the help is appreciated. According to Martinez you follow orders perfectly well." Nikolai nodded and said, "It is merely my responsibility, sir." The Governor rose an eyebrow. He spoke, "Responsibility?" Nikolai said, "I am given a duty by Martinez. I simply carry out the objectives." The Governor nodded and said, "Interesting. Well, they are getting ready to leave now. I will tell them to wait on you." The patched man disappeared behind the door, and Nikolai armed himself swiftly. Shouldering his Torrent Cannon harness, he briskly walked outside of the building. Martinez was on a truck, waving towards him. The Hispanic yelled, "Come on Hoss! We've got to get moving!" Nikolai trudged towards the vehicle, observing the two other people with Martinez. One of them was a Black man, named Tyreese. The other, a woman, named Sasha. Nikolai had heard that they were brother and sister. Leaping up onto the bed of the truck with them, he took a seat, placing his back against the gate. One other man, Shumpert, climbed into the driver's seat, and ignited the engine. Pulling out of the plaza, the small team of scavengers waited until the sentry opened the main gate, and they pulled off onto the main road, away from the safe haven of Woodbury.

For several minutes during the ride, Martinez spoke to them about the mission. Apparently, the scouts of Woodbury had discovered a grocery store several miles away from the town. The scouts reported that it was relatively untouched. However, the catch was that there were several undead roaming around it, and the premises would need to be cleared before they could loot it. Martinez spoke to the large Black man, "Now Tyreese, you and your sister were chosen by The Governor to assist us with this mission. Sasha has specialization with firearms, and you are very proficient with close combat. I need you two to keep a level head. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time we took you somewhere. Am I clear?" Sasha had a frown upon her face, and said, "Yeah we got it." Tyreese said nothing, merely looking over the side of the bed of the truck, observing the landscape that passed by. Martinez repeated a bit more aggressively, "Am I clear?" Tyreese responded with a bit of a grimace, "I heard you." Nikolai could clearly sense some tension here. He wondered what the source of it was. Martinez then spoke to Nikolai, "Hoss, I need you keep a sharp eye out for any biters that may come up from around the building. It's in a small town that is absolutely fucked all to hell." Nikolai responded, "Of course, sir. As you say." Sasha said, "Any idea how many biters are in there?" Martinez responded, "No idea. At least a dozen. If we're lucky, they won't be clumped together too tightly. If they are, we may have a problem." Sasha nodded in response. The scenery changed into an open field. Nikolai observed the area, watching a few undead walking by. The undead flesh was prevalent in the air, as they diverted their attention to the truck that zoomed by. The small scavenger team ignored them completely. Ahead, Nikolai could see several small buildings appear. Martinez spoke, "It's not much further, probably 20 more minutes." Sasha spoke, "Alright, let's get prepared then." The woman had a rifle of sorts, inspecting and cleaning it with precise motions. Tyreese had drawn a handgun and was wiping it down with an alcohol pad he had grasped from his pocket. The two siblings said nothing else, looking as if they were mentally preparing themselves for the mission. Nikolai did no such thing, knowing his weapons were ready.

Several more buildings and minutes passed by, until Shumpert directed the vehicle off of the road and into the parking lot of the building. Martinez spoke quietly, observing the surroundings, "I'll go in first." He crawled out of the bed, and walked up to the driver seat, where Shumpert had a machine gun at the ready. Martinez spoke to their driver, "Shumpert, take position and guard the truck." Sasha exited the bed, followed by Tyreese. Nikolai himself stood up in the bed of the truck and leapt over the side. Landing with a solid thud of his boots on the concrete, he silently followed Martinez as the Hispanic man led the way. Tyreese spoke, "Looks like we aren't alone. I see a few over there." Tyreese pointed to the left. Standing near the front-left corner of the building were 3 undead. Martinez turned to look at the siblings. He spoke, "Sasha, you and I should circle around the back." Nikolai, out of the corner of his eye, could see a brief flash of anger in Tyreese's eyes, but it quickly subside. The Hispanic man continued, "Tyreese, Hoss, you go in the front." Tyreese said, "No problem." Nikolai said nothing. Parting ways, Nikolai crouched low and inched his way towards the door. Martinez and Sasha disappeared from sight. Tyreese said, "I think we should take out the ones on the corner." Nikolai said nothing. Tyreese continued, "It would make an alternate escape route. I've got this." Nikolai watched the man approach the undead from behind, taking out the first one with a hammer's nail-pulling end. The other two rounded on him. Swiftly, Tyreese smashed one of them over the head, making a large indentation in its skull and heavily damaging the brain. The undead fell quickly. The last one got a hold of Tyreese, and Nikolai watched as the Black man get out of its grasp, narrowly avoiding a bite. Tyreese stuck the hammer over his shoulder, jamming the pulling end into the bottom mandible. Tugging furiously, he tore off the lower mandible, making the undead unable to bite him. Tyreese wrestled the undead to the ground, lifted his foot, and made a sickening crunch against the undead's skull, mashing its brain. Nikolai did not move the entire time. Tyreese looked over at him, and said, "That's taken care of." The man led the way inside, Nikolai trudging close behind.

The inside of the building was dim compared to the outside. Indeed, the store had been relatively untouched, and for good reason. No less than a dozen undead were scattered about the aisles, mindlessly roaming in no particular direction. Nikolai watched as Tyreese put up his hand, signaling for him to stop. Although Nikolai's heart rate maintained its stability, the giant quickly glanced in all directions, making sure they weren't being watched. Tyreese turned around and whispered, "Look. 'Round the corner." Nikolai peeked down the aisle. 6 undead were in one aisle, groaning to one another, as if they were communicating. Nikolai did not know if they really could or not, but it was interesting to watch nonetheless. Tyreese said, "I think we can avoid them." Nikolai said nothing. Tyreese said, "What do you think?" Nikolai still did not respond. Tyreese looked slightly annoyed, but did not ask again. He said, "Come on, let's avoid them." Nikolai followed Tyreese as he slipped past the entrance of the aisle, amking sure to not draw attention to themselves. Traveling the aisle closest to the milk cooler doors, Nikolai could smell the rancid, expired milk that was present in the machines. It did not affect him so much, but Tyreese was making noises of disgust. Nikolai said nothing about it. Tyreese suddenly said, "Hold it." Footsteps were approaching. Tyreese clicked his flashlight, and rose the hammer, ready to strike whatever came around the corner. As soon as the footsteps emerged from the aisle, Tyreese leapt out and rose his arm, but stopped when he saw that it was Martinez. Martinez said, eyes wide, "Damn, man, take it easy." Tyreese said quietly, "My bad, I thought you were a biter." Martinez said, "Hell no I'm not a biter." Tyreese said, "Alright, still, my bad. The Hispanic man said, "Well, regardless, we counted approximately seven of them from what we could see. How many did you find?" Tyreese responded with, "Six so far." The Hispanic man said, "Alright. I think we can take them out. If we are thorough, we can get a full sweep of the building, maybe even taking all of them out." As soon as Martinez spoke those words, things took a turn for the worse.