Always the Quiet Ones: No Going Back

Chapter 1: Blood and Iron

Nick couldn't hear anything. There was too much gunfire ringing in the air. He pressed his hands against his ears, he realized that Sarah wasn't in his arms anymore. She was laying on the ground, with a gunshot wound to her shoulder. Nick gasped at the sight of it, when Mike slowly backed up, firing as he went, then he was hit in the shoulder with a bullet.

"Fuck! I'm hit, I'm hit!" Mike groaned in pain.

"Clem!" Vince called out, firing towards the Russian, Vitali. Nick saw Arvo trying to do CPR on his presumably dead sister. Nick tried to make a move towards Sarah, but then he realized he would be In Harm's Way.

"This is your goddamn fault!" Kenny yelled, firing at Vitali. Buricko had a bullet in his legs, and a bullet in his stomach, he was crawling backwards firing at the group but Kenny finally ended him with a bullet to his head. Nick's ears kept ringing and then they finally stopped. He was greeted with gunshot noises. He noticed that Kenny was distracting Vitali, so he went forward to help Sarah. He quickly grabbed her and turned her over and her face was pale. She wasn't conscious. Nick quickly pulled her back to the small cover space of snow. He then spotted a gun on the ground, then the dead body of Jane.

Oh god. Jane. Nick grabbed the pistol, and started firing at Vitali. He missed, and one of the Russian's spotted Nick and fired at him. Nick yelled in pain as a bullet went through his hand. He then fired a shot at that russian, killing him. Vitali turned around and gasped. Nick saw a knife dig through the neck of Vitali. Everyone else stood still. He was the last Russian standing, besides Arvo. They had won. When Vitali choked on his blood, he fell forward, onto the ground. It was Luke. Luke killed Vitali. Luke looked in horror at what he had done. Luke had never killed anyone like that before. Nick slowly got up, holding Sarah in his hands.

"Jesus fucking Christ..." Nick sighed.

"Are...you alright?" Luke asked, shaking still at what he had done. Everyone finally came up, Becca and Shel were fine. Russell had taken cover. Wyatt had a bit of blood on his face, maybe he had come in hand to hand combat with a Russian. Mike had a bullet in his shoulder, Bonnie was shot in the arm. Jane was dead. Eddie was fine, but exhausted. Sarah was shot in the shoulder, and unconscious. That's what he worried about the most. Rebecca was dead. He himself had a bullet in his hand, but it seemed to go right through. Clementine had the baby in her hands.

"I'm fine!" Vince growled. Clementine was trying to help him walk, Vince was shot in the leg. The group walked over to Rebecca's corpse.

"Natasha..." Arvo weeped over his sister's dead body. Nick wanted to pay his respects before making sure that kid paid for what he did.

"Jesus. I can't believe this." Luke said.

"She was too far gone, after that baby was born." Mike sighed.

"I didn't know her that well, but she was a good person. Don't worry, Bec. We'll take care of him." Eddie crossed his arms. He had gotten to know her in a limited amount of time, but she was a good person. A nice one, he might add.

"I've known her for so long...I can't believe she's gone." Nick coughed, looking at his wounded hand, Sarah was still unconscious and on his shoulders.

"Nick...She ain't lookin' too good." Kenny informed him.

"She's fine." Nick growled. Kenny raised his eyebrow, but then heard Arvo's voice. Kenny's face reddened and then he lunged at Arvo, grabbing him by the arm and throwing him towards the snow. Kenny picked him back up, and raised his fist to punch him but Luke stopped him.

"Hey! That's enough! Wait a minute!" Luke stopped him.

"Luke?! Are you fuckin' kiddin' me?! This kid is the reason Rebecca and Jane are dead and that half of us ARE SHOT!" Kenny growled.

"Wait!? Jane's dead?" Luke questioned. He looked over to her dead body. Luke then shut his eyes in sadness. Arvo then spoke in Russian, but Kenny stopped him before he could finish the sentence.

"English, motherfucker!" Kenny slapped him.

"Kenny! Stop it!" Clem yelled.

"That's enough, Kenny! Jesus." Vince said.

"It's because of this shitbird, this whole situation happened! You really want him to walk free!?" Kenny asked, pushing Arvo and he landed in the snow. Kenny then picked him back up but Mike stepped in, pushing Kenny back and standing in front of Arvo.

"You've gotta be fuckin' kiddin..." Kenny growled.

"Let's just hear what he has to say!" Shel suggested.

"Fuck that, let's kill him!" Becca growled.

"FINALLY. Someone is talkin' sense!" Kenny agreed.

"Why don't we take a vote?" Eddie suggested.

"No, dude. We're not taking a vote!" Wyatt threw down his suggestion.

"Why not? It'd be political." Shel agreed.

"We're not here to be POLITICIANS. We're here to survive." Kenny growled.

"All of you just shut the fuck up!" Nick yelled. That caused everyone to pay attention towards him. He looked at everyone, how disturbed they were at this moment. They didn't wanna lose Jane or Rebecca. They weren't killers, except for Kenny. He wasn't so sure about Kenny.

"We've got thirteen people with us and one baby. Clem's holding the baby so she counts for two votes. Who votes we should kill him?" Nick suggested. Kenny, Becca, and Russell raised their hands.

"Just you three?" Nick said before confirming. Nobody else raised their hand. The kid would live.

"Y'all are gonna regret this. Just wait." Kenny growled, walking off.

"Kenny, where the hell are you going?" Luke asked.

"I gotta make sure this fucker's dead." Kenny said, but nobody heard him. He cocked his gun and fired a bullet into Vitali's head. Kenny then walked back and the group started to walk forward.

"We need to rest, half of us are shot to shit." Russell said.

"We can find somewhere. Just hold on." Kenny replied. Nick got more worried about Sarah, what if she didn't wake up? What if she did wake up and then she would bite his neck off? He could hear her breathing, but she was still unconscious. Nick walked behind everyone when Luke walked slower so Nick would catch up with him.

"Hey..." Luke said, awkwardly. The last time they had talked, Nick had punched him in the face.

"Hey, I just wanted to say - I'm sorry for what I did back at the Observation Deck. I didn't mean to overreact." Nick apologized. Luke patted him on the shoulder.

"Look, man - I just - I'm sorry too. But you gotta know, that girl is in bad shape. Y'know?" Luke said.

"I know. But she'll be fine..." Nick replied. Luke nodded, knowing that if he took it any further it could be like it was last time.

"I can't believe she's gone, man. I should have gotten there sooner." Luke said.

"Nothin' you could have done, man. It's not on you. It's on that fucking kid." Nick growled.

"Why didn't you raise your hand?" Luke asked.

"I don't know...I - I.." Nick couldn't explain. He wanted that kid dead, but at the same he didn't. He was just a kid after all.

"Hopefully she knew I actually cared about her. Not that we just - you know, just for it. I...I liked her." Luke frowned.

"I'm sure she did too. And she knew that you did." Nick assured him.

"Thanks, man. I - I can't believe it's just us - you know. You, me and Sarah. It's been so long since we first ran into them. How long was it?" Luke asked.

"About a year ago. When Carver wasn't as insane as he was." Nick remembered, they had ran into Rebecca and Alvin at first. They were surviving on their own for a little while, and they met Carlos and Sarah. Uncle Pete was so nice to them, he immediately let them in to the group. Nick wasn't so trusting of them at first, regardless if they had a teenage daughter.

"Clem." Kenny muttered. Clem turned around, to see Kenny behind him.

"You alright?" Kenny asked.

"I'm fine." Clementine said.

"Sorry you had to do that, Clementine. Kill Rebecca..." Kenny told her.

"She was a good person. I miss her." Clementine said.

"Me too, Clem. Me too." Kenny replied. Kenny growled when Arvo started walking faster than usual, he then walked forward, nudging the gun at his back. Arvo squealed.

"Hey, you don't have to point the gun at him all day man!" Mike yelled.

"I'm makin' sure he doesn't take off!" Kenny retorted.

"He's not going far with that leg of his.." Becca inquired. Nick heard fast breathing as Sarah coughed.

"Shit! Wait!" Nick stopped, letting Sarah down from his back, she coughed, groaning in pain. Nick turned around, settling her against a log. She was paler than Nick was.

"Nick...I - I'm...I'm..." Sarah shivered, having trouble letting out words. Nick leaned into her, giving her a hug. She groaned in pain a bit.

"I'm sorry - I just... I thought I lost you." Nick said, brushing off the snow off her hair.

"I can't - I can't ..." Sarah started crying, her teeth chattering. This was horrible. This goddamn winter.

"This is.. You'll be alright. It's just a bit cold - You're gonna be fine." Nick said, trying to pick her up again but he felt like he was touching a huge block of ice.

"I can't...move - I don't.." Sarah began to cough violently. That's when everyone got worried. She didn't want to get up, whenever Nick tried to pick her up - she refused and settled down.

"Nick..." Luke warned. Nick faced him, a tear falling down his face. Everyone was right. This was it for her. Nick crouched down, touching the side of her cheek. Her cold cheek. She couldn't see much from her glasses because the lens were all cloudy. She was done for, and Nick knew it.

"Sarah..." Nick whispered in her ear.

"Y-Y..." Sarah whispered back, her voice breaking and more coughing came out of her mouth.

"I'm...I'm sorry... I-I-I don't think you're going to..." Nick couldn't finish the sentence. The teenage girl he had NEVER interacted with beforehand, he felt like it was his own daughter. Nick couldn't imagine of how Carlos would feel about this. The way he failed to keep her safe, after all she sacrificed.

"What are you going to do?" Shel asked. Nick faced her, thinking about putting her out of her misery. She was going to die.

"Please...make-make...it stop..." Sarah weeped. Nick then picked her up, carrying her. He then walked off into the snowy forest, and didn't look back. Everything inside him felt angry. Angry at himself. When he heard reached a nice open area, he settled her down against a tree.

"Sarah...I have to do this, honey.." Nick sniffled. Sarah saw Clementine walking over to the two of them.

"Go. You don't need to see this." Nick said, looking to her.

"Hi, Clem...P-promise...you'll be my friend...even after I die..." Sarah's voice was now weak and broken.

"A pinky swear is forever." Clementine started to cry, she then walked up to her, crouching down and holding out her pinky. Sarah slowly raised her hand, the two adjoining their little fingers.

We're friends. Right? We can best friends. I haven't had a best friend since WAY before. Rebecca's too old, and when the baby is old enough - I'll be old! Pinky promise. A pinky swear is forever.

Okay. We're friends.

Nick remembered the necklace that he had found from Carlos' corpse. He grabbed it from his pocket, brushing off the snow that had fallen into his pocket, onto the necklace. He opened it up, looking at the small tickling clock, and the picture of his family. Nick walked up to her, and crouched down. Nick grabbed her other hand, which was clenched. He unclenched it, settling the small necklace in her hands. He then clenched her fist again. Nick then reached for his pistol. She was dead. Nick didn't hear any breathing. Nick looked behind him to see the whole group waiting. Nick cocked the gun, raising it up to aim at Sarah's head. He then fired. Her head sank to the ground. Nick dropped the gun, falling to his knees. Clementine went to hug Nick.

"Clem. Wherever you go... I'm going, okay?" Nick cried. "I'm going to protect you... I promise."

Clementine felt safe with him. At first, he just seemed like some guy who screwed up alot of times. A guy who always gave up when hope was lost, family was lost. Now he reminded him of Lee, he was stronger than he was before.

"Now...Let's go." Nick let go of her, walking off.