NICOLETTE

The prison seemed, indeed, everything they had been searching for during the past nine months. It was huge. The first iron fence went all around the yard, the second defended a wide, overgrown garden, and the third enclosed the actual building. There, at last, they could have more than one line of defense.

It stood like a silent fortress against the overgrown wilderness, a monolithic reminder of a world that once believed it could contain chaos within walls and bars. Now, ironically, those same walls were their only hope to keep chaos out.

Encircled by three layers of fencing topped with rusted barbed wire, the structure loomed in the distance like a beast of concrete and steel. The first perimeter was a tall chain-link fence, already buckling under the weight of weeds and vines, but still intact enough to slow the walkers. Beyond that, a wide yard stretched toward the second fence, enclosing a patchy field half-swallowed by wild growth — once a recreational yard, now a graveyard of silence.

The third fence wrapped around the prison itself — a massive, grey hulk with guard towers jutting into the sky like broken teeth. Windows were barred, doors thick with reinforced metal. Its watchtowers still cast long shadows over the land, ghostly sentinels of a time gone.

Inside, darkness and uncertainty waited. But so did shelter. So did walls. So did a chance — however slim — at surviving another day.

It was paradoxical that the only place that could probably keep them safe now was the one place no one had wanted to get even close to before.

But the world was no longer the one Nicolette had been born into. Needs were different now. Survival was different. Even the aspiration for the future had changed. Once, she had only asked herself what kind of job she would want to do once she finished school. Now, she could only aspire to become a better shot with each passing day.

"Alright," Rick said as they looked at the prison. "We have to stay close. Never break formation."

Nicki nodded her head, as they all did, but her eyes never left all those corpses moving around. There were so many walkers — there were always so damn many walkers. She was tired of seeing them roaming around. It could be dangerous to try and take the prison. But there was little choice they had.

I'd much rather have a fence around us than none, she thought, gripping her bow harder.

They had left the cars in the woods, to make their arrival less obvious. They needed to be quiet. And all together, close to each other, they made their way toward the side of the prison. Rick was ahead of the group, shears in his hands, ready to open a gate for them in the fence. Right behind him, they all stood in a circle, looking and protecting each side, all making sure that Lori was in the middle. Nicki was at the back, between Carol and Carl. Sarah was not far from her, keeping position between Hershel and Maggie. They all had their weapons in hand, and as they walked closer to the first fence, they started to get the walkers' attention — and not only the ones blocked inside the yard, but also the ones roaming just outside.

As Rick knelt down to cut the net, Glenn and Maggie broke from the formation to kill a walker that had come too close to them. Nicki held the arrow against her bow as she observed Glenn and Maggie from the corner of her eye. It was only one, and they had no trouble putting it down.

In the meantime, Rick had stood up, keeping the way open to let all of them inside. Daryl was the first to enter, while Nicki got inside just after Carl. After her came Lori, then T-Dog, and lastly Rick.

Glenn was quick to use the wire in his hands to close the gate they had just opened. And Nicki found herself unable to keep her eyes off the walkers in the yard that were now charging toward them.

Would you ever stop eating? she thought, observing the corpses in disgust and alert, suddenly worrying if that net would hold. Then Sarah touched her arm, getting her attention, to follow the others making their way through the path that led toward the entrance of the prison.

They keep coming, Nicki thought, observing the walkers from the outside getting closer as well. The growlings followed them as they ran, keeping the formation close as Rick had asked, until they arrived at the main gate. It was closed, but not locked, and just outside there was a truck lying on its side. Probably someone had tried to block the entrance. Or maybe the driver of the truck had been attacked, leading to an accident. Either way, there was no one to ask.

"It's perfect," Rick said, getting Nicki's attention. "If we shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers."

Nicolette followed Rick's gaze, noticing the gate that gave access to the building part of the prison was open. That could actually work, and if she had to be honest, Nicki really wanted to shoot at some walkers.

"We'll take the field tonight," Rick said firmly.

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked, walking closer to the sheriff.

"I'll do it," Glenn said from between Maggie and Sarah. "You guys cover me." But clearly, Maggie did not agree with his idea.

"No," she said. "Suicide run."

"I'm the fastest," he protested.

But Rick came forward with another plan. He told Sarah, Maggie, Beth, and Glenn to run back from where they had come, trying to get the walkers' attention as much as possible, and then kill them as they got closer.

Nicki looked at her sister, opening her bag to take out three plastic bottles filled with Legos, to give them to Maggie and Beth. As they shook them, the noise was already enough to get some walkers' attention.

"Daryl, go back to the other tower," Rick said, pointing to one of the watchtowers. Then he turned to Carol. "You've become a pretty good shot. Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste." The woman nodded, and then she followed Daryl.

"Hershel, you, Nicolette, and Carl take this tower." Nicki looked up at the tower above them. Then she quickly went to take one of the rifles — she couldn't use all her arrows — and then followed Carl up the stairs.

"My dad is going to make the run," he said as they ran.

"He'll make it," she assured him. Rick was surely going to be the one making the run; he had proven himself to be a great leader since he had arrived at the quarry. Some of them had not been quite sure after they came to know what had happened between Rick and Shane — Carol, for example, had been one of them. Nicki did not agree. She felt sorry for Shane. She had thought about him a lot in those months. She still remembered when he had taught her and Carl how to make a knot and how he had kept them alive at the beginning, but she could not erase what he had become with time. He had become angry, scary, dangerous. It was only a matter of time before he would start to think about all of them as a new enemy, and probably he had become more dangerous than a walker.

Had it been right to kill him? She was not sure which was the right answer, or the one that she would have given.

Nicki, Carl, and Hershel arrived at the top of the tower just as Rick stepped into the yard. Lori was behind him, closing the gate behind her husband.

From the side, she could hear her sister's group, yelling at the walkers and making as much noise as they could. It was working. Many walkers were now close to the net, not realizing that Rick had just stepped inside.

"Daryl and Carol are in position," Hershel's voice made her look toward the other tower, where Daryl and Carol were ready to clear the path for Rick.

Then Nicki took her bow and arrow, nocking the arrow and pulling it to the side of her lips. She took a breath before releasing it to hit a walker at Rick's left side. It was not too far from where Rick had to go, but in her mind, it took him an awfully long time to arrive at the gate.

She kept shooting arrows, exactly like Daryl was doing, while Carl, Hershel, and Carol shot with their weapons. Nicki's heart beat fast in her chest as she observed Rick.

We can really make it, she thought as she shot another arrow. If Rick made it to the gate and closed it, they just needed to kill all of those assholes, with no need to worry about any noise.

And when Rick secured the gate and locked himself in the tower standing a few feet from her, a little laugh escaped from her lips.

"He's inside," Carl exclaimed, looking at her as she put her bow away to take the rifle in her hands.

"Light it up!" Daryl's voice echoed in the yard.

No need to tell me twice, she thought, securing the back of the rifle against her shoulder and starting to shoot.

Nicolette hated the sound of guns and rifles, but now she was more focused on how free and safe she felt in being able to kill every walker that came by, with no fear of attracting more.

They were all shooting, and the walkers were all falling limp on the ground. They had it. They had finally made it into a place that could really protect them for a long time. And it felt so damn good.

It didn't take them long to clear the yard, and soon Nicki found herself walking into the yard next to Carl, as everyone ran to gather back together.

"Did you have fun, Shorty?" she asked, seeing the huge grin on his face as he looked at her.

"That was fantastic!" he said with a laugh, making her chuckle, just before noticing Daryl and Carol appear from behind them.

"Nice shooting," Daryl said, as Hershel gave him a pat on the back.

"You okay?" Carol asked Lori as they walked closer.

The woman smiled. "Haven't felt this good in years," she answered. Nicki observed her for a moment; Lori's pregnancy was almost ending, and now she got tired with the simplest task. She was indeed trying to mask how tired she was even now, and Nicki was glad that they had found a safe place in this moment, so that Lori could relax as she delivered the baby.

As she passed by, Lori put a hand on her shoulder, and Nicki looked at the woman, giving her a little smile. Then she kept following Carl and Carol into the yard.

"We haven't had this much space since we left the farm!" Carol exclaimed happily.

"And with much higher fences," Sarah's voice made Nicki turn to see her sister and the others getting close. As she walked toward Nicki, she noticed that Daryl was walking toward Sarah as well.

"Good job over there," he said, looking at her sister, and Nicki frowned at Sarah's reaction; she smiled, looking down, doing all she could to hide her face.

"You too," Sarah said before turning to Nicki. "All good?"

Nicki's frown deepened, but she answered all the same, "It was liberating," she said, before following Sarah and Daryl so that they could get close to the others.

They were all so happy, and Nicki could feel her cheeks hurt from how much she was smiling as she looked around. She would have never thought that a prison could be a sight so beautiful.

"Tonight we stay here, get comfortable," Rick said as soon as they all gathered together. Then he turned to Glenn, Daryl, and T-Dog. "We should go take the cars."

"Yeah," Daryl said. "I'll get some squirrels so that we can eat somethin' tonight." Rick nodded his head, then he led the four men back to the gate where they came from.

Nicki didn't miss her sister's gaze as she looked at the group getting farther. "You're acting pretty strange, you know?"

Sarah frowned as she turned toward her sister. "What are you talking about?"

"What are you looking at?" Nicki asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Carl is right," Sarah said. "It's unnerving when you don't answer a question." Nicki let out a little laugh as her sister walked away to help Lori and Carol set things down.

Nicki put the rifle back in the bag where they kept all the guns and started to walk in the yard. It already felt strange, to walk without anyone asking where she was going or telling her to stay where someone could watch her. Nicolette took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of being safe. It had been more than eight months since she had felt safe, and even if she had to sleep on the ground again, nothing would have taken away that light feeling in her chest.

"So you know how to smile," Shorty's voice made her turn to him with a teasing grin.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "It's your time to make a move with Beth." Carl glared at her, his cheeks tinted with red. He was blushing. The sight made her chuckle.

"You're such a pain," he said, grumpy as always.

"You're so easy to tease," she answered, finding his reaction funny.

"I'm not!" he argued, only making her laugh more. Then he rolled his eyes. "I can't stand you."

"Now you're even more stuck with me," she said, looking happily at the fence. "We'll learn how to share the same spaces."

"I've handled you before," he said, crossing his arms as he looked at her, a little spark of amusement in his eyes.

Rick and the others came back not long after — just in time, before the sun started to set in the sky. Maggie had started the fire, while Sarah helped Daryl skin the squirrels so that Carol and Lori could cook them.

"You alright, Nicki?" Her eyes moved to settle on Glenn, who was sitting next to her.

Nicolette nodded. "You?" she asked, observing her friend's lips curve into a smile.

"Still can't believe it," he said, looking at her, before nudging her with his shoulder, making her chuckle. "You've become good with the rifle."

"I didn't have much choice," she answered, looking up at him.

"Let's hope you'll have to use it less and less, right?" he said, making her nod her head.

She didn't know if that could happen. She had almost forgotten how it felt not to walk around with a gun or spend a day without shooting. Could they really find some sort of normality — like it had been before? Could they really get back to what it was?

But her thoughts were stopped by the growling coming from the walkers outside. And suddenly, that hope felt less strong. Jenner had said there was no cure, and he was probably right. There was no cure to make all those creatures disappear. Probably, she would never know life as it had been before. But maybe they could find some peace. Maybe not like it was, but in some ways.