NICOLETTE
Nicki was more sure every day that Shane was getting crazier by the day. He was jumpy, aggressive, and impulsive. He had pulled Carl in that way; he never did that. Treating him as if he was his son.
Nicolette had tried to find the Little Shit after he ran away, but she didn't manage. So she decided to take a walk around the farm. The whole Randall situation was getting her agitated; his only presence managed to do so. And she didn't like it.
She had been scared before; she had witnessed a city fall, her friends die, and a man trying to burn them alive, and she had seen Sophia getting back as walkers, but this felt different. People were scarier than walkers. They could think, and people like Randall's group seemed to enjoy hurting others. She never thought she would be scared of humans in that situation, but she was.
"Carol, send ya?" Daryl's voice made her look up. She hadn't realized she had arrived at his self-made camp. He was looking at his arrows, gathering them, and with him, there was Dale.
"Carol's not the only one that's concerned about you," Dale said.
"Sarah?" he asked again, but Dale shook his head.
"Not just them," Dale said again, "With your new role in the group."
That was true, Daryl was growing on everyone in the group, well, maybe everyone except from Shane. But after what had happened to Sophia, they all realized that there was more of Daryl Dixon than they had noticed before.
"Oh man, I don' need ma head shrunk," Daryl scoffed, bending over to take some other arrows. "This group is broken," at his words, Nicki put herself behind a tree, wanting to listen to what they were going to say at that point and she was afraid that if they'd noticed her, they would have dropped the subject.
"I'm better off fending for myself," Nicki remembered that he moved away just after Sophia died. He could act tough all he wanted, but she was sure that if he moved, it was not because he had enough of all of them. Not after he beat up Randall to know what they all risked.
"You act like you don't care," Dale said. Dale was watching Daryl take a step towards a tree where his jacket was hanging.
"Yeah," Daryl replied, "It's 'cause I don'."
"So live or die, you don't care what happens to Randall?" Dale said, observing Daryl closely, but he didn't wait even a second to answer that he didn't, "Then why don't you stand with me and try to save the kid's life? If it really doesn't matter one way or the other," Dale suggested. And Nicki frowned.
Why did he want to save that kid so badly? From what she had understood, threats should be eliminated. Randall was a threat, so why try to save him? His group had attacked Rick, Glenn, and Hershel, and it was to kill them. And then, they figured out what their group did to people. They were dangerous. They were a threat.
"Didn't peg you for a desperate son of a bitch," Daryl answered.
"Your opinion makes a difference," Dale said, trying to convince him.
"Man, ain't nobody lookin' at me for nothin'," Daryl answered, taking his crossbow, ready to walk away.
"Carol is," Dale said, following, "Sarah is," Daryl stopped walking, "And I am. Right now," the hunter turned to the older man who kept talking, "And you obviously have Rick's ear."
That was true; Rick trusted Daryl more and more by the day.
That seemed to piss Daryl off as he hissed, "Rick just looks to Shane. Let 'im."
"You cared about what happened to Sophia," Nicki found herself looking at the ground at the mention of the girl's name by Dale, "Cared what it meant to the group," that seemed to have gotten Daryl's attention as he became to walk back towards Dale.
"Torturing people?" Dale kept saying, "This isn't you. You are a decent man," Nicki said. She was sure that if Sarah had been there, she would have agreed with what Dale was saying. She often defended Daryl when the others didn't trust him, "So is Rick. Shane... he's different."
Dale didn't trust Shane, either. She had noticed that, and she was curious to know what Daryl thought about the man.
"Why's that?" Daryl asked, "'Cause he killed Otis?"
Nicolette's eyes widened. She knew it was like that. She had been thinking that for a long time now.
"He told you that?" Dale asked, his eyes wide but not surprised. Would Shane really say something to Daryl? Something so confidential?
"He told some story," Daryl began to explain, "How Otis covered for him, saved his ass. He showed up with the dead guy's gun," she had noticed that, but others didn't, maybe if they'd listened to their conversation something would have rung a bell, "Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure that out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna," the started to walk towards the woods, "It's like I said... the group it's broken."
Could Rick really let Shane go around after he killed a man? Of course, Shane getting back was the only reason Carl was alive, but by killing someone... was Rick letting that slide? Seeing how Shane was behaving.
"Ya listened, alright?" Nicki's head shot up when she noticed Daryl standing by the tree.
"Did you notice me?" she asked, still kneeling on the ground.
"Ya make a lot 'f noise for a quiet girl," he said, fixing the position of his crossbow over his shoulder, "Your sister knows ya here?" Nicki shook her head as she stood up.
"But better you than Shane," she answered, and he looked closely at her.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because Sarah trusts you more than she does with Shane," Nicki answered cooly. She noticed him chewing the side of his cheek before heading towards the trees.
"So Shane killed Otis," Nicki said following him.
"Ya can't come," Daryl scoffed.
But Nicki ignored him. "Are we safe with him?"
"Randall?" Daryl asked with a frown.
"Shane," Daryl stopped, taking a breath before turning to her, "Go back to your sister. Everything's fine."
"I think he is dangerous," she stated, looking up at the man. "I'm afraid of what he may do."
The twilight arrived soon. Nicolette had spent her time shooting her arrows against trees or targets. She needed to feel ready; she didn't like to feel so jumpy. The woods now seemed even darker, and the girl asked herself how long it would have taken Randall's friends to find them.
As the sun started to disappear over the horizon, Nicki got back to the house, like she had promised to Sarah. The adults would all be there; they had the meeting to decide what was going to happen to Randall. As she was walking, Carl's frame caught her eye; he, too, was heading toward the house.
"Look who's here," she said, her tone flat as she observed his clothes. "Have you been rolling on the ground?" His pants were dirty with mud.
"You're so annoying," he muttered, passing next to her.
"Thank you," she answered, following him. They walked in silence for a bit, but she could see him glaring at her from time to time.
"What?" Nicki asked with a frown.
"You always shoot without fear," he stated, annoyed, and that got her confused.
"I don't think I'm following," she admitted, and he just scoffed.
"You're really annoying."
Nicolette usually had no problem with the Little Shit being pissed at her, she even found it funny, but at least she would have liked to know what she did so as to annoy him more.
They arrived at the house, where Lory was waiting for her son, while the other entered the house, "I want you to stay with Jimmy."
"But I want to listen," Carl protested.
Lori shook her head, "Not this time."
Nicki got closer to the woman, "Is Sarah inside?" she asked, and Lori nodded her head, leading the three of them inside.