NICOLETTE
"I thought you had died," Carl said as they searched inside one of the many cars for something useful.
"Yeah..." she answered, "Me too," she took a deep breath. She really thought that she was done for, surrounded by walkers, alone. She had asked herself if it would have hurt. If she'd suffered like Dale did. Or Jimmy...
She shook her head before bending forward to take a bag on the car's floor and looking inside. It was just a bottle of empty water, but they could use it when they found some water.
"How do you think Shane died?" Carl asked, and Nicki stopped what she was doing. Her mind went back to the moment she had seen the man's body on the floor. Maybe she had been stupid, but she actually never thought Shane could have died.
"I don't know," she answered. Shane was covered in blood, but there was no walker around where they had found them, and they heard a shot. Could it have been Rick? Like Daryl did with Dale... but why not let Shane turn?
"I'm sorry you had to do that," Nicki said, taking a breath and glancing at her bow resting on the driver's seat. She didn't know why she had stopped so suddenly. She had shot other walkers.
"You didn't like Shane," Carl said, and she turned to look at him. He was observing her knowingly with his inquisitive blue eyes.
"It does not mean that I wanted him dead," Nicki answered, looking down. It was very different, wondering if he was going crazy or something and seeing him dead.
"And I know you cared about him," Nicki kept saying, remembering how close the boy had been with the man. At first, she even thought that he was his son.
Carl nodded his head, "Do you think Andrea had died as well?"
Nicki found herself taking a deep breath, "I really hope not." They'd lost so many people already. They had lost so many: Amy, Jim, Jaqui, Sophia, Dale, Jimmy, Patricia, Shane and Andrea. So many people.
She shook her head, not wanting to think about that, then she opened the glove compartment. She leaned forward when she noticed a compass. She took it in her hands, opening it, observing the red needle, pointing in the same direction as she moved the object. They said that they would have moved east. She wondered where they'd end up. Was it close? Was it far? Would they find a place at all?
She shook her head, trying to push even this thought from her mind. Then her gaze noticed something orange in the compartment, and as she realized what it was, she felt her lips turn up.
"Shorty, check it out," she said throwing the package for Carl to catch.
"Will you stop calling me that?" he protested with a glare, but she shrugged her shoulders.
"When you'll be taller than me, maybe," she said, before gesturing at him to look at the thing. He scoffed before looking down.
"Reese's," he said, his eyes grew larger.
"Don't say I never do anything for you," she said taking her bow before opening the door of the car.
"Thanks," he said, following her outside, but Nicki only shrugged her shoulders before passing by the next car. Their scavenging went pretty good, they had found some water, a pair of gloves, Nicki had found a pocket knife, three granola bars and backpack. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
"Are we all ready?" Rick said as they all got back near the cars, "Stay close, and if we need to stop, we honk twice."
"Alright," Glenn said, as Daryl nodded his head.
"Let's go," Rick stated, walking towards the car.
"Nicolette," Sarah said, stopping her by the arm, "I'll go with Daryl, you-"
"Do everything Rick says, right?" she asked, looking at her sister, who nodded, moving Nicki's black hair away from her face.
"Atta girl," Nicki smiled quickly, before turning to walk towards the car. Before entering she gave a glance at her sister, sitting behind Daryl on the bike. Time had passed since the quarry. Then she shook her head entering the car.
Rick was ready to drive, while T-Dog sat in the front and Lori, Carl, and Nicki in the back. As Rick started the car, Nicki found herself looking for the last time at the name of Sophia written on the glass of a car, taking a deep breath, knowing that they'd probably never seen that place again. That made her feel strange. Dale and Sophia were buried at the farm, now they were going away, and nobody would have brought them flowers to rest on their graves. And she thought at Shane's body, and Andrea's, Patricia's and Jimmy's, they didn't even had the time tu bury them properly. Nicki had never been a believing girl, but she hoped that they could find rest, somehow, somewhere.
Rick drove them for some time; Nicki had not been sure for how long, even because, at some point, she had fallen asleep. The night before she had no sleep at all, so in the moment she set down and the adrenaline vanished, she felt her eyes close. She did not remember if she had dreamt, but when she woke up because of a noise like something had been hit, she felt her heart beat fast.
"You okay?" Carl asked from next to her. Nicki took some deep breaths, before nodding her head. Maybe she was having a nightmare.
"What's wrong?" Nicki heard Lori ask her husband.
"We've been riding red for the past hour," Rick said nervously.
"Better make sure we don't get forgotten," T-Dog suggested, pointing a finger at the car before them. Nicki was looking outside as Rick honked and the party came to a stop. There was not even a car around. Only a single road surrounded by trees. If they had no car, did they have to keep their journey on foot?
"Sweetie, let's go," Lori said getting Nicki's attention, "It's gonna be alright," she didn't believe it, but Nicki appreciated her trying. So she nodded her head before opening the door on her side and stepping outside of the door. Her eyes moved to the trees, as she held the bow in her hands tightly. No fences now. They were in the open. That realization hit her worse than she had thought, but taking a breath, she followed Lori as they stopped to talk with the others.
"You out?" Daryl was asking Rick.
"Running on fumes," the sheriff answered. Nicki noticed Daryl and Sarah share a worried look before they both got off the bike.
"We can't stay here?" Maggie said, and Nicki felt like agreeing. They were so exposed there.
"We can't all fit into a car," Glenn observed. They all took out their weapon. Nicki noticed Glenn, Hershel, and Maggie take up their rifles, as Sarah, Lori, and T-Dog took out their guns.
"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick stated. That meant that they had to stop there.
"Spend the night here?" Carol asked with a frown.
"I'm freezing," Carl said to his mother. His hands were in the pockets of his hoodie as his mother tried to keep him warm. Nicki noticed Sarah look over at her. She wanted to know if Nicki was alright, so Nicki forced herself to nod her head. There was no reason to tell her sister that she was cold too; she'd only made her worry, knowing that they couldn't do much about it.
"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori said as Rick gave his jacket to his son.
Daryl nodded. "You go out lookin' for firewood; stay close," he said before looking at his crossbow. "I only have so many arrows. How are you doing on ammo?"
"I'm almost out," Sarah said, checking her gun.
"We don't have enough," said Rick.
Daryl always had five arrows, and Nicki had counted hers when she and Sarah had run away from the farm; she only had six and no gun.
"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie said, and she was not wrong.
"Watch your mouth," Hershel reproved her, "Everyone stops panicking and listens to Rick," Nicki turned her head to look at the sheriff.
"All right," he said, "We set up a perimeter. Sarah, you have nothing to make it secure?" her sister was quick to take her backpack from her shoulders, kneeling down to look inside her bag.
"I've got no much, just a piece of a rope," she said, "If we find a place with only one way in, I can set it up to buy us some time if it's needed," Rick nodded his head.
"Alright," he said, "In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."
Maggie took a step forward, "Glenn and I can go make a run now," she suggested, "try and scrounge up some gas."
But Rick shook his head, "No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car," Nicki shivered at the thought as she looked at the trees, trying to be as ready as possible in case a walker appeared from nowhere.
"Rick, we're stranded now," Glenn almost whispered.
"I know it looks bad," Rick answered, "We've been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other," Nicki and Sarah shared a look. Rick was right; they could have ended up all divided, but thankfully, they were together now. It was better not to risk losing each other.
"I wasn't sure..." Rick admitted what they all thought the night before, "I really wasn't. But we did. We're together. We keep it that way," Nicki noticed her sister nod, but others did not seem convinced, like Carol or Maggie.
"We'll find shelter somewhere," Rick kept saying, "There's gotta be a place."
"Rick, look around, okay?" Glenn said stepping forward, "There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something."
Jim had said that they had probably finished the food in Atlanta. That could be the reason why they started to spread in the countryside as well.
"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify," Rick answered to him, "Hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other," he was getting restless as he spoke, "I know it's out there. We just have to find it."
"I agree with Rick," Sarah said looking at the others, "There must be a place. Something. Anything," her eyes looked at Nicki. She knew that her sister was the first thing thinking about her safety. Sarah always wanted to protect Nicki, always hoping for the best.
"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe," Maggie said, "We can never be sure for how long. Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe."
"We won't make that mistake again," Hershel said looking at his daughter. Nicki understood what Maggie was saying; they all were afraid of what had happened to the farm and of the possibility of that happening again. But they couldn't be on the road, not for long. Maybe it was better to find a place and lose it instead of running around, waiting for a walker to kill all of them one by one. Then she looked over Lori. The woman was pregnant. If not for themselves, they needed to find a place for her.
"We'll make camp tonight, over there," Rick stated, pointing at a wall not far from there, "Sarah close one of the entrances," Sarah nodded her head, taking the rope in her hands, "We get on the road at the break of day."
"Does this feel right to you?" Nicki observed Carol as she walked closer to Daryl with arms crossed and a frown on her face. The man gave a little nod.
"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked stepping towards Rick.
"You know I found Randall, right?" Nicki got closer at Daryl's words. Maybe Lori or T-Dog had said something as she slept because she didn't know what had happened to the guy. "He had turned, but he wasn't bit," Nicki frowned.
"How's that possible?" she asked confused, looking at the man. His face was strange, Nicki noticed that immediately. He got pale, his eyes wide, and no words came out of his mouth. There was something strange going on. And Rick knew something.
"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked her husband.
"Shane killed Randall," Daryl stated and Nicki turned to look at him, "Just like he always wanted to."
Like he did with Otis, Nicki thought. Shane had really turned crazy over time. She could not understand how someone could have changed so much, in a short time. He was another person, from the man she had met. They had decided to let Randall go, yet he did it all by himself. But why staging the disappearance then? Why not tell everything?
"And then the herd got him?" Lori asked.
"No, he was already dead before the herd even arrived," Nicki said, her eyes fixed on Rick. He was still not talking, still breathing heavily. Nicki looked at the side of the man's face. He had blood covering the right side of it and it was like that before the arrival of the walkers.
"We are all infected," Rick's words arrived unexpectedly. And Nicki felt for a moment as if she had stopped breathing. And, of course, she wasn't the only one. All of them were looking at Rick with wide eyes and a short of words. How long had he known?
"What?" Daryl asked.
"At the C.D.C., Jenner told me," Rick answered, "Whatever it is, we all carry it," Nicki turned at her sister. Sarah had covered her mouth with her hand, her brown eyes large as she observed Rick.
"And you never said anything?" Carol asked, taking a step forward.
"Would it have made a difference?" Rick said, but Sarah shook her head.
"That's not the point," she muttered.
"You knew this whole time?" Glenn asked, his expression angry.
"How could I have known for sure?" Rick justified himself, "You saw how crazy that mo-"
"This is not your call!" Glenn exclaimed, "Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."
"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know," Rick answered simply but threateningly. As if he was challenging anyone to speak against him.
What had happened to him? Why was he so aggressive?
Nicki kept watching him walk away, that was not the Rick that she knew. Something had shifted; something had changed. As Lori started to walk behind her husband, Nicki turned, her eyes meeting Carl's.
How did Shane die?