WE ALL DIE ▸ NICK CLARK

xv. hulk

I'm laying in the bed with zero motivation to get up.

"It's time." Troy tells me as he gets into the bedroom.

"To what?"

"The boars, Katherine." He says as if it was something I should know. "You don't need to come I can do it on my own, I have the others-"

"We both know I'm better than the others." I get up and grab his jacket.

"You care too much." He kisses me softly and I slightly moan into the kiss.

"Can't we do that tomorrow?" I get closer to him fixing his shirt and teasing him.

"No." He groans and I roll my eyes.

"Let's go then, so that we can finish this when we get back." I walk out of our house and towards the car and towards the others.

As we drive towards where the boars supposedly were, we see Nick who was looking at the house where an old couple lives.

"A bunch of us are going hunting." Troy stops the car at Nick's side and I hit him in the leg telling him not to do what I know he's about to do, but he does it anyway. "You can join us if you're not too busy watching old folks bone." He teases and I throw my head back. 

"Middle in the night?"

"Boars are nocturnal." Troy barely lets him finish. "Catching them sneaking around in the dark."

"Nah, I don't hunt," Nick says and I look at Troy.

"Let's go," I whisper but he insists.

"This is more- This is more maintenance than hunting. More cultivating than killing." He keeps trying. "Come. Earn your keep." Troy gives Nick a gun.

"He doesn't know how to shoot," I tell Troy but he brushes it off making me scoff.

"You still didn't tell me how you learn." He looks at me and I look away as Nick gets into the car.

"Sometimes you have to learn on your own."

***

Between Paulo and me finding Ofelia again, there were things that happen that I don't talk about. I'm not proud.

I meet someone. A girl named Rosa, just like my mother. She lived with her son, Justin. He was around ten years old. She was a hunter before all this. She took me in, gave me food, water, shelter.

I was broken and with one goal. Survive. Just like I had promised Paulo. It didn't matter who died or lived in the way.

Rosa taught me to heal wounds. To filter water. To shoot.

When it was the moment for me to prove my worth, I failed.

There was a horde. They were there. Ready to make us their dinner. I goy away, they didn't.

I saw the horde approaching and grabbed a shotgun.

"We have to go." She told me and I swallowed hard.

"We don't have a car. We'll die if we go." I said. "Protect Justin!"

Rose grabbed the boy and joined me on the fence, shooting them.

Blood was everywhere. They started being able to get in through my side of the fence.

"Go!" I told her as I shot them.

Rose and Justin went running to the opposite side but were quickly trapped by walkers.

As I killed the ones on my side I am able to go outside the fence and look at the mother and son who were out of bullets and trapped.