BLACK OUT DAYS | THE WALKING DEAD

Strangers

Nate felt like he had been in a state of euphoria for the past few days ever since reuniting with a majority of their family. He didn't even care that he was starving and their water was close to running out. He had his family and his survivor's guilt had almost completely lifted off his shoulders. Except, there was still one thing he couldn't shake. Beth. He and Daryl had already talked to Maggie about how she had been taken while they were stuck inside the shipping container, after Nate had returned Hershel's watch. It hadn't dwelled on his mind since then, he was trying really hard to appreciate that he and Daryl were with their group again.

They had walked for a few hours and then decided to take a break in the woods. Nate had left Alice's side to sit next to Carl while he bottle fed her and Alice had gone with Carol and Tyreese to get more water. He could overhear Rick as he talked to Tara and looked up just in time to see her fist bump him. His stomach fell as he realized why she suddenly looked familiar. She had been with the governor on the other side of the fence and he picked himself up off the ground as the image of Hershel's neck getting sliced with Michonne's sword entered his head. Carl watched him leave and he found Glenn and Maggie hugging a few feet away. Maggie looked over Glenn's shoulder at Nate with concern and pulled away.

"What's wrong?" She asked, Glenn turned around and stepped to Maggie's side, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"You guys knew that Tara was with the governor?" He finally asked them and Maggie sighed.

"She didn't want to be. She saved my life and helped me find Maggie again." Glenn tried to explain. Nate tried to nod but he just continued to stare at them.

"She's our friend. I know it's hard to believe but you'll just have to deal with it." Maggie replied and Nate looked off to the side, where his gaze found Jasper, who had been sitting against a tree.

"No, right. It's-I get it." He says without looking back at them. He really wanted to argue, because it still didn't feel right. She was with the man who killed Hershel and separated their group for almost a year. He wanted to be angry about it. But..he understood. He had begged Rick not to kill Jasper when he had been with the claimers. He couldn't fault Tara for being on the wrong side of things and if Rick could return her fist bump without any problem, Nate supposed she couldn't be too bad. He crossed his arms over his chest and shifted on his feet.

"So.." Glenn trailed off and Nate looked back at him. "You want to talk about him or Alice?" He opened his mouth and then closed it and then shook his head.

"That's-that's nothing." Nate managed to say. Glenn raised an eyebrow.

"You sure?" He asked. "Because that kiss looked like a lot and he-" Glenn nodded towards the other boy and a violent blush grew across Nate's cheeks as Maggie smirked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Nate exclaimed and then walked away when he suddenly noticed Alice, Carol, and Tyreese coming back. Good. A distraction. He went and grabbed the wood out of her arms and she murmured a thanks as he went to set it down near their fire.

He was having a nightmare.

Instead of a select few kneeling in front of trenches, the whole group was. Carl was right next to him with a gagged mouth and pleading eyes and the butcher was going down the line and slicing through everyone's heads. Except the butcher wasn't a random guy from Terminus, it was Joe from the claimer group. He sliced through Daryl's neck, and then Alice's, and then Jasper's, and then he got to Carl and Nate was yelling at him through his gag the entire time and he screamed once Carl's body dropped lifeless over the trench and his blood started to pool underneath him.

Joe got on his other side and began to laugh in Nate's face while tears streamed down his face. He skipped right over him though and went to Rick and Rick looked more furious than Nate had ever seen him. There was a heat behind his eyes that Nate had never seen before and Joe whispered something in Rick's ear with a wicked smile and then crossed over him to Michonne who had also been crying as hard as Nate. She was begging through her gag but Nate couldn't understand her over the sounds of his own sobs. When Joe knocked her over the head and sliced through her neck, someone was shouting Nate's name.