Fear the Walking Dead (reimagined)

Part 7. 𝐍ovaturient

Novaturient (adjective)
a desire for powerful change in one's
life or situation

act one

Everyone walks up to us and I scan the group to find a familiar face.
When my eyes meet his I can tell he was looking for me all the same.
His body relaxes the second our gazes meet and his pace quickens as he makes his way over to me.
He wraps his arms around me and holds me so tight I can almost feel him squeeze the air out of my lungs but I won't complain.
"I'm so glad you're okay." I whimper into his shoulder as I try to hold back tears.
He pulls back only to look at me more closely but when he does his face drops.
"What happened to you?" He asks as his eyes grow wide with worry.
"Some soldiers came and took one of the cars." Chris answers for me.
"We're sorry. We tried to hold them off." I say but Madison shakes her head.
"Don't worry about it, we still have the other car." She tells us.
Nick holds onto my face as he looks over me to make sure I'm okay.
"What did they do to you?" He asks.
"They wanted us to go with them." I say hesitantly.
"He said we could keep the car if he got five minutes alone with her." Chris tells everyone with disgust in his voice.
Nick looks back at him before he looks at me again and I can see the anger in his eyes.
"I spit in his face." I say with a half-hearted chuckle but Nick's face stays serious.
"And then he hit you?" He asks angrily.
I just nod and he pulls me back into his embrace.
"We need to go." Travis breaks the silence before he walks over to the car.
"Who is this?" Chris asks as he points towards a man I haven't seen before.
"He helped me escape." Nick replies.
"My name's Strand. Victor Strand. Nice to meet you all, I wish it was under better circumstances." The man introduces himself with a polite nod.
I look up at Nick with an unsure expression but he smiles at me softly which tells me he can be trusted.
Chris helps me into the open back of the truck while Travis, Madison, Ofelia, Strand and Daniel get into the front.
"Griselda?" Alicia asks Madison before she gets into the car but she shakes her head with a defeated expression.
I settle down against the back of the truck between the two boys and I rest my head on Chris's shoulder.
As we drive out of the parking garage I think I see Nick look at me with sadness in his eyes before glaring at Chris but I shake that thought and blame it on the stress that is making me imagine stuff.

act two

We have no idea what the adults are talking about in the front of the car or where we're going until we pull up to a big villa at the coast.
Everyone gets out of the front of the car with the new man in tow so we take it as a sign to follow them.
My head is thumping so I struggle to keep my balance when I get out of the car so Nick puts his arm around me for support.
Chris looks back every few second as he walks in front of the two of us with guilt in his eyes.
When we get to the front door Strand unlocks it and I assume this is his house.
We walk in and my jaw drops at the luxury and size of this house.
"Is this where you live?" Madison asks him but he chuckles.
"One of the many places I am lucky to call home."
"You guys make yourself at home while I figure some stuff out. There's water and food in the fridge and I'm sure you can find some fresh clothes somewhere." He tells all of us before walking off.
I look around in awe and when my eyes fall on Nick I watch him do the same thing.
I rub my jaw with my hand and squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, feeling dizzy.
"Let me take a look at that." Liza smiles at me. I nod and follow her to the sofa.
"I'll get you some ice to make sure it doesn't swell or bruise too much." She tells me after carefully examining my face and deciding nothing is broken.
She comes back a few seconds later with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel that I press against my cheek, the coldness immediately providing some relief from the hot throbbing.
"Strand, what are we doing here?" Nick asks the man when he walks back into the room with us.
"I told you, we need to get to Abigail." He smirks.
"Will you finally tell us who this Abigail is?" Travis asks him annoyed.
Victor chuckles.
"It's not a who."
He walks over to the big window that overlooks the ocean and turns the telescope that stands in front of him to a specific position while looking through it.
He straightens himself back up and slaps Nick on the shoulder, nudging him to look.
Nick does exactly that and when he looks back at all of us he has a smile plastered across his face.
"What is it?" Madison asks him but Nick and Victor just smirk at each other.
"Nick?" I ask him curiously, gaining his attention.