The River's Daughter [ the walking dead ]

Chapter three: lies

Nina looked up at the sky, feeling the cold water hit her face. For a moment she felt her body relax, felt her shoulders fall down— like the rain, flowing from above.

As much as this was a miracle to the group, the rain quickly turned into a dark storm, and it didn't look like it would stop for a while. it was dangerous for them to be out in the open.
"Let's keep moving!" Rick said running a shaky hand through his hair.

     Daryl paused for a second, "There's a barn!" He pointed east towards the woods, "Just up ahead!"

     Nina clutched her stomach and looked up at him. His attempt to reassure her came with a singular pat on her back.

     The moment meant more than he realized, especially with Rick emulating the same anger he had when first meeting her.

     She had to have played an evil trick on the universe to have these odds placed against her. The people who could easily take her out, are thinking she lied to them this whole time. A couple water bottles placed on the road could easily cost her, her life.

     The group huddled their stuff together and began to run into the trees. With the rain beginning to pour heavily, making hard even to see what was in front of them, they had to find that barn quickly. Nina took a step forward, attempting to follow Daryl and the rest of the group.

Not before her arm was forcibly pulled away. "Do you think i'm stupid!?"

     Nina struggled to pull away, wincing at the firm grip that Rick had on her arm.
"Answer me."

     She shook her head, hitting his arm with her other hand. She wanted to scream, curse at him, tell him to let her go and, explain with the information that she could. But she couldn't even let out her own name when asked.

     She didn't need to tell him anything frankly. He was insane, and she was better off starving herself in the woods like she had originally been, than deal with this group of sickos.

     Her body began to grow numb from fright as she cried out, hitting his chest. Daryl looked over his shoulder, cursing under his breath.

     The shouts coming from both of the men were inaudible to her, she could only hear the rain and thunder coming down from the sky. She had tried to make reason with these people, only for her sister. Only to find Vivian.

     Two strong tugs helped her escape from his grip, falling onto the ground. She looked at them again, watching them yell at each other. The sudden flashes revealing the anger on their faces.

     Daryl looked back two times at Nina, the way her mouth was molded into a frown as she breathed heavily, backing away. He inched closer to her and she shook her head, running off as quick as she could — into the other side of the woods.
"No!" Daryl shouted watching her go. "Shit!"

     Rick gripped his gun, staring at Daryl. He reached him a hand, which was ultimately ignored. Daryl grabbed his crossbow from the ground and spoke once more.
"The hell's wrong with you?"

     Daryl ran into the woods, following Nina.

She wasn't going to make it through tonight. She had to forcibly feed that information into her brain. She was done going hungry every night, she couldn't spend another day without her sister. The people she warned her about were real and she wasn't prepared to deal with them.

Nina ran deep into the trees, wiping her face every so often. The groans of walkers passing behind her were now louder than her footsteps. Everything felt heavy to her, she was too weak and tired.