ɢʜᴏsᴛs ~ 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍¹

(12) Disappointing

Original Episode

October 8th, Day 65

NICKY WOKE UP in the morning. She sees Shane beside his truck, hungover and eyes heavy. It's probably about mid-morning, the trees too green for his eyes.

“Did you drink last night?” Nicky asks, already knowing the answer to it, and she takes a few steps back, closer to the trailer.

Shane smirks, looking Nicky up and down. She wants–

“No,” he says.

Nicky knows full well that's bullshit.

They tried to stay alive by killing the walkers with a shovel (which was only effective if you knew how hard to hit, Nicky thinks, because hers kept getting back up, and she was losing stamina quickly) Nicky spots Glenn's cap.

She knows it's not that important, obviously. His cap is not like Rick's superhero hat; it's just some weird looking cap Glenn always wears.

She grabs his cap before it blows away, handing it back over to Glenn and yeah, a walker could have gotten them.

Nicky saw Rory try to fight the dead as well. Her arm was making it hard. Rory wasn't screaming or anything; so that's got to count for something.

“You're welcome,” Nicky scoffs, stalking away before he could respond.

Rory squatted down after the dead were killed and grabbed some feathers and sticks. 

“What are you doing?” Carl asked, looking over at the kid who didn't respond.

Shane had been arguing about heading to Fort Benning. Dale wanted to fight something else that could figure out what caused this, any answers would do. Everyone had been so skittish to make a real decision.

“We need,” Rick starts, “is somewhere to stay. We need to be smart about this and figure out where we should go and how to get there. This time, we'll think things through carefully.”

Jesus, Rory thinks. “Um, I don't think we can stay anywhere for long.”

Rick turns to Rory, calm and composed, though Rory knew he was barely keeping his calm. “Do you have a better idea, Ro?”

“I don't, but if we keep trying to think about this we'll be killed. We need to go, right now.”

“We can't go anywhere without–”

“Listen to Rory.”

After Nicky spoke, everyone turned to her. Nicky, who had been avoiding everyone. Now with everyone watching her, the scientist wanted to just sink into the ground.

“Say it, Nick,” Rick spoke softly. “We're listening.”

Nicky swallowed harshly for a moment before looking at Rick. “We need somewhere to stay for a long time, sure, but we can't think while we're stopped, not anywhere near here. The walkers will be here soon, and we're all still in close range, wherever they're coming from. We should leave right now, and then we can think and plan.”

Rick listened and thought about it – they all did. Rick looked around, and T-Dog and Shane nodded. The rest agreed, all murmuring their agreement.

“Okay,” Rick nodded, agreeing. “We'll leave.”

Rory doesn't understand that man, though. Rick isn't begrudging, he doesn't mind he's been told he's wrong. If it were Merle –

Rory looked over at Daryl. Was he still sad? If it were Merle, things wouldn't be like how they are now, but thankfully he's not here, right? Rory sighs and holds Kat closer – that was Rick's fault though – but she shook her head.

She signs. “We should go then, right?”

Nicky shook her head and didn't look at Rory, but she didn't mind. 

They continued to move. 

Rick was giving Rory lessons after constantly nagging.

The walker stumbled closer to the young girl, and she stepped back anxiously, Rick killing the walker from behind with his ax. Bones cracked under the force, flesh squirting all over them. Rick shook his head with a sigh, looking down at Rory with understanding, turning and killing another walker.

Rory knew she had to get over her fear of the dead. It was just hard. 

Nicky lowered her head as the ran; she was trembling and aching all over, she can't even feel the rain pouring down. Her hair stuck to her forehead and neck like glue, her lungs burning with every breath she took. 

She started to joh before stopping abruptly, bending over and breathing heavily. She smirked, glancing over at Carl - “I win,” she smirks - 

Carl isn't there.

She stood straight, and ran, she couldn't find him anywhere. Carl was there just a second ago, Nicky one step ahead of him and winning their race, she could have sworn.

“Sheriff?” she called, she he wasn't there. She shouted louder. “Cowboy?”

Nothing.

She pinches the bridge of her nose and tries to hold in her bad thoughts. Maybe he was just super pissed that she won the race; Carl was a sore loser in her opinion, even though she's barely known him, his stupid smile whenever he talked to her. Thinking about it, he was probably her only and first friend, and she struggled to hold in her vomit.

Maybe she should go back and check the camp. The rain hammered all over her, the drops pricking her skin like needles. If she stayed out any longer she'd be dead. But Carl was probably alone.

She couldn't leave him. 

Nicky swallowed nervously. Carl was really stupid in her opinion. He always thought about going after and helping people just like his father. Nicky was no hero; she would rather let them die. She'd rather keep her life than risk it for some stranger - however, thinking of Carl, he was stupid, recklessly brave, she turned and ran, running the way she came from. 

She wasn't some stupid hero, not like Carl or Rick; but she never had a friend, Carl being her first, so she ran to go brag to him that she won.

This supposedly safe place was a disaster, good news is that there's no bodies and no walkers for miles. In Nicky's mind, that's what mattered most. 

“We can rest here just for tonight,” Nicky says. Carl came to her side, squinting at the building. “We won't find anywhere better.”

Her feet ached from all that running. Carl didn't object and neither did Rick, Rory didn't even complain, but that's also probably because of the rain and exhaustion. They'll lose energy if they kept walking, so they'd all be a meal for the walkers.

The shack is the exact same as the outside, there were so many holes within the walls. At least there was a roof, kinda, and there's even a bed just in the corner so they didn't have to be cramped in the RV.

Carl didn't say anything as he settled on a chair. Surprising. But it wasn't unusual; he's been through a lot -

Well, more than a kid should be.

Nicky was searching around, but she didn't find any food, not even any tins of some sort. Nothing was left behind. “No food tonight,” Nicky mumbles, looking into the cupboards.

“Disappointing,” Carl murmurs.

Nicky rolls her eyes in annoyance. She turned to Carl, watching as he hunches over on the bed. He was barely recognizable than before - and she's only known him a day.

(She thinks about her dad, she always does. She should have done more.)

“We should rest, goodnight,” she says, forgetting about food and walking over to the bed. Carl moves over but Nicky shakes her head and rests on the couch, not wanting to sleep with a boy.

She gets comfortable on the couch, but it barely gives any comfort, Nicky tries to keep her thoughts away from her dead parents: Rory didn't have any, and she was way younger than Nicky.

She was never religious and didn't believe in God, though. She's never had any hope, but she did have a family who were dead.