Apocalypse Orphans

4

Nick limped back into the house, after staring at the stars for a little while longer. He got back to his spot and closed his eyes until everyone woke up.

Everyone was on edge, but also relaxed, his people had been there for two days and there hadn't been any signs of the dead in this area and so Rick's people had started to relax slightly, but Nick noticed that Rick hadn't. Rick was as tense as he was.

As Nick debated in his head whether or not he should tell Rick about his knife, he saw Daryl talking to him, no doubt about the knife so he watched and waited for them to come over and for Rick to kick him and his brother out.

Except that didn't happen. When Daryl had finished talking to Rick, he walked of to a different room. Nick looked at Daryl confused, but Daryl either didn't see, or chose to ignore it. Nick was slightly relived though, despite not wanting to be with the group, it made his brother happy, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he wasn't in any shape to be running, hell he could hardly walk.

Seeing Rick walk off alone, he figured now would be the best time to talk to him, so he limped out of the room, and to where Rick stood in front of the house, as if waiting for him. Nervously Nick walked up to him and held the knife in his hands, but in a way that showed he didn't mean any harm.

"Please, don't be mad at Jacob, he didn't know about it." Nick started. 

Rick could hear how nervous the boy was and couldn't help but feel for him, here was a scared kid, barely a teenager, who has been alone, save for his brother since the start, telling him about an illegal knife, he had on him, only because his brother trusts one guy in the group.

Nick took a deep breath, while adjusting his weight on his good leg to minimize pain, and held the knife out.  

"Keep hold of it kid." Rick said pushing the knife back to him, and he could see the boy's relief and confusion. "You could of easily killed us all in our sleep last night with it,  but you didn't. You could of kept the blade a secret but you didn't. You also could of gotten your brother in trouble, but you made sure to mention that he had no idea you had it. That shows guts, and earns respect. Like Daryl told you last night, trust goes both ways.  You trusted me to give me the knife and to keep you and your brother safe in this group, so now I am going to trust you not to kill us all with it."

"I didn't do it because I trust you." Nick admitted. "I did it because of Jacob. I owe him for things I can't explain. He has gone above and beyond for me, the least I can do is something that makes him happy, and being around other people does that."

"That makes you a good brother and I'm sure he will appreciate that." Rick said walking with the boy back inside.

"You knew I would tell you about the knife, didn't you?" Nick asked , although it wasn't a question.

"I had my doubts, but Daryl believed you would." Rick answered giving the boy a small smile. "All we want to do is help you and your brother. If you decide that you don't want to be with us, after your leg is better, then we won't stop you from leaving."

Rick was about to put a hand on the boy's shoulder but decided not too. Daryl said he suspected the boy had a rough childhood, and so Rick didn't want to do anything that made the kid uneasy.

They both walked back into the living room and Jacob looked over at the two and narrowed his eyes at his brother, wondering why he was with the leader of the group. Nick just ignored his brother and went to the corner he had claimed as his own and got his sketch book out again, this time drawing  a man drowning, with reporters recording and not helping.



While sketching, someone came up to his corner and sat down, and Nick just ignored them, hoping that they would go away, but they didn't.

"You want to tell me why you were talking to the leader of the group?" Jacob asked.

"Not really. No." Nick answered and he knew he was being rude.

"Nick, I know you don't want to be here-" 

"I didn't say anything that would get us kicked out. We were just talking. Nothing more, nothing less." Nick said hostilely, cutting his brother off.

"How's your leg?"  Jacob asked changing the subject. "And don't even think about lying."

"Hurts. But hey, that's what happens when an arrow goes through it."

"You know what. Fine. If you want to sit over here and be a grump on your own. Fine. But don't come limping to me when you're bored and lonely." Jacob huffed and went back over to the others and Nick just rolled his eyes, and continued sketching.

Nick watched his brother talk to the Asian guy again, like he was doing last night and watched as he smiled and laughed for the first time in months. Then someone else sat next to him.

"You mind if I take a look of your leg? Check the tension of the stitches?" The old man asked and Nick was really starting to wish he had paid attention to the names.

Nick looked at Hershel carefully before pulling up his pant leg, grimacing slightly at the pain. Hershel checked the stitches, made sure they were still secure, and bandaged his leg back up, and Nick rolled his pant leg back down.

"It's healing slowly. I would suggest you stop using it for a few days, only walk on it when you really have too, otherwise it will heal slower and cause you more pain." Hershel said softly to the boy.

Nick didn't say anything. He was about to, but decided against it and instead looked out the window. Hershel sighed, but left the boy alone, knowing it will take a while for him to trust anyone.