NICOLETTE

When the sun rose the next morning, Nicki was looking outside the window of the RV silently, the events of the previous night still replaying in her mind. So many people had died, eaten alive. The girl still couldn't believe that some of them had survived even if the wounds of all their losses wouldn't have healed easily.

Andrea was still out there, sitting next to Amy's body. All night, she had watched over her sister. Nicki couldn't help but think that that could have happened to her, too. There was a moment when she had thought Sarah had ended up like Amy. She still remembered being held close to her sister, when she had noticed a walker come behind her. Nicolette had pushed Sarah as quickly as possible, but before she could look into her sister's eyes, more walkers had stepped in between them. In just a moment, Sarah was nowhere to be found, and Nicki could still feel the dread of the thought of her sister's dead body. She was frozen, her body wouldn't move, not even the name of har sister left her lips. Shane was the only reason Nicki was still alive. He had yanked her by the arm to push her into Lori's embrace. He had his rifle in hand, shooting at any walker that came closer as he led them, Carl, Carol, and Sophia, near the RV. Nicki had thought about Sarah all the time, trying to look for her in the crowd, but it had been useless; it was too dark. Too messy. Too scary.

Only when she was able to spot Sarah, she felt like she could breathe again. Nicki had seen her standing next to Daryl and Glenn, her face and clothes dirty of blood, and so were her shaky hands. She had cut her hand pretty badly, but Nicki was glad nonetheless. At least she was still alive.

No one had slept that night. They sit in silence for hours as Rick and Daryl look around for survivors. They had found so many more dead bodies, and one of them was Ed. She had heard he had been eaten so much that he was barely recognizable.

A few hours before dawn, Lori had asked her to stay with the other children inside the RV so that they could get some sleep. Nicki, Carl, Sophia, and Morales' children had all survived, and they were still shaken up. But after some time, they lay down in silence, even if every now and then she could hear some sobs. As for Nicki, she really didn't feel like sleeping, and more often than she liked to admit, her eyes moved to the entrance of the RV, afraid that something would enter.

The first rays of sunshine were getting stronger when Nicki noticed T-Dog starting to pull one of the walker's bodies to the side of the camp. Soon, Daryl did the same, then Glenn and Morales, and even Lori and Sarah.

"What are they doing?" Carl's voice made her turn. She saw the boy sitting across from her, studying the outside with his blue eyes.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" she asked coolly, making him frown.

"You are enjoying too much of this 'babysitter thing.'" Nicki let out a weak snort at his words.

"If you say so," she said. Then she took a breath before looking outside again to see Sarah pulling one of the walkers with her good hand. She was so tired; under her sister's eyes, there were black circles, and her skin was so pale. Nicki had never seen her like that.

"I couldn't sleep," Carl said after some minutes of silence. She turned to him, who was observing every single movement outside, probably searching for his parents.

"Yeah, me too. Probably won't be able anytime soon." She couldn't help but flinch when she noticed Daryl hitting one of the bodies' heads with a pickaxe.

"God..." she muttered.

"They will all turn," said Carl, sadly making her nod.

They all knew what being bitten meant. And the only way to stop it was damaging the brain. But seeing it be done on a human head made her shiver. All those people were talking and laughing among them just a few hours before.

"Can you babysit for once?" she asked, turning to Carl, who frowned.

"What?" he replied, watching as she stood up.

"I leave you on watch," she said before stepping down from the RV.

As she got outside, her eyes fell once more on Andrea and Amy. If they had to prevent the bodies from becoming walkers, that meant they would have to put something through Amy's brain too. But would Andrea let them, even if it was the right thing to do?

"Hey," she said, walking towards Daryl, who was rubbing his eyes, dust and sweat clinging to his skin.

"What d'ya want?" he asked, his expression guarded as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I wanna help," she said, making him frown.

"No."

"I'm not asking," Nicki shot back as he began to walk away. She stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop. "I just wanted to know what there was to do. But if you don't want to tell me, someone else will." Daryl glared at her, his jaw clenched.

"Nicolette?" Sarah's voice called, pulling Nicki's attention away. She turned to see her sister approaching, concern etched on her face. "What is it? Are you okay?"

Nicki nodded at Sarah's question but couldn't help but eye her sister's wounded hand. It was still wrapped in Daryl's red rag, held close to her body. It must have hurt. Nicki hoped it wasn't bleeding any more.

"I'm fine," Sarah replied, instinctively hiding her hand behind her back.

"Wanna help?" Daryl said, breaking into their conversation. Both girls turned to look at him. "Then push those bodies over there," he instructed, pointing at a couple of walkers not too far away. "I can't handle more of her whining." He turned to leave, a flicker of annoyance in his eyes.

"Funny guy," Nicki muttered before stepping closer to one of the walkers. It was the first time she had the chance to really study one of them; she had never actually stared at them before. The creature's rotten skin was a grotesque shade of grey, a sickly hue that sent shivers down her spine. Its eyes were still open, yellowish and clouded with decay, pale grey irises fixed in a lifeless stare. The teeth were blackened and bared, a chilling reminder of the humanity that once was, now completely lost.

"You sure you want to do this?" she heard Sarah ask, concern etched on her face.

Nicki nodded firmly. "I want to."

She worked for a few hours, standing next to T-Dog and following his instructions closely. Nicki needed it. She really wanted to think about something other than the flashbacks in her mind. Everything was better than the sensation of despair.

The two of them had walked around the camp to see if there were other survivors, but there was no one—no bodies, no walkers. When they came back to the RV, they noticed Rick, Daryl, Shane, Lori, Sarah, and Carol talking. It seemed they were talking about something serious. 

As T-Dog moved over to Glenn to help him dig some graves, Nicki decided to approach the group. She could sense the tension in the air.

"Y'all can't be serious," Daryl said, his voice low and tense. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb." Nicki's gaze shifted to Andrea and Amy; it was clear they were talking about them.

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked, earning a look of disbelief from Daryl.

"Take the shot," Daryl replied, his tone unwavering. "Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"God, you can't be serious," Sarah retorted, anger flashing in her eyes as she glared at Daryl. "We knew her. You can't just shoot her!"

"She's dead," Daryl shot back.

"She was a friend!" Sarah exclaimed, her voice breaking slightly.

"Stop," Lori interjected, her tone weary but firm. "For God's sake, let Andrea be."

Daryl looked between Sarah and Lori, before letting out an irritated scoff and walking away.

Nicki looked again towards Amy. She was a friend, but she was dead. Nicki wanted what she would have wanted in Amy's place. Die scared her more than she liked to admit. But becoming one of those rotten things... maybe she was scared of that even more. What would she want in her place? What would Amy want?

Just then, Glenn's voice broke through her thoughts. "We don't burn them!" he exclaimed, his voice trembling with sadness. "We bury them. Understand?"

He seemed to be in a heated discussion with Daryl and Morales. Glenn wanted to give their fallen friends a proper farewell by burying them. As for the walkers, they would have burned them. Daryl and Morales looked at each other before starting to drag one of the bodies in the row that they would have buried.

"You reap what you sow," Daryl said.

"You know what? Shut up, man," Morales shot back, frustration evident in his tone.

"Y'all left my brother for dead," Daryl exclaimed. "You had this coming."

"God," Nicki heard Lori say as the woman walked towards her. "How are you holding up, sweetheart?" she asked, making Nicki shrug her shoulders.

"Confused," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Have you slept? Just a bit?" Lori asked, but Nicki shook her head.

"I couldn't," she answered. "Not even your son, but we'll try to do our best." Lori looked at her with sad eyes.

"I'm so sorry that you—"

"A walker bit Jim!" Jacqui's voice interrupted them, slicing through the moment as panic washed over the group. Nicki turned in alarm, her heart racing as Jim insisted he was okay, but the fear in his eyes told a different story.

Daryl, Shane, and T-Dog tried to reason with him, but Jim took the shovel to keep everyone away from him. He was desperate like he had been the day before digging the holes in the ground.

T-Dog managed to stop him by the arms as Daryl pulled up his shirt to reveal a bite mark on his side. They all step back, looking at the poor man with fear and sadness.

It was like that nightmare was never-ending.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it," Daryl said as they all were trying to figure out what to do with Jim, who was set down a few feet from them next to the RV.

"God, again..." said Sarah nervously with her eyes closed.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane's question made Nicki towards Amy's body. What would she have wanted? What did Jim want?

"Yeah," answered Daryl looking straight into Shane's eyes. "And I'd thank you while you did it."

They all looked at each other, and Nicki couldn't help but wonder what they all were thinking about. Whether what to do or what they would have done in their dead people's place. Daryl had been clear on the choice he would have made. And the more minutes passed by, the more she felt like agreeing. Anything was better than becoming one of those monsters.

"I hate to say it," Dale spoke. "I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl is right."

Nicki noticed that all of the people around her looked at each other in disbelief.

"He is still alive, for God's sake!" Sarah whisper-yelled towards the older man.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or a rabid dog," Rick said, backing up Sarah. Dale observed him with incredulous, wide eyes.

"I'm not suggesting-"

"He is sick," Rick kept saying. "A sick man. We start down that road; where do we draw the line?" Nicki took a breath. Where was the line? Death was walking on earth; what could they do?

"The line's pretty clear," Daryl said again. "Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be."

Zero tolerance... The girl looked over Jim; his skin was paler than usual, and he started to sweat a bit. If she hadn't seen him before, she would have thought he was alright. But they all had seen what the walkers had done the night before. What if he turned in the middle of the night? They couldn't tie him up, but they couldn't take the chance of being attacked again, either.

What did Jim want?

"What if we can get him help?" Nicki looked at Rick as he spoke.

"There's help?" she asked with a little frown.

"I heard the CDC was working on a cure." He answered.

The Centers for Disease Control was the national agency that protected people from security, safety, and health threats. She didn't think that it still existed, with the walker and everything.

"I heard that, too. I heard a lot of things before the world went to hell," said Shane, shaking his head.

"You think it's still running?" asked Sarah hopefully, but Rick nodded.

"If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they?" the man said. "I think it's our best shot."

"That could actually work," Sarah said, looking towards Lori. And maybe they could help Jim," Rick nodded.

"And they could give us shelter, protection--" he was saying, but Shane interrupted him. He did not agree at all with what Rick was suggesting.

"Okay, Rick, you want those things," said Shane skeptically. "I do, too, okay?"

Who didn't? If it meant being safe, everyone had walked to the end of the world and back.

"Now, if they exist, they're at the army base," Shane kept saying. "Fort Benning."

"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction," Lori said with a frown, but the man nodded his head.

"That's right."

Of course, they were now stuck between a difficult choice. For Shane, Fort Benning was safer because it was away from the city and fully armed. And they all knew having arms meant surviving.

On the other hand, as Rick said, the military had already been overrun by the apocalypse, and the CDC was their best way of surviving. If it was some kind of virus surely the government would have protected it. But if it was still running, why had nothing changed since the outbreak? It was getting worse every day.

"You go looking for aspirin; do what you need to do," said Daryl, making Nicki frown. "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" before she could blink, the man turned towards Jim with the pickaxe raised above his head, ready to hit.

"Daryl, stop!" Nicki heard Sarah exclaim as Rick ran over, pointing his gun at Daryl's head.

"We don't kill the living," Rick said sternly.

Nicki let out a breath as she saw Daryl stop. She really thought that he would have smashed Jim's head.

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head," Daryl hissed, glaring at Rick.

"We may disagree on some things, but not on this," Shane said as he put himself between Daryl and Jim. "You put it down."

Daryl glared at the two cops before slamming the pickaxe at the ground and walking away.

As Nicki saw Rick taking Jim away from everyone, she couldn't help but think that sooner or later, he would have died anyway. Would he have made it to the CDC? Could they really help him there? What were the chances?

"I really thought he would have killed him," Nicki heard Sarah, who had stepped to stay next to her.

"What if he is right?" Nicki said, observing Jim getting inside the RV with Rick after the children had walked out.

"What?" Sarah asked, and when Nicki turned towards her, she noticed the dread in her sister's eyes.

"It's not safe," Nicki answered.

"Death isn't the right solution," Sarah said urgently.

"Right, probably not," said Nicki, "But right now, it's a solution." Her eyes went to her sister's bandaged hand. They miraculously survived; did they really want another threat among them?

"Are you suggesting to kill him?"

Nicki was about to answer when she noticed Amy's body moving. Her eyes were open, and she was raising her hand, almost caressing Andrea's hair. It seemed as if she had recognized her if it wasn't for the fact that she had soon gripped her sister's hand, and getting set up, she had started to grunt and move her face, trying to bite wherever she could reach. Andrea was speaking to her, keeping her at a little distance before a gunshot was heard, and Amy fell to the ground with a hole in the side of her head.

She hadn't recognized her own sister. She had been ready to eat her alive. She didn't have memories or feelings. Just hunger. And that was the thing that scared Nicki the most. Was it still Amy? Did she remember and didn't care? Or was it something else? What was that corpse?

"If it were me," Nicki said, keeping her gaze on Amy, "I would rather be shot than become one of them."