BLACK OUT DAYS | THE WALKING DEAD

Infected

Nate woke up with an ugly cough. It was one so bad that made him sit up and grip the edge of the mattress. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair when it was over. That was..weird, he thought. He could hear Rick's alarm go off and looked up when the other man pushed open their curtain.

"You're awake." Rick said as if the idea of Nate being awake before an alarm clock was unheard of. Nate raised his eyebrows and hummed. "Carl?" His eyes looked up to the top bunk and Nate shrugged. "Carl." He said a bit louder and Carl groaned, Rick tilted his head the other way and Nate nodded. He rubbed at his eyes one more time and then stood up on the side of the bed to smack Carl awake.

"Ri-Rise and shine, dude." He said, for some reason his voice came out a little scratchy and he saw Carl furrowed his brows and then opened his eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Carl asked and Nate shrugged. Maybe it was just the effects of their run yesterday still lingering, he didn't mention that though.

The two boys got dressed and had a quick breakfast, they met Rick outside and the three of them walked along their pathway out in the courtyard with buckets while Michonne brought out her horse.

"Any requests? Comics, books?" She asked them. Nate shook his head. "Stale m&m's?" Carl laughed. If you had told Nate a month ago that Michonne would still be with them, making jokes like this, he wouldn't have believed you. She'd taken a while to warm up to everyone but ultimately, Nate was glad she had decided to stay.

"You're the one who likes stale m&m's." Carl shot back with a wide grin.

"And I'll definitely be looking for some." She replied. "I'll look for some stuff you like too." She said to Rick, who Nate almost forgot was there.

"Oh, I have a request. Find him a razor." Nate said, gesturing to the right side of his face where a beard might be. Michonne giggled and Nate turned to follow RIck to their pig pens.

"Why don't you wear your hat anymore?" Michonne called out to Carl.

"It's not a farming hat!" Carl said back. "See you soon?"

"Pretty soon."

They got to work fairly fast. Rick started shoveling dirt into Carl's bucket with his hands while Nate pulled at their ripe tomatoes. This was how they had been spending most of their mornings. They stayed silent for a while, Rick seemed like he was thinking about something, Nate was still mourning Zack.

"They only took out one cluster yesterday..maybe we could help." Carl started to say, his gaze lingering on the fences. Nate stopped what he was doing to watch. One of them looked like it was threatening to fall over.

"I got other plans, involving dirt and cucumbers. Keeping people fed." Rick shoved more dirt into the next bucket.

"Well,if you don't want to, maybe Nate and I could." Carl made eye contact with Nate and Nate grimaced with an immediate shake of his head.

"No," He firmly said. "also I do know that you went on that run yesterday, Nate. I heard about what happened with Zack-" Nate froze as Rick stood up, placing his hands on his hips. Nate's eyes widened. Shit. He couldn't look at Carl and so he dropped his gaze to the tomatoes in his bucket.

He didn't have to respond because suddenly someone screamed for help and they could hear loud bangs coming from inside. Gunshots? Nate slowly got to his feet, wondering where it was coming from.

"Carl, get in the guard tower with Maggie. Don't argue. Nate, with me. Go!" Rick said, Carl left them and Nate ran a few feet behind him towards the gates.

"Walkers in D!" Glenn yelled to them, near Carol and the two little girls whose names Nate had forgotten.

"What about C?!" Rick shouted, their cellblock. Nate thought with horror.