BLACK OUT DAYS | THE WALKING DEAD

Internment

Nate began showing the same symptoms as everyone else within a few hours and they were forced to put him in quarantine. More people started to get sick not long after. He stood by his cell door to watch as Carol filtered them into death row. She made eye contact with him through the door, slightly raising her eyebrows and he was sure the woman was smiling at him through her mask but he just blankly stared back at her and then Jeanette was claiming that her symptoms were just allergies even though she looked just as bad as the rest of them. She came through, eventually and they were all given cells and roommates. Glenn came by next and Nate's eyes widened at the sight of him.

"You got it too?" He asked, slightly horrified. Glenn nodded. Shit, if Glenn got it then he just hoped that everyone else who lived in their cellblock was immune enough. He wondered if they had any precautions to keep the others from getting sick. The most he saw was cloth being used as masks. It wasn't much.

"Most likely from Sasha." He replied, Nate looked around and sure enough, he saw Sasha on the other side of the cellblock. She looked worse than either of them did.

"Huh." He said. "Well, I don't have a roommate yet, you wanna share?" Glenn let out a shaky breath and brushed a hand over his face but nodded. Nate let him have the bottom bunk, well it was more like Glenn went over to it and laid down immediately but Nate wasn't going to put up a fight for it. He felt like he was still strong enough to climb to the top anyways.

"Rick put the kids in a separate quarantine." Glenn told him.

"Good, that's good." Nate replied, he was still standing by his door when Carol opened the door again and was standing there with Lizzie. The girl looked into the sick bay once and then quickly turned around and hugged Carol. Over her head, Carol made eye contact with Nate and eventually she got the girl to let go of her.

"That's Nate. He'll look after you the best he can." Carol told her. Lizzie glanced up at him and he softly smiled at her. She walked over to stand in front of him and Carol closed the door, it looked like she could barely hold herself together. He stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say to a little girl.

"Y'know I don't think Alice has a roommate yet, let's go find her." Nate said, he hadn't seen the other girl in awhile and he was sure the two of them would get along, with them being girls and all. He tried to remember which room Alice was in and made a show of searching for her while Lizzie lingered behind him. They found her eventually, reading a book in a chair. Nate made a face but once Alice noticed them, she brightened up.

"Hey, Nate." She frowned as her gaze landed on Lizzie. "Hi, what's your name?"

"Lizzie."

"Hi, I'm Alice." She glanced back at Nate with a questioning look.

"Oh right. Uh, Lizzie needs a room. Do you have a bed to spare?" He asked, she nodded and Nate placed his hand on Lizzie's shoulder and lightly pushed her into the room.

"Get some rest." He told her, moving to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" Lizzie called, whipping back around to face him. "Carol said you would tuck me in." Nate grimaced automatically and Alice covered her face with her hand and he knew that she was smiling.

"Oh, um, alright." Lizzie went to get into the bed and Nate awkwardly hovered by her and when he stood there too long, he felt Alice lightly push his shoulder from behind him and he startled but ducked down to tuck the corners of the blanket around Lizzie.

"Do you know how to sing like Beth?" Lizzie asked Alice and Alice paused for a moment and Nate stared at her.

"Um, not really." Alice said, tucking her hair behind her ears and a blush spreading across her cheeks.