BLACK OUT DAYS | THE WALKING DEAD

A

trigger warning: attempted sexual assault

When it became clearer that they were getting closer to the guy who had killed Lou, Nate had an uneasy feeling in his stomach the more Joe kept talking about it. He stuck to Jasper's side while they walked along the train tracks since it seemed like Daryl was Joe's right hand man now and Nate couldn't help but wonder horribly if they were tracking someone who had been from the prison, in their group. A lot of them could've ended up on the same tracks and seen the same signs. He tried to voice his ideas to Jasper but the other boy just stayed silent as Nate talked and as the sun began to set.

"I know, I don't like it either but there's not much we can do here." Jasper whispered back to him. Joe glanced back at the both of them, pausing his plans with the group.

"Jasper, keep the kid with ya if he's gonna keep on complaining." Joe told him and Jasper returned a short nod as they moved out into the road. Nate threw a glare back at Jasper and the other just shrugged. Nate quickly jogged up to Daryl's side and tried to reason with him as the claimers moved out into the road.

"Daryl, we can't let this happen." He told him, Daryl glanced over at him. "You know as well as I do that whoever Lou was, he probably deserved it. What if they're good people?" He nodded back towards the clearing where he could hear Joe talking. If Beth was here, Nate knew that she wouldn't let this happen at all. Daryl seemed to be thinking about it and then he nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. Stay here though, don't do anything stupid," He replied, walking out into the street. "Joe!" Nate tried to step forward but Jasper caught his arm instead.

"What are you doing?" Nate asked, whipping his head around.

"He literally just told you to stay here." Jasper said.

"I'm not letting him do this alone. He'll get himself killed too." He replied, snatching his arm back and then he walked out of the woods.

"Nate!" Jasper nearly shouted but he followed the other boy anyways and he nearly ran into him as Nate suddenly stopped short and he laid eyes upon the people Joe had guns pointed at.

"Rick?" He murmured, and recognition spread across Rick and Michonne's faces as they saw Nate come into view. Oh, no. Oh, no. This was bad. This was very bad. Nate realized in horror.

"You're stopping me on eight, boys." Joe said, relaxing the gun that was pointed at Rick's face.

"Just hold up." Daryl said, his voice cracking a bit.

"This is the guy who killed Lou so we got nothing to talk about." One of the men snapped.

"We got more than enough time these days so say your peace." Joe replied.

"These people, these are good people. You're gonna let them go." Daryl began but Joe cut him off.

"I think Lou would disagree with you on that." Joe said, pointing the gun back at Rick's head. "Now I hate to speak for him and all, cause your friend here strangled him in a bathroom." Oh, so it was Rick. Rick had been the one to kill their man. They'd been tracking Rick and Michonne this whole time and they hadn't even known. Nate had that horrible feeling that they were tracking someone that they knew.

"You sure Lou didn't deserve it?" Nate shot back. He took another step forward and Daryl held his hand out, warning him to back off, which anyone else would've missed, but Nate ignored him.

"Nate." Jasper hissed from behind him again, however it was no use. They knew them, Jasper realized. He knew from the moment Nate whispered this guy's name. They were going to fight for these people and Jasper needed to decide very quickly which side he wanted to be on. Nate glanced back at him.