When The Dead Start Walking (The Walking Dead fan fiction)

Chapter 16- Walker Bait

"Nicole!" a raspy voice rouses me from my sleep, causing me to jolt up. Once my vision clears, I see Daryl and Rick practically dragging me off the couch.

"What!?" I yell, tugging my arm roughly out of Rick's grasp as I stand up on my own. I let out a yawn, still still barely able to see anyone. The sun is barely coming up, which means I received maybe at least thirty seconds of sleep.

"Oliver's missing. We're gonna go look for her" Daryl announces, nodding his head towards the door. The two seem to look at me expectantly as if I were some magical genie.

"Yeah, and? What do you want me to do about it. I say let her go" I say plainly, amused at the thought of seeing that useless girl helplessly come crying back to us once a single walker shows up.

"We need ya to watch the place. You're good at lying so tell everyone that Rick, Oliver, and I went to look for supplies. And we can't just leave her to die" Daryl insists, looking at me with an obviously forced pleading expression. Usually Rick is the one to use the puppy eyes. Does Rick think I have a weak spot for him? Well, I don't.

"So you want me to lie, why?" I ask, still trying to get out of their request. Staying home on guard duty doesn't sound like a better plan than sleeping.

"We can't afford to have everyone panic and then have someone else run off again!" Rick finally butts in. Rolling my eyes, I plainly nod, shove my shoulders against both of them as I walking in between them and break their bromance connection, and head for the door. With an attitude, I grab a rifle against the wall of the house and open the door roughly, heading for the front porch. Oliver should've just stayed anyways. If anything goes wrong, I blame her I think quietly to myself as I take a seat.

"-over there, and I'll come in from that way" I head Rick instruct Daryl as they exit the house soon after me. They each give me a nod of thanks as they march off in search of the runaway drama queen. Big deal. We fought for a bit; that doesn't mean you go run away crying.

The sun has reached the top of the sky by now, but Daryl and Rick aren't back. Sawyer and a few others have checked in with me to see what's up, and I told them exactly what I was supposed to. They seemed to be fine with it, so I just let them be, although Sawyer seemed slightly confused when I mentioned that Oliver had joined them.

"Lunch time!" Jenny announces, making her presence clear to the entire world as she barges through the door. "Ryan will take watch for now while you eat" she chirps, her motherly tone slightly soothing my mixed feelings. I feel a pang of guilt rush by as I remember Johnny, her son lost due to the Governor. We haven't really talked much, but other than Carol, I feel she can be trusted as my friend.

"Thanks Jenny!" I say in a friendly tone, nodding with a smile as I walk past her and into the house. I see Ryan heading the opposite direction I am and give him a nod. He returns the favor and heads for watch duty.

"Nicole! Here! I saved this just for you!" little Kenzy squeaks, running up to me with a can of beans in her small hands. She hands them to me, and I give her my thanks. Taking the food upstairs, I head to where the girls usually rest, happy to see that it's empty. Everyone is downstairs getting lunch. I head for the bathroom and test the sink, happy to feel cool water run down my fingertips. I turn around, looking at the shower. I almost skip with joy as I turn off the sink, and prep up for a shower.

"Finally!"

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 "Nicole!" a young sounding voice filled my head as I engulfed myself in a large, warm towel. They seemed to be in fear. Hurrying, I began to pat my skin dry before responding in a calm tone from the other side of the door.

"What?" I respond, slightly annoyed that it's impossible to be left alone for over fifteen minutes. Shaking my head to free my hair of a few droplets of water, I place a towel in a cone-shaped dome.

"Help! There's some biters passing by! We don't know what to do!" the voice squeaks, and I make out Kenzy's cry for help. I quickly put on my jeans and a top, tie my wet hair in a ponytail, and race out of the bathroom. Kenzy reaches out her arms so I grab her, carrying her downstairs where everyone else is. Mumbles of panic fill the room.

"Everyone be quite!" I snap in a whisper. Immediately everyone's eyes turn to me, and I feel a rush of embarrassment.

"Where's Rick?"

"And Daryl?"

"What about Oliver!?"

I hiss at the questioning crowd to stay quiet. "They're on a supply run. Now will somebody tell me what's going on?" I ask in a whisper. If Kenzy is right, and there was a herd of walkers roaming the streets, that means we must all stay extremely quiet.

"There's a huge herd roaming the streets. They came from the nearby exit onto a freeway" responds Ryan in a relaxed, calm voice. I feel relieved that at least some people know how to keep their heads.

"Alright, well chances are they are just passing through. Everyone go upstairs and stay quiet. I don't want to risk being caught" I instruct with a confident, yet hushed tone. Some nod, yet others look at me with a tilted head. As soon as a voice picks up in the crowd, my worst fears became true--they don't all want to listen to me.

"And who made you leader? Where's Rick!?" a middle-aged male's voice speaks out in the middle of the crowd. He must've assumed that Rick was either dead or hurt, because everyone started to chatter anxiously once again.

"Everybody be quiet. The girl is only trying to help. Lets listen and go upstairs" Hershel wobbles up next to me right before someone hands him his crutches. The people seemed to be more reassured to hear Hershel, a wise, intelligent old man state his opinion. Everyone becomes silent, and the only thing I hear is a sniffle here and there and footsteps heading to the direction of the stairs.

Letting out a sigh, I decide to go grab one of Rick's closest friends.

"Glenn" I whisper, pulling him aside from the crowd. He looks at me ready to listen. "The truth is that Oliver ran off somewhere and Rick and Daryl went out to find her. they asked me to help run the place for the time being." Surprisingly, he doesn't seem too surprised. He probably expected something like this considering Rick and Daryl were gone for this long.

"Alright, well if they're not back within a couple of hours, I'm gonna go out and look for them" he announces, looking at Maggie and inviting her to come over with his eyes.

"You can't just wonder out with that herd of walkers, though!" I say concernedly, looking hopefully at Glenn. He can't be that reckless to just wander out in the middle of a herd thinking Rick and Daryl will just appear out of nowhere. He has to trust that they will return.

"I have to go. I can't just leave them when there's that many walkers out there!" he continues to insist, and I watch Maggie fold her arms as if she wasn't sure about either idea.

"You're acting like they're helpless! You're forgetting how strong and smart they are!" If only Oliver wasn't there. Then maybe they'd be home by now. Oliver! I say slightly frustrated before thinking to myself. If Oliver wasn't such a drama queen, or here in the first place, then we'd be perfectly fine right now! I begin to get the urge to go out there myself and teach her a lesson or two.

"Fine! But if they aren't back soon, I'm going."

"Me too" Maggie quietly adds in. Right as Glenn is about to tell her "no," I but in, my tone decisive and firm.

"Fine. Then I'll go with you guys. But lets at least have some faith that they will return." I look at them with a dismissing nod. Instead of arguing anymore, Glenn and Maggie begin to head upstairs, a small conversation kept to a low volume where I can't hear. Without another word, I let out a sigh and head for the window near the front door of the house. Looking outside, my stomach drops at the sight of the aimlessly wandering herd. There's no way they're returning any time soon. Especially with Oliver.

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Well here's another chapter. I know uploading has been extremely slow lately. I'm sorry guysss. Anyways, because the new season has officially started, this is now a completely different fan-made plot. Enjoy! Vote/comment! <3