𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 | 𝐭𝐰𝐝 ¹

09.

   Sun shined through the thin linen that was over her head. Nicole covered her eyes, which still had bags under them. She couldn't sleep that night. Her mind swarmed with thoughts.

   "Mama! Mama!" Cheyanne's little body ran into the tent cheering. She had fresh clothes on -- a pink and white striped shirt and a pair of khaki capris. "Mrs. Miranda gave me some of Eliza's clothes! Ms. Amy said to give you these!"

   Nicole slowly sat up to look at her cheerful little girl. "Wow, look at you!" her tired voice came out, "You look like a whole new child." She playfully ruffled her hair.

   Cheyanne's crooked smile lit up the room more than the actual sun did. Nicole loved to see her little girl's smile. It didn't shine as much as it used to so it was a joyful rarity. "Ms. Amy wanted me to give you these."

   Nicole smiled and graciously took the folded clothes from the little girl. "Thank you, Chey," she whispered out.

   "I'm gonna go play with Eliza!" Cheyanne skipped out of the tent and ran to go play with her new found friends.

   Nicole chuckled softly as she wiped the sleep from her tired green eyes. She stood up and slowly began taking off her grimy clothes off. She unbuttoned her shredded black flannel and dropped it to the floor. It wasn't until this moment that she realized how many scars she'd acquired in the past two months -- granted most were very minor -- but the many amount shocked her.

   She slid on a light blue tank top and a white button-up, which remained unbuttoned. Nicole began sliding off her tattered tennis shoes and ripped gray jeans. She slid on Amy's black jeans and put back on her shoes.

   She made sure to put her switchblade in her pocket and tuck her .9mm in the back of her pants. She then exited the tent. The sun shined straight into her bloodshot eyes; her hand shot up to block it.

   As she walked into camp, people greeted her with hellos. She happily returned the gesture. Her main priority was to find Amy and Miranda to thank them for the clothes.

   Nicole saw Daryl sitting on a log by the fireplace. His crossbow at right next to him as he held a stick and struck his hunting knife to it. Merle stood near Andrea with his left arm against Dale's RV. Nicole took it upon herself to walk over to Daryl and sit down.

   "Mornin'." She gave him a tired smile. "How'd you sleep?"

   Daryl didn't budge from sharpening his stick. "I got somethin', I guess," the rasp came for his throat. "How'd you sleep with that chinaman?"

   Nicole scoffed, "Firstly, his name is Glenn." she stood up, "Secondly, you're an asshole."

   She turned on her heel and marched her way over to Lori, who was hanging up laundry. "Hey." She put her hand on her best friend's shoulder. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

   "You just got here, Nikki," Lori finished hanging up a shirt on a line. "There's no need for you to be helping just yet. Rest up for a few days, get back on your feet."

   Andrea scoffed from the other side of the line. "She should be helping out as soon as she possibly can. Not freeloading off of us just because she knew you and Shane before."

   Nicole looked up to the blonde woman and was about to retaliate but Lori beat her to it, "Andrea, shut your mouth for once. She just got here and she needs to rest. She's been out there, running for her life for almost two months. So for God sakes, let her rest."

   Andrea gave both of them the biggest glare before storming off toward the RV. Nicole looked up to Lori, their eyes meeting. "Thank you."

   Lori hung up one more shirt before turning to Nicole. "C'mere." Lori engulfed her best friend in a hug. "We have each other's backs, right?"

   "Always," Nicole muttered into Lori's brunette hair.

   Throughout the day, Nicole helped out where Lori would allow her to. The most that Lori let her do was help teach the children out of the couple of textbooks someone had managed to scrounge up.

   The sun was setting and people were turning into their tents. Nicole sent Cheyanne to bed with Glenn, whom the little girl could not stop talking to for half a second. Nicole made her way toward Merle and Daryl's tent. She felt bad about what went down earlier -- she needed to apologize.

   As she neared the brothers' tent, she heard whispers erupting from the inside.

   "I say we take their shit and leave."

   "There are good people here, Merle."

   "Good people are dead people nowadays, little brother."

   "What about Nicole and her littlun? They won't agree to this."

   "To hell with 'em, Daryl. Do you really want to stick around just to get your dick wet from that lil' whore?"

   "She ain't a whore, bro. And I ain't leavin' 'er."

   "You want her that bad? So bad that you're willin' to risk everything for her?"

   "I promised Jess that I wouldn' leave her."

   "Jess is dead, bro. What he made you promise don't matter no more."

   "The hell it does. I'm not leavin' her. And we sure as hell ain't robbin' this camp unless she's comin' with."

   Nicole heard enough of this and scoffed while turning hot on her heels to march back to camp. Daryl heard her and scrambled to get out of the tent. He jogged after her, grabbing her shoulder to turn her around. "Leave me alone, Daryl."

   "Nicole --"

   "No, Daryl. I am not listening to you try and convince me to rob these innocent people."

   "I ain't gonna try to convince you to do that 'cause I already know your stand."

   "Well, just the fact that you are even considering doing that is repulsive."

   "I ain't. Merle is."

   "Stand up to the douchebag. Don't hide in his shadow like a scared little puppy."

   "I ain't hidin' in nobody's shadow."

   "Then prove it. Stand up to him for once in your life."

   Daryl stood silent as if he was unable to come back with a liable response. Nicole looked at him with an inquiring brow. "You can't let him walk over you, Daryl." She looked down her shoes. "I can't let him walk over you. And I sure as hell can't let him hurt this camp."

   Nicole stepped forward and looked up to his Georgia blues. "If I even get an inclining that he is going to try and go through with it, I will stop him myself." She stood there for a moment and turned on her heel to march back toward the tent where her daughter slept.