BLACK OUT DAYS | THE WALKING DEAD

A

"You want blood, I get it." Daryl dropped his bag and his bow and held his arms out at his sides as an offering. Jasper held his breath, it wasn't going to work. They weren't going to take Daryl over these people. The claimers were going to kill them all.

"No, Daryl, don't!" Nate yelled, he tried to lunge forward to stop the claimer but Jasper was faster than him, he wrapped his arms around the other boy's waist and began pulling him backwards. He felt horrible about it but he had to keep Nate away from them. "I'm gonna kill you! I'm going to kill you!" Nate shouted at Joe, trying to shove Jasper's arms off of him, and he nearly got free but Jasper secured his hold around him a bit more.

"Take it from me man." Daryl slightly raised his arms, Nate still struggled in Jasper's arms and shouted Daryl's name again.

"This man killed our people, you say he's good people. Now that right there is a lie." Joe said, "it's a lie!" One of his men hit Daryl in the stomach with his gun, making him fall to the ground and Nate froze in Jasper's arms and Jasper placed his chin on the space between Nate's shoulder and neck, keeping him secure. He could feel him shaking and a sob wrenched through his body. "Teach him, fellas. Teach him all the way." They dragged him back and threw Daryl against the car, began beating on him and Dan opened the passenger side of the car and pulled whoever it was out, holding them tightly against his chest. Carl, it was Carl. Nate realized in horror.

"You leave him be!" Rick attempted to stand up but Joe just shoved him to the ground again and forced him to watch.

"Carl!" He shouted as Carl turned away from Dan in fear as the man sniffed the side of his face.

"Let me go, please. Let me go." Nate quickly turned back to Jasper with wide, fearful eyes and Jasper stared at him for a second, and then he released Nate from his arms and let him run at them but one of the other claimers aimed the back of their gun right into Nate's side and forced him to fall into the ground. Jasper flinched violently as he watched the claimer start to repeatedly throw the end of his gun right into Nate's hip. He let out sounds of pain with each hit and Jasper's hand tightened around his knife.

"Listen, it was me. It was just me!" Rick said but Nate couldn't hear what Joe was telling him and he tried to get back up off the ground with another yell but he was just kicked down again and each time he tried to get up it was another kick. At one point, over the sounds of Joe's laughter, he could feel his nose start to drip with blood and his own breaths became shorter. He tried to look over again and all he could see was Dan kneeling over something-someone. Nate could hear Carl struggling to keep Dan away from him even over the sounds of himself and Daryl getting tossed around. And he couldn't help him. He couldn't even help himself.

He wasn't sure if the wetness running down his face was from his own sweat, blood, tears or all of the above.

"That's right. See, we can settle this. First we're going to beat Daryl to death, and then do the same to Nathaniel. Then we'll have the girl and the boy. And then I'm gonna kill you." Joe told him. The man hurting Nate had gotten a hand around Nate's belt buckle and it suddenly felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on him as he realized what was about to happen to him, maybe the same thing that was happening to Carl right now. He didn't notice as Jasper pulled his knife out of his sheath and he quickly stalked up to them and he lifted the guy's head back and slit his throat. Blood dripped onto Nate's face and he let out a gasp of air as he was let go and he shoved the body off of him.

"Jasper." Joe said, almost like a parent scolding a child, straightening his stance next to Rick.

"That's enough, Joe." Jasper said, his knife held out at his side, dripping with blood.

"We took you in! I treated you like you were my own and this is how you repay me?!" Joe snapped, and as he was yelling, Rick snapped his head backwards, hitting Joe in the jaw and the gun went off by his head. Jasper flinched at the sound and dropped his knife almost immediately.