A Dixon's Heart

~Four~

Nate groans as he hears the sound of a car alarm going off. He's been asleep for only a few hours after Amy left and yet he still feels exhausted and desperately needs his sleep. Nate opens his blue eyes and force himself to get up. He struggles to get one of his muscle shirt on over his head before he takes the sash off himself and rewraps his arm, which takes a good fifteen minutes on his own. He slips his shoes back on and ties them up, the car alarm going off by the time he's done with it all.

Nate walks out of the tent, his brown hair falling into his eyes as he walks over to where the group is and sees Carl and Lori embracing a man. Nate eyes roam over the group, but he doesn't see his uncle. Worry and fear fills him inside as he realizes his uncle is missing. Sure Nate hates his uncle, but he's still family and he knows his father will flip when he gets back. The group all do introductions as Nate watches with annoyance. Sam notices him and heads over to him. "I didn't expect to see you up and about." She says with a smile, brushing his hair out of his face. "I should cut your hair, it's getting too long and heaven forbid if your father tries to." Nate pulls away from her with a frown.

"Where's my uncle?" Sam frowns, glancing over at the stranger, who seems to realize he is needed over near them. The man makes his way over to the two, the camp watching wearily.

"My name's Rick Grimes." He introduces himself, Nate eyeing the man over with a frown.

"Nate, don't be rude." Sam says, nudging the boy's good arm.

"Nate Dixon." The boy finally says. Rick eyes over the boy's sprained arm with a frown.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Fell out of a tree. Where's my uncle." Nate says, dismissing his arm as if it's nothing. Rick frowns and looks at the boy.

"I'm sorry to say this, but there was an accident in Atlanta."

"Is he dead?"

"We don't think so." Nate raises an eyebrow.

"He either is or he ain't."

"Your uncle was out of control in Atlanta."

"He always is. Pisses people off nonstop. What did you do?" Nate asks, already knowing his uncle did something stupid. Nate is straight forward and always right to the point. He doesn't waste time jumping around the bush. If he wants to say something or ask something then he does and if he wants to know something then he will.

"I handcuffed him to the roof. We meant to let him out, but T-dog dropped the key."

"You..." Nate trails off, looking at Rick for a moment before he shakes his head. "You're screwed when my dad comes back." This surprises Rick, finding it hard to believe the nephew isn't more upset. "Merle was a mean bastard, but he was family. My dad will kill you when he finds out what happened. Me? I can't really do much with my arm, so I'm not even going to try. Just know, you're screwed up big time and you better hope he's still alive." Nate says before turning and making his way back to camp.

Nate feels awful, guilty. He feels so relieved and happy to know his uncle might not come back into his life, which is awful thing to feel, but after everything that man put Nate through Nate feels that justice truly has been served.

~

Nate didn't come out for the rest of the night. Sam brought him food, but by the time she did he was already face asleep, so she let him sleep and gave the food to one of the other kids to have.

Nate slept most of the next day and he only woke up when he felt someone shaking him. "Mmm." Nate opens his eyes to see his sister, her eyes wide and scared. "Grace? What's wrong?"