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.
"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.
Everyone froze as Joe yelled out and Rick took a chunk right out of Joe's neck with his teeth. He pulled his head back, spitting out the skin and blood dripping down his beard as the leader of the claimers fell to the ground. It felt like everything moved in slow motion as the claimers lost their leader and then time moved again once Michonne took Tony's gun and snapped his hand back to shoot him in the head.
Nate reached for the knife that Jasper had dropped and slowly stood to move towards Dan, but Dan quickly picked himself off the ground and grabbed Carl, holding his own knife to his throat. Carl stared at Nate with wide eyes but then Dan roughly pulled him back again and Carl turned his head in disgust.
"Don't do this." Nate said quickly, with his knife pointed forward.
"I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" Dan shouted. Jasper picked up a gun off the ground while Michonne quickly turned from where she was kneeling to point hers at Dan with both hands gripping it tightly.
"Let the boy go." Michonne told him as Rick looked up from Joe's body and began to advance towards them. Carl let out another whimper of pain and Nate felt absolutely furious. He turned at the sound of Rick standing up.
"No, He's mine." He said. Nate forced himself to move to the side, holding his knife out for Rick to take, he grabbed it as he walked by him in one swift motion and Dan immediately let Carl go, holding his hands up and started to beg for his life but there was no stopping Rick. Carl stumbled towards Michonne and she held him close to her chest. Nate watched numbly as Rick stabbed Dan in the heart until he fell to his knees but Rick didn't stop until well after Dan stopped breathing. Once Rick was finished, he tried advancing on Jasper.
"Please." He started to say, holding his hand out. He didn't think it would work, it wasn't going to. This man was going to kill him because of the people he was with. His heart raced in his chest and he stumbled a few steps backwards, nearly tripping over his own feet.
"No, Rick! No, not him." Nate got up from the ground, moving to stand in front of Jasper, shoving the other boy behind him. "Rick please!" He said, he barely noticed that they were holding hands again, their fingers laced together behind Nate's back as the other boy stood protectively in front of him. Rick looked back and forth between them, Jasper wasn't sure what he had seen but then he nodded.
He dropped the knife and took a few steps forward, he reached out towards Nate and placed his hand onto the back of his head, he pulled the boy forward to hug him. Nate dropped Jasper's hand. He wrapped his arms around Rick's back and started crying into his chest. They stayed like that for awhile, Jasper felt awkward where he was standing, he looked back towards Daryl and the other nodded at him. Jasper could only return a small, tight lipped smile.
Carl wouldn't look at Nate, just walked right past him and said absolutely nothing as Michonne opened the back door of the abandoned car and he stepped inside. Jasper saw the flicker of hurt in Nate's eyes as his younger brother ignored him and then he confided in Rick for awhile after pulling out of the hug.
"He'll be fine. He's just shaken up. He doesn't think any less of you." Rick said while Nate continued to stare at the car. He returned a short nod and gazed down at his shoes, covered in dirt and blood. The blood dripping down his face was starting to dry, he could feel the flaky bits of it but he didn't care about it at all. He still couldn't help but feel guilty, especially since Jasper was still alive. How was he supposed to explain that to Carl? He hoped he wouldn't come to regret that decision in the future. He looked around for the ex claimer, and saw him crouched down, shuffling through someone's bag.
"Was he with them?" Rick asked, Nate glanced back at him and gave an automatic shrug. He doesn't remember how much Joe had told him while he was getting beaten to death.
"Yeah, but not by choice. Joe acted like he took him in but he wouldn't have let him go. He's a good person." Rick nodded and then placed his hand on Nate's shoulder again, reassuringly and Nate leaned into it, only for a moment before he pulled away again.
"Rick, back at the prison, I- I tried looking for Judith and then-" Tears started to fall down Nate's face. Rick tensed, as soon as Nate said his daughter's name.
"We know, we know." He hurriedly said. "We saw it too." And a sob wrenched through Nate's body and Rick quickly pulled him into another hug.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
After Nate finally stopped crying and into the early morning, as the sun rose, Daryl and Rick sat against the car doors while Nate and Jasper sat a few feet away from them, cross-legged and across from each other. Their knees almost touched.
"So that's Rick, Carl, and Michonne and you already know Daryl." Nate murmured, drawing random patterns in the dirt with his finger.
"Not really." Jasper muttered, making Nate roll his eyes, Jasper shifted, placing his hands behind him so he could lean back a little.
"They're your family?" Jasper asked, Nate nodded. "They seem..intense." His eyes flickered back over to Rick who was wiping the blood off his face with a rag.
"You just caught them at a bad time." Nate replied.
"Is your nose okay?" He asked after a few seconds of silence. Nate automatically touched the tip of his index finger to the bridge of his nose and then nodded. "What about your eye?" Nate stared at him.
"What do you mean?" Jasper glanced back over at Rick and Daryl for a moment and then leaned forward to softly touch the outer corner of Nate's eye and he immediately flinched and turned his head away.
"That." Jasper said, and Nate pushed his hand away and rubbed at his face, wincing once more.
"Ow." He opened up his eyes again, his vision adjusted back to the light. "Did you get anything good from their stuff?" Jasper shrugged.
"The rest of their food might last a week or so..maybe less with six people. I was thinking about keeping Joe's crossbow." He glanced down as he said it and then Nate nodded. They didn't say much more before the car door opened and Carl and Michonne stepped out. They all stood back up, Nate hovering back near Jasper again.
"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Michonne told Nate, embracing him in a hug and he smiled into it, placing his forehead down on her shoulder.
"I missed you too." He said.
They gathered their things, and began walking along the train tracks again. Nate stuck to Jasper's side, in front of Daryl and Carl but behind Rick and Michonne.
"Nate, wait up." Daryl called, Nate glanced back and stopped in his tracks.
"It's fine, go ahead." Nate muttered to Jasper. He hesitated for a moment but then gave a nod and walked a few feet ahead.
"Here." Daryl poured some water over a rag for him to take and Nate sighed as he did so.
"You should save that to drink." He told him, Daryl glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Funny. Rick said the same thing." He pushed it into his hands and Nate rubbed it over his face. "I should've listened to you earlier. About them." Nate glanced back up at him. "'M sorry." He shook his head.
"It's.." Nate chewed on his lip, almost letting 'It's fine' slip from his mouth but it wasn't. He still wasn't okay with the entirety of it all. "Are we doing anything about Beth?" Daryl shrugged.
"Told Rick so maybe once we find the others, we'll come up with a plan but we don't even know where to start looking." Nate nodded, accepting that at least. He handed the rag back to Daryl after feeling like he scrubbed away most of the blood.
"Maggie will never forgive us." Nate eventually said, Daryl nodded.
"I know." They continued along the tracks in silence, Nate thought about the idea of reuniting with everyone from the prison and the idea of it terrified him. He glanced up to stare at Carl's back. He'll have to talk to him later, maybe they'll have another one of their infamous fights but anything was better than the silent treatment he was currently getting. Rick and Michonne's voices reached them but they couldn't hear the actual conversation. At least, Nate couldn't. Maybe he still had permanent hearing damage this whole time and never realized. It wouldn't surprise him.
Soon enough, they came across another sign for terminus. This one had fallen to the ground, and Rick swiped his foot along it to brush away the leaves.
"We're getting close. We'll be there before sundown." Daryl said.
"Now we head through the woods. We don't know who they are." Rick responded.
"What, do you think they're bad people?" Nate asked, Rick slightly shook his head.
"Didn't say that. It's just safe to be cautious." He told him and they left the track. Nate's eyes lingered on the sign for a few more seconds and then he followed.
"Well, I hope Rick knows what he's doing." Jasper muttered to him.
"What do you mean?" Nate asked.
"I've been with a few groups before in the past. Each leader had their own set of rules to keep everyone alive. If Rick starts thinking that Terminus isn't a good place..what do you think will happen? You know him better than I do." Jasper asked, Nate looked up at the back of Rick's head. They had all grown quiet, obviously listening to their conversation now and Nate scratched the back of his head.
"If things go south and it's a situation like the governor was-like the claimers were, he'll do his best to work something out but I mean, it all depends on them." He tried to explain. "We had this set of questions we would ask new people we brought into our group, if we didn't like what they said, if we thought they would be a risk, then we would send them away." They actually hadn't had anyone just yet that answered the questions wrong, at least that's what Nate thought. Maybe Rick met more people on his runs that he just never mentioned.
"What questions?" Nate hesitated as Jasper stopped dead in his tracks. "Are they ones you should've asked me?"
"I don't know." He replied, and the look on Jasper's face became slightly concerned. "Don't worry about it. You're fine. They're stupid anyways." He said low enough, hoping the others had stopped listening in since they were further away now. Jasper didn't respond. "I think he's already pardoned you for being with the claimers." Jasper continued to look worried and Nate frowned. "I mean, unless you did something really bad before meeting them."
"No, no. It's nothing. Nevermind." He hurriedly said.
"Nate!" Michonne called, and Nate stared at him for only a few more seconds before jogging towards them.
They found a fence. All of them crouched close together and Rick moved to the front of the line, dropping his bag on the ground first. Rick began making plans, said they would wait and watch for awhile. Carl went off with Michonne and Rick watched him go. Daryl and Jasper went off together.
"He won't talk to you either?" Nate asked, Rick's gaze flickered over him and he shook his head.
"We're going to bury our weapons, come on." He told him. He opened up his bag, and Nate set the gun he held onto since the prison into it and kept a smaller handgun he grabbed from a claimer along with Beth's knife. They hopped the fence shortly after and they entered a building, Jasper stayed close behind him They did a short sweep through a hallway and Nate could hear a woman's voice throughout the place. They entered a room with people in it, none of them noticed them.
"Hello." Rick said to her and then louder again for the rest. The six of them line up. Rick, Carl, Daryl, Nate, Jasper, and Michonne. They weren't going to attack them.
"Well, I bet Albert is on perimeter watch." One man said, placing a brush down and he walked forward. "Are you here to rob us?"
"No. We wanted to see you before you saw us." Rick replied, stepping towards him. The man smiled at all of them and Nate instantly decided he didn't like him. He tightened his grip on his handgun.
"Makes sense. Usually we do this where the tracks meet." He held his arms out. "Welcome to Terminus. I'm Gareth." He looked at each of them. "You look like you've been on the road for a good bit."
"We have." Rick answered, he introduced all of them and Gareth returned an awkward wave.
"You're nervous, I get it. We were all the same way. We came here for sanctuary. Is that what you're here for?"
"Yes." Rick replied shortly. Gareth continued to talk and brought over a guy named Alex to take them on a tour.
"But first we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you." Rick nodded and then looked at all of them.
"All right." He said, kneeling down and each one of them placed their weapon on the floor. Nate hated it but he complied and thankfully, so did Jasper, setting Joe's crossbow down. They all raised their arms to be patted down.
"I'd hate to see the other guy." Alex told Nate when he got to him after patting down Daryl.
"You would." Rick responded for him. Nate raised an eyebrow, not breaking eye contact and then when Alex was satisfied he moved on to Carl. It was then, that he saw something in the leg of his pants and it looked so familiar to him but he couldn't place it for some reason. Maybe it was a coincidence. All chains were similar anyways.
"They deserve it?" Carl's gaze followed him as he knelt down to pat his ankles.
"Yes." Carl said flatly. As Alex moved onto Jasper, Gareth started talking again.
"Just so you know we're not those kind of people but we aren't stupid either. So you shouldn't try anything stupid either. As long as we're clear on that, we shouldn't have any problems. Just solution." For some reason, Nate didn't like the sound of it. It sounded like something Joe would've said. He walked away and Alex picked up Michonne's sword to hand back to her and Jasper and Daryl bent down to pick up their crossbows. He gave Carl and Nate their guns however.
"Follow me." Alex said with a large smile. They walked out of the building.
"How long has this been here?" Daryl asked.
"Since almost the start." Alex replied, going into their history a bit. They stopped at a table with a red headed woman standing behind it.
"Hi, heard you came in the back door. Smart." She said with a soft smile. Nate's gaze flickers to the meat she's cooking and his stomach growls but he notices that Rick's not really paying attention to what Alex is saying and he's looking around so Nate does the same and he sees a guy wearing a guard uniform that looks just like the one Glenn used to wear and he closes his eyes for a quick moment of peace as Michonne asks him another question. He tilts his head and then snaps his eyes open again and stalks forward, he needs to know. Rick was about to do the same thing anyways. He shoves the plate out of the man's hand and reaches into his pocket, pulling out what was indeed Hershel's watch. Everyone tenses, Rick hurriedly gets his arm around Alex as Nate wrenches back with the watch grasped tightly in his hands.
He dangles it in front of Alex's face as Rick holds the gun to his forehead and Carl, Michonne, Daryl, and Jasper immediately get into their fighting stances.
"Where the hell did you get this watch?" Nate sneered at him. The chain tightly wrapped in his hand and the watch swayed back and forth.
"Answer him." Rick demanded, he glances around at the members of terminus who also had their weapons drawn.
"There's a lot of us." Alex tried to say.
"Where'd you get this?" Nate yelled again.
"Got it off of a dead one, didn't think he'd need it." He lied.
"What about the riot gear?" Rick asked, forcing Alex to look at their stuff. "The poncho?" Nate knew the poncho had once been Daryl's and given to Maggie. His heart beat rapidly in his chest, he still held the watch close to the guy's face.
"Got the riot gear off of a dead cop." Gareth had come out with his hands slightly raised and Nate and Rick both turned towards him, Nate pulled out his gun, switched the watch to his left hand and pointed it at him with the safety off. "Found the poncho on a clothesline." Nate shook his head.
"No, we know the people you took this stuff from. The riot gear and the watch and the poncho belonged to a man and a woman named Glenn and Maggie. They're our people! Where are they?" Nate shouted, taking a step forward.
"I'm sorry. I don't know who you're talking about." Gareth said.
"Gareth, we can wait." Alex said. "Gareth-"
"Shut up, Alex."
"You talk to me." Rick said.
"What's there to talk about? You don't trust us anymore," Gareth responded. "Rick, what do you want?"
"Where are our people?" He asked, Gareth's gaze flickered back to Nate again.
"We don't have them." Gareth repeated. "I told you where the stuff came from. Your boy there just doesn't seem to trust us. If you can get him to stand down, we'll put this behind us but if not.." He trailed off and Nate stared, hard. Someone fired a shot and then Rick killed Alex. They all broke into a run, trying to find cover as they were shot at. Thankfully, with the tight grip he kept on both the watch and his gun, Nate didn't drop either of them. Their sniper shot at their feet and they continued to run into a building, a gate closed and they found another exit.
"Come on this way!" Daryl exclaimed.
"Great job, Nate!" Jasper shouted.
"Shut up!" Nate yelled back.
"Get them off B!" Daryl ducked as he was shot at and Nate aimed his gun at the guy he saw on the roof and his bullet was successful.
"Help! Help!" Someone else called, they all briefly stopped in front of a shipping container that someone was banging on from the inside.
"What the hell?" Jasper exclaimed.
"Keep going!" Rick said, they ran into another building. The letter A was spray painted next to the door. They entered a room with a bunch of candles.
"These people, I don't think they're trying to kill us." Michonne said, Nate bent over and tried to catch his breath. He pulled out Hershel's watch, stared at it for a moment and then put it into his own jacket pocket.
"No, they were aiming at our feet." Rick replied.
"They're here. Somewhere." Nate said, thinking back to the people begging for help in the container. Rick nodded. They went towards a door but it was closed immediately and they tried to look for another exit.
"What the hell is going on?" Jasper muttered.
"There." Daryl pointed at a door and they went out of it. They continued to get shot at and were out of options.
"Fuck!" Nate exclaimed, as they neared another container, they all realized just how outnumbered they were. Nate could see people with guns positioned outside the fences and on top of the buildings, he paced a bit, unsure of where to move next and his shoulder accidentally bumped into Jasper's. He looked down at him with a face full of worry.
"Drop your weapons, now!" Gareth yelled. "Now!" They listened immediately. "Ringleader, go to the train car now! You do what we say, the boys go with you. Anything else, the two of them die and you go in there anyways." Rick glanced back at Nate for a moment and then back to Carl. They were so screwed, Nate thought. Carl finally looked at him and Nate stared back in horror. Rick nodded at each of them but he still kept his eyes on them as he went.
"Now the archer, I don't care which one." Gareth said, Nate glanced over at Jasper, his hand brushing across his just for a moment as he walked by. "and the other one." Gareth said. Daryl followed next. "The samurai." Michonne. "The Firebreather." Nate assumed that was him and he stared at Carl as he walked past.
"Stand at the door. Ringleader, Archers, Samurai, Firebreather in that order!" They got in a line, each of them still watching Carl and in this moment, Nate wasn't sure if they were going to make it out of this alive. The claimers were different, they were small, they could handle them. This, with just six people, completely helpless and most likely walking into their death, he felt terrified.
"My son!" Rick shouted.
"Go, kid." Carl finally walked towards them.
"Ringleader, open the door and go in."
"I'll go in with him." Rick said.
"Don't make us kill him now!" Rick walked up the steps and opened the door, each of them followed and Nate turned and waited for Carl with Rick right behind him. He stepped inside and Rick put Carl in the crook of his arm as the door closed. He hugged his father but then he quickly left his grasp and threw his arms around Nate.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Carl whispered. Nate shook his head.
"Don't apologize." He said to him. They heard footsteps and then Carl and Nate broke apart, standing side to side as someone entered the light. Nate's eyes widened.
"Rick?" Glenn asked. "Nate?"
"You're here." Nate said with a smile as he took him in. He saw Bob, Maggie, and Sasha come into view. Maggie stared at Nate as more people they didn't recognize stepped forward.
"They're our friends. They helped save us." Maggie said.
"Yeah, now they're friends of ours." Daryl replied.
"For however long that'll be." The redheaded man said.
"No." Rick said. "They're gonna be pretty stupid when they find out," he walked towards the door again and peeked through the cracks where sunlight streamed through.
"Find out what?" Jasper asked. He glanced back up at them all.
"They're fucking with the wrong people."