nathan beam

Reggie sighed, folding her arms across her chest, unsure of quite what to answer with here. She wanted the help, of course, she wanted the place to stay. She wanted some sense of security. But she could also sense his hesitance and, though she couldn’t blame him, it made her uncomfortable. In any case, she wasn’t secure enough to turn the offer down. “That would be great, actually. Thank you.”

Nathan nodded and turned away from her. “It’s this way,” he said, waiting for her to join him before they walked off. He didn’t want to walk ahead of her, partly because he feared being stabbed or something, but also because he wasn’t all that convinced she hadn’t been hurt in that fight. He wanted to be able to catch her if she were to fall. Why he cared, Nathan had no idea, but there he was, walking beside her as he took her to the house with the fish mailbox.

   there she was, standing on the top of a lorry, surrounded by flesh eating     walkers that were eager  to  tear  into  her.  she  wouldn’t  allow  that  to     happen to her, not just yet. she had  a  lot  more  she  needed  to  prove.     she was taking as many shots as she could, burying as many arrows as     she could into their heads. there were too many & they  were  beginning     to shake the lorry, causing her  to  stumble  slightly  &  almost  lose  her     balance. she prayed that someone would appear, that  someone  would    get her out of the mess she was in. 

As far as he was from the scene, Nathan could hear the chaos as if he was right in the middle of it. It made him curious, so instead of getting as far away as he could, Nathan made his way closer. He was still a ways away when he spotted the source of all the commotion. Someone was on a lorry, completely surrounded, firing what appeared to be... arrows? Half hidden behind a wall, Nathan continued to watch. Though he wondered how this person planned to escape, and though he doubted that they would make it out alive, the thought of helping never crossed Nathan’s mind.

Matt’s eyebrow raised when Nathan pushed the granola back towards him. He wasn’t going to take it. Matt still left it there. The guy was hungry and Matt wasn’t going to let him go hungry. He pushed the bar back towards Nathan. It felt like they were playing a game as to who would give in first and just take the stupid granola.

“Dude--” Nathan shoved the granola back at Matt, annoyance furrowing his brow. “I've got nothing to trade for it. Keep it.” He reached for his bag and unzipped it, rummaging through its contents to double check. His word held true. There wasn’t much in the bag, but everything in it was something he needed. Without looking up, Nathan shook his head to disagree with Matt’s version of events. “That’s too tragic, I don’t like it. I’d rather think Mrs. Jones got a bite in before her husband shot her dead. He turned, and now he wanders around the house, protecting his garden gnomes.”

     Chris nodded slowly, “Uh, yeah. He’s my younger brother, Atticus…”

“Oh.” Nathan looked at her for a moment, not quite understanding why she didn’t take her brother for dead. “Did you guys get separated?”

     “Bam,” Olivia said, placing down the person card in the palm of their hand. “This is your card, isn’t it?” Maybe Ollie was having too much fun with this, but it had been forever since she had someone to present her card tricks to. To say that she was relieved that this person was willing to to play was an understatement.

Nathan snatched the card away and held it up to his face, squinting at it. This was impossible! How did she keep guessing the card right? Nathan flipped the card in his hand, checking it for markings or anything that would give away which card he had picked. “This is bullshit.” He handed the card back to her without confirming that it was indeed his card. “Lets do it again!”

Lux looked down at him with fire in her eyes. At least now that she thought about it, it wasn’t that bad of an idea, but she didn’t like that he had gone out of his way to fuck the plan up. She took it from him and sent in a spiral down to the undead. Once they got  to the top and where of firm ground she looked over at him once more. “Don’t do that again, okay?” 

Nathan watched the lighter drop and flames erupting on the undead below. He felt no guilt, watching them burn. Following her up the ladder, Nathan climbed onto the roof and looked over the ledge at the zombies writhing and moaning. “Yeah, yeah!” was all he said, the thought of apologizing never crossing his mind. They got what they came for, so what was the big deal? And just like that, as they stood on the rooftop watching the zombies burn, Nathan realized what the big deal was. “We should get moving. That’s going to attract more of them.” The smell, the noise. It wouldn’t be long before more of them came.

     Christina nodded, “Yeah, totally. Thanks…?” Christina slowly trailed off not knowing the guy’s name.

Nathan only nodded when she thanked him, not realizing he hadn’t introduced himself. “Who is he anyway, your brother or something?” he asked, of the photograph she had shown him.

     “Oh right,” Marissa said putting the gun away. “I’m Marissa, it’s nice to meet you, Nathan.”

Nathan let himself relax once she put the gun away. Lowering his hands, he looked around the room, nodding when she told him her name again. “Did you check the house? Is it clear?”

“What the fuck?” She stares at you with wide eyes. “That wasn’t the fucking plan.” Her eyes are fire, she can’t wait for this to be over so she can strangle you.

Nathan shrugged, flicking on a lighter. He actually dropped the canister of gasoline by accident on his way up the ladder. It wasn’t part of the plan, but the gasoline was spilling on the ground by the group of undead that followed them, so Nathan figured, why not?

     Marissa jumped once again, quickly grabbing her gun that was under jacket and pointing it towards the open doorway. Her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly at the sight of the awkward male, her arm lowering the gun.

She didn’t respond right away, so Nathan figured he should step into view, let her see that he meant no harm. Setting his lead pipe down on the ground beside him, Nathan held his hands up as he moved to the doorway. He regretted it the moment he saw her gun, and though she lowered it, Nathan still held his hands up. 

Even though Nathan shook his head refusing the granola again, Matt left it next to him. He literally heard his stomach growling, he wasn’t just going to eat in front of him without offering him some granola for himself. 

Nathan pushed the granola bar back to Matt, since he hadn’t taken it back. He didn’t want him to forget it there when they left, that would be such a waste. He snorted, shaking his head when Matt said the neighbors would be upset about their stolen garden gnomes.

     Christina shook her head, “No, thank you though. I look there later, which will end up with my getting lost.”

Nathan furrowed his brows at that. Had she never been to the school before? It was the only camp Nathan had ever dealt with. The others were too far, and too much of a pain to reach. Maybe she came from one of the other camps? “It’s not that hard to find,” he said, and started rattling off directions. He stopped mid-sentence, fearing he wasn’t being clear enough. “... Am I making sense?” he asked, double-checking. “That way.” He pointed off in a direction.

She had no idea where he was taking her, but she’d probably have followed him until they got too far from the hospital, because her brain was sort of misfiring at the idea that it was him. That he’d come from nowhere and taken her hand, like a ghost from her past, pulling her danger and frankly she was struck kind of dumb by it. She hadn’t even seen him since high school, and even then they’d never been as close as they had been as kids, something she’d always regretted. Where had he come from? How was he alive? Was he in a group? Her head was absolute chaos with thoughts, questions, and conflicting emotions, all underlined by the abruptly cut off panic attack that had been starting to take over her. 

With one last look at her, Nathan stepped outside, closing the door behind him to give her some privacy. He didn’t stray far from the door, keeping to the hallway just above the stairs. He didn’t want to leave her. She was the first familiar face he had seen in a long time. The only person he had known from before. They hadn’t exactly been friends; Nathan hadn’t even thought of her since the whole world went to shit. He hadn’t spared a moment to even think of her as dead. She had just stopped existing, along with everyone else.

“Well, the name’s Lexie.” She offered, before reaching for the batteries to stash into her bag, before she zipped it up and slung it onto her shoulder. Lexie held out her hand - mostly out of decorum, because she liked to consider anyone she’s traded with to be a non-hostile, someone she could safely interact with. “This the part where you shake my hand and tell me it’s been a pleasure to trade with me, by the way, in case you were wondering.”

Packing up his stuff, Nathan hooked his backpack over his shoulder, eyeing her curiously as she introduced herself and extended her hand... to shake his? Nathan was cautious as he took her hand, giving the impression that he wasn’t used to it. And he wasn’t. He usually parted ways much quicker than this, and he didn’t think to ask people’s names until the third or fourth meeting. If he ever saw them again. “Oh-- uh, I’m Nathan,” he added belatedly, awkward as he took his hand back. “Thanks. For the gauze.”

"Not on purpose. I wouldn’t have come in here if I knew someone would be inside.” He paused. “I’ll go now, let you get back to your nap.”

The sudden crash of glass on the kitchen floor scares her, and she presses herself against the wall with more force than before. She’s bracing for an attack in the worst possible way, frozen by fear. When the realization settles that the house is empty. Almost. Wait a fucking minute. Did he just throw that at her? Fuck fear.

There was no response from the kitchen, and just like that, Nathan knew he’d fucked up. He peeked out from behind the wall just as the other person rushed out of the kitchen, knife in hand. Nathan reacted without thinking, taking quick steps back to put distance between them. His hand reached into the waistband of his jeans, drawing a pistol which he aimed at her, flicking the safety off. Nathan barely registered anything she said; the knife in her hand posed a more immediate threat than anything she might be saying.