Nell was fiddling with Snuggles' ear when she heard a knock on the bedroom door. She was too afraid to leave the room and speak to all the people, so the people started coming to her.

"Come in," Nell says and drops the bunny next to her on the bed.

The man who opens the door appears to be in his late thirties. He has dark hair and looks very clean. His beard was recently shaved and there is no blood or dirt anywhere on him. He wears a sheriff's uniform and an empty holster at his side.

Why would he have that if they didn't have weapons?

The man carries himself with authority and confidence.
This puts a sense of fear in Nell, as the way the man stands reminds her of her father.

"Hey. I'm Rick Grimes." The man says. His voice is rugged and deep, the opposite of the old man's.

Nell doesn't say anything. She just stays sitting crisscross applesauce on the bed, staring at the man in front of her.

"Look..." Rick starts. "I know you're probably scared and very confused. This whole situation has been a misunderstanding. Now, if you would just tell me your name and where your group is, we can drop you off there."

Again, Nell says nothing.

"Kid, we can't help you if you don't speak," Rick says again.

Silence.
Nell picks up Snuggles again and starts twirling his ear around her fingers.

Rick Grimes sighs.
"Well, you can always leave this room and meet the rest of us if you want. It's a pretty big farm, so feel free to explore." Rick says and is about to shut the door before Nell speaks up.

"I got no group," Nell says in a monotone, looking down at Snuggles. "It's just me."

Rick pauses for a moment, staring at the girl and observing the grief-stricken expression that appeared on her face.
Then, he just nods at Nell and closes the door behind him as he leaves the room.

• • •

Nell looks out of the bedroom window to see a bunch of people circling around Rick, who is telling them where to go.

They are probably still looking for that girl. I think her name was Sophia.

Nell watches as Rick and everyone else disperse in different directions.

Now is my chance.

Nell grabs Snuggles and her water jug and quietly opens the bedroom door.

She heads to the kitchen and picks out the sharpest knife she could find to take with her. She figured it would be years until she found her dad's knife, so there was no way she was going to cluelessly roam the house looking for it.

Once Nell picked out her knife, she walked out of the front door of the farmhouse.

She is going to run away.

These people may seem nice, but they aren't going to live very long since they don't have weapons.
And Nell doesn't want to be a part of that.
She is sick of losing people.

So she is going to run away.

Or so she thought.

The moment she shut the door behind her, a voice from the porch says "Where are you going?"

Nell's eyes widen in surprise and she spins around to meet a boy her age. He had bright blue eyes and a sheriff hat on his head that was too big for him.

"You're Nell, right? Beth told me about you. I'm Carl," says the boy.

"Is Rick your dad?" Nell asks, remembering the sheriff uniform Rick was wearing.

"Yeah. My dad's a sheriff. It used to be just me and my mom, we thought he was dead because he was shot, but then one day, he showed up in our camp in Atlanta..." Carl begins to say, but Nell interrupts him.

"Is he the leader or somethin'?" Nell asks the boy, genuinely curious as to why Rick has the authority of the group.
Also, it can't hurt to know more about these strange people, even though she is running away.

"Sorta," Carl answered. "Anyway, you never answered my question. Where are you going? Where did you get that knife? Why do you have a stuffed bunny? Aren't those for kids?" Carl asks, changing the conversation.

"Nowhere. And the bunny ain't mine." Nell said, shutting down his questions. Carl talked too much. It was annoying her.

Nell walked down the stairs of the porch and Carl jumped up and bolted after her.

"If it isn't yours, then whose is it?" Carl asks.

This boy was seriously starting to bug Nell.

"It's no one's, okay? Just leave me alone." Nell quickens her pace, hoping that Carl would just stay at the farmhouse.

"Where are you going? You're definitely going somewhere. Can I come with you?" Carl asks Nell, quickening his pace to match hers.

Nell ignores him. Maybe if she doesn't answer him, he will just leave her alone.

"If you don't answer me, I'm going to tell my dad." The boy says, trying to get Nell to stop walking.

"Oh yeah? And what's he gonna do?" Nell asks, totally unamused by his attempt to threaten her.

"He will— um— he will— he's Rick Grimes! He'll do something!" Carl shouts.

"Well, you go tell Rick Grimes that I'm leavin', so he don't gotta worry bout' me no more," Nell says, withdrawing her knife because they have just entered the woods.

"You know what Nell? You're not very nice! You should have stayed wherever you came from because I definitely—
Nell put to finger against his lips to shut him up.

"Shush!" Nell whispered. "Do you hear that?"

The bushes all around them were rustling.
There was no sign of any brain munchers, so Nell knew it must be a person.

"Well, well, well." Said a voice that belonged to a man, coming out of the bushes.
The man held a gun.

Nell took out the kitchen knife she stole from the farmhouse and held it high.

"Not so fast." Said another voice from behind her. The man behind her grabbed her arm that held the knife.

"Let go of me!" Nell screamed and struggled against the man's grip.

"Not until you answer a few questions first." The first man said.

"What are little kids like you two doing out here in the big scary woods?" He asks, his dark eyes darting back and forth between Nell and Carl.

"Nothin'. And we ain't little." Nell answered.

"You both look pretty put together, you must have a nice place to stay, huh? So why don't you be good and just tell me? Where's your group living?" The man asks the two kids.

"She isn't in my group," Carl responds, looking at the man and then glancing over to look at Nell to give her a dirty look.

"Wow, well you kids really don't wanna cooperate, huh?" Said the man. "You guys know what to do." He said, addressing the men around them.

Nell didn't like the sound of that one bit.

Not even 5 seconds after the man said that another guy, punched Carl right in the side of the head, knocking him out.

"Carl!" Nell yells as she watches the man scoop Carl up and hang him over his shoulder.

Then, the guy from behind her drives his elbow into the middle of her skull.

And suddenly, everything goes black.