𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓, 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄
she wasn't just pretty, but otherworldly and vaguely threatening

WHEN NADIA HELSING pictured the end of the world, she would've never thought there would be flesh-eating monsters wandering around, making many people fear for their lives and wonder how long it took until death caught up to them.

But then again, that was young Nadia's thoughts; the older Nadia knows better. She had seen the world come close to an end when she was twelve—she's now eighteen. She's seen true monsters, the kind of evil that most people would never be able to wrap their minds around.

Now, she is doing it all on her own—she has no one anymore. She refuses to run into the arms of the one and only Buffy Summers, especially after what she allowed to happen to her baby brother.

And that was roughly two weeks ago—the image still burned into her brain—and she has been all over the place, saving people, killing any monsters that come out of the shadows, and she doesn't show anyone mercy. She is eighteen, angry, and just looking for an exit, a way to forget all her problems.

Nadia snaps back to reality when she hears footsteps approaching. Thinking it's one of the dead, she grabs her knife and climbs out of the car she was resting in.

The teenage girl then walks slowly towards the sound, and soon growls accompany the footsteps.

"Little girl," she hears a masculine voice say, and Nadia furrows her brows in confusion.

Nadia follows the voice, things slowly becoming clear when she sees a man dressed in a police uniform talking to a blonde-haired child.

She tilts her head, letting out a quiet breath when she notices the girl isn't a girl anymore. Dead, just like everyone else.

The growls grow louder when the walker notices the man standing only a few feet away. It begins to shuffle towards him.

Nadia swiftly moves out from behind one of the abandoned cars, taking a handful of the girl's blonde hair and plunging the knife deep into the back of her skull.

Nadia grits her teeth, barely registering that she practically just killed a little girl—but she is already long dead. She pulls the knife out and lets the body drop to the ground before looking at the man in front of her.

"You know, a gun isn't the best choice," Nadia says simply, wiping blood off the knife and placing it back in the sideways sheathe at the back of her pants. "The noise would attract more attention than you'd want."

The man in uniform just stares at her in shock—she's only a teenager, and she shouldn't have to live in this kind of world.

Nadia tilts her head, crossing her arms as she looks him directly in the eyes. "What are you doing out here...?"

He clears his throat and says, "Rick Grimes."

She raises an eyebrow. "Hmm. Cool name. Now, what kind of idiot walks up to one of the dead, and tries to have a conversation with them?"

Rick clears his throat again, letting out a small chuckle as he wiggles the red gas container in his hand. "I was just looking for some gas."

Nadia clicks her tongue. "Sorry to burst your bubble, buddy-boy, but there is no gas around here." She then sighs and thinks it over before saying, "There's a farm close by. You can search there."

He raises his eyebrows as he looks her over. "And who are you?" She can't be much older than eighteen, and she already looks like she's seen more than a kid should.

"Nadia," she states simply, starting to back away.

She's hesitant to leave, realising the man doesn't know how the current world works. But it's not like it was a great place to begin with anyway. For Nadia, it had always been bloody and bruising, and it only got worse when the apocalypse began.

"Do you want to join me?" He asks, even though he knows he shouldn't trust a girl who killed someone right in front of him, but he also knows the world is a little different than it was before.

Nadia pauses and chews on her lip, actually debating with herself. She knows she's better off on her own, always has been. Every time she's with someone, they eventually die.

But looking at Ranger Rick, she knows he can handle himself better than people she's known since the start of all this. Plus, her gut is screaming at her to go with him.

After letting out a sigh, Nadia nods slowly. "I have nothing else better to do," she states, tilting her head. "So, are we going or not?"

Rick couldn't help but smile at the girl before nodding his head.

"Okay, let's go." She starts down the road, him trailing behind her.

Rick catches up so they're walking side by side. "Do you live around here? Is that how you know about the farm?"

Nadia doesn't look his way, keeping her eyes straight ahead of them, and she bites the inside of her cheek as she remembers her little brother. "No. I've just been around this area for a little while." She finally turns to him after a minute of silence. "So, what about you, Ranger Rick? Why are you out here all alone?"

Rick stares back at her for a solid minute before saying, "I'm looking for my wife and son." He then elaborates further, "I was in a coma when all this started, and I only woke up a few days ago."

"Oh, been there, done that," she comments dryly.

One of her foster fathers had put her in a two-day coma by throwing her down a flight of stairs. The only good thing about that wasn't the broken arm or the fractured wrist, but that she was away from that asshole.

The two finally step onto some farmland, and Nadia claps her hands. "We're here."

"Hello?" Rick calls, peering through one of the house windows, his eyes squinting slightly as he tries to get a clearer look.

Nadia does the same, glancing into the house. She wrinkles her nose in disgust and a little sadness at the sight.

A couple, lying dead on the floor, the man with a shotgun held limply in his hands. There is a lot of old blood on the floorboards and even smeared on the wall as a message. God forgive us.

"God's not going to help you now," Nadia mutters. She has never really believed in the big man upstairs, especially after everything.

She tears her gaze away from the scene and turns to Rick, who looks upset. "Come on, let's go."

They head around the side of the house, searching for a vehicle to siphon gas out of. But the only thing in sight is a horse.

Nadia's lip twitches up at the beautiful animal in front of her, and she turns to Rick, excitement in her eyes. "Tell me, Sheriff, where are we heading? Because I've just found our ride."

Rick smiles in response. "The city."

NADIA AND RICK ride the horse together into the city. It's quiet, almost like it's vacant, and looks as if it's been overrun by zoo animals from Jumanji.

Nadia is getting a bad feeling and keeps voicing her worries to Rick, but he's persistent and doesn't want to turn back. It's something she finds herself admiring in him. Rick is also determined to go in the same direction as the helicopter they saw a ways back.

They continue to ride through the city in silence until they hear growls, and Nadia glances behind to see two walkers trailing after them.

Rick clicks his tongue and urges the horse to go a little faster, and Nadia tightens her grip on his waist instead of simply jumping off the horse and killing the walkers herself.

They turn a corner only to see not one, but dozens of walkers stumbling around in front of them. Nadia's eyes widen in alarm at the sight.

"Heeyah!" Rick calls loudly, the horse turning and beginning to gallop down the roads, but they come to an abrupt halt in front of another herd of walkers. "Get off the horse!"

Without a second thought, Nadia backflips off the horse and lands on her feet. She turns around, coming face to face with a walker, and without hesitation, she whips out her knife and drives it deep into its skull.

"Let's go!" Rick yells, and Nadia quickly follows him, nodding her acceptance as he points to a lone tank up ahead.

Nadia doesn't stop running for the tank, even as she hears the horse struggling to free itself from the herd. Despite everything, she just keeps on running.

As Rick crouches and crawls under the tank, Nadia quickly kills a couple of walkers in the way before following his lead. Both of them climb through the hatch and close it before the walkers can touch them.

"Are you okay? Are you bit?" Rick asks, worried, looking her up and down.

Nadia raises an eyebrow at him before shaking her head as she tries to catch her breath. That's the most excitement she's had in days.

Rick nods and rests his back against the wall next to a dead body. Or so they think, as the body begins to move.

"Shit!" Nadia shouts, and Rick quickly turns to the walker, whips out his gun, and pulls the trigger. The sound rings loudly in the small space.

Nadia clasps her hands over her ears as her surroundings blur briefly before coming back into focus again. "What the hell?" She snaps, glaring at Rick.

"Hey, dumbasses," a male voice says suddenly, and both of them turn in surprise to the radio on the corpse. "Yeah, you two in the tank, cosy in there?"