So I did an art/writing swap with the very talented Oorah22 on Tumblr, they drew my Deputy OC and Jacob from my fic 'Cold' and in return I wrote a short story about Nick Rye. I hope you like it!

TL;DR: Credit for request goes to Oorah22, please go check out their profile! They have great content and they're an artist!

Summary: After the Collapse, Nick Rye was working on a motorcycle for Carmina when he's captured by the Highwaymen. This short story is showing us what Nick was thinking when and after he got captured.

TW: Mild violence, mild language, mature themes.

     Nick wiped his hands on a towel draped over his shoulder, rubbing black motor grease into the already saturated fabric. He was trying to work on one of the old crappy motors in a motorcycle for Carmina to drive. With those damn Highwaymen running all over the place, he needed to know she had a reliable vehicle that she could count on.

Part of him was shocked that he was being forced to do this for her, fixing a hodgepodge machine with barely enough supplies to keep it running, to keep his teenaged daughter safe from a group of violent, lawless renegades. It was almost laughable, he remembered a time when the Peggies were their biggest concern. When being forced to atone was a bigger headache than being robbed and killed for a single bottle of motor oil.

Now, the Peggies weren't even in their minds. That old threat that once haunted their every move barely came out of their territory and if they did it was only at night and to hunt. Occasionally Nick swore he heard rumours that the New Edeners were attacking Highwaymen outposts, but he had a hard time believing they would do something like that.

Nick spent a lot of time thinking about the old days, and especially about the way it ended. All he remembered about the day of the Collapse was getting shot by a Bliss bullet and waking up at Joseph's compound with the Deputy yelling about getting up and fighting. Before he knew it, it was over and he was huddled with Kim and baby Carmina in their bunker, too scared to even move from their spot as they felt the earth shake around them.

After years of being in that bunker, when they finally left Nick was shocked by the world he found. Their house was broken and Rye and Sons was dilapidated, but they survived. Many of their friends survived, but a lot didn't. Especially not through the winters with how few supplies and resources they could scrounge up.

One of the most surprising losses was the Deputy. Apparently, Joseph drug them to Dutch's bunker and tortured them for years, he wasn't even sure whether or not they survived. He tried to find them but he wasn't going near those people, even if he was desperate to find the Deputy.

He liked thinking about what the Deputy would do if they were there. They'd probably help them push back against the Highwaymen, keeping them out of Hope County, at least at first. He wished more than anything that Carmina could have grown up around them, but that wasn't how things turned out.

Nick always hoped that one day, someone would help them, but so many people needed help around the country he doubted anyone would come for them. He didn't tell Carmina this, it would only make her upset. He wanted her to keep her safe and she was already so fierce and stubborn...If Nick told her not to hope for help he was worried she might go looking for trouble. It worked last time and they were blessed with the Deputy and their help, but this time Nick had a feeling they weren't going to be so lucky.

A bright voice came out from the hangar, effectively shaking Nick out of his thoughts. "Hey dad, how's the motorcycle going?" Carmina asked and walked out from a side room.

"It's going, I wish I had a new air filter for it so it would stop stalling so much but I've done about as much as I can." Nick motioned to the broken down motorcycle with a shrug.

"Let me guess, good as new?" Carmina joked and Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, fresh as the day it left the factory!" The distant sound of a motor made Nick's ears perk up. At first he thought it was Pastor Jerome, but the sound of hip hop music made Nicks stomach drop. "They're coming."

"What are you talking about?" Carmina asked and Nick turned around to face her.

"Go back to Prosperity, find your mother, tell her that the Highwaymen are coming to collect their debt." Nick instructed and hurried to start the motorcycle.

"Dad you're scaring me, what are you talking about?" Carmina asked and got on the motorcycle.

"There's no time to explain, you need to go now Carmina. Don't you dare come back here until it's safe, you hear me? I love you, don't worry, I can handle this." Nick told her and Carmina nodded, her hands still trying to work with her brain to get a grip on the handlebars.

"Please, be safe." Carmina said and drove the bike down a trail, avoiding the road that the Highwaymen were approaching from.

Nicks stomach was tied in tight knots, making his heart pound as he prayed that Carmina got out in time. Nick twisted the towel in his hands and tried to look busy as he heard the rock music getting louder and louder.

A large motorcade equipped with speakers, motorcycles, and trucks slid into the driveway, blaring their godawful music as loud as they could. Bright pink and yellow painted helmets bobbed as they got out of their vehicles. Two girls hopped out of the largest truck, the twins, Mickey and Lou.

The music turned down in volume and the Twins sauntered over to Nick.

"Well well well, what do we have here? The tinkerer, the mechanic, Nick Rye. We've heard a lot about you, about everything you do, everything you 'fix'. But you see, you only think you fix problems. In reality you only make problems, at least that's what you do right now." One of the twins started.

"If you were to work for us, you could solve problems. You and your family would be under our protection, all you have to do is fix our problems." The second twin added and Nick shook his head, folding his arms over his chest.

"Hell no, I ain't joining your little group, I've fought for me and my family's right to live here and that's what I'm going to do. I don't want your trouble, I just want things to stay the same." Nick stood firm, keeping his eye on the Highwaymen henchmen that were slowly circling him.

     One of the twins sighed, Nick couldn't remember who was who, and honestly he didn't care.

     "That's disappointing to hear, mechanic, that really is." The one in the blue shirt shook her head. Wasn't that Mickey? He remembered one of them had more of a temper.

     "Because when we get told no, people get hurt. But you're talents? Your skills? They're undeniable, they're useful, and we just can't let something like that go to waste." The one with the motorcycle chest protector on was more physically aggressive as she taunted Nick. That was definitely Lou, with the way she pointed at Nick and raised her voice she was definitely the aggressive twin.

     Mickey put her hand on her sisters shoulder and stepped closer to Nick, appealing to him with the same ferocious tone but a more civilized manner. "And since we're feeling extra generous today, we're going to give you a second chance to reconsider our offer. So what'll it be mechanic? You'll have access to some of the best engines in the country, you and your family will never have to worry about another meal ever again, you'll be the king of the castle!"

     Nick eyed the girls up and down, sure their offer was tempting but not enough for Nick to turn his back on his life long friends and his family. Carmina and Kim would never follow him with them, and if he ever did side with the Highwaymen then they shouldn't follow him because he'd obviously lost his mind.

     Nick spat at the twins feet, locking his jaw and gripping his arms tighter. "Go to hell." He hissed and Lou almost lunged for him, only being held back by Mickey's hand on her shoulder.

     "Wrong choice, mechanic." Mickey taunted and the Highwaymen pointed their guns at Nicks chest.

     Nick didn't look scared, he couldn't. Part of him was scared that Carmina was close by watching the whole thing, and he'd rather die than have her witness her dad punk out because of some gang.

     "I ain't going with you." Nick reaffirmed and Lou's mouth twitched.

     "It ain't up to you." She taunted and nodded her head. Nick turned around just in time to get a butt of a gun smashed into her head, knocking him to the ground.

     Lou laughed and Mickey folded her arms, looking down as Nick writhed on the ground. Two Highwaymen grabbed Nick by his shoulders and forced him off the ground to his knees.

     Nick bucked against their holds and tried to kick one of them to no avail. From the force of getting hit in the head, Nicks head was throbbing. He could taste metallic blood in his mouth, running down the back of his nose and down his throat. A Highwayman forced him to look up at the twins and he gritted his teeth.

     Mickey knelt down in front of him, getting incredibly close to his face. "You were given a choice, mechanic, and you choose the worse option. No take backs." She said and Nick spit on her face, spraying red blood across her cheeks and into her eyes.

     Mickey slowly wiped her face, smearing the blood across her cheeks. "That was a mistake." She said too calmly and suddenly the world went black.

     Nick's body felt like it was a hundred miles away from his head, even though it was pounding in his skull.

     Loud music.

     That was all Nick could hear as he groaned and woke up. His head was still pounding from getting hit with two different guns but he tried to ignore it and open his eyes. He was laying in the back of a Highwaymen prisoner truck, his arms tied behind his back. The truck slid around a corner and Nick couldn't stabilize himself in time to prevent his body from sliding across the floor of the truck.

     Nick slammed into the other side of the prisoner cell with a groan and cursed. The only relief he felt was that he was alone, they didn't get Carmina. Nick looked out the barred walls to see Hope County passing by, maybe it was his concussion or the still unfamiliar landscape but he didn't know where the driver was taking him.

     "Who are you?" Nick asked the driver, propping himself up so that he was sitting again.

     "That don't matter." The driver said and turned around another corner.

     "You don't want to do this man, you don't need to do this I've got a family they need me." Nick tried to appeal to the driver but he wasn't buying it.

     "Sit down, you're in the Highwaymen now and you don't want to start off dead." The driver warned in an aggressive tone and Nick decided it was best to just sit quietly until they got to their destination.

     They rumbled down the road, the annoying music didn't help with Nick's headache at all. Eventually they skidded to a stop, not very gently, and Nick got pushed up against the bars of the truck again.

Two motorcycles stopped alongside them and a Highwayman opened the back door of the truck, yanking Nick by his arm onto his feet. He stumbled from the concussion and the Highwayman pushed him towards a building. He cut the ropes that tied Nicks hands together with a large knife and pocketed it.

"We've got three engines in there that need to be fixed. Get to it." One of them said and walked over his motorcycle.

"Hell no, I ain't fixing shit." Nick spat and folded his arms over his chest.

"Actually you are, that is, if you care about that daughter and wife of yours." The Highwayman stepped closer to Nick, pointing at his chest.

"You watch your goddamn mouth!" Nick closed the distance, stabbing his finger into the Highwayman's shoulder.

In retaliation the Highwayman hit Nick across the face with his gun again. "Don't get mouthy! You do your job and you don't need to worry about your family getting hurt! You get too mouthy and then they'll have problems." The Highwayman spat at him and kicked him in the shoulder, attempting to persuade him to stay down.

Nick pushed himself up onto his knees. "If you ever touch my family-"

"You've got a job to do, mechanic. Get to it before the twins get impatient." The tone in his voice showed how impatient he was getting.

Nick wanted to fight back, wanted to get in the Highwayman's face and shout about how he wasn't ever going to work for them, but he knew better. Back in the day he would never have let himself be bullied like this, but they brought Kim and Carmina into this, and Nick would die before he got them hurt.

Nick looked over at the shed, then back at the Highwayman towering over him. "I fix those engines and I get to go back home." He bargained and the Highwayman shook his head.

     "You will fix what the twins want you to fix, then you can try and bargain with the twins about your release." He barked and motioned to the shed with his gun.

     Nick gave the Highwayman one last glare before he rolled his shoulders and rose to his feet. He straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin, still giving the Highwayman the cold angry stare he never was very good at making. Neither Nick nor the Highwayman were backing down, the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

     Nick was in no position to be picking a fight. He was outnumbered three-one, and he didn't have a single weapon to use. Honestly, Nick didn't think he would stand a chance if he decided to revolt but he still wasn't going to let them think he was scared.

     Nick wiped his mouth with his thumb and stepped closer to the shed, keeping himself facing the Highwayman. When he had put enough distance between him and the Highwayman, Nick turned around and walked over to the shed, deciding that the quicker he went to work the happier the twins would be.

     He opened the shed and saw three engines under sheets. He immediately knew that these would be easy to work on, but if he did small things to them, just enough to cause problems but not enough to get him caught then he could help out the people of Hope County indirectly.

     Behind him, Nick could hear one of the Highwaymen calming down her companion as he fumed about Nick getting in his face. Nick felt a swell of anger fuelled pride in his chest at how easily he got under the Highwayman's skin.

     He spent the next few hours on one of the engines, having to fully take apart, clean, and then put together the base of the engine. He knew that the Highwaymen didn't take care of their machines but this was extreme. 

     As he worked, Nick thought about Kim and Carmina. He prayed that Carmina made it back to Prosperity in time to escape those bastards. Although of the twins hadn't threatened him with hurting her so he could only assume that she was safe. He really hoped that she wouldn't come try to find him. The last thing he needed to worry about was Carmina getting herself hurt trying to save him.

     Nick was being held for weeks.

     Every time he got done with a motor or replacing a tire or fixing something on one of the twins' trucks they had another project for him. To be fair, it was partially his fault. He kept making nearly minuscule adjustments to the engines or trucks, making them doomed to fail but making them hold out for long enough so no one would suspect it was him doing it.

     He didn't have a plan other than do what the Highwaymen told him to do, for Kim and Carmina, to keep them safe. If he was working then they were safe. Of course Nick hated every second of it, every note of those god awful songs made his eyes roll and his skin cringe. Every time the twins would come up to check on his progress and threaten him, he felt a new burst of rage bubble up.

     But for his family's sake, he stayed quiet, he didn't push back as much as he wanted to. And believe me he wanted to more than anything.

     After it was a quiet week, Nick was waiting in the tiny, smelly, hot shed for himself to get enough courage to sneak away. He had been memorizing the patterns of the guards stationed around him twenty-four-seven and he knew that there was going to be a couple minute long break where the guards waited and chatted.

     Nick normally didn't leave the shed so it wouldn't be unusual for the guards not to come in and look at him, but when they did he wanted there to be a significant amount of distance between him and the guards. So Nick waited, pausing just by the back door of the shed and heard the guards talking.

     "I heard that Rye girls been stirring up trouble again." One of them said in a hushed tone.

     "Yeah that's what all that ruckus was last night. Apparently she snuck out and met up with some 'Thomas Rush', tried to sneak him in the valley on a train as if we wouldn't know about a big ass hunk of metal flying into our territory." The other guard scoffed.

     Nicks blood went cold. Carmina snuck out and found someone, she actually did it. But the way the guards were talking about the train, it sounded like it didn't go well for her.

     "Yeah, the scouts found some pretty good shit in the rubble after the crash, mostly supplies and ammo for guns, but no people."

     "I heard that the girl got away and the twins found three others running away from the site."

    "Really? Who?"

   "Hell if I know, all I heard was that Thomas Rush is being held somewhere. One of them died, and the other is MIA."

     "I wonder if that'll be a problem."

     "Knowing the twins it won't be. Anyone willing to stand up to them has gotta be crazy or stupid."

     Nick felt relieved that, allegedly,Carmina wasn't killed or captured. But that stuff about the train...could it be true? Could his daughter have found someone willing to travel all the way out here to help them?

    He realized that he spent his whole chance to escape listening to the guards' conversation and quickly got back to work, a small pulse of pride making his face and body grow warm. Both from fear and from wonder.

     It had been a three weeks since the train crash and someone had been making the Highwaymen miserable. The person that escaped the twins on their first night was a person called the Security Captain and boy were they making a splash.

     Nick was getting motorcycle after car after truck in to be repaired from all the damage the Security Captain was making. And apparently, Carmina had been working with them. He heard the guards curse and complain about the destruction they've been bringing to the valley, each and every tale made Nick's heart leap with joy.

     One night Nick was working on an axel for one of the Highwaymen's trucks. Apparently the Security Captain and Carmina had been setting traps along the roads that consisted of thin metal wires that got caught in the axels and made the tires lock up, rendering them immobile. It was very smart, and Nick was very very happy to see his daughter come up with something so brilliant. If only she wasn't putting herself in so much danger.

    He could only imagine how stressed out Kim was with all that's happening. God he missed her. Missed her voice, missed her smile when he made a joke. He missed holding her in his arms while she planned out where to put gardens and defences. He missed when they were both young and full of energy, but he wouldn't change growing old with her for the world.

     He wished he could have held her in his hug for a little longer the morning before he got taken. Wished he would have kissed her a little more. Wished wished wished. All he did was wish and miss her and Carmina. He couldn't wait until he found a way out of this shit hole so that he could go back to her, then he would hold and kiss her for hours.

     The sound of gunfire made Nick snap awake. He shot up from his cot on the floor of the shed and rushed to a window. Seeing two masked figures shooting down the guards around the perimeter of the work area. Nick banged on the window and door of the shed, yelling at the masked figures to let him out. The guards always locked the door after dark, they didn't want him to get any ideas about escaping.

     One of the masked figures patted down the dead guards with extra precision, pulling out the items they needed. The other figure noticed Nick and rushed over to the door, banging on the door and breaking off the heavy metal lock latching it shut.

     The door swung open and the person took of their mask. It was Carmina.

     There she stood, Nick's baby girl, with a gun on her hand and a ski mask pulled up over her face so that she could see him. As soon as she saw her dad, her face brightened and she rushed into his arms. Wrapping her arms around him so tight it brought a tear to his eye.

     "I knew you were alive!" She cried into his chest, gripping the back of his shirt in her shaking hands as they embraced.

     "Carmina, baby girl, how'd you find me?" Nick asked and stroked Carmina's hair, trying to fight back the emotion creeping into his voice.

     "The Captain found you, they're amazing dad! Just like the Deputy you always told me about!" Carmina beamed excitedly and pointed to the other masked person. They walked over awkwardly, holding their gun ready.

     "I've heard a lot about you, you have an amazing daughter and an incredible wife. How about we get you home now?" The 'Captain' asked him kindheartedly, raising their mask so that Nick could see their face.

     "I'm so done with this place, let's go home." Nick said and looked down at his daughter.

     "Mom's going to be so happy to see you!" Carmina said, still wiping tears away from her cheeks as she smiled bigger than Nick had ever seen.