—  ZOE STOOD WITH HER LITTLE SISTER in her arms, looking down at her like it was her lifeline, that everything she did was for this little baby. Her mother's death wouldn't be for nothing, and she was going to make sure of that. She looked to the side and saw her father, having some sort of panic attack on the floor, before she turned back to Nate, who still stood close to her, keeping his hand on her back. She was glad he was by her side, and she couldn't ask for anything more. He was her everything. "Let me see the baby." Hershel spoke up, breaking Zoe out of her thoughts about the small baby. She didn't waste any time walking towards Hershel with her little sister wrapped up in Carl's jacket, cooing and grabbing for the air. Daryl was questioning if the baby could eat anything from the prison, whilst Nate held back to ensure that Rick was okay, but the man couldn't hear anyone, he was in his own little bubble, ignoring everyone around him. "The good news is she looks healthy. But she needs formula soon or she won't survive." Hershel told everyone as he opened Carl's jacket to look at the baby in Zoe's arms.

Panic rose in Zoe - the last thing a prison would have is formula, and she didn't even know if there was anywhere near where they could get the stuff. "Nope. No way." Daryl denied, "Not her. We ain't loosing nobody else." He said, knowing that the group had lost enough of their people since their time at the prison - he didn't want to loose this baby, too. "I'm going for a run." He announced.

"Want me to back you up?" Nate asked, moving away from an immobile Rick and heading towards his brother. Nate wanted nothing but to keep this baby alive, and he would do anything to keep it that way, along with Daryl.

Daryl instantly shook his head, motioning towards Zoe, who still looked like she was on the verge of fainting at any minute, "She needs you here." He told his brother. Over the course of travelling with this group, he had grown to like Zoe as a person, and knew that she treated his brother well - he didn't want anything to happen to her, as not only would he have lost someone close to him, but it would break his brother.

Nate instantly nodded, knowing that he did indeed have to stay behind for his girl, and keeping her sane is something that was heavily important. "I'll go." Maggie decided, knowing that she could be a good help on the run.

"Me too." Glenn spoke up, not wanting Maggie to go with Daryl alone, as they needed all the help they could get..

Zoe looked down at her baby sister with a ghost of a smile on her face, while the talking around her slowly faded and was blocked out once again as she recalled what she had to do back in the prison basement. It was only when she saw the blood coating her hands and in her nails, did her eyesight begin to blur, and she couldn't stand straight any longer, having the feeling that she was going to collapse. Beth saw this and instantly took the baby out of Zoe's hands, allowing the girl to breath. The second the baby was away, Zoe looked down at her hands and only now, saw the blood that coated them. Her mother's blood. She couldn't take her eyes off of them - her mother died under her hands.
"Zo." She heard as a muffle besides her, but she hadn't answered; it was like she was frozen staring at her dead mother's blood. "Zo." She heard again, this time more clearly, and after that, she saw Nate's face in front of her own, growing increasingly worried at her behaviour.

Nate didn't know what the hell happened in there, and he didn't even know if he wanted to find out. The blood on Zoe's hands didn't give him any confidence that the girl hadn't done anything. It wasn't an easy birth, and everyone knew that.. But what did happen in there? Zoe turned around to face her dad as he made a sudden movement, grabbing the axe on the ground and storming away, back into the prison. "Dad! Don't!" She begged, going to rush after him, but Nate had stopped her quickly, knowing that the man had to get this out of his system.

"Hey, Zo. It's okay." He mumbled, pulling her back towards him as everyone watched in complete sadness.

Zoe sucked in a breath, "You don't get it. I h-had t-to." She stuttered, tears now streaming from her eyes as she looked up at Nate, "I didn't want to, s-she told me t-to." She cried. Nate frowned at her words and instantly pulled the small girl into his hold, now knowing what happened just from her words and the ghosted look in her eyes. He hated that his girl had to go through that, and he wasn't there to help. He would never forgive himself for this.

"It's okay, baby." Nate told her, stroking her hair as she sobbed into his chest, letting it all out. "It's okay. I'm here." He said, leaning his chin on her head as she was much smaller than him, he held her as she cried, and it broke his heart into little pieces as he had never seen her this heartbroken.

"He can't see her like that, Nate." Zoe cried, "He can't." She sobbed.

Nate sighed, pulling the girl into his hold as the others watched in sorrow, while Hershel held Carl as the boy was also upset at what had just happened to their mom. The others then dispersed, getting ready to go on a run to find some baby food, leaving the others stood in the same spot as before - Nate just couldn't bring himself to move Zoe. He knew that he had to get her inside, but with all of the walker bodies lying around, he didn't want her going through that, so he simply held her as she cried..

Zoe hadn't moved from hers and Nate's room since he practically carried her there - she couldn't bring herself to move any of her muscles, as she just stared at the wall. Nate had no idea what to do.. Her father was off killing walkers in the corridors and her little brother wasn't talking to anyone, what happened with Lori had really broken the family. Nate had left her in their room for a minute whilst he grabbed a bowl of clean water and a cloth, hoping to clean her up and rid of all of the blood that had stained all over her skin and in her nails. After he had gathered all of the supplies to clean her, he headed back up to their room, and pulled their makeshift curtain across the doorway, giving them the privacy that they needed.

Zoe didn't even flinch or move as he crouched down in front of her with his bowl of water and a cloth, she didn't even take her eyes off of the wall in front of her as he carefully took her jacket off and folded it up on the side, knowing that he had to watch that later, before she put it back on. Nate then carefully stroked the wet cloth down her arms, the blood coming off after a few scrubs, and ended up cleaning her as she silently cried to herself, the tears falling in complete silence. He didn't want her to talk about what had happened, as he knew it wasn't good, so all he could do was be there for her as she had her episode.

It was a few minutes of silence before Zoe finally spoke up, knowing that Nate had to know what she had done to her mom. "I killed her." She spoke, quietly, so that Nate could barely even hear her, but he did, and he paused what he was doing to look up at her as she still stared across the room. She couldn't look at him, not after what she had done, would he think differently of her? Would he think she was a monster? She couldn't even think about that right now, loosing Nate as well as her mother in one day isn't something she could get through. "There was no other option. The baby would have died." She carried on.

Nate sighed, placing the cloth down as he took both of her hands in his own, "This wasn't your fault. You did everything you could for your mom." He told her, truthfully. He knew that Zoe obviously didn't want to kill her mother and if there was some other way that she could have done it that way if she could have. Everyone in the group knew that the childbirth would be hard from the beginning, and most of them had even predicted that something like this would have happened.

Zoe finally looked him in the eye, before sobbing once again, "She's dead." She said in realisation. She had been so caught up on how her mom had died and the blood on her arms and in her nails, that it hadn't sunk in properly that she was actually dead. She was gone, and she wasn't coming back. Nate instantly stood up and took the seat besides her, allowing the girl to lean into him and cry her eyes out.. It made him want to cry himself, seeing the girl he loved in so much pain, and there was nothing he could do.

Lori Grimes was dead, and she left behind a group of broken people..

——

"How is she?" Glenn asked Nate, as he came out to help dig the graves of the people they had lost today. Glenn hadn't expected him to be out here when Zoe was panicking so much, but he knew that there wasn't much any of them could do. Lori was dead, and she wasn't coming back. He felt awful for his best friend, he knew how close she was with her mom, and he knew that this was breaking the girl. He just hoped that they could all help her get through this - she was strong, and he knew that she could get through it, she just needed time.

"She's asleep." Nate told Glenn, as they both shoved their shovels into the ground and yanked out the dirt, creating a bigger hole for the three people they had lost today.

Glenn nodded as he watched Nate, who looked like he was shoving his own emotions down for the sake of Zoe. "She's strong. She'll get through this." He told the boy. Zoe Grimes was one of the strongest girls he knew, and if he knew anything, it was that she will come out of this stronger than before. She had to, for her little siblings, and now, for her broken father, and he knew she could do it.

Nate sighed, leaning on the shovel as he looked up at Glenn. It was no secret that he didn't like the boy when they first met - Nate didn't like anyone, and if it weren't for Zoe, he wouldn't have come out of his shell. He owed that girl everything.. But since they moved to the farm, he had grown close to the Korean boy, and he actually considered him a close friend, and would do anything for him. "She had to kill her own mom, man." He told Glenn, knowing that Zoe wouldn't have minded if Glenn knew. The two were close, and told each other everything.

Glenn's eyes widened in surprise, and he instantly looked up to the sky, "Oh, man." He sighed, having not expected hearing that. He had gathered that Lori had died during childbirth, he hadn't expected that Zoe had done it herself.. This must be killing the girl, and he hated to think that she was going through this alone. "Rick hasn't come out since he stormed in there with his axe." He eventually spoke, knowing that they needed Rick to bring Zoe back to reality. He was her father, and if anyone could help her, it was him.

Nate knew where Glenn was headed with this, and he instantly nodded at him, knowing what they had to do. They had to get Rick. "Let's go." He said, as Glenn nodded, before the two boys headed back to the prison to get their belongings, knowing that they couldn't come back without Rick, for Zoe's sake.

Zoe was still asleep when Nate had left her to leave with Glenn, and he intended to let her sleep for as long as she needed, after all, she had been through a lot in the last few hours, and needed all the sleep she could get. He and Glenn set off after letting Hershel and Carl know where they were going and to take care of things while they were gone, and to watch out for Axel and Oscar in case they tried anything. The group hadn't forgotten that it was their friend who killed their people, so they didn't trust them as of yet.. Especially Nate.

Glenn and Nate hadn't spoken a word since they started travelling through the dark and empty hallways in which Nate hadn't been since they had to chop off Hershel's leg and clear a cel block for the prisoners. As they advanced forwards, there was a trail of dead walker bodies whom had been chopped up with an axe, which made it clear that Rick had gone this way, and they were on the right track. Going through this hallway of dead walkers was like some kind of horror movie, and Nate was actually nervous to find Rick. The man had just lost his wife, there's no telling how he was going to act to Nate and Glenn trying to bring him back to the rest of the group. If Nate had lost Zoe, he would loose his mind, and that's a fact - he didn't think he would be sane without her by his side. If this work wasn't done by Rick, Nate would think the guy who had done this would be some kind of psychotic killer, but as it was Rick, it made it just that much worse. They didn't know what he was going to be like..

When the two boys turned the corner, the first thing they saw was an axe, covered in blood, which was dripping off of the weapon and creating a small puddle of blood on the floor below, and looking up at the person holding it, they saw Rick, staring at the wall just like Zoe had done before. "Everybody's worried about you." Glenn spoke up first, "You shouldn't be in here." He told Rick, as Nate stood guard, making sure that no walkers could creep up on them from behind. "Come on out." Glenn said.

Nate sighed when Rick turned around, having seen that he is in the exact same psychotic state as his girlfriend, and he knew instantly that it wasn't going to be easy getting Rick out of here in one piece, if they could at all. Nate walked towards Rick slowly, making sure not to startle the man who didn't seem to be in his right mind. "Rick, man. You don't have to do this alone, come back to the group, and we can sort something out." He tried to reason.

Glenn nodded, also walking up to Rick, "Our cell block is cleared, so we'll just close off all the doors again." Glenn told the man, but Rick wasn't listening to a word they said.

"Rick, why don't you come with us?" Nate asked him, holding his hands out in surrender, wanting to take the axe from his hands, but fearing that Rick may swing. When Rick didn't answer again, Nate figured he would try and disarm Rick, knowing that it was dangerous letting the man keep it, but, the second he reached out, Rick shoved the boy against the wall, holding his forearm against his neck, breathing hard, like he didn't even know what he was doing.

Glenn immediately began to come forwards and help out, but Nate held his hand up to him, silently telling him to stay where he was, so they didn't startle Rick any more. He knew what this was like, he had seen his father do so plenty of times, and all he had to do was wait for it to blow over. Glenn backed up from Nate's command, as he kept his eyes on Rick as the man practically strangled him. He knew not to take it to heart, the man was clearly hurting, so he simply took it, but if this was anyone else, they wouldn't even be alive right now. Rick was lucky that Nate liked him.

A few seconds passed and Rick shoved Nate away from him, wanting to be left alone, and Nate instantly granted his wish, backing up and making sure Glenn didn't go near him, either. The two watched as Rick walked off further into the dark corridors, still holding his bloody axe in a tight grip. "Just let him go." Nate good Glenn quietly, as they watched Rick leave. "He'll come back sooner or later." He said.

Glenn didn't want to leave Rick alone, but after seeing what he had just done to Nate, he didn't fancy that happening to him, so he let Rick go, hoping that the man wouldn't get himself into any trouble while he was out killing walkers.
They both just hoped that he wouldn't find Lori.

They prayed..