Fandom The Walking Dead; A Different Perspective

[Crono]

Is it though? Ryan asked himself, staring up at the roof when Nick's groaning started and he sat up to look over at the other man with a raised brow. "You don't think he's dreaming about me do you?" The man asked in a confused state. Rachel's words had Ryan cocking his head to the side, "Stay with him? I can't tell if you told me to go for it and give him a shot or if you just told me to slip into bed with him." Nick's tossing and turning was becoming more constant and Ryan let out a huff as he stood off his bed, "I should probably wake him up." He said as he walked over and sat on the edge of Nick's bed, "Hey, Nick", Ryan said putting a hand on the mans shoulder and giving it a gentle shove, "Wake up."

 

[NightQueen]

Nick was tossing and turning, it was as if he was back in active duty. It all seemed so real, he could feel the breeze on his face, the sand and heat felt more real than anything.


Nothing seemed to be stirring him from what the rational part of his brain knew to be a nightmare, but that was the thing about PTSD no matter how aware you were the survivalist part of your brain took it to be real so the fear and terror was very real.


Opening his eyes at Ryan's touch he shot up, grabbing his shoulders, his eyes wide and his breathing ragged. His hands trembling slighty he closed his eyes to control his breathing.


"Please don't let go"


He begged quietly.


___________________________________________________________


Cat ran her hand gently through Kat's hair when she heard nick. Freezing her hand, she let go and promptly got up heading for the tent and pulling back the flap in time to see Nick trembling and holding onto Ryan. For once Cats iron nerves had failed her as she was very worried judging on how Nick looked.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Rachel chuckled as Ryan asked if Nick might've been dreaming about him. "Trust me, if he was dreaming about you, you'd know it. I've got experience." She said, smiling with her arms folded, sitting on her own bed, looking over to Ryan then shrugging as he asked whether or not she suggested that he give Nick a shot or if he should get in bed with Nick, replying with "Maybe both. Doesn't matter." She said, dismissing it, then watching Ryan walk over to Ryan, attempting to wake the other man up, if anything it looked like Nick was having a nightmare, `Oh..it's his PTSD.` Rachel thought to herself, damn she'd have to let Ryan know, but it was too late Nick woke up, grabbing Ryan by the shoulders and begging with him to not let go, it broke Rachel's heart to see the kind man like that, she stood up and walked over to Ryan and Nick. Whispering into Ryan's ear. "He's got PTSD from his service..Catrina told me." Before pulling away and looking down with a compassionate expression to the other man.


Kat was just beginning to enjoy herself and relax as Catrina's hand treated her hair with a gentle touch and care, a small smile coming to Kat's face at the contact between the two before the two heard the other guy, Nick make some panicked noises from inside the barracks, and Catrina quickly made way to go see him, Kat sighing and getting up also, but then the thought of Rachel being there coming to mind, she'd seen guys with PTSD wake up before, sometimes it really couldn't be pretty, so she just as quickly ran into the barracks, noticing that Rachel was completely fine and Nick was in-fact a state, she let out another sigh but this time it was more of an understanding one, patting Catrina's shoulder softly. "Hey, don't be worried, it could've been a lot worse, trust me." She said, looking towards Catrina now.

 

[Crono]

Nick shooting up and grabbing at him admittedly put the man on edge for a brief moment, it was reminiscent to someone who had died and just come back, to tear the flesh of whoever was nearby from their bones. Ryan's intent was to pull back until Nick's words came, he seemed emotionally and physically stressed and instead he rubbed soothingly at Nicks arms with his hands. "I'm right here, not going anywhere alright? Your fine." It was odd to see someone with a tough exterior and casually calm demeanor in this sort of state and Ryan couldn't help but feel for the guy. The man nodded as Rachel whispered in his ear and glanced past Nick to see Cat and Kat looking in, probably checking on the noise. "We're alright." He was saying to Nick as his eyes returned to the man, though the other two girls hear it might reassure them as well.

 

[NightQueen]

Nick's breath was shaky but he gave a small nod showing Ryan that he had heard him and knew he was awake. His hands were shaking slightly and his heart rate was going back to normal, he was not going to lie being in Ryan's arms was definitely nice. _______________________. Cat just watched the scene for a few moments before giving a small nod to Rachel, she had been right in her thinking that Ryan was able to bring Nick back from something that would have gone on a lot longer if anyone else had tried to help.With everything under control here she went back out to carry on her look out duties

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Rachel folded her arms as she looked down at the panicked older man in-front of her, it was difficult to watch, but after a little while Nick began to calm down a bit as he was in Ryan's care, which lifted her spirits a bit, she gave a light smile to Nick and Ryan before turning to Kat and Cat, the older girl of the two giving Rachel a nod, Rachel in return giving one back with a larger smile this time, walking over to her own bed again and jumping onto it, laying down on it and now hoping to get some shut eye before anything else went wrong, she was feeling quite tired for some reason, so she decided to get an early night.


Kat and Cat both watched the scene unfold as it happened for a few more moments before Kat followed the older girl out of the tent, keeping the same pace with her, hands in her pockets. "So, you alright? Y'know after seeing that.." She asked curiously, the other girl seemed to have very strong nerves and wasn't put off things easily, but Kat had saw that falter as she watched Nick in his panicked state, it reminded Kat a lot of herself, trying to put walls up to seem like a hardass and a bitch but having those walls cave in a bit whenever someone that she was close to got hurt whether that be mentally or physically, and if she was anything else like Kat then Kat would know that she wasn't too happy about letting those walls falter. The two girls sat back down in their original spots, Kat being quick to lay her head back onto Catrina's lap, it was more comfortable there afterall.

 

[Crono]

It was relieving to see Nick calm down, "Am I allowed to get back to my own bed or am I bunking up with you tonight?" He teased in an attempt to make Nick more comfortable though the question was real, and he guessed Nick didn't want him to go so he was already assuming the answer. Though Nick might not be interested in going back to sleep, especially so soon. So for the moment Ryan put Nick first and let him decide where to go from here, the last thing he wanted to do was make the other man uncomfortable and if talking suited the situation better then Ryan would sacrifice his sleep. He was still rubbing at Nick's arms with a soothing pace, and was aware of Rachel going back to her own bed to get some sleep.

 

[NightQueen]

Cat relaxed into her stance and resumed running her fingers gently through Kat's hair.


"I'm fine, its just Nick is a really close friend so seeing that happen, its tough"


She relaxed and kept her focus on looking around the area. She had a lot to think about, but their first priority was to make it to the end of her shift so she could sleep. She knew Nick was in safe hands with Ryan and Rachel


________________________________________________________________________


Nick said nothing but moved over in the bed to make room for Ryan. He felt bad but he knew he could not sleep, he was too wound up.


Holding Ryan's hand he laid back on the bed with his head resting on Ryan's shoulder. Feeling a lot more relaxed he drifted off to sleep a lot easier than in the past.


If he was being honest, as he slipped off to sleep he came to the conclusion that what he was feeling for Ryan was real and it did not scare him as much as he thought it would

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Kat let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding in as Cat began running her fingers through Kat's hair gently, smiling up at her now she said. "You've got a really soft touch y'know that?" Hoping to strike up some sort of conversation between the two to make the time they had on their shift go by faster, as it was A: Late and B: The two were probably both really tired by now, she coculd see it in Cat's expression that she just wanted to go to sleep, Kat couldn't agree more but they had their shift to do first obviously, but if they were to talk then they'd have something to do rather than just watching the blank street that was ahead of them.


Rachel was simply resting on her bed, as her eyes closed over slowly the two men were comforting each other simply by being in each others presense, that gave Rachel some hope for the two's relationship that they had going on, hopefully they'd grow closer due to this incident, she could tell Nick definitely was growing closer to Ryan as he had been there for him after he had had his nightmare, Rachel couldn't help but feel disheartened by that, she could relate to the two, in the early days of the outbreak Kat was having many of the same problems, nightmares, sleep depriviation, panic atttacks. It wasn't a good thing to experience for the person or the people around them.

 

[Crono]

It became apparent he wasn't going back to his own bed, Ryan gave a light sigh and smiled, "Here." He said, sliding down into the bed and letting Nick settle back in. It was odd, but if it was helping Nick he wasn't too bothered by it. At first the man thought he wasn't going to sleep well, sleeping with another person in the bed as well as his own thoughts on the matter swirling in his head. But something about another presence in the same bed combined with the fact that he was exhausted had him fairly comfortable and knocking out pretty quickly.

 

[NightQueen]

Cat gave a soft chuckle as she took the compliment.


"Thanks, it comes with the job believe it or not"


Cat relaxed back for the next few hours, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. Her sharp eyes scanning for anything out of the ordinary which thankfully there was not.


________________________________________________


Nick soon fell into a peaceful sleep. He had shifted in his sleep when Ryan had dropped off and now Nick was spooning him.


With his arm around Ryans waist and his head resting on Ryans shoulder, Nick had never slept so well since the PTSD had developed.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

After Cat had took the compliment well Kat gave her a slight smile before very quickly dozing off, her eyes shutting over rather quickly and she began to snore after a few minutes, laying on Cat's lap as she began one of the first sleeps she's had all week, and she was enjoying it, surprisingly there were no dreams while she slept, and thankfully no nightmares, she slept deeply for the entire night, snoring lightly, 9 hours later was when her brain decided to get itself up, she yawned, stretching her arms, her eyes still half opened, she noticed that she had been dribbling onto Cat's lap, being quick to clean the small puddle up with the arm of her jacket, hopefully she hadn't noticed. Kat kept her comfortable spot on Cat's lap, looking up to Cat's face, resting her hands onto her own stomach as she relaxed back.


Rachel had slept as she always had for the entire night, gently and peacefully, she was a light sleeper, compared to Kat being a heavy sleeper, she didn't move at all whilst sleeping, Kat very commonly fell of the bed she moved that much, but still didn't wake up even then, she didn't snore, Kat snored loudly, they were polar opposites when it came to the bedroom, and not just for sleeping. But Rachel shook her head at that as she woke up, it was a new day, and the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, she smiled and stretched her arms, laying in bed as she began to daydream.

 

[Crono]

Ryan slept throughout the night without moving, when morning finally came he opened his eyes gently to the dim lighting in the barracks thanks to the sun. His instinct to turn over to hide his eyes away from it but realized something was keeping him from doing so. Looking down he realized Nick had an arm over him and head on his shoulder still. An amused smirk crossing his lips as he was staring at the other man, I feel like I'm a teddy bear right about now.


The man lay still with a deep breath, not having the heart to tear himself from Nick's grasp for the time being and instead decided to stare up at the roof. Not a bad cuddler though, that's a plus. He lay listening for any movement from the others wondering who was awake and who wasn't.

 

[NightQueen]

Nick just smiled in his sleep, surprisingly content as he pulled Ryan close and leaned into his neck. Nick was a major cuddler and with his massive build it tended to be a comfortable experience. Nick was not used to such a good nights sleep, he was too deep to be woken up.


He gave a small tender kiss to Ryans neck and let out a sigh of complete relaxation


______________________________________________________


Cat woke up and stretched before her stomach growled.


"Getting Hungary"


She stood up and next to Kat


"Where can we get something to eat?"


She asked as she scanned the area, wondering where the food was in the place since the other douche had taken off with the most of their supplies.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Kat groaned as Cat began to move, rubbing her neck and stretching her back as they had began to ache due to the way she had been lying ontop of Cat, looking over to the other girl now, she shrugged at the question, replying with. "Couple of M-35 trucks round back, got tons of ration boxes in the back." She said, standing up now and stretching her back again, followed by a brief swing of the arms to get the blood flowing to some extent again. She began to walk around the side of the barracks, not bothering to wait for Cat at the moment as she was feeling quite hungry as well, not in the mood to wait, especially after just waking up, she knew that Cat would just follow her anyway, she turned around the corner before stepping onto something which made a cracking noise, she looked down and spotted a small flip phone, someone must've left it there, but then another item popped into her head, she went round the corner again and said to Cat "Hey, think I've got a solution to your buddy's PTSD." Only problem was making it now..


Rachel sat up from her bed, yawning and stretching her arms, looking over to the two men in bed with each other, smiling brightly and saying. "Good morning Ryan, I see you've got your own guy to cuddle with now." She said with a chuckle, getting up from her bed and walking over to the entrance of the barracks, opening the flapped fabric and looking out, she saw the other two girls heading off and shook her head, walking back in now. "I think Catrina's found a new friend." She said to Ryan, walking back to the bed and sitting down on it, her knees going up to her chest as she began to daydream once again.

 

[Crono]

Ryan pondered how long he should lie here before making an attempt to escape Nick's grasp. When the other man pulled in close and kissed at his neck Ryan gave a deep chuckle at the facial hair scratching at his neck, it was hard to tell if Nick was awake, asleep or somewhere in-between. "Your kind of adorable when you sleep, you know that?" He mumbled with a smile, not really expecting a reply. The smile carried as he watched Rachel walk by and peek outside and he let out a content breath, "Guess so." He replied to her, closing his eyes for a brief moment before patting Nick on the arm gently and sliding out of the mans grasp so he could sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed.


Ryan rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he got his bearings, and looking over at Rachel. "Jealous? He asked teasingly at her comment about Catrina making a new friend, since Kat had spent the night out with Catrina the man guessed there was a little there. "You can come cuddle with Nick if you want."

 

[NightQueen]

Nick just rolled over and slept on, oblivious that his cuddle partner had moved in his sleep.


He groaned in his sleep and began to stretch, showing the first signs of waking up as Cat came into the tent.


___________________________________________


"We need food and to fix ourselves a more permanent residence here so were not sacrificing a good nights sleep for look out"


She explained to group as she looked around, waiting for their ideas on her plan for the day and if they had anything to add, she was not taking charge just putting an idea out there.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Rachel looked over to Ryan with the closest thing to a glare she could ever try and do, but it looked more like a pout. "I'm not jealous." She said rather bitterly, turning around now to see Cat walk in, talking about god knows what, something to do with food and sleep. She wasn't really paying attention, but maybe Ryan was onto something, she didn't usually feel like this towards people, maybe she was jealous, no, surely she couldn't have been, Rachel was never the type to be jealous about anyone or anything, she couldn't have been it wasn't possible, atleast that's what she kept telling herself.


Kat flipped Cat off behind her back as she completely blanked her, following her into the barracks where she strolled over to her blessed backpack, always having the answer to..45-55% of her problems, meh it was good enough by her standards, her backpack was like Batman's belt or some shit it had practically everything for most situations, she began to go through it, looking for the items that she needed, she found the amazing Booket: On How To Build Shit, well that's what she called it anyway, and 2 spare Nokia phones that matched the flip phone that she had found, she sat down in the corner beside the bed, reading through the booklet's phone reconstruction chapter, incase your phone ever broke or anything like that, and began taking apart the other two Nokia's, pulling off the front of the flip phone she found and began replacing all of the parts.

 

[Crono]

"Or we just take shifts. Make a schedule, you know? I don't care how safe we make it feel it's still worth having someone on watch at night." Ryan suggested as he stood up and stretched, feeling his back pop in satisfaction. "Didn't the military leave some of their food?" The man huffed, not having been awake long enough for his brain to be at full working capacity. Nick still being asleep through the conversation amused Ryan, yawning as he pulled his shoes on.

 

[NightQueen]

Nick woke up and groggily around at the group


"What..I....miss?"


He asked as he stood up and pulled on his shoes, wobbling slightly as he was half asleep. He heard Cat's idea and in his half sleep filled state muttered the first thing that came to mind


"Not if we set up an alarm on the building and moved in there"


He spoke.


______________________________________________________________


Cat nodded at everyones suggestions and heard Nick's


"Could that work?, are one of the buildings secure enough?"


She asked combing over her mind to think of possibilities. The only one that came to mind is to build themselves a fort of some sort, possibly a lowerable ladder or something to make it secure, maybe one of the towers.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Rachel nodded at Ryan's question, saying. "The military did leave their food, a lot of it too." And then just decided to be a spectator for the rest of the groups conversation, or atleast until someone said something of any interest to her, she paid little attention to much, instead going off into another daydream, she was like this after she had woke up, her mind wasn't fully awake so she couldn't exactly concentrate on much, so she decided not too.


Kat continued working on her phone related project and had finished it surprisingly quick, Kat wasn't really a planning type person but she could easily follow instructions, the booklet had laid it out all very specifically, it was the SHD's field manual on how to do shit basically, and there were many things that standard military or government booklets wouldn't have in them, one of them being what Kat had just made, she reattached the screen of the flip phone and attempted to see if it worked by turning it on, it went on, projecting some pretty ass colours and shit, Kat shook her head, she'd gotten a bit dazed just by watching them, she turned the phone off. Putting it back into her pocket. Looking up to the group now. "We could use the tank to block the entrance? For added effect." She suggested, since the rest of the base had a small stone wall which went up to about Kat's neck in height and behind that a large reinforced fence.

 

[Crono]

"Not much cuddles." Ryan said as Nick got up, a sly smile on his face.


"Thought so." Ryan said after Rachel's, it was one potential problem dealt with for the time being.


Ryan watched with general interest as Kat put all of her concentration into re-building a phone, little pet project was likely. Everyone was suggesting they do different things and Ryan's brain wasn't a fan. "Securing a single building to sleep in doesn't sound bad, as long as there's a second exit. Whether it's the dead or people it's best to have a backup plan." The man kind of blanked as they continued but perked up at the mention of the tank, "Moving the tank? I'm on board with that, I get to drive right?" He shifted his weight lazily onto one foot.

 

[NightQueen]

Nick was more awake now and muttered to Ryan


"Didn't hear you complaining did I"


He smirked playfully, becoming more attracted to the guy since they were getting on so well.


He agreed with Ryan


"A second exit would be a good idea, maybe a second ladder for escape or something?"


_______________________________________________________


Cat heard Kats suggestion and nodded to it,


"Moving the tank would be good, plus we will need a truck fixed to move all the supplies inside the inner compound"


She suggested and looked to Rachel


"Rach, could you check the amenities and rooms inside with me?, just to see whats inside and if anything works. hopefully showers and toilets"


She said to the group.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Rachel gave off a slight laugh at the interaction between Ryan and Nick, then focusing back onto Cat as she spoke, agreeing with Kat's idea then asking if she could basically borrow Rachel for some errends, Rachel nodded and smiled lightly at the shortening of her name. "Rach, sounds nice. And yeah sure." She said, complimenting the name and agreeing to go check on rooms with her, hopping off of her bed once again and putting on a pair of sandals that she had found lying around under one of the beds a little while back, much easier and faster than putting shoes on just to walk around.


Kat took out her iPod that she hadn't used since when she had her little reunion with Rey and Barnaby, but she quickly took her mind off of those two assholes, instead putting her earphones back into the iPod and searching through her tracks, she had found the one she was looking for, the Division had given her this iPod for free, she hadn't known why actually until a few weeks after training, the track was the reason why, she smiled down lightly at it before looking back up at the group, sitting up on the bed now where Rachel had just gotten off. "So..Nick, Ryan how are you two doing?"

 

[Crono]

"Touché." Ryan shot back at Nick's reply. He watched Rachel and Catrina leave to check the facilities and turned his head towards Kat at the question, did he hear right? Did she asked how they we're doing? "Who're you and what did you do with Kat?" He asked with a chuckle. "I'm personally fine and dandy now that I've actually had some sleep. A sigh escaping his lips as he sat back down momentarily, "Oh and did you have fun following us around last night?" He raised a brow and nodded, "Yeah I figured that out. Your girlfriend's got a big mouth when she's tired, mentioned something about a kiss between Nick and I, which no one should have known about. She admitted to it being either you or her, and I have a feeling she would have admitted to it had it been her but I doubt she'd have thrown you under the bus." He winked at her.