Nick Parsons (Novel Series)

"It can't go on, Brian."

- Nick about Philip Blake.

Nick Parsons is one of Philip Blake's old time friends and a central character in The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. He was the most religious of the entire group and by the conclusion most humane.

Rural Georgia
Little is known about Nick's life before the outbreak. As a teenager Nick went to high-school at Burke County, Georgia with his two friends Philip Blake and Bobby Marsh. At some point he was an all-state second baseman, and loved drinking with friends.

Wiltshire Estates
Once the dead started rising Philip Blake picked his two old friends up along with his daughter and brother and started to make their way to Atlanta for a safe zone. Along the way they stop at the Wiltshire Estates. While at Wiltshire it starts becoming clear that their current base will not suffice long term due to the high amount of zombies only a few blocks away in the golf course. While outside, Bobby Marsh is bitten by a hidden former resident of the home they're staying at who reanimated in the dog house. Bobby Marsh then dies and has his brain destroyed by Philip before reanimation. The group then decides to move on toward the Atlanta safe zone after a burial for Bobby.

Atlanta
While driving toward Atlanta Nick and his group run into several obstacles which requires quick thinking and team work to survive. This includes getting stuck on the highway while being surrounded by the undead, having their car getting stuck in the mud, and having to escape a church full of zombies with a car that no longer worked. After ducking into a mechanic's repair shop and finding a well built car they continue their trek to the safe zone.

Finding Atlanta filled with tens of thousands of zombies it does not discourage the group. Philip drives his car as fast as possible through crowds to go downtown toward the safe zones, unfortunately for Nick's group however their vehicle's tires become slick with gore and crashes into a building. After escaping and having no where to go, a woman named April Chalmers calls for them off the street to take refuge with her sister Tara Chalmers and old and sickly father David Chalmers. After a bit of uneasiness between both parties, the two groups form a close bond with one another which starts to form a family in Philips's mind. Nick after a while gets his own room where he reads his Bible passages and thinks of new ideas on how to get supplies other than searching their own building. Nick then comes up with the idea to build a bridge to the building across from them, and become the group's scout similar to Rick Grimes's group member Glenn in the Walking Dead comic. Nick eventually becomes more and more bold, which eventually leads him to setting up several safe zones leading down the street in case they ever needed a quick get away.

As it turns out, they needed to leave quicker then he expected when Tara Chalmers forces Philip Blake's group to leave after Philip rapes April Chalmers due to his liking for her. While furious and wanting to take April's apartment complex by force, Philip says that there is nothing left in Atlanta and leads Nick and the rest away out of Atlanta using Nick's safe zones. Near the end of the safe zones, they find a motorcycle dealership, which allows Philips's group to finally leave Atlanta without ever looking back.

On The Road
After leaving Atlanta, Philip leads his group to a home in a middle of a giant peach orchard field a little over fifty miles from Atlanta. While the situation seems ideal, Brian Blake notes how he things they were followed to the house and claims that he sees flashes of lights outside at night. As a safety precaution they set up tin cans as noise traps to warn them a head of time of any invaders. The night comes when Tommy and his band of Home Invaders surround the house and attempt to take the house by force. After a deal is made which would allow Philips's group to escape, Tommy decides to double cross Philips's group and have them hunted down. During the hunt, Philip and Nick manage to gain the upper hand on the attackers and manage to kill all of the home invaders except Sonny and Cher. Near the end of the battle however Penny Blake is shot and killed by a home invader which drives Philip to extreme rage and insanity. This insanity that Philip never seems to let go of becoming the driving wedge between Nick and Philips's friendship. Nick is seriously against Philips's choice of keeping Penny around in her zombified form to which Philip refuses to budge on his choice. Another straw that scares Nick is finding out that the two home invaders that were captured, were being slowly tortured by Philip as well. After euthanizing the two home invaders Nick almost stays behind when Philip starts to lead the group elsewhere away from the house filled with bad memories for them all. Nick only agrees to come to watch over Brian and not be alone.

Woodbury, Georgia
After arriving at Woodbury with Penny Blake stashed in the woods, Nick's personality starts taking extremes. His religious ideas start to become more and more prominent as his love for his friend Philip started to go even further and further away. Taking the room next to Philips's and Brian's, Brian finds out that Philip has stashed Penny in their new apartment living room. After telling Nick, he decides to hide with Brian in his room. They overhear Philip feeding Penny human flesh and after confronting Philip, he tells them that the body parts are from dead corpses and no one would notice. This causes Nick to almost leave for a second time, only being stopped by Brian's begging and reminding him of his long standing friendship with Philip.

Everything eventually comes to an end however once Nick sees Philip kidnapping a young woman (who later turns out to be the daughter of a man named Jim Bridges) and taking her to the woods. Nick then grabs Brian and heads off to where Nick saw Philip last armed with a 12-gauge shotgun in tow in an attempt to stop Philip. When they all meet up in the field it becomes clear that Philip plans on chopping the young woman up to feed to his zombified daughter. Nick points his gun at Philip claiming that Philip he has the Devil in him and it is only right that he dies. Brian tries to keep the peace but Philip tells Brian that Nick has always been a talker, and not a doer. Philip then starts dragging the young woman into the woods to which Nick replies "have mercy on us all" and shoots Philip fatally in the back sending out half of his brain stem through the front of his throat while also accidentally shooting and killing the young woman by hitting her in the side of the scalp.

Nick then starts breaking down and wailing while saying gibberish though his tears of prayer and pleading. Brian Blake at this time is so filled rage seeing his brother gunned down, he takes out his .38 and shoots Nick Parsons point blank in the side of his head.

Killed By
Brian is so furious after Nick kills his brother that he kills Nick by shooting him in the head at point blank range. It is this altercation that ultimately leads to Brian's transformation from Brian Blake into Philip.
 * Brian Blake

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Nick has killed:
 * Tommy
 * Shorty
 * Sonny (Out of Mercy)
 * Cher (Out of Mercy)
 * Philip Blake
 * Jim Bridges' Daughter
 * Several home invaders.
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Philip Blake
Though both lived in the same area and went to school together, the ensuing traumas of the apocalypse drove Nick into closer commradery with Brian, the last "sane one" he saw within their group. As Philips's actions lead to their "eviction" from the Chalmers apartment, Nick began slowly losing his edge and tried convincing Brian that his brother was going insane. After the death and reanimation of Penny, Philip brutally beats Brian for losing sight of her. Nick is the one to help the latter heal and rehabilitate, informing him of his brothers deranged activities with Penny's surviving attackers. Brian shares Nick's concerns when Philip brings along the reanimated Penny until they arrive at Woodbury when things come to a serious head. Nick and Brian discover Philip killing survivors to feed to a zombified Penny, going as far as to come across his latest victim. Nick tries to stop him but winds up killing the victim and mortally injuring Philip before losing his mind himself, prompting the tired and hardened Brian to shoot Nick in the head.

Brian Blake
Even though Nick was initially the best friend of Philip and Bobby Marsh, the ensuing traumas of the apocalypse drove Nick into closer commradery with Brian, the last "sane one" he saw within their group. As Philip's actions lead to their "eviction" from the Chalmers apartment, Nick began slowly losing his edge and tried convincing Brian that his brother was going insane. After the death and reanimation of Penny, Philip brutally beats Brian for losing sight of her. Nick is the one to help the latter heal and rehabilitate, informing him of his brothers deranged activities with Penny's surviving attackers. Brian shares Nick's concerns when Philip brings along the reanimated Penny until they arrive at Woodbury when things come to a serious head. Nick and Brian discover Philip killing survivors to feed to a zombified Penny, going as far as to come across his latest victim. Nick tries to stop him but winds up killing the victim and mortally injuring Philip before losing his mind himself, prompting the tired and hardened Brian to shoot Nick in the head.

Penny Blake
Nick and Penny had an uncle-niece relationship. Penny referred to Nick as 'uncle Nick' at several occasions. The two of them were played together several times. After the death of Penny, Nick felt sad, both for himself, but mostly for Philip. He wanted to put down the reanimated girl, but this idea was scrapped by Philip.

Bobby Marsh
Nick was friends with both Bobby and Philip in high school. When the outbreak began, Philip gathered his family and friends including Bobby in an effort to find a safe zone. When the group arrive at the Wiltshire Estates, Bobby is bitten by a hidden former resident of the home they were staying at. Bobby then dies and has his brain destroyed by Philip before reanimation. The group including Nick, decide to move on towards the rumored Atlanta safe zone after a burial for Bobby.

Verne
Due to Verne being the uncle of Nick, the two of them are believed to have had a good and strong relationship. Nick often went hunting with Verne, which also hints at their good relationship.

The Chalmers
Nick and the Chalmers were aware of each other, but they are never seen interacting directly. Nick was sorry for Tara and April after David died, but wasn't personally affected. When Philip was kicked out of the apartment complex, Nick didn't get the choice to stay.

Sonny and Cher
Even though the two raiders were indirectly responsible for Penny's death, Nick kept his humanity and ended the prisoner's suffering. He did this not because he felt sorry for them, but simply because he felt like it was the right, Christian thing to do.

Bruce Cooper and Gabe
Even though Nick found Bruce and Gabe threatening in the beginning, he came to trust them, and moved into Woodbury.

Trivia

 * Philip and Bobby used the nickname 'Nicky' for Nick.
 * Penny considered Nick her uncle.
 * Nick is one of many religious characters within The Walking Dead Universe.
 * In the book Michonne found in The Governor's Apartment with a list of names in the TV series, the name "Nick" was on it along with "Bobby" and "Brian."
 * Nick is the first of many characters, killed by Brian.