Nicole (portrayed by Lindy Booth) is a supporting character in Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead. She and her father Frank were survivors of the zombie epidemic that had fled from Fort Pastor with Norma and several others in her truck. They would eventually arrive at the Crossroads Shopping Mall in Everett, Wisconsin, where several survivors had already taken shelter and allowed the newcomers inside. Sadly, Frank had been bitten during the group's escape from Fort Pastor and was infected. Michael and the others discussed Frank's situation, some wanting to kill him before he turned, but Ana Clark refused to accept this and managed to convince the others to keep Frank locked up in one of the shops with someone standing guard over him. Eventually, the time came when Frank succumbed to the infection and turned, but Kenneth Hall put him down before he could harm anyone.
As the days went by, Nicole and the other survivors enjoyed the comforts and supplies that the mall had to offer. During this time, the group found a dog that had been wandering around the mall's parking garage. Nicole became attached to the dog and named him Chips.
After almost a month had passed and several of the survivors had died, the remaining group members agreed to leave the mall using the buses in the underground garage. They needed to stock up on weapons and sent a message to Andy at the gun shop across the street, offering to take him as well. However, Andy was slowly dying of starvation, so they decided to send food over to him as well as a walkie-talkie. They did this by tying a rope to Chips and lowering him down to the street with a lunchbox tied around his neck. Nicole was horrified by this plan as she had grown to love Chips, but fortunately the zombies on the street were only interested in humans and completely ignored the dog. Chips reached the gun shop and got inside through a service hatch, but some zombies saw this and were able to open the hatch and follow the dog inside. Andy killed the few zombies that got in, but was bitten in the process. Fearing for Chips' life, Nicole stole Norma's truck from the garage and drove it right into the side of the gun shop. She was unable to reach Chips as Andy had turned and attacked her, forcing her to hide inside a large gun locker.
Kenneth, Tucker, C.J. and Terry attempted to rescue Nicole and obtain weapons from the gun shop. They managed to get onto the street via a sewer tunnel linked to the mall and entered the shop where they put down the zombified Andy, saved Nicole and Chips and took as many of Andy's weapons as they could. Tucker would die on the way back to the mall, but the others made it back and took the buses in the garage which they had decked out with makeshift ploughs, armour, guns and chainsaws.
Though the buses got through the initial blockade of zombies by blowing up a propane tank, the horde was still vast and pursued the buses relentlessly. One of the buses was overturned during the escape, resulting in the deaths of Glen, Monica and Steve. Kenneth and Michael boarded the remaining bus and continued on to the marina where Steve's boat was waiting, though it also crashed just before reaching the pier. Ana and most of the other survivors got out and ran to the pier while a wounded C.J. stayed behind, blowing up the bus and a sizable portion of the horde. The fire left by the explosion held the rest of the horde back while Ana, Kenneth, Terry and Nicole boarded Steve's boat. Ana urged Michael to come with them, but Michael revealed that he had been bitten following the crash and would eventually turn. Michael stayed behind and shot himself while Kenneth, Ana, Nicole and Terry set sail on Steve's boat.
Unknown Fate[]
The survivors' escape on the water is shown in a series of scenes that appear throughout the end credits. Ana, Kenneth, Terry and Nicole spent days on the water, exhausting their supplies by the time they got to the island which they believed would be their safe haven. Unfortunately, the island was no safer than the mainland as it too was infested with zombies. Seconds after the survivors arrive, a swarm of undead emerge from the forest and attack. Ana and the others open fire at the horde as they retreat back to the boat, but it remains unknown if any of them escaped or if they all died.