1.
Her plan was to go hunting. Alone. But then Connor had asked her about her plans. Bass had walked into the bar right behind Connor. He had looked at her with his stupid blue puppy eyes before he had asked her if she was going alone. Miles had just told her hell no when he had realized she would be out there on her own again. And Aaron? Aaron had begged her to not leave him with Priscilla and Rachel.
Her plan was to go hunting. Alone. But when Charlie walks out of Willoughby with the weight of her crossbow against her shoulder blades, all the men in her life are walking behind her.
Aaron mumbles something when he adjusts his backpack around his shoulders. Bass and Miles bicker about something she doesn't care about. But as long as they are bickering they don't have time to kill each other. And that means she doesn't have to stop another round of who gets to kill who this time. Connor's grin tells her he is going to tell her about his date from last weekend.
She takes a deep breath and tries to tune them all out while she focuses on the path in front of her and the pale sunlight on her skin.
They find a cabin with enough rooms for all of them on their second day on the road. Tall trees shield the cabin from unwanted eyes. The branches of the old trees are thick dark lines against the heavy autumn sky.
When they walk up the steps of the wooden porch of the cabin, a group of birds scatter into flight in between the trees. Their high pitched shrieks are hollow and sharp in the grey sky.
Aaron looks up. 'That's not scary at all.'
'Afraid of a couple of birds, Staypuft?' A smug grin appears on Bass' face.
'I thought you were afraid of bees, Aaron?' Miles asks.
'Allergic. I am allergic to bees.' Aaron walks inside the house and decides to ignore both men.
Bass and Miles exchange a grin.
The cabin has a fireplace and smells of wood and the forest. Rain is on its way and Charlie is grateful for the dry wood that's left behind next to the fireplace. It means warmth, food and light. But nobody seems to care about the dry wood when Aaron opens a kitchen cabinet and finds a bottle of whiskey. Charlie just rolls her eyes at the men around her who act like a couple of children.
She goes hunting. The men stay at the cabin. When daylight is slowly fading, she walks into the small kitchen with enough meat to feed all of them. Her hair is wet from the cool autumn rain. Connor throws a towel at her with a smirk on his face. Charlie is still not sure what they did all day, but she does know it included a lot of whiskey and bullshit stories.
They have dinner. Bass has only made two insults about Aaron so far. Charlie surprises him when she kicks him under the table when he is about to make insult number three. When he looks up, she refuses to think about the depth of his amused glare.
After dinner Connor and Miles fight over who can build a better fire. Charlie is standing in the doorway. She rolls her eyes while she looks at both men but she can't stop the smile that appears on her face.
And then she looks at Bass. He just looks a stupid amount of happy, sitting on the small couch in front of the fireplace while he is watching Connor and Miles. Bass can bitch all he wants, she knows how much he craves to be a part of whatever this is.
The rich scent of the burning wood in the fireplace fills the living room. More rain starts to fall. The crackling sounds of the fire join the sound of rain on the roof. It's dark outside and the light of the fire reflects in the endless deep darkness of the glass of the windows. They all gather around the fire. The bottle of whiskey Aaron found is standing on the wooden coffee table.
Charlie can still feel the chill of a late long afternoon in the forest, but the heat of the fire is slowly reaching her. The whisky is warming her from within. The rain is making slow paths on the glass of the windows. Charlie dares Aaron to tell one of his ghost stories. And because Aaron is just the right amount of drunk, he starts telling her one of his best ones that starts with a deserted road in the middle of a dark, deep forest.
Bass' fingers are wrapped around the bottle of whiskey. He looks at Miles and Connor who are sharing a couch and his heart swells because they are finally getting along. It's good to see his kid and brother in one room. And then, he looks at Charlie while she listens to Stay puft's story. Her hair is slowly drying in front of the fire.
Charlie lets Aaron's story take her away from their cabin and into a world of an old, almost forgotten house and rooms filled with dark shadows. She has always loved listening to him and his stories about a world from a long time ago. She looks at him. She looks at Connor, Miles and Bass. She had been looking forward to being alone. To hunt. To think. But now they are here with her, she realizes she is glad they are here. Of course she is not going to tell them. Especially not Monroe.
She lets the warmth of the fire warm her skin while she lets time slowly move them deeper into the night. Connor shares a memory of a Halloween from years and a lifetime ago back in Jasper. He doesn't talk that easily about his life before the blackout. It is something they all have in common. But when he does share his personal memory and mentions Emma, she can see how much it means to Bass. There is tension in his jaws, but she can see how his eyes soften. And when he listens to Connor, she just watches him.
She has no idea how late it is. She just listens to their voices and stories. She yawns. She knows Monroe is taking first watch later. It's an old habit. And although the war is over and life is changing again, nobody seems to want to change it. She ignores the fact that her mind relaxes, knowing she can sleep while he is on watch.
Her muscles and heavy eyes remind of her how much she is looking forward to a soft pillow under her head. She gets up and tells her guys goodnight. She throws a pillow from the couch to Connor when he tries to hug her goodnight.
'Night kid.' Miles grins. He looks at the bottle on the table before he gets up from the couch. 'I am going to see if there is more whiskey in the kitchen.'
'Good plan brother.' Bass nods to Miles. And then he looks at her. In the middle of the warmth of the living room and the sound of the rain outside, Bass' eyes wish her goodnight.
She walks through the hallway of the house and into the room that will be her bedroom for tonight. There is a chill in the room. The wind is howling through the forest. It's a deep sound that reminds her of the ghosts and dark shadows in Aaron's story.
She walks over to the window next to her bed. She wants to close the curtains to keep the worst chill of the wind that seems to move straight through the window out of the room.
When her hands move to the heavy fabric of the curtains, she sees a dark shadow move at the other side of her window. She is close enough to touch the glass and the shadow is close enough to fill her next heartbeat with adrenaline. All of a sudden a pale face is staring at her from the other side of the window. Cold shock fills her chest. A scream escapes from her lips. And then, she looks straight at Miles' face at the other side of the window, who is holding a candle under his face to lighten up his deep eyes and the strong lines of his jaws in the darkness of the night. There is a wide grin on his face.
Bass and Connor are sharing the bottle of whiskey in front of the fire in the living room when they hear her scream. They both grab their gun before they rush over to her. Aaron follows them. They all walk into her bedroom where they find a pissed off Charlie standing in front of her window and a grinning Miles who is standing on the porch outside.
'Jesus…Miles,' Charlie yells at Miles and his stupid face at the other side of the window.
When Charlie turns around, her three musketeers are there. Connor and Bass are standing next to each other with their guns in their hands. Aaron is holding a heavy silver candle stick.
Bass' hand is still firmly wrapped around his gun when he lowers it slowly. Connor is grinning next to him. Bass isn't. He hears his brother's laugh from the other side of the damn wall and he knows what the moron did. It's an old trick they used to scare the shit out of each other and their friends when they were teenagers. He tries to swallow away the sickening worry he had felt when he had heard Charlotte's scream.
Charlie is pissed. And because Miles is not in the room to yell at, she looks at Bass and feels even more irritated because of the way he looks at her. 'What are you looking at?'
Miles finally walks into her bedroom with a big grin on his face. 'She is so going to kill you for what you just did.' Aaron says behind his back.
Charlie' eyes are filled with annoyance. She crosses her arms before her chest. Raindrops moves from Miles' dark hair before they brush his necklace. 'You should have seen the look on your face, kid.' Miles grins.
Connor smirks at his dad and the way he is unable to keep the worry for Charlie out of his eyes. He takes one step closer to him. He keeps his voice low, making sure only Bass can hear him. 'You should have seen the look on yours, dad.'
Author's Note This is my story for the Halloween fic fest organized by the GSC. Thank you for organizing another creative event! I love this time of the year and the deep, rich scent of autumn and rain. A special thank you for Threemagpies for her valuable feedback. I am working on chapter two. I hope you all have an amazing autumn! Love from Love