Hello everyone :)
I'm trying my luck at a 'The Walking Dead' fic. I've attempted to make the characters and chapter's as in-depth as imaginable for the full reading experience.
There will be sexual assault/attempted rape but I will not be posting warnings at the beginning of chapters as that's not something you get when you read a book. I will NOT romanticise any of the sexual assault/attempted rape scenes because there is NOTHING romantic about those acts. This will be the only warning but when you get to those parts and you wish to skip over them feel free to do so.
There will also be graphic descriptions of violence/death and sex scenes so this fic is definitely not for younger audiences. I would love to be a fiction writer and fanfiction is like a stepping stone into that world for me so constructive criticism is very welcome but I won't tolerate mean or downright cruel comments. We're all here because we love what we do and we should respect the works of others so I ask that you respect mine too.
P.S. I only own my Oc's and all other rights need to be given to those who rightfully deserve them.
Chapter One
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Charlie groaned into her pillow as her alarm went off, the obnoxious beeping noise ringing out in her modest room. Her hand snuck out from beneath the plush blanket and slapped indiscriminately for a few moments before she ultimately found the alarm clock and pressed the snooze button. She didn't need to glance at the clock to know it was six in the morning, the little patter of feet on the floor outside her door easily told her that.
Like clockwork, she mused to herself as she smiled into her pillow. The door gradually creaked open and the little patter of feet fell silent. She could only tell where the intruder was when a few of her floorboards squeaked as weight was put on it. Charlie didn't move. She knew precisely who it was and what was going to happen but she remained still.
"Mama?" came the whispered voice of her four-year-old son, Jackson.
She remained still, her eyes closed and her body slackened as she took deep, steady breaths.
"Mama?" Jackson breathed again, his breath fanning over her face as her bed dipped a little when his small weight settled on it. His face was presumably inches from hers and she felt his little hand move to her shoulder, ready to try and shake her awake.
"Gotcha!" she exclaimed, springing up and reaching out for her son as she pulled him flush to her body and began tickling him mercilessly. His shrieks and giggles were music to her ears as she continued her attack on him, tickling his stomach and under his arms where she knew he was particularly ticklish. Just like his father, she thought with a fondness that was both joyful and melancholy, as it always was when she thought about her late husband.
The door swung open and she ceased tickling Jackson as both she and her son looked up to see who the newest addition to her room was. Of course, Charlie knew; there were only four of them in the house and she doubted her brother would be awake this early when he wasn't required at work.
Olivia was Charlie's mirror image. Her eleven-year-old daughter stood at her door, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Her natural mahogany curls were now a mass of knots and tangles, no doubt from Olivia rolling around so much in her sleep. Couldn't keep the girl still even when she was out like a light. Her russet eyes met Charlie's as she tried to blink them awake. She was wearing her favourite pink 'The Little Mermaid' nightgown and, in her other hand, dangling at her side, was Lucifer.
Charlie remembered when her brother had purchased the black and white stuffed bunny and the look of absolute horror her Christian mother-in-law had worn when her daughter had decided the bunny would forever be known as Lucifer. She had elbowed her brother hard in the ribs as he had leaned against her, tears running down his face as he wheezed from lack of oxygen due to how hard he had been laughing. Charlie had presented Maureen a 'what can you do?' smile, the older woman shaking her head before sending a silent prayer to the man upstairs.
Her husband had had a similar response to her brother and Charlie had rolled her eyes as he fell into a peel of laughter, clapping her brother on the back as they both used each other for support. Charlie had cracked a smile, their laughs contagious before she had ushered Olivia to bed with her new stuffed toy. Her daughter hadn't separated with it since and Charlie had come to enjoy people's reactions when her eleven-year-old daughter told them her stuffed bunny's name proudly.
"Mama?" her daughter yawned drowsily and Charlie smiled, opening her arms and waiting for Olivia to crawl up onto the bed and settle herself down at her side.
"Did we wake you, baby?" she inquired softly, already knowing the answer and feeling her heart lurch as she spied the ever-darkening bags under her little girls' eyes as she shook her head and held Lucifer closer to her chest. "Grandma?" she whispered softly, drawing Olivia closer to her as she felt her daughter shake.
Olivia nodded and Charlie battled her own tears that were welling up in her eyes. Her mother had passed away six months ago, a heart attack that had caught everyone off guard. Charlie had been at work, on her way back from a coffee run, when she had gotten the call from her hysterical daughter, shrieking that Grandma had fallen over and wouldn't wake up. Charlie had dropped the coffee's she had been carrying and had bolted back to her office building and the car park that had currently housed her beat-up pick up; all the while, she was on the phone, calling her brother and an ambulance before she had even gotten in her car.
She had leapt out of her still running car the second she had slammed on the handbrake, running through the open front door to see medics already working on her mother as her brother attempted to calm down her daughter. Olivia had run to her the moment she had noticed her mother standing there and Charlie had fought back her own tears to comfort her distraught daughter. No child should ever have to witness something like that. Not ever.
It had taken her a month to get Olivia to talk to her, a month of chewing her usually impeccable nails down as she watched her baby girl stare blankly at her bedroom wall. She scarcely even succeeded to get Olivia to eat or drink and had shared her concerns for her daughter with her brother. Bobby had attempted to reassure her as best he could but she had recognised her anxiety reflected back at her in her twin brothers' eyes. They were terrified.
It was little Jackson that had managed to break through to Olivia. Charlie still didn't know how her son had done it but one morning she had woken up and had discovered her two children in the kitchen, making a big mess as they tried to make her famous chocolate chip pancakes under the watchful eye of her brother. She had watched her children as they laughed and giggled, flinging ingredients around her once pristine kitchen and hadn't felt the tears that had been falling from her eyes until Bobby had stood up and walked to her. He'd encircled his large arm around her, pulling her to his chest and burying her face there as he whispered to her.
"Dry your eyes, Charlie-girl," he had murmured into her hair, "don't let those kids see you cry and think somethin' is wrong. She's mendin' and she needs you to be strong for her. Now smile and go help ya kids make pancakes 'cause I'm starvin'."
That had been five months ago and although Olivia had finally come out of her shock-induced state, she still experienced nightmares that kept her from having a fully restful sleep. The doctors had told Charlie they would ultimately pass and to try and get Olivia to talk about them, help her sort through what she was dealing with. Charlie tried, she really did, but when she hadn't been able to get her baby girl to open up to her, she had felt like she was failing as a mother.
It was about a month ago, when she had been doing her usual midnight check on her family, that Charlie had found her baby girl out of bed and sitting in front of the framed picture of her Grandma. Charlie had watched her daughter talk to the picture, lingering in the shadows of the doorway as her baby girl whispered to the photo like she was having a conversation with someone. After a moment, Olivia had turned to the door and Charlie knew that her daughter was aware she was there. So, she had come out of the shadows and slowly approached her daughter, sitting beside her as she wrapped Olivia in her arms and squeezed her gently.
"Grandma says it wasn't my fault," Olivia had said in a voice that pulled at Charlie's heart as she too looked up at the photo of her deceased mother, "she says it was her time. It was her time to see Grandpa and daddy. She says she's lookin' after them now, she's watchin' them for us."
Charlie had felt her heart freeze as she listened to the words her daughter spoke. She couldn't believe this whole time her precious child had believed she was at some fault for the passing of her Grandma. How had she missed something like that? The sense of failure as a parent had almost crushed her in that instance and she hadn't been able to speak; she had merely pulled her daughter closer, settling her in her lap as Olivia snuggled closer to her.
She hadn't questioned Olivia about believing she was talking to her Grandma. The therapists she had seen had told Charlie it was possible, a way for Olivia to deal with everything that had happened. They had been silent for so long, Charlie believed Olivia had fallen asleep before Olivia began talking again. She told Charlie everything, from what had happened that day to the nightmares she was getting. They both cried, holding tightly to one another before they had fallen asleep on the floor, wrapped up in each other's arms beneath the photo of her mother.
The morning after, Charlie had woken in her bed, Olivia curled into her side and Jackson laying over the both of them as he snored loudly. Bobby had found them when he had gotten up during the night to use the bathroom and had carried them into her room before returning to his own bed. Jackson, as usual, had been in at six but had been sleepy enough that he simply crawled on top of them and fell asleep once more.
Things became a little more normal after that. Olivia still talked to the photo of her Grandma but she told Charlie about her nightmares too. Slowly, Charlie watched her baby girl come back and she felt the heavy weight that had been on her chest since her mother had died, lift. For the first time in months, she felt like she could breathe again.
She was roused from her thoughts by a heavy thump and a colourful string of curses that had Olivia and Jackson giggling and her eyes narrowing at her door before her brother came into view. "What's all the commotion for, huh?" he asked sleepily, his eyes narrowed in a faux glare as he looked at them huddled on the bed, "can't a man get some sleep 'ere?"
Olivia continued to giggle at her dishevelled uncle and Jackson stood on the bed, his body supported by Charlie's hand at his back as he pointed at Bobby. "Swear jar!" he exclaimed, waggling his finger at his uncle as his other hand fell on his little hip.
"Is that right?" Bobby questioned, his glare lifting and a sly grin crossing his features as he looked at the still giggling Olivia. "Think that's funny, do ya?" he asked as he took another step towards her bed, "I'll teach you to laugh at ya uncle Bobby!"
Her children squealed as her brother pounced on her bed, almost flinging all of them from the bed as his large weight settled there. Jackson was already crawling over his uncle and onto the floor as his little legs took him out of the room and Olivia wasn't far behind him, her small body disappearing down the hall as they shrieked with laughter.
Bobby looked up at Charlie, who shook her head with an amused smile. He crawled off the bed himself and walked to the side of her bed before he looked down at her. She saw the sly smile still in place and glared at him. "Don't you dare," she hissed.
Charlie shrieked as she was suddenly lifted from her bed and thrown over her brothers' shoulder as he fled her room in search of his niece and nephew. "Bobby! Put me down!" she shrieked, hitting his back and eliciting a chuckle from her bear of a brother.
"Looky what I have here," he announced as he walked into the living room, his voice dropping an octave until it was a gravely growl, "a princess to lock in my tower forever." He did a strange cackle, his body moving around her living room as he carried her like she weighed no more than a feather. She was unceremoniously dropped on her sofa only moments before she heard her son give out a war cry and her brother grunt.
Charlie turned over on the couch to see her son with his arms and legs wrapped around his uncles' leg and Olivia dangling from his arm as they yelled their victories. She smiled softly as her little family played dragons and princesses in her small living room before she stood and made her way into the kitchen to start on breakfast. Like bees to honey, her brother and her children were drawn to the smell of food cooking in the kitchen and it wasn't long until she had them all sat around the kitchen table, eagerly waiting for her to feed them.
When the scrambled eggs and bacon were cooked, she sorted them into three plates and a small bowl for Jackson. She placed her plate down at the empty spot and Olivia and Jackson's before them before she sat down with her brothers' plate in front of her. Her brother reached for his plate and she slapped his hand away quicker than a viper striking at its prey. At his incredulous look, Charlie pointed over her shoulder and at the display cabinet behind her. She knew when Bobby's eyes had fallen on the brightly painted jar as he got up, grumbling to himself, and left the room. He came back a moment later, flashing the shiny quarter in her direction before he moved behind her. She heard the cabinet open and then the near-silent sound of the quarter meeting the rest in the jar before the cabinet was closed and Bobby was sitting back at the table.
"Happy?" he grunted as he grabbed his plate and yanked it closer to him, faux glaring at her.
"You know the rules," she replied simply.
"You cuss you put a quarter in the swear jar," Olivia finished, repeating one of the rules of the house that had been established when Olivia had begun learning to talk.
The rule had initially been for her husband, who, although in the Marines, cussed like a damn sailor. Not that Charlie had a leg to stand on, she still found herself slipping here and there and a lot of the quarters in the jar had been put there by her.
Her brother's indecipherable grumbling had Charlie smiling around a mouthful of egg. She was thankful for her brother, who had moved in with her after her husband had been killed whilst deployed. Charlie hadn't been in any condition to be on her own. Six months pregnant and grieving the loss of her husband with her daughter meant Charlie was in no fit state to be left alone. Bobby had stepped up in a big way and, even when she had finally dug herself out of the dark hole she had fallen into, he had stuck around to help her raise her daughter and her son when he was born.
"You got work today?" Bobby asked as he munched on a crispy piece of bacon, his eyes on her as she got up when the coffee machine beeped.
Charlie poured her and her brother a cup of the black liquid before she fixed his with a god-awful amount of sugar and a teaspoon for herself before she placed the cups on the table in their respective locations. "I do," she sighed, "I tried to get the day off but Harrison wouldn't allow it."
"Prick," she heard her brother mumbled under his breath and she kicked him in the shin under the table, giving him a pointed look before her eyes darted to Olivia and Jackson. "I don't know why you work for that man, Charlie-girl," he grunted, "asshole wouldn't even give you time off for ma's funeral. You haven't had a day off since you began workin' there three years ago. S'not right."
"Give it a rest, Bobby," she sighed, very familiar with this argument, "he's been good to me, givin' me a job so we can keep a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs."
"He only gave you the job so you'd sleep with 'im," Bobby growled, ignoring the icy glare his sister sent him, "that man's a pig. Just like Myers."
Charlie slammed her hands onto the table, her body shaking as a cold chill ran down her spine. She saw the moment her brother realised what he'd said, watched as the colour drained from his face before he brought a hand to his face to rub aggravatedly at his beard. "Shit, Charlie-girl," he muttered, "I'm sorry. I had no right."
"No," she agreed, "you didn't." Her eyes darted to her children, Olivia was pointedly staring at her scrambled eggs and Jackson was staring between the three of them with his little eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She smiled at her children when Olivia lifted her head, her eyes meeting Charlie's. "Did uncle Bobby tell you he was gonna take you fishin' today?" she asked her kids, changing the subject and watching as Olivia's eyes brightened and Jackson let out an excited squeal.
"Really?" Olivia asked, turning to her uncle who was giving Charlie an incredulous look.
Charlie stared right back at her brother, her glare saying all she needed to without speaking a word. 'You owe me for that fuckin' comment,' her glare screamed and he rubbed at his beard once more before he smiled brightly at his niece, "course I am," he told her, "someone's gotta teach you how to catch them fish and ya uncle Bobby is the best fish catcher in the world."
Charlie snorted into her cup of coffee and ignored the playful glare her brother sent her as she watched Olivia and Jackson practically inhale their breakfast so they could get ready to go fishing. She knew they loved going fishing and camping whenever the occasion presented itself. Charlie loved it too, but with her increasing hours at the office and Harrison's refusal to give her time off for any reason, she never got to accompany her children and her brother on these little trips anymore.
Olivia was the first to finish and put her plate in the sink before she helped Jackson discard his own empty bowl and they both ran from the kitchen and down the hall to their respective rooms. Charlie knew she'd have to get up in a moment to help Jackson get dressed but was giving it enough time for her son to pick out his own clothes. He liked doing it himself, said it made him feel like a 'big boy' and she wasn't prepared to say no to something that made him happy.
A large, rough and callused hand on hers drew her from her thoughts and she looked up at her brother who had moved to the seat Olivia had just vacated. "I'm sorry I brought 'im up, Charlie," he told her seriously and she shivered as her mind went back to the earlier mentioned man. Bobby saw her shiver and brought her to him in a tight hug, "he can't hurt you or Liv anymore," he whispered into her ear as her heartbeat increased, "he ain't gettin' outta that cell for another forty years and when he does, I'll be waitin' to put a bullet through his fuckin' skull."
Of course, she knew he wasn't going to be released anytime soon. She'd made sure he'd rot in prison for as long as the justice system would allow. She shook her head, "if that bastard gets outta that cell," she began, looking up into her brothers' eyes, eyes that mirrored her own, "I'll kill that fuckin' asshole myself."
They looked at one another silently, their eyes silently communicating in a way only twins could. Bobby nodded once before he pressed his chapped lips to her forehead, "that's my girl," he said into her forehead before he pulled away and stood up. "Well," he began, his voice taking on a lighter tone, "I better go get ready for the impromptu fishin' trip I seem to have found myself roped into."
"You deserve it and you know it," Charlie chuckled, "I better go help Jackson get dressed."
"That boy looks more and more like his daddy every day," Bobby grunted, his lips twitching into a smile.
Charlie returned the smile. Jackson certainly was his father's son, where Olivia looked like Charlie, Jackson could have been his daddy's doppelganger. Red hair, an abundance of freckles, and big brown Bambi eyes, a mega-watt smile and a personality that melted even the hardest of hearts. He was charismatic and kind-hearted, where his sister was stubborn and protective. They loved each other fiercely and she had often found Olivia in Jackson's room at night, her arms curled around her baby brother, squeezing every now and again even as they both remained asleep. She knew why Olivia was so protective of Jackson, knew it was because she was afraid to lose him like she had lost Tommy.
She shook her head, refusing to dwell on those thoughts when she needed to get her children ready for a day of fishing before she prepared herself for a day of taking calls and getting coffee. Being an assistant to one of the biggest douchebags she'd ever met had never been her intention. She had a degree in business and one in international relations. When she had up and moved her family to Atlanta, she had been scrambling for any kind of job that would pay the bills. She knew Harrison from school, he had been a douchebag then as well. Apparently, money just meant he was a douchebag that could pay her well for several hours of him blatantly staring at her like she was the prized turkey at Thanksgiving.
Charlie had considered quitting, she really had, but they needed the money. Even with Bobby bringing in money from his two jobs as a mechanic and a bouncer, living in the big city was expensive and nothing like the small country town they'd hailed from. Her husband had told her she could go to his parents for anything she needed whenever he wasn't there to help her but Charlie really didn't need another reason for Maureen and William to look down their noses at her.
Scott had been a trust fund baby, a boy who had grown up never wanting for anything and somehow managed to become a man that would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it, no questions asked. His family hadn't been impressed when he had given up a spot at a prestigious college to join the Marines and were even unhappier when he had brought her home one day for dinner.
He hadn't cared that she came from a poor family, her mother having had to work three jobs and her dad an alcoholic who beat them if they even breathed too loud. He hadn't cared that she was going into their relationship with a fuck load of baggage or a past that could come back to bite her in the ass at any moment. He had loved her, scars, bad temper, lack of money, and all. Not once in their entire relationship had he ever made her feel like she was inferior to him and Charlie loved him fiercely.
But love hadn't been enough for his parents who immediately shunned the waitress from a backwater town. She'd never be good enough in their eyes but they bit their tongues and kept their scathing comments to themselves after Scott had threatened to walk out of their lives forever. Charlie had protested, knowing how much he loved his parents, but Scott had simply kissed her and told her it'd never come to that. Eventually, Maureen and William came around; they still didn't like her, but they were civil with her for Scott's sake.
When Charlie fell pregnant with Olivia, Maureen and she managed to form a shaky friendship on the shared experience of becoming a mother. Maureen had been with Charlie when she had gone into labour ten weeks early and supported the distraught mother as she watched her baby lay in the incubator in the NICU.
"Mama?"
Charlie shook herself back to the present and looked down at her son who was pulling on her sleep pants in a bid to get her attention. She smiled at Jackson as he showed her the Spiderman shorts and Bumblebee shirt he wanted to wear today. "Come here," she told him, bending over to scoop him into her arms and settle him on her hip as she peppered his face with kisses.
"Mama! Stop!" he squealed, "gross!"
"Gross?" Charlie said, mock indignation lacing her words, "gross is it?! Why you little-"
His shrieks rang out in the small bedroom as her fingers assaulted his stomach, tickling him with fever as he giggled and wheezed, trying to free himself from her grip. Charlie placed him on his bed, giving him a few more tickles before she allowed him a moment to catch his breath.
"Okay, buddy, stick 'em up," she smiled, her fingers moving to the bottom of his shirt as his arms were thrown into the air. She pulled his shirt up and over his head before replacing it with the Bumblebee shirt. His sleep pants and underwear were next before he was ready to go. Almost. "Don't forget ya socks and ya shoes!" she shouted as Jackson bolted from the room.
His little feet hitting the ground reached her ears as he quickly ran back into the room, dug around in his drawer for a pair of socks, picked up his shoes, and bolted from the room again. Charlie shook her head with a chuckle as she went about making his bed.
"Charlie," her brother called from down the hall, "come see this."
Her eyebrows furrowed before she left her son's room, closing his door on the way out, and made her way to the living room where her brother was standing in front of the television, his body stiff.
"What's goin' on?" she asked as she moved to stand beside him.
"Jesse rang," Bobby grunted, "said the militaries in some kinda frenzy. Told me to turn on the news."
Charlie's gaze moved from her brother to the TV and she watched a news anchor standing out front of one of the buildings a few blocks from the office she worked in. There were officers, an ambulance, and a few military personnel in the background. "Turn it up," she told Bobby as she took a step forward before sitting down on her coffee table.
"Atlanta PD have been unable to give further details on the events that happened in the building behind me less than an hour ago. From what we have managed to gather from witnesses of the event, an employee attacked another staff member, biting the man before he was restrained by security…"
"Jesus," Charlie muttered, her hand coming up to her mouth and rubbing the length of her chin as she watched the news with wide eyes. "How many is that?" she asked Bobby quietly.
"Six," he grunted, "six cases this week. All of 'em doin' the same thing. Bitin', eatin', the news says its drugs, some new drug makin' people go nuts or somethin'." She could feel her brothers' eyes boring into the back of her head and knew what was coming next, "maybe you shouldn't go into work today, Charlie-girl."
Charlie shook her head, "you know I can't do that. Harrison already said I can't miss work today, I'll get fired."
"Good," Bobby growled, "let 'im fire you, prick don't deserve you workin' there anyway."
"I need the money," she argued softly, "we all do."
She saw Bobby move to sit on the sofa beside her and turned her head to look at her brother. He was rubbing his massive hand over his beard before it went to his bald head, rubbing away the little sweat that had gathered there. "You don't have to go back there, Charlie-girl," he told her, "I can pull extra shifts at the shop, bring in extra money for us."
"You're already pullin' too many shifts, Bobby," she told him, "this is the first time in weeks you've had a day off. They miss seein' you."
"Those kids need their ma," Bobby replied, "they need you here with 'em and not workin' till the butt crack of dawn for some asshole that couldn't tell his left hand from his right unless someone pointed it out to him."
She shook her head, a smile threatening to curl her lips at her brother's analogy. "I guess I can get a job that lets me work from home," she said slowly, mulling it over in her head. She could put those degrees to good use and still be able to spend the time she wanted to spend with her kids. "But I still gotta go in today," she told him, spying the big grin on her brother's face, "tell Harrison I won't be comin' into work anymore."
"Need me to come?" he asked, folding those large arms over his massive chest. Her brother was an intimidating man. Standing over six and a half feet and weighing close to three hundred pounds, her brother scared almost everyone who met him. Until you got to know him and realised how much of a giant teddy bear the man really was, that is. Once you saw what Bobby was like with Olivia and Jackson, you could never find him scary. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't be if he needed to be. Unfortunately for them, they had inherited their father's temper; they just had far better control over it than that asshole ever had.
"I'm a big girl, Bobby," she scoffed, "I can handle Harrison just fine."
"Oh, I know," he returned with a smirk, "I meant, do you need me to come to hold you back so you don't kick the crap outta ya piece of shit boss?"
That drew a laugh from Charlie, a barking laugh that was anything but feminine but had Bobby's chest swelling with warmth as he watched her eyes light up. She shook her head and playfully shoved at his knee, "I think I can refrain from 'kickin' the crap outta my piece of shit boss' as you so eloquently put it," she snorted.
"Who the fuck has time for eloquence?" Bobby snorted back.
"Swear jar!"
Both adults turned to see Jackson standing at the door, waggling his finger at his uncle again, his little hand on his hip as he glared at the larger man. "Kids gonna get rich off me," Bobby muttered as he switched off the TV so Jackson wouldn't see the news and moved to leave the living room.
"Don't cuss so much and you won't lose all those pretty quarters," Charlie teased.
"You were cussin' just as much as me, Charlie-girl," he threw over his shoulder.
"Yeah," she agreed with a grin, "but I make sure my kids don't hear me doin' it."
Whatever Bobby said next went unheard by Charlie as she patted down Jackson's messy curls before making her way into her room to get ready.
It was going to be a long day.
Bobby decided to make their fishing day a fishing weekend and had watched as his sister ran around the house trying to get things together for Liv and Jacky-boy. Every now and again she would stop and glare over at him but he merely grinned back at her before she ran off again with a huff.
He knew she wasn't really mad at him by the way her teeth worried her bottom lip. She only ever did that when she was trying to keep herself from smiling or laughing. Liv and Jacky-boy were sitting in the living room, playing with their toys.
His eyes drifted back to the hall that his sister had just vanished down and he couldn't even put into words how proud he was of how far she'd come. Not just from when they were younger, or before she had met Scott. No, Charlie's battle hadn't ended when she had met her knight in ironed fatigues. He'd thought he'd lost her six years ago; thought he'd never hear her laugh or yell at him again. Not after what that prick Myers had done to her.
"Uncle Bobby?"
He looked down at little Jackson, his nephew who looked so much like his daddy, and smiled, "what's up, Jacky-boy?" He bent over and picked up his nephew when the little boy held his arms out to him, placing him on his right thigh as Jacky-boy continued to play with his little army men. "You lookin' forward to catchin' some fish with ya uncle Bobby?" he asked.
"Catch a frog?" Jacky-boy asked, a boy of few words.
"Sure, bud, we can catch a few frogs," Bobby laughed, "uncle Bobby will show you how to cook 'em after too."
"That's gross, uncle Bobby," Olivia said from where she sat on the ground in front of him, her little nose scrunched up in disgust.
Bobby looked down at the little girl, a splitting image of her ma when she had been that age, and chuckled heartily, "ain't nothin' wrong with eatin' a frog. You ain't got no problem readin' that book 'bout the princess that kisses the frog."
"He was a prince, uncle Bobby," she retorted with a roll of her eyes and a small 'duh'.
"My mistake, sweet Liv," he replied, raising one of his hands in a placating way.
"Okay," Charlie breathed as she came into the room, two hiking bags in hand, "I got everythin'. Spare clothes, some food, first aid kits, a rain poncho, and your sleepin' bags. Am I forgettin' anythin'?"
Bobby stood up, Jacky-boy cradled close to him, as he moved over to his stressed sister and kissed her on the forehead. "Stop worryin'," he told her softly, taking the two bags out of her hands, "you look nice, by the way."
He watched Charlie smile softly at him before she looked at Jacky-boy and began peppering his face with kisses. Bobby watched his nephew squirm and giggle, trying to get away from his ma's lips.
"I've gotta go," she sighed, "I'll meet up with you guys tomorrow mornin'. Same spot Uncle Benny used to take us when we were kids?"
"Do I ever go anywhere else?" Bobby scoffed.
Charlie shook her head, moving over to Liv to give her a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug, "I'll see you soon, baby girl," he heard her say, "be good for ya uncle Bobby, okay?"
"Okay, mama," Liv replied with a smile.
"Take care of 'em, Bobby," his sister told him as she picked up her handbag and grabbed the keys to her pick-up, "love you all."
"Love you, mama," Jacky-boy called, waving his little hand around as Charlie returned his wave before she disappeared out of the front door of her apartment.
"Okay kids," Bobby announced, "let's go catch some frogs!"
Charlie should have realised something was wrong the moment she entered the building. For one, there were a few employees missing, enough for it to be noticeable. Even Harrison, when she had walked into his office that morning, had looked a little worse for wear.
"What the hell happened to you?" she asked as she placed some files on his desk.
"Feeling a bit under the weather," he grunted, rubbing at the back of his neck, "probably just a cold."
Charlie shook her head and turned to leave when she was stopped by her boss calling her name. She turned back around, swallowing the annoyed sigh she felt bubbling in her chest as she pasted a fake smile on her face and turned to Harrison. "Yes, Harrison?" she asked, unable to keep the sharp edge out of her voice when she saw him checking out the shape of her breasts through her shirt. She gave a stern cough and his eyes raised to hers whilst he wore a sly grin, not at all caring of the fact he'd been caught ogling at her.
"I was just wondering if you were free tonight," he began, "I was thinking you, me, a candlelit dinner, and a couple bottles of wine."
Charlie couldn't express just how disgusted she was by the man sitting in front of her but she also knew if she wanted to be paid today, she couldn't just tell him she was quitting right now. "I've told you before, Harrison," she began, "I don't date co-workers."
"Come on, Charlie," he tried, "we're not just co-workers. We've known each other since we were kids. We grew up together."
"Oh, I know," she said, trying not to growl, "I remember just how friendly you and Myers were."
She watched him squirm uncomfortably at the mention of his old best friend but didn't give him a moment to defend himself. Instead, she turned on her old, faded heels and promptly left the room, her fists balled tightly at her sides as she made her way down the narrow corridor. Charlie found herself in the small kitchen on their floor, leaning against the counter as she waited for the coffee machine to finish. She hated the coffee they kept in the office but she knew she wouldn't be allowed to go for a coffee run until Harrison was ready for his afternoon coffee.
"Morning, Charlie."
She jumped at the sudden sound and looked up to see Jennifer waltzing into the room.
Jenifer was the definition of gorgeous. Long blonde hair, big green eyes, curves to be envied and legs that went on for days as her brother would say. She was wearing a black pencil skirt very similar to the one Charlie had on except Charlie's fell to her knees whereas, Jennifer's barely reached the middle of her thighs. Tucked into the pencil skirt was a dark red satin shirt, the top few buttons lefts unbuttoned to reveal her ample cleavage and give a peak of black lace.
Charlie looked down at her own shirt, white and crinkled because she hadn't had time to iron it this morning. The top button was the only one left unbuttoned and she knew the bra she was wearing was anything but sexy; a simple, white t-shirt bra that had definitely seen better days. Her hair was thrown into a haphazardous bun whereas, Jennifer sported perfect curls. Some days, Charlie couldn't help but feel inferior to the woman standing in front of her. Thankfully, Jennifer was a pretty down to earth kind of woman, she just knew how gorgeous she was and dressed to impress. Nothing wrong with that.
"Mornin', Jen," she replied with a tired smile.
Jennifer returned it with a pitying one of her own, "Harrison being a dick again?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Charlie chuckled.
The busty blonde clucked her tongue and shook her head, "that man is horrid. He called me into his office yesterday to pick up a pen he'd dropped on the floor and then apologized when his hand accidentally fell onto my ass."
"You sock him?" Charlie asked, knowing that Jennifer was quick to lose her temper with men who stepped out of line.
"I'm here, aren't I?" she scoffed, "of course I didn't sock him, I stood up, smiled, and got my tight little ass outta there. Perve." Jennifer looked her over for a moment before she sighed. "He asked you out again, didn't he?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "Girl, I might need this job but you sure don't need it and shouldn't stay here and endure that man's shit," she growled, her painted red lips stretching over straight white teeth.
"I'm quittin' today," Charlie said before she could stop herself, "right after I receive my check for the day."
Jennifer squealed, running forward on freakishly high heels and engulfing Charlie in a deceptively tight hug.
"Jen, need air," Charlie wheezed, patting the woman on the back.
"Sorry! I'm just so happy for you!" Jennifer laughed. Her laughter was cut short when Harrison half stumbled, half strutted into the room, his chin raised and his eyes narrowed at the two women still embraced with one another. "Not good," Jennifer mumbled into her ear as she took a cautious step away from Charlie.
"Miss Blake, don't you have things to be doing?" he said, his eyes narrowed at Jennifer who averted her eyes, nodded, and made her way out of the small kitchen with one last, concerned glance back at Charlie. When Jennifer was no longer in the room, Harrison turned to Charlie, his face red and sweat-soaked as he looked her over. "Miss Mills," he began, only to be cut off by Charlie.
"It's Mrs Campbell," she bit out, glaring up at him. Her husband may be dead but Charlie had never found a need to revert back to her maiden name.
"Mrs Campbell," he gritted out, his eyes bloodshot, "am I right to assume you wish to quit working here?"
Charlie crossed her arms over her chest and kept her eyes narrowed at the man standing before her. "Considerin' you were just eavesdroppin' on our conversation, I'd say that's a fair assumption," she answered acerbically.
Harrison suddenly stepped forward, his eyes harsh and his hands gripping the counter on either side of her body, effectively boxing her in. Charlie felt her heart speed up as she remembered another time she had been in a position like this. Neither time had been a pleasant experience and she felt her breath hitch as his face moved closer to her own.
"Don't take that tone with me, Charlotte," he continued, his breath fanning over her face, smelling strongly of alcohol and cigarettes. The smell took her back to her childhood when her father would stand over her shivering form, yelling obscenities at her as she clutched her burning cheek. "I've been very generous," he growled, "giving you a job here. Not just any job either, but a very nice, very high paying job doing fuck all for a living. Do you think you can just go ahead and quit on me? Just like that?"
Charlie put her hands on his chest, trying to push him back. He stumbled a little but otherwise, he didn't budge. "You're drunk," she said in a small voice, her body shivering and her legs threatening to give out on her. She'd been in this situation before and it hadn't ended well then either. How had she not noticed how intoxicated he was when she had entered his office?
"Is that what you think?" he chuckled darkly, "is that what you told yourself all those years when Mark would beat that pretty little face of yours?"
She violently recoiled at the mention of the man she had been talking to her brother about this morning, her eyes wide as she looked up at Harrison. She shouldn't have been surprised, he and Myers had been friends since they were kids. Of course, he'd know what had happened behind closed doors. They probably talked about everything that happened when Myers wasn't acting like a gentleman to keep a public face.
"You think you'll use that excuse when he finds you again, Charlie?" he taunted, one of his hands moving to her hip as his dark eyes looked up at her, a wicked gleam in them.
"He's in-in prison."
"Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night?" Harrison grinned, "is that what you tell sweet little Liv when she wakes up screaming from the memories of what he did?"
The mention of her baby girl turned her fear into righteous anger and Charlie grabbed the hand that had been painfully gripping her hip, her eyes alight with fire as she bent his wrist to an almost painful degree. "That bastard is rottin' in prison for what he did to me and my daughter," she hissed lowly, twisting his wrist further and bringing him to his knees as he tried to alleviate the pain, "he'll rot in that cell for another forty years and if he manages to live that long, I'll gladly put a bullet in between his fuckin' eyes."
Harrison was laughing now, his head bowed as his chuckling turned into coughing. "Looks like you're gonna need that bullet sooner than you think," he grinned, looking up at her with a deranged gleam in his eyes. He pulled out a crumpled letter and handed it to her.
Charlie took it hesitantly, her heart beating out a furious dance in her chest as she felt her stomach sink. Marcus Myers. Escaped. Man-hunt.Charlie didn't register the letter as a whole, her mind only picking out certain words, her body threatening to pass out the further she read. Harrison was still laughing, the volume and intensity increasing the paler her face got.
"He's looking forward to seeing you again, Charlie," he told her excitedly, "and he promises to finish what he started, beginning with those two lovely kids of yours and that dumbass brother too."
His words registered in her hazy mind and the threat to her kids and brother threw her over the edge. Her fear came out as anger and she dropped the letter, moving her hand to the back of his neck where she cradled his sweat-soaked face. She lowered her own until their eyes were level with one another and she saw it. The sick glee. The anticipation of what was coming. "You helped him, didn't you?" she growled, forcing her fear to turn into anger even as her stomach churned violently. "Everythin' he did to me, to my daughter, and you helped that fuckin' pig escape?"
When Charlie recalled it later, she would only remember the first hit. The crack as his nose connected with the top of the counter. She hadn't stopped there; though, the following hits were blanked from her mind. It was only when she heard the whispered, 'oh shit,' and saw Jennifer's horrified eyes that she realised she was standing over the motionless body of her boss, his face bloodied and his skull fractured.
She barely registered Jennifer grabbing her bloody hand and dragging her from the kitchen. Barely registered the shrill scream as one of the other employees moved into the kitchen and saw the body. Her mind was fuzzy, stuck on that letter and the blinding fury she'd felt when she had realised Harrison had helped that bastard escape. Jennifer's words sounded like they were being spoken underwater and Charlie had tunnel vision as Jennifer led her down the many flights of stairs in their office building.
She vaguely heard an alarm going off, heard Jennifer openly swearing as she threw open the door to the parking garage and searched Charlie's person for the keys to her pick-up. Charlie barely heard the cusses that fell from the blonde's lips when she couldn't find the keys. She did hear the quick 'fuck it' as Jennifer pushed her into the passenger side of her pick-up before getting into the driver's side herself. Had her brain been working that day, she would have asked Jennifer how she knew how to hotwire a car, but she barely registered the loud roar of her pick-up starting before the car was peeling out of its usual parking spot.
She did remember seeing security standing at the exit to the car park, yelling for them to stop and pull over. Saw as they dived out of the way when Jennifer showed no signs of stopping for them.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Jennifer's voice finally registered in her mind as they moved into the some-what hectic traffic of Atlanta. "Oh my god!" she continued, constantly checking in the review mirror. "What happened?!" she screeched.
"I killed Harrison." Her voice was cold, detached, devoid of all emotions what so ever. Charlie could only stare down at her bloodied hands, feeling oddly numb as she stared at the red liquid.
Jennifer didn't have a chance to reply as a cop car came speeding towards them. "Oh, fuck," she breathed. Her body was stiff as the police cruiser flew past them, only relaxing when it didn't seem to turn back around to come after them. "What-what the hell?" she stuttered as another police cruiser flew past them, heading in the same direction as the last one.
"Check the scanner," Charlie said, her voice still lacking and her eyes staring out the window, not really seeing anything.
"Why the fuck do you have a police scanner in your car?!" Jennifer yelled even as she fiddled with it until they heard distressed voices.
"We need back up!"
"I shot him three times, he's not going down!"
"There's another one!"
Rookies. They'd left their radios on.
"The military are on their way. Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage."
"What the fuck is happening?!" Jennifer cried, weaving in and out of traffic. When she didn't get a reply out of Charlie, the blonde looked over and saw the older woman staring at her hands, her eyebrows furrowed. "I-I'm going to take you back to your apartment. Okay? Get-get you cleaned up."
Charlie nodded numbly, her eyes not leaving her hands as she placed them in her lap. She'd killed a man. She was going to go to prison. Her children were going to lose their mother. Her head snapped up at the thought of her kids, her body coming back to awareness like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her. Her mind still wasn't really registering the fact that she'd just killed a man, but it was registering just how urgent it was that she found her family and got them as far away from Atlanta as possible.
She reached for her phone and cursed when she realised it was still in her handbag. She needed to call Bobby, tell him Myers was out and had plans of coming for her and her family. He needed to get Olivia and Jackson as far away as possible, hide them and keep them safe.
Three things registered in her mind in the time it took Jennifer to get them to Charlie's apartment.
One. She had just killed her boss. The asshole who had helped a monster escape from prison so he could come for her and her family as he had six years ago.
Two. She had no way of contacting her brother and needed to get to their usual camping spot so she could keep her family safe.
And three. Her gut was in a frenzy. Shit was about to hit the fan and she never could have predicted just how right that statement was going to be.
Okay, as you can see, we're right at the beginning. I began here because the things that happened to Charlie leading up to the start of season one are very important to her character and I didn't just want to show them in flashbacks. Don't worry though, we will be meeting character's from the show early as well but these next few chapters are to develop Charlie and her motley crew so you can get to know them before they become integrated with the other survivors. Now, whilst I will keep a majority of the plot points I will not be keeping them all. There will be people who died in the tv series that won't die in this story and there will be people who survived in the tv series who will die in this story. Some things that happened will happen and others won't but I don't want to go into too much detail about that and give things away for all of you.
What did you think about this first chapter? I know it probably wasn't anything too exciting but we're just getting started.
Don't forget to fave/follow and please take some time out to leave me a comment below; I love hearing what my readers have to say and take their comments into consideration when I'm writing.