Charlie ran through the trees trying her best to keep quiet in an attempt to lose the men trailing her. Coming to a river bank, she crawled under part of the bank where there was a ledge of rocks, just enough space for her to squeeze under. Just seconds went by before she heard the two men approaching.
"Damn it, we lost her."
"Do you think she got across the river?" The militia man had barley finished his question when a twig snapped in the distance. They said no more but Charlie could hear their footsteps racing off toward the noise. After a few moments of silence, when she was sure they had gone far enough, she emerged from the rocks and an arm grabbed hers the same time a hand came down over her mouth.
"Hush, they are still close by. We have to run."
Charlie turned to see Miles standing behind her. She had gotten separated from him when the troops came across their camp and they had taken off into the woods to escape. She was glad to see he had made his way out of the chaos. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her along behind him. They were running again. Leaves whipped at her sides and the ground made noise below them. After running for what seemed like forever they stopped.
"Think we lost them?" Charlie panted as she bent over trying to catch her breath. Miles didn't voice an answer but nodded and leaned against a tree.
"Let's walk for a while. We'll stop for the night in a few hours. In the meantime, we can get some more distance and try and get us some food." Miles tossed Charlie her pack that he'd found trying to find her. She looked at him as he walked in front of her. Her father had sent her to look for him, Miles, his best friend since childhood before the breakout. She had only seen him a few times when she was little; she barley remembered anything about him. Since the blackout, she had learned how to keep herself out of trouble for the most part, yet when she found Miles, trouble seemed to stick to them and people kept either dying or disappearing. Maggie was dead, Danny was dead, Aaron was captured and Rachel was somewhere looking to try and turn the power back on. Thankfully Miles hadn't left her yet. She figured that after they had found her brother and met back up with everyone but when her mom had left to do what she needed to do, Miles told Charlie he was staying with her. Charlie thought that he was doing it out of guilt. She insisted that he leave, that she could do just fine on her own. Not that he doubted it, but he was too attached to her to leave. She had been an annoying kid who thought they could save the world while all he wanted to do was lay low and drink away the memories, but Charlie being Charlie, she had to save him too.
"This is good for the night. Stay here and get the fire going. I'll grab something." Miles said, setting his pack down on the ground.
"Hey, bring back some deer or squirrel."
"Really. Making requests now?" He smirked at her and walked away. Charlie gathered some twigs for a fire from the surrounding area and brought them back to their camp. Once the fire was started, she sat down and leaned back on her pack. As she rested, she looked at the sky, listening to the sound of trees swishing back and forth in the wind, the wings of the birds batting as they flew overhead, then her thoughts went to Miles. She knew he was almost twice her age, but her looked pretty darn good for it. She thought about the way when he was fighting or practicing with her how his arms were sculpted, how his body was the perfect amount of muscle and leanness and could hold his own pretty damn well. He had no problems protecting her. She had noticed he was slightly protective of her. Generally speaking, if someone threatened her, they ended up really sorry after Miles got done with them or they were dead. Chances are that he only did that because he knew he'd let her dad down if anything happened to her. That thought brought her disappointment. As the days went on, she couldn't help but notice her growing attraction to him, but he just thought she was a pain in the ass kid. The whole problem with that was that he didn't think of her as a woman, she was just a child to him.
Charlie sighed and closed her eyes. Were guys always this complicated? she thought to herself. She'd never really been attracted to any of the guys in her village, none of them ever really acted like she was anything more than a friend or a sister. She cleared her mind and started to doze when she felt her face cool as a shadow loomed over her. In an instant she pulled her knife from her side and opened her eyes just as Miles caught her wrist, keeping the knife from reaching his throat.
"Pretty good speed, I'll give you that." Miles plopped down beside the fire and prepped the squirrel he'd captured. Charlie put her knife back and sat up a little bit.
"So before the power went out, were you always like the General? I mean, I know you've changed since then, but what about before you got into all that? Who were you?" Charlie peered at him, waiting. He gave it a few moments consideration and sighed, rubbing his face in his hands.
"I've always been me Charlie. It just got worse when the blackout happened. I always had a side of me that had so much desire for something, something I didn't want to let myself over to but at the same time I knew I had to channel it or I would explode. That's why I became a soldier; it gave me a way to let out the frustration and violence. I knew that in doing that, I could keep people safe and work out some of that need. When the power went out, I just felt lost and to be honest, scared. I started to lose the difference between what was right and wrong and I lost myself in the madness. I know I won't ever be the perfect man, but I do think I am starting to get some sense of myself back. And you know, I'm thinking it's you who is bringing me back Charlie."
Charlie felt something inside her when he said her name in the soft way he just had. He gave her a small smile, not one of his smirks. By the time the food was cooked, it was dark. They lay on opposite sides of the fire facing each other, but not speaking. Charlie's eyes slowly closed as she drifted to sleep and Miles was content with just watching her. He thought about the way he'd acted and what all he'd done when he was in charge. He'd been ruthless in killing and torturing people, giving orders to do horrible things like making families watch while their loved ones were tortured, women were raped. All in the name of getting what they needed and making sure their success kept growing. He thought about how if anyone ever did to Charlie what he'd witnessed and done to others. His anger rose up inside him. Even though he never wanted that to happen, even though he would never let anyone do that to her, he became so enraged at the thought of it even possibly happening. That's when Miles knew he'd do anything to protect her. He'd go to any lengths to keep Charlie safe. That is when he realized he was in love with Charlie Matheson.