-So, each chapter is based on an episode so some of them won't be very long. Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and say I only own my OC characters. I've changed some of the story line but not by a lot just enough to fit her in there. I hope you enjoy and review if you do. I'm sorry if there are any grammar errors. The picture that goes along with this story is of Charlotte, Andy, and Travis before the zombie apocalypse. If you've read this before I have changed a few things.
"Hey! You move shithead, come on."
"How far? How far?"
"About half mile that way, talk to Hershel and Charlotte they'll help your boy."
Chapter 1) Bloodletting
She could feel it, the wind blowing around, the sun burning on her skin, the weight of a thousand tons sitting on her shoulders as she sat under the willow tree next to his grave. She could feel it, everything outside, but she felt nothing inside. No love, no sadness, no guilt, nothing. She was hallow, empty, and, after his death, she felt nothing, the only love she still bore was for her now fatherless son, Travis. Her son was all she truly cared for other than her parents who lived in the farmhouse with the Greene family. He was all she wanted to live for even though she truly didn't want to live with the guilt of his death anymore. She loved him more than life her little Travis, but he was her life, without him she would be nothing but a corpse in the ground like her husband.
She didn't see the man, nor the boy in his arms, as he ran passed her towards the farmhouse. She didn't see the man that followed or her father who trailed slightly behind. If she did see, she did nothing. She continued to sit there, lost to the world, while panic erupted inside the farm house. She didn't want to know what was going on, she didn't care. The grave beside her was all she cared about, other then her son, and it cold just like her, it was what she wanted but couldn't have. She stood from her spot beside the grave and went to her flower garden that was only four steps away. She picked the roses because they had been his favorite. She placed them in the glass bottle that leaned against the giant tree and buried the older ones in a spot not far from the grave.
The tree was like a land marker for her, a memory holder of everything that had ever happened to her through out her life. He had proposed to her there, underneath the large willow tree, they had gotten married there, underneath the large willow tree, and now he was buried there, underneath the large willow tree, six feet under the ground, he was now a part of the tree.
She leaned back on her heels and stared at the bottle. She could remember the first time he had given her one. It had been their three month anniversary and it was her birthday. They had gone out dancing for the night and, as they were leaving, he had bought her a rose and put it in her hair. They quickly became her favorite flower to after that night. She shook her head and sat back down in her regular spot beside the grave. She didn't hear the footsteps running towards her nor did she feel the hand that landed on her shoulder.
"Charlotte?" Beth asked.
Beth Greene was Herschel's youngest daughter with his second wife Anette. She was blonde with large blue eyes and was eighteen years old, she had still been in high school when the apocalypse started. Charlotte used to babysit her whenever Herschel and Anette were busy or would play with her if Maggie and Shawn wouldn't. She was a beautiful girl who could sing her heart out if she wanted to, Charlotte had heard her many times before.
"Charlotte?" Beth asked again more urgently.
Charlotte flinched before she turned her head slightly to her right and nodded in a silent question of what.
"It's Hershel, he needs your help in the house. A boy was shot by your dad, he needs help." She said.
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
Beth practically begged. "Your dad shot him Charlotte they need you daddy can't do it by himself."
She sighed and lightly touched the grave beside before she nodded her head, she knew she'd be back later. She stood from her spot and quickly began the long walk towards the house. She rushed up the stairs, breezed past her father and Maggie, and walked into the room that contained the boy. He was pale, far paler than he should have been, and young. She looked at the towels that covered his right side.
"The bullet went clean through the deer and it slowed it down, but it didn't go clean through. The bullet broke into six parts. I've managed to get one, but I don't know about the other five." She heard Hershel say.
She nodded her head and took his spot on the right side of the boy, beside a man in a sheriff's uniform, and began to check his vitals and the wound. She looked at the officer covered in blood and assumed he was the father. He was a tall, thin, good looking, man with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and stubble on his chin. He was sweaty and blood covered his uniform from where he had, apparently, carried the boy to the house.
"You his father?" She asked.
The man nodded and stuttered, "Yeah, I..I'm Rick."
She stepped closer towards him and whispered, "His pressure's dropping to fast and he's losing too much blood. The piece are too deep for me to get out, I'd have to cut him open to be able to get to them. He has internal bleeding which means one of the fragments has hit something that I need to close. I don't have the necessary equipment to properly do that and I can't, I won't, to do it with the possibility that he might wake up."
The man shook his head repeatedly, "What do you suggest?"
She sighed and looked back at the unconscious child. "There's a chance that if I do it now that the boy might not make it out alive. He needs a respirator or he won't make it through the surgery. Without it, there's no point in me even trying."
"How do we get one?" The other new man asked from where he stood across the room and she looked at him. He was tall, like Rick, but with more muscle and had a head of curly black hair, his eyes were brown. There was something about him that she didn't like, something was off, something strange was going on in his mind, she could see it.
"You can't go to the hospital it went up in flames a month ago, to many of those things." Her dad said as he looked at the people around the room.
"No," Hershel said, "but there's the high school."
The new people looked confused.
"They set up a shelter there when the outbreak started, they'd have everything I need and more." Charlotte said as she looked at her dad.
Otis shook his head. "The place was over run the last time I saw it, you couldn't even go near it, but maybe it's better now."
The black haired man sighed. "I say leave the rest to me, I can probably get there. Get in and get out.
"I hate you going alone." Rick said.
"Come on," the other new man said before he guided Rick and most of the people out of the room, Charlotte followed.
Everyone sat around the room and Charlotte walked over to the front door to lean against it.
The other new man looked at her from his place over the door they just came out of. "Ma'am, why don't you make me a list of what you need and draw me a map?"
Charlotte nodded her head but stopped as her dad spoke, "You won't need a map. I'll take you there, ain't but five miles."
Her mother reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "Otis, no."
He sighed and looked at her from his seat. "Honey we don't have for guest work and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this man goes out on his own."
"Daddy think about this," Charlotte said before she stepped closer to him. "He's younger and faster, he could get in and out quicker, there's no need for you to go."
"I'll be alright." Was all he said to her even though he couldn't look her in the eye.
"You sure about this?" The other new man asked.
Otis laughed, "Do you even know what any of the stuff their talking about is or what it looks like?"
The man raised his eyebrows and shook his head, "I come to think no."
"I was a volunteer EMT, I do. Now we can talk about this until next Sunday or we could go do it real quick."
The man nodded. "I think real quick."
"I should thank you." Rick said from his seat beside Shane.
Otis sighed. "Wait until that boy of yer's is up and 'round, then we'll talk. I'll gather some things."
As he walked away, Maggie walked up to the Rick and asked, "Where is she? Your wife?"
"Now you know everything that we need? What it looks like? What it smells like? What it tastes like? Everything?" Charlotte asked as she followed her father to the truck and helped him load his backpack.
He laughed. "I don't know about tastes like or smells like, but I know what they look like."
"You know that if you can't find um to just leave um and come back? Don't waste your time looking for them, OK? Don't put yourself at risk, I can probably think of something," she continued as she handed him the list.
He looked at her and nodded with a giant smile before he sighed and pulled her into his arms, "I'll get everything, Lottie, don't you worry. I'll be back and you'll save that little boy."
She sighed and returned the hug. "You better come back. I love you."
"I love you too." He said before he let her go and went to her mother who was almost in tears.
She watched as they said goodbye to each other before he climbed into the truck followed by the other guy. Otis had his hunting rifle, his best gun, and the one that the Rick boy had given him. He would be fine, she hoped. She watched as they drove away before she followed her mother into the house and went to check on the boy.
There was nothing else she could do, but sit beside the boy and wait. Rick sat beside her in another chair and together they both sat in silence. She wouldn't talk, not openly, unless spoken to, and wouldn't answer unless she wanted to. That's how she worked, that's how she lived… in silence. It was her best, and only, friend other than her son and he was asleep.
From what she could tell, by the way he looked, Rick was no better off than the son. He was pale from giving so much blood and looked ready to drop. She could see the tear stains that had dried on his cheeks from where he had been crying. He seemed so scared and lifeless, like a ghost.
"Thank you for doing this." She heard him say a few minutes later.
She nodded and continued to stare at the boy who lied motionless on the bed in front of her.
"His name is Carl, by the way, and the other man was Shane." He continued.
She nodded again and the man sighed.
"He'll be mighty thankful when he wakes up."
She frowned and shook her head, but didn't look away from the boy, "He'll have nothing to be thankful for."
The chair beside her squeaked as Rick sat up straighter and changed position, "What do you mean?"
She sighed and looked down at her lap, "Why should he be thankful when I'm trapping him longer in a world that practically doesn't exist anymore? I'm doing nothing but giving him the chance of dying a more painful, empty death in a life that no longer has any meaning."
The chair beside her moved closer so that Rick could lay a hand on the woman's shoulder, she flinched. "But your giving him the choice, the chance, to live or die, for that I'm grateful and his mother will be to."
Her eyebrows flurried and she squinted in thought, "His mother, where is she?"
Rick smiled slightly even though she couldn't see it. "We lost a little girl a few days ago on the highway, she ran into the woods. We split up into groups to find her, she went with a different group then us."
"What's her name?"
"Lori."
"It must be nice to still have her around during all of this."
He hadn't noticed before that there was a wedding ring on her left hand. "Yeah, you married to?"
She stiffened. "I was." she said, "He's gone now."
"What happened to him?"
"He died at the beginning, got bite while we were coming here."
He nodded before he looked out the window and saw the large willow tree that sat in the middle of the open field. "Is that where he's buried? By the willow tree?"
She sighed. "It was our favorite spot when he was alive, we got married there."
He sighed and took her hand in his. "I'm sorry for your lose."
She jerked away from him, stood up, and walked to the door but stopped and looked back at him, "Don't feel obligated to be sorry for me. Be sorry for your son because he has to grow up in a world where there's no hope, because he has to live to watch others die. Be sorry for your son not me." She turned away from him, left the house, and went to her spot beside the grave at the willow tree, the one spot in the whole world that gave her the most peace.
Later that day, Rick walked out of the house and leaned against the railing. He looked out across the vast amount of beautiful land before his eyes landed on the figure sitting under the willow tree. How someone could be so sad, so lifeless, he would never know. He continued to stand there and watch her until he heard the sound of footsteps beside him, "This place is beautiful."
"Been in my family for a hundred and sixty years." Hershel said as he to looked over the land.
"I can't believe how untouched it is, your lucky." Rick said as he looked over at the older man.
Hershel nodded. "We weren't completely unscathed. We've lost friends, neighbors, the epidemic took my wife, step-son, and Charlotte's husband."
Rick sighed and looked back out over the land. "I'm sorry."
"My daughters were spared, Charlotte, Travis, Otis and Patricia." Hershel said. "I'm grateful to god for that." He sighed, "These people here, all we've got left is each other. Just hoping we can ride it out in peace till there's a cure."
"Travis?" Rick asked, he hadn't heard that name yet.
Herschel nodded his head out in Charlotte's direction. "Charlotte's son, he's two years old."
"Where is he?"
"Upstairs." Herschel said. "Beth and Jimmy usually take care of him, Charlotte's not in the best state of mind right now."
Rick nodded. "We were at the CDC," he said, "it's, it's gone now. There is no cure."
Hershel smiled at him and laughed, "I don't believe it. When aids came along everyone panicked, one boy in town came down with it and some parents pulled their children from school so they wouldn't have to sit in the same room."
Rick sighed and turned to Hershel, "This is a whole other thing."
"That's what we always say, this one's different."
"Well this one is."
Hershel smirked. "Man kind has been fightin' plagues from the start. We get our behinds kicked for a while then we bounce back. It's nature correcting itself, restoring some balance."
Rick looked at him then back at the land, he saw Lori. "I wish I could believe that."
She could see the men standing there talking to each other on the porch, Rick and Herschel. She didn't understand Rick, he seemed strong and smart, but something was holding him down. It wasn't his some, she knew that, he would be fine soon, it was something else. He was always thinking, she could tell by his face, he was a planning kind of man, but now he seemed lost. He reminded her of her husband, of Andy, when they were in college, he was always planning.
She saw them go past her, Maggie and the woman that she assumed was Lori, riding as fast as they could towards the house. She watched Lori and Rick hug before they quickly went into the house together. She frowned and looked down at the grave beside, she missed moments like that.
"OK so, I understand, when Shane gets back with this other man-" Lori said.
"Otis." Hershel interrupted.
"Otis," she continued, "the idiot who shot my son."
"Ma'am, it was an accident." Hershel said.
"I'll take that under advisement later, for now he's the idiot who shot our son." She said.
"Lori," Rick sighed as he grabbed her hand, "their doing everything they can to make it right."
She wiped her face, "Alright as soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?"
Hershel nodded, "We'll certainly do our best."
"You've done this procedure before?" She asked.
"Well yes, in a sense." He said.
Lori looked at him. "In a sense?"
"Honey, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon." Rick said.
She laughed, "No I understand that, but I mean you're a doctor right?"
"I'm a veterinarian, but Charlotte on the other hand is a doctor and will be performing the surgery." Hershel said.
Lori nodded confused and looked around. "And who's Charlotte?"
Hershel turned around and pointed out towards the willow tree where Charlotte was still sitting, "She's the woman sitting against that tree. She knows how to perform the surgery and can save your boy."
Lori scoffed. "Your going to let an emotionally unstable girl perform a high risk surgery on my son?"
Hershel frowned at her. "Ma'am, she may be a little unstable, but she's the best we have and even if she's unstable she'll get the job done."
She nodded. "You're sure about this?"
Herschel nodded. "Ma'am, I have never been so sure about anything in my life except for right now. Charlotte was a surgeon, before the outbreak, she can help your son."
Lori nodded and wiped her eyes. "Alright."
"His pressure's dropping again, we don't have much time left before we have to operate with or without the supplies." Charlotte said as she checked the boys vitals.
"Then take some more," Rick said as he held out his arm to Hershel. "Whatever he needs and then I'm gonna go."
Charlotte scoffed and looked at him. "You can't give anymore you've given enough already. You'll fall over and pass out if you give anymore, let me do it."
"Go?" Lori asked. "Go where?"
"No," Hershel said to Charlotte. "I need you ready to perform the surgery."
Charlotte looked at him. "I have the same blood type as him. He needs it and Rick's to weak."
"They said five miles they should be back by now." Rick said to Lori.
"Rick can give one more before he can't, he'll be fine." Hershel said.
"Are you insane?" Lori asked. "You're not going after them."
"Rick," Charlotte said as she grabbed onto his arm. "If their in trouble you're in no condition to go after them. You wouldn't make it there, you'd die, then what would I tell your son?"
He pulled away from her and looked at Lori. "If something happened I have to go."
"No," She argued. "Your place is here. If Shane said he'll be back, he'll be back he's like you that way."
"I can't just sit here." Rick almost cried.
"That's exactly what you do." She practically screamed at him. "If you need to pray or cry or tell god he's cruel you go right ahead, but your not leavin' Rick. Carl needs you, here, and I can't do this by myself. Not this one, I can't. I can't."
They stood in silence for a moment before Charlotte spoke. "I'll give the boy a unit of blood and that should last him until, hopefully, their back. Other than that, there's nothing I can do but the surgery and hope for the best."
-Whelp, that's the end of chapter one. I felt that I had to redo it because I thought that I was missing way to much stuff and some things needed to be changed because I'm a goof and I F''''d up. Anyhow, if your reading this again, I hope you enjoyed the new changes and if your reading this first time I hope you enjoyed it to. Now onward to chapter 2, whenever I get it done.
