Charlotte put Hannah in the RV with the other kids as the adults cleaned up the camp from the previous night. Andrea still hadn't moved from Amy's side. She felt sad for the woman. Amy was a beautiful person and didn't deserve to die like that. No one at this camp did. Except, maybe Ed, but even that was a stretch. One thing was for sure, Charlotte knew that it was time. She had to make amends with Daryl and tell Hannah the truth. She couldn't do this on her own. She'd almost lost her daughter last night. Had it not been for Daryl, Charlotte didn't know what she would've done. In all honesty, if Hannah were to die, she didn't see a point in living.
Charlotte was standing next to Lori, Rick and Shane as they peered over at Andrea. She sympathized with the woman. She understood her. Amy had just died, painfully and in her arms. That's enough to screw anyone up. She'd watched Rick go over there, to 'tell her how it is' only to see the blond woman pull out her gun. Rick backed away cautiously and returned to the group.
"You gotta let her have some time." Charlotte reasoned
"The dead girl's a time bomb." She heard Daryl's voice inform them.
"So what, you think we should just go up there a shoot 'er?" She snapped at her ex.
"I can take the shot from here. Hit 'er right 'tween the eyes." He reasoned, Charlotte could see that he was persuading both men. She and Lori shook their heads in disapproval.
"I told ya, all she needs is time. Amy was all Andrea had left. She needs time to say goodbye 'n make peace." Charlotte persuaded Rick. Daryl stomped off, grumbling. Typical. "We'll deal with it when the time comes." Rick nodded in agreement. She gave one last look over to Andrea and Amy, thoughts of her own sister came back into her mind. She snapped out of her daze and forgot about her.
Charlotte went over to help Glenn with moving bodies. He looked upset over something. When she was talking to Rick, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Glenn yelling at Daryl. Something about not burning their people. She gave a comforting smile and grabbed the legs of a walker. She helped him toss it into the fire.
"You gonna tell me what happened?" She asked him.
"We don't burn the ones we cared about." He stated simply. Charlotte nodded understanding. They were still people. They deserved to be treated like people. After last night, there were so few of them left. A lot of good ones died. She felt guilty because she was glad it was them and not her daughter.
"What 'bout Atlanta?" She noticed they didn't come back with Merle. "Was he dead?"
"Don't know. He was gone by the time we got there. Cut off his hand with a hacksaw." She cringed. Merle was one tough and crazy asshole, she'd give him that. Poor Daryl though, Merle was his family. "We thought he was coming back to camp."
"A walker got Jim!" This snapped them out of their conversation. She and Glenn shared a worried look and ran towards the crowd of men.
"I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim reassured. Charlotte had the sneaking suspicion that he was trying to convince himself more than the others.
"Show it to us!" Daryl demanded but Jim didn't move, still claiming he was okay. "Grab him!" Jim grabbed the shovel to defend himself. T-Dog grabbed him from behind and held him as Daryl went over and lifted his shirt, revealing a dark bloody bite mark. Charlotte covered her mouth. Jim was going to die. All the while, he was still mumbling the he was okay.
Charlotte brought Jim over to the RV and sat him down. She looked at him sadly, there was no possible way she could help him. She walked back over to the group to hear them debating over what to do with Jim. As much as she hated to admit it, maybe it was best to put him down. It was the more humane thing to do. No, he's still alive. Her mother's voice chastised. She was right, of course. Jim was a living breathing human, maybe not for long but for the time being. It should be his choice. That's what she would want if she were in his position. Although Charlotte already knew what she'd do if she got bit. She wouldn't want to become one of them.
"... Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be." Charlotte really had to stop loosing herself in her thoughts. By the sound of his voice, Charlotte knew that Daryl was furious.
"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure." She almost rolled her eyes at Rick's comment.
"We all did Rick. 'Fore the world went to shit." Charlotte said.
"What if the CDC is still up and running?" Rick asked her.
"Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane told him.
"Why?" Rick questioned. "If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they? It's our best shot. Shelter, protection..." Shane cut him off.
"You want all those things? If they exist anywhere, it's at the army base, Fort Benning."
"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori stated, Not to mention a long shot. Charlotte thought bitterly to herself.
"But it's away from the hot zone and if it's still operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe." Shane told them.
"Rick has a point." Charlotte decided that his plan was the lesser of two evils. "'Sides, Shane, we know the military was overrun."
"The CDC is Jim's only chance." Rick stated looking back at the poor man by the RV. He was right about that too. If the CDC was still up, maybe they did have a cure. It was a long shot, but they had to hope.
"You go lookin' for aspirin." Daryl's voice mocked. "Someone's gotta have some balls to take care of this damn problem." With that he started charging towards Jim with his pickaxe raised.
"Daryl no!" She cried out. He stopped in mid swing, even before Rick pointed his gun to his head. Charlotte held her breath.
"We don't kill the living." Rick's voice edged.
"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head." Daryl countered but he still didn't lower the axe.
"We may disagree on some things but not this. You go on and put it down now." Shane urged. Daryl dropped it and stomped off.
Hannah was tired. Her mom told her to get her some sleep but every time she closed her eyes, the decaying hand reached and grabbed her ankle. Though, no one really slept. Sophia was sniffling because her father died. Hannah tried to comfort her friend but the little girl said that she wasn't all that sad. Her father was a bad man. Hannah reminded her that he was still her family. She said that it was okay to be sad. That was when Rick brought in Jim. He told the kids to leave the RV. Jim was bit. What were they going to do? They couldn't just leave him.
She pushed away all thoughts about Jim and went to see Andrea. She bit back a sob when she saw Amy lying on the ground blood soaked. Her mother told her that Amy was dead but seeing her like that, she was so different from the woman who braided her hair. I always wanted a little sister. Hannah could still see Amy's bright eyes and her lips moving saying those words. She would never know what Amy's voice was like. She imagined that it would be sweet like sugar. Amy, who had talked about Harry Potter with her for hours one day. The vibrant girl who was so protective over her sister ... she was gone. Hannah knelt down and looked back down at Amy's still form. If not for the blood, she would've thought Amy was sleeping.
"I know it won't mean anything," Hannah began. "but I'm sorry about Amy." Andrea looked over at the small girl. She let out a half-smile and looked back down at her sister. Hannah gathered that she wanted to be alone so she got up and walked away.
Hannah walked over and sat next to the fire pit. She counted how many people were left in the camp. There were nineteen of them now. The faces of the walkers flooded into her mind. The rabid snapping of teeth. The bony hands digging into her skin. She was lucky the nails didn't scratch her. Hannah bit her thumb nail to keep from crying. She'd done enough of that. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Carl flop on the seat next to her. She turned to face him.
"I hate this." He complained. Hannah nodded, not trusting her voice. She was scared. She was so scared. Her mom didn't save her last night. She was almost walker chow. None of this ever felt real. Not when that walker came into camp the previous morning. Not when she'd seen Atlanta in flames. It all felt like a dream. Reality smacked her right in the face last night. It wasn't a dream. Walkers were real, and they were dangerous.
The kids sat for a little while longer while longer until their mothers came and got them. They were going to have a funeral for all those they'd lost. Hannah hated funerals. She'd only been to two in her whole life. The first was for a woman mom worked with that died in a car accident when she was six. She remembered holding her mother's hand, not really understanding what was happening. The next was her Granny's funeral just a few months earlier. This time she stood up front, next to her mother once again, but she shook the hands of all the people her Granny was friends with. They lived in a small town where everyone knew each other. Almost the entire town went, even her aunt came back. They all said their condolences, though they tended to blow her off since they didn't know how to act around her. She sat through the ceremony completely still. Since she couldn't hear what the priest was saying, she played through all the memories she had of her. Hannah found herself doing that again as the camp gathered around the holes, the same place that Jim was digging the day before.
One thought creeped back in her mind. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight. She had been right. The sky was a warning. Maybe she should've said something. She kept her feelings shut and now Amy's dead. Sweet, kind Amy who'd called Hannah her little sister. Amy, who was the only one who really understood why she loved reading so much. Hannah swallowed back the lump in her throat. No more tears. She had shed enough. She stayed watching as Andrea struggled to put her sister in the ground. She felt a hand go to her shoulder. Her heart muscles tensed in fear that it would be a decaying hand. Stop, you're safe now. She told herself. Of course that wasn't entirely true. Her mom led her away from the gravesite after Amy's body was firmly planted in the ground. She hoped that wherever Amy was, it was peaceful.
Once again, all the kids were crowded around the fire pit. They still had solemn faces. No one spoke. Hannah was thankful for that. She was too tired to be reading lips right now. She looked over her shoulder to see her mother exiting the RV with Lori and Carol. They must've been checking on Jim. Was he Jim now? Or was he one of them? Hannah decided that if she ever got bit, she would want someone to end it before she turned. She was being morbid again. It was hard to stop. She was surrounded by death. A part of her was envious of Amy. At lease she doesn't have to be afraid anymore. Stop it Hannah! She scolded herself. You're a fighter. You always have been. She was, of course she was. She was raised to fight. Her mom was a fighter and so was she.
Hannah got up from her spot around the campfire and went to her tent. Her mother was there, rooting through their meagre possessions. She reached over and tapped on her shoulder. Her mother jumped and clutched the silver locket around her neck.
'You scared me.' She signed after catching her breath.
'Sorry.' Hannah apologized, she saw that her mom had something in her hand. 'What's that?' She opened her palm guiltily to reveal the CI. Hannah bit her lip to keep her emotions in check. Good lord did she not want to wear it.
'I know you don't want to wear it. I understand but you have to wear it. I almost lost you last night. And after Amy and Jim. I realized that won't always be here. I won't always be able to protect you. You have to do it for you. Starting by wearing this. You have to grow up in this world and I'm sorry for it. I can't lose you Hannah, I just can't. So that means no more kids stuff.' By the end her mom had tears flowing from her eyes. Hannah understood. Her mother was scared.
'Can I still take it off sometimes?' She asked. Silence was all she knew. Her mom cracked a smile and nodded.
'Of course you can.' She told her.
'O.K.' Hannah agreed, the fear gripped her heart. Her mom reached over and hooked up the CI.
Loud, that was the best way of describing it. Every thing was magnified in her brain. Even her breathing was loud.
"Hannah?" She turned the sound of her mother's sweet voice. It was just as she'd imagined it, warm and kind, or maybe she just remembered it. It sounded so familiar to her, like a distant memory picking at her brain. Hannah reached over and pulled her mom in her arms. She was afraid, but as long as she had her mom Hannah knew she would be okay. "C'mon, let's go. We'll figure everything out." She nodded and followed her mother out of the tent.
She took a deep breath as she got closer to the group. The noise was never ending. People whispered all around her, someone was shuffling their feet in the dirt. Her head was starting to ache from it all. Her mom gestured for her to sit down on the seat next to Carl. She pinched the bridge of her nose to stop the migraine that was forming. She knew her mom wanted to explain what was going on with her but she didn't have time. Dale, Shane and Rick came strolling back into camp.
"I've been thinkin' 'bout Rick's plan." Shane's voice was a lot harder than she expected, she thought it would be softer, more loving based on how she's seen him interact with Carl. Lori eyed her mother curiously because her mom wasn't interpreting for her. "There are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first to admit that. I've known this man for a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is that we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning."
"Okay?" Rick's voice was much kinder than Shane's, it was sort of reversed. Rick had the voice she'd imagined for Shane. He was more trusting, in her opinion. The only thing is that she didn't know where they were going. She looked at her mother who spelt out the letters CDC. They were going close to the city. Why were they going that close?
'Why don't you go to bed?' She was grateful her mother was signing. She didn't know if her ears could take anymore noise. Hannah nodded before walking off. Even her feet were making sound as they shuffled on the ground. She got to the tent and took out the device in her ear. It was a relief when the sounds of the wind and bugs in the bushes were silenced. Her headache hadn't gone away but she could already feel it fading. She hated the damn thing. She'd get used to it but for right now, she hated it with every fibre of her being.
Charlotte waited until her daughter was out of ear shot before telling everyone. She knew it was giving her daughter headaches but that was more favourable than her getting eaten by a walker because she couldn't hear it coming. She'd made the right call. This time, she was sure of it.
"So, um," She started slowly, everyone's attention turned to her. "Hannah can hear." She could feel Daryl's heavy gaze on her.
"How?" Rick asked
"Back before the outbreak, Hannah 'n I were in Atlanta 'cause she was gettin' a cochlear implant." The only two who knew the story were Glenn and T-Dog.
"Why didn' ya say anythin' 'fore?" She heard Daryl's voice ask.
"'Cause she's finally wearin' it 'n I didn' think it was anyone's business." She saw Daryl bite his lip, probably to stop a sarcastic remark. "Point is, she's wearin' it but I'm askin' all y'all not to overwhelm her. It'll be hard for her for a while. Talking to her is good, just not too much. Gives her a headache."
"Alright, thank you for telling us." Rick told her, what more could he say to a confession like that. After that the group dispersed. Well, everyone but Daryl.
She sighed. "What d'you want Daryl?"
"You shoulda told me."
"Yes, 'cause you got so much parental right." She snarked
"She's mah kid too." He countered
"Right 'cause ya were such an active part of the last twelve years o' her life." She told him sarcastically.
"'N whose fault is that?" Her anger spiked, she took a step towards him and restrained herself from slapping him.
"Don't you dare. Don't you dare put this on me, Daryl Dixon." Her voice was dangerously low.
"You shoulda made 'er wear it lot sooner." He growled. "Hannah almost died last night."
"You think I don't know that? That's why I'm makin' her wear it now. This place was supposed to be safe." She defended herself. "I know I shoulda done it sooner but I couldn't. She was scared 'n I don't blame 'er, she didn't want the first sound she heard to be a geek growlin'. I ain't a perfect mother 'n I know that. Believe me I do." She'd screwed up so many times when it came to Hannah. "Point is she's wearin' now so what happened last night doesn't happen again. You don' hafta agree with my choice but you can't say anythin'. She might be your kid, but she's my responsibility." With that she walked away. When she got back to the tent, Hannah was already asleep. She collapsed in her cot and fell asleep. This day was exhausting.
So yay! Hannah's finally wearing the implant. I don't pretend to know anything about cochlear implants, I go based on what I've found on the internet. There won't be much Daryl/Hannah interaction in the first part. I'm writing season 2 right now and just wrote a really cute scene between the two. Anyway, please review!
