Hannah was running again. The green dense woods surrounded her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. She was scared. Very, very scared. Her breath felt ragged. She knew she was running from something. She just didn't know what from. It felt as though she'd cough out one of her lungs. She kept sprinting, only stopping when she reached a clearing in the woods. There was no real sound around her. No birds singing, no wind through the trees, not even the growl of a walker. Nothing. She could only hear her own ragged breaths. Hannah was alone, completely alone. Or she thought she was. On the other side of the clearing stood a boy. She knew it had to be Carl. He was smiling, staring at her. Maybe this wasn't such a bad dream.
Carl gestured for her to come closer. Hannah complied walking slowly to him. He seemed fine. He was alive. He was okay. The sun was shining brightly. The smell of the flowers filled her nose. Long grass covered the clearing. It was beautiful.
"Come on Hannah!" He urged. She giggled and started running. She looked over her shoulder to see a shadowy figure standing on the other side. She saw something metallic in the figures hands. A flame erupted from it. She felt like she was in a container of molasses as she turned back.
"Carl, look out!" She tried to yell but no sound escaped her started to speed up around her when she saw him sprawled on the ground with a pool of blood surrounding him. "Carl?" She fell to her knees and tried to press to stop the bleeding. It was seeping through her fingers as she sobbed. She couldn't help him. She watched as he died in her arms. "Carl, no. No." It felt so real. The blood staining her hands. Carl's breath running ragged. His eyes were open, staring at her full of pain. Anguish filled her every cell. She couldn't save him. She just watched and sobbed as he closed his eyes and died.
Hannah felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. He was gone. Carl was dead. She leaned her forehead against his and just sat there. He was so still. She felt the hand she'd lain on his chest begin to rise and fall. Carl was breathing again.
"Carl?" She sniffled. His eyes opened, they were clouded and dead. His hands reached up and pulled her hair. She screamed as he snarled before sinking his teeth in her throat.
She woke up with a eyes filled with tears and her body shook. It was just a dream. She tried to convince herself of that. It was only a dream, but it felt so real. She could still feel blood on her hands, his breathing slowly stopping. Hannah pressed a hand to her throat, double checking that where Carl had bit her wasn't actually there. She'd watched her best friend die. She'd felt the life leave him. Carl, the boy who got shot. Sophia, the little girl who went missing. There was only Hannah left. He could be fine, he really could be. They both could be. For now though, Hannah was the last kid in this group. She couldn't sleep anymore. Hannah wiped the tears from her eyes. She'd find out tomorrow if he was alive, not just still alive. Alive, healthy, and safe. They would find Sophia. Everything was going to be okay. Or, as okay as it can be since the world ended. She stared out the window and up at the stars. Normally, she hated the night but as she looked up at the vast star-filled sky, she couldn't remember why she'd felt that way. If there was any up-side to the world ending, it was the sky. Even in her small town, there were never this many stars.
The next morning:
She never did go back sleep. Hannah pretended for a bit when her mom came back, but she mostly spent it gazing out the window. She'd never seen the beginning of the sun rise. Usually she'd wake up half way through sunrise. It was beautiful. She got out of her chair and went to the bathroom to get changed. She put on a plaid button up tank top and a fresh pair of jeans. She felt her stomach tie in knots. Her mind drifted back to Carl. They were going to that farm was nervous. What if he wasn't okay? Hannah's dream was so vivd. It felt real.
She walked out of the bathroom. They were starting to stir. She grabbed her implants off the counter put them in her ears. The immediate transition between being unable to hear and when she put her implants in always caught her off guard. It was like when someone would turn on the lights, one second everything is dark, the next bam! a bright overwhelming light. Her mom was now sitting at the reassembled table.
"We're just about ready to head out." Dale announced from the drivers seat. She didn't see Daryl anywhere. That is until she heard the rumble of his motorcycle. Carol sat across the table from her mom. She tapped her mother's on the shoulder.
'Where is Andrea?' She hadn't seen her in the RV.
'Driving Shane's car to the farm.' Her mom explained. Hannah nodded.
'Can I sit up front?' She asked. Her mom nodded. She took a spot in the passenger seat next to Dale.
"Guess your my co-pilot." He stated
"Yeah." She nodded and buckled up her seat belt. Her stomach was still in knots. Hannah bit the inside of her cheek trying to keep her nerves at bay.
The farm was beautiful. It looked almost identical to the one her mother use to work at. There were large fields full of long grass. She remembered running through them and climbing hay bails with her mom. The farm her mother worked at mostly had cattle but they also had a few horses. Hannah loved the animals. She thought that maybe she could be a veterinarian when she got older. She thought she could be a lot of different things. Now, none of this was possible. She would just be a survivor. Dr. Jenner had said there was no cure. It only sunk in now that he was right. She shook away her morbid thoughts as the RV was put in park. Hannah took a deep breath before getting out. She could see Rick and Lori up front. Glenn, T-Dog and Shane, who was now wearing oversized overalls and his thick dark hair was gone, were standing off to the side with a few other people, including the short brown haired woman from yesterday. The woman who said Carl was still alive.
"How is he?" Dale asked, Hannah felt her heart pounding in her ears.
"He'll pull through." It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Carl was okay. "Thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori gestured behind her to the old man, that must be Hershel.
"And Shane. We'd've lost Carl if not for him." Hannah looked over the the bald man.
"Thank God." Her mom stated. "We were so worried." She and Lori hugged each other. Good, they'd made up. She knew she shouldn't have eavesdropped on their conversation earlier, but she couldn't help it.
"How'd it happen?" Dale asked
"Hunting accident. That's all, just a stupid accident." Rick explained. Hannah was still reeling that Carl would be okay.
Hannah wanted to go see him, just to make sure for herself. She was smiling just at the thought of him being okay. The grown ups around her were talking, something about a man named Otis who'd died helping Shane get supplies to save Carl. There was his funeral today, Rick said they should all go. Hannah didn't really want to go. There was only one place she'd like to be right now. Lori came over to her.
"Do you want to go see him?" Hannah nodded enthusiastically. "If it's okay with your mom." She looked up to her mother, giving her pleading eyes.
'Please?' She begged
"Okay, jus' be sure to let him rest. Bring somethin' to do." She hugged her mom, grabbed her bag and followed Lori inside the house.
He was so small in that great big bed. His chest rose and fell, indicating he was alive. He was pale. Hannah almost didn't recognize him.
"He's asleep right now. You can sit in the chair." Lori explained. Hannah didn't take her eyes off the pale boy. She walked over to the chair. It felt good to see him breathing in and out. She was so thankful that Carl was still there. She feared that if she tore her eyes away, he'd vanish into nothing.
It was quite the beautiful little ceremony. Hershel read a passage from the bible as they piled on rocks to make a memorial grave stone. The man's, Otis, wife Patricia wept. Her heart broke for the woman. Her husband died saving a Charlotte was glad when Lori asked Hannah to go see Carl. She'd been to funerals, yes, but never while she was hearing. Charlotte knew she couldn't shelter Hannah from everything but that didn't mean she couldn't try.
"Shane, will you speak for Otis?" Hershel's voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"I'm not good at it. I'm sorry." Shane looked very different now that he'd lost his hair. His jaw looked more angular, he looked his age now. Before, he looked younger. This look, it sort of fit with the apocalypse.
"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments." Patricia pleaded through her tears. "I need to hear. I need to know his death had meanin'." Everyone wanted to know if the death of a loved one had meaning. Most of the time it didn't. One second they were there, the next gone. It doesn't always make sense.
"Okay," Shane started. "We were 'bout done. Almost outta ammo. Down to pistols by then. I was limpin'. It was bad. 'We gotta save the boy'. That's what he said." His voice was controlled. Much too controlled. Something didn't sit right with her. Because of Hannah's condition, she'd gotten really good at picking up on body language cues. Shane was avoiding eye contact with others. "He gave me his backpack. Shoved me 'head. 'Run,' he said. 'I'll take the rear, cover you'. When I looked back…" He drifted off. "If not for Otis, I'd've never made it out alive. Same goes for Carl. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his." Shane went over and placed a rock on the pile. Charlotte kept looking at him even after he went back to the group. She knew it in the pit of her gut, Shane wasn't telling the whole truth of what happened last night.
The group dispersed after that. They grabbed the supplies out of the vehicles to go and set up camp. This time instead of being across camp from each other, Charlotte set up right next to Daryl. They weren't anywhere near being in the 'sharing a tent' phase. She didn't even want to think about going past the awkward neighbours stage. However, she was going to do this for Hannah. She should be getting to know her dad. Daryl should be getting to know her as well. Things were still awkward between them after Charlotte's confession last night. She needed to make sure he knew how to take care of their daughter if ever something happened to her.
Popping up a tent alone was a lot harder than she remembered. Both Daryl and her ex Derek had taught her how to do it but she had a hard time doing it on her own. She huffed in frustration trying to clip in the pole.
"Jus' fuckin' go up already." Charlotte groaned in frustration.
"You need help there momma?" It was T-Dog. Charlotte smiled and hugged him.
"Glad to see you're still alive." She told him. "How you feelin'?"
"Better." He said, "Still sorta feeling like shit but at least I'm alive."
"Good thing too. Who else would help me with this tent?" She gestured to the pile of fabric on the ground. T-Dog laughed and bent down to help her. It didn't take them long to get it. Soon the tent was standing up.
"Thanks T."
"My pleasure. Thanks for helping me yesterday." He said gratefully. Charlotte nervously bit the inside of her cheek.
"I didn't do anythin'. I shoulda stayed b'hind yesterday, kept an eye on that cut." She felt guilty, what else was new.
"Nothin' you could've done. Dale and I looked through the cars, there was nothing." He was trying to make her feel better. She nodded, it lessened the guilt she felt but not by much.
T-Dog left after that to go with Dale to get water. She saw Daryl exiting the RV with his crossbow draped across his back.
"Goin' to look for Sophia?" She asked going towards him.
"What's it to you?" He asked snidely, she knew why he was behaving like this. After their talk the previous night, Daryl was being somewhat cold towards her. He always thought that suicide was a very last resort, if there was no way of getting out, that's when he thought it was okay. They'd had this talk back in the day. Charlotte was upset because an old man had come into the hospital carrying his teenage daughter who'd slit her wrists. The girl didn't make it. That night she called Daryl and they'd talked. It was the first time they'd gotten together without having sex.
"Alone?" She ignored his previous comment.
"Yeah." Daryl answered. "Better that way, don't need to take care o' no one."
"Just, be safe out there. Okay?" She didn't know what else to say to him. Anything she said would probably start an argument that wouldn't benefit anyone.
They were walking by the house. Charlotte could see Rick standing on the porch in his police uniform. She always thought he looked a bit goofy in it. This was the end of the world, there were no more cops. Yet here he was, Officer Rick Grimes, the cowboy cop.
"Daryl!" He called out stopping both of them in their tracks. "You okay on your own?"
"Better on my own. I'll be back b'fore dark." She didn't believe him. While Daryl is fully capable on his own, she didn't think he was better off. Daryl needed someone, even if he didn't know it.
"Hey." Rick grabbed his attention. "We got a base now. Get this search properly organized." Charlotte looked at him in confusion. What did he mean by that?
"You gotta a point or are we just chattin'?" Daryl voiced both their confusions.
"Means it lets you off the hook. You don't owe us anythin'." Did Rick want Daryl to leave? Better yet, did he want to leave?
"I got other reasons." He was looking at her now. She gave him a small smile before he walked off.
"He knows that me 'n Hannah won't leave the group. He won't leave his kid. Daryl's many things, but he ain't gonna the kind o' man to abandon his family." Charlotte explained to Rick. She remembered the conversation they'd had in Daryl's van. I know you wanna go find Merle. 'N I get that he's family, he's blood. But he ain't here, she is. It felt like they'd had this talk so long ago. Daryl was a man with a code, blood was everything. Hannah was his only tie to the group, Charlotte knew he wouldn't stay for her. He hadn't twelve years ago and he probably wouldn't now. She turned and walked away to go back to camp. There list of things she had to do.
Hannah was drawing now. She'd grown bored of watching him breath. She relished in the almost quiet. She could hear the little creeks in the house but she figured it could be worst. The small noises were irritating but could be blocked out. It was the closest she could get to complete silence while she was wearing the implant. She heard a small cough coming from the bed. She looked up from her drawing pad to see Carl's bright blue eyes looking at her.
"Hannah?" He asked weekly.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"It hurts but I'm okay." He explained, she frowned at him being hurt. "Where's Sophia?" She was caught off guard by the question. Didn't he know that they hadn't found her yet?
'I don't know.' It was true, she didn't know where Sophia was.
"They still haven't found her, have they?" Carl was one perceptive kid. Hannah shook her head. "We'll find her."
'I know.' She told him. They wouldn't stop looking. Sophia was still alive. If both Carl and Hannah had made it, so did she. It only made sense. He looked so fragile on the bed but she knew he wasn't. She remembered him calling her tough at the church because she'd killed a walker. "You know, you're pretty tough."
"No, I just got shot. Didn't kill a walker, like you." She frowned deeply at that.
"You got shot, and are still here. That's tough." She reminded him. She could tell he was exhausted.
'Go to sleep.' She ordered, Carl groaned.
"Bossy." He mumbled before closing his eyes. Hannah grinned before going back to her drawing. It amazed her how she could get lost when drawing something. Sometimes it felt like her mind was just cleared so her hands had little brains for themselves. She was drawing an under water palace with mermaids surrounding it. Maybe Amy wasn't so far out of her mind. She liked to think that this is where she was now. It wasn't done yet but maybe she would give it to Andrea. Maybe it would give her some sense of hope. That was something that was hard to find these days. Hannah figured that they needed to draw it from even the smallest of events. It was the only way to keep moving forward.
I am so sorry for the late update. I've been super busy the last week with school and job stuff. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!