"Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall." -Ultron; Avengers Age of Ultron
After looking into the hole of the well, a feeling of dread filled them when they saw a walker sitting in there. It was bloated from the moisture of the well, its skin a bluish-gray color. Despite how clear the water in the containers looked, the walker made the water in the well look clouded. When the walker noticed the three of them, it started trying to move around, but it couldn't. It was too bloated to really do anything other than look up at them and snarl.
"I'll get the others," Charlotte said.
—Us Against the World—
Charlotte tried moving as quickly as possible, and when she finally made it back to the campsite, she told about the condition of the well.
"There's a walker in the well?" Lori exclaimed.
"Yeah." Charlotte nodded, taking a deep breath in hopes of steadying herself. "Looks like it's been in there for a while."
"How are we supposed to get anything to drink?" Andrea asked.
"We'll figure something out," Rick said, trying to keep everyone calm. "What we need to do is figure out how to get the walker out of the well."
"You said it was in there for a while," Shane said, "what'd it look like?"
"It was all bloated and blue," Charlotte said. "Probably got all the moisture down there in its body. The thing could hardly move."
Sighing, Shane took off the hat on his head, running a hand on his shaved head.
"We should check it out first," Lori put in. "Then we can figure out what to do."
—Us Against the World—
Everyone but Rick followed Charlotte to where Dale and T-Dog were waiting. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, indicating just how late in the day it was. When they made it to the opening in the ground, Dale shone a flashlight down, causing the walker to look back up at them.
"Looks like we've got us a swimmer," Dale said.
They stood around the well for a moment, debating on what would be the best solution to take it out; but the only thing they seemed to agree on was having someone go down, but anything after that was still unsure. At whatever point during their debate, Glenn and Maggie had returned from their trip, having come over to where the others were gathered around the well.
"How long do you think it's been down there?" Glenn asked, after being filled in.
"Long enough to grow gills," Andrea sighed. "We can't leave it down there. God knows what it's doing to the water."
"We got to get it out," Shane exclaimed.
"Easy," T-Dog sighed. "Put a bullet in its head."
"And have it contaminate the water even more?" Charlotte said.
"I'll get a rope," Shane said.
"Whoa, whoa," Maggie snapped. "No."
"Why not?" Glenn asked. "It's a good plan."
"It's not a good plan," Charlotte sighed.
"It's a stupid plan," Andrea exclaimed. "Like you said, though, if that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job."
"She's right," Shane said. "Can't risk it."
"So it has to come out alive?" T-Dog asked.
Shane shrugged. "So to speak," he said.
"How do we do that?" Glenn asked.
—Us Against the World—
It took a little more debating before Maggie said that her father had some meat in their fridge that he was saving to cook at a later time.
"We could use that as a bait," Maggie said. "See how it reacts."
"It's worth a shot," Lori said.
When Maggie went off to get the meat, the others stayed close to the well, looking at the walker in disgust. It continued to splash around in the water, trying to find a way up to where the living people were. Since the well was relatively deep, any smell that was coming from the walker didn't reach where the others stood.
"We may have to find another way to get water," Glenn said.
"There's still that creek," Charlotte suggested. "Just heat it up and it should be good to go."
"She said there were other wells on the property," Dale said.
"Still good to have our options," Charlotte murmured.
It took about ten or fifteen minutes before Maggie came back with a slab of raw meat. She'd also taken the liberty of grabbing some rope over there.
When they tied up the meat, Shane and Glenn carefully had the meat go down to where the walker was. It simply looked at the meat for a moment before turning its attention elsewhere. It wasn't even a little fascinated by the bait.
"He's not going for it," Dale said.
"Maybe 'cause a canned ham don't kick and scream when you try and eat it," T-Dog said.
"He's right," Lori said. "There's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards."
"We need live bait," Charlotte said.
Without even speaking or agreeing on who'd be the one to go down, everyone turned and looked at Glenn. When he realized what was going on, his shoulders slumped, an almost defeated look on his face.
(A/N):
I know it took a bit to get this chapter up, but hopefully you guys enjoy it anyway. Let me know what you think should go on with Charlotte being added to the group.
TWD isn't mine.
If you've got an OC or a subplot you'd like to have added to the story, don't hesitate to leave a review or PM me.
The one thing I'm hoping for is that this story will at least last until the last half of season 7 comes back in February. It always feels like the first half of the new seasons get cut off too soon. I don't know, I could be overanalyzing it.
Anywho.
Leave a thought on anything I can improve on.
Sincerely,
Alek Haydn