They sat there for a little while longer, just talking. It felt nice. She looked over to the bush on the side of the pond and noticed all the roses there. She let out a smile at the sight of the Cherokee Roses. She remembered that hike so clearly. It was a beautiful Saturday and Daryl wanted to take her up to this spring he'd found on a hunt one day. While hiking wasn't exactly Charlotte's idea of a fun Saturday, she still went. They'd made it about two hours when all the sudden she slipped and went tumbling down the hill. She remembered Daryl running after her. He had this worried look on his face as she bursted out laughing.
"Why the hell are you laughin'?" She remembered Daryl asking.
"Of all that damn things to happen, I tumble down the freakin' hill." She laughed hysterically as Daryl helped her up. Her ankle started throbbing. Daryl offered to turn around but she, stubbornly, told him that she would keep going. They'd made it maybe twenty feet when Charlotte's ankle started throbbing. Daryl picked her up and they ended up making it all the way. She remembered seeing the bush of roses and Daryl telling her the story of the Cherokee Rose.
"Cherokee Roses," she commented.
"Yeah, you remember the story?" He asked.
"'Course I do," she grinned. "Carol should see these. She's losin' hope."
"I know," he grunted. "Don't matter though, cause I'm gonna find her."
"It ain't just you lookin', you know? You don't gotta have the whole world on your shoulders," she told him. "You gotta let yourself heal." Daryl stayed silent.
"What else am I supposed to do, Charlie?" He asked. "I'm nothin' to them."
"That's bullshit Daryl," she started. "You are worth so much more than you think. Without you, we wouldn't've been able to feed the camp. Hannah, T-Dog, and me, we'd all be dead a few times over. You mean somethin'." She wanted to say more. She wanted to tell him just how much he meant to her, but she didn't.
Charlotte found herself back at camp. She let Daryl and Carol go off, they needed their own moments. She relieved T-Dog of babysitting duty and he went back over to the barn to guard with Andrea. She found herself looking over at it. How could they have been here for days and not known? She didn't want to leave this farm. It was the safest she'd felt in a long time, or at least she had until she'd found out the truth. This place was like a glass of milk, on the surface it was a nice comforting drink but once she took a sip, it turned out to be three weeks spoiled and left in the hot sun. Logic would say that she should've smelt it, but she was so blinded by a desire to drink the milk that she couldn't. That's how Charlotte felt about the farm. All logic dictated that she should've known about the barn. It was staring right at her, she was just too distracted by the idea of safety, of a place where Hannah could grow up and be a normal kid. She was settling. They could actually have a life here.
"Staring at it won't make it go away," Glenn's voice pulled her out of her daze. He was standing on top of the RV on watch. She noticed that his regular baseball cap was replaced by Dale's dirty fishing cap. It made him look like a toddler.
"What happened to your hat?" She asked shielding the sun from her eyes.
"It had an unfortunate incident with an egg," he stated. Charlotte let out a small laugh.
"And how'd that happen?" She asked before climbing up the ladder to the roof of the RV.
"Maggie."
"Ah, nothin' worst then the anger of a woman," she warned.
"Yeah," he said awkwardly. "I just did what I thought was best for everyone."
"You did the right thing, never doubt that," she told him. Originally, she wanted to chew him out for lying but she knew deep down that he didn't want to lie, he just tried to figure it out for himself. Charlotte had done the exact same thing, only she didn't come clean, it all came out at once. "God Glenn, what're we gonna do?" She asked.
"About the barn? I don't know. I don't wanna run anymore," Glenn stated.
"Me neither. We can't live like that anymore," she shook her head. "Rick'll work it out. He's gotta."
"Yeah."
"Maggie'll get over it," she told him. "You just gotta make her understand."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Glenn asked. Charlotte looked past him and noticed Maggie walking over to them.
"I dunno, but now's your chance," she pointed. "Go on I got this." Glenn climbed down the ladder and chased after her. "Run Romeo, go get your Juliet," she said to herself. Young love, it was so naive. She wanted Glenn and Maggie to work out. She hoped they would, but from her own experience, Charlotte knew how young love turned out. Maybe it was different now, she sure wanted it to be. She hoped that this story would have a better ending than hers or that of Juliet. She hoped that her sister had found her Oliver. Charlotte wanted love to work out for them, even if it hadn't for her. She remembered Lori's words at the CDC. They had to keep trying for as long as possible. They had to try for normalcy, for a life worth living. Without it, they were no better than the walkers.
Hannah had lost all sense of time when her mom finally came and got her. She explained how everyone had gone to the house. She wondered why but didn't object as they left their small camp. She slipped her implant back on, returning to the world of noise. For a while, she'd felt like herself again. Like there was this blanket of safety that was lifted. She reawakened to the cruel reality around her.
She had her sketchbook tucked in under her arm. She was right in the middle of a new piece when her mom came. She had to finish it. Hannah hated when things didn't have proper endings. Though it was rare that she could look at a picture and declare it finished. The one she'd given Andrea was the first picture she'd done and felt satisfied by it. It was odd since art brought her both peace and frustration. One minute she could think to herself that yes, it was done, the next she would decide to add more birds along the top or maybe a few more leaves. Her aunt used to joke that she wouldn't be happy until the page was completely covered. She missed her aunt already. Waking us to find only a note three sentences long made her confused and angry. She just wished that she could've said goodbye before her aunt left. Though it wouldn't be the first time Aunt Willow left without saying anything. She'd done the exact thing five years ago. Well, she wanted to go and now she's gone. Screw her, Hannah bitterly thought.
She sat on the porch steps next to Glenn and Maggie. Hannah pretended not to be listening to them talk as she bent over her book putting some of the initial finishing touches on her drawing. She found herself sketching a meadow. It seemed so familiar yet she had a hard time placing, which was weird since Hannah rarely forgot beautiful things. Though, for some reason, something about this meadow seemed wrong. She listened as Glenn and Maggie spoke softly to each other. She smiled thinking back to the night of the disastrous dinner. She sat in between Beth and Glenn. She, along with everyone around, pretended not to here the scratching of pencil to paper or the little smirk on the corner of Maggie's mouth but it was hard not too. She only told two people about what she'd seen, her mom of course and Carl. She remembered going into Carl's room right after, he'd just woken up and she told him all about it. This was before their fight, back when they were still friends. It had been two days since then, how could they have fallen apart so quickly? Oh right, because Carl was a stupid jerk.
She could feel eyes on her, Hannah just assumed they were her mother's, who always looked at her like she was about to disappear in a moment's notice. The staring was persistent. Hannah turned and caught the gaze of the jerk himself. His gaze snapped away and he looked at his feet. Hannah smiled victoriously. She'd won this round. She looked back to the field to see Andrea and T-Dog walking back. Wait, Andrea was supposed to be looking for Sophia with Rick.
"Aren't you supposed to be looking for Sophia?" Lori voice her very thoughts. Everyone around her was probably thinking the exact same thing as she was.
"Rick went off with Hershel." Wasn't that good? Maybe they were, what was it Rick had called it earlier? Negotiating, that's the word. They could be settling on what to do with the barn. "We were supposed to head out a couple of hours ago."
"Yeah, you were," her dad's voice followed as he and Carol walked up to them. "What the hell?"
"Rick said you were going out," Carol stated in her usual quiet voice.
"Isn't anyone takin' this seriously? We got ourselves a damn trail!" Daryl exclaimed angrily. "Oh, here we go," he stated as he saw Shane approaching them. Hannah didn't like the look of his walk. Shane had this look on his face that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She'd never been scared of Shane before, but he had this crazed look in his eye that made her shiver.
"What're you doin'?" Her mom asked. Shane ignored her as he handed her father a gun. Daryl loaded the gun and started following him.
"Time to grow up," Shane stated. "You got yours?" He asked Andrea.
"Yeah, where's Dale?" The blonde woman asked.
"He's on his way," Shane assured.
"Thought we couldn't carry," T-Dog chimed in. That's right, Hannah remembered the guns in the RV. Carl stole one. They weren't allowed to carry them, that's what Hershel had asked of them. If they did this, would they be kicked off the farm? They couldn't, they still had to find Sophia. They wouldn't be able to find her if they didn't have a place to base themselves. But then there was the barn. The one full of walkers.
"We can and we have to," Shane explained. Hershel gave them the O.K. to carry? Maybe Rick and him made a deal. "Look, it was fine pickin' daisies when we thought this place was safe. But now we know it isn't," Shane addressed the group. He grabbed another gun out of the bag and held it out to Glenn. "What about you man, you gonna defend your own?" Glenn hesitated, she noticed his eyes dart sideways towards Maggie, Hannah and her mom. He reached and grabbed the gun almost painfully. Hannah was beginning to realize just how serious this was.
"What about you?" He finally asked Maggie. "Can you shoot?"
"Can you stop?" She demanded. "If you do this, if you hand out those guns, my dad's gonna make you leave tonight." No Maggie, he gave the go ahead. That's why Shane has the gun bag, right?
"We have to stay, Shane," Carl stated. That was the first thing he'd said in two days that didn't piss her off.
"What is this?" Lori stepped forward.
"We ain't goin' anywhere," Shane reassured the boy. "Hershel, he's just gonna have to , he… He's just gotta." So Rick didn't tell him to do this. He did have a point, they needed to be safe and the barn meant that they weren't. Hannah just didn't know what to think anymore. "You wanna find Sophia, right?" Carl nodded. Shane handed him something, Hannah knew it was the gun he'd stolen from the RV. "Now, you take this and you keep your mom and everyone else safe." Carl didn't reach for it. "You do whatever it takes, take the gun," he pressed.
"Rick said no guns," Lori scolded. "This is not your call. This is not your decision to make." She got right up in his face.
"Oh shit," T-Dog pointed past Hannah, she turned to see Rick, Hershel and Jimmy coming out of the woods. Rick and Hershel were holding polls each with a walker on the end, snapping their teeth and reaching. Hannah felt her entire body freeze. What was Rick doing?
"What the hell is that?" Shane screamed as he started running towards them. Her mom gripped her hand as they ran at the back of the group. "What the is that?" He continued to question.
"Shane!" Lori cried after him.
Hannah found herself being pushed behind her mom as she got closer to the walkers. She remembered the one hanging in the tree, it's hands reaching for her. The herd on the highway. All the walkers she'd seen since the turn. All they ever wanted was food and it didn't matter who they killed to get it.
"What the hell are you doin'?" Shane demanded Rick.
"Shane, just back off!" Rick ordered but the other cop never backed down.
"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked. Why do you have a barn full of walkers? Hannah asked herself bitterly.
"Are you kidding me?" Shane continued. "You see? You see what your holdin' onto?" He asked the old man.
"I see who I'm holdn' onto," Hershel countered.
"Nah, man you don't. These things ain't sick. They ain't people. They're dead! Ain't gonna feel nothin' for 'em, 'cause all they do, they kill!" He ranted. "They killed Amy! They killed Otis! And they're gonna kill all of us!"
"Shane, shut up!" Rick begged.
"Hey, Hershel, let me ask you somethin', could a livin' breathin' person come back from this?" He asked as he raised his gun and three shots echoed. Hannah bit the inside of her cheek to keep from cringing at the noise.
"Stop it!" Rick pleaded still struggling with the snare pole.
"That's three rounds to the chest! Why's it still comin'?" He kept going. Two more shots echoed through the air. "That's it's heart and lungs. Why's it still comin'?" Please Rick, make this stop. She thought to herself as another shot rang.
"Shane, that's enough!" Rick ordered.
"You're right, that is enough," Shane said as he took a step forward and shot the walker in the head. Hannah's ears felt as though they were ringing. Everything about this felt wrong. They needed to make Hershel see but not like this. The look of absolute anguish on his face, it reminded her of Andrea after she shot Amy. "Enough, riskin' our lives for a little girl who's gone!" Hannah felt her jaw drop. He couldn't be saying that. He couldn't be giving up on Sophia. "Enough livin' next to a barn full of things tryin' to kill us! Rick it ain't like it was before!" He emphasized. "Now if y'all wanna live, you gotta fight for it! I talkin' about fight, right here, right now!" Shane's voice was etched in anger. She hadn't heard him have that voice since the CDC when he threatened to kill Dr. Jenner. She wanted to hide from him them, just as she did now.
"Take the snare pole," Rick begged Hershel as Shane turned and started running towards the barn. Hannah looked to see Hershel still looking absolutely destroyed. He made no move to take the still snapping walker away from Rick.
"Don't do this!" Her mom pleaded along with everyone else. Hannah didn't know what to do.
"This isn't the way!" Rick kept begging his friend.
Hannah watched in horror as Shane snapped off the lock keeping the barn secure. She pushed past her mom and went closer. Maybe if Shane saw that there were kids around, he'd stop this. They could find a less loud way of going about things.
"Keep her back!" She heard her dad yell. Suddenly she was being to the ground by her mom. She being hugged tightly into her chest as walkers began pouring out of the barn. That's when the shots began ringing out. Hannah dug her nails into her palm as walkers began dropping one by one.
"Take it out," her mom sobbed. But Hannah didn't. She knew she had to remember every last second of this moment, even the noises. She had to be able to handle this, even though every shot fired made her want to break.
Eventually the shots stopped and Hannah felt her chest loosen. It was over. She let the fist she'd made go. Her nails were stained with her own blood, which the plan of her hand was dripping. She finally looked up at her mom who's eyes were wide. That was when she heard a moan coming from the open barn doors. There was one last walker. Her gaze snapped towards the gruesome seen in front of her. The walker that was left had to be a little girl. She felt her heart shatter at the realization that it was her shirt the walker was wearing. It turned towards them, the big red nasty looking bite contrasted from the rainbow on her shirt. No.
"Sophia?" Carol sobbed before she saw the woman begin to run towards her. Daryl wrapped his arms around her and brought her to the ground.
"Oh no," her mom softly cried. Hannah felt the tears dripping down her cheek and hugging her mom's leg. She found it hard to breath. The walker, the one that used to be Sophia, hungrily came closer. No, this wasn't fair. They'd tried so hard to find her. She was supposed to be okay. She was supposed to come back to them and see how Carl and Hannah were fighting and call them dumb. She wasn't supposed to have gotten bit. Hannah wanted to scream, to run, to puke. Sophia was her friend, and now she was gone. She watched as Rick stepped forward and raised his gun.
"Don't look," her mother sobbed pulling her in closer. For once, Hannah listened. She couldn't look at this. But she never pulled out her implant as the shot fired and Sophia's corpse crumbled to the ground.
I know, I contemplated keeping Sophia alive but the reason I kept her dead is because of the character development that happens after (i.e. Carol), also this will help Carl and Hannah fix their relationship. Please let me know what you thought.
