"Listen to the wind blow,

Watch the sun rise,

Run in the shadows,

Damn your love, damn your lies,

And if you don't love me now,

You will never love me again,

I can still hear you saying,

You would never break the chain...,"

-The Chain; by Fleetwood Mac

As the day went on, slow and strangely uneventful, Shane and Andrea had gone off somewhere. Rick didn't seem bothered by the idea of the two driving off, and Charlotte could only assume it had to do with the shooting practice that had gone on earlier. Seeing everyone going about, acting as if everything were normal, that made an unsettling feeling rise in the pit of Charlotte's stomach. Dale and T-Dog were getting things ready to start dinner; Rick was organizing some of the remaining firearms; Carol was cleaning the dishes; and Glenn and Maggie were nowhere to be seen.

Part of Charlotte reminded her to check in on Daryl, to see how his wounds were healing; but there was another part of her that was starting to overwhelm the more sensible side, one that was just anxious at how everyone seemed to be adapting and settling in. Tents were scattered everywhere; the small fire-pit where food would be cooked; a damned picnic table in the center of it all — it made something churn in Charlotte. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. She knew she had to do something, anything, to keep herself from getting too worked up over everything.

"Why are you even feeling like this?" she mentally scolded herself. "You've got food and shelter. You have people who genuinely care about you. Why are you making this so difficult for yourself?"

Why was she, though? There was no real reason for her to be feeling so anxious. Was it because of the things Glenn and Dale told her? Lori's pregnancy and the rotters in the barn were a big deal, but Charlotte just didn't see herself blowing it out of proportion. Not to mention that after Dale came back from his inspection, he hadn't uttered a word on what he'd gathered. He looked a bit defeated, but it didn't do anything to ease the situation. And it definitely didn't help that, still, no one but Glenn, Dale, and Charlotte knew about the rotters in the barn.

Biting her bottom lip anxiously, Charlotte brushed some of her strawberry blonde hair out of her face. She had to keep herself busy. She had to earn her keep in Rick's group.

Going over to where Carol stood, cleaning the dishes, Charlotte carefully cleared her throat. Carol seemed to jump, but visibly relaxed when she saw Charlotte.

"I was wondering if you needed help," Charlotte said.

"I'd appreciate that." The older woman gave a small, sheepish smile. Scooting over so there was some room, Charlotte started picking through some dishes, getting a damp towel, and started cleaning. The routine went on in relative silence, the only sounds being the clattering of the dishes and the noises of whatever anyone else was doing. Somewhere during that time, Lori walked up to Rick and started a hushed, heated discussion with him.

"You look a bit anxious," Carol murmured, placing a clean fork on the side. "Is there something wrong?"

Letting out an airy chuckle, Charlotte shrugged. "I'm just overthinking," she replied. "Everything's just so normal right now, it's throwing me off."

"That's bad?"

"When I was with my first group, the last time something normal happened, it all went sideways not long after." Shrugging her shoulders, Charlotte tried brushing it off. When her boyfriend, Gavin, had still been alive, there had been a few instances where he seemed to be acting relatively normal — or as normal as one could be in the world they were living in. His behavior didn't seem as erratic; he wasn't coming off as intimidating or threatening all the time. Hell, he was happy that their little group had grown a little, and it looked as if things were turning for the better. That was how Charlotte saw it, anyway. But when things were really looking up — where it seemed like they had the whole surviving-the-apocalypse thing down — the very next day, they killed someone who belonged to a violent gang of men. Then Gavin negotiated trading Charlotte over to compensate for the man's life.

"I'm sorry," Carol said, her voice sounding almost small.

"It's not your fault," she sighed. "I just didn't really want to see the big picture. I didn't want to see how everything turned out."

Carol didn't say anything, and in all honesty, Charlotte didn't expect her to. What Charlotte was feeling seemed irrational, but maybe she was justified in feeling that way. The last time she felt genuine normalcy, things didn't go as planned. And when she'd come into contact with the next group, the one she swindled, she feigned normalcy in order to rob them blind. That ended with her getting cut and almost losing her life. Needless to say, it felt as if the relationship between Charlotte and normal didn't really exist.

"It doesn't exist for anyone anymore," a small voice in the back of her head whispered. "You can pretend all you want, but there's always that threat that lingers in the shadows. It'll always be there."

—Us Against the World—

By the time Charlotte and Carol had finished washing the dishes, Dale had started cooking. Charlotte helped Carol place the cleaned dishes on the picnic table, a calm silence surrounding all of them.

"I'm gonna go inside really quick," Carol said, "I'll be right back."

With a smile and a nod, Charlotte watched as the older woman went in the direction of Hershel's house. Once she was positive Carol was out of earshot, Charlotte walked over to where Dale was cooking and knelt down. "Did you talk to Hershel about the rotters?" she murmured, making sure to keep her voice low.

"I did," he murmured. The look on his face was solemn, and it made Charlotte feel even more anxious. "He thinks they're still people, that they're alive."

"What?"

Shaking his head, Dale let out an almost defeated sigh. "I don't know," he muttered. "I'm still trying to make sense of all this."

"We'll figure something out," Charlotte sighed. "But I really think we should let Rick know. This is serious." Before the discussion could go any further, Carol came back. Standing up, Charlotte tried looking as calm as possible. From the looks of it, Carol didn't really seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, either.

"Food's almost done," Dale said, keeping his tone neutral, "why don't you tell everyone to get ready?" The question was aimed at Charlotte, who gladly left the duo to get the others ready to eat. Oddly enough, from what Charlotte could gather at least, Andrea and Shane hadn't returned from their shooting practice; it didn't seem to bother anyone else in the group, and if that was the case, then she wouldn't let it bother her.

—Us Against the World—

Not only were Andrea and Shane not back at camp, but Glenn had run off, too. Which could only mean he went on another shopping trip for the group. Lori had decided not to join anyone for dinner — and Charlotte could only assume it was because of the smell of the food — and everyone else quietly sat around eating away. The sun was starting to go down and the insects were starting to make their appearance.*

By the time dinner had finished, all the dirty dishes had been gathered, put away to be washed later. After that, everyone went in different directions.

Charlotte hung around Dale's RV, just watching the scenery. There wasn't much else to do, so it was a relatively easy night.

—Us Against the World—

By the time the next morning rolled around, the air was tense and the camp was silent. Andrea and Shane returned to camp about half an hour after dinner; Glenn, with Maggie accompanying him, returned twenty minutes after Andrea and Shane. Maggie, needless to say, was genuinely pissed off and yelled at Lori over something. That tension, plus whatever problems mounted on top of that, worked its way into the morning, making everyone restless and anxious. Carol silently cooked eggs for everyone while everyone sat around, either eating some meat Carol cooked not long before the eggs or inspecting their weapons.

Glenn and Charlotte sat the furthest from the group, the two of them having a murmured conversation. Occasionally, Glenn would look back at the house; Maggie stood on the front porch, shooting daggers his way.

"Did something happen?" Charlotte asked.

Looking at his plate, Glenn paled a little. He'd barely touched his food, and looked like he was itching to say something. "She doesn't want me telling the others about the barn," he whispered.

"Well. . . .what do you wanna do?"

Chewing his bottom lip, Glenn looked at the rest of the group before looking back at Maggie. He looked horribly conflicted. There was no doubt in Charlotte's mind that there was some kind infatuation between Maggie and Glenn, and that was probably why there was so much hesitation on his part.

"What do you think I should do?" he murmured.

"In my opinion, I'd tell the others," she said. "It's just. . . .there's rotters in there. If that barn gets a breach, we'll have God knows how many of them all on us."

"I just don't want Maggie getting angrier at me."

"I understand the relationship you've got with Maggie is important," Charlotte said, keeping her voice quiet, "but is it really more important than everyone's lives?"

That seemed to be what he needed to hear. Handing his plate to her, Glenn stood up and walked over to the group, shifting anxiously from one foot to the other. "Uhm. . . .Guys," he stammered. Everyone continued eating their food or checking their weapons, but they made sure to at least pay attention to what Glenn was attempting to tell them. "So. . . .The barn's full of walkers."

That statement alone got their undivided attention.

(A/N):

Hey-yo, everyone. I hope life's been treating you all well. I'm sorry for the delayed update, but here you go! If you see anything that comes off as confusing or whatever, don't hesitate to review or PM me, okay? Constructive criticism is always important.

Sadly, I own nothing in TWD. All I own are my characters and the fillers I put in.

If you guys have ideas for subplots or OCs you'd like to see added to the story, don't hesitate to let me know! Having readers contribute their own thoughts or characters into a story is important, in my opinion.

Also — and yes, I understand I'm a bit late for this — what did you guys think of season 7?! That was definitely a rollercoaster right there. All the deaths and betrayals and Negan being an ass to everyone. If you feel like expressing your thoughts on season 7, I have no problems with you PMing or reviewing.

QUESTION TIME: I understand that I haven't written Merle into the story yet, but I am curious on what you guys have to say. When it comes time for the Governor to appear, should I kill Merle off like in the show or should I keep him alive? Like I said, I'm just curious.

Last thing, has anyone seen GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2 yet? In all honesty, the only reason I went to see it was because I wanted to know how the soundtrack was (and also because I love MARVEL movies). I loved the songs they had for the first one so I was hoping the second one had an even better song choice.

That's all I've got.

Be kind to one another, don't text and drive, and I hope those of you in school get through your finals.

Thank you.

Alek Haydn