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Words: 5,502
(Rewritten)
"Hey, little man, where you off to?" Charlie asks Carl when she sees the boy walking up from the water.
"My mom said I had to stay where Dale could see me." He tells her, sounding disappointed. Charlie thinks he was catching frogs with Shane or something like that, he's probably upset she made him come back up here.
"Okay, you busy at the moment?" The teenager asks with a small smile.
"Huh?" Carl asks the older girl, looking up to her with squinted eyes.
"Well, I just so happen to have a deck of cards that haven't seen a good old game of go fish in a very long time. And I need a partner to play with, you up for it?" Watching a big grin grow on Carl's face, Charlie lets her own lips turn up more when he nods with enthusiasm. "What do you say we go find the others?"
"Yeah!" Carl rushes passed, causing Charlie to pull her arms to her chest when he almost touches her.
Whistling, Charlie catches Carl and Sophia's attention and points to a small, nearby table. Carl smiles and gives her a thumbs-up as he and Sophia rush off to ask the other children if they want to play, allowing Charlie to gather the cards and walk to the table.
"Go fish." Charlie tells Carl for the umpteenth time, causing him to groan in annoyance. "Give me your sevens." She smiles in victory when Carl reluctantly hands over his seven of hearts.
"How are you so good at this?" He asks while trying to hold all his cards in one hand.
"I will have you know, I am the Go Fish master." She informs him with a wink, smiling when all the children giggle. "Who knows, maybe one day I'll tell you my key secret on how I do it."
"Really?" He asks, his frown replaced by an excited smile.
"Maybe." Charlie replies with a smirk, straightening her cards.
"Hey, check it out." Morales says, making everyone turn their heads to see Andrea and Amy walking into camp with fish. A lot of fish.
"Can I go see the fish?" Carl asks Charlie.
"Um, yeah, yeah. Go." Waving her hand, the teen watches as all the children jump up from the table to go look at a bunch of dead fish, thankfully leaving all the cards behind.
Gathering the thin items, Charlie listens to Dale walk up, say we have a big problem before he leads everyone up a hill where Jim was. He'd been digging holes for a while and won't stop. Charlie doesn't bother to follow, though. What could she do, anyway?
With most people gone, following Dale up the hill, Charlie makes her way over to the RV and climbs atop it once again and pulls her sketch book form her bag and continues the sketch she started that morning.
Charlie doesn't move from the RV until Carl and Sophia find her, giving her their best puppy dog eyes when they asked her to come clean fish. It takes them a little while because they don't know how and their smalls hands are clumsy. Morales had built a fire pit with rocks, letting the group have a bigger fire without having to worry about it being seen. Everyone is having a good time, passing around the fish, laughing, talking about whatever.
The dark-haired teenager decided to stay down from the RV but kept her distance. She'd finished her fish already but the others are still working on their own as they talk and laugh. Dale had been talking for a bit then everyone laughed harder before Amy disappeared into the RV.
The night was almost peaceful. The stars are out, shining bright in the sky, everyone gathered around the fire, the silence filled with easy chatter. If only it wasn't for the odd feeling Charlie's had in the bottom of her gut all day.
"We're out of toilet paper?" Amy yells from the RV, halting everyone's words and they all turned to her. Charlie only spares the girl a glance before she looks down at her nails. The night had almost been peaceful.
When an ear-splitting scream sounds throughout the night, all eyes snap back to Amy to see a walker biting into the poor girl's arm. Everyone jumps up, some letting out their own screams or cries of distress. Charlie gets up as well, pulling her knife from its sheath. The dead pour in from every direction, the teenager wonders how they hadn't noticed sooner when a short, female walker stumbles towards her.
Lucky, Charlie would say she gets when she's able to spin around the back of the monster and kick it to the ground. After that, it's easy to sink her blade into the back of its head. Pulling her knife from its skull, Charlie stands a moment to slowly to stop another walker from falling onto her. Once again it's small. It's still heavy though, Charlie thinks through her panic, holding the reanimated corpse's rotting teeth away from her face by its shoulders.
Struggling, the teenager bends her knees and brings her legs between them for leverage. Grunting, Charlie shifts the walker's weight off her arms and onto her legs, allowing her to bring her knife up and into the walker's eye. Blood poured from the wound and onto Charlie but the teenager barely notices as she pushes the dead body off her with another grunt.
Climbing onto shaky legs, Charlie blinks when her vision blurs. When it doesn't help, the girl closes her eyes and digs the heels of her hands into her eyes. Probably wasn't the best idea with walkers roaming around, but she can hardly see.
When a muffled voice reaches her ears, Charlie pulls her hands away from her face with a jerk, stepping back when she meets a pair of squinted, blue eyes. "Kid, ya good?" Daryl, the girl realizes. He's a few feet in front of her, his sweaty brows furrowed when she takes longer than she should to respond. He's keeping space between them, Charlie notices before his question. She isn't sure if it was just him or because of that time she'd kicked a dude between his legs when he'd touched her shoulder. She hadn't meant to, it was an involuntary reaction.
Giving a shaky nod, Charlie lets her gaze move around the camp. Dead bodies litter the ground, some walkers, some people from the group. When her heart rate pics up, Charlie looked over to the Rv and see all the children with their parents, seemingly safe.
The rest of the night goes by in a blur, people crying over the ones they lost, hugging the ones that they didn't. After Daryl found Charlie and the teenager knew the kids were safe, the girl found a secluded area of the camp and fell to the ground. Her breaths turned into pants until she could hardly pull any air into her lungs. Blood rushed to her ears and nausea swept through her body. Gasping, Charlie clenched her jaw tightly and squeezed her fist do hard her nails bit into her skin, drawing blood.
As the sharp pain pulsed through her hands, air became easier to pull in and Charlie found herself panting once more until she could breathe normally. It took a while before she was able to stand and when she did, she made her way to the red car in a daze and sat down on the hood, pulling her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and sat there for the rest of the night.
Stuff goes on around her, people moving, crying, at one point yelling. People yelling about Jim being bitten. Charlie spares them a glance but she just buries her head in her knees before she could see much.
An unknown amount of time later, a tapping noise got the teen's attention and she lifts her head. "Ya alright, kid?" Daryl asks, an odd look on his face. Nodding, Charlie looks around, making no effort to move her head much. The bodies had been gathered into two piles, a few lingering behind in some places. "Hey," Bringing her gaze back to Daryl, Charlie looks down at the small rag he was holding out. The girl furrows her brows at him and when he notices her confusion, he motions with his free hand to his face then to her own.
Understanding, Charlie slowly reaches forward and takes the rag from him. She wants to say thank you, she really does, but is unable get the words out of her mouth. But Daryl doesn't seem to mind when he walks away, leaving the teenager to wipe at the dried blood on her face.
When Charlie fully snaps out of her daze, she pulls herself off the heated car hood in time to follow the others up the same hill Jim was on the day before to bury the dead. She stays back, away from everyone. She doesn't feel right being there, she didn't know these people very well. They weren't her friends, they weren't her family, it just didn't feel right.
Sneaking away, Charlie makes her way down to camp as everyone stays to finish. No one seemed to want to stay any longer than they had too. So as everyone goes about doing whatever, Charlie walks down to the water with the idea of getting cleaned up a bit more. She got most of the blood off her face, but she still feels sticky and dirty.
Splashing water in her face, Charlie sits back and looks across the water. The peaceful water. It doesn't seem right, for something to be so calm and beautiful after something so awful and ugly just happened. But that's just how it is sometimes.
Rubbing a hand down her face, Charlie wonders why she was this affected by what happened. She didn't even know these people for very long and getting shit thrown her way in the blink of an eye isn't new for her.
"Hey." Looking over her shoulder at the rough voice pulling her from her thoughts, Charlie sees Daryl approaching, crossbow in hand. "What are ya doin' down here?"
Taking a deep breathe, Charlie moves her gaze from him and back onto the water. "Just...I don't know."
"Shouldn' wander off." He says as he crouches down a few feet beside her. He always keeps a distance between then, something Charlie is thankful for. She wonders if it was just him or he's one of the many to witness the time she'd grabbed that guy's wrist and spun around to kick him when he'd touched her shoulder. She'd immediately shrank back and apologized before running into the forest.
"I know." Charlie mumbles after a moment.
"Best get back, gonna be headin' out in the mornin'." Nodding, Charlie climbs to her feet and Daryl does the same, walking back to the camp alongside him. The teenager distantly notes that he had to be purposely slowing his pace to stay next to her. His legs are much longer than hers.
Charlie sleeps on top of the RV again that night. Well, she tries to sleep. She just looks up at the stars, dozing off a few times before waking with a start, no memory of what woke her in the first place. So it's safe to say, she doesn't get much sleep. But it's fine, she thinks, not the first time and it won't be the last.
Now early morning, the teenager finds herself leaning against a far off vehicle, halfway listening to Shane talk about what station the CB's are on or something like that. She's mostly looking around, taking in the camp one last time before leaving. She isn't being sentimental, this is far from the first time she's had to leave a 'home.
"We're uh, we're not going." At hearing these words, Charlie whips her head around to look at the Morales family. They're not going? Why not?
"We have family in Birmingham," Miranda tells the group. "We want to be with our people." Okay, that's understandable. Charlie will miss the kids though, but it's best for them to be with their family.
"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane tells them but Charlie tunes him out again, pushing off the vehicle and walking a little closer to everyone. Watching Morales talk to Shane and Rick, the teenager leans forward to tap Louis and Eliza on their shoulders, making them turn around to face her.
The girl gives them both a smile and waves as they do the same. She's sure this is where people would shake hands or hug or something, but a wave will have to be enough for now. She wonders if she'll ever see them again. Probably not, not in a world like this one, where no one knows if they'll even see the next day or not. It may be sad, but it's reality these days.
As everyone else says their goodbyes, Charlie makes her way over to Daryl. She really doesn't want to ask but when weighing her options, this is the best one. Suffer for a moment to prevent a longer time of suffering. Charlie never claimed to be a poet.
"Daryl?" She says after clearing her throat, rolling her eyes at herself when her voice still came out softer than she meant for it. Charlie wonders if he even heard her for a second but when he turns to her, she knows he had. Okay, just a question, Charlie, she tells herself, he won't shop your head off for asking. Well, probably not. "Ca-can I uh, can I ride with you?"
"Why?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Um, it's just, the other cars and stuff, well, they're a bit crowded." She tells him, looking off at the other vehicles as an excuse to avoid eye contact. "And I'm not a very big people person."
"Whatever." He says with a shrug. Charlie lets out a big sigh of relief. She hadn't meant to do it, especially that loud. As Daryl turns his back to her, Charlie quickly follows after him, not wanting to get left behind. They ride in silence, the windows rolled down. Charlie leans against the passenger door, her arm out the window, letting the wind run through her fingers.
Daryl rests with one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting against the door. He keeps his eyes on the road but finds his gaze shift to the teenager across from him once. Daryl doesn't know why he lets her hang around him as much as she seems to. There's no one else watching out for her, she's just a kid, hardly looks like she can lift ten pounds. He isn't worried, okay, he's not. Doesn't mean he wants the death of some kid on his conscience. So he looks in on her a few times, makes sure she's still there. That's all.
Charlie is pulled from her trance-like state when the truck comes to a stop. The vehicles in front have stopped as well and she can see smoke coming from the RV. Opening her door, the teenager jumps out of the truck and walks alongside the other cars to the front. Rick and Dale are talking about fixing the RV but she doesn't bother listening, looking for the children instead.
Turning away from the others, Charlie starts walking away when she hears someone say. "Hey," Looking over her shoulder, she meets Daryl's eyes. "Don't wander far." Nodding, Charlie continues her walk to where she thought she hears small voices.
"Charlie," Carl greets with a smile, standing from his seat on the ground to walk over to the girl. "Do you still have your cards?"
"I do, but, I think it's time we swap it up a bit, play something else." Charlie tells him with a small smile. "Alright, I'll go first. Eye spy with my little eye, something green." Watching Carl and Sofia laugh, Charlie lets her small smile grow. It's good they can laugh so easily, she hopes they never lose that.
They stay there for a while, playing random little games, until the children's parents come and get them, keeping them close as Shane and Rick carried a very sick Jim up the hill, leaning him against a tree.
Charlie stands back, watching as everyone says their goodbyes. They're leaving Jim, the teenager figures she understands. It's what he wants, he knows he's not going to make it and just wants to be with his family. And he should get to make that choice.
"C'mon." Daryl says to Charlie after everyone's loading back into the vehicles. Turning away from Jim, she follows behind him back to the truck and climbs inside. She leans against the door again but hugs her knees to her chest, watching the trees blur into a mix of greens and browns as they fly by.
It's sad about Jim, she's knows, but that's the way it is. And now he gets to be with his family.
"Stick close." Daryl tells Charlie when they exit the truck and join the others as they step out of their own vehicles. Doing as he said, the girl stays close as everyone slowly makes their way up to the CDC doors. It's getting dark, Charlie hates being out there like that, in the open, with only a knife. She isn't even good with it.
Coughing at the overwhelming smell of dead, Charlie hides her nose in the crook of her elbow while stepping over the bodies that litter the ground. They're everywhere, there's got to be at least a hundred of them.
"There's nobody hear." T-Dog says when the group finally reaches the door while Shane pounds on it with his fist.
"Then why are these shutters down?" Risk asks.
"Walkers!" Daryl shouts, catching everyone's attention to the approaching threat. "You led us into a graveyard!" Eyes scanning her surroundings, Charlie shifts to stand in front of Carl and Sophia unconsciously. She knows she wouldn't be able to do much if the walkers reach them, but there aren't any other options here.
Gaze locked forward, Charlie resists the urge to spin around and yell at everyone to shut up when they start shouting. Like, really? These things are attracted by noise, maybe try being the least bit quiet.
"You're killing us!" Rick shouts over and over again, holding his place, but everyone else starts inching back towards the vehicles when a loud noise sounds behind the, followed by a bright light.
"Daryl, you cover the back." Shane says as everyone moves into the building.
"Anyone infected?" A new voice calls back.
"One in our group was, he didn't make it." Rick answers.
"Why are you here? What do you want?" The new voice speaks up again.
"A chance."
"That's asking an awful lot these days." It was asking a lot before the world went to shit too, just not many people realized that.
"I know." Rick answers before they're plunged into silence for a few moments, the new guy's eyes scanning each of them.
"You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission."
"We can do that." Speak for yourself, dude, Charlie thinks to herself but doesn't voice her objection.
"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." Some of the others rush out before soon returning with their items, the doors closing behind them.
Following at the back of the group, Charlie watches as they all step into an elevator. The teenager hesitates at the entrance with a clenched jaw. She isn't claustrophobic, but with everyone crammed into the small space, it's impossible not to brush up against each other. Wrapping her arms around herself, Charlie stands just outside the door as everyone finds a place to stand in the tiny box. "Something wrong?" The doctor guy asks.
"Nothin' that concerns you." A voice from beside Charlie says, making the girl jump. She hadn't realized Daryl was standing there, she'd been too focussed on the people in front of her. "C'mon." He mumbled to her, pushing into the closest corner, making a few people shift while leaving a small space behind him.
Squeezing in, Charlie stands in the corner as the doors close. She isn't touching anyone, she's happy about that, but she's still very close to the others. Clenching her fists, Charlie closes her eyes and tries to breathe in deep but it feels like everyone in this box is sitting on her chest, preventing any air from entering her lungs.
Some people are talking, she's aware of this, their muffled voices reach her ears but she's too focused on breathing correctly to understand them.
A high pitched ding makes Charlie's eye snap open and the teen bolts out through the open doors and to the side of a spacious hallway, allowing everyone else to pass before she takes her place behind them all.
"Are we underground?" Carols asks as everyone follows the doctor down the hallway.
"Are you claustrophobic?" He questions with a quick glance over to her.
"A little."
"Try not to think about it." I don't think it's that simple, Charlie thinks to herself. "VI, bring up the lights in the big room." The doctor shouts as they all gather in the entrance of a very large room.
"Where is everyone? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asks, continuing to walk further into the room.
"I'm it, it's just me here." Charlie can't bring herself to be surprised. Everyone probably went to be with their family. They didn't think it was worth staying.
"What about the person you were talking to. VI?" Lori asks.
"VI, say hello to our guest. Tell them, welcome." The doctor calls out into the big room moments before a robotic voice calls back.
"Hello guests, welcome." Not creepy at all, Charlie thinks sarcastically.
"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." Everyone lets their disappointment show on their faces but the doctor didn't comment, only leads everyone from the big room into a much smaller one where he started taking blood samples.
Sooner than she would've liked, it was Charlie's turn. Now, the teenager doesn't have a problem with needles, not at all. What she does have a problem with is someone touching her. Something that happens when you get your blood drawn. Noticing the girl's hesitation, the doctor looks up from his seat to ask. "Something wrong?" Well, that's the second time you've asked that in the very short amount of time that I've known you, so most likely, yes, Charlie thinks but doesn't say any of it, only shakes her head before taking a seat.
As much as she hates this, Charlie doesn't want to make a big show of it. She could suck it up for a few moments. "It's perfectly normal to be afraid of needles." The doctor tells her as he collects a new set of gear.
"It's not the needle I'm afraid of." Charlie mumbles, mostly to herself and if the doctor hears her, he doesn't comment. When he motioned to her left arm, Charlie lifts it onto the table and rolls up her sleeve just past her elbow. She doesn't mind people seeing her scars, she just preferred that they don't. Luckily her back is to the group so even if they do look over, they won't see and possibly make a big deal. Give her odd looks, try to talk to her or some shit, that's the last thing she wants.
Keeping her grey eyes trained on the doctor's hands, Charlie sees him clearly hesitate before tying a blue, rubber band around her arm, ignore it when she tenses.
With clenched teeth, Charlie closes her eyes but keeps her head still. Her arm flinches back when she feels his skin touch hers but the teen clears her throat and holds her arm still when he does it again. His touches are feather-light but to the girl's brain warps them into feeling like he'd taken a vice grip on her arm.
"All done." Charlie isn't sure if she's ever been happier to hear two simple words in her life. She would've stood faster but she felt dizzy and took her time in doing so, rolling down her sleeve before turning back to the others.
It doesn't take much longer, most people having already gone, before the group was led from the room and into another one. The kitchen, so it would seem. Most everyone gathers around the big table with plates of food, the adults even drinking wine. Glenn is sitting on the counter, a wine bottle in his hands. Daryl walks around, also drinking. Everyone seems to be having a good time, except the doctor, he doesn't look too cheery.
Charlie sits atop a small table just behind the others, a now empty plate sitting beside her. She feels herself smiling as Rick and Lori argued over letting Carl try a sip of wine. The boy is excited about it, looking to his mother with puppy dog eyes and Charlie leaned in towards him so he could hear when she speaks.
"Don't do it, little man, you won't like it." She chuckles with raised brows when he looks back at her. Carl thinks about it but chose to ignore her warning and takes a small sip of the dark crimson liquid, screwing his face up in disgust as it hit his tongue.
"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick says as he stands from his seat, tapping his knife on the side of his cup.
"He is more than just our host." T-Dog says while lifting his glass, soon followed by the others. The moment is short-lived, the smiles on everyone's faces and the laughs on their tongues dying when Shane decides it's his moment to speak.
"So when are you going to tell us what happened here, doc?" The mood in the room instantly drops. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"
"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick says to his partner, "No need to do this now."
"Woah, wait a second, this is why we're here right?" Sighing, Charlie rolls her eyes at the drunk man. "This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we, we found him. One man, why?"
"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." The doctor calmly explains.
"Every last one?" Shane continues to push.
"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They...opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Pinching the bridge of her nose, Charlie takes a sip of her water as the doctor continues to speak. This couldn't have waited until morning? Until the children weren't in the room?
"But you didn't leave, why?" This question comes from Andrea, the woman speaking up for the first time.
"I just kept working, hoping, to do some good."
"Dude," Glenn mumbles, moving from the counter to an actual chair. "You are such a buzz kill."
After the cheery turned dreary - no rhyme intended - dinner, the doctor shows everyone where they can stay. Explains what they can do, what they can't. Everyone is most excited about the showers. Charlie doesn't mind not being clean, as a kid, she'd always loved to play in the rain and mud but it was nice to shower every once and a while. Having dirt and blood caked onto your skin for days on end, it gets itchy.
The teenager isn't sure what to do after her shower, she still has her bag, her belongings shoved inside it. She figures she should find a place for the night. Jenner, the doctor, had said there were couches in the rooms and cots in storage. She'll figure it out later.
Everyone else wanders around, finding their own places to claim. Looking at whatever there is to look at. Charlie takes to walking the halls, letting her hand glide along the sleek surfaces. When she comes to a dip in one, she lets her hand fall to her side and looks up at the large metal door. It has a long window above the handle and a sign that reads 'stairs' hanging beside it. Shrugging, the teen takes off her bag and slides down the door until she hits the ground, legs slightly bent in front of her. The faint buzz of electricity is all she can hear. It bothers her.
Turning to her bag, Charlie unzips it and digs around for her sketchbook. She pulls it from under a shirt and rests it on her knees before opening it. The books fairly new, she's only filled a couple of pages. She'd finished drawing the car, now just to figure out how to give it to Glenn.
Charlie thinks it's funny, how many books she's drawn in but she's never been able to fill one completely. Something always happens before she can. It would be nice to look back on them, see how she's advanced in this talent she has.
"Hey," Nearly jumping out of her skin, Charlie places a hand over her racing heart and looks up at Daryl. Damn, he's quiet. "Sorry." He says, his voice quiet yet still rough.
"S'fine." Charlie whispers, looking back down at her book. "Wanna sit?" She questions weakly after a moment, sensing he was about to walk away. Company isn't something she normally seeks, but the silence is taking over her mind and she doesn't want to be alone with her thoughts.
Letting out something that resembled a grunt, Daryl does as Charlie had before and slides down the wall, keeping a good few feet between them. "What's that?" He asks, gesturing to her sketchbook, not because he cares, because he doesn't, but because he was bored.
"Nothing." Turning to an empty page, Charlie starts sketching the first thing that comes to mind. That just so happens to be a dragon but right now it just looks like a bunch of shapes. The silence hasn't changed, but it's more bearable now.
The two sit there for a while, Charlie sketching, Daryl chewing his nails. At one point Charlie feels as if he wants about to say something but he doesn't. She figures she's just tired.
"It's late." He says an unknown amount of time later. "Should turn in."
"Yeah." Charlie sighs, closing her book. Everyone is probably settling down for the night as well, they should too, she imagines. Pulling her beg to herself, Charlie returns the book to its place before standing, using the wall for support. "Goodnight." She mumbles before starting to walk away.
"Hey," Stopping in her steps, Charlie turns back to Daryl, looking down at him as he sits on the floor. "You good?" Giving him an odd look, Charlie thinks over his question before giving a small nod and walking away.
Is she, though? She doesn't know. But Charlie isn't the only one stuck in shit right now, it would be selfish to think she is. Everyone here is going through something, so why bother them with her stuff?
She's never needed anyone before, why start now?
Sorry for any and all mistakes. Thanks for reading!
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