Chapter 15
~Charlotte~
I went to bed really early that night. The sun was barely setting, but I felt exhausted. Glenn came back from his trip completely fine, but I didn't speak a word to him. I just waved and went inside my small tent. I have one of the smallest tents, meant to only be for one person. I don't share with anyone fortunately.
I woke up in the morning bright and early. Carol, T-Dog, Andrea and Glenn were already up and doing stuff at the camp.
"Good morning." I said to the four of them. They all said their good mornings back.
"Nice sleep?" Carol asks me and I nod. "We didn't know where you were last night, but Glenn checked up on you and saw that you were sleeping in your tent. You didn't even have dinner."
"Was it squirrels again?" I ask.
Carol nods and I laugh.
"I wasn't hungry. I was tired after all that rope pulling yesterday. How was your supplies run, Glenn?" I ask him. He sits by the fire and looks up at me.
"Oh... yeah. It- it was erm... everything went fine. It was good." he stutters.
I raise my eyebrow, confused by his stuttering.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, nothing bad happened."
I nod my head slowly, "Okay." I mutter. "Did you get all the stuff you need?"
"Yeah, we did."
"That's good." I say slowly. "What about Maggie? Is she okay?" I ask.
"She's fine. Nothing happened. Don't worry."
"All right." I look at the other three, staring at us.
After a moment of silence, Carol speaks up. "Charlie, do you mind helping me hang up the washing?"
"Oh, yeah. Sure, I'd love to."
Carol gets up from the fire and we walk over to the washing line, a basket full of folded up clothes sit by a tree which one end of the lines is tied onto. She picks up the first wet T-shirt and hands it to me. I unfold it and pick two clips from a small pot on the ground by the basket.
"Charlie..." she murmurs quietly, so no one can hear. We are reasonably far away from the three people by the fire, but she still keeps her voice down so they cannot hear. "I have been meaning to ask you about this for quite a while."
My heart picks up speed, nervous about what she is going to ask me.
She hesitates. "Do you like Glenn?"
I freeze. "N-no. As a friend, yeah..."
"But... do you like him like him?"
"I don't think so." I say cautiously. I turn to the campfire and see Glenn walking towards the Greene house. Did he hear?
"Mmm-hmm."
"I don't." I say a little louder to emphasise my point.
"All right... whatever you say..." she laughs and I sigh.
"Does everyone think I do?"
"Well, yeah. But we think he likes you too."
"Well, he can't. He has a thing for Maggie. I see the way he looks at her." I tell her.
"You should see the way he looks at you."
"It's not the same as how he looks at Maggie." I turn around and look at the house. He sits on the porch with the guitar that Dale found on the highway, strumming away at the strings.
I turn back around and I don't speak again for a bit. I pick up the basket and put it on the bench, thinking that it would be easier for me to get the clothes, rather than having to bend over to get the clothes. More people start to wake up from their slumber, exiting their tents and stretching their arms. We both hang quite a few clothes up before Lori comes out of her tent.
"I can't believe that I slept in." she says.
"You must've needed it." Carol said. "Feeling all right?" Lori picks up a couple clothes and starts helping us.
"Next time, wake me, all right? Especially on laundry day."
"We can manage." I say quietly.
"I had an idea I wanted to run by you, Lori." said Carol.
"What's that?"
"Well, that big kitchen of theirs got me thinking. I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again. Maybe we all pitch in and cook dinner for Hershel and his family tonight. Kind of looking for things to keep my mind occupied."
"After everything they've done for us, seems like the least we could do."
"You mind extending the invitation? Would feel more right coming from you."
"How so?"
"You're Rick's wife." Carol tells her. "It sort of makes you our unofficial first lady."
I chuckle a little at that.
"Morning, guys. Let's get going." I can hear Rick say to the group by the campfire as he walks past us. "We've got a lot of ground to cover."
I look at him as he walks past, but I stop as I spot Glenn sitting on the porch, Maggie near him. They look like they are talking. Carol is wrong. I do not like him. In a friendly way, sure. He is the closest one I am to here. But I don't like him like him as she thinks I do.
A lot of people have gone now to do their part to look for Sophia. I'm not going out as Rick said it was best that I stay here and I agree. I barely know how to defend myself, I don't know how to use a gun. I'm not a hunter like Daryl is, not a fighter like Shane, not a leader like Rick. I am weak compared to everyone else here.
I had nothing better to do, so I decided to climb some trees that are at our camp.
I sit on a long thick branch, which was very high up, swinging my legs and staring at our area. I breathe in the cold air through my nose and then close my eyes. I've bee sitting up here for quite a while, just daydreaming, humming and observing.
"Hey." I hear someone say. I look down and see the blonde farmers daughter, Beth.
"Hey, how are you?" I ask her.
"I'm good. What about you?" She asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just kinda bored."
"Well, Carol and Lori were wondering if you wanted to help make dinner. I'm helping too and so is Patricia and my sister."
"Yeah, sure. I'll help too." I start climbing down the tree, getting halfway and decided to jump down to make the journey down quicker. It hurt my ankles a little, but I ignored the pain.
We both started to walk, side by side. "Does your dad say that it's okay?"
"Patricia and Maggie says that we can. I'm sure my daddy will be fine with it."
"Okay, that's good. What are we making?" I ask.
"Some sort of roast dinner."
"Okay. I remember that I once tried to turn vegetarian. Worst week of my life. I love meat, but one day I thought to myself, 'I'm gonna try not to eat any cute animals for a bit', then my mom cooked a bacon sandwich and it was delicious and I never went vegetarian again." I tell Beth.
She giggles before asking, "Where's your mom now?"
"Oh, erm... Well, I dunno." I reply sadly.
"Oh, sorry. I... I should've thought before I spoke. I'm so sorry."
"No. Don't be." I tell her as we get to the door of her house. "You didn't know, it's fine."
"Thank you, Patricia, so much much for letting us into your house." Lori tells her as we step into the large kitchen.
"Not a problem. Thanking you for cooking dinner for us."
"We had to say thank you some how." I tell her with a smile. I cut up vegetables on a cutting board that Beth got out for me. I stand by Beth as she mashes up potatoes. I use a sharp knife to cut up the carrots that Patricia said we can cook.
I look out the window and see Andrea on the RV with a large rifle. I need to learn how to shoot if I want to survive. I heard Rick and Shane talking about firing practice, but I thought we were low on ammo, so it wouldn't be good to waste it.
I look out the window again and see Dale walk in the RV. After a few moments, Glenn comes out. I didn't even know that he was in there.
"How's everyone doing?" Maggie asks, coming into the kitchen.
"Good." Everyone says. I continue to cut up the carrots, trying not to cut myself in the process.
Once again I look up, out of the window. Andrea is up from the chair she was sitting on and is looking through her binoculars. I stare at her, wondering if she spotted something. She chucks the binoculars down on her chair and picks up her gun. Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn run to where she was looking at, weapons in the hands.
Guess there is a walker. I look back down and start cutting up a new carrot. After I cut it up a couple times, a piercing sound makes me jump making me cut a fine line on my left hand. A searing pain erupts from wound and I bite my lip so I don't react to the pain.
"Shit..." I murmur. Everyone in the kitchen looks up from what they were doing, shocked by the gunshot that rang out. I'm the first one to run outside. My right hand is putting pressure on the cut on my left hand. It hurts really badly. I cling onto my injured hand as I run. I let go of it as I sprint towards the men, to see what has happened.
"No! No!" I hear Rick scream. As I run, I look over at Andrea, in a prone position, holding her rifle. She was the one who shot?
Everyone who was in the house ran to the RV and I am the only one to run to the men, wanting to see who got shot. Glenn is fine, so is T-Dog, Shane and Rick. But once I get there, I see who it is.
Lying on the grass is Daryl, completely motionless, blood covering all of his body.
"Oh, my God." I said. Rick and Shane pick him up and wrap his arms across their necks.
"I was kiding." he says. Thank, God. He is alive. I sigh in relief. I look down at my hand. The cut runs deep, starting at my thumb and stopping at my wrist.
"Fuck..." I mutter, putting my right hand on the cut to cover it up.
"Oh, my God." I turn and see Andrea and Dale running up to us now. "Oh, my God, is he dead?" Andrea asks, her voice shaking, shocked by what she has done.
"Unconscious." Rick replies as we all start walking back to the house. "You just grazed him."
I walk next to T-Dog and look at Daryl. There is a streak of blood that runs across the left side of his forehead.
I slightly moan at the pain that runs through my hand. I remove my right hand and see that blood almost covers half of my hand. I slowly wipe some off, so no one sees. I don't want to make a big fuss, especially now with what is happening to Daryl.
"Look at him. What happened to him? What the hell is he wearing? He is wearing ears." I look and see around his neck, he has four dirty ears across his neck.
Rick pulls them off and says, "Let's keep that to ourselves."
I once again, look at my hand. Blood is oozing out a lot. Even though I wiped the blood off not too long ago, the blood trickles down my hand at a fast speed. Some drops of blood run down my thumb and hit the green grass, staining it. I bite my lip to stop myself from groaning slightly in pain, but if I do, I don't think anyone will hear me as they are too focused on Daryl.
"Guys," T-Dog calls. We all turn and see what he is holding in his hand, "isn't this Sophia's." In his hand is a dirty doll, it was the doll that Morales' daughter gave to her before they departed.
Everyone stares at it, but stops when Shane says, "C'mon. Let's just get to the house."
Is Sophia dead? That is the question that has been running through my mind for days now. And as the days go on, it seems like the answer is yes. Seeing the doll is a piece of evidence which shows that she could be.
We continue to make our way back to the house and I walk to Glenn, hiding my cut.
"Where has Daryl been?" I ask him.
"He went to the creek with one of Hershel's horses to search for Sophia. Must've been through a lot."
I nod in agreement. I keep my hand at my side, but have my right hand still cover it. One last time, I remove it. It can't of been that deep, but there's so much blood.
"What's that?" Glenn asks, grabbing hold of my left arm.
I gasp at the pain and try to remove my arm from his grip. He prys off my hand that covers the blood and sees it.
"What happened to you?" he asks.
"Just a scratch. Don't make a big deal about it." I hiss at him.
"A big deal out of what?" Rick asks, he turns and sees Glenn examining my bloody hand. "What happen-"
"I was cutting carrots and I jumped when I heard the gunshot. It's not a big deal." I tell them.
"It's bleeding a lot." Glenn said.
"Don't worry about it. Jeez... Daryl just got shot and you are worrying about my hand."
"Sorry, then... I guess." He says and drops my hand. I return it to the side and we reunite.
"Is he alright?" Lori asks.
"The bullet grazed him." Shane says.
Lori looks at Shane and then at Andrea. "Why did you shoot?"
"It looked like a walker!" Andrea snaps.
"Doesn't mean you shoot. What if a herd is passing by. Wanna draw them here?" Lori shouts furiously.
"Of course I don't!"
"Well, think about your actions before you actually do them."
"Lori is right. We told you not to shoot and you did." Shane says.
"Guys, lets just drop it." I say awkwardly.
There is a moment of silence before Hershel speaks up, "Let me have a look at him." Shane and Rick follow Hershel into the house, still holding onto Daryl.
"Patricia!" I hear Glenn call. She stares at him, waiting for what he is about to say. "Do you mind looking at Charlie's hand? She cut it. Looks deep."
Patricia walks up to me and takes my hand. "How'd you do this?"
"I cut it whilst chopping the vegetables." I say, embarrassment in my voice.
She chuckles. "All right. I'll fix it up."
It actually wasn't that deep. I don't need stitches, but I have a thick layer of bandages wrapped around my hand. When she was patching it up, Patricia had to put this liquid on my hand to stop it from getting infected. It stung like hell. I had to stop myself from saying any foul language in front of Patricia. I gratefully thanked her for fixing it.
I am now at our camp, taking down the clothes that Carol and I put up there as they are now dry. I fold them and put them in piles as to who they belong to. They said that it was best for me to not do anymore of the chopping.
Halfway through, I hear the crunching of grass and leaves behind me. I turn and see Maggie.
"Hey," I says with a smile. "How's dinner coming along?"
"It's going good. It looks and smells delicious so far."
"That's great." I say, folding up one of Lori shirts.
"You're close friends with Glenn aren't you?" she asks.
"Yeah, I am. Why?"
"No reason. Well... He is nice." she says.
"Do you like him?"
She slightly nods, but then she says, "Well, I dunno really."
I look at the house and see Glenn coming out. He looks at us and I faintly see him smile.
"He obviously likes you." she says.
I groan, "Why do people think that?" I question her.
"They way you two look at each other. I've seen it. And when you hurt you're hand. He obviously showed the most signs of concern." She tells me with her thick Southern accent.
"Well, he is just a friend." I get a shirt off the line, which I think belongs to T-Dog. I fold it up and look back at the house. I see Glenn coming this way. Maggie turns to look at him, but quickly looks back at me.
"Dinner will be ready soon." Maggie says before walking off. She walks past Glenn and to her house.
When Glenn reaches me he asks me about my hand.
"It's fine. Told you not to make a big deal about it."
"There was a lot of blood, so I was going to show a lot of concern."
"Well, thanks." I tell him.
He walks around me and takes an item of clothing off the line and folds it.
"You know... We have never really talked about our life before this all happened..." he says.
"Well, nothing much really happened in my life. I was an only child, I went to school. I had friends and I had hobbies. That's it."
"What were your hobbies then?" he asks.
"I read and I played video games. That is pretty much it. You?"
"I played video games a lot too."
"What did you play?" I ask, grabbing a pair of trousers from the line.
"Before everything happened, I played this game called Portal and I never got round to finishing it."
I smiled at the recognition of the game, "I played that game. I managed to finish it though. It doesn't actually take that long."
"Really? I was playing that game constantly, trying to figure out the puzzles."
"It literally only took me a few hours."
He pauses. "I don't believe you."
I laugh, "Why not? The majority of the puzzles were easy!"
"What happens at the end?" he asks with curiosity.
I then gave him a long explanation of the build up to the ending and what actually happens in the end.
"Hmm, okay then." he says, folding up one of my shirts. "You know... I had a weird conversation with Dale."
"Really? About what?"
"Well, he seems to think that you like me."
"Oh, my God!" I say, rolling my eyes. "Everyone thinks I do. I've already spoken to Carol this morning about it, then Maggie just now starts questioning-"
"Wait, is that why Maggie came over here?"
"Yeah, it is. And no offence, I don't like you in that way. You're just a friend."
He chuckles. "Same."
We continue to fold up the clothes. "So... What is going on between you and Maggie?" I ask.
"Erm... Nothing." he says.
"There is." I say playfully.
"Well, I guess there is..."
"Ha, I knew it!" I says, before laughing. "Maggie and Glenn, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." I say loudly.
He covers my mouth and tells me to shut up. It's fun to entertain him. He removes his hand and I laugh at his reaction.
"Let's just get this done, because dinner is almost ready."
"Scared her daddy will kill you?" I tease.
"No. Just, hush up about it."
More minutes pass and we are still folding the clothes, "Can I tell you a secret?" Glenn asks me.
"Sure. I won't tell."
"Okay... Well... It's about Lori." he whispers.
"What is it?"
"She's... er... pregnant."
My mouth drops open at that news. I don't know if I should be happy or scared. A baby?
"Pregnant? How is a baby going to live during this?" I whisper.
"I dunno. But-"
"Guys, dinner is ready!" We turn and see Carol calling for us. I fold up some more clothes before heading inside. "C'mon."
Thank you, you gorgeous people for reading another chapter!
Seeing as it's half term, I am trying to write so much before school starts again.
See you in the next chapter and would you kindly review? Saying anything makes my day! And also follow! ...if you want, I'm not pressurising you to do that.
See ya x