Chapter 3

Cold winter sunlight filtering through the gaps in the boarded windows of the former general store roused Charlotte from her restless slumber. Last night had been a cold one and even with a plush sleeping bag and Gavin's body heat, she had still frozen her ass off, she slowly sat up with a groan, feeling like she hadn't even slept.

She stretched and gathered her belongings. "Ready?" She asked the huge German shepherd, is stared unblinkingly at her, his long tail slowly wafting back and forth, their breath hung silvery in the still, cold air of the store.

Charlotte wrenched the door open and was met by a small avalanche of fresh powder as it poured in through the doorway. "Son of a bitch!" She cursed to herself, by the looks of it, about a foot or more had fallen overnight and it she knew the going would be tough.

Then, she remembered there was a shed out back, behind the store, maybe lady luck would smile on her and there would be skis, or a pair of snow shoes that would at least make the going easier until she could commandeer a vehicle. It was times like this she missed Georgia; sure they got snow, but not this much.

She kicked away the snow from in front of the door and threw it open, her machete drawn and the holster to her dessert eagle unclipped, just in case as a small gust of damp, musty air hit her. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness inside the shed, but Gavin's behavior told her the place was devoid of anyone, living, or dead.

The shed was typical, with a work counter that skirted around three sides, various tools, now rusted from lack of use hung on the walls. Charlotte's heart leapt in anticipation as her eyes fell on a large item covered by an old canvas military tarp.

"Sweet Jesus!" She exclaimed as she ripped it off to reveal a snowmobile, it looked to be in mint condition … NOW she was cooking with some oil, as her brother used to say. She dipped a rod into the tank and discovered it was full and the keys were still in it, she prayed the battery wasn't corroded.

She turned the key and the engine coughed and sputtered, but didn't turn over. She expected as much, it was cold and who knows how long the thing had been sitting unused. She pumped the throttle and pushed the choke in and turned the key, again, the machine coughed and sputtered for a little longer this time before dying.

The third time would be the charm, she just could feel it, she pushed the choke in again and turned the key and this time, the snowmobile reluctantly roared to life. It gave a few sputtering coughs and a couple of backfires before finally settling down to run smoothly.

As the machine warmed up, she fashioned a harness for Gavin out of some scrap rope she found, the machine had a cargo rack in the back, the guy probably used it to carry his kills when he went out hunting. Gavin leapt lightly onto the back of the machine and she fed the excess rope through both sides of the rack and secured it with a quick release not, just in case they had to leave the machine and make a quick escape.

"Let's motor." She said as she shifted the machine into first gear and pulled out for the road.

The snowmobile ran well for as long as it had been sitting, charlotte suspected that it was in need of a tune up and an oil change. The other downside was there was no protection from the elements, and the journey was cold and miserable as hell. She pulled to a stop and took out the map of the area she had taken from the store.

"According to this, there is a small town about five miles ahead." She said to Gavin, who panted lightly in reply, his breath silvery in the fading light of the short winter day. Another good thing about having a dog with her is she could talk to herself without looking completely batshit crazy.

She dreaded heading into any kind of town or city, but she needed new winter clothes, as hers were almost ready to disintegrate right off her body.

"If we hurry, we might be able to make it before dark." She said as she revved the throttle.

Charlotte coasted into town just as the last of the daylight relinquished to the impending darkness, there was no moon tonight, and it was getting dark fast. She decided on a small hunting supply store, the door was boarded up, but nothing a quick jimmy with her crow bar couldn't handle. She tapped the door frame with the handle of her machete and waited, and listened.

Then she heard it, the hoarse growls, the shuffling gaits, there was a walker in there somewhere, and it was heading for her.

"Come on, fresh meat, right here." She said as she whistled softly the way one would to call a frightened dog. Sure enough, not one, but two walkers stumbled out of the store, slow and stiff due to the cold and she made quick work of them. Charlotte waited a few more minutes before she determined that they were the only ones in the store, she studied their half-eaten bodies and imagined that they were probably victims of a passing herd.

The store was surprisingly well stocked, all the firearms were gone, as she suspected they would be, but a large amount of canned goods, and MRE's were still on the shelves. She went to the clothing section and praised god when she found it to also be well stocked, she stripped off her filthy, tattered clothes and redressed as quickly as she could, everything was men's clothes, but it was warm and dry.

She discarded her tattered, worn boots for a pair of insulated snow boots and neoprene weatherproof socks. She also found a couple of extra sleeping bags that she could at least use to keep warm tonight.

She and Gavin snuggled into their nest, warm for the first time since they had left Eastman's house. The sound of a distant owl hooting from somewhere in the surrounding woods lulled Charlotte into a deep, restful sleep.

Charlotte awoke suddenly with a start and panicked for a moment in the cold darkness of the store, without a moon, it was hard to tell the time, but if she had to guess, it was probably still a few hours before sunrise.

Suddenly wide awake, she sat up as her vision adjusted to the darkness, next to her, she could see the outline of Gavin's body, his head was up and his ears were swiveling around like satellite dishes.

Charlotte reached for her holster and pulled out her dessert eagle and walked to the boarded window as quietly as she could. Sure enough, it was someone messing with her snowmobile, probably trying to figure out how to hotwire it, since she had taken the keys.

"You'd better fucking stop what you're doing, unless you want to know what bullets taste like." She called through the boarded window, the man jumped like a cat that just had its tail stepped on and put his hands in the air.

"I'm sorry! I just … it's just me, and my wife and two girls … the snow's gotten so deep … they are too small to walk through it …" He trailed off.

"Well, you best keep looking, because this one's taken." Charlotte replied dismissively, but the man's plight pulled at the one shred of humanity she still had in her, but she had a mission to find her group, and that machine was her only means of transportation.

"I'll tell you what, I am leaving here at first light, this place is well stocked, there are clothes and food, you can have this place after I leave. BUT … if I see you again while I'm still here I'll kill you, understand?" The man nodded graciously and backed out of sight, his hands still in the air.

Charlotte waited thirty minutes after the man had left before she started gathering her things, no WAY was she going to wait and leave when she told him, that's how people get fucked over in this world. She walked out to her snowmobile and found that he had pulled a piece of the body casing off, exposing several wires.

"Dumbass, he was going to try to hotwire with the wrong set of wires." She said as she replaced the casing as Gavin took his place behind her. She started the machine up and was off into the cold, snowy predawn.

Charlotte smelled it before she saw it, even in this cold weather, a herd, hundreds strong had descended on what used to be a small strip center, some were clawing at what was once a dollar store, which could only mean one thing, that people were inside.

Charlotte put her thumb on the throttle, she toyed with the idea of leaving those poor saps to whatever fate awaited them, but that one shred of humanity in her caused her to hesitate and before she knew what she was doing, she was speeding toward the herd as it turned toward the sound of her machine.

"HEY! Over here, you ugly sumbitches!" She said as she fired a shot from her gun to get the attention of every walker. With a collective growl, they all turned toward her.

The cold made them slow, so it was slow going, even in first gear, she had to stop and wait for them to catch up a little before moving again, to keep their interest.

After she was sure she had taken them out far enough, she hit the throttle and made a huge circle back around the strip center.

There were still a few stragglers that didn't take the bait, but she made quick work of them with her machete.

She approached the dollar store with her gun drawn.

"Anyone in there?" She called, careful to stay out of the line of fire.

No response came, but the door slowly opened and a woman about her age exited, holding her hands above her head.

"My name is Melanie Davenport, I was a corporal with the national guard. We were deployed with things first got really bad and everything just …. Fell apart." She said, still keeping her hands where Charlotte could see them, Charlotte took notice of the nine millimeter at the woman's hip that she made no attempt to go for.

"How many of you are in there?" Charlotte asked as she kept her weapon trained on the woman.

"It's just me, and my staff Sargent, we got overrun and we were the only two survivors." She said.

"Show me. You first." Charlotte replied as she gestured toward the store entrance with her dessert eagle.

Charlotte and the woman named Melanie stepped into the dark store, the smell of moldy bread and spoiled perishables filled Charlotte's nostrils as she waited for her eyes to adjust.

"Nick, come on out, we have company." Melanie said.

A tall, slender man with large, kind hazel eyes and a bronzed complexion came to meet them.

"Name's Sargent Nicolas Barr, thanks for doing that, you saved our asses." He said as he offered his hand.

Charlotte looked to the man's outstretched hand, then down at Gavin, the dog leaned forward and gave the man one, long sniff, then looked to Charlotte as if to say 'He's okay.'

"Well, if my dog ain't got a problem with you, than I guess you're okay in my book." Charlotte said as she shook their hands.

"Have you guys eaten? I have some MRE's I took from a hunting supply store a ways back." Charlotte said as she reached into her pack and handed them two bags.

They moved to the back of the store to start a fire, that way there was less chance of being seen by walkers … or living people.

Charlotte found some matches and lighter fluid, and used some charcoal to start a fire. They used snow to boil water and ate their MRE's in comfortable silence as the last of the daylight faded.

"Let's all get some sleep, Gavin here will let us know if something is amiss." Charlotte said as she rolled out her sleeping bag and snuggled into it.

Nick and Melanie looked at each other.

"You sure?" Nick asked.

Charlotte opened her eye and smiled at him.

"He is the reason I stayed alive by myself, you can trust him, he was a police dog before shit got bad. I found him wondering around, trying to survive back in Georgia; he still has his police collar on.

Nick chuckled as he lay back in his sleeping bag. "You don't say."

"Yep, I am sure he and his master were deployed same as ya'll were and got overrun. Poor dude was starving when I found him, just a bag of bones." Charlotte said as she scratched the dog behind the ears.

"Well, then I guess that makes three of us who are lucky you came along." Nick said with a laugh.

"Best get some sleep; we're going to be heading out early tomorrow, before that herd decides to make its way back here." Charlotte said through a huge yawn, she suddenly found herself exhausted; being alone wasn't conducive to sleep and it wore, even on an insomniac like her.

At least for now, she had some company, she hoped that when she found Rick and the others, that she could convince him to let them into their group.

Notes: The next chapter will be Daryl and the group, I promise ^_^ I will try to alternate between chapters. As always, please, please review, it really means a lot to me when you do, and I really do try my best to take your wishes into account when I write.