I open my eyes and the first thing I'm met with is the bright midday sun pouring through a window. There is a slight pounding in my head but the spinning from earlier is gone. I slowly sit up and look around, I'm laying on the bed in the back of Dale's RV; I can't see anyone else in here but me.
I try to remember what happened, I remember Ed being angry, then he hit me, I felt like I couldn't breathe, and then I remember Shane being there. He stopped Ed and then came to check on me. He must've been the one to bring me here.
There was an itchy feeling on my face and I try to scratch it but I'm met with a soft surface. Shane must've bandaged my face.
Hopping off the bed I make my way through the RV and head toward the door.
Shane is sitting on the RV's steps right outside the door, wearing his brown police hat. He heard me open the door and turns around, he gives me a smile before speaking.
"How you feeling Charlie?" He asks.
I sit next to him on the steps. "Fine," I respond.
Shane tilts my head to the side and checks the bandage. "Ed got you pretty good, but you're tough, you handled a punch like it was nothing."
"I fell and passed out though," I say quietly, I'm not tough like Shane says.
"You only passed out cause you panicked, not because of the punch." He takes his hat off and wipes his brow. He sighs and looks angrily toward the Peletier tent. "That son of a bi-" Cutting himself off he pauses and ruffles my hair. "Ed won't hurt you again, kid." He takes his hat and sets it on my head.
I adjust the hat on my head, it's too big to fit me properly and the bill keeps covering my eyesight but I don't mind. Eventually, I get it angled upward in a way where it won't immediately slip back down.
We sit side by side watching the camp.
Lori and Carol sit across from us stitching up some old clothing. Carl's talking to Jacqui while she hangs up some clothes. I see Morales leaning against a truck, he's fiddling with something in his hands.
After a few minutes, Andrea and Amy walk into camp both holding a chain with fish strung up on them. I haven't had fish in a long time, my mom hated seafood so we rarely ate it.
Morales takes the fish from them and thanks them both. "Ladies, because of you my children will eat tonight!" He cheers.
"Whoa!" Carl says in amazement. "Mom, look at all the fish!"
"Where did you two learn to do that?" Lori asks while backing away from the fish in Morales's hands.
Amy answers her, "Our Dad."
Carl runs up to them both, "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"Sure. I'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff. If that's okay." Amy asks.
"Of course. You won't catch me arguing," Lori says.
Dale begins walking toward all of us, rifle slung over his shoulder. He was coming from the direction of the hillside. I wondered where he was, he's always with his RV.
Andrea spots him too and asks him some questions about oiled line reels. He doesn't answer, his face is full of concern and worry. I hope it's not another walker issue.
"I, uh, I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem," He says.
Shane gets up from next to me and stands next to Dale who points at the hillside in the distance. I can barely make out a figure wearing a blue cap shoveling dirt, Jim.
I don't really understand what the problem is but everyone seems worried.
"You know what he's doing up there?" Shane asks Dale.
Dale shakes his head. "He wouldn't answer me. Seems like he's got heatstroke."
We all make our way up to Jim, half the camp came to see what's going on. At the top everyone stands around watching as he repeatedly stabs the dirt with his shovel.
I decide to stand next to Sophia and Carol, it's better than awkwardly standing off to the side alone. A couple people give me glances, I know it's because of the bandage on my face.
"Do you know why he's shoveling?" Sophia asks me.
I shake my head no and watch as Shane and Dale approach him. Is he not supposed to be shoveling? Maybe you aren't allowed to do that here and that's why Shane's concerned, since he's a police officer.
Shane's hat blocks some of the sunlight from my eyes as I stand watching the scene in front of me unfold.
"Hey, Jim. Why don't you hold up, all right?" Shane says. "Just give me a second here, please."
Jim sticks his shovel firmly in the ground and faces Shane. "What do you want?"
"We're all just a little concerned, that's all."
Morales steps forward to speak, "Dale says you've been out here for hours."
"So?" He asks, he seems upset that we're all bugging him about this.
Shane responds, "So why are you digging? Are you heading to China, Jim?"
"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone."
Dale speaks up, "Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's a hundred degrees today. You can't keep this up."
I hope Jim's not sick, I like Jim, he's nice and lets me watch when he helps fix the RV with Dale.
Lori walks up, hands on her hips, a determined look on her face. " Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son, Carol's daughter, this little girl." She gestures to me.
Jim looks at us kids. "They got nothing to be scared of. I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" He starts shoveling the dirt again.
"We think that you need to take a break, okay? Why don't you go and get yourself in the shade? Some food maybe." Shane adds and takes a step toward Jim. "I'll tell you what… maybe in a little bit I'll come out here and help you myself. Jim, just tell me what it's about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?"
"Or what?" Jim asks, he stops shoveling again.
"There is no or what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you."
"And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you?" Jim looks at the crowd of people gathered behind Shane, "Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it." He's looking back at Shane now. "See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you."
Shane's voice took on a more serious undertone, "That was different, Jim."
Amy spoke up from the crowd, "You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife, he hurt Charlotte, a kid, for crying out loud."
I shrink back from the stares I get.
"That is their marriage! That is not his!" Jim shouts. "He is not judge and jury. Who voted you king boss, huh?"
"Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel, okay?"
Shane reaches for Jim's shovel but he moves it away from him, backing up and muttering, "No, no, no."
"Just give me the… Jim!" Shane jumps back as Jim swings the shovel at him. Shane then leaps forward and tackles Jim to the ground.
Jim shoves Shane away and then threatens to hit him with the shovel. Shane tackles Jim to the ground again, tosses the shovel away, and pins Jim's arms.
"Jim. Jim, nobody's gonna hurt you. You hear me? Shh. Jim, nobody is gonna hurt you, okay?"
Shane puts handcuffs on Jim who is now slightly crying, I can see tears welling up in his eyes.
"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said it 100 times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of 'em. Just pulled 'em right out of my hands. You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family"
Lori gasps at that and covers her mouth with her hands. I stand there in shock, trying not to imagine that scene playing out in my head.
We all stand back and watch as Shane leads Jim back down to camp. All of us follow shortly after.
A while later I sit with Carl and Sophia doing some schoolwork that Lori and Carol brought with them. I don't know how they remembered to bring schoolbooks while the world was ending. Schools closing is one of the few good things the dead coming back brought.
"I'm confused again, Mom," Carl says.
"You're supposed to divide, not multiply," She answers.
Glancing at Carl's paper I see it's almost done while my paper is barely filled out. I groan in frustration, I just don't have it in me to focus on math.
Deciding to just give up I look around the clearing. Jim's sat up against a tree talking to Shane and I watch them both. I wonder if Jim is feeling better now, earlier I overheard some ladies say he really did have heatstroke. A kid at my school got heatstroke while we were on a field trip. He only passed out, he didn't start shoveling like a madman. Maybe that means Jim had a worse heatstroke, or maybe it's not as bad. Who knows?
Lori catches me not paying attention and waves a hand in front of my face.
"Charlotte, finish your work and then you can daydream all you want," She says.
Knowing she won't stop pestering me till I finish I look back to my paper and start scribbling random answers. It's not like I'll get in trouble for failing.
"Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl, and you too Charlie," Jim suddenly says from his spot against the tree.
"You had sunstroke, nobody's blaming you," Lori says back to him.
Jim looks at me. "You're not scared now, are you?"
In my usual quiet voice I reply, "I never was."
He looks glad to hear that.
Dale, who was hovering around, walks up to Jim and asks, "Do you know why you were digging?"
"I had a reason, I can't remember now. Something I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it. You were too," He says to Carl. "You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?"
"They're not back yet," Carl says.
"We don't need to talk about that," Lori interjects.
"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but… I could see it in him. Am I right?" He looks over at Shane for confirmation.
"Oh yeah," Shane answers.
"There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that."
Carl is lucky to have a dad like Rick. He seems like the kinda guy to overcome all odds. I thought my dad was like that too, I was wrong.
Shane stands up. "All right, who wants to help me clean some fish?" Shane asks as he walks back toward the center of camp.
Carl, Sophia, and I all jump up and run after Shane, Carol following behind.
"Stay with Carol you three!" Lori shouts after us.