Shane-pov
Charlie's breathing evens out and I can tell she's fully asleep. All day she's just been sitting around, not even bothering to come up to the memorial. Something seems off about her today, probably just the shock from last night. But, maybe it's something different. This girl's gonna be the death of me.
I quietly step outside the tent, careful not to wake the sleeping girl. I make my way over to the campfire. Rick and Glenn are there, talking. I sit across from Rick.
"Shane." Rick nods his head in greeting.
"Charlie asleep?" Glenn asks.
"Sure is, out like a light," I tell him.
Rick sits up straighter. "Where'd you find Charlie? I sleep for a few weeks and suddenly you got yourself a kid," He laughs.
I shake my head. "Girl ain't my kid. I found her on my way to your house, she was running down the street about to get bit by a walker. Big nasty one, too. Couldn't just leave her, she was all alone." I stretch out, resting my legs on an overturned crate before finishing my story. "I get her back to my car and she tells me her parents were bit. Figured I had to take her along," I explained. "It all just happened so fast, the walkers were everywhere, people were panicking, I was panicked."
Thinking back on that day just made me more upset about everything. Lori and Carl, they were mine, if only for a few weeks. I rub my eyes. What am I saying, they're Rick's family not mine.
"You and her seem pretty close," Rick adds.
"She ain't got no one else, I figure she's my responsibility for the time being."
Glenn speaks up, "For the time being?" He repeats. "The world as far as we know has ended, the rest of her family is probably dead."
"I don't know man. She isn't mine, she's better off with someone like Jacqui." We sit in silence for a while. The night air is cool and crisp, a nice change from the burning Georgia sun.
Listening to the sound of the fire crackling and snapping I let myself relax for a moment.
"That why she's been wearing your hat?" Rick adds with a smile.
Charlotte-pov
"Did you put your bag in the back?" Shane asks.
We're all gathered by the vehicles, everything we're bringing is packed up. Jacqui and Carol made everyone breakfast that we all quickly ate. There isn't anything left to do but leave. We're going to a place called the CDC, Shane told me it's where they make medicine. Rick said that they might have a cure for Jim.
"Yes," I answer. My backpack is stuffed in the back of Shane's jeep, squished right between a box of canned food and two tents.
Carl rushes up to me smiling. "Look what I caught!" His hands are cupped together and he makes a small opening for me to see through.
A lizard, Carl caught a lizard. He couldn't have caught a frog or a butterfly, instead, he had to catch a lizard. I got nothing against lizards personally, they just creep me out. The way they can make their tails fall off and how they crawl up walls, just thinking about it makes me shudder. I'm more of a puppies, kittens, and bunnies type of girl.
I stick out my tongue in disgust. "Ewww. You can't catch frogs but you can catch that?"
"It was in my tent this morning, so it was easy to catch! Isn't it awesome?" He shoves his hands closer and I step back. The small lizard wriggles around in his grasp, trying to find its way out.
"Put it down! Put it down!" I shout.
Carl pouts. "Fine." He lowers his hands to the ground and opens them.
The small lizard immediately darts out. It decides to run straight toward me and I start running.
"Eek! Carl!"
Carl chases after the lizard who's chasing after me. "It's not gonna hurt you! It likes you!"
The others laugh and smile at us as we run around the once-full camp. I turn to the left and hide behind Daryl, he seems like the kind of guy not to be afraid of lizards.
"Daryl kill it," I demand. I wasn't a very talkative kid, but leaving this campsite seems to have brought some life back to me.
"Don't kill it!" Carl shouts, catching up to me and the lizard.
"I ain't killin' it," Daryl tells him, he bends down and scoops up the lizard. He then proceeds to toss the lizard into the tall grass behind us. "Next time pick it up yerself, it ain't gonna kill ya."
Carl starts laughing at me. "You thought the lizard would kill you?"
My face heats up in embarrassment. I didn't think it would kill me, at least not exactly.
Shane who is standing next to Rick starts announcing the plan to the group, "Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane pauses.
"We're, uh… We're… we're not going," The nervous voice of Morales speaks up.
His wife next to him adds, "We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people."
"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane says.
Morales speaks again, "We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family." He puts an arm around Miranda.
Rick joins in. "You sure?" He asks.
"We talked about it. We're sure." Morales gives a nod of assurance.
"All right," Ricks says. "Shane."
"Yeah, all right." Shane bends down and opens the bag of guns Rick and the others brought back from Atlanta. Probably the only good thing about that trip. Shane hands a gun to Rick.
Rick hands it to Morales and Shane hands him an ammo box.
"The box is half full," Shane tells him.
"Thank you all… For everything." Miranda says.
Lori hops off the car she was sitting on and hugs her.
Shane gives Morales a handshake. "Good luck, man."
"Appreciate it," Morales says..
Eliza hugs Sophia and then rushes to me. "Bye Charlotte." She gives me a big hug that I return in full.
"Bye Eliza." I start tearing up a little. Carl and Sophia start crying too. None of us thought we'd be saying bye to someone already.
Eliza goes back to Sophia again. The two of them got super close over the past few weeks. Eliza gives her doll to Sophia, she takes it gratefully and hugs it to her chest.
Morales and his family get into their car and start driving away.
"Alright yall, time to go," Shane says. He walks over to me. "You ready Charlie?"
I give him a nod and get into his jeep. It's the only car without a roof and I'm praying it doesn't rain. I could've gone in Dale's RV or T-dogs church van but I'd much rather ride with Shane. He has the best stories, him being a cop and all.
Before we go Rick walks up to my side of the jeep.
"I uh, I found this lying on the ground. I believe it belongs to you." Rick hands me Shane's police hat. I take it from him gratefully and put it on. Rick gives Shane an odd look, one that I can't place.
I really gotta stop forgetting my hat. Shane entrusted it to me and from now on I'll keep it safe.
Everyone gets in their cars and we all drive off. I turn around in my seat and watch as camp fades from view. I'm glad to be leaving, this place had some good memories but holds a lot more bad ones.
I can tell Shane feels the same way.
When we first got here it felt safe, somewhere we could all go and relax. Lori at first was devastated by the loss of her husband and Shane was busy leading the camp, but after a week she and Shane started being around each other constantly. I could've sworn they were dating. Then Rick comes back from the dead, not literally, but close enough. Now Lori barely even looks at Shane. I can tell he's upset but I don't know why, he said Lori wasn't his girlfriend. So why would he be upset?
I give up on trying to figure it out and watch the trees pass by. It's weird seeing no other cars driving along the roads. Everywhere we pass is empty and deserted. We drive past a particularly large house I can tell it's been abandoned for weeks. The grass is overgrown, the door's wide open, not even a car in the driveway.
After a few hours, Dale honks his horn and we all slow to a stop. Shane gets out of the car and heads straight to the RV, I climb out and follow after him. Smoke is coming out of the RV's hood, Dale and Glenn are already there trying to fix it. Everyone else starts getting out of their cars to see what the issue is. Everyone except Carl and Sophia, their parents probably told them to stay in the car.
"I told you we'd never get far on that hose," Dale tells Rick.
"Can you jury-rig it?" He asks.
"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose," Dale gestures to the smoking engine."And I'm out of duct tape," He finishes.
I stand on my tip-toes and look at the hose he's talking about, it is completely duct taped up.
Shane takes a pair of binoculars from T-dog and looks through them.
"I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky."
The door to the RV bursts open and Jacqui comes rushing out.
"Y'all, Jim… It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore," She tells us before running back inside.
Everyone starts to look worried, unsure of what to do.
He can't turn yet. We're supposed to get him to the CDC and they'll fix him, he won't turn into a walker. He just has to wait a little longer.
"Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back," Shane calls out to him.
T-dog, who now has the binoculars, says he'll come too, he'll back him up. They both get in the jeep and head off down the road.
Uneasiness creeps over me as I watch Shane drive off, leaving me by myself. Ever since the night of the attack, I'd been more on edge. Now that Shane wasn't around I feel like I'm just taking up space with nothing to do.
Even when Shane is around I can't help but feel out of place. I'm not anyone's real responsibility but I can tell they all feel partly responsible for what happens to me. I'm just a distraction from what they're supposed to be doing.
It's around midday now, the sun's beating down hard. I'm grateful for Shane's hat keeping the sun out of my eyes. All I want right now is some water but we're running low or else I'd ask for some.
Lori notices me standing awkwardly to the side while the others talk.
"Honey, can you go sit in the car with Carl and Sophia?" She gently pushes me in the direction of Carol's car that they'd been using.
Sophia opens the door when I get close and she has a massive smile on her face, it's slightly unnerving.
"Charlie!" She greets and then in a softer tone whispers, "Carl and I are gonna sneak in the RV to grab the deck of cards we left in there. Wanna come?"
I didn't expect Sophia to be one to plan something so rebellious. I nod to her, accepting her invitation. The thought of Jim turning while we're in there scares me but I don't want to sit alone in the car either.
Glancing around I notice all the adults are too distracted discussing what to do about Jim that no one's watching the front door to the RV.
"No one's looking, we can go now," Carl whispers.
They scramble out of the back seat and we take off toward the RV doors, I reach them first and step inside. The door to the back room is shut, I'm guessing Jacqui is still back there with Jim.
"What do you two think you're doing?" Carol's voice sounds from behind me.
I freeze.
Shoot, were we already caught?
Wait, did she say two?
I spin around and see I'm alone. Where are Sophia and Carl, I thought they were right behind me?
Walking a little to the side I carefully peek out the window to see Carol telling my two accomplices to go back to the car and stay there. Carl glances at the window and sees me watching, he gives me a quick wink before he and Sophia walk back to the car.
Adjusting Shane's hat on my head I get to work searching for the cards. Neither of them had the chance to tell me where they left them so I'm left to search the whole RV. Quietly I open cabinets and drawers, finding nothing but old takeout menus and batteries.
I am searching under the couch when the back door opens.
"Charlotte? What are you doing in here?"
Lifting my head from underneath the couch I see Jacqui standing there, arms crossed. She looks worried, I assume for Jim.
"Cards?" I say, not really sure if it was an explanation or a question.
"You shouldn't be here, where's Shane?"
"Shane's not here," I answer, a little puzzled at the question.
Jacqui sighs and runs a hand over her forehead. "You know where you left those cards?"
I shake my head.
"Why don't you go outside and wait for Shane to get back?"
What is it with her and Shane? "Why?"
Jacqui freezes for a moment before carefully choosing her words, "It's just that with no one else to watch you Shane's usually in charge of doing it."
I nod, that makes sense. I am with Shane most of the time and he usually is the one watching me.
Apparently, without him here, I'm just supposed to do nothing and wait for him to come back.
Giving Jacqui a nod I leave the RV and stomp around to the other side. I lean against it and stare at the trees lying just beyond the highway. I could just leave, no one would notice for a while, and by the time they did I'd be long gone.
But that's a stupid idea, I don't know the first thing about surviving on my own, I can't hunt or find water, can't build a shelter, can't kill a walker.
Turning my head I watch the road Shane and T-dog left on. Once they get back hopefully we can get going soon.
I hear Dale, who's now back at the front of the RV, fixing the engine. Glenn can be heard too. They sound happy, I hope that means they fixed it.
After another few minutes of me staring back and forth between the trees and the road the rumble of a car can be heard. Shane must be back!
I rush around to the front side of the RV, hoping Shane didn't see me, he doesn't need to know I've been hiding.
Sophia and Carl are sitting on the hood of an abandoned car playing with cards. They notice me standing there and Sophia waves.
"We found the cards!" She yells.
"But we couldn't find you!" Carl adds.
"Oh, sorry," I say, giving them both an apologetic look.
Shane's jeep drives up and he puts it into park. He and T-dog get out carrying a couple full gas cans.
"Tons of gas left there, must've been swarming with walkers early on to have this much left," T-dog tells Rick.
Shane hands one of the gas cans to Daryl who takes it and begins filling his truck.
"Carl, come here for a sec," Shane says.
Carl jumps off the car and runs to Shane. I take Carl's seat next to Sophia on the car. From there I watch as Shane bends down and talks to him. Both of them smiling, Carl nods excitedly and runs off to his mom and dad. I see Lori glaring at Shane who ignores her as he walks past.
Is she mad at him?
I take my hat off my head and hold it in my hands. Carl really is the luckiest kid in the whole world. Not that there's many left. Family and friends still surround him even now after the world ended.
Sophia, noticing that I'm staring at my hat rather intensely, speaks, "Wanna take Carl's cards and play where he left off?"
"Uh, sure." I swap my hat for the cards in front of me and start playing some card game I'd never heard of. Sophia wins round after round until Carl comes back. She deals him in and we continue playing. Even though Carl and Sophia win every round I still have fun playing.
That fun comes to an abrupt end when we hear a loud grunt of pain coming from the RV. We all turn and watch as Rick and Daryl help carry Jim outside. He's drenched in sweat and his face is all scrunched up. A wave of panic rushes through my body as I realize what's happening.
Jim's time has run out.