Sometimes I wonder if my parents did survive that night if we'd have made it much further than walking out the front door. So many are gone, most of the population was wiped out within weeks. If Shane hadn't found me when he did I'd be dead right now.
I wonder whether any of my friends lived, whether my Aunt and Uncle lived. It seems pointless to think about them. Like they were part of a distant far off world when it was really only a month ago that they would've been living life like normal.
Then I think about how I lived and they didn't. Why was it me and not my dad? Why was it me and not my Uncle? Out of everyone I used to know I wouldn't have guessed it'd be me who outlived them all.
Now as I walk down another hallway trailing after Dr. Jenner I think about how crazy this all is. I'm currently in the basement of some weird science lab in the middle of an apocalypse. The people who were supposed to be working on fixing this are all dead except for one man.
How did I outlive all of them? The ones who had an army of men protecting them outside died while I, a little girl who can barely hold a knife, survives.
I don't know why I lived and they didnt. I'll probably never figure out why. So I decide to stop thinking about it and focus on what's in front of me.
Dr. Jenner explains we can all sleep in the old worker's dorms, there aren't enough beds for all of us but there are cots we can pull out.
"There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power." Dr. Jenner explains.
Carl, Sophia, and I share a look of excitement.
"The same applies if you shower, go easy on the hot water." Jenner leaves us in the hallway after that.
"Hot water?" Glenn asks excitedly.
T-dog faces him. "That's what the man said."
Everyone starts heading into different rooms. Carl and Sophia follow after their own parents. Unsure of what to do I stand in the middle of th hallway. I could just follow Shane or Andrea, they'd definitely be okay with me sharing their rooms.
On second thought, maybe not Andrea, she still seems pretty sad about Amy.
I decide to just follow Shane and see if he kicks me out. Spinning around I see him heading into a room at the end of the hall so I hurry over and enter behind him. He seems to have noticed me running toward him since he doesn't start shutting the door until I'm inside.
"You can take the bed, Charlie."
"No, you take the bed. It's your room," I tell him. I didn't mean for him to give up the bed, I just didn't want to sleep out in the hall. "I'm fine with the cot."
"Cot seems more comfortable to me anyways." He waves me toward the bed. "Go on."
I toss my hat onto the pillows and jump onto the bed. It feels heavenly, I never knew a bed could feel so soft. Forcing myself to leave the comfy cloud from heaven I open my backpack and take out another shirt and pair of pajama shorts Glenn found on a run into Atlanta.
Not wanting to intrude any more than I already have I ask Shane if I can take a shower.
"Of course kid, go ahead."
I enter the bathroom and shut the door. It's a pretty large bathroom. A big sink sits in front of the door, to the left is the toilet, and across from it is a cabinet with towels hanging along the outside handles. Then there's the shower itself, it's covering the left wall completely, with a sliding door made of glass.
Immediately I turn on the water and wait for it to heat up. It feels amazing. After scrubbing the dirt and oil from my hair and skin I stand there for another few minutes, soaking up the warmth and comfort the water brings with it.
Stepping out of the shower I grab a towel from the cabinet and dry off. I find a brush in one of the sink drawers and brush my hair as best I can. It's full of tangles but I got most of them out.
Once dressed I exit the bathroom. Shane's sitting on the cot rummaging through his bag.
He notices my arrival. "Hey kid, why don't you go check out the rec room with the other kids."
With nothing else to do I say okay. I put my dirty clothes on the edge of the bed and head for the door.
I walk down the hall in the direction Dr. Jenner said the rec room was. I pass a few doors and check the labels put over each one. Everything looks so similar down here, if I worked here I'd get lost constantly.
After a few minutes of wandering the halls, I get to a door labeled rec room, I hear a few voices on the other side. Pushing it open I find Carol, Sophia, and Carl sitting around a table in the center of the room. They're all holding cards and laughing with one another.
Letting my eyes wander through the room I notice there are arcade games and pinball machines covering one half of the room. They're all powered down and look so strange without all the flashing lights and pops of color. The other half of the room is lined with bookshelves. Lori stands in front of them examining the rows of books.
Not really sure what to do I stand by the door watching the others play their game. I hear them shout out different colors and once or twice Carl groans in frustration.
"How are you so good at this!" He shouts.
Carol turns her head slightly and notices me. She greets me with a smile, "Hi Charlotte, would you like to join?"
I'm not entirely sure what they're playing but I nod anyway. Carl and Sophia both move over as I make my way to the couch.
Once I sit down I glance at the cards they have laid out. Each of them are a different color with a different number. I decide to ask what they're playing.
"What game is this?"
"We're playing Uno!" Carl shouts. "Sophia's winning, again," He mutters that last part.
Carol takes the stack of cards and begins shuffling it.
"Uno?" I question.
Sophia leans over Carl and gawks at me. "You've never played Uno before?"
I just shake my head. Is this game some kind of big deal?
Carl speaks again, "How is that even possible?"
Shrugging I say, "I'm more into puzzles than card games."
"Puzzles are boring." He leans back against the couch.
"I think puzzles are a great way to pass the time," Carol adds. She finishes shuffling the deck and starts dealing them out.
"Maybe if you're boring."
"Carl!" Lori gives him the "mom" look.
"Sorry," He mutters.
After a quick explanation of the game, I grab my cards and the game starts.
Sophia puts down a red 8 followed by Carl's green 8 and Carol's green 3. My turn comes and I put down a skip. Sophia loses her turn.
"Yes!" Carl shouts.
We all look at him and he bows his head.
"I mean uhh that's too bad Sophia."
Sophia and I laugh. Carl isn't exactly the best at hiding his emotions. He'd be terrible at that card game my dad used to play, poke her, or something like that. He'd always tell me that to win you have to be good at not showing any emotion. Whenever he'd try to teach me I'd always lose, I was terrible at hiding my excitement when I got good cards.
Our round of Uno continues and Sophia wins–much to Carl's dismay–then we play a few more rounds until Lori tells us all to head to bed.
I help Carol clean up the cards before saying goodnight to Carl and Sophia, then I head back to Shane's room. Knocking I wait for an answer, but none comes so I open the door slowly.
"Shane," I call into the room. Still no answer so I open the door all the way and step inside. The lamp in the corner is still on, letting a warm glow fill the room. Shane's cot is empty and no one's in the bathroom.
He's probably in one of the other rooms talking to the others, he's always coming up with plans on what to do next.
Seeing as there's nothing else I can do I climb into bed. The light from the lamp makes it hard to fall asleep but I don't want Shane to have to stumble around in the dark when he comes in. Turning on my side– the side without the bruise from Ed– I stare at the little black alarm clock on the bedside table.
8:03
8:08
8:11
8:12
Time passes really slowly when you're in the underground bunker of some lab.
I lay there and listen to the silence for a while, before finally falling asleep.
Almost immediately, walkers plague my dreams. I see their snapping jaws inches from my face, the stench of rotten flesh fills my nose, and their white eyes fill every corner of my sleeping mind.
Jolting awake I look around the room. The lamp's still on and Shane's still missing. Something wet runs down my face, I reach up and notice I'm crying. Wiping the few stray tears off my face I turn to check the time. The alarm clock now reads 9:45.
I sit up straight and pull my knees up to my chest. The room seems smaller now. Being all alone in here starts to get the better of me. Every small noise makes me jump. I keep my eyes trained on the door, hoping that when it opens it's just Shane and not a walker that somehow managed to get down here.
Deciding I'm done being alone I get out of bed to go find Shane. Slowly I open the door and quietly step into the hall. The ceiling lights have been dimmed causing long shadows that fall in every corner. It's making me rethink my choice of leaving the room.
Knowing Shane isn't one to be playing games and laughing at a time like this I head the opposite way of the rec room, seeing as offices are the only other rooms down that way. As I walk past the rooms the others are staying in I hear nothing. Most of them are probably sleeping. After the last few days, I can't imagine that they'd want to stay up any longer.
Turning a corner I hear voices coming from a room up ahead. Walking faster I see that they're coming from the big room where Dr. Jenner introduced us to Vi.
Hoping to see Shane I walk further into the large room. Sadly it's only Rick and Dr. Jenner. Rick's sitting on the floor, a mostly empty wine bottle sits next to him. Dr. Jenner sits across from him on a desk chair. They seem to be having an important conversation so I turn around and try to quietly sneak off.
"Charlie? What are you still doing up?"
Rick's voice halts my steps and I turn back around. His eyes are on me now and so are Dr. Jenner's. Both of them look curious as to why I'm wandering around when everyone's either sleeping or close to it.
I'm hesitant to answer right away, worried that Rick might cut my search short and send me right back to bed. It's best to just tell the truth so I tell him, "I couldn't sleep. I was looking for Shane."
"Bad dream?" Jenner asks.
I nod.
He rubs a hand down his face and sighs. "I get them almost every night, they can be tough."
Rick waves me forward. "Come here, kid."
I make my way over to him.
"How 'bout I help you look for Shane? I'm almost done talking to the Doc, when I'm done I'll help you search."
Waiting here with Rick sounds much better than wandering the halls alone again so I sit next to him on the floor and wait patiently.
He and Dr. Jenner keep talking, I try to pay attention but most of what they're saying goes right over my head. The sound of their voices fills the large room and soon my eyes begin to droop. Every few minutes I shake my head to stay awake, it's a losing battle as I become too tired and my eyes shut. It'll only be for a minute, just long enough to give me some energy.
I don't know how much time has passed when I hear my name. Refusing to open my eyes I start listening to what the two of them are saying.
"So she's not his daughter? Could've sworn by the way she follows him around."
I hear Rick sigh, "Her parents died on day one, Shane found her shortly after. She's been with him ever since."
It grows quiet. The two of them sit in silence and I'm tempted to open my eyes just to check that they didn't fall asleep.
Dr. Jenner is the first to break the silence. "How old is she? Your boy looks older than her."
"Nine, pretty sure, could be wrong though."
I hear Rick moving next to me, then the sound of tapping against a glass bottle.
"This never should've happened. We were supposed to be prepared for these sorts of things, for-"
"The dead coming back?" Rick interrupts. "No one could be prepared for this. The best we can do is move forward, give these kids a future, even if it takes some difficulty to get there."
Another bout of silence fills the room, this one lasts longer. It's broken by a soft tapping on my shoulder.
"Charlie? Hey Charlie, it's about time we get you to bed. Let's go find Shane."
I sit up and yawn. "'Bout time," I say.
Dr. Jenner's still sitting on the chair, but now he's facing one of the computers and typing away at it.
We leave the big room and begin walking through the hallway. It's still completely silent as we pass by each door, I'm sure by now everyone is asleep.
"Which room is yours?" Rick whispers.
I point a few doors down and Rick walks up to it. The door is cracked open so Rick peeks his head in without knocking.
"Shane?" He calls into the dark room. There's no answer.
"I left the light on when I left." I peek my head around Rick's arm. "Is he just sleeping?"
He opens the door all the way and steps inside. I stay at the doorway. I don't feel like walking in to a dark room not knowing what lurks in the corners.
Rick comes back and says, "The light's on in the bathroom. So off to bed now kiddo." He ushers me inside the room. "Get some sleep."
I glance around the room, making sure Rick didn't miss anything. Nothing seems off so I relax and climb into bed.
Rick's still at the door. "Goodnight Charlie," he says with a small smile.
Already drifting off to sleep I reply back, "G'night Carl's dad."
As the last of my consciousness slips away I hear a light laugh and the click of the door as it closes.