The Dead Walk the Earth

Chapter 10 - The Ugly Truth

Charlie opened her eyes, looked around, and realized the snoring she heard was Daryl. She chuckled a little and carefully shifted out of his arms, but not carefully enough. Daryl quickly moved his arm around her and pulled her back to him,

"Where do you think you're going?"

She smiled, "Well, we gotta get you outta here before Rick or Lori comes in."

"You ashameda me?"

"No, I'd rather Rick not walk in and see both of us half naked. Or Shane. They're both very protective. I was always nervous to tell them I had a boyfriend, more nervous of them than my own dad." she told him.

"Boyfriend, huh?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, a smirk on his face.

Charlie felt her face get hot quickly, "Well- I, I mean, well-" she nervously choked out before Daryl's lips were on her's softly.

"I'm okay with that. If that's whatchu want," he said softly.

"I never would've pegged you for the boyfriend-y type. I'm happily surprised," she said before she pulled out of his arms. She threw him his shirt and he pulled it on along with his pants, then pulled her close to him when she had pulled on her yoga capris and sweater. "I half expected you to take off in the middle of the night, truth be told."

"Couldn't. I was too comfy." he joked, "And I couldn't stand to wake you. Get some peace 'n quiet when yer sleepin'."

She hit his shoulder and muttered "asshole" before he kissed her again, then pulled away towards the door. "So do we act like none of that happened?"

"'Till you wanna tell Rick, I 'spose." he said before he slipped out her door and into the empty hall. She shrugged and walked over to her bags, pulled out a pair of no-show socks and then her beat up pair of black and white vans. She slid her skull ring onto her right ring finger and turned her dog tags around, then did a quick fix on her hair and walked out of her room.

"Mornin' kiddo," Rick said as he came up behind her. He pulled her into a hug from behind and kissed the top of her head, then ruffled her hair with a smile. "How'd you sleep?"

"Great. Nice to have my own room again," she replied as the two of them along with Lori and Carl walked down the hall toward the rec room for breakfast. When they got there, most of the group were already at the table with Glenn entertaining the group with his moans and complaints about last night.

"Don't ever let me drink again," he complained.

Charlie laughed lightly, "Don't worry, Glenn. That'll go away in no time." she said.

"How are you not as badly hung over?" he whined at me.

Charlie laughed nervously and looked to Rick and Lori, "Let's just say I didn't go to college just for the higher education." which earned her a glare from both of them. She gave them a fake smile and patted Glenn on the shoulder. Shane entered with a call of good morning.

"What happened to your neck?" Charlie asked him as he took a seat.

"Musta done it in my sleep.," he said.

"Never seen you do that before," Rick commented as Jenner entered the room followed by Daryl.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Charlie heard Andrea say and she realized that she had zoned out. The group finished up breakfast and Jenner took them back to the main room.

"Vi, pull up Test Subject 19," Jenner said and got an instant response. He talked them through what they were seeing, the video of the human brain they were observing. "Scan forward to the first event," he commanded as the brain got darker, and then went black; The subject was dead. "Anything that ever was, gone." Charlie thought of Jackson, how he went through the same thing she was seeing right in front of her. She felt tears begin to form in her eyes and she shut them to hold them in when suddenly there were arms around her. By the scent, she knew it was Rick. Jenner kept talking and moved through the reanimation phase, a small spark in the brain stem. They watched as a line cut through the subject's head, a bullet through the brain.