22 (TWD Fanfiction)

Chapter 2 - Okay to be Angry

  A few weeks had passed since they left the highway and came to the quarry. Tents were set up all around the area making a small campsite for survivors. Soon after they had driven up others had followed. The older man in the RV along with two blonde sisters, a family with two kids, two scary-looking guys, a kindhearted black woman, a man in a hat who hung around Dale a lot, a guy with a church van, and a funny Korean guy that Charlotte would follow when Shane and Lori weren't around.

Others had shown up too but none that Charlotte cared to remember, the rest mostly stuck to themselves and didn't interact much.

Currently, Charlotte was following Lori around as she did chores around camp, kicking a few rocks before staring up at the sky and watching birds fly over. It was like this every day, the young girl would follow someone around until they either told her to follow someone else or go play.

Lori didn't mind the girl shadowing her but she knew the girl needed to open up more and hang around kids her age.

"Charlotte?" Lori said.

The girl in question looked up at her.

"Why don't you go play with Sophia, maybe ask to play tag or hide-n-seek? Carl might play too." Lori gently pushed her in the direction of the Peletier girl sitting next to her mom.

Charlotte slowly walked over to Sophia. With her hands behind her back and eyes downcast she asked quietly, "Do you wanna play tag?"

Sophia looked at her mom who smiled encouragingly. "Go ahead Sophia, I'm gonna go see what Dale's up to. You two have fun." Carol stood and walked toward the RV.

Sophia jumped up smiling and said, "We could play freeze tag if Carl will play."

The girls ran up to Carl who sat on the ground drawing in the dirt with a rather large stick.

"Wanna play freeze tag?" Sophia asked.

"No, I'm busy, I got more important things to do than play tag right now," he replied.

Sophia rolled her eyes and turned to Charlotte tapping her on the shoulder and running off. "You're it!" she called behind her.

Charlotte ran after Sophia, she started gaining on her and then tapped her shoulder. "You're it!" She squealed before running off.

The two girls chased each other around camp laughing and giggling as they went. The sky was clear and the sun beat down on them but they didn't seem to mind the intense heat.

While the girls were running Ed Peletier stood at a tree watching them with a scowl. He disliked his daughter having to play with some orphan runt who barely spoke.

Carl left a little later in search of something even better to do than draw in the dirt. The two girls played different games till they got hungry and ran back to the center of camp to find something to eat. Charlotte found Shane showing Carl how to do something with rope and she stops to watch.

"You wanna learn too, Charlie?" Shane asks and Charlotte nods. "Sit here, let me show you." He starts teaching her how to tie different knots. She struggles at first but then gets the hang of it and smiles. "There you go, good job!" Shane pats her head and turns back to Carl. Charlotte notices Lori looking upset and angry while she takes clothes off the clothing line. She continues to observe Lori until Carl finishes with Shane.

Charlotte tapped Shane and asked, "Is she mad?"

He sighed before explaining, "The group who went on a supply run are stuck. She got all upset that we're not going after them."

"But they're still coming back. Just later," The girl says.

"They might not be able to."

"Oh." Charlotte didn't like the thought of not seeing Glenn, T-dog, Jacqui, and even Andrea anymore. Merle, she didn't care about and Morales was nice, she might miss him.