The Dead Walk the Earth

Chapter 12: Into the Woods

Charlie woke up with the sun beginning to shine over the horizon, though it wasn't like she was asleep for long. She never got more than half an hour or so of sleep, damn nightmares kept running through her head. She groaned, rolled away from the sun, and looked over the side of the RV.

"Charlie, you're awake. Good. Get dressed" Rick called to her. Everyone else was beginning to gather around Rick and the yellow car. She groaned once more before she climbed down the ladder and went into the empty RV. Among supplies they'd scavenged, clothes had been found for mostly everyone. Charlie found her bag and pulled out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a grey shirt with a knot at the bottom. She pulled on the clothes and then her boots, adjusted her dog tags and grabbed her green military jacket before she exited the RV. She took an open spot next to Shane.

"You look like hell," Shane told her as she joined the group.

"Thank you, Shane. And good morning to you as well," she said sarcastically. He pulled her in a side hug with a smile.

Rick threw down the arsenal that Carl had found, "Everyone take a weapon." he instructed.

Charlie tuned out what was being said when Daryl came up behind her and softly spoke to her, "I wanted to come up last night. You kept waking up, what was up?" he whispered in her ear

"Kept having nightmares, Jackson mostly. Sometimes Rick and Lori and Carl. Sometimes you. All were walkers." she whispered back but never took her eyes off of Andrea and Rick. They were arguing about the weapons at hand. Andrea wanted her gun, Shane opposed.

She sighed, "Look, enough fighting about the damn guns. There's a little girl out there, probably scared out of her mind, and you two can't grow up for two seconds. Get it together and let's find this girl." she told the two of them. Shane looked taken aback, Charlie was typically soft-spoken and sweet and he was like an uncle after all, but this was life or death for a scared little girl and they didn't have time to bicker over useless things. She could tell Andrea wanted to fight back, but she and Shane knew Charlie was right; They had to get out there and stop wasting time.

"Chances are she'll be by the creek, it's her only landmark." Daryl chimed in after a long pause of silence.

"Stay safe, stay sharp," Rick warned the group. Charlie walked away to pull her weapons from her bag. She slid her knives into each boot and shoved the gun in the waistline of her jeans. She knew only Shane, Rick and Daryl were suppose to have theirs, but she made it clear she wanted no more arguments about the subjects of guns. And besides, who were they to tell her not to protect herself. She knew how to handle guns, sure, but she was better with knives and close-range combat anyhow. The gun was a last resort.

"... it was my choice. And you took that away from me." she heard Andrea arguing with Dale. Andrea and Charlie may not have gotten along all the time, but she was right to call Dale out. Charlie wanted to die too, holding her walker brother in her hands, but she made a choice and so did Andrea. The only difference was that Charlie chose to live, Andrea chose not to. If she was being honest, she didn't blame her for wanting to die in that moment. Andrea had lost everything, nothing left to live for. Even if the shitstorm did end, she had nothing to go back to, to rebuild a life with. At least she had some of her family, at least she had Daryl. Andrea lost it all. The group took off into the woods, Dale left behind to turn everything Andrea had said over in his mind.

"Are you sure you shouldn't stay here, keep an eye on T-Dog?" Lori asked Charlie.

"I patched him up, gave him some meds. We need all the eyes we can get, there's nothing else I can do here," she told Lori. She nodded and walked on ahead of her.

"Ready?" Daryl asked Charlie. Who knew what was in those woods, what they'd find. They were all nervous. Charlie nodded and followed him and the rest of the group into the dense green maze.