❛ SURVIVOR'S HEART ! ❜
chapter forty-three ―― home
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ CHARLIE MOVED PAST DARYL, letting her hand fall from his as she pushed the screen door open and made her way into the house, everyone turned to look at the girl as her eyes darted around the room. "They ain't back?" She asked, looking around again in case she missed them as Daryl came to a stop behind her.
"No." Lori answered from where she sat.
"We heard a shot." Daryl stated and Charlie closed her eyes as she took a breath, pushing her hands over her hair to move a few loose strands from her face.
"Maybe they found Randall." Lori suggested, her eyebrows creased as she looked at Charlie. "Hey, you okay?" She asked the younger brunette.
"Oh, yeah, absolutely." She nodded. "But, no, we found Randall." She told them as she looked around the room, her eyes landing on Mason.
"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked as Mason crossed the room and wrapped his arm around Charlie, pulling her into his side and rubbing her back. He wasn't sure what had her hands shaking but he knew that it must've been something bad.
"He's a walker." Daryl answered.
"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked.
"No, he wasn't bit. His neck was broke."
"So he fought back." Partica stated.
"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him, they were together." Almost every single person in the room looked at Charlie, she had her head against Mason's chest but she let her arms hang by her sides.
"Oh, don't look at me." She huffed. "I don't have a clue what's been going on in Shane's head lately."
"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is going on?" Lori asked, moving to stand in front of Daryl.
"You got it." He nodded and he started for the door.
"Wait, you ain't going alone." Charlie stopped him, pulling away from Mason.
"Charlie-" Josh stepped forward.
"I'm not letting him go alone."
"Let's go, princess." Daryl nodded his head and she stepped around Josh, following him out towards the door, Josh let out a huff, dragging his hand over his face.
"Then I'm coming too." He followed after them, the others behind him. "Hey, are you mad at me?" He asked as they stepped out onto the porch, his fingers wrapping around hers.
"No, I'm just-"
"Hey." Daryl called over his shoulder and they walked over to him to see a herd of walkers into the yard, close to the barn.
"What the hell?" Josh muttered and Charlie's hand tightened around his.
"I'm scared, Josh."
"Patricia, kill the lights." Hershel told her, his voice low and she quickly turned to head back into the house.
"I'll get the guns." Andrea turned, following after Patricia.
"Maybe they're just passing by, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asked.
"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about." Daryl told him. "A herd that size will rip the house down."
"Carl's gone." Lori walked out onto the porch and Charlie turned, her eyes wide.
"What?"
"He-He was upstairs. I can't find him anymore."
"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn offered, trying to calm her nerves.
"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy."
"We won't." Charlie told her, chewing on her lip as she tried to come up with a plan. "Uh, take Carol, look again. Look everywhere." She looked between the two women and they nodded before running back into the house as Andrea walked over with the bag of guns. When she dropped it, Charlie squatted down and unzipped it, looking through it as Maggie took two rifles, handing one to Glenn.
"Maggie?"
"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two." She shrugged as Charlie handed Hershel a gun.
"I got the number – it's no use." Daryl told them, but Charlie kept handing out guns, she made sure Mason and Josh each had one then she checked her own to see how many bullets she had.
"You can go if you want." Hershel told him as he cocked the gun in his hands.
"You gonna take 'em all on?"
"Not by himself." Charlie pushed herself up, looking over at Daryl.
"We have guns. We have cars." Hershel added.
"Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm." Andrea stated.
"Are you serious?" Daryl asked, looking from the blonde who was knelt next to the gun back to Hershel, but he avoided looking at Charlie.
"This is my farm. I'll die here."
"I won't beg." Charlie pulled him away from the others. "But this is my home. And I don't mean the farm. This, these people. You. That's my home and I'll die protecting them. So please, help me. We need you and I know I'm asking a lot, we could die but if I have to die, I'm gonna die fighting."
"So you are begging."
"Oh my God, asshole!" She huffed, punching his shoulder. "Are you gonna help us or not?"
"I got your back, princess." He nodded and she let out a relieved breath before making her way down the porch, and he jumped over the railing. Charlie raised her bow - it having been on the porch - and she aimed at the closet walker, she knew it was pointless to use her bow but she needed to know if she could actually take down a walker with it. Daryl saw the shake in her hands as the others loaded into their cars, all firing off their guns. "Breath, princess." He raised his gun and shot an approaching walker but kept his eyes on the brunette.
"Shut up, asshole." She muttered, then she took a breath and let the arrow fly. It hit a walker and it dropped to the ground bringing a small smile to her lips.
"Nice shot." He nodded before making his way to his motorcycle and the brunette made her way towards the black Chevy and climbed into that backseat.
"You ready?" She looked over at her boyfriend and he nodded as they lifted themselves out the windows as they neared the fence around the field with the barn – which was on fire. Mason drove down the fence as the two hanging out the windows shot at the walkers, taking down a few – T-Dog followed in the blue truck and Maggie in the car. When Mason turned, Charlie lost her grip and hit the dirt with a groan but she pushed herself up, not dwelling on the pain, her pistol raised as she shot at the walkers on the other side of the fence. Her eyes went wide as they simply pushed the fence to the ground and she turned, running back towards the house. She pulled her knife from its sheath and took down two walkers before she heard screaming and she turned to see that Patricia had been bit.
Her steps faltered, her hands shook but she couldn't seem to pull her eyes away from the pile of walkers that crowed the woman, but a scream caught her attention and she looked over to see Carol with a stick and walkers closing in on her, she started towards the women, ready to kick ass but Josh beat her to it. He shot two of the walkers and hit the other in the head.
"To the truck, go, go, go!" He ushered the woman towards the black chevy and she quickly climbed in.
"Let's go!" Mason shouted, hanging out the window, waving Josh and Charlie towards him. They shared a look, though it was dark, they could just barely see each other then they started for the truck, only for a walker to jump onto Josh's back.
"Josh!" Charlie screamed, her throat burning with the sheer force of the scream and tears filled her eyes.
"Damn it." Mason mumbled to himself, reaching for the door but Carol grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving the truck.
"We have to go." She demanded, a cry in her voice.
"I can't. Not without Charlie."
"Go!" Carol shouted and Mason reluctantly drove away, hating himself as he watched Charlie in the rearview mirror.
Charlie stumbled towards Josh, stabbing the walker on top of him in the head before she knelt down next to him. "Josh, Josh, please. You have to be okay."
"He got me." He told her as he sat up, tugging his jacket down a little - he winced with the movement, exposing the bloody bite on his shoulder.
"No." She moved closer to him, her hands on either side of his face as she rested her forehead against his. "No."
"It's okay." He rubbed her back, tears filling his eyes. "It's okay."
"No, it's not." She shook her head. "It's not okay, Josh. How can this be okay?"
"This is it for me." He told her and she shook her head, her eyes squeezed closed. He looked around and the walkers were getting closer, the last thing he wanted for her to end up like him. "Look at me, please, Charlie. Look at me." He placed his hands on her cheeks and she opened her eyes to meet his. He had tears in his eyes but he was trying so hard not to let them fall. "I need you to do something for me." She nodded her head quickly, her hands fisting around his jacket. "I don't want to be one of them, you can't let me become one of them."
"Josh, no."
"Please." He leaned forward, lighting pressing his lips against hers. "Please, baby."
"O-Okay." She mumbled, though the word hurt. She pulled back, sitting on her knees in front of the boy as he handed her his gun.
"I love you."
She froze. How could she possibly do this after he has said such a thing? It was tearing her apart because despite how much she hated to admit, she felt the same way about him.
"I love you, too." She mumbled and he pulled her to him. He lightly pressed his lips against hers and a sob shook her body as her hands tightened around his jacket.
"Do it now." He mumbled against her lips, wanting her gone before more walkers made it to them. "Please."
Her shoulder shook with a sob as she sat back on her heels, her dark eyes on his, both had tears dripping down their cheeks. With shaky hands she raised her gun and he nodded, a smile of reassurance on his lips. He closed his eyes, leaning towards the barrel of the gun and she pulled the trigger, jumping a little as it echoed around her then she let out another scream as his lifeless body hit the ground.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed there, crying over his body, cradling his head, not caring that the walkers were getting closer to her. Then heard the familiar sound of Daryl's motorcycle and she looked up to see him waving her towards him, shooting two walkers that had gotten too close to her.
"Come on!" He shouted and she looked back down at Josh's body, her hands shaking and smeared with his blood. She leaned down and kissed his head, mumbling her last goodbyes, then she pushed herself up, swinging her knife at the closest walker. She darted towards the bike and swung her leg over. She wrapped her arms around the man that sat in front of her, her forehead against his back as she cried but he didn't ask, he just drove.