// Good Luck Charm
by // VintageVulpes
Charlie took a deep breath and, as she exhaled, checked the slide of her assault rifle- the mechanisms and metal clanking and grinding as she did. The armored truck lurched as it drove over obstacles strewn in the road. The collisions bumped her slightly out of her seat and she hurried to correct herself but still refused to pull her seatbelt on. She looked through the small window to the front cabin; she could only glimpse the driver and the navigator. There were three other members of the crew, each of them going through their own preparation rituals.
Max, the youngest of the crew still had the worst, pre-run nerves. He sat in his seat with his knees knocking together, his arms wrapped around his shotgun in a hug, and his eyes pinched closed. His shaggy blond hair bounced with each movement of the vehicle through the abandoned city streets; on more than one occasion she'd tried to convince him to let her cut his hair but to no avail. As she considered shaving it in his sleep, she thought of her own short hair- kept shaved on the sides and back with enough on top to style in the front. Most days she was confused for a boy and he a girl. It was a running joke amongst the crew.
The burly man sitting across from Max was the exact opposite of the kid. The broad shouldered man leaned back in his seat, one leg crossed over the other with an unlit cigarette tucked to one corner of his mouth. His eyes were closed but a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He was still relatively new to the crew, having found him on one of the supply runs he had demanded to be on the team- providing his many survivor stories as his reason to be trusted. If it had been up to her he still wouldn't be traveling with them but Dirk, their leader and truck driver, liked him and let him join immediately.
"It's creepy, right?" a voice asked gently from her left.
She turned her head from staring at the two to her right to look at the man speaking to her. He stood, one hand grasping the handle attached to the ceiling while the other hung to his side. Charlie smirked at him and nodded. "Yeah, he's a little too comfy."
"I can never remember his name..."
"I don't think he has one, I just call him 'Muscles'," she responded in a soft voice.
He tilted his head down to hide a smile and when he looked back up he shook his head lightly. "I don't doubt he appreciates it," he said, his eyes crinkled at the corners. "I just picture him lifting the undead in order to bulk up, one body per arm."
Charlie laughed through her nose and diverted her gaze from his deep blue eyes down to his free hand where she noticed a square of paper being affectionately rubbed between his forefinger and his thumb. "Nick, what is that?"
"It's my good luck charm," he replied with a breathy laugh.
She quirked a brow as she looked between him and the paper several times. "A piece of paper?"
"Winning lotto ticket," he corrected.
Charlie pursed her lips but her smile was unable to be masked. "How do you know it's a winner?"
"I was on my way to turn it in when I ran into my first undead."
"Doesn't sound too lucky to me."
"It's still a winner- and I'm still alive. That's good enough for me." Nick winked.
"How come I haven't seen you with it before?"
He shrugged and looked at it for the first time since she brought it up. "I dunno, I try to keep it in one piece and as clean as I can. I don't take it out often," he explained. Nick then held it up and took a wary step forward as the repurposed, SWAT truck lurched just as he moved to show her.
"This is a milk-run, why are you nervous?"
"Easy run or not, anything could happen." he replied as he handed the ticket to her.
The lottery ticket was at least six years old but Nick truly managed to keep it in good condition. One of the corners was bent in, there was a small rip in the center of the ticket, and most of the writing had faded but it was still legible.
Charlie looked it over another moment before she handed it back and her eyes shifted to meet his gaze. "Congrats on your win."
With a sideways grin he stuffed it back in the inside pocket of his leather jacket and ran his fingers through his short, mused hair. "Do you carry anything with you from the past?" he asked.
She shrugged and looked down at the floor of the truck as a flash of a young girl's face flashed through her mind's eye. In the memory flash the world seemed brighter and there was an abundance of green grass and blue sky behind the young brunnette girl in comparison to the dank world the lived in now. "No, nothing." she finally responded, still refusing to meet his gaze.
Nick nodded knowingly before responding, "just fond memories?"
As she lifted her eyes up to meet his again she offered a smile that didn't turn her lips up but rather down into a partial frown. "Bittersweet ones," she corrected.
The trucked came to a sudden stop and forced all four of the passengers in the back to brace themselves with a sudden start: Nick stumbled before gaining his footing and getting into a more stable stance, Charlie threw her arm out to brace herself against the bench seat, Muscles merely sat up straighter and adjusted his footing- barely moving an inch out of place, while Max all but fell out of his seat, his gun clattering to the steel inlay of the truck.
"Alright kids, here's our stop," Dirk shouted and turned in his seat. "This is a food run- canned foods, water, etcetera, you know the drill!"
Muscles stood up, his shoulders back and cigarette still in the corner of his mouth. "Sir, yes, Sir!" He all but saluted back before turning on his heel to open the back doors of the SWAT truck and jumping out.
Charlie and Nick shared a look before she rolled her eyes and moved Max along with a gentle shove. Outside, boots to the ground, the four of them checked their surroundings- the streets were relatively abandoned of all undead but the broken windows and ramshackle buildings that once made up the city streets laid more forlorn and gutted than many of the bodies they tended to leave behind.
The gray sky forbade the sun to illuminate the streets despite being midday and only cast more shadows than they liked in such a situation. As Muscles took point towards the ransacked grocery store, Charlie took note of the graffiti tag on one of the brick buildings to their right:
Croatoan
Her eyebrows instinctively raised then pushed together. The superstitious nonsense that once plagued the news during the initial stages of The End still marred the current state they were in, it had annoyed her back then and now it just made her angry. People had wasted too much time trying to turn it into propaganda; a means to create fear that it was a war between countries, a terrorist attack. Others made it a religious matter, omens to the end of the world- to the apocalypse described in Revelations. Still others believed it to be supernatural in nature, hence Croatoan. They were all wrong. There was no explanation, it simply was. They would never find the cause or the answer they were looking for. It didn't matter anymore anyway, it was about survival now.
Still there were survivors who were still disillusioned about it and believed it to be an illness that could be cured. So, instead of putting down those that became undead, they kept the undead with them like pets. The outlook on The End for everyone was different depending on where you came from, it was religious in nature. Each group had their own beliefs and anyone who felt or believed differently was wrong. Bigots were everywhere, it was unavoidable. You could only hope to run into those who felt the same as you. Not everyone even called the end "The End"; others called it "Zombieland" or "The Apocalypse". She called the first week of the dead rising and people getting the sickness, "Hell Week" while Dirk and Co. called it "First Contact". Everyone was different and there were others but Charlie couldn't be bothered to discover each belief or give everyone much validation- not after Anna.
If only she and her sister, Anna, had run into Dirk and his group first rather than second- maybe she'd still be alive. All they had wanted was to be safe- to find a new home. Instead they were greeted with homicidal bigots that took advantage of their vulnerability. After finding Dirk with Max a few months later, that dream was still alive. Being on the road was no way to live, even in The End- they were on their way to what the people called "Haven", a safe place for survivors, somewhere between Mansfield and Nottingham. Haven was end game, it was that or die trying.
"Hey, Charlie, you comin'?" Nick called, holding the boarded up door open for her.
She looked away from the tag to Nick before pulling out her machete and nodding. "Yeah," she said, "where's Dirk and Al?"
Al was Dirk's best friend and co-pilot. Where one was the other was sure to follow. Nick indicated to the truck, "they're letting us run point and staying in the truck, they'll radio us if there's a problem."
At the mention of the walkie talkies, she turned her's on, the light on the top flickering green. "Okay," she replied and followed him inside.
Inside it was too dark to see, what light came through the cracks of the boards simply illuminated the dust that flew up in the disturbance the four of them created with their presence. The silence from within was deafening and it took everything she had in her being not to inform the group that she 'had a bad feeling'. In unison with one another, Nick and Charlie turned on their flashlights and pointed them in opposite directions of the store.
Somewhere from within she could hear Muscles and Max start plundering, pulling cans off shelves and putting them in baskets that clanked with each added item. Most of the store was empty, what remained was filled with bullet holes or trampled on the ground. Charlie was impressed that the two of them had found things to take so quickly.
"Where do you want to start," Nick's voice gained her attention and she turned to face him, pointing the light at his chest to illuminate his face.
"Back rooms?" she suggested.
Nick nodded but sucked air in through his teeth.
"What?"
"That's normally where First Contact survivors locked up undead, you sure?"
She nodded and pointed her light in the direction of the back wall. "Yeah, but that's also where the only remaining supplies may be."
"Max, Charlie and I are heading to the backroom." Nick announced over the radio, "where ya at?"
A confirmation came over the radio from Max before he added, "New guy and I are heading over to the Pharmacy."
"Got it," Nick responded and then nodded his head in the direction he and Charlie were to head in. They took their time, checking each end of aisle in case an undead lurked in the shadows. "Max is a good kid."
"Yeah, he is."
"How do you two know each other?"
Charlie checked a corner, saw it clear and moved to the next aisle heading to the back of the store. "We met about a year after Hell Week... been together ever since..."
"Wow, five years. That's great." Nick stepped through a puddle of dried blood, no body or drag marks just a round puddle.
She stopped and turned to face him in the middle of the aisle. He nearly walked past her but stopped in time to look down at her. Their chests nearly touching, she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. "You know... he's like my brother. We're not together together."
Nick smirked, "What is this, middle school? I don't care if you're together or not." his words were dismissive but his tone was soft and his blue eyes danced with delight.
With a quirk of her brow she pivoted on her heel and kept walking to the back.
"I mean, you've barely been with us for a year," he added.
"10 months..." she specified.
He caught up to her in three long strides, "like I said. Nearly a year and I still feel like I don't know you. Max I get, you I don't. And I don't because I can't get more than a few words out of you at a time. At this point Muscles is more likely to open up to me."
"Is bonding something you really want to do in The End? It'll only make it hurt more when something happens."
"That's a negative outlook," he muttered with a slight undertone of surprise, "'when'? Not 'if'?"
They reached the back door and she pushed it open slowly, flinching when the hinges creaked. When it seemed to be safe to walk through, she pushed open the two way door open wider and lead the way into the velvet black of the backroom. Once inside they used their flashlights to determine what was stacked on the industrial sized shelving units that ran the length of the wall, found a back office they could likely plunder, and a utility closet.
"If there's any undead, they're probably locked in there." Charlie said as she pointed at the closet door. She was aware she still hadn't responded to Nick's last question but she didn't want to talk about loss and she certainly didn't want to get to know him better. She already liked him, getting to know him would only make it worse. Max was her only family now, expanding it would only leave her open for future pain.
"Yeah," Nick concurred. "I liked to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Charlie slowly turned to face him, her lips turned exaggeratedly downwards and eyebrows raised high on her forehead. "What?"
"What did you like to watch?"
"Is this what you call bonding?"
Nick shrugged and turned his flashlight from her to look around the attached warehouse they stood in. "Yeah, I mean, I told you about my lottery ticket."
"Yeah, that had meaning to it."
"And Buffy doesn't? I resent that."
She laughed breathily in disbelief and started to walk towards the office space, their boots padded loudly against the cement flooring.
"Well?"
"Buffy was lame. I prefer Dean and Sam."
"Wow, Supernatural, really?"
Charlie smiled and pulled down the front of her tanktop to reveal, at the upper part of her breast, a pentagram tattoo with black flames that surrounded the star.
He laughed, his eyes narrowing in true delight. "That is so ridiculous!"
"You asked..."
"I-" he started and was cut short by the radio crackling to life.
"Hey, Charlie," Max's voice came over the radio just as her fingers brushed against the brass door knob leading into the enclosed office.
She dropped her hand from the door and used it to press the side button on the radio. "Yeah, Max, go ahead."
"We have a problem..."
Nick and Charlie shared a look as they waited for Max to continue.
"Dirk and the truck are gone."
O.o.O.o
TWO MONTHS LATER
Nick put the van into park, the green VW's gears grinded with effort and he sighed. "Alright, everyone out and stretch your legs."
The sound of the side door sliding open sounded behind Nick and Charlie, who was sitting in the passenger seat. She waited until Muscles and Max were out of the back before putting a hand on Nick's arm.
"Nick," she said softly.
His hand was on the door handle before she stopped him and he dropped it away to look at her. "I don't want to talk about it, Charlie."
"It's been two months..."
"And that's supposed to make it easier?" he asked, his upper lip stiff and eyes narrowed.
"No, I'm saying that maybe it's time to-"
"If you say move on, so help me, Charlie."
She looked away from him, to look out her window, watching Max talk with Muscles, who smoked a cigarette. The green leaves were giving way to red and oranges and gusts of wind often blew through the valley in an attempt to blow the dying greenery off. Forest lined both sides of the streets, the longer they stayed out of the city the easier it was to forget that The End was upon them.
Charlie took a long intake of air through her nose before speaking. "Do you not think I know how this feels?" she asked before looking back at Nick who was staring blankly out the windshield. "I told you about Anna, I know what loss is."
"I know, I know... but Dirk was like a brother to me. He was my family- so was Al. Something must have happened, they wouldn't just leave."
"If something else happened it wouldn't be so hard to track them. I know it's hard to accept but-"
"You don't know them like I do."
"I knew them well enough,"
"Barely a year."
She laughed breathily and looked away again, watching as Max pointed to the woods with his thumb while running his hand through his long hair and started walking. Muscles kept an eye out, his gun out and ready, the cigarette still hung from his lips.
Nick spoke up again and she turned her head to acknowledge him. "But it's different for you, you know what happened to Anna. You were able to get closure. For all I know they were jumped and killed... or-"
"I'm sorry, Nick, really I am. But you're pushing it too hard. It was Dirk's plan to get to Haven. If anything, that's where he'd be. We need to keep going- we've gone too far off course. We're all tired, even Muscles."
"I'll find them by myself if I have to but I am not leaving Dirk and Al behind."
"And I'm not leaving you behind!" she insisted and grabbed his hand from his lap. "I'm not trying to hurt you, Nick, but we have to think of ourselves too. If we keep tracking without a place to come back to we'll never make it- you will never make it."
He looked away from her but did not remove his hand from hers.
"We need you, Nick, I need you. Dirk and Al are family but so are we."
Nick inhaled long and hard through his nose before releasing it slowly and closing his eyes. "Yeah, okay. We'll go to Haven."
She offered a gentle, reassuring smile. "We'll keep looking for them on the way, for the truck, for anything. Just... in the direction of safety."
While nodding he slid his hand out from under hers in order to get out of the van.
"Nick?"
"I need to take a leak." he replied and stepped out of the van, slamming the door behind him.
She released a heavy breath before getting out of the green van herself and walking up to Muscles who was still watching the treeline, waiting for Max. "Hey, Muscles."
"Kid," he greeted in return, "how's our fearless leader?"
"He's... hanging in there."
"I liked Dirk but he bailed on us, no loyalty necessary."
"They were family."
"Family is in blood."
She looked up at him, her brows furrowed. "You think family ends in blood?"
"You don't?"
"No."
Muscles shrugged and flicked the butt of his cigarette away, "to each their own."
Family was what you made it and Muscles didn't have to agree- just as long as he had their back when it mattered. Her lips pursed as she looked back towards the woods, Max was back there awhile. Charlie glanced over her shoulder and watched as Nick came around the front of the van and leaned against the hood. She looked back at the woods and took a step towards the treeline, her hand resting on the handle of her gun she had strapped to her thigh. Just as she flicked the snap on the strap off, Max emerged from the bushes his knife drawn with blood dripping from it.
"Max?" She started to walk faster, her heart pounding heavy in her chest. He staggered a few more steps before offering a small, reassuring smile.
He waved with his free hand dismissively, "It's all good, I took-"
"Max!" she screamed and pulled out her gun and aimed it at the Undead that was shambling up behind him.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise and his jaw dropped. Max moved to turn around but the Undead grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanked his head back and bit into his neck.
"No!" she screamed, her voice cracking with force as she fired a single shot when she had the line-up. The Undead slumped to the ground behind Max who stood another second before falling to his knees, both arms flaccid at his sides. She went to Max, fell to her knees in front of him, dropped her gun beside them, and pressed her palm against his open wound at the base of his neck. "No, no, no, no, no."
"Charlie-" he slurred, his eyes drooping and his head lolling to the side, putting pressure on her hand at his neck.
"Hold on, buddy... c'mon... dammit!"
Muscles ran past her and into the woods, looking for more Undead to kill while Nick appeared in her peripheral vision, his sidearm held limply in his hand.
"I'm s-sorry... I-I-" Max slumped slightly and she wrapped her other arm under his and around his back to support him.
"Ssh," she hushed, her breathing shuddered and chest heaving. Charlie knew that there was no saving him. He was dead either way. Whether he turned first or bled out it was going to end the same way.
Max's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell into her, the side of his face colliding with her collarbone, his cheek resting against her breast. She removed her hand from his neck to push her fingers into his shaggy hair. A hoarse cry filled the air and she realized it was her own voice and embraced it, sobs wracked her body and bounced his limp one at the same time. She held his head close to her chest, her other arm still wrapped around his back.
"Charlie..." Nick's voice came from directly beside her and she was surprised to see his face right beside her. He had crouched beside her, his hands resting on his own knees, the right one holding a gun.
"No, Nick... No..." she cried.
Muscles emerged from the woods, looking mildly disappointed there was nothing else to kill. Nothing but the boy in her arms.
A raspy breath came from Max and his arm twitched against her leg. She let out a keening sound but couldn't bring herself to let him go.
"Charlie," Nick's voice was laced in desperation, concern ebbing from his very being, "let him go."
Her breath hiccupped but she nodded and took the bowie knife that Muscles provided.
Max's eyes opened and his mouth slackened before closing again, his teeth chattering as he worked his jaw. Charlie couldn't help the small sounds of loss that emanated from her throat from deep inside her soul- a place that was already wounded from the loss of Anna and a loss of hope for a better future. She took in a shaky breath, positioned the knife at the back of his head - at the base of his skull - and plunged it as deep as she could.
Max stilled and his eyes drifted part way closed.
O.o.O.o
Four Months Later
March was upon them and the trees were starting to sprout buds of green and flower. Birds chirped and bees buzzed about their business, preparing to nest. The sky was blue and white puffy clouds floated by in a light breeze.
Inside a dank warehouse, Muscles held back a horde of Undead trying to come inside under a small gap in the pull-down gate while Charlie pulled at Nick from under his armpits and pulled him deeper into the room, with each tug Nick groaned and a smear of blood was left in his wake.
"Are they still out there?" he managed between gritted teeth.
Charlie lowered him to the dusty warehouse floor and went over to a grime covered window, she peeked out and saw ten men armed to the teeth with armor and weapons, armored jeeps and trucks still parked in front. "Yes," she replied as she went back over to him, kneeling at his side.
The constant droning of Undead echoed in the empty factory warehouse.
He laid on the ground, pressing his hands into the gunshot wound in his abdomen. His breathing was shallow and his face pale; sweat beaded his forehead.
"Charlie, help me close the gate!" Muscles shouted as he continued to cut them down as they emerged from under the gate.
She shot to her feet and ran to the gate and tried to push it down manually. It made a screeching sound with each forceful shove, it made her skin crawl and her eye twitch but she kept going while Muscles brought his hatchet down on any limb or head that pushed it's way through. As she forced it down one last time, the gate far enough down that no body, alive or undead, could work it's way under, a hand reached out and grabbed her ankle. She let out a cry as she fell backwards. The grip was strong and she struggled to free herself but was rescued when Muscles chopped the arm off, blood spraying upwards and spattering them both in a brownish red. She crawled away from the gate and kicked the hand off.
Muscles went over to the window to look at the gang outside. He pulled a can of peaches from his cargo pant pocket and held it up to the window before shouting at the glass; "all this for a lousy can of peaches and a warehouse of Undead?! Pah!" he spiked it on the ground and the top of the can burst, spilling syrup onto the concrete floor.
"Hey, Nick, how bad is it?" Charlie asked, her voice soft.
He grimaced, his lips pulled thin as he looked at her at the corner of his eyes.
"Okay, alright," she took his non-verbal cue and looked to his stomach where blood pulsed between his fingers, "I'm going to put you on your side, okay?"
Nick nodded numbly and braced himself for the pain.
"Muscles, can I get some help here, please?" she called out to the stronger person in the room but her eyes flicked over to the gate, there were at least ten Undead were sticking their arms through, she could see their blank faces staring at them from under the gap, their mouths opening and closing.
When Muscles came over she instructed him on turning Nick on his side so she could see the exit wound.It was about the size of a nickel.
"We need to cauterize the exit wound or he'll bleed out before we can even think about moving." she said in a stronger voice than she anticipated.
Muscles, kneeling on the opposite side of Nick's body, narrowed his eyes and held Charlie's gaze. Nick faced Charlie, his head resting against her leg as she had folded them under her, and couldn't see the look pass between the two.
Before Charlie could argue, Muscles spoke up; "you know as well as I do-"
"No... no!"
"-he's not going to make it."
"We are not leaving here without him." she argued, her tone deep.
"Charlie," Nick choked, "he's right."
"No, just... Nick, be still a moment..." she pleaded then her eyes were back to meet Muscles sympathetic gaze, "you need to find a way to cauterize this," she ordered.
Muscles flinched in preparation to do as he was told, resigning to Charlie's desperation. He glanced down at Nick who turned his head slightly in order to look at the other man as well, they shared a look before Muscles nodded. As he prepared to stand the sound of automatic rifle gunfire echoed in the empty warehouse and drowned out the groans of both the Undead and Nick's pained ones.
Glass shattered and blew into the room as bullets ricocheted off the brick and oversized piping. Charlie bent over Nick and covered his head with her arm while Muscles got low to the ground and grabbed at his gun. He began to army crawl over to the window before returning fire. After checking the situation, Muscles crawled back over to Charlie and Nick.
"We don't have time, we gotta move now." Muscles shouted then looked down at Nick who was barely holding onto consciousness, his hand limp under Charlie who held it there over the bleeding wound. "We can't take him, Charlie, I'm sorry."
Tears pricked at her eyes as she looked down at Nick who was struggling to breathe. "I can't... I won't keep leaving people- losing my family."
Muscles swallowed thickly and opened his mouth to speak when Nick beat him to it.
"Charlie..." Nick struggled to speak, "please... go..."
"I-" she was interrupted by the sound of gunfire right outside the gate, the Undead that had been clawing to get in were mowed down. The sound of the gang discussing opening the gate could be heard inside the room the three of them had sought shelter in.
Her eyes darted to meet Muscles, who shook his head and said; "I'm not going to be killed over peaches."
Nick shifted against her and pushed his hand into hers, intertwining their slick fingers. "I'm sorry we didn't have more time."
The lump in her throat prevented her from swallowing and she let out a small sob, "we're so close..."
He offered the best smile he could but it was more of a cringe and it made her heart ache. "If you see Dirk," he paused to catch his breath and grimaced against the pain, "give him a good punch for me..."
Charlie nodded numbly then shook her head, "I won't let you die, I won't."
Muscles shook his head as the gate started to rise, "Sorry, Kid, time's up!" He stood and grabbed Charlie from under her arms and lifted her up. Charlie refused and fought, grabbing fist-fulls of Nick's blood soaked shirt and started to scream.
Nick's body was pulled slightly before Charlie lost her grip and he dropped limply to the ground, watching as Charlie fought against the man twice her size to get back to him. They made it out the fire escape moments before the gang crawled under the door and filled the room. Nick raised his sidearm and fired but his arm shook so badly it hit the side of the wall instead. One of the seven gang members marched up to him as Nick continued to try to shoot an empty clip into him. The gang leader smirked and kicked the gun out of his hand and then stomped on his arm to pin it to the floor.
The leader aimed his gun at Nick's face, baring his rotting teeth in a menacing smile. Nick stared at the barrel of the gun unflinchingly, daring the leader to pull the trigger.
O.o.O.o
Three Days Later
Charlie stood at the bottom of the hill, looking up at the treeline where she could barely see the outline of the fort at the edge of the woods. She resented this place but yet she came to it- she hated what it represented... the attempt and failure of a life during The End. Those she sought to live here with were all dead or MIA. Why did she even finish the journey?
Muscles came up beside her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You ready, Kid?"
She shied away slightly and stuck her hands in her pockets but instead of stepping forward she paused, her brows furrowing together as her fingers touched a piece of paper. Her lips turned down and her eyes narrowed as she pulled it out. A strange sound she didn't recognize came from between her lips as she looked at it and held it gingerly between her fingers.
It was smudged in blood and crinkled more than she'd ever seen it but it was Nick's lottery ticket. Tears streamed down her face as her heart felt like it was twisting around thorns, her stomach flopped and she felt sick and relieved at the same time.
Muscles brought her attention to two people coming their way from the fort but she couldn't bring herself to put the ticket away.
"Hey you two, what'cher names?" the man called, a woman walking beside him. He was unarmed but the woman held a shotgun in her hands.
Charlie blanked and she stared at the two of them, her lips parted but words failed her. Muscles jumped in and introduced them, "this lovely lady is Charlie and I'm Jack but my... family calls me Muscles."
Charlie looked up at him in mild surprise but said nothing.
The man smiled at the nickname. "Alright and where you two coming from?"
Muscles continued to answer for the both of them while Charlie stared at him in surprise to his introduction before her mind drifted back to Nick's last moments and the ticket he had slipped into her pocket. She thought of Dirk and Al and wondered about them, wondered what they would say if they were here. A lump formed in her throat and she diverted her gaze to stare at the woman. She wanted to turn back, this isn't what she wanted, not anymore. Is it what Muscles, Jack, wanted now or was he just doing it for her? She couldn't be sure anymore, she couldn't be sure of anything.
"What is that?" the man directed a question at her, clearly unsettled by her glazed look and silence.
She looked at the bloodstained, lotto ticket she still held in front of her between both thumbs and pointer fingers then looked back up at the man and woman. "It's my good luck charm," she said in broken tones.
"A piece of paper?" the woman questioned, her voice prissier than she would have expected from a shotgun wielding person.
"It's a winning lottery ticket."
Both fort dwelling people scrunched their faces up and looked to Muscles who gave them a stern look that dwindled any argument or further questioning.
The man shrugged slightly. "You must be a lucky girl."
Charlie stared at him. "Not really."