CHAPTER ONE
BAD OMENS

season one, episode two

CHARLOTTE CAMPBELL HAD BEEN absolutely fucking shattered when her parents had told her they wouldn't be joining her on her trip to the States. It was her first major competition outside of the UK and she'd expected them to be there with her every step of the way, all the way up until she hoisted the large golden trophy in the air with a blinding smile. It had been some cruel twist of fate, one that still hammers down on her heart, that this one time they'd stayed home, she needed them the most.

The worst part of it all is the wondering — the constant loop of questions in regard to whether or not they had control of their mind and body or whether they're walking amongst the dead. Charlotte knows she's never going to see them again, she's not stupid, but she yearns for one last hug or even just an exchange of a goodbye. The girl doesn't think there will ever be a time where she doesn't miss them, there is no way she'd ever be able to forget them either.

Thankfully for some, they're luckier than she is. Charlotte has been sitting by the water for the last half an hour watching Carl and Sophia splash about and laugh with one another whilst their parents were off doing other things — well Lori and Carol are, who knows what Ed is doing. She doesn't mind so much, they're good kids, and babysitting is definitely a better job than something like laundry.

The small group by the quarry had welcomed her in with somewhat open arms, they'd seemingly adopted the mantra of 'the more people the better' and she's forever thankful for that. The idea of wandering the woods on her lonesome with nobody to talk too is terrifying, it would drive her insane after only a matter of days. Not only have they allowed her to stay, they make sure she's fed and safe, it's the best case scenario for the situation she's currently in.

"Charlie! Charlie!"

The brunette smiles at Sophia as she rushes over, holding something in her hand. The younger girl is trying to hide it, lock it away between her palms, but Charlotte can see the small pink petals creeping out from within the gaps of her fingers. However, to make the girl happy, she pretends as if she cannot see it.

"What's up?" Charlotte questions, her accent flowing through the air. The kids had been quite fascinated with her accent when she'd first talked to them, asking her a whole bunch of questions about what England was like. In some ways, it made her feel a little better as she got to talk about her home but in other ways it only helped the dread of being away sink in more.

"I got you something," Sophia grins, Carl now following behind her.

"Yeah? I bet it's awesome," Charlotte responds, sitting up a little straighter so that they know they have her full attention. When Sophia opens her hands up and the beautiful flower is bright under the sun, Charlotte gasps happily. "Oh it's beautiful! Thank you,"

Sophia steps forward and puts the flower over the older girl's ear, letting it sit within her hair. Charlotte has always loved flowers, she can attribute that to her mother — Blaire Campbell had a large garden of flowers at their home and she constantly was adding more and more. The teenager had helped her mother plenty of times in making sure they stayed vibrant and colourful, their living room often had vases full of those homegrown flowers. It was something Blaire was extremely passionate about.

"You have a good eye, this is an Azalea flower. My mum loved these flowers," Charlotte speaks, running her fingers over the petals as it sits behind her ear. "I think we should try and find some more, hey? Maybe I can braid them through your hair,"

"My hair is too short," Sophia responds, gesturing to her short length hair.

"I'm sure we can do it," Charlotte assures, reaching over and squeezing the girl's hand lightly before letting go. "Or if you don't want to do that, we can try to make a necklace out of the flowers you find instead,"

Sophia's entire face lights up, nodding her head and looking to Carl to see if he would like to join in. He looks rather enthused by it, happy to just do something other than the school work he's been made to do over the last few weeks. Thankfully, Charlotte has convinced Lori that she's had more than enough schooling in her life so she avoids having to do math — the fact these poor kids have to do math, even in an apocalypse, kind of sucks.

"Come on then, let's go find us some flowers,"

Charlotte is sitting within the main area of the camp, sitting on the ground with her back leaning against a tree log. In her hands is some magazine that was in her bag, she had bought it a few days before the whole end of the world thing. Flipping through the pages, she sighs as she comes across another break-up article and groans, throwing it to the ground. Lori who is sitting not too far away looks over in amusement.

"Are you finally sick of doing the same crossword puzzle?" Lori questions the teenager.

"I gave up on that days ago. Right now I'm sick of reading about whether Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are still together," Charlotte replies, pointing to the discarded magazine where the picture of the Twilight co-stars is.

Lori chuckles with a shake of her head, eyes then straying back over to Shane and Carl who are playing. Charlotte doesn't want to intrude, nor does she want to assume, but the girl isn't stupid. Lori and Shane, well she's almost a hundred percent sure there is something going on there. She also knows that Shane isn't Carl's dad, his dad is a man named Rick who apparently passed at the beginning of this whole thing. The boy had told her so many stories, a smile on his face but a glimmer of sadness in his eyes. Charlotte knows the feeling.

However, she's not going to judge Lori. The woman has lost her husband, and whilst it may be a little morally grey to move on with his best friend, grief can make people do things they otherwise wouldn't. Lori has been nothing but lovely and welcoming since she got here, Charlotte has gravitated towards her quite easily, so nothing to do with her love life is going to change the teenager's opinion.

Charlotte sighs softly and leans back a little further, looking up at the cloudy sky and admiring the beauty of the it. England is a very cloudy place, rains quite a bit too, so days like these are something she's become acclimatized to.

The radio starts to buzz to her left, her head turning so that she can look at it. This is how they've been communicating with those who go out on runs and currently, there is a small group of them in the city now. One day, probably not too soon, she'll find the bravery to venture out there with them. The brunette hasn't quite recovered from her small adventure within the trees, even the sound of a walker will make her heart race. This time she had almost put herself forward for the job, almost, but Glenn had simply patted her shoulder and told her they'd be back soon.

Every second or third word from the radio can be heard but most of them are jumbled by the static. Charlotte can only assume that it's T-Dog or Glenn considering that what she can hear sounds like a masculine voice — there is no way Merle Dixon is contacting them, he'd probably get bitten by a walker before he thought about it.

Dale is the first at the radio. "Hello? Hello? Reception's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat,"

Charlotte brings her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head on them. The last thing this group needs right now is to lose people, not only do they then lose half their manpower but everybody has grown to somewhat care for one another during this time together.

"Is that them?" Lori questions the older man, getting up and walking over to him.

"Trapped,"

Charlotte closes her eyes and sighs, somewhat painfully, this world is so fucked. The group are perfectly capable, if they work together they will more than likely be able to get out, but with somebody like Merle with them, well that's when the problems start. To put it kindly, he's a prick. Not only is he a prick, he's a racist, misogynist prick. No doubt he will cause trouble.

"He's saying they're trapped?" Shane asks the other man, trying to make sure that he understood correctly.

"T-Dog repeat the last part. Repeat," Dale speaks into the radio. The static is still ringing through the air, a grating noise in her ears. Then it comes to an abrupt end.

"He said the department store," Lori says confidently.

"I heard it too,"

"Shane?"

The man shakes his head. "No way. We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group, y'all know that,"

Amy rushes forward in what can only be described as anger, the worry and fear for her sister Andrea who is out in the city. "So we're just gonna leave her there?"

"Look, Amy, I know that this is not easy—"

"She volunteered to go to help the rest of us,"

"I know, and she knew the risks, right? See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do,"

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch,"

Amy then storms off with Lori following after her. Charlotte gives Shane a glance, one that he seems to take not of because he frowns in response. She's judging but the idea of leaving their people out there, it just doesn't sit right with her.

A loud rumble of thunder can be heard around them as they stay silent, a cold drop of rain great relief in the stifling humidity. Charlotte has never been one to believe in omens but the cracks of lightning in the distance followed by the crashes of the clouds cannot be a good thing, an unsettling feeling flowing through her.

Fiddling with the small flower bracelet on her hand, Charlotte allows the rain to fall over her as others retreat inside. She can hear the calls of name as the sky flashes a golden colour, an extravagant squiggle amongst the darkened clouds.

"Charlotte, sweetheart, let's get inside. You'll catch a cold," Lori walks over with Amy trailing behind her. Charlotte lets the woman pull her up, arm wrapped around her as the rain continues to pelt harshly against the ground. The magazine she'd been reading is now a mush of paper, the ink staining the ground beneath it.

They hear no more from the group as the storm worsens, the teenager practically huddled against Lori as she stares out the window. Bad omens, boy they grow more real by the second.

NOTE!

Hello everybody! Welcome to the very first chapter of Runaway! This episode is kind of uneventful from this end so I just tried to introduce Charlotte a little better. I'm sorry if it was a little on the boring side but I'm really looking forward to moving through this season, hopefully pretty quickly too as it's relatively short!

Please let me know what you thought and I hope to see you next time! (Also please ignore any grammatical or spelling errors, I'll go back and edit later!)