CHAPTER SEVEN
AND WE RUN

season one, episode six

WHEN CHARLOTTE WAKES the following morning, she's not met with the sounds of nature or an engine for the first time in a long while. She's actually safe, enclosed within four walls with a sturdy roof over her head, an almost unheard of concept these days. The thing that does bother her, however, is the distinct lack of cool air in the room. Last night, before closing her eyes to sleep, it had been so comfortable in that room and the air conditioning had been running perfectly. Now, now it's as if she's been thrown into a sauna and left to sweat to death.

Sitting up in the bed, the brunette carefully grabs her Polaroid picture and slips it back into the front of her bag. Losing that photo would be losing one of the final reminders she actually has of her parents, she doesn't want that — it would simply break her heart into two pieces incapable of being put back together.

Gently fanning herself with her hand, the teenager throws the covers off and gets out of the bed. Walking over to the air vent, she sticks her hand under to see if the heater had accidentally been switched on instead. It's clearly not the case, no air seeping from the cracks in the vent at all — there is simply nothing there. The cool air has been switched off entirely, leaving the inhabitants to swelter.

A loud knock on her door pulls in her attention, walking over and opening it up to see Lori on the other side with sweat coating the top of her forehead. She looks disheveled, a worry deep within her eyes and it brings a rush of panic over Charlotte who has only ever really seen this woman composed. If she's scared or worried, then there's something amiss here.

"Hey, Charlie. You didn't join us for breakfast," Lori breathes out, using her hand to wipe her forehead. "Somebody was meant to come and get you,"

"I think I needed the sleep in more than I thought. I'll grab something to eat at lunch time," Charlotte assures with a kind smile, acting as if she can't sense the woman's mood.

"Well I was just about to head down and check what's going on with the air if you want to join me? It's way too hot in here,"

Charlotte nods and slips her shoes and socks on, slipping out into the hallways just as Jenner walks by them. He's thrown many questions as to why nothing seems to be on anymore, even Daryl sticks his head out of his room to search for answers. The Doctor takes the bottle of liquor that Daryl had been holding, taking gulps of the liquid impressively fast.

"Energy use is being prioritized," Jenner explains rather glumly, avoiding eye contact with the people around him.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asks, standing in the hallway with a scrutinizing glance.

The Doctor doesn't answer, simply downing even more of the alcohol as if to numb anything he's feeling. "It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down,"

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Daryl yells, following after Jenner as he keeps going down the hall.

Charlotte looks to Lori nervously, her hands now beginning to shake slightly as her anxiety comes to a head. She looks just as frazzled, unsure of what to do, but her motherly instinct must kick in because she gently lays her hands on Charlotte's shoulders. "How about you go grab Carol and Sophia? I think we need everybody to hear what he has to say,"

Charlotte swallows deeply, anxiously, and nods her head. She makes her way to the room where Sophia and Carol had been staying in, gently knocking on the wooden door. Carol opens it up and smiles, though it's a rather exhausted one, her gaze asking questions almost immediately. She's definitely noticed something isn't right but is likely keeping herself calm and collected for the little girl who walks up behind her, face lighting up when she sees the teenager at the door.

"Hey, uh, Lori asked me to grab you. Jenner has something to talk with us about," Charlotte explains quietly, not wanting to alarm Sophia about the fact something is probably incredibly wrong.

Carol's eyebrows scrunch together but she doesn't ask any questions aloud, deciding to simply guide her daughter towards where the rest of the group are now standing.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule," Jenner explains just as Charlotte walks into the room, causing her to halt abruptly.

Charlotte hasn't felt like this since that first night, the shadows settling in as screams echoed in her ears. Everybody had been so fearful, not knowing what was happening, so many people died afraid. It was the first time Charlotte had ever had to witness somebody die and it had been a horrible way for those people go, in pain and usually without a chance of fighting back. The image of some of the people who'd been staying in her hotel, those same people she'd gotten to know over the few weeks, being torn to shred still haunt her to this day.

Death is so cruel, so is the way many experience it, today may simply be a repeat of the last time. The only difference is that this time she may meet her end too.

"It was the French," Jenner speaks, looking to Andrea as he says it.

"What?" The woman responds.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution,"

"What happened?" Jacqui inquires, asking what most of the others in the room are thinking.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that,"

"I don't even care. Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" Rick exclaims angrily and a little desperate.

Charlotte doesn't bother sticking around for the further arguments, nor does she even care to give the Doctor a second glance before walking back to the room she'd been sleeping in. She puts her bag on her back and grabs her bow and arrows, cringing as an alarm starts to blare loudly — to the point where it's rather close to causing a piercing headache. Her heart is racing, pulsating in her chest so harshly she's afraid it's going to break through her skin.

The girl rushes back to her group, eyes finding an extremely angry Daryl Dixon who looks as if he's about ready to lunge at Jenner if he hasn't already.

"H.I.T.s—high-impulse thermo baric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired,"

The voice of VI is so emotionless that it's almost hard to pick up on the fact that the computer is explaining a rather catastrophic event.

"It sets the air on fire. No pain," Jenner explains further.

Death.

Charlotte can hear Carol and Sophia crying not too far from her, everybody else seems like they're either in shock or a state of anger. She doesn't know how she's feeling really, how do you feel knowing you're about to die?

"An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything,"

Charlotte jumps when Daryl throws a bottle at the door, the one she hadn't even noticed was locked until now. He truly is about to let them all die in here — Jenner isn't going to let them go.

"Open the damn door!" Daryl yells.

Shane decides to get involved now, an axe in his hands as he actively tries to destroy the door. T-Dog also has one in his hands which he gives to Daryl, the latter happy to help Shane try and take down the one thing that is keeping them in this death trap.

"You should've left well enough alone it would have been so much easier," Jenner comments.

"Easier for who?" Lori questions, holding her son to her.

"All of you. You know what's out there. A short brutal life and an agonizing death," Jenner starts before looking to Andrea. "Your sister, what was her name?"

"Amy,"

"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it,"

Charlotte is a little surprised when his gaze finds her, his eyes searching for some sort of reaction to what he'd said. She's not really sure why he thinks they'd have some sort of effect on her.

"Nobody else here has your accent, where are your parents?" Jenner asks the teenager.

"Back home," Charlotte replies solemnly.

"You'll likely never see them again. Wouldn't it be better to go out this way, to feel no pain? Instead of dragging out the inevitable?"

Charlotte swallows harshly and looks away, the pang in her chest one that she feels whenever her parents are brought up. It's practically impossible for her to ever see them again, she knows that, but it doesn't hurt any less to think about. The thing is she knows her mum and dad would want to her to keep living, to keep fighting, to find people who love her as much as they do — they wouldn't want for her to give up.

Shane and Daryl continue to try and break the door down as time goes by. "Can't make a dent,"

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner responds.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl exclaims, swinging her axe towards the man only to be held back by Dale, Rick and Shane. He might be a little impulsive but he certainly knows how to make a point.  T-Dog takes the axe away from him so that he can't actually hurt the Doctor with it.

"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead,"

The people in the room go silent at the revelation, all of them looking to Rick who he'd been speaking to. Lori looks the most shocked of the lot, a pain in her eyes that is almost indescribable.

"What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Shane says to his best friend.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick speaks, although it's mostly to Lori.

"There is no hope. There never was," Jenner is interjecting again.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere—"

"What part of 'Everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea cuts the man off.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event,"

Charlotte, with every passing second, is resisting the urge to throw something at the man. He's already starting to instill things in Andrea's mind, take away any hope they have of getting out of this alive and he won't even have to live with the consequences of it. Innocent lives, people who want to live, gone because he won't open a fucking door.

"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here. My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this," Carol cries as Shane walks off, the woman holding her daughter tightly.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate just to hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"

The cocking of a gun catches the attention of everybody. Charlotte moves out of the way as Shane returns with his shotgun, just about ready to use it on the man who doesn't even seem bothered by it. Rick tries to get in his way, stop him from doing something stupid, but Shane won't have it. He pushes Rick away and holds his gun up, aiming it straight at Jenner's face.

"Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?" Shane yells, not backing away.

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here," Rick is trying his absolute hardest.

"It's too late,"

"He dies, we all—"

Rick doesn't even have a chance to finish his sentence before Shane is yelling and shooting at the computer monitor. He shoots over and over, screaming and cursing out the Doctor.

"Shane!"

Rick fights with his friend, managing to steal the gun from him and knock him to the ground. He holds it up, ready to hit him with the end of it again but he doesn't have to. After confirming with Shane that he wasn't going to attack any further he hands the gun over to the calmer T-Dog.

"I think you're lying," Rick says to the Doctor.

"What?"

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter,"

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise. To her, my wife,"

Charlotte looks to the screen when he points, frowning in utter confusion. She must've missed a conversation earlier, one that has obviously stuck with the others in the group.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asks quietly.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?"

Daryl continues to slam the axe into the door, trying his absolute hardest to get them out of this situation. Charlotte can see Jenner's resolve slowly slipping away as he sits there.

"She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world.  Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me," Jenner's voice is sad.

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's all we want, a choice, a chance," Rick pleads.

Then the resolve is gone entirely, the man nodding his head and seemingly giving in. He walks to the security panel and clicks a button, unlocking the door that Daryl had been attacking with the axe moments earlier. Everybody takes that as their cue, Charlotte included, the get the hell out of there. She rushes as quickly as she can, following the others out. There is some yelling behind her but doesn't stop, knowing that the other's will push her ahead anyway.

They're, however, forced to stop when another door is in their way. Charlotte exhales sharply before kicking at the door as Shane and Daryl come up from behind her with axes trying to break it. Shane then moves on to trying to shoot at one of the windows with his gun only for hardly a dent to appear, T-Dog throwing a chair at having the same effect.

Sophia grabs onto Charlotte's arm in fear, effectively pulling her back slightly as some of the other adults try and help break them free.

"Rick, I have something that might help," Carol yells over the chaos.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it," Shane snarks.

To her credit, the woman completely ignores him as she holds something out to Rick. Charlotte's eyes widen when she sees the grenade, guiding Sophia back a little more so they're away from it. "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket,"

Carol gives it to Rick and wraps her arms around both Sophia and Charlotte, taking them away from what will be the impact zone. Everybody else takes some form of cover as he removes the pin and puts the grenade on the window sill. He moves as quickly as he can, the glass shattering at the impact and leaving one window completely without glass.

Charlotte scampers through when it's her turn, immediately stringing up her bow when she sees walkers around the area. She takes a few of them down, a little less successfully than she would've hoped to, but it's enough so that they can rush towards the RV. She doesn't even have time to react before she's being pulled into the RV by Lori, taking cover and awaiting what is going to be a horrific sight.

The brunette places her hands over her ears and slams her eyes shut. It doesn't help because the explosion is so loud she hears it anyway, the RV rocking slightly as the CDC is reduced to fire and rubble.

Just like that, so quickly, their hope at finding a way to end this is reduced to ash and the group is left wondering where to go from here.

NOTE!

We've reached the end of season one! I'm excited to move into season two and provide a lot more depth to Charlotte's character! I hope you enjoyed and I thank you all for reading!

See you in the next update! :)