Chapter three ━━ TILL DEATH DO US PART

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Five years later.

CHARLOTTE HUNCHED OVER, desperately gasping for air. The screams had stopped and all that could be heard were the clickers. The woman slapped a shaky hand over her mouth to keep quiet. Her mind was a mess and her hands were still shaky. What have I done? She repeatedly asked herself. She watched as blood fell to the ground from the cut on her eyebrow. In her mind the small drop turned to a pool of blood. What have I done? The voice in her head repeated. Over and over, again and again.

"Charlotte! Lottie!" Voices called. Joel and Tommy came from around the corner their guns raised.
Charlotte raised her hand to quiet them. She had gotten the metal latch on the door to lock and the last thing they needed were the infected trying to break through.

Joel saw the state she was in and the absent Ben Peterson. He reached out his hand and it took Charlotte a moment before she took it. Pulling her into a warm embrace, the woman was trying not to completely break down.

It dawned to her that there was only the two brothers. "W-wheres Iris?" She asked lifting her head from Joel's shoulder.

"She's okay, she's okay." Joel reassured.

"She's in the car." Tommy spoke. "and we better get going before more infected come." He added In a lower voice. Charlotte noticed the tears challenging his eyes. More guilt hit her.

Charlotte completely zoned out while Tommy talked about the cars battery and how it wouldn't last any longer than a day.

"Maybe I can try and get some gas out of those cars over there." Joel muttered walking ahead.

"What happened?" Tommy asked.

Tommy and Ben have been best friends since they were in middle school, the two joined the army together. Ben was Tommy's best friend, before Ben and Joel were friends, before Charlotte had even met either of the Miller brothers. Charlotte knew she couldn't tell him the truth. She would have to live with the guilt. Her and her alone.

"We were gathering medicine and canned foods... infected were there-" Charlotte paused, she couldn't go on, especially if the rest were a lie.

"You don't have to." Tommy reassured placing a hand on her back. Charlotte pulled away, walking ahead to the car.

The door to the back of the vehicle opened and out jumped Iris Peterson. Her long brunette hair covering her face from the wind and her clammy hands trying to remove the strands from her sight. Once she had succeeded she ran and jumped into her mothers arms. Charlotte hugged her tightly, never wanting to let go.

Iris pulled away from being buried in her moms neck. "Where's daddy?" She asked.

Charlotte placed her daughter back on the pavement and knelt down in front of her. Moving strands of hair out of her face to temporize the conversation she had to have with the young girl. "Daddy's not with us anymore."

"He's in the sky?" Iris asked as tears pricked at her eyes.

"Yeah, he's in the sky now."
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Charlotte fiddled with the ring on her fingers before finally taking it off and aggressively throwing it into the dirt. She glanced up to the night sky before shutting her eyes tight.

"I think you dropped this." Charlotte reopened her eyes to find Joel standing in front of her with her wedding ring in his hand. "Till death do us part I guess." He muttered.

Joel sat down on the wooden log beside Charlotte. He saw right through the woman, he saw that she wasn't grieving Ben Peterson, he saw the guilt in her eyes whenever she looked at Tommy and Iris. "What's on your mind. Lottie you can tell me, you know the stuff I've done to survive and y-"

"Joel what the hell are you trynna say right now." Charlotte snapped defensively.

"I'm trynna say that I'm the last one to judge you."

This was her secret, her burden to carry, yet Joel made it seem like she didn't have to carry it alone.

"We heard the infected coming, so we got the stuff and ran, but Ben tripped over a bad floor board, hurt his leg a-and they were catching up." Charlotte paused to avert her eyes to the ground for what she was about to admit. "I had time to help him, we could've both made it out, you know what I did instead? I walked back to him, looked h-him in the eyes and took the bag of supplies." Charlotte glanced back up at Joel. "I thought about the bruises on my body, I thought about Iris and how fucked up this world already is and I-I didn't want her growing up with him in our lives, In that moment I was just angry, I saw an opportunity and I took it."

Looking back into Joel's brown eyes, the woman saw an understanding. Joel pulled her into a hug, all Charlotte could think about was that these were the arms she'd always felt safe in, and she hoped that would never change.

"You did what you needed to do to survive."

A/n: Feeling motivated 💪 Anyways rip Ben you won't be missed, Joel is hubby now.