❛ SURVIVOR'S HEART ! ❜
chapter ten ―― all the time

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ "THIS IS DEMEANING." Charlie mumbled, her arm around Josh's shoulders as he carried her overnight towards the fire pit.

"You can barely walk." He chuckled as he sat the girl on the ground next to Carol and Lori, Shane sat on the other side of the firepit, his worried eyes on his sister. And Dale stood next to Lori, his rifle hanging from his shoulder. "And you don't need to hurt yourself anymore than you already are. So just sit here and wait."

"You have no idea how hard that is for me to do." She grinned as she shifted a little so she was more comfortable and Sophia moved to sit next to her.

"Just, stay here." He told her as he stood up and turned to walk away.

"Been here a few days and he's already bossing me around." Charlie joked, her eyes on the little girl next to her, but she made sure she had spoken loud enough for him to hear her. Josh turned, shaking his head a little as he smiled at the girl, then he went back to helping the others move the bodies – they were separating the bodies of the walkers from the bodies of those they had lost.

Sophia moved a little closer to Charlie when Daryl – who wasn't but a few feet from them – raised a pickaxe above his head. Charlie looked over as he swung it towards the dead body on the ground and she pulled the small girl closer to her, shielding her eyes as the end of the pickaxe went through the person's head – it was precaution. Since he had been bitten if they didn't somehow impale his brain, he's come back as a walker. It was just the way of the world, but Charlie still felt that it was necessary to keep the kids as innocent as possible for as long as possible.

Charlie winched a little when Sophia gripped her torso and the girl pulled back, worried she had hurt the older girl. "Sweetie, be careful, Charlie's hurt."

"No, it's alright." The brunette shook her head, her teeth clenched as she shifted a little. "She just hit a bruise." She took a breath as she looked down at the kid. "I'm okay." She patted her back. "Hey, why don't you go join Carl in the rv, get out of this heat for a little bit?"

"Can I?" She turned to look up at her mom, who smiled as she nodded her head.

"Of course." With that the little girl pushed herself up and made her way towards the rv, being careful not to get in anyone's way. "She wouldn't go to the rv for me." Carol stated, looking over at the brunette who was holding her shoulder.

"She has a way with kids." Lori added, smiling at the girl who smiled in return before her face twisted in pain as she tried to roll her shoulder a little bit. She had seen the bruise on the girl's arm, and the dried blood since she was wearing a tanktop. "What exactly happened in Atlanta?"

"Uh, got a bit of road rash." She told her, which wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. "Tripped over a sandbag, not a big deal."

"All this-" Lori waved her hand towards the girl – her eyes on her busted lip and bruised cheek. "-was from a fall?"

"What can I say, I never do anything half assed." She smiled, but soon regretted it as her lip twinged with pain. Then she looked over at Shane, who had yet to take his eyes off of her. "What, Bubba?"

"You look like hell." He sighed, running his hand over his hair. "What really happened?"

"I told you. I fell." She told him, leaning back with her left arm stretched out behind her to hold her up, she winced as she moved but before anyone could ask Rick walked over, his eyes on Andrea who had yet to move from her sister's side all night.

"She still won't move?"

"She won't even talk to us." Lori told him. "She's been there all night. What do we do?"

"We can't just leave Amy like that." Shane stated. "We need to deal with it. Same as the others."

"I'll tell her how it is." Rick turned to walk away.

"She knows how it is." Charlie stopped him. "She just lost her sister, give her time to grieve."

"We don't have time." Rick mumbled before walking away, making his way towards the two blondes, he bent down and Andrea turned, her gun raised towards him.

"Should've left her alone." Charlie mumbled mostly to herself as the man backed away from the woman before he joined the others again.

"Y'all can't be serious." Daryl huffed as he walked over, the pickaxe on his shoulder. "Gonna let that girl hamstring us? That dead girl's a ticking time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked him.

"Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No." Lori huffed. "For God's sake, let her be."

"Making her do anything, or shooting Amy, will only make it worse." Charlie added, her eyes narrowed up at Daryl who scoffed as he turned and walked away from them. He made his way over to help Morales with one of the bodies, they started pulling it towards the fire where they were burning the walkers.

"We don't burn them!" Glenn shouted, clearly upset and Charlie looked over to see Mason making his easy towards them. "We bury them." When Daryl nor Morales moved so Mason stepped forward, his blue eyes narrowed.

"We bury our people." Mason repeated and Daryl looked over at the boy before sharing a look with Morales then they leaned down and lifted the body before dragging over to the row they had started for their own.

"Thanks." Glenn mumbled, looking at the boy who nodded and patted his back before he made his way over to Josh who was dragging a dead walker up the hill.

"I gotta ya, man." He leaned down and grabbed its feet before helping the Mexican boy toss it onto the fire.

"Y'all left my brother for dead!" Daryl shouted. "You had this coming!" He huffed and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Your brother's dick." She told him and he turned towards her. "You know it as well as the rest of us. And you know that he probably did something stupid that led to him being cuffed. It's no one's fault but Merle's."

"You little-"

"I'm right." She cut him off, her eyes squinted against the sunlight. "You know I am." He parted his lips but before he could say anything Jacqui – a woman in the group – got their attention.

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!" She told the others and all but Charlie and Carol moved towards the man as he insisted that he was fine.

"Show it to us." Daryl told him, his pickaxe resting on his shoulder, then Jim turned and grabbed a shovel only to have T-Dog come up behind him and grab his arms. He dropped the shovel and Daryl raised his shirt, exposing the bloody bite mark on his side as he repeated I'm okay.

After getting Jim away from the group, they stood in a circle, Charlie had her arm around Josh's shoulders only because he was a few inches shorter than Mason and she didn't have to stretch so far as she stood one leg.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head." Daryl stated. "And the dead girl's and be done with it."

"Of course you do." Charlie muttered, shifting on her feet and adjusting her arm around Josh's shoulders as Mason held his hand against her back in case she lost her balance.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked him.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you why you did it." He nodded.

"I call dibs on shooting Daryl in the head if he gets bit!" Charlie raised her hand despite the pain in the shoulder.

"Thanks, princess."

"Stop calling me that." She grumbled, narrowing her eyes at him as she dropped her arm and Josh's eyebrows pinched as she looked between the two.

"I hate to say it – I never thought I would – but maybe Daryl's right." Dale added, surprising everyone.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick told him.

"I'm not suggesting-"

"He's sick." Rick nearly shouted. "He's a sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

"The line's pretty clear." Daryl huffed. "Zero tolerance for walkers, or them-to-be."

"It's brutal, but maybe it's the only thing we can do. Maybe not with a pickaxe." Charlie shifted on her feet again, letting her sore ankle rest on the ground but she was careful not to put any weight on it.

"Yeah." Mason nodded. "I mean, we gotta do what's best for the group, don't we?"

"What if we can get him some help?" RIck offered. "I heard the C.D.C was working on a cure."

"I heard that, too." Shane nodded. "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

"What if the C.D.C is still up and running?"

"Could that even be possible?" Charlie questioned

"Not likely." Shane shook his head.

"Why?" Rick asked. "If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection–"

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay?" Shane cut him off. "Now if they exist, they're at the Army base. Fort Benning."

"That's a 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori told them.

"That is right." He nodded. "But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."

"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C is our best choice and Jim's only chance." Rick argued.

"You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do." Daryl told him, backing away from the group. "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" He rushed towards Jim, the pickaxe raised and Charlie pulled away from Josh and ran over, putting herself between the two as Rick pulled his gun out and aimed it right at the back of Daryl's head.

"We don't kill the living." Rick told him, but his blue eyes were on the girl that stood before him, she was all beat to hell but her eyes held no fear as she stood there. He lowered the pickaxe and turned towards Rick, who still had his gun out.

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on things, but not this." Shane told him as he stopped next to Rick, his eyes fleeting to his sister who had yet to move. "Go on, put it down." Daryl glared but put the weapon down before walking over at Charlie.

"That was stupid." He told her before he pulled her arm over his shoulders and he helped her as they walked away from Shane, Rick and Jim. "What the hell were you thinkin'? I coulda killed you."

"I wasn't." She told him as he helped her down into a chair, she winched slightly. "Think I jacked up my ankle, though." She stretched her leg out and moved her foot only to wince as a pain shot up her leg. He squatted down, feeling around her ankle, which was a deep shade of purple and she winched a few times.

"It ain't broken. Just a bruise." He told her as he put her foot on the ground and stood up. "No more stupid shit, okay, princess?"

"Don't call me that." She called after him as he walked away but he didn't give her any indication that he had heard her.

"You are insane." Mason huffed as he squatted down next to the girl and she chuckled. "Badass, but entirely insane. He could've killed you."

"He wouldn't." She shook her head.

"You make a habit of putting yourself in dangerous situations, don't you?"

"Only when necessary." She smiled up at him.

"And by that she means, yes, all the time." Mason added and the girl kicked him with her good leg, getting a chuckle from Josh as he watched them.