❛ SURVIVOR'S HEART ! ❜
chapter thirty-one ―― barn of walkers

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ CHARLIE SMILED UP AT Carol as she scraped a few eggs onto her plate, mumbling a thank you with a mouthful of food, to which the woman told her not to talk with her mouth full before she walked over to give Daryl some eggs. Charlie sat on the ground, her legs crossed under her with her plate on her legs, her back was against Mason's as he ate. The brunette looked over at Lori, who looked up as of she felt eyes on her and she met Charlie's gaze. She shook her head a little and Charlie looked away from her, her eyes dropping to her plate as her mind wandered back to the conversation she'd had with the woman just a few days ago.

"Who's is it?"

"What?" Lori seemed stunned, her eyes going wide as she looked at the ground. "I-It's Rick's. Of course it is. Who else-"

"Shane." Charlie told her and Lori looked back up at her, shocked she had known about that. "I'm not stupid and I'm not blind. And you guys weren't exactly discrete. So again, I ask, who's is it?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Rick's."

"I don't think even you believe that." Charlie told her before walking away from the woman.

"Charlie!" She called after her but the girl continued back towards the camp.

"You okay?" Josh asked, his voice low as he nudged Charlie's knee with his foot and everyone looked over at them.

"Yeah." She nodded as she looked up at him, a forced smile on her lips but her eyes drifted to Lori, she couldn't help it. "I'm good." Her eyes moved to Rick who looked a little out of, then she looked up at Shane as he shoveled food into his mouth. "Just peachy." She mumbled, her eyes dropping back to her plate but they all knew better.

"Um, guys." Glenn got everyone's attention as he stood in front of the big, gray tent. "So. . ." He trailed off.

"Spit it out." Charlie told him, poking at her food.

"The barn is full of walkers." He rushed out and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at him.

"Come again?" Charlie blinked as few times as she sat her plate on a rock and sat up.

"Yeah." Glenn nodded and Rick got to his feet, the others following suit as they started across the field. Charlie kept her hand on her knife, but she left her knife in its sheath as they neared the barn. Shane made his way up to the barn, holding his hand up to make the others stay a few feet back as he peaked in through a creak in the door. One walker moved right in his line of sight and he turned to make his way towards the others.

"You can not tell me you're alright with this." Shane huffed as she walked right up to Rick.

"No, I'm not." Rick told him. "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."

"God, this is our lives, man!"

"Lower your voice." Glenn tried to keep him quiet.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea stated.

"It ain't right." T-Dog shook his head. "Not remotely."

"Anybody else feelin' a little sick?" Charlie mumbled. "No? Just me? Okay, good to know." She turned away from the barn as the walkers growled, piling against the door because of all the noise they were making outside.

"You alright?" Daryl asked, stepping closer to Charlie, his voice low, she still had her back to the group.

"Oh, yeah, peachy." She nodded. "I love living next to a barn of walkers that want to eat us." She mumbled, mostly to herself and Daryl was the only one that heard her.

"Okay." Shane muttered walking towards the barn. "We either gotta go in there, we've gotta make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go." Rick told him, his voice close to a growl.

"Why, Rick? Why?"

"Because my daughter's still out there." Carol spoke up.

"Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just-" He stopped when Charlie's knife hit the ground between his feet – the blade in the dirt.

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence." Charlie told him as everyone looked from the knife to her. "We are not leaving Sophia." She shoved his chest and he took a step back as she bent over to pull her knife from the ground.

"I'm close to finding this girl." Daryl added. "I found her doll two days ago."

"You found her doll, Daryl." Shane told him, ignoring the glare he was getting from Charlie. "That's what you did. You found a doll."

"Hell of a lot more than you did." Charlie told him as she spun her knife in her fingers.

"You're on his side? Really? My own sister."

"Maybe that should tell you that you're doing something wrong." She told him, her knife gripped in her hand as she looked up at him.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said." He took a step closer to her, towering over her but she didn't back down. "You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours."

"Shane, stop." Rick pushed him back from the girl, putting himself between them.

"Let me tell you something else, man." Shane continued. "If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!" He shouted and Daryl started towards him, both men shouting as Rick tried to keep them apart. Charlie pulled Daryl back and he let her while Shane shouted about kicking his ass as Lori and Glenn tried to keep him back. "And stay the hell away from my baby sister!" He shouted as Lori tugged on his arm, but he shook her off. "Keep your hands off me." He told her before walking away from her.

"Now just let me talk to Hershel." Rick told him. "Let me figure it out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane shouted, making his way towards Rick and Charlie put herself between them, her hand on her brother's chest.

"Calm down, bubba." She told him, pushing him back a few steps, not that it was easy but he reluctantly let her move him away from Rick.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Rick told him but Shane was still fuming, his breaths were shallow and quick, his shoulders rising and falling with the action. And Charlie didn't move, she kept her eyes on him, watching his face trying to gauge his next move, but it was more difficult than it used to be.

"Hershel sees those things in there as people." Dale spoke as he made his way towards Rick. "Sick people – his wife, his-his stepson."

"You knew?"

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel." The older man nodded.

"And you waited the night?" Shane asked, pushing against Charlie and she took a step back but she didn't let up the pressure on his chest, she wasn't sure what he would do.

"I thought we could survive one more night." Dale told him. "We did. I was waiting 'til this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick." Shane huffed, pushing against Charlie again. "If Hershel thinks those things are alive or – No!" He shouted, shoving Charlie to the side when Rick tried to stop him and her butt hit the dirt, her knife landing next to her. Then the doors started to rattle as the walkers inside pushed against it, drawn to the arguing and all but Rick and Shane took a step back, Daryl bent over to help Charlie to her feet – careful not to pull on her left arm – and she bent over to grab her knife as she kept her eyes on the doors in case that gave out.

>>>>> • <<<<<

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ CHARLIE SAT WITH HER BACK against a tree, her eyes on her knife as she threw it at the ground, the blade in the dirt, then she pulled it out and did it again. She was pissed, Shane had been different since the world turned and since being on the farm he had only gotten worse. She couldn't gauge his reactions anymore, couldn't tell what he was thinking like she could before, he was more irrational. And she hated, most of all, that some part of her thought he might be right. She hated that small part of her, partly because it felt like giving up but mostly because it meant that Sophia – a kid she grew close to – was gone. It meant they had lost someone, it meant she had.

"You busy?" She looked up at Daryl, tossing her knife at the ground again.

"Super busy, can't you tell?" She muttered, settling her eyes on her knife again.

"Wanna take a break from stabbing the ground and learn to shoot a bow or what?"

She looked up at him, her eyebrows pinched. "You're still hurt."

"Can't do nothing all day. You said you wanted to learn." He leaned against the tree and she looked around the camp before she looked up at Daryl again.

"Alright." She pushed herself up, sliding her knife into his sheath. "Let me get my stuff." He nodded before she turned and made her way towards the black Chevy. She heaved the door open and pulled her bow and the arrows she'd stashed away out from under the seat before she closed the door and made her way over to Daryl.

"I knew some of my arrows were missin'." He grumbled when she came to a stop in front of him.

"Let's go." She turned and walked away and he followed her across the yard and the fields until they were a good distance from the others, they could still see the house but there wasn't any risk of her accidentally shooting anyone. The space was mostly open with a line of trees.

She rolled her shoulder a little as she dropped the arrows onto the ground and Daryl's brows creased. "You're shoulder alright?"

"Yeah, it's good." She nodded, winching a little. "Tweaked it."

"Shane did it, didn't he?"

"I said I'm fine."

"I'll stay out of it." He nodded his head once. "How much you remember?"

"Footing." She got into her stance. "Posture." She loaded her bow and raised it, aiming at one of the trees that were several feet away. "Pull back." She pulled it back until her hand was near her chin. "Breath." She took a breath as she released the string and the arrow flew towards the tree, but it went right by it. "I suck at this." She deadpanned as she looked over at him.

"You got a good stance." He made his way over to her, picking up another arrow. "Relax your shoulders a little bit." He tapped her right shoulder with the end of the arrow. "You're tense."

"I'm pissed."

"Try not to be." He handed her the arrow and she nodded as she loaded the bow again, she fixed her stance and raised the bow, she pulled back. "Relax." He told her and she took a breath, letting her shoulders fall a little bit then she took another breath as she released the string and the arrow flew, hitting the tree and a smile pulled up the corner of her lips.

"Pretty soon I'm gonna be better than you." She sent him a teasing smirk as she let the bow fall to her side.

"If you say so, princess." He fought the smirk that pulled at his lips as she rolled her eyes and made her way towards the tree to get the two arrows she'd shot.