The Dead World Ch. 05

Her first night with him was... uncomfortable.

She supposed neither of them had anticipated it to be that way. Something about being totally conscious and aware he was here and would be sharing the bed with her, from the moment she opened the door and let him inside, created some lingering aura of dreadful unfamiliarity. A sort of unspoken tension was heavy in the air.

Daniel even looked vaguely apprehensive, his typical calm expression of nonchalance almost shy now. She tried not to stall, turning the lights off and slipping into bed once the door was closed and locked. She dressed in light pajamas devised from her late husband's wardrobe as per usual. Dog remained clothed entirely for her comfort, she imagined.

It could've been worse.

The conversation she had with Oz the day before was no more comforting than holding up her end of the deal with Dog. She was frustrated. Try as she might she had no genuine argument other than a man who was no longer here had rounded up the fuel supply they were enjoying now free of charge, and they had no rights to the place she called her home, or her supplies here. Little that did to claim victory in the argument.

Nothing belonged to anyone anymore. In situations like these even a good man like Oscar shrugged his shoulders at the end of her protest to their occupation of her home and reminded Charlie that she couldn't honestly do anything to stop them from being there. He had people to think of as well, and in his mind, his group had brought one near feral boy back to the land of the living... a young hermit couldn't be any harder than that.

The guy carried around an intimidating looking sword, and so Charlie was less and less inclined to argue with him as their meeting went on. She didn't imagine anyone would carry such a weapon just for show. They all seemed to have their own personal favorites when it came to weapons, so she dared not push it. She wasn't a match for anyone in hand to hand or gun fighting. Oz was respectful in his delivery and his points were solid. It was harder and harder to argue why she couldn't act like a decent human and allow the weary travelers to occupy the space with her for a while, aside from the crass behavior of one unhinged man. The resort was massive.

If Charlie wanted it so that they would never have to cross paths with one another, it could be done... but he expressly informed her that it was a dangerous world, and that survivors—especially youth—were the human race's most precious assets in these times. He urged the assumed young man not only to let them stay and work together with their group, but to consider traveling with them once the winter season passed... to be one of his own.

During the conversation, Oz moved their stay from 'two weeks', to 'the Humvee is in need of repairs', to 'possibly occupying until Spring'. He complimented her methods for storing, preserving and canning, and made a point to mention Dog, Slash and Ruthless were highly capable hunters. Charlie listened more than demanded, and quietly made the decision to buy her time—and stay on Oz's good side. She downplayed the situation in the hall when he finally brought it up not wanting to cause any distrust, and hardly believing Oz would consider her side of the story, anyways.

At least he had been kind enough not to bring his brother along. The younger man they called Skully seemed to have a certain unfounded disdain for her, far more animosity toward the young stranger than any of the other members of the armed and rather intimidating group. It was unnerving and dug deeply enough into her mind to keep her awake hours after Danny had come.

"You need someone to watch your back, these days... you'll find you gain brothers and sisters in strangers and hold onto them even longer than blood. Even so... if you want to leave, you're free to do so. Nobody is going to stop you, or hurt you—I'll make sure of that. You're safe with us, Charlie." Oz would end.

Her options were laid out clearly before her; she either dealt with her guests-turned-neighbors or left the resort. That was what the conversation ended in, with the closing of a very sincere apology from the group leader for any discomfort his men and their presence may have caused. She knew that leaving in a situation that was not a sure emergency needed planning, and preparation. She hadn't been out there in years, she didn't know what to expect, and was not the best at off road expeditions. The map had been devised back during a time when roads were clear and safe. It may well have been centuries past, by apocalypse time.

Charlotte didn't even begin to contemplate how she would manage to hold up against the dead. It had been years since she had to deal with the stumbling, blood-thirsty rotting corpses... years now, on this isolated little gem nestled on a cliff along the coast. Aside from the starving group assembled to ward away any unwelcome guests, the walking dead weren't exactly common occurrences. Early on she remembered they were terrifying, and quick... like rabid animals. They didn't tire, and they didn't stop. Now, they were slow and weak, but still, heavy masses when gathered together may have well been swarms of once-human piranhas. A group of them could easily overwhelm the living... a group of them could easily end a lone traveler.

It happened that Dog could not doze off so easily, either, with Charlie's mind racing. He lay still, and patient, and did not press the boundaries of the beautifully somber woman who seemed absorbed in a battle of thoughts. After nearly an hour of listening to her discomforted breathing and feeling her rolling gently beside him, he rose quietly from the bed and navigated the suite with sharp recollection.

He turned on her iPod and placed it on the Classical playlist she liked to doze off to. He moved to the balcony and opened the sliding glass door, the soft rumble of the sea sweeping in on the breeze. And for a moment he perched on the balcony to give her a moment to adjust to his presence.

The entire foreboding aura of the room seemed to melt away, and she found herself distracted from toiling over her misfortunes and difficult, dangerous plans of escaping this dilemma unscathed. She rolled on her side gently to watch Danny with a vague curiosity as he leaned out over the rail and watched the tide rolling in the darkness. It was bizarre having a man in her room again... he rather resembled her lost love right now, the way he stood and how he gazed out over the sea.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, urging herself to doze off quickly so that morning would arrive, and she would once again have her privacy. He seemed fond of her. Surely if she decided to barricade herself in here he wouldn't let her starve, right? Several months of solitude seemed truly more like a prison sentence, but Charlotte coyly reminded herself that aside from her chores with the livestock, the inventory, the greenhouse and checking the corpse 'soldiers' that had been stumbling along in the moat she all but hid out in the suite day by day anyways.

Sleep had nearly claimed her when she felt the bed shift gently and Dog slowly move beneath the blankets, curling his body near her own. He left a small space between them and gently looped a thin arm at her hip, and as much as she wanted to be annoyed, she felt a twinge of comfort at not being alone with such stressful thoughts in her mind. The warmth was inviting. She drifted off with a soft brood upon her delicate features.

He watched her, listened to her breath ease, and admired her in the dim lighting. She had replaced a bulb in the lamp beside her, after disposing of the candles she kept to conserve electricity, the dim golden glow cast over her almost magically. Her hair was long when it wasn't braided and coiled to be stuffed beneath a beanie, this he noticed while daring to stroke his long thin fingers through it tenderly, to no response. She left it loose after her shower, probably because she had no intention of leaving again.

Some guilty part of him still felt obligated to fetch whatever she would ask him to, for upsetting her so much, and so it was fine with Danny if she wanted to stay hidden, and probably safer for her. Oz was reneging on an earlier, sound decision—a promise to not allow anyone else into their group, for all of their safety, and while it went unchallenged he knew it wouldn't sit well with some of them... especially his younger brother Skully.

For some bizarre reason, he was having a hard time getting the dark, delicate beauty out of his thoughts and mind's eye. If she stayed safe in here it would also mean she wouldn't bother with her disguise, and when he visited he would get to enjoy the rare, brazen beauty entirely in her element. She was by far his favorite thing to look at left in the decaying world... more beautiful even than the ocean with the moonlight rippling over the waves.

Dog did not sleep at all that night. He simply held her with a gentle smile, letting her rest in his arms, and he was quite content with only that while knowing the mysterious Charlotte was at peace... if only for a little while.

Charlie decided the first day of brooding in her room after her meeting with Oz that in order to make a break for it, she would have to come out and make a peaceful approach upon the members of the group. She'd have to establish some level of trust, for her to slip away from them swiftly, undiscovered and unharmed.

A week was ample time to get accustomed to her new 'shadow' as well. Dog was always close by when she slipped out of the room, especially since the incident with Slash. He walked behind or ahead of her anywhere from a few feet to a few yards, but always within eyesight. If she was inside of her room he was posted up at the end of the hall, looking out over the sea like some sort of solemn, dutiful guard.

It didn't take long after a day or so for her to turn and see him waving breezily with a playful smile as she went to return to her room for her to finally roll her eyes and gesture for Dog to follow her inside. He'd usually post up on the balcony, out of her way and often out of mind until she walked past him and his dark clad, thin frame in the doorway gave her a start. Every now and then he would sit in a corner, shuffling a deck of cards or munching absently on a fruit or vegetable while watching her with absolute unadulterated fascination. She usually wasn't doing anything particular—tidying up her living area, writing in her journal, or brushing her hair... and yet he watched as if there was nothing more interesting in the world than Charlie just being.

Soon she found he would be grinning that wickedly obnoxious, charming grin across the way, tempting her into interacting with him. Eventually, she found herself sitting cross-legged and barefooted while he tried in vain to teach her card games.

"I don't understand this..." She murmured absently, "I never did... I guess I never will."

Glancing up from the several cards in her hand, she observed the coy smirk curling over Dog's lips before his expression melted into that unreadable, tentative guise once again. 'Don't give away your hand.'

"You're going to win. Probably because you know how to play."

Dog grinned again, and swiped his nose gently with his thumb, tossing his head gently to Charlie. 'What do you have?' It had been difficult at first to listen to him without hearing a voice, but when he wanted to, he was exceptionally expressive with his body language. She had begun to fill in the silence on the basis of his actions alone.

She scowled a bit and shrugged her shoulders dismissively, having decided this to be the last time she agreed to letting Dog try and teach her poker. It wasn't as if it was terribly fun, and the chance for winning big in Vegas was long gone along with the rest of civilization. Unless by some chance, the winnings in Vegas today were fresh fuel not sitting in a car for six years, or an endless supply of food that never went bad.

"I don't even know—a bunch of kings and numbers and stuff?" She set her hand down gently for him to see and glanced up to Dog, who hid behind his hand of cards, peering over the top with his light-colored eyes.

"Let's just make a card house." A silent chuckle shook the younger man's shoulders, and he carefully began to gather the deck and shuffle it. Charlotte smiled and shrugged her shoulders absently. "Hey, I told you, I was never big on cards—numbers at all, honestly. We can play Go Fish?"

As Dog shook a little harder with mirth, Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Whatever! You've been around a bunch of dudes for years; you probably play poker and gamble over stale cigarettes and liquor or something like all the time."

The more she was around Dog, the more she realized he wasn't at all malicious. A little wild, perhaps, and young in mind--with a very low regard for personal space... but he was clever, kind, and quick-witted. Once boundaries were established, he sucked the loneliness out of her every day activities. She started looking forward to having him follow her around everywhere.

She began to map her escape toward the end of the week. She kept out of the way of the brothers—and Slash—while devising her plan. She had gotten to speak with the one they called Ruthless, who seemed kindly and sympathetic, contrary to his alias. It was brief. He was almost always cleaning weapons or patrolling the front face of the resort. His English was not very good at all... but he made a valid attempt, and did not simply dismiss the youngster.

He and Slash had slowly begun to lure stray corpses back between the cars and fence to reestablish some defense. It didn't seem he could apologize enough for what he thought had transpired between her and Slash that day in the hall, no matter how much she dismissed it and told him he wasn't to blame for anything.

Diablo had come along as well, once word spread that Charlie had accepted Oz's offer of staying with their group. He came up to her room with his medical bag to check on how the wound was coming and advised Charlie to let him help remove the stitches, when the time came. As they exchanged pleasantries, Diablo's laid-back attitude and fondness for the greenhouse amused her... he hadn't thought he'd ever see an apple again.

As awkward and tired as the men were, the ones who had done nothing but good by her were silently appreciated. Maybe if things had begun differently, they would have been welcome company. If half of a pack of wolves were friendly, and the other half wanted to tear you limb from limb, would it be wise to take your chances... or get as far away as possible?

She shared the plan with Dog on the sixth day, who seemed mildly entertained at the idea and certainly enthused by the prospective pandemonium it would ensue. He knew without a doubt that the group would be alright, and Charlie would be happier in the least without having to hide who she was among a group of strange, rough and tumble all-male travelers. They were getting by long before having a luxurious haven to rely on for a few precious months, and they would be fine long after it was gone.

Charlie was certainly clever and resourceful, he found himself thinking fondly, and he was tempted to help her. The hardest part for her would be loading the Humvee with the supplies she intended to take. He could do that for her and have her on her way with fifteen minutes to spare by her calculations.

It was the least he could do for her.

He dared not even entertain the idea of going with her, less his impulsive nature took over. He owed a heavy debt to one of his companions, and so he was bound here with the group, for as long as that man lived or until it was considered paid in full. The off chance as well that the man Charlotte seemed desperate for was waiting at the rendezvous point was a heartbreak Dog wasn't prepared for.

Thinking about it made his blood boil a bit with yet another unfamiliar reaction he could only contribute to whatever spell or mysticism Charlotte had cast upon him; envy... perhaps jealousy, even.

Charlie figured Dog would've found out regardless, he had an obnoxious eye for the finest of details and he followed her around nearly everywhere she went. She spent the seventh day carefully lining up the supplies as best she could without being noticed. They didn't keep anything under guard, they didn't know about the storage closet with the guns, and the kitchen stock was plentiful. There was trust between these men. They now had no need to leave any time soon and so no one would go snooping about to even notice a few supplies missing.

Dog happened by every now and then to help. He did the biggest favor of getting heavier items into the humvee unnoticed, reappearing again at the precise moment when she was ready to move something else. Things ran smoothly, and right on schedule... and just as the sun began to ease down on the horizon, everything was loaded up including her personal effects with more than enough left behind for the men to survive on. She stood at the entrance of the northern tower, feeling a certain sense of accomplishment. Dog soon appeared at her side, and she turned to look at him.

"Well... I guess this is it..." She started softly with a gentle smile. The younger man's features were unreadable, the unruly clusters of dark hair being pushed back away from his eyes gently. He gave a firm nod, and gently extended his right hand to her. As Charlie reached out and grasped it with her own, he tugged her close and into a gentle embrace, drawing a soft, melodic giggle from her lips... such a sweet sound it was. Dog squeezed her just a little tighter, and finally let his long arms drop down to his sides as he stepped back from her.

"...Don't worry about me, okay? I've been by myself for the longest... and I'm only making a few day's worth a trip."

He reached out and gently pressed a small piece of paper in her hand, and she unfolded it gently, and looked up to him afterwards. 'What's your name?' She smiled, not quite understanding, "Charlie... you know that—what?"

He was shaking his head, quite certain that no one had looked upon such a beautiful soul at the beginning of her life and thought to name her just 'Charlie'. She mused gently and shrugged her shoulders with an exasperated sigh, and a smile tugging her full lips.

"Charlotte."

He blinked a few times, and that sheepish smile curled upon his own mouth, a light dust of pink upon his gaunt cheeks as he dropped his head and nodded. That sounded about right. He reached for her hand, and brought it to his lips gently, pressing the keys to the Hummer into her palm as he did so.

Charlotte... a certain heaviness seemed to draw up in his chest as he gestured her for the door and she drew away from him, and started forward. Her disguise looked ever so unbelievable to him these days, much as she tried to look like a young teen boy, knowing who she really was made the entire image falter and melt away. As she turned back to smile at him and wave goodbye, he brought a hand up to shoo her on, before anyone happened to notice they weren't around any longer.

Charlotte... oh, he would never, ever forget it that much he knew.

She hurried into the driver's seat, excitement streaking through her veins... there seemed a certain sense of freedom to the moment, though having seemingly made a friend for the first time in years did make it rather bitter sweet. Charlie knew better than to dwell in the moment, or to look back, or draw out the goodbye for longer than she should. She started the hummer and put it into gear, certain that things were all clear, and navigated the round about to get her turned back in the right direction.