The Walking Dead Season 1:Charlotte's Story (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1: Meeting Rick Grimes

Charlotte's POV:

3 year old Charlotte was walking all by herself in Atlanta by deserted parked cars at an abandoned gas station, she was looking for her mommy and daddy.
"Momma... Papa?" All of a sudden she heard a man's voice. "Little girl? I'm a policeman. Little girl." Charlotte looked around wondering where the voice was coming from, her daddy was a policeman too so it could be him! Charlotte saw a man walking toward something and smiled thinking he was her daddy.
"Daddy!"

Rick's POV:

"Daddy!" Rick turned around and saw a little girl who looked to be three years old with blonde hair and green eyes running toward him. He knelt down to her height when she caught up to him and she wrapped her little arms around his neck. He hugged her back. "Daddy! I found you!" Rick released the little girl slowly and looked at her with a sad look on his face. Her parents were probably already gone. The little girl looked up at Rick and frowned. "You not daddy. Where my daddy?!"
Rick looked down sympathetically at the child, "I'm sorry sweetheart. I don't know." The little girl's lips started to quiver and her eyes watered. "I have no daddy no more?" Rick wiped away her tears. "That's not true darlin.' You have me. I'll be your daddy." The little girl smiled a big smile and hugged him again. "Daddy! I wuv you Daddy!" Rick smiled and hugged her back, when they let go of each other Rick realized he didn't know her name or age. "What's your name sweetie?" "My name Charlotte!" Rick smiled warmly. "And how old are you Charlotte?" Charlotte held up three fingers. "I'm thwee!" Rick chuckled warmly. "Well aren't you a big girl. You want to come with me too meet your new mommy and big brother?" Charlotte smiled. "Yeah!" Rick smiled. "All right. Then let's go." He picked up Charlotte in his arms and then pointed ahead. "You see that little girl walking away?" Charlotte nodded her little head up and down. "We are going to take her with us ok?" Charlotte smiled and made an ok sign with her little fingers. "Otay!"
Rick shook his head and chuckled warmly. "Ok, let's go." Rick turned his attention back to the other little girl who was taller than Charlotte. "Little girl?" The little girl stops walking. "Don't be afraid. Okay? Little girl." The little girl turns around and Rick stares in shock. The little girl's face is missing parts of her cheek. Charlotte points her little finger and shrieks. "Monster!!!" Rick pats her gently on the back. "Don't look." Charlotte buries her face in Rick's neck. Rick pulls out his gun and shoots the little girl in the head. Charlotte starts crying and Rick rubs her back affectionately. "Shh it's ok. It'll be ok." Charlotte eventually calms down and Rick gives her a kiss on the forehead. "Your safe now. Come on let's go. Your safe with me ok?" Charlotte nods her head slowly. "Otay." Rick with Charlotte sitting in the back seat broadcasts on the radio over an emergency channel. "Broadcasting on emergency channel. We'll be approaching Atlanta on Highway 85. Anybody reads, please respond. Hello. Hello. Can anybody hear my voice? Anybody out there? Anybody hears me, please respond. Hello, can you hear my voice? I've got a three year old with me. Can anybody hear me?"
Rick pulls the photograph that he has of his family off of the window. He walks to the back door of the car opens it unbuckles Charlotte's seatbelt and takes her in his arms. He starts to walk down the road to find some gasoline that he can use to continue his ride to Atlanta. They come upon a house. Charlotte looks up at Rick, concern on her face. Rick looks down at her and notices the expression on Charlotte's face. "I'm here, don't worry. It'll be ok." Charlotte looks uncertain but nods anyway. "Hello? Police officer out here. Can I borrow some gas? Hello? Hello? Anybody home?"
Rick looks inside and sees two dead bodies with flies buzzing around them. There is a message on the wall written in blood saying "God Forgive Us". Charlotte looks away. Rick walks over to the truck that is sitting in the driveway, but there are no keys. Frustrated, he starts to walk back, but notices a horse. Charlotte squeals. "Horsie!" Rick smiles warmly, walks toward it and coaxes it. "Easy now, easy. I'm not gonna hurt you. Nothing like that. More like a proposal. Atlanta's just down the road ways. It's safe there. Food, shelter, people, other horses too, I bet. How's that sound?" Charlotte giggles and claps her little hands. "Yay!" Rick chuckled and gave Charlotte a kiss on the forehead. Rick wraps the harness around the horse. "There we go. Good boy. Good boy. Now come with us. Come with us." He leads it out of the stable. Rick and Charlotte ride the horse down the fields. Charlotte claps her hands. "Yay! Go horsie go!" Rick laughs out loud. "Hold on tight Charlotte!" Rick continues to ride the horse calmly with Charlotte sitting in front of him. "Let's go easy, ok? I haven't done this for years. Easy. Easy, boy. Easy, easy, easy." Charlotte giggled. "This is fun! Giddy up!" Rick chuckled. "Yeah it is fun." They eventually get to the outskirts of Atlanta. One side of the highway is empty while the other side of the highway is packed with several cars that have been wrecked or abandoned. Rick continues to ride down the empty side of the highway to enter Atlanta. They ride into the city and along the streets. They see that the streets are abandoned and there is trash everywhere. Rick leads the horse down the street where there are helicopters, cars, and even a tank wrecked along the road. They ride past a bus and some of the walkers see them. They get up and start to walk toward them. Rick doesn't panic. But Charlotte sees them and points, "More monsters!" The horse starts to panic. "It's ok. It's ok. Steady. It's just a few. Nothing we can't outrun." They ride past them and go to ride down the street. The horse gets panicky again. "Okay, whoa whoa whoa." He and Charlotte look up on the tank and see a dead body that is being pecked at by crows. They ride past the tank and look up in the air. They see a helicopter fly past them. Rick looks down at Charlotte. "Charlotte honey I need you to listen to daddy. We're going to flag down that helicopter, so I need you to hold on tight. Ok." "Otay daddy." Rick starts to ride in the direction of the helicopter, but when he turns at the corner, there is a lot of walkers. All of them shuffle after Rick and he rides back down the street he came from. He then comes across another huge group of walkers. Rick and Charlotte struggle to get away but they're trapped. Rick with Charlotte in his arms falls off the horse and starts to crawl away from it. Some of the walkers eat the horse and Rick realizes that he has dropped his gun bag. He crawls underneath the tank with Charlotte in his arms while walkers still try to catch them. "Lori, Carl, Charlotte. I'm sorry." Charlotte sees that he is about to shoot himself. "Daddy! No!" But all of a sudden she's picked up and pulled into the tank by Rick. Rick sits her down gently by a dead soldier shuts the hatch doors and sits next to Charlotte. Suddenly Charlotte screams, "Monster!!!" Rick turns his head to see the soldier now reanimated, he doesn't hesitate to shoot the undead soldier, then there's a horrible ringing sound in Rick and Charlotte's ears. "Too loud!" Charlotte whines her hands covering her ears. "Don't worry, it'll pass." Rick assures her. "Otay." Charlotte says. Finally the ringing noise subsides and Charlotte uncovers her ears, just then the radio in the tank starts to make static sounds, and a voice on the other end starts talking. "Hey, you. Dumb ass. Hey, you in the tank. Cozy in there?" Rick and Charlotte realize that they aren't alone.
Some of the walkers continue to eat the horse. Others are converging on the tank still trying to get at Rick and Charlotte inside the tank.