Charlie McGee (justbackoff) wrote in safezonethreads, @ 2010-02-04 22:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | charlie mcgee |
WHO: Charlie McGee
WHAT: Returning to the Safe Zone with some rather disturbing news.
WHEN: Early evening - around 7PM
WHERE: The Welcome Center.
RATING: PG (may change if someone tags)
STATUS: Complete (unless someone wants to join in, then open)
It was time to go back. Charlie knew that fact with complete and utter certainty. From the moment she'd woken up that morning, she had known. She had spent the past week assembling supplies from any place she came across them and, now that the tractor trailer she had been driving (in order to keep her motorcycle safe in the back of the truck along with all the supplies) was full, she knew.
It was time to go back to the Safe Zone.
Personally, she didn't really want to go. There was only one person there that she missed and the fact that he wasn't there was the very reason she'd left in the first place. She felt like an idiot for falling so hard, and so fast, for someone she barely knew. She felt like even more of an idiot for mourning his sudden absence with as much emotion has she was. However Charlie really felt like an idiot for letting his memory keep her from the one place in the entire country that was even remotely safe anymore.
So she was going back. Armed with supplies, a firm decision to simply not discuss Nathan at all if she could help it, and knowledge. Which was quite possibly more important than the other two combined and then some. Because Charlie's knowledge wasn't something just anyone could pick up. Especially not those in the Safe Zone. No, she had noticed something while out in the thick of things, and knew that she owed it to the survivors within the zone to share what she'd learned with others.
Of course, what she learned scared the hell out of her. It made her blood run cold everytime she thought about it, and she had spent quite a bit of time pondering it over the past few days. Yet no matter how she analyzed the information at her disposal, as well as her own life lessons picked up during her brief stint on the road, there was one single, undeniable truth that she knew as surely as she knew her own name.
The zombies were getting smarter.
Not intelligent. They weren't reading and writing or anything ridiculous like that. But they were learning. How to survive. How to lure prey out of hiding. How to work together, as a group, rather than simply as a mindless, blood-thirsty horde.
It was a terrifying thought and yet it was very much the truth. She had seen it in several towns over the past few days. Had experienced it first hand and watched at a distance. The zombies - or, at least, some of them, were evolving. And although there was still little doubt that humans still had the upper hand in the brains department, the thought of the infected ones suddenly developing skills that should have taken them much longer to figure out, wasn't something that Charlie could simply keep to herself.
So she pointed the semi she was driving toward the city and she began making her way back across the ice-covered roads and snowy landscape. She stopped only for gas, and an occasional catnap in the hideaway bed in the back of the cab of the truck. She encountered a zombie or two during the drive but they were on the side of the road and didn't even glance her way as she rumbled past.
And finally, just as dusk was finally fading into twilight, the only electricity within miles appeared on the horizon. The watch on her arm read seven o'clock as she drove up to the front gates and flashed her ID at the guards on duty. They let her pass with little issue and she steered the truck down the quiet streets directly to the Welcome Center.
Charlie didn't know if Noah Bennet or Lauren Gilmore were still there. She didn't know if they were working or not. She didn't know who, if anyone, had taken Nathan's position or if she still had a job herself. Even though she'd been gone for only a few weeks she felt as if a lifetime had passed. However, as she parked the truck and once more powered up her PDA, she had to admit that a small part of her was glad to be back.
Finally parking the truck, she climbed out and pocketed the keys. A glance around and a small smile filled her face. "Welcome home," she murmured quietly to herself.
Charlie was only vaguely surprised to realize that, like it or not, that was exactly how she thought of this place now. And with a soft sigh at that realization and a shake of her head at the obvious fact that she was going soft, the blond shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather coat and made her way toward the building. After all, she still had a tale to tell and, whether they liked it or not, someone was going to listen.