CHAPTER TWO!
prologue: part two

RICK GRIMES WAS THE only thing plaguing Natalia's mind when she went home that evening, the man's words plaguing her mind over and over again, replaying as she pushed her keys into the door and pushed it open, shocked by the cold air that hit her as soon as she opened up the door. Normally, her house wouldn't be so cold, and she was instantly confused as to why it felt like this, since Charlie never truly let her turn the heating off - no matter how hot it is on that day, he will always feel cold, and needed the whole house heated up. Natalia shrugged on a cardigan as she shut the door behind her, afraid that something was wrong, and having a tight feeling in her gut. When she had these feelings, it meant that some sort of atmosphere was in the air, that Charlie was up to no good again, and that fact alone, sent shivers down the woman's spine, afraid of what will happen when she walks further into her own home. She hated this, she hated how she felt in her own home, and she wanted it to stop - but how? She felt trapped.

"Charlie?" Natalia called out, uncertainty clear in her tone. She didn't like to think that something could be wrong, she wanted to be wrong, but the feeling in her gut was telling her otherwise, and she just couldn't 't push it away. The woman didn't want to head further into her house, but she had no choice; as she walked onwards, she wrapped her cardigan tighter around her torso, and took a deep breath, before repeating her callout. "Charlie?" She repeated, walking into the living room to see the man himself, leaning back on the couch with a glass of rum in his hands, looking like he had a few too many already.

When Charlie looked up at her, she almost flinched, seeing the look of pure anger on his face that was directed at her, the look that was always directed at her. She never understood why this man was always so angry, he never used to be - he used to be the kindest man she knew, but now.. That was the furthest thing to what he was, at least, what Natalia could see behind closed doors. She didn't know what to do at first, like always, she took a step backwards, away from him in fear - she didn't like to think that she was afraid to stand up for herself, she would do so, but the repercussions afterwards just was not worth it. "Someone tried to attack me on the way back from the city, what the hell is wrong with people nowadays?" Charlie asked, as Natalia felt her heart start slowing down at the information that he wasn't angry with her, but some random person on the street.

The girl sighed, not wanting to show Charlie how glad she was that he wasn't angry with her like she thought he was, "I've seen a few reports on the news about people going crazy in the city. I don't know what's going on up there, its strange.." The woman began to say, as Charlie frowned at her words, not knowing why she Han't warned him about the fact that there are crazy people around. She knew that Charlie worked in the city on most days when he wasn't working from home, and it made her feel awful that she hadn't said anything about it, but she had thought that he would know what was going on.

"If you knew this was going on in the city, why wouldn't you tell me?" Charlie asked, tilting his head at her as if daring her to answer. When he got in a bad mood, all he wanted to do was let his anger out on his wife, and so far, it had worked - he was so angry about nearly being bit by some homeless person, that he just wanted to let his anger out, and doing it on Nat, seemed like the right way to go. It always was for him.

"I'm sorry, I thought you knew." Natalia apologised, holding her breath slightly as she waited for the man to reply; the news had all kinds of silly things in lately, with people claiming that the dead had risen (which Natalia found hard to believe) or that the government had spread some kind of disease that turned people into rabid animals, she didn't know what the hell was going on. So when the news claimed that the outbreak had begun in the city, she didn't know what to think, and she didn't expect them to be right. With Charlie heading back into the city tomorrow, the woman knew that he was going to have a horrible time with the amount of riots and crazy people walking around. "Maybe you should take the day off tomorrow, the city isn't safe right now." She suggested, not wanting him to be bitten by one of those crazy people that were roaming around out there. She knew that she wouldn't want to go, either way.

Charlie stood up and slowly raised his hand, making Natalia flinch, as a small chuckle came from his mouth - he gently stroked the hair out of her face and kept his hand on the back of her head, "It's sweet that you care for me, Nat. But do you think your job will keep us afloat?" He asked sarcastically, a smirk on his face at the fact that they both knew how much more money he earned, "I can't afford to take a day off, you should know that." He explained, as Natalia held dead still, afraid of what would happen if she dared move whilst he was touching her. Even if he was being gentle, he could switch just like that, and it terrified her.

"You're right. I'm sorry." Natalia apologised, avoiding his eyeline as she looked down at the ground, counting down the seconds until he finally let her go and she could go and make dinner for the two of them like she did every single evening.

Charlie looked at her for a few seconds, satisfied with the way she was reacting to his touch, before he roughly pressed a kiss to her lips, "Good girl. Now, go make me dinner." He said, letting go of her and walking back to the couch where he turned the TV back on and the news came onto the screen, footage of people attacking each other, and warnings to stay inside your home unless necessary. Natalia didn't know what to think of it all, and she honestly hated seeing how everything had started to unravel in the world, so she did what she was told, pushing the thoughts of crazy people attacking everyone, and diseases, and went and made dinner for her husband..

The next day wasn't any better in terms of the news and the amount of people going crazy in the city, if anything, things had gotten worse over there, and with her town being is close to the place, Natalia was growing more anxious by the day at the amount of people falling victim to the strange new disease that could spread to their own town. Charlie had left early in the morning to get to the city, and Natalia was praying that he wouldn't bring back whatever disease was plaguing that city, and that no one would attack him again like they had the day before. The school day had been strange - all of the kids knew that something was up, they could sense it, their parents worry, they had seen flashes of the news on their parents TV, and they just knew that something bad was going to happen. Nat tried to put on a brave face for the kid]s, but it was hard when the world could be ending and they couldn't do anything about it.

Natalia tried to make it a nice, calming lesson for the kids, but no one could really focus on the work when everything was happening outside in the real world, and that's how it went for the next few weeks, Rick Grimes had been hospitalised, so they now no longer had the guidance of their sheriff, instead, they had Shane Walsh, who was a great cop, but he didn't have the leadership skills that his best friend and boss had. The whole town had begun to collapse, people moving away with their kids to live further away from the city, meaning that Natalia's classes had been shrinking day by day, and people genuinely scared for their lives, even fleeing closer to the city in hopes that the army would know what to do with them and how to keep them safe.

The woman went by her day to day life with the knowledge that things are falling apart outside of their small town, three knowledge that the world may indeed be ending - it was a horrible feeling, and she hated that she couldn't give the kids any good news on what's happening, and she hated that she couldn't make them happier than they were before, especially Carl, who was even more upset than the other children because of his father being in a coma. Charlie was even more angry at the fact that people were still crazy in the city, and the fact that it would reach their town soon, made him even more angrier, and Natalia tried to keep his distance from him at all costs because of it.

Although, when she got home one night after a long week at work, Natalia didn't expect to see Charlie sitting on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around himself, looking as pale as a ghost, and unable to even get up to get himself a drink. "Charlie?" Natalia asked, slowly approaching the man as her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, having never seen him look so ill before - the man wasn't the kind of person to catch any illnesses, he was the most healthy person that Natalia knew, so to see him like this, was the most confusing thing to him. In response, the man coughed, the sound making Natalia cringe, "What happened?" She asked him, crouching down in front of him as she gently felt his forehead to feel that he was burning up, so much so, that the woman didn't know why he hadn't called an ambulance yet.

"Emergency services are down. It's ridiculous, I have a fever and they can't even be bothered to answer the damn phone! You wait till I tell people about this, whoever is responsible won't have a job once I'm better." Charlie ranted, pausing to cough in between his words. Natalia had already pulled out her phone to find that the signal was completely dead, and when she tried to call the emergency services, it failed, "You stupid woman, I just told you it wasn't working. You think I'm lying?" He asked, annoyed that she had just attempted to call even though he told her it wasn't even working when he called.

"No. I'm sorry." Natalia apologised instantly, feeling the man grab her wrist at a harsh hold, her wrist already feeling the bruising from his fingers pressing into her veins. "What can I get you? Do you feel like eating?" She asked, putting a fake smile on her face as she ignored the fact that his fingers were pressing into her wrist bones and how it hurt, a lot.

Charlie rolled his eyes at the girl for changing the subject so quickly instead of admitting that she was stupid, but he sighed and let go of her wrist eventually, knowing that he might as well not bother with her as she never learns. "Some tea." Is all he said, as Natalia instantly nodded, pushing herself up off of the floor and quickly making her way to the kitchen.

She was afraid that Charlie had caught whatever disease or infection was going around, since it had all started in the city where he worked most days, and the fact that he had the symptoms of what the news had claimed, terrified her. But none the less, the woman made her way to the kitchen to make the man a hot cup of tea like he asked - she feared that maybe she would catch whatever he may have, but at the same time, she didn't want to say anything about it in case he got even more angry at her. He may have no energy because of his illness, but that didn't mean he didn't scare her, and she would still do anything so he would stay calm and rested.

Walking back into the main room with Charlie's cup of tea, Natalia noticed that he had fallen asleep on the couch with the TV quietly playing in the background, allowing the woman to finally see what was wrong with his shoulder - where he had lowered his head to lean back on the couch, she could see that he had tried to bandage up his wound with some dressing, but Natalia could see the bite wound sticking through with the dried blood surrounding it. It looked like someone had taken a chunk of his skin out, and the girl couldn't help but cringe at the sight, seeing that it had already begun to get injected, the yellowness of the wound seeping out onto the dressing. Natalia placed the tea down in front of his sleeping form and headed to the kitchen once again to grab the first aid kit, hoping that if she fixed up the wound well enough, he would slowly get better so the ambulance wouldn't have to be called - although, she highly doubted it.

She headed back to Charlie's sleeping form after gathering all she needed and got to work, gently removing his dressings and cleaning the wound, making the man stir in his sleep before letting out a small groan; she wished that he was this calm and quiet when he was awake, instead, he was loud and horrible to her, nothing like he was when they first met. The wound looked too bad to fix fully, but the woman did what she could with the little resources she had, and snuggled up onto the couch besides him to watch the news and see what else had changed in the past day; though she wished she hadn't, as it was just full of how many deaths there had been with the virus outbreak, and what the army were planning. As of right now, they were recommending that everyone stay inside of their homes unless completely necessary, and Nadia had a problem with that, as she still had to go to work and make sure that her kids were getting a good education for their futures. She knew that when Monday comes, she would have to go to work like nothing was happening, and pray that nothing would happen..

Nadia woke up to a static TV illuminating the room, giving her the ability to see clearly - the woman had fallen asleep to the news, without having any dinner or anything to drink, shortly after patching Charlie up and putting on the news. She woke up with her head on Charlie's shoulder, surprising herself that she had fallen asleep near the man without the fear that he would wake up and yell at her for leaning on his bad shoulder - but Charlie was still asleep when she looked over at him, and the woman knew that he would complain if she allowed him to fall asleep on the couch instead of helping him to bed. But first, Natalia needed a drink, as her mouth had gotten dry from the lack of any liquids she had had that day at work. Even if she hardly had any kids in her class due to the parents pulling them out and taking them elsewhere, it was still a long day, and she was exhausted.

She pushed her blanket to the side before picking herself up, looking at the clock at the side and seeing that it read 3:00AM in the morning - Natalia sighed, before dragging her feet over to the kitchen and running the tap to fill up a glass of water, which she downed in just a few seconds. The woman was about to head back to Charlie on the couch, when she heard movement too close behind her, causing her to spin around and fly her hand up to place on her chest, gasping in shock when she saw Charlie standing across from her, a strange look on his face as he stared at her with no emotion whatsoever. The thing that scared her most about the man in front of her, was the fact that his eyes were glasses over, making it look like he had been drinking way too much, and that thought alone terrified her.

"Charlie?" Natalia spoke up quietly, slowly backing up as the man stood in a slouched position, his head hanging to the side as he didn't say a single word, staring at her like it was the first time he was ever setting eyes on her, like he didn't know who she was at all. Natalia was nothing but confused, her heart stopping as she felt the heaviness of it, her stomach dropping as Charlie took one step towards her, where Natalia took another step back, the back of het hips hurting the counter as she stared at her husband.
His eyes didn't look like they were his, they were glassed over, a blue tinge overtaking the hazel colour of his true eyes, and his skin a lot more paler than he usually was, almost like he was.. Dead. Where his wound was, had started seeping a disgusting yellow and brown colour, making Natalie feel physically sick and confused at how Charlie was fine with how gross it looked. "Baby, what's wrong?" She asked again, her voice shaking as she was trying not to cry at how horrid her husband looked, like it wasn't her husband anymore, just a shell of the man he used to be.

The thought that terrified her, was the fact that he looked like the sick people on the news, the ones who had the infection take over and go crazy - Natalia didn't know what she would do if Charlie ended up going crazy like those people were, he was too strong for her, and if he got his hands on her, there was no helping her. A small groan left the man's mouth, hoarse and quiet as he reached his hand out to her, in a way that made Natalia's skin crawl, scowling as he moved forwards again, "Charlie, I don't like this." Natalia admitted, not liking the way he wasn't saying a single thing, instead, moving towards the girl more and more every second as she had ran out of room to get away from him.

Natalia moved away from the kitchen, keeping her eyes on her husband as she moved backwards into the main room, where he had fallen asleep last night, "Look, I'm sorry, but you don't need to do this, I apologised, it won't happen again." She carried on, hoping that he would stop approaching her and calm down. But it didn't look like that was going happen anytime soon, as her words were doing nothing for him, they weren't even functioning properly in his head, like his brain wasn't his anymore - he looked at her with a look of hunger, and it was the most terrifying thing Natalia had ever seen in her life.

As Charlie didn't stop approaching, Natalia couldn't stop backing away, until it clicked in her head that he may be sick like those people in the city, like the bite mark had been the reason for it - since he was moving slowly, Natalia made her way towards the kitchen again and grabbed. a knife with a shaky hand, holding it in front of her as warning to Charlie, meaning that if he didn't stop, she wouldn't have a choice.  But Charlie looked like he wasn't even there anymore, his eye colour was completely gone, his skin was looking like it had begun to decay, and he looked exactly like the diseased on the TV..

Natalia took a deep breath in and held her hand up to stop him once again, "Charlie, this is the last time I'm going to warn you, please stop. I don't want to do this." She cried, feeling the tears falling down her face as her just kept advancing, she was terrified, although Charlie was horrible to her, she still loved him, he was still the man she married, and she didn't want to hurt him, she wanted to help him. But by the looks of it, he was infected like everyone else, and it completely broke her heart, because no one knew a way to fix it yet.

It wasn't until Charlie finally touched her did the woman react, shoving the knife through his stomach, gasping as she did so as she didn't even realise she had done so until it finally happened, everything piling up, from the years of abuse, of the horrible words, the fact that h had completely changed personalities after they got married, everything. But what shocked her the most, was the fact that the stab didn't even faze the man, he still kept coming like a knife had not just been plagued into his stomach, like the knife wasn't still there, grazing against his organs. He shouldn't be able to keep moving, it was against the laws of physics, and it felt like it wasn't actually happening - how was he still moving towards her? How did the knife wound not affect him in the slightest? None of it made sense. Crying out, Natalia shoved the knife into his stomach again, tears streaming down her face as she heard the knife go through his skin yet again, the blood already seeping down onto her hand from the open wound.

Charlie groaned again, still not reacting to the knife wound like any normal person would, and it made Natalia realise that he wasn't like any other person, he wasn't human anymore, and that thought alone, was the scariest thing. Shoving him back, Charlie fell backwards onto the glass coffee table, shattering it upon falling, as she cried out again at the sight, feeling awful that he just kept coming no matter what he endured by her - she didn't want to keep doing it, but he kept coming for her, and she didn't know what else to do. Running for the phone, Natalia tried to dial the emergency services again, but their whole number was down, ending straight away yet again as she threw the phone across the room in anger, unable to believe that she didn't have any help from the cops like she needed.

Charlie got up again, as Natalia sobbed even more, grabbing the lamp from besides the table he fell onto and swinging it at his head, causing the man of fall down once again, a wound forming on the side of his head as the blood began to seep out, this time, a brown colour now seeping out instead of red like normal blood - the smell was the most horrific smell Natalia had ever smelt in her whole life, as she swung again, yelling as she did so as her husband finally fell to the floor, lifeless as he was unmoving, finally down. She couldn't understand how he was still coming at her even though she had stabbed him in the stomach twice, nothing made any sense.

Her legs gave out, Natalia falling to her knees besides her dead husband as the tears streamed down her face, gasping in pain as she felt her heart tighten at the sight - it felt like her whole world had just ended, and she didn't know what she was going to do. She felt awful that she didn't feel that bad about killing her husband, and that made her feel even worse than she did, knowing that she didn't know what to do next, since the news has told everyone to stay in their homes no matter what - but what if your dead husband was in that said home? What should she do then? Her stomach dropped at the thought, knowing that she couldn't stay here, not now, she had to leave.

So that's what she did.