A/N: Sorry it took me a while to update… I'm so excited for you guys to read this chapter though! Let me know what you think! Xo

Chapter 4

"Are we going to talk about what happened or not?" Charlie asked quietly, staring fixedly at her fumbling hands as she mended a bent arrow.

Monroe remained silent for a moment. He had been avoiding her for days now in the hopes that she would forget the whole encounter. Truthfully, he didn't know what to say to her. Was he supposed to apologize for putting her in an awkward position? Should he blame his drunkenness and ignore his underlying feelings? Were these even really feelings? These thoughts had been overwhelming his brain over the past few days and the anticipation of this conversation made him rather tense. Part of him wanted her to say he should've kissed her, yet another part of him dared her to slap him across the face. This was Miles' niece, after all, making Monroe old enough to be her father himself. He shuddered, refusing to think about their age difference. Age difference only mattered in romantic relationships – there was nothing sexual between him and Charlie.

She cleared her throat. "Monroe…" she began, slowly walking towards him.

"Charlie," he breathed, his eyes lazily roaming her body until they locked with hers. Feelings of longing and lust crept their way into his gut. He was so afraid that if she pressed any harder, he would cave in and make a move that he would later regret. Monroe swallowed hard, maintaining eye contact with her. "I can't talk to you right now. You need to leave me alone."

She sensed the pain in his voice and realized what he really wanted – what he had wanted for weeks now. Batting her eyes at him as seductively as she knew how, she let one strap of her top slide down her shoulder. She didn't bother to tuck back the strands of her hair that had cascaded softly along her collarbone as she advanced closer to him. Her lips parted slightly and she licked them, glancing down to his briefly before returning her gaze to his eyes. They now stood just inches apart; Monroe could feel his resolve slipping away.

"Well, you're going to have to talk to me," Charlie whispered. "We're partners in this now, remember?" She smirked, turning on her heels and walking out of the abandoned shed they had been staying in.

oOo

The morning came fairly quickly. This was the day of their escape plan, and if everything went smoothly, their group would be far away from Willoughby by nightfall.

"Are we all clear on the plan? We'll split up right away. Charlie and Bass will head straight to the East Bridge. Wait about thirty minutes – that'll give Rachel and I enough time to scope out the guards by Aaron's house. Once you detonate the bombs, you run. You stick together, and you run. The explosion will be enough of a distraction for us to get Aaron and Cynthia out," Miles stated, though it sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of their strategy more than the others. "The rendezvous point is the marina 2 miles north of Willoughby. It won't take long for the patriots to figure out what's going on, so if you two get there first, you only wait for us for an hour, tops."

Charlie snapped her head up, her eyes widened in bewilderment. "We're not leaving without you guys," she said firmly.

Miles held up his hand to silence her. "Waiting is not an option. If it takes us too long to get out, we'll find another way. The patriots will have that marina closed off by nightfall once they realize Aaron is missing." He reached in his bag and pulled out four safety flares. "Anyone gets in trouble, throw one of these up," he said, handing one each to Bass, Charlie, and Rachel. "These bad boys will draw in every patriot within a half-mile radius, so only use yours if you really need to."

Monroe stared blankly at the flare in his hands. "So if we see one of these, we're just supposed to drop everything and head in that direction?"

"No," Rachel spoke up. "If you're close enough, fine. If not, then you know there's one less person to wait for at the marina." Her voice was monotone, her eyes lifeless.

Charlie stood up. "If anyone sends up a flare then we need to help them, not desert them! What the hell is wrong with you people?" she yelled, her arms waving about madly.

"Our primary goal is Aaron," Rachel replied simply. "Everyone else is collateral damage—"

"—It won't matter because we're all going to get out of here fine," Miles cut her off, directing his gaze to Charlie. "Just remember that we are severely outnumbered. Nobody here is going to risk their life for a lost cause."

Charlie glowered at them. She could not believe what she was hearing… they were all acting as if this was some sort of suicide mission.

oOo

Monroe and Charlie had been walking in relative silence for nearly an hour. The sun was just beginning to set when they reached the bridge.

"Now what?" Charlie muttered, crouching down behind an abandoned car just off the entrance to the bridge. She carefully set down the backpack containing the bombs and let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

"We wait. Half an hour and then we set off the bombs," Monroe replied, sitting down beside her. They sat for several minutes without speaking, though this time the silence was not as uncomfortable.

Finally, Charlie looked over to Monroe. "You know, I was pretty surprised at how willing you were to help with this plan."

"Yeah, well, it was either help sneak out your chubby nerd friend or roam around the woods by myself," he muttered. "If you haven't noticed, I don't have a whole lot of people to go back to."

That was the understatement of the century. The entirety of the Monroe Republic and majority of his militia had been wiped off the face of the Earth when the nukes hit Philadelphia. Those who remained either hated Monroe, were too afraid to start up a new republic, or thought that he was dead. His entire family died before the blackout. The only group of people who even tolerated his presence consisted of Miles, Rachel, and Charlie. And even they had considered leaving him for dead on multiple occasions.

Although Charlie could hardly justify his past actions, she felt somewhat sorry for Monroe. "What makes you think we want you here with us?" she teased, shoving him lightly on the shoulder.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't know, Charlotte. I get the feeling you guys need me a lot more than I need you."

Another ten minutes passed before they decided to set up the bombs on the bridge. They had six bombs placed strategically along the road; each of them would light three fuses and then run north as quickly as possible. Neither Charlie nor Monroe knew how great the explosions would be, but they knew the area would be crawling with patriots soon enough.

"Are you ready?" Monroe called out from the other side of the bridge.

Charlie tightened her grip on the lighter in her hand. "Yeah!" she yelled back, her breath growing more rapid.

"GO!"

oOo

Everything had happened so quickly, it didn't even register in Charlie's mind that they had already been walking over a mile. The explosion was so extreme that the entire bridge collapsed, and the surrounding land was severely impacted. They barely had time to appreciate their work before they heard the shouting of nearby patriots and had to take off running. The diversion worked out smoothly on their end, and Charlie prayed that Miles and Rachel would have enough time to get Aaron and Cynthia out safely.

The sun had already set and the sky was quickly fading to black. Charlie could barely keep up with Monroe's long, fast strides, and the uphill terrain wasn't helping much. Her legs were just beginning to ache when she heard the echoing of a distant gunshot. She stopped walking abruptly, looking around for the source.

Monroe turned to face her. "It was probably just a patriot firing at an animal or something," he tried to convince her. "Come on, let's keep going. We've still got a lot of ground to cover."

That's when she saw it – the glistening red flare, barely visible in the sky over the treeline, about a mile and a half south of them. "Oh my god," Charlie whispered, her body frozen. "We have to go back."