Charles Campion

Charles "Charlie" D. Campion is a supporting character who first appears in the prologue to the Complete and Uncut Edition of The Stand by Stephen King, "The Circle Opens." He is the night watchman at the north tower of the Reservation, the Army base where Captain Trips is probably engineered and certainly kept. His escape from the base is what causes the plague to spread across the country and sets off the events of the novel.

Story Arc
Little is known of Charles Campion's (called "Charlie" by his wife Sally) early life, other than that his parents died in a housefire.

On or about June 14, 1990, at roughly 0200 hours, he is the night watchman in the north tower of the Reservation, a United States Army base somewhere in the California desert. He is playing solitaire when the lights switch from green to red, indicating something has gone wrong.

He rushes to his on-base home, wakes up Sally and says the two of them and their 3-year-old daughter, Baby LaVon, need to leave immediately. He packs hurriedly, and Sally does the same for the toddler, although Sally does not realize how serious the situation is until Charlie takes the $30-40 she has squirreled away as her "house money." Spelling the words out, he says everyone in the north tower is dead, and whatever killed them, killed them fast. As he packs their bags, he has a slight cough.

He expects to have to crash through the gates of the Reservation, but by the vehicle depot, the guard seems to notice nothing wrong. By sunrise the next morning, he is driving through Nevada, and his cough is worsening. (The Circle Opens)

He eventually crashes into Hapscomb's Texaco in Arnette, Texas, roughly 1,700 miles away from the Reservation. He dies minutes later on the ambulance ride to Braintree, unaware Sally and Baby LaVon are already dead of Captain Trips. (Chapter 1)

Their escape is what causes Captain Trips to spread throughout the United States and wipe out most of its population in late June 1990.

Complete and Uncut Edition

 * The Circle Opens - first appearance; begins the Flight of the Campions
 * Chapter 1 - arrives in Arnette, Texas; death
 * Chapter 3 - referenced