Fic: fallen empires, the walking dead (2/4)
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He’s dreaming again. Still running, always running, and water sloshes at his feet. Meiri hangs on tight, so tight her claws hurt, and behind him he can hear the Specters growl and feel his heart hammer in his chest.
Up ahead El and Cahir are bounding, leading the charge, and someone’s crying softly. Light is weak and watery, and behind Glenn, there’s a gunshot.
His hand hurts. It feels weird, too, lighter somehow, like he’s missing something, and it’s a bloody mess but he can’t stop to stop it from bleeding.
“Run,” Meiri whispers, and she’s terrified. “Run, Glenn, don’t ever stop.”
He’s holding a piece of broken glass in his bad hand, and he can feel it pulse in time with his heart.
*
Glenn turns the pages of the dead guy’s little notebook, chewing his lip.
He can’t sleep. He’s having weird fucking dreams, for one thing, and for another, Rick and Shane haven’t come back yet.
They’re inside the building, that’s for sure, but neither seems to want anything to do with anyone else.
“Can you blame him?” Meiri says, referring to Rick. She’s curled in his lap, examining each drawing as she sees it. “He’s just learned that his wife is pregnant with his best friend’s kid, and that said best friend tried to use that kid against him. Man’s got a right to be pissed.”
Glenn can’t say she’s wrong. “But is it safe for him to be off by himself? I meant what I said earlier. Whenever we separate, something bad happens. Always.”
Mei sighs. “You wanna get punched in the face?”
“Rick’s not gonna punch me,” Glenn says. He thinks, anyway.
“You sure?”
He’s not, and he absent-mindedly flips another page. A drawing of a park bench catches his eye. There’s a young woman sitting on the bench, her pine marten daemon in her lap, and it’s beautiful, really, but also kind of sad. The bench is colored strongly but the woman is faded, pale, almost, like she’s see-through, not really there.
Below the picture Lyra is written in spidery handwriting, and Glenn traces the name. He turns another page and there’s another pale, ghostly being, except this one is hideous and snarling, stretching with clawed hands and baring half-broken teeth. Blood drips from its mouth, and below it is written The Heart-eater. On the opposite page there’s a drawing of a knife, long and sharp, riddled with spiderweb cracks.
Behind the knife are the pale, grasping things that remind Glenn of walkers, and they seem to be afraid.
“Weird,” he mutters, closing the book. Whoever the dead guy was-the name on the inside of the notebook is Parry, but that doesn’t mean anything-he was fucking crazy.
“We all kind of are,” Meiri points out tiredly. “I think it has something to do with the dead people trying to eat us.”
“Specters,” Glenn says, trying out the name. “He called them Specters.”
His daemon shrugs. Her eyes are big and sad. “We should go talk to Rick.”
“A minute ago, you say he’d punch me in the face.”
“And you said something bad always happens when we’re separate from each other,” she counters. “We’re so close to what we’re looking for, Glenn. We can’t fall apart now.”
Glenn sighs because she’s right as always-insufferable creature-and stands up, tucking the notebook away.
Rick’s down near the front of the building somewhere, and Glenn starts to head out.
“Where ya goin’?” Daryl mumbles, blinking sleepily. Cahir opens his bright eyes, tail swishing.
“Gotta talk to Dumbass,” Glenn says. “It’s not safe for him, for either of them, to be out by themselves.”
Daryl laughs softly. “What are you, their mom?”
Meiri giggles, and Cahir staggers to his feet. “Well c’mon then,” he says. “We haven’t got all night.”
“Are you going to talk to Dad and Shane?” Carl whispers, opening his eyes.
Glenn sighs heavily and Daryl nods. Of course he nods. Encourage the stubborn twelve-year-old, why don’t you.
“Can we come?” Carl asks, sitting up. Leah’s in her lap in puppy shape, her eyes big and pleading. “We can help.”
Glenn looks at Daryl. No. His mother will eat me alive.
Daryl looks at Glenn. C’mon, at least with the kid around they won’t get too violent.
I hate you.
Whatever.
“Sure,” Glenn says, giving in, and Carl smiles. “Be quiet, though. Don’t wake your mom.”
The kid, to his credit, is actually pretty sneaky and they nod at T-Dog, who’s on guard, as they pass, stepping into the darkened hallways.
“Flashlight?” Meiri whispers. Glenn flicks his own, sweeping down the hall.
“Your dad went this way,” Glenn says, and the three set off.
It doesn’t take them long to find Rick. (It’s not like he has anywhere to go.) He’s in one of the smaller rooms, sitting cross-legged on the floor with El’s head in his lap.
He doesn’t move as the little group slips in to join him.
Glenn sits down across from Rick and Carl follows his lead. Daryl, predictably, chooses to stay standing, and Cahir starts his usual pacing routine.
“Uh, Rick?” Glenn starts.
Rick doesn’t move.
“Dad?”
Rick opens his eyes. He looks kind of awful, really, hollowed out. Carl shouldn’t be here, not for this. Meiri pads over to Cahir, whispers in his ear. The wolf blinks, and though he probably doesn’t like it, he seems to understand.
“Hey kid,” Daryl says, softer than he’s been since Sophia died. “Kid, why don’t you run on back and wake up Dale? Tell him we’re gonna need us a middleman.”
Carl frowns, face pinching, but he gets back up and trudges down the hallway, Leah plodding dejectedly behind him.
“Thank you,” Rick says hoarsely. “He doesn’t-he doesn’t need-”
“Are you okay?” Glenn says, before Rick hurts himself. “You’re not hurt or anything, are you?”
Rick shrugs jerkily. “I’m fine.”
“You’re angry.”
El bares her teeth.
“Yeah, I’m angry,” Rick says, but he doesn’t sound it or look it.
Daryl snorts but doesn’t say anything.
“You should come back,” Glenn tries. “We gotta stick together, especially now.” He doesn’t want to say everyone’s looking to you, man, everyone’s always looked to you, you gotta be strong for them even if it’s not far, but he thinks it goes unsaid.
“I can’t,” Rick says, and he looks away. “Not right now. I need to-I need to sort my head out first.”
“Why?” Daryl cuts in. Cahir stops pacing. “So you can go back to being cold and distant all the time? A robot? A fuckin’ machine?”
“Daryl,” Glenn says, but Rick beats him to it.
“You want me to yell, then? To tell y’all every time I get angry, or scared, or frustrated?” El stands up, her hackles raised, and she’s bigger than Cahir.
“It’d be a helluva lot better than being so damn calm all the time,” Daryl says. Cahir doesn’t seem too bothered by the agitated German shepherd in front of him. “Sometimes I think you ain’t human, Grimes. You sure don’t act like one. You’re sittin’ in here beatin’ yourself up ‘cause you punched a guy who slept with his wife. That’s just fucking stupid.”
Glenn’s sure there’s a nicer way to say that, but yeah, Daryl’s got the gist of it.
“He’s right,” Rick says, turning away. “Shane’s right, he does have a say, that’s his baby. I can’t deny a man the right to protect his own child.”
Daryl snorts again. “You are some kind of stupid, you know that? Jesus. And I thought Shane was a dumb fuck.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just ‘cause Shane knocked up your wife doesn’t mean you gotta sit and take his shit. That’s your wife, man. You’re gonna be raisin’ that kid, and that makes it more yours than his. You’ve got a say too, and if you and Lori wanna stay, hell, man, stay.”
“You think that’s a bad idea,” Rick pointed out. “Staying, I mean.”
Daryl shrugs. “This place gives Cahir n’ me the creeps. Maybe it’s ‘cause we saw a man die and the rest of his group lit outta here, I dunno. But we’ll come back and get y’all, once we find whatever it is we’re supposed to find at Fort Benning. It’s not gonna be a permanent split, just a little one.”
“Yeah,” Glenn adds, even though he still doesn’t like the idea of splitting up, even for a little while. “We can sort of make like an outpost here, you know? Save the Republic from overcrowding.”
Rick’s nodding now slowly, some of the uncertainty fading from his eyes and the hard line of El’s shoulders. “That might work,” he says. He looks at Glenn. “I’ve been a dumbass again, haven’t I?”
Glenn nods. “Yeah.”
“At least you recognize it this time,” Meiri says cheerfully. Rick smiles a little. He can’t quite manage a full one but hey, it’s a start. “You’re improving.”
Rick sighs heavily, standing and looking down at his El. She really does look wolfish now, like Cahir but snow white.
“We should probably go find Shane,” she says, and Glenn blinks. That’s the first time he’s heard her speak. “Talk it out.”
Daryl opens his mouth and Cahir growls softly.
“Not apologize,” the daemon corrects herself. “They deserved every one of those bites. But talk. Make a plan, so the group doesn’t split.”
Rick sighs again but agrees with her. “Okay,” he says. “Let’s find Shane.”
“Dad?” Carl says, hovering in the doorway. He’s brought Dale with him and his eyes are wide and earnest.
“Hey, Carl,” Rick says softly.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m going to talk to Shane.”
“You’re not going to fight with him again, are you?” Leah melts into a ferret’s shape and Carl cuddles her close.
“No,” Rick says, his eyes pale and kind. “No, we’re just gonna talk about some things.”
“Can I come?”
“You ask your mom?”
“She’s asleep.”
“Better not wake her then,” Rick says, and rests a hand on his son’s shoulder. “C’mon. Let’s go find your godfather.”
Glenn and Daryl hang back a bit as the other three head off in Shane’s direction.
“You were pretty good back there,” Glenn says, admiring. “You got through his thick head, anyway.” Meiri chatters in agreement, hopping back on Cahir’s head.
“Huh,” Daryl says. “The way you were lookin’ at me, Short Round, I thought I was fuckin’ up all over the place.”
“You could’ve been a little nicer about it,” the younger man points out. “He’s not that much of a dumbass. All the time.”
“Uh huh,” Daryl laughs. “Keep tellin’ yourself that, kid. Now c’mon. We’re gonna miss the show.”
They jog after the other three to the opposite end-really what are they, five-year-olds dividing up the playground?-of the hallway. Shane’s in the last room, and he’s pacing, around and around.
Kali looks wolf too, big and dark and fierce, and she immediately growls when they step into the room.
“I’m not here to fight,” Rick says tiredly. His hands hang limp at his sides. “Look, Shane, I know you want to be a part of the baby’s life, and that’s fine, I get that. You’re the father-”
“Naw, man,” Shane says slowly, shaking his head. “I shouldn’tve tried to use it against you like that. It ain’t far to you.”
Neither of them say anything else and Darly rolls his eyes at Glenn. Cops, he mouths.
Bunch of emotionally constipated assholes, Glenn mouths back, and the hunter cracks a smile. Cahir rumbles a laugh and Nurya hoots gently from Dale’s shoulder, rustling her wings.
The tension in the room seems to fade, just a little.
“Apologize to each other,” Dale suggests. “Shake hands.”
Both former cops do, and El and Kali meet in the middle of the room, touching noses. El licks a wound on Kali’s face and Kali soothes down a torn patch of El’s fur.
“There,” says Dale, and Nurya hoots approvingly. “Now talk it out like men. We need a decision on what to do, and it’d be nice to get one without bloodshed.”
“I know you want to leave,” Rick says carefully, “but Shane, brother, it’s just not safe. You said it yourself, this place got overrun before. We need everyone here until we all can move out again.”
“See, I disagree,” Shane says just as carefully. “We can clear the area and send out a scouting party, see if Fort Benning’s useable, if there’s the Republic there. It’s better to keep moving than to stay in one spot, if we don’t have good enough protection.
Glenn kind of wants to bang his head into the wall. Meiri, still balancing on Cahir’s head, licks his hand comfortingly.
Outside the room in the hallway there’s a crash, and Maggie shouts his name frantically.
Frowning, Glenn ducks his head outside of the room.
“Glenn,” she says and nearly tackles him, the force of it pushing him back and knocking the little notebook out of his pocket. “Oh, Glenn.”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, and Meiri immediately goes to comfort a distressed Luke. “Maggie, sweetheart, what’s going on?”
She’s crying hard, harder than she did when they executed her family, and Glenn feels the tremors all the way up into his chest.
“Glenn,” she whispers, “Glenn, my father’s missing.”
“What?” Rick says, coming over. “How did that happen? We’ve had somebody on watch this whole time, right?”
“T-Dog says he got distracted,” she mumbles, holding tight to Glenn. “He got up to go to the bathroom, says he was gone for maybe two minutes, Dad must’ve slipped out then-”
Oh shit, Glenn thinks, over and over again. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
Daryl swears, dragging a hand through his hair.
“Don’t worry,” Rick says. “We’ll find him, he can’tve gotten far-”
“Now wait a minute,” Shane says, dark-eyed. “You’re not serious. Didn’t you learn anything from last time, man? We ain’t gonna find him out there! It’s dark, it’s cold, he’s half-crazy as it is. You really wanna risk all our lives again? To find exactly the same thing?”
“I have to try,” Rick murmurs. El blinks up at him sadly. “It’s my fault they’re out here in the first place, I took them from their home-”
“’cause the walkers were closing in,” Shane snaps. “And they wanted to come. Hershel’s insane, I said that before. He ain’t your responsibility. He’s dead already and you know it, Rick.”
“You’re being an idiot,” Kali adds darkly, her claws scraping the cement floor. She whine-growls at El, restless. “We’re not gonna find them. We shouldn’t even try.”
Maggie goes angry and tight against Glenn but he holds her back. He knows that gleam in Rick’s eye. “Rick’s got this,” he whispers in Maggie’s ear, and Mei licks Luke comfortingly.
“Tell you what,” Rick says. “We go out and look for Hershel, you and me. One day of looking. If we don’t find him, we come back, and the day after that we all go to Fort Benning. Sound good?”
Shane rocks back on his heels, sucking in his lips.
Take the deal, you idiot, Glenn thinks. At his feet, Meiri bristles. Take the deal, take the deal.
Kali chuffs, and Shane nods. “Okay,” he says. “Okay, that’s a deal. And if the Republic of Heaven doesn’t work out, we’ll come back here. Good?”
Rick nods, and El bows her head. “Deal.”
“I’m coming too,” Glenn says immediately. “I want to help.”
Maggie tightens her grip on his shirt.
“I’ll guess Cahir n’ me’ll go too,” Daryl says. “Lord knows y’all can’t track for shit.”
“If your dad’s out there, we’ll find him,” Glenn promises. “We’ll find him, Maggie.”
“Better get movin’,” Shane says, brushing past Glenn and Maggie. Rick’s hot on his heels and El and Kali walk together in perfect tandem, yin and yang, light and dark.
Daryl nudges Dale out and Carl follows them wide-eyed, poor kid.
“Glenn,” Maggie says, when she pulls back. Her eyes are puffy and red but determined, and Luke climbs onto her shoulder. “You’ll bring my dad back?”
“I’ll try,” he says.
She nods. “Good. If he’s-if he’s bit, Glenn, don’t bring him back. Shoot him, okay? Promise me you’ll shoot him if he’s been bit.”
Glenn swallows and nods. “Okay,” he whispers. “I won’t let him suffer.”
She relaxes a little, head hanging. “Thank you,” she says.
He nods. “Go ahead and go back to the main room. I’ll be right behind you.”
She nods and leaves, staggering back down the hall.
Glenn looks at Mei, and she looks back sadly. “Are we gonna find him?” he asks.
“I hope so,” his daemon whispers. She grabs the fallen notebook in her teeth and scrambles up to his shoulder, dropping it in his hands.
It falls open on the page of the snarling, bloody Heart-eater, and Glenn smiles wanly. “This is gonna suck, isn’t it?”
He’s dreaming again. Still running, always running, and water sloshes at his feet. Meiri hangs on tight, so tight her claws hurt, and behind him he can hear the Specters growl and feel his heart hammer in his chest.
Up ahead El and Cahir are bounding, leading the charge, and someone’s crying softly. Light is weak and watery, and behind Glenn, there’s a gunshot.
His hand hurts. It feels weird, too, lighter somehow, like he’s missing something, and it’s a bloody mess but he can’t stop to stop it from bleeding.
“Run,” Meiri whispers, and she’s terrified. “Run, Glenn, don’t ever stop.”
He’s holding a piece of broken glass in his bad hand, and he can feel it pulse in time with his heart.
*
Glenn turns the pages of the dead guy’s little notebook, chewing his lip.
He can’t sleep. He’s having weird fucking dreams, for one thing, and for another, Rick and Shane haven’t come back yet.
They’re inside the building, that’s for sure, but neither seems to want anything to do with anyone else.
“Can you blame him?” Meiri says, referring to Rick. She’s curled in his lap, examining each drawing as she sees it. “He’s just learned that his wife is pregnant with his best friend’s kid, and that said best friend tried to use that kid against him. Man’s got a right to be pissed.”
Glenn can’t say she’s wrong. “But is it safe for him to be off by himself? I meant what I said earlier. Whenever we separate, something bad happens. Always.”
Mei sighs. “You wanna get punched in the face?”
“Rick’s not gonna punch me,” Glenn says. He thinks, anyway.
“You sure?”
He’s not, and he absent-mindedly flips another page. A drawing of a park bench catches his eye. There’s a young woman sitting on the bench, her pine marten daemon in her lap, and it’s beautiful, really, but also kind of sad. The bench is colored strongly but the woman is faded, pale, almost, like she’s see-through, not really there.
Below the picture Lyra is written in spidery handwriting, and Glenn traces the name. He turns another page and there’s another pale, ghostly being, except this one is hideous and snarling, stretching with clawed hands and baring half-broken teeth. Blood drips from its mouth, and below it is written The Heart-eater. On the opposite page there’s a drawing of a knife, long and sharp, riddled with spiderweb cracks.
Behind the knife are the pale, grasping things that remind Glenn of walkers, and they seem to be afraid.
“Weird,” he mutters, closing the book. Whoever the dead guy was-the name on the inside of the notebook is Parry, but that doesn’t mean anything-he was fucking crazy.
“We all kind of are,” Meiri points out tiredly. “I think it has something to do with the dead people trying to eat us.”
“Specters,” Glenn says, trying out the name. “He called them Specters.”
His daemon shrugs. Her eyes are big and sad. “We should go talk to Rick.”
“A minute ago, you say he’d punch me in the face.”
“And you said something bad always happens when we’re separate from each other,” she counters. “We’re so close to what we’re looking for, Glenn. We can’t fall apart now.”
Glenn sighs because she’s right as always-insufferable creature-and stands up, tucking the notebook away.
Rick’s down near the front of the building somewhere, and Glenn starts to head out.
“Where ya goin’?” Daryl mumbles, blinking sleepily. Cahir opens his bright eyes, tail swishing.
“Gotta talk to Dumbass,” Glenn says. “It’s not safe for him, for either of them, to be out by themselves.”
Daryl laughs softly. “What are you, their mom?”
Meiri giggles, and Cahir staggers to his feet. “Well c’mon then,” he says. “We haven’t got all night.”
“Are you going to talk to Dad and Shane?” Carl whispers, opening his eyes.
Glenn sighs heavily and Daryl nods. Of course he nods. Encourage the stubborn twelve-year-old, why don’t you.
“Can we come?” Carl asks, sitting up. Leah’s in her lap in puppy shape, her eyes big and pleading. “We can help.”
Glenn looks at Daryl. No. His mother will eat me alive.
Daryl looks at Glenn. C’mon, at least with the kid around they won’t get too violent.
I hate you.
Whatever.
“Sure,” Glenn says, giving in, and Carl smiles. “Be quiet, though. Don’t wake your mom.”
The kid, to his credit, is actually pretty sneaky and they nod at T-Dog, who’s on guard, as they pass, stepping into the darkened hallways.
“Flashlight?” Meiri whispers. Glenn flicks his own, sweeping down the hall.
“Your dad went this way,” Glenn says, and the three set off.
It doesn’t take them long to find Rick. (It’s not like he has anywhere to go.) He’s in one of the smaller rooms, sitting cross-legged on the floor with El’s head in his lap.
He doesn’t move as the little group slips in to join him.
Glenn sits down across from Rick and Carl follows his lead. Daryl, predictably, chooses to stay standing, and Cahir starts his usual pacing routine.
“Uh, Rick?” Glenn starts.
Rick doesn’t move.
“Dad?”
Rick opens his eyes. He looks kind of awful, really, hollowed out. Carl shouldn’t be here, not for this. Meiri pads over to Cahir, whispers in his ear. The wolf blinks, and though he probably doesn’t like it, he seems to understand.
“Hey kid,” Daryl says, softer than he’s been since Sophia died. “Kid, why don’t you run on back and wake up Dale? Tell him we’re gonna need us a middleman.”
Carl frowns, face pinching, but he gets back up and trudges down the hallway, Leah plodding dejectedly behind him.
“Thank you,” Rick says hoarsely. “He doesn’t-he doesn’t need-”
“Are you okay?” Glenn says, before Rick hurts himself. “You’re not hurt or anything, are you?”
Rick shrugs jerkily. “I’m fine.”
“You’re angry.”
El bares her teeth.
“Yeah, I’m angry,” Rick says, but he doesn’t sound it or look it.
Daryl snorts but doesn’t say anything.
“You should come back,” Glenn tries. “We gotta stick together, especially now.” He doesn’t want to say everyone’s looking to you, man, everyone’s always looked to you, you gotta be strong for them even if it’s not far, but he thinks it goes unsaid.
“I can’t,” Rick says, and he looks away. “Not right now. I need to-I need to sort my head out first.”
“Why?” Daryl cuts in. Cahir stops pacing. “So you can go back to being cold and distant all the time? A robot? A fuckin’ machine?”
“Daryl,” Glenn says, but Rick beats him to it.
“You want me to yell, then? To tell y’all every time I get angry, or scared, or frustrated?” El stands up, her hackles raised, and she’s bigger than Cahir.
“It’d be a helluva lot better than being so damn calm all the time,” Daryl says. Cahir doesn’t seem too bothered by the agitated German shepherd in front of him. “Sometimes I think you ain’t human, Grimes. You sure don’t act like one. You’re sittin’ in here beatin’ yourself up ‘cause you punched a guy who slept with his wife. That’s just fucking stupid.”
Glenn’s sure there’s a nicer way to say that, but yeah, Daryl’s got the gist of it.
“He’s right,” Rick says, turning away. “Shane’s right, he does have a say, that’s his baby. I can’t deny a man the right to protect his own child.”
Daryl snorts again. “You are some kind of stupid, you know that? Jesus. And I thought Shane was a dumb fuck.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just ‘cause Shane knocked up your wife doesn’t mean you gotta sit and take his shit. That’s your wife, man. You’re gonna be raisin’ that kid, and that makes it more yours than his. You’ve got a say too, and if you and Lori wanna stay, hell, man, stay.”
“You think that’s a bad idea,” Rick pointed out. “Staying, I mean.”
Daryl shrugs. “This place gives Cahir n’ me the creeps. Maybe it’s ‘cause we saw a man die and the rest of his group lit outta here, I dunno. But we’ll come back and get y’all, once we find whatever it is we’re supposed to find at Fort Benning. It’s not gonna be a permanent split, just a little one.”
“Yeah,” Glenn adds, even though he still doesn’t like the idea of splitting up, even for a little while. “We can sort of make like an outpost here, you know? Save the Republic from overcrowding.”
Rick’s nodding now slowly, some of the uncertainty fading from his eyes and the hard line of El’s shoulders. “That might work,” he says. He looks at Glenn. “I’ve been a dumbass again, haven’t I?”
Glenn nods. “Yeah.”
“At least you recognize it this time,” Meiri says cheerfully. Rick smiles a little. He can’t quite manage a full one but hey, it’s a start. “You’re improving.”
Rick sighs heavily, standing and looking down at his El. She really does look wolfish now, like Cahir but snow white.
“We should probably go find Shane,” she says, and Glenn blinks. That’s the first time he’s heard her speak. “Talk it out.”
Daryl opens his mouth and Cahir growls softly.
“Not apologize,” the daemon corrects herself. “They deserved every one of those bites. But talk. Make a plan, so the group doesn’t split.”
Rick sighs again but agrees with her. “Okay,” he says. “Let’s find Shane.”
“Dad?” Carl says, hovering in the doorway. He’s brought Dale with him and his eyes are wide and earnest.
“Hey, Carl,” Rick says softly.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m going to talk to Shane.”
“You’re not going to fight with him again, are you?” Leah melts into a ferret’s shape and Carl cuddles her close.
“No,” Rick says, his eyes pale and kind. “No, we’re just gonna talk about some things.”
“Can I come?”
“You ask your mom?”
“She’s asleep.”
“Better not wake her then,” Rick says, and rests a hand on his son’s shoulder. “C’mon. Let’s go find your godfather.”
Glenn and Daryl hang back a bit as the other three head off in Shane’s direction.
“You were pretty good back there,” Glenn says, admiring. “You got through his thick head, anyway.” Meiri chatters in agreement, hopping back on Cahir’s head.
“Huh,” Daryl says. “The way you were lookin’ at me, Short Round, I thought I was fuckin’ up all over the place.”
“You could’ve been a little nicer about it,” the younger man points out. “He’s not that much of a dumbass. All the time.”
“Uh huh,” Daryl laughs. “Keep tellin’ yourself that, kid. Now c’mon. We’re gonna miss the show.”
They jog after the other three to the opposite end-really what are they, five-year-olds dividing up the playground?-of the hallway. Shane’s in the last room, and he’s pacing, around and around.
Kali looks wolf too, big and dark and fierce, and she immediately growls when they step into the room.
“I’m not here to fight,” Rick says tiredly. His hands hang limp at his sides. “Look, Shane, I know you want to be a part of the baby’s life, and that’s fine, I get that. You’re the father-”
“Naw, man,” Shane says slowly, shaking his head. “I shouldn’tve tried to use it against you like that. It ain’t far to you.”
Neither of them say anything else and Darly rolls his eyes at Glenn. Cops, he mouths.
Bunch of emotionally constipated assholes, Glenn mouths back, and the hunter cracks a smile. Cahir rumbles a laugh and Nurya hoots gently from Dale’s shoulder, rustling her wings.
The tension in the room seems to fade, just a little.
“Apologize to each other,” Dale suggests. “Shake hands.”
Both former cops do, and El and Kali meet in the middle of the room, touching noses. El licks a wound on Kali’s face and Kali soothes down a torn patch of El’s fur.
“There,” says Dale, and Nurya hoots approvingly. “Now talk it out like men. We need a decision on what to do, and it’d be nice to get one without bloodshed.”
“I know you want to leave,” Rick says carefully, “but Shane, brother, it’s just not safe. You said it yourself, this place got overrun before. We need everyone here until we all can move out again.”
“See, I disagree,” Shane says just as carefully. “We can clear the area and send out a scouting party, see if Fort Benning’s useable, if there’s the Republic there. It’s better to keep moving than to stay in one spot, if we don’t have good enough protection.
Glenn kind of wants to bang his head into the wall. Meiri, still balancing on Cahir’s head, licks his hand comfortingly.
Outside the room in the hallway there’s a crash, and Maggie shouts his name frantically.
Frowning, Glenn ducks his head outside of the room.
“Glenn,” she says and nearly tackles him, the force of it pushing him back and knocking the little notebook out of his pocket. “Oh, Glenn.”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, and Meiri immediately goes to comfort a distressed Luke. “Maggie, sweetheart, what’s going on?”
She’s crying hard, harder than she did when they executed her family, and Glenn feels the tremors all the way up into his chest.
“Glenn,” she whispers, “Glenn, my father’s missing.”
“What?” Rick says, coming over. “How did that happen? We’ve had somebody on watch this whole time, right?”
“T-Dog says he got distracted,” she mumbles, holding tight to Glenn. “He got up to go to the bathroom, says he was gone for maybe two minutes, Dad must’ve slipped out then-”
Oh shit, Glenn thinks, over and over again. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
Daryl swears, dragging a hand through his hair.
“Don’t worry,” Rick says. “We’ll find him, he can’tve gotten far-”
“Now wait a minute,” Shane says, dark-eyed. “You’re not serious. Didn’t you learn anything from last time, man? We ain’t gonna find him out there! It’s dark, it’s cold, he’s half-crazy as it is. You really wanna risk all our lives again? To find exactly the same thing?”
“I have to try,” Rick murmurs. El blinks up at him sadly. “It’s my fault they’re out here in the first place, I took them from their home-”
“’cause the walkers were closing in,” Shane snaps. “And they wanted to come. Hershel’s insane, I said that before. He ain’t your responsibility. He’s dead already and you know it, Rick.”
“You’re being an idiot,” Kali adds darkly, her claws scraping the cement floor. She whine-growls at El, restless. “We’re not gonna find them. We shouldn’t even try.”
Maggie goes angry and tight against Glenn but he holds her back. He knows that gleam in Rick’s eye. “Rick’s got this,” he whispers in Maggie’s ear, and Mei licks Luke comfortingly.
“Tell you what,” Rick says. “We go out and look for Hershel, you and me. One day of looking. If we don’t find him, we come back, and the day after that we all go to Fort Benning. Sound good?”
Shane rocks back on his heels, sucking in his lips.
Take the deal, you idiot, Glenn thinks. At his feet, Meiri bristles. Take the deal, take the deal.
Kali chuffs, and Shane nods. “Okay,” he says. “Okay, that’s a deal. And if the Republic of Heaven doesn’t work out, we’ll come back here. Good?”
Rick nods, and El bows her head. “Deal.”
“I’m coming too,” Glenn says immediately. “I want to help.”
Maggie tightens her grip on his shirt.
“I’ll guess Cahir n’ me’ll go too,” Daryl says. “Lord knows y’all can’t track for shit.”
“If your dad’s out there, we’ll find him,” Glenn promises. “We’ll find him, Maggie.”
“Better get movin’,” Shane says, brushing past Glenn and Maggie. Rick’s hot on his heels and El and Kali walk together in perfect tandem, yin and yang, light and dark.
Daryl nudges Dale out and Carl follows them wide-eyed, poor kid.
“Glenn,” Maggie says, when she pulls back. Her eyes are puffy and red but determined, and Luke climbs onto her shoulder. “You’ll bring my dad back?”
“I’ll try,” he says.
She nods. “Good. If he’s-if he’s bit, Glenn, don’t bring him back. Shoot him, okay? Promise me you’ll shoot him if he’s been bit.”
Glenn swallows and nods. “Okay,” he whispers. “I won’t let him suffer.”
She relaxes a little, head hanging. “Thank you,” she says.
He nods. “Go ahead and go back to the main room. I’ll be right behind you.”
She nods and leaves, staggering back down the hall.
Glenn looks at Mei, and she looks back sadly. “Are we gonna find him?” he asks.
“I hope so,” his daemon whispers. She grabs the fallen notebook in her teeth and scrambles up to his shoulder, dropping it in his hands.
It falls open on the page of the snarling, bloody Heart-eater, and Glenn smiles wanly. “This is gonna suck, isn’t it?”