Chapter Text
His head throbbed even worse than it had after getting utterly wasted at the CDC. The aching pain crept down his face all the way down to his jaw, and his vision swam as he blinked open his eyes, blurry and limited in perception while trying to take in the room around him. His mind screeched to a sudden halt.
Glenn shouldn’t be alive right now. There was no coming back from what Negan had done to him, as a walker or otherwise, so how was he awake? Was it… Was it a dream? One of those instinctual premonitions of the future that he now needed to avoid? But… No. It felt too real to be a dream, and he wouldn’t be so sore if it was one. The run he’d been on the other day wasn’t enough to leave him feeling like this.
He staggered to his feet, swaying slightly as his feet stabilized themselves on the ice-cold tile. “Maggie?” His throat was dry as sandpaper. Every part of him ached, and when Glenn rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision, he paused at the feeling of tight, raised skin surrounding his left eye. That… Shouldn’t be possible. How long had he been sleeping? If he really had survived Negan’s demonstration, then it would take years for those injuries to heal and scar over like this. “... Maggie? Are you here? Is anyone here?”
This wasn’t their home in Alexandria. He could see that much now, but the lack of a guard made him all but certain that Negan hadn’t captured him either. Why would he have bothered, anyway? It would’ve been a waste of medicine. “What the hell is going on…?” he whispered.
His steps slowly grew steadier as he made his way toward the oddly familiar bathroom. Everything about this place was eerily familiar. Glenn hissed quietly when his left shoulder clipped the doorframe, blinking in shock when he realized that he hadn’t seen it at all.
Glenn’s breath caught when he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He looked like himself, mostly, but… The entire upper left half of his face was covered in scarring that stretched just past his milky eye. He could even see parts that had dug deeper than the rest, grooves from barbed wire painted across his scarring like some sort of morbid, barely visible tattoo.
The earth shook. His eye blew wide at the whistling of something large falling from the sky and the roaring of nearby flames, and it was at that moment that Glenn realized exactly where he was.
He was in Atlanta. He was in his apartment. And the government had just set the city ablaze with napalm once more. It was impossible, and yet… It was the only answer that made any sense. Glenn had died. That hadn’t been some sort of dream or hallucination. He had died, and now, somehow, he’d gone back in time. He’d gone all the way back to the very beginning of the apocalypse.
And as he kneeled face down in his shower, resting his face against the drain as he slowly breathed in and out, Glenn began to plan.
He wouldn’t let things end up like they had last time. His family wasn’t going to lose so many people along the way. He was going to keep his dying promise to Maggie. He would do everything he could to keep his family safe. Whatever it took.
And when the flames began to die down and the dead truly took over the city, Glenn started preparing.
-
It took less time than Glenn expected it to for him to grow used to his shifted depth perception now that he was down an eye. He considered himself lucky that whatever had sent him back hadn’t left him with a nasty infection, a fresh wound, or an eye bulging out of its socket and allowed him to keep his finely tuned instincts from surviving well over a year into the apocalypse his first go round.
That was a thought that took more getting used to than his limited vision, quite frankly. The apocalypse had already felt like something fresh out of one of the comic books he used to love so much, the comic books that he only packed alongside his survival gear because he thought Carl would like them at this age, and now time travel was getting thrown into the mix as well? It was like something straight out of a bad sci-fi novel.
He idly wondered if anyone else had gone back in time with him, but he figured it would be safest to plan for both outcomes. In a way, he hoped that he wasn’t alone, but if someone like Negan, or any of those assholes from Terminus remembered… There were bad possibilities for people remembering too, and he would take precautions against them.
Knowing what he did now, Glenn set out to pick several stores clean of necessities that their group would need sooner or later, baby supplies included, and accumulated something that was less of a stash and more of a hoard. It looked a bit ridiculous to have so much stuff shoved into his shitty studio apartment, but he wanted to have a sizable contribution to the group by the time T-Dog and Morales started making runs into the city. He had considered going directly to the quarry instead of waiting for T-Dog to bump into him like last time, but it seemed like a pointless change that risked too much. What if he got there before they did and unintentionally scared them off? What if one of the problem members within their current group, like Shane or Ed, had gone back in time too? They would be put on edge if he showed up early, and it wasn’t like he was worried about anyone who would recognize his scar for what it was anyway. Anyone who wasn’t part of his family that had gone back would probably brush his death scar off as an accident that he hadn’t made last time, but that would only work if he didn’t do things too out of the ordinary.
It wasn’t worth the risk. So he waited.
The month went by painstakingly slowly, and his hoard grew to a truly unmanageable size, spreading into neighboring studios that he cleared and safeguarded alongside his own. It was a good thing he knew that T-Dog still had his church van at this point. They’d need it to move all of this.
Finally, the day had arrived. Glenn was like a live wire as he paced back and forth on a nearby rooftop, eagerly waiting for the first sign of that old, white van that would take him home. He had never been so happy to hear that ancient, sputtering engine that would give out on them within a week of him joining the group. He could already see the steadily growing group of walkers, too few to be considered a herd but definitely enough of them to be a problem, that T-Dog had saved him from last time, and he had no intention of risking their necks for no reason today. Not when there was a much simpler solution. Just before T-Dog got into the city proper, he crept a few streets down, peered out into a less crowded street, and shot out the window of a super fancy car.
The wailing of a car alarm was music to his ears. Glenn quickly scrambled up to the rooftops, utilizing the pathways between them, both those that existed previously and those that he added using reinforced plywood this time around, to double back to his post. He grinned as he watched the walkers steadily march off toward the sound, and by the time T-Dog pulled onto the street, even the stragglers were long gone. “Alright, it’s go time,” he muttered under his breath as he made his way down the fire escape.
T-Dog and Morales startled when he peered out of an alleyway, hands hovering just over their weapons. They didn’t draw them though, and when he beckoned for them to come his way, they both looked at each other, shrugged, made sure the street was clear, and quickly darted into the alley. The car alarm continued wailing in the distance.
“You guys do not want to go that way,” Glenn explained with a chuckle. “There are walkers crawling all over the place. Had to set off that car alarm to keep you from getting swarmed as soon as you rolled into the city. They’ve been exploring the outskirts more often lately.”
He carefully watched their expressions for any hint of recognition, but he saw nothing but gratitude shining in their eyes. It wasn’t truly a surprise, but at least he had confirmation that not everyone went back, at the very least.
“Hey, thanks, man!” T-Dog clapped him on the back with a wide grin. Glenn used to stumble every time T-Dog did that, but he could barely feel the sting of it now. It was surreal how strong he’d been forced to become. “We appreciate it. You doin’ a supply run too?”
It was also surreal to see someone be so trusting of an absolute stranger, and Glenn didn’t exactly look friendly this go around either. Were they really this naive in the early days? “More or less,” he agreed with a hum. “It never hurts to stockpile what I can.”
“You got a group?” Morales’ question was a touch more wary, more cautious, and it gave Glenn hope that he had survived after parting ways with them at the quarry. He had good instincts. His friendly nature still shone through, but he could tell that Glenn was dangerous too.
He shook his head. “Nope. It’s just me. I’ve been in the city since the start of it all, slowly working my way through it and gathering everything I could. Just kept putting one foot in front of the other, you know? Figured that it’d either help me outlast this thing or make a good gift if I found a group willing to let me join.” He gave them both a pointed once-over. “Your clothes look clean. You don’t look poorly fed either. Do you guys have a group?” He tilted his head slightly as he asked the question, trying to look as unassuming as possible. It only half-worked. “Because I could show you my stash! There’s no way I could move it all on my own, but it should fit into that van of yours. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about doing a supply run either, unless you were looking for something specific…?”
T-Dog and Morales exchanged a quick look. Hope and tension danced in their eyes, and Glenn knew their answer before T-Dog said a word. “Hell, that sounds like a plan to me, man. Even if ya don’t have something we need, we could go look for it after. But we should probably introduce ourselves first. I’m T-Dog, and this is Morales.”
“I’m Glenn,” he said with a crooked grin. “Welcome to the big city.”
He was probably never going to forget the look of dumbfounded awe he received when they saw his treasure trove of supplies. Enough food to last their group months if they rationed it carefully, countless bottles of water; Gatorade; and other sports drinks, clothing in nearly every size for every season, medication, feminine hygiene products, baby supplies from infant to toddler, and a wide array of weapons greeted them. Glenn had only found a couple of guns here and there, holding onto a pistol for himself just in case, but he found a lot more ammo. His range of melee weapons was what was truly impressive, though. He knew exactly how valuable silent weapons were, and since their group didn’t have any of them outside of Daryl’s crossbow, which he grabbed every bolt he found for, before they broke down on the highway, he went out of his way to gather as many knives, hatchets, and axes as he could. He even had a shiny new machete that never left his side.
Atlanta was a goldmine for supplies this early on, and he would have been a fool to not take advantage of it.
“Dios mío…” Morales muttered with wide eyes.
“So… Can I join?” Glenn’s smile was just a bit teasing as T-Dog burst into relieved laughter.
“Dude, we’d have to be fuckin’ stupid to turn you away. This is the motherlode!” T-Dog’s grin stretched from ear to ear, and Glenn’s resolve to keep his friend alive this time only hardened further. “How the hell did you gather all of this in a month?!”
“I’ve been very, very busy,” he answered with a snort. “But we should get this all loaded up. It’s going to take us hours, and I doubt you want to be stuck in the city after dark.”
T-Dog and Morales started moving far more quickly after that. The blistering heat had them going through a few water bottles in the process, but it wasn’t as if they couldn’t afford to do so. The closer it got to sunset, the more nervous the other two became. The eerie silence that had fallen over the city certainly didn’t help; the car alarm had cut off about half an hour ago, and while the walkers would linger in that area for a while afterward, they all knew they were on a timer now.
He honestly expected more resistance about bringing along the baby supplies, but T-Dog and Morales looked oddly relieved at the sight of it. The silent question in his eyes remained unanswered until the three of them were on the road, getting outside the city limits just as the sun touched the horizon.
“I can’t believe you had baby formula and food,” T-Dog murmured with a chuckle. “It was the main thing we were looking for. This ought to keep lil Hershel fed for months.”
It felt as if his heart had stopped beating in his chest. “What?” he croaked, eyes wide with disbelief.
Morales either didn’t notice or pretended not to notice his wavering voice. “Dixon, the quiet one, not his asshole brother, has a baby with him. Maybe a year old? Somewhere right around. Said he wasn’t sure how old he was exactly, that he was looking after him for a friend, but half the camp is convinced he said that just to get Merle off his ass about it. He definitely acts like he’s his dad, and Hershel is a real white name for a little Asian kid. Maybe the baby momma dumped him on Daryl? Guess it doesn’t really matter now.”
He almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The son that he didn’t live long enough to meet was with them now? How? And if Daryl was taking care of him, then he almost certainly had gone back in time too. After living for who knew how long after Glenn died. This time travel thing was already getting horribly complicated.
But if Glenn, Daryl, and Hershel Jr. had come back, then did that mean that Maggie also…?
“You alright, man?” T-Dog asked him with a furrowed brow. “You look a little…”
Terrified. Hopeful. He could feel the tears welling up in his functioning eye as a sob built in the back of his throat. “My son is alive…!”
Morales nearly swerved off the road. “Wait– Holy shit, are you serious? Talk about a damn miracle.”
“I thought this kinda thing only happened in stories, man,” T-Dog chuckled with a slowly growing smile. “I’m really glad ya flagged us down now. Can ya imagine if we’d just passed each other by?” T-Dog shook his head at that, leveling Glenn with a curious look as he asked, “How did your kid end up with Daryl Dixon, of all people, at the end of the world? Is his mother still…?”
This was where things got a bit tricky. “Maggie’s fine. Or, well, I’m sure that she is, anyway. She lives in a pretty rural area, so there won’t be many walkers around yet. Maggie’s a real badass too; she can take care of herself. As for your other question, well… Daryl and I are close. Maggie had to move back in with her family recently, college wasn’t agreeing with her, and her father doesn’t actually… Know about Hershel. Even though he was named after him. She just didn’t get the chance to tell him before… Anyway, I still had to work, and Daryl is actually really good with kids so…” It was true enough that Glenn could say it with a straight face, but his lying skills could definitely still use some work. “I knew that if anyone could keep him safe, then it’d be Daryl, but there’s a difference between knowing and knowing, you get me? Being able to hold him in my arms will be…” Just the thought of it had tears trailing down his cheek. He was going to get to hold his son. He was going to get to shower him in love and care and make sure he was able to survive in this world.
Morales dipped his head in an understanding nod. “We’re nearly back at the quarry, so you won’t have to wait much longer. I bet Hershel is going to be really happy to see a more familiar face.” Those words almost broke him. He was so, so grateful that Daryl had clearly stepped up and helped with Hershel the same way he’d helped with Judith, but it was really hitting him now that his son had no clue who he was. The fact that his first reaction upon seeing Glenn’s face might be to burst into tears was…
No. He wouldn’t let himself dwell on that. This was a second chance, and even if Hershel did start crying as soon as he saw him, Glenn would simply wipe away his tears and remain by his side until the end. And he wasn’t going to let himself be permanently parted from his son any time soon, not this time.
He barely registered when they hit the gravel road that led into the quarry, but he was stepping out the door the second the van rolled to a halt. “Hey! Who the hell is he?!” He ignored Shane completely as he made a beeline for Daryl. The last time around, he’d been out hunting when Glenn arrived, but this time he was sitting by the fire and helping a shy, far too meek to be from the future, Carol with dinner as Sophia played peekaboo with Hershel right beside them.
And if his son’s existence by his side wasn’t proof enough that Daryl had come from the future, that this was his Daryl, then the look on his face as soon as he saw Glenn heading his way certainly was. Guilt, grief, horror, and relief all danced through Daryl’s eyes as a whispered, “Glenn…” fell from his lips.
The crackling fire was the only thing that kept Glenn from tackling Daryl in a hug then and there. “Daryl!! Hershel…!” He crouched down in front of his son with teary eyes, struggling to breathe around the lump in his throat as he whispered, “Hey, baby boy. I’m so, so sorry that I wasn’t here sooner. It must’ve been scary, huh?” Sophia gasped as she looked between them, eyes sparkling with joy as she came to the same realization that her mother did.
“Oh...!” Carol whispered as tears welled up in her eyes too. “You must be Glenn, right? Daryl’s told me all about you. I’m so glad that you’re alright.”
“Yeah, that’s me,” he murmured. In a pleasant surprise, Hershel didn’t seem bothered by his presence at all, tilting his head in innocent curiosity as he slapped an uncoordinated hand against his scarring. It should probably concern him more that he couldn’t even feel that. “I know,” he cooed. “It’s weird, isn’t it? I’m still getting used to it too.”
“Glenn…” Daryl repeated with a raspy whisper. Most of the camp was lingering nearby, taking in the scene in front of them with open curiosity. “I can’t even begin ta tell ya how sorry I am. If it hadn’t been fer me, then ya wouldn’t have–”
Glenn cut him off with a stern look. “Don’t you even start with that, Daryl. This?” Glenn loosely gestured to the left side of his face, “Is no one but Negan’s fault. I don’t blame you for what happened. You don’t need my forgiveness because there is nothing to forgive.” A smile tugged at his lips as Hershel crawled closer to him, babbling happily as he pressed a kiss against his son’s forehead. “Besides, any debt you may have owed me was repaid several times over for this. Looking after Hershel, keeping him safe… I’m the one that can never repay you for that. Thank you, Daryl.”
They both knew that he wasn’t just talking about this time. Daryl’s cheeks flushed a ruddy red as he dipped his head, but his hair wasn’t long enough for him to hide behind anymore. He’d gone back to the same exact appearance he had at the beginning of it all, and Glenn couldn’t help wondering why that was. Did he get sent back with Hershel instead of his old body? And if that was the case, then why were they both sent back with some sort of physical link to their old timeline? Would anyone else that was sent back have some sort of physical proof of it? Was it to keep them from denying it? So many questions and no answers.
“Weren’t no trouble,” Daryl murmured quietly. “Was the least I coulda done, really. Weren’t gonna let nothin’ happen to ‘im no matter what.”
It was only then that it truly sunk in how afraid Daryl must have been. Waking up in the past was already a lot to take in, doing so and being left with a baby to take care of, a baby that he couldn’t even be sure either parent would remember having, must have been terrifying.
His arms trembled as he wrapped them around Daryl in a hug. “Thank you,” he whispered again. For being there for Maggie and Hershel in the wake of his death. For taking care of Hershel during the most chaotic, dangerous part of this outbreak. For so many things that he really didn’t even know where to start. It was a good thing that he didn’t need to say the words aloud for them to be heard.
Glenn was pretty sure that the last time he’d heard Daryl sound so close to tears was when they’d lost Sophia. His arms were shaking just as badly as Glenn’s. “I missed ya, ya crazy bastard.”
“Hey, it takes one to know one, right?” Glenn asked with a chuckle, delighting in Daryl’s answering huff of laughter.
Shane raised an eyebrow at them both, hands resting on his hips and his head cocked in that self-important way that Glenn had nearly forgotten about. “Does anybody feel like tellin’ me what’s goin’ on here?”
T-Dog jumped on the opportunity. “We bumped into Glenn here during our supply run. There were apparently a bunch of walkers roaming around where we were coming into the city, but we wouldn’t have seen ‘em until it was too late. He set off a car alarm a few streets over to draw ‘em away and warned us when we got there. We got to talkin’, and it turns out that he’s been in Atlanta since the start of this mess! He had a whole buncha supplies stashed away and offered to share them with our group if he was allowed to join.”
“We figured it wouldn’t hurt to look,” Morales continued with a shrug. “If he tried anything, then it was two against one, and he had a pretty obvious blind spot. Literally. But the supplies he had…! It took all day to move it all into the van. Didn’t even have time to hit up any stores ourselves, and honestly, we didn’t need to.”
“He’s Hershel’s papa!” Sophia whispered excitedly, and it was that more than anything else that had the tension slowly easing out of Shane’s shoulders.
“Well then, ain’t that lucky?” Shane murmured with a familiar, calculating gleam in his eye. Huh. Glenn had thought he only gained that look after Rick joined their group, but it would seem that wasn’t the case. “Let’s go check out what they brought home, hm?”
There were stunned faces all around as T-Dog popped open the back of the van, and even Daryl let out an impressed whistle. “You’ve been busy, haven’t ya?”
He bounced Hershel on his hip with a smug, satisfied grin. “Yep. Wanted to make sure whatever group I wound up with knew exactly what I was bringing to the table from the start.”
In other words, he intended to be taken far more seriously from the get-go here. He needed to be if he wanted any chance of changing certain things to come. Daryl had likely realized the same thing if the others’ improved opinions of him, even if most were still rather lukewarm, were any indication.
Shane’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “I’d say you succeeded at that. Say, how do you feel about being our primary supply runner?”
“I’d love to,” he agreed with a dip of his head. “I can’t be gone constantly because of Hershel, but…”
“Bring back hauls like this and you’ll hardly need to,” Shane answered with a snort. “Hell, this could last us months as it is. It’s just better to actively replenish things as we use them. Let’s say… One supply run a week until we start getting lower?”
The fact that Shane was asking his opinion at all was already a shocking change. “Sure, sounds good to me! I’ll grab anything that seems useful, but if there’s anything we’re low on or any requests, then just let me know. I’ll do my best to find it. Oh! And I’d really prefer to work alone, if you don’t mind? It’s easier for me to sneak around the walkers if I don’t have to worry about someone following behind me, and there’s no fighting them once you run into one of the herds in the city.”
Shane looked like he was going to protest that just like he did last time until Daryl interjected with, “I could go with ‘im. We work well together, an’ my crossbow is quiet. Just the two of us, in an’ out, no problem.” Shane waffled over that for a few moments, clearly weighing the pros and cons of sending one of his two hunters into the city. But as Shane himself said, they wouldn’t need to do it often after Glenn’s stash joined their resource pool.
“... We can work with that.”
This was already shaping up to be a far better start than last time.
-
“So no one else remembers?”
“Nah. Woulda shown signs by now if they did, ‘specially once ya strolled up ta camp lookin’ so different.” Guilt still lingered in the corners of Daryl’s eyes, but at least he was looking Glenn in the eye again. He’d struggled to do so that first week. “Should be able ta tell if any of the others do once we see ‘em again.”
There were some things that simply couldn’t be hidden. The instinct that came with living in the apocalypse was one of those things. Daryl had the excuse of hunting and generally providing for himself to fall back on, and Glenn could easily say that his skills came from surviving in Atlanta alone for a month. But that only worked on people who didn’t know. If anyone else remembered, they’d be able to tell that he and Daryl did just as surely as they would notice it in them. Like recognized like and all of that.
“Whether or not Rick comes riding into Atlanta like Clint Eastwood again should be a pretty clear indicator of if he remembers,” Glenn said with a snort.
If everything went the same as it did last time, then today should be the day he rejoined their family. Either he’d head straight for the quarry or straight into the trap that Atlanta had become, and neither of them was willing to risk him doing the latter without backup. Their previous successes on supply runs together did ensure that Shane allowed just the two of them to go, however, which both made for a far easier trip and ensured that there was absolutely no risk of Merle getting left behind this time.
“An’ are ya ready fer what we’ll have ta do if he don’t remember?”
Glenn was really trying not to think about that. Because they couldn’t, in good conscience, allow Rick to make the same mistakes he did the first time when they already knew the outcome of those decisions, and they definitely couldn’t let Shane stay in charge. “Are you sure you don’t want to try for leadership yourself?” he pleaded.
Daryl laughed at him outright. “Hell no! I ain’t got the soft touch that they still need right now, an’ they already trust ya a hell of a lot more than they do me. Hershel helped, but not that much. ‘Sides, even Shane likes ya this time ‘round, an’ that makes it easier. He listens to ya, so the others will too.”
“And if he still goes around the bend and tries to kill me this time?” he muttered under his breath. It was still pretty likely that Rick would be the target of Shane’s ire for stealing Lori and Carl away from him, he wasn’t sure that there was anything they could do to change that situation, but having threats to his power closing in on all sides certainly wouldn’t help matters.
“That’s why it’s gotta be you. Yer a shit liar, but ya can be subtle when ya need ta be. He won’t notice that yer bein’ anythin’ but helpful ‘til it’s too late.”
That was… Probably true, honestly, and it helped him breathe a bit easier. “Thanks.”
“Ain’t no trouble. Someone gotta get ya outta yer head.” The car they’d taken for this trip, they didn’t take Daryl’s truck since there was a fifty-fifty chance of them losing their vehicle today, slowed to a halt as they finally entered Atlanta proper. “Ya ready?”
“Yeah, follow me. We should hole up in that department store ahead of time. I’m not risking Rick showing up earlier than last time and getting us caught out in that herd.”
“Hear ya loud an’ clear,” Daryl agreed with a snort. “Shane can’t say shit if we have one bad run anyway. Supplies ain’t gonna be easy ta find fer long.”
Waiting was torture. They cleared the convenience store of anything useful, including getting the gloves and ponchos ready for their old escape plan if needed, and after that, they were left to sit there and wait for what felt like an eternity.
Then the gunshots started.
“Oh, goddammit,” Glenn swore. “I really hoped I wouldn’t have to do this again.”
Daryl snickered at his abject misery, the traitor, though a hint of concern tugged at the corners of his eyes. “Ya gonna be good ta get ‘im out of this mess again? I know yer eye ain’t stopped ya before now, but…” There was a huge difference between scavenging and running headlong into a herd of hundreds of walkers, and they both knew it.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m armed this time, and I’ve gotten used to fighting like this. Practiced running this exact path a few times too, just in case. I could probably do it in my sleep by now.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Daryl asked with a snort. “This is why yer gonna be the leader. Always plannin’ an’ shit.”
“Please stop reminding me!” he groaned as they watched Rick finally pull the tank’s hatch shut, buying himself time as the walkers feasted on the horse that had fallen beneath their frenzy. Glenn tried not to think about the way his mouth watered at the sight of that horse. He was probably just hungry, and it felt like such a waste for all of that meat to be wasted like this.
He took a deep, steadying breath before speaking into his walkie. “Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Are you cozy in there?”
Daryl snorted, and his eyes shone with mirth as he muttered, “Ain’t no way ya said that to ‘im the first time. Ya takin’ the piss outta him?”
“On the contrary, that’s exactly what I said last time. Though I am making fun of him too. Just a little bit.”
“An’ ta think that I once thought ya were a complete pushover.” Daryl shook his head with a quiet laugh. “Was an idiot. Ya just know when ta pick yer battles.”
“To be fair, I was sort of a pushover those first few months. I was just snarky too.” Glenn’s walkie crackled to life with a sharp burst of static that made his ears ring, promptly cutting off their conversation when Rick’s anxious voice carried through.
“Hello? Hello?”
“There you are. You had me worried for a moment there.”
“Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?”
It was just as difficult to get a good look at the tank through the throng of walkers pressing against the doors as it was last time, but he could still see it if he stretched up on his tiptoes. “Yeah, I can see you. You’re surrounded by walkers. That’s the bad news.”
“There’s good news?”
“No.” Daryl snorted at his immediate response.
“Listen, whoever you are, I don’t mind telling you that I’m a little concerned in here.”
“I know. I would be too, but don’t worry. We’re gonna get you out of there.”
The relief in Rick’s voice could be heard loud and clear. “You’ve got a plan?”
“Yeah, but you’re not gonna like it. We don’t have a large enough group or nearly enough ammo to take down those walkers. It’ll just get all three of us killed. You’re gonna have to make a run for it.”
“That’s it? Make a run for it? That’s your plan?”
“I know it sounds bad, but it really is your best chance. You’ve got eyes on the outside here, and the situation isn’t as hopeless as you think it is. There’s one walker still up on the tank, but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. You with me so far?”
“So far.”
“Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they’re distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?” He was fairly certain that Rick would have the same amount as before, but it was better to check. Something could have changed, no matter how small, and he’d need to take it into account if it had.
“In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?”
Glenn had every intention of making sure they grabbed that bag before leaving the city this time, but it still wasn’t an option yet. “Forget the bag, okay? It’s not an option right now. What do you have on you?”
“Hang on.” There were a few beats of silence broken only by the faint sound of groaning outside. The fact that there were a few walkers smashing huge rocks against the window, no matter how poorly coordinated, disturbed him far more this time than it had last time. Walkers weren’t supposed to be capable of thinking like that. Daryl looked a bit uneasy too, eyes narrowing as he watched the cracks slowly spread. “I’ve got a Beretta with one clip, fifteen rounds.”
“Make ‘em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There’s an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there.”
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Have you been listening? You’re running out of time!” Glenn didn’t bother bringing his backpack with him this time, passing it off to Daryl and only keeping his walkie and the weapons strapped to his hips. He’d been fine carrying everything last time, sure, but they had a better haul this time and it wasn’t worth risking when he had someone he knew he could trust with it right there. Even a second could be the difference between life and death. “I’ll be back soon. Keep an eye on that front door until I radio you, then head for the back just in case. I won’t need backup if it’s the same as last time, but if there are more…”
“Got it,” Daryl grunted. “Be careful.”
He slipped out of the back door with a weary smile, feet pounding against the pavement as he raced across the alleyway and up the stairs. Strangely enough, the walkers didn’t try to pursue him this time. He didn’t have time to think about that strange bit of good luck, focusing instead on getting up to the rooftops and over to that alleyway as quickly as possible. Gunshots echoed in the distance as he stepped off the fire escape, and he darted toward the barricade blocking this alley off from the main street as quietly as possible. The sound of gunshots steadily grew closer, and though he didn’t truly expect it, he was a bit disappointed when there wasn’t a hint of recognition in Rick’s eyes when he leveled his Beretta at Glenn’s head.
“Woah! Not dead!! Come on, we gotta go!” He waited for Rick to run through the gate before slamming it shut, sprinting past Rick while keeping an eye on his slight limp. He was so terrified that he hadn’t even noticed that last time. “That fence won’t hold ‘em forever, man! Not that many. Come on, we gotta move!!” His shadow didn’t hesitate to follow him up the fire escape this time, and he thanked God for that mercy when the chainlink fence came tumbling down only moments later.
Rick was pale and panting for breath as he looked down at the throng of shambling corpses down below. Even knowing the reason for that, he couldn’t quite help his playful jab. “Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff, come riding in to clean up the town?”
“It wasn’t my intention.
“Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You’re still a dumbass.”
“Rick. Thanks.”
He didn’t hesitate to shake the offered hand as a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Glenn. You’re welcome. Now come on. With that many walkers and a cage around the ladder, they might actually be able to get up here. This one, though?” Glenn looked up at the long stretch of ladder with absolutely no guard whatsoever. “They’ll fall. And on the bright side, if we fall, then it’ll be the fall that kills us, not them. I’m a glass-half-full kinda guy.” Rick hesitated to follow him up, but when one of the walkers got ahold of the ladder down below and managed to pull itself up a rung, he started climbing pretty quickly. They kept quiet until they began crossing over the rooftops, steadily making their way back over to the department store.
“Are you the one that barricaded the alley?”
“Nah, I focused on making the rooftops more traversable. I was alone for the first month and wanted to avoid the walkers as much as possible. Somebody must have done it, though. Maybe when the city first got overrun? Whoever did it was thinking. Not many walkers can get through unless a herd breaks the whole thing down.”
“Back at the tank, why’d you stick your neck out for me?”
“Consider it foolish, naive hope that if I’m ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me.” Sure, not many of them would do it yet, but they would later on. Daryl would now. So would Rick. He had no intention of getting grabbed by the Vatos this time, but he knew that Rick would make the same call if he was. They were family, and even if that wasn’t why he did it last time, it was why he still did it this time. There was no universe in which they left Rick behind, not even when he didn’t remember a thing. “Guess I’m an even bigger dumbass than you.” He climbed down the hatch and into the building just on the other side of the alley from the department store, followed by a quiet, contemplative Rick as they stepped back out into the daylight. There were only two walkers lingering in the alleyway, and he could’ve sworn that their glazed eyes didn’t show a spark of interest until they saw Rick.
He darted forward with his machete before Rick could even lift his gun, shaking his head firmly as he called back, “If you fire that thing now, then the whole herd is gonna come down on our heads. Silent weapons only.” The walkers went down well before they could alert the other two stragglers that were closer to the main street. He pulled out his walkie, whispering into it quietly both to avoid detection and to avoid getting shot by Daryl. “Hey, we’re back. We’re coming in.”
“Better hurry, doors are gonna give way soon.” Glenn cursed under his breath as he flung open the door, and they both sprinted inside with Daryl covering their backs until the door slammed shut behind them. They couldn’t rest easy yet, though. Daryl led them back into the main area, nodding his head over to the steadily spreading spiderweb of cracked glass with a grimace. “Ain’t gonna take ‘em long ta get through the first set, an’ then we only got one set o' doors separatin’ us. Ya got a plan?”
They could always go the same route they did the first time, but it seemed unnecessarily risky when thunder still rumbled in the distance. Even if they bought themselves a few extra minutes by avoiding that scuffle with Merle on the roof, it would still be far too close a call with that rain. Besides, he knew that they had a better option available to them this time. “Let’s get up on the roof for now. I need to get a better look at the surrounding area to figure out an escape plan.” Daryl dipped his head in a nod, and the slightest of grins tugged at his lips when he caught sight of the calculating gleam in Glenn’s eye. He probably had some idea of what Glenn was thinking here. After all, they’d both agreed that there was no way in hell that they were going to the CDC this time, and if they wouldn’t need the grenade for that…
“This is gonna be a sight ta see, sheriff,” Daryl chuckled as they raced up the stairs. “If ya thought Glenn’s plan ta save ya was somethin’ else, then wait’ll ya get a load a’ this.”
He peered over the edge of the rooftop with a contemplative hum. The way he saw it, they had two options here. One, they could do something similar to last time, using the grenade to create a distraction while they made a run for one of those construction vans. Merle wouldn’t steal it this time, and that would mean getting the RV a new radiator hose. However, that would also mean setting off the grenade closer to the bag of guns, preventing them from getting it, and Rick would insist they come back tomorrow to get them. The Vatos would probably abduct him again. He knew that they were good people, but he also knew that there was absolutely no way they could convince them to come with them. They couldn’t really afford to lose those guns, and they definitely couldn’t afford to arrive at the camp mid-attack again. It was the wrong choice.
Their other option was far more appealing. There was a pileup of wrecked cars just a few streets down, close to the construction site, and one of them was leaking gasoline. A rainbow sheen lingered on the street beneath them, slowly expanding with a steady drip, drip, drip of fuel seeping into the asphalt. If he dropped the grenade there, then not only would the sound draw the walkers away from their building, but the flames would continue to entrance them long after they got to the area. It would allow all three of them sneak out that back door, double back for the guns, and run for their vehicle, killing any walkers they come across along the way.
Of course, this was assuming that Rick had picked up the grenade this time too. “I think I’ve got an idea,” he murmured, glancing back at Rick with a tilted head. “But first, I’ve gotta ask: How many rounds do you have left?”
“Three,” Rick admitted sheepishly. “Sorry. I know it’s not much help.”
“Nah, even one bullet can be the difference between livin’ an’ dyin’.” Daryl shook his head, huffing at the surprised look Rick sent his way. “‘S Just common sense. Ya got anythin’ else on ya that might be useful? Anythin’ at all?”
Rick didn’t hesitate to pull the grenade out of his pocket. “Found this in the tank. Ain’t gonna do much against so many of these things, but…”
Glenn’s smile was just a bit wild around the edges. “No, it’s perfect. You see that pileup over there?” Both Daryl and Rick followed his line of sight, and he could see the instant that they connected the dots. Daryl already knew what he was capable of, but Rick was looking more stunned and impressed by the minute. “If we drop the grenade over it, then not only will the sound draw the walkers away from us, but the flames will keep them away from us. They’re drawn to light, and a fire that big is gonna be pretty noisy too. Should give us time to not only get out but also double back and grab your bag since it’s in the opposite direction. Our car is parked out that way too.” He most explained this for Rick's benefit, knowing he didn't know an awful lot about the walkers at this point. The sooner they could get him up to speed the better.
“That sounds like a damn good plan,” Rick agreed with a chuckle. “But how’re we gonna get over there to throw it in the first place? We’ll never make it past those things.”
“We don’t have to. I focused on making the rooftops more traversable, remember?” He held out his hand, smiling when Rick handed him the grenade without a beat of hesitation. “The roofs between here and there are pretty even. I was able to connect most of them with wooden planks, and I used a ladder for the only one with a steeper angle. I’ll get over there, drop it from above, and hurry back. In and out, no problem.”
“And you know how to use a grenade?” Rick didn’t sound skeptical so much as he was making sure, and Glenn nodded without hesitation.
“Never used a real one before, but I played a lot of video games before all of this. I just pull the pin, throw it, get as far away from that area as I can before it explodes, right? I've got good aim. Used to be a pitcher in high school, actually.” There wasn’t really much else to be done in this situation, but if Rick had any suggestions, then he’d be happy to hear them.
“Sounds like you’ve got the gist of it.” Rick agreed with a snort. “You sure you don’t want someone else to do it? I can.”
“No way, man. I saw the way you were limping before. Probably landed on your foot wrong when you jumped off the tank, right?” Rick grimaced slightly when Daryl’s sharp gaze landed on him. “It’s fine. We’re still gonna get out of this, but it’s better if I do this part and you rest while you can. Daryl, do you mind watching the door? I should be able to draw them off before they break in, but…”
They didn’t survive for as long as they did on shoulds and maybes. “I got it. Just focus on what ya gotta do.”
“Thanks.”
Glenn darted across the rooftops with a practiced gait, barely pausing before stepping up onto wooden planks and shuffling across them. He’d reinforced them as much as he possibly could, even connecting two planks so he could distribute his weight more evenly, but he still had to be careful not to use too much force getting onto them. The last thing he needed was to snap one of his most direct pathways back to the others in half, even if he did have a few alternate routes plotted out in his head just in case. They really couldn’t afford to eat into the time he was about to buy them like that.
He kept a very careful hold of the grenade as he climbed down the ladder and onto the rooftop just above the pileup. After a moment of careful consideration, he pulled the ladder down and laid it flat across the roof. The explosion was likely to send it flying if he left it where it was, and there was no way he’d be able to climb it and get back up to the other roof before the grenade detonated. He couldn’t see any walkers nearby. Any of them that hadn’t been part of the feeding frenzy to begin with were probably drawn in that direction by the gunshots.
A grenade was a hell of a lot louder than gunshots.
Glenn chucked the grenade toward the cars the second he pulled the pin, diving for the concrete and covering his ears as a deafening explosion rang out. The roaring of flames followed quickly after, and he could feel the heat dancing across his face even from this distance. He swallowed harshly as he got the ladder resituated, quickly climbing it before the metal got unbearably hot to the touch. It was already uncomfortably warm from the summer sun blazing above, and it was only a matter of time before it actually burned him with flames like that down below.
Daryl was laughing outright at the look on Rick’s face when he got back. “I told ya he had it, ya damn mother hen. Glenn’s one of the toughest bastards I ever met.”
Rick’s eyes lingered on the left side of his face as he murmured, “I’m beginning to understand that.” The former cop shook his head slightly, eyebrows climbing as he peered over the edge of the roof and watched the walkers make a steady march toward the raging fire. “Well, I’ll be damned… You do this kinda thing before?”
“Sort of. I usually just blow out a car’s window, set off its alarm, you know? But I’m glad you had that grenade. We wouldn’t have been able to keep a herd that size distracted by a car alarm for long. Flames seem to sort of… Hypnotize them? I don’t know how well they can see, but I’ve seen more than a few ignore me completely to keep staring into flames. I was being quiet, but I wasn’t super far from them either.”
Rick hummed at that, and he could practically see him filing that information away for later. “Noted.”
“Now come on!” Daryl barked. “Let’s get the hell outta here. Any of ‘em that ain’t gone already ain’t gonna go. Here,” Daryl shoved the hatchet that they’d taken from the back room into Rick’s hands before passing Glenn’s backpack back over to him. “Silent weapons only, understand? Ya start firin’ off rounds again, an’ we’re all dead.”
“Understood.”
It was almost comical how uneventful their escape was this time around. Only a few walkers were still beating against the glass doors, and he didn’t miss the fact that every one of them held a rock in their hands. But without the pressure of dozens of bodies pressing against it, breaking the doors down was slow going, and they were going to be long gone before the stragglers broke through the first set of them. The alleyway was clear when they stepped out into it, and the only walker they had to put down on the way to the bag of guns was one who had lost its legs and was dragging herself along by the arms. Neither he nor Daryl slowed down for a second, but it was so like Rick to pause and swing the axe down on her head, putting her out of her misery before swiftly rejoining them.
They didn’t speak a word until Daryl had started the car and gotten them outside of the city limits, and they breathed a collective sigh of relief as they left Atlanta behind them. Now that he didn’t have to worry about distracting him, it was time to lead Rick into discovering the good news. “Hey, thanks again for that grenade. I still can’t believe just how well that worked.”
“It was my fault you two were caught up in that mess anyway,” Rick said with a shake of his head. “It was the least I could do.”
“Say, do you have a group, by any chance? I figured if you’re carrying around that many weapons then you might, but I wanted to extend an offer to you if not. We could use more people who can keep their heads in a situation like that.”
“There’s more than just the two of you?” Rick asked with a gleam of hope in his eyes, and Glenn was quick to nod in answer. “I don’t have a group, but I’ve been looking for my wife and son ever since I woke up in the hospital. Lori and Carl Grimes? Does that sound familiar?”
The smile that lit up Glenn’s face had tears welling up in Rick’s eyes before he could even say a word. “Yeah, they’re at the quarry with us. Shane brought them.”
“Oh, thank God…!” Rick dragged his hand down his face with a relieved laugh. “What’re the odds of me running into people who could get me outta that mess and take me home to my family?”
“About the same as the odds of me getting brought back to the camp and finding Daryl taking care of my son, probably,” Glenn whispered with a smile, bumping against Daryl’s shoulder and getting a playful glare in return.
“Don’t knock me off the damn road...!” Daryl’s glower fooled neither of them with the way his cheeks tinged red, and Rick chuckled, shaking his head in awe and disbelief.
“Thank you. I owe both of you and Shane more than I can ever repay, but I will spend the rest of my life tryin’.”
“Ain’t like that no more,” Daryl murmured. “Gotta look out for our own. Don’t owe us nothin’. Just have our back like we got yers.”
“I think I can do that,” Rick agreed with a smile.
Rick was practically trembling with anticipation for the entire drive, and as soon as their vehicle rolled to a stop he was jumping out of it. “Carl!! Lori!”
“Dad! Dad!!” Carl sprinted forward with a sob, tackling his father in a hug that was immediately returned. Rick held Carl like he was the single most precious thing in the entire world. Lori looked just as horrified as she was relieved to see Rick again, turmoil dancing through her eyes as she wrapped her arms around them both. Daryl skirted around the reunion to take Hershel from Amy, giving Glenn a pointed look just as Shane and Lori locked eyes.
If he was going to try to do anything about that disaster, then he needed to nip it in the bud now. “Hey, Shane, mind if we talk for a second?” His voice was layered with an urgency that made Shane jolt slightly before turning to face him. “In private?”
Shane’s eyes lingered on the Grimes family for a few beats longer before he murmured, “Sure. Come on.” The trees gave them some illusion of privacy, and he didn’t miss the way Shane’s eyes roved over him. “Y’all run into any trouble out there? None of ya bit?”
“What? No, we’re all fine. Just figured you might need a minute to step away from that.” He nodded his head back toward the camp, leaving absolutely no question about what he meant. “Can’t be easy.”
“I don’t like what you’re insinuating.” Shane’s eyes glinted with steel, and if he was still the Glenn from the first time around, he would have cowered beneath that look. It only made him square his shoulders now, though. “Rick is my best friend! I’m thrilled to see him alive. I was so sure that… I even listened for his heartbeat, man! I didn’t hear nothin’. So how is he…?”
“Could be something to do with what this disease is,” Glenn answered with a shrug. “By all rights, he shouldn’t have survived the outbreak, and it sounded like he woke up from his coma pretty recently. Didn’t know better than to go shooting up the streets, in any case. Learned pretty quickly.” He shook his head with a sigh. “The power grid went down weeks ago. No food, no water… He shouldn’t have made it more than a few days like that. And then waking up, getting out of a hospital, and getting all the way to Atlanta right after that? If it wasn't a miracle that he woke up at all, then it's definitely a miracle he didn’t die along the way. Plain and simple. No one will blame you for thinking he was dead.”
Those words eased some of the tension out of Shane’s shoulders, but there were still lingering remnants of it. “Nah, man, you didn’t see the look in Lori’s eyes. She definitely blames me. Thinks I… Thinks I lied to her or some shit, like I stole her from her husband. I would never do that to Rick, man! Never!”
“I believe you. And it’s because I saw the way that she looked at you that I asked you to talk, actually,” he murmured while he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Listen, it’s going to be better for all three of you if you clear the air sooner rather than later. Sure, I haven’t known him for as long as you have, but Rick doesn’t seem like the kinda guy to blame you for this. Either of you. He knows that him surviving is a miracle, and if you and Lori try to hide what happened before he came back, then the tension between you three is only going to get worse. It’s going to weaken the whole group. We can’t afford that.”
He could practically see Shane running different scenarios through his head, grimacing when he realized that Glenn had a point. “Shit. Shit, man, are you sure? There’s no other way? I don’t want to ruin their reunion with this.”
“You need to rip that bandaid off now before infection starts to fester in the wound.” Glenn’s eye was just as hard as Shane’s as he said, “I don’t care how you guys work it out, but you need to. Quickly. I will not have you endangering my son’s life with petty drama, understand? We have bigger problems to worry about than who slept with who, and if you don’t want to lose your best supply runners and only hunters, then you’ll get this situation handled before it becomes a problem.”
Because there was no question about it, if Glenn and Hershel left, then Daryl would go with them. Merle would complain about it, but he would come too. Of course, Glenn would never go through with that threat, but that didn’t matter so long as Shane believed he would. And he barely needed to look at him to see that he did believe it.
“Yeah, I get you, man. Don’t do anything drastic, okay? These people need you. I’ll get it sorted.”
“Thanks, Shane. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. Just thought you should know that.” His shoulders slumped with relief as he walked back toward the camp, leaving Shane to his thoughts. Only time would tell whether he’d made a difference or not, but it was worth a try. They had far bigger problems to worry about than people like Shane and Merle, and if they could keep them on their side, then they were going to do everything within their power to do so.
Even one person could be the difference between life and death. Glenn intended to save as many of them as he possibly could, and he knew that Daryl would be right by his side through it all.