Okay, so this is my first fan fiction, but I'm hoping it's not too bad so far. It's set in an AU where the group stayed put after Rick joined them, so Glenn is still doing runs into the city everyday. Everything is told from Glenn's perspective, but I might add in some other peoples' points of view later on. Reviews would be appreciated, feel free to point out anything I can improve.
Of course, all of this is property of AMC, apart from my OC.
Chapter One
"Hey." I jumped. What the hell was that? Startled, I looked around, attempting to find the idiot that was loudly whispering at me.
It took me a second to spot her, but I soon saw her in the shadow of the air ducts protruding from the next roof over. She was skinny, but obviously not because she was starving. Her small stature gave her an innocent look, but it was obvious from the knife strapped to her thigh that she was far from it. Adding to this was the fact that she had a gun trained at my head.
"I need to talk to you." Her voice was steady, but she didn't seem aggressive, just cautious, as she was talking with a sense of casualty.
"Who the hell are you?" This was the first time that I had come across another person in the city, apart from Rick. I had thought about the complete desolation and emptiness of the place before, but I guess I had never considered that maybe people were still surviving here. But now, here was some pretty girl hanging out on a roof just waiting to speak to me.
"I've seen you around before. Now, your guy - the crass, loud one - I thought you should know that he's alive. An idiot, but alive."
Straight to the point then. Merle was alive, at least we knew that now. Of course, we had already assumed as much because of our truck being stolen, but now we knew for sure.
"Oh… Uh, thanks. Really, thanks. Can I just ask, why did you do this? And who are you?"
"I did it because I thought you'd want to know what happened to him. I mean, you did chain him to a roof and leave him there, but I figured it wasn't completely your fault." How did she know that?
"And, like I said, I've seen you around. I figured I should talk to you at some point. I'm just using this as my excuse." At that she gave a laugh, dropping her gun and returning it to it's holster on her hip. I put down my arms, which I had subconsciously raised.
" So, you said you live here?"
"Yeah, I do now. Ever since the outbreak." How this was possible, I had no idea. I had learned to slip in and out of Atlanta and had never considered staying for more than a few hours. There were Geeks were in pretty much every building I had come across, so I guess she had somehow managed to clear one out and secure it for the time being.
"How did you know what happened with Merle?" I sort of blurted it out. I hadn't really intended for it to sound so much like an accusation, but I couldn't exactly take it back now.
She cracked a half smile, "I was kind of watching you guys for a bit there. You caught my attention. Mainly because of the yelling, but also because you guys were, you know, alive. I was watching from a few buildings over, but only caught the tail end of the drama, right when you and that other guy left, and then the rest of your guys waited around for a bit. Then they all ran, but one guy waited around, flailed a bit and then followed, leaving behind… Merle?"
I nodded. The fact that she had been watching us freaked me out a bit, but I guess it's what anyone what anyone would have done.
"I was going to help him," she continued, "but I thought I should wait until he cooled off a bit. He screamed his head off for a while, then went straight to cutting off his freaking hand."
It was definitely Merle that she was describing. "Yeah, good choice. And Merle isn't all bad. He is harsh and pretty disgusting at times, I'll admit it, but I think he's mostly a good guy. He has a brother. We came back with him, but we just found a hand."
"That must have been… Exciting." She smiled again. I liked her, especially now that she was no longer threatening me with a weapon. She was more normal than I would expect someone in her situation to be, but she still definitely knew what she was doing. Surviving in the city could have been possible for anyone in the first few weeks if they had just been smart enough to barricade themselves in a room with some supplies, but the fact that she had survived this long while still moving around the area was amazing. It would have taken a certain amount of skill to do.
It wasn't just her apparent skill that I was considering. She had a sense of humour: something that was fairly absent in most people right now. Already she was coming across as more light hearted than anyone that I knew. It was a nice change. I guess it didn't hurt that she was pretty, either.
