Maggie looked at me. Her eyes were over-flown with tears, and she was angry.
"You don't love me.." She spoke. Shit. She doesn't understand at all. What she and I have is.. Lust.
"It's not a good time to discuss, this." I replied coolly. That was it. that's just all I could've said. She looked shocked. Her chocolate brown hair tangled past her hazel eyes, and locked right onto me.
"Time? Glenn I'm not exactly going anywhere, we have all the time in the world!" Maggie argued.
"Yes, we do. Maggie we have so much time." I tried calming her. Nope. She wasn't having it. She stepped away in disgust.
"I won't wait around until you get bored of me and y'all decide to leav-" Maggie's tears cut her off. Her eyes were faintly red from the tears, she couldn't handle my presence. She bolted out.
"Maggie wait!" I called. Shit.. Does love really effect someone like that?
Hershel entered. Great. I'm going to be put on his bad side again.
Hershel looked at me, then to the front door. He looked somewhat content, with a little fear.
"I-," he'd cut me off.
"No need to explain, I heard it from upstairs. Everyone heard it." Hershel stated. My stomach felt like it was turning. I was so nervous.
"Sir, I didn't mean for her to run off like that.. If I had just told her I loved her back-" I panicked.
"Whoa kid, slow your roll. Now I would've been mad at you if you had lied to my daughter about your feelings. But lets be honest, you should never say what you don't feel. Don't ever do that. Lying will only hurt her more, be honest with yourself. " He advised. I'd never
thought I'd hear this from a farmer. wise man.
"Thanks. I'll make something of it, I promise!" I said as I walked out the door. I turned to see him smirk before disappearing into the kitchen.
I started to panic. "Where's Maggie?" "It's my fault if she ends up.." I should never think that way. She's fine.
I saw Lori and Shane by the tree. "What were they doing?"
"Shane please, my family will be destroyed. "I'm not yours." She attacked sympathetically. He looked destroyed.
"I'm sorry about Annie. She was your high school sweetheart. But Christ Shane, Rick is your best friend. And I can only blame myself for how you are now. I'm not yours. You've been in this family for the longest time, I'd hate for you to leave it. I'm so sorry for leading you on." Lori finished.
"How can you treat me like that?" Shane questioned. Lori couldn't get through to him. He wasn't going to listen that night. Lori saw Rick exit the house and walked up to him. Shane angrily walked toward the barn.
I shouldn't be concerned about my friends problems right now. It was about Maggie. For Christ sake it's 11:40 in the middle of the night! She's in trouble. The grassy plains quietly lingered in the wind, and the trees rustled. I remembered Maggie tell me Hershel had built her and Beth a secret Tree house when they were kids, a place to hide from the world. I should look there.
"Watch where you're goin' man."
"My bad." I replied.
Daryl spat at me. He was always giving that attitude away like someone enjoyed it, or could actually handle it. There's only one person that could. And that person was Carol. She was always able to calm him half way, but manage to keep her cool. I don't know much about her, I just know she had an abusive husband named Jacqui who loved to hit her for no apparent reason. ass-hole. There was something about Daryl that grabbed her attention. And it was far from the bad-ass lingo. She looked past his cold heart, snappy attitude and found a nice guy. The only one that went out searching for the girl that was right next to us the entire time. Sophia. Daryl cried when she walked out of that barn Life-less. Rick had to send her to heaven. It was the right thing to do.
I turned to see Carl sitting on a fence. Man that kid never stayed in the house.
"Carl? What're you doing out here? It's almost midnight, do you know how dangerous that is?" I asked him. He looked at me innocently.
"Sorry Glenn. I just wanted a childhood, ya know? There's no room for adventure when my mom constantly wants me in the house. And my dad and Shane have been fighting a lot. They're supposed to be best friends." He told me. This kid has it bad.
"Of course I understand. And you know, best friends aren't always gonna get along. And life before, I mean before the apocalypse I worked at Luigi's Pizza Parlor. Not exactly the dream job, huh?" I laughed. Carl smirked at me and fixed his hat.
"C'mon Glenn, the others are probably wondering where we are." He said while walking ahead. He's a good kid.
"Maggie! Maggie!" several voices yelled out. I had almost forgotten my girlfriend had run off. God I'm so stupid. Please be okay. I looked to see Hershel not even one bit scared, or worried. He probably knows she alright. If that's the case, I'm going straight to the tree house.
Rick and the others looked toward me as if I knew where Maggie had gone. Lori didn't see Carl sneak past Daryl to get inside. Smart kid.
I turned to see Beth outside for once; she looked at me with concern.
"Please tell me you've found her.." Beth pleaded in between tears. She studied my face waiting for an answer.
"Beth, I'm doing the best I can and-" She cut me off.
"No you aren't! It's your fault she ran off! You shoulda said you loved her back!" She yelled. Seriously? Is it 'Give Glenn a hard time day?'
"Beth that's enough! I won't have you yelling at someone who tried lookin' for me. Although he didn't say he loved me back, I'll still handle my place here. I'm not gonna put myself in danger." A familiar voice spoke. I turned to see a very pretty farmer's daughter. But man, did she still look pissed.
Beth gave Maggie a look and turned entering the house. Everyone around faced away at nearly the same time, trying to make the eavesdropping unnoticeable. But I noticed it.
"Maggie," I waited for a response. She looked at me, and gave a faint smile.
"Glenn, can this wait? I've got to help Jimmy with the coop." She answered almost flatly.
"Oh yeah, sure.. I mean I'll be here." I responded. Maggie really did love me. I can see it now. I'm just unsure because I'm really only used to hearing it from my mom, or sisters.
Rick stopped what he was doing and walked over to me. Let's hear it.
"You know, what you and Maggie have is hard to find these days. You gotta keep it safe or it'll die. Trust me, that's not the road you wanna go down kid. Sometimes, I feel like Lori and I are just two different people, we are but if we were exactly alike it'd be like lookin' in a mirror." Rick explained. For some reason, I knew what he was saying.
"That's really good.. I never expected something like that from you." I replied. I really was surprised.
"It's something you gotta learn once you become a parent. No bullshit. You want the kid to look up to you, that kid believe it or not is gonna do everything you do.. So be smart, a role model." He advised. I know now how much he loves his family. And his best friend may be trying to ruin that for him.
"Thanks Rick, I really do owe you one." I said while kicking the ground. He's fully earned his place as leader.
"Naw kid, you saved me while I was trapped in that tank, surrounded by walkers. By any means, I think I owe you my life. If you hadn't saved me, my wife and son would've been done." He gave me props. This guy, was a great one. I nodded my head and headed for the camp. I was stopped.
"Lori?" I called. Wonder what she wanted.
"Glenn, could you possibly make a run to town for me?" She almost whispered.
Is she serious? Probably. "What for?" I continued.
"I need some.. Well us girls here need some.." Lori was shifting her words. I wasn't stupid. There's months every now and then, and there times when girls become extremely sensitive and angry in those months.
"Yeah, Yeah okay. I got this." I saved her from continuing. Still, she's a grown woman. That shouldn't be something to be embarrassed about. Although guys are embarrassed to be caught with eleven condoms. I should just get going.
I grabbed my bag, some water and my weapon. Baseball bat. Remember, if you ever run into a walker try not to use guns. Use melee weapons or better yet, a crossbow like Daryl.That's kinda his thing, so stick with the crow bar or something.
I started to make my way over to the car, but something made me turn around. I looked up the white paneled house and at the window, there was Maggie. I waved, but she just disappeared behind the vintage curtains. At least I tried. I got into the driver seat, honked the horn to signal my leave and I left. The dirt roads were so empty… its crazy. With the millions of people eliminated, it felt unreal. Like a nightmare, except when you woke up, you were still there. I looked to the fields and saw lone walkers sadly standing there, with their heads low. It's saddening how they used to be people.. Now they're flesh cravers. And me, I'm the zombie- bait. But I really don't mind, the well I was lowered into, that was like Portal. A really good game. I stopped in front of the drug store and saw the knocked over isles. Everything was a mess.. This was the place Maggie and I had.. Um.. Experienced something. Anyways, I grabbed the lady products and turned for the door. Two walkers. in front of the truck. Shit. I can't get back with those things out there. I remember Dale telling me how to distract a walker if you're stuck. I turned to grab a flex ball and I threw it out to another store. They went for it. I turned to grab the products, and I saw a 10 pack of condoms. I grabbed them. 11 could run out fast, I'm just saying. I quietly but quickly went for the truck, grabbed the handle and… "BEEP! BEEP!BEEP!" My heart sunk. 'I will not die here.. I will not die here..' I kept in mind. Everyone started popping in my head.. But the first one was Maggie. If I died here, she'd automatically think I ran off. No one would know unless they scouted. They'd find my dead.. Body. That's NOT happening. I clocked the zombie near my face and hopped in the car. Sped down the dirt road extremely fast because well, you can't crash on an empty road. I stopped in front of the house, parked and got out. Everyone looked at me almost worried. I walked up to Lori and handed her the bag, and headed for my tent. Exhausted. My eyes felt heavy.
"Glenn.. I understand that you don't think I love you. And you say it's just 'Lust'. I agree with you. We shouldn't be sayin' things we don't mean, and love aint nothing." Maggie confessed. What?
"Maggie, didn't you say you loved me? You cried over it.. And-" She cut me off.
"No, YOU said so yourself.. Actually you didn't say a thing. So let's forget it happened. We don't know each other." She started to walk away.
"Wait, don't! It's not what you think!" I ran but it seemed like mud under me.
I woke up with a cold sweat. My heart was racing and the nightmare I had was clear as day. I looked at my watch, realizing that time didn't matter much anymore. I had to talk to her now. Its now or never.