Different Roads

Author's Notes:

This story starts in Season 1, Episode 3 "Tell it to the Frogs" with a modification regarding conversation about the car, then goes AU in during Season 1, Episode 5 "Wildfire." Then all bets are off. Who knows where it will go. There is some OOC-ness because Glenn shows he has a pair early on and Daryl is kind of nice to him and stands up for him. Also, they swear, a lot. I personally think there is a lot of swearing in the zombie apocalypse and, as I don't have to answer to TV censors, there is a lot of swearing in this story.

For now, this will be a Glenn and Daryl friendship. It may develop into more later, but I have not decided that yet. I guess I'll just have to see how the story unfolds. If I go with more than just a friendship, the summary will be updated and the rating may be changed to show it. Just to be sure, I'll also have an author's note for that chapter indicating the change so no one will be blind-sided by it.

The very beginning is a conversation taken directly from Season 1, Episode 3 "Tell it to the Frogs" and it is italicized to distinguish it.

I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1

BLAME

Shane: "You crazy driving that wailing bastard up here? You trying to draw every walker for miles?"

Dale: "I think we're ok."

Shane: "Don't be stupid, ok?"

Dale: "That alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source. I'm not arguing…I'm just saying…(to Glenn) Wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?"

Glenn: "Sorry. Got a cool car."

Glenn started to walk away, but then he thought about it and he just started getting angry. He turned back around.

"Wait…wait just a minute. You know what? You need to shut the hell up. I 'think it through' every goddamn time I go down into Atlanta and work my way through that infested city to find supplies so that we can all survive. You have no idea what we went through down there or what we just had to do to get out of there. So, you know what? You need to back the fuck off." Glenn turned and walked away.

A few minutes later, the large box truck pulled in. T-dog got out and walked over to where Shane and Dale stood by the car.

"Hey, man, what's wrong with Glenn?"

"He's mad because Shane was reprimanding him," Dale said.

"For what?" T-dog asked.

"About the car alarm," Shane said. "That was just plain being stupid. Kid don't know how to use his head." T-dog looks at Shane like he lost his mind.

"What the hell are you talking about? That kid's probably smarter than anyone here. He plans routes in, plans routes out, and uses head to come up with contingency plans on the fly. If you can do it better, next time get off your ass and go get your own shit."

The next day was a total shit-fest.

First, Daryl lost his deer to a fucking geek. Then he got back to camp only to find out those assholes left his brother handcuffed to a roof. Then when they get back to the rooftop to find Merle, they only found his hand. Yeah, total shit-fest.

From there it went downhill spectacularly.

They couldn't just run around the city trying to find Merle with the few weapons that they brought. They needed to get the guns. With those, they would be in a much better position. Daryl wasn't sure how they were going to manage it, but Glenn took charge and mapped out a plan. Daryl had never gotten to see him in action before and it was actually kind of impressive. Then Glenn got kidnapped. Yeah, total shit-fest.

Finally, they got Glenn back and had most of the guns to boot. Then the truck was gone. That was just great. They got to hoof it back to the camp. It was getting dark so they really had to move. They were almost back when they started to hear the gunfire. As they got closer, they could hear the screaming. When they entered, the camp it was total chaos. Yeah, a total fucking shit-fest.

The true horror of the previous night greeted them with the first light.

In the process of cleaning up the camp, Glenn got upset about them nearly burning one of their people. They were burning walkers. They were burying their people.

"What do you care?" Shane asked Glenn. "This is your fault." Everybody stopped working and looked over at them.

"What are you talking about?" Glenn asked.

From where Andrea still sat in shock, with Amy, they heard, "Shane's right. It is your fault. You brought them here."

Glenn still looked confused and was shocked that Andrea would say something like that.

"Remember that damn car alarm?" Shane asked him. "I said you'd attract every walker for miles. I was right."

Now that just pissed Daryl off.

"You blame Glenn? The geeks were already up here, Dumbass. We saw it yesterday, remember? One was eatin' my deer, just in case you hadn't noticed. That car didn't bring 'em here. They's already up here. And take a look around. You could have moved camp if ya felt in that much danger. And ya could have been more diligent. But, no, you got no one on watch and you're havin' a goddamn cookout like it's fucking summer camp. Ever think of that? Maybe it was due to your fucking fish fry with your big-ass fire and no one on watch."

Andrea turns to Glenn. "I don't care what Daryl says. This," she said waving her arm around," this is all on you."

Glenn had more pain in that moment than in his entire life. No one looked at him as he walked to tent. Daryl looked around at a few specific people in the group.

"Don't forget it was him and that car that helped save your sorry asses," he said. He turned toward Andrea before he added, "including yours, you self-righteous bitch."

Then Daryl walked away.

While everyone was still busy, Glenn packed up some of his stuff and left. After not seeing him for a while, Sophia went to check on him. She found the tent empty and Glenn's backpack was gone. She went to her mother who was sitting with a few of the others near the fire pit.

"Mama, Glenn's gone."

"Son of a bitch," Daryl growled under his breath.

"Why would he just leave like that?" Carol asked.

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl asked bitterly before he picked up his crossbow and headed for the woods. Rick went to follow him.

"No, I'll go after Glenn myself. I can track him."

"You don't need to go alone," Rick said.

"Better on my own."

"It will be dark soon."

"Yeah, it will." Daryl turned to Shane. "Maybe want to make sure someone's on watch this time around." Then he stalked off into the forest, following the path that Glenn took.

It wasn't hard for him to find Glenn. Glenn's path probably might not have been completely obvious to others, but he had no trouble following it. To him it was like the runway lights at the fucking airport.

"You found me, big surprise," he said sarcastically.

"What're you doing running off like that. It'll be dark soon. Did you even bring a weapon?" Glenn held up the baseball bat. "Yeah, that's what I figured."

"Hey, it gets me in and out of the city."

"I know. But this is different and you know it." Glenn nodded.

"You need to get back," Glenn told him.

"Ain't going back without you."

"Don't you get it? I've been evicted, or expelled, or voted off the island. Take your pick. They don't want me there."

"Yeah, I get it, but this ain't the way to do it. You need your tent, and your supplies, and a real weapon, for God's sake."

"I'll figure it out," Glenn said with a sigh.

"They don't know what they're doing to themselves getting rid of you. They're screwing themselves. Let's go back. If there isn't a significant amount of groveling, we don't have to stay. If you just don't want to stay, we don't have to stay. They don't deserve you, anyway. You're the one kept them alive, ungrateful shits."

"Why do you keep saying 'we?'"

"Don't want nothing to do with those bastards. They left my brother on a rooftop to die. I don't want to be with those people, but sometimes you don't have a choice. Can't do it out there alone. Now I have someone I think I can trust to watch my back."

"You trust me?" Glenn asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I think so, yeah," Daryl said with a shrug. Glenn took a deep breath and sighed.

"So, basically, you're just using me," Glenn said, looking at Daryl from the corner of his eye.

"Somethin' like that," Daryl said, the corner of his mouth curling upward slightly.

"OK. Let's go back, see if they have anything to say. If not, I'm done with them."

When they entered the camp area they didn't receive any acknowledgement. That was pretty much the end of any doubts they may have had about leaving. They packed up their stuff and loaded it and the motorcycle into Daryl's truck. People watched them but didn't say anything. Before they left, Daryl turned to the group.

"Hope you're happy. Ya'll just run off the only useful people in the group. Don't bother me none. I'm sick of your 'holier than thou' attitudes, anyway. You left my brother to die. You blamed Glenn for your mess and kicked him out."

"Now, wait a minute. We didn't kick Glenn out," Dale interjected.

"Bullshit! Ya might not have said the words, but the message was clear."

"Yeah, it was clear," Shane said. "I think it was perfectly clear. In case it wasn't though, I'll make it clear. He endangered us all. He brought the walkers here. Plus, if you weren't delayed in Atlanta getting his kidnapped ass back, you would have been here when they attacked. So, yeah, plain and simple, he is to blame for this and he isn't welcome here anymore. Looks like we're getting a two-for-one out of the deal," he said with a sneer.

"We didn't agree to any of this," Dale said.

"If ya didn't agree, ya sure as hell didn't do anything to stop it," Daryl said to Dale. Then he turned to the rest of the group. "Wish granted. We're leaving. Neither of us wants to be part of this group any more. Let's see how far you get without me to hunt and Glenn to scavenge. Bunch of selfish, lazy pricks."

They got in the truck and Daryl started it up. As they pullled out, Daryl turned to Glenn.

"First thing we're doing is getting rid of them damn pink tennis shoes," he said with a smirk, pointing toward Glenn's feet.

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