They spent a day in the suburbs getting their shit together. The others reduced their vehicle count from four to two: the RV and the Grimes' car. Merle's bike made three. Most of the time was spent going through their supplies and gear and figuring out what needed to be kept verses what they could afford to keep as far as hauling space went. Glenn and Daryl had nothing to add to the piles since they'd already been forced to reduce their own loads just to follow the others to the CDC.
Glenn felt both resentful for that and bitterly pleased that the group had to make the same kind of choices. He'd left all but two changes of clothes behind, same as Daryl. It was all they'd had room for. An extra pair of pants, a spare t-shirt, and a long sleeve shirt each. Socks and boxers they'd managed to roll a few pairs together into small balls that they could shove in the sides. But nothing else personal, really, save for what they were already wearing.
He hung back while they figured things out, alternating between watching them and keeping watch for geeks. And sometimes watching Daryl. The man stayed on the bike, sitting on it in an easy way. He seemed to relax more when he pushed himself to the very back, where Glenn had been. Like he was more used to sitting there than up front. Which actually made sense when Glenn thought about it. The bike belonged to Merle. Daryl probably was used to 'riding bitch'. That made Glenn smile and the smile stuck with him the rest of the day. He figured he probably looked really stupid, but he didn't really care.
…
"Glenn," Dale called over to him with a grin as they got ready to head out the next morning. He held up an atlas, "You willing to play navigator for us?"
Daryl shot him a look and tried to pretend he hadn't, his eyes darting away as he dug into one of the saddlebags like he suddenly had to quadruple check them. Glenn knew the other man was paying very close attention to how he answered. To Glenn's eyes he was nervous, every muscle tightly wound, somewhere between worried and offended.
Glenn smiled at Dale and nodded as he called back, "Sure. Be there in a second."
The old man answered with a wave and went to climb into the RV while the rest of the group got themselves into which ever vehicle they'd decided to take. Shane, Andrea, Jacqui, and T-Dog were riding in the RV. Rick, Lori, Carl, Carol, and Sophia in the Grimes' car. Glenn shrugged his backpack off and held it out to Daryl. He was met with a look he thought was probably confusion. It might have been constipation or annoyance, though. He was still getting used to reading Daryl's face.
"I'm going to navigate," Glenn explained as if Daryl hadn't heard that already, giving the backpack a little shake. "Can't really fit into the seat wearing this."
"And you think that means I'll carry it?" Daryl asked back even as he reached out to take it.
Glenn shrugged, "Figured it'll be safer with you."
Daryl snorted and pulled it on, then pulled Glenn's hat out of the front of his pants and handed it over. Glenn had forgotten that he'd put it there two days before. He hadn't even noticed it. Had it been there the whole time? That couldn't be right... Daryl had to have taken it out to take a shower, right? Wait, did Daryl take a shower?
Glenn stared stupidly down at his hat, unrolling it as he realized Daryl hadn't showered at the CDC. He hadn't showered in a while. He hadn't even changed his clothes. So his hat really had been sitting there, tucked inside the front of Daryl's pants, for two whole days. Holy shit.
He gulped and gave a quick nod and a wave to Daryl rather than look up at him, then jogged to the RV. When he got into the passenger seat he very carefully pulled his hat past his face so he could take a quick sniff of it before he put it on his head. Which was not a good idea because it smelled terrible. Terrible. Every romance writer he'd ever had the misfortune of reading was completely wrong about sweaty clothes that hadn't left the person wearing them for ages. They weren't 'covered with their scent', they were sweaty and smelly and he was lucky he had smelled so much worse before this or he would have gagged and probably thrown up right then. As it was he made a face that had Dale giving him a raised eyebrow.
"Forgot to wash my hat," Glenn said back, nose wrinkled. "Shouldn't have inhaled when I did."
Dale's laughter filled the cab and the best Glenn could do was direct them toward the highway while Daryl scouted ahead.
…
By the time they came to the traffic jam late in the afternoon, Daryl had relaxed into his role as the head of the small caravan. He would fall back to shout up at Glenn every so often to warn of derelict cars they'd have to slow down for and ask for alternate routes the map said should be there when they couldn't go around. At the jam he fell in where Dale could ask him to find a way through and he honestly tried. But even Glenn wasn't optimistic when they got to the point where their best bet was backing the hell up.
Glenn climbed out of the RV when it finally gave out because of the stupid hose and Daryl brought the bike back around to check on them.
His first words were to Glenn, "Your map show any other way 'round this mess?"
Glenn crossed his arms and squinted, looking back the way they'd come and the scattered cars that were essentially blocking them in, "There's a turn off a couple miles back. It's small, but it's on the map. Leads to a town I'd say is about three miles out? Might be able to go through it and out the other side. It would be better if we scouted it ahead of time, though."
"We can move some of these cars while you do," Shane said, volunteering Daryl for the job. Which wasn't a great idea and Glenn could see the scowl and belligerent protest already forming in his friend's eyes while Shane continued. "We got maybe two or three hours of sunlight left. You do a quick circuit, figure out if it's better to keep moving cars or turn ourselves around. We can camp for the night and do what we need to in the morning."
"I can go with you," Glenn spoke up before Daryl could find a way to object. He grinned at Daryl, "If the town's in decent shape we can turn it into a run, too. See if there's a drug store or a decent general store. Get some medical supplies. Sun screen. Maybe some candy bars."
Rick had joined them by then and both he and Shane were grinning at Glenn. The senior deputy nodded along, "That sounds like a plan to me. We'll see about scavenging what we can out here. Siphon some gas, try to find a hose for Dale. Maybe scrounge up some food that hasn't gone bad yet. Water, if we're lucky."
Glenn thought it sounded good and Daryl had relaxed a bit at his own suggestion. He nodded and muttered, "I can do that," under his breath and pulled the straps of the backpack off. T-Dog jogged past the group with a gas can and Shane followed after giving a quick nod to Rick, who was already taking up a spot as lookout while the women spread out to scavenge with the kids.
"I'll put this in the RV for now," Glenn said to Daryl after the backpack was handed over. He got a non-committal grunt in response, but Daryl didn't bother moving.
He was inside with Andrea, who gave him a weak smile as he went to stow the bag, when he heard Dale hit the deck on the top of the RV. That was the only warning he got before he was at the door looking for everyone. They'd all disappeared, even Daryl. When he looked the other direction, he didn't see anything. But when he turned around and got a good look out the kitchen window, he saw what had caused everyone to go quiet. It was all he could do to pull the door of the RV shut and point to the back when Andrea lifted her head in question.
She took a quick look around, saw the walkers out the window and scrambled onto the floor. Glenn followed after, sliding the bathroom door open as she backed her way inside. He pushed his way in to join her. None too soon, it seemed, as he heard the groan of a walker and the scraping of something pushing its way inside the camper. Glenn put a finger to his mouth and very carefully leaned his back against the bathroom door to hold it shut.
He and Andrea stood there, stock still and trying not to breathe too heavily, for what seemed like hours while the walker took it's time wandering back and forth inside the RV. Searching, smelling, listening, searching some more. Eventually, and that eventually seemed like an eternity later, there was no sound from the other side of the door. Glenn was afraid to risk checking, though. Even when he heard Dale moving around above him and climbing down the side.
A scream from somewhere far off startled them and Andrea let out a squeak before she could cover her mouth. Almost immediately the door of the bathroom shook and the hungry groan of a walker filled their ears. It hadn't gone away, it had just gone quiet. Glenn gulped hard, his breathing suddenly ragged from the surge of fear and adrenaline. Whatever was going on outside meant he and Andrea were pretty much on their own.
"I can hold the door," he whispered out, wincing as the door shook from another slam on the other side. "It can't get us if the door is kept shut. We just need to stay here and wait for the others to take care of it."
Andrea shook her head, already crying, "What if they don't come? What if they're already dead?"
"They aren't."
"There was a scream."
Glenn shook his head, wincing again and hissing as the next slam shook the door hard enough to knock his head a bit, "It was only one. Someone might have gotten grabbed, but it wasn't more than one. They'll get us out. Daryl won't let them leave us."
'Not again' he left unsaid. Andrea didn't need to hear him being bitter. She needed him to be confident. And if there was anything he was confident in at the moment, it was that if everything else went to hell, Daryl, at least, would get to them.
…
When they were finally rescued from the bathroom, it was Jacqui that met them on the other side. She screamed when she saw the walker. They had heard that before they heard it shuffle away after her. The RV rocked after that and the screaming stopped. Then there was the echo of feet rushing inside and someone knocking hard on the bathroom door.
And Jacqui's voice, "Glenn? Andrea? Are you in there? Please don't be one of them. Please..."
Glenn had to push himself up against Andrea to get the door open, but when he did he was laughing. Both of them were. Hysteric laughter mixed with tears as both of them reached out to hug Jacqui tightly. Glenn thought that woman never looked so beautiful as when she was rescuing him from a long, slow death in a toilet.
"What happened?" Andrea asked after they got themselves out of the bathroom and made their way outside.
The walker that had trapped them, or so Glenn assumed it was since it was the only one nearby, had been killed against the side of the RV. At least from the blood splattering the siding it looked like it. That and the rocking from before made it a safe bet. The body was already gone and from the way Shane was wiping his hands as he walked back from the side of the road, he'd probably dragged it off.
"A herd came through," Jacqui replied softly, holding Andrea by the shoulders while Dale came up to fuss over her.
Andrea gave him the cold shoulder, though, and a glare, too. Made him back off before she turned her attention back to Jacqui, "We heard a scream."
"It was Sophia," Carol said, voice wispy as she struggled not to sob.
Lori hugged the woman and nodded, continuing for her, "We were hiding under the cars and the walkers were mostly past us. But there were some stragglers we didn't see and Sophia crawled out too soon. They tried to grab her and she ran. Rick went after her. Then Daryl after he got T back to us."
Glenn looked around for T and spotted him leaning against one of the abandoned cars, arm clutched to his chest and covered in blood. "Oh god what happened?"
"Cut myself on a door trying to hide," the man answered, breathing hard as he bit back the pain. "Daryl found me, got me on the ground and covered me with some walkers. Hid my scent from them. Saved my life."
"We need to cover your arm," Glenn responded, barely registering the surprised looks on the faces of the others over what T had said about Daryl. He would remember that for later, though, if any of them tried to say something bad about him again. Like he had to prove himself to be as good a person as the rest of them when he hadn't been the one to leave someone – more than one someones – behind. That was Rick. And T-Dog. Twice. T-Dog was lucky Daryl was such a good person.
"It's covered," came the reply and another hard swallow. "It's just the blood on my shirt making it dirty."
Glenn moved over to the bike, opening up the saddlebags like he was allowed to go through them, "It should be kept clean. Is it infected?"
"We can't tell," Dale answered, sounding more than a little exasperated at Glenn for some reason. "We cleaned it as best we could with the water we found, but we're really low on any kind of bandages."
"Feeling a little feverish," T-Dog admitted. "Could just be the pain, though."
Once he found the drug stash, he dug through it for the painkillers Daryl had mentioned. He didn't know what the rest of it was. Daryl had only mentioned the name of one of them when he packed it with the 'important' stuff. Said it was an opioid. Prescription-legal only. Which was why Merle had it in the first place. Because it was somewhere on par with heroin.
Glenn found the bottle and took only one pill from it before putting it back. He was careful to close up the stash and put it back under the other supplies. When the saddlebag was secured again, he walked over to T and held the pill out, "Oxycotin. Daryl said Merle was abusing it, but it's supposed to be a really good painkiller. I don't know what else the rest does."
Daryl answered that question later when he dug out the doxycycline and let the group have half the bottle. Apparently there were legit antibiotics in there, not just the meth and speed substitutes.
…
Rick returned first, a good half hour after he left. His shirt was bloody and he looked around expectantly as he climbed over the guardrail. Confused as everyone else stared back at him.
"Where's Sophia?"
He asked it the same time as Carol and the two were left eyeing each other with pained expressions. They nearly mirrored each other as their hands went to their mouths. Though that was where the mirror ended as Carol folded in on herself and started to sob while Rick turned himself around to look back at the forest, legs giving out on him to the point he had to steady himself on the metal of the rail.
"Daryl followed you out," Glenn said into the silence. "He's out there still, too."
Rick nodded, letting himself focus on that. It seemed to help him pull himself out of the moment of despair he'd been sinking into. He took a deep breath and steadied himself physically. Took another breath and pointed, "Okay. I know where I left her while I drew the walkers away."
"You left her?" Carol gasped out.
"There were two walkers and I didn't have my gun," Rick answered, rubbing his face. "I had to pull them away. I told her to head back to the highway once it was clear. Told her how to get here."
Glenn moved past Carol and hopped the guardrail, "Then she might be on her way. Let's go to where you left her and look from there."
Shane followed him and after a couple seconds, Rick trotted after them, taking the lead.
…
They didn't find her before they had to go back. Night was starting to fall and they didn't have enough light to keep going. They all felt pretty defeated. Rick most of all. He was wracked with guilt, fighting back tears the whole way. Shane tried to reassure him he'd done all he could.
But Rick kept looking at Glenn. And Glenn didn't bother to give him what he was looking for. Rick had left Sophia the same as he'd left Merle. The same as he'd left Daryl and Glenn. The same as he'd left Jacqui. He deserved his guilt.
The issues mostly resolved themselves when they finally made it back to the highway. Not Rick's guilt, but Sophia being gone. Daryl was waiting for them on the guardrail, crossbow loose in his right hand, ready to be raised if a walker showed it's ugly face. Glenn smiled as soon as he saw him, grinning like a fool. He got a quick smile back before Daryl's eyes moved to Rick and his face became a mask of hate.
"You left her," the words were out of Daryl's mouth when the three of them were close enough to hear without anyone having to raise their voice.
"I went back for her," Rick answered, tired, still guilty.
Daryl cocked his head to the side, staring like he was looking through him, "Like you came back for me and Glenn?"
"That was different!" Shane bit out, coming to his friend's defense at the same time Rick answered, "I didn't know where you were. I knew where I left her!"
"What about Jacqui? You were gonna let her stay there. Get herself killed," Daryl pressed, sounding far more calm than he looked despite the fact that he hadn't moved from that causal waiting pose.
Rick shook his head, hands going to his hips, "That was her choice."
"Yeah, sure," Daryl drawled, biting at his free thumb now, "And it was Merle's choice to get himself handcuffed to a roof, too."
"He was a danger to the group," Shane said.
Daryl met his look with raised eyebrows, "Says you."
"Says T-Dog and-"
"T left him there, too. Same as rick," Daryl interrupted, almost as if he'd been waiting for that defense. It was effective, shutting Shane down.
Rick took another breath, "Is this how it's gonna be, now?"
"It's how it already is," Daryl said evenly. He let that sink in, eyeing Rick up and down before jerking his head behind him, "Found Sophia for you. She's with her ma."
Glenn let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and leaned forward, holding himself up on the rail. Shane and Rick did similar. The tension in the air broken for the moment. The two deputies made their way back to the RV, leaving Glenn alone with Daryl.
Daryl turned his attention to Glenn then, "You went through Merle's stash."
"Yeah, sorry," Glenn answered not really that sorry. "T was hurt bad and I remembered the painkillers."
"Doxycycline's an antibiotic," he said, licking at his lips as his eyes swept back to the forest. He smirked like he was sharing the funniest joke ever, "Merle caught the clap. On occasion."
Glenn laughed like it was the funniest joke ever, too.
…
Morning came and they got the RV turned around. Daryl and Glenn did the trip around through the town like they'd promised. They didn't talk during it. Not more than they had to. There was a sense of foreboding to the way Daryl acted that kept Glenn feeling subdued. He couldn't put a finger on what it was until after they returned a little after mid-day.
"'m goin'," Daryl said after about half the group had loaded themselves into their respective vehicles. He had waited until it was just him, Glenn, Dale, Rick, and Shane. Most of the men. The ones who'd been semi-making decisions for the rest of the group. Regardless of what protests they got.
"You don't have to-" Rick started.
But Daryl cut him off with a firm, "Yeah. I do."
There was silence for a long moment as he waited for Rick to try and challenge it again. When he didn't Daryl went on, "I want some of those guns you left us for, too."
Rick shared a look with Shane before nodding and agreeing with a soft, "...okay."
Daryl stood up, clearly glad that was so easy, "Four handguns and a rifle. An' the ammo to go with 'em."
"Four?" Shane asked while Rick kept his head down.
"Two for each of us," Daryl answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And a rifle in case we need something more long distance than my 'bow."
Shane stared at him before turning slowly to look at Glenn. Dale followed his gaze, surprised. Rick kept looking down. He was the only one who seemed to expect this.
"Glenn, you aren't going to go with him are you?" Dale asked, eyes wide, completely flabbergasted. Like it was the most insane thing he'd heard. Daryl leaving he could wrap his head around. But not Glenn, apparently.
Shane continued to stare at him while Rick eyed the ground and nudged at a few stray rocks with his toes. In the corner of his eye he could see Daryl checking his bike over one last time. There was tension in his shoulders. He was trying to pretend the silence wasn't killing him. Pretend he wasn't afraid Glenn would prove him wrong. Pretend he wasn't scared Glenn would leave him, too.
"We're going east."
"Glenn..." Dale protested and in the corner of his eye he could see Daryl's shoulders relax.
"Daryl's never seen the ocean," Glenn said, meeting Dales eyes and smiling. "Figure we might as well check that off the bucket list since we have the time now."
Dale shook his head, still denying it, "But..."
So Glenn continued on, not letting him have time to make a coherent argument against it. "Key West, maybe. For the winter anyway. From there..." Glenn shrugged. "We're going to hit Macon first, though. See if any of my friends are still around."
He was met with silence at that point. Dale looked like he wanted to say more but couldn't. Which was fine with Glenn. He really didn't want to have to argue the decision further.
"Could we have those guns now? We're kind of wasting daylight at this point."
…
"Jacqui... Daryl and I are leaving." Glenn had to gulp down his nerves as he looked to her. He'd already said goodbye to Carol and Sophia. To Lori and Carl. To Andrea and Dale. Shane and Rick had said their own before he went to look for Jacqui and T-Dog in the RV. He offered a soft smile. "Three on the bike will be a squeeze but we know we can find a truck or a car with a decent trailer hitch somewhere along here. If you want to come with us."
She smiled back, put her hand first on his shoulder, then on his cheek, before shaking her head slowly, "I can't."
"You don't want to?" Glenn's brows rose, surprised by that.
"I'd love to," She said and held her hand up to stall any further response. "Really. But I can't. If I leave with the two of you, I'd just be running again same as I was at the CDC."
"But Daryl and I aren't-"
"That's right. You aren't. I would be." Jacqui took a deep breath and dropped her hand. She rolled her shoulders back, straightening herself out. "Besides, someone has to make sure these people don't leave anyone else behind again. Since you and Daryl are going."
Glenn dropped his eyes for a moment. Then he stepped in close and pulled her into a tight hug, "Keep them alive."
"I'll do my best," She whispered back, holding him just as tightly for a few long seconds.
When Glenn pulled away, he gave her another smile and stepped backwards out the door. But once he was outside, he didn't turn to look back. He walked straight for Daryl and the bike and climbed on. His fingers had barely hooked into his belt before they took off, peeling down the open highway and heading north. He already knew the exit they needed to take for Macon.
…
They weren't even a quarter of the way to Macon when they pulled off the road for the night. An old motel in the boonies served as their shelter. They cleared out the lobby, grabbed the keys to the first room they could find on the first floor, and then cleared that room out as well. The bike was parked inside and the curtains drawn. A second exit through the bathroom window was prepared in case they had visitors come morning. And finally, after everything was secured as much as they could, they crawled into the bed.
Glenn was a little surprised Daryl didn't protest sharing. But then again, they had fallen asleep next to each other for a few nights in a row already. Those had been uncomfortable affairs, though: the floor of room the Vatos had Daryl in, the couch at the CDC, the floor of the Vatos' bathroom, the booth seats in the RV's kitchen. This was an honest to goodness bed. And he just couldn't picture Daryl as the kind to willingly share, even with someone he trusted. However, he fought his natural inclination to make things more awkward and kept quiet about it.
Sometime later, as Glenn was starting to drift off to sleep, Daryl spoke. Voice soft, almost too soft to hear even as close as they were physically, with maybe a foot between them. "You really want to see the ocean?"
Glenn smiled and nodded, arms stretching their way under the pillow he'd claimed for himself, "Yeah."
"Why?"
"Cause you've never seen it." He paused to gather his thoughts, knowing that probably wasn't going to be satisfactory if Daryl was asking about it so late at night when they should both be getting what sleep they could. "And I figure if the world's ended, we might as well make the most of it. I could never afford to go out that way. You know, before. Now the only thing it costs is time and determination."
"Could cost your life," Daryl murmured and Glenn could picture him chewing at one of his thumbs the way he always seemed to be.
Glenn reached over blindly, hand coming down on skin. Daryl stilled under his touch but didn't pull away. He let his fingers explore a little until he established where the man's elbow was and moved them down what he knew to be an arm. Daryl lowered it so he could do so a little easier. Still stiff, but allowing the familiarity.
After Glenn found his hand, he threaded their fingers together like he had the night they'd slept in the Vatos' bathroom. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes, practically falling asleep as he mumbled out, "Not with you to protect me."
