A Thousand Words
Just a note on formatting: the description of the photo will be in italics at the beginning of the story. The telling of the tale will be in third person (not first person as the intro was-'cause you don't want to give any surprises away ya know?) and will be in regular font.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Callie and the crew of misfits (Danny, Miles, Jenna, Mike, Nina, Ben and Gracie).
Glenn Vs. the Snake
The sun was barely shining, an early morning photo. On the ground a tent flattened, yet showing the tell tale signs that all of the possessions were still inside by the odd shapes poking the nylon fabric. Beside the tent stood Glenn. His head surprisingly bare of the ball cap he usually always wore, his dark hair standing up in odd directions. He was hunched over, with his hands on his knees, like he was trying to catch his breath. One of those hands was gripping his good old baseball bat. His eyes were wide, and facing the camera as if he'd been called by name. The expression-that was priceless. Confusion, mixing with fear, and anger and all tangled up with an opened mouthed awe at what had just happened.
They'd been at camp for about two weeks now, and Callie had apparently developed a routine. It wasn't really a routine she particularly enjoyed, but it was one of those things that just needed to be done. Following behind the bouncing form of Gracie as they made their way up from the lake and back into camp she shook her head and smiled.
The little girl was just way too full of energy for Danny or Miles to be able to keep up with her for long. Especially when her internal clock was apparently set to four in the morning. 'A God awful time. Doesn't exist in my mind' had been Danny's muttered response the first day she woke up so early and Callie had been spotted yawning as she followed her back to camp.
Now it was the norm. Gracie would wake up, sleepily push at Callie and they would get their supplies together to take a bath. Washing up in the cool water of the lake was quite possibly the worst idea she'd ever had. Ever. But the cool water splashing over her face and the rest of her body helped to wake her up fully, and kept her alert enough to work her way through the woods with the girl.
Heaven help them if she'd have gone into the woods with Gracie half asleep, and they ran into Walkers. As it was the only people she usually ever ran into were the Dixon brothers. Either together, or just Daryl stalking around glaring at her as she and Gracie walked.
"Fuckin' traipsin' around in the woods at the ass-crack of dawn with a baby. How the fuck you survive so long?" Daryl had spat at her the first time she'd passed him. His eyes hadn't lifted from the ground as he pulled an arrow out of a small animal that she figured was a squirrel.
"Mornin' to you too, Daryl," she said chuckling. She'd smiled at him, gave him a little wave of her middle finger and pushed Gracie along in front of her leaving the redneck to grumble something after her.
Two weeks later, and this was the first day that she hadn't run into the Dixon's during her walk. And it wasn't like it was a short little skip in the woods. She and Gracie were usually out there for three hours, working their way back to camp just as the regular folks, the ones like Danny who didn't believe in four a.m., were up and moving about.
And for some reason, the fact that she hadn't seen one of both of those boys out there this morning, was sitting strange in her stomach. Her eyes slid over the little Casa de Dixon, their area, set up so far away from the rest of camp it was almost comical. There was no sign of them there. Had they gone hunting?
As Gracie skipped off ahead of her, running towards the smiling Amy, Callie let her eyes slide over the camp. The usual next step in her routine was to climb up the RV and sit with Dale for a bit, but that bad feeling in her stomach just wouldn't let her do it. She caught sight of Shane and gave him a small smile and a wave. Shane wiped a hand down his face and nodded at her stiffly, before ducking out of sight to find a shirt. Obviously he wasn't worried about anything. Not that he'd actually worry about one of the Dixon's, but still if there was trouble of any sort she knew he'd be in Sheriff's Deputy mode in a heartbeat. Callie's gaze flicked back to the RV where Amy stifled a yawn and scratched at the bridge of her nose while she bent down on one knee and smiled as the excited Gracie showed her the newest rock she planned to add to her collection.
"Problem?" Andrea said inclining her head to Callie as she walked out of the RV. It was at that point that Callie's gaze landed on her missing Dixons. Well, at least Merle. Her gaze narrowed when she realized that he was settled in on the ground next to Danny and Miles.
"No," Callie said smiling at the other woman as she walked over to where Amy was letting Gracie help tie up her tennis shoes. "Found 'em."
Andrea's eyes narrowed for a second and Callie just waved over her shoulder as she began to walk towards where the three men were gathered. Putting her hands on her hips, she came to a stop at the side of Merle Dixon. Not one of them flicked their gaze to her, instead they sat there sipping at their coffee staring ahead of them.
Staring at Glenn's tent.
"Mornin' boys," Callie said her hands still settled on her hips as she now adjusted her view to Glenn's tent. "Something interesting about Glenn's tent that I'm just not seeing?"
"Shhh," Miles said sipping slowly at his cup of lukewarm coffee. Making a face the seventeen-year-old sat the cup down and continued to stare at the tent. His feet were tucked under him, sitting Indian-style with his jittery hands tapping on his knees.
Beside him, sitting in the middle of the odd little trio Danny spared a glance over at the boy. He sipped from his cup, slid his eyes over to Merle who met his eyes with a bit of a grumbled laugh at Miles. Both men then returned their eyes to the tent. Danny's legs were drawn up so that his knees were high and one arm rested on them, while Merle sat similar to Miles. Only Merle's hands weren't tapping on his knees, they were just calmly resting, one holding a mug.
Callie's brow furrowed, her gaze slipping to Glenn's tent again, and then back to the men. Jutting one hip out she let her eyes slide around camp, nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. Except the odd congregation she was currently standing by.
"Where's Ben?" Callie asked letting her eyes again slide around camp. The boy could usually be found one of two places, either by Danny's side, or slowly circling the Dixons. For some reason she couldn't quite explain, the boy was apparently fascinated by the two rednecks. She figured it had something to do with them constantly skinning one animal or another. Curiosity, plain and simple.
"With Daryl," Danny replied, shooting his thumb over his shoulder. Callie turned and spotted Ben a few steps ahead of Daryl, who was carrying what she figured was his own cup of lukewarm coffee. Daryl's hair was askew and she figured that he'd actually been sleeping this morning. Odd as it may be after two weeks, she figured even he deserved a chance to sleep in every once in a while. At least until Ben had apparently been sent to wake him up with a cup of coffee as his only buffer.
"Did you send that boy to wake that poor man up?" Callie looked at Danny who was shooing her with his hand as he fiddled with something and hushing her. She squinted and realized that he was playing with Ben's Polaroid camera. "What the fuck are you three up to?"
"Hush it up, jail-bird," Merle snapped, reaching up and grabbing her by her wrist. He pulled hard and she came down to her knees beside him. Waving his arm around, in the same shooing manner as Danny as he hissed out a 'shh' at her. Callie's mouth opened to say something but Merle shoved his cup of coffee into her face. "Here, drink this, and shut your yap." He looked over at her as she slowly reached up and took the cup from him. "Show's 'bout to start."
Merle's eyes were lit up like a fucking kid's on Christmas and she had no real response ready for him. She watched in awe as Merle flicked his hand in front of Danny at Miles. The boy didn't remove his eyes from Glenn's tent, that same strange excitement showing on his face. He picked up his coffee and handed it over to Merle's waving hand. Merle took the cup, while Danny smacked at Merle's hand that was apparently blocking his view.
She heard the rustling of dirt behind her and looked back in time to see Ben bound over and hop in between Danny's legs. Settling in, Danny draped his arms over the boy, holding the camera out to the excited little boy. Ben shot her a look of pure rapture, his smile wider than she'd seen it ever get.
Another sound and the feel of someone bumping her knee, had her turning to her other side. Daryl grumbled something that sounded a bit like 'sorry' as he ran his hand first over his head. He scratched idly at his dirty hair, then down his stubble covered cheeks, and she saw him shift his gaze to her and rethink lowering that hand to scratch somewhere else. His legs were set up like Danny's, forearms on his knees as his coffee dangled between his knees. He stifled a yawn, squinted his tired eyes at the tent they were all situated in front of and then shifted his eyes to her.
"The fuck we doing?" Daryl grumbled to her, his eyes barely meeting hers before he turned them back to Glenn's tent and took a sip of his coffee. He made a face and shook his head a bit. "Fuck that's bad."
"Hush up," Merle spat at his brother. He bumped his shoulder into Callie, who fell into Daryl's shoulder.
"Oh, fuck no." Callie spat at Merle, shifting to get up. She was not about to sit there and be a human ping pong ball between the Dixons.
"Hush, woman." Merle grabbed her arm and settled her back down.
It was then that it began. What these men had apparently, she found out later, been waiting damn near two and a half hours to see. It began with rustling. The sound of Glenn scampering out of his sleeping bag at a damn near impossible speed.
Callie's eyes shot to Danny who was smacking Miles in the arm to get him to be quiet as the boy began to chuckle. Merle then smacked Danny's shoulder with that shit-eating grin on his face as he did it. Callie's gaze slid to the only other person she knew was as lost as she was.
Daryl raised a brow at the three men beside her then met her eyes. He shrugged, sipped his horrible coffee and set his eyes back on the tent. Finally, giving up, Callie settled herself on the ground Indian-style and lifted Merle's cup of coffee to her lips. Sharing Daryl's sentiment from before she made a face.
There was a keening sort of noise coming from inside the tent, followed by a very loud string of " Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Oh God!"
The sound of rustling grew more intense and you could actually see things hitting off of the nylon fabric of the tent. Glenn was apparently throwing things now. Callie's gaze slipped to Daryl who was staring confusedly at the tent. She slid her gaze to the fucked up trio beside her and noticed that even Ben was mimicking them now. Each and every one of them had their hands over their mouths, holding in laughs.
Callie was just about to open her mouth to say something when Daryl's elbow bumped her shoulder. She shifted her gaze to the tent and watched in awe as it came fluttering down, the poles popping out and scattering. Glenn could just be seen now, sliding out from under where he'd apparently ripped a hole in the side of the fabric, which had apparently been the downfall of his tent. He army crawled out as the fabric of the tent finally settled in a heap.
As Glenn struggled to his feet, the men beside her Daryl now included worked to hold in their laughter. She firmed her own lips, and put her hand over her mouth to do the same herself. The poor man looked like he'd just fought off twenty Walkers. Beside her Merle was jabbing his elbow into her arm, repeatedly.
Glenn made it to his feet, his entire body hunched over, hands on his knees. Still brandishing his bat, apparently the weapon he'd used in his battle of the unknown. Glenn's breathing came out rapid and shallow, like he'd just run a marathon.
"Problem Glenn?" Danny's voice rang out. At that moment Glenn looked up at them, and Danny gave Ben a bit of a nudge. The flash went off and the sound of the Polaroid picture being taken and then dispensed sounded.
"The hell?" Glenn said his brow narrowing in confusion, before shaking his head. He pointed back to the tent. "There's a fucking snake in there."
At that point they all lost it. Danny fell backwards onto the ground he was laughing so hard. Beside him Miles rolled on to his side, clutching his stomach and rolling. Merle let out that wondrous loud whooping laugh of his and smacked at Danny beside him.
Callie couldn't contain it anymore, and even though she tried to feel bad for Glenn, the look on his face was just…well it was fuckin' priceless. She held her coffee tight as she bent forward and laughed. She snuck a look beside her to see Daryl chuckling into his cup. Obviously holding it in front of his mouth so that no one would actually be able to see him smiling. She smirked over at him, and he caught her eye for and held it. He actually had a nice smile.
"Did you put a snake in there?" Glenn was pissed now, and when Callie looked up he was still standing beside his flattened tent. He was pointing at it with his bat and glaring daggers at Danny as he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.
Danny, Merle and Miles each pointed an accusing finger at the other, while Ben merely chuckled as he looked at the photo in his hand. Danny peeked a glance over Ben's shoulder and started laughing again, falling backwards on the ground. Glenn started towards them, but a rustling in the tent had him practically jumping a foot away from it and circling it with his bat pointed.
"That was horrible," Callie said between chuckles.
"That was fuckin' funny, girl." Daryl said also chuckling and sharing a glance with his brother. Merle nodded his head and again pushed Callie into Daryl's shoulder.
By this point the entire camp was curious as to what was going on over at Glenn's tent and everyone was watching. A mix of amusement and pity for poor Glenn on all of their faces. Callie waved her hands in surrender and took one final sip of the horrid coffee before setting the cup back down by the still laughing Merle. She placed one hand to the ground to help herself up, and was surprised to find a dirty hand shoot into her field of vision.
Daryl had apparently had his fill of poor Glenn's misfortune, as well. She took his hand and let him help her up. She nodded once, and he rolled his eyes chuckling as Glenn stormed up to them. Callie watched Daryl turn and leave, then brushed her hands on her pants, knocking the dirt off of her butt.
"You seriously put-," Glenn's eyes were shooting from Merle to Danny to Miles then back. "That was a big fucking snake? What if it bit me?" His gaze landed on her and she put up her hands.
That one sent them into peals of laughter again.
"Fuckin' Walkers all around and you're worried 'bout a itty bitty snake," Merle said between laughs. Glenn's eyes widened as they shifted from Merle to Callie.
"Don't look at me," she tilted her head at the laughing men on the ground as she raised her hands. "Look at the fuckin' Three Amigo's down there." For some reason that made Danny and Merle start to crack up again. Merle slapped Danny hard in the back of the shoulder sending him forward.
At that point Shane sauntered up, hands on his hips as he surveyed the scene. His eyes met Callie's and she knew he was in full on Sheriff's Deputy mode. She shook her head. Of all the things to be worried about Shane chose a bunch of people laughing during the great Walker apocalypse. He raised his brows at her, then looked to the disheveled, out of breath and livid Glenn, who was shaking his head at Danny.
"Everything okay?" Shane asked to Callie who was watching Danny get to his feet. He moved close to Shane and put an arm over the dark-haired man's shoulder showing him the photo in his hands. Shane's brow narrowed, but then a small smirk rose on his lips. At the bottom of the photo, Danny had scribbled the words: Glenn vs. the Snake. Shane tried to hide his smile when his eyes settled on Glenn, who at that point threw his arms into the air and stormed off muttering, but he failed miserably.
"Just a bit of harmless fun, officer." Danny said still chuckling as he smacked his hand off of Shane's shoulder.
The tent made that rustling noise again and Glenn yet again stepped two feet over while walking. The laughs that followed him as he marched towards the RV echoed for a few nights.
AN: There we have the story of Glenn vs. the Snake. If you've read the companion fic then you heard mention of it. Hope you enjoyed it!
