Thanks for the reviews! Unfortunately, Guest, Darryl's story shall be shrouded in mystery (in addition to Michonne's, but that's rather obvious) until close to the end. And Queen of Arendelle (loving the username) I agree, it was a bit short, but the chapters containing the stories and more character interactions will be substantialy longer. Thanks for reading! I plan to include Hershel's story (or part of it) in this chapter, despite it starting with Maggie and Glenn (the OTP is strong, but not near M. I pinky-promise :) ). Without further adieu, chapter two!
Glenn sighed, leaning back against the chain link fence, staring out into the fields of walkers, where they groaned and shook the fences menacingly. He was grateful for the quiet, and he knew no one would interrupt him with the assumptions of why be and Maggie enjoyed watch so much. While both him and Maggie enjoyed watch for that reason more than they'd admit, they appreciated the ability to sit in silence, or talk to one another, and become lost in the past.
Which is precisely why Carl's question shook both of them up. With all the talk of awkward high school days and childhood stories, they had knit a web of good memories to fall back on. It was the terrifying memories they had neglected speaking of.
"Are you gonna say anything to him?" Maggie asked, her eyes turning from the walkers to Glenn. He didn't look at her, instead, his eyes remained fixated on the lawn outside the jail.
"Carl?" He asked her, his eyes still not meeting hers. He fidgeted nervously, feeling as awkward around Maggie as when he first met her. She still stared at him.
"Yeah. You going to answer him?" She elaborated further, even though she could sense that Glenn would dodge the question again.
"What que-" he began, still looking in the opposite direction.
"Glenn, you know." She said, grasping his arm. Before he could respond, a Groan sounded from behind them. A walker.
Standing up and pivoting around, both Glenn and Maggie shot their guns in unison, one bullet smacking the walker in between the eyes and the other smack in the middle of the forehead. It plummeted to the ground, and Glenn and Maggie looked at eachother.
"How... how could it have..." Glenn stammered. "Gotten in?"
Maggie shook her head. "No idea. Stay here, be on the lookout for more. I'll do a perimiter check."
"You need back up," Glenn protested. "Wait here."
Before Maggie could say anything he ran into the prison. She hoisted her gun to shoulder height and turned around, gazing at every inch of the prison. Carol and Marianne, one if the women from Woodbury, were in the tower, keeping a birds eye view over the camp. Marianne, who was just a bit older than Maggie, and quite immature, waved excitedly at her from the watch tower nearest her, which was the only one remaining in the camp. Despite her innaoropriately placed excitement, Marianne was an excellent marksman and she had a good eye, so she was almost always sent on watch, since she was terrified of walkers up close and couldn't do simpler chores to save her life. Maggie tiredly waved back, and soon, Glenn was back, carting Carl behind him.
Maggie opened her mouth to speak, but Carl did first. "I promised him we'd help squeeze stories out of everyone if he kept our little friend down there," he motioned to the walker, but Carl smirked at whatever innuendo his 14 year old brain cooked up as Glenn continued. "A secret." He loaded more ammo to his gun and turned to Maggie. "Ready for that perimeter check?"
She nodded, and both of them were off, leaving Carl send the two women in the tower in charge of keeping walkers at bay.
"I could have done it, you know." Maggie told Glenn as they walked towards the fences, eyes open for any entrance points.
"I know," Glenn said. "I know."
"You want me to share my story then?" Hershel asked as his hands scanned the deck of cards he shuffled. He glanced around the room, making sure no one was around to hear. "Maggie's heard it, and I'm certain she told you." he said to Glenn, and then he turned to Maggie. "And your sister knows. So does Rick." He sighed and leaned back. "Why would I need to share further?"
"We made a promise to Carl." Maggie said. "Least we could do, the favor he did." Maggie cursed under her breath at the mention of the deed and Glenn shot her a worried look.
"And what would that favor be?"
Glenn said "The dishes." at the same time Maggie said "Cleaning the cells."
Hershel stared at Glenn oddly. "We eat off paper plates."
Maggie almost started laughing, but Hershel cut off her snickers. "And everyone cleans their own cells."
The pair went silent, both of them finding extreme interest in the floor and their scuffed up shoes. When Hershel finally spoke again, both of them felt like small children being chastised.
"I take it you don't want to tell me, and I'll certainly respect that," Hershel said. Maggie breathed a sigh of relief.
"And," Hershel continued, ignoring his daughter's sigh. "I suppose I can share."
"Carl," Hershel said, scraping the watery creamed greens onto his fork. "I'd be happy to inform you of where I was when this happened."
The eating screeched to a halt, and Rick cut in "Hershel, don't feel obligated to -"
"I have other motivations, Rick." Hershel replied, eyes still fixated on the youngest survivor. "It started on the farm, obviously..."
"Annette, will you fetch my suspenders for me?" Hershel asked, his eyes fixated on the mirror. He'd vowed to shave every time his beard got past a stubble since 10 year old Beth has mistaken him for Santa Clause. She was nearly 16 now, and much to old for such things, yet he still trimmed his white beard almost weekly.
"I'm making the bacon, Hershel!" his wife replied, the sizzling meatcrisping on the stove. "Can't turn away!" Sighing, the elderly man made his ascent up the stairs. He was getting much to old to be climbing up such steep stairs...
He paused outside of Beth's door, knocking tenativley. "Bethy? Sweetie?" He called.
"Bethy?" Daryl interrupted, not hiding his amusement. "You called Beth that?"
"Since I was little." Beth grumbled, hiding her face in her hands. Daryl laughed again at her embarrassment, and she moaned a "shut up!" at the same time Carol smacked his arm.
Hershel continued, looking a bit pink himself.
"Coming!" The young girl replied, slipping a sweater over her bare arms and grabbing her bag. The rest of the morning passed in a bit of a blur, with sending Beth off to school on time, and making sure she ate enough breakfast. Then there was the very difficult task of awaking Maggie. The normally pleasant woman was absolutely awful before drinking coffee and filling her stomach.
Glenn shot his fiancée a look, trying not to burst into a fit of laughter, and Maggie shushed him with a glare. Hershel waited yet again for commentary, but none came, so the man continued.
Hershel dug into his breakfast. Buttery pancakes, thick slabs of bacon or sausage and fresh fruit were breakfast staples at the Greene home, and this morning was no exception.
"I was thinking of driving into town this morning." Hershel said after swallowing a bit of pancake. "Pick up a birthday gift for Beth, groceries," he took a sip of his juice and let the sentence hang I the air.
"I'll come." Maggie said through a mouthful of egg. "Introduce myself back into town." She smiled slightly and continued eating, and so did the rest of the farm. They had many people assisting them on the farm since Hershel was aging and both Beth and Maggie were usually at school. Now that Maggie was home, they still needed assistance.
"About an hour later, we revved the car up and were off. Annette stayed home and busied herself doing whatever she could, and it was a good day to trim the horses, so that was done. Just the usual things. Meanwhile, Maggie and I were shopping, picking up groceries and talking to everyone. She was being more sociable than she was in her teenage years, so for that I was grateful. We picked out a lovely necklace for Beth. Gold and diamond, a locket. Beautiful, it was." Hershel grew somber. "Maggie was the one with the cell phone. But she asked me to carry it while she was trying something on. I noticed ten missed calls from Annette. Ten. I figured something was wrong. We dropped everything - the groceries, Beth's presents and cake, and drove back as quickly as possible. We arrived, and half our staff was dead, including my wife."
"Hershel..." Carol's voice dropped off after she spoke, plunging the table into a silence that triggered Hershel to continue. Maggie was clenching her teeth and trying to hold back tears, staring directly at her father, but he hand clutching Glenn's in a death grip. Beth just sat there, her face reading no emotions. This came as a shock to most of the table, but none of them spoke about it.
Hershel continued speaking. "We turned on the radio. Schools were in lock down, so we couldn't get Beth. We just listened to the horrific tales of some sort of sickness. People would be attacked...by these things, and they would die and become the things. We lived alone in the farmhouse - sure, Otis and the others were there, but it wasn't the same. They weren't family."
Beth was still void of all reactions, but Maggie was sobbing, as if she couldn't contain herself.
"We were finally able to go and collect Beth. We made it back to the farm safely, and there we were until you found us." He finished, and without another word, stood up and left, leaving a sobbing daughter and a stunned room.