Foundation
Daryl
Hard to believe you've been at Stonehill for nearly a year with so little walker activity. You and the others have come across a few when hunting or scavenging miles away but there weren't hordes and they were taken out quickly. You're hunting alone today. Carl made bows and arrows for him and Sophia and she strung the bows and fletched the arrows. They're a good team just like when they carved and painted those figures for Christmas. But they aren't ready for a long-range hunt yet and they were disappointed not to go so Glenn offered to stay and do target practice with them.
As you cross a road you spot an SUV parked to one side. Probably abandoned but you check it out and find a sad situation. You recognize old man Greene laying under a tree with a covered body a dozen yards away. You pull back the tarp and see Maggie's face and a bullet hole in her head. You feel bad because even though it wasn't a pleasant stay at Greene's farm, you wouldn't wish this on anyone. You cross to Hershel expecting to put a bolt in his brain. The old man's color is ashy and his skin looks clammy but he's not dead yet.
You touch his shoulder. "Hershel Greene."
His eyes open slowly. "Thank God. Who is it?"
"Daryl Dixon. With Rick Grimes' group at your farm last year."
"Daryl. Is Glenn alive? Is he here?"
"He's not with me but he's alive."
Tears trickle down the old man's cheeks. "I prayed for someone to come along, anyone decent. This is more than I hoped for."
You aren't sure what he means because clearly Hershel's time has nearly run out. He doesn't appear to be bit. If you were guessing you'd say he had a heart attack. But he's holding a bundle to his chest, maybe he is bit or hurt. Then the bundle moves and cries and you have a moment of clarity where the whole scene and what Hershel said makes sense so it's not a surprise when you fold back the blanket and see silky dark hair and tilted eyes and Glenn's face is looking up at you, or what you suppose Glenn's face looked like 25 years ago.
"My grandson, Garry," Hershel says. "I'm about done. You'll take the boy to his father."
It's not a question because there's only one possible answer. You nod.
Hershel fumbles a folded paper from his pocket and hands it to you. It's a birth certificate completed by Hershel after delivering his grandson. The baby cries again and Hershel pushes a bag toward you. There are diapers and formula and a couple of bottles and other baby stuff. This is where you would back off and let someone who knows what they're doing take over but pretty soon you will be all this kid has.
Hershel gasps out some instructions and you feed the baby. Then you change him and hand him back so a dying grandfather can hold his grandson. Hershel tells you what happened and you don't say he should save his breath because there's nothing to save it for and his last words are the only history you'll have to pass on.
"Don't let me drop him," Hershel says so you put an arm under the baby and a hand on Hershel's shoulder.
Ten minutes later it's over and you sit there holding Glenn's son and wondering how many times this makes in the past year and a half that you've thought the world was as fucked up as it could get.
You shoot an arrow into Hershel's head to be sure he doesn't come back and place him beneath the tarp beside his daughter. There's no shovel and no time to bury them anyway. You wrap the squirrels and birds and put them under the hood of the SUV. There's a bag each for Maggie and Hershel in the SUV but the rest is baby stuff. You empty the bag Hershel gave you and repack it, adding more diapers and formula. There's baby stuff back at Stonehill, too, for 10 month old Judy. There's a baby carrier that goes around the neck. You sling the bag over one shoulder and your crossbow over the other and head home.
Hershel said Garry was a good-natured boy and he's right so far. The baby sleeps. Maybe he likes the rhythmic rocking as you walk. You've always moved easily and quietly but you're making an effort to be as smooth as possible over rough ground. You come up the track from the back exit. Everybody is outside except Glenn and the kids. It takes them a minute to realize the bundle around your neck isn't supper.
"Where's Glenn?" you ask Rick.
"Inside with Carl and Sophia."
"I need to talk to him alone."
They seem to know this isn't the time for questions. Rick nods and goes with you. Inside, Glenn and the kids are working on the bows and arrows. Rick calls out to the kids to come with him.
Glenn looks puzzled as he asks what you got. Garry cries on cue. This kid has great timing.
Glenn looks startled. "Where did you find a baby!"
"No easy way to say this. I came across Hershel Greene. He was dying. He's gone now. Maggie passed two days ago, two months after having your baby."
Glenn's face is white and he's shaking his head. You push him into a chair and lean him over. "Slow, deep breaths. Get it together. I don't wanna slap you but I will. Shock therapy."
He smiles a little like you hoped he would. He says, "Are you sure it's mine?"
You stare at him. Maybe you'll have to slap him after all. But you let it go because he's not thinking clearly and he hasn't seen Garry yet.
You unsling the baby and hand him to Glenn. "This isn't a Rick or Shane deal. Unless you think Maggie slept with two Koreans last year."
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Boy. His name is Garry with two 'r's. Like Glenn has two 'n's."
Glenn looks panicked. "Daryl, I don't know if I can be a father."
"Oh, we're way past that." You've decided tough love is the way to go. "You already are biologically on account of you were careless with your spunk. You better step up now and be the real thing because I'm not taking care of your brat without help. You already owe me for three hours babysitting. I fed him and changed him and carried him five miles."
"You know more about my son than I do."
"You'll catch up fast. Here's a tip I learned the first 30 minutes. Cover his little pecker when you change him or he'll pee on you and laugh about it."
Glenn laughs.
"I see the resemblance," you tell him. "Like father, like son."
"He's small." Glenn sounds worried.
"Well, you and Maggie aren't big. He's fine but he got switched suddenly to formula so he didn't eat much the first day. Hershel said Maggie nursed him until she got bit so he got a good start. All them nutrients and immunities Lori was talking about with Judy."
Glenn feeds Garry and changes him and you go tell everybody what happened. They come in oohing and aahing and it's baby central again but this time you don't want to opt out and disappear.
Glenn
I have a son. I am a father. How the hell did this happen? Okay, I know how. I didn't even think about protection with Maggie.
I admit my first thought after the initial shock was how this would affect Daryl and me. Is that selfish? We've been together for a year and a half and he's so important to me. I know he's uneasy around babies although Judy seems to like him and he's more comfortable as she's gotten older. He was great with Garry, better than me.
"How much does this bother you?" I ask.
"Not much."
"You're not just saying that?"
"Yeah, because I'm the type to spare people's feelings."
"But you don't like babies. You said so in our continuing saga of life if the ZA hadn't happened."
"That's just a story. I'm gonna make an exception for your kid."
"I love him already."
"That'll come in handy when he wakes up at night or throws a tantrum."
"I'd like him to have my name. It'll be less confusing when he's in school." I'm joking of course since Garry will probably be homeschooled with Judy.
"There was no middle name on that paper from Hershel. No reason he can't be Garry Greene Rhee."
Daryl
The next day you and Glenn and Rick go in your truck to get Hershel and Maggie. The SUV was out of gas so you take a couple gallons with you so it can be driven back with all the baby stuff. Glenn can hardly bring himself to leave Garry after only one night. You tell him he should stay but he refuses. You figure bringing home his son's mother and grandfather is something he needs to do.
The bodies are buried in the far corner of the property. Seems like the time to start a little cemetery instead of leaving them by the side of the road.
That night you tell Glenn that Hershel should have died within hours of his heart attack. "That old man kept going on will alone for two days, taking care of the only thing left to him. He told me he thought about whether he should take Garry with him when he went. He was worried he would lose consciousness and leave his grandson unprotected."
"What if he had done it? What if you had found them too late?" Glenn looks anguished and you wish you'd kept your mouth shut. You don't tell him if that happened he wouldn't know about it. You would have taken that secret to your grave to spare him.
You wonder if Garry will come between you and Glenn and you feel shitty for thinking about your sex life. But it's not just sex. You and Glenn are together in a way you didn't think was possible. You don't want to lose that. But Garry is part of Glenn and you want to take care of both of them. And keep fucking Garry's father. You expect the situation to change so you aren't surprised when sex is not a priority the first few days.
Tonight Garry was fussing so Glenn took him to bed early. You go in later and Garry is lying on Glenn's chest and they're both asleep. You heard that a lot of women are sexier after becoming mothers but you didn't know becoming a father could work the same way. There's an undeniable jolt watching Glenn with his son.
You're careful getting into bed. Glenn doesn't wake but Garry does. He rolls toward you so you lift him onto your chest. He settles against you for a few minutes then his face screws up and he grunts and the smell of baby poop hits your nose. You're glad it happened while you're awake so Glenn can keep sleeping. You get up and change Garry and when you turn back Glenn is awake.
"Is he asleep?"
"He will be in a minute."
"Put him in his crib."
You settle Garry and head for the bed. Glenn reaches for your cock and pulls you down beside him. He's squeezing and rubbing with a twisting motion that does it for you every time.
"Is it sick of me to get hard watching you change a diaper?" he asks.
You admit it happened to you just seeing them together.
"Suck my nipples," he says.
His eyes are closed and he's concentrating more than he ever has before.
After you both come you tell him he's not going to lactate no matter how hard you suck.
"Imagining what it would be like is enough for me. I always loved how it felt when you sucked but I never thought of it that way before."
He rolls you on your back and straddles you. He's not done yet and you aren't worried about your sex life anymore.
A week later you can hardly remember what it was like without Garry. He's a little high maintenance but he's worth the trouble. And there's plenty of help. The Outpost has two bedrooms but Garry is in with you and Glenn until he's older. You drove 20 miles to liberate a crib from a fancy baby store along with a bunch of other stuff. You can't believe the prices. Good thing there's a 100% discount going on.
One day a car comes up the road and turns into the drive. You and Glenn are in the front yard with Garry. You tell him to get inside and he takes Garry and goes without argument. Neither of you take chances with Garry. You head for the closed and locked gates, crossbow at the ready. A middle-aged man and a teenage boy get out of the car slowly with hands out and empty. They're Negroes and a thought tickles your brain just as the man says, "Is Rick Grimes here? I'm a friend of his, Morgan Jones. This is my son Duane."
They're already stripping to show they haven't been infected. They know the drill. Rick had told everybody that Morgan was a careful, intelligent man. The others are coming out to see what's going on. Rick is running with a huge smile on his face.
"Two years! I had almost given up."
"Almost," Morgan says. "But I bet you never do."
Turns out Morgan couldn't quite give up on his wife either until she decomposed enough that he couldn't let her go on like that. Then he and Duane took off, following Rick's trail and coming across other survivors along the way who all had the same tale to tell. The walkers are dying out.
Morgan and Duane stay. They're friendly and competent and Duane gets along with Carl and Sophia. Morgan is delighted with Garry and Judy. He's seen only two other babies born since the outbreak. Should we be proud that our group is reproducing like rabbits in comparison?
Garry is ready for bed, wearing his favorite Superman pajamas with feet that look like boots. The cape is a detachable blanket. He also has Spiderman underwear and Batman tee shirts, camo overalls and football sweatshirts. Best dressed kid at the apocalypse. He's zooming around the lobby of the main building like he came with batteries included. Every few minutes he stops in front of someone and says, "Up, up!" Nobody turns him down. They pick him up and swing him around and then he wants down again. Glenn says he's getting spoiled and you're the worst one. Glenn says Garry will probably cry when he outgrows the Superman pajamas that you found for him and it will be a valuable lesson for him to learn. Glenn doesn't know you've got Darth Vader pajamas in the next size stashed away.
Garry rarely pouts or pitches a fit. You don't think spoiling will be a problem. Even without walkers this world is a harder place than before. It'll be a long time before kids are indulged like they used to be.
Glenn
We're all staying at Stonehill for now. It's a nice place and we've got the garden and orchard. We've been together for so long that no one wants to leave the community. A few others have joined us. We'll check for other family and friends. Daryl wants to find out about Merle. I wonder if I'll ever know what happened to my parents.
We haven't talked about life without the ZA very often since we got Garry. It doesn't seem to matter as much because this is what we've got now. It's a good life and it's getting better.
Time was on our side after all but that didn't make waiting it out any less dangerous. And it's still not safe. Bottom line is that geeks rot, some faster than others. Feeding slows the process but it happens to all of them. And when the brain stem is gone, that's it. Maybe we'll find out who or what caused it, maybe there will be a way to stop it without waiting for decomposition. Until then, every dead person is cremated or the brain stem is destroyed before burying. The good news is that the huge number of infected at the time of the outbreak are pretty much gone now.
We don't know how much of the population remains in the U.S. or worldwide. Communication needs to be re-established, maybe a Pony Express like that Kevin Costner movie 'The Postman.' We'll come back from this eventually. We have a foundation to build on.