AN: So wow, we've made it 50 chapters, and we're still going! I'm kind of excited, actually. I hope a lot of you are still on board with me and ready to continue our little adventure.
On another note, real life is cranking into gear for a few days, so I might not be able to update until maybe Sunday or Monday. If I can sneak something in there for you, I will, but no promises. I'll be back to continue your regularly scheduled programming as soon as I can.
Enjoy and review if you get a chance, I love hearing your reactions and opinions.
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Their day of mourning had turned into a few days of mourning when Daryl finally called them all into headquarters for a serious meeting.
"Ok, I know that everyone has been sorta mopin' around these days, and I get that. We just got hit hard with a little bit of reality, and the sad truth is that every time that reality hits us, it's gonna hit us hard. That's all we got now is a harsh reality. We're pretty safe in here, but that don't mean we're totally safe. It just means we're safer than we have been before. I know losin' Dora and Frank was especially hard on you kids, but we can't just close up and give up now. We gotta lot of work that's needin' to be done, and we need to get on it if we don't want to have to be out there again, maybe losin' more people," Daryl said.
"He's right," Tyreese added, "we've got to keep going. Things like this are going to happen, but we can't shut down."
No one really spoke, but they all nodded in agreement.
"Maggie, Glenn, I need y'all to go on a run. See if you can't steal another delivery truck like you did when we was at the prison. Tyreese made a list of things we need and the more we have, the more we can get done," Daryl said. "You'll need hands, so take whoever you want with you."
Tyreese produced the list and gave it to Glenn who read it over.
"No problem," Glenn said. "After you hand out positions to everyone else, we'll pick who we're going to take."
"Beth, I want you to stay with Carol and do whatever she needs help with. Y'all are gonna have the kids, so, Carol, I thought you might want someone," Daryl said.
"That would be nice," Carol responded.
"I'm going to get to work building that woodshed," Tyreese threw in.
"Sounds fine. Dominique, I got a special job for you, so don't wander off. Everyone else, go with Glenn and Maggie if you're chosen. If not, you can either grab yourself a hoe and get to tearin' up them yards we designated or you can meet down at the house to start demolition work," Daryl finished.
"Fine, then Jimmy, Junior, and Sasha, can we steal you guys?" Glenn asked. "We have quite the load to bring back."
The three of them nodded their compliance.
"Michonne, can you top Hope off before you go? I don't want her getting hungry, and she's not always the most reliable about eating anything solid," Carol said. "I just don't feel like the battle right now."
"No problem," Michonne said. Daryl, who had been holding Hope, stood up and passed her the baby, kissing both of her cheeks before he handed her over.
"I'm headin' on down to the house with Dominique," Daryl said. "What you doin' today?"
"I haven't decided," Michonne said. "I'm leaning toward demolition work. I like swinging the sledgehammer more than I think I'd like hoeing."
"I reckon I'll see ya down there then," Daryl said, leaning in to kiss her.
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"Come with me, kid," Daryl said, walking out of headquarters with Dominique a step behind him.
"What kinda special plans you got for me?" Dominique asked.
"I'm gonna show ya, just hold your horses," Daryl responded. Dominique followed him over to storage where he produced a lamp, a pair of gloves, and a helmet. Dominique eyed him suspiciously. Daryl handed him the stuff.
"What's all this?" Dominique asked.
"Your equipment," Daryl responded.
"A helmet?" Dominique asked. He was more than a little worried about the job that Daryl seemed to have in mind for him.
"Yeah, Carol'd be pissed if you cracked your fuckin' head open, so you gonna wear a helmet," Daryl responded, still not slowing down. Dominique was nearly jogging to keep up with him.
"So what am I doin', exactly?" Dominique asked.
They finally arrived at the house they were tearing down and Daryl stopped.
"You're bustin' up the roof," he said.
"You mean I'm supposed to climb up there?" Dominique asked, looking up toward the roof.
"Nah, you're gonna do it from inside the attic. The helmet's so you don't go bangin' your head on any beams. You'll need the lamp at least until you get you some holes, and the face shield'll keep shit from blindin' you, and you got Glenn to thank for that. He's the one that come up with it when he thought it was gonna be him goin' up there. I'll get you an axe in the house," Daryl said.
"Why isn't it Glenn that's goin' up there?" Dominique asked timidly, following Daryl through the house, having acquired an axe at the entrance.
"'Cause Glenn is goin' on a run and you're goin' in the attic," Daryl responded.
"I'm a little claustrophobic," Dominique stuttered when Daryl led him up the stairs and to the ladder that led to the attic space.
"All the more reason for you to get to work bustin' you some holes, I reckon'. Listen you're the skinniest little runt we got around here, you'll have a lot more room up there than anyone else, now get on up the ladder. I'll be behind ya with the axe to get ya set up," Daryl said, gesturing up the ladder.
Dominque sighed and put his helmet on. He crawled into the attic and Daryl poked just his upper body through the hole, passing Dominque the axe and lighting the lamp. Dominique looked around what he could see of his space, and it appeared to be pretty much empty.
"Here ya go, kid. Get to work and you won't be in a little space no more," Daryl said, "and be careful you don't fall through," he added, disappearing back down the ladder and leaving Dominique to get to work.
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Glenn was happy, they'd found a sizeable truck without much problem, and luckily whoever had owned it before had refueled not long ago. They were loading things into it. They had nearly everything on the list and they had a lot of it, including a few items that they'd picked up, seeing them and thinking that they'd come in handy, even though they hadn't been on the list.
Sasha and Maggie were in the hardware store packing the last of the burlap sacks with smaller items, nails, screws, and whatnot.
Jimmy and Junior were busy hauling bags of cement to load into the truck, and Glenn was going over the list a final time to make sure that they had all they needed for a while.
That was when they caught his attention. Two scraggly looking men sauntered right past him as though he didn't exist and went into the hardware store. Glenn looked around for Jimmy and Junior, but they weren't in sight, having gone around back for another bag of cement. Glenn turned and stepped into the hardware store after the two drifters. They were very obviously drifters, they carried everything they probably owned on their backs.
Glenn wished he could have waited for Jimmy and Junior, having them as backup would be nice, but he didn't want Maggie and Sasha alone for long in the store with the two men. He had no doubt that they wouldn't hesitate to kill them if they needed to, but he didn't want them sneaking up on them. It took him a minute to locate them.
Both of the women were on guard, their knives out, but the scraggly men didn't seem threatened, though they were keeping their distance. Glenn kept quiet, pretty sure that they hadn't seen him outside, or hadn't paid much attention to him, and fairly confident that they didn't realize he was only a few feet away, behind them. He listened to the exchange that was taking place, trying to decide if he should go for Jimmy and Junior or if he should ambush them. He held his machete in his hand, wondering if today would be the day he had to kill a living man simply because he didn't like the looks of him. Earl had more than taught them that sometimes it was justifiable these days to kill people for the way they looked, because it was often a sign that this individual didn't need to be around any longer, and he wasn't taking any chances with Maggie there.
"Ain't you feisty little things," one of the men said.
"We ain't gonna hurt ya, you can calm down," the other one said.
Glenn stayed where he was, somewhat hidden from sight, though he was sure that Maggie had seen him. He switched hands with his machete, drying his right hand off on his pants and then taking it back. If they moved, he was going to kill them, he wasn't even going to think about it.
"We don't want no trouble," the first one offered. "We done seen enough trouble today."
Glenn jumped a little as Jimmy and Junior came up behind him. They were quiet, but both of them were wide eyed, probably not knowing what to expect when the found him there holding his machete. Knowing the two others were with him, he decided to finally begin to approach, and both men turned a little upon hearing the three of them walking up.
"What kind of trouble?" Maggie asked, relieved to see that she and Sasha had more than enough backup now.
"We runned up on a little settlement, you might say, they had them some pretty women there, but some of the men folk didn't wanna share, bein' greedy an' all, so we had us a little scuffle with 'em," the largest one said, laughing a little.
"We showed 'em, though, it was a shame to leave them pretty ladies without their men folk, but they didn't seem none too eager to come on with us, so we decided to just pass on through after we had our fun. That's when my brother and I noticed y'all just scufflin' 'round this place," the other said.
"Y'all settlin' somewhere 'round here?" The biggest brother asked. Maggie eyed Glenn nervously.
"We're a few towns over." He said, trying not to let the worry creep in that the settlement these two had found had been their community. Glenn thought about it. What were they going to do now? If they let their guard down at all, the two men could try something, obviously not being concerned at all about other survivors. If they let them go, if the men wanted to leave peacefully, they could follow them back to their community, if they hadn't been there already.
Glenn made up his mind, though he hated what he had decided. He wished that he could telepathically communicate with Maggie, wished that someone was there that he could discuss his idea with, and he wished more than anything that there was someone else there to make the call that he had to make but desperately didn't want to. However, there was no one else there, and he was going to have to make some kind of move.
Suddenly, machete grasped firmly in his hand, Glenn lunged at the larger of the men in front of him, hacking at him with the machete. Maggie must have seen it coming because she jumped and sliced the throat of the second man before Glenn had even fully been sure that he'd taken down the one that he was going after. In a matter of minutes the job was done. The two men lie lifeless on the floor, and Glenn tried to keep his mind clear as he assured himself that neither would resurrect as a Walker.
All five of them stood silently for a moment, looking back and forth between each other and the men on the floor. Finally it was Sasha who broke the awkward silence.
"Do we have everything we need?" She asked, strangely calm. She picked up one of the bags that was on the floor next to her.
"The truck's pretty well packed," Jimmy said, his voice squeaking a little.
"Then let's go, before we have any more unwelcomed visitors," Sasha said.
The group silently walked out of the store, finished loading the last of their items, took down the five or six Walkers ambling around in the street, and headed back.
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Daryl cheered Dominique on when he'd finally busted through the roof. Once he got through, he was making pretty good progress. Daryl had cleared the area out of workers so that he could throw down anything he wanted to throw down without worrying about hitting anyone with falling debris.
He could tell that the boy wasn't suffering from claustrophobia now. Now he was suffering from maybe ego, or maybe the feeling of accomplishment, but fear was the last thing he could see whenever he looked up there to check on him.
Daryl was helping Michonne break up asphalt and everyone else was working a few streets over on hoeing up the yards that they'd designated as planting areas. As much as they had needed the few days of break, Daryl thought that they needed the work too. They'd become accustomed to this life now, where you didn't really feel like you were living unless you were doing something, and the more you did, the more alive you felt.
He tried to keep a feeling for the time passing, wondering when the group would get back from the run that he'd sent them on.
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Chelsea and Stella were on watch, and they pulled the gates open for the car that the group had left in and the truck that was rumbling not far behind it. They rushed to kill the Walkers that tried to follow it into the gate.
When it came to a stop, Sasha, Junior and Jimmy spilled out of the car. Glenn and Maggie got out of the truck. All of them looked a little different.
Tyreese stopped his work and came down to the street where they'd stopped the vehicles.
"How'd it go? Did you get everything?" He asked.
"We got everything," Sasha said. Tyreese furrowed his brow. There was something in her facial expression that he didn't entirely like.
"Everything go OK? Did you run into a herd?" He asked.
"No, no herds…" Glenn said.
"What's wrong?" Tyreese asked.
Glenn was positive that it wasn't their community that those two men had entered. He'd known that just seeing Stella and Chelsea lightly opening the gates. If those men had come through and left them without "their menfolk" and probably violated some of them, he knew that they wouldn't be milling around doing the everyday things that they did. Probably no one would be at the gates, and he was sure he wouldn't have been able to see Tyreese working, Beth entertaining the girls, or Carol hustling about with a load of laundry to hang. The men hadn't disturbed their community at all. They had disturbed another one, but it hadn't been theirs.
"We killed two men today," Glenn said quietly. "In cold blood." His head spun when he thought about it. The men hadn't actually threatened them, but he'd not been able to wrap his mind around any other action to take then to kill them.
Tyreese looked confused. He looked to Sasha.
"They were talking about what they'd done to another settlement apparently somewhere close by," Sasha said. "They said they killed their men, and probably raped their women. They were shady, and they were asking us about where we were settled."
Tyreese nodded his head.
"I didn't know what else to do," Glenn said. "I didn't know if it was our group or another one, and I didn't want them following us back here. I just didn't know what to do, so Maggie and I killed them."
Tyreese clapped a hand on Glenn's shoulder. He could tell that the boy was disturbed.
"You did the right thing, Glenn. You did the only thing you could do, and we're all grateful to you for it. Don't lose any sleep over having to do something to protect your family," Tyreese said.
Glenn didn't say anything. He swallowed hard and looked at Tyreese, nodding slightly.
"Come on, let's get this truck unloaded," Tyreese said finally.
