Chapter 3: Bread

Glenn's POV

When I wake up, I don't know what to expect. Maggie and the girls are gone. I open the thick, dense curtains and it's dark out. I'm not sure if it means I haven't slept much or if I slept through the night and through most of the day, too. I get out of the bed and crack my back and rub the sleep from my eyes.

"Maggie?" I say to the moderately darkened room. "Lizzie? Mika?" I look at the nightstand. It has a note on it written in Maggie's messy handwriting.

"Glenn, the girls and I went to check out the hotel a little more. Love, Maggie."

She must have written that in the morning. And it's dusk now. So they've been gone awhile. I'd better go looking for them.

After looking for about 10 minutes, I find them in the kitchen eating out of a big can of chocolate pudding. "Sorry I'm late to the party." I say and they all look at me.

"So you finally woke up?" Maggie asks.

"Yeah. Did I just sleep through most of the day?" I ask.

"Yeah. I knew how tired you were. So I didn't want to wake you." She replies.

"I feel guilty sleeping all day though." I state. She gets up and hugs me.

"You shouldn't. Nothing really happened, anyway. Except that I found the generator and got some electricity going." She said. Only then did I notice the small lamp next to Lizzie and Mika.

"Shit! Really? That's amazing."

"Uh huh. And I have some bread in the oven."

"Don't you need milk and eggs to make bread?" I asked.

"This bread my mom taught me how to make doesn't need them. It doesn't taste quite as good, but I haven't had bread in a well over year, so I don't even care."

"I'm definitely looking forward to this bread." Maggie looks over at Lizzie and Mika coloring and she doesn't quite look right. "Maggie, are you okay?" I ask rubbing her shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm alright. I was just...just thinkin' about my dad and Beth. And the rest." She says. I pull her to my chest and hug her. She doesn't hug back. She just lays her arms flat against me and lets me hold her.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you." I stroke her hair.

"You don't need to tell me anything." She says softly. "It's not your fault."

"We can go back." She pull her back to look at me.

"What?"

"We can go back to the prison and see if they're still there. To see how everything turned out. Who knows? Maybe they're still there."

"Are you sure? Is that safe?"

"Yeah. It's as safe as anything else." She wraps her arms around my neck.

"We can go tomorrow morning." She says and I nod. She softly kisses my lips, the taste and scent of chocolate still lingering on her mouth. We're interrupted by Mika tugging on Maggie.

"Mommy-I, I mean Maggie, the bread is done!" Maggie smiles and puts her arm around Mika's shoulders.

"Come on, honey. Let's take it out of the oven." They go over and Maggie opens the oven door and the most comforting aroma dominates the room. I had forgotten what bread smelled like. Right now, it kinda smells like how sex feels. I sit down next to Lizzie at the table. She is drawing a picture of three people in a bed.

"Who're they?" I ask her, pointing to the people.

"That's you, Maggie, and Mika." She says, pointing to each individual person.

"When did this happen?" I ask her. I don't seem to recall.

"Last night. Mika was scared so she slept in your bed." Lizzie says, absent minded. Just then, Maggie comes over with a plate of steaming sliced bread.

"Alright. Someone taste it and tell me how it turned out." Maggie says nervously.

"Sure thing." I take a hearty piece and take a bite. Holy shit, it tastes amazing. I nod graciously to Maggie, confirming that she has done a stellar job. She let's out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank christ. I was worried that I did it wrong." She admits. I swallow and shake my head.

"Nothing about this bread is wrong." I say patting her hand. "Trust me." She smiles and does that "what am I gonna do with you?" head shake.

"Do you girls like it?" Maggie asks, pulling the hair away from Mika's face. Mika nods and leans her head on Maggie's shoulder and Maggie's puts her arm around her.

"Yeah. It's good. It's sweet." Lizzie says, taking a another mouthful. Maggie smiles and starts a piece while I finish my first and go in for a second. Before long, the whole plate is gone and the end of the bread comes. Even though that was all I've eaten all day, it filled me up.

"Oh. Glenn, the water main is still intact and the pilot is still on." Maggie say. "We got hot water." Both the girls shriek with excitement.

"Maggie, you are a women of many talents." I say and kiss her across the table.

"Can we go take showers?" Lizzie asks Maggie.

"Of course. Just Let the water run for a few minutes first. Glenn, will you take them while I finish cleaning up down here?" She asks. I nod.

"Come on, girls. Let's go." I say and they run off ahead of me, forcing me to quicken my pace. I chase them up the three floors to the rooms we chose yesterday. "Alright. One of you in this room and one in the other. Take your pick." They each take off in different directions and I plant myself on the bed and fall back. Running up the stairs made me slightly fatigued. I drift into a meditative state and am brought back by Mika. "Huh? What is it?"

"Can you tuck me in?" She asks quietly. I prop myself up and push myself off the bed.

"Yeah. Sure." She reaches her hands up towards my shoulders, requesting for me to pick her up. And I do. I carry her over to their room and set her on the bed.

"Are you and Maggie our new mom and dad?" She asks me. I'm really taken aback by her question. If she sees us as her new parents, then that's fine. But saying yes...I feel like that would be like telling her she should forget her real parents.

"If you want us to be, we will." I simply say. She nods.

"Okay, 'cause I want you to be." She replies and pulls the blankets over herself and turns with her to me.

"Okay. Good night." I say a leave and go back to the adjacent room and plop myself back down on the bed just as Maggie walks in. "Hey."

"Hey." She looks into the other room. "She asleep already?"

"Yeah. Exciting day, I guess." I say and she smiles and sits down next to me.

"What are we gonna do with the girls tomorrow?" She asks. "They can't stay here alone, and I don't think they should come with us, either."

"I say they come with us." I say. "At least we can protect them if they're with us."

"Okay." She sighs. "Oh god. I'm tired." She moves up and lays on a side of the unmade bed. The bathroom door opens and Lizzie walks out. "Good night, Lizzie." She says gently.

"Good night." She says back.

I pull the blankets over Maggie as I feel the goosebumps on her skin rise and turns to me to lay her head on my chest. I put my arm around her. "Wake me up at six." She says before she falls asleep.

Maggie's POV

"Maggie. Maggie it's six o'clock." I hear Glenn say as he shakes me awake. I lazily open my eyes and sit up, feeling the blood rush from my head.

"Ugghh. Thanks." I say, rubbing his arm. "I'm gonna shower. You should, too" I say and he gives me the look (you know the one). "No." I give a him smile along with a shake of my head and he smiles back. I shake my head again and walk into the bathroom and flip on the light, closing the door behind me. I set a towel aside and strip down and step in the shower. I flip on the water and it's freezing at first, but quickly warms up. The sting of the hot water on my skin is something I've missed dearly. I continue washing while quietly humming to myself and dreading the quickly approaching moment of when I'll have to get out.

Once all the soap is rinsed off, I turn off the spray and step out to wrap the towel around my waterlogged body. I dry myself off and put on fresh clothes and brush out my hair before opening the door. The sun is still not fully up, but it's time to wake the girls anyway.

A kneel down on the floor next to Mika and rub her back the way my mom used to do to me. "Mika, sweetie. It's time to get up." I say softly. I push her hair back. "Honey, come one." She opens her eyes and looks at me.

"Why do we have to get up?" She asks.

"We're gonna go back to the prison. And we're gonna see if anyone is still there." I explain. She nods her head.

"Okay." She says and gets up and goes into the empty bathroom. I go over to Lizzie's side of the bed.

"Lizzie. Lizzie, honey. You gotta get up now." I say with the same tone. I touch her shoulder and she jerks awake, breathing fast and heavy. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. You're safe." She sits up and wipes her eyes, her breathing steadying, recovering from an obvious nightmare. I sit next to her on the bed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She says. Despite her word, she starts sobbing and hugs me and places her head on my chest. I wrap my arms around her and lay my head on top of hers. "I miss my mom and dad." She sobs.

"I know." I say, trying to console her. "Me too." She starts to calm down.

"What happened to them?" She asks, sniffing and whimpering.

"Well, when I was real little, my mom died. And not long after that, my dad remarried. She was alright, but I still only wanted my mom." I tell her. "I finally warmed up to her. And we were okay. But when the outbreak started, she died, too. And I don't know what happened to my dad. He could be back at the prison, or he could be dead."

"I'm sorry." She pulls away to look at me.

"It's okay." I say. She looks to her left and sees Glenn looking at us. She hides her face in my shoulder. I gesture to the door with my head. He gets the hint and leaves. "What's wrong?"

"I just don't want him to see me cry." She says and gets up and also disappears into the bathroom. I don't even realize that I'm crying. I quickly wipe my eyes and start packing some odds and ends for the road.

"Is she okay?" Glenn asks. I nod. "Are you okay?" I nod again. "You sure?" I stop and look at him and sigh.

"Yeah. I'm okay. I'm worried about my family." I say, a little too harshly. I shouldn't have gotten myself worked up. He nods. "Honey, I'm sorry. I'm just, you know. Anxious."

"I know." He hugs me and I bury my face in his neck and breathe him in. "You don't have to apologize."

"We ready to go?" I ask, the words muffled by his shirt.

"Yeah. As soon as they're ready." I kiss him and he lets me go. "I'm gonna put the stuff in the car." I nod and sit on the bed and wait for the girls. After a few minutes they're both ready and I walk them down to the car. We get everyone all settled and we get on the road. The drive to the prison is about four hours. After about an hour of doing nothing, I'm a little twitchy. In the glove box is a CD sleeve full of all kinds of music. Most of it's not my taste, but there I find a Shania Twain Greatest Hits CD and pop it in the player. Time starts passing a lot faster and we're back at the prison before I know it. I can see through the trees that the place is completely surrounded before we even pull in the driveway. My heart starts thumping as the realization of how slim the chances of their survival is hits me.

"Glenn, how are we even gonna get inside?" I ask. I'm glad the girls fell asleep on the way here. I don't want them to see this.

"I have an idea." He says.

"Go on." He stops the car right before the driveway.

"Okay, so we take some gasoline and we dump on as many walkers as we can. And then we toss a lighter into the mess. And then we wait." He says.

"You think it'll work?" It seems like it would. I mean, crazier things have happened.

"It's worth a shot." He says. "From what I've seen, they burn pretty well."

"Let's do it." He gets out of the car and goes around to the back. He comes back with a gas can and hands it to me. I take off my seat belt and take it. "Let's go." He outs the car in drive and takes up the path to the hoard of walkers. The Lizzie and Mika hear the moans and they wake up.

"What's happening?" Mika asks.

"We're gonna try a little somethin' but I don't want you to look, okay?" I say. "You, too, Lizzie." I don't know if they do as say, but I honestly don't care all that much. I roll down my window and douse all the walkers grabbing at the car. I get about a hundred before the can is empty. "Quick, Glenn, gimme a lighter." He fumbles in his pocket and pulls out an old zippo. I click it on. "Go!" He starts driving away from the herd and I throw the lighter. The walkers I soaked go up so fast I barely see it happen. The rest of the herd catch fire soon after. It's like the domino effect. Glenn pulls back onto the road before the prison drive and we wait.