Glenn's POV

I walked tentatively towards the barn, sighing internally. I knew Maggie had told me to drop the near-sex encounter, but I couldn't really look at her or Lynnie the same as I had before. I couldn't even think of swooping Lynnie up in my arms, the burden of the secret burning me. I reached the shady-looking barn and rattled the lock to find it locked quite firmly. Why would they lock a barn? Yeah, there's always the possibility of thieves even in the middle of the apocalypse so. I walked around the barn and found an opening and heard weird noises inside. Was someone already here?

I looked inside and the sight of it all made my blood freeze.

"You weren't supposed to see that," Maggie gasped and I stumble away from the walker-infested barn.

Oh, my g-

Arlynn's POV

Bang! Bang!

I put the safety back on for the gun once I saw the bullets hit the center effortlessly, satisfied. My body had still been wrapped up because some people didn't want to have me straining myself or injuring myself further. It was time for me to try my bow and arrow again, something I was starting to miss. These days I needed to use my guns, not my precious hunting bow, and now it had been a while since I used my precious.

I unhooked the folded bow from my belt loop, getting an arrow out of my quiver and feeling absolutely pleased with the feel of the two cold metals with silky and soft feathers on my arrows. I half groaned with satisfaction as my arrow clicked in place in my bow, really realizing just how much I loved this baby. I stretched the string with the arrow till it reached near my ear and under my chin, staring at the small white dot that marked the target.

"C'mon, c'mon," I muttered under my breath, feeling the wind and how hard it was blowing. "Make me proud, baby."

I let the arrow fly and watched intently, cheering when it hit the center.

"Breakfast," T-dog shouted from the porch of the house. I waved back, folding up my bow and latching it to my quiver this time, and putting my gun back in the holster. I walked into the dining room to see Maggie and Glenn discussing something urgently and quietly before he moved to Lori and did the same with her. I rolled my eyes and saw Andrea apologizing to Daryl who seemed to be fine. Once she left, I took my breakfast and plopped down next to him, giving him a shiny smile.

"How's our resident hunter/walker doing around here?" I bit into my apple with a grin, watching amusedly as he rolled his eyes.

"Get out of here, kid," he growled. I grinned wider in response, shaking my head.

"I ain't goin' nowhere, Darrie. T' isn't often ya find a fellow hunter around town," I gave him my fake Southern drawl with a sweet grin. "Plus, how could you possibly live without seeing my wonderful face and hearing my sweet voice."

"Moonshine is sweeter than your face and voice," Daryl retorted with a wry smile, making me pout mockingly. I clutched my heart and made a pained expression, the apple still in my hand.

"You wound me, sir, with your barbed words," I groaned with a posh attitude now before grinning outright and taking another bite from my apple. Daryl shook his head with a rare genuine smile as I happily settled in my seat and munched on my fruit.

I ignored his presence in the room, knowing my older brother couldn't possibly be here sitting on my other side and teasingly watching us. He was last seen in Virginia and in the middle of a crowd of walkers. He wasn't real, just another apparition my head was making up for me. After breakfast, I walked on towards the forest to at least make arrows if I couldn't join the others in the hunt for Sophia.

"Arlynn," Rick called out for me and I turned around to see him standing with a few faces in front of the house. I walked over to join and placed my hands on my waist.

"Sup?" I looked around at Shane and a disgruntled Lori holding onto an eager Carl.

"Can you help Shane teach them how to handle a gun?" He frowned against the sunlight. I cast a quick scanning look around the group of people and nodded. "I heard you taught Ben and he's a good shot."

"Yeah, if you want," I shrugged. "But there's more to surviving against walkers than shooting up the whole place, Rick."

"I know, just," he sighed and I saw the pressure on him. "Just for now."

"I can teach them a little bit of basic combat as well, just so there's an increased chance out there," I offered before spotting a movement behind Rick. I frowned and looked around him to see a very guilty-looking younger brother discreetly hiding behind the sheriff.

"Uh, hi?" Rennie asked sheepishly.

"What are you doing here?" Glenn demanded before I could say anything else. His presence only reminded me of the confusion related to the guy and I sighed through my nose, really missing simpler times.

"To learn how to fight," Rennie stood taller, challenging me as he looked me in the eyes.

"Go help Maggie or Dale, Rennie," I ordered firmly, not backing down. "This isn't your place."

"Carl's learning," Rennie protested, gesturing at the healing boy. "Why can't I join?"

"What Carl does is up to his parents, not up to me and you. You, on the other hand, are under my protection and control. I'm your literal guardian," I was feeling drained by this ongoing argument of 'If Carl does it, why can't I?'. "You can defend yourself with the machete and taser I gave you, what's the problem here?"

"I want to learn how to shoot a gun," Rennie argued and I saw myself in him, something I hated the most. His stubborn stance never changed, making me frustrated even further.

"The answer is no," I snapped.

"I never asked you," my younger brother retaliated.

"My god!" I groaned, rubbing my face with a hand in exasperation.

"Listen to your sister, Aren," Lori jutted in, scolding the boy. "She's only trying to protect you."

"She's not letting me be safe if she won't let me learn how to defend myself. All she gives me is a knife and she runs off guns blazing and comes back hurt or without someone. I want to fight," Rennie argued intently.

"Aren Jaehwa Cho," I gritted my teeth, using the full name threat. "I said, no."

We had a standoff like that, both of us glaring or staring at each other without a single word. He shook his head eventually, storming away. Rick glanced furtively at me and then the fading figure before nodding at me in assurance. I sighed before turning to the group of people.

"Let's go," I nodded towards the range and we all started walking except for Rick.

"You coming?" he asked Glenn who glanced at me before shaking his head.

"I gotta help Dale clean the spark plugs on the RV. He said he's gonna teach me mechanics. I should probably go look for him," he half-lied and turned to find Dale.

"You found me," Dale played along, shrugging. "He's a good learner."

I looked between the two before shrugging as well and walking off toward the range. Rick's heavy footsteps followed behind me and I turned to talk to him.

"Am I too hard on the kid?" He pondered over my question for a moment before shaking his head.

"No," he smiled kindly. "You're doing what you can, and what you're doing is more than what I could do for Carl. I wish I had the same firmness, but I can't when Lori and Shane are also on his side, you know?"

"Yeah," I nodded, watching the ground interestedly.

"What's going on with you, Ben, Glenn, and Maggie?" Rick asked, making me stumble over a twig I was going to jump over.

"W-what?" I stared at him with wide eyes. He grinned in reply, quirking his brows higher. I blushed before turning to look in front of us. "Ben and I had a fight."

My voice turned cold as I remembered what he'd done to me. I shook my head to clear those thoughts and focused on Maggie and Glenn. "Maggie, I don't know. I didn't notice any tension between me and her. Glenn and Ben, I don't even know where to start. It's like Ben has a sudden vendetta against Glenn, and Glenn's following along. Maggie and Glenn, on the other hand, I feel like they're kinda flirting around or something."

"Does it bother you?" Rick asked, and something in his tone made me know it was about the latter two.

"Why should it?" I voiced the argument that had gone on in my head every time I see the two of them together.

"It shouldn't, because Glenn only has eyes for you," Rick casually mentioned with a sly grin as I felt blood rushing to my cheeks.

"He really shouldn't," I shook my head, fiddling with my necklace. Rick glanced down at it as well before nodding in understanding.

"What happened?"

"I killed him," I blurted out, for some reason feeling open with this man. Maybe it was because he was a father and a leader and a sheriff, and I somehow related to that. I felt the familiar pain rise up from my gut and to my chest, swallowing thickly. "He was my partner and my fiance. We were supposed to be married that day, and I killed him. We'd said our 'I do's and I got him killed."

"I think that's what the voice in your head is telling you, but I know that you couldn't kill anyone, especially when you love them," Rick finally spoke after a long tense moment. We finally arrived at the range and I shut off the vulnerable moment I'd shown Rick, instead clapping my hands as I saw Andrea hit the target.

"Good, Andrea!" I hollered over the shots. I turned my attention to all these people, engaging in teaching them as Shane guided some of the others. The familiar sounds of guns going off both calmed me and terrified the wispy apparitions that appeared as they ran or fought or screamed. I was helping Carl when I heard Andrea arguing with Shane, turning to them with a frown.

"But you, God, you shoot like a damn girl," he said as I stood next to Andrea. He glanced at me before continuing to harass Andrea.

"Ain't no problem shooting like a girl," I reassured Andrea. "Just control everything, let it all out."

"You stand here and you point your weapon. Point like you point your finger. Do not think about it. I'm talking about muscle memory, girl, muscle memory." Shane taught her roughly, going the hard way. I simply walked away from him, knowing that Andrea would need a little bit of tough teaching in order to properly learn. I picked up a set of knives, observing the sharpness before throwing them at an empty target with ease. It hit the target so I picked up another one and chucked that one as well, enjoying the swooshing sound of the knife as it cut through the air and shattered the target.

"Arlynn," I turned mid-throw to see Shane looking at me in a sheepish way. The way I'd paused had me looking like a serial killer so I lowered my hand.

"What's up?"

"Andrea and I are gonna go look for Sophia," he emphasized the latter. I gave him a nod instead, accepting his indirect apology when Glenn ran up to me.

"Hey, do you need anything?"

"Uh, no? Why?" I asked, confused that he would run up to me and ask if I needed anything.

"I'm gonna go on a run to town, I didn't know if you needed anything," he answered with a rub to the back of his neck.

"I'll go with," I answered, sheathing the knife I was still holding in my hand. "I've been stuck here for way too long."

I walked silently next to Glenn, still feeling like a teenage girl. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and was looking around nervously. Honestly, he was acting like I'd eat him alive or some sort.

"So, uh," Glenn tried for a conversation. "Maggie's coming with us."

I shrugged, figuring as much. "I've noticed she goes wherever you go, so."

Glenn flinched at my nonchalant response, something I was both proud of and sorry about. He really should've known better, though.

"She's just a friend," he shrugged.

"Like you and me?" I drawled in response, feeling confrontational today. Normally, I'm a fan of ignoring a problem till it goes away, but I just wasn't feeling it today.

"Lynnie," Glenn turned to me with an earnest glow in his eyes. "Do you really want us to be just friends? If that's what you want, I'll back off."

"What I want is for you to tell me what we are. One day you just kiss me, then the next you're running around acting like nothing had ever occurred whatsoever. What the hell am I supposed to do then?" I demanded, throwing up my hands in exasperation. "You know, for a smart guy, you're really stupid."

"Okay, I'm confused, because I think you just paid me a compliment, but you made it s-" I shut him up with a glare.

"You're smart. You're brave. You're a leader. But you don't know it. The rest of our group doesn't want to know it. There's a dead guy in the well? Send Glenn down. You're walker bait, or the runner, or the sacrifice," I snapped. He watched me with wide eyes. "How long till your luck runs out? How much longer till I wait for you to come back, only to find out that you're never coming back? I've lost people because of things like that, and I'm sure as hell not letting you do the same to me."

I shook my head at his silent response before approaching Maggie and the two horses she was patting. She looked up in surprise as I checked my gear.

"You're coming with us?"

"Damn straight I am," I snapped before covering it up with a smirk. "I've been trapped here for too long."

Glenn walked over with another horse and I took the other one Maggie was holding onto. She climbed on flawlessly while Glenn struggled a bit before getting on properly.

"You able to get up?" Maggie asked as I patted the brown horse's forehead. I quirked an eyebrow before swinging up with grace, not a single thing out of place. I smirked at her as she stared with a surprised expression.

"I can do anything and everything," I grinned, grabbing the reins. "Wanna race?"

Maggie smiled, shaking her head. "Dad won't be happy about it."

"Since when did we care about our dads' opinions?" I pointed out with a grin, proceeding to bend lower on the horse as I snapped the reins and dug my heels into its sides. "Hyah!"

I felt the air whoosh by as the horse ran on, properly motivated. I heard similar cries behind me and saw Glenn and Maggie catching up to me, the three of us riding at breakneck speed and whooping in exhilaration.

"So what are we looking for?" I asked Glenn as I looked around the store. He gave me a guilty shrug, something I caught onto but chose not to point out. Maggie followed him as I trailed behind, looking around the store. The pharmacy held some medicine, and I decided to pack myself up on the painkillers when I heard a rustling behind me but looked too late. A walker lunged at me, knocking me back into a shelf before I rolled onto the cold marble floor. The thing got on the ground with me, clutching at my arms. I thanked my intuition for wearing a leather jacket that couldn't possibly be penetrated or scratched. It sure tried though, and the weight of that thing was all on me as it pressed its face closer and closer to me. I grunted as I tried to hold the damned thing off, trying to hold back the urge to scream and alert almost everyone. Maggie, however, didn't have that much control over her urges, it seems.

"Glenn! Oh my god! Glenn!"

The stench of decay and rotting blood made me gag as its drool started to make its way down my cheek.

"Maggie, kill it!" I hissed as the thing screamed as well, pushing against my elbows to tear out my throat. "Fucking kill it!"

I could feel its drool on my cheek now and I turned away from it, trying to protect my face as it snapped at me. Someone slaughtered it instead and I got up instantly, gasping for breath. Maggie's breakfast was making a reappearance at some distance, according to the noises she was making. Glenn held onto me with wide panicked eyes, scanning me for injuries.

"Did it get you? Did it bite you?" He tilted my face this way and that, ever so anxious about it. I shook my head and he sagged in relief. I heard Maggie's screams suddenly and jolted up, seeing yet another one attacking her. I shot my arrow at it, piercing the head and killing it immediately.

"You okay?" I asked, scanning her for any injuries. "Bit?"

"No, no," Maggie shook with terror. I offered her a hand and helped her up with Glenn taking her other hand.

"We should get going before we become dead meat," I shrugged and made my way out the door, snatching up some inhalers just in case.

It wouldn't hurt, in case we had another panic attack. God knows we all need therapy.