CHAPTER FOUR » ANCHORS
"It made me think of you."

♔

"Disoriented." Rick said. "I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion. All those things but disoriented comes closest."

"Words can be meagre things. Sometimes they fall short." Dale said.

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while, I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever." Rick said.

"Mom said you died." Carl mumbled.

"She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it." Rick said.

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna take you and the other patients to Atlanta." Lori said. "And it never happened."

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." Rick said.

"Yeah." Lori agreed.

"And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." Rick added.

"Yeah, looks don't deceive." Shane said. "I barely got them out, you know?

Rick turned to his best friend. "I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it."

"There go those words falling short again." Dale said. "Paltry things."

~

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind." Dale spoke up after a while.

"I'll tell him." T-Dog said. "I dropped the key. It's on me."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine."

"Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn pointed out. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."

T-Dog shook his head. "I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him."

"We could lie." Amy suggested.

"Or tell the truth." Andrea said. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She looked at Lori. "Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale asked. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it." T-Dog said.

"We were all scared. We all ran." I reminded. "What's your point?"

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that. Not that chain, not that padlock. My point, Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof." T-Dog explained. "That's on us."

~

"Morning!" Glenn chirped as I headed over to the RV.

"Mm."

He chuckled, handing me something. A box.

I frowned, running my hands over it.

"What's this?"

"Open it."

"I'm mildly worried."

"Just open it."

"Glenn-"

"Blaire, just open the damn box."

I sighed, tugging at the pink ribbon and loosening it. The box was weightless but when I shook it slightly, I could hear something sliding about inside. I slowly lifted up the lid and saw a small pendant hanging off of a chain.

I gently pulled it out, holding it up in front of me.

It was an anchor.

It was the necklace I noticed in the store yesterday.

"Remember that supply run we went on where you accidentally lost your necklace?" Glenn didn't wait for me to reply. "Well, you told me you felt lost without it and I saw this the other day. I remember you telling me your favourite quote, the anchor one, from that TV show Teen Wolf. It made me think of you."

I swallowed a lump in my throat.

"Thank you, Glenn. It's beautiful."

I wrapped my arms around him and he smiled softly.

"No problem."

I undid the clasp and held it up. "Could you put it on for me?"

Glenn nodded, taking the necklace in his hands.

I turned around. Glenn brushed my hair out of the way and placed the chain around my neck.

I turned back around to face him and held the pendant in the palm of my hand.

"I love it."

Glenn chuckled. "I'm glad."

I heard the sound of something being pulled apart and looked over to see some of the guys with the car Glenn had brought into camp.

"Oh no." Glenn groaned heading over to Rick, who stood watching.

I followed.

"Look at 'em. Vultures." Glenn muttered, eyeing the others with distain. "Yeah, go on. Strip it clean!"

Morales merely looked at him as he headed past, rolling a tire towards the RV. Dale followed with a jug of gas in his hand.

"Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it." He patted my best friends shoulder. "Sorry, Glenn."

"Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Glenn mumbled.

"Maybe we'll get to steal another one someday." Rick patted Glenn on the back before winking at me and leaving.

"Rick Grimes never breaks a promise." I reassured, although I wasn't sure how true that statement actually was.

A car approached us, Shane was driving.

"Water's here, y'all." He said. "Just a reminder to boil before use."

Several of the others went to get their water jugs but I stayed back, still watching the car being torn apart.

I looked down at the box, which was still in my hand, and smiled.

A scream suddenly erupted from the trees and my head snapped in the direction of it.

"Mom!" Was yelled, followed by a "Dad!", "Papi!" And "Mommy!"

"Carl?" Lori ran off to her son, Rick and Shane following without hesitation.

I dropped the box and ran after them. My mind was wandering, thinking about all of the awful possibilities. Could some of the geeks have followed us back up here?

"Over here!"

We headed deeper into the woods until we reached the kids.

"I've got him. I've got him." Lori said, pulling Carl towards her. "Nothing bit you? Nothing scratched you?"

"No, I'm okay."

I looked past them to see a ravenous walker busy eating the carcass of a deer.

Glenn appeared beside me, a weapon in his hand.

I pulled the knife from my belt loop and gripped it tightly.

Everybody started to circle around the geek, who heard us and stood up, facing Rick.

Rick took a swing at it, knocking it towards Shane who used the butt of his gun to hit it towards Glenn, who knocked it to the ground.

I watched as they started to beat it, remembering that it's supposed to be the head.

I was about to step in and help when Dale brought his axe down and chopped it's head off.

We all moved away from the corpse.

"It's the first one we've had up here." Dale remarked. "They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're running out of food in the city." Jim said.

I heard a branch snap and raised my knife, hoping to god that it wasn't another walker.

Daryl, who was still holding his crossbow, came out of the forest looking pissed off.

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer!" He exclaimed, pointing at the animal, which had three bows sticking out of it. "Look at it. All gnawed on by this-" he rammed his foot into the walkers side. "Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

"Calm down, son. That's not helping."

Daryl intimidatingly stepped towards Dale. "What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'on golden pond'?" He snapped, turning around to the deer and pulling out the arrows. "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" He motioned to the bloodied part that the walker had chewed on.

"I would not risk that." Shane said sternly.

Daryl sighed. "That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do." On his shoulder, he had a line of squirrels.

At that moment, the head of the geek started to move its teeth.

Amy shuddered beside me. "Oh god"

"Come on, people. What the hell?" Daryl aimed his crossbow and shot the walker in the head. He walked over to the now lifeless head of the geek and pulled out the arrow. "It's gotta be the brain." He said. "Don't y'all know nothing?"

He started heading back to camp and the rest of us followed.

I knew everyone was thinking the same thing.

How is he going to react when we tell him about Merle?

"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here!" He yelled as he headed through camp to his tent. "I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up!"

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane said quickly, noticing the looks around camp.

"About what?"

"About Merle. There was a-" Shane paused, obviously thinking about his next words. "There was a problem in Atlanta."

"He dead?"

"We're not sure." I cut in.

Daryl harshly stepped towards me.

"He either is or he ain't!"

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick spoked up.

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes?" Daryl mocked. "You got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick explained calmly.

"Hold on. Let me process this." Daryl looked away, wiping the sweat from his forehead before turning back to Rick. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"

"Yeah."

Daryl launched for him but Rick shoved him away.

Shane tackled him to the ground but Daryl got back up, pulling a knife out of his pocket.

"Hey! Watch the knife!" T-Dog yelled.

He swung at Rick, who dodged it.  Shane came up behind Daryl, putting him into a headlock.

"Okay. Okay." Shane said, pulling Daryl down to the floor.

"You'd best let me go!"

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl pointed out.

"You can file a complaint." Shane retorted. "Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

Rick bent down next to him. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" He received no reply. "Do you think we can manage that?"

"Mmm. Yeah."

Shane released him, noticing that he had calmed down now.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault." T-Dog spoke up. "I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?"

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

Daryl scoffed. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will." T-Dog said. "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock. It's gotta count for something."

"Hell with all y'all!" Daryl snapped. "Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

"He'll show you." Lori said, looking at Rick. "Isn't that right?"

Rick nodded. "I'm going back."

~

"Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" I heard Shane yell after Rick.

Glenn and I looked over.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl snapped.

"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant." Shane replied. "Merle Dixon. The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst. Me." Rick said. "Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori questioned.

Rick slowly turned around, facing Glenn and I.

The two of us groaned, speaking at exactly the same time. "Oh, come on."

"You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Rick said. Glenn sighed, pulling off his cap and running his hand through his hair. "It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with at least one of you along." He looked at Lori. "I know she would too."

I turned to Glenn, knowing my best friend was not at all comfortable with the idea. "I'll go. You stay here."

He shook his head. "No. You stay, I'll go."

"If you're going, I'm coming with you." I said.

Glenn sighed, knowing I wouldn't back down. "Count us both in."

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk four people, huh?" Shane snapped.

"Five." T-Dog spoke up.

Daryl huffed. "My day just gets better and better, don't it?"

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?"

"Why you?"

"You wouldn't even begin to understand." T-Dog said. "You don't speak my language."

"That's five." Dale said.

"It's not just five. You're putting every single one of us at risk." Shane pointed out. "Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that Walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp."

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Rick said.

Glenn nodded, obviously remembering the bag Rick had dropped back in Atlanta. "Right, the guns."

"Wait. What guns?" Shane asked.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up."

"Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted."

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked.

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl said, looking like he was on the verge of tears.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Lori said. "Tell me. Make me understand."

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all." Rick replied. "They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him."

"What's stopping you?"

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."

"These are our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah."

"So use the CB. What's wrong with that?" Andrea asked.

"The CB's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the '70s, don't match any other bandwidth. Not even the scanners in our cars." Shane informed.

"I need that bag. Okay?"

"All right."

❃

Words: 2567
Published: 1st December 2015

⛄️⛄️⛄️

Okay, I'm legit stressing out so much rn because the photo ops for Walker Stalker Con in London go on sale in like an hour and I really wanna get a Steven Yeun one agslsgshsmdn

Anywhoo I hope you liked the chapter. Glenn and Blaire are actually so cute like I keep giving myself feels whenever I write glennaire scenes now lmao.

Thanks for reading 🎅🏻