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a trial of survival

"HOLY SHIT."

Glenn looks down at the two bodies. He was no stranger to blood, not anymore, but Dave and Tony weren't just walkers who they had to shoot and kill because that was just what the world was now. Dave and Tony were people. Just like him and Rick and Hershel, and now they were dead.

The adrenaline was still coursing through him, which was probably why he wasn't freaking out in utter shock. There was a part of him that felt incredibly afraid, that in only a few months, humankind had gone from a civilised society to... this.

A much bigger, more rational part of him knew that Rick had done what he had to do to protect his own.

"You all right?" Rick asks, his breath heavy and sweat dripping from his hair.

Glenn nods wordlessly. "Yeah."

There was a long, and somehow loud silence.

Rick clears his throat. "Hershel?"

Glenn looks up at the older man. For someone who had, up until very recently, thought that the walkers were sick people and was incredibly against killing them, he was uncharacteristically calm about the fact that Rick had actually killed two humans. He just nods his head. "Let's head back."

Rick exhales, holding a hand to his hips and he gingerly steps closer to Tony's body slumped on the floor, hesitating before nudging him and taking his gun, putting it on his belt alongside his python. Glenn looks over the other body lying on the other side of the counter. Unflinching, unmoving, dead.

The strange, selfish thing that was going through his head was how stupid he felt looking at the bodies of men he thought he could trust.

It was possible it could be a fluke. That humanity wasn't like this now. That there was a Hershel to counteract every Dave or Tony in the world, and Glenn clung to that belief, because if he couldn't hold on to that, he didn't know how to stay true to himself, and everything he'd ever known.

He looks away.

There was a roar of an engine and a bright light shone through the thin doors of the bar, followed by a chorus of different voices speaking indistinctly.

Rick reacts immediately, crouching down to the ground and crawling over to the door, pressing himself against it. "Car. Car. Get down."

Glen gasps and follows in Rick's footsteps, launching himself down and sitting on the other side of the door. He rested his head against the wall, closing his eyes so tight he could see stars. His breath hitched, as he heard men draw closer and closer to the doors.

He was a million times more scared than he ever could be around walkers.

The thought of that terrified him.

"Dave? Tony? They said over here?" A man says. His voice was hushed, and the very thought of an enemy being so close that Glenn could hear his whispers making him stifle a gasp.

"Yeah." Another man responded.

"I'm telling you, man, I heard shots." A third man.

"I saw roamers, two streets over. Might be more around here."

"Dave! Tony!" One of them yells. Glenn tenses as his voice echoes right through his head. He opens his eyes to see Rick looking at him, nodding his head in reassurance. Glenn looks into his eyes and for a moment, all he can see is Iris in him, and in his blue eyes.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Another man reprimands. "You wanna attract 'em? Just stick close. We're gonna find 'em."

"Dude, he said to stay close. Tony!"

Their voices start to get further away, only slightly, looking for their friends around the outside of the building.

Glenn swallows the bile that rose in his throat, whispering. "Why won't they leave?"

"Would you?" Rick whispers back. He looks between Glenn and Hershel. "We can't sit here any longer. Let's head out the back and make a run to the car."

Outside, a gun fires. Glenn jumps, squeezing his eyes shut as he braces for impact.

Nothing came.

"What happened?" One of the men asks.

"Roamers, I nailed 'em. They disappeared but their car's still there. I cleared those buildings. You guys get this one?"

"No."

"Me neither."

"We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar?"

The footsteps approach closer again, and their shadows loom over where Glenn and Rick were sitting, like the monsters that children were afraid would come out of their closets. Glenn had never really been afraid of that stuff as a kid, but right now he felt every single childhood fear and bad memory all at once. He looks at Rick again. Iris spoke about how she was afraid of a lot of things as a kid, especially at night, and she would climb into his bed at night and Rick would take care of her. If anything, Glenn was glad that Rick was with him now.

There was a clicking noise, followed by a grunt. A second man speaks up. "What?"

"Someone pushed it shut. There's someone in there." Before Glenn even had time to react, the man spoke louder. "Yo, is someone in there? Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends."

Rick holds a finger to his lips, and Glenn nods silently, trying to get his breathing under control.

"What do we do?" One of them whispers.

"Bum rush the door?" Another one suggests.

"No, we don't know how many are there. Just relax." The third one sighs. He takes a breath, and speaks to them again. "We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it.

"Dude, you're bugging. I'm telling you nobody's in there."

"Someone guard the door. If they're in there, they might know where Dave and Tony are."

The footsteps start to depart, and Glenn starts to wonder if maybe they would actually leave them alone.

Rick grunts and crooks his neck up, opening his mouth and projecting his voice. "They drew on us!"

Hershel puts a hand on his temple as the footsteps come back, and Glenn bites down on his tongue, praying to any God up there that Rick knew what he was doing. Iris couldn't lose the both of them. Not now, not when things were so bad with Lori and Shane and she had so much stacked against her, and he refused to contribute to that.

"Dave and Tony in there? They alive?" The man asks.

"No." Rick admits, and something flashes over his expression. Anxiety.

"They killed Dave and Tony." Another man spits.

"Come on, man, let's go."

"No, I'm not leaving, I'm not telling Jane. I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar!"

"Your friends drew on us!" Rick yells back. He swallows, before continuing to speak. "They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to, but it's like that now. You know that! So let's just chalk this up to what it was. Wrong place, wrong..."

A shotgun fires, hitting the door between Rick and Glenn. It shattered the glass, raining down on them like lethal downpour. Glenn can't hold it in anymore and he lets out a little noise of fear, covering his head with his hands as he shakes in anticipation.

"Get outta here! Go!" Rick yells, throwing a hand up. Glenn takes a moment to stare at Rick, but when Rick looks at him with a pleading, almost desperate expression, Glenn crawls away from the door, hiding behind the piano.

Please, let me see Iris again.

𖤓𖤓𖤓

It felt like hours before Shane pulled back up to the farm after leaving to search for Lori.

When the headlights shone through the open kitchen window, Iris jumped up. She hadn't slept all night, too worried out of her mind to even try and sleep. Carl was curled up beside her, sleeping with his head resting on her knee. When she saw the car, Rick and Glenn immediately crossed her mind, and she stood up so fast that Carl woke up just from the shock of his pillow leaving his head. Iris ran to the kitchen, looking through the window.

She recognised the car as Shane's.

The disappointment faded quickly when Carl's face lights up, and he grabs her hand, pulling her outside with the others to greet him. The sound of Shane closing his car door echoed through the otherwise silent farm, and Carl and Iris get outside just as Lori gets out of the passenger seat. A sigh leaves her mouth when she sees her sister-in-law, despite recent events, she didn't want to lose Lori, either.

Andrea was a couple beats ahead of her, and she exclaims loudly. "Oh my God, are you all right? What happened?"

Iris runs over when she hears Andrea's words of worry. The darkness was hiding a lot of her face, but her chee was bruised and her temple was cut. Iris lets go of Carl's hand to inspect her. "Oh my god, Lori."

Lori brushes both of them off, shaking his head. "I was in an accident. I'm fine, I'm fine."

"She was attacked." Shane corrects, walking off and standing further away, his back facing them. Iris turns back to Lori, her eyes wide as she tries to find any semblance of truth in her eyes.

"I really am." Lori says. She looks back at Iris, looking at the empty space next to her as if she was expecting someone to be there. "Why isn't Glenn with you? Where's Rick?"

Iris frowns. She looks around at Andrea, who looks just as confused. She tilts her head, hoping that Lori hadn't suffered some kind of memory loss because of the accident. "They're not-"

"They're not back?" Lori finishes. Her eyes harden, and she turns her head to look at Shane. "Where are they?"

Shane turns around, bringing his hands down. "Look, I had to get you back here."

Lori shakes her head. "You asshole."

"Lori-"

"He's my husband." Lori spits, walking over to Shane and slapping him in the chest. As Iris watches Lori's pained and almost heartbroken words, and she wonders if Lori had fallen in love with Shane like she had thought. Maybe she wasn't even at all. "Where's my husband?"

"Lori, I will go after him. I will find him." Shane tells her. Iris runs over, holding Lori by the arm and feeling her shake. Right now, she felt all of the rage and betrayal towards Shane, but an odd sympathy for Lori that she didn't think possible. Shane keeps speaking to her, his voice raised even higher. "Hey! Now look, first things first- I gotta, I gotta look after you. I gotta make sure the baby's all right, okay?"

Good lord.

"You're having a baby?" Carl exclaims, pushing through the crowd. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lori looks down at the floor. " I...I."

Dale sighs. "Come on. Let's make sure you're all right."

"Come on." Andrea repeats, when Lori hesitates.

Lori shoots a look at Shane as Andrea and Dale lead her away. Shane doesn't look back at her.

"Aunt Iris?" Carl asks. His voice sounds so betrayed and vulnerable, which Iris couldn't blame him for feeling. She had been feeling a hell of a lot of those emotions herself, even more so.

Iris takes him by the hand, carefully adjusting Rick's hat on his head. "Come on, we'll talk to your mom inside."

Carl squeezes her hand, and Iris leads him into the warmth of the house. The last thing she wanted was for Carl to be dragged into this mess, especially before Rick and Lori had the chance to figure out what to do, and what to do about Shane. But now he knew about the baby, and he deserved answers. Carl was a lot like her in the way that he hated being kept in the dark just as much as she did, and if he wasn't able to find out why this secret was being kept from him, he'd start pushing them away.

Lori sat down heavily on the couch. Dale and Andrea were on the one next to it, checking Lori over for injuries. However, they all seemed superficial, which was a small mercy. Carl didn't need to be worried about both of his parents. Carl and Iris sit down next to Lori, and Lori immediately holds onto her son's hand, giving him a sad smile.

"I am so sorry that I left without telling you." Lori's voice was apologetic and genuine. She looks over Carl's head at Carl, and Iris gives her a small smile.

"It's okay." Carl says. He looks at his mother with an overlay of awe and wonder, his blue eyes shining up at her with the kind of innocence you can only find in a child. "I wasn't scared. When's dad getting back?"

"Let's hope soon." Lori says, brushing her hand up and down Carl's arm. "Dad... and Glenn..." She looks at Iris and nods. "Will be back soon."

Iris nods. She holds a hand to Carl's shoulder, making the twelve year old look around at her. "Your mom is right. And they're doing a kind thing, helping Hershel."

"I wanna be there when you tell him about the baby." Carl says giddily. Iris and Lori share a sad look.

"Oh, love, he already knows." Lori says. "We were just trying to find the right time to tell you."

Carl was taking it incredibly well, which was probably because his excitement about the possibility of a new baby was overshadowing any frustration or upset that would've come from not being told. Iris smiles at his enthusiasm, and for the first time since learning of its existence, she realised that in less than nine months, there would be a new baby in the family. Iris loved babies.

Carl smiles mischievously. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Well, we won't know that until it's born." Lori says, pinching Carl's cheeks.

Carl holds his hand to Lori's stomach, lightly grazing his fingers over it. Iris touches her chest, feeling her heart. Carl's actions reminded her so much of herself at a young age, desperate to meet Carl when he was still in Lori's stomach. "Will I be able to feel it?"

"Not for a while. You must have a lot of questions, huh?" Lori chuckles. She looks round at Dale and Andrea. "We never had the talk. I guess we forgot."

Iris laughs too, a genuine, warm laugh that makes her feel hopeful that everything could be okay. Carl raises his eyebrows, looking at Dale with an unspoken question.

Dale laughs, raising his hands. "Don't look at me. That's your father's job."

Carl smiles, looking back up at Lori. "If the baby's a girl, can we name her Sophia?"

"That's sweet." Iris says softly, smiling at Carl's thoughtfulness.

"Hey, dude." Shane leans on the doorway. Iris shoots a glare in his direction, their last conversation running over and over again in her head. Stay the hell away from my family. "Hey, I'm sorry, bud. Okay? I thought you knew."

Carl shrugs. "Big brother Carl. Pretty cool, huh?"

Shane laughs. "I say that's very cool." He moves away from the door, putting his hands on the back of the couch. "You mind if I talk to your mom a sec?

Iris tenses, and Shane looks directly into her eyes, with a smug sense of superiority. Iris knew that he would never listen to her words of warning, and in truth, there wasn't much she could do to stop him.

"How about a little later after she's had some rest?" Andrea suggests.

Shane sighs. "You wouldn't have come otherwise. How about you- how about you just hear me out, please?"

Lori looks at Iris. She can see the silent plea in her eyes, the wordless begging that, even though they weren't on great terms, she needed to trust her. Before, Iris might've argued, but she had seen Lori's anger and betrayal directed at Shane when she found out he had lied, and it had given her a slither of hope. "Okay. Give me a minute."

Iris nods, standing up and taking Carl by the hand. She shoots one final glare at Shane, and he simply looks through her like she never even existed, like he had suddenly decided that Iris was nothing to him, like she never meant anything.

𖤓𖤓𖤓

Glenn peers into the darkness. It was cold. It was forbidding. The darkness twisted and disguised itself, tricking his eyes as he searched for an invisible but at the same time, the very real, enemy. His heart thumps in his chest, almost as loud as the gunshots that had echoed a couple of moments before. The gun in his hands felt large and heralding as he held it against his chest, his fingers brushing over the trigger despite the fact he felt terrified to pull it. A drip of sweat fell down his face from his forehead, his body so tense and tightly wound from his likely imminent death that he had to force himself to take a step forward.

He had a job to do. Get to the car, use it to drive around and pick up the others, and get the hell out of here.

It sounded so easy in words.

The darkness made him feel even more afraid, and he swallowed, wincing from his dry throat. He looks back at Hershel, who holds his own gun close, ready to cover him from walkers and humans alike. Hershel nods curtly, motioning towards the door.

Glenn closes his eyes, preferring the darkness of his eyelids over the giant mass of space in front of him, filled with any number of unknown predators. He brings a hand to his chest, trying to feel for his heartbeat, so he could get control of it. His fingers accidentally touch the metal of Iris' pin. His pin.

That pin was a blessing of eternal life. A gift from the woman he loves, a woman who hated goodbyes, a woman who struggled with the idea of losing people, a woman who was waiting for him to come home.

Glenn steps outside.

He walks tentatively, cautious to even breathe too heavily as he walks towards the car. He didn't look back at Hershel behind him, hoping that the older man was watching his surroundings carefully. He thought about all of the ways he could die tonight. Walker bite. Surprise attack. Torn apart.

There was a sudden bang, popping Glenn's eardrums.

Gunshot.

Glenn drops to the ground. He doesn't even think about it. He hits the floor with a thud, his mind working slow, too slow. He felt sluggish and in shock. He didn't know what being shot felt like, but he had fired enough bullets at this point to know what it sounded like.

He wasn't shot.

Hershel's gunshots echo too. He can hear the shell casings hit the floor, he can hear running footsteps and he can imagine all of their enemies falling to the floor, defeated, dead. He imagined that they were safe, that he could stand up and get in that car and go home.

He knew that was nothing but a dream.

Glenn was paralyzed with fear, until he was suddenly moving because of his fear. Fear of dying, fear of leaving this world, fear of being reduced to nothing, fear of leaving people behind, fear of not getting the chance to do everything he wanted to do in life. He didn't want to go out like this. Not now. Not when he's finally been given everything he's wanted.

His stupidity wasn't selfish.

But hiding was.

And yet, he hid.

Behind a dumpster, of all places. It smelled like the regret that he felt in his soul, and he clutched the gun close to his chest like it was his lifeline. He felt like he was going to throw up, but he still didn't move. He couldn't hear any more gunfire, but he still didn't move. He could hear Rick and Hershel talking, but he still didn't move. He was breathing so heavily that Iris' pin was moving against his chest. He needed her. He needed to hold her, to be held by her. He could still feel her kiss on his lips and the giggle on her breath as his forehead fell on hers.

He imagined the tears that would fall from her face if he never came back from this. He imagined the look of terror in her eyes as she was told of his demise, and the sobs she would let out when she realised he was never coming back.

Glenn didn't think he could ever move from this spot.

"You hit?"

Rick's voice couldn't get through to him. It sounded like he was underwater, and Glenn couldn't move.

"Are you hit?" Rick spoke louder, fear creeping into his voice.

Glenn shook out of it, taking a soothing breath and shaking his head. "No. No."

Rick moves towards his end of the dumpster and crouches down next to him, taking in the sight of him. He probably looked pathetic, Glenn thought to himself, sitting against this dumpster and hiding like a coward.

However, Rick softly places a hand on his shoulder, lowering his voice to a low whisper. He looks Glenn up and down, taking in the heaving breaths and the way he clutched his rifle and his wild eyes. "It's all right. The car's right there."

Glenn nods his head. "Okay." He still doesn't make an attempt to move.

"We're almost home." Rick adds, taking his hand from Glenn's shoulder. "Do it for her, okay? You good?"

It takes Glenn a moment, staring at Rick and studying his face in the dark. He wouldn't let Iris mourn him. He'd do everything in his power to get all three of them home, safe. Glenn nods his head and moves his fingers an inch, ready to push himself up. "I'm good."

Rick nods, and Glenn sees a proud smile on his lips. "Let's go."

Glenn stands up, and he follows Rick as they stick their heads over the dumpster. There were immediate gunshots, and suddenly Rick was pushing him back down. "Get back."

Rick covers Glenn's head with his hands, looking up at the roof of the bar, where there was a sniper. Tires squeal into place under the roof, and Glenn closes his eyes, expecting the familiar light of the headlights to give up their position. However, they weren't here for them.

"Let's get out of here! Roamers all over the place! Hurry up! We gotta get out of here!" One of the men from the cars yells up to the man on the roof.

"What about Sean?" The man replies.

"They shot him. We gotta go. Roamers are everywhere."

"We're leaving?"

"Jump!" The man in the car yelled. "Hurry up, jump already."

Glenn risks a peek over the dumpster, and he watches the man on the roof attempt to jump on top of the dark car. However, in the coverage of the night, it proved itself a difficult target.

After a couple moments of consideration, and perhaps even a little bit of peer pressure, the man jumps.

And falls.

The scream he let out was death defying.

Glenn grunts in sympathy. "Dude didn't make it."

"Help me! Help-help me!" He was screaming and pleading for his friends to stop, but Glenn wasn't sure they were the type of people who would stop.

He was right. "I've gotta go. I've gotta go. I'm sorry!"

"No no, don't leave! Help me! No! No! Help!"

As the car drives off at a terrifying speed, Rick shoots up. He nudges Glenn, pulling him out of her another trance. "Get Hershel."

As the man keeps screaming and begging for help, Rick shoots off towards him. Glenn takes a breath, still holding onto the dumpster, until a gunshot draws him away. Hershel was attacking walkers, advancing towards the man on the ground, but there were too many for just one person to keep them at bay.

"Her-Hershel!" Glenn whisper-shouts.

Hershel doesn't respond, focusing all of his attention on the advancing walkers, shooting each one with a precision that Glenn didn't expect from a man who was so against having any kind of gun on the farm.

"Hershel. Hershel." Glenn calls again.

Hershel drops his gun down to his side, walking through the alleyway to where Glenn was standing. "The gunfire must've attracted the walkers. Where's Rick?"

"He-he ran across." Glenn says, pointing in the direction that Rick ran over to.

"Well, hell, we can't go without him." Hershel exclaims, running after him with the same bravery that Glenn was severely lacking. "Rick!"

Rick was standing next to the man, who, when Glenn got closer, he realised was just a boy. Maybe only a couple years younger than him, really. He was screaming and tears were streaming down his face that glistened even in the dark. His right leg was terribly, excruciatingly pierced by the fence he had fallen into, bleeding sluggishly only because the fence was holding all of the blood in his leg. Glenn's eyes widened. He can't possibly imagine the pain that he was in. He also can't imagine a way out of this.

"Rick!" Hershel says again, once they approach. The boy was crying louder and louder, which didn't bode well for the walkers in the area already drawn in by the continuous gunfire. "We have to go now."

"No!" The boy screams.

"I'm sorry, son." Hershel softens his voice, patting the boy's good leg. "We have to go."

It was incredibly difficult to even think about it, but Glenn agreed with Hershel. They had to get out of here before they were swarmed, and this was someone who was trying to kill them. It felt so unlike him that he hated himself for it, but he wanted to get home so desperately.

"No no, don't leave me please."

"We have to go." Hershel replies firmly.

"We can't." Rick says, and his tone was final, his gaze switching between the two of them like they were crazy. Glenn couldn't believe his ears, and the sound of walkers all around them was making his head pound.

"He was just shooting at us!" Glenn yells, his eyes wide and afraid.

"He's a kid." Rick replies, sounding angry and even a little disappointed. Glenn had to shrug it off.

"Please help me." The boy begs. The snarls of the undead started to get closer and closer.

"This place is crawling with walkers!" Glenn shouts, stepping closer to Rick to show his urgency.

"We can't leave him!" Rick says through gritted teeth.

"The fence went clean through. There's no way we can get the leg off in one piece." Hershel argues.

At Hershel's words, the boy screams louder, repeating the word 'no' again and again.

Rick grunts, taking out his python and pointing it right at his head. "Shut up or I will shoot you!"

Hershel takes Rick aside, speaking just loud enough for the three of them to hear. "That may be the answer. We're not gonna get that leg off without tearing the muscle to shreds. He certainly can't run. He may bleed out."

The boy screams again, and Glenn walks over, holding his temples and trying to pat the boy's leg sympathetically. "Shut up." The screaming continues. He probably shouldn't have touched his wounded leg. "I'm sorry. Sh-sh... shut up. Shut up."

"Maybe we should put him down." Hershel keeps saying in a low tone. "I don't wanna see any more killing, but this is cruel."

Glenn sighs. They had to make a plan. Now. If they didn't, they would get swarmed with more walkers than they had bullets. If they were getting this kid out of here, they needed to do something quickly. "Can't we just take the leg off?"

Rick sighs, considering it. "That hatchet still in the car?"

The boy gasps, bringing his hands up in fear but he was unable to lift his body. "No no, don't-don't. Don't cut my leg off, please. Please, not my leg."

Rick unsheathes his pocket knife from his belt, holding it up for Hershel to see. "Will this cut through the bone?"

Hershel takes a moment of consideration. "I'll have to sever the ligaments below the kneecap, cut above the tibia. He's going to lose his lower leg."

"No, don't. No." The boy protests, but Hershel keeps speaking, taking off his jacket.

"When we get clear of here, we're gonna have to find some tinder, cauterise the wound so he doesn't bleed out." Hershel starts to fashion his jacket sleeves into a tourniquet, similar to how Daryl had done with T-Dog when the herd had attacked them on the highway.

Rick nods. "All right, no choice. Hurry up."

"Oh God, oh God. No!" The boy yells. Glenn watches in horror as Rick holds him down, kicking his good leg and screaming. It was one thing to suggest amputation, but actually seeing it about to happen was another ballgame.

"Hand me that stick." Hershel commands, and Glenn crouches down to pick up the giant stick and hands it to Hershel, who immediately uses it to make the tourniquet stronger.

There was a low growl, and Glenn turned around from the grotesque scene that was about to happen. His eyes widened. There were so many more walkers than before, and they were all advancing on them like some horror movie villain "Guys, walkers. Hurry up!"

Glenn raises his gun, and shoots down every walker in sight. However, they kept coming and coming, and Glenn didn't have any spare ammo in his pockets. His shots tore right through his eardrums, and at the sound of other gunfire, he realised Rick was shooting too. Walkers were coming in all directions.

"Hershel, how we doing over there?" Rick yells over the gunfire.

"I need more hands!" Hershel grunts, struggling to keep the boy down. "Easy, easy."

"No, don't, don't, don't, don't cut my leg off, please!"

"Come on, we gotta go! I'm almost out of ammo!" Glenn shouts. He risks it and turns around, walking towards Hershel with his face reddening with adrenaline. "We don't have much time! Come on, we've gotta go!"

"Can't hold 'em off!" Rick agrees. He turns around and runs back to the fence, looking Hershel up and down. "Hershel, do it now! Come on, Hershel!"

"There is no time!" Hershel bellows.

"Hershel, come on!" Rick repeats, as he turns around to walk away. Hershel lets go of the boy's leg, looking downfallen and regretful.

"Please don't leave me! Please! No!"

Rick sighs, stopping as the boy's screams keep going. Glenn watches him with concern, but Rick always knows what he's doing. Rick can always get them out of a tricky spot, and Iris trusted him implicitly.

Rick grabs ahold of the boy's leg, and rips it out of the fence without hesitation.

𖤓𖤓𖤓

The sun had risen an hour ago.

Iris was exhausted. She hadn't slept all night, just staring out of the kitchen window and waiting for Glenn and her brother to return. It had been long, so long, since they had left. It felt like weeks ago that Iris had given Glenn her flower wreath pin, not hours. Lori had tried to coax her to go to sleep, but Iris couldn't. She couldn't sit down and rest unless she knew Glenn and Rick were safe, and not lying in a ditch somewhere or torn apart and reduced to nothing.

Finally, finally, the red car came into view.

Iris gasps, and she runs to the door, throwing it open as the others gather around it, smiling and cheering with relief. Iris felt tears prick in the corner of her eyes, all of the tension leaving her body yet somehow all of the exhaustion too.

"Dad!" Carl exclaims, practically tackling his father into a hug. Rick smiles and ruffles Carl's hair, collapsing into Lori, with Carl squished between them both.

Iris smiles at the happy picture, actually believing in it for the first time in a while. She turns back towards the car and locks eyes with Glenn, who carefully shuts his car door and bites his lip.

He looked awful, emotionally distraught. She could see it in his eyes, even though she was a couple of feet away from him. Before she even registered what she was doing, she had taken a step forward, her walk becoming a run and she threw her arms around him, and he almost fell over from impact.

He immediately buries his head in her shoulder, and Iris holds onto the back of his head, stroking his hair with her fingers. She held him tight, and he clung to her, and Iris knew that something had gone wrong out there.

She pulls away, only barely, just enough so she could cradle his face, holding his cheeks in her hands. "Are you okay?"

Glenn nods, but from the way he was nuzzling into her hold, she knew he wasn't telling the whole truth. She hums, stroking his cheek. "We'll talk later today." She whispers, for him and only him. Glenn closes his eyes and nods, and Iris is about to pull him back in for another hug, but Hershel's voice pulls her attention.

"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery."

Iris moves her hand to Glenn's shoulder, looking in Hershel's direction as he walks towards the house. He seemed to have done a total 180 since the barn, and Iris wasn't sure who could possibly need surgery.

Lori seemed to be thinking the same thing. She looks at Rick. "Are you hurt?"

"No, but what happened to you?" Rick asks, spotting Lori's cuts and bruises.

"I was in a car accident." Lori says.

"Accident? How?" Rick exclaims, brushing over the cut on her temple.

"I went looking for you." Lori says.

"Snuck out on her own. Brought her back." Shane adds. Iris rolls her eyes, taking Glenn's hand in hers.

"Are you crazy?" Rick asks her. "You could've..."

"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog interrupts.

Iris frowns, peering through the car window.

There was someone inside. Someone who was passed out, with his eyes covered. She felt immediately on guard, wondering if this stranger had anything to do with Glenn's recent upset. "What... on earth?"

"That's Randall." Glenn explains.

Iris raises an eyebrow.

AUTHORS NOTE

❥ Welcome back to Doomsday!
❥ We're getting so close to the end of season two and I am unbelievably excited.
❥ As of this chapter, Doomsday has officially crossed 100k words!! I'm so incredibly proud and happy with myself!
❥ I came up with an incredible idea last night for what I can do with the rest of this season so I'm so excited to pull it off 🤭👀
❥ Sorry if update are a tiny bit slower over the next through days, we're nearing our busiest period at work which means I'm working a lot more and therefore I have less time to write :(
❥ Please vote and comment if you enjoyed <3