Destruction ||| Glenn Rhee (BEING REWRITTEN TO OC)

36 ~ Fire

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A haunted house with a picket fence

To float around and ghost my friends

No, I'm not afraid to disappear

The billboard said, "The end is near"

I turned around, there was nothing there

Yeah, I guess the end is here

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Daryl points a flashlight at the ground. The sun has set by now and it's dark under the trees. "There's two sets of tracks right here. Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said."

Rosanna sighs. "Is it just me or do y'all get the impression that Shane is lying to us all?" 

Glenn goes to say something when he notices something to her right. "There's fresh blood on that tree."

"There's more tracks. Looks like they were walking in tandem." Daryl says.

There's a pause and Daryl shines the light on the dirt. "Yeah, there was a little dust up right here."

Glenn itches his head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean. Something went down." He says waving the flashlight.

A twig snaps and they all look up. Daryl whistles and Rosanna leans her back against a tree, gun held up to her chest. Glenn does the same on the other tree, this time holding some metal rod.

Another twig snaps.

Suddenly a zombified Randall appears behind one of the trees. Daryl shoots at it with his crossbow but misses. Rosanna ducks out of the way as walker Randall tries to scratch her face. Glenn swings the rod at him, finally killing him. His frail body collapses to the ground.

Daryl gets his arrow before searching Randall. Glenn walks up to Rosanna and holds her face. "Did he get you?" She shakes her head.

Daryl shines the flashlight on Randall's dead body. "He's got no bites."

"Yeah, none you can see." Glenn says.

Daryl shakes his head. "No, I'm telling you he died from this. Looks like he got his neck broke."

Rosanna looks at Randall. "How's that possible?" She quietly asks, as Glenn grabs her hand.

Suddenly a gunshot rings out nearby. Rosanna jumps at the sound. 

They wait a second but nothing else happens. She has a bad feeling. The last time they heard a singular gunshot; Carl was bleeding out in the forest. 

The three quickly make their way back to the house after discovering Randall.

They enter the house to find the rest of their group sitting around waiting. "Rick and Shane aren't back?" Rosanna asks nervously. Her mind thinking about the shot.

Hershel shakes his head. "No."

Glenn looks at the others. "We heard a shot."

Lori shrugs. "Maybe they found Randall."

Daryl shakes his head. "We did."

"Is he back in the shed?" Andrea asks.

"He's a walker." Rosanna answers.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Carol responds.

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit. His neck was broke." Daryl says.

"So, he fought back?" T-Dog questions.

"The thing is Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

The group goes silent. This isn't making any sense. How could that happen? Where are Rick and Shane? Why only one gunshot? Too many questions and not enough answers.

The group exits the house so they can search for the others when suddenly Hershel spots something. "Patricia. Kill the lights." He whispers.

Rosanna looks up to see a massive hoard of walkers on the property, headed straight for them.

Archer curses. "I'll get the guns."

Lori zips up her hoodie with shaky hands. It's getting chilly outside. "Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?"

Daryl shakes his head. "Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down."

Suddenly Carol appears, a panicked look on her face. "Carl's gone."

Then, everything is chaos. People searching for Carl. People grabbing weapons. People getting in cars. Hershel and his family refusing to give up without a fight. 

The barn is on fire now. 

Jimmy takes Dale's RV over to the burning barn in hopes that maybe one of the missing group members set it to draw the incoming walkers away from the house.

Gunshots are going off left and right. Ammunition is running low. People are running out of fuel. People are screaming. This can't go on much longer. 

Rosanna and Maggie start leading the others out the house, grabbing whatever items they can. The walkers are getting closer now. Only a matter of time. The barn is burning higher.

Glenn ushers Rosanna to get in a car. She doesn't spot Archer. Carol. T-Dog. Still no sign of Rick or Carl.

Glenn starts to drive off. Rosanna glances back as he swerves to avoid walkers. 

Chaos. No sign of anyone. Chaos. Where did everyone go? Chaos.

"We can't leave them." She whispers.

"We have to. It's lost. We have to go now!" Glenn says as he frantically drives off the property.

The last thing Rosanna sees is the rising smoke of the burning barn.

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The two drive silently for a few minutes. 

Rosanna whispers, "Oh my god." over and over again.

"Okay. Okay. Um. Let's just circle back. Back to the highway." Glenn says.

She rubs her dirty arms. "Everyone's gone. Did you see anything? Anyone at all?"

He sighs and keeps his eyes on the road. "No. I didn't."

"What if they didn't make it? What if nobody made it? We have to go back."

"They made it, okay? They had to. All right, let's just circle around to the highway where we left supplies for Sophia."

She shakes her head quickly. "No. The herd came from that direction. Stop the car. Stop the car!"

He brakes and brings the car to a top before turning to face her. "Rose. Rose. Rosanna! Look at me. Please." 

She turns to face him, tears in her eyes. She already lost one family. She can't lose another.

He puts his hands on her face gently and leans close to her. "Listen. We are alive. Okay? We're alive. I'm sure they are too. Let's just head back to the highway and wait for them. They'll be there. We're all gonna be okay. Okay?"

She nods and he wipes her tears away. After a minute he pulls away and pushes a strand of hair out of her face. He restarts the car and the two make their way to the highway where it all began.

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