Losing Hope *EDITING*

Chapter 34; Glenn Rhee

   "There's too many Glenn, you can't go out there yet," Maggie argued.

I yanked my arm away from her, a cold glare sent her way. "Claire is out there. She screamed, she needs my help."

I'm not just going to leave her out there when she's in trouble. I told Rick to stop pairing her up with Carl, that she should be with me, but he keeps trying to say it's for her own good.

  "I'm going to go get her and I'm going to bring her back here."

I didn't wait for her to say anything else. I pulled my gun from its holster around my hip, holding on tightly to my knife in my other hand.

I cautiously opened the front door, stepping out quickly and closing it quietly behind me. I stared across the street at the house Claire and Carl are supposed to be at, my heart sinking as walkers crowded around the front porch, some of them hitting against the door.

I quickly ran across the street as quietly as I could, only stopping to kill the few walkers that walked my way. I continued on my pathway to the house, determination and worry pushing me to move faster. I didn't waste more than a few seconds on killing walkers that came my way; my only goal was to get Claire to safety. It was the only thing keeping me from freaking out.

  "Claire?" I whispered sharply. "Claire, where are you?"

I groaned in frustration as another walker came stumbling my way. I raised my gun up, smashing the end of it on the walkers head before plunging my knife deep into it's skull and yanking it back out.

   "Glenn."

I nodded my head towards Rick who came jogging towards me, taking down walkers on his way too. He must be worried about Carl. Where is Carl anyway? He was with Claire so what if he's in trouble too? God, we need to get out of this neighborhood.

   "You take the two on the porch, I'll get the four on the side of the house," Rick ordered as quietly as he could.

I nodded, rushing over to the porch. I raised my knife, plunging it into the closest one to me on the porch. I cringed at the sickening sound of the knife breaking through the bone of the skull and the disturbing squelching noise it made as I yanked it back out of the brain.

I wasted no time on taking out the second walker and rushing to the door. I pounded my fist against it, turning around to look at the street full of zombies.

   "Claire! Carl!" I shouted. "Open the door!"

I spun around as someone let out a loud growl -it didn't sound like the growls of walkers but instead an overly annoyed one. I watched in confusion as  two walkers were pushed over and a bloody Claire poked her head out from under them. She was breathing heavily, coated in blood, and she looked beyond tired.

   "A little help would be nice," she hissed. "And keep your damn voice down."

I frowned, my mind still not wrapping around why she was under two dead walkers. "Claire what the hell?" I questioned.

I bent down, hurriedly pushing the two walkers completely off of her. I stood back up, holding my hand out for her to grab; which she did, and I pulled her up quickly. I frantically checked her exposed skin for any scratches or bites before pulling her into a bone crushing hug. Completely ignoring the fact that she had blood coating her.

I sighed in relief, kissing the top of her head. "I thought I lost you."

I could feel her shake her head, her arms loosely wrapping around my waist. "I don't go down that easily, I used those two walkers as camouflage."

I opened my mouth to say something but I could hear the door swing open. I let go of Claire, turning around to see a worried Carl and Rick. How'd Rick get into the house so fast? He breathed out heavily in relief, a small smile cracking on his lips as he looked Claire up and down, Carl rushing to her to hug her.

  "Glad to see you're still with us," Rick said. "I hate to be a mood killer, but we need to get back to the cars and move quickly."

I nodded, turning to grab Claire's hand, but she already had Carl tucked into her side and her knife raised while Carl had his gun with the silencer raised. I pushed them forward a bit, to give them a head start as me and Rick covered them from behind. We didn't waste much time on killing the walkers in the street, we just ran straight for the cars. Up ahead I could see that Maggie, T-Dog, and Daryl were already running to the cars and starting them up.

   "Let's go, let's go!" Rick ordered.

Claire let go of Carl so he could run to get in the car with his dad and I followed her back to T-Dog's truck, jumping in the back with her. Our breathing was heavy as we leaned against the the back window, the wind blowing our hair in all different directions as we sped off. I reached down, laying my hand on top of Claire's. Even after all we've been through, I can still feel her pushing me out and I don't know why. I just know I won't let her completely push me away. I need her and she needs me.

That's just the way it is.