✧ sugar ๑ glennrheexfem!reader ✧

๑twenty-five๑

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y/n's pov:
after getting t-dog's gash cleaned and bandaged, you exit the rv and spot the group gathered around the railing that seperates the highway from the woods. you catch the latter half of the conversation as you stand inbetween glenn and daryl. "you just left her out there?" carol asks in an accusitory tone, tears streaming down her face. rick sighs softly, running a hand through his damp hair "carolx i couldnt take both of them at once, i left her in a safe spot. we're gonna go looking for her right now okay?" he says and carol seems to have calmed a bit by his words, she nods. "daryl, glenn, and y/n, you up for it?" rick asks, looking between the three of you. "yeah." glenn says and you nod, and daryl huffs "lets go." he replies, before hopping over the barrier and walking towards the woods. 'right to business as always' you think with a soft snort as you follow behind him, glenn and rick on your heels.

★

a short trek through the woods later, you're standing on the shore of the shallow creek next to glenn, watching as daryl and rick investigate the abandoned beaver damnsmall dam in the brush where sophia was supposed to be. "sure this is the spot?" daryl asks and rick nods, running a hand through his hair again. 'must be a nervous tic' you observe, your eyes flicking from the sherrif to the surrounding woods as their conversation continues. "left her right here. i drew the walker away, she was gone by the time i got back here. i figured she just took off and ran back to the group. i told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." rick explains, making you sigh this time, your focus back on him.

"she just had a close call with two walkers, she's tired and scared. it's most likely that alot of what you said didn't stick." you reply, and rick just nods, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger 'poor guy is probably beating himself to hell with guilt' you think, and daryls gravely voice snaps you out of your sympathetic thoughts. "she couldn't have gone far, lets just keep movin. i got clear prints right here. she did like you said, headed back to the highway. let's spread out, track her as we make our way back." daryl says, pointing to the ground. you look down at the same spot as he is but don't see anything except twigs and leaves 'he's a hunter, must be a good tracker' you think, following as he starts to walk, following the invisble path of tracks.

after a few minutes of walking daryl stops, crouching down again and studying the ground, you stop behind him "what is it?" you ask and daryl glances up at you before answering, gesturing to the ground "she was doing just fine till right here. all she had to do was keep going. she veered off that way." he answers and glenn raises an eyebrow in confusion, "why would she do that?" he asks from beside you, and you shrug "she's a scared, tired twelve year old. she probably just saw something that spooked her, made her run off track." you answer and glenn nods.

"so what do we do now?" glenn asks and rick, always the man with the plan answers, pointing to him "you get back up to the highway. people are gonna start panicking. let them know we're on her trail, doing everything we can. but most of all, keep everybody calm." glenn nods, accepting his task"im on it." he replies and rick points at you next. "you stay with daryl and i. we might need backup, and you're damn good with that machete." he says, his last making a small smile pull at the corners of your lips as you nod. "aye aye, boss." you reply and you can tell rick is holding back a smile as he looks towards glenn once more.

"think you can make it back on your own, glenn?" rick asks and glenn gives him a thumbs up "yeah, i won't get lost." he replies confidently, and you have to bite the insode of your cheek to keep yorself from outwardly squealing at how adorable he is. rick lets out a soft huff of laughter a pats glenn's shoulder and gives it a squeeze. "glad you're confident, glenn." rick says, releasing his shoulder. you take a step closer to glenn, making him turn to look down at you with those beautiful, brown eyes. "just, watch out for yourself, glenn." you say, cursing yourself for how vulernable you sound. glenn smiles and gives you a mock salute that makes you snort "yes ma'am." he says, before turning and walking away, back toward the highway.

★

fifteen minutes later, your seatch party is deeper into the woods, still following sophia's trail. daryl stops yet again, studying the ground "tracks are gone." rick says and daryl shakes his head "nah,they're faint, but they ain't gone. she came through here." he counters, gesturing to the ground again. you don't see anything but dirt and grass, since your tracking knowledge was mediocre at best. 'pay attention, you might learn something' you think, keeping your mouth shut and observing as rick and daryl continued their argument. "how can you tell? i don't see anything. just dirt and grass." rick say and daryl huffs "you want a lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?" he says and rick nods, letting daryl lead the way.

after a few more minutes of walking through the woods, you come across a walker sitting back against a tree. the undead thing looks up at you three and nashes it's teeth, reaching up with a rotting arm. "i got it." you announce, pulling your knife from its holster on your thigh and taking a step closer to the thing, stabbing it in the head in one swift motion, silencing it's growls. as you flick the blood off the blade and place it back in its holster rick crouches down and examines the dead walker's hands and mouth closely. "what are you looking for?" daryl asks and rick continues his examination as he answers.

"it has skin under it's fingernails and there's flesh caught in its teeth. it fed recently." he explains and you nod, crossing your arms and leaning on a hip "question is, what kind of flesh." you add and rick sighs, "only one way to know for sure." he says and you internally shudder, catchig his meaning 'we have to cut this rotting corpse open, great' you think as you kneel next to rick, helping him lay it on its back. daryls crouches on the other side of the corpse, grabbing his knife from it's place on his belt "here, i'll do it." he says before plunging his knife into the walkers stomach.

you wince slightly at the sickening squelching sound that echoes from the large gash daryl cuts down the thing's torso. he reaches his hand into the body, feeling around for it's stomach. "hoss had a big meal not long ago. i feel it in there. here's the gut bag." he says, lifting up a bloody sack of what you assumed was the walkers stomach. the wave of an even more rotten stench that wafts up to you makes you scrunch your nose in disgust. "this gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." daryl says, ripping through the intestine and pulling out the bloody remains of the rodent, teeth and all. you bite back the vomit that rises up your throat at the sight, swallowing before you stand, wiping your palms on your shorts. "at least we know." you say as rick and daryl rise as well, "at least we know." rick repeats and the tree of you start to walk back to the highway, leaving the rest of the search for tomorrow.

★

as you approach the thighway, the heads of thr awaiting group turn to you. carol's face drops when she realizes that sophia isn't with you. "you didn't find her?" she asks, her voice cracking with emotion. you feel a pang of sympathy for the poor woman, and the girl. as muvh as you wanted to hope for the best, but you also knew that the chances of finding her at all, let alone alive, are slim. rick is the first to answer her as he hops over the railing "her trail went cold. we'll pick it up again at first light." he says, being honest with her. you could tell the former sheriff felt reaponsible for the whole situation.

"you can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." she replies, tears building in the corner of her eyes. "searchin out in the dark's no good. we'd just be tripping over ourselves. more people would get lost." daryl replies, trying to reason with her. you see her eyes scan daryl and land onto his hands and shirt. "is that blood?" she asks, her voice shaky, her eyes wide. daryl nods, "we took down a walker while we were out there. it wasnt anywhere near sophia, we made sure, cut the son of a bitch open." he answers in his signature no-bullshit fashion.

carol's expression doesn't change as she sits on the railing next to the highway, lori sitting next to her "oh god. how could you just leave her out there to begin with? how could you just leave her?" she says to rick, her tone accusatory. rick sighs, crouching to be more on carol's level as he spraks "those two walkers were on us. i had to draw them off. it was her best chance." rick responds, trying to get carol to understand. "my little girl is out there all alone." she says, walking away. lori follows her and rick looks conflicted.
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