I feel like I'm in a daze. Somehow, I end up in the car's passenger side and Rick shuts the door behind me. The others pile into the car, including Michonne, and I think bitterly that we didn't need more space after all: no Oscar, no Daryl, the same amount coming back as what left.
It's tense in the car and I keep reaching up to wipe straggling tears away, not wanting to subject the others to my grief any more than I already have.
We don't get far when Rick has to stop the car. A big red truck and a fallen tree block the road and Rick climbs out without a word. Maggie, Glenn, and I follow. Michonne stays put.
Rick walks to the hood. "Get the brakes."
Glenn nods and shuffles to the driver's side door. The second he opens it, a walker lunges out at him, but he doesn't flinch as he grabs it by the collar and slams it onto the asphalt. Rick and Maggie get their guns out, but Glenn's already taking care of it, slamming his foot into the walker's head over and over and over again.
Even once its head splits, he keeps stomping, teeth bared, angrier and angrier with every motion. He brings his foot down once more, grinding his heel against the shell of brains and blood beneath him, then grips his side as he stumbles away. Rick follows him and Maggie goes around the back of the truck while I release the brakes.
"You didn't kill him," Glenn says to Rick, still panting a little.
"That's not why we went back," Rick says.
"No. That's right. You went back for Daryl," Glenn says. "And now he's gone and the Governor is still alive." He spits the word like a slur, lip curled with disgust.
"Daryl and Hope were the priority."
"I should have been there with you."
"You were in no condition!"
"But my girlfriend was?"
"Glenn, this isn't about us," Maggie says.
"I should have been there!" Glenn seethes.
"Hey, hey, you didn't come back with us 'cause you could barely walk!" Rick retorts.
"What about her?" Glenn demands, pointing at Maggie.
"What about me?" Maggie retorts.
"Do you know what he did to her?!"
"LEAVE IT ALONE!"
"DO YOU KNOW?!"
Rick holds his hand up at Glenn but looks back at Maggie, and I just stand by the driver's door in a half-daze. I'm not blind. I knew there had to be a reason why Maggie was wearing Glenn's shirt when we found them and it makes me sick.
"Let's go," Maggie snaps, but there's a catch in her voice that I don't miss. She grips the back of the truck with trembling hands.
Glenn takes sharp, rage-filled breaths, turning away from her and looking back down the road. Finally, he turns back to Rick, lips pursed in a heavy frown.
"After all that effort, all the risk we took, Daryl just takes off with Merle?" he says.
"We didn't give him a choice," I cut in, arms crossed over my chest.
"We gave him a choice!" Glenn retorts, pointing at me. "And he chose Merle over us! He chose Merle over you!"
I stiffen.
"Glenn, stop it!" Maggie says.
"He had his reasons," Rick says evenly.
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Rick," Glenn spits. "Doesn't change the fact that we're up to our necks in shit!"
YOU ARE READING
Daryl's Angel (10th Anniversary Edition)
Fanfiction"You know, I think everyone who's ever loved me is dead." "That makes two of us. Fuckin' cheers." When the dead rose, Hope Tremblay found herself trapped, woefully unprepared for the rapidly changing world before her, and worst of all, alone. Day by...
