Something To Fear | Glenn Rhee

[스물 다섯] Dead Man Walking

"Nowadays people are just as dangerous as the dead."

~Father Gabriel

He felt the presence of a body beside him before he saw it.

Rick remained motionless in the bed, blinking several times up at the ceiling. He didn't need to look over at the window to know it was morning.

"Morning, sunshine," a feminine voice spoke, startling him from his groggy state. He could already imagine the smirk on her face; he didn't need to turn over to see it.

But he still turned to his side to confirm his original thoughts. And he was glad he did because her smile is more beautiful than he could ever imagine.

"Mornin'," Rick replied, grinning back at her.

"I didn't think you would stay." Rosita traced her fingers along Rick's rough palm.

"Why's that?" Rick's smile faded at this, changing instantly into an expression of worry.

Rosita only shrugged, lifting her head to look at the blinded window. Rick could not read her, which furthered his concern that he did something wrong.

"Hey, what is it? You can tell me," He reassured, reaching out to her. But something stopped him from doing so.

A scream so bloodcurdling that it sent chills down both their spines.

Rosita and Rick didn't waste a moment as they leaped off the bed, dressing quickly and grabbing their weapons in the process.

The previous night's events long forgotten in their minds.

~

Netanya was practically bursting with excitement as she approached the house where Glenn was held.

Her anticipation was so great that she didn't sense something was wrong.

That perhaps her plan had gone awry.

"Glenn?" She called out, pressing her ear against the door. When there was no answer, she couldn't prolong the suspense any longer. She pushed open the door, prepared to see Glenn's dead body lying on the cell floor.

What she wasn't prepared for was the slumped corpse of Irene to suddenly lunge off the ground at her.

Netanya let out a shriek of surprise and horror, blocking the walker from biting her with her strength.

With no weapon in hand, Netanya could only shove the walker backwards and run out of the room.

The walker let out a terrifying growl, snapping its mouth as it gave chase to the woman. It was slow and clumsy, not much of threat so Netanya put some distance between her and it.

There were no other people in sight; nobody she could call out to for help.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and the walker fell to the pavement at once. Blood poured out of the bullet hole and pooled around the body, making its way to Netanya's shoes.

Netanya took in deep breaths as she glanced up at her shaking granddaughter, who stood with a gun raised. She could see the traumatized look on Cindy's face, knowing this had been her first kill. Cindy had always hesitated to kill something that had once been human.

"W-What happened?" Cindy sniffled, looking at the body of her former friend.

"...Glenn." Netanya practically snarled as she pronounced the name.

Hurried footsteps approached the pair from the left. Carl, who had raced out of his house as soon as he heard the commotion, halted in his place at the sight in front of him. He recognized the walker to be Irene and immediately suspected this had to be connected to Glenn somehow.