WHEN THEY COME, glenn rhee²

O N E

CHAPTER ONE
FIRST TIME AGAIN

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The thing about the world, is that the history of it repeats. Maybe not exactly, maybe not in the same way, but things come back. Problems come back. There's no escaping that.

Glenn's hand finds its way to my knee, stopping it from shaking. My lips turn up into a faint smile, glancing over at him beside me. He's nervous too, I can see it. Everyone in the room is. We'd be stupid not to be.

A man, Heath, steps up and faces the crowd gathered in Deanna's living space. I didn't even know he existed until today, when I walked into this room and he addressed everyone. Apparently, him and a small group were scavenging far and wide for a few weeks. They've only now returned, right in the thick of it.

"My team, we saw it early on back when we were on one of those first scouts, finding out what was around here," Heath starts, the crowd hanging on every word, "There was a camp at the bottom. The people, they must have blocked the exits with one of those trucks, back when everything started to go bad. They didn't make it. They were all roamers. Maybe a dozen of them."

"No one's been back there since?" Maggie questions next to me, head turning to Heath. He shakes his head.

"DC, every town worth scavenging are all in the other direction. And I never really felt like having a picnic next to the camp that ate itself."

"So all the while the walkers have been drawn by the sound, and they're making more sound and drawing more in." Michonne pieces together grimly.

"And here we are," Rick says from his spot in front of us all, "Now, what I'm proposing, I know it sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in quarry could go off the edge any day now, maybe after one more hard rain. That exit sends them east. All of them. Right at us. This isn't about if it gives, it's when. It's gonna happen. That's why we have to do this soon."

Carol sighs, feigning shock, "This is— I don't even have another word for it. This is terrifying. All of it. But it doesn't sound like there's any other way."

"Maybe there is," A man counters back. I think his name is Carter, but I'm unsure, "I mean, couldn't we just build up the weak spots? I-I could draw up plans. I worked on the wall with Reg. Construction crew— we can try and make it safe—"

"Even if we could, the sound of those walkers is drawing more and more every day. Building up the exits won't change that." Rick argues back.