𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 (on a break)

1.03 - lonely

glenn and briar had made their way back up to camp, smiles beaming from their faces, before they were scolded by dale and shane. the duo both refused to look at the two men or each other, afraid to laugh if they had seen their faces. so, their eyes remained glued to the floor as they were treated like children after they'd been caught stealing candy.

the reprimanding was cut short as the u-haul pulled up behind them, andrea being the first to emerge as herself and amy shared a hug together, the latter bursting into tears after spending the day fearing for the life of her older sister. the rest of the group left the truck, well, all except merle. briar wasn't going to worry right now though, this moment was wonderful.

carl and lori both sat next to each other, lori on her knees, as she comforted her son. carl was insistent in believing that one day, his father would return with briar or glenn when they came back from a run. briar watched rick be the final to leave the vehicle, looking upset as his head slowly turned up, the first person that he made eye contact with being shane.

carls eyes softened and his tears came to a halt as his body shifted in the direction of rick.
"dad? dad!" he ran toward his father as rick bent down, scooping carl into his arms as they both cried into each other. lori had sprinted over, holding the two boys as the three of them shared a reunion.

briar looked towards shane, who had a look of jealousy on his face, doing a terrible job at masking it as he smiled at his best friend. she was well aware of the affair going on between shane and lori - everybody was. there wasn't a moment in time where they weren't apart from each other. she didn't like the fact that they were together at all, but she had understood that they were both grieving and found comfort in each other.

glenn wrapped his arm around his best friends shoulders and rubbed her arm, both finding solace in each others' lonely souls. the two only had themselves, but they didn't mind - it was them against the world, forever.

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later on, during the evening, the group were sad around the fire, wrapped in blankets and sweaters. briar and glenn were sat together, under the same blanket. they were both listening intently to ricks story, briar being a lot less interested. she didn't care for the man, he had endangered all of the group by being a dumbass. all of a sudden, ed stood up from his own fire with carol and sophia, and threw another log into the fire. shane looked over, furrowing his brows.

"hey, ed. wanna rethink that log?" ed scoffed before turning his head toward his wife.

"go on, pull it out. now, go!" carol flinched at his aggressiveness and scrambled to pull it out, her fingers being burned by the embers. shane stood up, making his way over to the group and having a small conversation with the three of them.

"um, i'm gonna go to bed. long day," briar put the blanket over glenn before walking away, hearing a string of 'goodnights' being thrown in her direction. she wandered over to her tent, slipping off her clothes before changing into a pair of baggy sweatpants and a tank top that fit loosely around her slim body. she climbed into her cot, and sat in the bed, her mind racing with the thought of merle being dead out there. daryl is gonna kill us.

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in the morning, briar had woken to the quiet noise of the camp. there were a few small mutters and whispers from inside the tents and RV, but except from that, it was peaceful. the woman had always woken early, since before the end of the world had even happened. she scraped her greasy hair out of her face into a low bun, before getting changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. briar left the tent, and sat next to the fire that had been put out the night before. she pulled out one of the knives from her belt and begun sharpening a stick. she had recently found a bow in one of the camping stores that were in the city and was dying to get into the woods to try and practice. she had done archery with her father when she was younger, but she would need to rehearse her skills before she became the next katniss everdeen.

her actions were interrupted by the snapping of twigs by her feet. her head shot up, heart racing, before she noticed it was just carol getting the clothes hanging from the clothesline. she smiled warmly at the woman; she was becoming ever more suspicious of ed and carols relationship. he consistently treated her like the gum on the bottom of his shoe and she had felt empathetic for the frail woman- she knew how it felt to be trapped in a relationship in which she couldn't get out of.

"hi, carol. need any help?" briar was always a kind person toward older people- she had a small job at a nursing home once and they were all lovely people. especially this one grandmother of mexican descent and she was the sweetest woman she had ever met. it pained her to think about how the majority of people she had known since before had probably died or were gone far far away. carol shook her head and smiled politely at briar, "it's okay, thank you honey," the younger woman smiled before turning back to the pile of blunt sticks to the side of her, beginning to sharpen them all.

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after an hour or so of it just being a few people awake and out of their tents, rick had woken up and walked over to briar. he didn't understand her distaste toward him, but he didn't necessarily like her either. she was rude, and hard headed.

"what 'ya doin'?" he questioned, the woman sighing before turning her head up and shielding her eyes from the georgia sun.

"what's it to you?" she snapped, rick closing his eyes tightly before pursing his lips and walking away, briar smirking to his back as he finally had pissed off. her moment of glory had been cut short as she heard the screams of the children at camp, her feet moving faster than the speed of sound as she ran toward the clearing in the woods that the pleas of help were coming from. she grabbed morales' children, and once all of the children were accounted for, she handed them off toward her mother, who cried tears of joy at the sight of her children being safe.

briar stood up, following the men of the group as they all circled around the walker who was gnawing through a deer with three of daryl's arrows sticking out of the leg. the boys started to hit the geek on the neck and torso as it seemed as if they were teasing it, enticing it to come closer. it's the head, dumbasses.

it was as if dale had heard her thoughts as he sliced the geek's head off cleanly, the animated head growling and biting at their ankles. "the first time we've seen one of them this close to camp before," shane pointed out.

"they must be running out of food in the city," jim said, taking off his cap and rubbing the sweat off of his forehead. the group of boys and briar heard a rustle in the trees, briar holding up her gun to the direction of the noise, daryl dixon appearing from the bushes. he scoffed at the sight of the woman being the only one prepared to defend themselves, the men seemingly hiding behind her weapon.

"that's my dear! look at it, getting gnawed on by this filthy *kick*, disease bearing *kick*, poxy bastard! *kick*" he yelled, aggressively punting the already dead dear.

"calm down son, that's not helping," dale attempted to reason with the man, daryl scoffing and having none of it. "what do you know, old man? why don't you go back to on golden pond?" briar gave a small smile to the last comment, trying not to laugh in a serious situation. daryl continued to walk up the camp, brushing shoulders with a few people while calling for his brother. briar and glenn looked at each other, already knowing how this was going to end.

shane had called for him to wait for him, and himself and rick attempted to explain where merle was without sending daryl into a fit of rage. daryl scoffed, looking to rick and shane as he threw the squirrels in ricks direction, instead hitting briar who was standing off to the side of him. briar lunged forward, shoving him back has he breathed through his nostrils heavily as he pushed her back, lighter than she did. she gave him a smack to the jaw before holding him in a chokehold from behind, whispering in his ear.

"touch me again, and you won't have a hand to touch me with."

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gray speaks!

hi guysss very long chapter (at least for me) and i'm loving glenn and briar's friendship! also it's heating up between rick and briar - p.s : isn't she such a wee bad bitch? obsessed with her.

ily lots! thanks for reading <333

word count: 1591