𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 (on a break)

1.06 - fire

briar woke up very late the morning after they made it to the CDC. at least, it was late for her. she heard the shuffling of feet in the direction of the kitchen and she groaned loudly, covering her eyes from the dim light which appeared to be blinding to her hungover eyes. she nudged glenn, him mirroring her moves before they both stood up and made their way to the kitchen.

the rest of the group, except shane, were all sitting at the same table with plates of powdered eggs in front of them. they sat down next to each other, briar leaning her head on glenn's shoulder as they massaged their temples. lori chuckled, handing the bottle of pills over to the duo which quickly took two each, before briar stuffed them into her pocket. if he's handing them out, he's got a shit ton. he won't mind if i steal a bottle. glenn and briar ate their plate of eggs quickly, feeling much better with some food in their system.

shane walked into the room, looking almost as rough as the two friends, except he hasn't drunk nearly as much as the rest of the group. "feel as rough as i do?" rick questioned his best friend, who looked down at his plate, nodding and mumbling agreements in his direction. t-dog noticed the large, red scratch marks along the side of the neck, shane brushing it off and saying he must've done it in his sleep, while looking in the direction of lori who looked extremely uncomfortable under his gaze.

briar and glenn had both taken silent notes of the interaction, deciding to talk about it later when they were back in the room. the two stood up, seeming to skip away together into their room to gossip like little schoolgirls. "dude, what the fuck is up with these people?" she whispered at glenn as they walked their way throw the long corridor. he shook his head, sitting down on the uncomfortable sofa as she stood in front of him. "i have no idea. but what do you think happened? i mean, surely they didn't hook up, right? ricks back."

the two continued to gossip for about 20 minutes, before they felt the room humidify quickly, briar furrowing her eyebrows and reaching up to the air-con, no cold air coming out. "the airs shut off." glenn shot up, not believing her, before reaching up and felt the air conditioning. the two both peeked their head out of the doors, noticing rick, shane, and t-dog running down the hallways, shouting orders at people to pack their bags. glenn grabbed briar, dragging her inside as they both grabbed their bags and packed up their things, glenn putting the pillowcases into his bags and briar stealing all of the toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and skincare products that were scattered around the bathroom counter, jenner offering all of the group them when they were given the tour of the place.

they both walked up to the main room, the rest of the group stood around jenner as they questioned about why there was no air conditioning and why there was a large timer on one of the walls, briar only catching the end of his sentence. "-the air will catch on fire." glenn's eyes widened, grabbing onto briars hand as a source of comfort as they stood away from the group, which were becoming more and more agitated. briar put down her bag, releasing her latch on glenn's hand before walking over and getting in jenners face.

"we've got fucking kids in this group, you really wanna kill 'em, huh? we have a chance out there and you're taking it from us because you're a fucking pussy." jenner averted his eyes from hers, feeling the flames burning his face. he continued to get orders screamed at him from an increasingly pissed off daryl, before he pressed the big red button on his desk to unlock the door upstairs, warning the group that the upstairs doors couldn't be opened. glenn handed briar her bag before re-grabbing her hand and pulling her behind his fast paced body, the two making it upstairs to the entrance. briar grabbed a chair, smashing it against the glass repeatedly as it refused to budge. carol walked over to the group that were attempting to break the window, reaching into her bag.

"carol, i don't think a nail file will help us here," shane sarcastically remarked, briar mumbling a 'shut the fuck up' in his direction as carol handed rick a grenade, telling him that he found it in the pocket of his shirt. he said a quick thank you, the rest of the group hiding behind flipped over tables, shielding their faces. the explosion of the grenade shook the floor, nearly sending briar off of the ground as she scrambled to her feet, hearing the robotic voice continuing to count down, 30, 29, 28. the group leaped from the window, ankles close to breaking, as they made a run for the closest vehicles. briar and daryl had ran to his truck, both waiting for the explosion to happen as they watched dale and andrea appear from the window, shouting at them to get down as they went to hide behind a large pile of sandbags, the timer continuing to count down. 4, 3, 2, 1.

then, the explosion erupted, briar and daryl slumping down in their seats as the red embers of the fire were thrown across the city. they looked back up, watching dale and andrea get into the RV, sighing in relief. the group looked to be okay. all except for jacqui.

jacqui was a sweet woman. she had always looked to the best in people, and was a sassy lady who refused to give up. briar and jacqui had a few conversations, the two finding it a good part of their day as they both woke up early, sitting at the fire as they talked about what they enjoyed about the world before. she had talked about how she had lost her family; her husband, and two sons. briar felt awful for the woman, but felt proud of her as she had still managed to remain positive and strong throughout the end of the world. she would miss the woman greatly, but she had to keep pushing. for her, for jim, for amy. it was her responsibility.

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gray speaks!

hiya guys definitely a bit of a shorter chapter but i had no idea what to write for this one and i am just so ready to get into season two 🫶 i love you guys so much and thank you so much for being so engaging with this book, i'm already in love with briar <333

love you lots!

word count: 1141