WILDFIRE -Beth Greene

Good old fashioned Cowboy

"Dude, I'm telling you now, we've gone the wrong way." Gwen says, looking between the map in her hands and the confusion in Glenn's face.

"No, I don't think we have."

Gwen rolls her eyes at that, "Who's in change of the map again?"

Now it's Glenn's turn to roll his eyes, "Well, maybe the crazy map lady should have read that stupid piece of paper right the first time." Glenn turns to look at the girl with, in Gwen's opinion, a stupid look on his face.

Gwen puts her tounge to her cheeks and squints at the boy, "Well, I did say we took a wrong turn straight away, did I not? Hm? Yeah, that's what I thought, now eyes on the road idiot."

"Well you're welcome to have at it, Gwen." Glenn says as he reverses and make to turn back the way they came.

"Dude, I can't drive." He crinkles his face at this.

"Hold up, kid, you can't drive?" A much better looking T-Dog pipes up from the backseat, his mood and his face significantly brightened by the pills and the fresh bandages Gwen put on.

"What with being a literal kid when the apocalypse began and not driving then, I've kind of have bigger issues. You know like, surviving?"

"I can't believe you can't drive, you should really learn." Glenn says in a mocking, scolding way, mimicking T-Dog.

"Well, either of you are welcome to teach me."

She can see T-Dog shake his head vigorously in the mirror, "Absolutely not," T-Dog says at the same time Glenn lets out an equally disappointing response.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. No thank you, not me. Someone else though."

Gwen rolls her eyes again but smiles, "Well, gee, thanks."

Glenn smiles too as they make their way down a promising looking country lane, "Wait, I think that's it."
He points to a sign that reads 'The Greene Family Farm. All are welcome.'

"Well, if we're welcome." Gwen smiles as she turns to look at the man in the back.

After travelling down the bumpiest road Gwen's ever had the unpleasant experience of driving down, they reach a rather beautiful looking house.

Parking the car, they step out, not so gracefully in Glenn's case as he trips on the side of the car, to which Gwen snorts, even as her nerves increase as they walk towards the house.

Blood stains the steps up to the house and Gwen has to take a deep breath before she a Glenn announce at the same time-

"You gonna ring the bell or what?-"
"So do we ring the bell?-"

T-Dog just sighs at the two and moves forward, "We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we? Having to be considerate."

A voice comes from round the corner and Gwen jumps slightly. It's the cowgirl from before, "Did you close the fat up the road when you drove in?"

"Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything." Glenn speaks with all the nerve of a schoolboy, Gwen thought he might have well saluted the girl.

When she doesn't respond, he keeps going, "Hello, uh, nice to see you again. We met before, uh, briefly."

Before he can embarrass himself further, T-Dog steps in, "Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" The cowgirl walks over to them and sizes the man up and when she spots his arm, bandaged and bloody, the worry is clear in her face.

"It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though."

"We'll have it looked at, I'll tell then you're here."

Glenn stares, dumbfounded at the girl, so Gwen shoves him to remind him of what they brought but he's too deep in a trance.

"We brought painkiller and some antibiotics, he's had his full," She nods over to T-Dog, "For Carl, if he needs any."

The girl smiles, "Come on inside. I'll make you something to eat." She holds the door open as they clamber in.

"Where is he?" Gwen asks the girl who nods and leads them down a hallway and up some narrow stairs.

When they enter the room, the first thing Gwen sees is the little boy lying on the bed, blood soaked sheets crumpled in a pile in the corner of the room and the pained look on his parents faces.

"Hey." Glenn says, to which Rick sends a quiet 'hello' back, "Um, we're here. Okay?"

"Thank you." Lori says.

T-Dog nods, "Whatever you need." And Gwen can't help but feel as if she's intruding. None of them had know each other that long, but she only had two days with them under her belt and what they needed was the comfort of people they knew, so Gwen slowly stepped out of the room, Glenn and T-Dog following not long after.

"Come on, 'bout time for some food." The girl lead them back down to the kitchen, "What're y'all's names?"

Gwen spoke first, "I'm Gwen."

"T-Dog."

"I'm, uh, I'm Glenn." Gwen can't help but notice how her gaze lingers on him a little too long and smiles, just a little, to herself.

"You?"

"Maggie." She smiles.

The cowgirl, Maggie, disappeared and came back not long after with a woman named Patricia, to patch T-Dog up.

After most of the work is done (Glenn had had to momentarily leave the room at the site of a needle and Gwen had laughed, at this man who could survive zombies but not the sight of stitches), Glenn returns and Gwen takes Maggie's place of holding T-Dog's arm and hand as the woman works.

"'Merle Dixon' is that your friend with the antibiotics?"

"No, ma'am. Merle's no longer with us. Daryl gave you those.... His brother."

T-Dog laughs, "Not sure I'd call him a friend."

"He is today. This Doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for." And Gwen has a terrible feeling Glenn was about to be far too honest with these Christians but he's already talking before she can stop it.

"The clap." Their heads spin round to look at him and Gwen has to duck out of view so they can't see her smile as Glenn realises his mistake, "Um, venereal disease. That's what Daryl said."

Patricia smiles, "I'd say Merle Dixion's clap was the best thing that ever happened to you."

Gwen has to laugh then, "Amen to that."

Patricia ties up the last of the stitches as Glenn sits out on the porch, Maggie following suit.
T-Dog sits, out of breath, at their dinner table.

"Thank you." Gwen says for the man to the woman who smiles kindly and retreats to her room, to worry over her husband, out with Shane.

Gwen sits next to the man and claps him on the shoulder, "You good?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

The sound of a car pulling up outside catches everyone's attention, "Must be Shane."

Rick and Lori race past them and out the front, joined by Maggie's father Hershel. Shane hobbles out, alone.

"Carl?" He asks.

"There's still time." Rick says, tear welling.

Hershel moves forward and grabs the bag from Shane's shoulders before stopping, "Otis?"

Shane shakes his head but he doesn't look anybody in the eyes, "No."

Gwen can see Maggie's shoulders begin to shake from where she stands in front of her and she places a hand on Maggie's shoulder, who leans into it, "We say nothing to Patricia." Hershel demands, "Not till after. I need her."

Gwen finds herself holding a lot of respect for the older man as he turns to the house and disappears up the stairs.

Rick leans into hug Shane and something swirls in his eyes as he stares at the ground but it wasn't sadness. No, to Gwen it looks at lot more like guilt.

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