The Answer to Some Things

Summary:
Glenn Rhee, a lone survivor in the zombie apocalypse, comes across a rough and dangerous group of survivors which includes Merle and Daryl Dixon. It's not a group he fits into well, but they will not let him leave, so he learns to live with them, learns which of the group are worthy of his trust, and forms some unlikely friendships.

Notes:
This is a sort of alternate universe story where Glenn, Daryl, and Merle never meet Shane, Rick, Dale, Andrea and the rest in season one. Furthermore, Glenn, Daryl, and Merle are their season one-selves, so expect Daryl and Merle to be a little rough and Glenn to be a little less tough than he is in later seasons.

This is very much a story about Glenn, Merle, and Daryl. I do have some other original characters in here too - members of Merle's and Daryl's group - but Glenn, Merle, and Daryl are the main characters now and forever.

Though all in third-person, the chapters of this story alternate between following Glenn, Daryl, or Merle. Most of the chapters follow Glenn though, and if they don't, he's still a pretty big focus in them. Glenn is pretty much the main character in this.

I wrote this whole story in the span of two days and at a certain point, it took on a life of its own and certain characters didn't end up doing what I originally thought they would... You'll see... I think there will be 14 or so chapters overall... After finishing 54 pages of this thing, I said to myself, "What the hell have I just written?" Well, whatever it is, this is it. Enjoy:

xxxxxx

Chapter 1

xxxxxx

Glenn cautiously made his way through the convenience store, careful to keep quiet as he walked from one aisle to the next, filling his back pack with supplies as he went. It was well-past time he got himself out of Atlanta, as by now it was overrun with the walking dead, or 'geeks' as he commonly called them. He'd been in the city long enough, had narrowly avoided death one too many times, and had decided now was the time for him to move on.

He was lucky he had survived in Atlanta this long. Considering how populated the city was, and considering large portions of the place had actually been bombed and/or burned to the ground in an attempt to control the ever-growing zombie problem, the fact that anyone alive remained on the streets was a miracle. Whoever had bombed and burned the city didn't seem to have cared to check any of the buildings for survivors beforehand. By now even the professionals had given up on the world. No one was looking out for anyone else. Not anymore.

Somehow Glenn had managed to stay lucky, had avoided being caught up in any of the fires, and had thus far avoided becoming a human snack. Traveling alone (although not entirely by choice) and being as agile and informed of the city's streets as he was helped Glenn stay alive this long, but he had a sick feeling in the back of his mind that his luck wasn't going to last much longer. It seemed he had been living his life on the edge ever since this whole mess started, and he needed to get someplace safer soon before his lifestyle literally came back to bite him.

A recent encounter with one of the re-animated corpses had finally prompted him to move along and get himself out of the city for good. Just last night, as Glenn had been searching for his old friend and former co-worker, Ethan, he'd nearly gotten himself killed. Of course, Glenn was quick, stealthy, and smart. That's how he'd survived this long, but he'd let his guard down at the worst possible moment, and it had almost cost him his life.

He'd found Ethan, alright... And Ethan's older brother Perry, and a few other people Glenn hadn't ever met. They were all at Ethan's apartment, and they were all dead, yet still up and walking around. Glenn had knocked on the door, heard their footsteps, and went ahead and let himself in. He was just so eager to finally see a familiar face after weeks of being on his own. But his excitement had been drained instantly when he realized the only familiar faces he was going to come across were no longer his friends, but instead flesh-eating monsters.

While Glenn was distracted by seeing Ethan's dead eyes fixated on him as the young man staggered toward him, Perry had come out of nowhere and snapped his rotten teeth toward Glenn's arm, just barely missing him, and thus just barely sparing Glenn from being done for.

So now the former-pizza delivery boy was through with this city. Atlanta was dead, both figuratively and literally. He figured he might as well give up on finding anyone he knew. And it seemed like he could go ahead and give up on finding anyone he didn't know as well. Not anyone alive anyway. He had woken early in the morning, left the relative safety of the office building he had set up camp in, and made his way down to some of the shops, hoping to find a good amount of supplies to sustain him until he found a safer place to live.

He figured if he found a car, he could make his way toward his former home. Maybe he could find his family. But maybe he didn't want to find them. Not if they were only going to be like Ethan. If Glenn never found them, maybe he could keep believing they were alive out there somewhere...

He stuffed a few packets of instant noodles into his backpack and made his way toward the back of the store, where bottled water was usually kept. There probably wouldn't be any left. Most of the stores were pretty-well cleared out weeks ago. It was honestly quite amazing the instant noodles were still on the shelf, though the two Glenn had managed to snatch were the only two left.

Glenn sighed internally and allowed his shoulders to slump when he looked over the selection of drinks, which was by now comprised of several knocked-over bottles of soda, two of which had bullet holes in them. He shook his head slightly to himself. He needed to have his hands free, just in case he ran into anything unsavory out on the streets, and the bottles were too large and heavy to fit into his backpack. He could always look for water somewhere else later, as he presently had a mostly-full canteen which he'd found on a dead man a few weeks prior and had ben refilling with clean water any time he got the chance to.

When Glenn was confident that his bag was pretty much as full as it was going to get, he hefted it up on his back and carefully made his way toward the store's glass door, which was now only a door-frame, with most of the glass shattered on the floor nearby. He stepped carefully over the glass, making as little noise possible until he could peek outside the door-frame and look up and down the street. A single geek was pacing in the street down the road to his right, but if he went left and was quick about it, that one wouldn't be a problem. Of course, he had no idea what he'd encounter that way, and it was always good to have a backup travel plan these days.

Glenn stepped outside, gripping his baseball bat tightly in his hand as he walked slowly down the center of the road, all the while looking all around himself. After all, he hadn't stayed alive this long on luck alone.

Once he was in the middle of the street, and no longer anywhere near any doors, windows, or alleys Glenn heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire ringing out from somewhere too close for comfort, echoing loudly down the hollow streets. He wasn't sure which direction it had come from, but he could hear that it was definitely very close.

With his heart thudding in his chest, Glenn cowered down slightly as he looked around himself. The single geek which had been roaming around down the street was on the ground now, unmoving. Someone had shot it. But that someone was nowhere to be seen. Glenn briefly glanced up toward the rooftops, but saw no one. He wondered if whoever had shot the zombie had seen him...

Glenn wasn't sure how to handle this situation. Hearing gunfire in the city was not at all uncommon, but it wasn't usually so close, and the few times it had been, the person or people making the sound always revealed themselves. Glenn had even joined a pair of women early on after coming across them in the city. He had heard their gunfire and found them fending off zombies in an alley. Glenn had used his baseball bat to help them finish off the small army of geeks and had then been invited to join their group, which was comprised of only them at that point. Unfortunately, the two women had gone off on an errand to replenish some of their supplies some time later and hadn't ever returned, so Glenn had been forced to move on without them...

But this time, no one was coming forward as being the source of the gunfire. Maybe they hadn't seen Glenn.

Another shot rang out, followed by a thudding sound from an alley ahead of him. Whoever it was would have to be on a rooftop to have hit both a zombie in front of and behind Glenn. Hopefully they wouldn't mistake him for one. He wondered if he should call out so he wouldn't be mistaken for undead. Or perhaps he should just get out of the area as quickly as possible. After all, whoever was out there might not be one of the good guys. They were also making a hell of a lot of noise, and probably attracting more geeks.

Intaking a shaky breath, Glenn gripped his baseball bat and took a few more steps forward, looking up and to the left and right frequently, both to check for stray geeks as well as to hopefully make it apparent to anyone secretly observing him that he was in fact not one of the walking corpses.

Glenn flinched as yet another shot rang out, the sound bouncing off the buildings. This one was followed by the sound of a man's voice.

"Almost got 'im," the unknown person yelled, followed by deep, raspy laugh.

Glenn looked up toward the sound of the voice. He saw a flash of movement, but not enough to be sure he really even saw anything. Still, he didn't want to shout out to the unknown person, for fear of attracting too much attention.

Instead, Glenn abandoned the hope of finding anymore survivors. The fact that this person was shooting random walkers from the roof top when he didn't need to and was laughing while he did it made Glenn wonder if he'd really want to meet them at all. They seemed potentially dangerous. Glenn wasn't in the habit of making unnecessary noise or wasting bullets and preferred not to travel with anyone who was.

Another shot rang out, followed by the unmistakable sound of a body hitting pavement. He quickened his pace to a near jog as he made his way down the road. He needed to get away from this mess as soon as possible, before every geek in the city heard the noise and came running.

But Glenn's attempt at escape was short-lived. The next shot was most certainly not aimed at any of the walkers. In fact, he could swear he saw it bounce off the ground only a few yards ahead of him.

Glenn skidded to a stop, nearly tripping over his own feet. Was this person shooting at him? He looked up toward the spot where he had seen the movement before, raising his hands in surrender and squinting upward as the light of the sun nearly blinded him.

"I'm not dead!" Glenn yelled in a frantic voice. "I'm not one of them!"

Another shot rang out, this one just as close as the last one, ricocheting off the asphalt of the road way too close to his feet for comfort. The mysterious person, who Glenn still couldn't see through the blinding sunlight laughed once more.

Glenn cowered down slightly. "Stop shooting!" he pleaded. He held perfectly still, with his hands still up as he looked toward the roof. He still couldn't see anyone.

By now, Glenn couldn't help his frantic, nervous breaths as he kept his hands up and scanned the area with his eyes. There were a few more walkers in the distance now, some in both directions, stumbling down the street toward him. Just as he thought would happen, the sound had attracted them.

He looked back up toward the roof. There were no more gun shots, no more laughter, and no more foreign voices. Glenn tightened his grip on his baseball bat, bringing his hands slowly back down and gripping the weapon in both hands. He might need to take a few short cuts now, or rather alternate routes, as they wouldn't really be short cuts, but might at least spare him from running into the geeks now approaching him from both sides.

Glenn took a cautious step forward, looking up toward the roof as he did so. He wondered if the gunman was just messing with him. After all, he had hit a rather far away zombie without a problem a few minutes before. It seemed the building the mysterious shooter was atop was the one right next to Glenn. If this person had really wanted to hit him, it wouldn't have been hard to do so.

Each of Glenn's steps was slow and careful as he made his way forward and to the left, toward the nearest alley, keeping a close watch in any and all directions. As he neared the alley, his pace quickened. By now he was extremely eager to get out of here. It was bad enough having to worry about the walkers without having to worry that some crazy person on a rooftop would kill him just for the fun of it.

The closer to the wall he got, the faster Glenn's steps became. The mysterious person on the roof wouldn't be able to shoot at him if the wall was in the way. He would have to lean far over the wall for the proper angle, which meant Glenn would only need to worry about the walkers.

By now Glenn was running. The alley was up ahead. If he could just get out of the area, he would finally be safe. Or at least safer. At least the geeks never shot at him.

Not keeping with his usual tendency to cautiously approach any new area, Glenn rushed into the alley. He was far more fearful of being shot than of running into a stray walker, so he didn't even bother approaching the place slowly and cautiously as he ordinarily would have.

And of course, this was the time there ended up being someone there...

Glenn screamed and raised his baseball bat up over his head, ready to defeat the geek he'd nearly collided with. Before he had a chance to do so, however, it reached out and grabbed at him, gripping his baseball bat in a large, strong hand and easily prying it out of Glenn's grasp.

It was then that the boy realized that this was no walker he was up against. This person was very much alive. Glenn found himself looking up at an older man, probably in his late forties or early fifties. He had greyish stubble on his face and angry blue-grey eyes which stared down at him.

Glenn winced as the man tossed the bat to the side and slapped his large hand over Glenn's mouth, likely in an effort to silence the scream he'd accidentally let out. Glenn tried to speak, to tell this guy he was sorry for screaming, and maybe to plead for his life... but the hand was firmly clamped down over the lower half of his face.

"Shut yer damn mouth, boy, before you attract every damn walker in the city," the man growled.

Glenn did as instructed and the man finally moved his hand, but before Glenn had a chance to say anything, to question the guy or move to reclaim his bat, a large, firm hand was wrapped around Glenn's forearm and pulling him into a back door of the building he had been hoping to simply run around.

"Wait!" Glenn urged, franticly pulling at his arm and trying to free himself. The hand around his arm only tightened its grip. Why was this guy dragging him inside? Maybe he meant to steal Glenn's supplies... though he certainly hadn't been interested in the bat.

The stranger pulled him inside, letting the door slam behind them as he shoved Glenn's back up against the wall.

"Please don't kill me," Glenn spoke in an out-of-breath voice as he once again raised his hands in defense.

The older man looked down at him with an amused smirk on his face, "I ain't gonna kill you. I was just messin' with you before."

Glenn forced a nervous laugh. That wasn't quite as reassuring as this man seemed to think it was. Glenn's idea of a good joke certainly didn't involve nearly being shot.

"There any more of you little guys running around out there?" the stranger asked. "Looked like you was all alone..."

Glenn looked up at him. "I was alone," he said, immediately wondering if it had been wise to divulge that information. Now the guy knew nobody was going to come looking for Glenn if he never returned to where he came from. "I was on my way out of the city," Glenn added, to show this guy he wasn't interested in trying to infringe on any sort of territory he may have laid claim to.

"There's no reason to leave," the guy countered with a raspy laugh. "Ya look like you're a pretty capable guy... for an Asian, anyway. You can come join me an' my friends. How 'bout that?"

Glenn winced. The stranger still gripped his arms pretty tightly, holding him firmly in place up against the wall. While the man was seemingly inviting him to join his survivor group, it didn't feel as much like a question as an order.

"Okay," Glenn reluctantly went along with the suggestion, allowing the man to pull him along toward a shadowy set of stairs. "I'm Glenn," he offered his free hand, even though the guy was already tightly gripping his other arm.

With another smirk and a slight chuckle, the stranger turned toward him, grabbing his hand in an iron grip and shaking it firmly. "Merle," he introduced himself.

Glenn let out a shaky breath as he continued allowing Merle to lead him up the stairs. He didn't really have much of a choice. "How many are in your group?" Glenn wondered, mostly just trying to get the guy to talk so he could get a better read on him.

"Five," Merle responded simply as he dragged Glenn up the stairs.

"You guys living in the city then?" Glenn asked. "Is your group your family? Friends? Random people you met?" Hopefully the rest of this guy's group was a little more sane than he was. If just one guy in the group was a crazy person, he could deal with it. If all five were maniacs who enjoyed shooting at people for fun, he was going to need to find a quick way out of this situation.

"A few of each," Merle answered. "You'll meet 'em in a minute."

"Do you guys live in this building?" Glenn wondered as he looked around. It didn't look like an apartment building. It appeared to be a shop of some sort from down below, but maybe there were apartments on the upper floors.

"Can you stop with the damn questions?" Merle sounded agitated as he nearly shouted the request and even shook Glenn slightly by the arm as he said it.

"Sorry," Glenn winced. Merle's grip on his arm was tighter than ever, even though the younger man wasn't even trying to pull away anymore.

It wasn't long before they were all the way upstairs. Merle opened a door that led to the roof and pulled Glenn up with him. "Lookie what I found," Merle laughed as he pulled Glenn roughly along, shoving him forward in front of him.

"I told you that one wasn't dead," one of the other men commented.

"You didn't have ta tell me," Merle laughed. "I knew it. That's why I was aimin' in front of his feet. An' why I went down an' brought 'im back up with me. I was just playin' with 'im before." He glanced down toward Glenn who was beginning to feel more and more nervous by the second. "If I'd wanted to kill you, I'da done it."

Glenn forced a small, very insincere laugh allowing his eyes to move from one of the men to the next as he tried to judge whether they were all as big of a threat as the first one he'd met seemed to be. It seemed anyone traveling with this guy was probably not much more sane than Merle was.

It was very quickly made apparent that these men were in fact each just as threatening and ill-mannered as the last when, without even offering so much as an introduction, one of them reached out and roughly pulled Glenn's bag away from him. Glenn did not fight the man. In fact, he even willingly shrugged the bag off his shoulders so the man could take it and get away from him as soon as possible.

"What did ya bring us, little kid?" the man laughed as he began going through the bag. This man was even bulkier than Merle. He had a long, dark beard all the way down to the top of his chest, and wore a blue bandana over a mess of long, ratty brown hair.

Glenn didn't answer. Instead, he took a step back toward the door, but Merle stopped him before he could get far.

"Why'd you bring him up here for?" Another of the men growled, looking toward Merle with a very annoyed expression on his face. This guy looked younger than Merle, but somehow similar as though they were related. He was muscular, just like the others, and wore a sleeveless shirt. He had a bit of stubble on his face as well.

"Just thought we could use another little friend," Merle laughed, pulling Glenn rather roughly by his arm so that he was uncomfortably close up against the older man's body. "What, you don't like 'im?"

Glenn swallowed a lump in his throat as he looked around the group. He was feeling rather trapped by this point, and was certainly quite afraid to try to move again. Merle was a rather large and muscular man, and could likely do a lot of damage if he wanted.

The guy in the sleeveless shirt shook his head as though completely fed up with Merle. Glenn wondered if the younger man's reaction was an indication that perhaps the older guy bringing back random strangers to rob and tease was a common occurrence in this group. If it was, hopefully letting these random strangers go afterward, unharmed, was also a part of this practice.

"What?" Merle continued trying to convince the younger man that this was a good idea. "He's a great house guest. Even brought us gifts," he gestured toward the guy who had grabbed Glenn's bag before.

"You gotta learn to just leave people alone, Merle. It's not like we needed his stuff," the younger man shoved past the guy who was looking through Glenn's back pack and made his way toward the door that led downstairs.

Glenn looked nervously toward Merle, who was laughing yet again. "Sorry 'bout my little brother Daryl," he shrugged, finally loosening his grip a bit. "He don't like meeting new people. Always was a little rude around company."

"Well," Glenn tried not to sound completely terrified. "It was nice meeting you all. Enjoy the stuff..." he gestured toward the bag and continued rambling, as he didn't know what else to do to ease the tension among them and make a clean escape, "Uh... there's more where that came from, down the block at the store. No more noodles though," he offered a breathless laugh as he backed toward the door Daryl had just exited through.

"Not so fast, Glenn," Merle raised an eyebrow as he quickly reached toward Glenn and caught him by the collar of his shirt. He proceeded to put his heavy arm down over Glenn's shoulders and drag him back toward the rest of the group. "You didn't even meet everyone yet. Guys, this is Glenn." Merle spoke to his group, adding in an intrigued voice, "He's traveling alone."

Glenn swallowed again. He was so screwed.

"I'm Levi," the man going through the bag introduced himself with a grin that showed he was missing a couple teeth.

The next guy, a skinnier man, but who still had more height and muscle than Glenn, unfortunately, introduced himself next, "Lawrence Hall," he nodded toward Glenn as though attempting to be polite. This man looked a little better groomed than the others, and younger too, maybe in his thirties.

Glenn forced a small smile toward Lawrence, even though what he really wanted to do was turn and run. At least this guy didn't look like he was contemplating murder like the others did.

Regardless of Lawrence's more gentle appearance, Glenn couldn't believe any of these men were good people. Not if they were okay with Merle shooting at strangers and then proceeding to drag said strangers, unwilling, back to their group and keep them there against their will. No matter that these guys hand't been overtly physically violent thus far. It was still extremely apparent to anyone with eyes that Glenn wanted to leave, and so far, none of them were offering him any way out.

"Brady," the last man offered, neither nodding, nor smiling. Instead, he simply stared down at Glenn with his dark eyes looking very serious and almost angry as he crossed his thick arms over his chest. Brady had short, dark brown, messy hair and wore a red flannel shirt with a torn pocket hanging off the front of it.

Glenn could feel himself shaking and tried to make himself stop. He in took a breath as slow and steady as he could manage, trying to keep himself calm. The last thing he needed was for these men to see how scared of them he was.

"Well," Merle spoke up again, still holding onto Glenn firmly with his arm around the younger man's slim shoulders. "Glenn's gonna stay with us for a while. Ain't that right, Glenn?"

Glenn glanced nervously up toward Merle. "Uh," he hesitated. More than anything, he wanted to decline that offer, but he couldn't very well tell them they seemed creepy and that he wanted nothing to do with them. So he settled on the truth, even though it wouldn't have necessarily applied had he run into a less sketchy group. "I was actually going to leave the city and search for my family."

"Aw," Levi passed Glenn's bag to Lawrence as he made his way over toward Glenn and Merle. He was frowning when he reached them. Levi looked down toward Glenn and put his hand heavily on Glenn's arm. "We're your family now, little kid. You can't leave us. We're already so attached to you."

Glenn felt his shoulders slump as panic continued to grow in his chest. "Come on, guys," he urged, shaking his head slightly back and forth. "You can keep my bag and everything. I just wanted to leave the city." He tried to shrug out of Merle's hold on him, but the older man only pulled him closer. "Please just let me go," Glenn felt so defeated having to come right out and beg to be let free. He had hoped for something less embarrassing, like him simply telling them goodbye and then walking away from them.

"You're being rude, Glenn," Merle offered in a gravely voice.

Closing his eyes in frustration, Glenn breathed in, trying to think of his next move. He was probably faster than these guys. If he could just get away from them for a moment, he could outrun them. But then, they had guns... He wasn't faster than a bullet.

But he had to try. He didn't trust that these men wouldn't kill him either way. Why else would a group of five obviously quite capable adult men want to force someone to join their group if their intentions weren't sinister? It's not like they needed Glenn to help them.

In one swift move, Glenn ducked down out of Merle's grip, immediately darting toward the roof's door. Because he hadn't tried to run off yet, and had only very calmly and gently tried to shrug away from these guys' grabbing hands so far, no one was expecting him to make such an effort, so their hands did not secure him tightly enough to prevent it.

Glenn sprinted to the door, swung it open and began running down the stairs so fast he was scared he might trip and fall down them. He reached the bottom quickly. All the while panic rose in his chest as he heard four pairs of feet thudding heavily down the stairs behind him.

He swung open the door on the ground floor and rushed outside, immediately colliding with someone's chest, hard enough to cause Glenn to stumble backward and fall to the ground.

With a small whimper, Glenn looked up toward the person he'd run into, hoping it wasn't a walker, but also somehow hoping it wasn't anyone alive either.

Surprisingly, whoever it was offered a hand down to help him up. He grabbed the hand and looked up into this person's blue eyes for a brief moment before he was pulled up to his feet. It was Daryl, Merle's brother who had seemed angry at Glenn's presence before.

Glenn stared at him blankly for a moment. Daryl didn't seem to want him here. Maybe he wouldn't object to Glenn continuing to run away.

With Glenn's hand still in his, Daryl pulled him up and then shoved him forward. "Go," Daryl spoke simply.

Glenn nodded thankfully and continued on his way, just in time to hear the door behind him swung harshly open, hitting the wall behind him hard as his pursuers nearly caught up with him.

As he ran onward, he could hear a few of the men arguing for a moment while the rest of their feet continued to thud along close behind him.

"Just let 'im go, Merle," Daryl's voice ordered.

Glenn didn't hear Merle's response, assuming he gave one. He was too focused on running. Unfortunately, he now had absolutely no defense against the geeks, and all of Merle's gunfire had attracted even more of them by now.

Glenn ran and ran, only second-guessing his route when he turned a corner and came face to face with six or seven walking corpses, who immediately noticed his presence and began shuffling toward him.

With a small whimper, Glenn turned back around, only to see Merle, Levi, Lawrence, and Brady were gaining on him. He glanced back toward the walkers, who were getting closer to him by the second. The walkers were slower than the men. Maybe he'd stand a better chance just trying to run through the small group of them.

Against his better judgment, Glenn ran toward the geeks, close to the edge of the road to avoid them as best as possible.

Glenn gasped and shrunk down when he heard gunfire yet again, but whoever was shooting wasn't aiming for him. A walker ahead and to his left jerked back as the bullet collided with it's head. It fell heavily against the ground. Glenn ran on wincing silently each time another bullet was fired. Even though his path was being cleared for him, the gunfire was certainly a reminder that Merle and his men could kill him at any moment if they wanted to.

Quickly, Glenn ducked into an alley, mostly so if his new acquaintances were planning on shooting him next, they wouldn't have a clear shot. He ran down the alley, reaching a chain-link fence at the end, jumping up onto it and climbing up as quickly as possible.

And this is where his luck ran out. He soon felt hands on the back of his shirt, pulling up backward off the fence so that he fell back, and would have hit the ground if rough hands hadn't caught him. Glenn wasn't even sure at this point if he hoped it was one of Merle's cronies or a walker grabbing him.

He was spun around and slammed up against the alley's wall in time to see Merle's angry eyes staring down at him while the older man breathed in and out heavily. "The hell are you thinking? You're gonna get us all killed."

Glenn panted as he started up at Merle and noticed Levi running up behind him. Levi looked even more out of breath than Merle did.

A few more gun shots rang out from the street as Lawrence and Brady seemingly finished off the small group of walkers.

"I didn't ask you to come after me," Glenn panted, trying in vain to shrug out of Merle's grip. "Let me go," he demanded in as stern a voice he could manage.

Merle offered a cocky laugh as he glanced toward Levi. "What you think, Lee? Should we let 'im go?" Merle shoved Glenn roughly toward Levi who caught him in his thick arms, wrapping one tightly around Glenn's shoulders. It was impossible to ignore the fact that Levi held a hand gun in his other hand.

"I think little Glenn here could still be useful," Levi smirked down at him with a disgusting grin, once again showing off his missing teeth.

Glenn shuddered as Levi tightened his grip and held his gun threateningly close. "What do you guys want from me?" he wondered, though he almost feared what the answer might be.

"Your hair smells gooood, little kid," Levi ignored the question as he actually leaned his face down toward the top of Glenn's head and inhaled.

Glenn ignored the gun now, shrugging down out of Levi's grip, but he didn't make it far this time. Levi must have been expecting it. He grabbed after Glenn immediately, catching his arm and tugging him back so hard Glenn could swear he almost pulled Glenn's shoulder out of its socket.

Suppressing a pained cry, Glenn threw out his arms and kicked out at his assailant. He needed to give his all at this point. If he didn't get away from these men, he was probably going to be killed by them.

"Get off me!" he screamed, no longer caring about attracting more walkers with the sound of his frantic voice. Maybe bringing in a large group of them would actually help him at this point.

Levi must not have felt the same way. "Stop screaming," he demanded in an angry voice as he crushed his hand over Glenn's mouth.

Glenn struggled to turn his face away from Levi's hand, to get another good scream in, but Levi held him tightly, pressing his hand down so hard over Glenn's mouth that the back of the boy's head was crushed painfully against the brick wall of the alley.

Since Glenn couldn't move Levi's hand off him, he focused on what he could do, swinging punches at the man's thick chest and kicking out, stomping on Levi's feet in hopes that it might make him step back long enough to give Glenn the window of opportunity he needed. That only made Levi cush his body up closer against Glenn's to use his sheer size to keep Glenn's smaller body in place.

In one last attempt to fee himself, Glenn slammed his knee up between Levi's legs as hard as he could. Levi stumbled back for a moment, allowing Glenn to run back toward the fence for a mere few seconds. But he was quickly caught by the same rough hands, this time tackling him to the hard ground.

Through his own hard, frantic breaths, Glenn could hear Merle's raspy laugh as Levi held him down on the ground. He couldn't move. He looked up in time to see Levi's dark, angry eyes glaring down at him just as the man raised his fist up in the air and slammed it down hard against the side of Glenn's face.

Then everything went dark.

xxxxxx