Oh heck yes, you can
**Reader Request**
Word Count - 3,000
Perspective - 2nd person
When - Atlanta. This story follows word-for-word the first season, second episode titled “Guts”
Relationships - Glenn x reader
Genre - y’all, it’s just like the episode
Pronouns - not mentioned or specified
TWs - some language and, well, season 1 Merle’s in it. Also remember that “Guts” is one of those nasty episodes featuring...guts.
“God, it’s like Times Square down there,” Andrea breathes. She and Jacqui are staring over the side of the building at the dead wandering everywhere in the city below. They were also making their way into the building and things looked bleak. Very bleak.
“How’s that signal?” Morales calls to T-Dog.
“Like Dixon’s brain,” he answers. “Weak.” The poor man especially has had it up to here with that jackass. You have half a mind to go over there and give him a fist bump.
Merle just glares right back at him and gives him the finger.
“Such a jackass,” you grumble.
“My thoughts exactly,” Glenn whispers back.
Morales looks like a man defeated, but encourages T-Dog to “Keep trying.”
“Why? There’s nothing they can do,” Andrea mutters. “Not a damned thing,” she adds to the stranger.
Glenn notices that you grimaced at her words. He seems nervous when he leans in to quietly tell you “Hey. All’s not lost just yet.”
You offer each other a half smile and settle yourself closer to him. You worked well together. He and you had made a few quick runs to Atlanta already, just in and out. Riddle you why this time, with a group of capable individuals, that shit had hit the fan. Actually, the riddle wasn’t too mysterious. To Merle and Officer Tank over there you felt comfortable giving some of the blame.
Your thoughts find their way back to the present when the stranger announces “Then she’s right. We’re on our own. It’s up to us to find a way out.”
Hm. Either he was confident or was a man on a mission, to be already comfortable enough to team up and take charge.
“Good luck with that,” the jackass tosses in. His gaze dances its way over to Andrea as he almost croons “The streets ain’t safe in this part of town from what I hear.”
Yeah no shit, Sherlock. Merle must love the sound of his own voice, tell you what. Then he really drives home his stereotype when he leers at her and says “Ain’t that right, sugar tits?”
As soon as he says that, Glenn moves in front of you, as if blocking you from his line of sight.
You groan at what Merle just said and put a hand on Glenn’s arm to peer around him in utter disgust at the words genuinely coming out of that man’s mouth.
“Hey honeybunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs...and we go off somewhere, bump some uglies?”
“Hey asshole, that ever work?” you hiss at him, much to Glenn’s dismay as he holds out a hand to stop you. “Y/N,” he starts to say to you.
Until Merle cuts in “Gonna die anyway.”
Andrea isn’t even phased. She matter-of-factly states “I’d rather,” without so much as a glance in his direction.
You don’t even hear whatever Merle says to himself in response as your jaw drops in appreciation for how cool Andrea has remained. When you share a look with Glenn, you realize that your hand is still on his arm. Then you realize that you’ve forgotten whatever it was that you were about to say to him.
He’s staring back at you. You get distracted again when his Adam’s apple bounce as he swallows. He...has a very handsome jawline, doesn’t he? Mm, and his cheeks looked a little pinker. That’s weird. You didn’t notice that he was sunburned a minute ago...
“The streets ain’t safe,” the stranger says.
Morales is staring down into the roadways with the him, that policeman, and cannot help but agree. “Now that’s an understatement.”
“What about under the streets?” the cop says to him. “The sewers?”
When he offers this, you could see Morales’ face light up. “Oh man. Glenn, Y/N! Check the alleys. You see any manhole covers?”
Glenn turns his head to you as you both stand up. “I’ll check the other side of the building, you check this one?”
“On it!” you answer, sprinting to the building’s nearer edge. You look up the alleyway and...no way, that won’t work. Further down and...shoot. You look at Morales and the stranger and shake your head.
Glenn is already jogging back to the group, shaking his own head. “Y/N, were there any on your side?”
“Nope.”
“Must be all out on the street where the geeks are,” he tells everyone.
“Maybe not,” Jacqui cuts in, recognition glimmering in her eyes. You can practically see the cogs winding and that fills you with hope. “Old building like this, built in the 20s: big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding, down in the subbasements.”
You have the biggest smile on your face by now, so look at Glenn, who almost appears as if he’s afraid to place hope in it. “How do you know that?” he asks in amazement.
“It’s my job – was.” As she finally meets eyes with you all, you could see the relief flooding her features and feel the morale of the group begin to rally. “I worked in the city zoning office.”
Next, everyone but T-Dog and Merle find yourselves in the lowest level of the building, staring down into that massive tunnel that you and Glenn had found the last time.
“This is it? Are you sure?” they ask you and Glenn.
“We really scoped this place out the others times we were here,” he tells them.
“And it’s the only thing in the building that goes down,” you nod. “But...we’ve never gone down it.”
“Who’d want to, right?” Glenn comments, frowning down at that gnarly, dark, dripping place.
You absentmindedly start chewing on a fingernail, dreading what you might have to do. As if in answer, the two of you look over at the rest of the group to find them staring.
Yup, you understand now. “Oh.”
So does Glenn. “Great.”
Jacqui offers you a good humored smile while Andrea catches Glenn’s eyes to assure him “We’ll be right behind you.”
Oof. The whole group going in there to see if they could get out safely? That sounded incredibly risky. You and Glenn glance at each other in silent agreement before he shakes his head, saying “No, you won’t. Not you.”
Which may not have been the best thing to say to Andrea directly in response, and she took it a little personally. So would you, you guess. Hand on her hip, she questioned “Why not me? Think I can’t?”
You start to say “That’s not–”
Glenn starts to say “I wasn’t–”
“Speak your mind,” the stranger - um, Rick - tells you two calmly. He has an open, earnest-looking expression on his face.
Glenn sighs and puts a hand on your back. It certainly takes you by surprise, but it feels…right. “Look, until now, we always came here by ourselves. In and out, grab a few things – no problem.” He looks over at you as if in help to find the rest of the words.
You nod, further explaining “And then first time we bring a group, everything goes to hell. No offense,” you sigh, running a hand through your hair.
There’s a moment of silence. Glenn turns to you as if to ask you something, until he seems to notice that his hand is resting on your back and suddenly he takes it off. He awkwardly rubs his neck and turns slightly away from you. “What do you think?” he then murmurs.
You two had met after T-Dog had rescued you. He’d stopped to save Glenn, too, then you both realized by accident that you worked well together during supply runs. And he was just fun as all get-out. Silly, genuine, thoughtful, kind, courageous. Attractive.
You give him a small smile and a shrug. “What other choice we do we have?”
“Okay,” he says. He holds your gaze a moment longer than one usually might, and turns back to the group. “If you want me and Y/N to go down this gnarly hole, fine; but only if you do it our way.”
His arm moves back up as if to place it on your back again, but he puts it back down.
You exhale slowly as you look down into that gnarly, gnarly hole. “It’s tight down there. If we run into something and have to get out quick, we don’t want the rest of you all jammed up behind us and getting us killed. We can take,” you look back at Glenn and ask “One person?”
“Not you, either,” he directs at Rick. “You’ve got Merle’s gun and we’ve seen you shoot. I’d feel better if you were out in that store, watching those doors, covering our ass.”
“Mm, and you’ve got the only other gun,” you tell Andrea, “So you should go with him.”
“Yeah,” Glenn nods. He points to Morales and directs “You be our wingman. Jacqui stays here,” he now looks at Jacqui. “Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up in a hurry.”
Rick inclines his head towards the two of you, his expression trusting. “Okay, everyone knows their jobs.”
So that meant it was time. You and Glenn and Morales look back down at the hole. Your pulse is racing. Then something inside yourself finds you grabbing Glenn’s hand and squeezing it before you grab onto the ladder and start the descent.
When you step to the bottom and turn around, Glenn is beside you in an instant, looking all around with his flashlight and positioning himself in front of you, almost, you notice, in a protective sort of stance.
Once Morales is down, you all take one last look down the tunnel and at the handful of rats scurrying through it before heading down, furiously praying that all of you make it out alive.
Aaand the tunnels are a bust.
And now the dead have crashed their way into the building.
But there’s more: you are now covered in the entrails of one of the geeks – or more accurately, Wayne. The man who was hopefully about to save your lives by masking your living human scent from the dead ones.
It was insane. The idea was insane and you couldn’t even find it in yourself to say the wildly appropriate phrase of “No guts, no glory.”
And now you were covered in them! In guts! You’d thrown up once already, actually, right in front of everyone as soon as the body’s stomach was opened. But really, to hell with it, here was no room for shame anymore, not at that moment. And try as you might, you and Glenn can’t stop freaking out as they cover you with that...with Wayne.
Somehow, the cop is remaining as collected as someone could be in this situation, even though he looked green, too.
“Think about something else, p-puppies and kittens,” he tries to tell you two.
Then T-Dog, looking as unwell as the rest of you, mumbles “Dead puppies and kittens” to himself, and that sends Glenn overboard. He hurls, the smell and the sound of it reaches you and...yep. Your turn again to vomit.
Oh God, this was really bad. And this escape plan was insane!
“Y/N?” Glenn moans, doing his best to not get sick again.
“Y-yeah man, what’s up?” you spit out, trying not to open your mouth as much as possible. Or inhale.
“You stick to me like glue. Okay? Please.”
And in that moment, it hits you fully. You look him in the eyes and don’t want to look away. You two might have been about to die. And you wished that you could kiss him. Just once. Acknowledge how much you liked him. Just once. And a warm feeling spreads through you because you are almost certain that he feels the same way.
And yes, you were fully aware that you must have looked like an absolutely horrible, terrifying mess, but you keep looking into his eyes because doing that makes you feel happy. Calmer. Safe.
“Like glue,” you confirm, a hint of a smile on your lips. You’re ready.
When you, Glenn, and Rick are about to step out into the streets, you take his hand and grip it tightly.
And holy shit, it’s working! It’s working! You don’t let go of Glenn’s hand as you shuffle your way to the fence to get that truck, feeling more and more unbelievably grateful and elated (as well as more and more unbelievably nervous and terrified) with every step.
You flick your eyes over to meet Glenn’s and swallow back a grin. This is going to work!
But then Glenn marvels out loud “It’s gonna work. I can’t believe it.”
You physically feel a bolt of dread spear through your veins. Rick was on the same page, urgently whispering “Don’t. Draw. Attention.”
One of the geeks zeroes in on him, curious, and you scarcely dare to breathe as you shuffle along. It sees Glenn. It somehow knows. His grip on your hand tightens and he moves himself so as to shield you completely from the geek sniffing around him.
A sound of fear unwittingly escapes your mouth – and a lightbulb goes off!
That’s it!
Your eyes half close and you make those rasping little moans that they do, running your thumb gently along his hand. Glenn immediately catches on and follows suit, and so does Rick.
Holy shit.
And you half-wonder if you’ve peed yourself by the time the roamer loses interest and the three of you are left unscathed. You feel his grip on your hand relax slightly. Both of your hands are trembling. But neither of you let go.
Then the sky darkens. And cold surges through your stomach as you feel the raindrops start.
Oh God, not a squall, please not now. It’s gonna wash off the camouflage, oh shit, holy shit.
Pretty soon the three of you are sprinting as fast as you can towards that chain-link fence. You don’t really remember the details of how you got there, but your feet are suddenly hitting the pavement on the other side and you are snatching up one of the axes that you three had thrown over, spinning around to face the hoard of the dead desperate to get through. Glenn’s hand finds yours again, kisses it, and presses into your palm the gun that Andrea lent him.
Wordlessly, you check the safety, cock it, and aim it. Rick is next to you and lands a perfect head-shot on that geek climbing the fence. You two aim and fire, aim and fire, anything to keep them at bay while Glenn breaks into the key box to get that key for the truck!
“Rick! Y/N!” he shouts, and you watch as he tosses the key to Rick and waves you to run to the truck. But you hear a heavy thud behind you, and with horror see that one of the dead has hopped the fence and is making for you. You try to shoot, but you you miss its head. Screw it. You grab the axe and bare your teeth at it, ready to attack.
“Honey, leave it! Get to the truck!” Glenn begs, running towards you until you turn and dash for the truck.
Once you’re both in and the car door is slammed shut, the geek slams its hands on the window.
“Go go go go!” you two yelp, and Rick cuts the wheel and speeds away.
But how are you gonna rescue the rest of the group? Those things were everywhere!
“Oh my God, oh my God,” you hyperventilate.
“They’re all over that place!” Glenn panics.
“You two need to draw them away. Those roll up doors at the front of the store, that area? That’s what I need cleared,” Rick instructs the two of you, calmly and clearly. “Raise your friends. Tell them to get down there and be ready.”
Draw them away? How? You look at Glenn with eyes wide.
“And we’re drawing the geeks away how? I-I missed that part!” Glenn yells to Rick, trying to not lose his cool.
“Noise.”
Noise. Like running and shouting? Hell no, those things could get fast. Okay. Noise, noise...“C-car alarm?” you stutter.
Rick just smiles.
Next thing you knew, you were in a secluded parking lot and Mr. Sheriff himself was smashing the windows open and hot-wiring the car. If you weren’t so panicked, you and Glenn would be laughing your asses off.
“Enjoy the ride, kids,” Rick winks.
And the next thing after that, you and Glenn were speeding off down the streets, car alarm blaring. You radioed the group to get down to the doors, sped this way and that way to lead the geeks away, and the whole time you were laughing out loud at how much fun it was!
Glenn was spinning around and backing up and doing donuts like a stunt driver! And it was working! And forgive you for thinking this in the middle of such a high stakes life-or-death situation, but you thought Glenn was so hot as he did it! And he’d called you honey earlier!
Soon you were on the highway, mission accomplished, just cheering and screaming with unbridled relief that you were alive and the group was safe! You cannot believe that you guys pulled that off! And Glenn is cheering and screaming and whooping right there with you!
At some point your hands find each other again and you hold his tightly, happy as can be.
By the time you find your way back to the quarry campsite, you’re breathless.
He pulls the car to a stop and looks over at you in what appears to be a euphoric daze. And yes, you both know that you need to turn that car alarm off. It’s gonna scare away every bit of game and draw in every geek in the area. Yet you just give him a lazy grin and unbuckle yourself.
“Can I kiss you?” you pant.
He blinks. Smiles.
Then grins wide and rips off his seat belt. “Oh heck yes, you can.
