Act One; Chapter Two

Word count: 2820

[ Season One, Episode Two]

"What the fuck is that idiot doing!?"

At the sound of Jules's cursing, Glenn swiveled his head around to see what she was talking about. Then once Glenn looked down to where Jules was staring, his eyes became the size of saucers. Reason being, because a man dressed like a cowboy was riding horseback into the infested streets of Atlanta.

"Wow, he looks like he's straight out of a Western film."

"Yeah, well, he's about to be as dead as the Wild West." Jules quipped lowly and pointed to the incoming hoard the man was about to unknowingly ride into.

Immediately following that, the man got surrounded by geeks, and the poor horse started to get devoured. The gory sight making Jules grimace and Glenn gag in disgust.

"God, nothing deserves that." Jules muttered with a grim expression before walking away from the windowsill and solemnly saying, "C'mon, we should go; the others are probably waiting for us."

"Wait-"

Jules stopped in her tracks after Glenn said that and then went to ask why, but he beat her to the punch by exclaiming, "The son of a bitch is still alive!"

"What!?" Jules queried with genuine surprise as she rushed back to Glenn's side at the windowsill so she could see for herself. A bright laugh escaping Jules's lips whilst she shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, I'll be damned. Clint Eastwood has some moves."

Glenn heartily chuckled at Jules's sentence, the two of them sharing genuine smiles with each other before focusing their attention back on the cowboy.

Over the past couple of months, the two had gotten close due to them doing supply runs in the city together. Originally, Glenn was going to go alone, but Eve hated that idea so much that she offered to join him, and then Glenn swiftly rejected that idea. This of which led to the two siblings having a small argument, but it didn't last long. That being because Jules swept in and offered to join Glenn on runs so he wouldn't be alone, and Eve wouldn't have to accompany him in the infested city. At first, Eve protested the idea because she didn't want her brother and best friend to put their lives in danger, but after a lot of convincing from Jules, Glenn, and even Sawyer, she finally agreed.

The two of them watched the cowboy fight his way through the hoard and eventually crawl underneath an army tank. The duo heard five shots being fired from underneath the tank, and then, after a tense moment of waiting, they heard a muffled echoed shot come from within the tank itself.

"Shit, do you think he-" Jules paused mid sentence and mimed shooting herself in the head whilst adding a soft pop noise to demonstrate the sound of a gunshot. Then after that, she played dead by closing her eyes, slightly tilting her head to the side, and sticking her tongue out.

Glenn was initially shocked by Jules' carefree attitude toward the situation, but his shock didn't last long as he couldn't help but smile and giggle at her antics before shaking his head and saying, "I'm not sure, but if he is still alive, we've got to help him."

Before Jules could ask how they would do that, Glenn pulled out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you, in the tank. Cozy in there?"

Jules couldn't help but lightheartedly roll her eyes and laugh. This of which, made Glenn's eyes light up as he smiled brightly. Glenn adored the sound of Jules's laugh, and he loved it when he was the reason for her laughter.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Jules playfully asked with a hint of laughter in her voice.

Glenn's cheeks turned a soft shade of pink, and he swiftly looked down at the ground as he muttered. "Uh, no reason."

Despite being unconvinced, Jules nodded her head in acknowledgement, then gestured to the walkie-talkie and voiced, "Cowboy hasn't said anything, can I?"

With an understanding of what she meant, Glenn handed her the walkie-talkie, responding. "Uh, yeah."

Jules gave a quick thanks to Glenn and spoke into the device. "Are you alive in there, shithead?"

Glenn snorted out a laugh, and Jules smiled at the sound before returning to speak to the possibly dead cowboy.

"Look if you're alive. In there, say something."

The duo looked at each other in suspense as they awaited an answer, and just when they were about to give up, they heard a response.

"Hello? Hello?"

Jules and Glenn shared relieved looks at the prospect of the cowboy being alive, next the two of them shuffled closer together so they could share the walkie-talkie easier. Glenn being the first one to say something back to the cowboy.

"There you are. You had us wondering."

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?"

"Yeah, and we saw you stupidly ride into a horde of geeks." Jules answered back sarcastically.

Glenn chuckled and gave Jules a 'seriously?' look, which she just shrugged playfully at whilst he added, "And they are still surrounding you. That's the bad news."

"There's good news?"

Both Jules and the cowboy asked at the same time; however, the cowboy sounded hopeful, whereas Jules was appalled that Glenn had said that.

Glenn cringed slightly, then scrunched his nose up as he answered, "No."

"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you I'm a little concerned here."

Jules eyed all the geeks surrounding the tank and absentmindedly spoke her inner thoughts. "Yeah, I'm going to be honest; it's not great."

Glenn nodded in agreement to Jules's statement. "Oh man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out."

An almost comical long pause occurred before the cowboy spoke again: "Got any advice for me?"

Jules and Glenn looked at each other, had a silent conversation, and once the two of them reached the best conclusion, they both simultaneously answered, "Make a run for it."

Another long, comical pause occurred before the duo heard a response of disbelief from the cowboy. "That's it? ' Make a run for it."

"Look, our way is not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank, but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down."

Jules intently listened to Glenn's explanation, and when he was done speaking, added, "With us so far?"

"So far."

Jules nodded as she began to explain the rest of their plan. "Alright, good, now the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded."

Jules stopped talking, and Glenn seamlessly took off where she left off. "So if you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?" As Glenn did so, Jules looked at him with a content smile.

"In that duffel bag I dropped out, there were guns. Can I get to it?"

Jules scoured the street to see if the bag was attainable, and since it was surrounded by geeks, she bluntly replied. "Yeah, dude, you're not getting those back."

"So what do you have on you now?" Glenn questioned.

"Hang on."

As Jules waited for the cowboy to count his ammo and tell them what exactly he had, she kept swaying back and forth. Glenn noticed and gently tapped her arm so he could get her attention. Jules hummed, looked over at Glenn, and smiled at him, which he gladly returned before asking. "You okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm just waiting for Cowboy to tell us whether or not he's fucked or not."

Glenn laughed, causing Jules's smile to brighten because she really liked it when she was the reason he was laughing.

"Yeah. Yeah. I've got a Beretta with one clip, fifteen rounds."

"Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank and keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards; be there."

After Glenn said that, the duo began to make their way to the alley, but as they did so, the cowboy spoke once again. "What are your names?" Jules rolled her eyes in disbelief and swiftly grabbed the walkie-talkie from Glenn's hand.

"Dude, not the time."

"Right-"

"Fucking unbelievable," Jules muttered with a slight grin of amusement.

The two quickly and easily made their way through the building, then down to the fire escape that led to the alleyway. Glenn touched the ground first and ensured that Jules safely got off the ladder before dashing towards the gate. Since he was ahead of her, Glenn was the one to open the gate and be greeted with a gun to the face.

Instinctively, seeing Glenn in danger, Jules reached into the back of her backpack and armed herself with her baseball bat, ready to protect him. Meanwhile, Glenn kept frantically repeating 'not dead' over and over again. Once the man realized the two were in fact humans, he holstered his gun, and in return, Jules put her baseball bat away.

Following that, Glenn ushered both the cowboy and Jules up the fire escape. Next Jules, looked down to see if the cowboy was still behind them and to her surprise. He was just staring at the fast-approaching geeks, so she shouted, "Move it, dumbass!"

The cowboy did in fact move it, for he immediately went up the fire escape, and soon the three of them were resting on a railed balcony, catching their breath.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood."

Jules breathed out a chuckle at Glenn addressing the cowboy with the nickname she gave him just a few minutes earlier. Then she jokingly added, "Yeah, you, the new dumbass cowboy, come riding in to clean up the town?"

The dumbass cowboy shockingly played along, saying, "It wasn't my intention."

Glenn rolled his eyes as he waved him off. "Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass."

"I agree," Jules chimed in.

"Thanks, I'm Rick."

After that both Jules and Glenn took turn shaking Ricks hand whilst introducing themselves.
Following that, the trio looked at the roof and the steep climb required to reach the top.

Noticing the tension, Glenn cracked a joke as he began to climb the ladder. "On the bright side. It'll be the fall that kills us."

Jules laughed, shook her head and started to follow Glenn on the steep ladder whilst sarcastically quipping. "Or we fall and get eaten alive by the horde of geeks beneath us."

A chuckle escaped Glenn's lips, and he quickly retorted back, "Well, unlike you, Debbie Downer, I'm a glass half-full kind of guy."

"Oh, fuck you, glass-half-full guy." Jules playfully teased, making Glenn let out a boisterous laugh—the sound making Jules to beam with joy.

Meanwhile, Rick, who was still standing on the railed balcony, watched the interaction with a content smile, shook his head in amusement, and whispered to himself. "Ah, to be young and in love again." Then, after getting teased by Jules for taking forever, Rick climbed up the ladder.

Once the three of them lifted themselves over the top of the wall, Rick queried, "Are you the two that barricaded the alley?"

"Nah, some other shitheads did." Jules casually answered, then swiftly Glenn added. "Yeah, we're guessing whoever did it. Did it when the city first got overrun and thought not many geeks would get through."

Following that, the three reached a metal trapdoor, and as Glenn opened it, Rick asked another question.

"Back at the tank, why'd you two stick your neck out for me?"

Glenn shrugged, opened up the trapdoor, threw down his bag, and finally started climbing down the ladder while he answered Rick's question. "Call it foolish, naive hope that if me and Jules are ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for us... I guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you."

Jules chuckled before commenting, "You're not a dumbass; you're just a glass half-full kind of guy." While climbing down the ladder herself.

"Oh, har-har."

Rick once again had a content smile as he witnessed the duo banter with each other.

"Hey, Clint Eastwood, Are you coming or not?"

Rick lightheartedly rolled his eyes, then started climbing the ladder and responded, "Patience is a virtue, you know?"

"And being slower than molasses when the dead are literally on our asses is fucking stupid." Jules retorted back in good fun.

"Well, you just have a comeback for everything, don't you?"

"That I do, dumbass cowboy, that I do."

── ⋅✦⋅ ── ༻༺ ── ⋅✦⋅ ──

Eve was currently babysitting the adorable Sophia Peletier, with Amy Harrison sitting beside her. Or, to be more accurately described, Amy was chatting Eve's ear off as she babysat. The reason being, that most people in camp got annoyed with Amy's long, meaningless tangents and either sent her away or tuned her out. Eve, on the other hand, actually listened and gave her own thoughts and opinions on whatever topic Amy wanted to talk about that day. The current topic on Amy's mind today was fashion and how much she missed shopping for clothes.

"Ugh! And don't even get me started on bubble skirts! They are so adorable, but now that people are eating each other and we have to rough it out here, they've become so impractical to wear, and that just makes me so depressed."

Eve laughed before correcting, "The dead are eating people; there's a difference."

Amy shrugged and waved her off. "Tomahto, tomato."

"I'm sorry, but it does sound slightly better the second way." Sophia timidly spoke up while turning her gaze from her doll to Amy and Eve.

"Oh, sweetie, don't apologize for speaking your mind." Eve reassured the young girl. Next she reached out to give her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder to further prove it was alright.

"Besides, the earth would be boring if everyone agreed with each other. So if you've got something to say, say it with your whole chest." Amy spoke with a genuine smile.

Sophia shyly covered her now smiling face with her doll before softly asking. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Amy said with a grin, then the two looked expectantly at Eve, which made her laugh as she playfully questioned, "What are you two looking at me for? Didn't you just say that the world would be boring if everyone agreed with each other?"

Sophia erupted into giggles when Amy let out a theatrical gasp and slowly turned her head towards Eve's with an astounded expression.

"Oh, you're so going to get it."

After saying that Amy sprung up from her seat, Eve let out a soft squeak as she got up and ran away from Amy. "Sophia, help me!"

Meanwhile, Carl, who was sitting beside Sawyer next to the fire pit, looked over his shoulder to see what all the commotion was about. Then when Carl saw that Sophia, Amy, and Eve were chasing each other around with bright smiles whilst giggling relentlessly, his face contorted into a slight envious expression. Something of which Sawyer noticed so he lightly tapped Carl's forearm to get his attention.

"You can join them, you know?"

Carl perked up as he asked, "Really?"

"Yeah, go on ahead; just be careful, okay?"

Without even thinking, Carl sprang out of his seat and ran towards the girls while responding. "I will, I promise!"

Sawyer couldn't help but laugh at the young boy's excitement, and coincidentally, Lori approached him with Carol, both of whom had content smiles as they watched their children having fun.

"I haven't seen Sophia that happy in a while."

"Same for Carl."

"Yeah, I thought it'd be good for him." Sawyer stopped and turned his attention to Lori before continuing, "Hope that it's okay; I let him go without your permission."

Lori chuckled and waved him off, saying, "Sawyer, it's more than fine; you're family."

Sawyer was taken aback by Lori's words, but he was happy nonetheless because he always considered the Grimes, his family but he never thought or expected them to reciprocate that sentiment.

"Anyways, could you keep watching Carl for me a bit longer? I want to go for a walk."

"Oh yeah, sure, no problem; just make sure you stay within shouting distance in case something goes wrong."

"I will," Lori answered as she began to walk into the woods. Then she looked over her shoulder whilst still walking. "I'm heading out. Sweetheart, I want you to stay where Sawyer can see you, okay?

"Yes, Mom!"

Sawyer and Carol shared a laugh over how Carl absentmindedly agreed while he ran about with the others. Meanwhile, Lori just nodded her head in acknowledgment as she continued to walk further into the woods, and unbeknownst to anyone, a guilty expression overtook her features.