#glenn-verse

3->Based on the video game. Glenn told Lee he wanted to help his friends, who were trapped in Atlanta. He never found his friends but made some new ones. After he and Noah manage to escape the Grady Memorial Hospital, Glenn decides to go back to Macon, to the place where he belonged. In a nutshell: a merge of the show's and videogame's stories through Glenn.

4->The end of the world is not easy for anybody, especially not for young girls. Especially not for young girls who run themselves ragged trying to keep an entire group fed and alive while not being acknowledged at all. In a nutshel: what would've have happened if Glenn had been born a girl.

MAIN GOAL OF THESE STORIES:

1-> To explore Glenn’s capability for platonic love, taking the found-family trope to new heights within twd. Having a helpless person depend on him forces Glenn to mature faster, and reshapes his worldview and some of his actions due to higher responsibility.

2-> To explore how much the people around us can get to us, and the formation of bonds under dire circumstances with people we never believed possible. It also delves into Glenn’s “cyberpunk” side (using videogame analogies to dissociate and excuse cruelty).

3-> To explore Glenn’s influence as an active cohesion mechanism for a different survivor group with a different journey than Rick’s. He's just one person but his precense or absence completely changes the fate of these two communities.

4-> To explore how gender shapes the way we act and the way we’re perceived. Lenna takes on the same role as Glenn but with a different perspective.

BACKSTORIES:

1-> Same as show Glenn. Family in Michigan, sisters, pizza delivery boy, no car stealing mentioned.

2-> Comic book Glenn. Rocky relationship with parents, estranged with his sisters, pizza delivery boy for a while, then car stealer for money and for fun, drowning in debt.

3-> Videogame Glenn. Family from Macon, no mention of his relationship with siblings or parents. Knows tricks to steal cars. Has friends in Atlanta, important enough to him to go looking for them into the deadly city.

4-> Still to be determined. Probably a mix of 1 and 2.

That night was a mess. After no one had more tears to cry, the cussing and the explanation-demanding started. Rick told the others what they'd found on the rooftop and Shane confirmed they hadn’t seen the cube van nor Merle near camp previous to the attack. That left them with no real culprit, just a pack of walkers wandering into the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Without meaning to, his eyes darted towards Andrea, who wouldn’t let anyone close to her withering sister. They didn’t know exactly how long it took for someone to turn but, whatever that was, the countdown had already started.

T-Dog noticed and looked over there too. “What do you think we should do about that?”

Glenn tried to put himself in Andrea’s shoes, but that meant putting someone he cared about in Amy’s shoes. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. He shook the image out of his head and took two deep breaths; in, and out. “I don’t want to think.” He told T-Dog.

To the left, he noticed Morales and Daryl dragging Johnny’s corpse to the bonfire they’d left lit to get rid of the infected—the ones that had been dead for a while. That, clearly, wasn’t Johnny’s case.

“Hey, w—what are you guys doing? This is for geeks.” He pointed towards the pickup. “Our people go over there.”

“What’s the difference? They’re all infected.” Daryl muttered. Those words felt like a bucket of ice water being dumped on Glenn. He’d never felt so offended on someone else’s behalf. How could Daryl be so callous?

“Our people go in that row over there.” Glenn repeated, voice unsteady, shaking with rage. “We don’t burn them!”

Daryl gave him the trademark Dixon 'piss-off' look, but Glenn didn’t care. “We bury them. Understand?” He didn’t look away until Daryl —very reluctantly— took Johnny with the recently deceased.

Glenn tried to stow his anger away. But then, Daryl said “You reap what you sow. You all left ma brother for dead! You had this comin’!” And Glenn couldn’t take it anymore.

He took himself down to the lake, and hid behind some rocks. He cleaned his hands as much as possible from all the dirt and grime and then threw some water on his head to cool it, but it didn’t really work. As his hands dragged down his face, he let out a long, shuddering exhale.

Is that really how it is now? Once we die we’ll become a burden for others, and nothing will matter?

Behind him, he heard the pitter-patter of small steps approaching.

Polly sat on the outcrop, her legs dangling from the rock. When Glenn didn’t acknowledge her, she went even closer and copied his posture, tucking her legs to her chest and resting her head on her knees. 

“Are you sad?” She asked, because he still wouldn’t talk.

Glenn thought his current feelings were a bit more complicated than that, but he wouldn’t know how to put them into words anyway so he just nodded.

“Me too. Have you ever been to a funeral?”

He nodded again and murmured “Grandma’s”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” There was a silence as they both stared at their reflection on the water. “I’ve never been to a funeral.”

“You don’t have to. We could stay here.” Glenn offered.

Tbh, I kinda agree with the damn machine that Daryl is the best option, but I wanted to hear your opinion.

It gave up. The RV’s radiator hose, after twelve hours on the road, officially gave up. They were trying to figure out what to do when Jacqui ran out of the RV. 

“Y’all! Jim. It’s bad.”

Unfortunately, it seemed like hope was also giving up on them. They were still a few hours from the CDC, but they were out of time.

“Why are we stopping?” A high-pitched voice asked behind him, startling Glenn a little.

“Weren’t you in the pickup?”

“Yeah, but I left." Polly replied cheekily. “Did we stop because Jim is as good as dead? Daryl said that.”

“That’s mean.” Glenn replied automatically. Then, he thought of the last he’d taken a good look at the man’s face and, sadly, he did look like he already had a foot in the other world. “Jim’s not doing so good, but don’t say that.”

“Glenn!” Shane’s booming voice called out from somewhere. “Mind coming here a sec?”

*

The run to the gas station was an easy deal. They found two geeks outside, which T-Dog took care of, and Glenn inspected the place. He pocketed a pack of gum from the counter—they took long to go bad and served to mask hunger for a bit. They didn’t find a replacement hose, but they found something else.

“Hey, T-Dog. You think this will do?” The other man approached to see what Glenn was holding. It was a hot-silicon pistol.

“It could work. If only until the silicon melts, but it might get us to the CDC.”

When they made it back to the caravan, they were told that Jim had given up and wanted to be left on the side of the road.

Glenn couldn’t believe that anyone would ever want that, but the others swore up and down that, even though they didn’t like it either, that was what Jim had asked them to do. So they carried Jim outside and rested him against a tree.

Glenn was uncomfortable, if nothing else. He knew he ought to feel grieved, but aside from that, how do you act in the face of a man who’s about to die? What do you say?

In the end, he didn’t say anything. He sucked and chewed at his own lips to keep himself from crying, gave Jim the respectful nod, and went back to the RV.

The journey resumed with a significantly somber vibe, but Glenn wasn’t allowed to sit with his thoughts on the matter for long. Whenever Polly wanted to tell Glenn something, or got bored, she would use her walkie to call him.

“Glenn,” She whined. “Are we there yet?” She asked for the fourth time.

“It should be right over to the left.” He answered, checking the map, at the same time pointing the way for Dale. They soon came across the modern building that housed the Center for Disease Control. Rick told them to park and, against their better judgement, they all left the vehicles.

Glenn grabbed Polly’s hand and kept close to the others. They strode up to the front doors as the sun went down. Rick and Shane tried to get them open, but the place was shut.

“Walkers!” Daryl raised the alarm and those with guns formed a protective circle around those without.

Things got chaotic when Shane yelled for everyone to go back to the cars while Rick desperately demanded an imaginary someone to open the doors.

Glenn looked from one to the other, holding Polly close and making sure that no walker got to them. Rick started banging on the shutters like a maniac; any walker that hadn’t spotted them yet, sure knew where they were now.

He’s lost it.

The man, G, made a gesture towards Glenn. “Get this one to the roof.”

“Wait.” Glenn pleaded as the Latino goons closed in on him. “We can talk about this.”

He got immobilized, got a piece of duct tape slapped over his mouth, a bag put over his head, and was pushed about through hallways and stairs. When the bag was pulled off, Glenn found himself staring at a thirty-feet drop. Down there, he could see Daryl, crossbow at the ready, and Rick, with his shotgun trained on some boy’s back.

In the end, there was no trade made, and Rick left the factory exactly as he’d gotten there.

They took Glenn to another room where G was already waiting for them.

“Sorry about that.” The man said without losing his swagger. “Your cop, you said he was a good man. How well can you attest to that?”

“I—I dunno, I met him yesterday and—” The moment he said that, the atmosphere in the room shifted. 

G’s face fell. The others started looking at each other, anxious, and Felipe started pacing.

“Ay Dios…” He turned to G. “We should’ve taken Miguel when we had the chance!”

“Wait. What are you saying?” Glenn jumped up. “You think they’re not coming back?”

“We’ll prepare a rescue for Miguel.” G said, trying to look confident. “Take este to the back.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” G looked Glenn up and down. “He doesn’t seem like the type to stab an old man.”

That sentence only started making sense once Glenn found out what “the back” was. 

The factory had a path that somehow connected with the backyard of a nursery home, which still had residents. Glenn couldn’t believe what he was seeing, it was too surreal, with everything that was happening, so he just sat himself in a corner to wait.

Then, one of the old men started doing weird gestures. It took a moment for Glenn to realize that the man couldn’t breathe. He ran over there, but he had no idea what to do. “Nurse!”

More people started approaching, offering advice that the gasping man was in no state to understand. Finally, Doña Carmen was back with Felipe and, thank God, he had an inhaler.

“What is this?”

“An asthma attack.” It took a moment for Glenn to realize the one to ask was actually Rick. 

T-Dog looked especially offended. “We thought you were being eaten by dogs, man!”

Glenn chanced a look at the dogs. Even though it was three vs one, Glenn was fairly sure he would demolish those chihuahuas.

There was a small clear a little ways into the woods. There, a geek was feasting on deer throat. The poor thing also had three arrows sticking out of its flank. The geek realized there was a crowd forming around it, but before it could target any of them, the men at camp took turns beating it with whatever weapon they had found: bats, crowbars, the butt of a shotgun… Finally, Dale hit it in the neck with an axe, and its head came off.

“It’s the first one we’ve had up here. They never come this far up the mountain.” Dale observed the corpse.

Behind them, some rustling among the trees announced another presence. Luckily, it was just Daryl, and he wasn’t too happy that his hunt had been stolen. He then noticed the severed walker head was still gnawing on air. “Come on people, don’t y’all know nuthin’?” He shot an arrow right through the geek’s eye without flinching. “It’s gotta be the brain.”

The first time Rick saw Daryl, he made the same conflicted face he’d made when he first saw Merle, and turned to Glenn for any clues on what to expect. This time though, Glenn was more preoccupied watching Polly happily skip around the severed and speared walker head in her way to the brawny man. 

“Daryl! Daryl! How many squirrels this time?” 

“Dunno, count ‘hem.” 

Daryl dropped his string of roadkill on the girl, and Glenn watched in resignation as she dragged their would-be dinner along the ground, dutifully trailing after the hunter.

I just hope this guy doesn’t try to kill us all once he hears about Merle.

Daryl strode up to camp confidently, like he always did, already calling for his brother. But, this time, no one came to meet him.

“Daryl.” Shane called. “Slow down a bit. I need to talk to you.”

“Abou’ wha’?”

“I think it’s about Merle not coming back from Atlanta.”

The moment Polly opened her mouth, everyone froze. Then, Daryl pointed at her while staring hard at Shane, and asked before his face was flooded with anger.

“What did she say?”

Glenn watched with growing anxiety as Daryl unsheathed his knife and threw himself at Rick. There went their hopes for a non-violent discussion.

Thankfully, the police academy trained its boys well and soon Shane had Daryl in a chokehold.

Polly clung to Glenn, which meant she wasn’t running over there to kick Shane in the shins, but she still looked like she wanted to protest. “Are they hurting him!?”

“Uh…” Unlike Merle getting his shit rocked, this was honestly a bit painful to watch.

Glenn really didn’t like the subbasement—the place was poorly lit and the air felt stale—but there was actually a drainage tunnel they might be able to escape through. Although they’d have to check it first. 

All heads turned to Glenn.

“You won’t be alone.” Andrea tried to be reassuring. “We’ll be right behind you—”

“No.” Glenn cut her off, more sharply than intended, and forced himself to explain. “If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine. But only if we do it my way. If I have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed.”

The others seemed to agree that it would be very unfortunate, and nodded for him to keep explaining the plan. Plan that Glenn had to make up as he spoke, since he didn’t have any experience in sewer-exploring.

“I’ll take only one person.” His eyes met Rick’s for a fraction of a second and Glenn knew he was about to offer. But that wouldn’t do. “I’ve seen you shoot. I’d feel better if you were in the store watching those doors” Then he looked at Andrea. “You’ve got the only other gun, so you should go with him.” He decided to take Morales and have Jacqui stand watch in case something happened. Rick patted his back in approval and everyone got ready.

Come on, Glenn. This is like the levels in Portal. Next test chamber is “Gnarly Hole”. Just solve the puzzle and find the exit. You’ve done it a thousand times.

The moment he stepped away from the ladder, he heard squeaking. On top of being tight, dark, and wet, the place also had rats. This is officially the worst run ever. Flashlight in hand, Morales and Glenn advanced until they came across a barred screen.

Glenn pointed his flashlight towards where he’d heard a wet, squelching sound and promptly recoiled in disgust. There was a geek knelt down gorging on a rat. It tried to grab them. Luckily, it was on the other side of the bar screen.

That was the end of the Gnarly Hole expedition, another dead end. The walkers had managed to push their way through, and now the group was down to one set of glass doors between them and a terrible death. Fortunately, Rick was full of ideas. Unfortunately, Glenn couldn’t say he liked them.

They went out into the alley and dragged one of the dead geeks inside.

They all stood in a circle around the rotten body, dressed in plain coats and those big cleaning gloves. They could have passed for a cringeworthy cult, or a group of stupid kids about to do a lab experiment that was—very clearly—going to go wrong.

Rick, clearly feeling guilty for the atrocity he was about to commit, searched the man’s pockets and took out his wallet.

He read the man’s name aloud, where he was from, the year he was born, counted the dollars in his wallet and showed them a picture he kept of a girl, Rachel.

“One more thing.” Glenn interrupted. “He is an organ donor.” Is and not Was because the guy may not have been so before turning, but he sure was gonna be now.

Next thing they knew, they were chopping up Dead Guy. Not only was it the goriest thing Glenn had seen in his entire life, the sound the bones and tendons made when they broke was absolutely chilling, and the smell of putrid meat being torn open hit him like a truck.

He needed to lean against something. “Oh, I’m so gonna hurl.”

Glenn managed to keep his composure until the others started covering him and Rick in someone’s guts. Worst part was, Glenn couldn’t remember volunteering to any of this, or being asked even.

“This is so bad.” He cried.

“Think about something else, like puppies and kittens.” Rick attempted to console him.

T-Dog followed up with “Dead puppies and kittens.” 

Glenn hurled. He just had to. And he was wishing very bad things on T-Dog now.

There was an abandoned tank by the intersection, right next to where the geeks enjoyed what looked like a horse. Some guy stuck his head out from inside the tank and shut the hatch close when geeks started climbing the vehicle.

He just got himself stuck. Glenn recognized. His mind went back to standing on top of a dumpster surrounded by walkers or being alone on that roof as it poured. 

It’s only a matter of time. But there’s nothing I can do for him.

His attention went back to the radio, and then, without being able to stop it, back to the tank.

There’s gotta be one in that tank. He fiddled with the dial, trying to remember the frequency it was set on when he’d found it. He most likely wouldn’t be able to connect, but it could hurt nobody to try.

“Hey, you, dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cozy in there?” He got amused at his own joke, but his smile faded the longer he didn’t get an answer. “Are you alive in there?”

Glenn caught himself sighing in relief when he heard the desperate “Hello?”

“There you are. Had me wondering.”

“Where are you? Outside? Can you see me?”

“I can see you. You’re surrounded by walkers, that’s the bad news.”

“There’s good news?”

“Could be dinosaurs.” The answer came as much out of left turn for Glenn as it did for Tank Guy, who paused before sending a very confused “what?”

“If you were surrounded by dinos, you’d stand no chance. As bad as it sounds, they’re only stiff bodies without half a neuron. You’re a person in full capacity which means, if you do it right, you have a shot. Your shot is an alley up the street, I’ll meet you there.”

“That’s it? Thought I was surrounded.”

“Oh, and you are. It’s really bad on the horse’s side, but the other street’s less crowded.” Less crowded in comparison, it wasn’t clear by any means. “Got ammo?”

“In a duffel bag I dropped. And guns. Could I get to it?”

Glenn checked quickly. “Forget the bag, it’s not an option. What do you have on you?”

“Hang on.” 

The radio crackled and the voice was back. “I’ve got a Beretta with one clip. Fifteen rounds.”

“Make them count. There’s one on top of the tank. Jump to the right side and keep going that direction. The alley is only 50 yards away.”

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Have you been listening? You’re running outta time.”

Shortly after cutting the comm, Glenn saw the guy climb out of the tank’s hatch and strike a walker in the jaw with an entrenching shovel. Glenn had to get going too. He rushed to the fire escape and gulped —he didn’t remember the drop to be so far down. He steeled himself and got down as fast as humanly possible, in part because the metal was burning his hands. Once on the ground, he rushed to the alley entrance only to be met with a gun barrel on his face.

“Whoa! Not dead!” The man lowered his gun. “Come on!”

Glenn sprinted back towards the stairs. He had to make sure Tank Guy was following since he wouldn’t stop turning around to shoot. He wouldn’t stop the herd like that, and Glenn was already dizzy with adrenaline. He’d never had so many geeks after him.

“What are you doing!? Come on!” He could taste the desperation in his voice and, this time, he didn’t care for the scorching metal as he climbed up the ladder. Finally, they reached the half-way landing and stopped, panting. Out of danger for now, Glenn took a good look at Tank Guy. The first thing to get his attention was that he was dressed head to toe like a policeman.

“Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff? Come riding in to clean up the town?”

“It wasn’t my intention.”

“Whatever, yeehaw.” Maybe Glenn was being a little mean, but he had just stuck his neck out for this stranger, so he could take it. “You’re still a dumbass.”