Because of You | Maggie Greene ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐢.

Greyson soon glanced over to see Maggie Greene standing only a few feet away from him, leaning up against the farmhouse wall behind them both. She had a faint smile on her lips, her green eyes watching Greyson's own so intently.

"No," Greyson deadpanned.

"Are you religious?" She prodded.

Greyson scoffed at the pathetic question and shook his head firmly. "No," He repeated.

"How come?"

Greyson's gaze narrowed uncomfortably.  The blonde was not exactly sure why, but Maggie's invasion of his own beliefs was making him irritable and annoyed. He knew it was not an intentional reaction, but with tensions so high right now, the drop of a fork could probably make Greyson lose his head. He had always had problems with his temper, even from a young age. Growing up, he had ended up in principal offices more times than he could count. Half of the time in found himself in that damned room, he was just trying to defend someone else. But that was only half the time.  Greyson, unfortunately, could not exactly justify the other times he had found himself suspended from school.

Realizing Maggie was still awaiting an answer, Greyson's eyes quickly snapped in her direction. "Because last time I asked God for help my little sister died," He said coldly. "I figure if he wasn't listening then, I'm sure as hell he isn't listening now."

Maggie's small face fell slightly at his blunt response and her hands immediately went down to her sides in embarrassment. Clearly, she had not expected such a thing to come out of a stranger's mouth so quickly upon meeting him, and Greyson found himself recoiling, too.  All that he could see in her light green eyes was a deepening weight of sadness.  "I'm sorry," The eldest Greene daughter whispered.

Greyson rolled his eyes and quickly swung his legs back over the railing as he stood upright on the porch. "Sorry doesn't mean shit these days," He grumbled tiredly, all the while moving past Glenn and the brunette as he hurriedly made his way into the house and away from furhter invasive stares and intruding questions.

Greyson could hear Glenn calling his name but the former refused to acknowledge his friend. As Greyson let the screen door close with loud finality, Greyson lingered long enough beyond the doorway to hear Glenn abruptly turn his attention to Maggie. He could not tell what they were saying to one another, but he was not sticking around to find out.

Greyson immediately knew that it had been wrong to take his anger out on Maggie but he could not keep it bottled up inside anymore. He could not control it.  He could barely think straight with all that was happening around him, all of the people hurt and dying around him, and whenever Lucy was brought up, it just made everything a hundred times worse. Greyson supposed that it was simply easier to take your own pain out on a stranger than it was to take it out on family.

Making his way slowly into the kitchen, Greyson's attention went towards T-Dog who now sat alone at the dining room table, his eyes half-closed as the drugs took over. His arm was stitched up, thankfully, but he would be gone for the rest of the night given how many painkillers Patricia put him on.

"Bring the table in here! Hurry!"

Greyson abruptly whipped his blonde head up at the sound of Hershel's booming voice coming from the back bedroom and he automatically moved towards it. Stopping in the doorway, Greyson's gaze widened on the sight of Hershel, Rick, and Lori all moving tiny Carl onto a small, metal operating table of sorts.

"What the hell are you doing?" Greyson demanded loudly, his blazing eyes darting to Rick's. "Shane and Otis aren't back yet!"

"There's no more time, son," Hershel informed grimly. "We had to make a choice."