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CHAPTER THREE;
[ ATMOSPHERE ]
[CONSTELLAION || GLENN RHEE]
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Athena had been awake for at least ten minutes now, not really wanting to get up and deal with all her problems at the moment. But she knew she had to, so she slowly opened her eyes and yawned, leaving the comfort of the bed she was given last night. Yes, she remembered everything that had happened the day before yesterday and yesterday itself, and as she thought about it, leaving seemed like a pretty stupid idea now. She licked her lips before rubbing her eyes and slowly rising up into a sitting position. She swiped her black hair out of her face and yawned again, she was still quite exhausted, but she had much to think about and do, so sleeping was no option. The girl was about to get out of bed when the clank of boots against tiled floor sounded.
Athena jerked her head up as Beth walked into the room wielding a plate of fresh pancakes, eggs, and apple juice. The blonde smiled at her as she set down the tray on the nightstand by the bed she currently laid in.
"You know," she started off, "you gave us quite a scare when Daryl found you by the fence." she chuckled before sitting down at the edge of the bed, crossing her legs as she spoke, "He thought you were, one of those, at first, but then he saw you breathing and brought you in. Papa gave you water, I don't think you remember, and some medicine while you were asleep, said you were on the verge of dying from dehydration and starvation. I cleaned you up by the way, washed the blood off of you. With your clothes on of course." she rushed. "Funny how you came in though, the little boy with the sheriffs hat, Carl, he just got out of that bed an hour before you arrived. He was shot in the stomach by one of our farmers on accident. Out with the old and in with the new I guess." she laughed, pushing her blonde hair out of her face as she spoke.
Athena quirked a brow at her when she finished, realizing that this farm girl with a cute accent was a rambler and a hand talker. She liked her, reminded her of her younger sister, Adeline. The crystal blue eyes and blonde hair that Adeline had taken from their mother while Atlas and Athena took on the brown hair tradition. Really, Beth reminded her of Atlas and Adeline, it explained why she had grown to like her overnight.
Athena grabbed the tray and placed it on her lap, listening to Beth talk with a very small smile on her face as she shoved the food in her mouth quickly. She was still hungry, even though she had eaten a lot last night. Going weeks without eating took a great toll on a person, especially if you're the provider for not only yourself but someone else too. She was still hungry, and she was sure that she would always be, but she couldn't keep eating these people's food, if she wanted to stay. Yes, Athena was thinking about it. If she wanted to stay, she would make her own share. She would hunt and gather for herself so she wouldn't put the burden on everyone else. That's the only way she could really stay even though she felt like she wasn't fitting in at all.
After she ate her food, Beth had excused herself to go and do something else, leaving Athena alone to get dressed. They had provided her with clothes, some new ones may she say. She slowly pulled herself out of bed and to the leather chair were the clothes were laid out. A red flannel, a grey shirt, jeans, socks, and a pair of black undergarments privately given by Maggie herself. She slowly stripped off her clothes, removing her red coat, white shirt, and jeans before throwing on the clothes provided. Surprisingly, they fit her like they were from her own closet. She fixed the flannel so that it was rolled up to her sleeves before undoing her braids so that her black hair laid in curls down her body. She ran her fingers through him quickly before walking out the door and into the living room.
She expected everyone to be eating dinner, but no one was in the house as her eyes scanned around the premises. She frowned and bit her lip, where could they be?
She walked around until her eyes landed upon a window, and she gazed out only to see everyone eating breakfast outside.
Athena walked out the front door, a door that took her minutes to find, and practically moaned as she smelt fresh air and was hit with a breeze. It felt good to be outside, an atmosphere Athena liked, it reminded her of Atlas to say the least.
She walked down the porch steps and across the lawn, seeing the entire group eyeing her as she sauntered over, her hands tucked in her pockets as she did. When she arrived, most smiled at her, but two men seemed to be looking at her with doubt.
"Hey, Athena." Andrea greeted, patting a spot next to her for the girl to sit down, "Join us, seems like you finally woke up. It's already one in the afternoon."
Athens eyes widened, she had thought it was breakfast time, maybe she was incredibly tired after all to sleep in that late.
She bit her lip as Andrea beaconed to the food, "You can have some if you like."
Athena shook her head no and pointed to the house instead and made an eating gesture, showing the group that she had already eaten.
"Curtesy of Beth Greene." she seemed to guess before she clapped her hands and looked around. "Well, Athena, seeing as you just got here, I'm sure you don't know everyone's names. That's Carl, Lori, Rick, Shane, T-Dog, Dale, Glenn, Carol, and Daryl. Don't mind that one, he's always angry." she whispered to her, pointing at the redneck who was chewing obnoxiously, and Athena cracked a smile.
The group continued to eat, no one really eyeing her down besides Rick and Shane, the same two men who were staring at her yesterday with doubt. They didn't scare her, no, Athena was far from being scared by two grown men, instead she was more annoyed by them.
She shifted as Andrea started talking to her about how she missed the Internet, but Athena really wasn't paying attention because the Korean boy, Glenn, had stood up and was rubbing his face anxiously, making Athena squint her eyes at him suspiciously.
"Um, guys." he started off, and Athena straightened up, knowing that he was about to announce a secret he had been keeping since Atlas acted the same way Glenn was whenever he was going to confess something. We all stared at him, everyone stopping what they were doing, except Lori, who continued eating, to watch him as he rocked back and forth on his heels, "So," he hesitated, but then paused, "the barn's full of walkers."
Athena's eyes averted to the barn behind him and she looked to see it boarded up, chains blocking the door with hay bails placed around it. She looked back at Glenn to see him bite his lip anxiously as the group reacted in several ways.
They were all surprised, but Shane and Rick looked angry, almost as if they knew something like this was going to happen. But instead of being shocked like the rest of them, Athena was amused.
Athena wanted to crack a smile as the group all stood up at once and raced to the barn, Glenn staying back and looking at the farm house. Athena took a peak too just to see Maggie shaking her head at the boy. Athena was assuming that Maggie had maybe told Glenn, and with Athena's observations, Glenn was a bad liar and had told her he was going to tell the group.
Athena stood up and patted his shoulder lightly before walking over to the barn with the rest of the group, folding her arms across her chest as she watched a massive scene unload.
Shane walked over and peaked in through the cracks of the wood. His expression was all over the place when he pulled back and stomped over to Rick. "You can't tell me you're alright with this." Shane seethed to him.
"I'm not," Rick grumbled back as a reply, "but we're guests here and this ain't our land."
"This is our lives, man!" Shane protested as he pushed past him and rubbed his head. Soon enough, Andrea butted in and turned to Rick. "We can't just sweep this under the rug." she said to him as Lori hushed her and said to lower her voice.
"It ain't right, not remote." Shane said, agreeing with Andrea as he stood beside her, "We either gotta go in there, make things right, or we just gotta go. We've been talking about Fort Bennet for a long time—"
"We can't go!" Rick yelled at him, reaching out his arm to shut him up.
Shane put his cap back on and Athena wanted to laugh at the guy; he looked like an idiot.
"Why, Rick, why?" he asked him gruffly, and Carol, who seemed very petite and quiet, spoke up, "Because my daughters still out there."
Now Athena was confused. Carol had a daughter?
Shane laughed at this and wiped his mouth, making Athena cross her arms and clench onto her shirt so she wouldn't lash out at him. Athena hated guys like Shane, and she could already tell that she was not going to get along with him at all. "Okay, I think it's about time we all start thinking, just consider, the other possibilities—"
"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind!" Rick disagreed and Athena smirked, yeah, she liked Rick, he seemed decent. She was guessing that Carols daughter, Sophia, was missing, or had been missing for awhile. Honestly, she wanted to have hope for Carol and her situation, but in the world they lived in now, Athena herself knew that if she had been missing for days already, there was no way that girl was still alive.
Daryl seemed to snap and he scoffed at Shane, "We're close to finding this girl, I just found her damn doll days ago!" he protested. Okay, no, Athena was wrong, she liked Daryl more.
"That's what you did, Daryl, you found a doll!" Shane laughed.
Yeah, Athena hated Shane.
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Daryl said angrily and swung his arm out at Shane.
Shane moved forward towards him and raised his hands too, "I'm saying what needs to be said, the first forty eight hours—"
"Shane stop!" Rick yelled, but he kept going.
"No, no," Shane said back, addressing his words to Daryl now, "let me tell you something else man, if she was alive out there and saw you coming, all bucked out with your knife and ears around your neck, she would run in the the direction, man!"
Athena crossed her arms and watched as Daryl jumped forward, her getting the feeling that no everyone liked Shane that much, including her.
"Hey, hey!" Daryl called and started swinging, but Rick pushed the two back away from each other as Shane cursed.
"I'll kick your ass, let me at him—"
"C'mon!" Daryl said, but seemed to calm down when Carol threw him a look and rested a hand on his arm.
Soon enough, Shane was staring at everyone like he wasn't the crazy one. Lori rested a hand on his shoulder to settle him down, but he flinched and pointed a finger at her.
"Don't touch me." he seethed to her, and now, Athena wanted to butt in.
"Just let me talk to Hershel, let me figure this out—"
"What're you gonna figure out, Rick!" he bursted out once again, and Lori put a hand to his chest and he smacked it out of his way.
"Just let me figure it out, Shane, this is his land!"
"Hershel sees those things in there as people, sick people." Dale butted in, and Athena eased back, not wanting to get involved a fight that wasn't hers to finish. "His wife, his step son."
"You knew?" Rick asked him and Dale nodded.
"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel." he confessed and Shane groaned.
"You waited the night?"
Dale looked at him skeptically before turning back to Rick, "We could survive one night. And we did. I was waiting till this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one."
Shane turned around and spoke again, "The man is crazy, if Hershel thinks those things are alive—"
Their mass fighting, one that Athena was enjoying rather much, was interrupted as the barn doors started rocking back and forth, walkers groaning through the wood. Everyone stepped back and Athena reached for her weapons but found none. That's what she needed to get, her weapons.
"Definitely more important than a pity fight." she thought to herself before she turned around and jogged back to the house without anyone else noticing, walking through the front doors and seeing Hershel talking to Maggie. They both looked at her at the same time and Hershel spoke first.
"Is there something you need?" he asked her and Athena nodded before she pointed at one of the rifles sitting by the kitchen table.
Hershel looked over and his eyes widened, "You want your weapons? What for?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing her as she shrugged.
"Well, I don't allow weapons around my perimeters—"
Athena held out a hand to stop him before licking her lips and running over to the counter where she saw a pen and a piece of paper. She quickly wrote down the reasons why before passing it over to the pair.
"I feel naked without them, I won't be using the weapons at all since I don't have a reason to, especially the gun since I ran out of bullets. Just need my throwing knives and axe, please, and my pocket knife."
After Hershel read the note and passed it over to Maggie, she looked over at me before nodding at dad. He sighed and pointed to the cabinet by the fireplace.
"Left drawer, it should be there." he told her, and Athena rushed forward, opening the drawer quickly and smiling widely when she saw her weapons. She pulled out the axe and strapped it in the belt she had found at a store a few weeks back. She quickly wrapped that around her waist with the sharp end looking upwards and the long handle hanging down. She pulled out her throwing knives next and tucked them into her right boot, positioning them so they could be ready to grab and throw, and finally, her gun. Her fingers ran over the metal before stuffing it in her back pocket, and lastly, she gleamed at the small pocket knife and placed it in her right pocket as well, leaving it there for emergencies.
She nods at Hershel and Maggie before jogging outside again to see the group had separated. Shane was still at the barn, waking around it, checking every opening, eyeing it like it was going to combust and all the walkers would storm out. She rolled her eyes at him before walking down the hill to a tall figure sitting down on a bench. When she got closer, she noticed it was Glenn. She frowned when she saw yoke pouring down from his hair, making the black locks stick together with a strong odor.
When she reached him, he looked up and sent a forced grin to her and Athena rolled her eyes before looking down at the hat and seeing the broken egg shell.
Before she could stop herself, the words slipped out of her mouth like it was Atlas talking instead of her.
"I guess you're in a pretty sticky situation, Korean boy."
Glenn looked up at her in surprise, as did Daryl, who was siting a few chairs away picking at an arrow of his. Both of their jaws drop as Athena grins, feeling a sort of relief by speaking. Maybe she wasn't dishonoring Atlas, and if she was, he could get over it.
Glenn laughed at her before wiping his hair again, "You speak for the first time since you got here, and it has to be a pun, really Athena?"
She rolled her eyes again and folded her arms across her chest, "What? I had to. The chance was there and I was definitely not going miss out on cracking the joke." she said to him, slipping in another pun that only Daryl seemed to catch.
"Nice one." he grumbled before picking his teeth, "Real classic."
Glenn hadn't noticed it because he was too busy amused by her voice. "You're British?"
Athena pushed hair out of her face before nodding and taking a seat by Glenn, moving his hat to his lap. Athena wanted to hold back, to keep her talking to a minimum, but it was useless, she was already in too deep.
"My family moved from Europe a year ago, the accent doesn't go away." she explained before biting into a spare peach that was laid out in a mass basket of fruit and jerky.
Glenn nodded his head at her as she fiddled with the fruit, "I'm still surprised you talked." Athena chuckled at him as he stood up after, "I gotta take watch." he sighed, seeming almost not excited that he had to leave her.
She looked over at the parked RV and saw Lori climbing off the top, signaling Glenn to take over.
She suddenly came up with an idea, liking his presence and deciding to stay a little longer. "I'll join you, got nothing better to do." she mumbled before following him up the latter. When they reached the top, Glenn extended out a chair and offered it to her.
"Thanks, but I'll stand. Spent too much time in bed." she said to him, looking around the top of the RV to see many tools, some guns, bullets, binoculars, and an umbrella. Her eyes spotted an odd hat on top of the umbrella when her eyes gazed at all the items. She smirked before shuffling over and grabbing the new hat, knowing that Glenn's cap was currently egged.
She grabbed the sides of the fabric before walking over back to him.
"What are you doing—"
"Just shut up and let me help." she murmured as she ruffled his sticky hair and then placed the hat on top. "There," she said, admiring the new hat on him, "that's way better than your clumped black hair."
Glenn pushed the hat further down on his head and smiled at her decision, "Good thinking, Athena." he laughed before taking a seat on the chair himself.
The girl shifted and crossed her arms across her chest, inhaling the forest air as she gazed over the scenery.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she started, staring off at the mass of trees, "We didn't have this before the world hit rock bottom. We were stuck in cities full of lights, debris, and people, trapped in a sort of time that didn't belong in this world. We never had the chance to stop and admire what Mother Nature truly wanted us to see. And I guess it got to the point where she decided to switch things around to make us realize what's going on while we were stuck on technology. And I think she's right, I see it now, and if the world hadn't gone to shit, I never would have seen the beauty in things. Atlas would laugh at me whenever it rained, said it was just water. But I look at things closer now: the way it catches on leaves and slowly forms puddles over time, how it gets trapped in our hair and stuck in our eyelashes. I see the beauty in things now, and that's a wondrous thing."
Glenn stared up at her as she spoke, capturing every word she said as the wind flew through her hair. Not once had he ever met someone who was so mature with words. She seemed to create images with letters, which Glenn found oddly fascinating. He leaned his head into his hand and watched her.
"At least now we value chocolate more, you should've seen me before all of this. All I did was stuff candy into my mouth." she chuckled before turning over to Glenn. She was about to speak again when she heard clanking down in the RV.
"You okay, Dale?" Glenn asked, crouching forward to try and peak over the edge.
"You mind running and getting me some water?" he called back, his voice raspy as he spoke, "I need a second."
Athena stopped the boy from standing up and waved him off, "I'll get it, be right back."
She sent him a smile before jumping off the top and landing on her toes, a technique she learnt from her dad when he was still alive. It allowed her to not break her ankles, something she was very thankful for knowing.
She jogged over to the camp to get a water and waved at Lori and Carl who were both picking at a grapefruit. They smiled at her as she picked out a water bottle from an ice chest and closed the lid.
She was about to walk back to the RV, but saw Rick walking over to Shane after coming out of the farm house.
Athena, not wanting to cross paths with them, hid behind the closest tree and listened in. She didn't count it as eavesdropping, more like retrieving information secretly.
"...I don't trust her." Shane's low voice said to Rick, "She just came in yesterday with blood all over her, she had an axe, throwing knives, guns, a rifle. Her backpack was filled with torn up photos and she doesn't even speak, Rick." Shane said roughly, "We can't trust her."
Rick wiped his face and shook his head, "When she does–when she does start talking, we'll ask her questions. Get to know her better, give her a chance. We've got other problem on our hands right now, like the barn and Hershel. I talked to him, he wants us gone by the end of the week."
Athena gasped at the news. She thought that they all lived here together, but seeing Rick obey Hershel made her know that this was Hershel's, Beth's, Maggie's, Patricia, and that other guys farm. Ricks people, whom she could easily sort out due to the rough habits and survival instincts, were all guests, including her.
She decided she had heard enough and took in a deep breath before coming out from behind the tree and acting as if she was just walking back. She nodded at Rick and glared at Shane before walking inside the RV and looking for Dale to give the water bottle to, but saw no one.
She shrugged and left it on the table for him whenever he would come back and went back outside to climb up the latter. She hosted herself up easily and dusted off her knees before standing up. Glenn was still sitting on the chair with binoculars, his leg jittering up and down with anxiety until he looked up at her his leg stopped bouncing.
"What took you long?" he asked, biting his lip and looking up at her blue eyes through the sun rays.
Athena looked to the side and lied through her teeth, "I was helping Beth cut up some greens really quickly."
Glenn nodded at her, but his eyes quickly averted to the ground as Shane stomped into the RV.
"Sup."
Shane blew him off and Athena and Glenn met each other's gaze for a second when they started hearing him trash the RV inside.
"You know, Glenn, I hate that guy."
The Korean boy looked over at her with surprise, "You don't even know him that well?"
She shrugged her shoulders and sat on the RV roof. "I've seen enough to know he's a sucky person and someone full of rage that could explode anytime soon. Whether he takes it out on Rick, Carl, Lori, Andrea, you, I just know he's like a ticking bomb. I've seen how he is with Lori and with Rick, and I know his intentions are bad."
Glenn looked at her in awe as she played with her shirt, and that's when he noticed the axe hanging down from her belt. "How'd you get your weapons back?" he asked her with shock, looking at her with even more shock when she pulled out throwing knives from her boot.
"I asked Hershel for them, said I was so used to using them that I just needed them with me. He said no at first, but then Maggie said for him just to give 'em to me. I like that girl." she chuckled and Glenn let a smile spread on his face.
"Me too."
Their conversation was interrupted as Shane stormed out and looked up at the two of them. "Did you see where he went?"
"Up my ass." Athena mumbled under her breath as Glenn frowned. "Who?" he asked politely, but Shane shook his head. "Don't try to shit me, okay?"
"What?" Glenn asked in confusion, but Shane pressured on.
"Dale!" he shouted, "Glenn, did you see where Dale went?"
"Yeah, he asked me to get him water, but Athena went instead and I got off to talk to Lori. Asked him to cover for me."
"Let me guess, he was gone when you came back?" Shane guessed.
Glenn suddenly grew worried and fiddled with the rifle in his hand, "You think he's okay?"
"Yeah," Shane said, "He's fine."
"Why'd he bail then?
"Well you didn't tell me which way he went." Shane retorted back and Athena grew annoyed.
"I don't get it." Glenn said and Athena had to hold back a laugh. He looked down at her and rolled his eyes when she started laughing before turning back to Shane.
"Nah, man, you don't." he said before walking off.
"Dumbass." Athena said before laughing out loud. "Oh god that guy is a load of bullshit."
Glenn laughed with her and sat back down before staring at her, "I was expecting you to say something, you know, now that you're talking."
Athena shook her head before meeting his gaze, "I've only talked to you so far, didn't you notice that? I'm not ready to talk to everyone just yet." she confessed and she watched carefully as he grew confused.
"Why me?"
"It was kind of an accident. That whole egg situation was hilarious and I couldn't hold back from making a joke. Guess I just got used to talking to you." she said, taking a bite into an apple now.
Glenn nodded, okay with that answer for now before responding, "Yeah, guess you just did."
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okay there is chapter three I believe! yes, a very long one may I say so myself, this took two days to fully write
make sure to vote and comment, means a lot to me :)
well, Athena's first words to Glenn were a pun, of course, literally would've been me in that situation too
well, that's it, until chapter four, thank you all for reading and goodbye!
~ Celeste xx