(warnings: n/a)
[season 2, episode 4: cherokee rose]

RUSHING OUTSIDE, Marnie was reminded of the last night with loss of breath and tears streaming down her face.

She forced herself to sit down on the stairs and buried her head in her hands.

This whole thing was a mess, and it was her fault. Her fault because she was the one who snuck to the school with Shane and Otis, her fault because she had a messed up memory. Her fault because she was traumatised.

A light tap came on Marnie's shoulder. Thinking it was Beth, Marnie tried to quickly compose herself. "Hi, sorry, I-" she stopped upon looking up and seeing an old man.

Who are you? She wanted to ask, but was unable to force the words out. Instead, she burst back into tears.

"Hey, hey," the old man said, sitting down next to Marnie with a concerned look. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Marnie looked back up at him, wiping away her tears. "I think I'm going crazy?" she said, her voice cracking as she did. Even her words sounded unsure of the statement.

"Now, why would you think that?" His voice wasn't unkind, in fact, it was the opposite. It was almost like her wish for someone like her Granny to comfort her had come true.

"I-" Marnie paused, considering the fact she didn't know this man, and didn't even know where he had come from. She decided she didn't care. She just needed someone to talk to about this. "I was there." Her words came out as meek and small, but she was no longer crying. "I snuck along with Shane and Otis to the old high school to try and help. I was trying to help. But I-" She took a small breath, collecting her thoughts on the event. "I couldn't even do that. And I saw— I thought I saw Shane... do something."

"Do what?" The man's kind exterior had now shifted to a frightened concern.

"I thought he killed Otis," Marnie said, shutting her eyes as tight as they would close, but then quickly reopening them when an image of Otis's bloody body flashed behind her closed lids. "But he didn't."

"And you know he didn't?"

"I..." Marnie considered the old man's words. She supposed there was no way to tell for sure. Only Shane's word. "He couldn't have."

"And why not?"

"He said he'd seen situations like mine. He said that minds can trick-"

The man didn't allow for Marnie to continue. "I should have known. This is exactly something he would pull," the man said with a disapproving click of his tongue.

"What?" Marnie stood, facing the man, her face now confused more than anything.

"Whatever truly happened— whether you saw something that was real or not— you deserve all the support you can get. You're not crazy," he said, standing as well. "But neither claim can be proved without evidence."

"Evidence." Marnie repeated.

Evidence. That's all I need. But how?

  Nelly, one of the Greene's horses trotted along with Marnie sitting atop it.

"Don't be so nervous," Maggie advised.

Marnie glanced to the older girl, who was on her own horse. Along with them was Glenn Rhee, one of the new arrivals. "What, can it smell my fear?" Marnie said, easing her tight grip on the reins.

This run to the nearby town was supposed to relax Marnie, however, she felt the opposite of relaxed atop the horse.

Maggie laughed a bit. "Close. Horses can sense that kind of stuff. It's why I thought this trip would be good for you. Help take your mind off of everything."

"I've never ridden a horse before." Marnie admitted.

"Neither have I," Glenn said.

"It's easy. Seems like both of you've got the hang of it so far," Maggie said.

"I just hope she doesn't try to toss me off," Marnie said, glancing down at the horse. "Nervous Nelly isn't exactly a reassuring nickname for a horse."

"Just keep going like you have," Maggie smiled. "Like I said, let your mind relax and Nelly'll relax too."

The trio trotted on for a bit more before Glenn spoke up. "You know, normally, this is the kind of thing I'd do on my own. Solo. I'm a loner."

"It's always good to bring some company," Marnie said. "Could be the deciding factor between life and death."

Maybe if Shane hadn't gone with Otis, Shane would have been the one to die. Or maybe if it were just Shane and Marnie, Marnie would have been the one facing death, like Hershel had said.

Maggie didn't reply to either person's remarks.

"You alright?" Glenn questioned Maggie.

"I'm fine," Maggie replied shortly.

"I saw the look on your face back at the well," Glenn said. "Never seen one killed up close before?"

"What happened at the well?" Marnie questioned. She hadn't been there for whatever occurred, nor had she heard anything about the matter.

"Walker."

"Oh." Marnie had seen dozens of the horrid creatures die last night. She supposed it was Otis' death that instilled the most panic in her.

"Guess it's kind of a shock." Glenn continued. "You know, being out on the road, we've seen a lot. Guess we've gotten a little numb to it."

Marnie thought back to The Camping Trip and how she and her friends reacted to seeing a walker for the first time. Part of the horror in that instance was from the previous tension between the group members as well.

Maybe if Lucky hadn't brought out a gun, no one would have panicked and they wouldn't have drawn the attention of the walkers.

Maggie slowed her horse at a pharmacy and beckoned the others to follow suit. "I guess so."

As Marnie dismounted her horse, she looked around at the stores around them. She hadn't often been to this part of town.

"I'm gonna go look around at the other stores," she announced to the other two.

"What happened to 'it's safer with company'?" Glenn asked warily. It was nice to know someone cared for her safety, even if she hardly knew the older boy, and even if his response was partly sarcastic.

"She'll be safe," Maggie said decidedly. Marnie nodded. "But if you see anything dangerous, come straight back here, okay?"

"Okay."

  These seats— Marnie remembered them. Her hand ran slowly over the smooth, cracked-ice vinyl booth, soaking in the memories she almost couldn't recall experiencing.

Her family had been here exactly once, when Marnie and Willa were young. Maybe younger.

It was some kind of celebration— it had to be, because the Aaksters rarely went out to eat. But what Marnie couldn't remember was what kind of celebration it was.

It was most often that they would go out during someone's birthday, or when Marnie's father, Ben, got some kind of promotion at his job.

She decided the occasion was a promotion. It would have meant Ben was in a more joyful mood than usual. Not to say that he wasn't usually in a bad one.

Ben's constant state of happiness and general positive outlook on life could get annoying at times, but Marnie bet her life that it would be a good thing to have now.

Marnie slid into the seat and rested her hands on the metal of the table, it was a refreshing, cooling feeling compared to the hot Georgian sun outside. 

Marnie sighed as she looked around the destroyed restaurant. Chairs and tables were overturned, shattered glass scattered the ground, blood too, even.

People must have been in quite a panic when the dead suddenly rose from their graves and interrupted their lovely dinner.

She and her friends certainly were. God, who wouldn't have been? Those crazy doomsday preppers? How many of them were still alive today?

Leslie's family had been one of those types of people. It was why she was so good with a gun. The crazy Matthew family had taken their daughter to the shooting range every day until she could hit a target with her eyes closed.

Marnie remembered how much Leslie hated her parents. The girl would go on and on about the shitty things they'd do to 'prepare' her for the dangers of the real world.

She wondered how those skills were holding up for Leslie now. Part of Marnie wishes she had her own skills that she could use to help out.

Marnie's little trip down memory lane was interrupted by a shifting from behind the bar-counter near the back of the restaurant.

Please, please, please don't be one of them. Marnie thought, her hand curling into a fist by her side as she stood up.

What seemed like a worse option: it could also be an actual human.

She had no weapon to defend herself against whatever might show itself, and simply tiptoed over to where the sound had originated from.

Before the teenage girl could get closer, a walker stumbled out from behind the counter.

"Oh my god," Marnie gasped, placing a hand on her chest as she blundered backwards, only able to take a couple of steps away from the creature before she tripped over a fallen table.

With no time to push herself up, Marnie struggled backwards as the creature slowly staggered towards her.

It was truly disgusting. With the walker at the campsite, Marnie hadn't had the chance to fully look at it. But faced head on with it, she was now able to take in one of the monsters' features.

It's eyes were falling out of its sockets, balancing precariously as if they could drop to the floor at any moment, and jiggling around with every step it took. As for the rest of its face, multiple cuts covered its pale, sunken, gaunt face, but there was no more blood for it to bleed.

Marnie could have felt bad for the creature if not for her immense fear.

The walker took a couple more steps before tripping on the same table Marnie had, and fell onto the girl failing to escape.

As it grasped at her skin, Marnie's hands desperately searched the floor for something to defend herself with, violently kicking her feet back and forth, trying to get it off.

Finally, she grabbed a shard of glass, barely noting the blood that seeped from her palm as she stabbed the glass into the walker's head, ensuring it was dead.

When it slumped to the ground, Marnie pushed it's body from hers and collapsed to the ground, dropping the now crimson shard to the side and closing her eyes— exhausted from the fight for her life.

She had come a long way from celebration dinners with her family.

  Holding her wounded hand to her chest to hopefully subside the bleeding, Marnie shuffled around the convince store in hopes of finding a bandage of some kind.

She knew the best place to find something like that would be the pharmacy, where Glenn and Maggie were, but she felt almost embarrassed that she had cut her hand defending herself against the very thing she had promised to run away from if she saw. Part of her wanted to prove she was self sufficient, and could be trusted on her own.

Her shirt was already soaked through with her blood, and she was feeling fairly wobbly from the loss of blood, so she knew she needed to find something quickly.

Maybe she would have to go back to the pharmacy and tell Maggie what had happened. She just hoped that the older girl wouldn't be mad.

Marnie made her way over to a rack of sunglasses  and put a pair on.

When she looked in the mirror, she noted that even the sunglasses weren't able to hide her eye bags. There was a weariness that her face carried that she hadn't had before.

Putting the glasses back, Marnie remembered her mission to not bleed to death and grabbed a bandana from the rack next to the sunglasses one.

Wrapping her hand tightly with the paisley covered cloth, she glanced around at the other bandanas.

In particular, a cloth decorated with a rosey pink flower design caught her attention. It reminded her of something she might wear back when she had access to whatever clothes she wanted to wear. It reminded her of home.

Once her wound was successfully bandaged, she snatched the bandana and tied it around her head so that part of it covered her hair.

Once again, she looked in the mirror, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, she smiled.

SYDNEY SPEAKS!
glenn and maggie getting freaky in the pharmacy while marnie fights for her life and finds what will be her fav bandana 😃

this is kinda how i imagine marnie would wear the bandana, but feel free to imagine whatever you want!!

btw i fear i didn't explain it all too well but at the moment, marnie's hair is still in braids that she had done before the apocalypse happened, and sadly my girl doesn't know how to do her own hair so the braids are js kinda messed up and not as neat as they were pre-apocalypse 😕
but when it gets to prison era michonne is gonna undo her braids and help her get locs!! yay 🎉

OKAYYYY BYE YALL!!! i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and i hope to see some comments n whatnot :3