A Painful Place (Walking Dead Fanfiction)

Chapter 13: Pow.

Night had fallen, and Rick stood in front of the church, briefing the group on his plan.
“We’ll only take a small group. I don’t think they're waiting for us outside anymore. They just wanted to scare us,” he said confidently. “So we’re going to do the opposite of what they expect. We aren’t going to hide. We’re going to find them.”
Abraham stepped up beside the leader. “Rick and I have discussed the best plan of action. Daryl, we’ll need you to help us find them. Do you think you’ll be able to track them down?”
Daryl nodded, “We know the direction the shot came from. We didn’t hear a car when they left Bob, either, so chances are they’re close, walking distance. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Good,” the sergeant continued. “Michonne, you’ll be coming as well.”
The woman nodded silently, her mouth pressed into a firm line.
Rick scanned the group for a moment, thinking. “We also need someone who is a good shot.”
“Tilly is,” Lana spoke up, pointing to her friend. “She kicked mine and my brother’s asses every time we went to the range, shot competitively for a while.”
“Why didn’t you mention that sooner?” Rick asked Tilly.
She shrugged. “Haven’t had much use for guns since we’ve been with you so far.”
“Well, we have use for them now,” he said. “You up for it?”
“Absolutely,” she nodded. “Let’s kill those bastards.”
Gabriel stood from the front pew. “Now, I’m afraid I can’t condone this type of vengeance. I think we should just leave, get far away from them.”
“They’ll follow us,” Daryl said. “They’ve been following us since we left Terminus. What makes you think they would stop?”
“He’s right, Gabriel,” Rick began, “they won’t stop. You’ll be coming with us, too. I’m still not keen on leaving you here with my children, and you’re more familiar with the area than we are. You could be of some assistance if Daryl loses the trail.”
Gabriel hung his head. “Ok, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be any help in a fight.”
“We assumed that,” Abraham replied.
Rick clapped his hands together, “Alright, I’ll speak to all of you who are coming with us in the back. The rest of you, stay quiet and stay away from the doors until we’re back. No one else leaves.”

A few minutes later, after being briefed on the plan by Rick the group set out, easily finding the hunters’ trail at the edge of the woods in front of the church.
“Dumb bastards didn’t even know enough to muck up their own trail,” Daryl scoffed as he walked through the trees, his eyes on the ground.
The forest was only lit dimly by the moon, and Tilly was impressed he was able to follow their trail in the dark.
They walked for another hour, Daryl continually reminding them all to walk more quietly.
“There’s a neighborhood just beyond those trees there,” Gabriel said, pointing ahead of them.
“Seems to be where the trail leads,” Daryl nodded. He put his finger to his lips, shushing them all once more as he crouched lower and walked toward the neighborhood.
“A group of them left the church a little while ago,” a man’s voice said from the other side of the tree line.
“But part of their group is still at the church?” they heard someone else ask.
“That’s Gareth,” Rick whispered. “You all know the plan. Get to your places and wait for my signal. Keep your eyes open.”
Everyone nodded and broke off to assume their previously decided positions.
“You think they were headed after us?” the first man questioned.
“Nah,” Gareth said, “we have them scared. Probably just went out to search for supplies. I’m surprised they risked coming out, though, after we shot their man. I want to you go back to the church, try and grab another one. Someone’s bound to get stupid and come out the use the bathroom eventually.”
Tilly watched the hunters through the trees as they spoke. Gareth sounded incredibly confident he was going to take out their entire group, and the rest of them were inspired by his swagger.
“You know what,” Gareth continued, “get more than one if you can. If we get their numbers down we’ll keep them afraid. We can probably capture them all in a few days if we’re careful.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Rick called, stepping out of the trees and into their camp.
The Termites pointed their guns toward the man, but Gareth raised a hand, signaling them to lower them as he approached Rick.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the Rick Grimes,” Gareth smiled. “You guys did a pretty good number on our base. Bet you thought you’d made a clean getaway, huh?”
“We did,” Rick nodded. “Til you showed up and tried to eat one of my people.”
“Sorry about that, Rick,” Gareth replied. “I have to feed my group somehow, and there aren’t exactly a ton of people around for us to hunt anymore.”
Rick’s hand hovered at his hip, fingers brushing the handle of his python. One of the hunters noticed and raised his gun.
“Nuh uh,” Gareth clicked his tongue and pushed the man’s gun back down. “We’re just talking. We’re not going to shoot you while we’re talking. Plus, we’re not big on guns anyway. We don’t exactly have the option of refrigeration, so we need to keep our game fresh.”
Rick struggled to keep his disgust and rage hidden as he listened to Gareth say these things, a smile still on the cannibal’s face.
“Let’s just cut to the chase,” Rick injected. “Is any amount of talking going to convince you to stop coming after our people?”
“Probably not,” Gareth shrugged. “If we don’t hunt, we starve. I’m afraid it’s us or you.”
Rick nodded. “I figured you’d say that. You mind telling me what happened to you all to make you turn to this?”
“It’s simple,” Gareth explained, “we were hungry. Animals are hard to catch, fast, cunning. We needed easier game, so we did what we had to do. You know what a bear will do if it’s starving, Rick? A bear will eat it’s own cub if there’s no other food. The logic is, that if the bear starves, the cub will die anyway. If the bear survives, it can always make another cub.”
“I fail to see your point,” Rick replied, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
“We had children with us at first,” Gareth continued, clearing his throat. “Needless to say, once we got past that eating strangers was easy.”
Rick struggled to keep from launching himself at the man. He spoke so factually about the unthinkable things they had done, showing no remorse whatsoever.
“You’re all going to pay for the things you’ve done. Tonight.”
Gareth laughed, “I’m afraid you’re not leaving, Rick. We’re all pretty hungry after our last meal fell through.”
“You didn’t think I’d come alone, did you?” Rick replied.
“He’s bluffing,” a man in a baseball cap scoffed.
“Am I?” Rick asked. “Watch this.” He held his hand in front of him, making a gun with his fingers and pointing it toward the man in the hat. “Tilly, baseball cap. Right ear. Pow.”
As soon as the last word left his mouth, a gunshot sounded and the man dropped to the ground, blood spilling between the fingers of the hand he held against his ear.
The rest of the hunters gasped, stopping to stare at their friend.
“Abraham,” Rick yelled, “come take their guns.”
“Yes, sir,” the sergeant answered, stepping out of the trees.
Another one of the Termites stepped forward, pointing his finger at Rick. “We’re not giving up our guns! You’re still outnumbered, asshole.”
Another gunshot rang out, and the man’s finger fell to the ground, blood pouring from his hand as he screamed.
“Hand them over,” Abraham ordered, beginning to snatch the guns.
The smile finally disappeared from Gareth’s face as Abraham took possession of the last of their weapons. He stepped closer to Rick, hands raised.
“Look, Rick,” he pleaded, “it doesn’t have to be like this. We’ll leave your people alone.”
Rick shook his head. “It’s a little late for that,” he replied. “It’s us or you, remember? Well, I choose us.” With that, he kicked the man in the stomach and watched as he crumbled to the ground.
Rick whistled, and Tilly, Gabriel, Michonne and Daryl revealed themselves.
“Oh, hey,” Gareth called out when he recognized Michonne, “we, uh, we have your sword. You can have it back, take whatever you want and just go. We won’t give you any trouble.”
A smile crossed Michonne’s face as she spotted her katana lying across a nearby picnic table. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I’ll definitely be taking that with me.”
Panic showed on the faces of Gareth and the rest of his group as they stood frozen.
“What are you going to do to us?” he asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” Rick replied. “Still thinking about that one, but I can tell you it won’t be good. Maybe we’ll carve off a piece and have us a taste.”
Gabriel stood at the edge of the woods, clutching a Bible against his chest. “Rick, I-“
Rick held up a hand to silence the preacher.
“Please,” Gareth begged from his knees, tears running down his face. “Just leave us here. We’ll leave your people alone.”
“That’s not what you were saying a minute ago,” Rick replied, pulling his gun from the holster. “If I recall, you just told me you planned on hunting down all of my people and eating them. Don’t worry, though,” he continued, “we’re not really going to eat you.”
Rick began walking toward the terrified hunters, and the rest of his group followed. “You may not want to watch, Gabriel,” he called, not looking at the preacher. “Guys, put him on the picnic table. Hold him down.”
The rest of the night passed in a flurry of blood, fire and painful cries as Gabriel sat weeping, his head buried in his Bible.
When the group stepped back from the massacre, the ground was littered with what was left of the hunters.
Gabriel stood, shaking his head, “I’m sorry, but this is unacceptable.” Tears ran down his face. “There’s no way to justify this… brutality.”
Tilly stepped in front of him, her face inches from his. “What the fuck is your problem?” she yelled, rage oozing from her words. “These people killed and ate their children. They wanted to do the same to us. We stopped that. I know it’s hard, but maybe if you had seen the faces of those people you abandoned getting ripped apart, instead of hiding inside like a goddamned coward, you’d be willing to do anything to keep it from happening again.”
She felt Daryl’s hand on her shoulder, guiding her away from the man as the others stood in shock, but agreement, at her outburst.
“Let’s get out of here,” Daryl said, putting his arm around her waist and turning her toward the direction of the church, the others following behind them.
The group reached the church before sunrise, and Rick volunteered to keep watch, unable to sleep after what just happened.
“Rick, we’re going to need to talk about-“ Abraham began after the rest of the group had gone inside.
“Not now, Abraham,” Rick pleaded, sitting on the steps of the church. “I just need a minute.”
Abraham nodded and went inside.
As Rick sat, staring at the horizon as the dark sky changed to shades of orange, he tried to justify to himself the barbaric things they had done that night.
He heard the door to the church open behind him, but kept his eyes forward.
“Abraham,” he began, “I’m sorry I blew you off. I know we’re running low on food, and I promise we’ll take off soon. I just can’t shake the feeling that I took it too far. I know they needed to die, for what they did to Bob, to all of those other people, but with what we’ve done to survive… sometimes I think we’re no better than them. I can see their faces when I close my eyes.” He rubbed his palms against his eyelids, trying to shake the images from his brain. “What we did to them after we took their weapons… I can see every bit of blood, every crushed skull, every severed limb. We mutilated those people while the others watched. How am I supposed to look my children in the face after what we did?”
All Rick received in response was silence. “Abraham?” he called, turning around.
It wasn’t Abraham that stood behind him, but Carl, tears streaking his cheeks.