Destination Life or Death

13.

The next day was rough, everyone was a bit off about Glenn and Maggie leaving and Gabriel's break down. We started tearing apart the pews and some other stuff to make sure it was all safe as an extra safety measure. Rick, Michonne, Carl and I all ended up talking outside. "He wants to go to Atlanta. But I can't have that." Rick spoke to us, talking about Daryl. "Then you stay. I'll go." Michonne said, looking at me, hinting for me to volunteer. "Oh, yeah. I'll go too." I said quickly before smiling at Rick who had rolled his eyes at me. "I owe it to Carol," Rick said looking at me and then at Michonne. "We all owe it to Carol," Michonne said seriously. Rick nodded and looked at all of us "I owe her more." He said losing focus on any of us and looking into the treeline. As we all went back inside Rick hugged Carl and Michonne and rubbed the top of my head, loosening the bun I had it tied up into. I pulled it down and hugged him "Be careful Rick" I said nodding and then looking at Carl who had smiled at me and looked back at his dad "Be careful" he said as Rick left. It was just me, Carl, Michonne, Judith, and Gabriel now at the church. As Michonne, Carl and I all boarded up the windows, we all stayed quiet. It was quiet except for Judith's cries.

As the day went on and we finished with the boards, we noticed Gabriel scrubbing at the floor with a wash rag and a bowl of water. Carl had laid down all the weapons we had before him and then stood up "Pick one," he said looking down at the priest, who then stopped scrubbing and just shook his head. "You need to learn how to defend yourself," the boy paused, "We can teach you," he said. Gabriel looked up at him and shook his head "Defend myself?" he said almost hysterically. "They said they'd go." he said, still shaking his head. "They were liars and murderers" Carl spoke quickly. "Just like us," the priest spoke. "We protect ourselves.They wanted us dead," Carl said quickly in response. "Your lucky your church has lasted this long." he paused while looking around and shaking his head "You can't stay in one place anymore. Not for too long. And once you're out there, you're gonna find trouble you can't hide from. You need to know how to fight." the boy said all while keeping his eyes on Gabriel. The man grabbed a large machete with a black handle all while staying seated on the floor. "Good choice" Carl said, "But you're holding it wrong. You've got to be able to drive it down, 'cause sometimes the skulls aren't as soft and you need to be able to--" the priest cut off the boys awkward talking, "I'm sorry." he said standing up and looking at the boy "I need to lay down" he said before walking away. Carl came and sat down with me. "Well that went well" I said, shaking my head and going back to the small knife I had been sharpening with a rock I had between my knees. He grabbed the knife and the rock and started sharpening it for me. "Hey I had that!" I said, looking over at him and then sitting back again looking at my hand. "He's gonna die if he doesn't learn" the boy spoke before setting the knife he had down "I don't know why he's acting like hiding away is going to save him from anything" he said shaking his head and then looking at me. "Maybe you should talk to him" he paused "you have a way of making people warm up to you" he said nodding with a smile. I stared at him for a good 30 seconds before laughing and clearing my throat when I realized he was serious. "Wait you're serious?" I asked with an eyebrow raised. "Yes Dezzy, I'm serious. Maybe he will want to learn the Katana like you." he said, not moving his gaze from mine and keeping the same bashful smile he had before. I rolled my eyes and sighed "He's not gonna listen Carl" I said shaking my head "Ask Michonne to do it, she at least has both arms to teach him, he would learn how to use it one handed if I taught him." I said looking down at the short nub I had left of my left arm. Carl chuckled a little "Fine, I'll ask Michonne." 

"I'm only doing this because my best friend asked me to and I felt bad for saying no'" I said, throwing my katana down at the priest who was sitting on the floor. "Let's go," I said , staring at him for a second before walking out the door. Carl stared at me with a smile as I walked, the kind of smile that told me that he knew I would do it. After Gabriel was outside, I rolled my shoulders before twisting my sword in my one hand and looking at him "So first, stand like this" I said, making my feet line up with my shoulders. And holding my sword to my side facing down. "Don't hold the blade up unless you're ready to hit someone" I said looking at his blade and then holding mine up. "It all depends on the angle" I said before turning around and peeking my head through the door. Carl came out with an extra Katana we had kept. "Stand there," I said, pointing to a spot that was now in front of me on the pine covered ground. I held my sword up and went to hit Carl's side but stopped before it touched him. "Don't strike like this," I said , smiling at Carl and then looking at Gabriel. "It won't kill them and will only possibly knock them down." I pulled my sword away and then went over Carl's head fast with the blade. "Hit their head" I paused before holding my blade to my side. "Now you try. Go above my head," I said, nodding to Gabriel. Before he could do anything Carl stepped in "Maybe we should get him walkers to practice on Dezzy." Carl said nodding and then looking over to Gabriel. "Come on," he said, leading both me and the priest into the trees. We found a group of three walkers and before we got close to them, we stopped. "Remember. Only go for the head." I said handing Gabriel my katana and nodding to him to go kill them. The man just looked at me and then to the walkers. "Well?" I paused before looking over to Carl and then back at the walkers. "Are you gonna go?" I asked, not moving my eyes from Gabriel. I looked around us and saw small groups of walkers coming from every angle around us. "Carl" I whispered, while pulling on the sleeve of his shirt. He looked at me and then quickly looked around. "You're gonna need to use those skills Gabe," I said , pulling out a small knife from my pocket. I looked at Gabriel who looked almost frozen in fear. "Come on" I said loudly before Carl and I split up and started clearing a path to run back to the church. "They just keep coming" I said after killing a walker before another one came up behind me. I went to stab it through the eye but was surprised to see it fall to the ground because Gabriel sliced its head clean in half. I looked at him surprised and then nodded thankfully. We ran back to the church, the small herd that had been with us, now followed us. We got inside and started nailing boards to the door again. "There's a herd" I said loudly trying to get the attention of Michonne who had been sitting with Judith on one of the pews that was left. She stood up quickly and started helping "Where did they come from?" she asked frantically looking around at us. "We only saw three at first" I paused "And then they started surrounding us. They probably heard us talking." I said, shrugging before walking to a window that I could peek through. I turned and looked around quickly "Where's Gabriel?"