Destination Life or Death

14.

We had set up metal spikes outside to keep them from the door but they pushed past them quickly and wound up hitting the door one by one. Before we got the doors boarded I heard Gabriel on the other side pounding at the door crying for us to help. "What do we do?" I asked, looking at Michonne who was now walking away. She came back with an Axe and was hitting away the wood keeping the door shut. "We either fight, or get stuck" she said looking over at me. "Let's fight," she said, hitting away the last of the wood before the door swung open from the pressure that the walkers were putting onto it. I stood next to Michonne while Carl stood back with a gun. I was slicing through their heads, but we were being pushed back quickly, it was 4 against a lot of walkers. We quickly knew that it was far too much for us to handle, so we ran back into a small office that sat at the back of the church and the room Judith was in. Gabriel was holding the door shut while Michonne grabbed a chair and perched it under the doorknob. "That's how I got out when you guys didn't notice. Crawl under to the back" he said pointing at a small square on the ground. "Just go. Take the little one and go" he said shooing us with his hands. Michonne handed Carl the baby and nodded, "Hey" she paused still looking at Carl, "you wait for me" she said quickly before turning to me. "Can you stay?" she asked quickly. "I need help and if something happens, we know Carl has Judith" she said, not moving her eyes off mine. I nodded, I knew Carl would know what to do if something happened to us, I trusted him and Michonne. "It's not worth it," Gabriel said, looking at us and gesturing to us to leave. "I'm not going anywhere until you two are gone" he looked at me before Michonne gestured to me to go through the whole in the ground. Michonne and I crawled out. Before we reached Carl, I could see Gabriel's legs coming down through the hole. I turned around and stuck my hand through the hole. "Come on" I yelled loudly before he grabbed my hand and came through. "We gotta go" I said loudly to everyone before crawling out and standing up straight. "We're not  running," Michonne said before walking to the front of the building. We all followed, a bit confused but ultimately understanding what we were doing. Carl and I killed off the ones who got stuck on the metal spikes or the loose ones that had been trailing in. Michonne and Carl went and closed the doors, trapping all the walkers to the inside. Gabriel started nailing boards to the front door while the fingers of the dead poked through the holes of the semi-broken door. I walked up to Gabriel "Where did you go?" I questioned, looking at him, "You just disappeared." I said, looking around at the trees and then focusing on him again. "The school, I thought I'd be safer there." he said. I rolled my eyes, "So you left us out there because you knew of a safer place?" I questioned still looking at him. "I had to see. I had to know." he said looking at me and then at the door that was now breaking from the pressure. We all backed away from the building slowly. "Where do we go?" Carl asked from behind me. We looked around and then heard the humming of a vehicle approaching. I looked over to see Abraham, driving a firetruck. He pulled up right  in front of the door. Maggie and Glenn got out after Abraham. "Glenn?" I asked looking around Michonne, who had been hugging Maggie. He smiled and then hugged me "Hey kiddo" he said smiling and rubbing the top of my head. "You okay?" Maggie asked, getting a quick nod from michonne. After a few seconds we all looked at eachother. "You're back," Michonne said, now talking to Glenn. "Eugene lied" he paused before looking at all of us "He can't stop it. Washington isn't the end." Glenn said before looking around at the small group. "Where is everybody?" His focus landed onto Michonne as he waited for a response. Michonne walked to face Maggie, not answering Glenns question. "Beths alive. She's in  a Hospital in Atlanta. Some people have her, but the others went to get her back." Michonne said. Maggie looked back around to everyone. "Do we know which one?" she asked not taking her gaze from Michonne. I stepped forward "Grady Memorial," I said, adding to Michonne quickly. Maggie put her hands on her head as she started crying happy tears. Her and Glenn hugged as we all gave each other smiles. "Let's blow this joint,  and go save your sister!" Tara said quickly while still smiling at us.

When we arrived at the hospital we were excited but quickly lost the joy at the sound of a gunshot. I looked at Carl and then started running to the front doors. But before I could reach it, Daryl came out holding Beth in his arms, her head and body limp with blood dripping down her long blonde ponytail. I looked over to Maggie who had collapsed onto the ground, sobbing. It felt like time was moving in slow motion as I felt one tear glide down my face before running over to Daryl after dropping my Katana. "What happened?" I said crying harder while running my hand across Beth's forehead. Daryl was crying. I didn't expect an answer, and I honestly didn't want one. I turned around and put my head in my hand before I felt a chest press against my hand. I looked up to see Carl with his arms wrapped around my body. He had love for Beth and we all could see it. I hugged him tightly and let myself cry as he did too. It was hard, the small blonde girl, full of sunshine, who would get us all to sing along with her, even after we have lost the people we hold dearest to us.
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Hey! This chapter brought up some sad feelings! Beth was one of my favorites :(

I wanted to make it easier for me to stay connected to this book even when Its not the day I publish! so I made an Instagram @WalkersPenPal_ !! I'll be posting updates about the story along with small spoilers to future chapters! I'd love to connect more with my readers too, so please feel free to shoot me a follow! :)