𝐎𝐡, 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚! - 𝘋𝘠𝘊𝘍𝘔 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴

Original Chapter 3

On a Road Bound to Nowhere
Part 13

Cut because Girl never makes it back to the Church

Girl was leaned against the wall of the church, heart pounding as she heard Gareth's voice echoing outside. She crept further into the room, hiding herself under a pew, like they'd planned.

The doors of the church swung open, Girl flinched, but kept herself still, holding her knife out at the ready. She was completely hidden from view, ready to strike should she need to.

"Well, I guess you know we're here," Gareth announced, his footsteps echoing around Girls head.

"And we know you're here. And we're armed. So there's really no point in hiding anymore," Gareth said, pausing about 15 feet past the doors.

"We've been watching you. We know who's here," Gareth announced, "There's Bob, unless you've put him out of his misery already. And Eugene. Rosita. Martin's good friend Tyreese. Carl. Judith," Gareth paused, "and Girl. Unless she kicked the bucket already. It'd be a real shame if that was the case, I'd really like to get another bite out of her."

Girl had to fight off the urge to strike out at Gareth. She hated that he was right there and she couldn't do anything yet.

"Rick and the rest walked out with a lot of your guns. Listen, we don't know where you all are, but this isn't a big place. So let's just stop this now before things get more painful than they need to be," Girl listened to Gareth, some of his people rattling the knobs of the doors in the back of the church. Ones that she knew were hiding her friends.

"Look, you're behind one of these two doors and we have more than enough firepower to take down both. Can't imagine that's what you all want," Girl kept waiting, hands clenched tight. A gun cocked, letting Girl know that they really weren't afraid to shoot.

"You know what? Give us the girl! We'll walk away, leave the rest of you," Gareth offered.

"Or not," Gareth laughed when no one made a move, "How about the priest? Father, you help us wrap this up, we'll let you walk away from this. Just open the door and you can go. You can take the baby with you. What do you say?"

As if on cue, Judith started to cry. Girl cursed under her breath, muscles tensing as she prepared to make a move.

"I don't know. Maybe we'll keep the kid. I'm starting to like this girl. It's your last chance right now to tell us you're coming out. Are we done?" Gareth called, the group now all aiming their weapons at the door they suspected was hiding their prey.

"We'll hit the hinges," Gareth said, turning away from where Girl was and looking at his companions.

As if Gareth's words were the trigger, a silenced gunshot sliced through the air, nailing one of Gareth's companions in the head. Girl noticed that this man had been the closest to the door, and holding an assault rifle.

"Put your gun on the floor."

Girl smiled when she heard Rick's voice, arm poised and ready to use her knife.

"Rick, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun," Gareth called.

When Girl heard a small click, a pen hitting the ground, she swung her arm out, slicing the back of Gareth's ankles.

She hated how good it felt, watching him fall to his knees. He cried out, holding the wound and looking around for the culprit.

"Put your guns on the floor and kneel," Rick called, "or it's the rest of you."

"Do what he says," Gareth ordered.

"Hell no! We aren't going to let these assholes be the end of us. We've got the advantage here!" one of Gareth's men shouted, "We'll shoot everyone in there! We'll kill them all!"

In moments, the man had a similar slash on his ankles, and he fell, landing on his side. It didn't take long for the same blade to shoot out and slam into his head, killing him instantly. He didn't even have time to scream.

"Holy shit!"

"What the fuck was that?"

The ground at their feet was far too dark for any of them to discern the fact that Girl had made all three attacks. They couldn't see her, so they assumed the attacks were somehow coming from the group gathered at the door.

Out of sheer fear, the remaining members of Gareth's group dropped to their knees, tossing their weapons away. Rick and the others approached, ready to attack if anybody them made any kind of move to fight.

"No point in begging, right?" Gareth chuckled.

"No."

"Still, you could have killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that," Gareth said.

"We didn't want to waste the bullets," Rick shrugged, staring down at the man without the slightest trace of emotion.

"We used to help people. We saved people. Things changed. They came in and-"

Girl was getting tired of his talking. She was also getting tired of being underneath the pew. She shoved out her knife, jabbing Gareth hard in his injured ankle.

"Ah, fuck!" Gareth cried out, eyes closing in pain.

"Come on out, Girl," Rick called.

Girl sighed in relief, sliding out from her hiding place and getting to her feet. She joined the group, standing near Rick as Gareth continued to try and reason with him.

"So that's who did it? I should've known. The bitch doesn't give up, does she?"

When no one responded to him, Gareth looked down at his hands, continuing to speak as if his hardship somehow justified the things he'd done.

"I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry," he said, looking up to Rick, "you don't have to do this. I'm sorry about what I did to her and to Bob, but you did destroy our home. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you."

"But you'll cross someone's path. You'd do this to anyone, right?" Rick asked, "Besides, I already made you a promise."

"No!"

No one got out another word before Rick brought his axe down on Gareth's head. Girl felt blood splatter her face as she drove her blade through the head of the man next to him. It didn't take long for what was left of Terminus to lay dead on the floor of the church, their blood draining into the cracks between the floorboards beneath them.

They hadn't even had time to make an attempt to fight back. Only scream, and beg for a moment before they'd been silenced for good.

"It could have been us," Rick said, looking down at the mess they'd made.

The door of the office that had hidden half the group creaked open, Gabriel stepping out and immediately pausing at what he saw.

"This is the Lord's house," he said, his voice getting choked up.

"No. It's just four walls and a roof."