Future Ghosts • TWD

62. The End of the World.

"Please, I don't have anything to do with this," Gabriel said again.

Finally, Sasha backed away, still glaring at Gabriel. It was Rick's turn to be intimidating. He stared at Gabriel for a moment. "Why'd you bring us here?" he asked.

"Please. I- I- I-"

"You working with someone?" Rick interrupted him before he could say I don't have anything to do with this again.

"I'm alone. I'm alone. I was always alone," Gabriel insisted.

"What about the woman in the food bank, Gabriel?" Rick asked, stepping closer in order to be more threatening. Rosie picked Daryl's knife up off of one of the pews, where she left it. She was feeling nervous, and if something went wrong, she didn't want to be left weaponless. After all, something always went wrong. "What did you do to her? 'You'll burn for this'? That was for you. Why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel?"

YOU'LL BURN FOR THIS. It was engraved into the side of the building. Carved into the wood with a knife. Carl had found it, along with some other scratch marks. Rosie had seen it, too. Carl had shown her. It made her nervous. Rick said it was nothing to worry about just yet, but to keep her guard up.

Rick suddenly lurched forward, grabbing onto the collar of Gabriel's shirt and pulling him close. "What? What did you do?" he asked. Gabriel didn't answer. "What did you do?!" Rick shouted. It wasn't often that Rosie heard Rick shout out of anger, but it always made her breath catch in her throat for a moment.

Gabriel pulled away from Rick and avoided eye contact, tears pricking at his eyes as he took quick, shaky breaths. "I lock the doors at night," he finally said. What? "I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors," he breathed out, his face contorting with deep emotion. He took a breath, trying to regain his composure. "They started coming, my congregation. Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. They were- they were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe. And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked."

That's it? He locked the doors? Rosie thought, her face tense as she stared at Gabriel. I killed someone, and you're crying because you locked the doors?

"You see... it was my choice," Gabriel went on. Everyone stared at him, frozen. "There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me. And so the dead came for them. Women..." Gabriel said. His eyes moved to Carl, then to Rosie. "Children.... Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy. Begging me for mercy. Damning me to hell," he started crying again.

It would always be a weird sight, seeing a grown man cry. Rosie's daddy never cried. Never. He hated crying. Crying meant weakness, and Banks's were not weak. He didn't even cry when Fraser died. He was just angry. And he drank and smoked and put needles into his arms. But he never cried.

"I buried their bones. I buried it all," he went on, clasping his hands together under his chin. Rick stared at him, underwhelmed. "The Lord sent you here to finally punish me," he said. He fell to the ground, his voice breaking apart. "I'm damned. I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors," he continued on, sobbing like that.

There was a small noise outside. Rosie looked up at Glenn. Did he hear it, too? Glenn's head was turned back towards the window. He heard it, too. He stepped closer to the window, peaking out. "There's something," he said. His eyes squinted, trying to see better in the dark. "There's someone outside lying in the grass!"

They all ran outside, Sasha shouting Bob's name. Maggie grabbed hold of Rosie's arm, keeping her behind her. Rosie peaked out from behind Maggie's waist, though, and she could see Bob laying in the grass. His left leg was gone, and the stump was wrapped in a bloodied cloth. Walkers started stumbling out of the woods, growling.