stone cold |twd|

chapter 93

Daryl brushed her hair back behind her ears, "'S fine. Yer fine."

Marcie pulled away from him and kneeled down, picking up what was left in the bottle before walking back towards the church, leaving the two behind.

She didn't want to leave Georgia. Her parents were buried here. Andrea was buried here. Sophia, Lizzie, and Mika were buried here. All their loved ones were buried here.

This was their home. They didn't know what was out there.

"What happened out there?" Daryl asked as they watched her go,

"I think what the Governor did broke us all just a little bit." Carol replied before she began walking once more.

Vivian sat outside, with Judith sitting in her lap and Liam playing in the dirt. Judith was teething  and Vivian found a teething toy at the bottom of the diaper bag.

Abraham was working on the bus and Rosita was on standby, just watching.

Carl came out of the church and sat down next to Vivian, "My dad doesn't trust him."

"Abraham?"

"No, the priest. Gabriel." Carl corrected her, "He said... no matter what, we're never safe. That we can't let our guard down."

"He's right." Vivian sighed, brushing Judith's hair off her forehead, "We let out guard down at the prison and look what happened."

Carl looked down at his baby sister before nodding, "You're right." He stood, "I'm gonna have a look around."

"Not too far." Vivian told him as he went down the stairs and around the corner.

Rick was right. They couldn't let their guard down. Every time they have, something bad has happened. And just because they found this refuge, doesn't mean there's not danger around the corner.

She spotted movement by the entrance of the clearing and saw Marcie walking quickly towards the church, a gallon bottle of water in one hand. Daryl and Carol were behind her by a few yards, watching the girl carefully.

Marcie walked inside without a greeting and Vivian stood, propping Judith up on her hip,

"What's up with her?" Vivian asked Daryl as the two came to a stop in the doorway,

"Dunno." He mumbled, following his partner inside and Carol was behind them.

Vivian watched the two go inside, curious about what happened out there, before Carl got her attention, "You should come look at this."

Rosita offered to watch Liam for a moment while Vivian followed the teenager around to the back of the church.

He pointed out the scratch marks, that were clearly fresh and made with a knife. A few inches over onto the wood panel was a sentence,

'You'll burn for this'

The priest knew it was there, he had to have known. And most likely, he was the reason for it. He was a cowardly man, sure, but he might be more dangerous than they originally thought. And now, they knew he had sins to confess.

"We'll show your dad after he gets back." Vivian assured Carl before going back to Liam.

She didn't have to wait long. The group came back with carts full of canned goods and with smiles on their faces. It put everyone in a good mood, knowing they were going to bed with full stomachs that night.

Vivian directed Rick towards the back of the church where Carl was waiting, and when the two came back, he placed a hand on her back, "We're gonna put someone on watch tonight."

"Do you think it could be the same person watching us?" Vivian asked as their leader took his daughter from her arms,

"Or it could be someone else. Either way we keep our guard up. We're not going to be caught with our pants down again." He commented before ushering her inside, where everyone was opening the cans and creating a buffet.

They lit candles around the church, setting up bowls of beans and other foods for everyone. 

Vivian sat against the railing, with Liam sitting between her open legs as his plate sat on her thigh. She lifted a spoon up and made car noises, bringing the spoon to the toddler's mouth.

She looked over and smiled at Rick, who was sitting next to her with Judith leaning on his legs and a plate between them. Judith picked up a chip and brought it to Rick's mouth.

Judith looked over at her and babbled, holding up another chip towards her.

"Why, thank you, Judy." Vivian smiled at the girl, taking the chip from her fingers.

Marcie sat near the back, glancing out the window and searching for any movement. Daryl came over with a plate for both of them,

She pushed her food around on the plate, not really in the mood to eat.

"Wha' happened out there?" Daryl asked, watching her,

She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

"I'd like to propose a toast." Abraham spoke up, which caused everyone to go quiet, "I look around this room... and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title." He held up his glass of wine that they found in the back room, "To the survivors."

Everyone held up their glasses and Liam held up his cup of water, "Survivors!"

He giggled and Vivian dragged him into her chest, kissing his cheek.

"Is that all you want to be?" Abraham asked, "Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip." The redhead turned to the man with a mullet, "Eugene, what's in DC?"

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge." He answered, "Restart."

Abraham smirked, "However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for those little ones." He motioned over to Judith and Liam, "Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there... who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

Rick glanced over at Vivian, who was staring right back. She gave him a shrug before Judith began to babble again,

"What was that?" Rick asked the baby again and the group began to laugh softly, "I think she knows what I'm about to say." He looked over at Abraham, "She's in. If she's in, I'm in."

He turned to make eye contact with Vivian again and she nodded, 

"We're in."