Deadland

Chapter 61- Tainted Meat

"Why'd you bring us here?" Rick asks.

"Please...I-I"

"You workin' with someone?" 

"We're alone. We're alone." Gabriel reassures Rick. "We've always been alone." 

"What about the woman in the food bank? What did you do to her? 'You'll burn for this'? That was for you, why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel?" Suddenly, Rick grabs Gabriel by the collar. 

"Hey!" Inejra yells, lunging toward Rick but Alyssa pulls her back. "Alyssa get off of me!" She yells, struggling under Alyssa's bear-hug of a hold. 

"Give it a second!" Alyssa yells, trying to calm Inejra down. 

"Get the fuck off of Gabriel!" She screams, still trying to break free from Alyssa. 

"What did you do?" Rick interrogates, his voice leaking with malice.  "What did you do?!" Gabriel shoves Rick off and looks around, his face twisting with regret. 

His lip quivers as he tries to find the right words to say. Finally, "I lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night." He begins crying and looks down to hide his face. 

He takes a deep breath before looking at Rick again. "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." 

Gabriel whimpers, Inejra has stopped trying to fight Alyssa back though Alyssa is still holding her for good measure. 

"And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked." There's so much shame and remorse in Gabriel's body that it makes Rick relax very slightly. 

"You see...it was my choice." Gabriel admits. "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." 

"Sickos." Inejra mumbles, correcting Gabriel. 

Gabriel looks at Inejra, his face trying to hold back tears. "Sickos." He turns to look at Sasha. "Women, children." Alyssa's eyes widen in disgust. 

"Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart. Begging me for mercy. Begging me for mercy." Gabriel begins sobbing, holding his hands to his chest and hunching over to hide his face. "Damning me to hell." 

Inejra's face softens and her body relaxes. Alyssa lets go of her and she slowly walks over to Gabriel. She doesn't say or do anything, she just stands there. 

She must be like me, terrible at comfort but wishing she could make it all better. 

"I buried their bones. I buried it all." He nods and looks at Rick. "The Lord sent you here to finally punish me." He begins sobbing again and sits on the ground, his body quivering with tears. 

"I'm damned." He whimpers. "I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors." He hunches down further and continues sobbing. 

"You cry like a little kid." Inejra mumbles. 

"There's something..." Glenn says from the back window. "There's someone outside lying in the grass." 

Daryl?

My heart picks up its pace with hope and suspense. 

"Sasha." Rick warns before Sasha bolts outside, all of us follow. 

Bob is lying unconscious, half of his leg missing and wrapped up. 

She screams out, "BOB!" Walkers begin stumbling toward us, inching closer and closer to Bob's body.