The Light in the Dark

Chapter 3: Chances

With the woman handing Philip the plate all he could do was glance around. Something about the place continued to make his stomach flip. Whatever was off would probably be figured out soon enough, and after a moment of thought he gestured with his hand followed by a shake of his head.

"I'm not really hungry, but--" Pausing for a moment his head tilted slightly to the side. "--I am lookin' for someone. I believe they passed through here not to long ago so I'm jus' wonderin' if you've seen 'em."

At first Mary just blinked as she was clearly caught off gaurd. Most people weren't looking for others, not these days anyway. Snapping out of it her smile returned then. "Well I'm sure we can do our best to help. Who was it?"

"Rick Grimes." Philip's answer was quick, and within the following seconds the scene changed even more. With the woman's smile disappearing slowly she could only stare at Philip. It was more obvious to him then that they'd seen the group that he was looking for, but whether or not there was an actual problem was questionable. Anything could've happened, but from the clues of not seeing them around and the expression that she gave at the man's name was enough to know that the chances that something had went down was larger than not.

"Hold on a second. Let me go get Gareth." Her voice was now flat as she left her position from behind the grill and right over to the farthest building that could be seen from where he stood. This only left him even more suspicious, but if there was any hints as to where they were or what happened he needed to know. He needed to know so he could find them if it were still possible.

A single bluish-grey hue now shifted around the area as he waited for the woman to return, and when she did a man that was at least twenty years younger appeared. It was Gareth as Mary had told him that was who she was retrieving and even his own appearance seemed all to friendly, but something about him reminded him of his own facade. The one he would play like an instrument back in Woodbury, and it was that exact same one that kept everyone out of his business.

"I was just told you're looking for Rick, right?" Gareth now stepped forward so he was only a good few feet away from Philip. After a moment Philip gave a slight nod towards the others question as he continued to figure out just what was going on. As he watched the other, right behind him stood a stranger clad in riot gear. It may seem insignificant, but it was something Philip recognized. With this place being far from any prison (as far as he knew of) it was strange that they would have such a thing, even with all of the people that they have let in. "Follow me."

Just as Gareth began to walk it took Philip a minute to follow along. With the uneasy feeling never lessening he couldn't shake the urge to take matters into his own hands to find the group, but they seemed to still be in Terminus unless he was being tricked. Still, Gareth's own appearance and demenor towards Rick seemed to be realitively the same as his mother's. The same look of whatever it was written across their features, and the tone that they used as they spoke was also the same.

Now as they came to a halt just by a train car Philip couldn't help his single eye from taking a quick look at his surroundings. At first there was nothing which only left him puzzled and as his gaze fell back on the man in front of him his brow knitted together. The suspicion was now full force as they stood in the middle of absolutely nothing that would hold any value to anyone. It was just an empty piece of space to Philip, but despite it holding nothing of importance from the looks of it the area still had some purpose. Why else would he be standing there?

"Where are they?" The former Governor's voice was now demanding. His patience was being tested as they just stood there. It now all seemed like a trick, but as Gareth's hand rose with his palm facing right at him and their gazes locked it was to confusing to officially tell.