Promise? »» C.G.

Chapter 32««Here

Carl

I did a bit of wandering around. I found something. I stared at it. Dad came over. I showed him the knife marks and the message. We had a little party tonight. Abraham wanted to give a toast.

"I'd like to propose a toast," Abraham announced. "I look around this room...and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors." We all raised a glass.

"Is that all you want to be?" Abraham continued. "Wake up in the morning, fightin' 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 from a little roadtrip. Eugene, what's in DC?"

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this final magnitude," Eugene said. "That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

"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 that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there...who don't got nothing left to do except survive." Dad chuckled and looked at Judith. She cooed.

"What was that?" Dad asked her. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. If she's in, I'm in. She's in. We're in." We all laughed. Sasha held Judith and the others mingled. I heard Tara ask about (Y/n) and Maggie asked if she seen her. She didn't. No one seen what way she went. I wanted to save this world so I could find her again. I need my best friend again. I caught myself messing with my bracelet. Carol and Bob had went outside. I think Daryl did too. Glenn looked at me.

"You alright Carl?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Just thinking that's all," I said.

"About?"

"The only person I think about anymore."

"(Y/n)?" I nodded.

"Carl, she's-"

"No. I won't think like that."

"No one seen her leave."

"I did. I watched her get shot and leave. She ran. Scared. Hurt. She left. She's alive. I know it." I got up and went over to Dad. After a while, we went out looking for them. They hadn't came back in a while. I didn't go. I wasn't allowed to. They came back.

"Stop," Sasha told Gabriel. "What are you doing? What are you doing? This is all connected. You show up, we're being watched, and now three of us are gone."

"I...I don't...I don't have anything to do with this," he replied. She took out her knife. Of course we stopped her.

"Wait!" Gabriel said.

"Don't," Rosita said.

"Sasha, put it away," Tyreese said.

"Who's out there?" Sasha asked backing Gabriel in a corner.

"I--I don't have anything-" Gabriel was cut off.

"Where are our people?"

"I don't have anything to do-"

"Where are our people?!"

"Please, I don't have anything to do with this. I-"

"Why'd you bring us here?" Dad asked him. Are we really interrogating him?!

"Please, I--," Gabriel said.

"You working with someone?" Dad asked.

"I'm alone. I'm alone. I was always alone."

"What about the woman at the food bank, Gabriel? What did you do to her? 'You'll burn for this.' That was for you. Why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel? What? What did you do?" Dad grabbed him.

"What did you do?!" Dad shouted as he let go.

"I lock the doors at night," he said. "I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always-They started coming, my congregation. Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. 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. You see...it was my choice. 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, children. Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy. Begging me for mercy. Damning me to hell. I buried their bones. I buried it all. The Lord sent you here to finally punish me. I'm damned. I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors." He was now on the floor crying. Glenn said someone was outside in the grass. So they ran outside. It was Bob. I heard gunshots. He told us what happened. It was the men from Terminus. He had said they were eating him. His leg. Daryl and Carol drove off somewhere. He showed us the bite. Then, Bob passed out.

"There's a sofa in my office," Gabriel said. "I know it's not much, but..."

"Thank you," Sasha said. We moved him. Dad asked him where Bob talking about. I moved Judith in the office. Abraham wanted to leave, but they'd wait for tomorrow. Only if Glenn and Maggie would go. They said they would. Of course, Dad didn't want them to, but it wasn't his call. I didn't pay attention to what my dad was saying or anyone for that matter. They were gearing up to go find them and probably kill them. They deserve it.

God I sound like a serial killer. Is that what I am now?

I shook my head from the thoughts. They were terrible. (Y/n) wouldn't call me one, if she were here. I shook my head again from the thoughts. They left and it was just Gabriel, Rosita, Judith, Tyreese, Eugene, and myself in the office with Bob. I tapped my finger on the holster. We were quiet. It was too quiet. I didn't know what was gonna happen. Honestly, I didn't want to. All you could hear was the sound of nature outside. I heard the church doors open. They came here. I held my gun out towards the office door.

"Well," Gareth's voice rang. "I guess you know we're here. And we know you're

here."