I Saw The Lights Go Out - Carl Grimes

Chapter Fifty Five - Confession

"Where are our people?!" Sasha's voice erupted through the room startling the two of us from our short lived slumber. 

"Please, I have nothing to do with this." Gabriel's scared voice whimpered back to the woman.

"Sasha, let the kids sleep." Glenn's stern voice whispered, interrupting the two's argument.

I opened my tired eyes and craned my neck over my shoulder to see what all the commotion was about. From behind the pews beside me, Sasha stared Gabriel down while Tyreese and Glenn coaxed her away from the shocked man.

Carl elevated his body up onto his forearm beside me. I glanced up at him concerned. He just looked forward, boring holes in the side of Gabriel's head with his stare.

"Why did you bring us here?" Rick asked cocking his head to glare at Gabriel more intensely. Gabriel's hands rose in surrender while his lip trembled. My stomach churned in fear at the sight of them arguing.

"Please, Please. I-" He stuttered trying to explain himself. My eyebrows furrowed as I untangled my legs from Carl's and pushed the blanket off of me but Carl's grip tightened on my hip not letting me move further. I looked up at his cold face; his expression hard and angry with a square shut jaw. Protective.

"You working with someone?" Rick asked further, stepping up to the man in question. What Gabriel did, I had no idea, and what Sasha meant by the accusation, I had even less answers.

"I'm alone." Gabriel repeated the phrase two more times in a high trembling voice. "I was always alone." He attempted to convince the angry mob before him, almost in a fit of tears.

"What about the woman in the food bank, Gabriel? What did you do to her? 'You'll burn for this'? That was for you, why?" Rick interrogated the man bringing up the warning Carl told me about earlier.

Questions banged against the inside of my skull begging my tongue to let them escape. I clamped my mouth shut trying to figure out the situation on my own.

Things escalated quickly as Rick grabbed Gabriel's collar and shoved him up against the front of the alter shaking him roughly. "What are you gunna burn for Gabriel? What did you do? What did you do!?" Rick burst and Gabriel broke free from the man's hold, stumbling off to the side. I jump, shocked at the sudden fight and harshness of Rick's voice.

Gabriel took a moment to catch his breath and gather his thoughts despite his shaking. I slowly sat up observing the potential threat that was in the room with us. My palm pressed against the cold wooden floor to my side. I felt around for my crowbar a moment before my fingers hit the rough metal of it from behind me. I slowly slid it forward into my reach not looking away from the danger ahead. The scraping of it against the worn down hardwood thankfully didn't distract the others who were too caught up in a stare down.

Carl's hand moved from my waist to my hand resting beside him. My gaze flicked toward him, mixed emotions swirling through my eyes. He gave me a nod approving of my decision to grab a weapon.

Gabriel's bottom lip shook as he averted his eyes from Rick's. He looked distressed in every possible way. If we had been lead into yet another trap he was playing one hell of a good act.

"I lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors-" The air in Gabriel's lungs ran out as he muttered over and over again. He sucked in a loud shaky breath before continuing his confession. "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 knew they felt safe." He stopped to shake out a tear, swallowing roughly. His voice was raspy as he tried to talk through his cries. "And it was so early, it was so early. And the doors were still locked." He nodded his head regrettably finally looking Rick in the eyes.

Gabriel tried his best to calm himself down. "You see... it was my choice. There were so many of them. And they were trying to pry off the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me... And so, the dead came for them. Women... children." The grown man began to break down again and it echoed through the vaulted church. "Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy. Begging me for mercy. Damning me to hell!" His sobs raked through his chest as he clutched his hands close to his heart. "I buried their bones. I buried it all. The lord sent you here to finally punish me. I'm damned. I was damned before." He fell to his knees in a fit of cries at Rick's feet.

I took my hand off of my crowbar staring worriedly at the mess of a priest. My jaw tightened as I swallowed taking in the situation. I was no longer worried for my own life but for a broken man who was simply pushed too far. "I always lock the doors!" He wailed and collapsed to sit on the ground. He held himself as self pity and guilt ate at him all while the others stared down with swirling emotions.

Before Rick could think of a response, a long drawn out whistle sounded from outside. The eerie melody faded off as Glenn rushed to the front windows. He carefully peered out of one to observe the real potential threat, and my skin crawled as if a breeze had blown by but I knew better than to think a window was open.

My hand clenched around my crowbar once again as I moved to slip my boots on and stand to defend my family. Carl shuffled to his feet, quickly untangling the blanket from around his boots. He already had his gun held firmly in his right hand. Then he nodded catching my nervous stare as I remembered what this entire fight was all about. Our people were missing. Someone truly had been watching us.

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Cliff hanger! Uh oh, something's outside waiting for them. I hope it's nothing bad hehe. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Lots of tension, lots of dialog. A little bit of Carl being protective cuz we always have time for that now.

What do you predict will happen? Can you guess who's missing? What's waiting for them behind that door? Let me know what you predict and what you think about the chapter. I am really proud of some spots in here honestly.

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Love you all, happy reading!