A Painful Place (Walking Dead Fanfiction)

Chapter 12: Tainted Meat

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Back at the church, the others were gearing up to search for Bob, who hadn’t yet returned. Sasha began to panic, accusing Father Gabriel of being involved in his disappearance.
“You know something!” she yelled at him, Tyreese, Rick and Abraham stood behind her in case the preacher lashed out. “You show up, and all of a sudden Bob is missing!”
“I-I don’t know anything,” Gabriel stammered. “I promise you, I haven’t hurt anyone.”
Rick stepped in front of Sasha, pointing his finger in Father Gabriel’s face. “This is all too perfect,” Rick accused. “There is no way you haven’t done anything to anyone this entire time. I want you to drop the act right now and tell me what’s really going on, or my friend Abraham over there’s going to put a bullet in your head. Got it?”
Abraham raised his gun, aiming his sights on the preacher’s forehead.
Gabriel sighed, raising his hands in defeat. “The truth?”
“Yes, the truth,” Rick responded.
Gabriel sat down on the platform at the front of the church, his eyes trained on the ground as he spoke. “When this all began, I was here. Alone. I heard things outside, so I locked up to be safe. The next day, people starting coming. Only a few at first, neighbors, members of my congregation, then more as the days went on.”
“You left them out there,” Tilly accused, realizing where his story was going.
“Yes,” he nodded, “I turned them away. I needed the food here to survive until I was rescued. I couldn’t spare any. They stayed out there, though,” tears began to flow down his cheeks, and he looked up at the group. “They stayed, until the dead came. Women, children, entire families… I heard their screams as they were ripped apart. Some of them called out my name, damning me to Hell for what I had done.”
Rick sat back on the front pew and Abraham lowered his gun as they tried to process what Gabriel was saying.
“I chose my life over theirs,” he cried. “I know what I did. I know what I deserve. Please,” he begged, “please, just kill me. I forgive you, but please kill me. It’s God’s will, why he sent you here.”
“No,” Rick shook his head.
“They all died because of me. You have to make this right.”
The group sat in stunned silence as Gabriel broke into sobs, holding his face in his hands.

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Tilly woke with a start the next morning, hearing a knock at the door of the church. She looked around to see the others were awake as well, with the exception of Gabriel, who had cried himself to sleep at the front of the church after revealing his story.
“Maybe that’s Bob!” Sasha called, sprinting for the door.
She stopped suddenly as she opened the door and screamed.
“What is it?” Tyreese asked, and the rest of the group ran to see what had her so upset.
As they reached the door, they understood. Bob lay in a heap in front of them, one leg missing. He was breathing, but unconscious.
“Get him inside!” Rick ordered, signaling for Glenn to help him carry the man.
A gun shot rang out and Glenn cried out in pain.
“Glenn!” Maggie screamed, running toward him. Tilly caught her by the arm and held her inside.
“Everyone, inside!” Abraham ordered helping Glenn up as Rick drug Bob into the church, locking the door behind him.
“My leg,” Glenn hissed, pulling up his pant leg and revealing the hole where the bullet had passed through. Maggie quickly ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of her shirt and tied it above the wound.
“Stay low!” Rick commanded.
Father Gabriel had finally woken up and joined the group. “You can take those two into the Sunday School rooms and treat them,” he offered. Rick and Tyreese picked up Bob and carried him into one of the rooms, while Tilly and Maggie helped Glenn to another.
Maggie cleaned and stitched Glenn’s wound as well as she could, and hoped that the bullet hadn’t done serious damage. She had picked up a bit of medical knowledge from her father, but she was nowhere near as skilled as he and Bob were.
In the other room, Carol worked to clean Bob’s stump, while Sasha looked on.
“There’s blood on his shirt,” Sasha informed Carol. “Whoever did this may have stabbed him or something, too.”
Carol nodded, and stood to raise his shirt. “Oh,” she gasped, her mouth hanging open.
Sasha rushed to her side, clasping her hand to her mouth as she looked at his wound. “No, no, no,” she cried. “That’s not-“
“It’s a bite, Sasha,” Carol confirmed. “I’m sorry.” She reached for the gun tucked in the back of her pants, but Sasha grabbed her hand.
“Please,” she begged, “I know what has to be done, but can we at least wait a while to see if he wakes up? I need to talk to him. Please.”
Carol paused for a moment, considering her options before finally removing her hand from her weapon. “Alright,” she said. “Hopefully he’ll be able to tell us who did this to him. You’ll have to stay with him, though. Let us know when he wakes up. Rick will want to talk to him.”
Sasha nodded, and sat down on the floor next to Bob, who was sweating profusely. His breathing was shallow and quick, but he was still alive for the moment.
“I’m so sorry, Bob,” Sasha whispered once Carol had returned to the sanctuary with the others. “I’m sorry that I let you go out there alone. I’m sorry that I waited so long to show you I cared about you. I’m sorry I can’t save you.”
“Hey, shhhh,” Bob’s voice was weak as his eyes fluttered open. “Don’t be sorry,” he said, a weak smile on his lips. “I got the chance to be with you. It may not seem like it as I lay here now, but I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
Tears rolled down Sasha’s face as she looked into his eyes. They somehow remained calm and joyful despite the fact that he was dying.
“Rick will want to talk to you,” she explained, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “You up for it?”
Bob gave her a weak nod and she went to fetch Rick.
“Hey,” Rick greeted as he walked into the makeshift infirmary, lying his hand on Bob’s shoulder for a moment. “Can you tell me what happened to you?”
“Gareth,” Bob replied.
“Gareth?” Rick was shocked. “He’s alive?”
Bob nodded. “He’s not the only one. There are several members of Terminus out there. They have a camp. They’ve been hunting us. They cut off my leg and ate it. I told them I was infected, then I passed out. I guess they brought me back when they realized I wasn’t of use to them anymore.”
Rick shook his head, swallowing the bile that rose in his throat at Bob’s tale. “Is that why you left last night?” he asked.
“I didn’t want Sasha, any of you, to see my like this,” he answered. “It happened at the gas station.”
Rick stood and began to walk back toward the sanctuary. “We’ll find them. I promise. Know that they’ll pay for what they’ve done.”
“Rick?” Bob called out, and Rick turned back to face him. “Thank you for everything.”
Rick nodded in acknowledgment. “We’ll take care of Sasha. So don’t worry about that.”
“I know,” he replied. “I’m not worried about that at all.”
The men exchanged one last glance before Rick returned to the others.
“It’s Gareth,” Rick announced as he walked into the sanctuary, the others spinning to face him.
“What?” Daryl asked. “But you-“
“Yeah, I shot him,” Rick interrupted. “He survived, so did several others. Bob says they have a camp nearby and have been hunting us.”
“Hunting?” Tilly asked, confused.
“For food,” Rick answered. “Bob was bitten at the gas station, which is why he left.”
He said it just ripped his shirt, Tilly thought. How could I have not noticed the bite?
“He wandered off into the woods to die,” Rick continued. “The captured him, cut off his leg and,” he paused, not wanting to finish the sentence, “they ate it.”
“Oh, God,” Lana gasped, turning to empty the contents of her stomach between two pews. “Sorry about that, Father,” she said as she stood up.
“No apology needed,” Gabriel replied, a look of disgust on his face.
Rick explained how Bob had revealed he was infected and they dumped him back in front of the church.
“They must’ve hung around to see if they could find a replacement,” Abraham added. “Speaking of,” he said, turning to Maggie, “Glenn alright?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “He’ll be fine. He’s sleeping.”
A sudden gunshot made everyone jump, and a tearful Sasha made her way into the room, tucking her gun into the back of her pants. No one needed to ask what had happened.
“We’re going to find them,” Rick said, his face hardened in determination. “We’re going to make them pay. We leave after dark.”