☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎
"i'm so happy i woke up every morning to go run back at the prison." samantha reminisced as she leaned against a tree trunk beside carl while he bottle fed his sister. she held her hand above her eyes to block the beaming sun shining down on her. from where she stood, she could barely see the charcoal smoke that was left over from the burning buildings — which she considered was a good distance for them to rest.
the brunette's eyes slowly glanced at everyone around her as she was finally given a breather. she was reunited with her family again and some additional people that were picked up along the way. don't get her wrong, she thought they were nice people after hearing glenn vouch for them, but she hadn't gotten the chance to actually talk to them and get to know them so she didn't think of them as family. yet. if they were really as nice as glenn said they were, then it wouldn't take too long to think of them as part of her family.
when samantha's eyes landed on rick's, she was half surprised to find him already looking at her. he gestured for her to come over with a tilt of his head and she obliged, kicking herself off the tree trunk and telling carl a quick 'be right back' before she made her way to his dad.
as she neared closer, she could see him reach into his back pocket. "i think you should do the honors of giving this back to its respective owner." he stated once she was in front of him, and handed her glenn's pocket watch.
samantha scanned it as her blood stained fingers wrapped around the item. debris still covered it, so she used the hem of her t-shirt to clean it to the best of her ability. though it was still dirty, she was now able to see the roman numerals unlike before. the corners of her lip lifted the tiniest bit at the sun's glare that reflected off the glass. call her crazy, but she could practically feel the tug from the watch as if it knew its owner was close by.
samantha nodded to rick in appreciation before turning and walking over to the rhea couple. "i think this belongs to you." samantha said, placing the possession on top of the man's palm.
glenn didn't understand what it was at first, but then his expression shifted from confusion to recognitition. "but i thought..."
"when they were serving us 'food', i noticed it in the pocket of some guy. he tried to deny it, but i knew it really belonged to you."
glenn chuckled breathlessly as he looked down at his hand, clenching the pocket watch in happiness and comfort. he looked back at the teen in front of him and brought her into a bear hug. "thank you, sam, really." he pulled away and let out a breathy chuckle, "i should have known you would've somehow found a way to get it back for me."
samantha feigned shockness and held her hand up to her chest, "you doubted me for a second?" she laughed when he rolled his eyes and shoved her playfully.
maggie watched the two with a smile as they continued to bicker and take turns pushing each other. she stopped the fight by placing a hand on samamtha's shoulder, gaining the duo's attention, "all jokes aside...we're so grateful that you got it back."
samantha couldn't help but stare into maggie's eyes as the woman spoke; they were just filled with undeniable warmth that would make anyone feel warm and loved inside, too. and it was all directed to her. to be quite frank, the teenager didn't think she deserved all this praise for getting the watch back — anyone would have done the same in her position! but if it meant seeing the smile on the couple's face, then samantha would go through hell and back to do it again.
"what type of animal do you see yourself as?"
"don't know." daryl repeated for the millionth time at samantha's millionth question.
every since the group began their walk further into the forest in search of a safe shelter, the teenage girl had taken upon herself to accompany the rough man and play 21 questions; however, it was mostly a one-sided thing. at every question samantha would ask, daryl would either say he doesn't know, let out a scoff of some sort, or just outright ignore her. he had expected her to just leave him alone after getting no answer the first couple of questions, but instead she would rebuttal by giving her own answer.
samantha cringed at his repetitive answer, "you know this would be more fun if you gave me an actual answer, right?"
"it is an actual answer. don't like it, stop asking." daryl stated as he continued to observe his surroundings. he waited for her typical retort - maybe even a petty punch in the arm — but when he didn't receive anything, he did a side-eye to see what was up.
samantha stared down at her shows in defeat. how could he tell? she avoided eye contact, her chin was lowered slightly closer to her chest, her eyebrows were knitted together, her lips were set in a thin frown, and her posture had went slack. he did some of those actions, too, whenever he felt that way. it was subtle, but when he was around her age, his feelings were more apparent just like hers.
daryl looked back forward, "a tiger." from the corner of his eye, he could see her head raise and turn towards him, questioning him. "i see myself as a tiger," he grumbled.
"why?"
he shrugged, "don't know. they're strong and cool, i guess."
samantha wanted to laugh at his unsure tone, but fought it off to avoid annoying him off and risking the chance of him to stop participating. "i guess," she half agreed. "i see you more as a wolf though."
now that piqued his interest, "how come?"
samantha lifted her backpack higher up her shoulder as she spoke, "well, typically, wolfs are seen as dangerous and malicious from outside perspective, but it's completely different to those in its pack. they're loyal and intelligent and playful at times. the most important thing about them is that they're devoted to their family." she glanced over at him and tried to appear confident with her next words, "just like you."
daryl truly hadn't expected that at all. he had expected for the girl to say something along the lines of wolfs being reliable or incredibly strong. he hadn't anticipated for her to give such a thorough answer. before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "you really see me like that?"
samantha looked over at him with knitted brows, obviously confused at his words. "of course, why wouldn't i?"
"even the malicious part?"
her eyes visibly widened, furiously shaking her head as she waved her hands in a dismissive motion. "oh, god, no. sorry, that was very bad wording," she grimaced. "when i first met you, you weren't malicious per se, but you were closed-off. you mainly stuck with those you knew rather than mingle with others."
"i mingled with you when you arrived," he defended.
samantha scoffed out a laugh. "yeah, after rick told you to talk to me because i isolated myself just like how you did when he first met you." she still smiles whenever she thinks of that memory. daryl had came up to her and told her to just get comfortable already with the group because they'll just bother her until she does. and when she had told rick what had happened, the man said 'good. you both are much more alike that you think.' to this day, she still doesn't understand what he meant.
a cry for help cut their conversation off, causing for the group to slow down their steps. subconsciously, the archer stepped slightly in front of the smart-mouthed girl as everyone waited for further instructions from rick.
carl looked at his father. "dad, come on." he said, wanting to help the man who still hadn't stopped yelling. "come on. come on."
rick nodded, and soon they were off towards where the yelling was coming from. samantha couldn't help but grip tighter onto her bat in preparation as she picked up her pace. she was anxious after everything she had been through the past 48 hours.
coming to a clearing, she saw a dark toned man perched on top of a giant boulder and surrendered by several undead. carl shot the first one without hesitation, gaining the other walkers' attention to them now. samantha stepped up next and swung her metal bat across another walker's face when it stepped close enough, before slamming downwards on its head, evidently having its brain matter splatter out.
the others finished the rest of the walkers off, and abraham notified that they were in the clear, relaxing them the slightest bit. they watched as rick told the fearful unknown man to come down, which he did after a few seconds of hesitation.
"you okay?" the leader asked, but only received the man vomiting as a response. quickly, samantha looked away to stop herself from dry heaving as well, disgust written on her face as she tried to block out the disgusting sounds.
the man wiped the excess vile from his mouth with his sleeve and stood straight back up. "sorry." he apologized. "yes. thank you. i'm gabriel."
"do you have any weapons on you?"
gabriel nervously and dryly chuckled, taking rick's question as a joke. "do i look like i have any weapons?" he looked down at his outfit, and that's when samantha noticed what he was wearing: a cassock. he was a priest.
"we don't give two short and curries what it looks like." abraham spoke this time.
gabriel looked at him before meeting eyes with the leader once again. "i have no weapons of any kind. the word of god is the only protection i need."
"sure didn't look like it," daryl pointed out.
the priest warily smiled at him. "i called for help. help came." he looked at everyone's blank face and their silence, the tension very obviously high. "do you have-have any food? whatever i-i had left, it just hit the ground."
carl reached into his pocket before stepping forward and held out the nuts in his palm. "we have some pecans."
"thank you." gabriel smiled as he grabbed them. he turned to judith at the sounds of her happy gurgling filling the tensive air. "that's a beautiful child."
the man thought he would be met with polite smiles, but none came. the group just stood and stared at him, obviously untrusting of him.
after a few seconds, he spoke again, "do you have a camp?"
"no. do you?" rick retorted.
"i have a church."
"hold your hands above your head." the former sheriff instructed, and began searching him in case the priest was hiding something. "how many walkers have you killed?"
"not any, actually." it was obvious he hadn't, given that he was screaming his lungs out at what had taken place a few minutes earlier, but rick still needed to be sure.
"turn around. how many people have you killed?"
"none."
"why?"
gabriel eyes seemed to have gotten wider in fear and uncomfortableness. "because the lord abhors violence."
rick didn't take that for an answer and pressed on. "what have you done?" the priest's eyes went everywhere and his mouth twitched several times. "we've all done something."
at that, gabriel responded. "i'm a sinner. i sin almost every day. but those sins, i confess them to god, not strangers."
"you said you had a church?" michonne input this time. gabriel seemed as if he were going to deny at first, but instead nodded and began leading the way with rick right at his heels.
samantha decided to stay in between daryl and maggie this time as they walked. she looked straight ahead as she pretended not to take mind of the conversation happening in front of her — rick asking if it were gabriel who was spying on them, but the man denied it, saying this was his first time being out of the comfort of his church. he even tried to joke that maybe he was lying and might steal their squirrels; however, no one laughed or cracked a smile, so he shut his mouth.
finally, they made it to the church. the place was in good condition, despite the epidemic that was going on. it was entirely white with some sections of the wall chipping and there was certain rust to parts of the roof. there was a welcoming sign hung from a pole in front, which read its name: st. sarah's church.
"hold up." rick said, stopping the priest from entering his church. "can we take a look around first? we just want to hold on to our squirrels." gabriel handed him the keys with no complaint.
samantha stayed back while rick, michonne, daryl, carol, and glenn made sure the coast was clear. she wanted to search as well, but upon getting a stern look from rick, she decided to listen and stay put. the five of them hadn't taken too long, a good 5 to 10 minutes at most before they returned.
"i spent months here without stepping out the front door. if you found someone inside," gabriel paused, "well, it would have been surprising."
rick said nothing, simply staring back at him. his son spoke to show his gratitude. "thanks for this," he grinned.
"we found a short bus out back," abraham informed their leader. "it don't run, but i bet we could fix that in less than a day or two. father here says he doesn't want it. looks like we found ourselves some transport. you understand what's at stake here, right?"
"yes, i do." rick agreed.
"now that we can take a breath—"
"we take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down." abraham cut michonne off. samantha had to agree with him there; everytime the group tried to take a break, someone would always mess that up and try to kill them.
"we need supplies no matter what we do next," the dark toned woman rebutted. samantha also had to agree with her there. but if she had to decide between dying from her own choices or dying from someone else's hands, she would go with the former option.
the teen girl opened her mouth to share her thoughts. "i think—"
"you have no opinion, you're a kid. let the adults talk, alright," abraham silenced her without batting an eye. his statement was a demand rather than an confirmation.
samantha's jaw dropped, feeling very offended that he didn't even take a second to hear what she had to say. "i was gonna agree with you."
"you know what, i think she should have an opinion on this."
she rolled her eyes at his change of heart. "as if, pelirrojo. you don't get to backdown from your choice. next time, try to listen to others before deciding so quickly, alright," she said, mimicking his tone like the way he spoke to her.
"sam." the brunette girl turned to daryl at the mention of her nickname. he gestured with his head to the front doors, "inside."
"but—"
"now."
she crossed her arms and narrowed her brown eyes at him, standing her guard. "you're not my dad."
the crossbow welding man returned the glare. "don't care, i ain't gonna tell ya' again." he said through gritted teeth.
everyone watched as the two stubborn people had a stare off to see who would be the first to back down first. it was nerve wrecking - and a bit hilarious - to watch the situation play out. some even secretly cheered on the teenager to beat the older man.
at last, samantha finally complied, rolling her eyes and grumbling, "whatever. come on, carl, judith. we're obviously not wanted here." she walked forward to pass by daryl and yelped when she felt a rough hand backslap her head. she stuck out her tongue after he warned her to watch her voice with him, and slipped inside before he could backslap her again.
the inside of the church was small but still spacious for them. there were enough pew chairs for them to rest and maybe even sleep, an office room and bathrooms. different paintings littered the wall, which added a calming atmosphere regardless of the growing tension between the group and priest.
samantha analyzed the paintings one by one , zoning out the questioning rick was having with gabriel. even though the art was all church related, it soothed her and helped rid all her bad thoughts. she stopped a one painting that always interested her whenever she would go to church: the last supper.
in spite of the mural being about jesus saying one of his apostles will betray him, she changed it to what she thought of it. she thought it reminded her of family and always looking out for one another because it may be the last chance they'll be together, hence being called "the last supper." what a coincidence that the last time she had seen her family was on their last supper together.
she despised her meaning now.
a low whistle broke her trance and her eyes left to focus on rick. he gestured to come over, which she did but not without giving one more glance to the painting.
"i'm gonna head out with the others to look for supplies, and i'm gonna be taking gabriel just in case. tyreese is gonna look after you two and judith." the former sheriff informed, before lowering his volume. "like i told carl, i need you to stay alert at all times, no matter what. we don't know if this man may be hiding something or not."
samantha nodded, getting a single nod back from rick before he left to prepare himself for the journey. she sighed and leaned against the pew, her built up exhaustion seeming to remind her of the prior night she had little to no sleep.
"you okay?" the teen boy asked after hearing her sigh.
"yeah, just tired," she dismissed his concern. "could really go for some coffee right now."
"you could take a quick nap if you want."
"what, and let you have all the fun?" samantha teasingly smiled before standing up and stretching out her arms over her head. "come on, let's go find something to do."
unsurprisingly, there wasn't much to do inside the church. they explored the office, taking tiny peeks inside the drawers that they knew they shouldn't be peeking into. they went to the bathroom to see if they could find anything useful, but samantha ran out once she heard carl begin to chant "bloody mary." she walked over to tyreese to watch him play with judith for a bit before grabbing onto the baby and trying to teach her how to walk. carl sat down on the bench beside their temporary guardian as he watched his best friend joke around with his sister.
"sorry to ruin your hopefulness, but you know she's still too young for her first steps, right?" tyreese teasingly questioned after hearing samantha's words of encouragement towards the infant.
"you may not know this about me, ty, but i can make miracles happen," the girl cheekily smiled, holding onto judith's tiny, fragile fingers as she helped her walk; though it was mostly samantha doing all the work.
"i don't think rick would appreciate it very much if he missed his kid's first steps."
she shrugged. "we can always pretend she learned with him. all you have to do is not snitch."
"and get my ass beaten when he finds out? no thanks," tyreese chuckled and shook his head. "plus, how do you know carl won't snitch?"
before samantha could reply, the young teen boy stood up from his seat and faced his temporary guardian. "is it okay if sam and i check out the area? just to make sure we're not missing anything," he specified.
tyreese debated silently at the idea for a minute, then nodded. "yeah, that's fine. don't wander off far, though. and stick with each other."
the two teens voiced out their agreements at his rules, and samantha handed judith back over to him. her calloused hand waved side to side as she said a childish goodbye to the baby, grinning at the sound of her innocent, contagious giggle. the tanned girl jogged over to the entrance where her companion was already waiting for her, his sheriff hat resting on top of his tangled dirty hair.
as soon as the white door had closed and shut them from view, carl followed the path on the right side with samantha on his heels. he checked for any openings that a walker could potentially get into while she covered for him by making sure they were no undead littering in the woods. even though they had just began, samantha wanted this procedure to be over with because of the hot sun shining down its rays on her. despite the weather being slightly cloudy, it didn't stop the heat practically sizzling her exposed tawny skin. but she knew better than to rush if she wanted to be kept safe — no matter the excessive sweat produced from her aching body.
samantha turned her watchful dark eyes away from the greenery when she heard carl's faint footsteps crunch against the rocks. he had stopped just a few steps and was intently staring at something on the wall.
"found something?"
the flannel wearing boy pointed between two wooden panels. "those scratches. they're deep. like knives or something. someone was trying to get in."
the girl inched forward to get a better look at it while carl moved to someplace else. he was right; they were most definitely created by a sharp object. maybe even someone's fingernails if they were that desperate to enter the establishment.
"i found something else." samantha moved to where he stood to see what he had discovered now. carl glanced into her chestnut eyes as he said his next words. "i don't know what happened, but whatever it is, we can handle it."
hearing him say those words did not settle the sinking feeling in her stomach. she looked away first to see what he came upon, and it only made the knots in her gut tighten and her throat left feeling as if it were blocked. four words that were etched deep into the lower section of the wall, displaying obvious resentment to whoever it was aimed at. and since it was marked into the wall of this church, then it was obvious as to who it was for.
YOU'LL BURN FOR THIS
"doesn't mean gabriel is a bad guy for sure, but it means something."
samantha bitterly laughed at carl's attempt to excuse the meaning of the writing and defend the priest. she lifted her right hand and rubbed her thumb against the wording, feeling it's rough imprint in the wood. "what, this isn't enough 'bad guy' proof for you? why else would someone leave this behind, he's dangerous."
"we don't know tha—"
"for christ sake, carl, not everyone is a good person!" she cut him off with a whispered shout, frustration laced in her words as she desperately tried to get it through his head. samantha truly did love his trait of trying to see the good in people, but when it came down to cases like this, it annoyed her incredibly. "the governor who killed hershel, those terminus freaks who tried to kill and eat us, the man who tried to—!" her next words were lodged in her throat, but they both knew what she meant. who she meant. "people have always been bad people. the apocalypse just happened to give them an opportunity to reveal their true natures."
the sound of a vehicle arriving and its tires rolling around loose rock and gravel before stopping interrupted their conversation. the opening and slamming of a door occurred followed by their families' voices, confirming they had shown up safely. the two kids stood in their place as they continued to listen on as the adults unpacked the things they had brought back from their travel.
the brunette girl let out a quiet sigh, a means to regain control from her unexpected outburst a few minutes ago. "i want to believe you when you say gabriel isn't a bad guy, i really do, but he hasn't been proving himself to be a good guy, either."
with that, she left to go inside the small building to see if she would be of any help. and maybe give the boy time to think about what she had said.
𝗗𝗔𝗠𝗦 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦
i don't like this chapter
but i also don't hate it...
i do think i improved from
my past chapters tho !!
i hope you all enjoy this chapter,
all feedback is appreciated!! <3