Sasha brought Bob inside and laid him down in the middle of the church. "I was in the graveyard. Somebody knocked me out. I woke up outside this place. It looked like a school. It was that guy, Gareth. And five other ones. They were eating my leg, right in front of me. Like it was nothing. All proud like they had it all figured out." Bob, said breathing heavy. "Did they have Daryl and Carol?" Rick asked him. He panted, "Gareth said they drove off." Your eyes widened. Did he abandon you? No, he wouldn't.
"He's in pain. Do we have anything?" Sasha asked Rosita. "I think there are pill packets in the first aid kit." "Yeah." Save them." Bob said. "No." Sasha begged. "Really." He sat up as he winced. He moved his shirt off his shoulder, revealing a bite. He began crying.
Sasha was motionless. You know how she felt... probably everyone in that room knows how she feels. "It happened at the food bank." He said. Sasha began crying, and gave Bob a half- comforting smile, "it's okay." He laid back down.
"There's a sofa in my office. I know it's not much, but..." Gabriel said. "Thank you." Sasha simply said. "I got him." Tyreese said, standing up. Everyone else doing the same. Rick motioned for you to come closer to him.
He got up and walked towards Gabriel. "Do you know the place Bob was talking about?" "It's an elementary school. It's close." "How close?" You asked. He paused. You repeated your question. "It's just a ten minute walk through the woods from here, due south of the graveyard.
You walked back to the pew; you were sitting on previously. Before you sat down, Abraham said, "It's time for a reality check. We all need to leave for DC, right now." Rick looked at him, "Daryl and Carol are gonna be back. We're not going anywhere without them." "I respect that, but, there's a clear threat here to Eugene. I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier. So if y'all won't come, good luck to you. We'll go our separate ways." Abraham said, heading towards the door.
"You leaving on foot?" Rick asked. Abraham stopped, "We fixed that damn bus ourselves." "There are a lot more of us." "You want to keep it that way? You should come." "Carol saved your life. We saved your life." "Well, I am trying to save your's. Save everyone's." "We're not going anywhere without our people." "Your people took off."
You looked down, "They're coming back." "To what, picked-over bones?!" "You're not taking—"Rick said, putting a finger on his chest. "Do not lay hands!" "Abraham!" Rosita scolded.
"Hey, hey, stop! Now!" Glenn said, pushing the two men apart. "Do you really think that you're gonna be any safer leaving right now, in the middle of the night?" He continued. "Yeah. Yeah." Abraham said. "What about tomorrow? We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together. "
"I have an idea. If you stay just one more day and help, I'll go with you t DC no matter what. Okay?" Tara said, turning around for approval. "Glenn and Maggie, too." Abraham included. "No." Rick said. "Good luck, then. I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here. Rosita, grab your gear." "Abraham..." She whispered. "Now. Eugene, let's go. Eugene. Move it." He commanded. Eugene said put in a pew, "I don't want to." "Now." Abraham growled. "Okay." He said getting up, walking towards the doors.
"You're not taking the bus." Rick said. The three of them stopped. "Try to stop me." Abraham said. He waited for something to happen. Suddenly, Rick walked towards him. Abraham handed Rosita the gun he was holding. "Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait! Hey, hey, hey!" Glenn yelled. "You stay—you stay and help us, and we will go with you." He continued. "No." Rick said. "It's not your call. You stay, help us." Abraham nodded, "Half a day. Come high noon, we're taillights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop." "And we will leave with you." Maggie said. "Twelve hours. Then we go."
-
You finally sat down on the pew. You felt your eyes starting to close. You were slowly falling asleep. Each time you closed your eyes, you felt closer to sleep. Rick spoke up, "They think they're in control. We're in here and they could be anywhere. But, we know exactly where they are."
"Plan's got stones, I'll give you that." Abraham said. "Make our move before they do." Glenn clarified. "That's right. They're not counting on us thinking straight." Rick said. "Are we? I'm just making sure. It's a big play." You asked. Rick walked towards you a little, "Remember what these people are capable of? Tyreese." He said looking over at him.
"Yeah?" "You up for this?" "I'm going with you." Sasha said, coming out of the room. "You should stay with Bob." Tyreese said. "No, I want to be out there. I want to be a part of this." She turned around and walked back into the room. Tyreese got up and followed her.
-
A few minutes later, Rick put his plan into action. He gathered some of the group and put them in Father Gabriel's office: Carl, Rosita, Judith, Eugene, Gabriel and Bob. The rest of you walked outside and hid behind the trees and rubble, fully knowing that those people were watching you. You watched as they walked the path to the church. They paused for a moment outside, and then proceeded to walk in. You could tell Rick's body tensed. His children were in there. Could you blame him?
-
You waited for a few minutes, more. The group walked behind Rick. You climbed the front stairs, right behind Rick. He opened the door ever so quietly. He put his hand up, indicating wait for the shot.
"We'll hit the hinges." You heard Gareth say. Rick put his hand down. Now was the chance for a kill shot. You shot one. Rick shot the other. "Put your guns on the floor." Rick said, still in the shadows. "Rick, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun—"Gareth said, pointing to the room. Rick took a shot at him. It went through his finger. Gareth screamed in pain.
Rick walked out of the darkness, first, "Put your guns on the floor and kneel." "Do what he says." Gareth said, already on the ground. Two did it, no hesitation. There was one though. "Martin, there's no choice here." Gareth said to him. "Yeah, there is." Martin said. "Want to bet?" Abraham said, moving in behind Martin. He laid his gun against a pew and kneeled. There was a girl kneeling; you and Michonne walked to her and pointed your weapons at her. Insurance.
Rick stood in front of Gareth and stared at him. "No point in begging, right?" Gareth said, kneeling. "No." Rick stated, towering him. "Still, you could have killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that." "We didn't want to waste the bullets."
"We used to help people. We saved people. Things change. They came in and—After that...I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry. You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you." "But you'll cross someone's path. You'd do this to anyone, right? Besides, I already made you a promise." Rick said, taking out a red handled machete. "NO!" Gareth yelled, before Rick sliced his head off.
Michonne took the bottom of her gun and forced it into the skull of the girl you two were spotting. Abraham did the same to his person. Sasha stabbed Martin in the head about twenty times. You, Glenn, Maggie, and Tara kept watch over the morbid scene.
After thirty seconds or so, the fight was over... for now at least. But Daryl and Carol were still missing.
"It could've been us." Rick said. Father Gabriel walked out of the office and shook at the horrific scene. "This is the Lord's House." He said, shaking. You looked at him, "No. This is just four walls and a roof."
-
The next day, the group said their good-byes to Bob. You stayed out of the room. You didn't really know Bob, so you didn't want to impose on their moment. You'd give anything to say good-bye to your family. You wouldn't want to take that moment away from anyone. You sat on the front pew, staring at the cross placed on the mantel. One by one, each member came out of the room. Sorrow filled their eyes.
The group waited for Sasha to come out of the room. Tyreese got up and walked into the room, knowing his sister couldn't do it. She came out of the room and sobbed into Maggie's arms.
-
Sasha dug him a grave and made him a cross. It was a nice service. As nice as you can get, that is.
"This is our route to DC. We'll stick to it as long as we're able. If not, well, you got our destination. Once Eugene gets to the big brains left up there, things are gonna bounce back. This group should be3 there for it. You should be there for it." Abraham said handing Rick a map. "They will be." Maggie said. "We will." Michonne inquired. Rick turned around and looked at her, "We will." Rick and Abraham exchanged grateful smiles. "Let's go." Abraham said.
The group said their good byes to Maggie and Glenn and Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. They loaded the bus. You all looked at them one last time. Then, they drove off.
Rick opened the map that Abraham gave to him. He looked it over. You heard dirt flinging to your left. You saw Tyreese digging a hole. You and Rick walked over to him. Rick grabbed the extra shovel and helped dig another hole. "I never asked how it was for you getting to Terminus." He asked Tyreese and sort of you. Tyreese stopped digging and stared at Rick, "It killed me." He said continuing to dig again. "No, it didn't." You said.
-
Nightfall came, you laid back on one of the pews and let your mind drift you to sleep, before anyone else. -
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UPDATED 12/25/15 at 12.20AM