MADISON'S POV.
The next bang is unmistakable and I can hear the door snap open with a loud crash, followed by footsteps outside, moving around the church and echoing in the tense air. The steps become louder and clearer the closer they get to the alter. It's more than just one set of footsteps so I can guarantee that there's more of them than us. Bob and I barely even count.
I glance to Carl and he's already looking at me.
'Gareth' He mouths.
I feel a shiver rake through me. I know what he's here for but I won't be dinner and neither will Abbie and defiantly not Judith.
A male voice finally introduces himself. I presume Gareth.
"Well, I guess you know we're here, and we know you're here and we're armed so there's no point in hiding anymore." Garret's voice rings clearly and calmly. It's obvious that this is nothing but a routine to him, nothing unusual. I can tell by his voice that he enjoys this part of his hunt, the taunting and the teasing. He's used to getting what he wants.
I feel Abbie lean into my side, placing Judith in her lap and she reaches back into her waistband to pull out the gun Carl handed her earlier. I didn't realize she still had it. I put my arm around her and lower the gun with my other hand, shaking my head when she looks up at me.
'Not yet' I mouth.
"We've been watching you so we know whos here. Theres our good friend Bob, unless you put him out of his misery already." His voice booms again.
"Then there's Eugene, Rosita, Nick, little Abbie, Judith, Father Gabriel, Carl and poor Madison, of course. How's the head?" He pauses dramatically for the inevitable lack of an answer.
"I am curious as to how she survived though. I mean I thought she was a goner when she was in that net. Oh! Also, I'm super pissed that you killed Derek, he was a funny guy."
I look over at Carl and his nostrils flare with anger.
"Im also curious about your little relationship. Why don't you come out and tell us about it. No? Maybe Carl then?" He sighs dramatically as if he was genuinely upset over our silence.
"We seen you the other day you know. We followed you to that tree you climbed, it was pretty ironic really, I mean, how does that rhyme go? Madison and Carl, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." He laughs to himself.
I avoid eye contact with everyone even though I can feel their eyes on us.
Although, my eyes travel curiously over to Nick, who I know that if he wasn't so frightened right now he would've done straight for us. His eyes are cold and hard. Interesting.
"Oops, my bad. You guys were keeping that a secret. Weren't you? Yikes! That's on me guys, my bad." I clench my teeth in anger and try to stay calm.
"Anyways, we saw Rick and the others walk out, with a lot of your guns might I add."
We hear the footsteps move again, searching for us probably.
"Listen, we don't know where you all are, but this isn't a big place, so lets just stop this hiding now, before things get more painful than they have to be." Gareth threatens.
I can feel Abbie shaking next to me and I place my hand over hers that's hooked around my forearm. I watch in disbelief as Gabriel whips out his rosary beads, clasping them tightly in his hands and begins to pray.
I jump, grabbing my bow when the door handle jiggles. I watch as a showdown moves from under the door and the door starts to cave inwards slightly as they try to force their way in. I reach beside me where my quiver of arrows lay and load one into my bow, pointing it at the door.
"Look you're behind one of these doors and we have more than enough fire power to blow both down. I'm sure thats not what you all want." Gareth says.
I hear a click of a gun and creaks coming from right outside our door. My heart hammers against my ribs in anticipation.
What the hell can we do? There's no Windows in the room. There's no vents, nothing. We're trapped.
"How about the preist? Father, if you let us wrap this up we will let you walk away from this." He temps Gabriel. I watch as his eyes scan our faces first before shaking his head and returning to his silent prayers.
"Just open the door and you can go. You can take the baby and that little kid, Abbie with you. What do you say?" I look to Abbie and I'd be lying if I said this offer didn't tempt even me. Perhaps I would've followed through with it if I thought that even one of his words were true.
Suddenly Judith starts to cry, giving away our sanctuary. Carl takes her from Abbie and whispers quietly to her, begging her to stop.
I hear Gareth chuckling from right outside our door, his shadows silhouette dancing flatly across our floor.
"I don't know, maybe we'll keep the kid. I'm starting to like this girl." He chuckles.
"This is your last chance to come out." He yells, more serious now.
I ignore the pounding in my head as I get to my feet and grab Gabriel by his collar.
"There has to be a way out of here. Tell us!"
He opens his mouth to respond but no sound comes out.
In the next second I hear gun shots echo too loudly through the church like large hailstone pounding against glass. I drop to the ground instantly, ducking and covering my head but when I glance up again the door is just as it was. Not one bullet hole to be found.
The gunfire stops just as quickly as it came and we all look up in confusion.
Silence.
"Put your guns on the floor and kneel." Ricks voice demands. My heart flutters in my chest with joy and I release a breath of relief.
"Do what he says." A new voice pleads, not one of ours, one of theirs.
"I'm guessin' we have no choice here?" Another voice says.
But somebody retaliates. "Yeah we do." Another challenges.
I hear a gun click and Abraham booms. "Do you wanna bet?"
There's a sudden shuffling and I wonder if they're getting in their knees. I pick myself up off the floor and hurry to the door. I remove the key to peer through the keyhole. It's hard to see from here but I manage to catch a glimpse of a row of feet, knelt behind a group of maybe nine or ten people.
I place the key back inside and twist, opening the door to get a better look. Rick stands over a group of both men and woman. They look completely normal, I'm not sure what I was expecting cannibals to look like. I give the others a thumbs up to tell them it's safe enough, but nobody really moves. we stay where we are.
I open the door wider and stand just outside of it, my bow in hand.
"No point in beggin. Right?" Gareth says. I stare at him, glad to finally be able to match a voice to his face. Rick towers over him with hatred on his face.
"No" He replies harshly.
He doesn't cry or plead for his life like I presumed he would instead he just shrugs. "We used to be good. We saved people, but things changed. You don't know what it's like to be hungry."
I almost laugh.
"We can leave and I promise you, we will never cross paths with you again." A woman pleads.
Rick scoffs. "Nah. I know you would do this to anyone, didn't matter who it was, if they had family... I have better plans for you." Rick threatens.
Gareth speaks up again. "Still, you could've killed us immediately when you came and found us here. Theres gotta be a reason, right?"
"We didn't want to waste the bullets." Rick murmurs so calmly it's almost violent.
In the blink of an eye, Rick releases for the red handled Machete from his belt and drives it into Gareth's head. The others join in killing the rest of our intruders. I shudder at the total bloodshed. Their screams pierce just as loudly as Bob's had, only this time nobody cares. They invite the sound as they tear them apart, inflicting the pain we know they were excited to give us.
Finally the screaming stops, the last one gurgling into a choke. Blood pools the floor like trapped rain. It's splattered on the walls, the statues, the Bible, even our group.
"It could have been us." Rick states.
Thanks for reading. Vote and comment please🎉