The church was quiet.
The silence sounded foreign to me. There was nothing but silence ever since the drive back to the church and it was starting to get under my skin. Nowadays all I heard was snarling and leaves rustling under my feet as I ran.
I couldn't take it anymore. Taking just my knife, I stood up from the pew I was sitting in and left through the doors of the church. Walking down the steps, I turned to my right to go into the woods when I saw Maggie leaning against one of our cars we brought back from the hospital. She had her head in her hands but I didn't hear any crying. I decided to give her some space and walked away.
It seemed like my legs had taken over my mind because I had no idea where I was going. I just kept on walking. The familiar sound of snarling to the right of me for some reason calmed me down. I didn't feel trapped anymore.
I took my knife out from behind my jeans and waited for the walker to come to me. When it finally did, I kicked it square in the chest, knocking it onto the ground. After killing it, I sat down against a tree, taking a breath. I looked down at the walker I just killed, seeing its long dried out black hair, most of it gone from its head.
"I'm sorry you had to go through this." I said to her. "I'm sorry no one was there to save you from suffering. This shouldn't happen to people. "
I've never been more grateful Carl shot my mother than now. If she had to become this, I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I could have prevented it.
A thud distracted me from my thoughts. I sprang up, listening as the sound of footsteps came closer. Once they were too close for comfort, I turned and my eyes widened as I realized it was just Michonne.
"Sorry," she said, looking back. I followed her eyes, seeing a walker on the ground a few feet away.
"Sorry, too," I replied, untightening the hand that held my knife back in it's holster and sitting back on the ground.
She sat down next to me, looking up at the only sky she could see through the many trees blocking her view.
"I-I just had to get away for a bit." I said to her. "It was too quiet in there."
I saw her nod from the corner of my eye. "I get it. Silence can be a good thing sometimes, but other times we just want to get away from it. That's okay."
I wiped the blood from my knife as she spoke again, "Rick and I, along with some of the others, we're going..." she trailed off, finding the right words to use, "...we'll be back soon. Just wanted you to hear it from me before you saw us gone."
"Will you come back with good news?"
"I hope." was all she said. She put her hand on my shoulder, squeezed it, and then got up and walked away.
***
I stayed outside for a bit longer, maybe an hour and a half or so, before heading back. Maggie was gone from where I last saw her, so I assumed she was inside. I knew Rick wouldn't take her along after yesterday.
When I opened the doors, everyone inside stood up swiftly and held up their weapons. I put my hands up and once they realized it was just me, they all went back to what they were doing. There were some murmurs from Rosita and Abraham along with coos from Judith. Carl motioned me to come over.
I spotted Maggie with the baby in her hands, just looking at her. I smiled softly and followed Carl into the rectory, closing the door behind me. He sat down against the wall, his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. I bent down on my knees in front of him, putting a hand on his knee.
"Hey," I said softly. "What's going on?"
He shook his head, not speaking for a few seconds. "When-When we were separated, the whole group, I was with my dad and Michonne. A group found us one night. Daryl was with them. I was sleeping in the car, but I woke up and they had guns to our heads. One-One guy, he, uh..."
I grabbed his hand, squeezing it. I had no idea what he was about to tell me, but it is obviously hard for him to say so I needed to be there for him.
"He had me on the ground and he was on top of me." Carl choked up, tightening his hold on my hand. "He was gonna...He was about to-"
I blinked the tears in my eyes away. "Carl, I'm so sorry. I-"
He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall, silent tears rolling down his face. I took a deep breath, "Did he-"
"No, no, he didn't." He looked at me. "My dad made sure of that. You know, in that moment, after he would have...I-I thought that he was going to kill me. I thought they were going to kill my dad, Michonne, Daryl...and I thought of you. And it was the first time ever that I was glad you weren't there with me. If you were there..." He trailed off.
"Remember when the infection at the prison started and we had to be in different cell blocks because I was exposed?" He nodded. "You told me that you had to protect me out there. I want to protect you, too, Carl. I need to. But the truth is, I can't. You can't. Not from what's going on. But what these people here have is special. We're a family. You're my family, Carl. And that's better than anything I can ask for because we can help each other survive. If I was there with you that night, and they killed us, and you thought that it was your fault, I would haunt your grave Carl Grimes because when I die, it's not going to be your fault. It's not going to be anyone's fault but this shit world we live in now. After my mom died, it was you and Michonne and everyone else that helped me survive. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here right now. And that's how you're helping me survive, by just being here with me. Okay?"
He stared at me for what felt like the longest time and then smiled. "Okay. Just promise me that you're going to put off dying as long as you can."
I smiled back. "I promise."
***
Rick, Michonne, Noah and the others came back just under an hour later. Except not everyone walked through the doors.
I was confused when I saw that Tyreese wasn't there. Rick caught my eye, but quickly diverted it while he walked over to Gabriel. He spoke to him in a quiet voice. Gabriel nodded, leaving the church for a reason I didn't know.
I went over to Michonne, my heart racing. What happened to Tyreese? Why wasn't he here?
"Where's Tyreese?" I was the first to ask.
By now everyone had their eyes on Rick, whose hands were on his hips, breathing deeply. They - Rick, Michonne, Noah, and Glenn - had expressions on their faces that said something bad happened. I saw Noah's eyes were red, looking as if he cried earlier.
Rick looked over to Sasha. "Sasha, I'm sorry."
It was like a punch to the throat. That was all he had to say. Just those three words left me breathless. Sasha left the church without a word and nobody went after her.
"Brenda-" Michonne began but I left too before she could continue.
I went to the back of the church and saw that Gabriel had already began digging Tyreese's grave. I dragged my feet towards him and held out my hand.
"Let me do it, please."
He gave me a look of pity and handed me the shovel. "It's okay if you cry. I heard you were with him after what happened at the prison. It's okay to do that."
I shook my head, continuing the work he started. "I'm done crying for now. Those tears after Beth died wasn't just for her; it was for everything and everyone we've lost. It was for him. It was for Tyreese."
~~~~
Guess who's back (it's me). Again I'm late by, like, forever. I'm going to try to get better because I do love this story.
Anyway, how'd you like it? It was kinda a standalone chapter because I didn't want Brenda going with the group to Noah's town and then see Tyreese die and blah blah blah. But I'm not done with Tyreese just yet...Brenda had a love/hate relationship with him and therefore had a relationship with Carol (which will come into play for the rest of the story) because of the separation together.
But I'll see you all next time! R.I.P. Tyreese Williams.
P.S. VERY IMPORTANT!!!! okay so I'm going some major editing to this story. I already finished the first chapter. I regret a lot of things I've done in this book and so I'm changing things up. I will put this ' **EDITED ' in front of every chapter that I have edited so you guys know that I changed it up. thank you for everything I love you all
~Marvel890