Daryl was gone. He was just gone. Along with Carol and Bob. Maybe they were taken. Maybe by some people who survived Terminus? If that's the case, we better find them. Fast. He wouldn't just leave...would he? I looked up when Sasha approached Gabriel. "Stop." He was picking up silverware. "What are you doing?" He looked at her, unsure of how to respond. "What are you doing? This is all connected. You show up, we're being watched, and now three of us are gone."
"I...I don't...I don't have anything to do with this." Gabriel seemed genuinely confused, but you can never be too careful these days.
Sasha pulled her knife and Gabriel dropped the silverware, backing up. I stood up. "Who's out there?"
Gabriel was shaking. "I-I don't have anything to do with this."
She got in his face. "Where are our people?"
"I don't have anything to-"
"Where are our people!?"
"Please, I don't have anything to do with this. I-"
Rick pulled Sasha back, standing in front of Gabriel. "Why'd you bring us here?"
"Please, I-"
"You working with someone?"
"I'm alone. I'm alone. I was always alone."
Rick was getting closer with every word. "What about the woman in the food bank, Gabriel? What did you do to her? 'You'll burn for this.' That was for you. Why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel?" Rick grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. "What what did you do? What did you do?!"
Rick released Gabriel from his grasp. He looked around at us, absolutely terrified. "I lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always-" Gabriel cut himself off, tears welling in his eyes.
He took a deep breath. "They started coming, my congregation. Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. They were-they were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe. And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked. You see...it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me. And so, the dead came for them. Women...children. Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy. Begging me for mercy. Damning me to hell.
"I buried their bones," he nodded. "I buried it all. The Lord sent you here to finally punish me." Gabriel sank to the floor, sobbing. "I'm damned. I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors."
We relaxed, realizing that he had nothing to do with our people going missing. We all turned when we heard whistling outside. Glenn looked out the window. "There's something...there's someone outside lying in the grass!"
We rushed outside and I put a hand over my mouth. It was Bob. His leg was cut off. There were walkers approaching. "Get Bob inside. We'll take care of them."
I helped Sasha lift Bob and we started rushing him inside. A gunshot went off in the woods and Rick starts firing, yelling for us to get inside. We got Bob inside and laid him on the floor. He slowly came to, leaning up on his elbows. "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."
"Did they have Daryl and Carol?" Rick asked.
"Gareth said they drove off." My heart lurched in my chest and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and stood up, walking over to where Luke stood with Faith in his arms. "Did dad leave us?" He asked, tears welling in his eyes.
I crouched to his level, putting my hands on his shoulders. "No, baby, I'm sure he just...saw someone who needed help. He wouldn't leave us. He's a good man."
"Promise?"
I smiled, kissing his forehead. "Promise."
I stood up and turned, ignoring the ache in my chest and watching as Bob was carried into one of the rooms and laid on the couch. "What's going on?" I asked Rick.
He sighed, massaging his temples. "Bob got bit back at the food bank. He's already got a fever, it won't be long now."
"Time for a reality check." Abraham announced. "We all need to leave for DC right now."
I looked at him with disgust. "Daryl and Carol are gonna be back." Rick said. "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."
"You leaving on foot?" Rick asked as they walked away.
Abraham stopped in his tracks and turned around. "We fixed that damn bus ourselves."
Rick started walking towards him. "There are a lot more of us." I rest my hand on my knife, ready to pounce.
"You want to keep it that way? You should come." Both men were getting mad and there was no way this would end well.
Rick got in his face. "Carol saved your life. We saved your life."
"Well, I am trying to save yours! Save everyone's!"
"We're not going anywhere without our people."
"Your people took off."
"They're coming back."
"To what, picked over bones?!"
"You're not taking-" Rick tried to grab him.
"Do not lay hands!"
The two men were glaring at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
"Hey, hey, stop! Now!" Glenn yelled, separating the two men. He looked at Abraham. "Do you really think that you're gonna be any safer leaving right now in the middle of the night?"
"Yeah...yeah." Abraham was fuming.
"What about tomorrow?" Glenn asked. "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." Tara announced, stepping forward. "If you stay just one more day and help, I'll go with you to DC no matter what." Abraham nodded slightly and Tara turned around, confirming the plan with Rick.
"Glenn and Maggie, too." Abraham spoke after a moment of silence.
"No."
"Good luck, then. I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here. Rosita, grab your gear."
"Abraham..."
"Now!" He turned to Eugene. "Eugene, let's go. Eugene. Move it."
"I-I don't want to." He stuttered.
"Now."
"Okay."
They all turned and started leaving when Rick spoke up. "You're not taking the bus."
They all stopped and Abraham turned slowly. "Try to stop me."
Rick stood there silently for a moment, then started walking towards Abraham. Glenn put himself between the two men, one hand on each of their chests. "You stay, you stay and help us, and we will go with you."
"No."
"It's not your call." Glenn shook his head at Rick. He turned back to Abraham. "You stay, help us."
"Half a day." Abraham agreed. I sighed, relieved that a fight didn't break out between the two men. "Come high noon, we're taillights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop."
"And we will leave with you." Maggie spoke up.
Abraham nodded. "12 hours. Then we go." He picked up his gun and walked past Rick. Everyone else dispersed, all of us glad that the issue was solved.
~*~
We were prepping to go hunt Gareth down. Him and the rest of his cannibalistic friends. Abraham didn't think I should go, considering all he'd seen me do was carry a baby. Thought I was a liability. Rick laughed at him. "You just haven't seen her in action yet. She's taken down men bigger than you."
I nodded to Rick, handing him an automatic. "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 spoke.
"Make our move before they do."
"That's right." Rick nodded to Glenn. "They're not counting on us thinking straight."
"Are we?" Rosita asked. "I'm just making sure. It's a big play."
Rick stood up. "Remember what these people are capable of. Tyrese."
"Yeah?"
"You up for this?" Rick asked.
Ty looked up as Sasha emerged from Gabriel's office. "I'm going with you."
"You should stay with Bob."
Sasha shook her head at her brother. "No, I want to be out there. I want to be a part of this." We all went back to our business when Sasha walked back into the office, shortly followed by Tyrese.
I sat in one of the pews, sharpening my knife. I looked up when Maggie approached me and sat next to me. She sighed, resting her head on my shoulder. "You don't believe he actually left you, right? He'll be back."
I shook my head. "He'll be back. He always comes back."
"How do you know?"
"Well, first of all, he knows I'd hunt him down and kill him if he didn't." Maggie and I chuckled. "And earlier today, when him and I were...together, he whispered that he was in love with me. Not just a simple 'I love you'. He's coming back. He has to."