It's dark out now and we finally set up camp in the middle of the woods. We had been walking almost nonstop for a while before we found the place we are sitting at. The walking has been tough on all of us, especially because we know that we have a lot more walking to do.
I feel Claire's head rest against my shoulder and I wrap my arm around her side, pulling her closer. I adjust myself so that i'm in a more comfortable position against the tree me and Claire are leaning against and lay my on top of my sisters. I stare into the fire in front of us and see that beyond it Carl is smiling at me. I give him a small smile and he gets up to sit next to me.
"Hey" he whispers.
"Hey" I whisper back, trying not to wake Claire. "Where's Judith?" I ask.
"She's with my dad" he says nodding his head to our right. I glance that way to see Rick laying in the group with baby Judith on top of him.
"That's cute" I whisper.
I can see Carl smile through the corner of my eye. "Yeah, I guess so" he whispers.
"So..." I whisper awkwardly
"How's Claire?" the boy blurts.
I smile a bit. "Good I guess. I just hate that I have no idea what she went through out there, that I couldn't protect her" I explain.
"I understand but I'm sure Carol and Tyreese kept her safe." he whispers.
"Yeah I know. I just wish she didn't have to endure this. She's just so young."
Carl nods, "I wish Judith got to grow up normally like you and I did. Both her and Claire deserve to have the childhood all of us had."
I nod and the both of us just stare off into the fire, not knowing what to say. After a while I feel myself start to drift off and I lay my head onto the boy's shoulder like Claire is doing on mine. I feel the boy's arm wrap around me and then I peacefully fall asleep for the first time in a while.
I follow the rest of the group down a trail in the woods, on hand place firmly on my new machete and my eyes focused on the forest around us.
I hear the snap of a stick next to the trail and I turn my head along with the rest of the group. I hear the sound of multiple guns being loaded and me without a gun, pulls my machete in ready to attack mode.
"We surrender!" my dad exclaims with his hands held up as he walks into the clearing.
I release a sigh of relief and let my machete fall to my side. I nudge my dad as he walks past me to join Rick and whisper, "You scared the hell out of me, asshole."
"That's what I do best." my dad whisper back, hitting me in the face with a dead squirrel.
"Keep close" Rick whistled at us as he lead us down the narrow path.
"Excuse me" I smiled at Michonne as I slipped past her to get to the boy a couple people ahead of me.
I squeezed myself next to the boy and matched his pace. "What's up Sheriff?" I ask.
Carl turns his head to look at me and gives me a quick smile, "Not much Trashmouth. How about you?"
"Oh just the usual, walking and trying to find people who might've been stalking us last night." I respond jokingly.
Carl chuckles a bit and it makes me smile. Strangely, I really liked making the boy laugh. For some reason it just made me really happy.
"I know right, life is just so boring!" Carl says, adding onto the joke.
"Who the hell just said life was boring?" I hear Glenn say from behind us.
I turn around and start walking backwards. "This guy right here" I say pointing at Carl
Carl turns his head around and swats my hand away. "It was a joke! and anyway she started it!" Carl exclaims.
"Oh shut up, asshole" I say as I playfully push the boy.
Carl give me a smirk before he pushes me back which makes me stumble to the side a bit.
"Oh it's on!" I exclaim. I turn back around to face Carl I push him, this time a lot harder than before. Carl takes a few steps back because of the strength of my push before walking over and trying to push me again but this time I'm ready. I jump out of the way causing Carl's hands to miss me completely.
Carl's shoves his hands out a second time in hopes to finally push me over but I jump away again except this time it isn't as successful. As I land my foot lands on a stick causing me my legs to fly out from under me and my backside to hit the ground.
"Carl! Look what you did to the poor girl!" I hear Maggie say from next to Glenn.
"You really swept her off her feet Carl" Glenn laughs as he gives Maggie a wink.
"Ha ha. Very funny" I say as I wipe the dirt off my legs in front of me.
Carl extends his hand out to pull me up, "I'm so sorry Finn."
I take his hand in mine and let him lift me to my feet. "It's alright, sherriff" I say with a laugh.
"Hey Finn! You good?" my dad asks from near the front of the line that has now stopped for me.
"Yeah of course. It was just a little tumble" I wink at the group.
"Okay. Let's keep moving then" Rick says with a smile.
But before any of us can take a step further a man's voice echoes through the trees, "Help! Help me!"
Rick puts his hand up, telling us to be cautious. We didn't know what was happening out there but I knew we couldn't help. We had already risked enough.
"Dad! We have to help him!" Carl exclaims, breaking the silence, "Dad please! Come on!" Rick nods at his son and leads us all into the woods to who knows what kind of danger.
I still hear the frantic screaming as we run through the woods.
at least we know he's still alive
The cries for help start to get louder and louder as we draw near. I jump over a stick, my hand placed on my machete and I enter the clearing. There's a man in a black suit on top of a rock, surrounded by walkers trying to claw their way up to him. Carl takes the first shot, hitting the walker in the center in the back of its decaying head.I then grab the next walker by its shirt and slide the machete up into the walker's brain from below its chin.
I turn around to see the group flooding in, each one of them taking on a walker. Once, all the walker's are dead Rick yells, "All clear! Keep watch!" I nod at our leader and turn myself towards the strange man on the rock. He looks so scared for some reason, almost as if he's never seen walkers before.
"You can come on down" Rick tells the man. The man slowly makes his way off the rock all while shaking like a little wet dog the old rich people used to have. "You okay?" Rick asks the man.
The man nods and hold up one finger before throwing up on the ground near my feet . Thankfully, I jump away from the vomit before it can reach my shoes. The man wipes his mouth and stands up to face Rick. "Ah yes. Thank you. I'm Gabriel" the man mutters.
Rick, completely ignoring Gabriel's response says, "Do you have any weapons?"
The man lets out a laugh and looks around at our group, "Does it look like I would have any weapons?"
"We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like" Abraham interjects.
The man sighs, "I don't have any weapons of any kind. The word of God is the only protection I need."
"Sure don't look like it." my dad says.
I chuckle a bit, "How the hell does 'The word of God' protect you anyway?"
The man thinks for a second before answering, "I called for help, help came."
I give Carl a "This-is-your-fault" look and all he does is roll his eyes before turning his attention back to the strange man.
"Do you have...have any food?" the man mumbles, "Whatever I had left. It just hit the ground."
The man looks over at me with a smile, as if I would be the one to give him the food. Instead of smiling back I give "Gabriel" a hard glare which causes him to quickly turn his head away from my gaze. I didn't trust this man at all. No one could survive out here without weapons.
"We've got some pecans." Carl tells Gabriel as he extends his hand that's filled with pecans.
Gabriel graciously takes the pecans, "Thank you"
From behind Rick Juith lets out a soft coo which causes Gabriel's attention to be focused on the baby.
"That's a beautiful child" he says quite creepily which causes everyone to just stand there, staring at the man.
"Do you have a camp?" Gabriel says, breaking the awkward silence.
"No. Do you?" Rick responds immediately.
Gabriel looks around at all of us once again, "I have a church."
Rick obviously fed up with the man's bullshit says, "Hold you hands above your head."
Gabriel follows Rick's instructions and puts his hands up in surrender. Rick then pats the man's sides checking for any weapons. When he finishes he takes a step back from the man and asks, "How many walkers have you killed?"
Gabriel chuckles, "Not any, actually."
"Turn around" Rick says as he moves the man around. "How many people have you killed?" he continues.
"None"
Rick stands up, startled at his response, "Why?"
"Because the lord abhors violence" he tells Rick.
"What have you done?" Rick whispers, "We've all done something"
Gabriel thinks for a minute, "I'm a sinner. I sin almost everyday but those sins, I confes them to God. Not strangers."
"Hey, You said you had a church" Michonne says next to me.
"Hey, earlier, were you watching us?" Rick asks Gabriel.
""I keep to myself. Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead don't you think?" Garbriel says as he leads us down a path in the woods.
"No, people are worse" my dad adds.
Damn right
"Well I wasn't watching you. I haven't been past the stream by my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today." Gabriel pauses a minute before rambling again, "Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe there's no church at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels."
We all stare at the strange man in confusion as he stops in front of us. We form a little circle around the man and I make sure to keep Claire as far away from the man as possible.
"Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humor had much to be desired." Gabriel tells us as he slowly walks backwards.
"Sure does" I tell him sarcastically.
Gabriel starts walking again so naturally we all follow. He eventually leads us into a clearing with a small white church in the middle. It had a nice little red roof and a small church bell on top. It honestly couldn't look more innocent.
"Hold up. Can we take a look around first?" We just want to hold onto our squirrels." Rick tells Gabriel as he walks up towards the doors. Gabriel hands him the keys and Rick unlocks the door.
A couple of us file into the small church to take a quick sweep of the place. I go pew to pew checking for any signs of weapons or destrese but I can't seem to find anything. When I make it to the last pew I meet Rick in front of the stain glass windows and Rick lets out a quick whistle, letting the rest of the group know that we are safe, for now at least.
xxx
i didn't really know how to end this chapter so uh here you go.
also i've been super busy with school and volleyball recently so i may start posting less and less :(