Chapter 4
Maggie broke all contact to Glenn and Sasha. She did not want to have anything to do with them. The whole group seemed to be pissed at Glenn's actions as well, but couldn't allow constant anger within the group. They had enough problems, like running low on water, bullets and food.
Maggie, Gareth and Daryl came back from a search for water.
"How long do we have still?" asked Maggie. Her eyes were wet from the recent negative experiences.
"About sixty miles" replied Gareth.
"I wasn't asking about that" said Maggie.
Some time later
The group was walking down the road. The van that they have used the last three weeks ran out of gas in the middle on the road.
Gareth, Father Gabriel and Maggie were walking close to each other. The priest was making jokes about his collar and hair shirts.
"I know what a hair shirt is. My daddy was religious. I used to be" explained the farmers daughter.
After that Gabriel tried to comfort Maggie, by offering her to talk to him about her father and Beth.
"You didn't know them" she said, to both the priest and Gareth.
"Yeah, but I know the-" started Gareth, but Maggie interrupted him.
"You don't know shit. You promised people a safe place, but killed them like cattle and ate them like it was nothing" said Maggie.
"Actually-" started Gareth again, but Maggie kept talking.
"Don't try to change the truth. And you" she pointed at Father Gabriel "should have helped those people of your town. Instead you locked the doors and left them to die. Don't you two act like those things never happened"
Both kept they're mouth shut.
Soon the group came across some abandoned cars. They started to check if there was anything in them. Food, water, bullets, anything. Maggie and Gareth checked a white car.
Gareth was looking if for anything in the front, while Maggie checked the trunk.
Gareth walked over to Maggie
"Nothing in there. Do you found anything?" asked Gareth the young woman.
Maggie was just standing there.
"There is one in the trunk. I closed it but it is still there" she said with a sobbing voice.
Gareth opened it and there was a gagged, female walker in the trunk. She must have been kidnapped by someone. And after the car broke down or ran out of gas, the kidnaper left the his victim to suffocate or starve. And she turned. Gareth stabbed the undead, releasing it from it from it's misery.
Ten minutes later
The group was sitting on the road. Tara, Gareth, Maggie, Eugene, Father Gabriel, Kaylee and Rosita were sitting together in a circle. Tara, Rosita and Kaylee were commenting on Abraham's drinking.
"It just makes things worse" says Kaylee. She was holding hands with Tara. Apparently the two have hooked up.
"He knows" answers Rosita.
"I don't know if things can even get worse" said Eugene.
"They can" explained Rosita.
That's when four dogs came from the bushes. The looked starved and vicious. They barked. Everyone grabbed something; a knife or a gun. Within seconds silent gunshots killed the dogs. It was Sasha with her riffle.
The group barbequed the dogs and ate them. Father Gabriel threw his collar into the fire.
After eating they went on an other search for water. Maggie and Gareth were sent to search in the east.
"Maggie, you have drink something" said the former cannibal, offering some water from his bottle. There wasn't much left.
"I don't know if I can continue anymore. What have I left? My father and sister are dead, killed by psychopathic people and my husband cheated on me with my friend. So why would I waste valuable recources?"
"Maggie look, you are devastated and you have lost a lot, but you still have a group that cares about you and you can have-"
"What can I have? A family? A better life? There are no such things in this world now like hope or better times! Things only get worse!" she shouts.
"Look, I have lost everything as well. I lost my most of my family and friends one the same day, everyone but Kaylee, so I know how you feel and I don't sob and cry around like a little bitch!" he says, with an angry tone in his voice.
"That's because you're nuts! You're a sadistic, manipulative and psychopathic asshole that likes to lure people into traps and eat them! I wonder sometimes why does Rick not have killed you yet! We are not the same!" she shouts back, but breaks down. She falls into his embrace and buries her face in his shoulder.
"Shhh. Maggie, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to call you a bitch." He buries his nose in to her hair. She's hot, said an voice in his head as he did this and inhales her scent.
"Sorry for calling you an asshole! You are all of the other things I said, but not an asshole" she explains as she looks up to him.
The two of them looked for a moment. Then it happened the two kissed. Maybe it was the head and lack of water messing with their heads or just the fact, that they were lonely. It lasted a few seconds, then he broke of.
"Sorry" he mumbled.
"It's my fault as much it was yours" replies Maggie.
They two continued, but did find nothing, again. They also tried not to think about the kiss.
"Dehydration is not a funny way to go" said Gareth to Maggie, as they were going back to their "camp".
Maggie did not reply.
Back at the camp Rick tells them, that Daryl found a barn, where they could spend the night. They also came across some water bottles with a note. "From a friend" it said. They didn't trust it. People play a lot of nasty tricks these days in order to survive, Gareth new that after all. That's when it started to rain. It was like a gift from God.
After settling in the barn that Daryl found
Rick was talking to his group about how they survive. He had a long talk about his grandfather and how he survived the war against the germans, how he already thought that he was dead.
"…We are the walking dead" he finishes his speech.
Everybody listened and went after that to sleep.
During the night, when there was a storm out there, walkers approached the barn. Everybody woke up and helped keeping the doors closed. Everybody but Judith, of course. They succeeded.
The next morning
Maggie woke up and was staring right into Judith's large, innocent eyes. Rick was holding his baby-daughter.
She then looked around. Everyone was sleeping, but Daryl who was on watch.
"Hey Gareth, wake up" she said to the young man. She had thought about this for a while.
"Hmmm? What?"the former leader of Terminus mumbled sleepy as he woke up.
"Gareth, come. I want to see the sun rise" she explained.
"Alright, coming" said Gareth. He was already awake, so what did he have to loose.
Both of them grabbed their handguns: his was a Beretta 92FS and hers a Smith&Wesson Model 327-revolver.
They left the barn and walked a couple of hundred yards, to a small field.
They looked as the sun rose slowly.
"I used to look at them as they rose every Sunday" she starts "with Beth and my adoptive-brother Shawn"
Gareth didn't know what to say. Was she going to break down once again?
"
"You said I can have a better life yesterday. And I want to have one, really, I want to move on. With you"
"What?" he asked.
"You were there for me, when I had no one. Tried to make things better, comfort me, kissed me.." she starts to smile "You pulled away, but I noticed you tried to use tongue before you pulled of. I actually liked it"
Gareth wasn't able to comment, when her lips came on his mouth. He was confused for a moment, but replied then. His tongue came to demand to enter her mouth, and she let him in. He had felt something towards her, she was a pretty woman about his age. He had stared at her a few times and maybe had some fantasies, but did not except that she felt the same way.
The two of them layed down on the grass and kept doing. He broke the kiss and went down her body. He was at her pants and started to pull them down her legs. She moans as he kisses her thighs, and he is about to pull of her knickers. That's when reality came back to him.
"Maggie, we can't" he says.
"Why not? Is there something wrong with me?" asked Maggie, looking confused.
"No. God no. You're perfect. But what happens if you end up pregnant or a walker ambushes us? We should have if we find a safe and private place. And we should have protection"
Maggie looked at him. He was right. She pulled her pants back up.
"Gareth, I think I love you" she says after that.
Gareth looked at her. Was she serious? He didn't knew what he should say.
"I think I love you, too" he replies. He isn't sure if that is true, but he could find out.
"So, I guess we're dating now" she says.
"Hhmm" he replies. Then they kissed again. They were not sure how long, but they were interrupted by someone else this time.
"Good morning" said a male voice behind them.
Maggie and Gareth turned around and saw a man, maybe in his late 20's or early 30's standing there. He was well dressed, looked clean and shaven. Both of them pulled out they're guns.
"Hey don't shoot! I get it, stranger-danger, right? My name is Aaron. I need to talk to the person in charge, Rick , right?"
"How do you know his-" Gareth starts, but Maggie interrupts him, again.
"Why?"
"I have good news"
So, they're together now. It was kinda rushed, but so was Gareth's lifespan in the show. Alexandira is not far!
