Chapter Ten: Raw Meat
Eve wiped her sweaty hands on her dirty pants and regripped her bow. She stood beside Glenn, hiding in the trees watching as a group of strangers entered the church.
Eve had never actually stopped being afraid, not since the outbreak began. But she'd never been this afraid. There was so much riding on this plan, and if it didn't work, things would end horribly. But it would work. It had to. Together the group watched the Terminites close the door behind them. Eve saw Rick lick his lips. They were doing exactly what he said they would. On his signal, the group crept forward.
Eve stayed close. Fear was rolling around her, narrowing her vision and quickening her heartbeat until it's all she could hear. When the outbreak began, Eve was scared, just like everyone else, but it was a different kind of fear. The fear that fueled her to make quick decisions, to think logically, the fear that caused her to gain the trust of her companions, making her their leader. Back then, there was nothing left to lose. Back then it was do something and maybe live or do nothing and die painfully. But now there was more to fear than the walkers gnawing on your skin while you died slowly. No, now Eve feared the living. She gulped again as she remembered Bob's grisly tale. Of how he woke up to the face of Terminus's leader, Gareth, chewing on a slab of meat that had come from Bob's leg. Eve had never felt such disgust in her life, such hatred, and such fear. And now Bob was lying on the couch in Gabriel's office, dying from the walker bite he'd revealed to the group. Eve would never forget the devastation of Sasha's face.
The group reached the doors of the church and Rick halted the others as he stopped to listen. Through the wood, Eve could hear Gareth's voice, calling out to the one's left behind. He was taunting them. Eve tensed as Gareth offered Father Gabriel a deal, to reveal the rest of the group and he would spare him and the baby.
"Judith," Gareth crooned, and Eve saw Rick grip his gun. Slowly, he opened the door just as baby Judith let out a long wail. The delight on Gareth's face was visible in the dim lighting as he directed two of his minions to the door Judith, Carl, Bob, Tyrese, Eugene and Gabriel were in. Gabriel had volunteered to stay behind just in case something happened. After seeing him fight with that cross, no one objected to that.
The two minions flanked the door and Rick held up two fingers. He motioned to Abraham and Sasha who pointed their rifles. At his signal they shot two matching holes in the minions' heads. As they slumped to the ground, Gareth looked around wildly, but his arrogance didn't waver until Rick shot off his two fingers. He screamed as his gun flew from his now mutilated hand.
The events that followed rushed past Eve like she wasn't even there. She stood over a man who was kneeling before her, his hands up and his face afraid. But in that moment, her own fear didn't touch her. It was an abstract thing, a thought remembered from long ago. Instead, all she felt was anger. Red, hot anger. These people were no better than the walker's outside. The only difference was that these people knew better. Her hand was steady with her cocked arrow pointed at the man's head. In his eyes, she saw only evil. She would feel no remorse for killing him.
She waited for Rick's cue. The plan was simple. Enter the church, only shoot when told to. These people weren't worth the bullets. They were to be dealt with personally. And Gareth...he was Rick's.
Eve kept her eyes trained on her man while Gareth's voice pleaded desperately at the front of the church. She smiled, grimly satisfied that Gareth was so afraid. Her man's eyes widened in fear when he caught her grin, and Eve's smile grew.
Rick was talking now, and Eve tuned in to the hear him say one last thing, "Besides… I made you a promise." Eve wasn't sure what he meant, but his swift movement followed by Gareth's anguished scream was signal enough for Eve. She locked eyes with her man and smiled one last time.
The arrow shot clean through the man's eye, and she stood there longer than she should have, looking at her kill. She'd killed people since the whole thing started, but this was the first time it'd been so close, so brutal. This was an execution. Eve glanced around. Everyone else taking their time killing the Terminites. Rick, especially. He was hacking away wildly with a red handled machete and when Eve looked at the pile of raw meat that used to be Gareth, she felt bile rise in her throat.
Father Gabriel came out of the back office, his sharpened crucifix in his hand. He surveyed the dead bodies and looked on solemnly. He put a calming hand on Rick's shoulder. Rick was still standing over the body he'd just mutilated, his quiet panting audible in the stillness. He patted Gabriel's hand in thanks and walked down the aisle and outside.
Eve, Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Abraham, Rosita, Sasha and Michonne watched as Gabriel filled his vile with holy water and began blessing the dead. No one protested.
…
That night Eve found it hard to sleep. Though she was exhausted, every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Gareth's bloody remains, her arrow piercing the eye of the man she'd killed, and Bob's bloody stump. Before they had all gone to sleep, the group had each said goodbye to Bob. His fever was up, and everyone knew it wouldn't be long.
Eve hardly knew the man, she'd met him only today, but when she knelt before him, he'd taken her hand and smiled softly.
"Thank you," he'd said. "For saving us from Terminus. We didn't even know you, and you saved us. Please, don't let them forget that. Don't let them forget that there are still good people in the world."
Eve clenched her teeth at the memory. After what happened tonight, she wasn't sure what 'good' meant anymore. She shifted on the hard pew. After Father Gabriel had blessed the dead bodies the group had tossed them outside. They didn't bother to burn them. "It will just attract more walkers," Rick had said. "Leave them to rot." Eve's stomach squirmed. She wasn't kidding when she'd told Carl she used to be a vegetarian. It had taken her a long time to start hunting after the fall, even after she became an expert with the bow. It had taken near starvation in the middle of winter for her to be able to stomach the fresh meat again, and even then she'd had to choke it down. Thinking of Gareth's body may have turned her off of meat again for a long while.
Eve shut her eyes again and tried not to think of Daryl. Bob had said the Terminites had seen him and Carol drive away in a car. Putting her jealousy aside, Eve was just worried about them. She didn't know what they were up to...she had no idea if she would see either of them again. Rick was sure they would come back. She clung to that thought as she slowly drifted to sleep.
...
In the morning a group left for Washington DC. Eve had missed the big talk last night where Abraham had tried to convince the group that Eugene was some kind of genius with a cure for walkerism, but she got the gist of it when he and Rick butted heads over whether to stay and fight the Terminites last night, or to flee in the newly repaired church bus. Though she'd just met them, she was sad to see Maggie, Glenn and Tara go. She didn't think it was wise to split up the group like this, but Rick okayed it and no one objected.
You're not the leader here, she reminded herself. Just worry about yourself. But it was hard looking at Tara's sweet young smile, and Glenn and Maggie's obvious love for each other. She had a bad feeling about them leaving, and if she'd learned anything from Terminus, it was that her bad feelings were usually right. She thought about objecting, but saw the crazy gleam in Abraham's eyes. There would be no convincing that one, and it was clear Rosita and Eugene would follow him to the ends of the earth. So she kept quiet and watched them drive away in the early morning sun.
The day passed in a weird way. There was much worry over Daryl and Carol, speculation on whether any Terminites were left out there, the burying of Bob…
Eve stood guard through most of it, having no real purpose within the group. She climbed on the roof of the church accompanied by her bow and binoculars. Things were mostly pretty quiet. She brought down a few stray walkers as they ambled through the trees, but other than that, she saw only birds and squirrels. No car. No Daryl. No Carol.
As night fell she climbed down and found Michonne sitting alone on the church's steps She was holding her sword and staring at it, lost in thought. Eve sat down beside her.
"You know," Michonne said, still looking at her sword. "I used to do fencing in high school. All state champion two years running. My boyfriend used to tease me...he'd say, I'd better be careful around you, Michonne, I've seen you with a sword." She chuckled softly. "He was a good man. Even in the end, when I hated him more than I've ever hated anything...he was still a good man." She looked over at Eve, her eyes shining. "This is the sword I used on him, after he turned. I was almost happy I lost it."
Eve didn't know what to say. She watched Michonne twisting the sword hilt in her hand absently.
"How'd you come to be so good at that?" Michonne asked after a few moments, pointing at Eve's bow.
Surprised, Eve hesitated. She'd never really talked about this before. It was...private. But she looked over at Michonne and realized Michonne had just told her something private too. She took a deep breath.
"I didn't know a thing about using a bow before," Eve said. She held out the old green hunting bow and examined it. "Never even touched one. But after everything happened, I went home. I grew up in Elmerton, a small town just outside of Atlanta." Eve laughed humorlessly, "I must have been the only crazy soul actually trying to leave the city. But I just had to see if my mother was okay, you know? She lived alone, and things hadn't gone completely to hell yet, but they were getting there. All the phone lines were down, and I couldn't just leave her. But by the time I got there…" Eve blinked a few times, clearing her mind of those painful memories. "She'd been bit somehow. Just a single bite on her arm. But of course, that was enough. She'd turned and when I got there, she was...eating the cat."
Michonne's face shone with sympathy.
"I stayed at my house for a while...not really sure what to do. My parents got divorced a while ago, and my dad took all of his hunting gear with him. Or so I thought. I found this in the basement, " Eve held up the bow. "It was his old one, I guess. But I started to practice with it. I'd sit on the roof and shoot down walkers as they got close. I was horrible at first, but then it got easier. I got better."
Michonne nodded. "I used to-" She was cut off by a rustling in the trees. Both she and Eve tensed and stood. Michonne unsheathed her sword in one fluid motion, while Eve cocked an arrow. Together they approached the rustling.
Out of the woods a figure emerged. "Daryl," Eve breathed, utterly relieved.
"Where's Carol," Michonne said, once she realized he was alone.
Daryl hesitated. He looked over his shoulder at someone neither woman could see. "Come on out," he said.