A/N: THIS IS PROBABLY THE LONGEST CHAPTER THAT I'VE WRITTEN! BECAUSE YOU GUYS DESERVE IT! 2013 has been one of the best years of my life. Because of you guys. In 2013, I had been writing for a while. Then, I wondered what it would be like to post on here. To get my writing out there. And I did, and I love every minute of it. I have improved so much in the year. I know some of you guys are just like, "You're not even that good." and that's fine, because I'm definitely still trying to improve. 2014 was amazing and I love you guys for this wonderful year.
Now, here's my announcement. I'm going to try to get at least 2 pages (1,100 words at minimum) each chapter. I just feel like I've been slacking off. And each chapter will be posted sometime at the beginning of the week. This year is going to be even better than last year. AND! I'm going to try to start a new story that is yet ANOTHER Coda fix. I know what y'all are thinking... "But, kammad42, every story that you try to start, you end up never finishing." I'm really gonna try this time, though. ANYWAY... enough with the sentimental crap. HOPE YOU ENJOY! HAPPY READING!
After Rick had made sure Gabriel wasn't armed, he revealed that he had a church that he stayed at all alone. Beth almost scoffed at how long he had made it with no weapons and barely any common sense. It was a miracle he was still here.
Gabriel almost immediately recommended that he take them to his church as a place to stay for a while. Rick sent glances back towards the group and nodded at the man before him, accepting his offer.
The priest wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand and turned, starting the way to the quaint church. "It's not all that far from here," he called. Beth and Daryl both had their fair share of unease when they were around the man. They stuck close to Rick as they walked, staying close to the front of the group. Beth had her hand tightly wrapped around the handle of her crossbow, not even close to trusting Gabriel. For all she knew, five other members of his group could just jump out of the trees at this moment, guns blazing.
Close to the end of the walk, Beth spoke up. "So, how much farther do we need to go until we're at the church?" She was starting to get more and more nervous. Father Gabriel had said that it wasn't that far, and they had been walking for at least an hour now.
"It's just up ahead," he spoke up. A small, sarcastic laugh escaped from his mouth. "Or maybe I'm just leading you into a trap to steal all of your squirrels." Beth glanced over at Daryl who had the mentioned squirrels slung over his shoulder. The whole group slowed their walking until they had stopped in their tracks. Beth and Daryl shared a frantic glance as they both stepped closer to Gabriel, their crossbows tight in their hands.
Gabriel nervously looked back over his shoulder when he didn't hear any footsteps behind him. Once he realized that he had made a mistake, joking about that, he quickly covered himself. "Some of my old friends had said that I was known for my sense of humor."
Beth stepped up next to Rick, Daryl right behind her. "Yep. Got humor drippin' outta your a-" Rick hastily cut off the young blonde.
"Just keep walking, Gabriel." The man nodded to Rick, continuing ahead. Daryl let a soft laugh escape him as Beth had tried to finish that statement. Beth looked over at him, hearing the quiet sound. A small smile dance across her lips as the two shared the silent exchange before following behind Rick again.
The group arrived faster than expected to the quaint church. Beth smiled slightly when she saw it. It reminded her a bit of her old church before the apocalypse.
Rick advised Gabriel to wait outside as the group went into the church. Beth, Daryl, and Rick were all in the front of the group. the couple were flanking Rick, who slowly opened the door with his gun drawn. Beth and Daryl both had their crossbows up and ready to fire as the door opened, revealing the sanctuary in front of them.
All three of them did a scan of the small room and slowly stepped forward into it. Rick looked back and waved in Glenn, Sasha, and Carl. Beth and Daryl signaled to each other from across the room. Daryl checked the other door on the right at the end of the sanctuary, and Beth checked the one on the left. Both lowered their defenses as they found both of the rooms to be empty.
The duo looked at each other across the room to reassure each other that the whole church was empty. Daryl nodded to Rick that everything was okay as he brought everyone in last. The group made themselves semi-comfortable in the church. Gabriel walked into the church last, his expression almost pained as he surveyed the group.
Beth yelled at him from across the room. "Hey, ya got a bathroom anywhere?" Beth almost snorted at her wording. Her daddy would have scolded her if he heard her talk like that. She figured that she was just picking it up from spending so much time with Daryl. Father Gabriel points it out to her and Beth follows his finger to the back of the room.
Gabriel sits in the last wooden pew in the church, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. Daryl observes the rest of the church, coming across a table with an open books. At the top of the book is the word "Genesis." He follows down the rest of the page to see that Gabriel is rewriting the bible.
Daryl scans the small space around the altar and spots empty cans of food. This is how the guy survived, Daryl thought to himself. He kicked one to the side. "How'd ya' get all of these?" Gabriel stands and walks his way, craning his neck to see what he could be talking about. When he sees the empty metal cans, he answers the question with the smallest hesitation.
"It's the leftover donations from the church's annual food bank. Also some from nearby stores. I've cleaned out every place around except one. It's infested with about a dozen… walkers, as you call them."
Beth walks out of one of the back rooms and removes her crossbow from across her back, kicking her feet up into one of the front pews. "What about walkers?" she asks while examining some of her bolts from on her crossbow. She still doesn't completely relax, but is a small bit at ease.
Rick speaks up loudly so the whole group can hear.
"We're already running a bit low on supplies. Me, Sasha, Bob, Michonne, and Gabriel are going to go check out a nearby store that hasn't been scavenged. Glenn, Beth, Tara, and Daryl, I want you guys to go into that small town not far from here that we came across. I think there was a weapons store somewhere in there that I definitely want you guys to get through. We need all of the guns and ammo that we can get. Carl, Tyreese, Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, and William, you guys stay here and hold the fort."
The groups all form throughout the church. Beth puts her bolts back in her crossbow holder and checks the ammo in the pistol on her hip. Only 8 bullets left. She cringes as she stands, draping the crossbow across her non-bitten shoulder, at the lack of ammo.
She walks over to the trio of Glenn, Tara, and Daryl as she holsters her pistol. "How much ammo do we all have?" she asks. They need to be prepared in case they possibly wander into another herd.
The shortened version of the group all go through their weapons quickly, before stopping by Rick to inform him that they were heading out right away. Beth kind of wanted to stay at the church to rest her shoulder a bit.
For the day, she had almost forgotten about the big bomb on her shoulder. It had actually started healing a bit, which was incredible to Beth. She still expected to wake up in the middle of the night, screaming inside of her own mind as she slowly ate out Daryl or Glenn's neck. Daryl kept away the nightmares when they slept next to each other, and she was incredibly grateful for it.
The quartet ventured out of the woods, sticking close to each other. At one point, a walker had wandered near them and picked up their scent from the peaceful midday breeze. Beth had automatically whipped out her pocket knife and shoved it into the young monster's eye socket. She found it extremely difficult taking it out, though. And not because of her shoulder.
Beth pulled with all of her might to try to get the knife out, but in the end, it became jammed. Unable to pull it out, Beth stood. "Well, that's a knife gone to waste. Let's go," she stated. They continued to start forward and stepped out of the woods, facing the small town that Rick mentioned. Right in front of them was the weapons store.
It was decided that Glenn and Daryl would go in while Tara and Beth would stay outside and keep watch. The town was almost empty, and Beth felt silly thinking about the awkward silence between her and Tara. The both had their guns out with the safety on, just in case. Beth had her crossbow slung across her back.
"You were with Glenn and my sister after the prison, right?" Beth had realized that her and Tara had rarely talked before this, and she really wanted a chance to get to know everyone in the whole group, especially if they were all going to DC together to save the world.
"Yeah. Glenn found me not too long after the whole prison thing. I would have died if he didn't come across me. I was with the Governor, as you guys refer to him as, but I didn't know who he really was or what he could do." She looked sympathetically to Beth now. "If I had known that he would cause so much death and destruction, I would have tried to stop him."
Beth smiled warmly at Tara. She knew she would try to talk to her more and try to become better friends with her from now on.
A loud clatter came from inside the abandoned store and the two young women drew their guns, trying to see what had happened in the store. A loud chortle can be heard from inside, making Beth's eyebrows furrow. She exchanges a confused look with Tara before stepping a foot closer to the door.
Daryl comes out of the store first with a quiver of bolts across his back. Glenn steps out next with two plastic bags in his hands.
The girls holster their guns and Daryl hands Beth another quiver full of arrows. She smiles at the added ammo and at how much Glenn has now in his hands. It was a good day today. "What was that noise in the back?" Tara asks, taking half the weight of the bags for Glenn. Daryl suddenly starts snickering besides Beth as Glenn's face flushes.
"I tripped over a mop…" Glenn mumbles. Beth and Tara share a laugh as they all move throughout the rest of the tiny town, happy for the small, light moment.