Ch. 27

Gabriel had given Sophia a service outside of his church. Sam had dug the grave with Carol. She had been silent through the entire thing, though Sam could feel her glaring at the back of his skull as they reached six feet.

The Service had been brief, but nice. As nice as a funeral could be. There was no eulogy, no one wanted to say anything, no could say anything. Sophia was a kind girl, and brave if her death had anything to say about it, foolish, but brave.

They had left soon after, not wanting to stay where so much blood had been shed and buried. Sam shared a vehicle with the Father, Beth, and Merle. He drove and Merle rode shotgun with and actual shotgun. Noah had wanted to ride with them, but he was instead taken in the lead vehicle with Rick, Michonne, Ty, and Carl.

Carol rode in the middle vehicle with Abraham, Rosita, Glenn, Maggie, Tara, and Sasha. Sam had driven for the first few days of the trip, managing to stay awake for the first two day stretch that they had driven. They were in central South Carolina, with minimal difficulties, mainly a Herd of Walkers that they needed to avoid, and a hunt that Daryl and Merle conducted.

On the third day of the trip Merle drove and Sam rested in the backseat getting some of the best rests that he had gotten in weeks. The blissful dreamless sleep was therapeutic to him, simply being able to check out for a few hours, nothing required or expected. It was beautiful.

He woke up when Merle slammed on the breaks and the was thrown forward against the seats in front of him.

"Ah, what the fuck Merle?" He shouted sitting up.

"Wake up Paddy Reilly!"

"We there?"

Merle snorted. "You wish! Nah, we need to find some fuel, Rick's is almost gone ad we got the most fuel. I volunteered us."

"How kind of you." Sam noticed that the rest of the car was empty meaning that they were already on their way to get gas. "Was everyone alright with you jus' taking me on a run while I was asleep?"

"'course! Though Blondie did make a bit of a fuss."

Sam sighed and rubbed the last bit of sleep from his eyes. "You took off before anyone could say anything didn't you?"

"You know me so well."

They came across a gas station with surprisingly very few cars in the lot. Sam and Merle strode up to the cars casually, their weapons held loosely in their hands, but their heads were still on swivel. There were only three cars and one was burnt to a husk with a body still in the driver seat charred and covered in flies. The other cars were in decent shape, only the rust and dried blood were the only indication of something wrong. Well that ad the complete abandonment of the place.

The gas station itself was simple, four two-sided gas pumps, and a small store where people could buy snacks for the road. The windows were smashed and dry blood covered them, but Sam thought that there still might be something in there.

"Check the store, I'll look for gas in the cars," Merle ordered the young Irishmen.

Sam complied, not seeing any reason to complain and made is way to the smashed window of the store. He tapped his sword against the metal frame of the store and waited. One second… two… three… clear. He entered the small shop, careful not to drop his guard, and began looking though the mostly empty shelves of snack foods. He found a few unopened potato chip packets and two bottles of something that had been near and dear to his heart for years. Guinness. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Merle was still gathering gas from the cars and pumps, so he opened his back pack and carefully wrapped the beers in his shirts s that they would be semi-protected, and not make too much noise.

He walked back out and Merle had just finished the syphoning.

"Anything?"

"Few bags of chips, nothing else really. How much gas?"

"Decent 'mount. Should get up to North Carolina." Merle paused and looked at the Irishmen. "You doing alight?"

"Sure."

"Come on Paddy. I mean really. Are you alright?"

"I—" Sam paused and took a shuddered breath. "No. It was my—"

"Fuck that Sam! It wasn't your fault! You did everything you could to save those girls!"

"But I only saved one! Sophia didn't deserve to die! I should have been smarter, I shouldn't have opened the door, I shou—"

Merle swung his fist and Sam backed away quickly dodging the fist. "Goddamn it! Paddy don't play that game! You think that cop bitch was gonna let Sophia go, then you're even more stupid then I thought! Jesus kid wake up!"

"So, what? I should jus' forget about it? Jus' forget about the girl that I got killed?"

"No! You remember her. You remember her every day, and you make sure that you don't ever let that happen again."

"Guess I'm jus' not like you Merle."

"Good. Don't be. I'm a piece of shit kid, and I've done some messed up shit. Don't be me, but you gotta remember that you're human."

They had decided to pull into an abandoned motel for the night staying on the second floor and barricading the stair entrances. Where Sam would have usually felt safe in such a place all he felt was bitter regret. He lugged his and Beth's things into a room while Daryl managed to climb onto the roof and stood on over watch.

Bastard had curled up on a couch and was already sleeping blissfully. Most of the others were doing the same, though based on the sounds coming from Abraham and Rosita's room, as well as Glenn and Maggie, not everyone was eager to get to sleep.

Sam put his rifle so that it was resting on the night stand, and took a seat on the bed. The springs squeaked lightly as he put his weight on the bed but he groaned as it was the softest bed he had in a while. He heard the springs squeak again and the weight of the bed shifted.

"You alrigh'?" Sam asked Beth softly. "I know I didn't really ask you about—

"I'm fine. I had it planned out, somewhat. I wanted his guard down. Just like you taught me."

Sam smiled a bit, and popped his neck before he laid on the bed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you—"

"Don't," she said quickly, "Please? I know already, but, I don't want to hear you say it. I know you Samuel Conall. You'd never do anything to hurt me, and if you'd have known about those guys waiting for us, you'd have never left my side."

Sam put pressure on Sophia's wound, but the blood kept overflowing. Sophia screaming in pain and begging him to help her, but he didn't know what to do. Gut shots weren't treatable, and she was already going into shock.

He looked around the hospital for anyone that might be able to help him, but the hall was empty. Sophia cried and cried, but there was simply nothing that Sam could do. He felt tears sting his eyes and he let out a roar in frustration. He wasn't a medic, he wasn't a doctor, he didn't know first aid for bullet wounds. He was…

"You're a killer," Sophia said softly. "You killed me."

And Sam woke up screaming.

AN: Hey guys! So, my family is alright, thank God! I'll be trying to get back to regular updates, but college is getting a bit busy right now, so be warned that there might be some down time between updates. But, if you guys want to read something Zombie related while you are waiting and then check out my other account on FictionPress! Please? It has Sam and a few other characters that I love and created so check it out, The Old World by D.A. Silva. Anyway, so here's the next one, they will start being longer once I get back into the swing of writing stories and not essays, so keep that in mind. I will see you all next time! Review and heck out my other story on FictionPress! ~Pacco1