I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
wood21: Scott is about to get some karma for what he did to Ezekiel and all those people in Terminus :)
Dr Changer: I'm glad you liked the chapter! I'm looking forward to write this scene :)
Brendan: Scott is about to get some karma for what he did to Ezekiel and all those people in Terminus. Some of TD character might end up getting their own vehicles. After all, Duncan owned a motorcycle for a while and Chef and Chris owned a truck for most of this story before it was lost in the prison battle :)
ThEndymam: I'm glad you liked the chapter! You'll find out if Ezekiel will live or die very soon. :)
Bob wished he could be anywhere else but here now. He wished he wasn't caught by the remains of Gareth's and Scott's group when he was leaving his group. He wished he could be more careful when he was walking out of the church, maybe then Ezekiel's wouldn't be put in danger. He wasn't told by Gareth and Scott what happened to the homeschool, but he knew it wasn't anything pleasant, because Ezekiel was right behind him when he was knocked out. He knew they wouldn't leave him alive.
Gareth was saying something to him, but he wasn't paying much attention to it, because his attention was focused on the other people around him. Scott, Rachel and Norm and a few people has never seen before were all feasting on his leg, chewing on the piece of meat they were holding in their hands as if it was a normal meat, as if it didn't came from his leg.
"...It's probably pretty stupid to be here." Gareth's voice rang through Bob's ears once he started paying attention to what the leader of the people around him was saying to him, "Dangerous. I don't know, maybe not. You can see the threat. That's something. Looking at them makes me feel better about things. My mom used to say that every day above ground was a win. Doesn't really apply anymore, but... you can still get some perspective..."
Bob lifted his gaze up when Gareth got up from his spot in front of him and walked over to the building next to them which was filled with the undead. The walkers were banging against the window of the said, wanting to free themselves from their prison, with the intention of eating the people who set up a camp next to the bulding they were trapped in."
"The glass is gonna break sooner or later." Gareth continued as he pressed his hand against the window, looking at the walkers which were banging against the window, attempting to break it into the pieces, "Nothing lasts too long anymore. You know, we marked our way here so that we could find our way back after." He turned away from the window and looked at Bob again, shrugging his shoulders, "So stupid, right? I mean... back to what?"
He made his way back to Bob and knelt down in front of him. He set his gaze on the black skinned man in front of him and shook his head. He pulled out his knife and stabbed it into the ground, "It wasn't just a trap. It was gonna be a choice. You join us or feed us. You know... bears... when they start to starve, they eat their young. If the bear dies, the cub dies anyway. But if the bear lives, it can always have another cub. That was part of the pitch. You know, Greg, Alan, Theresa and Mike came this close to nabbing that grey-haired queen bitch who along with the asian looking bitch killed my mom. She drove away with the archer and the mohawk. Greg saw them pull away. Can't wait to try her. I like women better. Most of us do. My brother Alex has- also currently dead because of Rick- he had a theory that it was because of the extra layer of fat that women have, you know, for childbearing. Even the skinny girls have it. Like that pretty one Sasha? I think pretty people taste better, too. We're going to get all of them, maybe except Ezekiel who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and Scott had to take care of him. But for starters, you'll do just fine. We did a good job on your leg. We've had practice. When we started, it was about making it slow."
It was when Bob started to react to what was happening around him after a few minutes of staring at everything with completely blank expression on his face. Gareth shook his head at it, completely unbothered by it as he saw it coming the moment Bob realized what happened to his missing leg. He took a bite from his piece of meat as Bob, much to his suprise bursted into laughter, instead of bursting into tears, like many other people would.
"I'm being a human being here. I'm talking to you." Gareth said to Bob who proceeded to laugh, his laugh becoming louder with each passin second. The rest of Gareth's group seemed to be confused by his laughing just as much as their leader was, because they started to gather around him, "Perspective, Bob. You're above ground. At least you're better off than them."
Bob just continued to laugh as the people around him just stared at him in confusion, not knowing how to response to what Bob was doing right now. All of the slowly came to the same realization. Bob had lost it and it was how he was showing it.
Norm took a bite from his piece of meat, "He lost it."
Mike shrugged, "Can you blame him?"
Norm shook his head, "Not really."
"Lasted longer than I thought he would." Rachel stated, glancing down at Bob.
Bob was barely able to contain his laugher when he looked up at Gareth, "You... you idiots."
"Okay, keep it down." Gareth ordered Bob to shush, making a gesture with his hand.
"I can shut him up." Martin offered as Bob ignored Gareth's order and continued to laugh.
"I second that." Scott agreed with Martin, "His laugh will only bring the undead right to us."
Bob moved a piece of his clothing away from his shoulder, revealing a nasty bite to the people feasting on his leg, "I've been bitten you stupid pricks! I'm tainted meat! You're eating tainted meat!"
Gareth's and Scott's group reacted to this revelation exactly the way Bob wanted them to, which only made him laugh harder at their expense, enjoying every second of watching their reactions. Gareth got up from his kneeling position, looking at Bob in pure disbelief as if his mind was processing this information as Scott stuck fingers into his mouth, to make himself vomit everything he had just eaten. The rest of their group proceeded to spit and vomit out the meat they've been eating for the past several minutes.
"Let's just kill him now." Martin stepped towards Bob with his knife out, ready to kill Bob as Scott vomited all over the ground, getting rid of all the meat he had just eaten.
"No." Gareth stopped Martin from killing Bob, "We need him."
Greg threw his piece of meat on the ground and looked at Gareth, "We might as well be eating one of them."
"What the hell's gonna happen?" Albert asked, panic evident in his voice, "Are we gonna turn? Are we just gonna die?"
"That's it! I'm cutting my tongue out! I'm doing it!" Alan shouted in pure panic, reaching for his knife, "I'm gonna do it before it spreads. I ain't going to be no deadie!"
"Are you crazy, Alan?" Rachel asked Alan, looking at him as if he had just grown second head, "It doesn't make any sense! You can't cut out your stomach can you?"
"Alan, Albert, calm the hell down." Gareth looked around his group, trying to calm all of them down, "We cooked him. Everything is gonna be fine."
Theresa glared at Scott who just finished vomiting on the ground, "Why the hell didn't you check him first?"
"That was Martin's job!" Scott shouted as he glared at Theresa, wiping his lips with his hands, "I was busy taking care of the other guy!"
"He looked fine!" Martin shouted in his defense.
"Tainted meat!" Bob shouted as loudly as he could, keeping his bitten shoulder uncovered.
Gareth glared down at Bob, "Shut up."
"You eating tainted meat!" Bob screamed, even louder than before, looking up at Gareth.
"Shut up!" Gareth repeated himself as he kicked Bob in chest, knocking him out.
The group, which now consisted of a few less people, continued to enjoy their dinner at the church, unaware of what just happened to Bob and Ezekiel just meters away from their shelter. Everyone stopped what they were doing and they turned around when the entrance to the church was open and Izzy and Noah rushed in, the former holding unconscious Ezekiel in her arms. The two of them along with Rick, Tyreese, Sasha, Trent, Harold and Geoff went out to look for Ezekiel, Bob, Duncan, Daryl and Carol who haven't been seen by them for quite sometime right now a moment earlier and immediately saw wounded Ezekiel leaning against a tree.
"Ezekiel!" Bridgette gasped once she saw Ezekiel in Izzy's arms, "Oh my God!"
"What the hell happened?" Glenn asked, getting himself back on his feet.
"We don't know." Noah shook his head, his normally stoic expression replaced by the one of worry. Worry for his friend, "We just found him outside bleeding out against a tree after we went out to search for him after he didn't return for a few minutes."
"Bridgette!" Izzy called out for the surfer, Ezekiel's blood staining her clothes,"Is he going to be okay?"
Bridgette quickly made her way to them and eyed the state Ezekiel was in. She sighed. It was pretty bad to say the least. Ezekiel had already lost a lot of blood if he was out there bleeding for the last few minutes and she had no idea how much internal he could have suffered because of his wound. The chances of saving him, with the little medical supplies their group had, were slim to none, but she will still try to save him.
"Get him to Gabriel's room." Bridgette told Izzy as she shifted her gaze from Ezekiel as the orange haired woman, "I'll get all the medical supplies we have and start tending his wounds."
Izzy nodded her head and quickly made her way into Gabriel's room, with Noah quickly following them into the said room. Izzy laid Ezekiel down on the sofa in the room, making sure to be as careful as she could, she and Noah looking down at their wounded friend in worry. Bridgette rushed into the room a few seconds later, carrying all the medical supplies their group owned at the moment.
"Bridgette." Izzy called out for her as Bridgette knelt down in front of the sofa Ezekiel was laying on, placing all the medical supplies on the floor, "Will he survive?"
Bridgette let out a sigh, "I'll do everything I can."
Izzy nodded her head in understanding as Noah placed his hand on her shoulder. The room was almost completely silent for the next few minutes. The only sound coming ouf it was the sound of Bridgette preparing her medical supplies which she was going to use on Ezekiel. It was when Ezekiel awoke from his slumber, coughing out blood as he did so.
"Zeke." Izzy felt how tears of relief formed in her eyes as she knelt down next to Bridgette, placing her hand on Ezekiel's head, "Don't move. You lost a lot of blood."
"Izzy?" Ezekiel wanted to be sure if his mind wasn't playing tricks on him as he spoke his friends name. His voice was so weak, "Where am I, eh?"
"You're in Gabriel's church." Izzy explained as she placed her hand on Ezekiel's head, "Bridgette here will put you back together."
"No." Ezekiel shook his head, "Don't waste our little medical supplies on me. I was stabbed five times, Izzy. I'm already dead, eh."
Izzy shook her head firmly, "No. Don't say stuff like this. You're going to live, you hear me? You're going to survive!"
"Zeke." Noah said, "Who did this to you?"
"It was Scott, eh. He was the one who did this." Ezekiel revealed who wounded him to Izzy, Noah and Bridgette, "The people from Terminus, I don't know how many of them to be exact because I only saw two, Scott and some other man, they're here, they tracked us down."
"What about Bob or Daryl or Duncan or Carol?" Noah questioned, "Did you saw any of them?"
"I only saw Bob." Ezekiel replied, "I saw him walking out of the church and followed him outside, because I wanted to know why would he leave our shelter this late at night. He was taken away by Scott and the other man."
Bridgette titled her head to the side to look at Izzy, "You have to tell our group who did this."
Izzy nodded and quickly got up from the floor, "I'll be right back."
She and Noah turned away from Bridgette and wounded Ezekiel and made their way out of the room, intending to tell their group about Scott and possibly Gareth being still out there and that they took Bob with them. They came out of the room and saw that Rick, Tyreese, Sasha, Trent, Harold and Geoff had already returned to the church, with Bob, Daryl, Duncan and Carol nowhere to be seen near them.
Sasha walked over to Gabriel who stood up from the bench. She looked straight into his eyes and asked him, "What are you doing?" When Gabriel just looked at her in confusion, she repeated her question, "What are you doing? This is all connected. You show up, we're being watched, and now four of us are gone and one of is wounded."
"I..." Gabriel shifted his gaze between the people around him in confusion, "I don't... I don't have anything to do with this."
Sasha, not buying Gabriel's response, reached out for her knife and pulled it out. Gabriel backed away from her hand, raising his hands defensively as Sasha took one step towards him after another, "Who's out there?"
"I- I don't have anything...to do with this." Gabriel nervously stuttered out.
"Where are our people?" Sasha asked, once again not buying Gabriel's answer.
"I don't have anything to..." Gabriel was interrupted by Sasha.
"Where are our people?!" Sasha demanded to know as her face was inches away from Gabriel's.
"Please, I don't have anything to do with this." Gabriel repeated his answer, pleading.
Rick grabbed Sasha's shoulder and walked past her, now standing in front of the priest, "Why'd you bring us here?"
Gabriel shook his head in a pleading manner, "Please, I..."
"You working with someone?" Rick cut him off in a demanding manner.
"I'm alone." Gabriel responded, "I'm alone. I was always alone."
"What about the woman in the food bank, Gabriel?" Rick asked, not believing in any words that came from Gabriel's mouth, "What did you do to her? "You'll burn for this." That was for you. Why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel?" He grabbed Gabriel by the collar of his clothes, looking straight into his eyes, his face inches away from his face, "What? What did you do? What did you do?!"
"I lock the doors at night." Gabriel replied in a tearfull manner, looking like he was about to cry, making Rick let go off his collar, "I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always- They started coming, my congregation. Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. They were- they were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe. And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked. You see... it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me. And so the dead came for them. Women... children. Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy. Begging me for mercy. Damning me to hell. I buried their bones. I buried it all. The Lord sent you here to finally punish me. I'm damned. I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors."
Gabriel collapsed on the floor, now openly sobbing as Rick's group looked down at him. Some of them looked at him in shock, but most of them looked at him in disgust, as they were disgusted by what he had done to the people he knew, to the people who put their trust in him and wanted to take a shelter with him in his church, only to be left outside and ripped apart.
Their attention was shifted from Gabriel to something the windows a few seconds later. They heard someone whistling outside of church. Glenn rushed to the window to check it out and looked through it.
"There's someone outside lying in the grass." He declared to his group as he spotted Bob laying on the ground outside of the the church.
The group immediately reacted to this revelation. They ran out of the church and saw Bob laying on the grass, with the half of one of his legs missing. It was when they noticed a lot of walkers walking towards them. Rick, Chef, Glenn, Chris and Geoff made sure to take care of the undead as Sasha and Leshawna lifted Bob up and brought him into the church.
It wasn't long before Bob regained his consciousness. His vision was blurry when he opened his eyes, but his eyesight quickly returned to him. He found himself to be laying on the floor in Gabriel's church. His group was gathered around him, clearly worried for him. His head was set on Leshawna's lap and Sasha was holding his hand.
"I was in the graveyard. Ezekiel came to check on me and tried to talk to me, but I was knocked out before I could say anything." He began his story to his group after he was asked by Trent what happened to him, "What about Ezekiel? Is he okay?"
"He's in Gabriel's room." Izzy explained, "Bridgette is patching him up now."
"What happened to him?" Bob asked in worry.
"Scott stabbed him five times." Izzy replied, lowering her gaze to the floor in a saddenned manner, clenching her fist in anger as Bob closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, shaking his head.
"What?" Chef asked, "Scott did this?"
"Yes." Noah nodded, "Ezekiel woke up shorty after we took him to Gabriel's room and told us who did this. We were coming to inform you about it when Gabriel was in the middle of having a mental breakdown."
"They're telling the truth." Bob confirmed who was responsible for doing this to him and Ezekiel, "I woke up outside this place. It looked like a school. It was Scott and that guy, Gareth, and a few other ones. They were eating my leg right in front of me. Like it was nothing. All proud like they had it all figured out."
"Did they have Daryl, Duncan and Carol?" Rick asked Bob.
"They're missing too." Chris added.
Bob let out a painful groan, "Gareth said they drove off."
"He's in pain." Sasha said, "Do we have anything?"
Geoff turned away from Bob, "I'll go ask Bridge if she can spare us anything."
"No." Bob shook his head, "Save them for Zeke."
"Why?" Trent asked, looking at Bob in worry, "You're in pain, dude."
Bob sighed, revealing his bite to his group, "Because it will be wasted on me."
Sasha looked at the bite in shock, feeling how tears were building up in her eyes, "Oh, my God."
"No." Trent shook his head.
"When did that happened?" Gwen asked.
"It happened at the food bank." Bob explained, looking at Sasha who had tears streaming down her cheeks.
Bob was taken to Gabriel's room by Trent and Geoff shorty after he revelead his story and his condition to his group. He was placed on the other sofa in the room, the one that was in the corner. His group was standing outside of the room, discussing what they should do with him and what they should do with the matter of Scott's group being still out there and hunting them down as if they were animals.
Gwen looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw Abraham heading towards the exit from the church, "Where are you going?"
"Time for a reality check." Abraham said, "We all need to leave for DC right now."
"Daryl, Duncan and Carol are gonna be back." Rick said.
"Exactly. We ain't gonna leave them behind." Geoff nodded, "They can return at any moment. We're not going anywhere without them."
"I respect that, but there's a clear threat here to Eugene." Abraham replied, "I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier. So if y'all won't come, good luck to you. We'll go our separate ways."
"You leaving on foot?" Alejandro questioned.
"We fixed that damn bus ourselves." Abraham pointed out.
"No." Harold shook his head, "You didn't do it by yourself, I and Chef helped you."
"There are a lot more of us." Chris said, backing Rick up.
"You want to keep it that way?" Abraham told him, "You should come."
"Carol saved your life." Rick pointed out, "We saved your life."
"Well, I am trying to save yours!" Abraham pointed out in return, raising his voice, "Save everyone's!"
"We're not going anywhere without our people." Rick argued.
"Your people took off." Abraham argued back.
"They're coming back." Rick stated firmly.
"To what, picked-over bones?!" Abraham retorted.
Rick pushed Abraham, "You're not taking...!"
"Do not lay hands!" Abraham cut Rick off as he was about to punch him.
"Abraham!" Chef shouted as he got in between Abraham and Rick, "Stop! Both of you! Fighting among ourselves in the last thing we should do right now."
"You're siding with him?" Abraham asked Chef, "You know the importance of our mission, Chef. I explained everything to."
"I know about the importance of your mission and I'm still willing to go on it, but think about it, Abraham." Chef said, "Do you really think that you're gonna be any safer leaving right now in the middle of the night, especially with Gareth and Scott's group around?"
Abraham nodded his head, "Yeah."
"What a great way of thinking." Noah commented dryly as he folded his arms, "No wonder you're not even close to completing your mission."
"What about tomorrow?" Chef suggested, "We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together. If you stay just one more day and help, I'll go with you to DC no matter what. Okay?"
Tara stepped forward, "I will go too. Trent, Gwen, Glenn and Maggie, too."
"I and Noah will go too, and Zeke too, once Bridgette will patch him up." Izzy added, "I still want the cigar we promised ourselves, but at first let Bridgette patch up Zeke." Her face darkened as she added, "We need to take care of Gareth and Scott's group. We can't let them walk around."
"No." Abraham shook his head, "I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here." He shifted his gaze towards Rosita, "Rosita, grab your gear."
"Abraham..." Rosita began.
"Now." Abraham cut her off, shushing her. He looked at Eugene who was sitting on the bench on his right, "Eugene, let's go." Eugene remained on his seat, "Move it."
"I don't want to." Eugene replied, not even turning to loook at Abraham.
"Now." Abraham said almost in a threatening tone
Euguene got up from the bench and made his way to Abraham's side, "Okay."
"You're not taking the bus." Rick said.
"Try to stop me." Abraham said back
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" This time it was Glenn who got in between Rick and Abraham, "Hey, hey, hey! You stay- you stay and help us, and we will go with you."
"No." Rick said at Glenn's words.
Glenn looked over his shoulder at Rick, "It's not your call. You stay, help us."
Abraham was silent for a few seconds, "...Half a day. Come high noon, we're taillights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop."
Chef nodded his head, "And we will leave with you. 12 hours. Then we go."
It was when everyone turned away, most of the group forgetting about the argument for a brief moment as Bridgette came out of Gabriel's room, probably with the news about Ezekiel's condition.
"How is he?" Izzy asked, with hope in her green eyes, "Is he going to be okay?"
Bridgette shook her head, looking like she was about to cry, "I'm sorry. I did everything I could. He lost too much blood and the internal damage was just too much. He won't survive. He doesn't have much time left."
The surfer let out a sigh when she saw how her group reacted to this news. They reacted exactly the way she excepted them to and Izzy and Noah were the ones who took it the first. The latter clenched her fist, feeling how she was about to cry, and feeling how a desire of making Scott pay for what he did to Ezekiel overcame her body. Noah just stared at the floor in a saddened manner.
"He doesn't have much time left." She explained, "You should see him, before he will go."
It was exactly what the group did. Bridgette led the entire group to Gabriel's room, with Noah and Izzy walking right next to her, where they saw Ezekiel laying on the sofa. His eyes were closed, saying one last few prayers to himself, preparing himself for his inevitable death.
Ezekiel opened his eyes once he heard someone enter the room and saw his group standing in front of him. He offered them a small bittersweet smile as Izzy knelt down in front of him, "Hey, eh."
"It's okay, Zeke." Izzy said as she squeezed Ezekiel's hand, doing her best to stop tears from spilling down her cheeks, "We're here for you."
"Rest in Peace, soldier." Chef saluted to Ezekiel, "It was a pleasure serving alongside you for this past year and I hope you will find your eternal peace."
Ezekiel was about to lift his hand up to his forehead to return Chef's salute, but he couldn't. He was too weak, "I hope I will too, Chef. Thank you for looking after us ever since we crashed in the forest." He shifted his gaze from Chef and Rick, "Thank you for keeping our group alive, Rick. I don't think If I would survive this long if it wasn't for you and your leadership."
Rick nodded his head at Ezekiel, not really knowing how to response to what Ezekiel just said to him.
"There's something I would like to say to you, Zeke." Bridgette said as Ezekiel shifted his gaze from Rick towards her, looking down at the homeschool, "I'm sorry I misjudged you back on the island. I thought you were just a sexist pig, but you proved me otherwise. You proved all of us otherwise. You are a good person that cares for the people he considers his friends, Zeke."
"That's all I ever wanted to show to you. I wanted to prove to everything I was more than I what I showed on the island and I'm glad I've managed it after all this time." Ezekiel smiled as if he had just achieved peace. It was when he turned to look at Izzy and Noah, his closest friends, "Izzy, Noah, there's something I want to tell you before I'll go. I just want to say, thank you."
"Thank you?" Noah asked, "For what?"
"For what he asks?" Ezekiel let out a cough and continued, "Giving me a chance back in Atlanta and becoming my friends, even though you didn't have to. You two and Owen were the first ones to give a chance to prove myself than I am more than what I presented on the island. You did that, unaware of how much it meant to me, for that, I will be forever grateful for it."
"It was our pleasure and I wish I had done it sooner than I did." Izzy squeezed Ezekiel's hand tighter and leaned it, giving him a kiss on his right cheek, "Rest in Peace, Zeke. I'm going to miss you and I'm sure Noah will too."
"I'll tell Owen that you and Noah said hi to him and that you miss him, okay?" Ezekiel offered Izzy and Noah one last bittersweet smile, "I'll do the same to Cody and Eva once I'll see them on the other side."
Izzy nodded hear head, tears falling down her cheeks as she was not able to contain her tears anymore while Noah responded to Ezekiel's words with a simple nod of his head. Ezekiel's smile faded away from his lips just a few seconds later as he knew what was coming for him, bracing himself for his death. He closed his eyes for one last time and never opened them again.
He was gone.
"Someone's gotta." Gwen broke the silence that formed in the room after Ezekiel let out his one last final breath, looking at Ezekiel's body in a saddened manner.
"I'll do it." Chef said, taking out a knife.
"No." Izzy stopped Chef from doing so. She held her hand out to him, wanting him to give her the knife, "It has to be me."
"Izzy." Chef said, "You don't have to."
"I have to." Izzy said, firmly, even though tears were going down her cheeks, "He's my friend."
Chef nodded his head, understanding why Izzy wanted to be the one to do it and handed the knife to her. Izzy took it from him and looked down at the unmoving lifeless corpse of Ezekiel. She placed her free hand on his head, making him closed eyes look up at the ceiling and slowly placed the knife in Ezekiel's brain as everyone looked away as he did, preventing him from turning into a walker.
She pulled the knife out of Ezekiel's head and lowered her head, sobbing. She clenched her other fist, swearing to make Scott wish he was never born the next time she will see him.
Under the cover of night, Rick, Chef, Chris, Izzy, Glenn, Maggie, Tara, Sasha, Michonne, Abraham, Geoff, Trent, Gwen, Harold, Heather, and Alejandro left Gabriel's church in order to find Gareth and Scott's group and make sure they won't hunt down more of their people. Bridgette, Noah, Leshawna, Carl, Tyreese, Rosita, Bob, Eugene, Gabriel, and Judith stayed behind in the church.
They were unaware the church was being watched from the distance by Gareth and Scott's group. Norm who watched how Rick's group just disappeared among the nearby trees turned around to look at his group. He waved his hand at them, telling them to move out without saying any words to them. His group catched up to him and all of them began moving towards the church, with Gareth and Scott leading them.
The group of nine made their way to the church and stopped in front of it. Gareth looked around himself and made a gesture with his hand, telling his group to enter the church. They walked over to the entrance of the church and Martin pulled out a crowbar, using it to burst the door open. He was the first one to enter the church and his group quickly followed him into the building.
"Well, I guess you know we're here. And we know you're here. And we're armed. So there's really no point in hiding anymore." Gareth declared a few seconds after entering the church with his group, "We've been watching you. We know who's here. There's Bob, unless you've put him out of his misery already, and Ezekiel, if he didn't already die because of his wounds."
Gareth's group slowly split up around the church. Gareth took the path in the middle, with Scott and Martin walking by his side, Rachel along with Greg and Alan took the path on the right and Norm along with Theresa took the path on the left. Albert and Mike were slowly walking behind Gareth, Scott and Martin. Noah, Leshawna and Carl had their guns aimed at the door, ready to use them at any moment.
"Eugene is here too." Gareth continued, walking further into the church with Martin and Scott walking by his sides, Martin on his left side, and Scott on his right side, "So is Rosita, Noah, Leshawna, Martin's good friends Tyreese and Bridgette. Carl. Judith. Rick and the rest walked out with a lot of your guns. Listen, we don't know where you all are, but this isn't a big place. So let's just stop this now before things get more painful than they need to be."
He looked over his shoulders at Mike and Albert, exchanging a look with them. He turned away from them and pointed at one of the doors in the church. Mike and Albert immediately knew what he wanted from them and quickly made their way to the door. Albert tried to open it, but he couldn't. The door was locked, which meant one thing.
"Look, you're behind one of these two doors and we have more than enough firepower to take down both. Can't imagine that's what you all want." Gareth declared, "How about the priest? Father, you help us wrap this up, we'll let you walk away from this. Just open the door and you can go. You can take the baby with you. What do you say?" It was when a loud baby cry which belonged to Judith ran through his ears. Gareth felt how a smile formed on his lips as he exchanged a look with Scott who smiled as well, "I don't know. Maybe we'll keep the kid. I'm starting to like this girl. It's your last chance right now to tell us you're coming out."
He was met with nothing but silence with response as Judith's cries were silenced by Bridgette who did everything she could to calm her down, even though Gareth's and Scott's group already knew where she and her group were hidding.
"It's your last chance right now to tell us you're coming out." He said in one last attempt to get the people from Rick's group who stayed in the church to come out of the room they were hidding in, but it was no use.
Martin looked at Gareth, "Are we done?"
"Let's get this done, Gareth." Scott said, "We can't waste our time."
Gareth shifted his gaze between Scott and Martin and nodded, "We'll hit the hinges."
It was when two silences shots rang behind Gareth and Scott's group and Mike and Albert collapsed on the ground with the bullet holes in their heads. Everyone from Gareth and Scott's group quickly turned around to look behind them, towards the source of the shots.
"Put your guns on the floor." Rick's demanding voice sounded behind them.
"Rick, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun..." Gareth's words died in his throat when Rick fired his gun again and the gunshot took out two of his fingers. He screamed in pain as he fell on his knees, holding his injured hand in pain.
Rick came out of the shadows, holding a silenced pistol in front of him, "Put your guns on the floor and kneel."
"Do what he says." Gareth told his group as he was on the floor, holding his hand in pain.
Most of his group complied. Rachel, Norm, Theresa, Greg and Alan put their guns on the floor and got themselves on their knees, though Rachel and Norm seemed to be very hesitant about doing so. Scott and Martin remained on their feet, not thinking about putting their guns down and getting themselves on their knees.
"Guys." Gareth called out for them, "There's no choice here."
"Yeah, there is." Scott said as Martin nodded his head in agreement.
Abraham glared at them as he aimed his M16 at them, standing in front of Greg, "Want to bet?"
Martin looked at Abraham and let out a sigh once he saw how Rick's group surrounded him and his group. He relucantly put his weapons on the floor and knelt down next to Gareth, leaving Scott as the only one from their group who didn't comply to Rick's group. It didn't last long, though, because Scott realized how bad their situation was and that there was no fighting their way out of it a few seconds later.
The ginger haired young man put his Lancaster down on the floor and knelt down between Gareth and Martin. He looked up at Izzy who was standing in front of him. He flinched the moment he set his eyes on her. The orange haired woman was absolutely livid as she stared down at him with murderous intentions in her eyes. She looked to be stopping herself from pulling out her hunting knife and using it on him.
Gareth looked up at Rick who was standing in front of him, clutching his hand in pain, "No point in begging, right?"
Rick shook his head, "No."
"Still, you could have killed us when you came in." Gareth said, "There had to be a reason for that."
"We didn't want to waste the bullets." Rick explained in a tone which send some shivers down Gareth's spine.
He looked at Rick in fear, growing more fearful of the man in front of him with each passing second, "We used to help people. We saved people. Things changed. They came in and..." He let out a painful groan, "After that... I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry. You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you."
"But you'll cross someone's path. You'd do this to anyone, right?" Rick asked, placing his hand on the handle of his red machete, "Besides, I already made you a promise."
He unsheathed his machete and brought it down on Gareth. Gareth collapsed on the floor as Rick brought his machete down on him again, not stopping until he was dead. Rick proceeded to bring it down on Gareth over and over again, even long after Gareth died. His group made sure to take care of Gareth's group while he took care of their leader. Sasha used her knife on Martin, Michonne used the back of her AK47 on Theresa, Abraham used the back of his M16 on Greg, Izzy used her hunting knife on Scott, Alejandro used his tomahawk on Norm, Heather used her pickax on Rachel and Chef used the back of his M16 on Alan.
The members of Gareth and Scott's group began screaming in pain as they were being massacred without any mercy by the people who almost became their next victims. Harold, Trent, Glenn, Maggie and Tara watched the brutal display in front of them in horror as Geoff, Gwen and Chris watched it with completely blank cold expressions on their face, feeling no sympathy for the people who were being slaughtered in front of them.
Izzy pulled out her bloody hunting knife from Scott's massacred corpse, looking at it with hatred in her eyes, "That was for Zeke, you son of a bitch."
"We had to do this." Chef said as he looked away from Alan's corpse to look at Rick, his tone suprisingly calm, "You heard him. They wouldn't never stop doing what they were doing, even if they were telling the truth about letting us go. More people would suffer because of them if we didn't do anything about them. They didn't gave us a choice."
"We did have to do this. I know that." Rick admitted, looking down at Gareth's unmoving massacred body with completely calm expression on his face as Michonne noticed a familiar item laying among the things owned by Gareth and Scott's group. It was her katana. She walked over to her blade and unsheathed it, eyeing it, "We don't have to like that we did it."
"I'm sorry! There has to be another answer!" Gabriel shouted from where he stood as he opened the door to the room when he heard Rick talking outside, with tears beginning to spill down cheeks because of what he was just forced to witness, making everyone look at him, "This is unacceptable! I can't think of any way to justify, this."
"What the fuck is your problem?" Abraham glared at Gabriel, "You let people you knew!..."
"Stop." Izzy cut Abraham off as she stepped towards Gabriel. Gabriel flinched when he saw the orange haired young woman walking towards him, because of how livid she looked like. She stopped in front of him, her face inches away from his own, "These people were lurring people into their community, where they were slaughtering and eating them and they were after us, our friends, our families, we were their next victims, and even if they would leave us alone, they would have hunt down many other people and eat them. This, no matter how much you or I are disgusted by it stopped that. It's hard, but maybe if you'd seen those people you locked out of church, watched them getting ripped apart, had their blood splash back on you, instead of hiding behind a fucking door, you'd be willing to do anything to keep that from happening again. Maybe then you'd understand."
She send Gabriel one last glare, and turned away from the priest, completely done with dealing with his bullshit and not wanting to deal with it anymore. She walked past him and entered the room where most of their group was hiding. She exchanged glances with Tyreese and Bridgette who were standing in the entrance to the room and walked past them, before sitting down next to Noah.
Gabriel let out a deep breath after Izzy walked away from him, whimpering, "This is the Lord's house..."
"No." Maggie's voice was void of emotion as she responded to Gabriel's words, "It's just four walls and a roof."
The morning after Rick's group took out Gareth and Scott's group, the entire group was gathered in the room where they were keeping dying Bob and Ezekiel's body which was now covered by a white sheet. Trent was sitting on the sofa, looking at Bob with a bittersweet smile on his face.
"You'll always be with us." Trent offered Bob a pat on his shoulder, as he was clearly saddened to see him dying. The musican took a liking in Bob during the time they spend together in the past several days, starting with the supply run and ending with them traveling together after the destruction of the prison, "Part of us"
Bob nodded his head at his friend in a grateful manner, offering him a genuine smile. He smiled, even though he was dying. Trent gave him another pat on his shoulder and got up from the sofa. The group slowly started to depart from the room, with Sasha sitting down on the sofa, wanting to spend Bob's final moments with him.
"Rick." Bob weakly called out for Rick. Rick heard Bob calling out for him and was about to hand Judith to Carl, "No. Let her stay. I trust her."
Rick nodded his head as Sasha got up from the sofa, "I'm right outside."
"I just want to say thank you." Bob said to Rick after Sasha walked out of the room.
"For what?" Rick questioned, standing in front of the sofa Bob was laying on.
"Before the prison, I didn't know if there were any good people left. I didn't know if anybody was left." Bob began as Rick sat down on the sofa. He pointed at Rick and continued, "You took me in. 'Cause you took people in. It was you, man. What I said yesterday, I ain't revising it. Even in light of current events. Nightmares end. They shouldn't end who you are. And that is just this dead man's opinion."
Rick nodded his head at Bob, "I'll take it."
Bob smiled and let out a short chuckle, looking at Judith in Rick's arms, "Just look at her and tell me the world isn't gonna change."
The conversation ended shorty after and Rick walked out of the room with Judith, allowing Sasha to spend sometime with her dying boyfriend. Sasha sat down on the sofa and looked at Bob who had his eyes closed, but was not dead. He was sleeping.
She watched Bob sleep for several minutes before he woke up from his slumber, "You were out."
Bob slightly opened his eyes, "Was it?"
"You were." Sasha nodded in confirmation as Bob smiled, "Why are you smiling?"
"I think I was dreaming." Bob replied, his voice was so weak, "And I think you were smiling back at me in the dream." Sasha smiled at Bob, holding back taers, "Yeah, that's it."
Sasha's smile vanished from her face, "So what is it? The good that comes out of this bad?" She didn't receive answer from Bob. His smile faded from his lips, his eyes now closed, "Bob?"
She put her hands on his chest and shook him a bit, attempting to wake him up, hoping that he just fell asleep again, praying for it, but unfortunely her worries became true because Bob didn't respond to any of her attempts. He was dead. She took her hands off his chest and brought them to her eyes, sobbing into them.
She let out a deep breath as she pulled out her knife, knowing what she should do now. She slowly began moving it towards Bob's head, bracing herself for what she was about to do as Tyreese walked into the room.
Tyreese walked over to his crying sister, "Give it here." Sasha looked up at her brother who held his hand out to her. She handed him her knife and stood up from the sofa, "You step out. Okay?"
Sasha nodded, crying and walked past Tyreese, before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her. Tyreese held his breath as he grabbed Bob's head with his free hand and slowly put Sasha's knife in his head, stopping Bob from becoming a walker.
The group burried Bob and Ezekiel's bodies outside of Gabriel's church. Ezekiel's hat was placed on top of the cross which was made of sticks behind his grave and Sasha took Bob's jacket off of his body before it was burried under the ground, now wearing it herself to remember her dead boyfriend. The group split the supplies they have collected from Gareth and Scott's group among them. Ezekiel's hatchet and Rachel's UMP 45 were given to Noah, Norm's Spas 12 was given to Alejandro, Scott's Lancaster was given to Bridgette and Martin's AK47 was given to Leshawna. The group, or at least the one who agreed to leave with Abraham were now preparing to head out to DC.
"This is our route to DC." Abraham said, handing Rick a map, "We'll stick to it as long as we're able. If not, well, you got our destination. Once Eugene gets to the big brains left up there, things are gonna bounce back. This group should be there for it. You should be there for it."
"They will be." Maggie spoke on her group's behalf.
Michonne nodded in confirmation, "We will."
Rick looked around himself and shifted his gaze between the people from his group who were leaving with Abraham. Those people being Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Chef, Noah, Izzy, Gwen and Trent, "We will."
Abraham smiled and nodded his head at him. He turned away from him and began walking towards the bus, "Let's go."
He got himself into the bus, sitting down on the drivers seat as Eugene and Rosita followed him into the vehicle. Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Chef, Noah, Izzy, Gwen and Trent said goodbyes to the people from her group, though Izzy was a lot more quiet, because of what happened last night to Ezekiel, which earned some worries glances from her friends.
"Chef." Chris called out for Chef who was about to enter the bus, "Be safe out there."
"I will." Chef smiled at him, nodding his head, "You'll be safe out there too, pretty boy."
"I will do my best." Chris returned Chef's smile, "Though, I don't know if I will handle myself without you watching my back."
"You're strong, Chris. Far stronger than you were when it all started." Chef said, "You'll be able to keep yourself alive without my help. I'm sure of that."
"Whatever you say, Chef." Chris nodded.
Chef shared one last with Chris, and then with Rick, before entering the bus. The people from Rick's group who stayed behind at the church, including Rick himself, watched how the bus drove off out of their view.
After the bus disappeared from his view, Rick opened the map which was given to him by Abraham and saw the road to DC crossed on it. It wasn't the only thing that caught Rick's attention. He noticed a message which was written to him by Abraham in the corner of the map.
SORRY I WAS AN ASSHOLE
COME TO WASHINGTON
THE NEW WORLD'S GONNA
NEED RICK GRIMES
Later that night, Michonne was sitting outside the church, on the steps to the said the building, gathering her thoughts, her eyes set on her katana. She looked over her shoulder when she heard someone open the door and saw Gabriel. She sheathed her katana as Gabriel sat down next to her.
"Can't sleep." He explained to her why he was not sleeping this late at night, like the rest of the group, "And now, sitting in there... Quiet." Michonne hummed in understanding, "It isn't just what happened last night. Saying what happened before... out loud... I see it all again. I hear them."
"Yeah." Michonne said, "That won't stop. But it won't be all the time."
Gabriel nodded his head in understanding. His attention was shifed towards something else as he and Michonne heard some rustling from the bushes on their right. The dark skinned woman unsheathed her katana and began making her way towards the source of the noise as Gabriel made his way back into the church. She put her katana down and smiled in relief when she saw Daryl and Duncan come out from the darkness. Her relieved smile faded away from her lips when she noticed that one person was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Carol?" She asked.
Daryl looked over his shoulder, "Come on out!"
The tainted meat scene will always be one of my favourite scenes in the entire show. Honestly, I don't think there's ever been a better example of getting the last laugh.
I'm going to miss having Bob and Ezekiel in this story. I really liked Bob's character, even though he wasn't in the show for very long, and Ezekiel, even though he hasn't been a big character in this story until the fall of prison, had grew on me in the last few chapters.
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.
