This Night

Chapter 238

Author's Note: I just had a very good friend pass after a stroke. I didn't feel like writing death, but I'm going to try. Sorry if it took longer then usual. Review please.

Jes, Maggie and Abraham's POV:

Jes leaned against the fire truck as Maggie came over. "Any change?"

Maggie shook her head. "None," she answered as she bent down next to Abraham. She handed him her bottle of water. "You're thirsty don't say you're not," she warned. "Did you want me to shoot you?"

"I thought I did but I didn't," Abraham answered.

"Just because one mission ends, doesn't mean there isn't always another one," Jes answered as she looked at him. "Right Ford?"

Abraham looked at her. "Yeah," he answered.

Maggie looked between the two of them. "Am I missing something?"

Jes looked at her. "For people like Ford and myself, we thrive on missions. It's what keeps us going. We were in to long to be anything different. It's how we keep surviving, it's the way we always survived. We don't know anything else. So, getting Eugene to Washington isn't a viable mission anymore, he needed something to focus on. So, it's all of us, finding someplace for all of us, for Jewel and the babies, for the children of the group, for all of us. When the others get back, and Eugene wakes up, we go back to the church and we regroup. Figure out our next step."

Maggie looked up at her. "Terminus was a dead end, this was a dead end, what is our next step?"

Jes shrugged. "I don't know the answer to that Maggie. What I do know is that if we all work together, if we all stay together, we're going to survive. Even though Eugene maybe a lying, manipulative, coward, he is our lying manipulative coward. I don't think he was trying to do anything bad. And who knows, maybe Eugene had the right idea, maybe Washington is a place we need to go. We'll figure it out Maggie, but we figure it out together."

"H..Hello," Eugene called out.

Maggie got up and smiled. "I'm coming, stay right there, don't try to move. You're gonna be okay," Maggie told him as she went over.

"The others are coming," Jes said as she went over to greet them. "Any luck?"

Rosita held up fish. "We brought dinner."

"Nice," Jes answered. "Eugene just woke up. Letting Maggie look him over, then we'll head back to the church, get the others, and make a new plan."

"That was kind of what we were thinking," Axel told her.

"Ford was right about one thing, we can't stop moving. Maybe Washington doesn't hold a cure, but it was a goal. We are going to make a new goal, find a new place. I know that it's a scary thought, but we'll be together, and damn it, I think we can do anything as a group," Jes told them.

Glenn nodded. "Who are you and what have you done with Jes?" he teased.

"Oh hush," Jes warned.

Church group:

Mika put a towel over Judith's face. "Where is Judith? Where did she go?" she asked as she pulled it off. "There's Judith! Welcome back!" she said as Judith giggled in Michonne's arms.

"I think she wants you to do it again," Jewel said with a smile.

"Let's make Mika disappear," Mitch said as he put the rag over Mika's face. "Where's Mika Judy? Where is she?" he asked as he pulled it off. "There she is."

Judy giggled. "It's good to be back!" Mika answered.

" Let me in! Oh, God, please! Help me! Help! Carl! Michonne, Jewel, Lexi,! Get back. Please! Help! Help! Help me! Oh, God, please! Let me in! Let me in! Help me! Please, let me in! Please! Come on! Help!" they heard Gabriel yell from outside.

Jewel grabbed the front back and put Hope in it. "What the hell? How did he get out?" she asked. "Lexi! Carl! Wait!" she called as they went to the door. Michonne put Judith on her back. "Mika, Mitch, both of you pack the diaper bags. Quickly. Then grab your bags. Get ready to move," Jewel said. "I'm going to kill him," she mumbled under her breath.

"Get back," Michonne told Carl and Lexi as they steadied there weapons as Michonne started on the door with an ax.

"Stay there," Jewel told Mitch and Mika as she pointed her weapon. "Shh, I know, it's scary Hope," she said as she rubbed the babies back.

"Here, I'll take her," Mika said as Jewel transferred the front pack to her. "Shh, you're safe," Mika told Hope as she kissed her on the top of her head. "Let's put your little earmuffs on, so the sounds aren't as scary. Yes," she said as she looked up as the door opened and Gabriel and walkers' started to come in.

"Stay back," Jewel said as she pulled out her knife and stepped up with Michonne and started fending off the ones closer to them.

"The rectory, that's how I got out," Gabriel yelled.

"Go now!" Jewel ordered Mitch and Mika. Lexi and Carl followed them with Gabriel and Jewel went after them with Michonne right behind her.

Gabriel held the door close as Michonne put a chair under it. "There, that's how I got out. Take the little ones and go. I'm not going until all of you are out," Gabriel told them.

"That's very nice of you, considering you brought them all back," Jewel hissed at him. "Lexi, you go first, be there so Mika and Carl can hand you the babies. Mitch after them. Go," she told them.

Michonne looked at Carl. "You wait for us," she told him.

"We will," Carl said as he crawled down.

"Go," Michonne told Jewel. "I'll be right behind you," she told her as she crawled down and out.

Lexi helped Jewel up. "Everyone alright?" Jewel asked as she checked on everyone.

"We're alright," Mitch answered. "Michonne," he said as she came out.

"Where's the Father? Did Walker's get him?" Mika asked.

"We aren't that lucky," Jewel mumbled under her breath as she kissed the top of Judith's head.

Gabriel climbed out and looked at them. "I'm sorry," he told them. "I can't run anymore."

"We're not running," Michonne told him.

"That seems to be your response to everything," Jewel said. "We need to close those front doors, try to contain the walkers' inside, otherwise we're all going to die." she told them.

"Carl and I can handle it. Gabrielle will help, won't you?" Michonne asked.

"Yes," Gabrielle answered.

Michonne nodded. "You just stay by the fence with the kids. Lexi, I need you to watch out for them," she told the teen.

"I will," Lexi answered as she checked her gun.

The group watched Carl and Michonne kill the walkers that had been impaled on the stakes they had set up and went to close the door, the creaking immediately catching the deads' attention. Gabrielle came up with pieces off wood to secure the door.

Jewel waited until they came back and she looked at him. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Michonne touched Judith's head before she went over to them. "Where did you go?"

"The school, I had to see, I had to know," Gabriel told them.

"See what? Had to know what?" Jewel asked as she pushed him. "Do you think Bob cut off his own leg? That Merle shot and killed himself? That we were making up the fact that those monsters locked us up in a train car and wanted to eat us? You had to see for yourself?" she asked as she punched him. "What did I tell you about what I would do if you endangered my children?"

"Mom! Mom, it's alright, we're alright," Carl told her.

Mitch looked at the church doors. "We have a bigger problem then him right now," he said.

"Mitch, Mika behind us!" Lexi screamed as she took out her gun.

Mika bounced Hope. "Shh, it's OK," she told her as she kissed the top of her head. "We have to get out of here," she said.

Jewel looked at Gabriel. "You did this. How do you feel about being a sacrificial lamb?" she asked.

"Jewel, look!" Michonne said as a fire truck hit the church blocking the door.

"Well, looks like there was a little bit of divine intervention," Jewel hissed as she took Hope. She watched as the group came out of the fire truck.

Jes looked at the church door then at the spikes. "We weren't gone that long, really needed to redecorate?" she asked.

"We had some trouble," Jewel answered as she glared at Gabriel.

"Yeah so did we," Jes answered.

Glenn hugged Michonne then her. "You're back," Michonne answered.

"Eugene lied. He can't stop it. Washington isn't the end. Where is everybody?" Glenn asked.

"Beth's alive. She's in a hospital in Atlanta. Some people have her, but the others went to get her back," Michonne told Maggie.

"That's why Daryl and Carol left, they followed a car like the one that took Beth," Mitch told them.

"Black with a white cross?" Axel asked.

"Yeah," Jewel answered. "Carol got ran over by a car, the same people that took Beth. They are at Grady Memorial," she told Maggie.

Maggie laughed as she hugged Glenn. "Oh my God."

"Let's blow this joint, go save your sister," Tara said.

"Are we all going to fit in there?" Lexi asked.

"We'll make it fit. Jewel and Mika will sit up front, Mika can hold Judy and Jewel's got Hope," Jes instructed. "There's a seat next to Eugene," she added. "The rest of us can fit in the back.

"Lexi, Mitch and Carl can squeeze in the back with Eugene," Jewel answered.

Mitch walked up to Abraham. "So Poindexter didn't know how to save the world. Surprise, surprise," he said as he shook his head.

Tara tried not to laugh. "Come on kiddo, let's get you in."

"You alright?" Michonne asked Jewel.

"We just found out that this can't be ended right now, we're stuck with two cowards, and no place to even hope to go after this. So no, Michonne, I'm not alright, I'm not even close to being alright," Jewel answered as she went to the truck.

TBC