We eventually stopped and had time to rest so I could feed Colt and Carl could feed Judith. We stayed there, in the middle of the woods, to sleep. Glenn woke Maggie and I up to take watch and I covered Colt up the best I could before following Maggie a few yards away in the trees.
"How are you and Daryl doin'?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" I replied.
"Ever since Carol came back, you two haven't been near each other." Maggie explained.
I shrugged, "He misses her."
"And you don't?"
I looked at my friend, "I don't think Carol tries to, but she's been getting in between Daryl and I for a while now."
"And have you told him that?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah." I answered.
"Have you told Carol to stop?" She questioned.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Look, Maggie-"
I was interrupted by a few small groans and I looked to my left and saw three walkers. I sighed and grabbed my knife before going up to them and taking all three down quickly and I turned back to Maggie,
"I'm gonna walk around a bit. Don't wait up."
The next morning we were on the road again. We traveled for hours before stopping again. I laid against a tree with Colt in my lap, asleep against my chest and Jamie was asleep on my side. I watched from a few yards away as Daryl and Carol sat next to each other, talking. I sighed quietly before bringing my kids closer to me and falling asleep.
Daryl went hunting the next morning and we all kept walking. About two hours later we heard noises coming from the trees, but it was just Daryl. He held up his squirrels and rabbits, "We surrender."
We kept walking and Daryl went up to Rick and they talked quietly to each other. Rick stopped and turned to us and whistled, "Keep close."
"How you holdin' up?" Rick asked me after he was done talking to Abraham.
I smiled up at him, "I'm fine."
"And Jamie?"
I shrugged, "He's been spending most of his time with Carl or Daryl lately. We haven't really talked."
"He's been through a lot for a five year old." Rick replied.
"It's a lot even for me." I said.
"He'll be okay, Vi. Just give him time."
"Help! Help me!" We all heard someone cry in the distance.
"Dad, come on." Carl said to Rick, "Come on, come on."
Rick looked around to all of us before we began running towards the yelling. When we got there, there was a priest on top of a boulder and a walker gripping his ankle. Carl shot one, Rick got another, Michonne beat one in the head, and Carol killed another one.
"Come on down." Rick told the priest.
He sat up shakily before jumping down.
"You okay?" I asked him.
He held up a finger before puking, "Sorry." He faced us, "Thank you. I'm Gabriel."
"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick questioned.
"Do I look like I would have any weapons?" Gabriel replied.
"We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like." Abraham said.
"I have no weapons of any kind." Gabriel answered. "The word of God is the only protection I need."
"Sure didn't look like it." Daryl replied.
Gabriel smiled at him, "I called for help. Help came." He looked around at all of us and his smile fell, "Do you... do you have any food? What I had left just hit the ground."
Carl held out his hand, "Got some nuts."
"Thank you." Gabriel told Carl, taking the nuts.
"Those are beautiful children you have." Gabriel said, looking at Colt and Judith, "Do you have a camp."
"No." Rick answered, "Do you?"
"I have a church." Gabriel said.
"Hold your hands above your head." Rick ordered and Gabriel did as he was told.
Rick began patting him down for weapons, "How many walkers have you killed?"
"Not any, actually." He answered.
"Turn around." Rick ordered, "How many people have you killed?"
"None."
"Why?" Rick asked.
"Because the Lord abhors violence." Gabriel answered.
"What have you done? We've all done something." Rick said.
"I'm a sinner. I sin almost everyday. But those sins, I confess them to God, not strangers." Gabriel replied.
"You said you had a church." Michonne spoke up.
Gabriel nodded. He began walking and we followed.
"Hey, earlier, were you watching us?" Rick asked as we walked.
"I keep to myself. Now a days, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?" Gabriel replied.
"No. People are worse." Rick said.
"Well, I wasn't watching you." Gabriel answered. "I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today. Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels." He turned around and saw our unamused faces, "Members of my flock have told me that I have a great sense of humor and that it is desired."
"Yeah, it does." Daryl replied.
Gabriel shut his mouth and continued to walk. A few minutes later we reached the church. Gabriel went to open the front door when Rick stopped him,
"Take a look around first. Don't want anyone to loot our squirrels." Rick held his hand out and Gabriel gave him the keys.
I stayed outside with Carl, Tyreese, Judith, Colt, and Jamie while the others looked in and around the church.
"I've spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside... well, it would have been surprising." Gabriel told Rick as he handed him back his keys.
"Thanks for this." Carl told Gabriel.
"We found a short bus out back. It don't run, but I bet we can fix it in less than a day or two. Father here says he doesn't want it. Looks like we found some transport. You understand what's stake at here, right?" Abraham asked rick.
"Yes, I do." Rick answered.
"Now that we can take a breath..." Michonne began,
"We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down." Abraham said.
"We need supplies. No matter what we do next." I said.
"That's right. Water, food, ammunition." Rick replied.
"Short bus ain't going nowhere. Bring you back some baked beans." Daryl said and I followed him inside.
"How did you survive here for so long?" Rick asked Gabriel as he carried Judith and we began to put our stuff on the benches, "Where'd your supplies come from?"
"Our annual canned food drive. Things fell through pretty quick after it ended. It's just me. The food lasted a long time and then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one." Gabriel answered.
"What's kept you from it?" I asked, walking up next to Rick.
"It's overrun." He replied.
"How many?" Rick questioned.
"A dozen or so, maybe more." Gabriel said.
"We can handle a dozen." Rick stated.
"I'll go with you." I told Rick and he nodded.
"Bob and I will, too." Sasha spoke up, "Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith and Colt safe."
"That'll be okay?" Rick asked Tyreese.
Tyreese nodded, "Sure. Ever need me to watch them, I'll do anything for them. I'm right here."
"Thank you." I smiled at him.
Rick walked over to Tyreese, "I'm grateful for it. And everything else."
"I'll draw you a map." Gabriel said.
"Don't need to." Rick stopped him, "You're coming with us."
Gabriel smiled slightly, "I'm not gonna be of any help. You all have seen me. I'm no good around those things."
"You're coming with us." Rick stated and Gabriel nodded.
I set Colt in his little basket and looked over at Jamie, "We're gonna be back with lots of food. And tonight, we'll have a feast."
"Can I come with you?" Jamie asked.
"Oh, no, baby. You have to stay here and help Carl and take care of your brother." I said before kissing his head and ruffling his hair, "You'll be good, right?"
"Yes, mommy."
I looked down at Colt and tickled his tummy, "And I hope you will be good, too."
He giggled and kicked his feet. I placed a kiss on his forehead before standing up and leaving with the rest of the group. Gabriel led us into the town, and we were mostly quiet.
"Hey. When you said they don't get to live, you weren't wrong. We push ourselves and let things go. Then we let some more go and then some more. And pretty soon, there's things we can't get back. Things we couldn't hold on to even if we tried. Washington's gonna happen, Rick." Bob said.
"I haven't decided if we're going." Rick replied.
"Yeah, I know, and that's cool. But you've seen Abraham in action. He's gonna get there and Eugene's gonna cure all this and you're gonna find yourself in a place where it's like how it used to be. And if you let too much go along the way, that's gonna work. 'Cause you're gonna be back in the real world."
"This is the real world, Bob." Rick said.
"Nah. This is a nightmare, and nightmares end. I'm sorry. I'm calling it. Washington's gonna happen. You're gonna say yes. Already too much momentum. You can't fight city hall. Maybe that's just one of those parts not letting it go." Bob replied.
"We're here." Gabriel said minutes later, "This is the food bank. All the cans from my church were gonna end up here."
Rick opened the door and we raised our guns. We walked around. There weren't any walkers, didn't Gabriel say that there was at least a dozen? When I walked in a little further, I saw a giant hole in the floor and I heard growls. Rick held his hand up to stop us and he walked over to the hole and I looked inside. Michonne, Bob, Sasha, and I walked over and saw walkers walking around in waist-high water, maybe even higher. And the food was in there, also.
"Water's been going down that hole for a while." Michonne commented, staring at the ceiling where many large holes formed, "Sliming this place up good."
"We could use the shelves to block them." I told Rick.
"Yeah, we could, Vi. There's always a way." Rick replied, "Down those shelves,"
We were about to go in when Rick looked up at Gabriel, "Hey, I said you were coming with us."
We jumped into the water and Rick yelled at us to go. We grabbed the shelves and used them to block the walkers. We all took out knives and stabbed them in the head as they reached for us. Rick and I noticed Gabriel in the corner, splashing and making noise as a walker went towards him.
"Push the shelf on top of these walkers, and I'll get Gabriel!" Rick told us.
We did as he told us, we pushed the shelf over, pinning the walkers underneath it, and Rick went over and killed the walker that was trying to get Gabriel. More walkers came towards us and we stabbed them. When Gabriel was okay, we started gathering food.
I heard a scream and saw Bob get pulled down into the water.
"Bob!" I yelled and went over to where he was when I felt fingers grab onto my ankle and I was pulled down, too.
I kicked at whatever it was, most likely a walker. When the hand let go, I felt arms wrap around me and I was pulled out of the water.