Disclaimer: I do no own The Walking Dead.

Warrior Angel

"Mmm, I can't remember the last time I smelled barbecue." T-Dog said, taking in a deep long whiff. He was walking around town with Lori, Carl, and Carol. The whole group decided to split up and inspect the town. T-dog's group had the responsibility of mingling with the towns people, to see how stable they were and if the situation in the town was good. Well, as good as it could be in the world they live in now.

Lori nodded in agreement. "I haven't smelled something that good in a long time." She said.

"You know, these people seem completely normal when you just look at them." Carol pointed out. They watched the townspeople walk about the town, mingling happily and exchanging simple chatter. Many of them had content smiles on their face's. It was as if they didn't have a care in the world.

"It's like Walkers don't exist in their world." Lori said pointedly.

"They probably don't here, especially now since they think their savior has come." Carol said.

"Is it just me or does it feel like we're stuck in a world where everything didn't fall to pieces?" T-Dog asked.

"It sure does feel like that doesn't it?" Lori agreed.

"It feels like we're in the past, before the Walkers." Carol said.

"I don't get it, how can they be so calm?" Carl question, speaking up for the first time. "How can they think they're so safe?"

"They let themselves believe it. It's easier to pretend that everything's fine than face the tragedy of the real world. Eventually, they forget that the lifestyles they've thrown themselves into just isn't reality anymore. They start believing that the bad things in this world just isn't real, like it was all a bad dream." Carol said.

"That's dumb. How can they be so blind?" Carl spat.

"Carl!" Lori snapped at him.

"Because, Carl," Carol said. "Ignorance is bliss."

T-Dog sighed. "If only."

Lori let out a quick huff. "Well, I guess we should do our part and go talk to these people." She said in slight aggravation, changing the subject.

T- Dog grinned. "I bet they'll just run their mouths about their savior and how great he is. I can't wait to hear more about Daryl."

Carol giggled. "It's amazing what your taste in clothing can do for you." She said, poking fun at Daryl's vest.

The group laughed to themselves and walked up to a group of townspeople. It was their job to see how the people were. They needed to know just how far gone they really were. They needed to know if their group was safe in the town.

"Ah, Zerachial's holy followers, what can I do for you?" A man who was cooking at the barbecue greeted them.

T-Dog shrugged, taking the initiative to do the conversing. "Nothing, really. We're just walking around and checking out this settlement you guys got a thing going for you here." He said.

"Oh yes," The man said. "We've been blessed with good fortune. We haven't had a Demon pass our walls in nearly four months. We have Zerachial to thank for that. He has made our people strong."

"Four months?" T-Dog asked with wide eyes.

"Yep!" The man said pridefully.

"Wow." T-Dog gaped.

"How long has this settlement been here?" Carol asked curiously.

"A little over a year, maybe. You can't tell now, but this place used to be a fraction of the size of what it is now and practically no one was here." A woman said from behind the man at the grill.

"Really? Where'd all these people come from and how'd it get so big like this without any outbreaks?" Carl asked.

"Preacher Malory." The woman said. "He's an amazing leader. It was he that helped other wanderers see the path to glory and it was he that motivated them to expand to take back the town here from the Demons. It was a lot of work and we have very strict rules now, but the job has been successful."

"Rules?" Lori raised and eyebrow.

"Yes, for our protection." The woman said.

"Every door in every building has a lock. We're to lock ourselves in our rooms every night, just in case we... you know, lose ourselves to the darkness. We can't wonder the streets at night and we have to keep up maintenance on all the buildings and the wall. A weak spot can mean disaster." The man said.

The woman nodded in agreement and added on."At least one person from every family or "group" as many put it, must volunteer themselves to work on the wall. Others must work a recon group that leaves The Temples and gathers supplies. It's mostly just for medicine or things we just can't find or make ourselves here. We grow all our food in greenhouse stations set up throughout the town and much of our meat comes from the livestock we raise from the barns on the southeast side."

"The thing that makes us safest, though, is the zero tolerance for Demons. If someone is ever bit, they're to be put done immediately and if any recon member get's bit outside the walls, they're to be shot and left behind. Any infected body is to be corroded with acid and holy water and the tainted ground where the body was killed is to be burned." The man said.

"Isn't that a little brutal?" Carol asked, appalled by their complete compliance to such inhuman brutalities.

"The system isn't perfect, morally, but we do what we must to keep our home safe and free of infection and corruption.

"What about other diseases; like cancer, HIV, Aids, or even a flu? What do you do then? I mean, your walls can't protect you from things like that." Lori asked.

"If they are too far down the road to be saved, we do what is best set them to rest. Luckily, we have a brilliant man who is a Geneticist and also a Epidemiologist. Dr. Haverty. He has been able to recreate the vaccines for many of the illness that we used to have vaccines for back before everything fell. We make it mandatory that everyone be vaccinated. Some people still catch it, but we've been able to prevent major outbreaks."

"That's incredible. How is that even possible? The technology that it takes to make those vaccines just doesn't exist anymore." Carol said in awe and disbelief.

"We have been able to get all our electronics back up and running. We'll not all of them. Cellphones and televisions still don't work, but we have lighting, running water, AC, a heating system, all of that stuff. We've made makeshift wind turbines to make electricity and one man who used to be am electrician was able to help create solar panels. The electricity has made it possible Dr. Haverty to make the vaccines with the lab equipment that the recon group swiped from a lab a few days drive from here." The woman said.

"So you've been able to almost totally recreate how life was before it all fell?" Lori asked in total awe.

The man nodded. "Not perfectly, but yes." He said with a large grin.

"But what if a herd went through here? What would you do then?" Carl asked.

Both the man and woman grinned. "Oh, that's simple. Men from the recon volunteer themselves to go over the wall and draw the herd away. A few miles from the walls, there's a pit. Our men lead them there and trick them into falling into the pit. They burn the demons and then they kill off what ever demons are left at the wall." The woman answered.

"But what about your men? I mean, they could die!" Carol asked.

"Most do and those who don't usually get bit or are forced to run away from The Temples due to all the demons. We usually never hear from those me again, but they do it for the greater good of our settlement and for our heavenly lord, Zerachial, so it's all worth it in the end." The woman said with a wide, almost insane grin.

~0~

"Where do you think they got those rifles?" Maggie asked. She was looking up at the men on the walls, large guns in hand. She, Glenn, and Beth were walking about the town, trying to find where the people kept all their weaponry. That was their group's job. They needed to know what kind of weaponry the large settlement had and where the people got them.

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure they didn't swipe that from the local police station." Glenn said, eyeing one man's military gun. "That's an assault rifle, isn't it?"

"I think so, I wonder how many of those they have?" Maggie said.

"I wonder if they had to kill anyone to get them?" Beth wondered aloud.

"Well that's a comforting thought." Glenn said nervously.

"Who knows with these people, they could be capable of anything." Maggie said.

"I just want to know where they put our weapons. I think Daryl's starting to go through withdraws from getting his crossbow taken away from him." Glenn pointed out.

"I think we're all on edge from getting our weapons taken from us." Maggie said. "Which is why it's so important that we figure out where they're keeping them."

"Maybe we should go up to someone and asked." Beth suggested.

Glenn and Maggie stopped walking and spun around to look at Beth, astonished looks on their faces. "Are you crazy? That's a terrible idea." Maggie scolded her younger sister.

"Yeah, there's no way they would just show a bunch of new outsiders all their weaponry." Glenn agreed.

"But we're not outsiders." Beth argued.

"What do you mean 'we're not outsiders', of course we are. We've only been here a day. They don't trust us." Maggie said.

"Don't you remember?" Beth eyes were full of disbelief. "These people think Daryl is an angel and they think that the rest of our group are his holy followers. They worship the ground Daryl walks on. I'm pretty sure they won't say no if we ask to see their weaponry." Beth said, not a hint of doubt in her eyes.

Maggie and Glenn stared at her with wide, surprised looks. They looked each other before looking back at the younger girl. Glenn broke out into a huge grin. "Oh yeah!"

"It's worth a shot I guess." Maggie shrugged.

They must have walked for an hour before they finally found a guarded building that looked like it might have been the place that the guns were held. To their disbelief, the guards didn't greet them with the expected barrel to the forehead. The two men's faces lit up when they saw the three approach. They even gave them a half bow and eagerly shook their hands.

"Holy followers, how can we help you?" The taller of the two men asked.

"Well, we've been out, checking out the town and we were curious about the type of weaponry you guys had here." Glenn said.

"We were wondering if we could see it." Beth asked confidently.

The men's grins dropped. "Is Zerachial unsure of our town's worthiness? Does he feel unsafe here?" The shorter guard asked.

"That's why we're here." Maggie suddenly blurted.

Glenn's eyes went wide as well did Beth's. "Maggie!" Glenn urgently whispered under his breath.

"I don't understand." One of the men asked.

Maggie forced herself to look authoritative and composed as she went on. "Zerachial wants us, his holy followers, to go around The Temples and found out just how safe it is. He sent us three to check what kind of weaponry is being used to protect the town he's chosen to save. If he finds it inadequate, then he might not choose to save you all." Maggie said.

The two men's eyes went wide. " I- I can't assure you, your holiness, every weapon is state of the art and we do everything here to guarantee the safety of our people and to prevent corruption from spreading. Every weapon we have has either been brought in by outsiders we've been able to convert to the cause of Zerachial, or has been found by our recon group who goes over the walls." The taller man stuttered out, seemingly afraid of saying something wrong.

"Who gets to handle the weapons and how well trained are your men?" Maggie asked with authority. Glenn and Beth, though unsure of her methods, played along.

"Can you make a clean head shot?" Glenn asked.

"We have a shooting class that's a requirement for anyone the age of sixteen and older. They take the class until they have a 80% success rate of getting a effective shot on the first try. There's one standard hand gun to every home in the town but only one person at each home is permitted to use it and only under extreme circumstances, otherwise, each weapon stays under lock and key. Any weapon more powerful than a hand gun stays locked away and only the wall guards can use them, but they have to check them in and out with us before and after their shifts. Those weapons are not allowed in town. The wall guards also have to take extra shooting classes until their shooting is near perfect, we have a phenomenal shooting instructor, he used to be a general for the military." The shorter man ranted out, barley taking a breath.

"We can assure you, Zerachial is safe in these walls." The taller man added on.

"What about other weapons besides guns? For silent kills." Glenn asked.

"They're mostly unnecessary within the walls since we haven't had a demon get through in months, but each home does have them and the recon group is required to have them when they leave the walls. The training in those are optional, though and most people are not well versed in the use of them." The taller man said.

"That's a problem," Maggie said with a frown. "If you have an invasion of Walkers, your people need to use those weapons instead of guns. Gunshots just get's them riled even more."

"Walkers?" The shorter guard asked with a raise eyebrow.

"She means the Demons" Beth quickly corrected.

"Well, I'll assure you that we'll put up that matter with Preacher Malory and get that fixed." The taller guard said.

Maggie gave them a curt nod. "Good."

"So, what happened to our weapons?" Glenn asked.

"Yeah, we'd like those back if you wouldn't mind." Maggie added.

"They're locked up for safe keeping and unfortunately, we don't have access to them. If you want them back, you'll either have to speak with Charlotte or Preacher Malory, himself."

Maggie let out a frustrated huff, upset that she wasn't going to get her gun back anytime soon. "Well, can we at least have a look at your weapons? It is the reason we came all the way over here."

"Of course!" Both men quickly unlocked the heavy door and opened it for the trio. They backed away as the three stepped into the building.

Their jaws nearly hit the floor at the sight within the building's walls. All three of their eyes were wide, practically frozen. "Holy shit." Glenn gasped in total awe.

~0~

Rick ran his hand along the large wall as they walked, looking up and down the massive thing. He looked for anything that might be a fault or weakness. The brick wall was a faded rust color. Concrete fill-ins covered the wall like decorative patches. It was incredibly tall and, from the looks of it, it was quite thick.

Daryl and Hershel followed close behind the former sheriff, running their own inspections on the wall. Daryl looked for cracks and holes where the wall met the ground while Hershel watched the men walk along the wall, seemingly unfazed by the sheer height they were at. The wall tall enough to fit a large car through and still have protection, some places were even taller. Those spot looked like they were able to get a semi through with no trouble.

"Improvements could be made, but this wall looks pretty solid." Rick said.

"I c'n see why they ain't had no breaches lately." Daryl drawled.

"It looks like they take pretty good care of this wall, we've walked the whole perimeter and have found no real dangers." Hershel said.

"Or a way out." Daryl added on with a growl.

It was their group's job to inspect the wall; find faults, weaknesses, anything that could put the town in danger. They were also suppose to try and find a spot where they could escape. Much to their shock and disappointment, the wall was well maintained and not a weak point was found.

"Even if there was fault, who knows if we would be able to break through and get out in time? The sheer amount of guards leaves us heavily outnumbered and out gunned. We wouldn't get very far." Hershel said.

Daryl let out a frustrated grunt. Rick sighed, hating their situation even more now. He didn't want his group stuck in the town for any longer than they had to. He just wanted to get their weapons back and get as far away from the place as soon as possible. Now it looked like Rick would have to put that plan on hold. They had no means of escape or a way to defend themselves. They were vulnerable.

"I hope Glenn's group is doing well on finding out what this town's got on weaponry." Rick mumbled. "We might get lucky and discover that they're not as heavily armed as they look."

"Knowin' our luck, that won't be the case." Daryl said. "I jus' hope they find ma crossbow."

"We all want our weapons back. We can't leave without them." Rick said.

"Zerachial!"

All three men perked up at the noise, looking upward. One of the guards was looking down at them with a grin on his face. He was eyeing Daryl like a crazy fanboy. He looked like he was in complete awe of Daryl's presence.

"Is something wrong?" Rick asked suspiciously, not liking them man's attention.

The guard's face dropped for a moment. He vigorously shook his head back and forth. "I-I; nothing's wrong your Authority. I was merely shocked that yourself and Zerachial were out so far. I was a bit awe struck to be honest. I guess I'm just not used to seeing Zerachial in our holy city yet." The man ranted on with a huge grin. "Are you looking for something?"

"We were just examining this fine wall your people have here." Hershel cut in. "It's quite incredible, how long did it take to build it?"

"Yes, we are very proud of our glorious wall. I don't really know how long it took to build it, but I've been told that it took over just a few months of non-stop construction. Back then, much of the town's resources went into the wall."

"A few months? How were you able to pull such a thing off?" Rick asked in shock. The wall just seemed too big, too tall, and too stable to have only been built in such a short period of time.

"Every resident had to work a certain amount of hours a week on the wall. We have a lot of people who are wiling to work for the cause of Zerachial, your holiness. The promise of safety drove them to work non-stop and its construction drove more followers to our settlement."

"And it's strong? You don't have any weak points?" Hershel asked.

"We have workers whose soul purpose is to maintain the wall. If they find a weak spot, they fix it almost immediately. The wall is actually built into the ground. You can't see it, but it goes under nearly six feet. It's purposely made to look like it stops at the ground to confuse and surprise invaders. By time they realize it, it's too late." The guard pridefully explained.

"What do ya do with tha intruders?" Daryl asked.

"They're killed on the spot, but that's only if they try to instigate an attack. If they come to the gate in piece and drop their weapons, we'll try to work with. If they want in our wall, they have to give up their weapons and swear to serve Zerachial."

"How many guards work the wall?" Hershel asked.

"At a given time, there's about a dozen guards walking along the wall. We try to keep every single section of the wall heavily guarded. a single guard can't leave until another has taken his place. We have a strict work system."

"You kill Walkers with those weapons? Wouldn't the noise attract more?" Rick asked.

The guard raised his eyebrow in confusion. "A Walker?"

"The Demons. We just call them Walkers." Hershel said.

"What an odd word to call them." The guard mumbled. "But to answer your question, yes, we use these weapons but we have to use silencers."

"So you and your men work day and night on the wall and there's not a single blind spot?" Rick asked.

The man grinned. "That's right and we willingly and happily do it all for you and Zerachial, your holy Authority."

Sorry I haven't uploaded in so long, but here's the newest chapter. This chapter gives you a little insight on the people of The Temples and how the town is run. I hope you enjoy.