Chapter 9: St. Sarah's
Ryder was sitting in a chair surrounded by black. She was looking around, but she couldn't see anything other than herself. She could feel her chest starting to tighten as the familiar feeling of a panic attack began to rip through her chest. She closed her eyes trying to calm her body down, but her chest kept constricting.
While her eyes were closed, there was a light that brightened the room. She opened her eyes and was met face to face with Daryl. The man was strapped to a chair as she was. His mouth was bound, and he was looking at her.
The blonde's eyes widened in surprise. Daryl wasn't supposed to be there. She was overseas, and he shouldn't be sitting in the chair across from her. Before she could think anything else, she was met with the familiar pain of being tortured. Her mind had become numb to the pain since she had experienced it more than she could count.
Finally, when the man was pissed off and tired of her not saying anything, he walked over to the hunter raising a gun to his head. The man released the cloth allowing it to fall from Daryl's mouth but he still didn't say anything. He didn't take his eyes off the woman sitting across from him. She met his eyes and the intensity they held took her breath away. Her chest was constricting and blocking herself from breathing. She knew what was going to happen to him.
Ryder heard the gun cock. The sound hit her ears, and she couldn't take it anymore. The blonde started to scream at her abductor. "Don't! Stop! Don't fucking touch him! You want me not him!"
Through her screaming, she didn't take her eyes off the man. They were watering, and her vision was blurry, but she couldn't look away. She heard Daryl talking, "it's your fault." Then the sound of a gunshot rang through the room.
The blonde started screaming bloody murder. She was shaking in her chair trying to get free of her bonds. She was screaming his name over and over. Her throat was hurting, and she started to lose her voice. She closed her eyes as more tears fell from them.
When she opened her eyes, she wasn't in the room anymore. She was laying on her back looking into the same blue eyes that she had just seen die. They weren't the same though. This set of blue eyes were full of worry. She was watching him, but her hand shot to her chest. She couldn't breathe.
Ryder sat up pushing Daryl in the process. Carol was on the other side of her sleeping bag looking just as worried as Daryl was. She brought her hand to her chest and throat scratching at it. She couldn't breathe, and that's the shittiest part of a panic attack. The chest starts to constrict which makes it hard to breathe. Then, the body starts to panic even more since it can't get enough air. Ryder noticed Carol talking, but she couldn't hear anything other than her own heartbeat in her ears.
She looked over at Daryl when she noticed his hand gently wrapping around her wrist. He took her hand and placed it against his chest against his heart. She saw him talking to her, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. The blonde closed her eyes still gripping her neck with her other hand. She could feel Daryl's heartbeat. She focused only on his chest and his beating heart. After a couple of seconds of trying to gain her composure, she could feel her chest start to loosen. Her chest stopped heaving, and she was finally able to take deep calming breaths steadying herself.
Ryder opened her eyes looking up at the two people by her spot on the ground. They didn't say anything to her waiting for her to talk. She looked around and she felt relief flood her since she didn't wake anyone else up with her attack.
"Ryder." The blonde turned looking over at Carol. She could see the concern in the woman's eyes.
"I'm fine Carol. It happens sometimes."
"Ok… I'm going to get some sleep. You don't seem like you're going to be getting any for the rest of the night."
Ryder just nodded to her. The older woman had been right. She wasn't going to be able to sleep. She wasn't ever able to sleep after one of her nightmares. This one especially shook her since it wasn't Matt who had been sitting in the chair across from her. It had been Daryl, and he had blamed her for something. He had blamed her for the death of someone.
Carol walked away from them finding her spot around the fire that had practically died. Ryder looked over at Daryl seeing that he was watching her trying to figure out what had just happened. She felt a pressure on her wrist. She looked down, and Daryl was still holding her hand against his chest. Ryder started to blush slightly taking in the scene before her. She pulled her hand away from the hunter's chest. She couldn't tell since it was dark but it looked like he flushed a shade darker.
Daryl felt the woman across from him pulling her hand away from his chest. He had forgotten that he had done what Carol told him to try and calm Ryder down. He hadn't ever seen someone have a panic attack before and he didn't want to watch anyone have another one. He felt helpless watching her gasping for air and trying to open her airways. He had asked Carol what was happening and she had just told him she was having a panic attack. The older woman told him that most of the time when someone has a panic attack they need something to focus on. Since Ryder's had been so severe, she couldn't hear what they were saying. As soon as Carol had mentioned a heartbeat, he understood and had placed Ryder's hand over his chest. It took her a while, but she was finally able to calm down.
Daryl watched as she stood up from her spot on the ground walking over to the spot they had been sitting on log. She had grabbed her crossbow since she needed it to keep watch.
Ryder sat on the log. Daryl had come over and sat next to her. "You can go to sleep. I can cover watch by myself."
Daryl just shook his head.
"Whatever." Ryder dismissed looking around at the dark woods around her. It was quiet except for the occasional sound of their group.
Daryl looked at the blonde out of the corner of his eye. "It happen often?"
Ryder just shrugged her shoulders. "Depends on what nightmare decides to show itself."
"What one was it this time?"
The blonde turned looking at Daryl. She didn't tell people this stuff. Of course, she couldn't keep being a hard ass either. If she was going to stay with the group, then she needed to soften up a bit. It wasn't like she had a problem with anything in her past since it had been so long. It was only when she felt like she was back in the room. That was when her body went into panic mode. Ryder sighed, "You already know that I was part of a special ops team, a Ranger."
Daryl turned his body towards her a little facing her more. He was surprised that she was telling him anything from her past. It seemed like she was starting to open up. He nodded confirming that he remembered her telling him back at the prison.
"We were on a mission to rescue a couple POWs at an Iraqi base. We were able to get them out, but one of our men stepped on an IED. The explosion knocked me back while one of my comrades was knocked unconscious. I told everyone to continue and finish the mission. The bomb that exploded set shrapnel into my left side. My leg got most of it though." Ryder started rubbing her hands together thinking back to that time.
Daryl was listening intently to her story. This woman in front of him had been through so much. He could understand why she was closed off from everyone. He didn't dare interrupt her since he wanted to hear the rest of what happened.
"Insurgents came and took me and my comrade, Matt. They took us into a room, but he was still unconscious while I wasn't. They started to torture me. They smashed my hands, broke my ribs, broke my left leg since it was already damaged. Gagged me with water torture making me think I would drown. I wouldn't answer their questions. I couldn't. I was a Ranger. It was against our code to be so low as to give up information to the enemy. Matt had woken up around the time that my torturer was pissed off. Instead of doing anything else he held a gun up to my friend's head expecting me to talk. I kept my mouth shut and he shot him right in front of me." Ryder flexed her hands staring at the sky. She wasn't looking at anything in particular. She just didn't want to look at Daryl. She knew what she was going to see if she looked over at him. She hated it when people pitied her after asking her what had happened.
Daryl sat in stunned silence. How was she still alive? If she was special ops, then it shouldn't surprise him too much, but he didn't know her as a soldier. He knew her as a civilian trying to survive by not getting eaten by walking corpses. Those two people were very different in his mind.
Ryder continued. She needed to finish her story. It was more for herself than for Daryl though. "When I was rescued I wasn't awake. I woke up in the hospital. Both my hands were in casts. I had a cast on my left leg. I had stitches all over my body. That's where I got this scar." Ryder pointed to the scar on her eyebrow. "My hands were broken so bad that they needed to use metal to reconstruct as much as they could. It was the same for my leg."
Daryl finally found his voice. "The tech tattoo on your leg?"
Ryder just nodded looking over at him. "It reminds me on the outside how much a freak I am. I don't feel completely human anymore." Ryder looked down at her hands flexing them. She could see the metal moving unnaturally. She looked over and saw that Daryl was also watching her hands in her lap.
To her surprise when she had looked at him she didn't see pity in his eyes. He was curious. That went without saying. She thought she could see a bit of pissed too, but she couldn't tell. Ryder thought for a moment longer. She handed her left hand over to Daryl. The man just looked up at her confused.
Daryl saw her nod her head at him. His hands slowly came up to hers, gently capturing it in his. He brushed his thumb over the middle of her palm. He could feel the metal that she was talking about. It felt weird. It didn't feel smooth like his hand did. Daryl had already noticed that her bones moved differently, but he never knew why. He dropped his hands on his leg not letting go of hers. "You know, you're wrong."
Ryder just kept looking at him waiting for him to continue.
"'Bout not being completely human. In this world, you're either living or the dead. Nothin' else to it."
"Hmm. I've never thought about it that way."
"What 'bout your other tattoos?"
Ryder just smiled at him. This was the longest they had talked, and she didn't hate it. She wanted to keep talking to him, but she couldn't give everything up at once. She pulled her hand from his gently. "Guess you'll have to wait and see."
The next day everyone was walking through the woods. Rick was trying to keep them in a tight formation since Daryl had heard something in the woods the previous night. Rick's head was on a constant swivel trying to make sure he would be able to see something coming if anything did happen. Rick was at the front of the group leading them. Daryl was in the middle also looking around like a hawk. Ryder brought up the rear watching everyone in the group and also watching the woods. Rick had come to her earlier in the day and asked her if she could take up watching the back. It made him feel more comfortable to have someone experienced in the back. She had just nodded to him not minding being in the back.
Ryder was walking along. She wasn't far away from the group, but she wasn't close to them either. It was hard for her to be around a group like what they had. Even for the apocalypse, their group was pretty big. She wasn't used to being around people. It was the reason why she decided to take watch at night. It allowed her to be alone for a few hours away from people constantly watching her trying to figure her out. She was trying to assimilate with them more she was just having a hard time.
The blonde was pulled from her thoughts when she felt the presence of someone standing next to her that wasn't there before. She looked over and noticed that the big red headed guy that had joined them after the prison was walking next to her. She didn't bother saying anything. If he had something to say then he would ask her.
She could feel him looking at her, but he wasn't saying anything either. Ryder huffed to herself quietly. He didn't know her, but he knew how to push her buttons. She hated it when people stared at her. She looked over at the big guy again, but he still didn't say anything. Finally, she couldn't take it. "What do you want?"
"We didn't make proper introductions back when you and that firecracker up there broke us out of that hell hole." The big guy pointed ahead of them to Carol.
Ryder just shrugged her shoulders. She was about ready to dismiss him, but she scolded herself. She needed to put in an effort with everyone. "Jordyn Ryder. Just call me Ryder."
"Abraham." He stuck out his hand for a shake, but Ryder just looked at it.
"No offense but I don't shake hands." She didn't need more people figuring out she was half a fucking machine. She had already told Daryl but it was just him while they were on watch and he wouldn't tell anyone.
Abraham watched her for a second but nodded his head once. "Fair enough."
Ryder kept walking behind the group watching the woods, but the red head was still walking next to her. She didn't understand why he didn't just leave her alone and walk next to his girlfriend. She looked up at him again. "Do you need something else?"
Abraham just smirked at her. "You don't like people being 'round you, do you?"
"How could you tell?" She asked him with sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Abraham just chuckled to himself. "Were you military?"
"Army."
"Where were you stationed?"
Ryder looked up at him. "What's with the 20 questions?"
"Ever since you and she saved us by yourselves I was intrigued. Just tryin' to get friendly." She didn't need to know that he was trying to figure out if she would be a good person to help with getting Eugene to Washington. She was more than capable. He just needed to get a read on her since she mostly kept to herself.
Ryder kept watching him. She was trying to see if she could tell her had ulterior motives. He didn't seem too bad just nosey. She looked ahead of the group again scanning the area. "Army Ranger in Iraq."
Since he had started talking that was the first time that he hadn't responded to her. Ryder looked over to the other man who was watching her with squinted eyes. She could tell he didn't believe her. Since he had been military or whatever he knew what it was like getting in to be a Ranger. That's the best she could tell as to why he didn't seem to believe her. She sighed turning around walking backward. She lifted up her shirt showing him the ranger creed that she had tattooed on her side. The big guy looked down, and his eyes scanned over the letters. Once he was done, she pulled her shirt back down and faced forward again. "Believe me now?"
"Just hard as shit to be a Ranger. Wasn't expecting a thing like you to be one."
She scowled looking at him. "Do not stereotype me." She didn't care what anyone thought about her. She wasn't a normal woman, and she didn't mind. One thing that would set her off though was being stereotyped by other people, man or woman. Since she was more of a guy than a girl, a lot of people also thought she was a lesbian. She wasn't, but because of the way she was, that's what people thought. It annoyed her to no end.
Abraham's hands came up defending himself. "Don't get your panties knotted up. Just don't hear that often."
"You hardly hear about people in the army anymore with most people being dead." Ryder looked over and noticed his girlfriend was watching them. She didn't seem pissed off, but she kept turning her head to see if they did anything. "Think your girlfriend wants you." Abraham nodded and walked away from her.
The group had been walking for another 20 minutes. They had taken down a few walkers, but it wasn't many. All of a sudden, the sound of a man yelling in the distance caught everyone's attention. "Help! Help, anybody! Help!"
Rick ran forward halting everyone with his hand telling them to stop. Ryder walked ahead of the group standing next to Rick and Daryl listening to the man yelling. Her instincts said to go help but she couldn't without Rick making a choice. She didn't want to put the rest of the group in danger. Carl came over to his dad looking at him pleadingly. "Dad, come on." He started walking in the direction of the man turning around again trying to get his father to follow him. "Come on."
The sound of the man yelling in the distance carried through the trees. "Anyone, help!"
Rick looked back at the group but then forward again. He started to move that way, and Ryder didn't hesitate. She began leading the group with Carl next to her holding her bow up. They came around a group of trees coming to a large boulder. There were five or six walkers around trying to reach up and grab a man by the foot.
Ryder had moved forward from the group when she noticed that they were getting closer. She released a bolt from her bow. She moved her bow to her back in the same motion taking out her tomahawk. She threw it at another walker while pulling her machete. She ran up to another one off to the side. She was going to stab it in the head, but it turned coming towards her at the last second. Another walker came around the corner of the boulder that she couldn't see. She was about ready to take out the first one she was struggling with, but another bolt fired and killed the walker she was fighting. Ryder shoved her machete in the head of the other walker. She turned nodding her thanks to Daryl who was in the process of killing another one with his machete.
Everyone else dispatched their walkers. Ryder walked over while Rick was trying to coax the man on the rock down. She pulled Daryl's bolt from the walker's eye, her tomahawk she had thrown earlier and her other bolt. She handed Daryl his bolt and walked over to stand next to Rick while she was loading her crossbow again.
The man on the rock slide down still obviously shaking from the walker attack. It could also have been from a new group of people around, but she still couldn't tell. Rick was watching him making sure he didn't try anything with them. "You Okay?"
The black man didn't say anything. He leaned forward throwing a finger up. He then proceeded to lean over and puke. Ryder, Daryl, and Rick all looked around at each other practically rolling their eyes at the other man. He looked up after he got done wiping his mouth. "Sorry. Yes. Thank you." He straightened his clothes, looking around the everyone in the group. "I'm Gabriel."
"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asked eyeing the man.
Gabriel started to laugh and look around, but he stopped when he noticed that the group was serious. "Do I look like I would have any weapons?"
Ryder watched the exchange between the two men. The man in front of them may be a priest or was a priest, but that didn't mean he hadn't resorted to killing people and things. It was necessary in this new world. She was surprised that he had survived this long.
Abraham decided to speak up before Rick. "We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like."
Gabriel was taken aback slightly by the group. "I have no weapons of any kind. The word of God is the only protection I need."
Ryder just rolled her eyes at the man. Word of God doesn't mean shit anymore. It didn't mean shit to her before the world fell. Daryl apparently had a same thought as her. "Sure didn't look like it."
She man started smiling again. "I called for help. Help came." He looked around the group, smiling dropping. Everyone was just staring at him since they were all surprised with how this man acted. "Do you have… have any food? Whatever I… I had left, it just hit the ground."
Ryder noticed Carl digging around in his pockets. "We've got some pecans."
Gabriel took them from his hand. "Thank you." Judith started to make noises from where she was sitting in Tyreese's grip. The other man looked up noticing. "That's a beautiful child." Everyone in the group all looked at Rick, but the older man didn't say anything to him about his comment. He moved around awkwardly looking down then back up. "Do you have a camp?"
Rick immediately responded that time. "No. Do you?"
Gabriel looked around to the group again. It looked like he was looking at them making sure that they were safe enough to bring back to where he had been holding up. "I have a church."
Rick was apparently tired of his talking. "Hold your hands above your head." He walked forward and started patting the priest down making sure that he didn't have any weapons on him. "How many walkers have you killed?"
Ryder watched as Rick was making sure the other man was safe. She looked around behind her and behind the other members of their group. She knew what these questions were. Rick didn't ask them for everyone. She noticed that he hadn't asked any of the three that were new to the group. That could have also been because they were at Terminus together and they had fought with them. It could also be that he only asked people who he thought were dangerous. That meant that he thought she had been dangerous when they first met. Of course, Ryder wasn't surprised since she had held him at bow point almost the entire time they talked.
She looked back up to Rick and Gabriel. "Not any, actually."
Rick forced the other man to turn around facing the boulder and Michonne who was standing next to it. "Turn around. How many people have you killed."
She could see that Gabriel was surprised that Rick had asked him that question. "None," the priest didn't get that this world changes people and that without laws and rules killing another human being wasn't off the table if someone could handle it morally.
Once Rick was done checking the other man he stood up and stared him down. "Why?"
Gabriel backed away from him a step. He looked scared now with Rick asking him the questions. To be fair, he did look scared the entire time the group had been talking to him. The walkers shook him pretty good. "Because the Lord abhors violence."
Rick watched him getting up into the other man's face. "What have you done?" Gabriel was looking around at him and also at the group. It seemed like he was trying to get out of answering the question. He seemed extra uncomfortable when Rick asked him. "We've all done something."
"I'm a sinner. I sin almost every day. But those sins, I confess them to God, not strangers."
Michonne decided to speak up and try to break the tension between the two men that had been forming. "You said you had a church?" He responded with nodding and started walking the way to the church.
After about 10 minutes of walking and an uncomfortable joke made by Gabriel, the group had made it to the church that he had been talking about. Ryder and the rest of the group walked up to the steps of St. Sarah's Church. Gabriel was going to unlock and open the door, but Rick stopped him. "Hold up. Can we take a look around first?" He walked up the steps holding his hand out for the keys. "We just want to hold onto our squirrels." The priest dropped them in Rick's hands. He looked over and motioned for Ryder, Daryl, Michonne and a few others to go with him into the church.
They entered all walking along behind each other. Once they got in, they split up half on one side and half on the other side of the church. They were checking behind and between the pews. There were doors on each side of the church. Michonne walked over with Ryder to one of the rooms. Michonne stepped up to the door standing off to the side. Ryder held up her bow and nodded once telling Michonne to open the door. The other woman did, and Ryder walked in looking around ready to kill anything that was hiding behind the door. They checked the bathroom and some other things around them like closets. Ryder dropped her bow looking around at everything in the room. They hadn't come across any walkers and considering how quiet everyone else was they hadn't found anything either.
Everyone was pulled from their search when they heard a whistle. They made their way out to the front to where the rest of the group was waiting. Rick handed Gabriel his keys back to him. "I spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside, well, it would have been surprising."
Rick looked around at the area surrounding them. "Thanks for this."
Abraham came up to Rick from around the corner of the church. "We found a short bus out back. It don't run, but I bet we could fix that in less than a day or two. Father here says he doesn't want it. Looks like we found ourselves some transport… You understand what's at stake here, right?"
Rick just pushed down Judith's hair that was sticking up not bothering to look at Abraham. "Yes, I do."
Michonne spoke up since Rick wasn't saying much. "Now that we can take a breath…"
Before she could get anything else out Abraham, cut her off. "We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down."
Michonne wasn't having any of the shit that Abraham was dealing. "We need supplies no matter what we do next."
Rick done giving attention to Judith and done in his thoughts broke up the two arguing. "That's right. Water, food, ammunition."
Rick turned around leading the rest of the group inside. Daryl stood at the door waiting for everyone to walk inside. "Short bus ain't goin' nowhere. Bring you back some baked beans." He then followed Rick inside the church.
Ryder watched as everyone was going inside. Some like Glenn, Sasha and Tara had stopped to talk to red about going on the trip to Washington. Ryder didn't hear what they said because she turned away from the entrance and started walking around the church. She had a bad relationship with the Lord, and she didn't want to be in the church yet. She felt better doing a perimeter check again. She was still curious about what Daryl had heard when they were sleeping the other night. It was when she had still been asleep, so she hadn't heard it.
The blonde walked around at the edge of the tree line with her bow in her hands. She was scanning the tree line. She didn't hear anything. She didn't even hear any walkers which was nice. It seemed peaceful in the area. That feeling of peace didn't sit well with her. It was the calm before the storm. Something was going to happen. She could feel it she just didn't know what or when that something would come along and hurt the group she was with.
"Whatcha doin'?"
She hadn't heard anyone come up behind her. Her body tensed but relaxed turned around seeing that Daryl was standing in front of her with his crossbow around his back. "Making sure we are alone here."
Daryl nodded. "Rick's goin' to find more food with a group and that priest. Carol and I are goin' to get water for the group. Wanna come with us?"
Ryder started walking to the front of the church passing him. "Sure."
All three of them had grabbed their water jugs. They made the trek to the stream that they had passed when they had made their way back with Gabriel. During this time, they wanted to look around the area so they decided to walk back on the road that would lead them back to the church. Daryl and Carol were walking in front with Ryder bringing up the rear.
To Ryder's surprise, Daryl spoke up to break their silence. "Hey, I get it. You don't want to talk about it. You okay?"
Carol just looked over and smiled at him trying to reassure him. "Gotta be."
"We get to start over." He looked over at Carol and then back at Ryder before looking ahead of him again. "All of us with each other. You guys saved us all by yourselves."
Carol tried deflecting the compliment. "We got lucky."
Ryder just scoffed to herself. Damn right they got lucky. With that many walkers roaming around and only a piece of cloth stopping them from ripping them apart, she would call it more than luck. They also had the added fact that the people of Terminus were also running around trying to kill as many of them as they could. They had no idea where the rest of their group was or if they had gotten out alive. Saying they had gotten lucky was definitely an understatement. "We all should be dead." Both of them looked back at her. She noticed them looking at her, but she just shrugged. "What? It's the truth."
The two couldn't say anything against her statement because they both knew that she was telling the truth. The group had major luck, but they also had major bad luck. This last time was one of their lucky spots.
The three came up over a hill and noticed a car sitting off to the side. It looked relatively untouched. They were walking to it when Carol spoke up. "I'll check it."
Daryl just nodded. "All right."
They made it to the car, and Carol hopped in the driver's side checking it. The car still made noise and tried rolling over, but it didn't. Carol tried it again, but it still didn't start. Ryder dropped the jugs of water she was holding and hit that trunk. "Pop the trunk."
She saw Carol get out of the car with the keys in her hand. She walked to the back and opened it with the ring. While she was looking around Daryl called out to her again. "Hey." He made a point to look at both the women standing by the car. "We ain't dead. And whatever happened, happened." Carol looked back into the trunk grabbing a battery jumper from under a blanket. "Let's start over."
Ryder could tell that they were talking about something else now. She walked over to the side a little trying to give them some space. She was looking out into the trees stretching her shoulder. The wound from the bullet was getting better, but she kept overusing it. They hadn't really taken the time to slow down, and she hadn't taken the time to take care of it. It was still bothering her and hurting like a bitch after too much use. Plus, with the burn it wasn't allowing her skin to stretch so the scab over the wound was pulling and hurting more.
She heard Carol respond to Daryl. "I want to."
"Well, you can."
Ryder could sense that their conversation was done. She turned back around still stretching her shoulder. Carol shut the lid of the trunk leaving the jump box back there. "We should leave this here for backup in case things go south at the church." She picked up her jugs and started walking away.
Ryder bent down to grab her jugs wincing a little at the weight that was starting to get to her. Daryl had seen her wince even if it was a slight movement. "Want me to carry one of those?" He lifted his hand up to her, but in the process, a jug slipped out of his grip.
Both the women turned back to them smiling almost laughing as he took a step back awkwardly rubbing his face. "No. I got it," Ryder smiled at him. He bent down grabbing the jug with the water that was left in it. They started making their way back to the church.
The three of them had made it back to the church before everyone else, but it wasn't long when the rest of the people that had gone out to scavenge had come back. Rick had luck with getting food for them to eat. Everyone was happy to finally have a place to sit down and rest. They had a place to rest for a little while. They also hadn't had much food in a while so they decided to splurge a little and open a few cans so everyone could get a few different things to eat.
Ryder had finished eating and was standing against the wall of the church while everyone else was sitting in a group talking and laughing with each other. Abraham walked forward and started to speak to the entire group. "I'd like to propose a toast..." Ryder pushed off the wall making her way to the door of the church. She didn't want to be in there any longer and if Abraham was talking it was going to be about the trip to Washington. That was the only thing that he talked about when it came to addressing the big group.
She walked out stepping down onto the ground. She walked over and started walking around the perimeter like she had been doing earlier. If she was honest with herself, then she didn't care where they went. She would follow Rick wherever he decided to go. He was their leader, and she trusted his judgment and his calls.
Ryder was walking around to the front of the church making a second pass when she heard a twig snap in the woods beyond where she could see. Instantly she was on alert. She brought her crossbow up aiming it into the trees. This was a time when she wished that she had a flashlight or could see in the dark.
She turned and looked back to the church but looked forward moving slowly into the tree line. She didn't hear any moaning or snarling like there was a walker around. She stepped through the brush making sure to not make noise. Her eyes scanned over what little she could see in front of her, but nothing stood out. There was a sound behind her. She turned back and noticed that Bob had stepped out from the church and was starting to walk in the direction that she was in.
Ryder looked into the darkness one last time. She still couldn't see anything, and she hadn't heard anything since that one snap. It could have been just an animal but the fact that Daryl had heard something the other night made her feel uncomfortable. It wasn't like she could do anything right now though. It was too dark. She would just tell the group that she heard something. Rick would be able to figure out what they should do.
The blonde turned around walking over to Bob. She raised her hand and was about ready to call out when there has another snap right behind her, and there was a feeling of pain in the back of her head. Instantly she saw black, and her head felt like it had exploded. She felt her body land on the ground then she couldn't feel anything.
(A/N): I know guys! Another cliffhanger. I'm sorry. I was planning on going further in the story but it just turned out to be this. This chapter is a little slower to just get the group into the church. It will be more action packed next chapter. I promise! I also want to say thank you to lalilou10 for all the reviews on the previous chapters. I'm glad that you are enjoying that story! It makes my day hearing from you guys and makes me want to write more!
Anyway, don't forget to R&R.