There Is Hope After All

by The Pillars of Transcendence

Katrina was in Savannah when the world ended and she's been drifting around Georgia since. She stumbles across the Atlanta group, holed up in Father Gabriel's church and preparing to face down the Hunters. But Katrina has a secret – she's immune to bites. First in the Gaelic Songs Saga [Carl/OC]

3. Chapter 3

Right, this is where we start to see things pick up speed and we finally get to meet a few characters we all know and love…

-3-

Gah. Crap. Damn. Fuck. Shit. Gah.

I hadn't moved an inch for fear that any sudden movements would be the end of me. My mouth had run dry, making it fairly hard to swallow and my blood felt frozen as it circulated my veins. After seeing that I hadn't moved, I heard the guy's voice snap behind me.

'I said put your hands up!'

'Okay, okay…'

I did so haltingly, figuring out if I should do as he said, attack the guy, make a break for it or what. Liesel continued to snap at the hostile figure at my heels.

'Turn around. Slowly.'

I did so to see that it wasn't just one person behind me, it was three. I stared past the gun muzzle and silencer of the handgun that was pointed right between my eyes to see a ragged man with hair that was – unbelievably – greasier than mine, slicked back across his scalp and a rugged beard dominating his face. And he appeared to be VERY pissed off. There were two people behind him, a young African American woman on his left who was scowling at me and looked like she was just ITCHING to put a bullet in my head with the suppressed rifle she was carrying and another African American on his other side, a big guy wearing a hat and the friendliest expression out of the three. His face was a cross between wariness and kindness, and I figured that he might be the easiest to persuade not to shoot me. The man with the beard didn't lower his gun as he spoke again.

'Walk. NOW.'

He motioned with the tip of his gun that I should precede him and since I didn't know what the hell else to do that might make this situation any better, I decided to do just that. I kept my hands up as I backed around the church, Liesel strategically placing herself in between me and the three. My eyes flickered between the Collie and the group who slowly followed as I went around the side of the building.

Liesel was ready to launch herself at the trio and attack them judging from all the snapping she was doing. And if it had been different, I would have given the whistle. The thing was, if she pounced on them then the other two would probably shoot her if the person she jumped on didn't do so first out of reflex or something. And I needed Liesel alive. Not just to act as a bit of a barrier between me and these survivors – hey, it was amazing how even the most deranged psychos thought twice about touching you if there was an angry dog between you – but also she was the only friend I had left in this hell. I wasn't about to let that bond go so easily.

My mouth finally had some saliva back in it as I reached the other side of the church, and I swallowed as the man finally spoke again.

'Stop.'

I halted and whipped my hair back after several strands had fallen into my face. I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath, determined not to show these strangers how afraid I was on the inside. If they knew I was scared, they might try and prey on me more. I looked down to see that Liesel had taken a step forward, baring her teeth and standing fully upright to try and frighten the guy off. I saw him glance at her in the darkness and his hold on the gun shivered as he readjusted his grip.

'Call your dog back.'

'Why?'

I shot the question at him so fast that it didn't seem to sink in until three seconds later.

'What are you going to do to me?'

His gaze was unwavering.

'Check you for weapons.'

Now I truly had no idea what to do. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want them to take my stuff. I didn't want him and his cronies rifling through my things and deciding to pocket them. Only problem, if I didn't call Liesel back he would end up shooting me straight in the head IF Liesel didn't pounce on him and rip his flesh off first. Then they would shoot both her AND me. With much reluctance, I did as he asked.

'Liesel, come here. Come here lass!'

She gave the man one last good snap of her jaws before backing over to me, still growling but not as loud as she was before. Despite the fact that I had called her back, she could probably smell my fear and recognise that these people were not friends.

He caught my use of the world 'lass' and gave me a look that switched between confusion and understanding. After all, compared to his accent mine was painfully obvious as English. He must have figured I had some Scottish mixed in too before his face went carefully neutral again. He gave the gun he had trained on me to the woman who raised it straight at me again as soon as she had it. The man came over to me and I took an instinctive step back. I didn't want this man touching me. He sensed my guardedness since he paused for a millisecond before continuing, and started to frisk me firmly with the back of his hands. He quickly felt the knife and gun I had holstered in my waistband and took them, handing them to the big guy. He circled me like a vulture, and I heard him sliding my katana out of its sheath before coming back round, keeping his grip on the blade's handle. He motioned to me with his head.

'What's in the bag?'

It may seem stupid, yes, but when I'm scared or nervous or really tired I tend to get more sarcastic and the snappiness of my retorts comes through faster and thicker. And right now I was scared, nervous AND exhausted so this guy would probably get a bit of tongue-lashing before the night was through.

'Um, a frickin' three-course meal. What do you think?'

Even in the blackness I could see his eyes narrow at me in annoyance. We remained that way for a moment, the tension between us palpable.

'Take off the bag and put it on the ground.'

Shit. I fought to keep my eyes from widening in anxiety. The guy throws the bag around, it might blow up. If he opened it and picked something up and pressed the trigger accidently, it would blow up. If the guy was just generally an idiot, it would DEFINITELY blow up. There was no way in hell I should give the man my bag.

Like I had a choice though.

I sighed tiredly as I slid it off my shoulders, gently placing it on the ground before backing away a few steps. He stooped to pick it up and twizzled it in his hands. I couldn't stop myself from teasing him with a warning, my voice dangerously mirthful and a slight smirk twitching my lips.

'Careful with that.'

He gave me a look before handing the bag to the big guy who still carried my gun and knife. Then he strode over to me and grabbed my arm without warning, making my eyes widen for real this time and start to struggle against him both in instinct and fear, the blood draining from my already pale face. He started to drag me up the steps to the wooden doors I had seen through the window as I leant backwards and tried to pry his fingers off my arm with my other hand, swallowing gasps of fear and fright as I caught his stoic face tinged with fury in my panicked gaze. It was useless to struggle though: his grip was stronger than a vice. And even if I managed to get out of his bone-crushing hold, I had nowhere to go but to a big guy and a trigger-happy woman. At this point Liesel was snapping at the guy again, but was reluctant to attack him since I had not given the whistle. But I still couldn't do it. I wasn't going to let Liesel die for this.

I attempted to tug my arm closer to my body and winced as his fingers pressed into my skin painfully. I tried to fix my feet against the edges of the wooden steps but I couldn't get a strong enough brace before I slid up to the next one. At this point I was panting with the deadly mixture of effort, tiredness, terror and pain and I threw myself into one last full force effort to get away as he opened the church door and my vision was bathed in candlelight. I squinted and blinked a few times, and I could feel my eyes dilating as the irises shrunk to avoid my getting blinded. At this point I had nothing to do but get dragged down the aisle of the church to the altar, putting up as much resistance as I could which admittedly wasn't all that much now. The man pulled me roughly in front of him and finally let go, allowing me to rub my arm which was already starting to turn red with fingernail marks in my skin as I examined it. My eyes narrowed as anger flowed through me. Prick.

My guarded eyes lifted from my arm to notice the people I had seen through the window now staring at me with closed off faces. On the pretty brunette's face I caught a mild glimpse of astonishment before her walls went up and she regarded me with a cold stare that matched my own. The three who had hauled me up here were examining me now that they could see me clearly, the guy who went a bit AWOL with me a moment ago still gripping my katana and having a more hostile look to him than the other, and the African American woman looked like she was about to blow since her eyes were blazing with something I did NOT want to get aimed at me. My attention turned to the boy I had seen through the window to find that a myriad of looks seemed to be crossing his face all at the same time. There seemed to be worry, shock, anger, coldness and…for a fleeting moment I caught a look of happiness shift his features which I will confess confused me. All in all though, he was looking at me like he couldn't believe I was real.

There were others in the church that I had not seen before. Many stood in the shadows and I did not really care to look at them as my gaze turned to my left, and I saw the man in black I had seen through the window, who was regarding me somewhat kindly compared to the others, his brown eyes seeming warm and oddly innocent as he took in my dishevelled, becoming-skeletal appearance and most probably reading the weariness on my face and in my eyes. I noticed his priest's collar: this must be his church. Upon looking at him for a few moments I could tell that he stood apart from these other people. He did not look as dirty, as worn, as…DERANGED as some of these others. I attempted a friendly half smile at him but I could only manage to lift the corner of my mouth into a soft look before it fell and the woman reached us.

Liesel's claws pattered on the wooden floors as she came and stood loyally at my side. I vaguely registered some of them give the dog a look, including the boy, but it was drowned out as the priest turned to get on with whatever he had been doing and she spoke, causing my attention to fall solely on her.

'Stop.'

He looked at her. I remained silent.

'What are you doing?'

He paused, looking at her anxiously as he took several steps to the side towards me.

'What…are you doing?'

She gazed at him with anger blaring in her eyes, her voice dangerously low. My heart rate began to pick up and I got the feeling that a metaphorical bomb was about to explode in here.

'This is all connected. YOU show up. We're being watched…'

The man looked at the others for help, but they remained silent and watched him curiously. Now her attention fell on me and I stood perfectly still, shoulders back and spine straight in the most dignified stance I could muster and stared directly into her eyes. After all, I had to show that I wasn't one to be pushed around.

'…We catch YOU looking through the windows at us. And now three of us are gone.'

I didn't let a single thought reveal itself on my face. So, what, she thought that I had something to do with three people who disappeared? I had to work to keep control over myself. It seemed absolutely laughable, like she was grasping at straws. Maybe if she stopped and thought about it for ONE MOMENT then she would actually see sense! Why would I, a fifteen year old girl, kidnap three people? Hell, HOW would I kidnap three people?! With a booby trap from The Goonies?! It didn't take a genius to see that I was dangerously skinny, dehydrated and coming close to passing out from exhaustion. In this state, taking on ONE of ANY people would be suicidal never mind three. And suppose I did have a group, a whole gang of people who weren't as underfed and tired as I was, why would they even bother kidnapping three people? There would be no reason for it. And why would I even be here if they actually existed? Someone would've had my back or tried to get me out of Beardman's grasp. Once again I fought the urge to start laughing at her. Was she actually so dead-set on me being a bad guy that she hadn't stopped to consider that they might have just upped and taken off?

No. Of course she hadn't. She was perfectly content to let the blame lie with me and this other guy she was attacking who clearly had nothing to do with it either. But hey, we were easy targets. Well, I wasn't exactly gonna roll over and play dead for this woman.

The Father spoke in a nervous voice.

'I-I don't-I don't have anything to do with this.'

She turned to me now. Mentally I was trying to toughen my tired self up. I gave her the best look I could that read 'Come at me', waiting for the onslaught.

'And what about you? You arrive the night our people go missing. We catch you watching us. What have you got to do with this?'

You have got to be kidding me.

I raised my head a little and spoke in a calm, measured tone, my English accent easily filling the church and getting a few raised brows.

'I have nothing to do with missing people. And I'm going to guess that this man doesn't either.'

I gestured to the Father but kept eye contact with her, my blue eyes becoming increasingly icy.

'As for others watching you, I do not know of any others out there. I am alone.'

Okay, so I sort of lied on that last one. I knew there was someone else out there but I didn't know that they were watching the church, or more specifically the people inside the church. I figured that if I said I saw someone walking around but didn't really stop to consider it, it would sound shiftier than if I just said no to the stalking altogether.

Beardman stepped forwards, his threatening look clashing with my imposing one.

'But it was you who was watching us. Why?'

'To try and see if you were friendly or not.'

I rubbed my arm again and gave him an accusing look.

'Clearly it was the latter.'

My voice was dripping dangerously with smoothness by this point. Unbelievably my composure had not even cracked so far. I gave myself a mental pat on the back: I never knew I had it in me.

My miniature moment of triumph was stamped on when the woman drew her knife, causing Gabriel to flinch back in fear and for my eyes to widen as I leapt backwards, arms raised in surrender and all manner of cuss words running through my mind. Just how much of a shitstorm had I gotten myself into?!

The others reacted, finally, as a Hispanic woman launched herself forward but was held back by a fellow ginger, a beefy man with a handlebar moustache and the other African American who had discovered me spoke with a warning tone.

'Put it away!'

'Who's out there?'

She was now pointing her knife threateningly at the both of us, and I tried to get back that closed off air I had before, managing to retain it a shred where the knife woman was deteriorating faster into a frenzy. The poor Father backed into the barrier in front of the altar as she padded forwards menacingly and I stepped to the side, trying to keep out of the line of fire.

'I-I don't have anything to do-'

'Where are our people?'

'I don't have anything to do with this-'

'WHERE ARE OUR PEOPLE?!'

'Please, I don't have anything to do with this…'

She was pulled back and I let out a small breath of relief in case she decided to completely lose it and stab the priest. I felt a warmth brush against my leg as a tell-tale sign that Liesel had not moved from my side and I continued to watch the scene of the tragedy as Beardman moved forward into the knife woman's place.

'Why'd you bring us here?'

His face was a mixture of anxiety, confusion and terror, and I watched him with an equal measure of pity, though soon it gave way to anger again. Anyone could see that this man had NOTHING to do with these peoples' problems, yet he was getting the short end of the stick here. Bursts of compassion and protectiveness for him pierced my anger at the others. How DARE they come into HIS church and treat him like DIRT though they are the ones that brought their SHIT to HIS door.

Fuckers. The lot of them.

'P-Please, I-I-'

'Are you working with someone?'

I didn't know how much more of this interrogation I could take before I unleashed hell on them.

'I'm alone. I'm alone.'

He was clearly getting more and more frightened.

'I'm always alone.'

'What about the woman in the food bank Gabriel? What did you do to her?'

I was becoming tenser and tenser. And my gaze lowered the floor as I tried to keep it together. I felt eyes on me and I looked up to see the boy sitting in the pew was noticing my rigidity.

'"You'll burn for this"? That was for you. Why? What are you gonna burn for Gabriel?'

Without warning he shoved him back and gripped his shirt. I was desperate to intervene, but I didn't know if that would make things worse. I watched the scene continue to unfold before me like it was on a TV screen: I could not alter what was happening and yet I was too engrossed to turn it off.

'What?! What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!'

Beardman shoved him back before letting him go and taking a step back, his stance ready to attack the priest again. The Father was now gasping as his eyes shone with grief-filled tears.

'I lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night…'

He bent over as his face creased into a sob and my eyes fixed on him unblinkingly, captivated by the horror of this whole fiasco. He took hissing breaths through his teeth and regained his self-control, looking at Beardman as he started his story.

'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. But there was so many of them. Men, 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…'

Horrific. It was the only word that ran through my mind as I pictured his story, the screams of the dying outside the church echoing around my imagination and making me painfully aware of my heartbeat, thudding dully in my heavy chest.

'…Damning me to hell…'

The Father clutched his hands to his chest and his face twisted with silent tears of guilt and grief. My face, however, twisted into a compassionate frown and I gazed upon him sadly.

'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…'

The tears he had held off for his explanation continued to slide down his cheeks and he sunk to the floor, sobbing in misery as the others silently watched on. It was pretty clear the guy was being eaten up by what he had done, or else he wouldn't be acting like this. And it didn't seem to me like he was putting on a show either. As I watched, I could only feel empathy with him. Yes, what he had done was unforgivable, and yet I couldn't find it within me to blame him for doing something so bad: I'd done some pretty bad stuff in my time too. I wasn't one to judge. But as I looked around at the others' faces, I could see that that was EXACTLY what they were doing, and my temper bubbled up inside me again as my face twisted into a hateful scowl. I bet that EVERY SINGLE PERSON in this room had done something terrible, apart the baby of course. Hell, I would bet my katana that every person in that room had killed someone. But they were judging the Father and most likely thinking about what a terrible person he was and how much he would be a liability in a group, but they almost-guaranteed had done bad things. They couldn't say or do anything to lessen their own guilt.

Thankfully, the crazy knife-lady had put away the blade and the big guy with the hat turned to walk down the aisle away from this party, but he stopped and continued to watch as Beardman seemed to realise that I was still there, and turned to me with a slightly insane look in his eyes. I inhaled deeply and prepared myself for battle.

'And what about you?'

Oh boy.

'And what about me?'

I crossed my arms but made sure to keep my shoulders squared as he stepped towards me. My eyes flickered behind him to his group and they were all staring unblinkingly at me, and I got the extreme feeling of being minutely small which I quickly sought to hide.

'Who are you? What have you got to do with this?'

'Absolutely nothing.'

Beardman raised his eyebrows and gave me a hostile and disbelieving look, continuing on with my interrogation.

'We caught you peering through the windows at us. How long have you been watching us?'

'I haven't been watching you. At least not for more than twenty seconds tops before you found me.'

But he wasn't done with me yet.

'What about you, are YOU working with someone?'

I supressed the urge to roll my eyes. Had this guy been paying attention to anything I had said before?

'No. I'm not. As I said before, I'm alone.'

The knife-lady had stepped forwards again, and I realised a millisecond before she spoke that I would now have to fight on two fronts instead of one.

'How many people are out there?'

I stared daggers at her as I exaggeratedly pronounced my words.

'I'm. Alone. How many times do I have to say?'

Beardman took up the questioning again as the woman looked like she wanted to shoot me for defending myself against her.

'Were you scouting for someone?'

This caused the entire group to try and pry the answer from my soul with their looks if their faces were anything to go by, but I could stand up for myself. I was always one of the ones who never cracked under pressure. So I stared right back, my look being more intense than any of the others as I mentally sent ice shards at them with my eyes.

'No. For the FOURTH TIME, I am alone.'

Clearly the guy wasn't getting the message though.

'What about Terminus? What do you know about that?'

Um…what? What were they talking about train stations for?!

I frowned at him slightly, the only outward show of any real emotion I had given this entire time.

'I don't know what that is.'

He narrowed his eyes at me a moment.

'I rather think you do.'

Damn, this guy wouldn't know the truth if it walked up and drop-kicked him.

'Well, I don't.'

He paused, saying nothing for a good long while. Maybe he realised I was tougher than he probably initially thought me to be. Now it looked like he was sizing me up, and my stubbornness made me stare right back at him, matching his gaze and not even blinking though I felt like I just wanted to lie on the floor and sleep forever.

Eventually a tense minute or two he just leaned forwards slightly and rasped out his question in an intimidating way.

'What's in the bag?'

I stood unbelievably still for a couple more seconds before I grated out my reply, my mind starting to numb itself to everything except sarcasm. Stupid, I know. And yet I didn't really care anymore.

'Already told you. Three-course meal.'

He looked at me like he wanted nothing more than to slap an honest answer out of me, but he turned anyway and walked over to where my red bag had been left on a pew with my weapons. I inhaled to try and keep calm as I saw him stop and just stare into the bag, causing the others around him to look at him concernedly.

'What?'

He didn't say anything. He just slowly reached in and drew out some of my explosives store: a land mine, a jump mine (which I had learned to make) and a pipe bomb (another one of mine).

I swallowed nervously as he turned them gently over in his hands. He knew what they were. I folded my hands behind me into what I hoped was a more military stance as all the eyes in the church turned to me. Another person, an Asian guy with a mop of black hair that had been silent previously, eyed me distrustfully and asked me about them.

'Why do you have all these?'

I blinked tiredly though my voice was thankfully steady and remained cold.

'Why do you have a gun? Figure it out.'

The knife-lady stalked forwards again, back on my case. I sighed quietly in irritation as her eyes blazed fire that was meant to scare me. Newsflash: it didn't.

'What were you planning on doing with these?'

The room was starting to become hazy and I was quickly losing the ability to speak due to my tiredness. All I could manage was a half-shrug. But perhaps that hadn't been the best decision, since it only seemed to make her angrier.

'Were you planning on blowing us up?!'

Jesus. Christ. I was starting to get a splitting headache from this, and I was honestly considering telling them to continue this tomorrow when I wasn't in danger of passing out and smacking my head on a pew. My patience and temper was running desperately low, and I didn't really care what they did to me anymore. Goodbye cold civility. Hello heated sarcasm.

'Why would I blow you up? I didn't even know there was a church here till a stumbled across this place a few hours ago!'

Literally stumbled too.

After putting down the explosives on the seat, the man stalked over to me and stood beside the woman, the rest all gathered around warily. Looks like the Beardman was back, and I was gonna guess in full force. Him and the woman took it in turns to attack me, and I prayed that I wouldn't slip up and condemn myself to death.

'Who gave these?! What for?!'

'No one gave me them. I found them.'

'Were you planning on rigging the church with these?!'

'No.'

'Were you gonna try and kill us?!'

'No.'

'What was your plan? To lay them around the ground outside?'

'No!'

'Rig them to the door?!'

'NO!'

Beardman had circled around me and was now back in front of me again, holding my gaze.

'Why are you here?!'

'You dragged me here, remember?!'

'Who are you?!'

'Nobody.'

'Who are you working with?!'

'No one!'

The others were starting to get more bristled towards me as I held out against the assault, some even laying a hand on their guns and knives. Not good. Not good at all. And I was reaching the end of my tether. I just couldn't deal with this shit anymore.

'Where are our people?!'

That was it. My patience had snapped, and I completely discarded my cool front and became a wild animal in front of their eyes, livid and out to kill. I was barely aware of Liesel growling at my heels, getting a few looks from some of the group.

'Lady, get this through your thick skull! I. Don't. Have. Your. People. Or would you like to turn out my pockets and see if they're there?!'

The big guy from before stepped forwards for the first time, looking a little pissed off at me.

'Watch your mouth!'

'Put a mussel on hers and I might!'

For Beardman, it seemed to be the last straw and he pulled out his handgun and pointed it straight at me. I was too exhausted, physically and psychologically, to give a damn if he shot me now.

'I'm gonna ask you one more time. Where are our people? WHERE ARE OUR PEOPLE?!'

Fuck this. It was clearly going nowhere but to hell. Oh wait, we're already here. I took a breath and tried to rethink my strategy past the haze in my head because if I just continued on with the dynamic duo in front of me I was gonna end up with a bullet in my brain before morning light. Instead I turned to the others, the ones who had been standing at the side like obedient dogs and I levelled my anger with them.

'Listen here, you American twats! If I wanted to be shot by a fucking loose cannon…'

I gestured at Beardman, who hadn't lowered the gun.

'…I would've thrown myself in front of the One O' Clock Gun at Edinburgh Castle. Now, if you'd get your heads out your arses and realise I have no bloody idea what you people are on about, you can give me my stuff back and I'll be on my way.'

The next bit I directed at Beardman and gave him a sarcastic smile, the last bit of my strength gone.

'If you'd be so kind.'

If he didn't get that I wasn't a pushover before, he certainly knew it now going by the look on his face. He was looking at me in shock and just a bit of anger, obviously not expecting me to use foul language or to stick up for myself so plainly. I crossed my arms as I willed myself to hold out just a little longer, just till I got outta here and then I could allow myself to collapse in a nervous wreck on the ground and probably cry myself to sleep.

Hey, wouldn't be the first time.

Liesel was still snapping at my heels, becoming loud and aggressive enough to cause Beardman to shift his gaze to her for a moment before it returned to me. I could feel my body start to shake from exhaustion, and through sheer willpower alone I managed to keep still lest the others should see it and mistake it for fear. I may be a ball of anxiety and terror on the inside, but it was what I showed on the outside that I was worried about.

Before the stare-off could continue any more a whistle emanated from outside causing me to snap my head over to the window with a slight frown, wondering what the hell that was and whether my fatigue-riddled mind had just invented it.

Seemed it hadn't though, since everyone else looked over to the back of the church and the Asian guy went over to the window on the left.

'There's something…there's someone outside lying in the grass!'

My sarcasm and anger ebbed away and it turned to worry as the knife lady started to breath audibly and took off to the doors, Beardman on her heels.

'Sasha…'

Hmm. Okay, knife-lady is called Sasha.

They surged out into the night, and even at the back of the church I could hear Sasha's worried cries. My curiosity driving me and the action giving me a little adrenaline boost, I strode to the doors with Liesel still by my side to see some of the group crouched over a dark figure lying in the grass and the others standing round.

'Bob! Bob!'

'His leg…'

'Get Bob inside! We'll take care of 'em…'

I watched from the steps of the church as several of the group took out the few snarling roamers that were loitering outside with the butts of their guns, but my attention turned back to Sasha as her panic-stricken voice cut through the night air, and I continued to watch silently.

'Can you help me?! Help me! Help me!'

Sasha and a different brunette from earlier sat up the motionless figure of Bob as the others continued to take out the roamers. The sound of gunshots made me almost jump out of my skin, and I heard Beardman shouting to the others as he let off rounds into the woods while the group hauled Bob into the church.

'Get inside! Go!'

I quickly moved out of the way of the group, heading down the aisle as I tried to get my jumbled thoughts together and I stood beside the priest who had recovered enough to be standing again and watching with wide eyes. My own eyes widened like his as I saw what had been done to Bob: whoever had taken him, whoever this group were clearly fighting, had left him with only one leg.

As everything seemed to calm down and the church doors were shut again. I stayed back but actually managed to forget my tiredness as I watched the group surround Bob, who was slowly coming to.

From this position I was able to see everything, and I crossed my arms over my torso as Bob gazed around at everyone, though his eyes settled on Sasha longer than the others. Brother maybe? No, no, probably more like partner…

'Bob, what happened?'

I snapped myself out of my judgements and listened to what he had to say carefully. After all, these people thought I was somehow mixed up in all this, so I needed to find out exactly what THIS was.

'I was in the graveyard, somebody knocked me out…'

He lifted himself up with his elbows, the effort causing him to take a few breaths before he continued.

'I woke up outside this place. It looked like a…a school. It was that guy, Gareth…'

The way he said his name sounded like poison.

'…And five other ones. They were eating my leg right in front of me, like it was nothin'!'

I blanched a little at that. I thought I'd met every type of bad guy, but obviously not. Now I had 'cannibals' to add to the list. He was almost crying with the strain of it, and most probably the pain too. Hell if it was me and they ate MY leg I would be full-on hysterical.

'All proud, like they had it all figured out…'

Beardman leant forward, and his voice took on a softer note than I had ever heard it before.

'Did they have Daryl and Carol?'

Bob's breathing was shallow as he answered.

'Gareth said they drove off…'

Well, what do you know? I was right after all. I figured they might have just upped and left, and lo…

You know, this was all I would've needed. A calm explanation of the situation like Bob had just given, and I would have totally understood. Hell, I probably would've stuck around to try and help out these guys to defeat the cannibal psychos or whatever. Now I could understand why the group were so on-edge and worried, but it still didn't excuse the fact that I got dragged in here and accused of working with the cannibal freaks outside. Just because I understood them a bit more now didn't mean I particularly LIKED any of them.

The group all shared looks at that as Bob moaned in pain, causing the group to try to steady him gently. I had remained silent all the way through his explanation, and so it caught my attention that there was a brushing warmth again my leg and I looked down to see that Liesel had trotted forward slowly to the group and as she passed the kid and Beardman, the group noticed her and gave her cautious looks. However, they changed into soft surprise as Liesel licked Bob's cheek and whined pitifully as she lay down, resting her head on his remaining leg. Bob looked down at the Collie in confusion, clearly wondering where she had come from, but he still petted her head before his eyes lifted and settled on me, still standing back and watching despondently. I probably looked less like I was made of stone and ice than I had before, or at least had tried to give the impression of. He blinked a few times before he eyed me up and down and spoke to me.

'Who are you?'

Several of the group looked at me though I continued to look at Bob. I gave him a soft but sad smile as I answered gently.

'I'm nobody.'

He gave me a painful grin at that, though it was tired, and his voice was laced with mischief.

'You're a very pretty nobody.'

I blinked a few times and lowered my eyes as the light dusting of a blush crept up my face from my chest. The others looked at me a moment before turning back to Bob. He looked down at the Collie who was still resting on his leg.

'And who's this?'

My eyes flickered to her.

'Liesel.'

Bob gave a smile at that, a real smile, and I will admit that the sight of it had me feeling instantly better. Smiles were something that were hard to find these days, so seeing it made me feel like I had discovered long-lost treasure. However, it didn't last as he groaned in pain again and Sasha lovingly held him up, turning to the others.

'He's in pain. Do we have anything?'

The Hispanic woman answered.

'I think there are pill packets in the first aid kit.'

Sasha nodded at her, but Bob protested.

'Save 'em!'

Sasha looked at him.

'No!'

'Really!'

They looked at each other a moment before Bob pulled himself up a little more, having just enough strength left to sit up on his own and pull down the collar of his shirt to reveal a nasty roamer bite on his shoulder. My face fell and emotions swirled around me; sadness that another person was going to die because of those fuckers, grief because I knew nothing could be done to help him…guilt that I would be the one to live from a bite and he wouldn't, though generally speaking he had a hell of a lot more to live for than I did…

Sasha's face was unreadable as she looked at it, though it gradually became a look of despair and the two gazed at each other in pain.

'It happened at the food bank.'

Sasha stayed stock still a moment longer before miserably attempting a smile and whispered to him as he whined in pain again.

'It's okay…'

The group's faces matched my own as he let out a few more breaths and fell heavily onto the floor again. Sasha held him gently as her face contorted with concern.

'Bob?'

I heard footsteps behind me on the wooden floors and a shadow appeared in my peripheral vision, and I gazed at the priest out of the corner of my eye as he moved forward to stand beside me.

'There's a sofa in my office.'

Sasha turned to the priest, but looked at the both of us, grief written on her features as she seemed to realise that we truly had nothing to do with this after all.

'I know it's not much but…'

'Thank you.'

'I got him.'

The big guy moved forwards to lift Bob into the office, and the rest of the group stood and moved back to allow him room. Beardman wasted no time, coming towards us but spoke only to Gabriel, me just happening to listen in.

'Do you know the place Bob was talking about?'

The priest nodded.

'It's an elementary school. It's close.'

'How close?'

There was a pregnant pause between the two and I just prayed that we didn't revert to the whole standoff issue we had had before Bob got here.

'How close Gabriel?'

'It's just a ten-minute walk from here, due south of the graveyard.'

Before anything more could be said, crying rang out through the church and I looked over to see the kid lift the basket, which I vaguely remembered held the baby, and he shushed her as he carried her into a different room. Beardman walked off, and I tried to let the events of the last few hours catch up with my pretty much dead brain.

This group were fighting another group, a group of cannibals, who were outside RIGHT NOW and who had eaten one of their member's legs. The priest had probably offered them sanctuary, though I doubt that that age-old law would protect them somehow. They obviously had a history, which I'm guessing what that question about a terminus was earlier. And now things were shaping up into what would be one hell of a gunfight, most likely a last-man-standing situation.

This was one HELL of a snafu.

I faded back in when the ginger moustache guy spoke to Beardman.

'Time for a reality check. We all need to leave for DC right now.'

What was so special about DC?

'Daryl and Carol are gonna be back.'

The others had all turned to look at him, and I held in a snort at Beardman's line. Um, they left. They just drove off, obviously without a word to anyone since the group thought they had been taken along with Bob. They probably weren't coming back, especially if they were treated the way I had been tonight.

'We're not going anywhere without 'em.'

'I respect that, but there's a clear threat here to Eugene and I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier. So if y'all won't come, good luck to ya. We'll go our separate ways.'

And with that the man, who I figured was an army guy from the way he spoke just now, turned on his heel and headed off to the church doors, but stopped when Beardman spoke out again.

'You leaving on foot?'

'We fixed that damn bus ourselves.'

Beardman padded forward, and part of me wondered for a moment if this guy didn't just go looking for fights.

'There are a lot more of us.'

'You wanna keep it that way? You should come.'

'Carol saved your life. We saved your life!'

'Now I am tryna save yours! Save everyone's!'

'We're not goin' anywhere without our people.'

'Your people took off!'

'They're comin' back!'

'TO WHAT?! PICKED OVER BONES?!'

At that point the argument got physical and the Asian guy jumped in to break it up lest it should get too ugly. I just stood watching from the back next to the brunette woman, getting real sick of this shit already.

'Hey, hey, stop! Now!'

He pushed them away from each other, staring down the both of them. Then he turned to the army guy.

'Do you really think that you're gonna be any safer leaving right now?! In the middle of the night?!'

'Yeah.'

The air sat heavily before he nodded.

'Yeah.'

He turned back to the doors.

'What about tomorrow? We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together!'

'I have an idea.'

Another brunette woman spoke up, walking forward.

'If you stay just one more day and help, I'll go with you to DC no matter what.'

She turned to Beardman.

'Okay?'

I looked between everyone and considered just curling up on one of the pews and sleeping through this whole thing.

'Glenn and Maggie too.'

'No.'

'Good luck then. I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here. Rosita, grab your gear.'

'Abraham…'

'NOW. Eugene let's go.'

The guy sitting in the pew didn't move.

'Eugene. Move it.'

'I don't want to…'

'NOW.'

Abraham growled at him, and Eugene reluctantly moved to do what he said. The three started to walk towards the doors when Beardman spoke again.

'You're not taking the bus.'

Abraham and the others stopped, and his voice was more wearied than before.

'Try and stop me.'

At that Beardman started to walk over to him, though the Asian guy, Glenn I would guess, stood between them again.

'Wait, wait, wait, hey!'

He turned to Abraham.

'You stay. You stay and help us, and we will go with you.'

'No!'

'It's not your call.'

Glenn stared him down before turning back to Abraham.

'You stay. Help us.'

Abraham though over it a moment.

'Half a day. Come high noon, we're taillights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop.'

'Then we will leave with you.'

The woman who I guessed was Maggie spoke from beside me, and I looked at her a moment.

'Twelve hours. Then we go.'

The conversation was over, as Abraham took his gun and walked back into the church, the others starting to disband to do whatever it was they did and I turned to Maggie.

'Is it always like this?'

I looked at her intently and she turned to me, appearing slightly surprised like she forgot I was there and standing next to her for the whole thing. She appeared to struggle with finding the right words, like she was a little unsure what to say. As a few more moments of silence passed between us I gave up on her answer and sighed, rolling my eyes as I went and plopped myself down on a pew. I drew my knees up to my chest and gently lowered my head to rest on my knees as I wrapped my arms around my head like a protective barrier from the outside world. I found the darkness comforting as I paid attention only to my breathing, my lids closing as the need for sleep grew uncontrollable.

As the darkness began to invade my mind in blissful sleep, I felt a cold nose nuzzle my arm and I managed to crack a half-smile, absentmindedly petting Liesel as I wondered…

…just what the HELL I had gotten myself into?!