Self Inflicted

25

At some point, Sasha disappears in the night and Tyreese joins her. She went looking for Bob I think, Rick decided to join them. When I realize they're gone, I also realize Daryl and Carol are gone too. Rick, Sasha, and Tyreese storm back into the church, and immediately Sasha charges up to Gabriel.

"Stop. What are you doing?" she begins her questioning. She then starts accusing him of being the reason that the three of us are gone. I walk forward and to the side of Sasha and Gabriel, standing sternly.

"If you have anything to do with this, you better tell us. Now," I bark, staring into the man's dark eyes. He looks flustered as Sasha inches closer and closer to his face, he throws his hands out in front of him and quivers, insisting it has nothing to do with him. Sasha pulls out her knife and continues on her pursuit. "Sasha!" Tyreese and I both shout.

"Where are our people?" she growls over and over again. Rick pulls the distraught woman back, stepping in front of her to face the man of the hour.

"Why'd you bring us here?" the words roll off his tongue so calmly but there is a fire in his soul that Gabriel has never experienced. "You working with someone?"

"I-I'm alone! I'm alone!" he persists again. "I was always alone." We have been with Gabriel every second since we met him, there is not a chance he is working with someone, at least if he is, he hasn't contacted them. Rick begins questioning the shaken man about a woman at the food bank, asking what he did to her.

'You'll burn for this,' he says, never breaking his eye contact. "That was for you. Why? What are you going to burn for, Gabriel? What?" Rick throws his hands on him grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and slamming his back against a table. "What did you do?" he shouts. Gabriel throws Rick's hands off of him, lip quivering he looks between all of us before toward the floor.

"I lock the doors at night," he struggles to speak. "I always lock the doors at night," he repeats over and over again, he collects his breath before starting to speak again. "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." He whimpers but continues on. "It was so early, it was so early. And the doors were still locked. You see, it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me."

I take a deep breath of realization, the story clicking. Gabriel's breath just becomes more labored and tears fill his eyes as he tells his story. "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." The tears begin overflowing and he cradles his hands to his chest. He cries and whimpers as he tells us what he did with the bodies. He drops to the ground and tells Rick he's damned, dropping into a hysterical fit of cries as he repeats that he always locks the doors.

"There's someone outside, there's someone in the grass!" Glenn grabs our attention and Sasha, Rick, and I rush to the doors. Sasha shouts and runs forward.

"Bob! Oh! Bob!"

"Get Bob inside, we'll take care of them," Glenn charges at a walker. I take out my sword and charge at another by him, slicing through its skull. Another grabs Glenn's arm and I quickly grab it, stabbing it in the head. Glenn gives me a quick nod. Rick goes to hit one with the butt of his gun when it drops to the ground by a shot ringing in the open air.

"Get inside!" Rick shouts as he fires shots off aimlessly into the dark. "Go!" They carry Bob inside and I stand on the steps, looking at Rick's faint figure.

"Rick!" I shout, he turns and runs inside and we slam the church doors behind us.

-

Bob regained consciousness and started telling us about what happened, how he woke up outside of a school. He tells us it was Gareth and five other people, eating his leg in front of him.

"Did they have Carol and Daryl?" Rick questions.

"Gareth says they drove off," it's like the air is stolen from my lungs with his words. He left. I have no idea where he is; if he's in trouble. He left all of us. He left me.

Then, he pulls back his shirt on his should and reveals a bite wound. "It happened at the food bank." Sasha tries comforting him and everyone's face drops. Poor Bob, poor Sasha. Gabriel offers the sofa in his office to a now unconscious Bob. They carry him in and gently lay him down, letting him rest.

"How close?" Rick questions Gabriel on the whereabouts of the elementary school Bob woke up outside of. "How close, Gabriel?"

"It's just a ten minute walk from here due south through the graveyard," he sighs. Rick turns and looks at all of us, anger in his face.

"Daryl was right," I speak up and heads turn to look at me. "They've been watching us this whole time."

Judith begins crying and Carl carries her into another room, shutting the door behind them to stifle her sounds. Maggie exits Bob's room and walks over to Rick, whispering that he is a little warm.

"Time for a reality check. We all need to leave for DC, right now," I can hear the urgency and fear in Abraham's voice.

"Daryl and Carol are going to be back, we're not going anywhere without them," Rick speaks up.

"I respect that, but there is a clear threat here to Eugene and I need to restract his ass before things get any uglier. So if y'all won't come, good luck to you, we'll go our seperate ways," Abraham swiftly turns and begins charging toward the church doors.

"You leaving on foot?" Rick's words stop him in his tracks.

"We fixed that damn bus ourselves," he growls in a response.

"There are a lot more of us," Rick charges forward.

"You want to keep it that way, you should come."

"Carol saved your life. WE saved your life."

"AND I AM TRYING TO SAVE YOURS. SAVE EVERYONE'S." Rick inches closer to Abraham and they shout more about Daryl and Carol leaving, Rick insists they're coming back. Rick reaches for his chest and Abraham swats him away.

"DO NOT LAY HANDS,' he begins shouting in his face. Rosita shouts Abraham's name and Glenn steps forward to seperate the two men.

"Do you really think you'll be any safer, leaving now, in the middle of the night?" Glenn growls at Abraham.

"Yeah," he grumbles.

"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," he pleads. I take a few steps forward, standing between Rick and Abraham, facing Glenn.

"I'll go with you," I breathe out. "If you help us, I'll go with you."

"No," Rick sputters.

"Glenn and Maggie too," Abraham requests.

"No," Rick spits.

"Good luck then, I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here. Rosita grab your gear. Now. Eugene let's go. Eugene, move it!"

"I don't want to," Eugene whimpers and all but a slight grumble from Abraham and Eugene was on his feet mumbling an 'okay.' Rick fights yet again telling him he can't take the bus.

"Try and stop me," there is a long pause and Rick barrels toward him and Abraham turns prepared to fight as well. Glenn and I both step between them, I throw my hands onto Rick's chest and plead with him to stop.

"You stay, you stay and help us, and we will go with you. All of us," he looks at me and his wife.

"No," Rick spits.

"It's not your call," Glenn shakes his head.

"You can't stop us," I shake mine too and then turn to the ginger. "You stay, help us, we all go with you." Slowly, Abraham nods his head and agrees.

"Half a day, come high noon we're tail lights. Not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop," he spits.

"And we will leave with you," Maggie pipes in confidently.

"Twelve hours. Then we go."