The Rest of your Life

Chapter 42

Rory and Carl were outside the church when Rick and the others got back. They had found some gnarly looking scratches on the side of the church wall. "Hey." Rick said as he approached them. "Tyreese said you were out back. Come on in, we found food. A lot of it."

"Good." Carl spoke, nodding his head.

"What is it?" Rick asked, standing closer as Rory pointed to the wall.

"Those scratches... they're deep. Like knives or something. Someone was trying to get in."

"We found something else." Carl revealed, him and Rory walking over to the other wall as they gestures for Rick to follow. "We don't know what happened, but whatever it is, we can handle it. Doesn't mean Gabriel is a bad guy for sure, but... it means something." Rick squinted his eyes as he read the words carved into the wall.

You'll burn for this.

•••

Rory smiled at Glenn as he passed her a fork, the man going to sit down. Rory walked over to Daryl, sitting beside the man and handing him a plate full of food.

"That's all you're eating?" Daryl asked the girl quietly, gesturing to the can of peas in her hand.

"Mhm." The girl nodded, crossing her legs next to the man. "Peas are good. Want some?"

"Nah... just make sure you eat the whole can." Daryl said softly, nudging the girl with his shoulder. The group hadn't had this much food in a while, he'd be dammed if he didn't make sure Rory actually ate enough for once.

The two sat beside eachother on the floor, both eating their food quietly. Rory smiled at the sight of her baby sister playing with Rick. The girl rubbed her eyes before leaning her head on Daryl's shoulder, still eating her peas as she watched the group laugh and talk with eachother.

"I'd like to propose a toast." Abraham spoke up as everybody quietened down. "I look around this room... and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title." The man smiled and held up his drink. "To the survivors."

A chorus of the same words echoed through the church from some people. "Is that all you want to be?" Rory felt Daryl tense as he looked up. She was only playing with her peas now, watching them move around her fork.

"Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, it's just surrender. Now, we get Eugine to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip."

Rory lifted her head off of Daryl's shoulder and shifted a little as she peered at her sister in Ricks lap, the man shushing the baby's quiet babbling. "Eugene." Abraham continurd. "What's in DC?" The scientist looked a little uncomfortable with the weight of so many eyes on him.

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge... restart."

"But how do you know?" Rory spoke quietly, Abraham cocked his head to the side a little. "If you did work with as many people as you say, how do you know they didn't have the same idea? Who's to say they didn't just take the supplies and leave?"

"Why would they leave?" Eugene asked. "It's a scientific building, it's safe, why would they want to?"

"Who's to say it's even still standing?" The girl questioned.

"It's a scient-"

"Scientific building my ass." The girl scoffed, cutting the man off.

"Rory." Rick warned, yet the girl still continued to speak.