End of the World - The Walking Dead

Chapter Two

『𝒩𝑜 𝒫𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 ℒ𝒾𝓀𝑒 ℋ𝑜𝓂𝑒』

                          《"𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚."》

        "They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go." Abraham said. He was a tall man. "We just got here, but, damn. It was time to go. When I told them about DC, a wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled out their gun and it was right back to our regularly scheduled shitstorm."
        "Before they put you in here," Sasha asked. Another woman. "you didn't see Tyreese?"
        "No." Michonne replied.
        "Good."
        "Black car with a white cross painted on it. I tried to follow it. I tried." Daryl said.
         "But she's alive?" Maggie asked
         "She's alive."
         "So who's the kid?" Glenn asked.
         Daryl chuckled. "Uh, somehow, my little sister." He said. "I mean, I don't know how the hell we found each other, but we did. Her name's Charlie"
         A few minutes later, we heard voices from the outside. "All right, got four of them pricks coming our way." Daryl said, looking through a crack.
        "Y'all know what to do. Go for their eyes first. Then their throats." Rick said. We readied ourselves to fight.
        "Put your backs to the walls on either side of the car, now!" A man yelled. A door from the top opened, then something dropped.
         Abraham examined it for a quick second. "Move!" He he yelled. I dove out of the way, coughing as fumes engulfed us.
         When I awoke, it was to an explosion. I sat up quickly. "What the hell?" I asked with a raspy voice. It hurt to breathe.
        "Hey, look who woke up." Carl said.
        "Seriously, what the hell was that?" I repeated.
        "No clue." He said. Gunshots continued.
        "It sounded like a bomb." Michonne said.
        "There's a Goddamn war out there." Abraham said.
        "Could always bust through." I said.
        "Oh, yeah, that's a damn fantastic idea. Lets ram ourselves into a thick wall of metal." He said.
        "Hey, I offered a solution." I said. "Well, an option."
        Carl sat next to me after a little while. "They're fine." He said. I looked over at him. "Daryl, and my dad, Glenn, Bob, they'll make it."
        "I know." I replied.
        "Really? Because you don't look very confident in that statement."
        "I just, don't like to.. expect good things all the time. That's usually when all the bad stuff happens." We stopped speaking for a second.
        "So, what's it like?" He asked.
        "What?"
        "Finding your brother after all this time. Randomly. In the middle of the freaking apocalypse."
        "Uh, it's weird." I replied. "I haven't seen him since I was six years old."
        The door opened. Carl and I shot up, and we ran with the others. Rick had opened it. I stayed toward the middle of the group. We ran toward the fence. We draped something over the fence, then we piled over. We walked out into the woods.
        I propped myself against a tree and sat down. "Told you." Carl said to me. I smiled a little.
        "It's not over till they're all dead." I heard Rick say.
        "The hell it isn't. That place is on fire." Rosita replied. "Full of walkers."
        "I'm not dicking around with this crap. We just made it out." Abraham said.
        "The fences are down. They'll run or die." Maggie said.
        A woman approached. I grabbed a handgun someone had set down and pointed it at her, causing others to look.
        Daryl ran to her the second he saw her and wrapped her in a hug. I lowered my gun. "Who.." I started.
        Rick and Carl followed.
        "You all have to come with me." The woman said. Rick grabbed our bags. He had buried them earlier. He handed me mine, then we were off.
       "So, who exactly is that?" I asked Carl.
       "Carol." He replied. "She's a friend."
       "I kind of hoped so, considering we followed her through the woods." I replied. He went quiet as we approached a house. A man stood outside holding a baby.
       Rick and Carl took the baby from him. I watched as they were all reunited. I walked off to the side. Daryl put his hand on my shoulder. "Listen, uh, I know this is kind of awkward, considering.." He started.
       "Yeah." I replied.
       "Can I..?" He asked. I nodded. He hugged me.
       Everyone started moving awhile later. Daryl and I walked next to each other.
       "Alright, alright, talk to me about... your bracelets." He said. "You have like, 15 of them."
       I laughed. "All right." I said. I pointed to the first one. "This is just one my friend Valerie made for me."
       "Valerie? Is she.. alive?" He asked.
       "She was when Sam and I left camp." I replied.
       "All right, continue."
       "This is one I bought on vacation." I said, pointing to a rubber bracelet. "It means a lot to me though, because it was my first vacation." I pointed to the next one. "This is one Val bought me a few years back when her family went on vacation."
        I talked him through all of them. "And then this one was from when we went to Disney. Mom, she bought it for me."
        "They gave you a good life, huh?" He asked.
        "As well as they could. We had our problems. They tried to make up for the six years of lost time with material things. Which ended up being their main form of love after awhile."
        "At least someone took care of you." He said. "I was always nervous you'd end up with some shit family."
        I smiled. "We're gonna stop here!" Rick yelled. I walked toward Carl and the baby he was feeding.
        "Who's this little girl?" I asked.
        "Judith." He said. "She's my sister."
        "I can tell." I said. "You look alike."
"Do you want to hold her?" He asked. I smiled, then took her. I smiled more as she played with the dangly parts of my Disney charm bracelet.
"I have a little sister." I said. "Bella. She's 4 now."
"Is she at your camp?" He asked me.
"Yeah." I replied.
"Well then, we'll have to find them. I have to meet her. It's only fair."
I smiled.
The others lit a fire later in the night. I pulled out my book and read using the firelight.
"What're you reading?" Michonne asked, sitting down.
"Percy Jackson." I replied.
"Ah..." She said. "Can I check your injury?" I nodded.
She unraveled it. "Okay." She said. "It's not bad."
She cleaned it up some, then rewrapped it.
I finished reading a few chapters before putting my book down and laying down.
Sleep came, dreams came. Nightmares. The same as before. Guilt plagued me.
I woke up the next day. We all quickly gathered our stuff and started walking. I carried Judith as we walked.
As we went our way, we heard screams. "Help!" A man yelled. Rick held us in place.
"Dad, come on. Come on!" Carl pleaded. Rick reluctantly let us go toward the screams.
The man was on a large rock, tall enough to get away from the biters. Carl fired a shot into one of their heads. I covered Judith's ears.
They killed the other two. "Come on down." Rick told the man. He slid off the rock. "You okay?"
He threw up. "Sorry." He said. "Yes. Thank you. I'm Gabriel."
"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asked.
"Do I look like I would have any weapons?" Gabriel asked. I examined his outfit. Father Gabriel is what his name would be in the church.
"We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like." Abraham said.
"I have no weapons of any kind." He answered. "The word of God is the only protection I need."
"Sure didn't look like it." Daryl said.
"I called for help. Help came." He said. He scanned us. "Do you have any food? Whatever I.. had left just hit the ground."
"We got some pecans." Carl said, handing them too him.
"Thank you." Gabriel said. He took them.
He looked at me. "That's a beautiful child." He said, talking about Judith. Silence filled the air. "Do you have a camp?"
"No. Do you?" Rick asked.
"I have a church." Gabriel replied.
"Hold your hands above your head." Rick said. He did. Rick patted him down. "How many walkers have you killed?"
"Not any, actually." He replied. Rick spun him around.
"How many people have you killed?"
"None."
"Why?"
"Because the Lord abhors violence."
"What have you done?" Rick asked. Gabriel looked confused. "We've all done something."
"I'm a sinner. I sin almost every day. But those sins, I confess them to God, not strangers."
"You said you had a church?" Michonne asked. Be nodded. "Take us."
He nodded again, and we walked off.
I walked at the back. We approached a white church. A few checked the area, making sure it was safe. Carl took Judith from me and I sat on the fence, taking a sip from my water bottle.
They came back out a few minutes later. "I spent months here without stepping out the front door." Gabriel said. I joined them.
"Thanks for this." Carl said.
"I found a short bus out back." Abraham said. "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."
He paused. "You understand what's at stake here, right?" Abraham asked.
        "Yes, I do." He replied.
        "Now that we can take a breath-" Michonne started.
        "We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitable goes down." Abraham said.
        "We need supplies." Michonne argued. "No matter what we do next."
        "That's right. We're running low on water, we need food, ammunition." Rick said, walking up the stairs.
        "Short bus ain't going nowhere." Daryl said. "Bring you back some baked beans." We all followed Rick inside.
         "How'd you survive here for so long? Where did your supplies come from?" Rick asked.
         "Luck." Gabriel replied. "Our annual canned food drive. Things fell apart right after we finished it. It was just me. The food lasted a long time. And then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one."
        "What kept you from it?" Rick asked.
        "It's overrun."
        "How many?"
        "A dozen or so. Maybe more."
        "We can handle a dozen.
        "Bob and I will go with you. Tyreese should stY here, help keep Judith safe." Sasha said.
         "That'll be okay?" Rick asked him.
        "Sure." He replied. "You ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I'm right here."
        "I'm grateful for it." Rick replied. "And everything else"
        "I'll draw you a map." Gabriel said.
        "You don't have to. You're coming with us." Rick said.
        "I'm not gonna be of any help." He replied. "You saw me. I'm no good around those things."
        "You're coming with us." Rick said. He nodded.
        I sat down on a pew and fiddled with one of my bracelets. Daryl sat next to me after a while. "You want some pecans?" He asked. I took one from his hand and ate it. "Carol and I are gonna go get water, okay? Stay safe, don't do anything stupid."
       I nodded. He gave me a side hug, then walked away. I watched Carl with Judith, missing Bella.
       Glenn, Maggie, and Tara left as well.
       Carl walked over. "Do you mind holding her for a few minutes?" He asked. I smiled and took her from him.
       He walked away.
       I hummed 'Hey Jude' by the Beatles to her. "Hey Jude, don't be afraid." I whisper-sung. "You were made to go out and get 'em. The minute you let 'em under your skin, then you begin to make it better." She fell asleep. I continued to hum.
       I held her as she slept until Rick came back. "Where's Carl?" He asked.
       "Out back." Tyreese replied. Rick walked back out.
        Michonne walked over to me. "Hey. I brought you something." She said. She handed me an army jacket. "It'll keep you warmer, plus, I thought you'd look cute in it."
       I laughed. "Thanks." I replied. I caught a whiff of her. "Oh, Jesus."
       "What?" She asked.
       "What is that God awful smell?"
       "Slime and corpses." She said.
       "It's awful." I replied.
       "I know."
       The others soon came back, and we had ourselves a little feast.
        "I'd like to propose a toast!" Abraham said as we all sat down after eating. " I look around this room, and I see survivors. Each and everyone of you has earned that title. To the survivors!"
       "Survivors! Cheers!" Everyone yelled.
       "Is that all you want to be?" Abraham asked. "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, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene 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." The room was silent. "Eugene, what's in DC?"
        "Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude." Eugene said. "That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."
        "However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there.. who don't got nothing left to do except survive."
       Judith cooed. "I think she knows what I'm about to say." Rick said. "She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."
      I laughed. The night went on and I eventually fell asleep. I woke up to gunshots. I shot up and grabbed my gun.
      The others came in, carrying Bob. He was missing a leg. "What the hell happened?" I asked.
      "I was in the graveyard. Somebody knocked me out. I woke up outside this place. It looked like a school. It was that guy. Gareth. And five other ones." He said. "And they were eating my leg right in front of me."
       I stared at him.
       "Like it was nothing. All proud like that had it all figured out." He continued.
       "Did they have Daryl and Carol?" Rick asked. I scanned the room. They were missing.
       "Gareth said they drove off." He replied. I started to pace.
       The world drowned out. I sat down. I snapped out of it when Carl tapped my shoulder. He sat next to me. "You okay?" He asked. I nodded.
        I listened to Rick. "They think they're in control. We're in here and they could be anywhere. But we know exactly where they are."
        "Plan's got stones, I'll give you that." Abraham said.
        "Make our move before they do." Glenn said.
        "That's right." Rick answered. "They're not counting on us thinking straight."
         "Are we?" Rosita asked. "I'm just making sure. It's a big play."
         "Remember shat these people are capable of." He said. "Tyreese."
         "Yeah?" He asked.
         "You up for this?" Rick asked.
         "I'm going with you." Sasha said, walking out of Gabriel's office.
         "You should stay with Bob." Tyreese said.
         "No. I want to be out there. I want to be a part of this." She replied. She walked back inside.
        He followed her. Carl grabbed my hand as my leg shook. "They don't have Daryl and Carol." He said.
       The others walked out of the church. Carl and I went into the office with the others. I sat on the ground. I heard doors creak open. Carl raised his gun.
       "Well, I guess you know we're here!" Gareth yelled. I grabbed my gun quickly. "And we know you're here. And we're armed. So there's really no point in hiding anymore." The floors creaked under their feet as the walked. "We've been watching you. We know who's here. There's Bob, unless you put him out of his misery already. And Eugene. Rosita. Martin's good friend Tyreese. Carl. Charlie. Judith. Rick and the rest walked out with a lot of your guns." No one dared to breathe. "Listen, we don't know where you all are, but this isn't a big place. So let's just stop this now before things get more painful than they need to be."
      The doorknob rattled as they attempted to open it. I felt chills down my spine. We all readied ourselves for war.
      "Look, you're behind one of these two doors and we have more than enough firepower to take down both. Can't imagine that's what you all want." He said. I heard a gun cock outside. "How about the priest? Father, you help us wrap this up, we'll let you walk away from this. Just open the door and you can go. You can take the baby with you. What do you say?"
      Judith started to cry. "No, no, no." I whispered.
     Carl went to her side.
     "It's your last chance right now to tell us you're coming out." Gareth said. I heard two bodies drop. Three silenced gunshots. I heard Rick's voice. We waited in silence. Then, I heard screams. I covered my ears, wondering who was being murdered.
      Tyreese looked at me to confirm it was Gareth. I sighed in relief.
      Rick and Abraham walked in the office. "You two, try to sleep." Rick said to Carl and I. "We'll look for Daryl and Carol in the morning? Okay?"
      I nodded once. Michonne walked over. "Before you fall asleep, let me check it." She said. I nodded. She removed my bandage. "It's a little red. We'll have to find something to clean it better soon so it doesn't get infected."
      I nodded. She changed the bandage again, then smiled at me. "I got my sword back." She said. I smiled at her.
      "Good." I replied.
      "You know, Daryl's out there. He and Carol are strong."
      I nodded. "I'd just hate to lose him already." I said with a small laugh.
      "You won't. Now get some sleep." She said. I nodded, and laid down.
      The next morning, we got up. I helped make a little something to eat, then the others said their goodbyes to Bob.
      I sat down awkwardly as others shed a few short tears.
      A little while later, he passed. Tyreese walked in and Sasha came out. Then we buried him. Abraham brought the short bus around. We said our goodbyes to Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Rosita, Eugene, and Abraham.
      I sat on the stairs as they drove away.
      The day turned into night, and soon enough it was time to sleep again. I stared at a wall as the others around me slept. I heard the screams repeating in my head. The sounds of them bashing their brains in. They deserved it, yes, but it still haunted me.
       I eventually fell asleep.
       The next morning, I woke up. It was later in the day. The church was empty. I heard the sound of nails banging. I took the time to open my journal. I'd been using it to keep track of the months, and my journey's.
       I wrote a quick entry, then walked out. I was surprised to see Daryl standing there. "You're back." I said.
       "Yeah. Not for long, though." He said.
       "What?" I asked.
       "I'll tell you all about it later, Kid."
       "But-"
       "No. We'll talk later. We're leaving, you're staying here, end of discussion, goodbye."
       I stared at him. "All right." I replied.
       "Stay safe, okay? We'll be back soon."
       I nodded once. A group of them left, and Judith immediately started to cry.
       Michonne and Carl nailed a board against two doors. I picked Judith up and hummed Hey Jude again.
       I watched as Gabriel scratched at the floor where the blood stains were. I sighed, then sat down.
       I played with Judith for awhile. I watched Carl approach Gabriel. "Pick one." He said, throwing an array of weapons on the ground. "You need to learn how to defend yourself. We can teach you."
      He looked up from scrubbing the floors. "Defend myself?" He asked. "They said they'd go."
      "They were liars and murderers." Carl replied.
      "Just like us."
      "We protected ourselves. They wanted us dead. Your lucky your church has lasted this long. You can't stay in one place anymore. Not for too long. And once you're out there, you're gonna find trouble you can't hide from. You need to know how to fight."
      Gabriel took a machete. "Good choice." Carl said. "But you're not holding it right. You've got to be able to drive it down cause sometimes their skulls aren't as soft and you need to be able-"
      "I'm sorry." Gabriel interrupted. "No." He stood up. "I need to lie down." He walked into his office. I continued to play with Judith quietly. Carl sat next to me.
      "How's the bullet wound?" He asked.
      "I'll live." I said. He took Judith.
      "They'll be okay. They'll get Beth and Carol." He told me.
       "So, who's Beth?" I asked.
       "Maggie's sister. She was with us at the prison." He said. I nodded.
        "I really hate being stagnant." I said. "When I was in Alexandria, I went out almost daily. And even if I didn't need to get something, I could go to this store I found. It's like, amazing. They have a bunch of skateboards. I even took one home. Val and I, before, well, the beginning, we used to go every day after school to the skatepark."
"Would you teach me? If we make it there?" He asked. I smiled and nodded.
Michonne walked back over and sat next to Carl. She fondled over Judith. I smiled, then walked to a window and stared out it.
A while later, I heard a voice. "Please, let me in!" It yelled. It sounded like Gabriel.
I ran to the door. The voices continued to yell. Carl and I attempted to pull the board down. "Step back." Michonne said. We did, and she used the axe to work on breaking the board down. I readied my gun as she opened the door, shooting a few walkers that attempted to get in. Then, they started to flood in. "Get back!" She yelled.
Carl pulled me back. Michonne used her sword to kill some, but there were too many. "The rectory! Come on." Gabriel yelled. I stood there, watching the walkers until Carl pulled me again. We ran into Gabriel's office, then shut the door.
Their hands reached through the crack in the door. I used my body to hold it shut. Michonne moved me and put a chair in the way.
"Thats how I got out." Gabriel said, pointing to a hole in the floor. "Crawl under to the back. Just go. Take the little one, and go."
"My- my bag-" I started.
"We can get it later." Michonne said. "Go."
I took Judith from her, excessively nodding my head. Carl went down first. "Hey, hey. You two wait for me." Michonne said. I nodded, then crawled after Carl.
I made it through to the other side. Carl took Judith from me, then helped me climb out.
Michonne and Gabriel followed. We ran down the side and Michonne shut the doors.
"Bu-" I started.
They nailed boards up and Michonne tied a belt around the doorknobs. "When we have more numbers, we can get it. As of right now, it's just us." She said. I nodded.
She put her hand on my shoulder. We stepped away from the church and sat near the fence.
"Where did you go?" Michonne asked Gabriel.
"The school. I had to see. I had to know." He replied. I heard a board break. I stood up. The doors were breaking.
"Where do we go?" Carl asked.
That was when I heard an engine. I looked to see a large firetruck. It ran into the church stairs, breaking them and blocking the doors. "No-" I started.
The DC group got out. I watched as Maggie hugged Michonne. "You're back." Michonne said with a smile.
"Eugene lied." Glenn said.
"What?" I asked.
"He can't stop it. Washington isn't the end." He said. "Where is everybody?"
"They're saving Beth." I said. "And Carol.
"Beth's alive?" Maggie asked. Michonne walked up to her and held her hands.
"Yes. She's alive. She's in a hospital in Atlanta. Some people have her, but the others went to get her back." Michonne said.
"Do we know which one?" Maggie asked, tears of relief coming to her eyes.
"Grady Memorial." Michonne answered.
"Well then, let's blow this joint. Go save your sister." Tara said.
"Give me two minutes." I said. "Bang on the walls, would you?"
Michonne grabbed at my arm as I ran around the corner and crawled back into the hole. I popped out of the floorboards and ran through the church.
I grabbed my backpack quickly, and did a very quick check. When I sat up, there was a walker right behind me. I stabbed it in the head, then ran, killing a few more as I continued.
I finally made it to the office. I threw my bag out the window, breaking it, then crawled back under.
Carl was there waiting for me. He grabbed my bag and helped me out. "Let's go." He said. He held my hand, pulling me back toward the firetruck. We jumped on the back, then it started to move.