Mercy|TWD¹

chapter twelve: Gabriel

After getting away from Terminus the group continued on their journey. No set destination in mind at the moment.

Mercedes tried to keep her self occupied. She and Carl had started to become good friends with Michelle. Despite trying not to think about Ross, he was a nagging thought in Mercedes head.

She walked in-between Carl and Michelle, with Juno in front of the three of them. Carl and Michelle talked while she loosely listened. Suddenly Carl nudged her arm. "Cedes, look." He quietly said, pointing towards a large tree.

Mercedes looked over and she smiled seeing two butterflies flying around the tree. "Whoa."

Carl smiled looking at her as she admired the butterflies. She seemed happy. Genuinely happy.

Suddenly a male voice echoed throughout the woodd. "Help!"

Carl's attention snapped towards his father. "Dad, come on." He urged. "Come on! Come on!"

Rick hesitately nodded and the whole group took off running towards the man's pleas for help.

Soon they made it to a clearing where a man dressed like a priest is trying to get away from some walkers by climbing on top of some huge rocks.

Some of the others got to work on killing the walkers and after they are all dead Rick looked around. "We're clear, keep watch." Rick told his group before looking up at the priest. "You can come down now."

Once on the ground, Rick walked over to him. "You okay?" He asked.

The man doesn't say anything. The look on his face seemed to say it all. "Oh, God." Michelle mumbled turning her head away right before the man puked all over the ground.

"I'm Gabriel." He said after wiping his mouth.

"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asked the man.

Gabriel chuckled at Rick's question. "Do I look like I would have any weapons?" He wondered.

"We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like." Abraham scoffed.

"I have no weapons of any kind. The word of God is the only protection I need."

"Oh, yeah... It sure looked that way." Mercedes sarcastically muttered as she pointed at all the dead walkers.

Gabriel smiled at her. "I called for help. Help came." He then looked at Rick. "Do you have any food? Whatever I had left just hit the ground."

"We got some pecans." Carl said, handing the man some pecans.

"Do you have a camp?" Gabriel asked the group.

"No. Do you?" Rick quickly questioned.

"I have a church." The priest answered.

Rick nodded before patting Gabriel down. "How many walkers have you killed?"

Gabriel once again laughed at Rick's question. "Not any actually."

"How many people have you killed?" Rick asked and Gabriel's face fell.

Something that the others didn't catch, but Jesse did.

"None." Gabriel answered.

"Why?"

"Because the Lord abhors violence."

Rick narrowed his eyes at the man. "What have you done?"

Mercedes let out a frustrated huff. She was getting tired of standing in the middle of the woods listening to Rick question the man. She wished that they'd either go with the man to his church or hit the road. The whole waiting thing was making her antsy.

But finally the group started to follow Gabriel to his church. As they walk Michelle grabs Mercedes' arm and pulled her closer. "I don't buy it." She whispered, looping her arm with Mercedes'.

Mercedes glanced at her and nodded slightly. "Yeah... This guy, he seems nice. Nobody's this nice to people they just met. Not anymore."

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Once Rick made sure that the church was clear he signaled for the others to come inside. Mercedes walked over to one of the pews and sat her bag down at the end before sitting down. Juniper jumped up onto the pew and laid her head across the girl's lap.

After about twenty minutes Jesse walked over and stood at the end of the pew. "I'm heading out with Rick and some others to town. There's a food bank we might be able to get some food from." He told her.

Mercedes nodded, standing up. "Be careful." She softly said hugging the man.

Jesse kissed the top of her head. "Don't worry about me. Listen to Tyreese while I'm gone, kay?" He raised his brows.

"Kay."

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Carl walked over to the pew with Judith in his arms and he sat down by Mercedes. "Judith wanted to come say hello." He told her.

Mercedes smiled before looking at Judith. "Well, hi there, Judy " she beamed, taking the youngest Grimes and sitting her in her lap.

Mercedes and Carl both laughee a little when Judith started to play with Mercedes' dark curls. Carl smiled. "I think she might like you more than she does me."

Mercedes hummed. "That's okay. The feeling is mutual." She said, looking over to meet Carl's blue eyes.

The Grimes boy grins at her. "You don't mean that." He said, shaking his head.

The girl squints her eyes and nodded her head with a playful smirk. "No... I'm pretty sure I do." She teased and Carl playfully shoved her arm.

7-7-23
3:05pm
816words
End of chapter