I've not walked so much in my life, my legs are fine luckily but I'm thinking of the kids, especially Hayden who was still carrying Aurora happily. I smile to myself slightly seeing him seem relaxed, Aurora had been talking at him the entire time he'd been carrying her but he didn't seem to mind it. I would've, because as much I loved the kid, she could talk a shit ton and it was a bit hard to stay interested sometimes.
"Hayden, you wanna switch yet?" He shakes his head, "no I'm alright ma'am." I feel bad because I know that he's a child too and if I find Rory heavy, surely ye does too. "You can call me Selene you know, you don't have to call me ma'am." He shakes his head again, "it doesn't feel right. My mom said it was rude to call 'grown folk' by their name."
"Help!" Our conversation is cut short when we hear a man call out for help. "Help, anybody! Help!" I start moving forwards instantly but Rick catches my hand to stop me. "Dad, come on." Carl urges wanting to go help too, it seems like it's only the two of us who are willing to.
"Come on! Come on." Carl says as I pull free from Rick and go in search of the screaming man. "Anyone, help! Help!"
When I get there the others are following, we find a church man, he's on a rock with walkers clawing and snarling at him "Help! Help! Help!" He's desperately kicking his legs as he's trying to keep what minimal distance he can between himself and the walkers.
"Anybody, help!"
"Help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help!"
We help him and then once he gets down from the rock I move back closer to the group, Aurora clutches my leg, she's down on the ground now and holding onto me for dear life.
"You okay?" Before the man can answer the question he empties his stomach onto the ground. I cringe as he does so until I hear a little gag from beside me. Rory has thrown up too.
"Sorry." He mumbles as I lead her to the side because she's about to start crying, she always cried after she threw up apparently. "You're fine, you're fine." I reassure using a leaf to wipe her face. "Sorry," she sniffles. "It's alright, seeing him puke was gross."
"You okay Roo?" Aelia has joined us, "I brought you some nuts." She offers making Rory try and smile, she's still sad about the throw up. "That was so embarrassing." We both shake our heads, "it's fine." Aelia walks back to the group but I stay with Tory for a second. She sits on my lap and slowly munches on the pecans, she'd rinsed her mouth out with her water first. We sit and wait until the group get ready to move, I guess we're going with the priest.
"You alright kid?" Daryl asks as we join the others. "I'm fine." She mumbles dejectedly and he nods, "hell yeah you are, you're the toughest little girl I've met." She beams at that and then decides to tell Daryl some, I'm sure they're made up, stories about how tough she really was.
"Hey, earlier, were you watching us?" Rick asks the priest as we continue following him. "I keep to myself. Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?" He has a point, I feel like people have always been dangerous though.
"No, people are worse."
"Well, I wasn't watching you. I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today." He says before he gets a little smile. "Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all." My brows furrow slightly as he speaks. "Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels." I'm the only person who giggles at the joke, everyone else is radio silent, Rick and Daryl look downright unimpressed.
Gabriel sends me an appreciative nod before he speaks again. "Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humor leaves much to be desired."
"Yeah, it does." Well it's a bit awkward for him now, luckily we get to the church right after that. "Hold up.
Can we take a look around first?" Rick asks at the door, "We just want to hold on to our squirrels." I giggle to myself again and Rick shoots me a look telling me to cut it out, he has a small smirk though.
I stay outside as they check the church, I'm watching Gabriel. He seems to be who he says, I like to think that I have a sense about these things. I'd say I do, I feel like my gut is almost always right when it comes to these types of questions. Gabriel seems harmless, he seems like a devout man of god, he's hiding something, something he's guilty about. We're in no danger from him though, he'd probably piss his pants before he tried anything.
"I spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside, well, it would have been surprising." Gabriel says as the small group who'd gone in emerges and lets us know it's clear.
"Thanks for this."
"Are you sure we can go in there?" I look at Rory confused, "why wouldn't we?" She looks at me then at Gabriel and shrugs, "daddy told me church was stupid." My eyes widen as I hear Gabriel's shocked reaction, "he said people that believed in-" I slap my hand over her mouth as Gabriel gapes at us. "She's being silly, she doesn't know what she's saying." I try and save seeing at how offended he looks. Daryl chuckles from beside me, "sounds like she does." I send him a look but luckily Abraham starts speaking and takes the attention off us.
"We found a short bus out back." He starts. "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."
"You understand what's at stake here, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"Now that we can take a breath--"
"We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down." I try and tune this out, I'd learned that Abraham's 'mission' was to safely transport Eugene to go and cure us all. I didn't believe it, Eugene was a liar I could feel it in my bones. His mannerisms were rodent like, skittish, he was scared of getting caught out. Everyone else was doing that thing, where they're believing it because they want to. He couldn't cure us, I found it hard to believe that he was the only one in the US right now that had this confidential information.
Ignoring the others I walk into the church, the kids filing in after me. "How'd you survive here for so long? Where did your supplies come from?" I too turn to hear Gabriel's response, I'm intrigued by how the cowardly priest was still here. "Luck. Our annual canned food drive. Things fell apart right after we finished it." Very lucky indeed. He then tells us how there's a place nearby that he hadn't been shake to scavenge, because of the walkers.
"How many?" Rick asks, "A dozen or so. Maybe more." A dozen was easy. "We can handle a dozen." Rick answers surely. "Bob and I will go with you.
Sasha offers before sparing her brother a glance, "Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe." They smile at each other and I smile too, Tyreese had bonded with Judith in a wonderful way from when he was looking out for her out there.
"That'll be okay?"
"Sure.You ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I'm right here."
"I'm grateful for it. And everything else."
"I'll draw you a map." Gabriel cuts in and I almost want to laugh at his expression when Rick informs that he'll be going along. "I'm not gonna be of any help. You saw me. I'm no good around those things." He's so nervous I actually do feel a bit bad for him but Rick has decided and he's not changing his mind.
"You're coming with us."
