Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

54

Daryl was gone. He was just gone. Along with Carol and Bob. Maybe they were taken. Maybe by some people who survived Terminus? If that's the case, we better find them. Fast. He wouldn't just leave...would he? I looked up when Sasha approached Gabriel. "Stop." He was picking up silverware. "What are you doing?" He looked at her, unsure of how to respond. "What are you doing? This is all connected. You show up, we're being watched, and now three of us are gone."

"I...I don't...I don't have anything to do with this." Gabriel seemed genuinely confused, but you can never be too careful these days.

Sasha pulled her knife and Gabriel dropped the silverware, backing up. I stood up. "Who's out there?"

Gabriel was shaking. "I-I don't have anything to do with this."

She got in his face. "Where are our people?"

"I don't have anything to-"

"Where are our people!?"

"Please, I don't have anything to do with this. I-"

Rick pulled Sasha back, standing in front of Gabriel. "Why'd you bring us here?"

"Please, I-"

"You working with someone?"

"I'm alone. I'm alone. I was always alone."

Rick was getting closer with every word. "What about the woman in the food bank, Gabriel? What did you do to her? 'You'll burn for this.' That was for you. Why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel?" Rick grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. "What what did you do? What did you do?!"

Rick released Gabriel from his grasp. He looked around at us, absolutely terrified. "I lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always-" Gabriel cut himself off, tears welling in his eyes.

He took a deep breath. "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. And 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. 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. Damning me to hell.

"I buried their bones," he nodded. "I buried it all. The Lord sent you here to finally punish me." Gabriel sank to the floor, sobbing. "I'm damned. I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors."

We relaxed, realizing that he had nothing to do with our people going missing. We all turned when we heard whistling outside. Glenn looked out the window. "There's something...there's someone outside lying in the grass!"

We rushed outside and I put a hand over my mouth. It was Bob. His leg was cut off. There were walkers approaching. "Get Bob inside. We'll take care of them."

I helped Sasha lift Bob and we started rushing him inside. A gunshot went off in the woods and Rick starts firing, yelling for us to get inside. We got Bob inside and laid him on the floor. He slowly came to, leaning up on his elbows. "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. They were eating my leg right in front of me. Like it was nothing. All proud like they had it all figured out."

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

"Gareth said they drove off." My heart lurched in my chest and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and stood up, walking over to where Luke stood with Faith in his arms. "Did dad leave us?" He asked, tears welling in his eyes.